SIGN OFF!

This will be my last post on my blog as my coursework is now FINISHED!!!! It was hard work but I am really happy with my final products and hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them!

Thank you and goodbye!!!!

MY FINAL VIDEO!

This is my Final Video:

Figure 8 Final Kristi from Caroline Birks on Vimeo.

FINAL DIGIPAK!

Here is the individual panels for my digipak (each 14 cm by 14 cm with 1/2 cm for each spine)

This is the front panel of my digipak, I wanted to keep it quite simple and neat as I think it looks cleaner and more professional this way. I edited the original picture by adjusting the tone and brightness, I also got rid of any blemishes and smoothed out her skin to make it have a more professional finish. I found the font for the cover on DaFont.com and after asking my audience for what they thought was the best font, they selected this font and I quite like it as it is neat and sans serif which I had said I preferred in a previous post and the colors of the font is a theme continued throughout the digipak.

This is the back cover, I chose to use the same picture as seen on my advert to create continuity and also it left room for my track listing. I included a barcode, the DVD logo and the logo of the record label that Ellie Goulding is with, which is Polydor Records. The track listing is split between the two discs, one for the CD and one for the DVD where my music video would be, it is part of a bonus disc. I included text underneath the track listings which I found from the back of a real digipak but I changed it slightly to make it applicable to an Ellie Goulding album, it includes copyright information which helps make it look more realistic as a media text. 

This is the 3rd panel on the outside which includes a thank you message to the fans, I used a similar logo as seen in the middle panels of the digipak and on the advert. I really like the panel as I like the background which is the same background as seen on the back of the digipak.

These are the inside panels, it is more chaotic and busy than the rest of the panels but I think that it creates a nice contrast. I used the logo to continue the theme throughout all the products and there is also a continutiy in the colour theme. However, I like collage effect I created with the pictures as there is a limited amount of pictures used throughout my products so this way you can see more and a variety of sides of my artist, which the fans will enjoy. Either side of the logo will be two pockets in which the discs would be placed. On the left 14 cm square the CD would go and on the right 14 cm square the DVD would go. I have also included space for spines either side of the middle 14 cm square.

This is the spine, once again it continues the color scheme, same fonts and the logo is also present. Its simple but continues the theme and makes it easily identifiable to the audience.

MY FINAL ADVERT!

I decided that for my advert I would use the same picture which can be found on the back of my digipak, it is slightly differently edited which helps to distinguish between the two however they are similar enough to create a continuity between products. I included the various outlets which the album would be available for download from and explained all the components which will come with the album. Other features seen on the advert include the name of the album, date of release and Ellie's website and reviews which would help provide and incentive for people to buy it. I also included links to my music video for "Figure 8" on the poster as it helps promote this individual product. Another feature which I quite like on the poster is the "EG" logo I created. It features throughout the digipak and I think it promotes it as specific to Ellie Goulding and also helps create a brand identity for the products. I also used similar fonts as seen on the digipak which helps create continuity throughout the products. I'm really happy with the way the final product turned out as I think it looks quite professional and presents Ellie Goulding in a warm, inviting way which will appeal to the target audience and will help promote the products.

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation question 1 from Kristi Hewitt

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

Question 3) What have you learnt from your audience feedback? 

Audience feedback has been a vital element throughout the production of my coursework. The first bit of Audience feedback which I collected was from the audience questionnaire that I used to help determine my target audience and their expectations of the genre. I aided my primary research by looking at secondary research, this I did by looking Young and Rubicam’s 4 C’s which identified the different types of people targeted by marketing, this also helped me establish who it was I was actually targeting. 


 I created the questionnaire using Survey Monkey and put the link on my blog as well as sending the link round via email and social network, I additionally verbally asked people to fill in the questionnaire. Using Survey Monkey was extremely useful in organising my audience questionnaire as after I created the survey and people had filled it in the website collected all the results, analysed them for me and produced graphs for me, then I blogged about the answers I had received. From this questionnaire, my results concluded that people said that they enjoyed performance, followed by narrative based music videos over concept based music videos. These results helped me have a direction for my music video and I tried to cover the majority of these areas in order to stay true to my initial audience feedback, this therefore proves that it is very useful. Another easy way in which I could gain audience feedback would be from asking my class members and friends to look at my blog really helped too and give me feedback, for example whenever I was struggling to decide on a photo or lacked inspiration as to which direction I should take my music video, they offered their advice and provided alternative views. This was important as by working on my own it meant that I was limit to only one personas option, my own so by getting this variety of views I was able to expand my creativity.

The majority of the audience feedback that I have needed the most has been on my music video; I asked my class mates, family and friends to watch my video to give me a variety of opinion. As useful as all of the criticisms I received were I feel the most important ones came from the people within my target audience bracket. I received much audience feedback  from my teacher which I appreciated as she knew had seen my video progress and had media knowledge to apply to the feedback, this was important  because I really just wanted to get it finished looking the best that it could and make sure that the narrative was as understandable as possible. However not all the feedback I received was helpful because if I changed it the way everyone wanted it would lose its meaning and I know that although audience feedback is really important but it was also important that I stayed true to my vision for my music video. Therefore I did make changes as a result  of my audience feedback however I didn't change everything that people didn't like as it just complicated things, I found it impossible to please everyone but I left the ending of my music video open which meant it was rather ambiguous and open to different peoples interpretations for example one member of my audience was asking whether or not they were actually together whilst another viewer was convinced their got the meaning and that the lyrics “lover hold on” was amplified by the video as the lovers were able to overcome their issues and remain together.  

Overall, the feedback I have received throughout the process was very helpful indeed in achieve a successful media text which appealed to my target. I have taken on board the various comments and advice received, and I have altered parts of the ancillary texts which were weaker looking. I think its important that  I got other people’s opinions on my coursework as working on your own can limit your viewpoint, and others may have different  views and ideas to me so it was key to get additional ways of viewing my coursework. 

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4 from Caroline Birks on Vimeo.

First draft of my Advert

thrid draft of my back panel

second draft of my middle panel

                                     

Third draft of my music video

Kristi 2nd draft from Caroline Birks on Vimeo.

Second draft of my back panel

Here is my second draft of my back panel after looking at another digipak I have made some changes such as the DVD Video logo and the copyright information at the bottom.

first draft of my 'Thank You' panel

As I have three panels on the inside of my digipak I needed a front panal, back panel and a middle panel which I have decided to make a panel dedicated to  the fans from  Ellie as a thank you for their support.

Here is my first draft:

I have kept it quite simple as the main focus of the panel is the message to the fans but I have also tried to link it into the rest of the digipak in terms of colour and themes.

First draft of my back panel

Here is my first draft, it includes the track listings, dvd contents, barcode and record label logo but I will look at a real digipak for further information on the codes and coventions of a pop digipak

Third draft of the inside of my Digipak

After finding out my original idea was too blurry to use I started to recreate it using Photoshop here is my editing process, 

This is a bit rough and I needed to tidy it up so I had to add all of the images and it resulted in looking like this, which I quite like as the colours look much brighter and it links with the front panal with the colours used.

2nd draft of my Digipak

This draft I tired to make it like a collage, I made the middle image on photoshop and then cut out pictures from my various photoshoots and stuck them on after making them look like a collage.

I then scanned the picture in, unfortunately it was really blurry when I did this so I will have to recreate this image digitally using Photoshop.

First draft of inside my Digipak

 

 This is the first draft of inside m Digipak, the effect and greyscale images was an accident but I thought it looked unusual. However it became too difficult to expand on this idea and it didn't link with the ideas seen on my front panel, so I have since changed and developed my ideas but here is my initial progress. 

Tracklisting for my Digipak

Tracks in Halcyon Days:

Don't Say A Word,
Anything Could Happen,
Figure 8,
My Blood,
Explosions,
Burn, 
Goodness Gracious, 
You, My Everything,
 Hearts Without Chains,
 Stay Awake,
 Got It Under Control,
 Flashlight, 
How Long Will I Love You, 
Tessellate, 
Midas Touch

Music Videos: 

Figure 8,
Burn,
Anything Could Happen, 
Joy, 
Lights,
I Know You Care,
I Need Your Love

and EXCLUSIVE interview with Ellie Goulding

First draft on my COVER

any feedback will be very helpful in the development of my cover!

Feedback on my second draft!

Some feedback from my teacher on my second draft:

- the backwards running doesn't work
- some of the lip syncing is not quite correct

something to consider:

-spin, towards the end as it needs a climax
- have footage of a boy watching

Second draft of my music video!

Kristi NEW from Caroline Birks on Vimeo.

Here is the second draft of my music video, I have one more bit of footage to do then that'll be the end of filming, then I'll have the final bit of editing to do and adding some effects. 

Feedback from my first draft of my music video!

Here, is some feedback I got after then first viewing of my music video:

- Cut the performance shots before she smiles

- A bit repetitive 

- Cut a bit from the beginning of the music as its a bit repetitive 

- To get more variety of shots film the whole performance of at least three times

- The song is about a relationship with a guy, will he be featured? 

First Draft of my music video

Here's a first draft of my music video, its a really rough cut I need to add more and I have done more shooting since creating this draft but here is my initial ideas! I also need to cut the music as I think the beginning drags a bit!



Kristiqt from Caroline Birks on Vimeo.

My Digipak Layout

 I have chosen my layout for my Digipak, it will be a six panel layout and the inside will include 6 pictures of my artist which will spread across the three panels. 

It is similar to the above design but I adapted it to make it more interesting than the one photo booklet in the middle panel.

My inspiration was from Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience album:

I like the way it folds out and I also like the way which when it does fold out completely you see a series of photos of the artist and the CD's are slotted into the fold of the case, the only thing I would change for my Digipak is I would include a track listing on the back as my artist is just starting out.

Starting editing

I've started editing and I am using a Apple Mac Book Pro and the software is Final Cut Pro. I have used it before so it was really just reminding myself of how to use it but I am also learning a lot more effects and different things possible in Final Cut Pro.

Whilst editing I realised that there was a lot of holes in my footage and some lyrics which needed to be performed I had no footage for so I will have to schedule one more and final shooting session in which I will gain all the missing footage which will help put my video together. In the meantime, I will continue editing to see what else is potentially missing and then I can make sure that I get all the footage I need.

More Filming!

I did some more filming today, the weather wasn't great so I wasn't able to go outside as much as I probably would have but I rescheduled my shots to be inside and did some rehearsals and re-thought some of my shots which didn't look as well as I thought. Nevertheless, I got a lot of filming done and some good shots so next will be editing.




Here's some shots of my filming:

First shoot of my Digipak!

 

 I've started production of my Digipak and did a first photoshoot to test out lighting and try a variety of shots, I hope to do another photoshoot but here's a selection of my photos so far:

 

 

 

 

some of these pictures are slightly blurred and the lighting isn't as strong as I would like however, there are still some pictures which I like. Nevertheless, this served as a good practice shoot and I will add to my variety of images after my next shoot.

Possible fonts

I have been looking at possible fonts using DaFont.com, I have looked at a variety and narrowed it down to a final five fonts. Using these I will ask some people from my target audience about which ones they prefer and use that to help me decide the final font for my digipak.


Here are my options:

Shooting Schedule!

Flat Plan for Digipak

Digipak: Textual Analysis

Textual Analysis:

Micheal Jackson- This Is It

Michael Jackson, an American singer-songwriter most commonly referred to as 'The King of Pop'. His record labels include Steeltown, Motown, Epic, Legacy and later his own record company MJJ Productions.

When Michael Jackson was signed to Berry Gordon to Motown, he worked with the likes of Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.
MJJ Music Is an American record label that is owned by MJJ Productions Inc and founded by American entertainer Michael Jackson. It is distributed by Epic Records (for which Jackson recorded) and Work Records.
MJJ Music was founded in 1988. Jackson formed the label to help shape the talents of burgeoning artists.

As a musician, he ranged from Motown's dance fare and ballads to techno and house-edged new jack swing to work that incorporates both funk rhythms and hard rock guitar. Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other albums, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first and only dancer from pop and rock music. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 26 American Music Awards, more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century" and "Artist of the 1980s"; 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career, more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era; and the estimated sale of over 400 million records worldwide.Jackson has won hundreds of awards, making him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.In what would have been Jackson's 52nd birthday on August 29, 2010, he became the most downloaded artist of all time. Jackson constantly traveled the world attending events honoring his humanitarianism and the 2000 Guinness Book of Records recognized him for supporting 39 charities.

The packaging for Michael Jackson's This Is It is cardboard packaging and uses the traditional gatefold however to make it more modern the CD's go into little slots at the front and back of the case, either side of a booklet which includes both pictures from his This Is It show/ film and track listings of the CD's.

The front cover is quite plain but familiar as it links with the movie poster. It features a silhouette of Micheal Jackson which is filled with bright images from his live show which included all of the songs on this album. This pictures from his rehearsals of his upcoming tour is significant as it was said to be one of his most memorable tours and a part of music history forever (tickets sold out within a matter of minutes), this  is why the album is so important. The image of Micheal on the front portrays a 'typical Michael pose' and lives up to his name as the King of Pop. It also includes typical features of what Micheal would wear such as the one sparkly glove and the trilby hat. The bright background lighting which highlights the image of Micheal makes him seem as if he surrounded by smoke or in a spotlight making the image stand out and gives it an other worldly feel. The font is serif and the title of the album is larger than the rest of the writing on the cover, it is also in bold and in capitals. This is because it actually means what is says 'This Is It' as Micheal Jackson died before the show was able to start his tour. This makes this writing possibly the most important message on the cover.

The back of the album has a similar image to the front- still portraying a pose typical to MJ and filled with similar images from the show as the front. However, in this image he is a finishing pose, a famous pose by MJ in which he spins around and finishes pointing down and tilting his hat- a pose which would feature in the show. This could represent the end of his career and as he looks down it could signify him looking down after his death.

The digi-pak is a Deluxe 2 CD set which includes a 36-page booklet which includes more images from the show. CD 1 includes a range of 16 of MJ's greatest hits that would have featured in the show and in the running order of the live show. The last two songs on CD 1 are 2 new, unreleased songs created especially for the show. CD 2 has unreleased versions of some of his songs and a spoken poem which had never been heard before. On the back of the digi-pak it has a barcode and record label logo and a dedication to his children- 'This album is dedicated to Michael's children Prince Micheal, Paris and Prince Michael II "Blanket"' 

The digi-pak is predominately image led and the only text seen is of the track listing and track information which uses the same small, standard text throughout. All the images are of the show, varying from the performances themselves to behind the scenes images and the band for the show. The images are exactly what you'd expect from a Micheal Jackson show and feature bright colors. There are some pictures which don't actually feature Micheal in them because it reflects the show as a whole therefore may include the dancers, band, crew of the director- Kenny Ortega.

The disk have a similar layout but opposite in color schemes, which creates a link  between them. These disk keep with the theme of the whole album and in terms on relating to other Micheal Jackson CD's this one can be seen to link to a previous digi-pak of MJ's in terms of color and matching disks.

To conclude, the set-up and layout of this digi-pak work well as it portrays MJ in a good way and encompasses everything he is about- it creates a good way and is designed to stand out and attract an audience. This is more simple as a design for a digi-pak, especially when compared to MJ's previous albums or any other digi-pak but it creates a peaceful and nostalgic feel to Micheal therefore succeeds in it's purpose.