Evaluation Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation Question 3: What have you learned from your Audience Feedback?

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

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

From the beginning of the task, I consciously made the decision to link my texts closely together so as to make the combination of them incredibly effective. By doing this, the advertising campaign would be much clearer as audiences would be able to see the links between the texts and be persuaded to purchase the album. Synergy is one of the biggest ways in which to advertise a product. By having that product appear in some form across many different mediums there is a greater likelihood of it being noticed. If I were to attempt to broaden the synergy for the band's album then other mediums would include a website, a Facebook page, some sort of online viral video campaign and other such methods so as to get the audience involved with the band and to make the album more appealing to them.

There are three key similarities between the video and the two ancillary texts:

•  The location
• The colouration effect
• The costumes

By having all of the texts set in King George's Field, they all have the same natural feel to them. They create the simple and natural representation of the band that I set out to achieve. All of the texts also look out over the same horizon which creates a large scope around the band and implies that they are looking off into the future and making their mark on the world around them much like the star image that Dyer suggests is necessary for success.

The tone of the outside of the Digipack is the same as that of the video. This makes it more obvious to the audience that the video for 'Free' is the flagship title for the album thereby suggesting that if they like the song and the music video then they should buy the album. The tone also suggests a slightly muted nature to the band. They are not over the top and extravagant, they are natural, simple and honest. By muting the colours on the outside of the Digipack this idea is conveyed. However, throughout the inside of the Digipack, the Magazine Advert and the Booklet, brighter colours are used. For the Magazine Advert, this was a conscious decision to make the advert stand out more against the other adverts by being eye catching through the colours. For the Booklet and the inside of the Digipack this was to add in an element of fun and hope to the band. The outside provides the hard, serious and artistic exterior which then opens up into a brighter and happier interior so as to imply that the band want the audience to feel welcome. This extra brightening of the colours was used in the video for the dream sequence as a way of creating that idyllic feel.

The costumes are the same throughout all of the texts bar the inside of the booklet where variety was needed to show that the band have multiple styles from which to choose. However, by having the same costume for the Video, Magazine Advert and Digipack exterior and interior, the entire package is tightly linked together and constantly drilling into the audience that the video and advert are advertising the album and that the audience should buy that album.

The Magazine Advert and the Digipack are more closely linked together than with the video because of the repetition of the same fonts for the titles and the less important pieces of text. The Kenyan Coffee font provides the stylish yet simple representation of the band and stands out against everything to show its importance whilst the LondonTwo font is slightly more stylised yet works for simpler and less important pieces of text. Both fonts are used constantly throughout both texts and this inextricably links them together showing that the advert most definitely advertises the Digipack.

My target audience fitted into a niche that danced between the lines of mainstream and being unique but also between maturity and being unsure of themselves. Also, most of the target audience were creative and fun-seeking. The contrasts between the outside and the inside of the Digipack as well as the contrasting nature of the video show this balance between wisdom and uncertainty but also the niche mainstream nature of the audience. Both sides of the audience have something they can relate to and this is turn should make them more interested in the product as it is attempting to cater to everyone.

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your Media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Digipack Final Edit




Outside of the Digipack

 


Inside of the Digipack - The Disc would go on the far right panel and roughly cover the drum. A sticker would be put on the CD with the drum with "Modern Winter" at the top and "Opportunity" at the bottom. 




Booklet Cover

 

Booklet Pages 1 and 2



Booklet Pages 3 and 4

Booklet Pages 5 and 6

Booklet Pages 7 and 8

Magazine Advert Final Edit

Music Video Final Edit

Digipack Improvements

The key criticism of my Digipack was the font. I decided that it would be best to use the Kenyan Coffee font that was also used in my Magazine Advert. At this stage I copied the exact version of the titles from the Magazine Advert into my Digipack so that the synergy was stronger.

After some discussions on layout I was finally able to settle on this as the final layout. It does not take up as much space as the initial design and it makes the cover more dynamic too.

Next, I fixed the fonts on the back cover of my Digipack to match those in my Magazine Advert with Kenyan Coffee being used for the title and then LondonTwo for the Track List and the credits. I also shrunk the barcode and record label logo slightly so as to create more space on the cover.

The most obvious issue with the outside of the Digipack as the lack of continuity throughout the panels. The only way to fix this without re-shooting the images was to use image editing to change the horizon. One method was using the Healing Brush on the right hand side of the back panel to slightly remove the trees to slant better into the panel next to it.

I did attempt a similar tactic to fixing the grass in the bottom left corner, but, this did not work as well. So, I copied a section of the grass, pasted it over the top of the grass and then rotated the copied grass to flow into panels to the left of the back.

The next problem was the side panels, or, mainly the left hand side side panel which simply refused to flow properly. Ergo, I had to edit the image quite heavily to get it to work. The first of these edits was to rotate the background slightly so as to begin to get the flow to work. The image was then copied in to the collated outside but it still did not fit properly.



Further attempts to fix the problem saw me stretching the image and then copying the trees and tilting them as best I could to make the treeline flow. This worked to some degree.

The final tactic was copying the grass and rotating that slightly to the right. This was then copied into the collated outside and the issue was fixed.

After fixing the outside I moved onto the outside which only needed a font update so this was quickly applied to all three panels.

With all of the main panels of the Digipack sorted I imported them all into the collated image and slotted them together so that there was a better visual representation of the Digipack.

A few days after receiving the teacher feedback which was about a week and a half before the deadline, I was told that I needed to include a greater variety of shots in my Digipack. The only way I could do this was to create a booklet with shots of the band and information about them similar to Razorlight's booklet in their album 'Razorlight'. To do this, I had to do a new photo-shoot to get the shots. Unfortunately because I was rushing and panicking my control over the lighting was not great so some shots had different lighting, but, I was really flustered and had no time to fix these lighting issues.

For the booklet I felt I needed an interesting background design. To create something that was iconic but simple I used the Vectors Brush. I used this on the Record Label logo but this design is much denser so as to make more of an impact.

A paper texture was then imported into Photoshop and placed over the design. It was then given a colour overlay to create the striking colour on the page. The layer was then set to 'Hard Light' as its blending option so that the design behind it was affected as well as the entire background to create a simple but complex style that suits the band. 

Using the Kenyan Coffee font from the cover, I wrote each of the band members' names and their job within the band. As this is for the band's Debut Album, it is one of tasks of the booklet to introduce the audience to each of the band members and this was one part of doing so.

Next I imported the best image of the band member into the panel. I positioned them close to where the inside of the booklet would be so that when the panels were collated the members would be standing back to back.

The backgrounds of the images were then cut away using a mixture of the Magic Wand and the Eraser tool in an attempt to get the cleanest cut possible. On Stephen's picture specifically I also used the Lighting Render tool to lighten the back of his face more because it appeared too dark.

The Blending Options of the images were then changed to Luminosity so that they blended into background a bit so as to make the cuts seem smoother. Profiles of the band members were also written using information gathered from the band themselves.

On the corresponding pages, I moved the design to the right so the band members on these pages (Tom and Matt) could be on the left in the back to back layout I had envisioned. I also used different colours for each of the band members to distinguish them from each other.



After sorting out the booklet pages I needed to create the outside of the booklet which I decided should be similar to my Digipack cover. Ergo, I used the same images as the front and back of the Digipack.



The key change was that instead of the vibrancy being decreased, I increased the saturation like the inside of the Digipack. This was also done on the front cover of the booklet. This was to suggest the welcoming nature of the band now that the audience have taken the time to look at the album. On the back panel, the position of the credits changed slightly so it was more prominent than it was on the outside of the Digipack. I also copied part of the sky and covered part of the horizon to make it flow better.

As with the outside and inside of the Digipack, I collated the images into their technical format so each of the pages were together as they would be when the booklet was opened up. Once all of the panels were collated as needed, the Digipack was complete.

Magazine Advert Improvements

The key issue with my original Magazine Advert was the fonts and the size of the text. The first issue that I attempted to fix was the font. I found a font called London on DaFont and one of its variants (LondonTwo) looked to suit my needs perfectly.



After fixing the title I began to address the next issue of everything appearing too large and making the advert seem cluttered. To achieve this I shrunk all of the text, switched the title around so Modern Winter was above Opportunity like in my original plan. I also slightly repositioned the tagline text and the Digipack cover so as to create more space.



Title font was changed from LondonTwo to Kenyan Coffee, basically, the fonts already on the advert switched places.

The text was enlarged so as to be more prominent on the page as it looked a little small to me.

This is how the advert looked after the title was fixed. The different widths of the two parts of the title is due to the need to make it more obvious that Modern Winter is the name of the band name and Opportunity is the name of the album.

Tagline text font is changed from Kenyan Coffee to LondonTwo as LondonTwo appeared to work better for simpler purposes.

This is how the advert looked after all of the fonts were changed.

I noticed that part of "Modern Winter" was difficult to read so I used the Healing Brush to darken the clouds around that area.

This is the advert after the Healing Brush was used.



The final improvement was to change the positioning of the titles and replace the Digipack cover with the up to date image. The title was moved to its current position so as to make it obvious that the two were separate entities but also to create more space and more synergy with the Digipack. 



Music Video Improvements

Feedback on Texts

Magazine Advert:
Teacher Feedback: "All font is too big & dominates the poster, remember that this would be viewed closely in a magazine"
Student Feedback: "The style of the top font in my opinion does not fit the atmosphere that the advert portrays." - One suggestion from this discussion was to try using the same or a similar font to the other font on the advert.

Digipack:
Teacher Feedback: "Font too big (still). Image of band looks rather ‘normal’ (should they be wearing some kind of costume/stage wear?). Photos are good quality & the credit blocks & logos are good"
Student Feedback: "Font doesn’t feel right. Play around with it."

Music Video:

Teacher Feedback on First Draft: "The video now works well, there is a more dynamic feel to it, achieved through editing, particularly that of, sometimes opposing, movement. Beautifully shot, with some lovely framing & composition together with some great 360s & general camera movements that add a dynamic element.

 To improve:

• Now it is really a question of whether further editing can add more & whether you think it is worth shooting any extra footage?
• The band are very professional in their performance & attitude but they aren’t very animated/energetic/eye-catching. This means that you have to create the ‘buzz’ & edgy feel around them. Do you feel it needs more? What does the band think? What does Frankie think?
• At the end I would like to see her walking up the path into the future where she will ‘fend for herself…’ as she looks like she is walking into a confined area (small point really)perhaps s few more inserts of XCUs of instruments being skilfully played. 
• Narrative element needs to be more varied, it is somewhat repetitive.
• Mise-en-scene for the narrative needs tighter control (goal posts in the background & other distractions)."

Student Feedback based on Second Draft: "It was amazing and completely flawless and I loved the use of the filter"

Other pieces of feedback on the Second Draft included: "It's good, a little bit jumpy in places, need to work on that. A number of places through when your changing shots, the continuation doesn't look right. Some of the shots towards the end are a bit too jumpy, but if you edit it in the right way then they will look better. "

Digipack First Draft

Outside of the Digipack

Front Cover

Back Page

Inside Panel on the Outside

Outer Side Panel 1

Outer Side Panel 2

Inside of Digipack

Left Hand Inside Panel

Inside Middle Panel

Right Hand Inside Panel - Location of CD

Right Hand Inside Side Panel

Left Hand Inside Side Panel