Final Music Video

This is my final music video, I took feedback from my hot desking and focus group in order to improve this for the final product.

Final Ancillary Products

These are my final print artefacts. They are made without using stock images and were changed from my drafts based on the feedback I received from my hot desking and focus group tasks.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

 Peer and audience feedback helped me realise what other media students and my target audience thought of my video during its production. My hot desking task, in which I asked other media students for feedback was helpful for gaining a viewpoint from someone with a clear idea of my intentions with my music video and ancillary products, as they were given the same task, as well as them having a similar set of skills and knowing what can be done specifically to improve my products, such as which pieces of software can be used to improve the products. This informed decisions such as the effects used at the end of my music video, upon receiving feedback that clips could do with speeding up and that some hurt viewers eyes, I removed the effects responsible and sped up and replaced some shots used in the video to help maintain a solid pace throughout the video. The peer feedback helped me realise that certain tweaks were needed for the poster to work effectively, such as removing the shopping list seen in the draft for being 'too tacky', as well as needed a little something to make it more personal, like a photostrip, which I added into the final product.

 The focus group helped my final products by giving me a perspective from my target audience and how they view the product, including help like informing me that it would be better to use the common house style font in the 'About Us' section of the digipak, to help it feel more joined and fluent with the rest of the package. They said that a house style as a convention worked well in completing a consistent branding among the products. The majority of their feedback helped to inform me that what I had done thus far had been done well in terms of targeting my audience, based on them having little else to want to change on my products.

Evaluation Question 2

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

I believe my combination of music video and ancillary products is done fluently, with a clear connection being established throughout all of my work. The music video shows somewhat of an origin story for the band, with lyrics and musical scores being written for the song, and this mixed with the idea that the band is brand new, works in tandem with the use of prodominantly handwritten fonts, throughout my video (in the final cut, used as date/time signifiers) as well as the main text on the poster and digipak, keeping with the theme of it being a very personal journey for a new band, rather than a more corporate-appearing band that is just for making money. I think the poster and digipak work together specifically well, with the use of the same house style of fonts and colours, as well as a similar use of a wood texture I made in photoshop, acting as a wooden background for the digipak's front cover, then used as a border for the corkboard on the poster's background. The music video and ancillary products tie in with use of consistent themes, fonts and features, making a fluid brand that runs between them all, helping an audience to establish this brand and hopefully work to use the poster to advertise the video and digipak, with each part being easily recognisable based on the other products.

Evaluation Question 1

Focus Group

Focus Group:

On Saturday 19^th March, I organised a focus group to show my final draft of my promotional package, with the aim of fixing any little things picked up by the group as well as giving a form of evaluation from which to form my answers to the evaluation questions I will answer at the end of this blog. The group were all within my target audience, consisting of:

-          Ryan (18)

-          Joanne (17)

-          Amie (16)

-          Ashleigh (19)

-          Alice (18)

-          Shaun (16)

Having this mixture of both male and female feedback, from an age range within my target audience of 15-20 is very helpful in helping me analyse how the general public would respond to this promotional package, as opposed to the hot desking task I completed which gave me responses from a media student’s perspective.

To begin with, I showed the group my video, then asked several questions and noted down their responses, encouraging them to just speak their minds and give opinions, not just answering the questions, using them more as a prompt.

1.       Do you think this video suits the genre of music that the song is in?

The response for the most part is yes, they responded well to the mixture of a narrative they could follow along with, as well as the performance sections which they said were done very professionally.

2.       Do you like the mixture of performance and narrative-based content within the video?

They responded well to the mixture, saying that having only narrative or only performance could have been a little too much and been boring, but having the mixture within the video helped it remain interesting. They said that the narrative section linking in to the performance worked well, showing the singer going from nothing to performing in the studio.

I then showed them the digipak and poster and asked questions regarding these:

1.       Do you think the digipak and poster link well with one another?

The response was yes among all people in the group, they said the used of a consistent font and colour for the album title and band name worked well and made it recognisable in the scenario of wanting to pick out that album from a shelf having just seen the poster. They said the consistent use of paper and sketches worked in creating a theme for the two.

What improvements could you suggest to help them link?

They said changing the font used in the main body of the ‘About Us’ section would help keep a consistent house style among the promotional package, other than that they were unsure on improvements.

3.       Do you think enough information is present on the poster to convince and audience to buy it?

They said the information present would more than likely be enough, with particular mention to the inclusion of hit singles, which people may have heard on the radio, the album title and band name, and release dates, as well as it being available digitally or in a physical form, giving all necessary information needed to buy it, as well as a review that helps to promote it.

4.       Do you think enough is included in the digipak to buy it over a regular CD?

They said the inclusion of an ‘about us’ section helped sell the product, especially considering this is under the guise of the band being brand new, having an introduction to the band and its members and multiple advertisements for the band’s internet links for more information helped it promote a new band well, and the use of extra photos in the digipak helped it stand out from a normal CD case.

I then asked questions about the promotional package as a whole:

1.       Do you think that the promotional package as a whole works together, showing a solid and consistent branding?

They responded by saying that the promotional package worked together very well, the inclusion of a single actor who was also present in the poster and digipak helped tie the video in with the ancillary products, the use of a consistent house-style for fonts helped it remain within the distinct brand, and the use of a handheld font made it seem more personal, which was what I was going for, due to the band being a break-out band, rather than a pre-established band.

2.       Do you think this promotional package breaks any conventions of a music video and advertising products associated with this genre of music? Adversely, does it stick to any conventions?

They said the conventions of a house style were stuck to, which was a positive in continuing a consistent theme within the products. They said the use of a narrative in my video was breaking a convention of the genre, especially for a newer band, who were more likely to stick to a full performance due to it being cheaper to produce, the use of performance in mine helped keep the feel of my song’s genre, but it was a nice change to have a narrative mixed in.

3.       On the whole, what minor improvements would you suggest before submitting a finalised promotional package?

The main point raised was the font in the ‘About us’ section being inconsistent, as well as the editing in the video being slightly over the top, and could do with refining.

I will take on board this feedback before submitting my final artefacts, and I will use the feedback given here to evaluate my final work.

Hot Desking Feedback

   

Hot-Desking Feedback:

       This is the feedback I received for my full promotional package's first draft. I asked specific questions to the people who gave me feedback, the answers from which I hope to apply to my promotional package when I go to make the final artefacts.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     What are your opinions on the effects at the end of the music video? Would it be better without them?

I like the use of the effects, as the song climaxes, the effects get faster, which creates a sense of instability, which links to the ‘screaming’ element to the song

The effects using the computer and external audio work really well, however I feel as though your edits aren’t quite quick enough in the PMT shop, and this makes the plot a little predictable. If you speed these up/break them up with smaller clips in between (perhaps split up your performance shots so they aren’t all clustered at the end) and continue your use of effects the story and effects should flow into each other.

I think the use of them make it look more professional, though I would try using different ones that won’t potentially hurt someone’s eyes as they watch. Just smaller edits that add to the experience, without taking away from the actual footage.

2.       Do you feel enough information is given on the poster to persuade an audience to buy it?

I feel like there is enough information on the poster to persuade the audience, however I think the shopping list element to it makes it seem slightly tacky.

Add more decorative items that you may see on a pin-board (eg photobooth strips, tickets to see the original band etc) to fill it up a little as it seems bare, and then possibly add some logos of platforms which the song will be available on

I think the amount of information is good, with the top singles, the name of the band, the album and saying it can be bought digitally or physically, which ties in with the digipak and helps promote that as well. I think adding in some personal items like a photo strip would be nice, as it makes it feel more real, but the shopping list really doesn’t fit with the idea.

3.       Do the front and back covers of the digipak have enough information about the album? What more can be added?

I think there is a suitable amount of information on the album cover/back cover.

The covers have enough information, check to see the band have any conventions that they reuse (placement of barcodes, record labels etc)

I think with the ‘About Us’ section as well as showing other places to hear songs or learn more, such as their website, as well as their Facebook  and Twitter links, you have enough information. Having the ‘About Us’ section adds that little something that makes the digipak worth buying over a standard CD, as well as the multiple extra pictures on the pages.

4.       Do you think the promotional package works well together, keeping a sense of a singular brand? If not, how can this be improved?

I think that it ties in well together, perhaps adding a ‘pin board’ element somewhere on the digipak itself would help link it together even more.

It does fit well together, and the notepad/pin-board style fits with the idea that the character is struggling for ideas.
I think that having the tie-in of the drawings on both the poster and the digipak, as well as showing the artist struggling with ideas and writing on paper make it easily recognisable as a brand within this packaging.

First Drafts of Ancillary Products

Here are the first drafts for my inside album pages, my front pages and poster respectively. These were made using mainly stock images in order to give an idea of what I wanted my final products to look like. I plan to take photographs, such as my own crumpled paper for the back cover, and either take photos or create my own wooden textures for the front cover and poster cork board designs. I will ask for feedback in a hot desking task (4th March) of these products and my music video, and take this feedback into consideration when creating my final pieces.

Music Video First Draft

This is the first draft of my music video. This ended up taking a long time to produce, due to studio complications, booking times and multiple footage issues and shooting problems, but with better planning, this then became a lot easier to complete the filming of. I then edited the piece together and this is the first finished draft I have produced:

Print-Based Advert Research and Analysis - Lacuna Coil

Digipak Initial Plan

These are my initial plans for my digipak, which I will develop in Photoshop in order to create a first mock-up, with use of stock images and photography of my own, in order to help shape my ideas for the final product. I decided on a 3x1 double sided digipak, totalling 6 sides, including a front, back, 3 main inside pages and the disc page, which will be in a plastic casing in the very centre of the digipak when fully expanded. I will include a page for lyrics from the full album (which in this case will be 'What Separates Me From You' by A Day To Remember, because this is the album my music video is from), a message from the band which would act as something special to help sell the digipak over the regular CD format, and a page for a photograph of the band with instruments. I will also have the standard front and back pages for the digipak, with the front displaying the artist name and album title, as this will be the first thing seen by an audience buying this product in a store or online. The back page will show the track listings for the album, as well as labels the band are signed to, which could act as a selling point, because large labels generally give a sense of assured quality in terms of the finished product.

Digipak Research - AWOLNATION and The Jackson 5