Final Acillary Tasks

Front Cover

Feedback for Front Cover of Digipak:

Phoebe: "I really love the simplicity and the shot itself. The text is clear and shows what is necessary and I think blurry background really works and expresses the video. I think the connection between digipak and video is clear and obvious."

James: "I think the colours on the front album cover are really distinct and effective, especially as it is blurry. I like that Phoebe's face is clearly shown to the audience and her mood is reflective on the song itself."

Personal reflection: I personally love how simple we have made the front cover of this album as I think it works well with the theme and tone of the song. Yes the song is simple but that does not mean it isn't good and often songs of the EDM genre often have simple meanings as they are supposed to be light-hearted. The photograph itself is a reflection of the music video as it was taken in the same setting, therefore, it suits the entire theme. The skyline is also very apt as it is a time where the day comes to an end - this along with Phoebe's facial/body expressions give off the vibe of a youth's sadness, which was what we were aiming for.

Mr Kerrigan: "The image you have used is very striking. I like the use of the tall, lit-up buildings in the background of the image; it is very appropriate given the title of the song. There is something about the use of soft-focus that makes the urban setting seem enigmatic. It is, however, fitting that the focus is on your performer. There is something interesting about the way she is looking 'across' the camera as opposed to away from or into it; again, it is very enigmatic. The type-font you have employed is simple but clear, meaning that it is easy to read and doesn't distract from your image."

Feedback for Back Cover of Digipak:

Alex: "I think the text isn't clear as the lights are interfering with it. I like the colours and I think it meets all the traditional conventions. However, it obviously isn't finished therefore I cannot make a proper judgement."

Scarlett: "You can see where the product is going and I like how the information is around the outside so not to interfere with the picture. I think the colours in the picture are really cool and I love that they don't look fake or manipulated."

Personal reflection: I like how in the front cover you can see Phoebe's front and in the back cover of the digipak you can see the back of her - it just makes logical sense and also flows nicely. I think the fact the barcode is in an unconventional place add uniqueness to it. All the conventions of a digipak that were researched during research and planning, e.g. social media logos have been included.

Inside Front

Feedback for Inside Front Cover of Digipak:

James: "Originally the front inside panel was plain and didn't have the text but I really like that it has been added in. It fits really well in the space its in and is clear to the audience in what is says. I like that the shot is really fresh and unedited as it looks more effective this way."

Alex: "The shot itself is so cool. I love how clear and focused it is. Everything about it is sharp and collected and it works really well with the actual music video itself."

Personal reflection: This is my favourite of all the digipak elements we created. I just think the lyrics along with the picture work so well to highlight Phoebe's emotions, especially because facial expressions and body language are not visible here. The current of the water also show how she feels like everyone is leaving her as it is moving in the opposite direction to where she is positioned.

Inside Back

Feedback for Inside Back Cover of Digipak:

Scarlett: "The simplicity and unedited atmosphere of this shot kind of links with the music video itself and how relaxed it is. It works well with the rest of the digipak and I like that the template of the CD is included so it shows the true effect."

Ben: "By keeping the template it shows exactly how the back inside is meant to work. The colours are consistent with the rest of the inside, however I don't like that the shot is off centre."

Personal reflection: This shot is very simple but during the editing process the whole group was drawn to it and wanted to include it in the digipak. I think because this is the section where the CD would be placed it does not even need to be particularly special. However, saying that some critics might argue that it was not very imaginative. This shot ties in nicely with the inner front cover as they were both taken at the same location and therefore the inside of the digipak has great continuity. If there was one thing I would change about this shot it would be to perhaps straighten it up as it is a tad off centre. I also think we could have made the colours sharper - we did try to do this in Photoshop but were unsuccessful as everything we tried did not add much to the shot and made it look dusty and blurry, which was not the desired effect.

Side

Feedback for Side Panel of Digipak:

Ben: "The lamppost is really cool and it works as a side panel. It fits with the front and back cover and doesn't stand out in a good way."

Phoebe: "I really like the incorporation of the lamppost and it works really well as a side panel. The colours match the front and back panels and it all fits together really well."

Personal reflection: I really like this shot and I think it is one of the most effective out of the entire digipak. Again, it will be featured on the outside of the digipak and so therefore to give it continuity points we opted for the night-time shot. The way the sunset and lamppost fit perfectly within the frame in a straight angle gives the spine a very professional feel and is atheistically pleasing.

Magazine Advertisement

Feedback for Magazine Advertisement:

Phoebe: "The finished product looks really good and like it would fit into a magazine. All the features incorporated work and are in sync with traditional conventions of promotional posters."

James: "The text is clear and the colours are really cool. I like the reflectiveness of the expressions and it fits with the music video. The brand is recognisable as there is a connection between the products. The use of the logos is really good as it shows it to be in professional setting."

Alex: "This is a cool poster and I like that the writing is clear and in a large font. It fits the conventional features of a promotional poster. It looks better now that the sizing is correct."

Scarlett: "I think the poster picture and the picture on the album cover work well together as they're obviously at the same location. There is a clear link between the products which is good for the audience and the artist as the brand is recognisable."

Ben: "It's really important to make a link between the products for the audience and the girls have achieved this really well. I like that all the logos are incorporated and the text is clear which is also important. It all works really well, even better now it's the same size."

Mr Kerrigan: "Again, the images you have used are very effective. There is something striking about the difference between the image used for the body of your magazine poster and the image used for your digipak; I like the contrast between your performer facing away from the camera in one image and being side-on in the other. There is a clear sense of interconnectivity between your three products."

Personal reflection: I am glad we made the changes we did as a group because the poster now looks a lot more well thought out and overall just looks as if it was established better. I feel like all the components (e.g. record label logos) are much easier to read and understand and the whole poster itself looks more professional. When looking back on the real media artefacts I researched and blogged about previously I definitely think that our final magazine advertisement has many more connotations than our first edit, this not only shows improvement but also highlights the importance gaining feedback and using your own personal criticism to improve your production. I also prefer the poster now it is the correct size as it meets the criteria of being a "magazine advertisement". The connection between all ancillary tasks are also recognisable and flow well together. On presentation points I think that the chosen font and text work well as it shares the attention with the image itself and the album cover being closely centred shows the audience what the product they are being persuaded to invest in looks like.

First Edit - Magazine Poster

Feedback:

Alex: "This is a cool poster and I like that the writing is clear and in a large font. It fits the conventional features of a promotional poster. It does however look a little stretched out and not the shape of A4 paper."

Scarlett: "I think the poster picture and the picture on the album cover work well together as they're obviously at the same location. There is a clear link between the products which is good for the audience and the artist as the brand is recognisable."

Ben: "It's really important to make a link between the products for the audience and the girls have achieved this really well. I like that all the logos are incorporated and the text is clear which is also important. It all works really well, however isn't the right size."

Production Journal: Magazine Advertisement

Ancillary Product 2: Magazine Advertisement

1) Went through all the pictures we had taken for the magazine advertisement and chose the one that was of best quality and the one we liked the look of the most.
2) Opened Adobe Photoshop and imported the photo.
3) We also imported a smaller picture of our first ancillary product (the digipak) in order to promote it further on the magazine advertisement.

4) We also got our real media artefact and initial ideas blog posts up from our research and planning section so that we could follow on from what we planned and also use the real media artefacts we had analysed for some last minute inspiration. From this we began editing part of the poster on Photoshop.
5) Firstly we inserted the artist name - 'The Chainsmokers' along with the name of the song - 'New York City'. This was done by one of our group members who used the 'Typing Tool' on the left hand side of the Photoshop programme.
6) We then edited the font size, font and colour. We played around here on Photoshop, testing lots of different types until we were finally happy with our decision. We wanted the text to be bold as this was one of the connotations of magazine posters that we found whilst researching them. To be effective it would need to be bold enough to stand out so you can see it from a distance or for it to catch your eye as you're flicking through the pages of a magazine.

7) We then added our social media icons as well as the record labels names in the bottom right and top left corners.

8) After getting feedback and reflecting on our own work we changed the positioning of the image of the CD from the top right-hand corner to the middle of the magazine advertisement. From our own criticism we though that it would make more sense for the CD cover to be in the middle of the advert rather than the top right and it looked pointless and the whole purpose of the task is to promote the album so we thought it would be better off promoting it from the middle of the poster (where it is eye catching rather than top right (where it just blends in with the background).

To reflect, unfortunately our the process of editing our ancillary tasks was long and frustrating and we encountered a lot of problems due to our unfamiliarity with Adobe Photoshop. This meant we had to heavily rely on Google and the assistance of the IT staff at school. As a result a lot of trial and error techniques were involved as we needed to explore all avenues before making any decisions so that we could produce a product we were happy with. I think something that would have benefited us most would have been learning how to use Photoshop to a level of understanding that at least meant we could get the process complete quicker as it would have saved us a lot of time and stress.

Production Journal: Digipak

Ancillary Product 1: Digipak

Production of the ancillary tasks took around two weeks.

One of the first things we did was go back to our previous blog posts and revisit what we had planned to create for our 'Final Digipak'. Once we had remembered what we had planned we used this closely alongside our digipak construction process. Our first job in the actual creation of our digipak was to source a template for it so that we had a rough idea as to what the dimensions would be as well as the layout. We then opened up Adobe Photoshop and inserted the template along with the images we were going to use for definite.

Digipak Dimensions

How we used the templates to scale our digipak photographs within Photoshop

We differed slightly from our original digipak idea after looking at the shots we had taken from our filming days because some of the ones we took looked better and more effective. As we worked more and more on the images by moving them around and adjusting the dimensions it began to look more like an album cover quickly. Therefore as a group we went through pictures which we had taken and decided on the most appropriate ones to utilise.

Adjusting dimensions

We wanted the outside (front and back covers) to have the washed out sky/dark shades on it because the songs a night-time theme. This meant that the front cover was going to be Phoebe (on top of the car park) positioned to the right hand side of the album cover. She was looking out into the distance to highlights how intensely she is thinking about her situation and that it has really affected her.

Front Cover

The outside back cover is a picture of Phoebe from a side view, and again she is looking out into the distance from the top of a Maidenhead car park. When investigating the connotations of other real media artefacts we decided it would be a good idea to include a barcode (for the advantage of the consumer) and also social media icons was another thing that our research proved to be prominent. Therefore, we included the logos for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Spotify.

We also included two logos for The Chainsmokers record companies, Disruptor Records and Colombia Records.

We thought that all of this was important information to include because we used what we found out from researching our real media artefacts that these were all conventions of traditional album covers and they all serve a purpose being placed onto it, e.g. logos to show how to access more knowledge about the artist, tour dates and merchandise.

Back Outside Cover

We also needed to establish how we were going to include text onto the digipak. This was an essential part of the digipak as it indicated who holds the rights to the artist and the CD's profits along with the record label and release date. Having looked at a lot of album covers altogether as a group and by using them as guidelines we feel as though we have managed to create an effective digipak that coincides well with the themes and look of our music video. It will link and flow nicely with the music video and magazine poster.

Final Back Outside Cover

After this section of our digipak was completed we then moved onto working on the front and back of the inside of our digipak. We thought, as group, that it would be nice and versatile to have the inside of the digipak as 'daytime' and the outside as 'night time'. This meant that we used a photo of the opening shot of our music video (Guards Park Island bridge) as the inside back cover.

Inside Back Cover

We then decided that the best photo to use as our inside front cover was a photo of Phoebe looking out at Maidenhead Bridge (over the shoulder shot). We used Photoshop to insert a lyric from the song onto the photo to enhance our Photoshop editing skills and to make the digipak more interesting.

Inside Front Cover

Finally, we moved onto working on the spines of our digipak. We had a choice of two pictures and by using the cutting tool on Photoshop we cut around the original picture in which we chose to have as our spine. We chose the left photo (lamppost) to have as the spine of our digipak because we originally wanted it to be a photo of the initials of our two characters engraved into a bench but when it came to scaling down the image to fit the dimension of the spine the picture was no longer visible and it just looked like bark as you could not read what was engraved. It also made sense to have the lamppost as our spine because it meant the whole of the outside of our digipak was 'night-time' themed and we also thought if we used the bench photo it would look jarring as it was taken in the day time.