Digipak ideas/inspiration

Digipak/advert ideas

This album cover for Only by the Night may be used as inspiration for my own digipak,  Although this is by a band not like My Chemical Romance, I believe that elements of the album could be used effectively to reflect the nature of my own video, perhaps doing this by merging the faces of both the male and female protagonists in my video. Another feature I may take inspiration from on this album cover is the colour scheme. This album in particular uses mainly dark green and while I don’t currently plan to use green in my own digipak design I may try to get the same effect through a series of grey and black, thereby matching the colour scheme of my video, thereby linking the two. An aspect I definitely don’t plan to integrate into my own album is the use of an animal, as it has no relation to my video or it’s contents.

Days Go By, an album by The Offspring is another album that I may take inspiration from when designing my own. I admire this cover as I can relate it to my own video, for example, instead of a young child and an old man sat at opposite ends of a bench, I could use something similar involving my male and female antagonists sitting at opposite sides of the bench I plan to use as a location in my music video. This relates to my video at it represents the relationship between my two protagonists, as their relationship throughout most of the video will be relatively distant as they are both alone for portions of the video. I may however go against these designs by including just one of the protagonists on the cover in order to link my digipak and advert to the concept of lonliness expressed in the music video for Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Problems with uploading

Unfortunately I have been having some problems with uploading videos to YouTube. This means that I may have to change my responses to a different format rather than a video in order to have my responses ready for my deadline. In the case that I cannot get my videos working i plan to change them into either a Prezi or a Padlet although  would prefer to avoid this as I would rather include some more variety in the way I present my evaluation responses.

Evaluation Q3 type up

Q3 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In order to respond to this question I created a questionnaire using Google Forms. Upon completing this I sent it out to my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts along with the YouTube link to the music video itself. I felt that this was the most effective way to hopefully get a significant amount of feedback for my music video for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and upon receiving my results I believe I made a good decision in doing this. In total I received 12 completed questionnaires from people that had seen my video and the results shown on the questionnaires has allowed me to learn a lot.

 

Of the 12 people that completed the questionnaire 11 of these were somewhere in the age range of 16 to 20 years old. This is not surprising as people of these ages may be more likely to have accounts of Facebook and Twitter, therefore making them more likely to reply as there will be a greater number of these people seeing my posts linking to the questionnaire. Results coming from people of this age group will be very valuable as people of this age group are in fact my target audience, therefor meaning that I can see how my target audience react to my music video. The other response of the twelve came from a 41-45 year old, meaning that I will have some insight into an older audience member’s opinion of my music video. Out of all of those that gave feedback 7 of these people were female whereas 5 of them were male, meaning that I will be able to see the separate opinions of both males and females on my music video.

 

In total, 10 people out of the 12 said that they enjoyed my music video, with the two people that didn’t enjoy it being male, resulting in 3 out of the 5 males to view my video enjoying it when compared to 100% of the females that viewed it enjoying it. The possible explanation for these results can be found in the question asking “What did you not like about my music video?” In this section the two viewers that didn’t enjoy the video claimed that the themes based on romance and relationships didn’t appeal to them, with one of them stating that it “It wasn’t for me, it’s not in my personal taste” This can be compared to one of the responses to the question “What did you like most about my video?” for which various female respondents gave positive feedback involving my music videos themes, with one saying “The theme of damaged relationships” is something they liked about the video. This has taught me that my video may be more likely to appeal to female audiences, possibly because a relationship based theme may be more interesting for female viewers in comparison to males who may not find it quite as enjoyable. Therefore if I were to create a video less focused on the relationship between the two protagonists in my music video it may appeal more to a male audience, which could however also result in it appealing less to the female demographic.

The responses I have received also confirm that my music video has an appeal towards my target audience as 9 of the 12 people that enjoyed the music video being within the age group of my target audience. This was good to learn as it shows that from the responses I have received at least, I’ve been able to create an original music video that has an appeal to a teenage audience. Along with this however I have discovered that my music video was also enjoyed by an older audience  member as the male in the 41-45 age group replied saying that they enjoyed the music video, meaning that my video may also have an appeal to older audience members. However with only one reply from a person in this age group I can’t assume that my music video has an appeal to older audience members as a whole

 

When asked “What did you like most about my video” I received a variety of responses pointing out different aspects of the video which the audience liked. One of the most common responses is that people enjoyed the overall atmosphere created in the video. One response stated “The dark colour scheme” Whereas another responded with “Dark lighting as it creates a darker atmosphere, something that relates to lyrics of the song” These responses  have shown me that I have been able to successfully create a dark atmosphere, something which I wanted to integrate as a main theme for my music video. I chose to create this atmosphere through the use of cinematography (shots which show off the surrounding are) editing (I added dark filters to some shots while editing with Final Cut Pro) and mise en scene (dark clothing) and the three of these seem to have combined well to create the atmosphere I was aiming for.

 

When asked “what kind of audience do you think my music video would appeal to?” I once again received a variety of answers, most of which however pointed out that my music video would most likely be enjoyed by teenagers and young adults, with some suggesting it would appeal to people aged between 15 and 21 years old more than any other age group. Most responses didn’t mention gender with the exception of the two males which didn’t enjoy the video. Both of these said that they think my music video is more likely to appeal to a female audience, giving a further hint that my video may be more enjoyable for the female demographic as all of the females that responded enjoyed the music video. Responses to this question have also taught me once again that I seem to have successfully created a music video which appeals to my target audience of teenagers (I didn’t target any particular gender when creating my music video)

 

When asked about how my music video can be improved I received lots of helpful answers which I can learn from. The most common suggestion form the responses I received are suggestions that I could create a clearer narrative as some found it to be a bit confusing. I suspected that I may get some responses pointing this out as I aimed to create a narrative that isn’t fully clear to the audience as I found this to be a convention of the alternative rock genre, so these replies could be a sign that I have succeeded in implementing this genre convention into my music video, though it also shows that if I want to create a music video that is improved in the eyes in the audience I would have to create a video with a clearer narrative that is easier to understand. Viewers suggested that I also film the video with steady and stationary shots rather than the handheld shots I chose to use throughout large portions of the music video. I chose to film mainly in handheld shots as I felt that it would help to create a more gritty atmosphere, however the feedback from several audience members show that it may be more enjoyable to them if this technique wasn’t used, showing me that my video may be more enjoyable with an alternative style of filming.

Rough cut 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe1VszQSDzU

This is the second rough cut for my Boulevard of Broken Dreams music video. In it I have changed the videos opening, added some more clips and attempted to add some lip sync, as well as adding text to the beginning of the video to hopefully make it feel more authentic to audiences viewing it,

Rough cut 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvcsQCaW2Ec

This is my first rough cut for my Boulevard of Broken Dreams music video. In it i have pieced together a few shot of the video such as medium and close up shots and have tried adding some effects such as a black and white effect to see if they are suitable for my video and match the style of the song.

Evaluation WIX

http://benchapman195.wix.com/a2-media-evaluation

Audience profile

This is Izzy King, a 19 year old art student and a fan of the alternative rock music genre. In order to gain a better understanding of what people look for in an alternative rock

product I have had an interview with her in order to get some in depth feedback. My target audience for my music video will be people aged 16 to 20 so her opinions will be helpful for developing my ideas to appeal to this particular age group. I began the interview by asking her if she likes Greenday and their song Boulevard of Broken Dreams, to which she said she does. We then went on to talk about genre conventions in alternative rock and what she enjoys most. Below are some relevant parts of the interview that took place.

Q: "What do you like most about the alternative rock genre?"

A: "I just like how there are lots of different styles in the genre, I really like the variety"

Q: "What do you like about the song 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'?"

A: "I like how it tries to tell a story. I think it's lyrics give a strong message of being alone and having nobody there for you, that's something everyone can relate to at some point so that's something I like about it, it's also one of those songs that could have different meanings for different people on an emotional level which I think is another good thing about it"

Q: "What features would you like to see in my music video based on the song"

A: "I think it would be interesting to see your own take on it.  I know the original music video for the song doesn't have much of a story to it so I think a version with a narrative to it could be a good idea"

Q: "What do you look for in an alternative rock music video?"

A: "As i said before I think telling a story is important because it makes a music video more interesting, especially with alternative rock. I also think showing off the artists in the song is a good thing, especially if you're a fan of the artist"

Q: "Why do you watch music videos?"

A: "I mainly watch them when i'm relaxing because listening to music helps me do that. If i ever hear a song and find it interesting i'll sometimes look for the music video to the song too because they can be fun and interesting to watch"

Q: "What would you say separates alternative rock music videos from other music videos belonging to other genres?"

A: "I like them mainly because they have good stories behind them. A lot of music videos today in things such as pop music videos are all about boring subjects, whereas alternative rock videos often a have a deeper meaning to them that the audience has to figure out for themselves"


These results have proven very helpful as they have given me various ideas as to what to include in my own music video. Using a narrative that has a deeper and maybe symbolic meaning may also be a good idea as this may help me to create a music video that differs to those found in other genres such as pop, and instead create something that links it to alternative rock through the use of it's genre conventions. After this interview I feel as though including star image and a narrative to my video will be effective as Izzy feels that these are important aspects to include in alternative rock music videos. After this interview I also invited Izzy to play a part in my music video. I feel that she could play a good part in it as she is a former performing arts student and has experience in acting. As a fan of alternative rock she may also be better suited to playing a part in and understanding an alternative rock video in comparison to a person that doesn't enjoy the genre.

Evaluation Q3 prezi

Music video rough cut 3

This is the third rough cut for my Boulevard of Broken Dreams music video. In it I have added some more clips into place in preparation to have effects to them, adding more darker colours to the video in order to suit the tone I am aiming to create.I have also added some more effect between shots such as fades and the bloom effect to create a smoother transition between clips.

Music video rough cut 4

This is the fourth and hopefully final rough cut for my music video. In it I have added the flashback sequence which will hopefully create a clearer narrative for my audience. I have also added some more effects between shots and tweaked the positioning of some of the clips to keep them in time with the music, bringing thought beats to mind

Evaluation Q2 type up

Evaluation Q2 type up

One of the main targets throughout my products was to keep an overall brand identity between my music video, advert, and digipak. I have used various methods in order to do this and I feel that they work effectively.  One theme I use throughout my products is the use of dark colours which aims to link my products to one another. This colour scheme allows my products to represent one another and link them to the name of the song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” which appears on all of my products. I feel that the colour scheme and the song title link together well as the song itself relates to being alone, a feeling which many people may link to darker colours as they are often perceived as representing sorrow and other such feelings. The main colours that I use in my products are usually black, various shades of grey and white, and these can be seen as the main colours in all of my products with the exception of my music video, as I feel that a fully black and white video would not be suitable when compared to the finished product which involves colour outside of my main colour scheme. The dark colour scheme is still present in the costume of the two protagonists however as they both wear clothing that is mainly black, which links these two characters with the overall theme of my products and also gives audiences a clue as to how the protagonists portray the emotional style of the music video. This is shown mainly in the sequence which involves a flashback, as it demonstrates a change in colour when compared to the rest of the video which is set in the present. In the flashback we see the costume of the two characters change from mainly black to various other colours such as blue worn by the male, and brown worn by the female. With a change of lighting during the flash back sequence I have been able to make the alternate colours stand out more to those watching it, with the brighter colours representing happier times for the two characters while they are in a relationship together. I feel that with the contrast in colours used in relation two costume, background and lighting I have been able to effectively link all of my products together in order to create the brand identity I aimed to establish when creating my music video, advert and digipak.

 

One thing that I also found important to use in my music video was the setting and background. When planning my music video I decided that it would be best to set it in locations which were in the countryside, which would allow me to use wide open spaces such as fields, were darker lighting and weather can combine to create a darker atmosphere which I feel relates more suitably to my video, as well as giving it another way to combine with brand identity when used with the dark colour scheme. One common feature of the background I found suitable to use in my video was the use of bushes that are dying and have lost leaves. This is an image that I have used as a metaphor in my music video as the bushes represent how the relationship of the two protagonists has withered and died. These bushes are also images that I have used in my advert and digipak in order to help the three have a clearer connection. With the advert in particular I have merged the image of dying bushes with an image of the male protagonist as he faces away from the camera. I feel that this image is necessary as it helps to summarise the themes of the video while being more visually appealing in its artistic style, something which I hope is more eye catching for audiences and will help draw them to watch my video.

 

The narrative of my music video was of high importance and I believe that using the images I selected on my advert and digipak helped to show viewers what the main idea for my video’s narrative could be, as they portray the ideas of loneliness, something which I was eager to emphasise as it relates to the overall theme of the song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” The images I have used on both my advert and digipak show only the male protagonist in various locations, with the most obvious examples being present on my digipak. On the digipak I show images of multiple empty locations that were taken while out filming the music video, therefore giving a link to the music video with the background. In my music video I chose to shoot in locations where there were no other people present, meaning that there are only two people shown in the video and they’re both alone for most of the videos duration, giving a better sense that they’re both alone, with this being reflected in my other texts that I use in helping to develop a brand identity.

 

My use of images of the protagonists from my music video in the advert and digipak are good examples of how I have contained the narrative of the video to these two people alone, with the male protagonist being the main feature of these as I attempt to integrate star power into my products. In the music video I show various close ups of the two protagonists which is a common theme in the alternative rock genre, meaning that this feature would hopefully have an appeal to fans of alternative rock that may be viewing my video. In the video I show the male lip synching with the lyrics of the song at multiple points, giving the impression that he is the songs artist in this situation. This therefore lead me to use the male protagonists image on both my advert and digipak front cover as this too is a convention in adverts and digipaks in alternative rock as they help to advertise the product to potential audiences, as star image on advertising material let the audience know which artist the product is by.

Evaluation Q3 questionnaire link

http://goo.gl/forms/sBSeGi5ZHx

This link leads to a questionnaire I have created in order to find out the opinions that people have towards the final cut of my music video, this link has been sent out along with a link to my music video over my personal Facebook and Twitter pages in order to reach as many people as possible. This questionnaire is an important part of my question 3 response as it's results will allow me to discover whether my music video has been successful with it's audience.

Audience research questionnaire

http://goo.gl/forms/XMsvhsAB2q

Problems with uploading

Some rough cuts of my music video and videos for evaluation questions won't upload on YouTube fro some reason as they won't process past 0% I'm also having some problems embedding work onto my evaluation Wix but I'll keep trying to get it working.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment: Boulevard of Broken Dreams from Benchapman195

Lyric breakdown

Lyric breakdown from Benchapman195

Work to complete after half term

For some reason Youtube will not process any of my videos i've been trying to upload which includes my music video, rough cuts, and Q1 of my evaluation,even after leaving them to process all lesson they've stayed at 0% for processing however the links have been put on my blog with the hop that they'll start working. My music video could also benefit from some more editing to get it to a higher standard.

Music video final cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB_Orya8N3A&feature=youtu.be

This is the final cut for my Boulevard of Broken Dreams music video. The process of creating this has been tricky and not without it's problems, but hope that i've managed to create a good music video despite this. In this final version i've arranged all clips to my liking with suitable effects and lip sync along with various types of edits. My final cut differs hugely from my original plans that can bee seen in my storyboard animatic, but i think changing my plans was a good and realistic idea in order to create my music video.

Evaluation Q1 rough cut

http://youtu.be/wbVSq2Yifsg

Advert final

Evaluation Q4

Created with

Padlet

Improvements to evaluation

This lesson my aim was to go through my type ups of my evaluation responses and add more detail to them a well as relate them more to my own work which will hopefully improve my evaluation marks. For example in question 4 I have added information on how I used Photoshop to create my advert and digipak and have gone on to explain what specific tools I used in Photoshop to create my designs.

Tweak week: New advert design

Today I've been focusing on re-shooting some lip sync sections of my video and have begun creating a new design for my advert. I feel that my advert was week and needed huge improvement and i feel that the direction i'm taking it in will be  a more suitable design. From research I've carried out in the planning stage of my project I believe that this design, is more relatable to the alternative rock genre and more eye catching than my previous advert despite it still being incomplete. I will continue to work on this and will include things such as the album name and quotes from reviews of he album.

Tweak week: Improving my music video

In order to improve my video I have filmed a new sequence to be added into it. This new sequence will be a flashback which will hopefully make the narrative of my video somewhat clearer to the audience. This should hopefully make the link between the male and female characters in the music video more obvious as the audience can see them on screen together in images of their past. The flash back will show them happy together which contradicts the lyrics of the song, but helps to tell the story that these two people are now alone.  In the flashback different costumes are worn by the actors in the video which are brighter that the main black theme seen in the rest of the video. this is to contrast the mood in the video, with the black reflecting a gloomier mood and loneliness, whereas the clothes in the flash back reflect happier times between the two characters. I also chose to use steadier camera shots in comparison to handheld shots used outside of the flashback, which I have used to imply the stability between the two people in the past and the instability in the present. Another contrast between the two is the use of the weather and lighting. In the flashback we can see the sun shining in some shots whereas in the present shots the shines are cloudy and there is fog in the surrounding environment, with the sun reflecting happier times for the two characters and the fog and clouds reflecting a now darker present. In the background during some of the shots in the flashback other people can be seen in the background whereas in shots of the present I made sure to include no other people in the video. This was to add emphasis that they were now completely alone in the world with nobody else there for them.

Tweak week: Improving my digipak

This week I will be focussing on improving my Music video, advert and digipak and continuing my evaluation as of next week. Today I have been focussing on my digipak and have started to improve it by adding more detail to it which makes it look more authentic and professional. As can be seen in the screenshot above I have added some copyright detail on the back panel of the digipak as well as production credits above that. I have also added the name of the album and a copyright related number which shows it was produced in Europe to the spine of the digipak, as can be seen in other digipak on the market today. I have also began deleting any unnecessary part of the template I first used to piece my digipak together.

Typing up my Q4 response

This is a screenshot of my unfinished type up for my response to evaluation Q4. In this type up I describe how I have used media products during my A2 project and upon completing this, i will be placing the text into a padlet as a way to present it, with the padlet being embedded onto my blog upon completion. I have already added some of this text into a padlet already in order to test the padlet's effectiveness in displaying my response.