Final Post

This posts marks the end of my A-Level Media Studies coursework.

Over the past two years I have learned a lot through this media course surrounding all sorts of things but most about technology, filming and how to decipher texts. I have really valued this course, and have actually enjoyed the work, I've wanted to improve on my coursework not because a deadline needs me to but because I want to showcase the best products I can and show you what I can do.

This media course has literally changed my life, I have now applied to a university to study a 'Film, Television and Digital Production' course which I am very excited about and I hope to learn even more about media and stay in this industry in future when I leave university.

Thank you for taking the time to follow my journey as I have progressed throughout the course, I hope that you can see how much time and energy I've put into my coursework as well as how much I've thoroughly loved producing it.

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning, and evaluation?

Evaluation Question 3

I apologise for the sound quality.



Transcript:

What have you learned from audience feedback?

Throughout my project I have received audience feedback and acted upon it. For all of my pieces of work I have sought out criticism on how to improve my pieces and this is documented on my blog. Audience feedback is important because it tells the creator what is working and what isn't for the audience, if the product is not liked by the audience especially the target audience then the creator needs to change it drastically because if the audience does not like the product then the artist will not be promoted and viewed highly.

In total my music video product has received the most feedback from my audience mainly because I have been working on it for longer. This feedback has helped me alter footage and create a better story narrative so that the audience can follow it easier. Some of the comments I received were that the audience wasn't sure about the lighting of the flash forward arguments, they said that I could edit them to be darker so it shows the dark point of their relationship. These comments have helped me improve because from it I changed the lighting so it was darker however it was a big jump from some of the warmer shots so instead of making the shots extremely dark I turned the brightness down and then turned the saturation and warmness down. Through this I made the footage colder and slightly darker this caused the transition between shots less jumpy and forced. They really liked the silliness of Isaac (the fontman) because it created a fun atmosphere for the scenes and also the editing on the beat because it caused the video to flow better. I deemed the video complete when I couldn't see anything else I needed to change and the audience couldn't either. I feel that this was a good stopping point because otherwise I may have overworked the product and create something which didn't link or make sense.

My promotional poster received lots of feedback from my target audience which helped because their opinions caused me to change my piece and the end result looks a lot better than it did before. The comments I received for my poster centred around the balloon, the layout and the colours of the photograph. The feedback wanted me to change the positioning of the balloon because it was difficult to read the text and wanted me to re-edit the photo because the colours weren't punchy enough however they did really enjoy the balloon itself and the idea of it overlaying the text. Because of this feedback I edited my poster and changed what they suggested, I re-edited the photo and used a warmer colour scheme so that the colours were vibrant and interesting; I also edited the balloon by moving the text up. One of the comments suggested for me to edit the font which I disagreed with because the audience thought it did not match the photo, I decided not to change the font because when I asked wider audience members they thought the text fit the genre and looked professional. Overall I feel like my poster has improved greatly and conveys the correct message to the audience.

My digipak has received the least amount of feedback mainly because I worked on it very quickly and forgot to show it to my audience to gain feedback. However I did present it several times to them and they stated that they liked the simplistic nature of it, They stated that the logo of the record company and the band name were too close to the edge of the spine and the font for the album name should be different than the band name font because it didn't look right. After these suggestions I edited my digipak to fit the feedback, through doing this I feel that the digipak looks better than it did before.

Overall through listening to my audience feedback I feel that I have created better products that both me and the market like, I learned that target audience feedback is very important and can help the producer change aspects of the piece to create a universally liked piece which most likely will promote more interest and revenue. However I have learnt to not listen sometimes to their feedback because if I did change an aspect of the piece to fit their liking then I will be eliminating other audiences.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?

All real life products in the world aim to interest and satisfy their audiences, so with the music industry and it's products it's not much different. The music industry wants to attract audiences through their products and promote themselves through it, to do this they need products that will not confuse or bore their target audiences whilst being easily recognisable. One way to do this is to link the artist's products together; by linking the products the audience can associate an object, logo or a face to the artist. This means that when an audience member sees a product of the artist they easily recognise the branding and then buy the product. By not branding the artist the companies may lose out on revenue because the public are constantly questioning whether it is the artist's product or just miss it all together.

'Hey Violet' Music Video Screenshots

'Hey Violet' Album Cover

We see these links between artists' products constantly, for the band 'Hey Violet' and their album 'Guys My Age' they also use this tactic. In their music video a key element is the purple and pink lighting is constant as well as the singer, who herself has pink hair, being steadily shown throughout. 

The colour and the band are the focus of their video and it was the audience remembers most about it. For their album cover, they highlighted this fact by having a pink and purple colour scheme and having the singer, she has her back turned to the camera however her signature pink hair is falling over shoulders onto a jacket which states the name of the album and the band. By doing this, the products of the band are linked and when the audience views them they instantly know that the products are theirs. Therefore the can easily buy and promote the album themselves without becoming confused.

In my own products I want a similar effect on the audience, I need a group of products to capture the audience's attention and keep them interested - so to do this I needed to link my products together. I didn’t want to go down the same route as ‘Hey Violet’ by only using the frontman and the lighting scheme because although our music video had a warm colour scheme it wasn’t recognisable enough for the audience to realise instantly. I decided that instead I was going to have a repeated feature in my products as well as the frontman of the band being shown throughout.

I decided through editing to have the heart balloon as the main feature. So in all of my products I have the balloon and the frontman as obvious features, this causes the audience to easily recognise the products as the bands and then buy them. Also a heart balloon is a popular feature so when the audience sees one after seeing my products they will think of the band and may cause them to buy it again or other potential merch because I have linked my products think they are very effective.

Evaluation Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Promotional Music Poster Edit

After reviewing my promotional poster an audience member pointed out the spelling mistake for "electric". This was a lucky save because I had it before as "electic" and having spelling mistakes in products is unprofessional.

This is the edited version:

Comparing My Products

When creating media products that represent a band or singer it is important to make sure the products link together well so that you create an aesthetically pleasing products that the viewer knows are from a certain source.

In my products I used the balloon as the connector, in the music video it is a key part of the narrative and symbolizes the couples love, because of this I decided to use an image of the couple and the balloon as my poster image. The digipak also uses images of the band as well, this is more typical of an album which features the band more than a specific music video, however I do reference the video with the balloon and the bath bomb background. Within the digipak I also referenced the promotional poster by using the same image but I edited it slightly differently than the other image.

By referencing other products in my work it causes a link within them and helps the audience identify the band quicker and it should not confuse them.

Final Music Video

Here is our final music video product:

We have been working on it for over 6 months now, from the beginning where we were figuring out our plot and discussing the inspirations for the video - to now where we have finished the video and I couldn't be more prouder of Imogen and myself.

Music Video - Audience Feedback

On the 19th April 2017 I gathered our target audience and they watched our music video product so that I could collect some more feedback on how to improve. However when asked they couldn't think of anything to improve on but they liked the warmth of the colours and the editing on the beat. One of the audience members said that they understood the narrative of the video now due to me editing the gaussian blur onto the flashback clips whereas before it confused them.

Comparing the Posters

Here are my two posters compared next to each other, you can see the different in the colour and the text clearly however when closer looked at I also added more detail.

I've also added "Debut Album" to show the viewer that it is clearly a music poster and not a short film one since that was some of the feedback I was getting. Some viewers thought that the original was a short film poster and not a music poster, which I obviously do not want.

As well as adding "Debut Album", I have also changed the colours to a warmer tone - since my audience feedback asked for "punchier colours" and with the warmer tone the red in the balloon and the blues in the costumes are more prominent. 

I also received feedback suggesting that I either changed the font or created shadows so that it is easier to read, I chose to add shadows to the font so that the title is more prominent and noticeable. I also added shadows to the other texts because the light in the background caused them to be difficult to read. I decided to keep the font because after looking through the other options this font was the best looking and suited the genre best. 

I also moved the title upwards and made it slightly smaller because I received multiple comments saying that the balloon covered the title too much, so by altering it the title can be seen easier. Because I had to move it upwards I made "The 1975" smaller as well as the media icons so it all fit well.

Final Promotional Music Poster

Here is my final promotional music poster ancillary:

I didn't change much from the last copy however I did change "Available to download" to "Available on iTunes" because it tells the viewer where to download the music and not to just download it. 

Promotional Music Poster

After gaining audience feedback for my promotional poster, I edited it to conform to their ideas in most aspects however there were parts or sections that I did not agree with. So I went against social conventions and decided to chose some design aspects for myself.

Here is my new and improved poster. I followed the audience's advice and moved the position of the balloon, because I couldn't move the balloon itself I moved the text up, this caused me to make the band name slightly smaller as well as the social media icons, I feel this has actually improved them because they look more proportioned. I added a shadow to the text so that the white font can be read easier, the "Honest, feel-good music!" text that Livia pointed out was hard to read is still slightly difficult however it is a lot better then what it was before because of the shadow. A couple people said that the poster looked more like a short-film poster so I added "Debut Album incl: Chocolate (feat Halsey) & Sleep Tight" so that it was clear it was for music and not a film. I put the text next to the balloon which is the main feature point of the eye so it should be one of the first aspects the viewer sees.

Promotional Music Poster - Target Audience Feedback

Here is Livia Robinson-Miller evaluating my promotional poster. It is important to gain audience feedback, especially target audience feedback (which Livia is) to understand your target audiences' wants and needs.

Promotional Music Poster - Audience Feedback

I showed my promotional poster and got audience feedback from my main audience. I asked that people write the positives on one side and negatives on the other.

Here is the photo showing the comments they gave:

After reviewing the comments I understood they mainly didn't like the balloon being so infront of the text, so I needed to move it down. The audience also didn't like the colours of the poster, they wanted them to be punchier so that the poster stands out more. They said that the font didn't stand out so I will need to either change the colour of the font or put shadows onto it, I don't really want to change the colour because I feel white looks more professional. There are comments suggesting that I change the font because it doesn't suit the band however I do not agree with this because the font is professional and I have not seen another font that suits it more.

I then circled and annotated my poster to show what parts the audience wanted to change so it would be easier for me to go through and edit them. I compared it to the original to see how much I needed to change.

By gaining audience feedback I feel that I learn valuable knowledge about how I can change my poster and products to better suit the audiences' needs and wants.

Promotional Music Poster Draft

Here is my first draft of my ancillary of the promotional poster which would be featured in a magazine. It still is quite rough, I have created this from scratch in 2 hours so although I do like it - I want to work on it further.

I've included social media, the distributor logo, the logo, reviews, the band name and the album name.

Creating the Promotional Music Poster Draft

Here are some screenshots of my promotional poster as I was creating it:

These two screenshots show where I was thinking of cropping the photo for the poster, I decided to go with the second one because it included the path which was nicely back lit and when I asked my target audience they said they liked the second one better because they thought the shrubbery to the right was ugly and didn't suit the genre.

 These next photos show the progress of the poster and how I produced it:

In my first draft of the poster I put the balloon behind the text and was focussing on the font and size of the text since it would be what the audience would focus on and gather their information from. As you can see I at this point I also put a record label on the poster, I chose Capitol records because they are world famous and are known for signing record deals with other indie-pop artists. 

I decided to have the text and the logo in white because it stood out against the background and I find it looks more professional and clean cut. 

The next screenshot shows the next step the creation of the poster, at this point I had added the reviews and the release date. For the reviews I used the same font so that it linked together well and continued on with the white font so it continued to look professional and clean-cut. 

For the release I chose the 23/5/17 because it is just before summer and I feel that the album is a summer album and would link well with the season, so to release it then it would be able to gain momentum before rising to the height of it's popularity in the middle of summer.

In this screenshot you can see that I edited the placement of the reviews and added a line to separate the reviews and release date. I also added icons of social media networks, I chose them because they are the most popular social media networks currently. By putting social media networks onto the poster it means that the audience know that the band have accounts for them and it promotes their networks and their popularity. 

I also have edited the colours of the background photo so that the colours are warmer and the light shines through more, this will catch the audience's attention well because the poster isn't dim instead it shines out to them.

After this I edited the balloon to go over the text, however I did not get a screenshot of this. 

I will gain audience feedback and I will then edit the poster further, however for now I may do simple cosmetic editing.

Promotional Music Poster Examples

During class we looked at past examples of student created promotional posters. We evaluated them and said what the pros and cons were of each of them. I found three posters that I really enjoyed and thought were very good. Two of the posters are film posters which are different to my music poster needs however I thought they were very good and I could still take inspiration from them. 

This is the first film poster I'm evaluating and I am completely in love with it, the colour scheme, the lighting, the layout are all gorgeous. I cannot fault this poster other than the fact that the creator could have made the text slightly bigger because it is hard to see from far away. From looking at this photo I will take inspiration from the simplistic but effective nature of it. The photo interests the audience because it creates enigmas and only shows the main character.

This is the second film poster, again it is the simplistic but effective nature of the poster that gains my interest, The black and white colour scheme draws the audience in and gets them interested because the eye naturally focuses on the figure and then the title, the viewer questions whether the figure is running away or whether he is the reason you should run. I can't fault this piece, the typical conventions of a film poster are that they should include some reviews which this creator has decided to go against, and I agreed with this because it would ruin the simplistic nature of it.

This is the music poster, what draws me to this poster is the mysterious figure. I like the border around it which is quite unusual in music posters and the minimalist text. I do feel that certain aspects could be changed to create a more effective piece, like the figure being centred and using the same text throughout the poster but overall the poster draws the eye in and interests the viewer which is very important. 

From looking at these posters it has inspired me about my own promotional poster because I can take separate ideas from each, however something they all share is a simplistic but effective layout. I feel that by using a simplistic layout it looks a lot better than filling the poster up with lots of reviews and awards because then there are too many focus points for the eye to concentrate on. 

Changing my Ancillary

I have decided to change my ancillary choices, instead of a website and digipak - I have chosen to do a magazine promotion page and a digipak. I altered my choices because I thought that I can use a similar photo scheme to my digipak and my learning through photoshop and my knowledge surrounding it would be increased.

Music Video - Audience Feedback

To gain some more audience feedback I asked an audience member who wasn't in our target audience range to view the product to see if there needed to be any changes so that a wider audience can view it and understand. It is good to know that our target audience can understand the video but as creators we need to make our products more available to the wider audience so that it can be promoted more and therefore gain more revenue.

For negative points she said that the frontman looks like he is conscious at parts and that I needed to try and edit them out because it causes the video to look unprofessional. She also said that she wasn't sure about the bath bomb sections; when I explained to her about the water links and the bright punchy colours that are conventional in pop music videos she understood and then agreed with the shot choices. This has caused me to put more water links in the video and to make it more obvious for the viewer.

She really liked the progression of the video and how it told a story because it kept her interested, the band shots were also a nice touch, she said, because it added fun to the video. She enjoyed the parts where the frontman was 'pratting around' because it showed that he is now happy and has a more boisterous side.

When I asked her about our original idea to slowly make the video fade to black to show the frontman's unhappiness, she disagreed. She said that to do that "takes away" from the band's happy shots and makes it more confusing, she then suggested to make the argument sections darker instead so that it just shows that they are the unhappy points in his life.

I asked her if there was anything else I could include (at this point we had ran out of time to film however by asking this it meant that if we did get an extended deadline we could do this) she suggested to get footage of the couple on the beach to tie it in with the sea shots as well as the water theme.

By asking someone who isn't in our target audience and complying to most of their needs that we think are suitable it causes the video to be more accessible to others which is very important in the entertainment industry because if you catered to one specific audience you would be limiting your product.

Final Digipak Ancillary

Here is my digipak, I will not be making any drastic changes unless it is absolutely necessary.

Digipak Ancillary

Here is a video looking at my digipak product so far, I filled the inside panels so that I could get an insight onto how the product would look when completed. After printing and assembling the digipak I was able to see how effective it was and what I needed to improve on.

I liked the colour match of the inside panels however I do think that they need to have a slightly lighter background so that it's not so dark however it may be difficult because it may alter the original colours and not suit them.

It was nice to see my digipak in 3D because it brought the ancillary to life and I could imagine it as a real life product.

Digipak - Photo Shoot for Bath Bomb

For our ancillaries it was important for me and Imogen to not have the exact same theme, we decided to share our ancillaries at several points so that we knew we weren't doing the same thing. To try and make our ancillaries even more different I decided to have a photo shoot with a bath bomb myself, this would ensure that we weren't using the same images. Since we were already using similar images with the band photos.

I went home and had a photo shoot for a bath bomb to use for my digipak, here are the photos:

I chose to use the photo below on my digipak because I felt the swirls and the bubbles as well as the colours were the best formation, with this photo I deleted the background and used the circle of colour for my digipak. I then put it onto a black background and blended the edges so it fit with the album more. I also turned up the saturation of the photo so the colours were more prominent.

By using a bath bomb photo it links to the music video and conveys the genre of 'indie-pop', this contrasts the 'rock' photos of the band and portrays the correct message to the audience.

Digipak - Photo Shoot for Band

Here are the photos from the photoshoot for the band, we tried two different ways to shoot:


One way was to let the band do their own thing whilst "playing" the instruments, this was an idea that was scrapped because the photos were coming up blurry and did not have good quality; as well as this the band weren't positioned very well and it was difficult to have everyone have a good face and not to blink.

Due to these problems we decided to carry on the shoot with staged photos, by doing this it caused the photos to come out focused and everyone looked in-sync. I like these photos due to the professional quality of them and the fact that the band look together and less apart, like they did in the candid photos.

I ended up using these two photos of the band for my digipak:

I chose the first photo to show the band member's responsibilities. This lets the audience to see who plays what and gives them an idea of what type of instruments are featured in the music.

The second photo shows the band members themselves this allows the audience to associate the digipak with faces and promotes their image.

I edited both heavily in relation to the contrast and the colour scheme of them, I also cropped them to fit the square panels of the digipak. This was quite difficult because I wanted the photos to have the correct proportions but still look natural and not pulled or stretched but still have the best angles. 

I edited both photos to be darker to give the band a more mysterious edge, however I turned up the warmth of the photos as well as the saturation so that they still tied with the music video and the poster, also to keep their 'boisterous' nature alive. 

Whilst I am proud of my editing of the photos, I do feel that they convey the genre of 'rock' to the audience and not 'indie-pop', so to convey my intended genre I will need to include more photos that symbolize this so the audience doesn't become confused.

Digipak Ancillary Ideas

I have sketched out some designs for my digipak front cover, these have helped me brainstorm and explore ideas for my digipak.

I hand drew them so it would be quicker, and less time consuming.

1. The first image is of the frontman of the band, he would be standing in the centre of a path holding the heart balloon. I do like this idea because the red of the balloon would contrast with the green colour of the trees surrounding him. He would be wearing the same clothes as the shoot to reference the video. 

I like the idea of this because it is simple but effective. By looking at the cover the audience will be able to tell who the frontman of the band is. It also conforms with the genre of being indie-pop because whilst normally a stereotypical indie-pop band would have an abstract cover which may possibly feature nature, the brightness of the heart balloon would cause the cover to have an element of pop within it because typical pop albums have bright covers to engage the audience. 

2. The second image is of the heart balloon in front of a sunset. This features several aspects from our music video within the video.

This is a very simple idea however it would engage the audience through the use of colours within the photo. The heart balloon would be the key feature of the cover. The brightness of the balloon would contrast with the mellowness of the sunset, it is also simple enough so that it follows the conventions of a 21st century album cover. However I feel that this cover is conforming to my idea of a cover, and is quite feminine - whereas the band is all male so it does not conform with their image. 

3. The next image is of a bathbomb which would be on a white background, this also conforms to the typical conventions of a simple cover, I feel that I could edit the colours so they are of a green colour scheme and not a blue one. This would match the green colours in the footage of the path that the couple walk down. 

I do really like this idea, however instead of the front cover I may have the image as the backcover in which the song titles are written or under the CD tray. 

4. The fourth is a stereotypical album cover of the band, standing - posing for the camera, they may have their instruments to fit in with the image of being a band who plays their own instruments. 

I like this idea with the simplicity of the image and the easy nature of the audience being able to tell who is in the band and what they do. However I do not feel that this conforms with the indie-pop genre and this specific look would go better with rock or jazz. 

Digipak Examples

Here are some digipak examples which I found. I decided to evaluate and analyse them so that I can gain more information on how a digipak is created and the conventions of one.

I found three, they all had the genre of indie (either they were full indie or half) so they were good for me to evaluate.

The Innocents by Weyes Blood 

I personally really like this album because it is simplistic but still intriguing. The black and white photo of the girl, side on along with the off white background is very pleasing to the eye. Whilst the back of the album still carries the white background on, it has replaced the image of the girl with a silhouette of her filled with different colours.

I feel that this album is very aesthetically pleasing however I do not like the font of the album title. I feel that it is too difficult to read and I had to look at the spine to get the name of the band and the title of the album - this was also difficult to understand because both the name and the title could be confused and swapped.

This digipak is formed differently to how mine is, with it only having two panels and the disc slips inside a pocket and not on a plastic holder. Due to this, the inside of the digipak has the names of the songs and any extra info.

Freedom by The Black Tambourines 

Although the album with the collage is pretty, it doesn't link at all together. The front cover is a colourful collage with the back of the album being pen illustrated in black and white. I don't think they link and that this is a very well put together album. However if you take in the title of the album 'Freedom' it could mean freedom in all aspects meaning that the want to get freedom from conventional album covers. 

This 'freedom' aspect may change my expectations with certain points however they don't keep the same font for the back cover for their spine where they use a font which looks like it's been picked randomly off Microsoft Word. The text is also too close together and there is randomly 'East Action EARSO85' written on the side, unless this is their record company there is no reason for it to be on there and even then they should of used the company's logo and not their name.

This digipak is alike to the two panels with a disc pocket instead of holder, they have used a similar technique to the digipak before with having their song names and any extra information on the inside. However they have put all the text onto one side to leave room for another collage on the inside. This again is most likely following their 'freedom' aspect.

Overall I do not like this digipak it annoys me with its visual aspects and it does not follow the typical conventions of a digipak.

I Aubade by Elvis Perkins

I do like the old aspect of this album with the fading and the stained background. I feel that although the front and back don't match fully the colour scheme used in both saves it from looking like a mess. The album instantly tells you what genre the artist is, folk and indie. I like how the song titles and the album title are written is font that mimics a typewriter, this again supports the fact that the album is folk. 

The front cover looks like a piece of art and this is further justified by the artist's name in the corner. Maybe the artist wanted to make a statement about his music being his art? I like how the album creates enigmas for the audience.

The spine keeps the same font for the artist's name and the album title as it did for the front and back cover. I do not know how to feel about this because whilst the album is keeping to conventions it looks awkward because there are 3 different types of font on one small piece of the album. 

This digipak follows the same template as 'The Black Tambourines' with having an image on one side and information on the other, the way they have staged this it looks very well put together unlike the album before.

Overall I feel that this research has helped me with my ideas and the conventions of a digipak and I will be using these skills in future.