Evaluation Question 4: Prezi

"How did you use media technologies in the research planning, construction and evaluation stages?"

Evaluation Question 3: Film Discussion

"What have you learnt from your audience feedback?"

This is our film discussion about our Final Cut Video, in which we talk about the audience feedback we received and how that effected our video. We discuss how we had taken into account the feedback we had received, and how we had changed a few things in order to improve our music video. 

Evaluation Question2: XtraNormal

"How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?"

In order to show the relationship between our main and ancillary products i thought i would use the programme xtranormal to convey the continuous, dualistic link between our music video and our digipak/advert. 

Evaluation Question 1: Commentary

"In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"

The commentary added on top of our final cut video, implies our response to question one. With our commentary, we have mentioned the conventions in which we believe we have used effectively within, and our reasons for these decisions.

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