EVALUATION Q3

EVALUATION Q1

EVALUATION Q2

EVALUATION Q2 from rosarogerson

FINAL MUSIC VIDEO

FINAL CUT OF MUSIC VIDEO

EVALUATION Q4

Planning my answer for Q4

PLEASE NOTE: The following images were uploaded on 5/4/14 as I didn't have the technology (scanner) before the deadline (4/4/14) to upload these images, instead I uploaded bad quality images from my phone which I have since deleted. 

The below images are my final answers for evaluation question 4 

I hope this is okay to have uploaded past the deadline. - Rosa Rogerson

FINAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT

Advert FINAL

FINAL DIGIPAK

Back / Front FINAL

Inside FINAL

Audience Feedback: Changing the Brightness

Before brightening 

Before Brightening 

After Brightening 

After Brightening

As suggested by members of my focus group, I decided to change the brightness of the image behind my auxiliary products (advert and digipak)
I printed out the original and the new edit of my advert and presented it to 12 members of my target audience (16-25 year old girls) and asked them which they preferred. I took the results in as a tally which can be seen below.
The results show that  the majority (11 out of 12) liked the edit of brighter colours better.
Because of this and also my personal preference I have decided to change my digipak and advert background to the brighter option.

Picture A is the brightened version and Picture B is the original unedited version - there is no difference in layout only the brightness of the image.

The results - Picture A is obviously more popular.

Final Polaroid Image

I wanted to create an image of a polaroid to have on the inside of my digipak, I tried various effects (can be seen on previous posts) but none of them worked well enough and looked too artificial.
Because of this I decided to use a friends polaroid camera (Fujifilm Instax Mini 8) to take a real polaroid style image.
I then signed it as if I was the artist and added it to my digipak. I am very happy with the final product as it has created the natural and realistic look I wanted.
 

Final polaroid

Before signing

Audience Feedback - Focus Group

I constructed a focus group of 4 members from my target audience, all female and 17-18. 
I showed my music video to the group and let them read and look at my digipak and advert at the same time.
I then asked them two questions as a group, the first being "Do you think it matters that there is no image of my artist on the front of my digipak and advert?" 
The second being "What features from my video have you seen in other music videos?"

I then handed out a questionnaire to the members of the focus group which can be seen below. All of them are anonymous.

Answers were limited and I didn't receive as much detail as I would have hoped.

Although I could specify who I asked and what questions to, I found that even though there was only a small number of people in the focus group, the participants felt uncomfortable and almost shy to answer my questions. This is why I handed out anonymous questionnaires so they could give honest feedback of my promotional package without feeling uncomfortable or rude giving me constructive criticism to my face. 

However I still feel that the answers were limited, especially as they weren't media students (except one) and wouldn't necessarily be able to give me full detailed answers and improvements using media terminologies. 

I found that all the participants agreed that some of my lip syncing is slightly out, something that I was told from my earlier audience feedback so is a definite error I need to correct.

When I asked about my auxiliary products some said that the colour of the water/colour background was too dark, in some ways I agree with this as it doesn't necessarily match the bright and colourful style of my music video even though it is a screenshot of the effect from the video. However it is very hard for me to brighten the image as that is what it looked like naturally, filmed in natural light. But I am planning to experiment with contrast and brightness of the original image and see whether it looks better. I am then going to take both images side by side and ask people which they prefer. 

Digipak Before Focus Group

Back // Front

This is the front and back for my digipak. These are my finals and am awaiting feedback from my focus group so like my advert, is awaiting slight changes from constructive criticism.
I have the front of my digipak a lot from my last constructing digipak blog post, I decided I prefered the 'kerned' style of space between the letters and I also added a line between the album name and the artist as it gives a contemporary and modern touch. 
I will post an updated and 100% completed digipak after I have received focus group feedback. 

Inside

Feedback from Focus Group - Brightness

When conducting my focus group audience feedback, some participants said the image used for my advert and digipak was too dark in comparison to my video.
I have taken this on board and experimented with colour correction of the original image.

original

 experiment 1

experiment 2

experiment 3

Personally, I prefer experiment 3 as the effect has brightened the ink yet the background is still quite plain and would work well with text on top of it.

Next, I am going to edit my auxiliary products and add the different images as a background, then I will print and upload online to receive feedback from. I will ask around 20 people which image they personally prefer based on the colour. 

Advert Before Focus Group

This is my final advert which I will show to my focus group, although they will give me constructive criticism which may lead to a few changes of my advert, this is the layout and style that I want to keep, I will upload a completed final advert after my feedback. 

Constructing my Digipak - Polaroid style

This is the inside of my digipak, I wanted to create a natural polaroid style image to make it look like my artist had left a personal note to the reader on the front.

I experimented with my own handwriting on paper with different font styles and phrases, I then scanned these in onto my computer where I can import them onto photoshop to crop and remove the background where I can use them as a layer over my polaroid.

However, I have had problems with this as it doesn't look natural as I wanted it to. The layers all together look artificial (which they are) and the image doesn't look how I wanted it to.

Because of this, I have decided to use a real polaroid camera to take a shot of my artist and sign it myself with a marker. This is as natural as it will look and especially when I scan it in, it will give it a shady and quirky look to my final digipak

Most Recent Edit Of My Music Video

Booking my Location - College Drama Studio

I chose to use the drama studio at my college as my location for filming, it is very convenient to get to and I have access to the camera, tripods, white screen and studio lights.
The white wall/screen was the most important thing to me because that is what I wanted the whole background to be covered by to reinforce my continuous image of focalisation of my artist. 
The white background also contrasts with the high amount of colour in my video which makes it stand out more, another aspect I wanted to achieve following with the genre of pop.
However it is often used for the drama classes and you need to book in advance, this causing a problem and has caused delays to my filming schedule so I needed to compromise and in some cases I filmed in my own home such as, the extreme close ups of the lips singing as lighting wasn't as needed, also the filming I did for my overlays and colour effects I filmed outside in natural daylight over a white background as I wouldn't be able to use the TV studio for this because of how messy it would be, and the need for a high amount of water because of the constant re filming to get the shots looking perfect.

Digipak (Changes and Developments) Before Audience Feedback.

This is one of my first drafts which I adapted from my quick sketches, the blue ink image behind it is a still from my video and so fits the house style as I am continuously using the same colours and textures throughout my auxiliary products and music video, this is a useful method to link all my products together and can easily be identified as mine - or the work of my artist.

These are the back and front designs of my digipak. 

I like how the writing is bold and vivid against the blue background, it looks simplistic and contemporary. 

I have since changed my digipak, developing it to fit the conventions of regular and existing digipaks.  

This is the final of my digipak, before audience feedback. I have changed the album name to 'Electric' because I didn't want to use 'Pop Up' as it is the name of my music video and I thought a different name would be more appropriate, especially if Pop Up was a 'number one hit' the album wouln't necessarily be self titled with this.

I also added more songs to the track list, another key feature of digipaks and albums, where the more songs the better, small numbers of songs are more appropriate for EP's.

I added a bar code, which would be essential for purchase and selling the product. And also I added a twitter @ to contact my artist on, as well with her website. 

This is going to be the inside two panels of my digipak, the background image is a still from the end of my video, which I have chosen to use for continuity. It matches with my house style, and brand identity. I have chosen to include a polaroid style image of my artist, which I created myself using an image I took while shooting my video and a template. I think this adds personality to the digipak especially because it is an image od the artist and consumers will be able to relate this to my music video and her style. 

I like how the polaroid looks, as if it has been slipped into the digipak as a special 'treat' for anyone who has purchased it to see an unseen picture. 

I am also going to add a hand written note onto the polaroid - supposedly from the artist, which can commonly be found in digipaks and album booklets as it shows communication between the artist and the fan/reader/who purchased it. 

Magazine Advert Analysis

 Below are some annotated magazine adverts, I found the images of the adverts from google images and annotated them myself.
While annotating I was looking for the use of house styles, connotations, fonts, colour and common features of magazine adverts such as logos, social media/record label information and the structure and layout of the overall advert.

 I have taken most inspiration for my magazine advert from this Lana Del Rey advert, the focal image is the artist and her position to the camera gives her 'authority' which remains with the strong, independent female image I am trying to achieve with the images for my auxiliary products. 

Digipak Drafts

Above are some quick sketches I did whilst planning for my digipak front cover. They are all based on images I have already taken so I will be able to use them immediately. 

• The first is just a basic portrait image of my artist, this would more than likely be the same image I used in my first draft for my magazine advert. The background would be a plain white or grey and the font used would be the same style as that used in my video.
• The second idea is a still from my music video at the end, where it is supposed to be a 'end of party' shot with all the mess on the floor. It is almost a way to foreshadow what happens throughout the song and video.
• The third is similar to the first in the style of a portrait however it would be closer to her face and would be positioned to only reveal half of it. I think this gives a modern and contemporary look however it doesn't completely fit the style of my video.
• My fourth idea was a 'photo booth' style, where the image would actually be four different images put together to look like a photo strip, the images would have all been taken at similar times and would be fun and spontaneous looking
• The fifth idea would be similar to a portrait style but the actual picture would be one of the 'behind the scenes' pictures I took, this cover would be fun and playful in a way to show the artists personality.
• The last sketch is very simple but would be an image of the food colouring and water experiment with the liquid 'floating' and then the words 'Pop Up' infront of it, this would continue the house style of colour and texture through my products and could easily be related to my work because of this. 

Inside of the digipak

In this rough plan I thought the idea of a continuous image that expands over both sections, the image I am more than likely going to use would be a still from the end of my video  of the mess on the floor. I am still undecided as to what to include on the left side of the digipak so for now I will experiment with just images.

Front and back cover 

These are my rough plans for the back and front covers for the digipak. I am debating which image to use for my front cover, so I have left this blank where 

Analysing my video - In terms of feminism

Male Gaze

From researching and watching a lot of music videos where the main artist is a woman, I have noticed how often they are represented and shown under the ‘male gaze’ (Laura Mulvey) and are sexualised and objectified for the visual pleasure of a man. However I feel my own video takes a feminist approach and breaks these boundaries. Common features of the male gaze in music videos are; the camera lingering on a woman’s body, especially curves and bare skin. Also women being identified and relegated to a status lower than that of a man.

I always wanted my artist to be a key, strong and independent female icon. I didn't feel the need to include other characters in the video, especially not a love interest or a male as it wouldn't fit with the song and wouldn't be necessary. By only having one ‘character’ it creates the image that I wanted to portray of a key figure and keeps the focus on the actions of my artist.

This also links with my target audience where my intention was to present my artist in a positive way as a role model and icon for teenagers and young adults, I think that this works well as she is not promoting any harmful or explicit messages to the audience.

Clothing and exposure are also a key part of the male gaze, especially where the less a woman is wearing the 'better'. Even though my target audience is young adults who would most likely be interested in fashion and clothing, I chose not to highlight what my artist was wearing as again, I wanted her to be the main focus and not material items like her clothing, which wouldn't really show her personality which was one of my aims. I kept the outfit simple with a black t shirt and jeans(which were hardly visible throughout the video) as the rest of the video was incredibly busy with colours, textures and effects and I thought block coloured clothing would work best against this.

To conclude, the idea and aim of my video is to focus on the message my artist is putting across, through her song and her actions, that women can be independent and do what they want. Instead of a focus on what she is wearing and how she looks. This extremely contrasts with the post modern view of 'style over substance' as my video almost criticizes this too, where the meaning is valued higher than the appearance. 

Rihanna and Shakira 

Lorde

Robin Thicke 

Audience Feedback for my Music Video

As part of my audience feedback to help improve my music video, our media class conducted a session where we rotated around the classroom watching and giving anonymous feedback on each others music videos, only one of the questionnaires isn't anonymous as the respondant gave her name in error but this hasn't caused any problems during my changes.
Below are the scanned copies of the questionnaires which I asked my class mates to fill in after watching my video.

Strengths of my music video:
From my audience feedback I have noted the things in which other people like about my video, some which I didn't necessarily think worked but it has helped me to get other peoples perspectives of my work.

Most of the respondents liked the use of text/title at the beginning and end of my video 
which is something I also like and will definitely keep it.

A lot of people also liked the overlay I used throughout the video of food colouring and ink.

Another strength and something I learnt from the audience feedback was how people understood the signs throughout my video such as pop and being out of control. The majority interpreted it the way I wanted them too and understood why I chose to include certain props etc.

Weaknesses and things to improve:
Most people mentioned that some of my footage including lip syncing is out of place which is something I can fix by simple editing and moving the clips to fit with the timing of the music. I may also need to cut some of my footage to fit in time with the music.

Another thing I need to change about my video which I learnt from the audience feedback was an issue with the colours and coverage at certain parts of my video where the overlay looks too heavy and you can't see the artist well enough, causing an issue with my idea and picture of a strong and iconic artist who should be bold and constantly the focus of the video. To recover this I am going to need to re watch my whole video and make sure the percentage of the opacity is correct and works well with the image underneath it. 

Another area of my video I need to improve on which was suggested by my audience feedback is how the artist is static and we only really get one camera angle focusing on the front of the artist. I agree with this feedback because I feel that the video gets slightly 'boring' with just one perspective, however my idea was to keep all focus on the artist and their strong image and in some aspects using a range of different perspectives and camera angles may have taken this image away and brought more focus onto the way the music video has been filmed instead of who is in the video and what I want to represent. Now that I have nearly finished my video and have certainly finished all filming for it, it will be a challenge to re film parts in different angles, this leads on to my reason for adding more depth and dimension to my video by adding colour and dripping water which makes it aesthetic and 'visually interesting'