Alternative advert versions

As our target audience thought we had used all the right conventions for our advert, we decided to make different versions and ask them which one they would prefer to see. We did this simply by rearranging the information the advert provided as the image we used was liked by our target audience.

These are the other versions we made of our advert:

 1.

 2.

 3.

Results:
1. 11
2. 6
3. 3

When we asked them why this was the one they preferred they told us it contained all the conventions of album adverts (artist and album name, release date, and review quote). They also said that they prefered the layout. Having the artist name and album name centred drew attention to it and therefore was the first bit they read which is the most important text. One of the crititcims of the thrid version was that the release date shouldn't be in the middle of the page. The main criticism of the second one was because the seperation of the artist name and album name.

Ancillary Products feedback

Our feedback was mainly positive for our ancillary products. One of the things that we were told to do with our digipak was to add a barcode, just so that it looked more realistic. Obviously for all products they legally have to have a barcode on them which is something that our target audience picked up on. We had really positive feedback for our advert, because we had followed the conventions of album adverts very closely.  The only thing we can think of doing is to experiment with repositioning the text and seeing what our audience prefer.

Digipak and Magazine advert

This is our final digipak folded out. We decided on the inside to have an artist profile, as Jack is a new artist so it gives the fans a bit of information about him. The CD will go in the middle. We kept to the main conventions of digipaks with the six fold and track list, but we made it a bit different by having just one images going across the inside rather than three separate ones. We felt that by doing this, not only would it be something a bit different, but is would help make the guitar an icon of the artist. The image on the CD would be the part of the guitar that it would be covering on the digipak, so that when the CD is in it just looks like one full image.

This is our magazine advert for the digipak.

We decided to keep the same photo as the album cover as then it is easier for people to relate it with our artist, particularly as he is a new artist. This was also quite common

 on existing adverts that I analysed, especially for newer artists. We kept the same font also for the same reason. We also noticed from our research into other digipaks that it is a convention to use the same font for all merchandise for an artist as it instantly relates to that artist. In a lot of cases we found that this would stay the same on a number of album  cycles. We stuck with the main conventions of digipaks by having the relase date and  a quote for the album.

Now we have finished these versions we are going to take them to our target audience to get their feedback and see what we can improve on both products. Once we have done the improvements to our rough cut next week we can start to focus on the ancillary products. These should be finished when we come back to school after Christmas.

Screen Shots from creating ancillary products

We managed to get a really good photo for our ancillary products when we were filming. The original photo was Jack standing in front of the sun with his guitar, so we edited it so that it was more of a silhouette. 

  We did this by changing the contrast and the brightness of the photo and changing the saturation of colours. We didn't really have too much of a plan in terms of the colours and the exact look of the cover, mainly because neither of us have used Photoshop a lot before, so we did a lot of experimenting first before we added things like text and dimensions.

We took some panorama shots too when we were filming that we thought we could use across two panels of the digipak. This was the first photo we tried editing for the back, but we found it difficult to get the same tone of colours as the front cover because of where the light was coming from in the photo.





This was the second photo we had for the back. We ended up going with this one, because the artist and ourselves preferred the lighting and the general proxemics of the photo. We edited this one in much the same way as the album cover so that they would have a similar colour palette.

This is the final image for the two back panels. The track list will go on the right half as this will be the middle panel. We tried to get the colours as similar as possible to those on the front cover.

This is the whole of our digipak. We decided to have just one image of Jack's guitar across all three parts of the inside of the digipak. We chose a simple serif font, because we felt it looked more professional that a san serif. We felt that the most successful digipaks we looked at were the ones with a simple font, rather than trying to be too fancy and being harder to read. 




From a marketing perspective we felt it would be better to have a font that is easier to see from a distance so that passers by take notice.

Ancillary Product photos

     

Original photos (back cover):

These photos are the originals taken for the back cover of the digipak. We decided to have one picture covering two panels on the back so that the photo continues on each panel. We took some panorama shots on an iPhone to see if they would work any better to go across more than one panel. 

Slightly Edited:

We have started to edit the photos here by putting on a higher contrast of colour. For both of us using Photoshop was a bit of a learning curve, because neither of us had used the programme in great detail before.

Original photos (second back cover):

This is the second idea we had for the back cover. We ended up going with this photo as it was the one the artist and ourselves preferred and decided to have it going across two of the outside panels.

This is the editing of the outside cover. (We had to change the dimensions of the photo so that it would fit onto a digipak.) We've changed the colour palette and contrast of colours to make it a bit more interesting than just the original photo.

Original album cover photo:

 Thanks to there being sun the day we filmed, we were able to do our silhouette idea and have Jack with his guitar facing the sun. This was the shot we got and were really pleased with it. We decided on this kind of shot, because it would represent Jack as a solo artist and show his genre. He doesn't use a lot of technology in his music so him being a part of nature in this photo shows that his music is natural.

This was how we first edited the photo, but we didn't really like the colours too much. However, we kept this as an option.

 This was the final edit of the front cover for the digipak before we added text. We also decided at this point to use it as the advert for the digipak as well. The colours for both the back and front cover of the digipak are very similar, as we felt that this way they would all link up and it would look a lot more professional.

Original inside photos:

         

  

These are just some of the original photos taken for the inside panels of the digipak. Again, we thought that we would take one photo of the guitar and have it going across all three of the inside panels. We chose the guitar, because we think it could be a good icon for Jack, especially with his type of music. 
(The edited version of this photo is too big a file to upload, but its the same one we used for the full digipak).
Considering this was our first time properly using Photoshop we are really pleased with the results of the images we got. Now we have to put them altogether to form the digipak which we will also be doing on Photoshop.

Digipak draft

This is our first draft for a digipak for Jack's album. We have gone with the conventional six sides as this is what people will be used to seeing from a digipak. All the outside images are going to be taken at Dasset Hills where we are filming the music video, so that it all links together. We have an idea of Jack on the front cover as a silhouette image with his guitar with a rural background. We chose this because it will connote a natural sound of Jack's music which we feel it is. The song 'One Side of The story' is an acoustic song. On the inside we have decided to put an artist profile of Jack. As he is a new artist we felt that it would be good for the audience/listener to know more about him. We have the picture of the guitar, because we feel that this would be an icon of Jack because of the type of music it is, much like it is for someone like Ed Sheeran or Ben Howard. A track listing will be on the back as this is a typical convention of all digipaks and gives relevant information to the listener. The first draft with actual photographs will be done after filming the video as we will take the pictures the same day we film. 

Comparing Editing

One of the main pieces of advise we got from our target audience in terms of improving it was the pace of editing. Therefore, I have decided to compare our rough cut to a real music video from our genre to specifically look at the pace of editing:

Ben Howard Keep Your Head Up:

 Total Edits: 119

First 10 seconds: 5

Middle 10 seconds: 8

End 10 seconds: 2

Kings Of Leon Back Down South:

 Total Edits: 143

First 10 seconds: 4

Middle 10 Seconds: 7

End 10 Seconds: 2

Jack Simmons One Side Of The Story:

 Total Edits 40

First 10 seconds: 2

Middle 10 seconds: 3

End 10 Seconds: 2

Comparison:
From looking at these two videos in comparison with our own, we now have a rough idea of how many edits a 3 and a half minute song should have. We need to at least double our total number of edits to meet the required pace. By comparing our video to existing ones it has definitely helped us to realise just how much editing goes on, because it never seems that much when you are just watching the video.

Rough Cut audience feedback

We showed our rough cut to the class and here is some of the feedback we got:

I like the wide shot of the sun set and the close ups of the guitar, nice variety of shots.

Maybe try to quicken the pace.

Guitar spine shot goes on too long.

Great lighting and location, continuity. Really well framed shots.

Lip syncing was a bit off at times.

The long shots worked well with the outline of people on the hill. 

Some shots too long.

Editing was good.

From this we have decided that the main parts to work on are the length of shots. We are going to think about cutting so of them down a bit and cutting between shots more frequently, especially at the beginning and the shot of the guitar spine. Most people were happy with the variety of shots that we had. We are also going to look at the lip syncing in some shots, because it was a bit out, but we may not be able to solve it all perfectly, because we think some of this was down to the artist not the placing of shots in the video. These are the main things we are going to focus on when we re-edit our rough cut. We shouldn't need to re-film anything, because we can just cut between different shots that we already have. We don't feel that making these changes will take too long. At the moment we think we can make all the necessary changes before term ends next Wednesday.