Evaluation Question 4

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

Evaluation Question 1

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

Feedback from video

To get some feedback on my Final Cut of my video the whole of the class got together and we sat and watched everyone's video's where we reviewed and commented good and bad points also where areas could be improved. 

I managed to get some feedback from this activity myself, I ended up with 18 pieces of feedback; some more detailed than others, but helpful none the less.

What was good about my video:

• Good use of "MTV" logo
• the video "flows" 
• Cuts to the beat
• Narrative was clear and consistent
• Shots were complimented by transitions 
• Actor is well presented
• Lyrics are linked with actions, especially at "If I close my eyes"
• Good voyeurism 
• Transitions are used appropriately 
• Narrative works well with the lyrics
• Complimentary mise en scene with the location
• Range of different shots used
• Effective camera angles
• Lighting was good due to contrast of the dark.
• Good camera movement
• Actor/ actress showed enthusiasm
• Ending pieced the video together well

Areas of improvement:

• Some areas were dark in places- this was mentioned on more than one occasion
• Some camera movement was a bit unsteady at times
• More eye contact was needed
• Narrative was slightly confusing until the end 
• A bit too much walking
• The actor could maybe sing some lyrics
• Some shots slightly long

From looking at the reviews of the feedback I had been given, overall, I was very pleased! The feedback I received was constructive and showed me areas which I could improve on and what worked well in the video. I think the good outweighs the bad here so I am not too worried about making any drastic changes to the video. 

Changing my idea appeared to be a good move, as compared to my Rough Cut the reviews have improved and shown that with a bit of more time, planning and effort the outcome is greater. 

ADD PHOTOS OF FEEDBACK AND CLASS PHOTO.

slideshow?

Before and After Photos

These are the before and after photos from my Digipak and Magazine Advert

 FRONT COVER

Before

After

Here I used the same image to present the magazine advert and the digipak front cover, this was for recognition of the band and for the band Bag Raiders to have a remembered and recognisable promotion package. 

INSIDE PANELS

Before

After

I split the photo in two for each different inside panel of my digipak, for the "separated" feel, and kept the house style consistent by adding the gradient around the edges. 

BACK COVER

Before

Please note: This is not the exact photo as below, (as i cannot find it) but it is similar

After

 I edited the background and made the image smaller, so the focus was more direct on both of the characters rather than having the background as distarction

Construction in my Magazine

I first began by making a paper template of what I had planned for my magazine to look like. I did this so it would mean I would spend less time playing around in Photoshop and wasting time on what I think would look good. So by looking at other Magazine Adverts I constructed my own "non-digitally".

For the construction of my magazine I started by choosing the image that I thought would be best for my magazine advert. Therefore I decided the best way it could be recognised by fans and the target audience would be to use the same image as that on the album cover. So I used the original image that had no effects on it to give me some versatility and to make the poster more manageable to edit to my desire. 

Firstly I put the photo onto a transparent new document that was sized A4 as that would be the conventional size in a magazine. Then I added the title and the name of the album, to keep the house style constant and again for recognition. I kept the font "Port Credit", and even added a small thin dividing line between the title and the album name. I put this in place to make the band stand out more. I feel this quality boosts the bands promotion and for the promotion of the album as well.

Next I added the "rating stars" which I used to show people what was "thought" of the album by recognised music companies; again to help promote the album and to show audiences that it was a highly rated album, and to show that it must be a good and worthy album to buy. This star rating is also repeated lower down, where music companies are mentioned and there is even quotes from certain music companies which are highly recognised. Although these are in a smaller print they still have a purpose, as once the viewers attention is caught they'll read the whole of the poster and the questioning of whether the album is a good one or not, is answered through these reviews.

Following this is the release date was added and I changed the font to "Opifico" and kept the writing in capital letters to highlight the release date and so it would be the next thing that catches the viewers attention when looking at this poster. I used the smaller, thin lines again to give a waterfall effect to the poster in that when the audience look at it, their eyes are guided down the page and they read all of the relevant information; title, album name, rating, dates and what media its available on. I next added underneath the date, the medium that the song is available on, for example, CD, in special edition and on download, this present the audience with a range of ways which they can choose to download the song. Some prefer download, some still prefer buying an actual CD. This gives the audience the ability to have a choice and also allows the promotion of the band to go further as on some download sites, there are the "Viewers also bought" and "Recommended for You" section which some people may discover the album, if only by chance.

Following this, I added in another "dividing line" to separate the the dates of release from the tracks that are included in the album, these are usually, more well known songs that audiences and viewers recognise.  Underneath this I have added reviews and comments of other music magazine and recognised reviewers. This shows the viewers a range of opinions through different opinions and thoughts, so there is a range of reviews instead of the one, to rely on. 

Finally, I added in some little extras. In the bottom left corner I added the HMV symbol, as its the only record shop available today and is a worldwide organisation that people know of. This advertises not only the HMV stores but also the album as people will know where to find the album. In the centre I added the record label so people knew who were supporting the band in their recordings, although not a very well known record label it can still be googled, and people will come across it in one way or another. In the bottom left I added the band's official website, for promotion not only of the album, but for social feeds, news, updates and tour dates.

Putting all of these components together I wanted to see what the magazine would look like if also displayed out of a magazine, therefore, I decided to place the poster on a bus stop advert to see what it looked like. Using Photoshop and the distort tool I was able to produce this below. I think the advert looks professional and goes well on both a larger and smaller print scale.

Construction In My Digipak

This is my process in constructing my digipak and the stages involved... 

Firstly, after doing a small test on a few images that I had taken, just to give myself an idea of what I was doing and to get a basic template which i could eventually improve on. After doing this I decided that I should start creating the digipak, since I had played around with the effects and had selected suitable photos to feature in my digipak. 

I began by making a paper template of the desired effect I wanted from my digipak and what I initially thought would look good. This planning was to help waste less time and to prepare me for placing everything together. Although I made this template I still had to play around with fonts and test out colour schemes in order for my house style to be consistent.

All in place

inside left 

inside right

front cover

back cover

I started by looked at a ranger of fonts as seen below.

I considered the house style carefully and what would be the most appropriate font for my digipak, out of those above. In the end I chose a font called "Port Credit" which is the third font down from the list above. I chose this font as I felt it was relatable to the house style and the photo which I used for the front cover. However, I had to consider this font not only for the front cover but also for the other panels on the digipak. I found this font suited well, as it was simplistic in its own way, was not too thick, and had a small curve on the ends on some of the lettering. Therefore, before deciding that I would definitely use it I tested it against other fonts and compared each to one another. After doing this, I did in the end chose this font due to its versatility and the ability to adapt to its surrounding very naturally as, the others did not have this versatility.

Front Cover

For my new front cover, I decided to keep the first image I had originally created in my "tester" front covers as I felt it conveyed the image of being "so close, yet so far away" which is the subliminal message in the music video, so it is linked in that way to my video. Here I added in a lighting effects to darken the picture and highlight the characters in the middle. This enabled me to work around the effect I had laid on the picture, such as adjusting the brightness and contrast of the picture. I was not completely satisfied by the lighting effect that I put on so I decided to use the gradient tool, which was set, black - transparent so that I could enhance these faded edges around the picture. As no one has perfect skin, I also had to use the spot healing brush tool, just to erase some blemishes and scars off of both faces, along with the red eye tool as this occurred too.    

gradient tool

brightness and contrast

 

showing where I added the effects in my labels

      

"FX" to add drop shadow

Next I added in the desired text that I wanted, this was after I had played around with all the different style that I liked and I thought were most appropriate. I then had to position it and choose a colour for it also. I decided to go plain and make the font white, as any dark colour would not allow the font to stand out against the dark background. To compliment the white and to help the font become more eye catching and noticeable, I put a subtle black drop shadow behind the text which is not so obvious at first however, it does enhance the text and it becomes the most attracting characteristic of the front cover, like a digipak should be. I also applied this effect to the name of the album, again to enhance it. However, I altered it somewhat, I also put a slight gradient across the "Way Back Home" text so that it had a bit of a 3D and shaded quality like the original Bag Raiders album. It does not detract from the other text of the image, yet, it is still noticeable, which means it has the right balance of contrast. 

to help eliminate spots and blemishes

Back Cover

Following on from the front cover, I next wanted to start the back cover which required a bit of extra research. I looked into the legal and copyright issues on a digipak and I added this onto the back of my own digipak. These are things such as, "copyright" and even adding in the website of the recording company along with copyright terms such as who owns the song and the lyrics writers for the album. Accompanying this was the barcode which you see on every album so that it can be purchased. I changed the fonts for these specific parts as it was legal rights and using the font that I had used for titles and text would be inappropriate. 

I kept the house style similar as I darkened the edges using the lighting effects and then enhanced this slightly by using the gradient tool. Again, to keep the house style and the conventions the same the original font that is used on the font was used on the back cover for the track list, this made the font recognisable to the audience. 

I positioned the track list down the centre of the photo as there was a lot of "negative space" around the characters heads and acted as a divide between both of them, again, exhausting the idea that they are "so close yet so far away". The house style is kept the same, in the font of the track list and is spaced enough so that it is not too close together and not too far apart.

Insides

The two inside pages that I have put together were one original image, that i simply split into two. I decided that by splitting the image it would create an exaggerated effect of the concept behind the video; "I can feel you in the distance but you seem so far away", this quotes the lyrics from the song where they are "so close, yet so far away" . This idea was simplistic yet effective in keeping the house style, the black gradient fading around the edges and the brightness on the face of the character was kept brighter and with a slight bit of contrasting added. I did this for both pictures. I placed the both back to back so that each panel was divided by the spine in the centre of the digipak, again to highlight the individuals isolation.

inside left

However, on the inside left image, showing James' face, I had to edit the background slightly as where I had taken this photo at night in the dark, some of the background lights did not show up on the far left of this particular photo. However, because there were some lights in the background, in Photoshop I simply used the clone stamp tool to clone some of the lights to cover the rest of the darkened image so that it did not look like I had added onto the photo to fit the size. The lights were arranged in a random and spontaneous order to make the image look as if it had not been edited in this area, and to make it look more realistic. 

inside right

CD

To keep a consistent house style, I decided that by using the front cover on the digipak and the magazine for the CD cover would be the best option as not only does it promote the image of the CD further it also is a memorable image for audiences to remember as it is used so frequently in promoting the band. 

Finished Magazine Advert

Finished Digipak

My Completed Digipak

Bottom Right: Back Cover
Bottom Left: Front Cover
Top Left: Inside Right (where CD will be laid)
Top Right: Inside Left photo

Above shows the layout and the template I used to design my digipak and place it in order as to be used in a real digipak. This is my completed digipak for my album, and below are the isolated pictures, one by one including my CD design .

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Left and Right 

LEFT

RIGHT

CD

Putting all of these together I wanted to get a better perspective of what the Digipak looked like, so I played around with my finished products.

with CD in place

without CD displaying back panel.

I used Photoshop to edit these, I found a 4 panel template, which I used to place my finished products onto to get an idea of what it would look like if produced. I used the distortion tool to place my photos at the appropriate angle so that it would fit on the panels properly. I also changed the opacity on the back panel underneath the CD so that it gave the illusion that the plastic covering dimmed the picture slightly.