48/49 Ancillary text 1&2

The artists that are similar to our original artist - Gabrielle Aplin are:

Birdy 

http://officialbirdy.com/

Christina Perri

 

http://www.christinaperri.com/

Christmas work

During the Christmas holidays I will be focusing on my ancillary production. I will be researching into ancillary products and digipaks will hopefully completed by the time I go back to college in January.
The research I will carry out will give me an idea of what is needed to make a digipak successful. effective and appealing so when I make mine, I take these things into consideration.

With the research I have carried out on a separate blog post, I will create a plan and a complete website for my artist. I plan to carry out more of a detailed research so that I get enough plans from various different artists and their websites.

After the website I will plan out my digipak and get straight to work when I go back to college, I can't download the 30 day trail of Photoshop and I don't know anyone who might have Photoshop, to avoid going off course I will have my plan completed so when I get back I can get on with my digipak straight away.

When it comes to planning my digipak I want to make sure I have everything I need, this includes having pictures of the artist with the synergy products and having my research on different types of fonts or any sort of conventions that are needed for a successful digipak.

Individual ideas for the digipak and website. (Ancillary work)

In today's lesson, we had to come up with group ideas as well as individual ones. We have a blog post where we say what our group ideas are for both the digipak and the website. 

I am going to write my individual ideas as well as post flatplans at the end of this blog post. 

DIGIPAK

I have thought about handwritten font. For example: 

I was inspired by the album cover of the original artist, Gabrielle Aplin. 

However, I also like Birdy's website. She is a similar artist from the same genre. The font used is called Blake. 

I would like to use this font because I think it is different from the handwritten that might have been overused. However, there are a lot of types of handwritten fonts. Therefore, I might use a handwritten font in order to follow the genre conventions and the blake font to make it a little bit different. 

For colours, we as a group thought about earthy and muted colours. 

I like the idea of using muted colours. However, Nina Nesbitt (a similar artist from folk genre) has her album cover in black and white with pink letters. 

Her album cover has inspired me to do something similar. 

My idea for the digipak:

I would like to have a medium long shot of our artist, River, in the centre of the album cover with a guitar. She has the bowler hat but she is throwing it and we can see the bowler hat at the back of the album cover. In this way, the front cover connects to the back cover. The name River would be bigger than the album's title. 'River' would be at the top right corner and the album's title in the middle of the cover, above the picture. 

WEBSITE

The first idea for the website was to have an image of the artist and her artistic name, then a bottom where you scroll down and have the home page. I like the idea, but looking at similar artists' websites such as Gabrielle Aplin, Nina Nesbitt and Birdy, they all have a picture of themselves and the home page together. Therefore I will stick to that pattern.

Flatplans: 

Individual Design ideas (Digipak/Website)

Digipak

1. The sort of ideas i'm going for a is a very basic yet emotive style,  I want a picture of the artist river wearing her bowler hat to create a sense of synergy as well as possibly using the guitar somewhere a long the way.
2. For the colour scheme itself i was thinking of using desaturation on most of the image except for her green dip dyed hair to give the picture some colour and to make it stick out more
3. I want her to be wearing very little make up maybe eyeliner to capture her face looking to the side and maybe get a landscape picture of her to place on the album cover so it shows all of her.
4. The font i want to use I want it to be rather  bold in terms of the artists name River to make it stand out because she is supposed to be important. 
5. I want the name of the album to look kinda hand written to look almost folky and more genuine/authentic

Website Homepage

1. For the home page i still want her to be wearing the bowler hat for the synergy aspects and maybe the guitar as well
2.  There will be social media tabs
3.  News, updates, music, shops and just the usual generally tabs
4. I want the colour scheme to be rather earthy and welcoming so the target audience get a real feel for the artists
5. The fonts will be similar if not the same to convey synergy. Preferably Bold writing for the artist and handwritten looking fonts for the tabs.
6. I want the picture of River at a landscape position with her hair covering half her face, preferably with the bowler hat on
   
   
   
   

1. Flatplan

50.Individual Design Ideas (Digipak/Website)

Ancillary Product Ideas:

We have made some group decisions on the general fonts, colours, layout and design for both our Digipak's and websites. However, we are all making individual ancillary products and we have different ideas about what we want to include.

These are some of my ideas:

Digipak:

• I may possibly use a heart symbol on the cover because it links to the album title "home is where the heart is at"
• I may have the artist placed within the heart symbol 
• I want to place the artist in front of a scenic shot (natural, nature) or in a very homely environment e.g in front of a wall (with warm coloured patterned wallpaper) or in front of a brick wall. However, I am more drawn towards a background with a nature theme because it suits the genre.
• I want to use two different fonts, a bolder, easier to understand font for the artists name and a smaller, handwritten font for the album name right underneath. The album name is longer than the artists name so in terms of layout it will work well 

These are some fonts that are similar to what I want to use.

Website:

• I want to place the name of the artist on the top of the homepage
• I also want to include a personal message from the artist herself to make the page feel more personal 
• I want to stick to the typical website design conventions because I think the way most websites of artists are structured are effective
• I will use the same two fonts for both the digipak and the website

Choice of images:

We are going to get new photos of our artist for our ancillary work incorporating both synergy props (bowler hat/guitar). I want to experiment with both full body shots and head-shots. However, I think head-shots would be more effective because I want to use a heart symbol around it and it is more emotive; her facial expressions would be clear drawing an audience in and it is a good way to introduce her as an artist and make her face recognisable. 

FlatPlans:

Group design ideas(Digipak/Website)

Digipak

• We want to make sure that the bowler hat is included on the digipak and maybe even the gitar to create a sense of synergy.
• The colour scheme that we want to go for is rather desaturated/black and white and maybe some earthy colours similar to that of the artist Birdy.
• We want natural colours/Scenery with the artist wearing minimal make up
• The artists name River will be in bold black writing 
• Our album title will be 'Home is where the heart is at' preferably sorta hand written to make it seem rather folky and down to earth

Website Homepage

• Bowler Hat/Guitar 
• Social media
• New, updates, music, shop and basically tabs 
• Earthy/muted colours
• We're gonna use the same font to create a good sense of synergy

48/49. Researching Ancillary Products

Artists similar to our original artist Gabrielle Aplin are:

• Birdy
• Nina Nesbitt

Link to Birdy's website:
http://officialbirdy.com/
Link to Nina Nesbitt's website:
http://www.ninanesbittmusic.com/

Nina Nesbitt Analysis:

Birdy Analysis:

40. 3rd Filming Day (Day of Re-shooting)

During the filming process we had to refilm a lot of the work we had originally filmed due to feedback we had gotten from teachers, these included:

-Base tracks, we originally only had 3 basetracks so on our day of reshooting we tried to film as many base tracks as we possibly could to fill up the verses and to get some more interior ones.

-We also needed to refilm our second lot of flashback scenes again due to bad camera angles however we were unable to film at the original house so had to choose a new location. Another problem was the space in between the actors and the space above them, there was a large white gap.

47. Class Discussion On Importance of Digipaks.

46. Progress Review Blog

Work for over Christmas

I will begin work on my ancillary products. My research on ancillary products and Digipaks will be completed before the Christmas break meaning I will have a clear idea of what needs to be included and what would make my Digipak successful and appealing.
I will firstly plan what I will include on my website by looking at my blogpost for the analysis of the original artists website and see if there are certain codes and conventions that would work well with our music video and ancillary products. I will sketch my ideas for my website on paper before continuing.
After completing the website, I will make a start on the Digipak. I am planning to download the 30 day free trial for PhotoShop so that it is accessible from home. Similarly, I will again be looking at the original artists Digipak and I will be looking out for certain codes and conventions that may work successfully with our music video and genre of music. Again, I will be drafting my Digipak design on paper. I will the be aware of the sorts of images I will want to use and will therefore have to take some photographs, including photographs of the artist.

45. Notes & Ideas for Evaluation Q.3/4

Planning Evaluation Question 3 & 4 - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

23) Synergy in 3 productions

The two main props we're going to incorporate into our work our a guitar and a bowler hat, they will be shown in all our media concepts to show the use if synergy, something that links all our text together:
-Digipack/CD
- Music Video
-Trailer

The reason we chose these two props is because they eminate the idea of folk they're basically the two main components of a folk video, some wooden instrument and a hat to give off a humble natural and stop back look to make the video kook more emotive and appealing.

24) Initial ideas for design and layout of digipak and advertisement.

The main and initial idea we had for our CD/Digipack was to have the face or upper torso of our artist across the front of our cover to obviously introduce the artist in the best light possible. We also wanted to place either one of our two main props, the guitar or the bowler hat to introduce the ides of synergy

The main colour scheme we were going to go for was a shade of green. Possibly a pastel colour to show the light heart folk genre we were trying to portray. Mainly because the most generic folk videos have a large amount of nature type places in them so we believed it be a nice touch to incorporate that into ours

40. Reflection on changes

What goes well:

In my opinion I feel like what made the music video so successful was the two main base tracks from Hampstead Heath. The lighting in the shots made Heather out actress look so mesmerising and eye catching making the shot more appealing to the target audience. I also feel like the camera angles also played a big part in how successful they were, I feel like these shots were more planned out and time was taken to get them right especially the one with the guitait because it showed a wide angle of not only our artist and her proper but the scenary as we'll showing just how folly and nature filled the video actually was. They were also the most used bastrack as they appear through the main two verses at the beginning.

Things to change:

The main thins we had to change were the second flashabcaks due to bad camera angles. The whole thing was at such a high standard it made those shots look poor, they also had a large space above their heads distracting the viewer from the artist. The basetracsk and where they were positioned was also a problem. We decided to start with the exterior shots in the Heather leading onto the the interior shots in the house to make the last verse look more home like and authentic and to fill up the gaps of missing footage.

39. Notes & Ideas for Evaluation Q.1

The first evaluation question asks:
"In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"

For this question, I must also talk about my ancillary products.

I want to be able to compare our final products with the existing ones we drew inspiration from. Therefore, I think it is best to use a digital technology that will enable me to portray the comparison well. I think I will screen cast using camstasia. I haven't used this form of digital technology on the blog so far. Also, I think it is the most effective way to visually and audibly express what I have to say.

When talking about both our music video and the original, I will refer back to the forms and conventions and our Vernallis and Goodwin blogposts to refresh my memory and see whether we challenged their conventions and theories.

I will also include the original video and edit it to add annotations so that I can comment on how it differs to our final music video.
I can also annotate images. I will annotate images of the digipak of the artist that inspired us and comment on the similarities and differences it has with my planned DigiPak.

27. Final ideas and influence

For our music video we tried to keep it close to the original as possible, even using similar camera angles and story lines, the song was of course Gabrielle Aplin home. The reason why we tried to keep it as close to the original as possible it because we wanted the natural folk type look, this is basically the main reason behind why we chose not to use green screen because it would destroy the nature vide and evoke the correct emotions we wanted.

We really tried to relate to the lyrics of the song, the whole idea of her heart being where the home is at and her home is with him, so we made the video itself rather narrative. Her being in Hampstead heath showing the natural folk look having a rough time and then our flashbacks being a reminder of her at a happier time.

As you can see from the images they really show a raw folk type vibe with minimalist festures

One of out biggest influences would be Taylor Swift Back to December. The song itself differs to the actual genre of the original however the video itself really portrays that homely feel for being alone and it give you a focus on the artist by showing the minimalistic features.

The only part of our video which sticks out from all influences is the bath scene. However the reason we chose to use it is because we believe it to be really emotive and it shows a lonesome aspect of the artist singing by herself making it kinda personal.

Photoshop Practice

37/46 Progress review blogs

How successfully do you think your blog details the research, planning and construction stages of your music video?

I feel like in some aspects it is rather detailed however i feel like minus the pitch I feel like it lacks detail and visual representation of what we were trying to portray. I feel like I put a lot of thought into the generic aspects of folk music video and the similar artists to make out music video better.

How happy are you with your individual blogging so far, in relation to the targets you've set yourself? 

I feel like I have let myself down a lot, I think I started out well but I slacked on time keeping and don't believe that I have done a great amount of blog work, I also feel like I haven't used a wide range of ICT to format my work

Count up how many individual blogs are included in your overall blog count.

I feel like I have roughly done between or around 15-20 blog posts individually, in all honesty I believed I could've been more committed to the blogging but I feel like I didn't keep up

Mark out of 20:

I feel like I would roughly get  around 12-13 marks mainly for the lack of time keeping, my limited use of ICT would also deminish my marks and effect my grade 

Feedback from Final Music Video Screening

After the screening of the music videos, we decided to gather some feedback from our peers to see what they thought of our music video. We respected the views and the opinions that were given because the people we asked are inclusive in our target audience and are therefore the people that we are aiming to appeal to.

This was the reaction of the audience at the end of our music video screening:


IMG_4233 from Diana Baukerte on Vimeo.

This is what our target audience had to say about our music video:


feedback for final video from Diana Baukerte on Vimeo.

38. Photos from filming

CANDI MEDIA - INSTAGRAM

This instagram page contains pictures and videos of when we were filming for our music video.

Progress review blog.

How successfully do you think your blog details the research, planning and construction stages of your music video?

The amount of blog posts has increased compared to last year's blogs. However, I think I could have done more blog posts as well as used some ICT apps, but when I was in a rush I just typed and uploaded them. In terms of detailing the research, planning and construction, I personally think both individually and group posts are detailed and clear. We asked each other for help when someone was struggling with a blog post. This helped us include missed details in order to post a good blog post. 

How happy are you with your individual blogging so far, in relation to the targets you've set yourself?

I am happy with my individual blogging compared to last year. I feel encouraged to do more blogging and feel like I know what do to because of the check list our teachers provided us. Additionally, we have workshops every day so that we can ask for help to the technicians or our teachers in order to improve the quality of every blog post. However, I have recently started to look at the check list. Therefore, I am a little bit disappointed because I feel like I could have kept blogs up to date and I did not. In relation to the targets I have set myself, I could have used some ICT and do more blogging. 

Count up how many individual blogs are included in your overall blog count. 

I have around 21 blogs that I have posted individually. I feel like I should have done more blogs. However, I will read my teachers' feedback carefully and do whatever they think I need to do in order to upgrade my blog.

Synergy for ancillary products.

We are going to use two props for our three ancillary products.

• Our music video
• the digipack
• the website for our artist

The props we are going to use are a guitar and a bowler hat. 

They both appear in our music video because our genre is folk. We decided to take this objects as props for this genre because we though they would suit the folk genre and also, because a guitar is played by Gabrielle Aplin in the original music video. The bowler hat is an object we wanted to include in order to make it part of our artist, River. 

2. Summer work

Original Music Video:

STROMAE - FORMIDABLE