A2 Media Studies Evaluation

A2 Media Studies: Music Video Audience Response Survey

This is the survey I have created to collect feedback in order to inform my evaluation of my products via audience feedback.

Please take a few moments to fill this out to contribute to my audience feedback:

Final Video

This is the final cut of my video, I have made a plethora of changes since my first cut including the way in which I have generally just collated more footage and made use of this footage far more effectively, I needed to incorporate far more close ups which I feel I have done as it has allowed me to capture more expression/emotion of the protagonist. There is a great difference in quality from my first draft, as for a start I learnt how important the use of rendering is in Premiere Pro in order to get the smoothest playback possible, I learnt that clips with a red bar above the work area was a signal that the footage definitely needed rendering, whereas yellow was a sign that the footage did not need rendering but it would help if the clip was rendered.

The premise of the song is that relationships can be psychologically abusive and emotionally stressful, however, I have chosen to present this more through the use of a child and outlining how many young people are still subjected to bullying and psychological violence is still a problem within our society at all ages. It also shows that children should not be made to suffer in silence and should open up about their problems.

The video postulates that young people should maintain happiness and youthfulness for as long as possible, and bullying/psychological violence should not be tolerated in a healthy and diplomatic society. It manifests how a girl who really should be enjoying the best years of her life (stress free and in good health) has become a subverted stereotype due to those around her psychologically abusing her quite possibly due to the influence of the new media poisoning the minds of younger citizens, it also makes use of high angle shots to fulfil these connotations and some shots that seem as if the girl is being watched unbeknown to her, almost like a kind of 'Big Brother' method of filming. Essentially using a male gaze to make her look even more inferior and insignificant in conjunction with costume.

In essence, it is a girl who is psychologically tortured for no other reason than that some people genuinely find hedonism from belittling others, and it shows how the innocent girl should receive sympathy as she finds happiness in the simplest of ways such as nature and the environment around her rather than engaging in media such as video games all day like other children do. It should give the audience catharsis and elicit/evoke a sense of sympathy from the audience.

Digipak: Final Edit of Digipak

Below is the final edit of my digipak, the changes needed were minimal as all I needed to do was adjust the levels of opacity in the typography on the posterior panel of the digipak to make the track listings easier to decipher and make the name of the album and the band name on the anterior panel (front cover) clearer for the same reason.

As you can see, I have adjusted the level of opacity in the typography on the front of the digipak and also on the disc itself as well as the track listings on the back. This has ensured that the text remains striking against the (now) more black and white, monochrome background. This is the final edit of my digipak which me and my teacher both agree has seen significant development since my first draft. and is now a marketable product suitable for promoting a musical entity. The final draft of the digipak was (as I have alluded to) strongly inspired by U2's album "War" (1983). This is something that intrigued me: the album I have based the digipak on was released in 1983, a very similar time to which Guns N' Roses (who the band cite as a major influence on their music and image) formed (they formed in 1985). This correlation reassured me slightly that this is (despite the fact I have subverted many conventions) quite a viable digipak to use as a means of marketing the band and promoting their brand identity.

Moreover, I am happy with the latest design for this digipak and do not intend to make any changes as this may overdo the look which would oppose the minimalist approach I am striving for, which me and my teacher (upon comprehensive feedback) agree, is a good idea.

Magazine Advert: Final Advert

This is the final design for my magazine advert and I have made all the suggested improvements that my teacher has asked me to make.

I have adjusted the opacity of the typography so that it appears clearer against the background which makes the typography more striking against the monochrome. I have also reduced the size of the stars to draw more attention to the quotes reading "Breathtaking - NME" and "Album of the Year - Q". I have also (as with the digipak) adjusted the darkness of the poster to make it more indie/rock and less dull and grey as it was before. Apart from that I had no further changes to make and my teacher approved of the final poster as I had applied all the new changes I needed with ease as I have become far more proficient with the editing software - this was produced using Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Digipak Developments: Third Draft

This is the third draft of my digipak which I have made adaptations to subject to recommendations from my teacher, who upon evaluating/reviewing my second draft digipak informed me that he disliked the typography and felt it was not suitable for a hard rock/indie band. He also brought my attention to the use of levels in photoshop: he told me that the album cover appeared to be more grey than black and white - which were the colours I originally wanted to use in order to achieve the monochrome, minimalist effect I wanted to represent the band's brand image. In addition to this we discussed how the idea of adding a spine to the digipak to give it more of a professional look - ensuring it looks like a product that could actualy appear on the shelf in HMV or another popular music outlet.

As recommended by my teacher during feedback, I have adapted the levels in the photos to make the images more black and white through adapting the chiaroscuro elements of the image to give it that 'indie/rock' edge. The effect of the black and white shades rather than the more dull/vague grey colour is that it subsequently makes the red typography far more striking and visible to see - however, my teacher did point out that the opacity of the typography on the anterior panel, posterior panel, spines and CD itself needed to be reduced to make the typography far more striking and clearer against the back ground. It is clear that on the anterior panel (front cover) that the text ("The Fight") appears quite faint as it is against a very white background - this is a change I will have to implement for my final draft of the product.

Overall, the digipak is essentially finished as my ability using the editing software (Photoshop CS3) has developed significantly throughout the production process, whereas I made the images more of a grey in the previous draft of the digipak, I discovered that by selecting Menu > Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black and White I could achieve the effect that I wanted to achieve. Following this, I would then select Levels > Chiaroscuro and tweak the sliders to get the black and white monochrome effect I have set out to achieve since the inaugural stages of my planning. My ability to use the editing software has begun to burgeon recently, which has directly affected the way in which I am able to either adhere or subvert conventions which will effect the way in which my product is perceived.



Depicted above is the second draft of my digipak, and this displays the significant changes my product has gone through over the course of the production process - notice the more dull grey tone to this digipak - the text appears less striking against it and the colour contrast between the light and dark shades is far less pronounced - compare the top left hand panel of each digipak and the difference is clear, the light reflected of the coat is bright whilst shadowed areas appear far more dark i.e. the inside of the hood and certain strands of fur round the periphery of the hood. On the other hand, in the digipak depicted above, the image in the top left hand panel appears as one very bland, insipid shade of grey. Also noticeable is the difference in typography between the two products: the second draft uses a far less suitable typography: it seems very basic and quite unsophisticated, almost like a comic sans type of font which is not suitable for a rock band.

Despite the changes I have made to the digipak, my teacher has advised that I adjust the opacity of the typography in my final edit - he told me that is does not make as much of an impact and that the text would appear far more striking against the monochrome background - he informed me that this is the only change required to get my product to a high level.

Digipak Second Draft

I decided to put into practice new skills I have acquired from tinkering with my chosen software by re-designing my digipak in a more suitable manner to better adhere to the codes and conventions of rock/indie digipaks and creating something closer to the final product that will be put out to market/promote the band.

After researching digipaks/album covers and artwork I have finally put together a first draft of how I would like my digipak to look. It is composed of six photos that have been thoroughly edited on Adobe Photoshop CS3 in order to achieve the monochrome effect I wanted. I feel the cover is somewhat analogous to "The A Team" single cover by Ed Sheeran which has essentially brought a sense of bricolage to my work, whilst also incorporating elements of pastiche into the production process which (arguably) makes the digipak in itself postmodern. I have made a the changes I wanted to make - these were discussed in the review of the first draft of my digipak that I made without having conducted sufficient research into other products of a similar genre/archetype.

Firstly and more fundamentally, I needed to include track listings on the back of my product as the product needs to be informative as well as aesthetically pleasing - it is also logical that when browsing through CD's in music outlets, potential consumers will inevitably flip the digipak round to analyse the posterior of the product to see whether or not their favorite tracks are featured on the album. I also had to edit the photo on the posterior so that I could arrange the text around the photo of the girl, although this was very basic editing that required re-positioning the layer. On the other hand, the 'sketch' effect on the front of the digipak required significantly more time and effort to achieve using more advanced editing techniques - which I feel documents how my capabilities to use the editing software has in turn given me more creative freedom. I feel my ability to use editing software has allowed me to create a more appropriate product, although this is only my second draft I feel it has developed incredibly well in retrospect of the first draft of the digipak.

I have allowed my research/analysis of other digipaks to inform the production process of this digipak, for example, approaching the cover of the digipak with far more of a minimalist approach than when designing/producing the last product. This idea was derived from Ed Sheeran's album cover, and the typography (simple, bold, very minimalist) and positioning of the text was influenced heavily by both Sheeran and The Killers' album covers, positioning the name of the artist in the top left hand corner of the cover and placing the name of the album in the bottom right hand corner of the cover.

With regards to the actual production of the image on the front of the digipak, I encountered a large learning curve but after researching the techniques/editing tools required I was able to create some rather interesting textures/effects - by developing a more eclectic knowledge of Photoshop CS3, it allowed me to expand creatively and get my ideas across more easily - an example of how the technology itself plays an integral role in allowing the user to make the product postmodern/poststructuralist etc. in essence, technology is a tool that allows us to create postmodernism.

The cover was created through a number of processes of which I was previously unaware: firstly I had to change the blending mode of the layer to "colour dodge" before I right clicked the layer and selected "luminosity". I then clicked "filter" followed by "blur" and then "gaussian blur" - this gave the image the slightly distorted and contrasted look that I wanted to achieve. However, I still had to make certain adaptations in order to give the cover a more complete edge.

I then clicked on the layer settings and reduced the opacity of the image, which added to this 'penciled' effect that I wanted my cover to have in order to bear a slight resemblance to "The A Team" cover. Obviously I did not want the image to be completely transparent, this would be ludicrous, so I reduced the opacity until the image was at a point were outlines in the photograph were still clear but other elements of the image had a tarnished effect to give it an eroded 'indie' effect similar to the effect seen in my ancillary research.

I then selected "create a new fill or adjustment layer" followed by "hue/saturation". This allowed me to adjust the saturation of the image to give it either a more full or more tarnished effect - I opted for the latter for the more minimalist option/aesthetic.The 'tarnished' and indie quality to the cover came as a result of reducing the saturation as depicted below, whilst hue remained neutral. Upon research, I found out that the terms "hue" and "saturation" refer to the colour and purity of the image respectively.

The main reason my digipak has improved is not my ability to think up abstract ideas of how I want the image to look: I have always had quite a vivid idea of how I want my digipak to look as collating my ideas manually has never been a problem for me; it is more the fact that I have developed a stronger understanding of the software which has allowed me to actually apply my ideas and start producing them in tangible format. This shpows that there is certainly a correlation between proficiency with using software and also creative freedom - it allows you to be slightly more expressive in your ideas even if (like me) the individual is aiming for a minimalist approach.

However, upon teacher feedback, I was informed that the digipak needs the levels adjusted to make the covers more black and white than the dull grey it currently is - meaning I can use my development in technology skills to help me adhere more closely to conventions. The covers also needed to be flipped as well as some of the cover(notably the top row of panels) would appear upside down on the real product if I do not flip them which will lose the artist credibility and make the overall product look more professional. In addition to this my teacher recommended that I add a spine into the digipak to make it look professional as well as original and allow it to be picked out more clearly from a shelf were it to be sold in a record shop.