Digipak designs.

I have now finished the inlays and cover designs for our digipak.

Front cover

Left inlay

Under CD inlay

Right inlay

Far right (folding) inlay

Rear cover

digipak layout

This is our plan of the digipack layout, by doing this it helps us to get organised and think about where we want our images on the case. It also gives us a vague idea of how we want the case to look, like the amount of pictures shown, how well represented the band is through the Album cover. I (max) feel we had to lay it out in this way to get the best results in terms of displaying our band, and at the same time giving the artisitc feel in which is necessary in the indie genre.

This is where our Bantry Bay front cover with the birds would be.

Inside you would maybe see some lyrics or more pictures of the band behind the scenes maybe some close ups of faces, or even just clips from the video.

In this you would be able to see the cd and hopefully as planned see all of our faces in the band on each side. Therefore i feel this would be effective in creating a friendly approach almost comical.

On the back would be a track list, all the official jargon e.g barcode and record label.

Evaluation - Oliver Cracknell

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For our Music video we felt that we had to keep to cetain conventions in order to make our product as successful as possible within the genre of folk/indie. We researched many of these when planning our video.
One of these was the necessity of including live shots of a band performance, this was in order to give the band an image and also to let the audience gain an insight into what the band look like so that they can relate to them.

We tried to incorporate a simplistic and improptu image into the live band shots by using basic instruments that were featured in the song, without focusing on the specifics such as guitar leads and cables. This was something which was featured in many indie music videos that we watched. I think that this is because traditional music instrument playing needs to be shown in the video however it needs to subvert from the stereotypical rock genre live playing in order to fit in the indie genre. It also adds a low budget feel to the video and makes the band seem fun without taking themselves too seriously, allowing the target audience to better relate to them.

Both of these shots are very similar, we felt that this strengthened the fact that the conventions we used were correct as an already successful indie band (bombay bicylcle club) have used the same conventions at a similar location as us and seem to be aiming for the same image that we were attempting.

Another common feature of indie bands is to try and play up and glamorize their roots, by adding a significantly urban quality to their locations and mise en scene. We tried to use this convention by filming some of our video outside a row of garages in the local village. We felt that this both complemented the simplistic live band shots whilst also making us look more local as opposed to genres such as pop, which would often take place in a lavish, expensive and very  over the top location. I feel that the indie genre will typically try to entertain an audience by focusing largely on the music and making their image a more subtle feature of the video.

As can be seen in this image, Bombay bicycle club also use a garage. This is a convention we tried to use as it can be used as an interesting background without looking typical and also making the urban image of the band seem apparent to an audience easily. However in our video, we could of perhaps used a wider range of garage colours that were available, and perhaps had one band member in front of each to make the image as eye-catching as possible.

Indie Music is often centered around a relationship, with the video trying to portray it. We tried to develop this genre by also focusing on a relationship, however in most music videos we researched the relationship is portrayed by actors rather than band  members in order to keep the narrative and band shots separate.

This is perhaps so that the audience will feel that the band does not have the common problems and will not associate drama and problems with them but will rather just listen to their music, without losing any sense of familiarity with them. However we tried to develop this convention by featuring a relationship between two band members in our video, This is because the meaning of our song is that a relationship within the band goes wrong, resulting in the female leaving and thus rejoining the band later.

This is not a common feature of relationships in music videos and would certainly never be seen in an established artist, which we were told before we included it. However we chose to develop this convention as our music video would be a first time video from a new band, meaning we have the liberty of portraying a unique image that is not constrained by previous audience expectations. This also means that we can be different from what is expected by typical genre conventions whilst still including them. This could result in increased publicity and attention from our audience and thus add to the success of the band.

The use of colour is yet another convention we tried to develop in our music video. As can be seen in some of laura marling's videos (a successful indie/folk artist) The use of colour is being used to represent a time flashback in the video's narrative. In her video some of the saturation has been decreased in order to produce an apparent Polaroid effect which adds a feeling of vintage to her videos whilst also making them seem sophisticated. We chose to develop this and reduce the saturation of all of our narrative shots within our music video so that they were black and white. Which, due to the plot of our narrative, was to make the shots seem sad in reference to an unhappy time. I feel that this was done well as it made the video more visually interesting and added a new dimension to how the final product looked, whilst separating the narrative from the shots of the band performing. However it could have been improved if we had chosen to leave some of the saturation present, which would of maintained a slight degree of colour, which would have alluded to a happy mood whilst still being symbolized in an unhappy way. However we did not want to completely subvert from this convention and chose to simply keep the narrative in black and white.

I feel that we challenged conventions of the indie genre immediately as we have a girl in a major role within the band. This is not a common feature of many indie bands. I feel that this sets our band apart from the stereotypical indie band and allows us to be diverse with our image. We tried to focus on the female member (Fiona) by utilising close ups as angles and including her on her own in certain situations throughout the narrative, such as when she is playing piano on her own. This could also give us a larger fan base, as typically a female is not common in a genre dominated by males and thus could make us seem different and more interesting to a prospective audience. Successful indie bands such as foals typically have a male lead singer and are comprised of all males, I feel that by focusing on what sets us apart from the rest, we were wise to subvert from this convention as it will gain us a larger amount of attention from our audience when combined with the relationship convention mentioned earlier.

Another convention we tried to challenge was the inclusion of a superimposing of the band onto a television screen. This is not typically found in the indie genre as it implies the the band have become famous and is being featured on a show. This can imply that the band thinks highly of themselves. However we tried to subvert from this convention of the genre and challenge it by using it in appropriate context

This is when the girl has left the band and is perhaps feeling bitter, after seeing the band on Television she turns it off and leaves the room. This helps to make the video more interesting to the viewer as it is a relatively complex technique to include in what had since looked like a simplistic low budget indie music video. The effect would usually be expected to be seen in a hip-hop or pop music video, however we felt that it worked for our genre so long as it was included in the right context and not just included thoughtlessly. We also found another example within our own genre (right) which supported our view that challenging the conventions of our genre was an appropriate choice in this instance.

2. How effective is the combination of the main product and ancillary texts?
























3. What did you learn from your audience feedback?

To begin with, we experimented with using projected images of hearts onto white blank canvasses in order to connote the relationship in the narrative. However We were told by people who viewed this as slightly stereotypical and far too cliche considering we were aiming to be quirky and subvert from what was expected of the indie/folk genre.

Having shown select members of our target audience the Video it was underlined to me that there were a few issues with how realistic the instrument playing looked, however this was a problem we had known existed from the start as on my part (guitar) I am left handed but only had access to a right handed guitar, so In order to strum in time with the song convincingly I had to hold the guitar the wrong way for which it was meant. We felt that this would be a compromise to maximise how convincing the video would be.

The drums were the second issue raised. For the most part they are in time however as Max is not a musician in real life, he struggled to stay in time with the song. Simply because he has never had to do it before. We did not believe this would be a major issue when filming as we filmed him doing in-time specific drum hits as and when we saw necessary, we also tried to crop certain shots that he was out of time in in order to make the video as convincing as possible. If done again we would possibly consider using actors rather than ourselves as this allows us to focus more on the filming and shot composition.

4. How Did you use Media Technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation- Fiona Ward

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The location of our band performance was in front of a pavilion, this location was simplistic and a pavilion similar is seen commonly. We chose this as it shows many indie conventions. The pavilion has aspects that are similar to a stage, if we had used a raised, indoor stage with spotlights, this would have looked professional, and that we were putting a performance on for lots of people, using a flat stage outside is simplistic and conveys a 'casually' put together performance. The fact that the audience may have seen something similar before creates a relationship, it shows that the band are just 'normal people,' this reflects Horton and Wohl's theory of a parasocial relationship. This is the image that most indie bands will attempt to portray, the idea is that they do not focus on having a big ego, for example like a rap artist might do by filming in expensive houses or in expensive cars. Our location shows we are focusing on the music not an egotistic image. Also as we are using acoustic instruments at an outside location this shows that we are on a low budget, another thing typical of indie artists. Also being outside with just our instruments is simplistic, it conveys elements of folk bands, which is seen in our music, it gives the impression that the performance is natural, and that there has been no technical alterations to the track, you get what you see with the band.

As you can see Bombay Bicycle Club use a similar location in their video, being one of our similar artists we have researched they also wish to portray the low budget, individual, 'out there' style. This shows we have used similar conventions to this indie band with our location and formation.

 Indie bands our typically urban and quirky, it is common to use aspects of mise en scene that do not make complete sense within the context of the video, it makes the audience look back at it and watch it again. To coincide with our location of the pavilion we also filmed in front of a row of garages, this shows the things i just mentioned, the band looks urban, quirky and low budget, and also the colours of the garages stand out, and placing band members in front of them therefore makes them stand out even if only showed for a few seconds. This is also a shot that proved popular within our audience feedback because of its individuality. Also lining the band members in front of the garage in height order adds a comical/quirky effect, high lighting the fact of how small the female singer is.

Bombay Bicycle Club have also used a similar location in one of their videos, our image is toned down more to suit the colour scheme.

A lot of indie songs have been written about relationships, it is common to see a video that shows a couple, who have problems in their relationship. Andrew Goodwin's theory involves that the visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics of the song, our video illustrates the lyrics of the song, as it is about a break-up. Also we incorporate aspects of Steve Archer's theory that video's should cut between a narrative and a performance to show a real connection with the song.  Sometimes the lead singer/member of the band will be one person in the relationship seen through the videos narrative, and the other person will be played by a model/actor with no relation to the band, as seen in this song, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivnj5J6KCYc . It is rare that two members of the band will play the relationship roles. 

However we developed this convention by having the relationship talked about in the lyrics played by two members of the band. So the video portrays that two of the band members are in a relationship but having problems. This is in the narrative side of the video, however they are also seen playing along side one another as a band for the performance footage. Developing this convention makes the bands image stand out, the relationship may be discussed in 'gossip' magazines bringing the band publicity. It also makes the band seem real, the audience sees what they believe to be the real them, this insight in to the real life of stars is what fascinates people, society thrives on seeing in to peoples lives by watching reality tv and reading magazines, so we know that making part of our stars life public would be shocking yet gripping to our audience. It also again conveys that the band is down to earth, creating a relation between the band and its fans. So although this is not typically seen in indie music exactly, it keeps our band in genre yet interesting.

Another convention we have developed is the use of colour to portray past tense in the narrative of times in the relationship where things seem not to be going well. At first after watching a Laura Marling video (as seen here) we decided that desaturating footage would drain colour and give a vintage effect to show past tense as not to confuse the audience, also the dull image helps portray sadness and negative connotations. Dull lighting and bland colouring are often used in indie videos to give a vintage look, however we did not feel like this contrasted enough with the other images. We wanted parts to be instantly recognizable as in the past.

 So to develop the convention we decided to use black and white for parts of the video conveying narrative flashbacks. The contrast from the bright colourful images to the black and white shows the different emotions portrayed in the song. It shows separation and a void from happiness environment. Black and white also shows vintage connotations as this is what tv would have been like in the past. Black and white footage saves any confusion over why the relationship would have one minute seemed fine, then tense to the audience as the effect is immediately recognizable as past tense.

 Conventions we challenged could be that we had a female band member. A large proportion of indie bands are all male like the foals as seen here. It could be said that indie bands often have a reputation of having an attitude and a party lifestyle. Some often portray the image that they are rude and don't care what people say. Having a female band member takes away this edge.

Our female singer brings individuality, it brings opportunities for things such as our relationship seen in the video. It brings a softer more appealing sound to the track also, and sexual attraction can be conveyed by both sexes appealing to a wider audience. It shows folk aspects also as they often have female band members, conveying hybridding of genres. Sigmund Freud's theory of subverted voyeurism states that female artists can appear sexually provocative with a sexual gaze, however we do not use sex appeal in an obvious way as it is not fitting with our genre. 

Another convention we challenged was the imposing of the band on to the tv, this image is not as simplistic as the other footage previously seen. It is more commonly seen in higher budget, R'n'B/ pop videos as it is a more complicated technique. Also the fact that the band is being played on tv shows connotations of fame, taking the ego of the band up a bit. This uses digital effect to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience. 

This is an example of this shown in this pop video, imposing his image on to what was then modern technology gives a modern feel, contrasting to why we used this technique.

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

To elaborate we have put together an image that is conveyed through our clothes that is seen throughout the video, we have not portrayed our female singer according with Laura Mulvey's theory of obvious sex appeal, we maintain an indie style that we are serious about our music. We have a pastel colour scheme throughout all three products, and also have a hand drawn front cover to make the band seem artistic and individual.  

What did you learn from your audience feedback?

Our audience feedback showed us what locations were most effective, such as the garages, so these were used for a bigger proportion of the filming. Feedback for our first version of the video raised timing issues, we realised that our instruments were slightly slower than they should be to make the playing of the instruments look realistic, so using final cut we sped up the time a little to help resolve this issue. We found that people liked the idea of a narrative that reflects the lyrics of the song, so we continued the narrative throughout the song, bringing it to a close with a band shot to show unity once again. People found the stop motion part impressive and effective, so we used the technique again in another part of the video.

How Did you use Media Technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Just to clarify what is talked about in this video media technologies we used include youtube for screen grabs to post on to the blog to show examples of conventions simialr artists have used. we can also use youtube for audience feedback to gain pro's and cons of footage that we have filmed, and change things to better it. The HD cameras give a professional finish to our video. The convergence of being able to takr photos and film on teh cameras is also helpful. Final cut express enables us to cut and edit our footage, to make it fit more in to the genre. Blogger, our hub for work, keeps all our work organsied and our ideas clearly represented with the oppurtunity to comment and give feedback. Youtube clips can be embedded in to html to show visually examples we are talking about. Facebook helped to us to organise meetings and filming times, we also had our own facebook page for our band, we uploaded our video to this which helped to get audience feedback also. Photoshop was helpful as it meant we could work in layers, we could desaturate colour from the pictures to help them to fit in to the colour scheme for our digipack, and can impose text on to the pictures.

Poster/Advert

I have looked at the advert for the digipak that Jack and Max put together. I really like the use of birds which links to the cover. However it does not include a border to seperate the image and the rest of the poster. This could be a weakness as it makes the ad look cheaply put together and will maked it harder for the potential audience to recognise the product. So I have chosen to edit the design slighlty and add a border which is comprised of colours present in the background image. I then chose to open this with photoshop and use the blur tool on the border. This will distinguish the digipak cover from the background whilst also giving the visual impression that the digipak cover is sharper and more distinguishable

 Given time I would also add banners to the name which would be centralised and include a date in bold text underneath the digipak cover image. This will make the advert more professional looking as well as making the name and release date of the band and album respectivley more noticeable to a passing member of our potential audience.

Digipak poster- Bantry Bay - finished product

With a bit of help from jack with the background I feel this poster looks more effective because it has all the natural colours in which links to the front cover of our album. I think it looks better now as it looks more artistic. I have also rearranged where all the text is and i now feel it looks more effective.

Photoshop was a great tool for making a poster because it meant I could use layering, putting all the image I wanted into one big image. It also has a useful tool in which allows you to chop and change the colours, therefore making it easier to stand out.

Digipak Poster -Bantry Bay- 1st draft

I went for this light blue colour choice because I felt it gave it a good feel, as it is sky colour which could be linked to the birds on the front cover. I also added comments from popular magazines and newspapers, this makes it look a lot more realistic.

Evaluation | Jack Poole

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


Conventions that we used

Our band shot is an example of a indie convention which we used in our music video. The shot is positioned outside a pavilion. It gives a minimalistic , low budget and quirky feel which is typical of our genre. In this shot you will notice that max is using only a snare drum, this helps portray the quirky and different independent style of the band. Playing outside gives a natural and original image, often also seen in folk music, to the band as if they are playing for an audience as they are. The dress in casual and easily affordable so fans, whom for this genre are usually quite young and don't have a disposable income, can copy the bands style without the large costs that would occur if you were to try and copy a pop artist who usually have a big ego and are commonly only interested in the money rather than the music. This can help in keeping a parasocial relationship with their fans as the fans can relate themselves to the band and mimic their style. This can be linked to the theorist Horton and Wohl who developed the parasocial theory.

As shown below there is a similar shot of the band "Bombay Bicycle Club" who have also chosen to show the band in a typical way resembling our location.

Despite the indie image being quite low budget there is plenty of artistic creativity involved in the misé en scene. This is shown over a large majority of indie videos and can be seen in the innovative "Ok Go - Here it goes again" treadmill idea. We adhered to this convention by using local resources to create a colourful and typical scene perfect for our music video.

In this shot, also from "Bombay bicycle club", you can see it gives there music video a colourful vibe. In this show however each garage is shown behind a different band member and separates them by colour in a unique way which looks good.

Conventions that we have developed

In this shot we use a mixture of low key lighting and a black and white effect to emphasize the difference between the relationship storyline which had happened in the past and the band shots. This technique has been used in various different indie video's to imply a change in scene or time so once we researched it we decided that it would make a good addition to our video. It acts as a clear divider but also looks artistic which complements the indie image conventions.

Here is an example of a low-fi shot in a music video by "Laura Marling". It is used in this example to give a vintage feeling as well as display a different time period. Other uses of desaturation effects include setting the mood, giving it a cold, negative feeling.

A common theme in indie and of many other genres is to sing about relationships. Too develop this theme further the relationship shown in our video is between the band members rather than a couple of actors whom the band would relate to along with there fans. This idea gives a more intimate relationship between the fans and the band as well as straying from the beaten track to stop our video being predictable which could make fans lose interest. The lyrics in our piece help illustrate how the band members feel and  lyrics are acted out during the video to strengthen the link for instance the "I don't believe you" lyrics are acted too as if it's part of the argument.

The narrative of our video is in that sense unique due to the use of band members. Most of the video is unlike the shot above and the general happy relationship as the song lyrics are about the girl leaving, which we interpreted to the girl leaving the band.

Conventions that we have challenged

We decided to set our video apart and distance it a bit from the usual conventions. One way in which we achieved it was by using effects which would normally be associated with a genre which has a higher budget like pop princess. We didn't want it to stick out and feel like it's just been stuck in for the sake of it without thinking about the genre beforehand. We had a think and decided that if it were to display a superimposed clip of the band playing on an old vintage T.V. it will look good and help considerably in making the narrative simpler to understand.

The clip below is from a music video of a different genre which has a higher budget unlike indie musicians. It is also shown on a more futuristic display which is quite the opposite to ours. If such a piece of futuristic technology were to appear in our video it would be straying too far from the conventions and could lose fans who have become comfortable with the typical convention that are used in indie videos today.

Having a female in the band can be considered a abnormal as many bands are comprised of guys such as the kooks, the foals and the klaxons. This, like are T.V. effect, gives a new, different feel to the band without effecting the overall indie image. It allows for the relationship to be shown within the band as spoke about before as well as breaking out of the male stereotype.





What did you learn from your audience feedback

For our preliminary audience research we decided not to use the footage of the projected heart image. It looked out of place and we were discouraged by several people who viewed the clips that it would not flow well even under the use of a strong visual effect.

For our digipak our original idea about the band members hanging off the letters of the band name was exposed to criticism. This was about how the design did not relate to the narrative featured in our film and how it gave a somewhat happy feel to the digipak despite the song being about a break up. We took the advice from our audience feedback and gave it a vintage look as while featuring a bird flying away. This bird represents Fie leaving the band in a stylish indie way.

How did you use media technologies in the construsction and research planning and evaluation stages

On top of the discussed topics in the video above I also found use of a few other services. One such service was Flickr. I was already in possession of a yahoo account so registration was easy. I then uploaded some .jpg pictures of possible shots and angles we could use in the product which I captured with my phones 3 mega pixel camera.
I found that da font was also a useful website for free to use fonts in various styles in .ttf format,  this was helpful for our digipak design.


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

Digipak front cover.

After opening the image with photoshop I quickly realised that in order to both utilise the full image and have an effective sized font The location of titles would have to be placed low and to the right of the cover. However In my opinion what I have done works quite well. However I will show my group in todays lessons and get some feedback from them.

Digipak design

I just drew out a (hopefully) final design for our digipak. I tried to develop on my previous idea by incorporating birds, which is something my group and I agreed would work well. However I thought that the previous design may have seemed a little plain if it were just a hand-drawn sketch especially as it was of birds in the distance. In order to make the digipak cover more interesting I decided to sketch only two birds from a closer perspective.

The birds will link into our music video's narrative rather than the band's line-up as previously planned.

I also thought that the image may not be eye-catching enough to gain attention from our audience as grey pencil against white is not entirely bright or grabbing to anybody passing by. In order to build upon this I decided to open up the file in an image manipulation programme and try to boost the contrast whilst also editing the hue and saturation of the image in order to change colour and brightness.  the result was this:

I feel that the brown hue I have applied to the image, combined with the increased contrast and decreased brightness gives a rustic and vintage effect to the original image which is appropriate for our genre. I feel that it also solves the aforementioned issue of how eye-catching the digipak cover will be.

I toyed around with other colours:

Green was, in my opinion, Also a good choice as it would match the image of the suitcase on grass that we were planning on using for the rear digipak cover. However I feel that it looks less vintage/rustic and more artificial. However I have saved both so the rest of my group can share their opinion.

I also chose to leave in previous erased sketching mistakes that the scanner picked up instead of using the blur tool to get rid of them. I think it adds a degree of imperfection to the image that complements the vintage/rustic look I was hoping for. It can also symbolise that mistakes are often made (which is a point of plot for our videos narrative)