Our final music video;

Poster/Advert;

This is our finalised magazine advert/poster, we are very proud of what we produced and we think it really hits the conventions of our genre as well as being an engaging poster, for not only our target audience but all readers. We began by choosing an image that we wanted to use as the main focus for our advert, and we eventually chose this one the same time as we chose to use it for the album cover of our digipak. This was not originally intentional however when we thought it out, we realised alot of adverts out there are in fact the album covers artwork and more importantly conveys a sense of continuity that really promotes the album and the bands aesthetic.

Once we had the image in place we used photoshop to construct the entirity of our advert. First of all we needed to figure out how to fade the image we had into black in order to make our font/text stand out as much as possible. For this we took inspiration from ellie gouldings promotion for her album lights. To create this look we placed a black box at the bottom of our image and then used the clone tool in order to blur the edges and make it look like our image is completely fading into black.

The next step was to choose the font and lettering we were going to use. We decided to use the same font as we did for our digipak to state 'polar collective' as we believe there should be continuity between products so the artist can build up an image and 'look' throughout the stuff that they wish to do. Then we had to choose a different font for the other text that we wanted to put on our advert. We began searching through all the fonts photoshop had to offer as we had the thought in mind that we wanted to use a squarish font to contrast with the 'polar collective' also so it looked like an old fashioned type writer, keeping with the vintage aesthetic. Eventually we came up with the one above and i believe it works well with the advert as a whole. Furthermore we knew we wanted to have magazine quotes on our advert as it enhances the fact our artists is musically raw and is highly recognised with the talented magazine writers out there that have promoted artists such as oasis and coldplay in the past that have that same indie feel.

Lastly we decided to put the facebook and twitter sign on our advert, as we are fully aware social networking is a major connection for artists nowadays in order for them to communicate and promote to their fans. Using the symbols simply makes people aware that the artist is indeed on facebook and will be putting regular news updates as well as personal ones also. As a whole i am very proud of our ancillary products as i believe they are continuous, well thought out and well constructed through different technologies as well as trial and error. We have maintaned the indie/pop genre throughout adding our own personal quirky/vintage twist to it in order for it to engage our target audience and as a whole, look professional.

Audience Feedback; 15 people (1-10) 10 being the highest...

1. How well does our advert use the conventions of the indie pop genre?
          - average score 9.5
steven: 'the image you have used is really striking and different, i also like the way you have laid out your text, it looks very neat yet quirky.'
2. How engaging is our advert?
        -average score 9
3. How well do our quotes reflect our artists aesthetic?
       -average score 10
laura: ' i love the fact you've used NME as one of the quotes, they really understand the indie genre'
4. How well have we portrayed our star image?
      -average score 9
5. Does our advert look like a real advert for a promotion of an album?
    -average score 10

Final DigiPak;

This is our final digipak product, as you can see we have constructed together all 6 images to create our final album/cover. In order to do so we used photoshop which was a fun and testing experience as we had never used it before therefore i done my best to grasp the basics and then went from there. It was an experience filled with trial and error but we are extremely proud of the final product as we think it looks well thought out and professional as well as sticking to the conventions of the indie/pop genre.

Eventually we decided on an album cover, with help from our teacher we decided to use the top left image as it is the most engaging and professional looking. It also holds an intertextual reference with the indie/rock band's paramore video as we took inspiration from this to use a light as a microphone which is a very eye catching image as well as this it enhances the star image as the light is focused wholely on his face, creating a glowing/flawless image.

The top middle picture captures the quirkiness of our digipak as it was a random idea that eventually really ended up working. Once we have finalised things we wanted to add some of the 'weather girls' lyrics on top of the image to add an extra something for our target audience. The top right image really emphasises our artist's star image and the fact he is a musician/singer/songwriter, by the use of the guitar in shot and his face, projected through a high/mid shot enhances his face and has the aspect of 'looking.' (one of Goodwins theories)

The bottom left image really captures the house party feel as it is a convention of the pop/indie genre, adopting a laid back/cool image which we have really tried to convey within this image, which is emphasised by the party string as well as the beer that sam is holding in his hand. These props, we thought out before hand so when we went to shoot the image we had a clear vision in mind for the mise en scene. The bottom middle picture was our second option for our album cover as we love this image and the quirkiness of it, however we went for the top left in the end as it had that album cover feel to it that will really make an impact. But what i really like about the bottom image is the quirky mise en scene along with the vibrancy that it projects and once again the effective use of star image qualities. Finally the bottom right image is one of my favourites and i believe it is perfect for the back cover for our digipak. As you can see the way the image is laid out has made perfect space for the list track that we purposely had in a quirky/unusual font. Moreover the guitar along with the bright colours really capture the indie/pop conventions that we have been trying to convey throughout.

Audience Feedback from our Digipak:  (15 people) (1-10)

1. How effective is our use of star image?
         -average score 9
2. How well does it use the conventions of the indie/pop genre?
         -average score 10
3. Does it show contuinity between the digipak and our music video?
         -average score 8.5
4. How effective/engaging is our front cover?
        -average score 10
sophie: ' the front cover is amazing, it really highlights sams face as well as being different but fun at the same time'
5. How professional does our digipak look?
        -average score 9
.. a way to improve... put lyrics on the digipak for an extra something for our target audience

Changes we made to the ancillary products;

Today we focused on contrusting our ancillary products (the digipak and the advert) and whilst doing so, through the editing process we decided to change and improve a couple of things. For example the text on our digipak cover we deleted and changed as photoshop would not accept it, however in the end it was a positive change as our new text embodies the quirkiness and feel of our band, having a chalkboard/raw look.
Also we decided to change the image for our digipak cover as well as our advert as we took a new image which we got tremendous audience feedback from both from teachers and students.

This is our new image that we are using for the front of our digipak as well as our advert as we wanted to portray a sense of contuinity to both of our ancillary products and as this image has been highly praised and recommened we chose to  use it, as it will evidently engage our target audience. We specifically chose this image as for the advert we knew we wanted something dark to contrast with white text so inevitably we chose this image to descend into 2/3 blackness.

We believe that we have changed our products for the better through the strong influence of audience feedback as well as the effect the image has for an album cover as well as an advertisment for the album. Nevertheless we are still going to use the other images on our digipak as we know that they are still strong images to keep the quirkiness apparent however the effectivness of this image is no doubt perfect for our album cover as well as our album promotion.

Using photoshop to construct our digipak;

Today we spent the lesson putting our digipak images together as well as finalising it as well as our advertisment for our album. In order to so we decided the best programme to use was photoshop as the tools it offers will create a professional  looking set of ancillary products. Also it gave us freedom to test out the different tools on offer and to have different options to achieve the best looking result. To start the construction of our digipak we needed a template, therefore we found a standard one on google images which we could use...

Above is the template that we employed onto photo shop in order to construct our template. We chose this specific one as it was simple to work with as well as having 6 12 by 12 boxes which matched the criteria as well as the ammount of pictures we personally wanted to use on our digipak.

By using photoshop it was a case of trial and error and we spent the whole lesson trying out different tools in order to achieve what we wanted. At first we did not know how to get our pictures onto photoshop however we figured out that we needed to open the pictures in our finder which then allowed us to scale the image 12 by 12 on photoshop. However some photos did not fit this perfectly therefore we had to use a unique tool called the 'clone tool' which allowed us to manipulated our pictures and make them fit the box perfectly.

The clone tool allowed us to fit the picture as acceptably as we could in the 12 by 12 box and whatever room was left we could use this tool to duplicate whatever part of the image we wanted which then almost stretched the image,which eventually fit the 12 by 12 dimensions. This is a reason why we chose to construct our digipak on photoshop as it gives us the flexibility to manipulate and change our pictures whilst keeping a professional feel to it.

Advertisment; font ideas

We realised, whist brainstorming that font is extremely important when constructing a magazine poster/album that must promote an album. It must be unique, eye catching, engaging but most of all reflect the artists ethos and some how portray what the artist is trying to say with their album/digipak. For our specific bands album advert we wanted something quirky and unique which reflects the bands aesthetic and what they are all about   being a modern indie/pop group. Therefore our font has to be fun and unique, so we were thinking for going with the comic/cartoon feel as this is a conventional quirky font, also it goes along nicely with the name of the album 'snakes and ladders', therefore being comical and fun.

This is one of the fonts i picked out and really like, i love the 3d effect as well as the wonkiness it has to it, i think this really embodies the bands look, fun, quirky and different. I also like the fact all the letters are capitals, which are larger, therefore engages the audience more as well as having a loud/shouty feel to it which indie/pop is all about, being different and eccentric. The only downside to it is that it might be a bit too chunky for an advert as there is not much space on a poster, and it would be hard to find a smaller font to say other information that wouldn't clash with it completely.

This is the second font i found on dafont.com under the title 'comic' and i thought this was a really 'out there' eccentric font as the diversity between the lettering as well as the different colour and naturally different sizes. The other words bouncing off the letters also are really effective and bring that comical edge to the font, and i think this would suit our advert as it is fun and compliments the title of 'snakes and ladders.' However in the end we decided maybe this wasn't quite the right font as it is almost to loud and eccentric for our advert, we want something fun and quirky but not something to comical as this font specifically looks like it could be in a comic book which is not what were going for, because ultimately we want to promote a musical album. 

After deciding against the bigger, more accentric fonts we saw this one which caught our eye. We liked the simplicity of it as it is understated but is still quirky as it still has curviture and capital letters. It also reminded us of the first font we looked at but it took away the loudness of it, which would be more appropriate for a album promotion in a magazine as it will allow us to put alot of information on it but it wont be overcrowded. However we decided this font is too simple and not fun enough for the album we are promoting as after all the album name is 'snakes and ladders' so the font has to mirror the fun that is present in the title as well as the songs on the album. 

After much deliberation and brainstorming we came across this font, which we believe reflects the album perfectly. It has that comical 3d feel which represents indie/pop but to really enhance the name of the album 'snakes and ladders' the letters themselves look like snakes, therefore portraying a double dose of meaning which is effective in engaging our target audience, also it adds an extra fun aspect to our album and most importantly our advert. I think we are going to have the album name and bands name in this font as it will be very much engaging however the more formal information we will have in a more understated font like the one above as we need it to be a serious promotion therefore the audience need to be able to easily read it therefore we will be putting it either on a white/black background to really enhance the font and ultimately what it is saying. 

Poster/Advert;

For our advert that coincides with the digipak we want it to have a sense of continuity so the imagery and ideas are the same in order to show that we are promoting one album that is coherent and professional. Obviously we have chosen a seperate image to use however for the advert we believe it has to convey a strong sense of star image as well as highlighting the fact our indie band focuses on raw musical talent as well as their quirky image. Therefore we have chosen to use the image below.

I believe this image works fantastically well as an advert, which the ultimate aim for it is to sell the bands album and promote it. I chose this specific image as it is fun, quirky, vibrant and still conveys a strong sense of star image that works coherently well alongside our digipak. I have edited this picture on picmonkey.com to give it a more dynamic feel, therefore i mixed up the contrast and employed different themes to the image, so it would ultimately be more engaging to our target audience. Our advert will engage our target audience, as like the album it sticks whole heartedly with the indie/pop conventions, having that house party feel alongside it being vibrant, quirky and conveying our star image in a musically talented light. Furthermore the specific facial expression sam is giving in this image is a conventional shot used in music, as it fixates the audience's attention to his face as it is a mid/high angle shot which frames the guitar below nicely.

To complete our advert we plan to have this picture imposed on a black background which will be 3/4 the image and 1/4 faded into black will have the words 'Polar Collective' as well as the album name 'snakes and ladders' with dates of the release as well as quotes from different newspapers such as; Daily Mail '*****'indie album of the year with a quirky edge.' Moreover we will also be adding the twitter and facebook symbols to our advert to furthermore promote the album, highlighting the fact the band has twitter and facebook in order to engage their target audience.