Evaluation question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?

I decided to present my second evaluation question as a 'Prezi presentation' which is a free, online, presentation creating website. I wanted to show a further understanding of a wider form of technology.

Evaluation question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Magazine Advert



Here is my magazine advert which is promoting my band and their debut album.

Magazine Advert

Digipack

Here is my digipack containing my album cover, inside sleeve, back cover and CD.

Album Cover

Back Cover

CD

Insert Sleeve

Digipack and Magazine advert Planning

I plan to have my band memebers on the CD cover, as this is important for publicity in making them reconginisable to promote their image. I am thinking of ideas such as writing the band name on balloons for the CD cover, as I want it to be memorable. For the inside sleeve I want my band members dressed the same as the CD cover, as this too creates a motif for the band memebers. I will use Picasa to create filters and effects for the inside sleeve, and will include the bands social networking sites. For the back CD cover I will not include the band memebers I am thinking of having the location on its own for the CD cover, as it will not look too overpowering with the song titles written on the back. For the CD itself I am hoping to have the bands logo of a red rose and then the bands name.
I want to use the same font and colours and outfits for all the ancillary task (digipack and magazine) for branding purposes. After much research into font I have decided to use Britanic Bold, as it has a vintage, pop look to it. I will be using the colour red as my theme and the band name 'Ruby' connotes red, as does 'Roses', so it has a clear link.

Digipack ideas

Digipacks are CD packaging, including, an album cover, an inside sleeve, a CD and a back cover. I will be creating a digipack for the second part of my task, along with a magazine advert. I have decided on a red colour scheme for my digipack as it ties into the name of my band 'Ruby Roses', and as my band are a male/female duo, red is a unisex colour, which is important.
I want my band to be dressed quite casual as I believe this is following conventions of the indie genre, for example, trainers/vans/converse as opposed to smart shoes/high heels.

Also instead of the female in a dress or sophisicated clothing, I am deciding to dress her in a casual t-shirt, hopefully red, along with the male, this will help with the bands branding, aswell as fitting in with indie genre.


Due to my band being seen in the music video with the female wearing large glasses, and the male wearing beanie hats, these will be featured in the digipack as this can be their trademark look.

Magazine Advert research

As the White Stripes were my inspiration, due to their similarities as an Indie duo like my band, I researched any magazines adverts they were featured in and found that their colour scheme of red and white was apparent in the magazine advert, so this helped a great deal as I am planning on a red colour scheme for my magazine advert, and digipack, as my band name is 'Ruby Roses'. Also, I want a close up shot of my band memebers to help with publicity as they are a new, upcoming band.





Other magazine adverts I found interesting were Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 magazine advert.

 

The fact Jay-Z's face doesn't appear on the magazine advert shows how well established he is in the music industry.

Album Covers research

I research into a variety of different genres to get a feel of the different sorts of album covers and what they are trying to portray, and how successful they are in doing so.

Justin Bieber- As Justin Bieber is a young artist, his face is on the centre of the album cover, as most of his fans are young girls, who admire his looks, so this is important in the production of the album cover, and looks are an important part of the pop genre.

The Beatles- The Beatles Abbey Road album cover is still to this day memorable and recognisable and has been mimicked by other bands today. It is one of the most inconic and original in history.

Rihanna- As Rihanna is well established in the music industry her name is not included on the album cover, showing her huge success and how recognisable she is.

Nirvana- Nirvanas album cover 'nevermind' is, like the Beatles- Abbey Road, one of the most iconic to date. Although it shows none of the band members, many people who see it soon realise it is Nirvana's. Its quirky, almost unexplainable cover makes it unqiue and memorable.

The White Stripes Album Cover

The reason The White Stripes inspire me is because like them my band consists of a female and male protagonist. Because my band are a new band I will want their faces on the album cover as it is important to establish and introduce them so the public know what they are about and where they fit in the music industry. I like the red and white colour theme used in the white stripes album cover. As my band are called 'The Ruby Roses' I will be going with a red colour theme and I believe this will work well.

Costumes

Costume is a very important element when filming a music video, especially when introducing the band and determining what genre they will fall under. Due to the fact my band are an indie band with a male and female I decided to be quite stereotypical in my costume choice.

A parka is quite a stereotypical indie piece of clothing, and I believe this worked well for both male and female protagonist. 

I chose a baggy pink t-shirt for my female protagonist as pink is quite a conventional girls colour, however the bagginess gives it an indie edge. 

I decided to have my male protagonist wearing a beanie hat in various parts of the video as this is quite conventional for an indie male, at times I had my male and female switching accessories (glasses and beanie hat see above) and even coats at one point (see left), also I think this creates a comical element that I was hoping to achieve.

The Editing Process

I found the editing software fairly simple to use as it was something I was familiar with as I used it in AS when editing my Thriller opening.

These are the transitions used inbetween clips, to create a more effect music video. I used 'Cross Dissolve, Cross Blur, Fade to Black, Fade to White' throughout as I believe these were the most authentic and appropriate in helping the video the to flow.

Precision Editor was useful to breakdown the clips making them as precise as possible when editing to match the lyrics to the visual images.

'Inspector' for me was one of the most useful tools during my editing process, as to create the flashback element I needed a video effect, so I chose 'sepia' as it was clear that the narrative was going back in time. I also used effects such as 'romantic', as this went well with the narrative.

Final Cut

This is my final cut for Catch a Dream by The Ruby Roses. I hope you enjoy it.

Rough cut feedback

After previewing my rough cut to my peers I asked for their feedback and ways they thought I could improve.

Lydia

• Flashbacks really good, quite cheesy but works well with the song
• Good narrative throughout
• Focus individually on animatic parts
• The 'Ill be there' sign goes on a little too long, maybe break it up if possible

Kieran

• Nice changes in pace, when music slows down, so does footage
• Consistent reference to map
• Crying shot works well with transitions
• Liked the playing up to the camera elements and waving part towards the end
• Nice start, suits genre and song

I found this feedback beneficial and helpful and I will try to apply this to my final cut. 

Rough Cut

This is my rough cut for my music video, which overall I am quite pleased with. I will be asking my classmates for feedback in order to better my final cut.