Signing Off

I have finally completed my blog! I hope you enjoy looking through the posts and following my thoughts and ideas, which have led to the creation of my final music video, digipak and advertisement.

Enjoy ;)

Final Music Video

Final Digipak

Final Advertisement

Final Alterations

As the production team and I had not revisited our 'Superman' music video in a long time, we decided to watch the video with clear thoughts, in an attempt to edit areas which could be improved. While watching the music video we noticed that the lip synchronisation was not successful, and although we tried to alter the speed of the scenes, the scene did not fit the music. Therefore, we changed both the lip sychronisation scenes, however, we were indecisive whether to continue altering the speed of the scenes, or whether we should replace all scenes with something else. Nevertheless, after gaining feedback from both the media teachers and peers, we thought that it was necessary to replace all the lip synchronisation scenes. Furthermore, we noticed that we did not fulfill one criteria, which was to include credits to the music video, therefore, we decided to apply credits to the first 5 seconds of the music video, reading 'Superman- Barrie Gledden'.

This is shown in the two video versions below...

Version 1


Version 2- FINAL

How Effective is the Combination of the Music video, Digipak with the Advertisement

My album advertisement was created using similar imagery to the digipak, as it was necessary to create a obvious link between all products. This would benefit the audience as they would easily relate the music video, digipak and advertisement, therefore revealing that the combination of all three products are effective.

Digipak

Advertisement

As initial questionnaires established that a majority of females prefer the Pop Rock genre, the colours used throughout the digipak and the advertisement had connotation of a female based audience. This is also shown by the narrative of the music video, which deals with themes such as 'love'. Nevertheless, this was contrasted with the use of an urban background as I believe that this could attract a wider audience, rather than just a female audience. In order to reinforce this, I have made use of urban landscapes in both the digipak, album advertisement and the settings chosen for the music video.

Furthermore, similar texts were utilised throughout, for example the 'Stencil' and 'Chiller' font. Although this was not utilised in the music video, it nonetheless reflected the genre of music and it was bold yet 'creepy' representing the stereotypical view that rock music is sinister. Moreover, the combination of the 'Stencil' and 'Chiller' font was used in the same way, as important information based on legal terms and sell lines were printed in 'Stencil'. This is because I felt that this font held a sense of authority, and was more bold.

I made use of the same idea of the half dog half female, as it directly reflected the band's name 'The Rockweilers'. However, although the same image of the dog was not used in both the digipak and the advertisement, my questionnaires show that the audience preferred this advertisement, and were still able to create the link between the two products. Furthermore, the dog represents the wild factor of the music video and the youth characters, moreover, the image of the dog also illustrates the protagonist' freedom when choosing which boy she prefers.

The 'close up' central image of the advertisement also reflects the camera techiques used throughout the music video, as a number of shots were 'close ups' since it portrayed the mixture of emotions from each character.

Furthermore, the use of the skateboarders on the top of the buildings is employed in both the digipak and the advertisement. Although they are not in cooperated in the music video, I was hoping to establish a relationship between the idea of 'Superman' having the powers to fly, and the skateboarder rebelling and skating high upon the buildings.

Overall, I believe that the combination of the music video, digipak and advertisement is effective and strong, as I have carefully made use of similar characteristics in all products, in order to aid the audience to associate all products to 'The Rockweiler'. Nevertheless, some traits are more obvious and easily related to all products for example, the colour scheme and target audience. However, other characteristics illustrate other areas of the album, such as other songs. This is most important as I have only produced a music video to one of the songs, 'Superman', therefore the audience are unaware of other songs and their genre. Nonetheless, by in cooperating imagery that reflects other areas of the album, the audience will hopefully be aware of the band's music on a larger scale.

Using, Developing and Challenging Conventions- Advertisement

Before creating the advertisement for the promotion of The Rockweiler's debut album, I researched a range of advertisements from other pop rock artists, as well as artists from different genres. Exploring a variety of advertisements was beneficial since I was able to establish the most important conventions. I noticed that the most significant conventions were present in all music genre advertisements and therefore were essential in my own production. Furthermore, analysing pop rock advertisements furthered my knowledge of the conventions that were recognisable to pop rock music advertisements. Nevertheless, during the production phase I made decisions which either used, developed or challenged the conventions, in order for the best outcome.

Used Conventions
It was vital that I incorporated the essential conventions such as the name of the album and artists. Although the relationship between the advertisement, the digipak and the music video was clear, it was necessary to establish the artist's name, this ensures that the audience does not forget the artist's and could even broaden the profile on the band by telling others. The release date of the album was also essential as it gives the audience a date to anticipate, hence increasing sales. Furthermore, it was essential for legal reasons to state the institution name and logo, therefore promoting the institution who previously aided the band. This may be part of the contract between the institution and the band. Although it was not essential, I also incorporated contact details, such as web-addresses of the band. This was because I found that it was most important in order to keep in close contact with fans, especially as the use of technology is forever developing world wide. Furthermore, this would also attract listeners from not only the Uk, but from around the world. Moreover, I also stated the forms of which the album took. Although a majority of listeners may not consider this, I think that it could nonetheless influence those who have a great concern about the environment. This is as the digipak was primarily invented as a light weight ,environmentally friendly option, apposed to the conventional jewel case.

Developed Conventions
Conventionally, advertisements employ the same images to the digipak in order to create a direct link between both the products. This idea has been developed as I made use of a new more exciting image, nevertheless the concept of the half human, half dog was still noticeable. I developed this as I thought that it was vital that the advertisement was appealing, even to those who are not interested in the music. This also emphasised the name of the band which would hopefully not be forgotten due to the accompanying images.


Challenged Conventions
I have not challenged many conventions, as I feel that by following the most important conventions the audience will gain the most from the poster. However, when planning the poster I aspired to incorporate tour dates, as this was a common feature in pop rock advertisements. Nevertheless, due to the lack of space I felt that the poster would appear too clumsy, and therefore not appealing to the audience, hence the abolishment of this idea.

What have I learned from the audience feedback- Final Advertisement

As a final stage of evaluation for the album advertisement, I asked an audience of different age ranges and music preferences, there opinions of the album cover. I made use of both open and closed questions, since I was interested in their opinions towards the album advertisement, hence the open questions. However, I was also curious to whether the audience would listen to the album after noticing this advertisement. The proposed questions are below:

1. What are your first impressions about the digipak?
2. Do you think there is a direct link towards the digipak art and the advertisement? Did you notice instantly?
3. Would this advertisement influence your choice to listen to 'The Rockweiler's' music?

Audience Feedback
After asking a range of candidates what their first impressions were about the advertisement, a majority of the candidates said that they "...enjoyed the flow of the images...", and said that they could probably guess what music genre the advertisement belonged to. Nevertheless, it was said that this was an advertisement that "...could not be forgotten..." because of the "...interesting manipulation of the dog and human face...". I found that this was extremely useful since the audience recognised the signature image combination of the dog and human, hopefully suggesting that they will not forget the name 'The Rockweilers'. Furthermore, a candidate said that although the advertisement suggested a rock music genre, they would still be interested in the album since the visual reflected a London landscape which is rarely shown on the cover of a digipak, since a majority of artists target their audience world wide hence their neglect in employing London imagery.

A positive response was also given for question 2, as a number of candidates saw the direct link between the digipak and the advertisement. A majority of the candidates said that "...although the central image was different, the background emphasised the relation..." between the album art and the advertisement. Furthermore, it was also said that the font, and background image appeared to be most important for an audience since it includes the important information, hence the direct link between the text and the album. Moreover, candidates stated that the "...layout of the background, text, images..." strengthened the relationship, since these areas were similar to those of the digipak.

Finally, the response to the third question suggested that the advertisement had a constructive impact on the audience, since a majority of candidates said that "...they would be intrigued by the genre as it is clear though the advertisement yet still exciting. I think that this may be because all the images used have been manipulated therefore creating an mysterious visage of the artists themselves. I found that this is important since although the audience may enjoy the music, the image of the band may cause stereotypes the music.

Final Draft- Advertisement

When drafting the final advertisement, I altered a few areas of the poster. These were suggested by the audience in order to make the advertisement more appealing from their perspective. Firstly, I manipulated the size of the institution logo as the candidates said that it was too big. I found that this was true, since although it is important to certify that the artist is legitimate, the audience rarely notice it. Therefore I made the logo much smaller, however it was still visible. Secondly, I changed the text which read 'available as digipak' as the candidates found that it did not sound genuine. It is for that reason that I changed the text so that it read 'Digipak...Bonus track' as it was simple and straight to the point. Furthermore, I made the font smaller as it was not the most important area of information, this also gave me freedom to space out the other more important areas of text. Finally, I included more images of skateboarders as part of the buildings, this was because a number of candidates suggested that there be more detail in the background. Although, I experimented with superimposing images of paws around the image, I found that it made the poster appear too clustered and distracted the main information. Therefore I abolished that idea and decided to only employ the extra images of the skateboarders.

Audience Feedback- Advertisements

By posting both advertisement ideas on the social networking site, Facebook, I was able to decide which advertisement to develop, based on the audience's preferred poster. This was accomplished since all participants gave valid reasons for their decisions, as well as reasons why they did not choose the other advert.

The results reveal that 9 out of 16 candidates prefer 'Idea 1', and the remaining 7 liked 'Idea 2'. The comments left for each idea are shown below.

Idea 1

• "I like the developed combination of the half dog person, it works well with the album cover. I think the other one is too repetitive."
• "The dog is awesome, maybe a bit more in the background. But this one is the best"
• "Defo this one is the best. I don't like the 'available as digipak' bit though.
• "That dog bit is so kool, but it still reflects the album cover because of the background. The other one is still really effective though. But yeh my favourite is this one."
• "They both look really real, but this one seems to have more thought and looks more professional."
• "Yeh, it looks really genuine. I think I prefer this one because it develops on the other one, but there is still a link between the album and this poster. But I think you need to work on the presentation of the bit that says 'available as digipak'.
  
• "This one is the best, I do think you should add a bit more detail in the background. The other one is great as well, just a bit to similar"
• "I like the link you have made with the background, but I think its great how you've got a different angle of the dog bit. Yeh like everyone else I think idea 2 is too repetitive."
• "The half dog half girl image is so interesting, if I saw that in a shop I would want to check out the album. The idea 2 is still good but I think the advertisement should be even more interesting because most people see it first before checking out the album"

These comments show that a majority of the candidates who commented on the ideas preferred this idea, because it appeared more interesting. I think that this is most important as the art not only attracts the target audience who enjoy the music genre, but also people who are interested in the art. However, although most of the candidates prefer this idea, I feel that the advertisement can be improved, and altered considering the constructive criticism such as "..more detail...".

Idea 2

• "This idea definitely shows the link between the album cover and the advertisement. Although the other idea is clever I think that it may be too confusing."
  
• "I like this one, its simple yet straight to the point and promotes the album cover well. But with both ideas I think you can improve the 'available as digipak' area."
• "I prefer this one, I do think that idea 1 is good but the dog does not flow, it just looks as though it is floating"
• "They're both awesome, but this one has a better link to the digipak. I think maybe that little sign at the bottom should be smaller"
• "I like this one better (although I like both) because it has a more grunge/ rock/ pop atmosphere since its all uneven"
• "It looks so authentic, only because I have to choose I will pick this one because I was attracted to it instantly!"
• "Idea 2 is great I would definitely know which album I was looking for If I saw this"

Although these comments are in favour of idea 2, the majority of votes reveal that Idea 1 is the most preferred. However, the comments made are beneficial in the development of Idea 1, as I have realised that the main image of the dog does not flow as well with the images in the background. Therefore, while developing the advertisement I will manipulate the central image in order to make the advertisement art more inviting for the audience.