Gif Set of Music Video

Above is a gif set of my music video. As I envisaged a gif set of my music video appearing on my demographics blog. I find this works really well and demonstrates how my music video is ready for my demographic.

Annotation of Final Magazine Advert

Annotation of Final Music Video Timeline

Matthew P - On Top (Seventh Edit)

I am at a point now where I am happy with where I am with my product.  Yet before making this my final edit I will present it to my demographic on the social networking site Tumblr to see if there are any possible improvements that need to be made from my demographic.

Third Draft Magazine Advert

Fifth Draft of Digipak

Above is my fifth draft of my Digipak. I have reached a stage where I feel happy with the result but I will use social networking to see if there are any final tweaks that are needed to be made.

Annotations of Digipak

Below I annotated a printed version of my digipak to highlight any issues with it in its printed form that might not be recognised on screen.

The writing isn't very clear in this image so here are the issues raised:

• A different backdrop to be used? Brown paper to signify a scrapbook? Although I feel blue maintains the house style, has a relaxing mood (which matches the song) and contrasts well with the red.
• Adjustments to thank-you letter. Mainly keyboard errors and shortening of sentences.
• Reduce size of artist songwriting as it is too blown up and appears blurry.
• Add an Instax of beach.
• Make track list bolder.
• Add social networking sites to broaden profile.

Annotations of Magazine Advert

I decided to analyse my Magazine advert in true form and see it printed out. Below I annotated different ways to improve the advert.

Fourth Draft of Digipak

After holding a focus group I came up with various adjustments that the digipak needed. Taking these adjustments into account I created the fourth draft with a completely new layout for the fourth panel. Adjustments include reducing the size of the main image, adding an image of the artist writing a song and removing one of the two similar images.

Matthew P - On Top (Sixth Edit)

Above is my sixth edit. These include all the amendments I documented after the fifth edit. I will show this to three people and see if they feel they need any adjustments. If any points I will investigate this. Also I notice that there is a long black screen at the end so therefore my music video will need shortening.

Matthew P On Top - Fifth Edit

Above I have completed the alterations suggested by my focus group. I used the Saturation tool in the Three-Way Colour Corrector to decrease the intensity of the blue. I did this for the beginning section to add a more dull and overcast atmosphere but left the 'finding' of the note at its original intensity to match the happy, sunny surroundings.

Watching this I have decided to review the music video and decide on possibly weaker parts of the music video that need adapting and editing,

1. There is a close up of the girls eye edited in at 0:22. I feel this disrupts the fluency and the pace of editing. It also looks over-edited and unnatural. 
2. For the "oo ooo" parts at 1:11 I feel that the singer has his eyes squinting which doesn't look very aesthetically pleasing.
3. During the string pluck at 1:15 I feel that the video clips and editing doesn't match the pace of the song. This is quite obvious as the majority of the video is edited according to the rhythm of the track.
4.   Again the shot of the singer/songwriter lip syncing "of anything" 1:41 is squinting which doesn't look very attractive and disrupts the eye to eye contact/relationship between the singer/songwriter and the viewer.

Contact Sheet

Above are three images I took in response to the feedback. I found that only one of the three (the first) came out well as the other two were underexposed. For this reason I will be using this image in my ancillary product.

Adjustments to Digipak (Third Draft)

In preparation for my focus group I printed my ancillary products. I then analysed how they appeared in print. I found that the advert to be successful but the digipak needed some adjustments.

The first adjustment needed was the height of the two sides. One was higher than the other which meant that when folded there would be evidence of the other side. The bar-code also stood out as it was too far from the side so I moved it closer to the edge. Finally I felt the cover image didn't have a very good quality so I edited and made the titles stand out a lot more by spacing them apart.

I now feel that this draft is the one I can present to the focus group.

Responding to Hot Desking

One point raised during hot desking is that the right panel lacks infrormation and writing. I tried to add an important lyric from the leading single. I found it really hard to encorporate it into the design. Above are the results and I feel that this really doesn't work. The black is too harsh and the typography really stands out. The other panels are really busy and I feel that this empty panel breaks it down through use of space. For this reason I will ignore this response to hot desking as I don't feel it benefits the design or the consumer.

Second Draft Digipaks

After creating a thank you letter it meant I needed more room for text but still wanted to include as many images as possible. For this reason I removed one image but made the main image larger to incorporate text. Below are my two drafts (each with a different front cover):

Digipak One:

Digipak Two:

What is in a Thank You letter?

Looking at the overall results I have considered some factors that I know to be true. I kept the note broad so I wouldn't imply anything untrue about the artist. Subjects such as make-up and songwriters are unlikely whereas family, friends and fans are paramount. I used colloquial language to enhance the chilled approach of the artist and to embrace the fans. Making them feel like they are the artists best friend who they have known all their life. Below is the thank you letter.

Well honestly I don’t know where to start. There are so many people to thank and I wouldn’t be here releasing an album. So I will firstly thank everyone at YDNA Records who laboured with me to produce this record. Especially my band who we’ve shared many early mornings and many cups of tea. They are truly the inspiration of every string plucked.

My family have been behind me every step of the way and I’m forever grateful of my parents taking me to every gig and introducing me to the guitar. Thanks to my friends for the late nights on the beach and making memories. You kept me going when it looked like I wasn’t going anywhere.

Finally thank you to my fans. Thank you for your support in buying and sharing my music. You have all pushed me forward to the best that I am and I look forward to sharing many life changing experiences with you.

Let long straight lines guide you to paradise.

Love,

Matthew

Fourth Edit - Music Video

After taking a couple weeks break from my music video I decided to watch it again and to review it. I came up with this list of improvements:

• The extreme close up of the eyes towards the start of the music video.

To build suspense I added an extreme close up of the girls eyes. This was at a 90 degree rotation and I felt that this rotation wasn't very fluent and disrupted the video. Although I have to have a rotation for an extreme close up to be featured (due to cropping already existing footage). In my fourth edit I have decreased the amount of rotation so there is less fragmentation and heightened fluency.

• Check sound clips at around 30 seconds.

While watching my third edit I was convinced I could hear sound clips (pen on paper) from the original footage that wasn't intended. I checked the whole video and found no unintentional sound clips and checked again. Overall there were and are definitely no more sound bites that weren't intended.

• Check lip syncing at 1:11.

Whilst watching I thought the lip syncing was slightly out but after slight alteration I believe the lip sync is now more convincing.

• Change clip just before 1:14.

I found that one clip stuck out particularly just before 1:14 and after watching it repeated I found that I understood more and more why the clip was there and why it worked. Although to ensure it isn't just my opinion I will raise this point during audience feedback.

• Check guitar playing is synced correctly.

During the close up of the guitar being plucked to the tune I found it to be slightly out of time. I corrected this error but then decided that there was too much focus on the guitar and it didn't match the pace of the music video. For this reason I shortened the music video and added two more clips.

• Alter light leak at 1:58.

I added a light leak to create a fluent transition between far apart locations. I felt that this effect was too sudden and dark so I added a fade in and made it longer so there was more of a build up and a more successful transition.

First Proof - Digipak

I have designed two possibilities for my digipak that were influenced by my adverts. Each digipak is the same apart from the front cover. I am unsure on which one to pursue so I will create them into physical products and present them to a select few who are my target market and see which one is preferred. I will also present the adverts as well to what ones my audience prefer.

Digipak design 1:

Digipak design 2:

Second Draft Advert

After completing a photo shoot for my ancillary products it allowed me to replace the screenshot with a real image. During this I reviewed my first draft and decided to replace the black iTunes logo with a less distracting and simplified white one which I find more effective. I also replaced the quote from Clean Slate Music with a shorter one from The Fly as it is more attention grabbing and doesn't make the advert appear so busy.

 

After this I also experimented with using a different image as a backdrop and how it would work. I really like this new design but am unsure. I intend to have the album cover the same as the advert so I will experiment with this new layout and with input from hot desking and audience feedback I will decide.

 

 

Contact Sheet

Above is my contact sheet from today's shoot. I feel that I have given myself a lot of different varieties of the same thing and that this works quite well. There will definitely be an image I could use from this contact sheet for my magazine advert and cover of my digipak.