Wednesday, 25 April 2012
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.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
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.
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.
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