ANCILLARY: Mock Up Advertisement

These are the colours I am going to use for my digipak (pink, black and white). There will be a smoke bomb in the background and a picture of the artist although i'm unsure of whether it will be the picture above or a different one.

The Planning & Preperation Stage

Click Link: http://ashleighrichmond.wix.com/ancillaryproducts

PLANNING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: short list of pictures:

                           



Pictures chosen:

The images above are a short list of the images that I might use in my album/ magazine advert. These were taken on the first day of filming. The reason why we took them on this day was because we filmed in a white room, and by having a white room, it was easy to enhance photos and make them look more professional. We didn't take photo shoots when we were filming in other locations, which was a shame, as we have a limited amount of photos to choose from.  We tried to take as many photos as we could, so we had a variation of different poses, and we also took many with the metallic tattoos (synergy.) There were many advantages with taking photos in a white room, as we were supplied with lights which made it easier to get the right picture.

Costume:

When we came to costume, we knew exactly what we wanted. Since we filmed in a white room, we wanted to convey colour, so we made our artist wear something bright and colourful. Such as the floral shirt. Colour is an important role in our music video, and we wanted our artist to wear something that reflects POP (genre.) By having colourful costumes, it'll attract our target audience and allow our album and music video to become more distinguishable and eye catching.

Locations:

In terms of locations, we filmed in a variety of known places for our music videos, such as south bank   etc. However we didn't take any photos that looked good enough to be on an album cover. So we had to use the picture from the white room. White rooms are so common in POP music videos, it fitted the trend. As you'll find most music videos being filmed in a white room, or in some sort of club. 

ANCILLARY: Mini Pitch:

PLANNING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: Short list of colour, fonts, and layouts:

PLANNING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: Do's and dont's

Improvements On Draft

Because this is my is my first draft there are area which need to be improved. From my feedback I need to :

Digipak:

• The bold colours I intend on using may cover my synergy which needs to be seen. 
• The font may be a little hard to read due to the bright colours at the background - I have to either make it stand out more or change the font.
• Make sure all elements are added such as website and record label or labels.
• When I start to do it I must be careful that the picture doesn't look stretched. 

Advert:

• I should think about making the title stand out more by making it bigger compared to the artists name.
• The use of too many colours may be distracting from the main purpose to sell the album.
• Again the font may be hard to read with so many bright colours in the background. 
• I have to make sure I insert a date of release.

Magazine Advert Mock Up

Mini Pitch: Inspiration

Digipak Mock Up

Outside and inside 

Mini Pitch Presentation

ANCILLARY: Mock Up Digipak

Here is a mock of my digipak. The album is either going to be self-titled or named "Gold". The over is either going to be cartooned like above or the picture will remain normal. I will enhance the colours so it is very vibrant. The background of my digipak I intend to be the silver and gold pattern from artists synergy, which is her hand tattoo. My digipak will be 4 panels and these will either be kept normal or two may be black and white for example the inside two. the pattern from the background carries across the outside panels and possibly the inside too. The albums advertisement would be seen in a teen magazine.

Mock up digipak

This is my mock up of my digipak for our artist Ren. My colour scheme is going to be white,black and gold. I am planning on using the gold colour for the name of the album and for all of the tracks.  These are the two images that I am planning on using for my final digipak because both of them are photos of our artist. 

ANCILLARY: Design do's and dont's

First Idea (Front & Back)

This was my first. As you can see there isn't an image of our artist, this was mainly because I didn't think the pictures we had were strong enough and because of our synergy. Our synergy is not something 'in your face' its in a place where it would be hard to spot. Our synergy is a symbol/temporary tattoo around the artists arm. Although we have a picture of the synergy I didn't feel it of a strong enough picture. Therefore as a synergy was a symbol I got my inspiration from album covers such as Ed Sheran, Daft Punk and Coldplay.

All the covers above don't show the artist but a symbol that might represent them as an artist. Therefore I thought if I used our symbol instead of a picture it would be okay as long as there as it incorporates our synergy. However I soon realised that I had been getting inspiration from the wrong people. I forgot that these people are already established artists meaning they will be recognised whether their face is on the cover and not and the fact that their audience and genre of music is completely different to mine. This meant I had produced a digipak that was misleading and as a new artist the face should be shown. Although I am not satisfied with the pictures of our artist I will have to be really creative and deal with this.

The next time I do a draft of my digipak I have to make sure that my inspirations are from artists that are in the genre of POP. 

Short List Of Pictures

Short List Explanation : 
These were taken from the first day which is good for the digipak as its our most reoccurring shot in the music video so the audience are able to make the connection. I have decided to use these specific image because some show the main synergy clearly which will be used for the front covers. The ones which are less posed were chosen because they are more relaxed and show the fun side of the music video. Even though some pictures are not focused it adds to the vibrancy. Those kind of pictures will be good for the inside panels. The close up images will be used on the front cover as it's conventional for POP album covers, this is because it shows the artist clearly and adds to their brand image.

Costume :
Since these were taken on the day when we were filming our music video. This meant the costumes are the same as they are in music video. Although a separate shoot may have been better the costume within the pictures are bright and and stand out from the background which helps with the conventions of POP as it attracts the audiences eyes because of how vibrant it is. The use of costume changes within the picture is also conventional. There are at least three changes in costume which will show variety.

Location :
The locations and settings fit with the music genre because POP is all about current trends and in recent POP videos colours and artificial studio lighting have played a big part. The more fun and bright the locations are the more people/audience will be interested and keep with the artist as its conventional to POP they'll grow fond of it. This eventually leads create loyalty towards the artist. The locations are in recognisable places and places which POP audiences will be familiar with this includes the studio or the use of smoke bombs in the background. But the brightness of the photos is what will grab their attention especially the graffiti background as its such a relate-able background all over the world. 

Short List Of Ideas

ANCILLARY:Analysis of Magazine Album Advertisements

RESEARCH: Digipak Practice.

Teachers bad design for the front and back of their digipak

My design of the front and back of the digipak 

Untitled Haiku Deck - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

RESEARCH: Do's And Don't's Of Design Production Work

RESEARCH: Analysing 3 Digipacks

ANCILLARY: Using Photoshop For The First Time

Here is the digipak I created when using photoshop for the first time. I struggled quite a bit with coming to grips with using photoshop as tasks and features I had used on picture editing sites were harder to locate on photoshop. This digipak is very basic as I am just coming to grips with how photoshop works and all the different tools. 

I decided the digipak would be pink themed and as i thought this was what stood out in the picture and hence I decided on the name "Pink" for the album. The digipak is obviously missing lots of features like company logos, barcodes, inside panels and copyright listings. 

My next attempt at a digipak will be my real one and therefore all these details will be included and I should have improved my photoshop skills.

ANCILLARY: Analysing Real Digipaks

 

RESEARCHING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: Analysis of artist Digipaks:

RESEARCHING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: Magazine Advertisements:

RESEARCHING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: Example of how to use Photoshop:

We were giving bad quality images which we had to make our own version of a CD cover. This is my one, as you can see I had to make my one look decent even though we were given bad imagery. I tried to not stretch out the image, howver it still does look streched. It also looks very pixulated. Because we were given this image it was hard to make sure it looked good in quality, so when it comes to my final Digipak, I'm going ot have to use good quality pictures. I stuck to three main colours: white, dark pink and a lighter pink .I  didn't  want to over crowd the CD cover/ back.

RESEARCHING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: Analysis of student Digipaks:

RESEARCH: Analysing Previous Student Work (Digipak)

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RESEARCHING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS: Function of a digipak

Analysing Previous Student Work

Ancilliary Work Brief

The next part of our advanced portfolio is the production of ancillary texts which are worth 20marks (10 marks each).

Individually I will produce a digipak for the album that our music video comes from and an advertisement for the release of this digipak. My blog will be to show research into existing products, planning for both products and to account for the construction process. I will use photoshop for the design elements of this product such as layouts and picture editing and Quark for text and production. 

So I have to create a digipak for the artist 'Ren' which is either a 6 panel CD case or 4 panels. I also have to create an advertisement to accompany this.

Ancillary work brief

We have finished the first part of our Advanced portfolio. Now we are on to the nest part of the Advanced portfolio where we individually have to produce a digipak for our artist and a adveritisment for our digipak. The blog from now on will include research of existing products, planning for both of our own products and evidence of the construction process of our digipak and adveritsment.  To complete our digipak and advertisment  we will have to use Photoshop for the design and layout and for this I will have to watch a lot of tutorials and videos online about how to use photoshop to try and create a good digipak.  

RESEARCH: Function Of A Digipak

Digipak style packaging is often used for special editions of CD albums. Digipaks typically consist of a gate-fold which is book-styled, paper-board or hard stock outer binding with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. The front of the digipak should have some aspect of what the artist represents and what their genre is. Digipaks most likely embody a theme or a message about the artist  and their approach to their music. All aspects of the digipak, brand image and music video all interwoven together. A digipak benefits the artist and their music as its promotional aspect of the music industry which helps bring awareness to the artist thus selling the artist and encouraging consumers to buy and listen to their music. However when a consumer buys a digipak this also establishes their loyalty to the artist.

What is inside a Digipak 

• Graphic Design - Visual style; establishing on the front of the digipak is continued on inner panel
• Acknowledgements - Information of particular tracks 
• Images of artist - Visual branding of the artist/brand
• Repeat of track list - Which includes more detail behind the track

What is on the outside of a Digipak 

• Artist name - Large font which clear to read
• Track listing - Same font as brand/artist or album name
• Production information - Copyright and year of production, web address, record label and logo/name
• Promotional sticker
• Image of artist - Echoing visual style and colour scheme of front cover.

Ancilliary Work Brief

The next part of my advanced portfolio is the production of the ancillary texts. I have to create a digipak for the album that my music video comes from an advertisement for the release of this digipak. 

I will use the blog to show research into existing products, to show my planning for both products and the account for the construction process. I will use Photoshop for the design elements of these products and can use Quark, if I wish, for the layout and production. We will provide you with templates for the digipak that have the correct measurements (I will find both Photoshop and Quark templates in 'templates' folder on the macs) and you can use either A5 or A4 for your advertisements depending on the style that you are going for. On the teaching resources blog, linked through to the advanced portfolio, you'll find lots of examples of real digipaks and advertisements, along with student examples for analysis. Use this blog as part of your research. 

RESEARCHING ANCILLARY PRODUCTS:

I am now at the stage where I have been assigned to make a digipak and magazine advert to promote our music video. I will have to make an album, which consists of images of our artist, and a magazine advert which will help are artists to become more known.

I will be researching past student digipaks as well as professional existing albums and magazine adverts. This will help me further develop my knowledge in how to design my own promotional package.  I'll be using photoshop, so it can look professionally done, and make sure it attracts our target audience which is mostly female based. 

Notes on evaluation question 3

Review on editing

Progress Review Blog

My blogging work has developed tremendously though Research, planning, and the construction stages. I have spent a wise amount of time in all three blogging stages, this has allowed me to plan much easier. I did research a lot, looking at different artists, and genre's as well as different props that maybe used for each genre. The sting amount of research that i've done has helped me plan our music video. Planning the music video was really hard, so many ideas came across, and we barely had time to think about it, as we was going to have to pitch to the class. Planning was the most hardest part for me, in terms of locations and timings, however I still managed to come through.

Although it was hard, we knew what we wanted, and that was due to the research I've been doing, we were more prepared and we had back up ideas. I feel like i've successfully handles my blogging tasks. Most of my blogs are descriptive, and the use of different softwares allow me to produce better quality of work.  In terms of making our music video, it was fun but also time consuming. Whilst one person was editing, we had to take screen shots and analyse them- so we have evidence of what we did during the editing session. Although it was hard trying to figure out what shots should go where, by working in a team, and having a mutual agreement without any arguments has made it easier for us to work together and make our music video better.

I'm extremely happy with my blogging work so far, I feel like i've excelled myself a lot in contrast to last year. Looking back at my targets I wanted to do more individual blog posts, which is something i've accomplished. I counted up all my individual posts, which is a number of 51 posts. And including the group posts i have 128 posts so far.  All the post that i've made are descriptor and not boring, with not much to say. I tried to present them different, and lay them out more better. I will have an etxra 20 blog posts for researching ancillary products; this will up my blog grade.

Blogging mark out of 20- 18/20

EVALUATION: Notes & Ideas for Q3 and Q4

Progress Review of Blog

Finished Our Music Video!

We have finally finished our music video. We have signed off our group off the sheet and we have now given in our music video to the technicians. We are all really happy with the fact that we have finished today rather than spending more time on it because we know that tomorrow and Friday will be very busy days and it would be very stressful. We are the first group to finish our music video out of all of the groups. As a group we all feel very proud of our work and we feel like we have created the best music video possible because we have spent a lot of time on it. 

Behind the scenes!!

PRODUCTION: Skills Development (Filming & Editing)

Notes On Evaluation Question 3 & 4

Editing day 8

Reflection On Final Days Of Editing

Audience feedback for rough cut

PRODUCTION: Progress Review Blog

Throughout the research, planning and construction stages I believe I had done more blog posts on a specific stage rather than than another. I spent a lot of time researching about music videos and how they link to genres as I really wanted to be prepared when it came to planning. I was glad I did so much research as it was easy to plan the music video as we identified our genre and related to the research.

I did a lot of planning. When doing our pitch blogs, it really made me think about the music video. While doing the pitch blogs I started to think deeper about the audience, concept and the image of our artist and as I was blogging I really started to notice how the research stage was being incorporated into the planning stage. It made things much easier but was kind of tricky as the pitches had to be in detail. Overall the planning section has been successful when it came analysing digipaks and posting the analysis of the original music video.

Construction was tiring process, trying to get the right shots and making it the best it can be so resilience is key. There were times where we gave up as we thought we weren't going to get anywhere however with teamwork we have a really good music video.  During the process patience has definitely been something I have improved on. Without it, it can get very frustrating. Since everyone wants different shots and is suggesting ideas left right and centre it can be hard to concentrate and agree on a certain shot or scene so another skill I have developed is communication. listening and the talking, this makes everything easier as were taking ideas from everyone and hearing them instead of just giving a suggestion which can through us off what we really need  to finish editing. Time management was key especially to keep up with deadlines. Staying behind after lesson or coming in at lunch time helped do the little touches here and there that needed more attention than others and then when it came to the lesson we could concentrate on the bigger things.

Personally with my individual posts, I couldn't be happier. Individually I have 13 blogs which is good considering there are 32 individual blogs so far. I've been trying to do extra blogs however I stopped at some points as teachers were saying that there was a certain limit to how many blogs there were and I feel as if I'm going to pass that limit considering I still have about 20 ancillary products blogs to complete in the coming weeks. In reflection to the targets I have set I really believe I'm on target to achieving my desired mark of 18/20. Technology wise I'm okay but I really want to start vlogging as this is a technology I have yet to attempt but other wise I just need to keep blogging and coming up with new ideas to present my work.