Evaluation Q1

In what way does your media challenge use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

Digipak

Whilst researching Digipaks from my chosen genre I noticed the lack of iconography within each pack. For example the Arctic monkeys digipak only included a single photo inside the cover with the band on. Being that the digipaks I researched were from very famous bands I thought this was due to their already established brand image and their lack of need to identify themselves due to having a large fan base. This is a convention I used when designing my digipak, using symbols for the album identity rather than the band its self. This would then allow a buyer to not get confused between albums due to a similar aesthetic. I used the symbol of the car for both the front cover and CD its self. I also used a similar layout design to the Arctic Monkeys digipak. All 3 digipaks I looked at steered away from iconography of the band for what I assumed was for this reason. 

In order to create distinction to my album I wanted to develop and challenge existing genre conventions. I felt less inclined however to challenge conventions for my digipak as it is important for the aesthetic of the album to fit the genre to prevent confusion. Often indie groups will use graphic design to develop their album cover and will not really use photos. I wanted to use photos in order to create a link between the video for the "star" song of the album and this would be the symbol for the whole campaign and would be something evident in all three elements of my marketing campaign. I also decided to place band photos on 3 of the 4 covers which is quite controversial within the Indie genre. I did this due to the bands lack of brand identity due to their niche audience at the moment. I felt in this case it was appropriate to place the identity of the band across the digipak as their audience will only know them from live performance due to the video I made for them being their first music video. I did not try link to Goodwin's theories with my ancillary products as the buyer potentially has not heard the music yet so a striking aesthetic, I felt would be more appropriate for the commercial nature of these products.

I didn't feel the need to challenge existing genre conventions for my digipak due to the bands lack of identity within the genre its self. I felt it would be too risky to implement a controversial design as it could be interpreted by the audience as confusing and would not be clear as to who made the album or what was inside. This uncertainty could have a negative impact on sales limiting the success of the album. 

Magazine Advert

Once again I didn't want to steer too far off track with challenging genre conventions for my magazine advert for the same reasons as my digipak. My main aim was to create continuity across all 3 products, the way I did this primarily was through colouring and the physical subjects within each piece. By using a gig photo as the primary image for my magazine advert I was creating a link between the band and their album, directly addressing the audience who will have most likely seen the band live. The fact the drum kit is abandoned suggests that the music has migrated from the live set and into the album which is conveniently placed centrally in the advert. This persuades viewers to purchase the album as they want to hear the sound that has potentially left the stage and been put into the album. It is also common within my genre for the magazine to take on a minimalist concept. To use this within my product I made sure to use minimal information about the album its self. This means the image has a greater impact on the audience causing them to be more taken in and interested in the advert which would then make them want to look further into the album its self helping market it. 

By not including any direct photos of the band I am slightly steering away from the genre conventions I researched as some of the magazine adverts researched included face shots of the artist or band. By not including an image of the band however I feel I am putting a greater focus on the album its self leaving the viewer the opportunity or hopefully the inclination to want to research the band for themselves. 

Digipak ideas.

For my Digipak I wanted to establish a connection between the album and the music video so my marketing campaign would focus equally on the narrative the video establishes helping iconise the car as a symbol of the album. This is controversial within most small indie groups as they often wish to focus more on iconography and establishing an image of the band. To help implement this element into my Digipak I would also use photos I have acquired of the band performing in order to create a balance between the iconography of the band and link to the music video. By creating a link between the Digipak and narrative element of the video I felt it would carry across the meaning of the song to the whole album giving it a more emotional connection which could mean people are more inclined to purchase the album. On the back of the album I used shots from the end of a gig (crowd surfing) to almost create a story through the Digipak. Being that you would chronologically look at the back as the final part of the Digipak it made sense to have this being created as like the end of the performance. I felt it also would give a greater emotional enhancement to the songs listed on the back cover. Inside the album I wanted to show mid performance as I thought with the case being open there would be a strong chance the CD would then be played so being able to reference the band mid performance whilst listening to the music. Creating a more direct link between the band and music its self. I may experiment with outlining some elements of the Digipak using a similar tracing method to that used in the actual video which would further create a link between the two, creating continuity across my marketing campaign. 

Magazine ad 2

Revising my previous magazine idea I decided to completely redesign my initial idea. Despite the main photo being taken directly from a shoot for the video I did not feel it suited the band identity as much as it could have done. Being that the band mainly posts photos on social media of their band gigs there is often coloured lighting throughout their existing identity so I thought it would be more effective to incorporate this aspect into my magazine advert as it was more likely to relate to their existing brand image. I chose not to focus on iconography of the band and instead focused on the iconography of the album its self. By using a central photo of the album cover this would draw the attention of the piece towards the album. This is another reason for using a background image that would not distract from the main cover. By using the same minimalist concept of my previous advert idea I was still able to achieve the striking appeal of the advert by using vibrant colours and minimal text and details of the advert which would lead to a greater enigma about the product. Encouraging people to research the album themselves and thus then create greater interest about the products. I also included appropriate logos to show where the music can be accessed online, including links to the bands main social media. Overall I feel this advert is better suited to the rest of the marketing campaign due to its aesthetic and focus, I feel it really suits the rest of the campaign, sustaining a similar brand image. 

Magazine ad- draft one

Large photo - Band performance. Central album cover text below. record label. band name above like this. Scrap logo. coloured lighting.

For this draft I wanted to use a typical digipak genre convention of the genre I was working on and base my magazine advert around symbolism of the album as oppose to iconography of the band. I used stills taken from video production for the base image. Establishing a link between the digipak and video. This created more continuity across each aspect of my marketing campaign, linking the three products together. I wanted to create interest for the band through creating identity enigma. By using the car as the symbol of the album giving no implementation as to who the album was by the audience would be more intrigued by the advert and therefore more driven to listen. This obviously has a flip side and it is something I did take into consideration, that having no band identity would potentially miss an audience interested in the band. To counter this however, I included the band logo over the main image to help promote the band identity and link the album back to the band its self.

This advert is based on a minimalist concept. I didn't want to add too much to my magazine advert as it may have become crowded and lose its professional sense. I felt that to help link to my theme creating enigma, less was definitely more. Using the same fonts from the Digipak I titled the ad. Editing the main photo I used a faded film filter which helped create contrast between the photo and digipak cover below. Making the cover stand out.  

The Tunnels- Digipak Final

Front

For my front cover I wanted to make a link to the video as oppose to it focusing on the artist. I felt this linked the genre of music i am working in as often you will see more "indie" albums including symbols as their front cover making no reference to the identity of the band. This is evident in my research of existing Digipaks. By using a reference to the video it would also help to market the album as the only visual reference an audience would have to the song would be the car and the band. Being that the car is the main subject of the narrative within my video I felt it made more sense to use this as the front cover and main symbol of the album. It would allow potential buyers to associate the video with the Digipak, making finding it a lot easier. I also made reference to the animations within the video by outlining the headlights using white circles in photoshop. I felt this accented the car bringing it out from the shadows which is essentially the story of the narrative. When choosing a font to represent the band I wanted something that looked almost handwritten or painted in order to suit the music genre I was working on. I wanted to create a retro styling similar to the Bruno Mars video 24k Magic. I really liked the aesthetic this video due to its retro colour grading and filmic look. On editing the photo I had in mind that I would use band photos from gigs throughout the rest of the Digipak so I would have to edit the front cover in order for it to appear seamless with the rest of the album. On grading all 4 photos I found there was a lot of lens flares and use of coloured lighting. To create a similar aesthetic in my front cover I decided to overlay a film burn overlay which simulated the lens flares and coloured lighting in the gig shots but gave a more realistic feel to the cover. Continuing with my use of retro fonts I used a blocky retro poster font in order to create the title of the album  I experimented a lot with font placement and style however felt these two fonts worked really well together to create the retro appeal I wanted to create throughout my video, Digipak and magazine advert.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Back

For the back of my Digipak I wanted to use the band to create a sense of iconography to link to the front cover being a symbol of the music video. By using an image of one of the band members for the back cover I was able to split the focus of my Digipak so it focused on both the narrative of my video and and iconography of the band. To create the back of the Digipak I firstly chose a photo from a band gig I had previously photographed earlier in the year. I thought this shot worked really well as it was out of focus meaning there would be more attention placed on the song titles and details on the back of the album. This is due to the bokeh of the photo contrasting with the definite lines of the text. I chose to edit the photo to match the front cover so it created a seamless transition between the two. I first increased the brightness and contrast within photoshop in order to create depth to the photo, giving less detail to distract from the text. I next adjusted colour balance to suit the front cover giving a more orange tint to the frame to contrast with its darker blues in the shadows. This gave a more rustic and distressed look to the photo which linked to the style of car the narrative focused around. I further increased the clarity of the RAW photo in Photoshop giving a more washed out and defined look to the final edit. I then adjusted the blacks to give a slightly washed out look to the shot which is in fashion with the indie scene at the moment due to film and polaroid photos becoming increasingly on trend. I then used the same font to title the back with the band name, this font further enhanced the distressed and home made style look I was aiming for across my media products. I used a thinner font which I increased the kerning of the text which created a sense of contrast giving an equal emphasis on the brand logo and song titles within the album. To finish the back I added the production company logo in the bottom corner within Illustrator and then placed a barcode in the opposite corner where it is normally placed. Overall I am very happy with the back of the album as I think it is understated in contrast to the front meaning the buyer is drawn to the front of the album before flipping it to look at the back so the album is then read chronologically which is what I intended. 

Inside Left

For the inside left cover of my Digipak I wanted to take a minimalist approach. I did this by using a still taken from the bands performance and not including any extra information. I felt that the purchaser would only come into contact with this area of the Digipak after purchasing it so there would be no need to further sell the music by including further information. I thought it be more important to put the focus on the CD and the music its self as oppose from distracting from the listening. The music created by Tunnels primarily focuses on a more positive environment so on opening the viewer would be greeted by a smile from the lead singer Becca Clarke instantly evoking a positive feel good tone to the music to follow. Indie bands are also known for being very heavy on live performances so by referencing this it creates a connection with the live performances the Tunnels will often do, giving the music increased energy when listening to it. To edit this photo I followed the same process as the back cover in order to replicate the same look I wanted to have throughout. I feel this inside cover really helps to compliment the disc its self and the rest of the album and does not distract too much from the disk which is the main subject in the inside of the Digipak. 

Disc and Inside Right

For the inside right cover I wanted to continue with the performance photos using photos from the same gig meaning the lighting and photo style were similar so I was able to edit each shot so the inside cover appeared to be a single photo. The inside right cover photo is of one of the lead guitarists. This photo needed to be subtle as it would be obscured mainly by the disk when not in use. I did not want it to distract from the disk its self.

For the disk I wanted to create something that had a memorable texture and look to it so the buyer would remember the disk. It is based primarily off the same photo as the album cover however I decided to edit the photo using a tri-colour split. This was achieved in photoshop by duplicating the layer and then adjusting the colour balance drastically before overlaying each shot in a lower opacity and slightly offsetting each layer to give a glitchy and animated effect. By creating an abstract styling to the disk cover it would hopefully mean the image would not be lost within the viewers mind and the disk would stand out as often a buyer will have a collection of disks. This means the music would be remembered in greater depth as the disk would carry a poignancy to it making it more enticing to play. To finalise the disk design I brought it into Illustrator where I used a clipping mask in order to

Rough Cut Three- animations added

From analysing my previous rough cut I felt that I needed to create a greater sense of personality from the narrative and find a way to tie in the Indie genre and music and the grunge narrative together. The way I wanted to do this was by hand drawing animations over the frames of the video in both the narrative and performance elements of the video. This style of animation helps to enhance the presence of the overall video and is currently on trend with hyper edited videos as it helps enhance the visual elements of each shot the animation is implemented in, essentially bringing it to life. I first became aware of this animation style through watching travel videos created by a YouTube content creator JR ALLI. Below I have linked one of his pieces where he implements this to show how I was inspired. 

To achieve these animations I used Adobe After Effects where I used the brush tool to draw over the video frame by frame, creating an overlaid animation which I felt helped to bring the visuals and performance to life. I did not want to inundate my piece with these animations as i felt it would distract from the visuals as the audience would become detached from the story in anticipation for how the next animation would influence the shot. I used animations in 4 instances in order to create a burst of vibrancy within the shot. Firstly I wanted to enhance how the performance and song its self were connected. This was done by animating a short explosion from the bass guitar as it was plucked. I felt this subtle animation really tightened the connection between the soundtrack and the performance as it almost directly linked them as, as an audience you would be able to gauge how the track is being created and how each instrument has its own impact and significance within the track.

My second animation was to create an aesthetic enhancement to the subjects of the narrative being Oliver and his car. This animation outlined Oliver, who is the main protagonist, and the car, separating them from the cluttered background. I felt this drew the audience attention towards the two subjects provoking a greater interest and viewer connection with the narrative. The audience is instantly made aware of the importance of these two aspects of the narrative and thus their attention is drawn towards these aspects focusing their mind and attention towards the meaning of the story. I also thought by crafting these animations within both the performance and narrative sections of the video it bridged the gap between the two making the overall product more cohesive. Giving the overall video a better flow.

The final instance where I implemented this animation style onto the video was creating an emotion for the car. Initially this had been the only animation I planned to do however after experimenting a bit with the impact it had on the video clips I then create more examples within the video to give an enhanced atmosphere and emotion to specific moments within the song and video. When planning my idea using an animatic I had always planned to shoot a ext close-up of the car appearing sad. When the final version of this shot was placed within the video I didn't think the expression sadness came across as predominantly as I had hoped so I therefore thought of the possibility of animating a subtle expression over the top of the video. By animating in this style you get a lot of variation with the look of each frame which gives a sort of unstable, hand draw appeal (which quite frankly was exactly what the animation is) however I wanted to avoid the animation looking like it was made to look realistic. By drawing over the top of each frame the audience is made aware of the emotion i'm trying to convey without finding a superimposed failed animation humorous which would then distract from the overall video. Overall i'm very pleased with how overlaying animations have affected the final product as I think it helps further link my video to the indie genre I am working in

Rough cut two

For this cut I focused mainly on colour and correcting shots I did not feel worked as seamlessly or carried as much impact within the video its self. I wanted to create a more coherent flow within the piece which I felt could be achieved through colour grading. I wanted the transition between narrative and performance to be a lot less harsh so by colour grading each sequence to portray a similar look which meant the shots would fit together a lot more smoothly reducing its potential to disconnect the audience from the video. By having footage that looks similar colour wise means the audience does not get distracted by harsh colour changes. The idea of a music video is to promote the sound track its self so the video does need to maintain a focus on the soundtrack, something harsh colour transitions could distract from. 

To grade the footage I used a cinematic style grade in the sense I tinted the shadows to a more teal colour and the highlights to an orange tone. This created a nice cinematic feel to my overall video which linked to the style of video I was trying to create being very filmic and heavily visually focused. To enhance the depth of the video I then increased the contrast across the shots as being that I shot primarily in low light conditions it was very important that I did not have too much contrast within frame or I would start to lose detail within the shot which could give an under exposed appearance. Being that the genre of music the band works in is indie rock I wanted to give a slightly retro look to the shots within the video. I did this by adding a slight faded film look to my shots, achieved through the faded film filter in Premiere Pro. In some cases I found this feature to cause some irregularity with he blacks within the shadows which meant I had to reduce the amount of fade I implied within the each shot. Because the song aspires happiness and hope I wanted to give a warm feel to the image so made sure each shot had a slightly warmer feel to it than it was initially shot with. This meant the exterior shots of the car driving appeared less hostile and more welcoming and warm. Overall I am very pleased with the aesthetic of my video and feel by grading each shot individually it has lead to a more convincing and professional looking product.

I have changed some shots within the video towards the end. This is because I do not think their aesthetic matched the rest of the video. Being that a shot some footage on a GoPro I found that it was a lot less capable of dealing with low light conditions so on reviewing the footage it almost has a different picture style to the overall look I wanted the video to have. 

Overall I am very pleased with how this video is coming out to look after a few adjustments. As mentioned previously in research and my pitching ideas I would like to implement some aspect of overlay within the final product so my next steps are to experiment with animate overlays to help bring the storyline to life and bring a greater focus to the soundtrack meaning.