My Evaluations

Here are all 4 of my evaluations which you can view by going to my Wix website by copying this link...
http://emilyrose237.wix.com/evaluation-a2

Finished Digipak

Second digipak draft

Looking at it now the improvements I believe I need to make are: 

• Move the large section of text on the back page to the left slightly
• I need to blur the edges around the 4 sections so it doesn't look like there is a black border.
• I need to delete the layer which flips the whole top section as in doing so it has made the text backwards therefore I just need to rotate the layers underneath to ensure they're upside down.
• I want to smudge the front cover image so that the green lines have more of a wave effect.

Final magazine advertisement

Here is my final music magazine advertisement:

Final music video

Here is my final draft for my music video. I have acted upon feedback which was mentioned previously on my blog.
 

Acting upon feedback and learning a new technique in photoshop

One of the pieces of feedback I got from the first draft of my digipak was that the writing on the the outer rim of the disc needed to be smaller however to do so would mean having to align each word individually on the disc which would be time consuming. Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to look up and find a tutorial on how to type text in a circle so that it would make doing so easier.
This is the webpage I looked at:http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/type-on-a-path/

I found this tutorial very helpful and easy to follow and it allowed me to get desired outcome I wanted. Not only did it save time it also made the song names aligned correctly and ensured they were all the same space from the edge and bend just enough which was hard to achieve before knowing how to do this technique.

First draft for my digipak

Here is the first draft for my digipak and the feedback I got from my media teacher to change it to ensure it is the best it can possibly be.

The feedback I got was:

1. The images on the left should fill the rest of the image so that there isn't a border that shouldn't be there.
2. The lettering on the spine needs to be the same font as the rest of the lettering for 'Neon Daze' and 'Lose Your Mind'.
3. The lettering around the edge of the CD needs to be smaller.
4. The top of the digipak needs rotating so that it is not upside down when folded.

Therefore I am going to go away and act upon this feedback.

First front cover for digipak draft and feedback

The first image that I decided to edit for my digipak is the front cover. My inspiration for my front cover is by a band called Tame Impala as they're a psychedelic band and therefore this fits in with the theme and narrative of my music video.
Here is my inspiration:

I wanted to create this psychedelic effect where bit of the image are distorted and moved up and down to create a pattern. I already have taken my image to create this effect which is shown previously on my blog. 

So after creating this effect and also adding text I decided to get feedback on it.

Here is my first draft for my front cover of my digipak:

The way I decided to get feedback was by getting informal verbal feedback with my peers and media teacher. The things that was said was:

• The main background image isn't easy to tell that it is a persons silhouette and a microphone and it almost looks like the silhouette has horns.
• The text should also be in the same format as my magazine advertisement to ensure my products are coherent thus the text should be at the bottom.

However I am not going to change the main image because I believe that it adds to the psychedelic/ 'trippy' effect. It also adds to the fact that everyone can see something different thus the effect the image has is intentional. As for the text I am going to change it so that it is exactly the same as on my magazine advertisement. This is so that my products are coherent throughout and a brand is created. In hope that if the audience were to see both of my ancillary tasks they would make the connection between the two and know that they're promoting the same product.

How to fill text with an image

On my magazine advertisement I want to create the effect where my Brusho image I have created will be the background to my text. I also want a gradient effect so that the main background is a black/purple colour.
In order for me to learn to do this I had a tutorial with my media teacher.
Below are the steps on how to achieve this effect, so that I can look back at it when creating my digipak. This is because I want to have the same effect throughout to ensure there is coherence throughout my ancillaries.

1. Create a text layer with a font that is thick enough so you can have an image behind it.
2. Put the Brusho image on a separate layer. 
3. Put the gradient on a separate layer but ensure that it is on top of the Brusho image.
4. Select the magic wand tool and select each letter, then click delete on the gradient layer.
5. Lastly turn the text layer off so that the Brusho image shows through as the text.

Here is an image of when I first practised how to do this effect:

As you can see this looks effective and stands out from the background therefore I am definitely going to carry on using this effect to form the text on my print work.

Creating a company logo.

In order to complete elements of my digipak I needed to create company logos which will appear on the bottom of the advertisement and also on the back of the digipak.
Firstly I did a search on Google for existing music company logos so that I can get inspiration on what they look like. I came up with the name Vibe and B- Unique records. Here were the two record labels I will be using on my ancillary tasks.

• Here was the first logo I created however I realised that my background would be black so it wouldn't stand out so I changed the colour.

•  Therefore here are the two final logos I created which will be the 'Record company's' for my band. I created these on Photoshop.

Template for my digipak

This is the template that I shall be using for my digipak:

I have decided to use a four panel digipak template instead of 6 after referring back to exam board examples.

Final draft layouts

Now that I have all of my images, fonts, a band name and so, I decided to make a final draft layout for my digipak and magazine advertisement so that I can have it next to me when creating the product and I know exactly what I am doing.
Here is the final draft layout for my ancillary tasks:

Images for ancillary tasks

Here are some images I have taken for my ancillary tasks.

First draft of video feedback

Here is my first draft of my music video:

I know need to get feedback the way I thought would be good to do this is on Facebook due to me getting results straight away and also by my media teacher.

Here is the feedback I got from Facebook:

I wanted to get initial feedback on editing due to me never editing a music video before and also on peoples interpretations because the whole point of my video is that it is left up to audience interpretations as I have encoded different meanings.

Firstly 12 people liked the Facebook post suggesting to me that they enjoyed the video so this is positive audience feedback of the video in general which I am pleased about.

The first comment is good feedback as it suggests to me that it is easy to understand the theme of my video which is the fact it has a retro style and also that the editing I know needs improving on but the different techniques I've used such as the fridge opening and mirrored doors closing has been smoothly done therefore I don't feel like that technique needs improving on.

The second piece of feedback is also positive as it lets me know that the meaning is apparent to viewers so I don't need to add any different elements in order to add to the narrative. In addition the second part of the feedback suggests for me to add more of the psychedelic shots over the normal ones however I am not going to do so as the narrative is about the 'reality' and hallucinogenic boundaries are blurred.

Secondly I thought it would be good to get some feedback from my media teacher the feedback was:

1. Shorten the length of the shot at 1.00 as the lighting changes and the length is too long in terms of the shot after it.
2. I need to re do the clip at  1.35 this is because it jumps unintentionally.
3. At 1.40 I need to change the opacity of the visual effects to make them more apparent
4. Where the subject runs through the newspaper the beginning of the clip need shortening due to it not looking continuous.
5. The green screen clips at the end of the video need improving as the subject looks like he has a green halo around his head.
6. I need to take the ending off as the meaning isn't really apparent and it doesn't fit with the rest of the video.

This is all feedback I am going to act upon in order to improve my music video.

Shot List

Here is my shot list for my music video I have done this so that when filming I can print this out and take it along with me so I know what shots I need to get filmed.

Recreating technique for digipak image

For my ancillary tasks I wanted to recreate a technique to take photos of to use for background to text to give the typography a psychedelic look to it to tie in with my music video style.
This is what I want to recreate which is a front cover to an existing digipak by Tame Impala:

Although I am still unsure on how to create this exact effect I decided to create it with using Brusho. I wanted to do this as the image looks almost like a abstract tie dye effect which has connotations with the psychedelic 60's theme of my music video. 

Here are my own pictures which I shall be incorporating into my ancillary tasks.

Getting Permission to use the song for my music video

This is the email I sent to Kodaline's company that they're signed to in order to get permission to use their song for my video. Due to them not having an email address I contacted them via their official Facebook page.

Typography planning

For my ancillary's I need approximately 2-3 different fonts throughout because this is a convention of a music magazine advertisement and digipak.
To look for fonts I used the website Dafont.com due to me using this website in my AS work to get fonts and there is a lot of variety so I new I'd be able to find one I'd like that fits with the theme of my work to ensure all three products I produce are coherent in terms of style.
I began by taking screen grabs of different fonts I wanted for the main titling. For this I wanted quite a stylized font that is going to be eye-catching and have connotations of the psychedelic 60's theme that I have gone with throughout my music video and through my ancillary tasks this is one of the ways I plan to be retro. When going on the Dafont website I looked in the category 'Groovy' and these were some of the fonts I thought would be good to use.

However after getting some verbal informal feedback from my teacher and peers the main consensus was that the typography reminded them to much of the typography of the well known 'Scooby Do' logo and also the fact it would be hard to recognise what the writing would say at first glance. However I still needed something stylized and to have connotations of the word groovy but less whimsical so that it would be easy to still see the lettering. 

Therefore this is the font I'm going to use for large lettering like the name of the band and the name of the song.

Another font I will be using is this one below due to me deciding that because my main font is quite stylized I needed a plainer one for phrases like 'Out Now' and names of songs on the album so that you can tell the different information apart from each other.

Therefore these are the two fonts I will predominantly be using throughout.

Name of band for ancillary's

In order for me to do part of my ancillary's I need to come up with a name for my band. The current name for the original band who sings Lose Your Mind is Kodaline however I have to come up with my own original name.

In order to do this I thought it would be a good idea to search on-line for inspiration for names for bands who are like Tame Impala. This is because even though Tame Impala is not the band who sings Lose Your Mind they sing psychedelic music much like the sub genre of the particular song I am using. Therefore by searching for bands similar it will give me inspiration for a new band name.

Here is the link and screen grab of the website I used for name inspiration.

http://www.last.fm/music/Tame+Impala/+similar?page=2

After looking at this website and having a verbal informal conversation in class with my teacher and class mates I came up with the name Neon Daze much like the name above on the webpage I feel that this name represents my video and band well because neon has connotations of psychedelic bright colours and daze suggests the hallucinogenic aspect of the song thus a good name for the band who sings the song used in my music video.

Chroma key technique

A technique I would like to use for my video to create the effect of having a fridge within a fridge within a fridge in order to encode meaning to the audience that the subject is on drugs is chroma key.
I am doing this blog post in order for me to understand and remember how to do this technique when I come to editing.
I was given a tutorial in class on how to do this and created a video with some footage I wasn't using for my video but filmed previously and also footage of someone opening a door with the green screen behind it. Here is the video:


greenscreentestnsound from emily smith on Vimeo.
Here are the steps on how to remind me how to use the chroma key technique.

• I need at least two video lines. The shot with the green screen needs to be on the top line and the footage going in the green screen needs to be underneath the way to remember it is that its like a sheet of glass and something underneath it.
• Then select the top clip and add the chroma key effect by going to 'Effects'- 'Video Filter' - 'Key'- 'Chroma Keyer'
• Under the Chroma Keyer tab I can adjust the colour to match the same as my green screen.
• The green area of the clip should become clear and you will see the video clip on the layer underneath.
• I may then need to move the clip underneath to fit in the transparent area.

Digipak layout drafts

Here I have made 3 digipak layout drafts this will help me when it comes to taking images for my ancillary tasks as I can take these along with me so I can get a range of different shots from using these ideas. It will also help me with ideas for my final digipak layout draft. It is also going to help me decide what images to take and give me an idea on layout and what bits of information go where also it gives me inspiration for my typography my next thing to do is plan what my typography looks like. Then once I have my images I can then do a final draft and get on with creating my product.