Evaluation question 1- Draft

Music video:

We wanted to make a narrative music video where the main story of the song is shown in an easy way for the audience to understand. We didn’t want to have instruments because we thought that the song would be better staged as a narrative than a performance. We are developing the conventional forms of media and what is perceived to be ‘normal’ in the music industry.

Traditionally the genre of music we are doing normally have a performance style video with the examples of the Oasis, Wonderwall where they are performing the video as a band. Other videos such as the Verve, Bitter Sweet Symphony is a video we looked at and likes the idea of having the lead singer walk down the street, but instead of having people around him have it just the band member.  

We developed this shot in the Verve video by doing a long walking shot of the main individual and developing it slightly as we decided to put shots in between it so it isn’t just one big continuous walk through of a large part of the song. We did many different types of shots which developed and challenged the forms and conventions of real media products, for example using the close ups, mid shots and long shots. This was so the audience could get a feel for the band and who the stars of the video are. Also having more shots of one of the artists will get the audience to recognise which of the artists is the most important to the band and the video.  

Digipak and advert:

When I researched what to put on my digipak and the ideas for it I struggled to find something that I would really like to use for my digipak. In the end I found something, it was the simplistic idea of the pet shop boys, actually. I really like this album cover because it is simplistic and easy to look at on the eye. If it is this then it is then better for the audience who are the people that are going to buy it. I feel like this idea challenges the conventions of real media products because normally bands have more going on within their CD covers but because mine is very bare and not very busy this means that there is more chance that people will like it. People will like it because there isn’t much of it to take in therefore it won’t make them think too much about it because there isn’t much too it, this simplistic idea gives my digipak an advantage against others because people who have used complex idea will have lots going on within their digipak, this means that the people who are going to purchase this digipak or album might not enjoy being bombarded with lots of different colours and designs. A good example of a simple digipak that fits in with the style of mine is the digipak for the Mumford and Sons album, Sigh No More.  There is a simplistic design to this but there is also a bit of writing on the back, where I have put my most writing.

While researching for the magazine advert I found lots of adverts for bands such as Kings of Leon, Kasabian and the Foo Fighters. They all are similar because they all have the same picture on the front as the album cover does when the album actually comes out. For example the Foo Fighters have the FF on the front surrounded by a red circle and in front of a metal sheet. In this case I think I have used the ideas from existing media products because for my magazine advert I decided to use the front cover picture of my digipak as my magazine advert a long with having ‘OUT NOW’ below this. This gives the image of the digipak and album in the heads of readers of the magazines which means that if they see it In a shop then they will recognise it and pick it up to look at it. This is why lots of famous bands and artists use the same image from the album cover on the magazine advert to make it look like the album and make it look recognisable for potential buyers and fans.

Overall I feel that I developed different media products in the music video, using different ideas and shot types in order to gain a better grade and make a better video. This is different to the Digipak where I challenged but also used different ideas from already made digipaks in order to get the ideas and develop my own digipak. For the magazine advert I used the ideas from a few different magazine adverts that have excisted for a long time in order to get the best mark and to gain experience needed for the making of my own magazine advert which will show the band in the best and most individual way. 

Evaluation Question 2- Draft

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

For my main product, our task was to make a music video which represented a type of music and the kind of artists that play this kind of music. The ancillary texts we had to make to go along side this main product was a Digipak and a magazine advert for the made up band and the new music they are bringing out.

We are doing the Indie style of music. The indie style of music should reflect the latest bands and trends in the music business and the bands around at the time. It also must reflect the people who listen to the music and buy the tracks and the albums as these are the people who buy the albums.

When designing my advert and digipak I hadn’t got a very clear idea of what I was going to do. So when my first draft wasn’t very good I had to do a total revamp of the whole thing.

When I came across the Pet shop boys, Actually cover I thought this would be a good cover to use as an example because the cover is quite basic but looks very good and quite affective. I wanted to get this kind of band style into the digipak and magazine advert because the band that we are doing the music video from is this indie style.

This research I have done into this Digipak along with magazine adverts made me believe that I had found many different form of media convention that Indie genre’s use with magazine adverts or album covers. My digipak was a four panel with the front, back covers and the inside left and right. I have a picture of the band on the front which is very isolated so that the audience can focus on them while they are looking at my digipak. The centre image is the picture of the band which is organised so they are all wearing white shirts so they look like they are a ‘unit’ or a group of individuals who are friends and can work together to make good music.

Indie style is not the easiest thing to relate to a digipak and to relay this information to the audience and buyers was the most crucial thing in order to get the people to want to listen to the music and purchase the digipak. When I was making my Digipak I didn’t think much how it would fit into my video because our video is quite unique but also my Digipak is quite unique but in different ways. The way that both the video and the digipak are unique means that my work links in to also being unique, this unique style also links into the ‘indie’ genre of music that we have with both the style of music and the style of my digipak and music video both being quite individual. If i had to complete the Digipak section of the coursework then I would find more individual and Indie bands album covers in order to copy some sort of styling from these which would take my grade higher than it is. I feel like my research for the magazine advert was very minimal and just used the front cover of my digipak in order to make it look the way that I wanted it too.   

Overall I feel that I use the individuality of my digipak and Advert and mixed that with the ideas we had for the video and I feel like the two mix well to show a good idea of an indie band and music video. 

Evaluation Question 3- Draft

What have you learned from you audience feedback?





For my digipak I got lots of feedback after I had done my very first digipak. This was without doing much research into digipaks and the way that they should look and how well they are set out. For example some feedback I got from my peers in my class including Milo who said that my digipak ‘needed more consistency throughout the whole thing.’ This is exactly the same as what Charlotte said about my digipak. Some positive things that were said were that the song names are very creative and fit the indie genre that I am doing well. These feedbacks made me feel like I needed to do more research into a better target area and maybe find a digipak or album cover to replicate. This is what I did for my digipak after this and got better feedback from Nathan Beard who said ‘It looks better now that you have done more delicate research into good examples that you can replicate’ This feedback was good for me because it meant that I had more confidence in the Digipak.  

I got other feedback that I got from other people in my class. For example charlotte also said that my font wasn’t the best throughout the whole digipak so the idea was from this was to change the fonts in order to make it look better and more professional on the top of the rest of the digipak. This is why I have changed the font on my new digipak in order to get a better grade.

Other feedback that I got from Rebecca, she said that I had put the logo of the band on the digipak too many times, it was a good idea to use it but I used it too much. This feedback was good because it made me see that I did use it too much. On my new digipak I didn’t think that it fit in with the new simplistic style so I decided not to use the logo at all.

Evaluation Question 4- Draft

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

For the planning stages of the video, I used some different methods in order to get the best ideas possible for the music video. For example to get ideas for the timings of the video I used YouTube on the internet in order to find the video we are doing, Undercover Martyn by two door cinema club, in order to get the right timing of the shots and the right kind of shots we need to do in order to make a certain successful and accurate video. We also did a storyboard in so we could order the shots and make a different kind of video to the original one. The story board was important for us because we needed to set out a basic plan of shot ideas and camera angles. To get the story across in a more animated style we have done an animatic which shows the story but into a digital format which will show a better interpretation of the video without having to actually see the way that the video is going to be shot and the way that it is ordered. Also I used the twitter and Facebook app in order to gain different inspiration from different sources.

I used blogger in order to keep up to date with progress that I had made in the research and planning stage of the video. Blogger allowed me to post different ideas, and to keep up with the information that I am getting from different media products. I found that blogger was an excellent way in order for me to keep organised in the process of going through the research and planning of my music video and digipak. I found that blogger was also a great way of me getting feedback, not just from the teacher but from my peers and classmates that wanted to comment on any work or any research that I have done.

For the construction stage of the music video, while we were filming we used the camera from an iPhone 6s Plus which shoots at 4k resolution also we used an app called FiLMiC Pro which gave us manual control for exposure and focus and other aspects of effects. This made the process of filming and editing more simplistic for us because it was easier to get the footage from the Phone onto the laptop, which is where we were doing the editing.  Also for the filming stage of the music video, we used a LED light which helped us because we did our filming in the dark; the light helped us to light up the area that we were using. The light also helped to show better facial expressions and change the atmosphere of the video and how the performers were reacting to the music. For the editing stage of constructing the music video, we used Final Cut Pro X which helped us to edit the video and get the best finish for the video.

For the planning stages of my digipak I used Google and Google images in order to get pictures and ideas of the different digipaks that are out there. The ideas I got are from the internet with research from Google and from different ideas I got from displays in the media classroom.

For the construction of my digipak and my advert I used a windows PC which featured the Photoshop software. This software allowed me to create a good and authentic digipak and magazine advert. There are professional tools and effects that can be used on the pictures. For my digipak I used the cut tools in order to cut out a photo of the three band members which then was my front cover and the main image on the magazine advert. I also used the rectangle tools In order to create white backgrounds which I then made completely white so that the digipak all looked professional. I also used the text tools which allowed my too write on the digipak.

Overall I believe that technology was vital for creating the music video and the digipak and magazine advert. Without these key pieces of technology then I wouldn’t have been able to create the kind of work that I did.

Inspiration For New Digipak

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

As a group, we frequented on YouTube in order to find the common conventions in existing indie music videos. It was also helpful in all aspects in giving us ideas for set locations, shot lengths, shot ideas and the type if video we wished to try and create. Our main source if inspiration was "Undercover Martyn" by Two Door Cinema Club.  After collecting ideas we made a storyboard which enabled to to see visually the direction we wished to take our video. It was also useful in letting us find out what equipment we were going take need and if our video was feesable. An animatic was also created in order to help the group be able to visualise the final video and see the development of what we had already created.


All members of our group found that Blogger was a useful tool in acquiring feedback from our audience. It also meant we were able to post the continued progress of creative journey. At any point we were able to go back and change or develop our blog posts if we had altered or thought of something new. Our audience were able to post any concerns or feedback they had thought of from viewing our post about the development of our product. As previously discussed this feedback was vital in creating a successful finished video.
For the filming we used the camera from an iPhone 6s Plus which shoots at 4k resolution also we used an app called FiLMiC Pro which gave us manual control for exposure and focus and other aspects of effects. Then few tools the app posed were no match for some of the cameras the other groups were using but we thought that this may actually give our video an edge over others. Other groups may be tempted to use all of the features at their disposal which could lead to them over complicating their video and end up with a confusing or clustered music video. From the reap search, these are very much things you want to avoid when trying to appeal to music audiences especially those in the indie genre. Whilst filling in the dark the LED light we were using was very helpful in lighting the set and allowing us to create the right mind and vibe for each shit that we desired. The additional lighting was also good when filming close-ups, the fact that the audience can clearly see the band members facial expressions is vital in creating the sense of intimacy between them and the band which can help emote certain feelings in the viewer.  Final Cut Pro X helped us to edit the video and get the best finish for the video and create the look we were attempting to re-create in other videos we had seen. Spotify was used to stream the song whilst we were filming so that those performing were able to hear it and sing in time. it also proved useful when getting an idea of shot lengths for each part of our video. Nathan was then able to match the music to our footage whilst editing the video which made the post-production phase slightly easier.


The photoshop software on the Windows PC I was using was the only tool I used whilst creating both my digipaks and magazine advert. This software possessed all elements I needed during this process. Most notably the cut tool, which enabled me to edit images I had taken or found to my desired effect. The colour wheel was useful whilst searching for the colour i was going to use on my digipak. It offered me countless variation of all colours to use; this was an important decision because I had to consider my bands representation. using the wrong colour could mislead audiences that my band is something that it isn't and may deter certain people from listening/viewing/purchasing the album. Both the vertical and horizontal text boxes were also very useful when creating the layout of my album cover. It was especially important to my product as the text is the centrepiece of the product and is the main attraction to audiences/passers by. The macbooks were also useful to me during my evaluation process so that i was able to write up my questions. I used other presentation formats available to me on the computer in order to bring my evaluation together. These formats included: Prezi, Youtube and Scribd. The aim was to provide and original and differing way of presenting my work to not only make it interesting to read, but to also show-off my media skills.
Overall, I feel that the technology I used during this creative process were central to the finished products. Without these pieces of software or programmes I wouldn't have been able to develop my ideas in the way I did and to create these products without these technologies would have been virtually impossible. 

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1