Digipack feedback

I asked people to complete a two main questions on my digipack after showing them it in a hard copy. I allowed them to complete the form in their own time before handing it back to me so I know feedback was honest and useful.

Participant	What did you like about the digipack?	What could I improve on the digipack?
Kate	The shadowy effects make the eye contact look mysterious and intense!	The stars are not quite symmetrical
Bobby	The different locations on the different panels of the digipack look really good and pretty.	I think that the close up of the instrument would be better on the back panel as it reflects the genre best.
Jodie	Incorporating different effects like black and white on one of them allows the consumer to perceive the album in different ways which reflects the music.	You could use a boarder that will make frames stand out.
Jake	I like the way different compartments flip out so it’s like a surprise what different scenic picture will be next.	You have used two similar looking frames so maybe mix it up a bit.

Q3 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Getting feedback was a helpful part of my project as it guided me to make decisions on things like how to design my digipack, poster and how to improve my video etc.

When I asked my audience what they liked in music videos, digipacks, magazine adverts, I got inspiration for how I should create my products to look.

It was from analysing results of what it was people said they found good about posters and digipacks that allowed me to get an idea of what mine might look like visually and then play around with effects etc until it looked best.

Using Facebook to connect with target audience potential feedback providers was a good platform as our target audience of 17-25 uses social networking most.

Some of the most useful feedback is the points to improve on because it is more constructive. Comments people said included the fact that the stars on the poster were not symmetrical, a comment to reconsider the frame choice in my digipack, and using boarders etc. I would take these all into consideration should I ever do anything similar in the future.

Although audience feedback can be useful, when contradictory it can cause questionable answers of what is more valid where I would have to take into consideration who is more like my direct target audience and the depth and detail of their responses.

Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

There are a fair few similarities between my main product and ancillary texts.

My main product is the music video to criminal that I made as a performative video for a target audience of 17-25.

My ancillary texts are a digipack and a magazine poster that should promote it.

My digipack is different eye slots where they are de-identified as singers and become an attractive eye-grabbing selling point. I think that the digipack is consistent with the target audience as they would more likely be attracted to it than older people .

My poster includes more information about the album as in a magazine advertisement it is in a visual father than physical copy. The poster promotes it as well as looking consistent with the digipack as they share the same photograph scheme so that people will be able to identify it and recognise the ablbum. It also means that there are no differences between target audience of the digipack and the magazine advertisement so it will still attract the people I am aiming to.

I kept the colour schemes the same on all texts as bright colours isn't really conventional of the indie acoustic genre.The fonts were also kept consistent to engage the strong  link between the texts.

Fro my research people said most that they liked seeing the artist or band on the cover for indie genre so I followed suite by doing that.

Q4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning, and evaluation stage?

For my project I used many new different software platforms as well as some I already had a familair basis with, including word, pixelr, final cut pro, blogger pi, facebook, google, youtube and photoshop.

Most of my research was internet based as it is an instant way to share and receive links to information that can be obtained uickly and easier than if I were to ask people personally.

The most popular social platforms including facebook and youtube were the most useful at collecting data as they were most likely to get seen and shared.  It was easy to upload my video and made it widely viewable for people to see, comment and share thoughts about.

Construction
In the construction stage of my project, I used a Sony camera that allowed downloading the footage onto an imac computer simple.
Finalut pro was good as it allowed me to make the video professional looking however may be a it complicated for someone with a very basic knowledge of how the programme works as there are many different aspects of it that require a good understanding. It did however offer good tools that made it easy to make the lip synchronisation precise and accurate enough to look in time.

Research
For my research I used surveymonkey as a data collecting site as it is specially designed to create personalised surveys and analyse results so that it is visually easy to recognise result patterns.
I found it easy enough to transfer this site onto blogger.

Google was my main search engine that is useful for anything from definitions to reports.

Youtube being the number one music video site was a useful aid when analysing music videos in primary research for my own. Looking at real media texts allowed me to evaluate what I liked and did't like about common aspects of music videos which could be noted and used to construct an idea for my own video.

Youtube was also handy as on my mobile device I was able to connect with it so that the original song that the duet sung could be accessed when out filming.

Facebook played a big part in communication not only to promote my video but to talk to the people involved in my project so that we could organise times and locations quickly and confirm when decisions were made.

Evaluation

Most of my evaluative work is done on blogger as it acts as a blank sheet that I can comment on and then work on at later dates. It acts as a diary I can add thoughts to to revisit later on and saves my work so that it is organised. I can edit my blog and how it can be seen however all my posts are communicated clearly through the blog in a satisfactory, easily readable way.
Blogger can be accessed through most devices including mobile phone so whenever I was out and about and wanted to upload something, it allowed me to do that.
The only troubles I encountered with it was sometimes embedding links to things like prezis that I required extra support for as an  amateur blogger user. It does not offer tools such as being able to put in demographics graphs charts etc so I had to do this through word and typically copy and paste or screenshot it directly onto a post.

Magazine Advert

 First original poster for Doeray Criminal album.
I used the minimalist outer framing to contrast the condensed picture and cancel out overwhelmingly bright colour effects. 

From my research I found that people of my target audience preferred artists to be included do that they can be identified with the genre/ record label.

What I liked about this album is that it is really understated. The black and white contrasts give it a dark vibe and the outline of the image gives it a polaroid effect which puts an indie style on it.

Although the information is fairly minimalist, it has be designed to be spacious enough to give it room for details.

As from my research I have found that people enjoy the minimalist theme and would like to have less words on my poster, I will not need much space and so can use the image as the full cover as so will be quite eye catching. I like the fact that they have used the star rating to compliment the album as people will perceive this to be valid rating as a reason to buy the album.

http://prezi.com/mpruh_mvyygo/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

http://prezi.com/mpruh_mvyygo/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Poster research

Participant	What do you like to see in a magazine advert?
Johnny	Eye-catching is effective I think. This might include colour and bold writing, or just something clever and simple.
Katie	I always think a close up of someone attractive is what entices me most. I like seeing how singer look so glamorous.
George	Attractive will always be an eye catcher.
Saskia	I don’t think one thing in particular I find favourable, I know a good ad when I see one. Funny, clever, creative or attractive are always selling points.

Digipack

Back cover

In Q1. What ways did your media product use, develop, or challenge the forms and conventions of real media texts?

My media product was based on the indie acoustic genre.

When researching this I looked at real media text examples of other indie acoustic genres for inspiration and to see what typical conventions of it I would consider including if I were to take on the genre as my media product base, which I did.

I feel that my media product is quite typically conventional of its genre, for a few major reasons as well as why it may havev challenged this.

Referring back to my research, in comparison to my video now I have ticked a few big boxes in indie genre such as performance being a big base of the video, instruments and band members getting a lot of screen video time, slow shots and combinations of camera angles, editing pace and visual effects, as well as the actual music itself.

Using the common forms of media such as a peaceful location which reflects soulful lyrics, I developed these and made them my own by directing how the duet show set themselves up in order or me to be able to film them keeping continuity.

What some indie acoustic videos do have is a storyline which follows a narrative, which I did not choose to have as I wanted a performative piece. I overcame this by using a range of shots and locations to suit different moods throughout the song to keep it interesting. 

Font Design

My digipack cover has to include a good suitable font. I used dafont to experiment with different typographies and thought a minimal design would be best. 

Criminal in colour

Digipack research

Do you think that the design of the digipack effects how likely you are to buy a cd?

Strongly disagree disagree don’t think either way agree strongly agree

What do you like to see on the front cover?

Land scape designs     The band/singer      Lots of colour and interesting design     Something that captures the genre        Artistic graphics       Minimalistic  

What is your favourite Digipack and why?

What do you like to see included in a digipack?

What do you think should be included in an acoustic indie digipack?

I asked this question to different people in different formats including online via facebook and email, as well as printing it off and handing it out to people I knew and who could return it to me when they had completed it.

65% of replies came through from facebook although the same amount of questionnaires,  10 overall, were distributed. Those who recieved the questionnaire via facebook or email were also quicker to respond and felt they could ask questions in depth concerning the questionnaire, so this was the more effective method. 

Q1. Do you think that the design of the digipack effects how likely you are to buy a CD?

6/10 people said they agreed. 2 people strongly agreed, and  2 people said they didn't think either way.

Q2.What do you like to see on the front cover?

4 people said they liked the band or singer being on the cover, 2 people said that they liked artistic graphics, one person said that they liked a landscape designs including a comment that they said they liked it when the picture reflects the mood of the album and 3 people said they liked it when it captures the genre.

Q.3 What is your favourite Digipack and why?

"My favourite digipack is biffy clyro's  only revolutions. I really like the contrasting colours that stand out and can be interpreted in the viewer as a mix of happy and negative emotions or freedom."

" My favourite digipack at the moment is Kesha's album 'animal' because I tick she looks really sassy on the front cover and the graphics of it reflect how the album is a bit wild and edgy."

" I like adele's on 21 because she looks so enticing, like she has some deep soulful emotions that will be conveyed through her lyrics and I love music that I can relate to"

" I think it's one by Tisha cruzan. I saw it once and all the colours and how welt eh graphic design was done stood out to me. I brought it entirely for the cover."

Q.4 What do you like to see include din the digipack?

" Details about the songs, a lyrics book, something that tells me a bit about the artists so I can feel I understand them and therefore their music more."

"Minimalistic looks better. I don't need to know dates or anything unnecessary about it and lots of information ruins it."

" As long as it looks like it reflects what the music is- for example, don't have a close up of someone looking soulful if its heavy metal, and likewise don't have a bright and busy cover if the music is acoustic or easy listening."


What do you think should be included in an acoustic indie digipack?

" Acoustic album covers are usually duller in colour but can be quite creative."
"Indie always seems to put a weird, quirky twist on things."
" It's hard to find a album cover that stands out that doesn't use bright colour so attractive people are always a selling point."
"

Feedback Formats

Is Facebook a good platform to promote feedback for my video?
Firstly decided that I would broadcast my video via social networking site Facebook as it is highly popular, especially for people of my target audience. Things can be shared in seconds to hundreds of people. This means that the likelihood is that the post will be viewed on people's stream of posts and feeds and therefore be more likely to comment with constructive feedback.  If it is readily available there for them to watch, they are more likely to watch it than if they have to be redirected to other links and pages. Also, using a network site that they are familiar with like Facebook may mean that they are less likely to receive spam and other advertising from unfamiliar sites such as survey monkey.
The issue with Facbeook is that it can be prone to spammers or people who will not make useful comments. It is not a big problem although this risk is eliminated when using a strategy like survey monkey.

Facebook Feedback

Audience Feedback

Digipack brainstorming

This design is an extreme close up of the duet's eyes. The  first and third is Angharad, the second and last is Nina. 

I like this CD as it symbolises a personal connection between the singer and audience. 

The first two pictures show them looking away and the last two show a direct eye contact at the camera lens which can be quite powerful. 

Another possible option could be to have a landscape with them subtly included.

One of my favourite shots in the video was filming the song when the girls were on the wall. Behind them is a lake, and on that dare it was calm and flat, so the background looks tranquil. This  is called anthropomorphic fallacy. 

I am also considering doing a graphic design which does not show relevancy to the music  but can be quite interesting.

Rought design of random shapes and colours to create abstract contrasts.

\I quite like this design. The deer head is detailed with intricate patterns and designs that fit perfectly. This is a difficult image to create and would have been done by advanced graphic designers. It also fits with the bands name 'Doeray', a doe being a deer. 

Digi Pack design

Front Cover

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Digi pack design

After researching digi pack designs, I have found a few designs that are suitable for what I want and simple enough to work with.

Design 1: 

This is the most common type of divi pack consisting of 4 square panels the fold to make a openable front cover to present an inside cover, a place for the CD and a back. 

Design 2:

This is a slightly more complex design consisting of 6 panels so that there is a front cover which opens up to reveal another openable cove so that the CD sits in a central panel.