Final Task

Ancillary Text 1

Ancillary Text 2

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation question 1 power point

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Evaluation Question 2

When creating my ancillary texts, I knew I wanted them to have continuity with the style and themes of both the song and its music video. Therefore, I decided to use the same style for the poster and digipak as used in my music video, but I wanted to distinguish these designs from the music video and not make them seem like screenshots, giving more the feel of a separate photo shoot as per in a live action video. I recreated the hand-drawn backgrounds in Microsoft Paint, a very basic program but I feel I was able to effectively give the designs a smoother and more ‘poster-like’ feel this way. I was used to working with Paint from experience in animating entire films with the software before, which have gained positive acclaim on YouTube, so I was able to create the images in Paint exceptionally quickly and efficiently.

I included every detail from the original images shown in the music video without any significant changes, except on the digipak front cover, where the main character is alone to show to the buyer who the main character is within the narrative of the music video. This was done instead of showing the real artist of the song on the cover, because the artist is an indie artist who is not necessarily well known and would not be looked out for by a specific fanbase. In addition, I always wanted all of my anxilary texts to have the same style which would become recognisable and would stand out amongst other digipaks showcasing the indie genre.

The designs of the poster and digipak show moments from the music video which, based on my audience feedback, seemed iconic. The same style of art was used across all these products, albeit in different forms of art, which creates a continuous style for all of the products. Both images are long shots which show the main character as isolated, as per in the video.

The band name, ‘Vivid Scheme’, and the song name, ‘Intoxicated’, are clearly displayed in their respective fonts on the poster and digipak. The different fonts were to distinguish the song and band names from each other, such as the name ‘Intoxicated’ for the song adapting a serif font, Poor Richard, which looked much starker and suited the song’s lyrics because the font connotes a seriousness which the song displays within its lyrics. In contrast, a sans serif font was used for the band name ‘Vivid Scheme’, which is marketable because it promotes a fun, playful style, and it would be used as a logo to promote the band. The logo stands out on a poster where the target audience would spot it straight away, and the same for the digipak cover where people may purposely be looking out for it in a retailer.

The logo of the record label, Parlophone, is also clearly displayed on both the poster and digipak. Parlophone has gained much respect for working with big names including ‘The Beatles’ so this would be another selling point. The iTunes logo is also displayed on the poster only to let people know they can download it from the iTunes Store, but the iTunes logo is omitted from the digipak cover where it is not needed. The poster also advertises the digipak and digital download releases of the album to attract its potential customers.

Evaluation Question 3

I found I was able to benefit very much from audience feedback throughout the entire production process of my music video, and it did, in fact, help to determine how the video was filmed in the first place. When choosing the animation style for my music video, I was divided between three options...

-Cutout animation – best known for Monty Python and Charlie and Lola, this is a form of animation where paper cutouts are animated as layers against a background to create movement.

-Digital animation – such as in South Park, the same principle where I create images and animate objects as layers over a background, but all drawn on the computer in a program such as Microsoft Paint.
OR...
-A combination of both, i.e. have paper cutouts in a CG environment or CG characters against a hand-drawn environment.

I asked the audience - comprised of members of my class of the late teens age range (who I felt would form a large portion of the target market) - which they preferred after showing them images of what each style could look like, and pure cutout animation came out as the most popular choice with 6/8 votes, the remaining two both opting for a cutout/CG mix. I agree with the favoured opinion after watching the video back, as it was an interesting challenge compared to digital animation which I am very used to working with.

The animation was also the main aspect of the video which won it huge acclaim, and reactions were positive from everybody I approached for audience feedback after the video was completed. I used Facebook to ask for feedback, and I received comments of praise for the video, largely for the unique animation style.

I had similar comments from the rest of my class when I later recorded audience feedback with them...




I was pleased that I had succeeded with the conventions of my music video, and that for the most part, I had succeeded in making the audience feel sympathetic for my main character. Although there was one aspect I hadn't previously thought of...



I later approached my class about this point again, and found out that all the males in the class found they felt sympathy for the character, whereas the females felt divided between sympathy or if the main character is like a stalker...! This thought had never occurred to me during production, but the initial aim to create sympathy for the main character became more clear as the narrative was explained. I thought afterwards about developing my character's reasons for loving one girl only, but left this in the end due to time restraints and I did not want to confuse the narrative or make the video irrelevant to the song.

There were also comments in regards to the lighting...



The lighting was hard to keep consistent and nearly all of the lighting had to be edited in Adobe Premiere Pro 5.5, but this was always a huge problem on set and again, the above clip highlights positive sides to the outcome.

The comments I have had from my audience feedback were extremely helpful, because they suggest I have succeeded in conveying the narrative and the animation style has also been praised.

The people I asked were all in the late teens age range, both male and female, who I felt were most likely to purchase indie records such as this one because of the interest of youth in music. The positive comments I have had suggest that people would be interested in buying this record and also imply that this concept and the music video could work well commercially.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation question 4 power point

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Music Video Draft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLBC_rEfVJ8

Here is my music video very close to its final form, with only a few tweaks needed. This is what I have used this week to gain audience feedback

Feedback for the video has so far been extremely positive and the most useful thing I have learnt is that the narrative is clear and very well done. The animation and the style have also been especially praised. I screened the video to the rest of my media studies class and filmed their reactions whilst watching the video, as well as their feedback straight afterwards. I also gained feedback from Facebook.

The feedback I had from my class was similar that the narrative and animation were done really well. The only issues that came up were related to the aspect ratio of the video which would change very slightly at times, i.e. the black bar on the bottom kept bouncing. Lighting was previously an issue but I have been able to improve the lighting dramatically for this draft of the video. I was proud of how the lighting was improved for the scene at the small cafe from 02:11 to 02:34, for example, where the lighting was different in every scene but working in Adobe Premiere Pro, it's now much harder to tell the difference.

Final Poster

This is the final version of the poster I created for my music video.

The poster includes the final logo for the band 'Vivid Scheme' and the main track on the 10-track album, 'Intoxicated'.

Poster Design Update #4

This is the design for the poster which includes the band name - Vivid Scheme - and the name of the song and album, Intoxicated. Also featured are the logos for the record label, Parlophone, and the logos for Amazon.com and iTunes, from where the song/digipak release can be purchased.

Digipak Design Update #3

Here is a work-in-progress version of the Digipak cover. The character on the front, the band name, texts and the CD/Digipak tray designs are yet to be added.

TOP LEFT: Back cover.
TOP RIGHT: Front cover.
BOTTOM LEFT: Case interior.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Disc tray.

Digipak Design Update #2

Here I have used the spray tool on Paint to create a greater effect on many elements of the Digipak cover designs.

Digipak Design Update #1

Front Cover

Back Cover

Interior (left side)

Back (L) and front (R) covers

Above are the designs for the backgrounds I am planning to use for three of the sides of the Digipak design. Like the poster, I recreated images from the music video on the computer, to make it look less like a plain still image from the video itself.

Poster Design Update #3

The poster has been updated, with the main character added in from a real background shown in the music video to the digital one for the poster.

Here I have also been expirementing with fonts, and have applied my final choice of font - Poor Richard.

Poster Design Update #2

Here I have demonstrated how I created the background, step-by-step, and placed my character in front of it.

Poster Design Update #1

Today I worked further on creating the poster for the music video. I will be keeping the design featuring the man waiting for a bus, but instead of using paper cutouts, it was suggested to me that I use the computer to recreate the image. The reason for this was so that the poster seemed more original than simply using a still, plus giving the poster itself a greater effect and impact on the spectator.

I created the first of the images in MS Paint, based on the second image, and will later be importing the man as a paper cutout onto the first image to create the poster.