Evaluation

The above video is a version of my final evaluation which I used to review my work. My evaluation is 20 minutes, therefore I had to significantly lower the resolution of the video and put it through a compression in order to upload to blogger, so the quality may be slightly grainy. My evaluation was vital to explaining the process that I underwent in the creation of my music video, digipak and poster advert. I used multiple programmes to create my evaluation. Imovie was crucial in the creation of my evaluation, this is the programme that I have on my computer and was more readily available to me and allowed me to view my whole evaluation on one timeline. Moreover, I used Youtube and Google Images a lot within my evaluation, alongside my own footage and images, to add dimension to my work. I was able to layer videos and images on top of my voice recordings to better answer the evaluation questions, to allow my work to become more creative and a more visual experience for the audience.

A higher quality version of my evaluation can be found on Youtube, as I was able to upload a higher resolution version to this platform, please click the link below to view this version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxl8TJO4Amo

When creating my evaluation it was vital for me to plan carefully, therefore I scripted what I read in my voiceover, to ensure that I was focused in what I was saying and directly addressing the question. The below images show examples of my scripts, and detail the planning process in the creation of the evaluation. My scripts varied in length, I found that question 2 required the longest script, as I considered the various different elements of my digipak and poster, and how these relate to conventions of the genre and popular artists. 

Overall, planning and the use of scripts for my voiceovers were pivotal to my work. Having recorded my voiceovers, I was then able to use my scripts in the construction of my evaluation, by using them to match my voiceovers with the correct visuals and ensure that these were in sync. Ultimately, I am pleased with my evaluation as I feel that various media technologies, including programmes such as: IMovie, Youtube and Microsoft word, allowed me to be creative and produce a detailed and thorough evaluation of my work.

Final Music Video

The above clip is the final copy of my finished music video. I had to lower the resolution of the file in order to upload it to blogger, so the quality is not as high as it is ordinarily. Therefore, the video may look a bit grainy, but I believe that it is still possible to get the overall effect of my video, despite the slightly lower quality. Overall, I am very pleased with my music video, I feel that I achieved what I had hoped to, and that it looks as professional as possible. I am pleased at the strength of the narrative, I feel that the storytelling quality to the video (which I believe the track alluded itself to) has really come out strongly, and that this balances well with the performance sections of the video. I feel that the elements of music videos that I liked and was inspired by have been used well also, given the use of lighting and colour in shots such as the close up of the older couple dancing. 

Given the importance of online promotion, I have also uploaded my music video to Youtube as this gives my audience another platform on which to view my video, the below link is to my music video on Youtube - please watch!

https://youtu.be/f0uOVm1Tf4o

Disclaimer: the song 'Nuvole Bianche' is by artist Ludovico Einaudi. The link to Ludovico Einaudi's website is below
http://www.ludovicoeinaudi.com/

Poster advert

Alongside my digipack, I also created a poster advert to promote the release of my artists' album, as is used by many popular artists. I used a combination of programmes to create my final product and am very happy with how it looks overall.

As can be seen from the above screenshot, I have used the same image as for my album cover, for my album poster. I chose to do this as I believe it conveys a sense of consistency and I really like the image as I feel that it is bold and simple so would draw the attention of my target audience. I used the same font and colour scheme as within my album cover, but have increased the size of the font to reflect the larger scale and space of the poster. There are multiple elements needed to fit with the conventions of music video posters, I started off with placing a five star rating and comment of a respected newspaper/ magazine as has been done by artists such as Ellie Goulding - however I was unsure about the placing of the writing at this stage, so continued to work on my poster.  

The next image shows the next stage of the editing process, I added another review to enforce the authenticity of the poster, adding details of the album being instore and available for purchase. Moreover, I then added social media icons, as this is potentially the number one way that modern artists market themselves and connect directly with their fans, therefore after researching I chose to include the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram icons as these are the top social media platforms used by successful artist such as Justin Bieber. However, I still was not happy with the placing of my writing and therefore moved my image to Indesign to add the final edits. 

Finished Product

This is my finished product. I made several changes to this image and feel that it looks much better than the previous attempt, the placing of the text and border enabled me to convey all of the key information. I moved the ratings and reviews down, placing them just above the horizon line to create a smooth line, and avoid the harshness of having the text just floating. I like this positioning as the artist name and album title are still the main feature, and the text no longer distracts from the actual image of the artist and landscape. Lastly, I added a black border at the foot of the image, as has been used by artists such as Ed Sheeran to communicate vital information. Within the border, I was able to announce the album as being instores and online, connecting my audience to the artist with his website information, I also used black and clear social media icons to give a smoother, more professional finish. Overall, I am very pleased with my final product, I feel that it fits with the rest of my digipack and music video, conforms to conventions of the genre by representing certain features such as ratings and website links, and looks authentic and believable as an album poster.

Complete Digipak

The below images are the product of my complete digipak. I am proud of the images and feel that they reflect a good standard as I researched popular artist's digipaks thoroughly, noting what I felt was best about each and have been inspired by, and developed the work of other artists in order to create my product.

There are numerous reasons why I chose the above image to be the front cover of my album, firstly I loved the natural landscape and feel that this is an effective image. Equally, it was important for me to have my artist featured heavily on the front cover as this ensures the focus is on the artist and not purely the scenery, this is also a convention of the music genre and massively popular artists such as Justin Bieber and Adele always have themselves on their albums. The image ties in with my music video, the shot was taken the same day that I filmed my video and I feel that this helps create a sense of unity amongst the video and digipak. This image required editing within Photoshop as is detailed in my previous posts but this allowed me to get the font exactly right. The font and colour of my text reflect the soft, classic colour scheme throughout my digipak I feel, and this is carried across to my music video titles as well.  

The above image shows the acknowledgement spread of my digipak. The image is a classic natural shot which is in keeping with the conventions of the classical music genre, but has been edited slightly to bring out the shadows and light to keep the image interesting. This image originally had sheet music layered over the top but I removed this as I felt that it wasn't in keeping with the themes of my digipack. For the writing on this page I used the same classic font to keep the unity, and researched the inside of digipaks extensively to ensure that my writing reflected that of a true album. I looked at acknowledgement pages by artist such as Beyonce, Pink Floyd and Tyga - all from different genres of music.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7292/11358457226_a78559b931_b.jpg
http://www.pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/Austral/LP/TFC/TFC1/BC.jpg
http://api.ning.com/files/PagIQ*DP1O2rqRPLmNY11-aAI-7WCur1WGzusK7rzMApcx*VHDfChSoTmCFiMuijnffa*Kc-OdSCdeq5fQQAz3w*ZtyDThfc/credits2.jpg
Ultimately, the same types of acknowledgements were made, and these are what I replicated in my digipacks. It is important for the artist to acknowledge record producers, co writers, studio directors exct. to ensure all due credit is given and to avoid disputes - therefore this page is entirely dedicated to doing this and to prohibiting copyright to ensure that my product is authentic.

This image shows the second double page spread of my digipack. I have used this image for numerous reasons, when researching other digipacks it became evident that there are often subsequent images of the artist in the booklet, such as Rihanna's 'Loud' digipack which features a 6 page spread of herself. Therefore in order to make my digipack as realistic as possible, I mimicked this convention of having the artist featuring heavily throughout the digipack, to reinforce and further his image. Equally, I like how artistic the shot is, the contrast of light and blurred background give the head and shoulder shot a crisp look. I am able to have the image in black and white as I have used black and white filters within my video, thus this creates a sense of synergy across my products. In having the artist staring into the camera I feel there is a connection built up between artist and audience and this matches the writing that I paired this page with. I have used a traditional thank you page to thank the label, manager of my artist and fans, I finished the page with a signature to add to the personal feel of the page and help build a rapport with my fanbase.

The above image shows the back cover of my album. I used this image as the naturalistic imagery matches the themes throughout my digipack and seems to match the album cover especially. The image is ideal for my back cover given the natural framing, which allowed space for the track listing in the middle of the image. I have matched the font colour and style to that of the rest of my digipack to add continuity to the image. Lastly, I used Photoshop to lift images that were not mine such as the record label logo and bar code, these images were vital to adding authenticity to my product as these are found on every digipack that I researched. I also created a declaration using the text tool, as I found during my research it is imperative to prohibit illegal filesharing to protect the rights of the artist on the back cover of the album. Overall, I am pleased with how my digipack looks as I have researched the conventions of the genre thoroughly and have replicated certain elements to ensure that my product looks as real as possible. 

Putting together the digipak

There have been multiple changes that I have made to my digipak, having been predominantly using Photoshop to put my digipak together I then switched to the program Indesign which is far more effective and gives a more finished and professional finished product. The above image is the format that I had been using, a template from Google, whereas I have been able to use the 'compact disc' feature of Indesign which creates the C.D. booklet format automatically. 

The above image is the initial double page spread that I was intending to use within my digipak. The lack of lyrics to my song, being a piano track, was slightly unusual as this is typically a common spread within digipacks, I therefore attempted to develop this convention by layering sheet music over the top of my image. However, on closer inspection I feel that whilst a good idea, in practicality this does not look as professional as I would like, and has no correlation with the rest of my digipak - thus whilst I am using the image as it does match my natural theme - I will not be layering the sheet music over the top.

I then experimented with multiple images to ensure I had the right images for my digipak, I decided not to include this image as in the digipaks I have researched they often include multiple pictures of just the artist to enforce the brand, therefore I decided not to use this image as it is a two shot and I feel that my target audience would be confused as to why I have included my artists' partner in the shot.

The above image shows the design process and my work within Indesign, my original images did not fit the template of the programme so I had to edit the images in Photoshop. I changed the size of the image, adding more sky to the image to ensure that it filled the space and used the blur and smudge tool to allow a natural gradient. Equally, I was able to increase the resolution of the images which allowed me to keep the font style and colour that I originally used when I placed the images in Indesign. 

Whilst my front and back cover are finished, I am adding the final touches to the inside double pages to my digipak. The above image shows the tree shot which I had originally layered sheet music over. I feel that this image is effective given the silhouettes and shadows created by the bleaching effect of the sunlight - the image also conforms to my classic/ naturalistic theme and I have referenced the inspiration behind it in a previous post. I have left space opposite the image for writing as I am conforming to conventions of a digipack to make my own realistic, therefore I will be using an acknowledgement page.

This is the final double page spread of my digipak, I have used a classic head and shoulder shot of my artist, as I have seen in the digipaks of popular artists such as Rihanna, Ed Sheeran and Beyonce. I believe the image to be effective given its simplicity, there is synergy between this and the previous image given the link of trees and nature/ natural landscapes. I have left space on this image also for writing to conform to the conventions of the genre, on this double page spread I will do either a profile/ meet the artist which replicates what my original artist has done within his own digipacks, or a letter to the fans - I feel that a letter to the fans may be more beneficial as this builds a relationship between the artist and the fans, gives a more personal feel to the digipak, and allows me the opportunity to use Photoshop to create a signature for my artist.   

Music Video

Having made all of my adjustments and woven in my new filming, I am happy that my music video is finished and am now working on my evaluation. I will be posting updates on the progress of my evaluation on my blog, but the above video is a brief snapshot of my finished product - please feel free to watch!

New Filming/ Final Editing

Having reflected upon my music video I decided to do some final filming to really communicate the narrative of my video.

 I have filmed additionally more poignant and emotional scenes of my older couple to communicate the different seasons of life, to reinforce the realness and convey a sense there is conflict and changes that occur - but ultimately these are overcome by the couple reunited and dancing in the end of the video. I have also filmed other scenes as demonstrated by the above screen shot of my younger couple, to draw out the cross generational theme and communicate that they are connected to the elder couple. 

Moreover, my new filming has allowed me to match certain shots. For example, having filmed more of my younger couple,  I have been able to use the fade shot to create a transition of the younger woman's hand into the elder woman's hand - which whilst a fairly simple shot, visually makes quite an impact and shows the progression of time.  

Equally, I have used Final Cut Pro to adjust the opacity and utilise key markers to create fades in and out as a transition which I feel clarify the narrative, I am then able to join footage of my artist and elderly man to convey that my artist is supposed to be the elderly actor when he is younger - thus the editing process helped me to convey a sense of unity and mirroring between the two sequences.