Digipak and feedback

Text on the inside left of the cover may not be clear owing to the fact that I had to change the size of the picture in order for it to fit in my post. The text reads:

"Someone made a bet with us that we couldn't release an album with the word 'dyke' in the name...we proved them wrong- we won that 26 pence. Since then we've toured the world, played at various festivals and have gained a major following of fans to whom we are eternally grateful! We wanna say a huge thanks to our family, friends and management team for helping us achieve our goal".

After I uploaded our final digipak to Facebook, I asked people to answer the following questions:

1) Does the design of the digipak look indie?
2) What do you think of the pictures, font?
3) Is the digipak design visually appealing?
4) What do you like/dislike?
5) Any other comments?

Feedback from facebook:

Magazine advertisement

Hannah worked on the magazine advertisement whilst me and Leon worked on the digipak. Hannah applied her knowledge of the key conventions of a magazine advertisement and used Photoshop to create the first draft of the magazine advertisment. I posted the advertisement on the social networking website Facebook and asked for feedback.

FEEDBACK FROM FACEBOOK

After gaining substantial feedback from Facebook, we only changed the positioning of "Q" seeing as it was in the wrong place anyway. We took everyone's comment on board and tried our various styles however we came to the conclusion that our original style for the magazine advertisement was the best seeing as it was visually appealing, eye catching, professional, simple and gets straight to the point.

FINAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT

Final footage feedback

After Hannah and Anthony finished editing our music video, Hannah posted the video on Youtube and I pasted the link onto my Facebook asking people to answer the following questions:

1) What do you think of the narrative and performance elements?

2) Give a rating out of 10
3) What do you think of the editing?
4)What kind of genre do you think the band represent? pop? indie? rock?

FEEDBACK FROM FACEBOOK

First footage feedback

Hannah and Anthony put up the first 1 minute and 40 seconds of our music video on Youtube.

I posted the footage onto my Facebook and asked for feedback from our target audience.

FEEDBACK FROM FACEBOOK

The photoshoot- behind the scenes

In order to be prepared for the photo shoot , Leon sent out a Facebook message to all of our band members to inform them of when and where the shoot may take place. After receiving messages back from the rest of the band, we moved the date to Thursday because that was the best day for everyone.

Later on, I sent a Facebook message to all the band members telling them what kind of clothes they should be wearing. However, despite the message I sent out a few of the band members were still unclear as to what to wear so I sent out another message specifying the date, time and what the indie look consists of:

Photoshoot schedule:

1.25pm: meet at school gates

1.35pm: prepare for photoshoot, sort out instruments and locations

1.45pm: take various pictures of the band at various locations in the park

2.25pm: photo shoot finishes

Below are pictures of myself taking pictures of the band at the park. Leon and Hannah took pictures of me taking pictures of the band. The fact that we based the photo shoot in the park makes our band look more chilled and authentic rather than mechanical and fake. In the photos, I am capturing various shots of the band and their different poses. I took pictures of them jumping in the air, low angle shots of them against the railings at the top of the hill and shots of them playing around in the park to emphasise their care free and fun image.

Finding the digipak location...

In order to find the best location for our digipak photoshoot, Leon and I took pictures of various locations. I went around the school site and observed various locations that looked "urban" and "indie" and Leon went to the nearby park to do the same.

I found these locations:

I found this location near the basketball court and decided to take a picture of it because I liked the tree log and thought that the band could sit

on the tree log playing their instruments which could emphasise their "urban" and "cool" look. However when we analysed the location further we decided not to use this location as it would have been hard for us to do the photo shoot during school hours.

I found this location nearby the basketball court and thought the railings would add a cool and edgy look to the photo. However we decided to not use this location either as the background, which consists of flats and cars, would take the attention away from the band. Also it would've been tricky to do the photo shoot because we would not be able to control

the people going in and out of the building which would have delayed our shoot.

Leon took pictures of the park:

Leon took a series of pictures in the park and we decided to base the photo shoot in the park to emphasise the cool and laid back side of the band. Being cool and having a laid back attitude is a major characteristic of an indie band where members just want to have fun and concentrate on their music. Also, shooting in the park is a fresh change from basing everything in an around the school. We shot our performance element of the music video on a rooftop in our school and decided that doing the photo shoot in the park would allow our target audience to explore different venues and see another side of the band, the more fun and carefree side.

Digipak plan and brainstorm

In order to gain a better idea of what we would like our digipak to look like, I created a plan for each panel detailing what pictures, fonts, colours, poses and layouts we could use.

Leon and I also sat down together and brainstormed possible ideas for the digipak including fonts, colour schemes, what to include in each panel, how many panels we want and the measurements.

Our plan and brainstorm are embedded below:

This is our plan for the front cover and back cover:

This is our plan for the inside left and right of the digipak:

The following is our digipak brainstorm which helped us to plan out our ideas and have a clear understand of what our digipak should include:

Digipak planning...

After we finished filming our narrative element, Hannah and Anthony started editing our footage whilst me and Leon started to plan the digipak. We started off by having a group discussion where all group members voiced what they would like to see on the digipak. Me and Leon researched various fonts, photoshop effects and digipak templates to help create a rough image of our digipak.

Digipak specifications:

4 layers- barcode, copyright notice, thank you notice, various images of the band etc.

Contrasting colours- neon blue, black, white

Track listings

Image of group

Band's name

Finding the font...

Leon and I researched various fonts on dafont.com and chose 4 ones that we liked and showed them to the group:

"Juice"

"Highway Gothic"

" UBahn"

"Planet Estyle"

To find the best font, we went with our immediate gut instinct when we saw each font and decided, as a group, that "Planet Estyle" was the best font as it was bold, cool, edgy and stands out unlike the other fonts.

On set...

Pictures of our performance element:

During the filming of the performance element of the music video, we all decided that we should take pictures in order to give more of an insight in how much organisation is needed to pull together a performance. Our photographer, Leon, took pictures of all the performers and of the set.

Pictures of our narrative element:

Also, for our narrative element Leon took pictures of the whole day in order to highlight the work in progress. For example he took pictures of myself directing, holding the camera. He took pictures of Anthony filming, Hannah directing and of the domestic abuse scenes.

Measuring the drumkit...

One of the biggest problems we faced was getting the drumkit through a very narrow door. In order to prepare for this potential problem, me and Leon went to the music department and to the door that leads to the roof and measured the width of each.





We measured the biggest drum and the door and found that the door was wide enough to allow the drum to pass through therefore a potential crisis was averted.






(Photos taken by myself and Leon)

Practice Lip Sync

In order to prepare themselves to sing and edit the music video, Anthony did a practice lip sync in order to make sure he knows the words and can follow them and Hannah edited the clip in order to practice her editing skills and Leon filmed the whole clip in order to practice his camera handling skills.

Equipment/Prop/Costume list

The group's equipment manager Leon came up with a list of all the equipment we may need during the filming of both the performance and narrative aspects of our music video.

PROP LIST FOR NARRATIVE:
- GUITAR/CASE
- MOBILE PHONE
- RUCKSACK/HOLDALL BAG
- PHOTO OF THE COUPLE ENJOYING THE GOOD TIMES THEY SHARED

EQUIPMENT LIST:

- Tripod
- Two digital cameras
- Two video cameras
- School digital camera
- Mobile Phone
- IPod Speakers (to play the song in the background)
- Possible sheet for lyrics (during shooting)
- Guitars x3
- Drum kit
- Bass
- Mic-stand
- Microphone

COSTUME LIST:

PERFORMANCE:
• COLOUR SCHEME OF THE BAND: BLUE, GREY, AND WHITE
• BLUE JEANS
• T-SHIRT
• JUMPER (OPTIONAL)
• TRAINERS

NARRATIVE:
FEMALE:
• WINTER SCARF (BLUE OR TORQOISE)
• BLACK T-SHIRT
• BLACK JEANS
• BEENIE HAT
• PLAID SHIRT
• MAKE-UP (BLACK MASCARA RUNNING DOWN THE CHEEKS OF THE GIRLFRIEND)

MALE:
• JEANS
• RELATIVELY TIGHT T-SHIRT
• TRAINERS

Pictures of narrative location

We decided to film the narrative part of our music video in Hannah's house owing to the fact that her house is geographically suitable. Hannah lives very close to the school which will make it easier for us to carry the equipment back and forth school. Also, Hannah's house is very neutral and is decorated with colours such as cream, white and lilac which makes it easier for other colours to contrast against it for example our actors will wear colours such as black, grey which will contrast against the neutral setting. Also, the main reason why we chose to film inside a house is because our whole music video is based on domestic violence therefore it makes sense to base our narrative performance in a house which is traditionally seen as "domestic".

Pictures of our actors and performers

Actors:

Umair Fayyaz- Boyfriend

We asked Umair to play the role of the boyfriend in our music video because he is significantly broader and taller than Veena therefore we could easily portray him as being menacing. In order to emphasise his dominance over Veena, we will use low angle shots. We will constantly emphasising their physical difference through the use of medium shots and long shots to further signify Umair's power and Veena's vulnerability.

Veena Vasan- Girlfriend

We asked Veena to portray the role of the girlfriend owing to the fact that she has a very "indie" image with her casual styleand long side swept hair therefore other girls will find it easier to relate to her. Also, physically Veena is much more smaller than Umair which makes it easier for us to portray her vulnerability through the use of high angle shots and close ups to portray pain and sadness on her face. Also, Veena has very emotive eyes and in order to portray the fear in her eyes, we will use extreme close ups.

Performers:

Anthony Panayi- Lead singer

We chose Anthony to be our lead singer owing to the fact that he's in our group anyway therefore it makes it easier to communicate with him and he's constantly involved in the planning which means he will have a better idea of what to do in the performance. Also, Anthony fit the typical "indie" image with his casual laid back style and unkept side swept hair. Anthony also knows how to play the guitar which will makeo ur music video look more realistic and professional.

James Mudie- Drummer

We asked James to be in our music video because he knows how to play the drums which will make our music video seem even more realistic and authentic. James will appeal to our target audience because our target audience appreciate talent and a typical "Do It Yourself" indie attitude therefore they will be able to appreciate James owing to the fact that he is talented at playing the drums.

Laurence Ede- Bass Guitarist

Similarly to Anthony and James, Laurence already knows how to play the bass guitar therefore we asked him to perform for us in order to help us make our music video more realistic. Laurence will appeal to our target audience owing to the fact that he has a typical indie haircut which associates him with the indie genre and he is also talented at playing the guitar therefore our target audience will appreciate him for his skills.