Evaluation

Evaluation of Advanced Production

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Music Video: Final Export

Ancilliary Tasks: The Final Versions

Digi-Pak Final

Magazine Advert Final

Final Editing Session: 25.03.11

Today in our double lesson, we were left to make any final changes and additions to both our music video and two ancillary tasks, ready for the final presentation on Friday 1st April. Here is what we achieved:

- We corrected the spelling mistakes on all four biography pictures.

- We cut the bio pictures down to a square and more consistent size to look more like a CD cover.

- We added our correct details to the beginning of our music video.

We needed Charlotte's laptop to be able to re-warmify the biography pictures, as we had to re-do them from scratch. So Charlotte is going to re-warmify them at home, and add a small black border around each biography picture in order to make it more square and CD shaped.

Apart from this, everything else is done and ready for the final presentation on Friday afternoon!

Specific Focus

Paula Dickerson, age 28.
I asked my cousin Paula some more in depth questions, I felt that by asking the oldest person from our target group we would see if it appeals to her and we have suceeded in making it appealing to people of that age.

Magazine Advert

What do you like most about it?
" I really like how the four girls are in colour and the background is in black and white. Ultimately, that's my favourite aspect about it, it makes it look really sophisticated and eye-catching."

In your opinion, how could it be improved?
" There isn't anything that really bothers me about it, but I suppose if it was to be improved you four girls could have more wacky and volumous hair and make-up, just to make it even more eye-catching than it already is!"

Do you think it looks like a proffesional product, and why?
"Yes it really does, the picture is good quality and it's got everything that - in my opinion - a decent advert should have. The fashion is co-ordinated, there's an eye-catching feature, all the information that you need is there... It's pretty damn good!"

Which, if any, magazine could you see this advert in? Any of the ones you read?
"Well I personally read a mix of everything. My favourite magazine is probably Cosmopolitan or Vogue. I'm not sure it would be in Vogue if I'm honest, and I can't really re-call seeing many music adverts in Cosmo... Saying that though if they were to do music adverts I could really see this one in it."

What do you think of the poses?
" I love the pose! You're all really close together and look united, and that's really what you expect girl bands to be like."

What do you think of the font, layout, and text?
"The font is quite nice, the use of italics is quite nice as it is feminine and really suits the look you're going for. There isn't much text on here that I can comment about, but it doesn't particularly need much text. I actually quite like the fact that there's not a lot of text because the focus is just on you girls."

Does it appeal to you? Why/why not?
" Yes it really does! I think the whole thing is just eye-catching, and if I came accross it in a magazine I'd take the time to look at it. There's so many aspects you can look at, like your clothes and even the background - which I love by the way, it looks beautiful. It's a simplistic setting, and woods are pretty boring, yet you've managed to make it look interesting. It's not cheesy, it's just sophisticated. I love it, and I think my friends would too."

Digi-Pak

What is your favourite section of the digi-pak and why?
"I like it all, but funnily enough my favourite part is the back-cover! I really like the way you've edited it, like you can tell it's been altered on the computer but I think it looks so warm and nicely lit. I love the pose, and think it's clever how you've got your backs to camera it's kind of like a weird representation that shows it's the back-cover. Love it."

Is there anything else you just generally like?
"Erm yeah all of it! The front cover is nice, ,maybe a bit simplistic, but good. The pictures on the inside are a nice addition, I personally like CDs where I get a little something extra rather than a load of boring writing, so it's nice to see a good variety of pictures. That one where you're throwing leaves is hillarious!"

In your opinion, how could it be improved?
"Now this is really tough, I think that maybe the front cover could be improved. It is really good don't get me wrong, but like I said it's quite simplistic. I think I was just kind of expecting more because the magazine advert was so eye-catching and almost jumped off the page, so I think if anything maybe just sharpen those colours and make it as eye-popping as possible."

Do you think this looks like a proffesional product? Why?
"Yeah I do actually, I mean to me it is obvious that it is a 'amateur' production but that is literally because you don't have the amazingly expensive equipment that gives you that sharp looking image. But the poses look realistic, the font looks good. The back-cover actually looks the most realistic, and that's because you've got so much detail on there! I mean you've got bar-codes, copy-right notices, record label logos... it just looks really scarily real! Weldone!"

What do you think of the biographies and inside booklet?
"Well like I said, I do like CDs that give you more than usual, so the idea of them I do really like. Saying that, I sort of think that they are a bit basic.. The font doesn't really fit with the rest of the album, it should be italics. Also, the information is very breif and if I'm honest not all that interesting, it seems more like it's aimed at a younger audience if you see what I mean. The actual images you use though are so good! I love that the tree is a natural element that's connecting you by being there in all 4 pictures, very clever. I also do like the pictures of you as a group, they are lovely, and very 'girl-bandy'."

Does the digi-pak appeal to you? Would you buy the CD if it were real?
"It 100% appeals to me! It's not perfect, but for what I'd typically expect from a girl-band CD it pretty much ticks all the boxes. Not everything is to my taste, but you can tell that there's an natural, simplistic theme running throughout which makes me like it. I suppose you could say that it is very consistent. If it was real, I would have no problem buying it (unless I hated the band or their music! haha)."

Focus Group: Ancillary Task

For the ancillary task, I gathered a new focus group. The age range of this one is 17-28. I have 3 females and 2 males, and I am going to ask one female the specific questions. The rest of the group I will show both ancillary tasks and ask the following questions:

1. What do you specifically like or dislike about it?

2. If anything, what would you change or add to it to make it more to your taste?

3. Does it appeal to you? Would you like to own it if it was a real product?

Chelsea Warren, age 17.Magazine Advert
1. I LOVE the fact that you four girls are in colour whilst the background is in black and white. It makes it look very eye-catching.
2. If I was to change one thing about it, I suppose it would literally be to darken that background even more, that would make it even more striking!
3. Yeah it definately appeals to me. It's sophisticated and eye-catching and the sort of thing I'd like to own.

Digi-pak
1. I like that it is simplistic. The font is really nice aswell it's almost a bit like pop-art.
2. Erm, I'm not sure the five star rating in the bottom left corner seems a bit out of place, I think you could get away with just not having it there.
3. Yeah it's really nice, the colours are good, you all look fashionable. It's definately what I'd expect to see.

Emma Pinkney, age 20.
Magazine Advert
1. Oh the best thing about this is the fact the two colour thing, it really stands out! I also like the colour co-ordination of your tops.
2. I wouldn't change a lot to be honest! I'd maybe make the font smaller by the tiniest bit but that is literally it.
3. Yeah it does appeal to me, I could really see that in a magazine like Grazia or something.

Digi-Pak
1. It's a completely different look to the advert, but I like how you're all positioned. You do actually look like a real girl-band it's weird.
2. Maybe I'd just move the positioning of the 'Missing You' a bit up and to the left.
3. It does appeal to me yeah, I like the warmth of the colours, I would buy it.

Anwobo Amihere, age 21.
Magazine Advert
1. Don't get me wrong, I do like it, but I do think it looks a bit amateur 'typical girlband' rather than proffessional, nothing really jumps at me.
2. If I was going to change it I'd switch up the way your all standing, you look to hunched up!
3. Not really, I do think it is good and you all look fashionable but it doesn't really jump out at me. Sorry!

Digi-pak
1. Now this is better! I love the way you are all standing, this leans more towards proffesional. The back cover is awesome, love how your all facing away.
2. Erm, probably I would remove the five star rating - it's a bit uneccessary.
3. Yeah this one does, four attractive girls all looking fashionable, what's there not to like?

Joe Butler, age 22.
Magazine Advert
1. I like the black and white/colour thing you've done, that makes it quite visual and interesting.
2. I don't like the font if i'm honest, it looks like you've just done it on word.
3. Well personally I don't really like or listen to girl bands, but as far as an advert goes yes it does appeal to me.

Digi-Pak
1. The font is MUCH better here, I think you should of used that for the magazine advert. I like it.
2. Hmm, I think I'd probably say that the pictures on the inside are a little too bright - mainly the one that's got the sun behind your head.
3. It does appeal to me yeah, there's a lot to it and I think all the pictures are pretty decent.

Feedback of our Digi-pak

Today, we presented our second ancillary task (the digi-pak), and this is the feedback we recieved from Mrs Allison and our class mates:

Positive Criticism.

Negative Criticism.

Suggestions.

Photographic Image(s): Framing, focus, camera angle, lighting and colour, background and mise-en-scene.

- Images were good, and fit the convention of a girl-band.

Typography and text: Choice of fonts, sizing, layout, colour, readability, language, register, content.

- Font is nice, and appropriate for each bit of the CD.

- Colour co-ordination is nice.

- Language register is correct, addressing the audience in the right way.

- Spelling mistakes on all four bios which need to be corrected.

Layout Decisions: Rule of thirds, text, positioning, sizing, balance of image and text, focus of attention.

- Text positioning is good.

- People liked how the text on the bios was covering the tree, so the real focus was on us.

- Shapes of all pictures aren't consistent. Should consider adjusting them.

Genre codes and indicators of audience targeting:

- Clothing was colour-coded and typical of girl bands.

- The poses fit standard conventions of girl groups.

- The solo shots and inside booklets shots showed us looking directly at the camera and at our audience.

- Glamourous hair and make-up.

Overall Impact - what works/what could be improved:

- Looks really proffesional (photography is glossy).

- Good use of sun-light, vibrant images, crisp looking.

- The only improvement needed is that we need to alter the shape of the images to make them more consistent with the digi-pak shape.

What's next...

1. To present our digi-pak first draft to our media class on Friday to gain feedback.

2. Make any neccessary adjustments to our digi-pak according to the feedback.

3. Create the final draft of our magazine advert.

4. Prepare both tasks so that are complete for the final presentation.

5. Fine-tune every bit of work that we are submitting, in order to make it the best quality possible.

Editing: Front Cover

This is our mock-up first draft of our front cover:

Again, we went for the simplistic look so when it came down to the editing we used a simple brightness/contrast adjustment to produce the warm colourful look which you can see on the image. In terms of the text, we simply used a standard Word document font (Freestyle script). Charlotte produced the writing in word, and then managed to shadow it so that there was a black outline. We wanted to do this because we felt that without it the band name and album title was too subtle in the background, and now it stood out. In the bottom left corner we did a simple 'five star' rating from Elle magazine. We felt that this would add a little something to the cover, maybe give it a more realistic look. However, we did not want to bombard it with extra writing because as i've said (on many occasions) we really are trying to keep it simple.

Editing: Back Cover

This is the back-cover of our album. We slected this picture as it symbolises the closeness of the group and we feel that us facing away from the camera gave it a nice effect. As you can see, we have the song list at the top in fonts that graduate from one colour to another. In the bottom left, we added a bar code, on top of which says 'Fascination' which is the record label of the group. Next to that we have very small text that is the basic copyright notices that appear on every album.

In terms of editing, we used brightness and contrast to create a warm yet sharp look in our colours. We did not want to over-edit as the theme of our photos are simplistic but stylish. I am very happy with the results.

Editing: The Biographies

Next to each group picture, we are having our biographies. Today we completed editing the biographies, and this is the final product:

The Warmify Effect

Using Picasa (a google picture editing programme), we adjusted the the brightness and contrast of our biographies ever so slightly to make it appear more edited. After this, we then used a warmify effect to make the colours seem more bright and warm. Here is the before and after:

Before Warmify... After Warmify...

As you can see, the Warmify effect has just lifted the dullness from the original picture, and is generally more pleasing to the eye!

Editing: The Inside Booklet

We edited the pictures that are going to make up the inside booklet, one group picture and one bio-page will occur on each double page spread. Here is the first-draft edits of those group pictures:



For these pictures we simply edited the brightness and contrast of them; we felt that we wanted them to be really bright and summery, so that the colours of our tops really stood out. We liked the slightly edited look as well, as we believe this is what they do in the industry.

Editing: The CD Background & CD.

Today, we focused on editing the dig-pak, here is what we produced for the CD Background:

In terms of editing, all we did was adjust the brightness and contrast of the picture in order to make the sun brighter (so it would be a focal point). For the disc itself, we are using the same image but adding text to the bottom; we will be creating the mock-up for the disc on Friday's lesson.

Year 13 Advanced Prodcution Portfolio Deadlines Spring Term 2011

Practical Production. On the blog.

March 7th: 1st ancillary task finished, preperation of 2nd ancilliary task. Evidence of planning and drafting the ancillary tasks and feedback of 1st ancillary task.

March 14th: Completion and presentation of 2nd ancillary task. Evidence of planning and drafting the ancillary tasks and feedback from presentation of 2nd ancillary task.

March 21st: Final improvements of all 3 products, including focus group testing. Focus group feedback.

March 28th: Presentation of final portfolio. Feedback of final product.

April 4th: Final tutor assessment. Final versions of all 3 products and the evaluation.

Editing the Digi-pak (11.3.11)

Yesterday in class, we continued the editing progress. As the photo-shop at school is difficult to work with, we weren't able to achieve much, so we arranged for Jodie and Charlotte to come to Chauncy on Tuesday 15th March with Charlotte's laptop so we can all work on the editing together.

However...

We did manage to edit mine and Sophie's biography page in the pack. We added a short amount text in the font 'Rockwell', and only slightly adjusted the lighting on mine as it seemed darker in comparison to the rest of the girls. We have also decided to change Jodie's picture as it vertical, and ours are horizontal; looking at it yesterday we realised it doesn't really fit in with our three.

So, the plan for Tuesday!

1. Add Jodie's new picture to the plan and do the bio (and adjust any lighting problems).

2. Play around with ideas and create the front cover first draft.

3. Edit the inside pictures and put them together with our bio pictures.

4. Create the back-cover by editing and putting on a song list.

5. Create the CD design and the image behind it on the digi-pak.

Target Audience Screening

It was suggested by Mrs Alison that we do a screening of our music video to our target audience, so that we can recieve some feedback from them. By doing this, I was able to see whether we were successful in what we created.

Our target audience is predominantly females aged between 16-30. And I asked them two questions:

1. What do you like best about the video?

2. What one thing would you change about the video?

Feedback

Alex Anthony, age 18.

- "I love the whole look of the video, it looks simple but it isn't so simple that it's boring."

- "If I was to change one thing, it would be that I would include more outfit changes as girlbands normally have loads of different ones."

Joanna Dupplaw, age 17.

-"The back-story is the best thing about it, as it adds almost like another dimension to the video and it definately makes it look more like a real music video."

- "If I was going to change one thing about it, it would be that the house shots. The location there is not as good as the location in the forest. It isn't bad though!"

Gary May, age 23.

-"I like the fact you had loads of different shots, even though it is only based in 2 locations you still made it look good and it wasn't boring by any means."

-"If I was going to be picky and change something, it'd probably be that the camera is a little bit shakey in the build-up section. But that really is splitting hairs."


Claire Hughes, age 29.

-"I LOVE the fact that you did a little dance in there! Although it was funny because it was strange looking at my cousin doing that it really is what a girl-band would do, so hats off to the lot of you!"

- "If I was going to change one thing, it'd probably be that your outfits don't particularly compliment eachother in the forest shots. But I'm only saying that because I work in fashion, obviously for an amateur video it is good."

From this feedback, it is clear that we did manage to fulfil the criteria that is needed by our target audience. Everybody enjoyed it, and everyone had nothing but good things to say about it. I have shown more people than this but I only focused on a few, but I am extremely happy with the outcome. It was not a suprise that people had their opinions on how to change it, it is a school project and is obviously not to the same standard as a proffesional product. So all in all, I am pleased with our achievements, and I hope the other girls get the same good feedback!

Specific Focus - Joanna Dupplaw

I asked one member of my focus group if she would mind answering a couple more questions that are slightly more specific to the production. Here is what happened:

What is your understanding of the 'back-story' in the video?
I basically take the back-story to be that Emily and Joe are in a relationship, he's cheated on her, and throughout the video you are just seeing them arguing.

Do you feel there is a link between the lyrics and the video?
Oh yeah definately, it does make sense to the song. I think the first time you watch it you don't really pick up on the key elements of it, but it still looks proffesional.

Can you identify any intertextuality at any point during the video?
Urm, if i'm honest not really. There's nothing there that strikes me as being something I've ever seen before kind of thing.

In your opinion, is the video interesting and do you think people between the age of 16-30 would enjoy it?
It is definately interesting, I've watched it like 4 times and i'm not bored of it! Yeah i think you've definately made it so it appeals to older people, the story is good and makes it more simple. Like you 've said to me before, you've really thought hard about all elements of the video so that could appeal more to older people as they might be more analytical than people our age.

What do you think about the standard of lip-synching?
It's almost perfect!

Lastly, to what extent does it have the conventions of a real proffesional product made by a girl-band?
Well, being completely honest the quality of the camera in certain parts makes it obvious that it is not a proffesional product... but that's to be expected! In terms of outfits, hair and makeup and storyline I definately think you've really pulled off the 'girl-band' look.

First Draft Presentation

On Friday, Sophie, Jodie and Charlotte presented our first draft presentation to our class and media teacher to gain feedback on our ancillary tasks as they currently stood. I was absent due to illness, so I have obtained the notes from my group member Jodie Butcher who noted down our feedback in depth.

Firstly, here is our first draft of the magazine cover:

FEEDBACK COLOUR CODE:
- Positive critcism
- Negative criticsim
- Suggestions

Feedback in terms of photographic image (Framing, Focus, Camera Angle, Lighting/Colour, Background and Mise-en-scene):

1. The main picture really stands out due to the bright orange colours used, it also gives the picture more depth.

2. The background is interesting in black and white - complements the main picture.

3. The pose is very authentic and that of a classic girl band.

4. The way we are giving a direct gaze is appropriate.

5. Our facial expressions are different - giving each member a different look and uniqueness.

6. Good link with the background and the actual music video - same location.

Typography & text: Fonts, sizing, layout, colour, readability, language register & content:

1. The text at the bottom giving more information about the single should be smaller.

2. The pictures and logo's of stores should be moved to the left to look more even.

3. Not sure about whether the text should be all in lower case or the the first letter of each word to be in upper case with the rest in lower case - will have try each suggestion.

4. The colour of the font is good as it is warm and matches the colour of Charlotte's shirt.


Layout decisions: Rule of thirds, text positioning, sizing, balance of image & text, focus of attention:

1. The positioning of Missing You should be higher than what it currently is. Possibly making it bigger and moving it to cover the shoes.

2. Focus of attention very good - very attractive and eye catching.

Genre codes and indicators of audience targeting:

1. Genre code 'spot on' (quoted by Mrs Allison).

2. Clearly targeting the right audience and looks like a real girl band.

Magazine Advert: Editing Process

We initially started by placing the wording we wanted into place. We wanted 'The Sundays' in the top left, and 'Missing you' in the bottom right. We then decided to add text talking about the availability of the single.
We decided on the italic font, as we felt it was sophisticated.

This was a rough draft of what we wanted to say and where to put it. Jodie made the point of using a normal font instead of an italic one as that is more realistic. But as this was a draft, we kept it there just for positioning purposes.

Editing of the actual picture started by the cropping of the picture, we reduced it down a fair bit to eliminate the forest out of the sides. We felt this was important because although the woods are a lovely background we wanted us four girls to really stand out as the main feature. Next, brightness and contrast was altered to create different lighting effects. From this, we discovered that the artificial look was more appropriate for the genre of our music so we made the lightening look some-what edited (as it would be if it was a real proffesional product). As planned, we then experimented by adding a black and white effect to the picture which we liked. Initially we were unsure because it was a very light grey and it wasnt striking enough, so again we edited accordingly so that the black and white was really sharp, so it looked like this:

For the next part of the task, Charlotte carried out the main editing as she is the most skilled in Photo-shop. We had our plan for the advert, and this was to have a black and white background with us four girls in colour. She agreed to take home the picture and change it so that we were in colour because she felt her version of Photoshop at home would work better for this specific effect.

Ancillary Task 2 (Magazine): The Plan

We have selected the picture we are using for the magazine advertisement:

We chose this picture because:

1. It shows all four of us body length.

2. The woodland area behind us is interesting, and the sun is shining behind us.

3. We look united as a group, and have co-hered to the typical girl-band pose.

Most importantly, we felt that this picture had a lot of potential in terms of editing. So this is the plan:

- The background will be black and white, but we are adjusting brightness and contrast to create a very intense black and white as opposed to just a normal grey tone.

- We will leave us four girls in colour, and maybe use a specific tool to emphasise the colour on our shirts.

- 'The Sundays' and 'Missing You' will be written in Italics in a colour that matches our shirts. 'Missing You' will be written in the bottom right corner, and 'The Sundays' in the top Left corner.

- We will also include text about the availability of the single, so for example 'available for download on iTunes and to purchase from selected stores'. This will be written in a much smaller font which will not be italics.

Advertising in Cosmo, Elle & Company

As these magazines do not often use music advertisments, I have decided to look at adverts I know that they do use: Perfumes!



As you can see, they use very feminine yet impowering images of females here. All three women are pristine and posing in a somewhat seductive or powerful way. It is this look that we are trying to go for in our advertising scheme in the magazine. The typical music advertisment in a magazine are usually for Indie groups, so we have taken it upon ourselves to think outside the box and create an advert the more fits with the theme and look of a perfume advert rather than a typical music advertisment itself.
This is an example of a typical music advertisment, as you can see it is not something that would be featured in any of these magazines. It is important for us to adapt to the look of the magazines as we are trying to re-create the look of the band for a more mature audience.

UPDATE!

Digi-pak is on hold!

This is because there is so much to it, and we cannot complete it for Friday. Therefore we have turned our attention to the magazine cover.

This is going to be the front cover.

This is going to be the back cover.

This is the image that is going to appear behind the CD.

These will appear in the inside booklet.

These are the individual pictures that will appear inside the booklet.

An example of the mini-biography we are including with the pictures.