Closing Statement

In the course of this year I have developed a  better understanding in media concept and the advanced software used to create these media products. I believe I have improved immensely in terms of practical and pre production stages to provide a more vivid and clearer evidence of planning in my work.  This project has allowed me to think creatively and innovatively and to work together as a group to produce 3 different media products. I hope you enjoy my blog and that it demonstrates the hard work that we have put in. Enjoy! :)

Final Music Video

Final Digipak

Final Website

http://gaarongary.wix.com/theformat

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

After condensing our feedback we have learnt that most people liked the combination of our products as it complimented with the genre of the music. The editing has been considered to be impressive and was appreciated. The narrative behind the music video was also appealing as it brought  a humorous element to the video.  The lip syncing was also found accurate  however the camera quality could have been better as some of the scenes seemed pixelated. 

The digipak was also well accepted and everyone from the sample liked the idea of the Rubik's Cube. The representation of the Cube was identified by an individual as it methaphored the concept of togetherness and problem solving. The layout was also found to be appealing due to the digipak itself being very colourful and intriguing.  However an improvement that could have been made is changing the plain white background of the front cover of the digipak as it, accordingly to student, did not compliment well with the colours of the Rubik's cube,  It has also been said the digipak itself contained too much information.  Therefore I can take this forward by ensuring more images than text next time, should I make another digipak. 

Finally the website was very well recieved by the audience as shown my thge positive remarks from the students. It was said to look very professional and attractive which succeeds in engaging target audience  The layout and pages are consistent and well displayed. The information is feasible and informative providing the detailed and clear information for any concerns. Some argued the website was too colourful and looked slightly 'tacky' whilst another argued it lacked colours. 

Evaluation Question 4

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

Pre-Production 

Pre production incorporates the research and planning stage before the actual production of our media products. This involved a number of different technologies to both research and practise aspects on. I have used  a number of different programs to both upload and research into specific things.For example  I used Slidshare, Glogster and Slide Rockets to upload analysis of both digipaks and websites. For Trey Songz analysis I used Slide Share to upload my work onto the blog. To analysis genre specific album covers I used Glogster to present them. I used slide rocket and power point for other pre production works. Wordle is another program I became familiar with, I used it to arrange possible band names in a more appealing manner. This was a interesting program as it allowed us to present work in a presentable and easy way. I also used my own digital camera to take pictures of my digipak ideas that I could upload straight onto the blog. This is was helpful and very convenient  Along with digital camera we also used Sony cameras for the casting before the actual music video. I also used Photoshop to try out ideas for digipaks which was later rejected. This enabled my photoshop skills to develop as during this stage I learnt some of the advanced tools within Photoshop  Along with Photoshop I also tried  editing on Final Cut Express where I played around with existing videos and converted them into green screen, I also modified the sound and pitch and played around with some of the effects. This once again helped me build a better understanding in Final Cut express. For all my pre production work I had to use a Mac or PC in order to access the different programs and to upload them onto my blog. During the process of this I've discovered some new programs that helped me broad my ideas in presenting techniques. 

Production 

The production stages are essentially the actual making of our product. This involved website, digipak and the music video. During these stages we used a number of different technologies and programs to develop our ideas into real media products. For our music videos we used the HDV cameras to shoot the actual footage of for our music video. For the making of the website we used a particular website called Wixx.com. This was quite self explanatory and gave a template to follow in which we could improve it to make it original. Wixx.com provided a good template which made it easier for the production of the website. For the digipak we used Photoshop to design each panel. The pictures taken by a camera was uploaded onto Photoshop and then with then developed through various effects. Photoshop enabled a advanced way of developing a idea onto the screen. Final Cut Express was essentially the most important programs that had to be used during our production as it was vital to edit the footage and making it into a our music video. The Final Cut Express program provided key tools and techniques to edit the video and make it perfect. To be able to proceed with the task we obviously had to use the MAC or PC to go forward with the production work. 

Post Production

Post production came after the production stage. After all the products were made via various programs and technologies, I also used a range of different programs to evaluate my products. There were 4 evaluation questions and so I used a number of different techniques to present my work. For audience feedback I used Survey Monkey to collect opinions and feedback on our products. This enabled us to obtain the results of our product and see how successful they were. Besides Survey Monkey I also used my digital camera to attain audience feedbacks, this provided visual evidence of what people had to say about our products. After obtaining all the results I presented the data on Movie Maker. For another of my evaluation question where we had to analyse the combination of all our products I used Glogster to present this. This allowed me to screenshot and provide examples of my work along with the text. Finally for another of my evaluation question I used Prezi to present this piece of work as it is a very interactive program and allowed me to once again add examples of real media product along with screen grabs of our actual product. Prezi allows you to upload images videos and text. 

Colour Scheme

Colour Schemes by

Layout of Website

These are sketches of the layout of our website. The pages consist of 

Home Page: which is also a landing page. This is primarily a page taken up by an image of the band with hyper links below and the above the page which direct you to the inside information of the website.

Music Page: This contains the current music of the album and their upcoming new album. It also has a discography of the previous work arranged chronologically with their album covers. 

Photo Page: This is page dedicated for the fans which contains a number of various random images of the band members in their everyday lives and behind the scenes rehearsals. This enables the audience to be more close with the stars as they get an insight of the stars' of screen life styles. 

Video Page: The video page includes extra videos of individual artists. This promotes their talent and ability in their work. This page is not only for the music videos within albums but also for special features and other relevant videos with the band. 

Band Page: This page is dedicated to the band members  It has biographies for each band member which informs the audience a little bit about them.The layout of this page is quite simple and self explanatory where you click the images in order to find out more about them. This again enables the audience and fans to relate to the stars as it gives an overview of the attitude in real life

Tour Page:  The tour page provide the details of the upcoming tours. The information are easily accessible and self explanatory. 

Brainstorm for Website

This brainstorm illustrates some of our thought processes in the development of our website. 

Trey Songz Website Analysis

Rejected Idea

This was our initial idea for our front cover of our digipak. The idea behind it was having different forms of music technologies over the past years in each polaroid and arranging them in the sense so that it looks like  a pinboard. We wanted to keep this theme consistent throughout the digipak including the inside. This was essentially a good idea as it was innovative and new however we decided to reject it at the end as it lacked potential scope and we wanted to have large images of the band members too. Therefore we decided to discard this particular idea and go forward with the Rubiks cube.  

More Digi-Pak Designs

DigiPak Design Idea

This is an initial idea we came up with as a group for our DigiPak. The use of Rubik's cube represents the youth and unity of sub- cultures indicated by the different colours which also emphasises the pop punk genre. The pop punk genre are usually associated with young music that incorporates social issues in a form of performance using band members and loud music. The front cover is quite simple and to the point which is effective as it reflects the group itself and the simplicity in their music. The band name is exaggerated more on the cover as it more recognisable and so will be easily identified by fans of this particular band. The album name is 'Enigma' which means mystery and suspense. This again provides a outlook for the album as it makes it increases curiosity for the fans.

The in side of the DigiPak would also be a continuation of the front cover using the Rubik s cube as this will provide a consistent design throughout the digipak. The benefits of having cubes within the design allows us to put pictures of band members within the squares. Each cube would represent a different individual within the band. Along with images we have also come up with the idea of using lyrics over the Rubik's cube. This necessarily does not mean we are going to include all the lyrics from all the songs from the album  We may only use lyrics from the most popular track that we have created a music video for, The Death wish.

The back cover is also kept  very simple hear. Keeping the Rubik's cube in the design, the back cover has the name of all the songs in the album. The songs are written on white which compliments well with the rest of the digipak. The Rubik's cubes are floating above the back cover in different angles which align with the ongoing theme, The innovative names of the other songs within the album stick to the mood of the genre. They are realistic names of songs that could possibly be used in an album of pop punk.

DigiPak Idea

Here are some of my sketches I prepared for our digipak design ideas. there are simple drawing of potential front and inside of the digipak. I have incorporated our ideas we have gathered from the brainstorm . I have carefully thought about the theme and images that could be used within the digipak. I have also kept in mind where the CD is going to be embedded and worked around that accordingly. 

Evaluating Student's Digipak

Distorture
 

This particular digipak is quite effective as it looks professional  The group came up with a good idea and did not over use colours and instead kept it consistent  They stuck to a theme which seems to be blood and worked around the concept to come up with a digipak that revolves the colour red mainly. The images are quite simple but effective  The images and the colour scheme match nicely. The main image of the is album is of a bleeding hand and this is used number of times with different angles across the digipak. The title of the album 'Distorture' is almost used as a pun as it has the word 'torture in in and is also represented by the use of blood but however has the 'dis' in front which conflicts the meaning.The tracks are written at the back of the cover which shows that they have followed the conventions of a digipak. The position of the CD is in the middle is again another convention and they have thought about this carefully as the cover behind the plastic is simple and so has no important aspect that will be covered after placing the CD. The use of white and red contrasts each other providing a clear division which again is very effective.


End of Time


This digipak is again quite simple. In comparison to the one above, 'Distorture' this one looks a little less professional as they used one girl as the focus of the album and stuck to only that. I like the use of different angles of the girl  for the back cover as it looks like they are promoting the artist of the album. The concept behind this digipak is very simple as they used a very simple idea of the image of the girl in number of shades and tones. They did not think about making it original and complex by using unique close ups and other props for images, instead they stuck to the very basic which they have used successfully.The use of the autograph is effective as it acts as a signature for the vocalist throughout her albums and so again promotes the artist by providing the fans with something. The theme of the digipak is quite girly which correspond well with the images. They have used the autograph again on the back cover with the tracks listed over it. I particularly like the inside where the CD is embedded as it sticks to the theme of an image of the girl with her autograph once again. The front cover could have been better by only in cooperating one image of the girl in a particular angle which will be able to attract buyers instead of using the same image twice, overlapping them in different colours. This makes it look less professional and overly simple. 


Blame


This digipak is quite a poor quality. However they are some aspect that I like, for example the use of the close up  of the station sign is very effective as it only shows one angle and also locates the artist of the alum. The colours used throughout the digipak is earthy and dull which sets a mood for the album and its songs. I also like the panel that has the guitar leaning on the wall. It gives the album and indie feel and the graffiti behind it gives a sense of modern and relate able look which will attract buyers. The front cover is quite poor as it is very basic. The image is bland and simple. The use of black white is effective but may not accompany well with the rest of the digipak which has elements of different colours. There is not much originality on the front or back cover. The group clearly has not thought about this carefully before making the digipak as the middle section if the digipak where the CD will be embedded has the lyrics written over it which will be difficult to read after the plastic and the CD is placed over it. This has therefore gone to waste and shows that the group have not analysed it well before the making. The idea if having the lyrics across the panel is appealing as this digipak is promoting one single and not a album so it only consist of one song. Therefore by having the lyrics of the single will give the fans something to read and sing along. They have made the back cover look professional by having  a bar code at the bottom and the company logo. The text on the back cover informs about the rights reserved by the universal company and gives the digipak and good finish.

Digipak Analysis

CD & Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis

DigiPak

A Digipak is a type of CD box especially made for special editions and re-released albums.  The are essentially folded piece of cardboard in a number of panels with the CD embedded in the middle. Certain Digipaks may include posters, booklets and postcards relevant to the music content of the album or single to accompany the CD. 
The Digipak style became popular in the early 2000s as the idea of having extra illustration and information to promote Band, Artist or Record Label intrigued them. 
The are a number of purpose for using a DigiPak as it promotes the sales of the artist which therefore will enable more profit. Through adverts and images the album becomes more popular and so it is able to attract for potential buyers. It also gives the fans a reason to still buy a physical copy of  a CD instead of downloading them from iTunes. During this generation, the Internet has made it easier to purchase music through websites at ones connivence, however they lack the 'other content' which makes the album more personal and unique. Digipaks on the other had contains various photos, lyrics, autographs and other aspects that still remains to attract buyers into purchasing CD.