Facebook Feedback: Ancillaries

I went to Facebook to try and get some more feedback on my ancillary tasks. 

These are some of the responses I got for my poster:

Both have positive comments to the image, but one person felt that the green background didn't really work. However, my audience hasn't seen the final music video with the final ancillaries yet, so I already thought this may make a difference to what they thought. 

These are some of the responses for my digipak:

Again, the feedback has some very positive elements, but all have commented on the inside cover of my singer looking a bit squashed. I am grateful that they have given me some things to work on now, particularly on how to make all the images link together in a way that will help the audience understand the connection between the three products. 

-Janet

Updated Ancillary Tasks

I have worked on my audience feedback, and have started making changes to both of my ancillary tasks. 

DIGIPAK BEFORE:

DIGIPAK AFTER:

The main changes I have made is fitting the images to the right sizes for the digipak frames, and rotating the inside images so that when I print it out, it will be easier to make it into the shape of a digipak. I have also edited the back cover, by changing the social media logos to the record company's logos, and adding in the copyright notice where the website addresses were. I moved the Imagine Dragons website so it is now above where it used to be. I think the changes so far make it look more like a professional album.

POSTER BEFORE:

POSTER AFTER:

I have listened to my audience feedback by changing some of the fonts to have some more variety, and for it to look visually appealing for my audience. I think my masthead font now looks more appropriate for my genre of Indie Rock, along with the mix of fonts for the reviews and the release date. I also added a twitter logo, and I am also planning to add an Amazon logo, so people will know where it is available. 

-Janet

Comparing Ancillaries

I decided to find other posters and album covers online, and compare my products to professional ones.

POSTER:

• Firstly, the main differences are that the actual Imagine Dragons poster (left) has the same image used on the album front cover, which is one of the things mine doesn't have. 
• They both have an album release date, and "featuring..."
• My poster has more reviews than the one on the left- I have three from Kerrang, Mojo, and NME
• My poster has a Facebook logo as well as the record companies' logo, which the other one doesn't have.

Generally I think my poster has stuck to the conventions of a poster in a music magazine quite well, even though there are some differences between them.

DIGIPAK:

• The front cover for "Night Visions" is the same used on the poster, whereas mine has used the rose because of its importance throughout the music video. 
• The back cover is just plain black, but I decided to use an image, but to manipulate it so it is now black and white, along with some red to carry on with the visual motif.
• Similarly, the disk is just plain black, but I have put an image where the disk will go (I still need to finish editing it).
• My inside image is of our singer, which I have noticed is a convention sometimes used for digipaks. 

Overall my digipak is quite different from the original Imagine Dragons product, but a lot of the codes and conventions are still there, so the audience will be able to see what it is. 

-Janet

Technical Difficulties

We have reached the stage where we have very nearly finished our music video. However, we have encountered some technical problems with Premier Pro over the last couple of weeks, which means we couldn't edit the final clips together of our music video, and we couldn't even show it to an audience to get feedback. This was disappointing because we were hoping to upload the video onto our blogs as soon as possible, but it now looks like we will have to wait a little longer. 
However, this has given us the time to focus on our ancillary tasks, and take the opportunity to make them look as professional as possible, and to make sure each of the products links together with the music video. 

-Janet

Audience Feedback: Ancillaries

I printed out my poster and front cover and back cover of my digipak. I put it up with a piece of paper for people to write their opinions on it, so I can see where to improve. 

I asked a male and a female from my target audience, so I could see if there was a big difference between their opinions. 

This was the feedback I got for my poster. Generally it is quite positive, but I now know I need to work on the font, and possibly add a 5 star rating. 

The feedback for my digipak front and back cover was also positive. Both people liked the images and how I linked it with my music video, and that I stuck to the codes and conventions of a typical digipak. However, I was told that the Twitter and Facebook logo possibly doesn't fit with a digipak, and to maybe remove the blur on the front cover. 

One of the main changes I was told for my digipak, was for the back cover, to remove the figure on the right hand side. This was something I was thinking about, because I felt that they didn't really fit, as they were carrying a bag, tripod, and a coat. 

Overall I am happy with the feedback from my target audience, because I know where to go from this point. However, I feel like I should ask more people rather than just two, because I can get a larger number of opinions.

-Janet

Digipak

This is the template I used for my digipak:

I decided to use one with four sections because it meant that I didn't have to have as many photos, and also because I think these styles of digipaks are more common than those with six sections. 

These are my photos. The two photos at the top aren't hugely edited because it tends to be a convention that the front and back cover are the images that need the most attention because this is what the audience sees in the shop, or online. The front and back images were the most important for me because the rose symbolizes everything that we see in the video, and the back cover is important because it has the two figures walking away, which could signify the end of something. 

From my audience research, I found that the image of the tree and the blue sky was very popular, so I wanted to include this somewhere. It links with the music video theme of nature, and it is used during one of the shots with the singer. I wanted to have an image of the singer on the inside, because when I researched digipaks, I found on Neon Trees's album "Habits" that they also did this. The same goes for Mika's album for "Life in Cartoon Motion". 

These are two different genres: Mika's is a pop album, mainly aimed for a mass audience, whereas Neon Trees is aimed for a Niche audience, like mine. 

-Janet

Audience Feedback: Digipak

I have shown some people my front cover and back cover for the digipak. 

For the front cover, most people said they liked it, and especially how the red rose stands out. However, a few people didn't like the blur, and one person said they thought the colour for "Bleeding Out" should be the same as the rose. 

The back cover received many positive points, but a couple of people questioned about the figure on the right, and that it didn't quite fit. So far, my audience has mainly been females, so I am hoping to expand my audience feedback to a variety of different people.

-Janet

Creating my Ancillaries

From using photoshop last year in my AS coursework, creating my ancillaries has been fairly easy because I already knew my way around the editing software. This presentation shows how I created my ancillary tasks:

-Janet

Digipak Research

-Janet

Filming Equipment...

As we are doing a music video, it means we won't really need certain things that would be needed for a film, such as a microphone.

The most important thing was to have a camera. I already have a camcorder, which made it easier for us because we wouldn't have to worry about borrowing them from school. 

Next, we would need to have a tripod. I have a tripod, but it was quite stiff when trying to tilt it up or down, so we used that as a plan B. However, we had the option to  borrow one from school, but we also used Tamsin's own tripod. 

We also used iPod's to play the song, particularly for the singer (it would be difficult without!) and for the scene in the forest when our lead is dreaming, and sees the love interest. 

Finally, we needed lights to create the surreal atmosphere of the nightmare. We used the school's LED lights in the blacked out drama studio to give this effect. We went for reds, as this colour is a common motif throughout the video, and it connotes danger. 

-Janet

Ancillary Task Photos

At the moment, I have started editing my initial magazine poster using Photoshop. However, I'm not quite sure if the photo would work as a front cover/magazine advert. I like the idea of having it as the back cover, as there is a lot of space on the left to write the track listing. I was thinking of using screenshots from my music video, but there wouldn't be enough to make a whole digipak. I have taken some photos for inspiration, and hopefully some of them will be able to be used in my final product.

I also put some of the photos I really liked on Instagram, to see which ones were the most popular with my audience. 

I particularly like the one with the tree, and the reflections in the puddle, because throughout my video, the theme of nature is very prominent. However, I won't make either of these a front cover image, because it isn't relevant to the narrative. I am going to take a photo of the rose, because this is the most important thing in the video, and it also shows the red motif I have been using throughout this process. I think I will use the image of the tree as part of the digipak, and the image with the reflections could be used on the back cover for this, as I believe it could work with the track listing. The only thing I don't particularly like about the image of the reflection is that there are two people, because I took it spontaneously and didn't think I would want to use it. However, I will probably ask my target audience what they think, and see if it needs editing.

-Janet