Final Evaluation: Question One

Evaluation: Question Four (Draft)

Evaluation 4 by AliceLillyHoar

Evaluation: Question Three (Draft)

Evaluation 3 Copy

Evaluation: Question Two (Draft)

Evaluation 2 by AliceLillyHoar

Evaluation: Question One (Draft)

Question 1

Evaluation Questions

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Campaign Advertisement

As part of the artist profile I created a wix website and twitter account as linked below:

www.alicelillyhoar.wix.com/lexiandthespectrum
https://twitter.com/SpectrumLexictrumLexi

As part of the campaign for the album I have posted the advertisement on both the website and twitter account and also used the twitter to advertise the website:

Second Draft Music Video

This is my second draft of my music video, as you can see here, on the video there is a copyright banner stating this video was created using 'Premier Elements 11 trail' as I do not have the full version of the software. This has created a problem as many other programs, such as Final Cut Pro, Premier Pro and iMovie, will not recognise the file type that our footage has been saved as. I have also tried to convert the files, but the converters I have tried also do not recognise the file type. As a final resort this has lead to me purchasing the software, but has also created delays in the editing process as I have has to wait for the software to be delivered.

Post-Feedback Changes and Alterations

The feedback we have had from both teachers and peers for our first draft music video has been largely positive and has given us great points on features that work well and can be continued within the full video. However, after also receiving constructive criticism within the feedback, I have decided to make some alterations to the video within the post-production stage. There are also some changes I wish to make within editing that have not been influenced by my feedback. The alterations, changes and features we are keeping are as followed:

• Within all the feedback the good quality of our footage was mentioned frequently and said to greatly enhance the overall look of the video. Similar feedback was also received regarding the lighting used within our shots. Other feedback also told us that the girl we have used within the video also works really well, as she fits the role and appears in a realistic way. We were also told that her costuming, along with all other elements of the mise-en-scene we created, work really well as they strongly reflects the theme within our digipaks, advertisements and the artist herself. All of these points made within feedback relate to the production stage, therefore it is reassuring to know our footage looks good and we have minimal or possibly no re-filming to do for most of the video. This allows use to focus time on post-production and perfect the editing to match good quality shots.
• Some of the negative points that were made in the feedback were in relation to the lip-syncing within the draft video. Whilst some peers gave us positive feedback for the lip-syncing overall, others gave us more constructive points about specific areas where the lip-syncing is incorrect or unnatural in its appearance; we also received similar constructive points from the teachers. Therefore, I think this is something that needs to be focused on within editing, as having slick lip-syncing will help to further enhance the great quality footage.
• Further feedback referred to the way in which the shots are put together. Our peer feedback suggests that the video as a whole is really well cut, when omitting the issues with lip-syncing. However, we were also told that many of our longer shots are less effective as the artist is very static throughout the video and some longer static shots, especially of the artist singing, do not create enough interest the mise-en-scene of the shots or within the video as a whole. This issue is something that could be addressed within production, so there is the possibility of reshooting certain shots or perhaps filming completely new footage that involves more movement. However, I believe the easiest way to solve this is within editing, as faster cuts may increase the interest and flow of the video whilst keeping to our original theme and style, especially as feedback also indicated that the faster cut shots within the hook/chorus worked really well.

First Draft Music Video Teacher Feedback

• "Shot quality is very good, the girl is very effective and the mise-en-scene for the most part is effective."
• "The lip syncing looks a bit forced in places as if she isn't singing the song - this can be a bit distracting."
• "From 48 seconds on the video works best - when you get to the hook/chorus and increase the amount of shots you utilise"

First Draft Video Peer Feedback

• 'Very good use of mise-en-scene in first scene, authentic to '50's', 'Diner/Monroe era', good use of colours throughout, as well as connotations e.g., red - love/lust'
• 'Authentic setting as well as realistic lip-syncing, beauty spot is a nice touch, good use of cuts. Only negative feedback is the shadow on the white back ground and when she looks into the camera near the beginning and sings, this doesn't look as good, I think the facial expression needs to be straighter.
• 'Very good picture quality, good mise-en-scene, maybe look at lip-syncing, the person is very static'
• 'Really good lip-syncing, good locations and mise-en-scene, the artist looks believable. Really good camera quality, good start.'
• 'Good locations and lighting. The theme works really well and the mise-en-scene matches the theme well. Really good.'

Music Video Draft

Filming: Final Location Two

Outside/Garden Location

The second location we have used for the music video is an outside location. For this we used someone's garden to film in front of bushes and on a bench. We also used a second outfit within these shots.

Test Shots

These are the test shots from the second location.

Filming: Final Location One

The Greyhound Coaching Inn

Our first location for filming is The Greyhound Coaching Inn, we used one of the hotel's bedrooms to do our filming. We used this location because of it's traditional feel and vintage features that made it the perfect location for out 1950's themed music video. The picture here shows the room we used and it's layout. 












Test Shots

The images below show our test shots for the four shot types we did in the hotel, the first is for the bed shots, the second for the sofa shots, the third for the mirror and dressing table, and the fourth is the plain white background shots.

Digipak and Advertisement Fonts

On both my digipak and advertisement I have made alterations to the text post-feedback. I have not changed the font used as I think the current font 'Channel' works really well. Instead I have edited the text in order to help it stand out better, especially against my drawings which will be predominantly in the same colour. The images below show the editing I have done; the first image shows the text from my first draft digipak and advertisement and the second shows the changes I have made for my final products.

In this first version from my draft I have used no editing on the text and left it to stand alone, although I think this works well with my basic and simplistic appearance I felt it was a little lost on both the advertisement and digipak. Therefore, for my final media products I wanted the album name and artist's name to have a much more dynamic and powerful appearance. For this reason, I added in various editing styles to the font, such as outer glow which I feel works really well as it helps to make the text stand out from both the background and the main images. I have also used drop shadow to add some depth to the text, I feel this fits really well with the album name 'Ghosts' as it creates a shadowy ghost-like effect to the font.

Digipak and Advertisement Post-Feedback Changes

After recieving the feedback for my first draft digipak and advertisement I have decided to make many changes in addition to my main decision to use drawn images rather than photographs. These are some of the changes I plan to make:

Digipak:

Within my digipak I am going to change/remove several element. The first change i'm going to make is to remove the lyrics. I want to do this because I think the lyrics make my digipak appear far too cluttered and ruin the simplicity of the basic appearance I want the album to have. However, I still intend to use some text within the digipak and I am therefore going to include credits, disclaimers and further copyright information that I had not previously included in my first draft. The image on the right shows a mock-up version of my 'credit insert' for my digipak. I intend to use a very faint version of the main artist image from the cover within the background of this insert as shown here in the mock-up.

As I am no longer using photographs this also leaves my with 3 pannels of my digipak to be filled. To fill these spaces I am going to use my drawings of 1950's and album related objects to have a simplistic but statement appearance. The image on the right shows one of my new panels. I think these basic outline drawings will work really well when the digipak is put all together.

Advertisement:

As well as changing the photographs to drawings on my advert, as I have within my digipak, there are again other changes I intend to make. These changes are mainly to do with the text. Within my feedback I was told the font was too large so I have reduced this down considerably, I also felt that as it took up too much room, it ruined the simplistic look I want my poster to have. I have added some effects to the text down the right hand side of my poster to make certain words/phrases/information stand out without increasing it's size. These effects includes outer glows, drop shadows and bevel. I have also made the web address at the bottom of the poster larger and added in the websites logo to help draw attention to it without making it too large the image above shows this change. In addition to this I will include a Facebook address and possibly also the artists website address on my final advert. The picture below, on the left, shows the main text with its alterations, this is not to scale, but shows the variations in font and editing. I have also however, considered using the same font for all of the text and use the same editing through out the text. If I do this I would use the 'Channel' font as this matches the title and artist's name on the advert, I also feel this will help the text stand out as a whole. The picture below on the right shows this.

On my first draft advertisement the main image used was one from the digipak but not the cover image, however I used a small image of the album within the advert. For my final advertisement I intend to remove the smaller image, as I felt this didn't fit in with the rest of the adverts overall appearance. I also intend to change the main image to the same image that is used on the cover of my digipak as I feel this will make my products work better together with more continuity between them.

Digipak and Advertisement Images

These are my original drawings that I will use in my digipak and advertisement. To do these I scanned my own drawings into photoshop and edited them to put into my final products. The pictures below are post-editing, however I may make more changes once they are placed into my digipak and advert.

Digipak: Credits and Copyright

For my first draft digipak I only included a small amount of copyright information. In my final digipak I intend to include the full copyright information and credits. Below is the back cover from Marina and the Diamonds album 'Electra Heart', I will use the credits and copyright from this album as a template for my own album.

Credits:

Tracks 1 / 4 Produced by Rick Nowels. Mixed by Mark 'Spike' Stent. Track 2 Produced by Dr. Luke and Cirkut for Prescription Songs. Mixed by Serban Ghenea / Track 3 Produced by Dr. Luke and Cirkut for Prescription Songs and Co-Produced by Diplo for Mad Decent. Mixed by Serban Ghenea Track 5 / 7 / 8 Produced by Greg Kurstin. Mixed by Serban Ghenea. Tracks 6 / 10 / 11 Produced by Rick Nowels and Devrim Karaoglu. Mixed by Mark 'Spike' Stent. Tracks 9 / 12 Produced and Mixed by Liam Howe. ℗ 2012 679 Recordings Ltd. © 2012 679 Recordings Ltd. The copyright in this product including without limitation all text, sound recordings, audio visual recordings, artwork (whether in part or whole) contained in this product, is owned by 679 Recordings Ltd. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance, transmission and broadcasting of this product including the text, sound recording, audio visual recordings and artwork (whether in part or whole) is prohibited. All rights reserved. This enhanced CD should automatically launch under Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 and on a Mac. Disclaimer: This multimedia program is provided to the user without warranties, express or implied of any kind. 679 Recordings Ltd shall not be liable for any actual or consequential damages arising from the use of, or the inability to use, the program. You expressly acknowledge and agree that the use of this software is at your own risk. 

5053105215522 / LC14666 / Made In The EU. www.marinaandthediamonds.com

I will use these credits within my own digipak, making small alterations such as the website address.

Digipak and Advertisement Drawings

After getting my feedback I have decided to make several changes to my digipak and advertisement. I have now decided to use drawings instead of photographs as I think these will look better and more interesting. I will use a few drawings within my digipak, the first will be one of the artist, this will be the main image used in the album and also on the advertisement. The others are props and 1950's objects such as a milkshake and retro telephone. Below are the scans of my original drawings of our artist, Lexi and the Spectrum, and props, pre-editing:

Lexi and the Spectrum

Coco Channel Perfume

Milkshake



Mirror and Lipstick

Telephone



Hand Drawn Album Covers

After making the decision to use drawn images within my final digipak and advert, I have done some research into other album artwork that is hand draw. Hand drawn images is not something conventionally found within pop genre album campaigns, this is therefore challenging conventions, which I feel will help to give my campaign a more unique and distinctive look. As drawn images are more conventionally used with the indie music genre, I have done research into album artwork from both the indie and pop genres to give me some inspiration. 

The Foals - Antidotes

Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion

Kreayshawn - Somethin bout Kreay

 I really like this hand drawn album cover for the The Foals 'Antidotes' album, as I think the simplicity works really well, having small elements of colour helps to create added interest and gives the overall cover a really intriguing appearance. As this album is from the indie music genre, it conforms to more indie conventions than pop genre conventions. For example it has a very simplistic and individual appearance. The cover also has a casual feel due to the use of cream and black as the main colours for the majority of the image. To take an idea like this and use it within the pop genre would definitely challenge the pop genre conventions, for this reason I don't think it would work if i used a very indie inspired image for my drawings. However, I think that it could work really well if i developed this idea to create a drawn image, inspired by an indie cover, but adapted to conform to more of the pop genre conventions. For example, I think that a more cartoon like appearance would fit to more pop genre conventions as it would have a funner and more lighthearted appearance. A good example I have found is Mika's 'Life in Cartoon Motion' album cover, this is an example of a hand drawn album cover from the pop genre, although it challenges many pop conventions, I feel that it still has a really strong pop appearance due to the use of fun, cartoon style drawings and bright, vibrant colours. This also gives the album a conventional lighthearted look which appeals to the younger audience of the pop genre. Another album cover with a similar style to this is Kreayshawn's 'Somethin bout Kreay' album cover. Again, this album cover does not conform to many of the pop genre conventions, however, it does have a strong pop look about it due to the use of bright colours and a fun cartoon style. Both of these hand drawn pop genre album covers are great examples of how and indie style can be adapted for the pop genre. These also show that challenging conventions can work really well and still create a pop genre appearance. However, although attention is focused on the drawn elements in both cases, both of these two pop genre examples still feature images of the artist, something I plan to not do. This could make it harder to create a pop genre appearance for my digipak and advertisement as I have found that using an image of the artist is a very strong convention within pop genre campaigns. I will have to experiment with the overall look of my media products in order to create the right balance of bright colour and indie influences in order to create an effective pop genre appearance with a fun and lighthearted feel.

Draft Digipak and Advert Teacher Feedback

Digipak

• Really promising, my digipak has a striking look which flows through into each of the panels. The images also look really good and the final digipak will have great images providing I can re-create these.
• I should re-consider the placement, layout or amount of lyrics within the digipak as it's appearance is too cluttered.
• I should re-consider the positioning of the telephone of the disc panel, as this image may look better in the centre.

High Level 3, 6/10

Advert

• The image looks good but does appear too busy, although it ties in with the digipak.
• More evidence of research for my advert is needed.
• The left hand side needs improving as the font size is too large and the text overall doesn't fit well with the advert as a whole.
• Consider star rating.
• Record company logos and website text needs to be larger as it isn't clear enough.

Low Level 3, 6/10

First Draft Advertisement

First Draft Digipak

This is my final first draft copy of my digipak:

Advertisement Ideas

Advertisement Mock-Ups
Here are 6 of my first draft advert mock-ups. I have used one basic idea and worked with this to create the look I want. I have used one main image of the artist as the focus for the advertisement, this photo is not exactly like the one I intend to use but I do not have my own photographs yet so I have taken this from the internet for my mock up. 
The background I have used is the same worn/stained vintage-looking paper effect as the one used within my digipak to help keep continuity between the two. For the titles I have used the same font as on the front cover of my digipak, 'Channel' for the same reasons as the background choice. 
I created a 'ghost like' effect using more transparent versions of the main photo, this reflects the idea of the album and reflects the title 'Ghosts'.
The 6 versions here show the variations of layout I have considered for the basic elements of album name, artist name, main image and background; to these I will also add basic information such as release date, a thumbnail image of the album cover, the single title 'Living Dead', the artist's twitter address and the record labels logo.

Advert Research: Album Advertisement Evaluation

Magazine Advertisement - Research

Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer

I really like this album advertisement as it's simple but effective. I like the use of a photo of the artist as the main focus on the advert. I also like the boldness of the artist's name against the simplicity of the basic colour scheme in use. I think the idea of using the artist as a focal point could work really well for my advertisement. I also think the use of a striking text could help to emphasis the style of the album.

I like the bright colours within the colour scheme as this reflects the pop genre of music, however I would like to make my advertisement and digipak to have a less heavy feel which is created here through the use of dark colours.



The Hotlines - Self named debut album
I like the vintage and retro appearance of this advert, this is the kind of style I would like to achieve with my advert as it would clearly show the 1950's era. I also like the worn paper effect used, this is similar to the background I have used within my digipak, so could be something I use again for the advertisement for continuity. I like the simplicity of this advert, the way the image is faded into the background allows the text to stand out, emphasising the band name. I also like that they have included their myspace address and website address, this is something i can easily incorporate into my own magazine advertisement.

Florence and the Machine - Lungs
I like the idea that this advertisement in an 'extension' of the album cover as they have used the album artwork and added the information about the album release underneath. However, I think there is an overuse of varied font sizes here which makes the advertisement appear cluttered. 
I like the way the different platforms that the album is available on are listed along the bottom, this is another feature I could use within my own advert. 

Britney Spears - Circus
I like the simplicity of this 'circus poster' style advertisement. It perfectly captures the ideas behind the album and the style the artist wants to achieve. It also stands out as it contains a simple 3-colour colour pallet, but has interesting elements, such as fonts, to make it unique. I would like to achieve this sort of statement advertisement for my artist's album that similarly clearly reflects the style of the artist, which in my artist's case is vintage1950's and retro American diners.

Beyonce- 4
I like the plain simplicity of this advertisement, however this has been achieved through a lack of information as the advertisement contains no information about the release etc. However, I like the basic colour pallet within this advert as it has a really strong and powerful look, I also like the use of the album cover as an icon within the advertisement.

Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown
I really like the simplicity of this advertisement, the basic colour scheme works really well as it makes the text stand out and makes the advert a statement overall as it would stand out well and be eye catching within a magazine. This sort of sepia colour scheme is something I would like to use myself within my own magazine advertisement as I think it has a really strong retro feel that would work well with the theme of our artist and her album. I would however add in an element of colour to create more interest as I think the advert could become lost with an overuse of just a spectrum of sepia colours.

Marina and the Diamonds - The Family Jewels

This album advertisement for 'The Family Jewels' has a really unique look which helps the advert stand out. The unconventional image of the artist creates an interesting focal point for the advert and stops the image being lost being the photo of the album cover at the bottom and all the text within the advertisement. The colour scheme within the advert is fairly basic, following the conventional 3 colour pallet, which in this case contains brown, cream/white and pale pink. The colours work really well and are similar to the type of colours I would intend to use; again this advert uses a sepia type colour basis which works well at making the advert have a retro/vintage appearance, I think this is really effective and therefore something I would definitely use within my own advert. The additional pink colour helps to highlight and emphasise certain elements within the advert, it also helps to create variation within the advert so it doesn't all appear to similar and lost, for these reasons I intend to use a third colour within my advert.

Ellie Goulding - Lights

I think this album advertisement is a really good example of a pop genre magazine advertisement. The use of a main image of the artist works really well here and is similar to the sort of image I would like to use within my own advertisement. The colour scheme is also really strong, as although it is basic and minimal it creates a statement and makes the artist herself, her name and the album title stand out really effectively.

The use of graphics on the image, which would've been produced during the editing stage, work really well and help to simply, but effectively, reflect the idea behind the album and its title 'Lights'. This emphasis on the title and theme is something I want to achieve within my own advertisement and digipak, how I do this will probably be very different to the example here, but I will use the idea of using editing effects within photoshop to create a ghost-like theme.

Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks

This advertisement isn't as relevant to my own advertisement as it is from a different genre of music, however I think there are many conventional element that work really well here that are easily adaptable for my own genre and overall product. The main feature of this advertisement that I like is the layout. I think the way in which this advert is set out works really well as it is clear and uncluttered and still stands out. The use of a 'header' for the artist name works well, as it is eye catching and immediately grabs the readers attention when looking through a magazine. I also like the positioning of the image of the artist on the right and all of the text on the left, this makes the advert really clear without appearing too basic. The 3 colour pallet also works really effectively here, and although I would use different colours, I can see that this look would be easily achievable within my own advertisement.

Green Day - American Idiot

Similarly to the album advertisement above this advert has less relevance to my own products as it is a entirely different music genre and overall appearace being created. However, again, this advert has a really effective and simplistic layout. The use of a main image on the right and all text on the left creates a distinctive and powerful look for this advert and the 3 colour pallet helps to emphasise this. 

The Killers - Day & Age 

This advert differs from the overall look I wish to acheive myself as it does not contain a main image of the artist like I intend to. However, the main image on the advert is the cover art from their album. This is an idea I want to use as it helps to improve continuity between my products and gives the artist a more distinctive image and a more recognisable media campaign.

Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much

This album advertisement is very different to others I have looked at, but I really like the distinctive and eye-catching look it has due to it's individual look. The unique drawing style used makes the advert stand out and intrigues the reader to look at it, making it a very effective magazine advert. The use of bright colours also helps to keep it in line with the conventional appearance of other adverts within the same 'pop' genre. Looking at this sort of advert really inspires me to draw my own images for my digipak and advertisement, however, I feel this colour either be really effective or look lost when using a 3 colour pallet as opposed to many bright colours like those used here in Mika's advert.

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night

I really this advertisement as I feel it has a really good balance of simplicity and complexity. Although the advert overall doesn't have the pop genre appearance I want, I really like the effectiveness of some elements within this advert. I really like the simple look of the advert and its basic layout, the positioning of the artist's name and album title above and below the main image uses the conventional rule of thirds to its advantage making it eye-catching. I think the image works really well as it is a complex image with many elements edited in, which makes the image intruiging, grabbing the reader. The main idea I would take from this advert is the layout, as I think it has a really clear, statement look.

My Advertisement - Planning

Lexi and the Spectrum - Ghosts

From this research and evaluation of other magazine advertisements I have found several elements that have inspired me for my own advert and given me ideas on elements I would like to include myself. The first is my colour scheme, looking at these advertisements has made me decide to use a 3 colour pallet within my advertisement of sepia brown colours, pink or red, and either very dark brown or white for emphasis on certain elements. I think this will work really well and ties in with the colour scheme I plan to use for my digipak, creating continuity throughout my products. All the advertisements I have looked at contain images from the album artwork as either their main image and focus point or a smaller element of the advert such as an image of the actual album. Due to this I intend to make the main image on my advertisement the same as the one on my album cover, or the cover itself to appear on the advert. I also intend to make the artist the central focus of the whole advertisement as I think this will help to make it stand out, eye catching and obvious when seen in a magazine.