EVALUATION Q2

How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Products And Ancillary Texts?

Tom Smith

DIGIPAK

The digipak I have created was somewhat inspired by Ed Sheeran's Plus album cover, purely for the simplicity and nothing else. The design of the digipak was completely made up of new ideas but the amount on the pages was kept to the minimum to create a familiar and recognisable to look which would not only suit the my genre but also others. The front cover if the digipak contains a guitar, this guitar is different to the one which can be seen in the video because I decided to show a variety in the type of guitar which would resemble a variety in styles of music. The theme for the first track list located on the back of the digipak is almost identical, where it features the same image as the front cover only blurred to draw focus towards the text instead. Every page on my digipak features a thin red border which stops before the main text in the top right corner. This connects all cover together as they all have a common theme. The look of my digipak is very modern looking, which I feel goes well with the song from my music video. In terms of colour, I chose neutral colours for the backgrounds, with two greyscale pictures, whit backgrounds and a black background; these are very gender neutral so will appeal to both a male and female audience, much like the original works of Ed Sheeran. For the colours of the text I chose a faded white for the front and back covers and the disk cover, and for the other three covers I chose a faded red to accompany the red borders. I decided on the white faded text because it fits well with the greyscale backgrounds, where it sometimes contrasts against dark areas but will stand out in lighter patches and are able to see through it. The red text is used to compliment the red border and make it more noticeable. The fading element of the red text is used to carry the theme an keep a house style. The reasoning behind the black disk cover is to make it stand out against the rest, out of the digipaks I researched most of them had similar colour schemes for the disk cover and the rest of the covers, on my own product I wanted to be able to distinguish between disk and everything else to let people know that its where they need to go to listen to the music.To conclude, I feel that my digipak promotes the artists image well. On two pages there is clear reference to featured tracks, on another there is a short biography on the artist which gives the audience an insight into how his career started and the front represents the ability and need to be musical with the use of guitar. All of the research I have done has shown me how to create effective and convention fulfilling products which will appeal to my target audience and possibly a wider audience.

POSTER

The poster I created for my artist was heavily inspires by the designs and looks of my digipak. To create continuity with my artist, I recycled the design from my digipak and used it as a template for my poster, I kept the borders the same style, the text the same style and even used a non-cropped version of the front image from my digipak. I decided to do this because it would help to promote both my digipak and music video. The image of the guitar is a constant link back to the use of guitar in the music video, which is also reminded on the digipak. The overall design links back to the digipak and means they can both be seen as part of a set. There is no added extra information on the poster which can not be found on the digipak, this works to try and get people to buy the digipak to get the more important information on the album.

MUSIC VIDEO

My music video illustrates the story of a young band member who gets told he is no longer in the band by its manager, he deals with this writing/performing the song which is directly aimed at the band. At the very end he is confronted and apologised to, but doesn’t accept it. The idea of the story from the chorus of the song where the title to the song also comes from. To get a feel of what the song was meant to be, I researched into it and found that the song was directly aimed Ed Sheeran's recording company who tried to stop him making this kind of music. Knowing this was the real meaning behind the song, it felt appropriate to translate this into video. I did this to try and make a video which really related backs to the song and makes the audience feel connected with the artist, by the song and video supporting individual efforts and self success.My video also shows an accurate representation of the acoustic pop genre. I also feel that by using the codes and conventions of the acoustic pop genre I have successfully reached the target audience. I have done this by using a relatable main character, a young teenager who just wants to be accepted or noticed.

MUSIC MAGAZINE

The music magazine I created in year 12 was inspired by the designs and conventions from a variety of music magazine. Much like my music video, digipak and poster, this was done to appeal to a wider audience and not just one specific genre. To achieve this I had to research multiple music genres including acoustic pop, metal and rock. I took design inspiration for the front cover from Billboard magazine, where the issue I looked was simple and effective. I trued to create a simple design because there was less risk when trying to attract an audience, I kept the information on the puffs to what seemed most exciting and relevant to the magazine. On the contents I chose a more generic design with a split contents column and large image, I split the contents column to spread the load of the page from side to the other, so any potential reader would look at other parts of the page and not just look for a page number. For the double page spread I wanted use the same simplicity from the front cover, with a large image which dominates the background, but this time is to the side. The text was below and to the side of the main part of the image, which allowed the reader still see the image and also enjoy reading the article.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I believe the combination of my media products and ancillary have been successful and effective in promoting the artist and music genre. All of my products have a link to each other, from the guitar on the double page spread to the same guitar in the music video and the song from my music video on he digipak, which has the same design as the poster. All research, planning and editing have been vital to creating products to the standard they are and I hope would appeal to the targeted audience.

EVALUATION Q3

What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?