Evaluation

Target Audience: Evaluation audience feedback.

I am extremely pleased with the results of the form I have to my audience for my evaluation. Although there were a variety of preferred genres, everyone said they would buy my album based on the music video and the digipak, and the majority said they would buy it based on the magazine advertisement. 

I used the criticisms of the digipak to do a quick improvement, and now the text is much easier to read. I have also improved the lip syncing.

I accept the criticism of the magazine advertisement, but the criticism is minor, which leads me to believe that my work has still been successful.

Target Audience: Evaluation.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/199kxKYOmIOfiZkApp9fBs1t6lh_o2v6dH_hbK3i1wKs/viewform?c=0&w=1

Drafting & Planning: Final magazine advertisement.

Drafting & Planning: Final In-tray.

In tray:

CD Disk design:

Drafting & Planning: Final CD front and back cover.

At first I used Calibri, as this is the font my target audience chose, but while editing I decided to look up which font Placebo use in their logo. I found that  Helvetica Medium Condensed was used, so I changed the fonts to the closest thing in my page plus font bank; Helvetica.

First Draft:

Second Draft:

Final Draft:

Drafting & Planning: Final music video.

Updated Draft:

Final Draft:

Drafting & Planning: Draft magazine advertisement.

This is my first draft made on paint.net of my magazine advert. To do this, I created text boxes in Microsoft Publisher, then pasted the images into paint.net, as text is quite difficult to manipulate in paint.net. I plan to get some feedback from my target audience, then I will upload my final magazine advertisement.

Organisation: Construction.

Firstly, I added images in by 'inserting them from file.

I then added the text within Page Plus, did the same as above to add the bar code, and mimicked the text on Breaking Benjamin's Dark Before Dawn album for the record company information on the bottom of the CD

Lastly, I manipulated the colours of the second (back cover) image. I chose a light purple wash instead of grey or plain black, as using grey or black would have been too depressing with the ashtray and alcohol still there.

Drafting & Planning: New footage.

Although I like my first music video draft, some parts needed to be improved. One part was 'Champs Elysees', as the video that went with the lyric was irrelevant. To improve this, I have taken some new footage:

I chose to use a cigarette to link to the French avenue, to use the stereotype of a single main character smoking a cigarette in French films. I used a space in a computer classroom in my sixth form, as I still wanted an aspect of technology to remain in the background.

I feel as though the plain white of the walls contrasts well with the stereotypes about Paris and love, as mentions of Paris bring up the idea of natural romance, yet my video is about the darker side of romantic attraction.

Research into similar products & Drafting and Planning of the magazine advert:

Research into similar products:

I decided to look into many different genres of music magazine adverts to evaluate whether alternative / indie rock albums have different conventions. I have found that the conventions remain very similar, even in sou music advertisements.

1:

I decided to compare it to the CD that goes with this advert, to see whether it is holistic, or different. This is the enlarged version of the CD cover featured on the advertisement:

This CD has similar colour tones as its advert, with a red-white block colour, which fades into a very soft pink colour in the advert. The image in the back of the advert is the pink-tinted version of the clear image on the CD cover. I really like this effect as it gives synergy to the advertisement campaign while still easily catching a magazine reader's attention.

2:

This advert is similar to the above and below adverts as it also features a weblink. As well as this, the colour scheme is exactly the same as the album cover, along with the unusual use of large amounts of text. This advert also features ratings and an 'out now' which replaces the 'The Vaccines' release date.

3:

Similarly to the adverts above, this advert has the exact same colour tones as the CD cover. As well as this, like the 'The Vaccines' advert, a smaller version of the CD features on the advertisement, as well as many ratings and a web link.

Drafting & Planning:

I have developed  a draft advert out of combined elements of the similar products which were analysed above:

Drafting & Planning: Digipak photoshoot results.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

I will use either 2 or 5 in my digipak tray. If possible, I will add both, with the plain ashtray at the bottom of the tray and the ashtray with the fake cigarette as the disk, so as a fan you will be placing the cigarette into the tray.

Organisation: Digipak photo plan.

Firstly, as I have chosen the top shot of the ashtray to be my CD base, I will take photos of the fake cigarette's I purchased in the ashtray. The photos will then later be manipulated, such as blurring the image or setting it to grey scale.

Secondly, although I like the vodka bottle in-tray, this will be too repetitive, as I have also chosen a vodka bottle to feature on the back cover of the CD. I currently have not decided on what my in-tray will be like, although I have considered a block colour, such as grey or black, similarly to the in-tray of Arctic Monkeys AM album.


My photography will take place on the 22nd of February, and should be complete by the 23rd.

Drafting & planning: Digipaks drafts 2

Drafting & Planning: Digipak drafts 1

Research into similar products: Digi pak trays

The Pale Emperor:

The Pale Emperor is  rare example of an alternative / indie CD disk in which there is a character as the main image. However, this still conforms to the conventions of alt rock CDs as the character in the main image is still not using direct mode of address.

This differs largely to more mainstream CD disks such as products by Nicki Minaj, in which the contact between the artist and the audience is very direct:

 Meds:

This CD by Placebo is normal for the band, as many of their CD disks have been extremely plain and minimalist:

However, the track "Too Many Friends" is from a CD disk that is much more explosive in colour:

Although it retains all of the record label details, the design is much more innovative than their previous CDs.

Rosenrot (Rose-Red in English)

For bands such as Rammstein, edgy, ambiguous designs are the norm:

The disks from Rammstein differ from Placebo as despite the metallic appeals, the CDs are still quite plain in colour and leave much to the imagination,

Transit of Venus:

Similarly to the Foo Fighters Wasting Light disk (below), Three Days Grace's transit of venus disk continues Placebo's pattern of minimalism. The disk is holistic with the front and back cover of Transit of Venus as the red-orange hue remains. It also has the convention of aspects of alternative rock products having hidden meanings. For example, the transit of venus is in the shape of a CD:

Wasting Light:

Although the disk appears quite plain at first, it is one of the only alternative rock CD disks I have found that feature an instrument that a band member plays. Using props is usually put aside for the front covers of alt rock CDs.

Research Conclusion:

I like the minimalism of the Placebo CDs, as they conform to the conventions of having (few or) no characters in the main image. However, I also like the subtle use of props from the Foo Fighters disk, so I plan to incorporate both of these into my draft.