Evaluation marking

Level 4 16–20 marks
• There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.
• There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
• There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts. • There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is excellent ability to communicate.

Like the prezi and on codes and conventions- mistake in the editing section and I would argue that there are more connotations of black- serious, threatening etc. Evaluation 2 is excellent in terms of video and digipak but seems to completely ignore the website. Nathan's audience feedback post demonstrates how feedback impacted on all three products but it would have been nice perhaps to have seen some evidence of the feedback. Nathan has written a good post on media technologies although he could have included more evidence of specific examples of using the technology.

16/20

Music Video

Digipak in template

Advertisement- Website

http://nathanblows16.wixsite.com/cautiontheband

The link above is our website where we have posted an update on the music video. We have also linked our social media to the website as well as advertise our T-Shirts which customers can buy and wear to celebrate the release of the new music video we are creating.

The website features a home section, where you can see some news posts as well as some pictures of the band. It has a video section where you can check out some of Cautions past material as well as some recorded tracks. There is a page for news where you can read up on the latest from the band to find updates on the band and the progress of their gigs and events. Finally there is a contact section. The contacts section has three different email addresses that all have specific functions. This is so the audience can contact the right email to resolve the issues they may have. For example, booking and management both have different email addresses so that the audience can contact the correct people for the valid reason.

Evaluation 4

Evaluation 3

Research and Planning- marking

Level 3 12–15 marks
• Planning and research evidence will be complete.
• There is proficient research into similar products and a potential target audience.
• There is proficient work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
• There is proficient organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
• Time management is good.
• There is proficient skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.
• There are proficient communication skills.
• There is a good level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.


***Nathan I can't see some of your posts (risk assessment for example) because they are on Google drive. I'm sure you can show me but we need to make the examiner's life easy!***

Love the intro with the video at the festival! Honest and through SWOT. In your codes and conventions blog you say that the genre etc will depend on the edits you use. Shouldn't that be the other way round? I'm being pedantic- your early posts are well written and insightful. I think your history post is great but you could have explained the impact of social media on MTV. Nice Prezi on Goodwin but I hope you are going to apply those ideas during your analysis. Really great analysis of Toxic! I can't see the pictures in your history of the song mood board but I get the idea from your explanation. Is Paint it Black slower than their others? Good post on Institutions. Did you actually explain viral advertising? I like the Inspiration posts but we seem to be moving away from media studies in to Nathan Blows and music! I like the way you've documented the process and I like the posts on the band, merch etc but again we are moving away from the more theoretical media studies concepts- audience for example- in fact in your Survey Monkey post you don't really explain the results in any great depth. Your Purpose of a music video post also lacks depth. Good digipak analysis and codes posts. I would have been good to have seen some website analysis.

There are some very good posts in this research and planning but, as I stated above, after a good start you seemed to drift more towards music and the band rather than producing convincing media research! There was enough good stuff though!

Nathan 13/20

Evaluation 2

Evaluation 1

However my video does challenge some of the conventions listed above. In my music video, I decided that I didn't want to use any make-up. This was because I did not feel it was necessary to use it in the song as the song wasn't very 'heavy'. By heavy I mean distorted guitars playing fast distorted riffs at a low pitch with heavy emphasis on the cymbals. The second reason I decided not to use make-up is because the song was written in the 60's which was before rock artists like Kiss started experimenting with make-up.

In my music video, the lead guitarist is also the vocalist. This isn't one of the typical conventions you would expect to see in a rock music video because there is normally a vocalist as they are normally the ones that get the most screen time. I decided that I would have the lead guitarist as the vocalist because it is a more modern feature of rock. This is an example of me challenging the typical conventions of rock as I feel that the guitarist both singing and playing the guitar is more 'modernised' as bands such as: Foo Fighters and Royal Blood both use this structure. Even though there is no 'separate' vocalist, I did act as if Olly was the 'separate' vocalist and gave him the most screen time and made him the actor in the narrative as in rock, the guitarist is the most recognisable player and receives the most attention.

Production work- marking

Level 3 The candidate is expected to demonstrate proficiency in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot sizes and close attention to mise en scene
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects
• recording and editing sound with images appropriately. Where a candidate has worked in a group, a proficient contribution to construction is evident.

The video was good- generally well edited. Some of the lip synching was off in places. Shame about the hand in shot at 1 minute. I really liked the edits where the singer leapt from location to location. Framing could have been better for the insert shots. The video lacked a little variety. On the whole I thought the video was simple but pretty effective.

Mark 30/40

I can see what you were trying to do with the digipak but you can't present it as a slide show. I need to see it laid out as your template was

Digipak 5/10

You've produced a functioning website that compliments the video although it is fairly basic. I liked the content.

Website 7/10

Branding

When creating the branding for the music video we had to establish a clear theme that was going to be used throughout. When it came to picking the song and deciding on the theme of the music video, I came up with the theme of loneliness and depression as this is what I believe the lyrics of the song mean. So the theme of the music video was sadness and depression. So when deciding how I wanted to brand the music video, the best course of action was to stick to the theme of loneliness and isolation. This meant that the music video was going to use dull colours and for the weather to be rainy and cloudy as using pathetic fallacy will help reinforce the theme.

When branding for the video, it was important that I understand what people would expect to see in terms of a rock music video. The general consensus that the band and the story were very important as that would set the tone for the music video. From this I decided that the focus of the digipak would be primarily on the band as this will give the audience some background about the band. The questionnaire I put out gave the consensus that action was very important in a music video as it shows high energy. So when I was planning the digipak I chose to use bright colours and action shots to give the band a high energy feel and see some background behind the band. This is to generate interest for the band so we can meet the convention of being high energy.

Creating the website was a similar process. I started by establishing the theme and making sure that the house style was consistent with the theme of the music video I had created. The base colour of the website is quite dull to fit the theme of depression and loneliness just like the song. I also included a few other band tracks so the consumer can get a clear impression of the band and get further background from us in the 'about us' section on the website. There is also a photo gallery section that shows photos of the band. The range of pictures will allow the audience to see our previous experiences to find out some background behind the artists. This is important because if the audience take an interest in you then they can take an interest in the bands music video. The contact section is where consumers can message the band to ask any questions or queries they have. This is important because if the audience can engage with the band the will feel like they are important to the band and will establish a connection with the artists.

Final Digipack Design

Slide 1- Slide one is a picture of the lead guitarist playing guitar. As the song is called paint it black, having a black background is very fitting to use as it suits the name of the song as well as the purpose of the song which is based around sadness and depression. As the guitarist is the front man of the band, it is most fitting to make him the star of the music video. From other inspirational Digipak examples I have looked at, having the main artist on the front panel is an effective idea as it gets straight into the action and introduces the band and to see the artists involved. The front cover is the first thing the consumer will see so it is important that you make sure that the first thing they see is the band/main artist as well as introduce the song.

Slide 2- The second slide is a close up of the lead guitarist/vocalist singing. This action shot of Olly singing shows that he loves to perform. The purple background is used to show importance as purple is often associated with royalty. We chose to use this image as the second slide as the colour shows importance of him as well as showing him performing which give people a taste of the action right at the start of the digipak. There was also a blank section in the top left of the image. This was perfect space for me to put all of the songs that were going to be included in the album. This is to create verisimilitude as having a list of songs make the digipak feel like it is from a real album. Creating a digipak that looks real is very important as this will make the digipak look professional and will help me to think like a real band and will help me to focus on target audience. The close up of Olly performing helps to create a real looking digipak as this close up helps to establish facial expressions which show him looking towards what we expect is an audience.

Slide 3- The third page of the digipak is a collage of images of the whole band performing. These action shots are again creating verisimilitude because these are shots of us performing so the pictures look natural. These pictures also give some background behind the band and show us performing. This helps us to look like a real band which will make the digipak look professional. The centre of the picture is of Olly in a Harrington. This picture is from the music video itself. It works as a teaser to the music video as it is a screenshot from the music video itself.

Slide 4- The forth page of the digipak is similar to the third page in that they are shots of the band performing. The pictures on this page is purely of band shots. This shows the band performing which helps the viewers to see some background pictures of the bands performing. Rock music is viewed as high energy and action. Therefore. I decided to make a collage of band images to meet my target audience. From the questionnaire I put out asking about what they feel is important in rock videos. The band was one of the most important factors as well as high energy. This led me to create a collage of band images that show us performing as this shows both action and high energy. The difference in colour makes it bright and vibrant. When analysing rock music conventions. I discovered that people usually associate rock music with dark colours to show depression and sadness. I decided that having bright vibrant colours show energy which helps to grab the audiences attention as the consumers are normally drawn in by the bright colours and the action.

Slide 5- Slide 5 is a medium/close up shot of the band performing on a stage. This picture is used for the audience to see the band up close and to see all the equipment the band use. This particular shot was used because it gives the impression that you are in the audience and are watching the band perform. This helps the consumer to know what it would look like to see the band perform and for them to feel like that they are there. The audience in the background show that people are interested in the band and helps to create atmosphere for the band. The reason for having one photo on this digipak page was to see the band close up to get perspective of what it is like to see the band up close.

Slide 6- This is the back page of the digipak. This page has a photo of Olly from the music video. The dullness and fog create a ominous feel as well as reinforce sadness and depression which is what the music video is all about. To make it look more realistic, there are the production logos in the bottom left to give credit to the 'companies' that produced the music video. There are also links to our Facebook and Instagram. This will be how the audience can find out more about the band and keep in touch with them. This is a very good way of marketing as this will distribute our marketing platforms so people will able to follow us and keep up with our progress and future projects. The final touch to the slide is a barcode. This is purely to add believability to the digipak as I wanted to make the digipak look as real as possible because then it would look professional and realistic.

Digipack Template

As you can see in the right hand picture, I have created a template for my six slides. To make my digipak the correct size of a traditional digipak, I done some research on the size of digipaks so I could alter my template accordingly to match the specifications of a proper digipak. 

Digipak size template

The picture below is a template I found online that shows the dimensions of a six slide digipak. I tried using the specifications to see if they were that similar to a real digipack and they were. I made the height of the digipack 12.50cm as both panels combined were specified as 250mm so half of that gives 12.50cm for the height. The width specified was 140mm so I made the width 14.0cm to stick to the specifications it suggested. I felt these was the perfect specifications so I decided to stick with these sizes for my final digipak slides.

Digipack Example 2

Conventions of a digipak

Steven Ballantine (A2 Student) example

Digipak's tend to follow certain conventions which are seen in most digipaks. I feel its important creating a blog post on the conventions as it will broaden my knowledge on the elements that make a successful digipak as following the conventions will help my digipak to look more realistic.

Front Page example

A common digipak consists of 6 slides which are full of band information and pictures which all relate to the artist.

Front Page

The front of a digipak tends to have one large picture on the front. The picture/illustration tends to have a relation to the song or artist. This can be a picture associated with the band or it can also be of the bands name. This digipak for example is of the artists name which has a clear relation to the song.

Inside 

Inside Page example

The inside of the digipak is where you can find the CD. The CD itself is often patterned which matches with the rest of the digipak and matches the rest of the packaging. The inside of the digipak typically contains the songs that you will find on the CD. This page is important because it is typically one of the first pages people go to when looking at the digipak because people want to find out what songs are on the CD. A few of the pages are pictures that relate to the band/artist. This is typically pictures that relate to the band such as pictures of themselves or of their equipment. Some digipaks also include additional information such as lyrics, artist information and personal messages. These aren't typically seen in all digipaks but are sometimes put in the digipak depending on whether the artist wants to or not.  

Back

Back Page example

The back page is often of a picture of the artist. The songs included in the CD can also be written on the back. This page also has information such as the record label and producers. This is to give recognition to the parties involved in the process of producing the songs. The final thing you would typically expect to see on the back page of a digipack is the barcode.

All of these conventions are very important to consider when planning a digipak because it is vital to consider the layout of the digipak to make it as realistic as possible. Making the digipak look professional is important because it will actually look as if it is a real digipak.

Example Digipak Analysis

Digipak example

I am going to do an analysis of this digipak to break down what is good about the digipak and what can be improved to make it more professional.

Firstly, I like the consistency in colour throughout the digipak. There isn't some pages colourful and some pages dull, the colour stays consistent throughout which shows a clear theme. The front page is professional looking as it has a photograph of the main artist on the tube line. Having a photo of the band/artist is a convention seen in most digipaks because it is like you are the introduction to the digipak.

The inside pages don't contain any additional information about the band, although this isn't strictly a typical convention, I feel more insight into the band/artist will be a lot more engaging and interesting as it will give us more information so we can understand what type of band they are. From the pictures on the inside of the digipak, we can see that they are a rock band as they have a drum kit, guitar and bass which are typical instruments you see in a rock, pop band. As the colour scheme is quite dark, we are led to believe that they are a rock band as pop digipaks would typically be bright and colourful such as: Katy Perry's digipak.

The back page of the digipak has the song names and also the barcode, this is effective because it makes the digipak seem more realistic as you would expect to see these conventions in a digipak. To improve the back page of the digipak, adding in social media accounts would have been nice to see as it would lead you to their social media accounts where you can keep up-to-date with the artists. From the digipak examples I have looked at, most contain social media links so you can easily find the artists social media as this is a way artists can keep in touch with their fans to give them more information and to provide a platform where the audience can leave feedback and interact with the artist.

Digipak Moodboard

The mood boards above are all examples of mood boards that have inspired me in my own digipak. A lot of the mood board examples above are all band shots/photos which is what I want to have in my digipak because in the digipak I want to give some insight into the band. A lot of the examples above are majority picture based, especially in the middle pages. The colour scheme for most of the examples above are quite colourless and dark which is great inspiration to me as the music video I have created is dark as it explores the themes of depression and isolation

Most of the examples have the song names on the inside of the digipak, I have used this as inspiration and have put the song names on the second page as from my research I found this was a convention of digipaks and therefore to make my digipak as realistic as possible, I will follow the traditional conventions.

From this blog post, I have taken inspiration from the examples I have looked at and will use some of their features as inspiration for my own digipak to make my digipak look as professional and realistic as possible. To do this, I need to use the conventions of a digipak which I explained in a previous post.

What is a digipak?

Purpose of a music video

Despacito music video

I have done a post explaining what a music video is but in this post I will explain the purpose of music videos and the reasoning behind making a music video.

Music video's are used as promotional material. A music video is a great way to gain publicity as it can be used as promotional material to attract viewers to watch your video. YouTube is the second biggest search engine over Google and is the largest music streaming website. Most artists publish their music videos on YouTube so their fans can watch their videos. Making music videos also helps the artist to make money. Advertisements can be placed on music videos which every time they are viewed generate ad revenue for the artist.

Creative visuals give the artist a competitive advantage as videos draw attention which in turn can draw in a large audience. The most currently viewed video on YouTube is a music video called 'Despacito'. According to Social blade, a YouTube analytics website, has earned somewhere between 74k-1.2M in just the last 30 days. Ad revenue is the best way to make money off the music video.

Intended Audience- Questionnaire

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-5S9V3VVN8/

Above is the link to the results  of my questionnaire. I collected 10 responses, 6 being male and 4 being female to make the responses more balanced. These results were to find out what age group best suits rock music videos to determine the intended target audience for my music video. 

From my results I found that all 10 responses agreed that a teen/young adult audience would be the target audience I should focus on.


I had already anticipated that the teen/young adult would be the most popular response so I was very happy when I found out that all the other responses were matched to my own opinion.