My Evaluation

1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real 
media products?

Link to my prezi on sight




2.How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? 

3.What have you learned from your audience feedback?





4.How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? 

Our final music video

Our music video for Russian Red's- The Sun The trees




*Note, we have had trouble uploading it with the full quality we are able to achieve in final cut pro. Please watch with the highest hd setting.

The website

Click here to go to our Russian Red website
If you click on the link above you can see our final finished website.

The process of creating the website can be seen below. When we created the website we followed the codes and conventions of indie pop websites which we discovered from our indie pop website research, such as the research which you can see in another of my posts. I will write more about the process, the codes and conventions we used or chose to contradict, and the software which we used in my evaluation.

Editing

During the editing process I was vital in making sure that we stuck to the script, using the shots that were most like the one described in the script, and making sure that our clips lasted the same amount of time as we gave them in the script. This would be crucial when we came to matching the clips up with the music as they would need to be exactly the right length for the lip synching to match up and so that they cut in time for thought beats. Some clips proved to be too short so I slowed them down slightly so they would fit in with the allotted times. A few were too long but we still needed to show all of the action in them, so I sped these clips up. I also helped with some the general editing of putting clips in and cutting them down to size, although some other members of my group were responsible for making sure the lip synching matched up exactly. 

The digipak

The completed digipak

The process of creating the digipak can be seen below. When we created the digipak we followed the codes and conventions of other indie pop digipaks which we discovered from our indie pop website research, such as the research which you can see in another of my posts. I will write more about the process, the codes and conventions we used or chose to contradict, and the software which we used in my evaluation.

More nature shots

One of the things that the audience feedback showed us was that we needed as many nature shots as possible. So I went down the Lagan paths and took various shots of nature. Hopefully they will be the kind to thing that the audience was expecting, I think they show lovely the beauty and wonder of nature that will hopefully draw the audience in this wonder filled, nature base fantasy world.

Although we considered taking still images from our piece to use as images for part of the digipak we decided that it would look more professional for us to have a separate photoshoot for the digipak images. I also found for during my digipak research that the images which they used were often not taken from any music video, although they sometimes were similar to it, probably to draw people to their music videos. We therefore decided that it would be best that our images were similar to , the sun, the trees. So we used the same costume, hair, and make-up for our artist as we did in the video, in the hope that seeing the images on the digipak would encourage our audience to check out our video. As you saw from my post on the digipak images I identified some of the conventions for the digipak images, and I will write about which ones we used for these images in our evaluation

Digipaks of similar artists

As with the websites, since I knew we had to create a digipak for our artist, I decided to analyse the digipaks of already identified similar artists, to see what seems to be features which are often repeated in indie pop digipaks and we can then choose to use or not use the conventions in our own digipak. By looking at the digipaks of similar, successful indie pop artists, we can see work which has already attracted and addressed the indie pop audience which we also hope to attract and address in our own video, and see what they will want and expect in a digipak.

 Anni b Sweet- Start Restart Undo.

A font which appears hand written is used in most of the digipak, it gives the digipak more of a personal, hand made touch which makes the indie pop audience feel that the artist felt a great connection to their work which is something the indie pop audience likes to see.
The font size of the artist's name and the album name is the same, giving the idea that they have equal importance, this is also enforced by the way they are at the same level. What I have said here is true for both the places that this text is displayed, at the top of the page on the front cover of the digipak where it will be immediately noticed and does not block any of the main album art, meaning that when it is looked at we give it all our attention, and on the page which would be at the spine of the CD case where it is the only writing so we will therefor give our full focus to it.
A professional barcode is placed at the bottom of the back, it includes references numbers, studio logos, and copyright symbols- I feel having a barcode like this on our digipak will increase its authenticity.
All of the singles included in the album are written on the back page of the album- this helps to entice potential buyers as they can see all of the songs which are included and lets people who have already bought it see which place in the album each single has so they can go to it.
A simple, mostly black and white colour scheme is used which makes the digipak look timeless and gives it a vintage like style lots of indie pop artists like including in their work.
A drawing of the artist is the picture for the album cover, including some unusual animal imagery to make her album look unique, the drawing is black while the background is white, which allows it to stand out more. Using an image of the artist on the cover of the album both increases her star image and makes it easier to spot as hers.

Once again the font which is used throughout most of the digipak appears to be hand written, probably for the same reason it is used in Anni's album.
The artist's name has the biggest font out of all the text in the digipak, which gives the idea of the artist is the most important thing about the album. It is displayed at the top of the album cover meaning that it is probably the first thing people will read on the digipak, is also does not interfere with the album photography. It is also displayed on the photography behind where the CD goes, the writing is below Ellie's face so it does not block it out.
The album name is also displayed on both the album cover and where the disc goes, in both cases it is under the artist's name but on the cover it is near the very bottom to help with its noticeability.
On this album as well all of the singles included in the album are written on the back page, most likely for the same reasons mentioned for the previous album.
At the back cover of the digipak a barcode is included in the bottom right hand corner and is surrounded by studio logos- as is expected of a professional digipak.
Most of the text in the digipack is black with a white rectangular background around the same size as the writing which helps it to stand out more.
The colours in the digipak, apart from the images, are black and white. The images are mostly colourful but slightly muted to give them a vintage looking style, this can especially be seen in the photo behind where the CD is placed.
Every image on each part of the digipak is one of Ellie, she is usually in a natural setting, and wearing fashionable clothes with an edge and no labels, her hair and make-up also look very natural. This means that she looks like the stereotypical indie pop audience which she wants to attract, this is also done through the image of her looking as if she is enjoying herself in the studio playing her music, and it is this love of their music that indie pop fans want to see from their favourite artists. The multiple use of Ellie's image is another example of creating the star image in a digipak.

The band name is written in a larger font, which once again has the appearance of being hand written, at the top of the front cover of the digipak, once again to make it more noticeable.
The title "lungs" if written in a more conventional font across the top of Florence's chest, on top of the fake pair of lungs which she has over it. As the fake lungs are something which many peoples' eyes would be drawn to the audiences' eyes are also therefore drawn to this text, this noticeability is also created through the way the text is capitalised, and over and underlined. The title also has a similar appearance on the CD, in this case over a pair of lines holding what appears to be lungs.
Once again on this album all of the singles included in the album are written on the back page, most likely for the same reasons mentioned for the previous albums.
The font is white for most of the text in the digipak, the white font helps the text in some places to stand out from the image and in other places for it to stand out from the black background.
At the back cover of the digipak as with the other albums there is a barcode.
For the colours in the digipak on two sides a black and white colour scheme is used, while for the other sides full colours which have been slightly muted have been used, in both cases a vintage like style is created for the digipak, the type of style which is preferred for the indie pop genre.
Two of the images are of Florence, showing her face to create star image. The third image is of Florence's hand holding lungs. The final image is a diagram of lungs- repeated lung imagery in three out of the four images helps the audience to be constantly reminded of the album's title.

From analysing these digipaks I have decided to create a list of the common features between all the digipaks as a way to see the typical conventions for a digipak of the indie pop genre. I will then decide whether I think that we should follow of contrast these conventions and the reasons for doing both.

What I think we should have in our digipak (what's repeated in the other digipaks, going along with or contrasting these conventions our cover should be brighter because of the song etc.)
The font size of the title and the artist name should be the same or the artist name should be bigger to show the importance of the artist which indie pop fans like to see. The title and artist name should appear on both the front cover of the digipak and the place where the CD goes. On the front cover the artist name should be at the top of the cover- high enough that it does not interfere with the main image, the album title should then be at the bottom of the cover- low enough that it does not interfere with the main image. The two pieces of text should then be nearer eachother on the image where the CD goes while still not blocking out the main image.
All of the singles included in the album should be written on the back page of the album- to help to entice potential buyers as they can see all of the songs which are included and to let people who have already bought it see which place in the album each single has so they can go to it.
The font colour should directly contrast the image or background colour behind, i.e if we choose a black background colour our font should be white.
I think as with most digipaks we should include a professional barcode surrounded by studio and copyright symbols to increase its authenticity.
Through either black and white, a mixture of colours which have be muted, or both,  we should have a colour scheme which gives our digipak a vintage style associated with indie pop. However I don't think we should mute our colours quite as much as some of these other digipaks do so that the images matches the bright name of our song "the sun, the trees".
Most of the images within the digipak should be of the artist, with maybe one image being a representation of the title, however we should try to include some representation of the title within other images, so that the audience are constantly reminded of it.

The cover image
This will be something of particular importance to us as it would be the first thing most audience members will see of the CD and it is therefore important that this image be appeasing to the eye and that we what have what has already previously attracted the indie pop audience which we are aiming to also attract in our own cover image.

From the cover images of the digipaks I have already analysed and the cover images of some other albums by the same artists I can see some of the most important things to include in the image. The cover image should be either a close up or a medium shot of the artist herself in order to create star image. She should have some kind of prop which either makes her appear more whimsical, or references the song/album title. The artist should either look voyeuristic or be doing something which the indie pop audience will want to see her doing- such as enjoying herself while doing her work or generally being relaxed and having fun. The image should also try its best to match the tone of the song. The artist should look happy and healthy- her make-up and hair should appear natural while still looking fashionable. They should be dressed either in stereotypical indie pop clothes which are fashionable without any mainstream labels, or they should look like 20th century American glamour clothes which help with giving the image its vintage style. The picture should either be in black and white or be colourful but muted to help to further create this vintage style.