Evaluation Question 4: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The audience in the cinema overall reacted positively to the music video. As shown in previous blog posts such as this one, both filmed and written comments were published. A recap of just one comment can be seen below: 

This is a comment from Hannah and she mentions how 'awesome' and how well she thinks the music video suits the genre. This comment practically represents most of the comments we received and it was quite rare that we got someone saying something that could be improved in the video. One main thing that also kept coming up (just like in Hannah's comment) was how the mise en scene was good, especially the dry ice. This told me that  by taking some risks with the effects in the music video, it can create something amazing.
A majority of the audience had a positive reaction towards the music video when we were in the cinema and we got as big applause at the end of the showing.
When talking to other people a few suggested improvements that could be made in order to make it that much better. For example, one said that they would have liked to have seen more of Yasmin (who was the Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen together) as there are only about two main shots of her but many more of the Jasmine (The Mad Hatter).
Following this, it was also suggested that there should have been more quicker cuts when the drumming beat takes place in the song like this part of the video (see below):

Another improvement that was suggested for the music video was that in the middle of the music video, we shouldn't have had the blackness before and after the middle footage of Amy in the garden because it could confuse the audience in thinking that the video is at an end. While I accept this as a valid critisism of the video as in the beginning I thought that the audience would think this very thing, I thought it had a better effect if there was darkness at the beginning of the part as well as the end than if it was just at the end like in the rough cut.
I also recieved some feedback from other people who fit into my ideal target audience and who are not experienced in media and the technical aspects. Here is what some had to say:
Kim Francis: "The final video is so so amazing! I love the tranquil part starting at 2.10, everything fits in so nicely and it's real effective!" 
Kasia Kałosza: "I actually really like this ^^ I think, at the beginning the image could be a little steadier, and the lighting could be a bit more dramatic at times to emphasise the mood more, but that's just me ;) Good stuff! :D" 
 
Personally, I think that there are two things that I would want to be changed in this video. For one, in the beginning where there is a shot of the pink bread, I would have prefered to have kept the shotglass that was on fire (like the rough cut) as I think the 'waves' of the flames flow with the music more effectively. I would also have liked to show amy leaving the tea party in a different way, or at least used a different shot because it still seems like its a bit rushed and it doesn't follow the beat as much as the other shots do.

Overall, from the audience feedback that I received, I've learned that some things that you want to achieve, don't always turn out the way you want it to and also that no matter how much time is spent in editing or filming something, there is always something that could be added or changed to make it better. If I was to make an improvement due to the feedback, I would maybe add something to the middle scene so it doesn't fade in and fade out into the blackness to avoid any confusion for the audience. Another thing I would do is have more night/garden shots of Amy and more shots of Yasmin in order to balance out the exposure of both the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter.

Evaluation Question Three: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Above are just some of the resources that I used in my research, planning and evaluation of my coursework. I used websites such as myspace, facebook, island records dafont and wikipedia to research ideas whereas I used youtube and vimeo to both research during the planning stages, but to also present on the blog these ideas. For example, when explaining about the theme of Alice in Wonderland here, I used youtube to show what part of the film was most inspirational for the music video. The main search engine I used when doing my research was google, as it presented the best matches for what I was looking for and Blogger is also the main website I used as this whole coursework project is presented using this blogging site. All of these websites have played a big part in me being able to bring ideas to the group when it came to the music video anf understand ideas that people have said. I have used other media points such as magazines and other digipaks in order for me to research the world of advertising. This enabled me to create a digipak and advert that would be able to be used if it was to be properly published in the music industry.(such as having the appropriate legal information on the digipak)

For editing the advertisement and digipak, both Photoshop and Quark Express were used. With Quark, I used features such as the resize tool and the text tool in order to get the text on the digipak. Final Cut Pro was used in order to edit the music video. The first image shows the group deciding what footage would be best to put after the part where the artist is in the garden (middle of the song). I learned how to do advanced editing such as the use of markers an the razor tool (which allowed us to edit the video on beat). An example of this is when the footage of Jasmine flashes to the drum beat at the beginning of the music video (see below)

We also learned in a tutorial how to edit our music video using base tracks, however due to the nature of our video we decided not to use this process. The second image shows how I created the layout for the digipak and the third image shows part of my editing process of my photobook.


Livetype was used when we were experimenting with putting subtitles on the music video, but as a group we decided that it didn't suit the video and could take away the audiences attention from the mise en scene and story of the music video which is not our intention.

When filming the music video, there was quite a bit of equipment that was used. We as a group used three 16GB SD cards, 2 lighting kits, a tripod, 2 over the camera lights and a HD JVC semi professional camera.
This year I learned how to do more handling of the camera and how not to use the tripod for everything like I done when making the thriller title sequence last year. I learned how to do panning freehand and create the correct type of lighting for each scene. However, in the video a lot of the light was natural because our charged batteries ran out fairly quickly and there was no plug for a proper power supply.
For the storyboard, the whole group produced two types of storyboard - an animatic storyboard and also a drawn one. Below is the animatic storyboard that we used Final Cut Pro for and two pages of the drawn storyboard.

Evaluation question two: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

As you can tell by my digipak and advert, they both have direct links with each other. My advert (image two) is the same with the inside panels of my digipak, therefore creating a distinct link between them. However, even though the image is of the same thing, the picture had been flipped vertically in order for it to go better and not to have amy covered by the mini photobook which is inserted on the other panel where the CD is not there. Following this, the same font used in the front cover of the digipak is used not only on the advert, but also at the first and last page of the photobook (which can also be seen below).

 

Also, with all three of my ancillary products, the main reason that direct links were made so clearly, was because most images were taken from the music video. For example, the image that is on my advert and inside panels of the digipak was taken from the middle of the music video (see below) and the picture of the teapot was taken from the music video. However, some pictures were not from the music video, such as the front panel of the digipak. But all pictures were taken when on that day we were filming.

Following this, the digipak shows a variety of bright colours which not only runs through these three products, but also throughout the music video. One thing that had been mentioned when the audience saw the music video was that they liked the great use of colours and I wanted to carry that on through to the other ancillary products. These main colours were the use of pinks, reds and pastel colours.
Personally, I think that my ancillary products could have been better  and I could have done better with the images in order to make it more suitable for this type of genre. For example, I could have used a different picture of the front panel of the digipak because it looks like Amy is blindfolded or something, when really its the contrast that made her black bow in her hair that made it look like this. Also I could have created the digipaks so not all pictures were taken from the music video.
I decided to talk to people who are within my target audience to see if they would buy this product if it was in the shops and these are the responses I got (see below):
Juliana Amaa - 18 years old: "I really like your digipak because of the bright colours and things, I would really want to know more about the artist. I must say that I don't really know if I would be able to link the advertisement and the digipak instantly because the image of the advert links with the inside image in the digipak. But with saying this, I think I would definitely want to buy it, if not, at least find out more about your artist."
Kim Francis - 17 years old: "I really love the contrast of colour in your advert with the bright lights - its very eye catching. I think you grab the audience in a good way with your digipak and the photobook tells me that this album is a story that hasn't fully finished which makes me curious about what the artist has to offer in the album. I'd be the type to buy it from HMV if it was featured there."
Kasia Kalazoa - 16 years old: "Woah, the whole thing just looks so pretty! I love all the colours and settings and the way everything looks! The teapot on the back is amazing, I'd buy the digipak just because it looked so awesome - if it turned out the music wasn't so great I don't think I'd be too bothered. I'd still have something that looks nice in my room! :D"
This shows that there are some flaws in my digipak and advertisement, however, they do not seem to be so severe that it would result in the lack of sales for the artist if it was to be put on to the market.

Evaluation question one: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are a few video's that had influenced the final video. For example, the way bright colours were used in Florence and the Machine's video for Cosmic Love and how it could be seen as 'eccentric' by the audience. Pictures of the music video which represents what I am talking about are below:

These pictures (especially the pictures one, two and five) shows how bright colours were used throughout the whole video whereas pictures three and four show how eccentric the video in terms of the mirrored room, light bulbs and her dress which can light up. Following this, an iconic feature of this video is the light bulbs which features well through the whole video, just like our teapot features well in ours.


Our video shows that it has been inspired by this video by many things. (see pictures below showing this.)

 


Also how everything calms down in the middle of the song just like it is with our music video. (2:09 - 2:38 of the video below)

Another music video that inspired the final music video was Orange Caramel - A~ing♡ (아잉♡)  due to the use of costumes, bright colours and how things are over exaggerated. The video also shows another element of Alice in Wonderland, but in a different medium. Below is the actual music video and images that show these features.

Our main theme throughout the whole music video was the film Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton in terms of visual style and the tea party scene especially. It also has the element of how out of the ordinary the scene is in the film and us as a group were deeply inspired by this. Video of part of tea party scene and pictures of it are below:

The colours of picture two which is from the original Alice in Wonderland also inspired us in our usage of colours.
Below is a video of me summarising the main elements of the music video that was inspired by something else.

The music video didn't challenge conventions too much as when researching indie music videos, I found that you can create whatever you want and things can be anything you want them to be. The video doesn't have elements that are out of the ordinary for the genre, for example, we don't have elements of mise en scene which would be in an rnb video such as big sets/houses, lots of gold, girls and money.
The music video sticks with the basic technical convention in terms of the music video sticking with the beat and footage being changed on beat. The music video also sticks with conventions such as having close ups of the artist and the other characters, establishing the relationship of the characters and story with the audience. With this, we made sure that the audience was aware of the key star (the artist) by concentrating more on her throughout the video.
Following this, the music video fits comfortably within the disjuncture convention of Andrew Goodwin's theory as it doesn't really connect with the lyrics of the song is has a separate story to the actual music.

The digipak and advert is kind of conventional as it shows strong, distinct references with the music video like most digipaks. However, you do get some digipaks in the genre dont show links to the video. For example, the digipak by Friendly Fires (seen below) does not show much of a link between that and their music videos.

There is one main digipak which influenced me with my digipak and advert because of their use of bright colours and direct links with their music video in one way or another.
This digipak and advert influenced me in terms of linking the two together in terms of imagery of the two products. For example, the background of the advert is the same as the digipak front cover.

The colours in my digipak are very bright which can be shown in other digipaks of this genre.

Screenshots of completed Photobook

Here are the screenshots of my photobook which is meant to be placed on the inside panel next to where the CD is meant to be placed. For the front cover of the photobook is a continuation of what the picture in the inside panel is in order to show some kind of continuation of the digipak. In the photobook, there are pictures from the music video which shows further links between the music video and the digipak. It also further introduces the three characters including the artist along with key scenes in the video. Examples of this is the bread that says "EAT ME" and the images of the tea party along with an image of Amy when she wakes up in bed.
I decided to add text using the same font as I did on the front panel to make the photobook into a kind of story, which makes links with the magical, fairy tale like thing which is what the music video shows. I thought it would be good to add a 'To be continued...' part at the end which shows that this is potentially not the end to the story, allowing the artist if they so wished to carry on this kind of persona and create another album in the furute to carry on from their debut album.

Screenshot of completed Advertisement

Here is a screenshot of my final advertisement which I created in photoshop. I decided to use the same picture as the one on the inside panels of my digipak because I felt that it was important to have some kind of link between the digipak and the advertisement in order to make it more noticable to the target audience. Also, when doing research into advertisements in magazines, it was quite apparent that most if not all the time, a clear distinct link between the digipak and the advert is present which further shows me how important it is that I make this link. I made sure that all the appropriate things were featured on the advert such as the artists website, the albums name and release date as well as reviews from the media. I decided to make my advert for only half an A4 page because it is not always the case that a whole page would be dedicated for promoting just one thing by one artist, usually it is only the case when a tour and album are being promoted or something of that sort. So with saying this, I thought that it would be best if I only created an A5 horizontal advertisement which in the real world, would enable the artist to be promoted in more magazines for the less money.

Screenshot of completed Digipak

Here are two screenshots of my completed digipak. I used photoshop to edit the images and I used Quark Express to add all the text and layout of the digipak itself.

Preparing for the advertisement

For preparing the advertisement, I also created a plan for it while making my mock up's of the advertisments which can be seen in a previous blog post here. I done it in the form of a mind map which can be seen below.

Here are some screen caps taken when I was editing various images to see what would be most effective for the advertisement.

I also thought that I could use the same image that is used in the inside panels of the digipak as it could create a distinct link between the digipak and the advertisment. The screen cap of me editing that picture can be seen in this blog post.

Preparing for the digipak

Before I started editing my images, I finalised my decision of making only a 2 panel digipak and I created a little plan of what images I was going to be using and why I would use them. For example, for the front of digipak, I decided that it would feature a image of Amy at the table on her own. This would allow me to introduce the artist on the album and therefore to the target market in question. For the back of the digipak, the teapot will be featured with the writing going where the smoke of the dry ice is.

When putting all the tracklistings on the back of the digipak, I also made note that I had to put all the legal requirements on there such as the record labels logo and mention copyright as well as the artists website so the digipak has the key features that all digipaks on the market have. 

The inside panels of the digipak, I chose the picture of Amy in the garden which is a screen cap from the music video. I thought this would be a perfect image to use because it is an iconic scene in the music video which is featured right in the middle of the song. I thought it would be most effective if I carried the image along both panels and it would also create further references to both aspects of the music video which features both a kind of magical and mysterious tea party along with night shots in the garden. I also decided that I wouldn't feature any thank you's in the end because I don't think that an artist like this one would have a big thank you list as the artists is only just emerging on the indie music scene. Also there are some 'indie' digipaks which don't feature thank you's so it isn't just a personal opinion that led me to this decision.

Here are the original images before they were edited that I decided to use for my digipak:

Front:

 Back:

 Inside panels:

Using Photoshop, I edited these pictures to make them more defined and to carry a dark, mysterious, yet alomost magical theme. Here are some screen shots of my editing process (click to enlarge):

Booklet planning

Here are the photos that I think I would like to have in my booklet which will accompany my digipak. The photos consist of the music video as a whole - the reasoning behind this is that I would like to incooperate as much of the video within the digipak as possible. Not only do I think that it would be a shame to put all the mise en scene of the video to waste when it came to the digipak, but also I think it would create a strong reference point for the audience when the pick up the digipak. The digipak will have a strong link to the music video which would be good when it came to the promotion of the new artist. See below for the pictures. (click picture to enlarge it.)

While I have not fully decided if all these pictures will be used, the key pictures which show more of the music video in relation to introducing the characters in the music video, including the artist and the key props that are featured in it will be shown in the photobooklet.

Short-list of fonts, colours, layout and design ideas

When looking for a font for our digipaks, we all had the same kind of idea that we wanted a swirly kind of font in order to keep the almost fairy tale element that the music video had. We used google to search for fonts and we came up with these fonts in our short list.

 As you can see, all of these fonts are very swirly and flows well, making these fonts the ability to look great on our digipaks.We got the idea for the font 'chopin script' from when we tried to put titles on our music video. It worked well as a font, but with the video it didn't really look that good and the music video as a whole looked better without it, hence why it does not feature on the current music video. However, it is on our short list because if it looked good on the video as a font, then it could work on the digipaks.

As a group, we decided that we will decide individually on our colour schemes of our digipaks becuse each of us have very different ideas on what they want to achieve with their digipak. For example, one of us may want pictures of the tea party on the front cover, making their colour scheme very bright and colourful with a lot of pinks but another may want to feature the garden scenes which would make their colour scheme more monotone. In order for each of us to have our own mark on our individual digipaks, we thought it would allow us to be more creative with our work if we didn't share the same colour scheme.
As for layout we think that we are all going to create a 4 panel digipak however it is a distinct possibility that we will be individually creating a photo book to accompany the digipak. This is because we think it would be good to create a whole promotional pack for our artist and we can show off the mise en scene of our music video in its entirety, which no amount of panneled digipak could achieve. We will be using a mixture of stills from the video to tie the music video in with the digipak and photos which we will be taking of Amy so there are different elements to the digipak. This will show that even though there is strong reference to the music video, we are still trying to establish our new artist into the british indie rock scene.