Q3

Digipak final piece

Album advert final piece

Dapa Deep - Mine (radio edit) final music video

Q2

Focus group suggestions

As my focus group have suggested I tried putting some pink filter over a few bits of my ancillary products just so it would be linked together better. I am still not too sure whether I like this better than the ones before though. 

Q4

Focus Group

I have used my A2 Psychology class as a focus group. I did not take a video, but rather took photos because everyone was too shy to comment on my work out loud, therefore I have given them three simple questions and a piece of paper to everyone to write it down, then collected it.

My questions were : 

1. What do you like about the video/advert/digipak the most?
2. What do you dislike about them?
3. Do you think three of my products (the album advert, the video and the digipak) works well together in terms of editing/colour scheme/use of images)?


I have gotten back quite a lot of responses (about 15). In the group there was only one media student, which makes it less bias. However this focus group might not be the best for my particular genre, and I will explain it later on.

FINDINGS

- 100% of people said they have liked the video

- 55% of people said they did not get the narrative/or it was slightly confusing to understand what was happening. Another 45% said it was VERY clear it was to do with the break up/loss of family (in which case it might simply mean that those 55% of people in the room were not in a target group (did not like house music/never listened to it before/are not fans/not in the age group etc) and therefore this was the reason they did not get the narrative, as opposite to the 45%, all of those participants said it was very clear what it was about - they might simply be into house music)

- 100% said they liked the advert and the digipak the most, it seemed to really impress them and the use of black and white rather than colour, which worked well.

- Also most of my respondents mentioned editing techniques for the video as very good, going well with the beat.
- About 25% of respondents said there might be too many shots layered together, especially in the middle, as it makes them confused with what is actually happening, what is only a memory
- One of the respondents said that maybe the video should not end so unexpectedly quickly, as it just sort of cuts off

CONCLUSION

Overall I am very happy with the feedback, a little bit concerned as I did not get a proper feedback, as I had too many people in the room and they did not want to speak out loud, this meant I can only give them specific, more generous questions.

The only down side as what I already mentioned is that I did not get all of them to be specific to my target audience, therefore results cannot be generalised to my TA.

All the responses I got were very positive and helped me understand that the way I am going is the right way to go. Things I was mostly concerned about seemed not to be a problem for my participants (such as having a digipak and album advert in black and white, when the video does not carry any black and white shots).

Peer feedback (media students)

Peer group assessment from Evelina Vyšniauskaitė

This is the same video as in the powerpoint, just in case it wouldn't work there.

Amended album adverT!

I have changed some things on my advert after researching into this a little bit more. Electronic dance music adverts tend to have very minimalistic design on their posters, usually only the name of the Dj and the date when the album comes out. 

This is the reason I made mine look more like it, however I still put one review underneath the date - to attract attention as this is the most popular dance music magazine,

Advert in progress!

This is my advert. still in working progress, but I am quite happy with the way it has turned out. As by following genre convetions I should not put anything else on it, because usually electronic dance music adverts are very minimalistic.

Photoshop - learning new skills

One of my colleagues taught me how to resize the original landscape picture into an A4 format one, because the backgroud picture that I am working on was landscape.

I have also taught myself how to work with cloning things, therefore I have blended three main images used in digipak onto one, which means it ties in better, and my TA will recognize it all together.

Q1

Q1 media new from Evelina Vyšniauskaitė

Digipak progress

This is how far I have gotten with my digipak so far. The first one is the front and second one is the inside. The way I have constructed, it opens up from the other side than normally, however I did this purposely in order to challenge genre conventions, as deep house music usually breaks all conventions in music, in adverts, digipaks and music videos.

I have chosen to use black and white, as another genre convention, and because it makes it look more serious as it is. 

The logo I have used is the original logo the Dj uses and the name of the album is the name of the song which I have made a video for. I have chosen to put the look as in TA is looking through the keyhole and seeing the woman looking after a child and a man watching them two. It is clear that the woman cannot see the man, however the child was running towards him. This is a connotation to what happens in the music video (linking story back).

For the back of a digipak I have used the original pic which is used under the CD as well, only cut out the surroundings (the sky, softened edges, etc) in Photoshop, which is a new skill I have learnt as well, as I was not sure how to do it before. The picture kind of connotes the man being proud of who he is what he possibly done, he is not afraid to show himself, after seeing this picture audience is sure that the man is important in the story, plays a big part. 

The third part is the original hand written note from the Dj's to their audience, works more like an insert in this case. As digipak is more expensive than a simple CD, TA would expect to see either more information inside, an insert or some pictures. I thought that using an original hand written note would make TA feel like they are more included, they are welcome and they are almost like friends, therefore they would feel they have to be loyal to the Dj.

For the inside, where the CD will be I have used the same image, just a full one without cutting out anything, as on the back of the whole digipak. This is just for being familiar with the material as well as it looks quite different without cutting out bits.

The next two images are the same just mirrored together, which I think works brilliant as it gives the depth for the image and it looks interesting, it is a beautiful environment, but most importantly, the same location has been used for the video, which will make audience feel familiar with surrounding, and it simply works with genre conventions. Black and white connotes memories which means audience will understand the video much better seeing the digipak first, they will expect to see something to do with memories. I have also put some lyrics on the mid part, those lyrics are used in the song, but also they are beautiful and ties in with the story, explaining about the images.

I think overall digipak will work well with TA, as they will recognise the genre conventions (usually being dark, black is the dominant colour. Having the main Dj or mostly having conceptual images rather than real objects - in this case I am using main actors, so TA would relate to the story better, having an insert, but something really small, however personal).

Feedback from the Dj who's song I am using

I have recently contacted the Djs who gave me permission to use their soundtrack to make a music video for them, for the general feedback.

They were very happy with the outcome, however we talked about couple of technical things (e.g. the format it has been filmed in and stuff).

The most important thing for me was to ask whether they understood the context of the whole video or was it too hard to understand. They have spotted the plot in one go and I was very pleased with that. The only thing they criticised was the variety of shots. They would have preferred to see more of the full length shots rather than close ups. However I have explained to them that the reason of choosing close ups was to give out the emotion so my audience would connect to my work, feel engaged and interested.

This is the proof of me asking their opinion and getting their feedback. It is in Lithuanian, however I summed up what they have said above this photo.