Storyboard

 Storyboard for my music video

Evaluation: Question 1

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

Conventions of alternative music videos presentation



Directors Commentary

Digipak

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Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?http://prezi.com/7jwuna7k5nl6/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

While gaining this feedback, I found that I received some mixed results regarding changes to my digipak. Specifically I received mixed feedback over the cover of my digipak and what kind of layout I should use.

Though my initial concept (right) had positive qualities to it, I felt as though it was somewhat too abstract given the genre of the music I was using. This lead to me using the Polaroid frame in order to make my cover as I felt as though the retro aspects of the cover would fit the themes of alternative music more. I also felt as though the colour scheme was somewhat crowded in the initial version, as the yellow seemed off-putting when used with the purple. I decided to tone down the shade of yellow to a more magenta colour to blend better with the purple.

There were some aspects that I found I had to change after audience feedback, such as looking at editing the typography to be more readable. Alongside this, I decided to let go of using certain filters in order to achieve a more professional look to my advertisement. The filter I decided to use was the liquify filter, replacing the previously used blur tool. I did this as I felt as though the blur tool did not give as sharp a finish on the section of the layer I was editing and made the overall quality of the image look mediocre.



Here is one of my feedback sheets where I got people to look at various aspects of my digipak and advertisement.

While looking for audience feedback on my digipak, I received multiple comments complimenting my use of the colour adjustment tool for the saturation and addition of pink and purple overtones throughout my digipak and advertisement.

I also felt as though i had to look at other peoples advertisements in order to see the different ways that I could develop my advertisement.  I decided to look at Steph's advertisement as it was using a pop genre and had clearly contrasting elements that I could analyse.

Advertisement Comparison

Evaluation: Question 4

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

Music video stills

Addressing the new actress from the digipak

New Actress from the digipak
Unfortunately Layla was not available for the photography of the digipak, as she does not attend school anymore. This lead to me having to find a new person to take photographs of in her place, leading me to use Ayushi as my model.

While this was an inconvenience, this meant I had to focus more on keeping the images for the digipak relative to the theme of the music video. This is why I decided to set my photography in a classroom, as it links back to the academic themes in my music video.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of time to prepare for the switch in actresses, I was not able to organise a proper costume change, leading to Ayushi having to wear a plain black top with black leggings. 

Preparing for taking photos

Composition Research

In order to get the best possible pictures, I decided to research different techniques in composing photos. One aspect that I'm planning on focusing on is the rule of thirds, as I believe this will be much more simple to implement in my digipak. While I find the golden ratio effective in making the composition of a photo look good, I believe this will be much harder to implement successfully, given its reliance on multiple angles and tones. This would likely contrast with the aspects of minimalism I plan on focusing on in my digipak.

Colour
While I want to get a good sense of colour, I feel as though the majority of this will be focused on after the photographs have been taken, instead being added in photoshop.  While a lot of techno album covers focus on neon colours, I feel as though the soulful aspect of the music would better link into alternative music. This is why I believe I will focus more on minimalistic colours in my digipak, though I will likely edit the colours in photoshop. 

Design feedback

Design Feedback
After the completion of my digipak, I decided to get feedback to gauge the effectiveness of the product.

One opinion was that the consistent use of colour worked well, along with the track list. One improvement given back was to choose a cleaner font and to use cleaner lines on the track list.
While the digipak was seen as professional, it could have looked even more so without the white line around the track list.

Another opinion was that the font was somewhat dated given the nature of the product. Despite this, I felt as though this fit with the alternative aspect of my music video. This feedback I got also praised the use of

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My Digipak

back

front

inner lyrics

cd case

Inspirations for the design of my digipak

Inspirations For My Digipak
Prior to making my Digipak, I have decided to look at many different dance and techno album covers in order to help capture the feel of the genre in my album cover. 

Jon Hopkins: Immunity (2013)

While I was initially interested in minimalism, I found that the album covers often incorporating minimalism usually looked rather boring, often sticking to basic forms when changing the colour aspect of them to incorporate minimalism into the design. However I found the much greater focus on the angles in the cover made it much more interesting to look at, even going so far as to exaggerate the sense of proportions to the angles through the use of tone, rather than using basic blocky colours. 

Junior Boys: It's All True (2011)

While I admire the simplicity of the album cover, the main aspect that I feel I can take away from this is the use of filters in the editing of the album cover. The slight blur filter in particular as I find it exaggerates the sense of motion and perspective, making it somewhat reminiscent of a fisheye lens. The very delicate use of red and cyan make the pinpoints somewhat three dimensional through the dated use of 3D layering. 

Porter Robinson: Worlds (2014)

The abstracted nature of the hand is contrasted with the geometric cube that has clearly been implemented through graphic design, given it's isometric nature, this slight contract helps to reflect the music of the album, as while it uses synthsynthisisers in a large portion of the music, the somewhat sad nature to the music displaces it from the majority of upbeat techno music, as mirrored in the alternative nature to the album cover. 

Squarepusher: Damogen Furies (2015)

The key aspect I love about this is the composition, is the upside down position of the photo turns it from simple looking to complex, particularly as the monochromatic filter changes the focus of the eye, leading the eye around the face by lighting, rather than the features of the face. This is mirrored through the flipped nature of the title, further emphasising the mysterious and alternative tone given to the album. 

Conventions of a Digipak

Conventions of a Digipak

A digipak is a folded CD booklet that tends to have the following features:

1. Cover
2. CD case
3. Lyric Book
4. Foldable sections (This tends to vary, some can have up to six separate folding segments, while others only have one )

The Digipak also tends to have several labels from the producer, a stamp for the recyclable nature of the packaging, along with a copyright disclaimer that tends to officiate the nature of the copyright on the music. 

This is  typical four panel Digipak template. 

This is the a more intricate Digipak template. 

While Digipaks used to be made of plastic in certain areas, a more environmental push resulted in more of them being made out of recycled egg carton material in order to reduce the waste produced. 

Album cover research Prezi

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DigiPak analysis

In my lessons I was asked to analyse the conventions of a digipak. I decided to focus this more on the stereotypical aspects of a digipak with a techno/alternative genre. This lead me to look at a wide range of bands that I had not seen before. This is the analysis of the digipak for the band, the prodigy. I decided to focus on their band as I felt their somewhat alternative nature would be a good basis for inspiration given the nature of my song.

Another analysis of a digipak was my analysis of Raydars Neon Graffiti.