While making our Digipack we set out to get some pictures from a ‘photo-shoot’, we set out to get some quite ambient images. After doing our ‘photo-shoot’ we then came to the conclusion that they would not work quite as well as we originally planned. With the lack of time we had we could not get images that were substantially relevant.
Throughout our two ancillary texts we used the same font and colour scheme. We wanted the buyer to be able to recognise and associate the main product with the ancillary texts. In doing so, we used the same picture of Danni alongside the same image from the Digipack on the magazine advert.
Most typical Folk DVD’s feature sepia-like covers; the rest of the DVD is quite plain and ‘laidback’. We wanted to keep some of these features on our products. So we made all but one of the panels (the one with the biography), quite empty. Those panels featured a URL for the website and some logos.
In using vivid colours on our products, the buyer would be able to spot the DVD quite easily as it will stand out from others. If the buyer has seen the magazine advert as well then they might be able to spot it even quicker. For the vivid colour on the digipack we used Photoshop and like our music video, we tried to create something abstract and different from most products. The digipack featured a ‘Dolby Digital’ and ‘Sony’ logo on it.
On our digipack we did not place a barcode. We did this because we wanted the pack to be sealed in a plastic wrap. And on this wrap would be a barcode and security tag. When the digipack would be first released we were going to package a ‘freebee’ with it; which was going to be an online address that only buyers could access with their own unique access code.
The magazine advert had a variety of information on it including, Tour Dates, DVD Release date, the artist website, where the DVD was being sold at and some informative logos on it. The person reading the advert would be able to find enough information so that they could find and turn up at the store at an applicable date.
Editing our two products at the same time between Fireworks and Photoshop allowed us to consolidate them at the same time. Two of us were working on the products next to each other; in doing so we were able to get the same logos, images and information on each product accurately. Although we wanted our products to be abstract, we did not want them to look identical. Yet at the same time be able to be associated together.
Due to bad planning we did not pull a rough cut together on time for our focus group discussion. But throughout the duration of our project we were constantly getting verbal feedback from our teachers and colleagues. With the feedback that we did get we were able to make our project slightly better. We tried throughout the duration of the project to keep on track without deadlines but failed due to absences.
Some of our audience feedback helped us improve our street scene; where we were playing with the essence of time.
“I think that you should try to remove some of the green surrounding Danni. Due to the nature of the song it would make it seem quite ‘tatty’ leaving the green there. The end user might feel that the editor did not care about the appearance of his product”.
Using this feedback we tried to remove as much of the green as we could with the help of one of our teachers. Due to the gradient on the green that the excess light made we found it harder to remove all of the green that was left while post processing Danni on the computer.
We also learnt that we should have done a few more close ups of the singer. Showing her emotions while singing. This would have made the song seem more ‘personal’ and close to heart.
We received some feedback on the transitions that we placed in the video. We learnt that they were “good and slow, matching the beat to the song. They start and finish at an applicable point in the song”.
A lot of folk music videos have two shots sliding up and down the screen. This is one of the limited amounts of transitions that folk videos use. From our feedback we learnt that we should use a very limited amount of transitions in the video.
Having feedback from our audience helped us learn what we should do, what worked well and what didn't. Without an audience it would have been a shot in the dark at weather it all worked well together or not.
An example of this is that, although we went off and made something very abstract that did not typically seem like a folk product. It still worked quite well and did its job.
“The product’s as a whole would not seem like a folk video etc… someone could see this digipack in a store and pick it up thinking that it’s a dance cd. They may then think that it’s aesthetically appealing and purchase it. It leaves a mysterious and spontaneous aurora surrounding the musician. If these were real products I would be eager to see what lied ahead in the future.”
This feedback helped us to recognise that people were picking up on our main goal and that it was succeeding and leaving people in thought.
Without new media technologies we would not have been able to do any kind of research. We would not have been able to have found any information on the band or there works. It would take weeks to find things out in person. But thanks to new media technologies we were able to find out about Bassboosa and have their biography on screen in less than five minutes.
The products that we used to research, plan and construct our entire project were: The internet, www.blogger.com, www.google.com, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut, www.last.fm, camera and tripod, Microsoft Word and ITunes. Using all of these products together as a collection allowed us to rapidly plan and create a product.
The main new media technology that we used was www.blogger.com, it allowed us to put all of our thoughts and work into one collaborative workspace that people could read and keep track of our project on. Using Blogger we were able to leave feedback on each other’s blogs and use it as real life feedback on our project. Blogger also allowed us to put our rough and final cuts on it easily.
Using websites together we were able to do our research and planning stage quite quickly. We used YouTube/blogger and word together to plan. We watched music videos on YouTube a few times and then compiled our thoughts into word, analysed them with Goodwin’s theory and then posted our analysis on Blogger. We used blogger as a ‘virtual notebook’, posting all of our thoughts, ideas and creations on it, alongside some images and notes. We made each post easy to read, so that whoever was reading it would be able to visualise our ideas.
Creating our actual music video with Final Cut could not have been easier. It allowed us too rapidly create and piece together our ideas into a final product. There were plenty of filters and effects to use to make our video look however we wanted. Final cut is very ergonomic software to use. Once you are started, each tool and effect is very easy to get a hold of.
We also used Photoshop and Fireworks together to create our ancillary tasks. We used Fireworks to create the basic vectors and gradients and then post processed them in Photoshop, adding cloud and other effects to make the image seem bolder. We also used Photoshop to place the template, text and other parts of the Digipack and Magazine advert.
Using our project feedback and the new media technologies side by side we were able to create a good project. We had all of the tools at our disposal and it was down to our own effort as to how we used them. Without new media technologies we would not have been able to create anything near what we had made.