final music video

A2 Evaluation - Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

The brief that my media group and I were given to complete constituted a production of a music genre of any genre, with the exception of "grime", "hip-hop/rap" or "R&B", with the addition of two ancillary texts: an advert to be featured in a magazine, as well as a digipak. The group I was with decided to pick the indie genre for our production brief, as we felt this would be the most effective one to make a more unique and exciting video. As a group we settled to use Gabrielle Aplin's song "Salvation" for our music video, and base our ancillary products on her music, as we felt both the artist and the song had real deep meaning we could use to be as creative as possible with.

Before beginning to plan out our indie music video, my group and I first began to research what a music video actually is, i.e. what elements make it up, such as the style of the video or the codes and conventions a specific genre may uphold. In our research we found that the original use of it was simply a financial or promotional tool for the artist to establish the artist. However, as times have progressed, as has technology, artists are now able to create more dynamic videos to appeal to a specific audience; perhaps even to express themselves personally. Music videos are now an effective way for an artist to establish their audience, whether they are new to the industry or as they feel like re-inventing their image (and therefore would like a new audience). Many artists use music videos to reach new audience, as depending on the style of their music video, whether it be performance, concept or narrative, the artist can connect to a set audience. For example, artists, such as Ellie Goulding, may change their genre over time as they would like to explore other avenues of the industry and creatively develop themselves. Ellie Goulding's music has changed from the indie genre to the pop to a slightly more electro-pop style of music. Indie music videos feature narrative styles to express a deep story, whereas pop will use concept-based videos, and moving more into the EDM genre, performance videos are used.

From doing extensive research into indie music videos to aid in my own production, I found a similar trend in the indie codes and conventions. One music video that I looked at in depth was "Panic Cord" by Gabrielle Aplin, which made perpetual use of these generic conventions all throughout her video. The first convention I picked up on was the use of both performance and narrative styles in the video, which I personally appealed to as it gave the video an overall more effective look. From researching media theories such as Dyer's Paradoxes, I found that the artist playing a musical instrument (a guitar) was useful in illustrating her as extraordinary, as Dyer claims. The use of this representation allows for a formation of a bridge between the audience and the artist so that the former can aspire to be more like the latter. Therefore the audience will actually be able to become active within the music video, taking something useful from it. The performance scenes were intriguing to watch as they contrasted well against the narrative aspect of the video, which showed different part of the artist's life; one where she is alone with her thoughts; therefore more intimate, and the other where you see the artist trying to express her feelings into a story. The use of watching other music videos as well as this particular one, I found that although I desired to employ both a performance and narrative style to my own video, the latter would be better served to dominate as it allows an arise of deeper meanings and connotations; particularly as indie lyrics are full of emotions and are more interesting when expressed in a story-like manner. I also found that having this narrative in "Panic Cord" allowed myself to understand the lyrics the artist was singing in the performance side of the video a lot more coherently; therefore I wanted to emulate the same effect in my own music video. Another convention that I picked up on was the use of natural lighting, mixed with high-key lighting. Throughout the music video of "Panic Cord", there is a lot of bright light, almost eerie, which helps with Gabrielle Aplin's narrative, as whilst she looks through her box of memories, the intensity of the light creates a dream-like effect. These almost transcendent connotations allow for the audience to actually feel as if they are genuinely watching a real-life memory. I found this style of lighting to be quite conventional of the indie genre as, a lot of the time, the artist reflects on happier moments in their life. It also helps to link in with the convention of using natural images, rather than artificiality; the natural light which streams in through the windows, illustrates how peaceful and natural the video is; this allows for a reflection upon the authenticity of the artist themselves. Through my research into other indie music videos, I discovered that many indie artists wear rustic/comfortable style of clothing, rather than clothes that would be deemed as "mainstream fashion". One example of a music video that quintessentially demonstrates such convention is Gabrielle Aplin's "Please Don't Say You Love Me". Not only does the artist adopt a indie style of clothing, with her casual dress, but as do the characters in the video; the clothing of baggy jumpers and jeans reflect the characteristics of the genre. Furthermore, the colors of the costume have been given considerate thought; the use of blues and whites for the artist help to connote a sense of innocence as well as there being something more about the artist, beyond the surface. Moreover, the neutral colors which the two protagonists adopt ties in with generic conventions as the indie genre disregards bright and bold colors, as they do not connote naturalness of the outside. In my own music video I really appealed to using this costume style; however, I developed the inspiration by actually changing the colors of the costume throughout, making them darker as the narrative progressed, as the mood changed. For example, at the start of my music video, the artist wore white to illustrate the innocence of the relationship and her happiness; however this juxtaposed with the later colors of greys and black the artist wore as the narrative developed and her feelings became a lot more negative.

For my own music video, my group and I actually decided to both conform and subvert to the indie genre conventions. We decided to start off by following the convention of using both a performance and narrative style in the music video as this way we would be able to firstly, show our artist as an authentic indie artist whom the audience could relate to; and secondly, we would be able to incorporate a deep and meaningful story which the audience can enjoy and use if they are confused about any of the lyrics. Despite it being evidently appealing for the audience to have performance aspects in the shots, as if they cannot see the artist live, it makes them feel like they have actually had the chance to do so, I still think it is more interesting to include a narrative. A narrative would actually appeal to a wider audience, which is a key reason my group and I decided to incorporate it, as even if the audience does not particularly like indie music, they can still appreciate a good storyline. In addition, members of the audience watching an indie music video will expect to be emotionally moved by it and therefore having a lot of performance will not do this as easily. However, my group and I also decided to challenge the indie conventions as we integrated settings of both the countryside and the city. Despite the fact we found that using the city was not particularly conventional, in a questionnaire we completed as part of our primary research, a substantial amount of people said they do prefer the city; therefore to make the video as unique and appealing to as many people, we decided to incorporate both types of locations. To do so, we used time-lapsed shots of the London city life. The purpose of using London as opposed to simply using a slightly busy town area, was that the city has a particular hustle-bustle and chaotic feel to it; in relation to the music video, using this setting would reflect the artist's busy and extraordinary lifestyle, as she is a celebrity. In addition, it would also add meaning to the video as the crowded city connotes a sense of suffocation and claustrophobia, which the audience can interpret stemming from the intensity of the narrative. Using both types of setting is useful in perhaps taking the audience by surprise, as it is quite an unexpected feature; they will consequently be more likely to enjoy the video as it is something fresh and unique, set apart form other indie videos. My group and I also developed conventions of the indie genre through the use of having both a happy and a sad narrative. As "Salvation" is a love song, my group and I wanted to make the video as emotionally intense as possible, to keep the audience absorbed in the tumultuous narrative. For example, the video starts off extremely happy, with their being cute and romantic scenes of the couple enjoying their relationship. However, through both the music and the visuals, the audience can see that the narrative takes a rather intense shift and the male protagonist goes off to war. Although nothing terrible has occurred to him yet, the audience can see through the visuals that something may occur; therefore they will feel a lot more engaged in the video as they feel genuine concern for the characters. When the male protagonist does die, the audience will emotionally feel it as they feel as if they have actually known the character and been a part of their life. This is actually a beneficial way of making the music video more realistic as if you can emotionally connect to the character, you feel as if the narrative is genuinely true. The audience would therefore be able to relate it to their own lives and therefore feel a closer connection the artist for portraying such real-life narratives.  

A2 Evaluation - Question 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? 

Throughout the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages of my production, new media technologies were extremely crucial in the role they played in aiding the quality of the three products. Without such advanced technologies, my group and I would not have been able to create such diverse and professional looking products.

For the research part of the process, I used a lot of technologies, including Google (and Images), Youtube and Blogger. These three websites helped me to gain insight into pre-existing music videos, magazine adverts and digipaks. Google helped me to find inspiration of ancillary texts and Blogger subsequently gave me a platform to compile all my research onto to talk about and refer back to later on. Youtube was also helpful in discovering music videos I could use to gain inspiration from. Having Blogger always open in a separate webpage allowed me to put any research I found from Google and Youtube in it straight away. It was also useful in allowing me to compare between what I had found and choose what I most liked. For example, I created a blog post titled "Music Video Inspirations", where I talked about five different music videos I gained ideas I could develop in my own unique way. One music video, "All I Want" by the indie band, Kodaline, made use of drained saturation in their editing. I therefore analyzed the use of this in Blogger after watching it in Youtube and employed it into my own music video. I went further than this, researching whether the elements that I chose to inspire me are conventional of the indie genre; some actually were not and therefore it was helpful as a producer to see if it would be useful to subvert these conventions. 

I found that this method of research was a beneficial way of producing a more successful piece of work as I was extremely organized in knowing exactly what elements I wanted to include in my own production; furthermore, the use of new technologies strongly aided as the information was so readily available. Blogger proved to be the most helpful of the technologies in my research stage as it allowed me to embed images or documents so I have as much guidance in my production as possible.

In the planning of my production, I used Blogger again as I noted down any ideas and analyzed my own work. Blogger allowed me to talk in depth about my own ideas, which meant I could constructively criticize my own work and see what could be changed and made better. I used the research I made into indie artists' work to aid in planning my own production; I used Blogger to make in-depth analysis of why certain conventions and micro-elements would be appealing to conform to or even subvert. As well as using Youtube to research and then plan for my music video, I also used Google Images to help plan my ancillary texts. For example, I made two separate blog posts called "magazine analysis" and "digipak analysis" where I looked into Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert and digipak, as well as two other indie artists. I then used this research to draw out my own magazine advert and digipak, which I then took a picture of and uploaded into new blog posts: "planning individual magazine advert" and "planning individual digipak" and analyzed the elements I chose to include. Using these new technologies was extremely useful as otherwise I would not have been able to gain research from various locations, e.g. Youtube and Google Images, to then plan my own products.

For the actual construction of my products, I had to use more advanced technologies; I used software such as Final Cut Pro X to edit my music video and Photoshop CS6 to create my ancillary texts. However, I also used hardware, such as an SLR camera and a tripod, to professionally capture various shot types at different angles to make my music video more successful. Furthermore, using such a proficient camera means I could acquire a high resolution of shots, as well as allowing for larger frames. Therefore as I was using an SLR, it was beneficial to use Final Cut Pro X to edit the footage as the software supports 4K style of filming; my work would effectively work far more professional this way.


Overall all of the technologies did have more benefits as they allowed me to go through a piecemeal process that meant I was on track with my production and I knew exactly what I was doing. This also meant that I had a note of everything I had done, am doing and have planned to do in my production so I would have the desired outcome. As I had never previously created a production based upon the indie genre, technologies such as Youtube and Google allowed me to research the conventions; however as I did extensive research into various indie artists I was able to see how they used these conventions. For example, some artists manipulated conventions, even subverting them to make their video more unique and dynamic. The most important of all the technologies involved was the use of the Macs, as without this hardware, I would not have been able to have access to the professional software such as Final Cut Pro X or Photoshop CS6, which unlike other software, do not have as advanced tools one can work with. Furthermore, using technology such as Youtube was an extremely helpful way to quickly gain public feedback, as it is accessible to all, and I could share it on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to get a wide range of opinions. Conclusively, without digital technologies I would not have been able to create an as appealing video as otherwise.

A2 Evaluation - Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

From reviewing all three of the products I made, I can see that they really work well together. I had to plan out the ancillary texts after my music video, and was therefore able to use elements of the video to aid in their production. All three texts combined are extremely useful in showing the audience more about the artist, how she views herself and how she would like to be viewed; this allows the audience to form a strong relationship with the artist as she is being quite personal. 

The first ancillary text I produced was my magazine advert. I gained inspiration for this by doing extensive research into other magazine adverts of the indie genre. Doing this allowed me to see how an indie artist links themselves to their products when being advertized, so I had a substantial idea of how to make my own ancillary products as effective as possible. One indie artist I appealed to was Bastille; I looked at his magazine advert for "Bad Blood", as well as considering the elements the artist I chose to base my entire advanced portfolio on, Gabrielle Aplin, used in her advert for "English Rain". From Bastille's advert, I was inspired by the use of the artist on the road at night, running in the opposite direction of the camera. However, using Photoshop, I developed this inspiration by changing the image from being set during the day to during the night. I chose a countryside location to reflect the indie genre and keep the target audience appealed as the audience hold certain expectations of what to see. Furthermore, the location helps to create a more rustic feel to the magazine advert and allows the audience to automatically see the genre it belongs to. In addition, as opposed to the artist in the "Bad Blood" advert running away with a scared facial expression, I shot my artist with one of confidence. The reason for doing so is as I wanted to advocate the representation of the artist being independent and strong, as in the narrative of the music video, this is how she is shown after going through such an ordeal of losing her partner. 

Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert also helped me as I appealed to how the artist was captured in a long shot, rather than a close up. I incorporated this into my own advert as it is conventional of the genre to focus on an idea, rather than the artist themselves. The use of dark colors in my advert was inspired by both Bastille and Gabrielle Aplin, as the former uses an image at night, which I appealed to as it connotes enigma and suspense; as if there is more to known. I thought this would work well in my own video as the audience may have started watching it presuming it would be your typical love story; therefore they would not expect the distraught plot twist. Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert was effective to look at as I liked how she had a juxtaposition between greyscale and color; I wanted to create a similar sombre mood in my own advert, to illustrate that the indie genre has deeper meanings and connotations, that reflect real life events. Therefore this is more appealing for the target audience as they can relate to the artist and their life.

The digipak I created, alongside the magazine advert was also effective in combination with my music video as I took on board the components of the latter to provide continuity in my ancillary product. I kept with the theme of there being many conflicting emotions, as seen in my music video, by making half of my digipak have a light color scheme, whilst the other half adopts a darker, stronger contrasting one. This way, it shows how the artist does not work on the basis artificiality in their music, but rather shows the workings of real life and demonstrates how "celebrities" go through such hardships as well.

Another concept I think works well with my digipak is the use of simple editing. Other genres, such as pop or EDM, rely heavily on synthetic visuals in their music videos. However, with the indie genre, minimal editing is key. Therefore, as with my music video where the editing was quite low-key, consisting primarily of trimming and chopping, as well as adding transitions such as fades in between performance and narrative shots, to separate them, my digipak remained simplistic. I never went beyond using editing tools such as blurring/sharpening images, adding filters or perhaps cutting out an image. This helps to both maintain regularity in the visuals of both productions and show the audience consistently that this is an indie genre product; but also to reflect on the genre conventions that disregard overly complex editing, as this would wrongfully illustrate the artist to be artificial. The editing must appear natural throughout, as both the music and the visuals reflect nature; this would appeal to the target audience as they like the simplicity of the indie genre. 

With all three texts combined, I do think they work together effectively. All throughout the production of each product I have questioned each aspect I chose, asking whether it would really work and how it shows a particular ideology I have used elsewhere in my work. I also considered the role of the audience and how elements appeal to them, as they are the ones who watch music videos or buy the products, and therefore they are the ones who promote the artist, and generate more sales. Overall, I do think that my digipak and music video work the most effectively as all the sides of the digipak help to say something about what is shown in the music video. They represent the artist as being natural and relatable, through the mix of colors which help to reflect the artist's emotional complexity.

A2 Evaluation - Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Having audience feedback is exceedingly beneficial in the production of a music video as it gives the creators the chance to make improvements. As it is the target audience who would most likely be making comments, it allows my my group and I to make changes based on their preferences. And at the end of the day, it is not really about what the director wants that is most important, but rather what the audience wants, as they are the ones who watch the video. Another reason why audience feedback is so crucial is because it means that if a lot of people make similar comments, a changeable aspect is immediately made known of, which my group and I may not have even thought about.

For our own music video, my group and I received feedback from the audience through various methods. One way was through the use of uploading a rough cut of our music video to Youtube where we asked our peers to watch it, writing reviews in the comment section. We received a variety of both positive and negative comments; one positive comment was about the editing my group and I had used. The audience mentioned how we used "good transitions between shots, making the narrative flow better"; this was useful as it showed how although we used minimal effects or transitions, what we used worked well and the audience appealed to this simple use.

However, we also received critical comments; one girl mentioned how she thought the video "needs more performance", as the narrative dominated the video. However, despite our appreciation of the constructive criticism, my group and I did not think it was a particularly major issue to regard as we purposefully constructed our video so that the narrative side of it would be more prominent. We did ensure to review our music video again after reading this comment and we included a few more shots of the artist in the performance aspect of the video, in between some narrative shots we thought they paralleled well with. However, my group and I did find that this was not the most helpful of comments as evidently it did not relate to the planning process of our video. In addition, only one person made this negative comment, as everyone else mentioned how the narrative was really good and worked extremely well.

Another critical comment my group and I received was concerning the verisimilitude of the shots of the male protagonist going to war. The audience member mentioned how the setting was not actually realistic enough. However, although we acknowledged the reasoning behind such a comment, we could not actually do much about the issue as we evidently could not have filmed in a real-life war-zone. Therefore, the best that we could do was have shots of the male character running across a big field wearing army gear and show close ups of him picking up a gun, holding it and "shooting" it. After seeing this comment, my group and I attempted to see if we could make any changed to the video. After watching it again, the only thing we could do is crop out as much of the background, where we shot the male character pointing the gun, as we could, as the location was in a garden. However, I think considering out limitations, my group and I filmed these shots well.

Another method of gaining feedback was through a rapper of "Boy Better Know" coming into our class and reviewing out work. This method was called "screening the production", and after doing so, we gained substantial feedback. Comments regarding the credibility of the emotion intensity were made and we were advised to consider including more meaningful, love-related scenes as possible, such as the couple on a walk or sitting in a café together. Therefore, we ensured that when we actually filmed the scenes remaining in the video of the couple on their first date, or the scene where they fight, or the male protagonist dying, we tried to mediate as much emotion in it as possible. This was a useful comment to us as it showed us that the video was lacking in the convention of being emotionally moving for the audience; if this was so, it would not mean the artist was presented as relatable to the audience as otherwise. 

Both these methods of gaining feedback were extremely helpful to my group and I as they allowed us to boost the quality of the video as much as possible. We found some of the comments were actually quite similar and therefore it was useful that we gained feedback, otherwise we would not have been aware of people's issues with it. Audience feedback has been a good process as it shows how a music video, or any production in general, is only finished when at least the majority of the audience approve of the elements chosen. It also shows how in a production you cannot be thinking about whether an aspect is appealing to you personally but whether it will engage the audience and focus on their likes. This is essential in the music industry as having a rough cut where the audience can give feedback would be a beneficial way for the production group to see where the weaknesses in their work are; if they can change these elements, the artist will be able to be promoted more successfully and therefore more sales will be generated. There are often specific demands of the record label to represent the artist in a certain way as the audience have particular expectations of how they would like the image of the artist to be like. Overall, I have learnt a lot from receiving audience feedback and it has been a very helpful process.

final individual ancillary texts

MAGAZINE ADVERT

DIGIPAK

diversity of music videos

In order to make a music video as diverse and unique as possible, the artist must not strictly adhere to the expected codes and conventions of their genre. This way, the audience will be able to watch something they have never seen before; producing something similar to many other videos already out there is exceedingly tedious to watch. Making a music video as diverse as possible, with it still loosely following genre conventions, allows a more interpretive meaning to unfold for the audience; this allows the audience to actually engage with the music video and become an active audience and look beyond the actual visuals they see to discover underlying meanings. Furthermore, if the artist would like their music video to be remembered or just to gain more public attention, then creating a diverse and unique music video means that it will be far more memorable and talked about; a good example is "Gangnam Style", which is so obscure that everyone is aware of it. However, issues may arise in that the artist may stray too far from the genre codes and conventions in an attempt to create something so memorably unique; this would definitely not be appealing for the audience as whether subliminally or consciously, that have certain expectations.

A quintessential example of a music video director who tends to go against genre conventions is Chris Cunningham. The British director tends to create abnormal and unique music videos by including weird types of characters, dark or creepy themes and strange editing styles. Two famous examples of music videos Cunningham directed are "Frozen" by Madonna and Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker".

The first music video, "Frozen" by Madonna, who is a well-known pop artist. However, this music video subverts the pop genre conventions due its dark and mysterious content. Through the misc-en-scene of the video, we can see how the costume and makeup used shapes the visuals; Madonna is shown wearing a black dress which contrasts with the extremely pale makeup look. The use of this aspect ensures to build a relationship between the visuals and the music as the beats reflect the eery and slightly ominous tone. Goodwin proposes one essential aspect to a music video is for there to be a relationship between the music and the visuals as this is an efficient way of bringing the music video together well so the audience find it easy to follow, interesting and professional. The gothic appearance of the video illustrates Cunningham's style as he strongly subverts against the pop genre conventions of using bright, positive and flashing images. The use of the color black for Madonna's costume is key as its connotations establish a certain representation of the artist. Black connotes death and misery, associations one would conventionally make with the heavy rock or metal genre, not pop. However, despite this alteration in generic conventions, the audience are still able to relate to the artist as Cunningham adopts a performance style of video; this allows the audience to see the artist in their element, performing, as if they are seeing them live. There is also some concept style to the music video; Madonna portrays love in a negative and detrimental way, giving a more intense video. In conventional pop music videos, the artist usually takes a more light-hearted and almost jokey tone in comparison to this video, using vivid colors and excessive editing. However, the different ideologies given by the artist in this video in contrast to other pop music videos allows the audience to really think about the messages of the artist; this way, they can actually engage with the video, and therefore makes it more interesting. Furthermore, the different style of video Cunningham has created, a more raw music video, will make the audience feel like there is actually something useful they can take from it, a more real-life message behind it. Whereas in other of Madonna's music videos she is seen as following conventions of the pop genre and sticking with mainstream elements such as her clothing being quite provocative and her more alluring manner, as well as using brighter visuals with heavier editing, in this video her representation alters as she subverts the genre conventions. There is a more rebellious nature to her attitude, similar to what one may see in say the heavy rock or the metal genre. This change in behavior could indicate that perhaps she is attempting to attract a different type of audience as she wants to reinvent herself.

The next video is Apex Twin's "Windowlicker", an artist belonging to the electronic genre, being of intelligent dance music style. However, unlike the conventional use of flashing strobe lights, this video adopts different elements. Chris Cunningham employs his dark sense of humour in the the directing of this music video, making it an 11-minute parody, bluntly criticizing contemporary American gangster hip-hop music videos.

As with Madonna's music video for "Frozen", there is a clear relationship between the music and the visuals. Near the middle of the music video, there is a sequence involving the artist dancing with an umbrella and every time he moves the umbrella, the beat changes. The in-synch effect is a convention of Cunningham; the shots consequently prove to be seen as a lot more powerful. This strong relationship between the music and the visuals means that the audience will unthinkingly assume it is the artist who is actually making the noise, creating a more surreal video. Another example of such a powerful effect of this music and visuals relationship is where the man in the limousine pops opens a bottle of champagne and there is a parallel fuzz sound of the music. Simultaneously, there is a shift in the visuals as a filter effect is applied and makes the shot darker, suggesting that the video is not a light-hearted one. In fact, the narrative is predominantly one that makes the audience feel extremely uncomfortable as it is quite satirical; furthermore, the fact that the video starts off with a narrative subverts EDM conventions as it hinders the desire to dance when watching it. The shots of the umbrella also link with Goodwin's theory of there being demands from the record label as the umbrella has their logo on it. As the audience will be quite engaged within these shots as they are quite dynamic, they will see the logo and associate it with the artist from there-on; this is an extremely effective way of promoting the artist well. The artist is represented as being quite charismatic, through the use of his dancing extraordinarily; this would attract to the female audience as they like to see males dancing.

Furthermore, the use of iconography such as the limousine and the color of white of the costumes help to portray the connotations of excessive wealth and flashiness which the EDM genre is concerned with.

Another director I looked at was Michael Gondry. In stark contrast to Chris Cunnigham, Gondry takes a more simplistic approach in his visuals; his music videos create a more relatable image for the audience. Two famous examples I will look at are "The Hardest Button to Button" by The White Stripes and "Come Into My World" by Kylie Minogue.

The first music video, "The Hardest Button to Button", which adopts a predominantly performance style, conventional of the rock genre. We can see this in the iconography of the musical instruments, such as the guitar and drum-kit. The dominating use of instruments helps to portray the artist as extraordinary in their talents, just as Dyer claims. This, in turn, helps to build an artist-to-audience relationship as it shows the artist being quite authentic, which a rock audience would appeal to, rather than elaborate editing and effects. Furthermore, the heavy performance aspect helps the audience to feel as if they are actually seeing the band live in concert, giving a more personal feel to it. Referring to Goodwin's theory of music videos, there is a clear match between the music and the visuals. Everytime there is a beat in the music, the artist moves forward as their instruments duplicate. This creates an effective look in that it allows the audience to feel as if they are following the artist on this journey they are on. Furthermore, as this is actually unconventional of the genre, as the synchronization of this denies stereotypes of messiness and chaos of rock music and artists, it is more appealing as it creates a more unique and dynamic video. In addition, the representation of the artist as being quite relatable for the audience through the use of costume in the mis-en-scene is also evident. The characters wear simplistic clothing of baggy trousers and simple tops; the color co-ordination helps with this organized feel to the video and creates a holistically well-constructed feel to the video. 

The second video directed by Michael Gondry is "Come Into My World" by Kylie Minogue. The pop genre music video is a narrative based one which takes the plot of seeing the artist and other characters' daily routines. Unlike the generic conventions of designer and provocative clothing, dance routines and flamboyant editing, this music video takes a more subversive approach. For example, the costume of a simple t-shirt that Kylie wears helps to represent her as more relatable for the target audience, of mostly young females. This is important as it shows the audience that they can actually aspire to be more like celebrities. However, the use of showing the artist's daily routine is helpful in illustrating that despite Kylie being a celebrity, she still does and experiences everyday things, such as walking down a run-down area. There is also a distinct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, as Goodwin suggests. For example, when Kylie does walk down the street, she sings "come into my world", inviting the audience into her life and therefore making her seem more down-to-earth and relatable. An alternative explanation could be that the artist actually feels like she wants the audience to be a part of the world she is in so it feels more normal, as emphasized by her ordinary clothing. A clear sign of Gondry's work as a director of this video is seen through the relatable representation of the artist, as well as the creativity of using clones of Kylie walking through the streets as this helps to express the complicated feelings the artist is trying to convey that she is feeling. Furthermore, each time the lyrics "come, come, come into my world" are sung, the new replica of Kylie emerges, synchronizing all the elements of the video, as well as representing how dull her life is perhaps, as it is the same copy of a routine, over and over again.

When comparing the two directors, Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry, there is a clear differentiation between the style of visuals they choose to adopt. Cunningham takes a distinct gothic look, with darker elements in the misc-en-scene; for example, the location in "Frozen" is a desert, which has connotations of isolation, and the location of "Windowlicker" is an underground questionable area. However, Gondry in strong comparison, chooses more open locations, giving a more friendly feel to the video, such as an urban area, as shown in "Come Into My World". Elements such as the location, help to portray the artist in a certain way, as well as aiding in an artist-to-audience relationship; therefore, Cunningham's lack of such a strong relationship shows how unlike Gondry, he cares more about the visuals being as unique and interesting as possible, rather than how relatable it is for the audience.

Conclusively, artists may choose to change the way their music videos are directed and make them more diverse as firstly, they may wish to be more creative and expressive in their work, employing their own personal touch to the video. There is also the reason that some artists desire to establish a new target audience, and therefore making the elements of their video different and more diverse to what they normally do, is an efficient way of doing so. This has subsequent advantages such as the video becoming more popular as it stands out to what the audience may perpetually be accustomed to watching. However, there are some downfalls of having a diverse music video. Some fans may actually strongly dislike the change in the style of the music video, as they may feel it takes not fit or represent how the artist truly is. Therefore, there is a chance the artist may lose some of their target audience by changing their style. I personally would choose Michael Gondry to direct my music video, as his simplicity and relatable representation of the artist is something that is conventional of the indie genre and therefore I would find useful. Making my music video more gothic would completely subvert indie genre conventions and the audience would not find it as appealing; furthermore, it would most likely confuse them as the lyrics/music may not match the visuals.

rough cut

In order to make the production of the music video as successful as possible, it is essential to carry out audience feedback as well as having a rough cut. This is due to the rough cut allowing you to make further improvements after the audience have watched it and given any constructive criticism if necessary. The purpose of creating a music video is to appeal to the audience and therefore it is their opinion that is crucial when reviewing the success of the production. Hence, if you make a rough cut and allow people to comment on it, it means that they are telling you how to improve it how they would like it to be. Furthermore, by having the audience give feedback it could mean that you discover something which a lot of people dislike and therefore be able to change it to make it. The purpose of having a rough cut is simply as you need a draft before you can say you have completed your production; the music video can only be deemed as done once all your audience feedback is positive. It is crucial that whilst you may have an idea of what the target audience may generally want, that you pinpoint precisely what appeals to the age group and therefore tailor your music video to the consumer's needs.

The way in which my group and I received feedback from the target audience was through a variety of methods including creating a questionnaire, using Youtube, screening our production and using a focus group. When we researched into our chosen target audience, my group and I compiled a set of questions aimed at what aspects the audience prefer in a music video. 
For example, we asked whether the audience would prefer the location of the countryside or the city within an indie music video. As 68% said the countryside, we kept our music video predominantly based in this style of location; however, as we also wanted to appease the other 32% we included a few very small shots of the city of London, edited in as a time-lapse. This was extremely advantageous to us as it meant that our music video was not restricted by whom it would appeal to. Rather, a larger group of consumers would enjoy it and therefore this makes the production favourable. Looking at the questionnaire is beneficial for making the music video more unique, as it means that we can ensure to employ the most favourable option in our video, as well as working with the other answers to see how we could best include them in. Most people would not expect to see a city landscape in an indie music video and therefore going against generic conventions ensures that people would be more interested whilst watching it as it is not just everything they always see in an indie video.

Another method of receiving feedback was by screening our production. When a member of the grime group "Boy Better Know" came in to the class and watched our music video, he gave us some constructively critical comments. One of the comments he made was to ensure that there were more emotional scenes in the video, as due to this being an indie music video, the audience really have to feel the intensity of it. As we were still in the process of making the video, we were able to include more scenes like this; for example, the scenes of the couple on their first date or laughing together when the car broke down. We also put in the scene of the artist spreading the ashes of the male protagonist. Although we initially had planned out to include these scenes in the video, the comments were helpful in ensuring that our filming and editing would really procure a lot of emotional response from the audience as we kept this advise in mind.

Using a focus group was another way of gaining audience feedback, as this involved the actual target audience of our music video to watch it and make comments. This was really useful as these were people of the age we were aiming the music video at to give us substantial feedback. The opinions of the audience of this method were especially important as it gave my group and I a good idea of what the general consensus of the video may be when we upload the final version. Many of the people of the focus group were in fact classmates which was advantageous as it meant that while we were still in the process of making the music video, they were able to watch what we had done and comment on any potential improvements we would be able to make in time before the deadline. Some of the comments included to work on the editing aspect as some people did not feel as if the majority of the narrative was set in a flashback. We therefore took these comments on board and applied further editing to the music video.

The final technique my group and I used to get audience feedback was by posting our rough cut of the music video onto Youtube and getting people to watch it and give either a positive or constructively critical comment on it. In total we chose 3 positive and 3 negative comments, to give a substantial amount of feedback. This way, we could see if anyone's comments overlapped, which would be a beneficial pointer to change something.

Above is a screenshot of a positive comment we received. Having a favorable comment such as this one is useful to my group and I's production as it shows us that we have succeeded in a specific aspect of making the music video. Aaron's comment that we have effectively used color and lighting well allows my group and I to be confident in that our purposefully done editing has had the connotations and impact we hoped. The description of the lighting being "harsh" is important feedback to read as it shows that the audience understands that this is not just a happy memory and that there are sad tones to it, as "harsh" has negative connotations. The flashback was an important aspect of our music video as we really wanted the audience to immediately get the impression that they are delving into the mind of the artist and looking at a memory, as this makes the music video more personal and therefore more appealing for the audience. The comment shows us that members of the audience are able to acknowledge the meaning behind choosing certain editing techniques and that a particular effect is supposed to be gained from this. However, other comments, such as those of the critical category shows my group and I that not everyone was too sure about the differentiating colors.

The screenshot above consists of both a negative and positive comment. The critical of the two comments shows how the audience member actually found the various colorings and filters edited on the shots confusing. This is useful in showing us that perhaps my group and I needed to think about whether everyone would understand why the first few shots and the ones following are of different colors. Due to this being a concerning comment as it shows that other audience representatives could also find the video slightly confusing. Therefore, my group and I need to think about how to best correct this; one way could be through the use of putting a more old-fashioned style filter on it, one that will make it more evident that this is a flashback. However, the audience also included a positive comment in that the narrative was clear to them and extremely detailed given the little space of time. This is a useful comment to acknowledge as it shows that my group and I have really thought out the narrative and only chosen key scenes we know will effectively reflect and tell the story of the lyrics. As it is a strong convention of the indie genre to show a story in the music videos, we wanted to make sure we strictly conform to this.

Another constructive comment made on Youtube was that our video needed more elements of a performance style of music video in it. As it is a convention of the indie genre to include shots of the artist playing a musical instrument, my group and I evidently wanted to include this. However when we researched our own artist's - Gabrielle Aplin - music videos and found that songs such as "Please Don't Say You Love Me" and "Panic Cord" had more narrative aspects to it than performance, as did any other indie artists. In fact, the rare videos we did find where the performance side of the music video heavily dominated the narrative, my group and I found that they were not as interesting and appealing as mostly narrative style videos. In addition, our group and I found that the only way to truly get the deep meanings behind our emotional lyrics across was to use quite a lot of narrative, as this is the most efficient way to tell a story. As indie music videos are usually based upon real-life events, if the audience cannot see the lyrics come to life then they will not see the artist's music as being as relatable or realistic. However, as we appreciated the person's comments, we decided to review our music video to see where we could appropriately make changes. We found that by editing some narrative scenes to make them slightly shorter or chopping them up more, we would effectively put in short performance clips in between these shots. This way, there are firstly a good range of performance shots in the video, as well as the fact that they effectively separate the video more. It was beneficial that we had intelligently pre-planned to film extra footage of everything, especially the performance shots just in case we needed more. It is generally quite important that there are a good range of performance shots in our video, to firstly break up the narrative to add more dynamics and secondly to show another side of the artist, one where she is portrayed as extraordinary and an inspiration for the audience.

The two comments above both show positive attitude towards the editing of the music video. As you cans see, the editing seemed to really work well and hold the whole video together. Tyler's comment about the fades between shots was beneficial as we actually spent a lot of time putting these in as we personally thought they made the video flow more effectively; seeing an audience member comment this provides us with confidence in our choices. Throughout the video we used a cross dissolve style of transition between many of the shots as it meant they would not suddenly jump cut one after the other but rather flow so that you would not even think about how the shots have been taken at different points.

The last constructive comment we received was concerning the verisimilitude of aspects such as the theme of war. Harry commented how the locations we chose for the male protagonist to be in whilst he is "off at war" were not realistic enough. Whilst we were planning these scenes we thought about filming them in a big field, however there was a risk that someone would think we were actually using a real gun. Therefore, we decided to use a garden as a location. We evidently could not actually simulate a war-zone, which is why we predominantly focused on close up or mid-shots of the male protagonist, rather than wide shots of the location. We did include a shot of the male character picking up a gun and shooting it as well whilst he was wearing his army hat, which was all that we could manage with the limitations we were faced with. And I do think my group and I pulled off this part of the narrative extremely well, all things considering.

In conclusion, all the comments made on our rough cut version of the music video were exceedingly beneficial towards improving the production as they meant they we would be taking onboard what the audience want to see. The positive comments were evidently nice to read and they showed us what we had done well and can be left alone; however the criticisms were the key comments to read as they show how we can make our music video more unique and appealing for the audience.

creating individual digipak

The purpose of a digipak is to give the audience something more than just the CD itself. A digipak is a lot more personal as it contains a letter or a note from the artist, addressed directly to the fans. This is not something you conventionally find when buying an artist's music and therefore it is almost like the artist is giving something back to the fans. The high quality of the images and artwork used is a lot more appealing for the audience as it gives the digipak more meaning than just a product to sale. The addition of bonus tracks is sometimes contained in a digipak which is another way of giving something more to the artist's fans. A digipak has a more efficient purpose than a normal jewel CD case as it features six sides as opposed to the latter's mere four sides. This means that there is more visible artwork which is a good way to attract buyers as it makes the album more interesting and stands out against other albums as the artist has the opportunity to be a lot more creative. The easy accessibility to information is again another appealing aspect to a digipak and as it is more long-lasting it is better than a jewel CD case. All these factors contribute to promoting a better artist-to-audience relationship as it demonstrates that more care has been taken into considering the audience's needs and making them feel like the artist truly appreciates their support.  The software I used to create the digipak was Photoshop CS6; the reason for using it was simply as it is the easiest software to use as it has a range of tools to use to help with various editing techniques. For example, there are tools to cut out a specific part of an image to use to edit in depth; there are numerous tools, such as the blur, sharpen or smudge tool which allow you to make an image look as professional as possible. The actual ideas for the digipak derived from a range of research and planning; I gained inspiration from indie artists such as Gabrielle Aplin and Bastille and developed these ideas to make them unique and personal. In addition, from looking at indie music videos for the production of my own, I noticed specific styles that the indie genre used that I could adopt in my own work.

Above is the finished version of my digipak. As you can see, there are six different sides that I have made: the front and back cover, the CD, a personal note, and two images to go alongside everything else. For my digipak I actually chose to have three images with a dark color scheme and three with a light color scheme, just to make it more interesting.

The first side of my digipak is the front cover which I made by actually combining two different images together; one being an image of Amy I cut out of another image and the other of a roadside location. The reason I did not use one image is simply as firstly, I did not have an image of Amy within this location, I merely found this image amongst others and used it as it was appropriate. However, using two separate images allowed me to experiment with different tools in Photoshop more. As I previously used an image of Amy on a road for my magazine advert, I wanted to include similar aspects in the front cover of my digipak. The image I used for the location was actually shot during the day and as planned to have it during the night, I had to edit it to make this occur. Having been through the process of changing an image from day-time to night-time previously in my magazine advert, it was a quick task to do as I simply duplicated the layers in from my magazine advert Photoshop file over to the front cover file I was working on. This way, the shade of darkness from my magazine advert would match my front cover and allow me to then duplicate the layers again for my back cover, so it looks exactly the same color; if the front and back cover were of different shades of darkness the digipak would not look as professionally finished. For the background image, I kept the editing fairly minimal after altering the time of day it appeared to be set in: the brightness and contrast was played around with and I also very slightly blurred the tree Amy is standing directly in front of, just so that it was not so distinctly focused. The picture of Amy was not edited a particular amount either, I simply adjusted the brightness and contrast as I did not actually place the cut-out image of her behind the solid blue fill and black and white filter layers which created the night-time effect; otherwise Amy's appearance would be darker and she would have blended in with the background. The reason for doing so is because I wanted Amy's face to be noticeable, as the entire image is quite dark and therefore she would not have stood out. The image of Amy itself is a long shot; I chose this position as it is not conventional of the indie genre to show close up images of the artist, and this image also worked well with the ideas I had come up with. Having taken inspiration from other indie digipaks, I came up with more ideas for the six sides; for example, Bastille's front cover consisted of the artist on a road at night. I used this idea and manipulated it to make it more unique and personal. Although it is not primarily conventional of the indie genre to use a night-time location, I thought it would be more appealing for the audience as it would make my digipak more unique. Furthermore, having the front and back cover of my digipak set in the dark allowed me to play around with various editing tools a lot more, making the final product a lot more interesting. However, the prime reason for having the night time setting is simply as the title of the album is "desolation"; therefore ensuring the color scheme matches connotations of the word was extremely crucial as it maintained continuity and professionalism throughout. If the image was set during the day, the audience would not find it as appealing as the emotional response they would receive from it would be confusing; it is vital that the album title matches the image. Furthermore, the darkness of the image connotes deeper meanings behind the music of the album, appealing to the audience who look for such aspects in an indie album. Indie songs are derived from occurrences in real life situations; realistically, you cannot be happy all of the time and therefore despite the convention of indie songs being about happier times, it still fits with the convention of being relatable to everyday life.

As this side of the digipak is simply the front, not a lot of information was needed to go on it. I simply put on the name of the album and the artists' name as these are the two key pieces of information needed. This way the image of the front cover is the most dominating aspect of it. From looking at various artists' album front covers, I noted different alignment styles for the text and decided that the best layout to go for is having all the text on one side and putting it together. This is due to the contents of the image; the tree on the left hand side meant that I could not place any text there as it would not look particularly professional. Instead, I simply aligned the background image as far left as I could in order to make more room for empty space of the sky on the top right corner: this is where the text would go. This way the entire front cover appears to be more professional and thought-out. The font I opted for was the same one I used for my magazine cover and as it was a suitable choice, I kept it the same for my digipak. Through research of other digipaks, I noticed how some indie artists used two separate fonts for their album title and their own name, whereas others used the same font for both. I did initially plan to use different separate fonts as I looked at Gabrielle Aplin's own digipak and I appealed to her use of typography. During the process of using Photoshop I experimented with fonts, and tried out using the same font; however, there was not as an engaging effect from doing so than using two different fonts. Having previously looked at "English Rain", Gabrielle Aplin's CD, I had a general gist of the style I was going for; when I looked on dafont.com for the appropriate fonts, I chose two that were from the "handwriting" style section as I thought these would best suit and reflect the indie genre. I was actually quite picky when it came to choosing the two fonts as I wanted to ensure that they matched well; the reason I wanted two separate fonts is because they each say something distinct about the artist and the album. I wanted to have an established font for the artist that I could use throughout the album to act as a signature for the artist all the way through the album. When looking at both fonts, I think they each connote something about the album and how the artist reflects the genre; the font I used for the artist's name connotes that they are established but not for an elder-aged audience. The almost block style of the font is what brings about this connotation as it is a clean and easy to read font. On the other hand, the font I chose for the album title is more fun and girly, almost as if the artist themselves hand-wrote it; this is essential for creating an artist-to-audience relationship as if the audience feel the artist had input into it, they will feel as if the album is not just a product to generate profit from, but something to actually give back to the audience. The handwriting style of the font ensures to represent the artist as being quite fun, carefree and acting her age, as the predominant teenage audience would recognize in themselves and therefore appeal to. Furthermore, it was important to really think about the connotations behind the font; the two fonts I used feel a lot more personal as they are a handwritten style, rather than if I chose something more artificial and computer-generated looking. This helps to engage the audience into the album just by looking at the front cover as they recognize that the digipak has been mediated for their needs and appeal. In addition, the size of the font I chose for the text is important as I have ensured it is large enough so that it stands out so that the audience can clearly and quickly read it. 

After the front cover of the digipak, there will be the first image out of two. The first one I have placed in is an image of the artist taken at one of the locations my group and I used to film for our music video. The reason I chose this image is due to the lighting, facial expression and position of the artist. The use of the same location in our music video will help to create continuity throughout all my products and engage the audience who have seen the music video. The natural lighting on the day was perfect for taking photographs in as in the camera lens it gave Amy that natural rustic and indie look. Using this opportunity, it made taking good photos easier and therefore I managed to get a picture of Amy at a mid-shot position; I did not want a close up as I said previously, it is not conventional of the indie genre. Rather, I wanted a shot where Amy's face can be clearly seen and where she is looking directly at the camera, as it is a tool to attract the audience in as it appears that Amy is actually looking directly at you, rather than a camera. This way the audience will feel more important and more involved in the digipak. However, I also wanted the shot to show the clothes that Amy is wearing as this will hugely contribute to the indie feel of the image. The clothes, in addition to the location of the image, also aid in emphasizing that this is an indie album. The clothes are also important in creating an artist-to-audience relationship as they are a way of the audience connecting to the life of the artist; they will aspire to have what the artist is wearing. The image itself was not actually heavily edited as I did not want it to feel massively Photoshopped, as this would ruin the conventional idea of authenticity when it comes to the indie genre. I merely stuck to increasing the brightness of the image, to emphasis that indie style glow already present. I also decreased the contrast, as well as changing the hue of the image by adding more red hints into the image; this made it look warmer. Choosing the right colors to bring out such warmth in the image was important as they must make the audience feel welcome within the digipak and the artist's life; I think I successfully managed to get these tones right in order to make this happen. The reason for doing so is due to the fact I actually made my CD before this image and I needed to ensure that all my images linked together by putting in something similar - in this case the color of red needed to be somehow evident, even if distinctly so, in the digipak sides. At first I simply left the image as it is without any text on it and then continued with the rest of my digipak. However, when I placed all the images together I realized that the two images that would be placed either side of the CD did not actually match together, nor with the digipak. Therefore, to provide continuity I included text.

The text itself is simply part of the lyrics of "Salvation", the song my group and I used our music video. I deliberately chose specific lyrics that would match each picture but they flowed one after another, to provide concrete continuity. I edited the text, adding an outer glow to it so that they can be read more easily and stand out. I initially wanted to position them at the bottom of the image to match the lyrics "I was buried underneath", however it did not as professionally finished, nor was it as easy to read. Therefore, I kept it in the top right corner to keep the layout even and neat. The font of the text is the font I chose for the album title, called "Jane Austen"; the reason I chose this font instead of the font for the artist's name, "Love Monster", which I used on other parts of the digipak, is because it fitted the mood and feel of the entire image. The font connotes a sense of transcendence and personal feelings, such as those of love. Particularly as the image I chose was a soft image, with warm tones and strong brightness, I wanted the font to reflect this. In addition, the use of a font that strongly resembles a handwriting style is beneficial in creating the feel of the artist's own personal touch; for the audience, it will feel as if the artist themselves designed and put together the digipak. This is both advantageous in appealing to the target audience as well as promoting the artist, as firstly, the audience like to see that the artist gets involved with their work, instead of treating it like a product. Therefore, the artist is consequently promoted positively as it shows interest and passion into their music and is represented as being quite authentic. This is essential within the indie genre as a main convention is for the music to reflect real-life and genuine situations where the artists sings with raw emotion, rather than artificiality.

The next part of my digipak is the CD. This was another one of my images that I decided to have a darker color scheme, as I did not want a picture of the artist on it and therefore having trees would be more interesting. I initially used a day-time image, however it did not have the same bold and interesting look to it. In addition, when I mentally pictured all the sides of the digipak being put together, it made sense that it should be the front cover, CD and the back cover in dark colors to create a professional symmetrical look. The image I used is simply taken from photographing local trees whilst the sun was rising and edited the image. I did not actually edit it too heavily, I simply adjusted the brightness/contrast as well as increasing the saturation. This was due to the fact that the image naturally looked impressive and I did not want to stray away from the conventions of the indie genre of keeping the editing simplistic. From researching other indie digipaks, I noticed a prevalent convention of not using an image of the artist for the CD. usually, the artist likes to keep the design simple to maintain a professional finish; in addition, the CD does not actually need particularly fanciful design as it is what the music is on, whereas the other sides of the digipak stand alone. Using an image of trees is beneficial in creating an appealing CD, whilst simultaneously keeping in tune with the indie conventions of rustic locations: trees connote the countryside which helps to promote the artist as being authentic in their music, as their album reflects the natural tones of indie music. I think using a dark color scheme for the CD connotes that the music the audience will find on it will be full of mysterious and full of deeper meanings. The use of there being a mixture of black and red/orange colors on the CDs help to connote the idea of bad times verses happier, brighter occasions. This fits in line with the use of half the digipak being in a dark color scheme and the other half adopting a light one. It also maintains the idea of the artist going through different emotions throughout the music and illustrates how the artist is not trying to portray a fairytale-like album, but rather give the audience something raw and genuine; otherwise the album would be completely brightly colored and happy. This appeals to the audience as well as promotes the artist as it shows that the latter is conforming to indie conventions, knowing what the audience expect. Furthermore, the use of a sun rising in the image connotes the sense that against the darkness there is light and a hope of a new beginning. This reflects the deep meaning and nature of the lyrics of the indie genre, as well as sending a positive message to the target audience, who at their age (15-25), may be going through a lot of personal struggle in their life. Therefore, the artist sending this message helps to bond with the artist and appeal to them and their music.

Unlike the other sides of the digipak, the CD looks the most jam-packed with information. This is due to the fact that to make my CD look as real and professional as possible, I decided to include the legal text you find around the edge of the CD. To do this, I simply google image search Gabrielle Aplin's own CD for "English Rain" and copied most of the information she had on hers. I then used the "Warp Text" tool to arch the writing so it would curve around the edge of the CD as I saw most artists do on theirs during my research into digipaks. I think using this warp tool has proven to be extremely beneficial to my CD as it gives it that lift of looking like something you would find in a shop. Furthermore, if this were a real CD, it would appeal to the audience as they are so subliminally used to seeing this aspect of a CD that they would unconsciously expect to see it there and be satisfied if they do. It also connotes a sense of established success and fame if the artist has this on their CD as it demonstrates that their music is actually good to have their album design printed professionally. The other text I included was firstly, the Parlophone logo, as this maintains professionalism as it shows how the artist is successfully part of an actual record label. The second piece of writing beneath the logo was information for the audience about going to a specific website to unlock exclusive content from the artist about their album, if they have the CD in their computer. The purpose of this is both a promotional tool for the artist as well as giving something more to the audience to make them feel like they are truly a part of the artist's life. This aspect of the CD shows the audience that the artist wants the audience to get involved and form a relationship. It also promotes the album and means that if fans purchase it and tell their friends about the never-seen-before content, more people will want to view it and therefore buy the album. The last piece of writing is simply the title of the album and the artist's name. Again, as with the front cover of the digipak, these two pieces of information are vital as they act as a constant reminder to the audience of who the music belongs to and what it is called, so they can get an idea of the kind of music on the album. In addition, putting the artist's name, or the album's name in as many places as possible ensures that if any passer-by were to see someone looking at the album, they would see any of the two names and perhaps search up the artist or album for themselves; this is why I placed both names on the top of the CD, so it is easy to quickly read.  The font that I used for all the information, except the album name, was "Love Monster", as the slightly blockier writing style (in comparison to the more swirly-style of the other font I used) is best suited for stating information, rather than to appeal to the audience. This font has a far more professional look to it; if I had used the other font, my CD would not have looked like it belonged to an actual artist. 

For the second image of my digipak, I strayed away from using another image of the artist. Instead, I used an image I took of the sun, not quite setting yet, but low down in the sky, as I wanted the colors of the sky to match the light-colored side of the digipak. However, the reason I chose this image out of the others that I took is due to the fact that the trees on the right side of the picture are black, whereas contrastingly, the left side of the image is lighter due to the rays of sunshine coming through. The opposing sides of color fitted in well through the prevalent theme of happiness and sadness throughout my digipak. It was also useful to have this image as it is the final side of the digipak is the back cover, which is in a dark color scheme. Therefore, as it is the right side of this image that is dark, it is almost as if the digipak is naturally changing color towards being dark; therefore, there is a much more natural and appealing looking flow of colors, rather than a light image going to a dark image looking out of place. The flowing shift in colors helps to reflect the artist's emotions, showing how as the album progresses, the artist's thoughts and feelings so too change. This acts as a way for the audience to actually feel as if they are on this emotional journey along with the artist as they go through the digipak. Although the sun is leaning towards setting in this chosen image, it actually looks like the sun is rising, and breaking through the trees, connoting the idea that out of the darkness comes hope and positivity. Here, the artist is able to send messages to the audience that they should never give up dreaming and hoping as good things always come; many of the target audience may need these support and therefore it builds and strengthens a relationship with the artist. Furthermore, the image helps to promote the artist as despite the fact you cannot see the entire location, the part that is shown has been taken and edited in a way that makes it look from the indie genre. The use of trees and sunlight are a key convention of the genre as it is part of the natural world, which indie artists focus on in their music and videos. The actual editing of the image has been kept low-key, as not a lot was needed. I wanted to keep the picture simple, yet striking. Therefore I merely increased various components such as the brightness and the saturation, whilst slightly decreasing the contrast, just to really give an effective juxtaposition between the brightness of the sun rays and the darkness of the trees. As I mentioned previously, over-editing is not a convention of the indie genre and therefore it was not necessary.

As you can see, as with the first image of the digipak, I included lyrics in this second image as well. The lyrics in this image actually continue from the first, and therefore there is a successful flow through the digipak, where despite the different content of each image, everything fits and relates together. Initially, I did not actually have any writing on either of the two images; however, I found that when I put all the images together, they did not match as well as I hoped, despite the similarity in the colors. Therefore, including the lyrics on both of the images proved to be a useful way of creating continuity. When picking the lyrics to use, I looked at the connotations of the image in order to gain insight into how to best create meaning; the lyrics "glorious we transcend into a psychedelic silhouette" fitted in well. The sun rays in the image move upwards, and therefore link with the idea of transcending; furthermore, the positioning of the text at the top of the image helps to emphasis this idea as it is as if the lyrics are moving upwards. I moved the text around quite a bit to find the perfect place and realized having it at the top in the sky links so fittingly with the concept of heaven, as this is stereotypically where people place heaven to be. This is a key theme for my artist as in the music video of "Salvation", the male protagonist dies and therefore the lyrics successfully link in well, maintaining convention and continuity. To advocate this conception of transcending and heavenly matters, I used the font "Jane Austen" again, as firstly this is the same one I used for the other image of the digipak; secondly, as soon as I picked the lyrics I knew that this style font would fit so perfectly with the image as the personal format of it connotes the sense that someone is actually accounting their own feelings and real life situation. This helps to connect to the audience as if the font matches the images and brings about a certain kind of emotion, it will procure a more relatable image of the artist for the audience and represent them as being quite genuine in their music and personality, as they are opening up to their fans. 

The penultimate side of the digipak is for the personal note from the artist. I came up with the idea to use this image of the artist on a swing from my music video, as at the beginning, Amy is seen on a swing. However, instead of using an image with Amy's face in, I decided to have Amy's back to the camera and this creates a more natural look; otherwise I would have had to ensure her face was mediated according to a more appealing look for the audience. The reason I chose this image is due to the fact that it represents the artist as being carefree and enjoying herself; this appeals to the target audience as this is something they all aspire to be like. In addition, the way that the artist has been positioned, with her head tilting backwards connotes that she is truly happy and feeling completely at ease. Furthermore, as her head is titled upwards, it connotes the sense that she is looking up to the sky, foreshadowing that the album may have aspects of heavenly matters in it, linking with the other parts of the digipak, such as the lyrics I have used on the two images. As this is the personal note, it is important that the audience does feel as if the artist is being portrayed in this particular light, as it illustrates a different side of her to her "celebrity status", and therefore shows that the artist wants the audience to be a part of her life. Therefore, the personal note becomes that little bit more personal for the audience as they can see this is something from the artist's heart, not something for financial benefit. It is also essential that I used an indie location such as this field, as not only it is conventional of the genre, but also shows the artist in her prime comfort zone: the countryside. Hence, consequently the artist is shown to be quite authentic in her rustic roots. I was initially thinking it would be appropriate to have an image of Amy playing a musical instrument; however the instrument my group and I are using in our music video is a piano and therefore having a shot indoors would not have had the same rustic feel to the personal note. In addition, I wanted to capture natural lighting to make the personal note side of the digipak seem as realistic and genuine as I possibly could; as with the other two image I used that are in a light color scheme, having outdoor shots is so advantageous to making the digipak look as indie as I naturally can. Furthermore, the natural warmth of the image, along with the editing I opted for of increasing the brightness and changing the hue, helps with these connotations of happiness and being carefree as they provide a positive aura. 

When deciding the font to use for my personal note, I took into consideration the connotations of the image as this helped to get a feel of the appropriate typography to use. Initially I thought about using the same font as I did for the two images - "Jane Austen" - as this particular font has strong connotations of being quite personal, due to the handwritten style of it. However, as I had already used this font in two sides of the digipak I actually wanted to balance the layout of ancillary out by using the other font "Love Monster" I had previously used on the front cover. I planned out so that half of my digipak sides would be written in the font "Jane Austen", whilst the other half would be written in "Love Monster", which alongside this side of the digipak, and the back cover, this design idea has been followed through. This way, it makes my digipak appear more organized and having had a lot of thought put into it as the font changes every so often. This is a useful way of engaging with the audience as it keeps them interested in the changes made in the digipak and questioning why they have been made. Despite "Love Monster" being a less personal style, I think it is a more fitting font for the personal note as it is a lot clearer to read than the other font; despite it being crucial for the audience to get a feel of the personal touch of the artist, it is also important that the design appeals to the audience, for instance, by them being able to clearly read the artist's message to them. Furthermore, as the image alone has strong connotations, I did not think it was necessary to use "Jane Austen" font. Rather, the boldness and capitalization of the font connotes the sense of the artist's certainty in her words, as though she truly means everything she is saying. In addition, the fact that it immediately stands out when you look at the digipak shows that this is an exceedingly important aspect of the digipak side; on the other hand, the other font does not have the same effect.

For the last side of the digipak I had to create a back cover. This side of the digipak was a little more complicated than the others, with the exception of the front cover of the digipak, where I used similar editing. The image for the back cover actually consists of two different image; one of them is a shot of the city of London, whilst the other is an image of Amy I layered on top. The reason I did this is as I did not have an image of Amy in London and therefore had to make do with what I did have. I evidently had the option of not having Amy shown in the back cover, however as I wanted to represent the artist as having two sides, with the juxtaposition of the calm and ordinary countryside location and the chaotic, celebrity lifestyle-like city life, I wanted to show Amy in both settings. This way, the artist can see that the artist is extraordinary and aspire to have her lifestyle, as many 15-25 year olds would. Similarly to my front cover, this image was originally in a day-time time zone, which I edited by layering a black and white filter on it and a solid blue color fill to make this cool, dark tone, night-time like tone on it. The reason I did this is simply as I wanted my front and back cover to match and also to balance out the design choice of having half my digipak set during the night and the other half set during the day. Instead of changing the brightness and contrast of the image so dramatically as I did with the front cover, as I wanted the writing on it to match more with the image. Amy's face is shown a lot more clearly in the front cover as the glow on the writing needed to match more with the overall darkness of the image. Therefore, in addition to creating a contrast between Amy and the background location, it also allowed the entire back cover to flow more effectively. Furthermore, instead of completely draining the color out of the background image, I wanted to keep tinges of color in, such as the redness of the buses. This is simply as it creates a more effective look, as if more thought went into creating deeper meanings, reflecting the conventions of indie music. The difference in color, the lack of it as well as the redness of the buses, help to connote the sense of the artist going through varying emotions, both positivity and negativity. This helps to appeal to the audience as they can see that the album is not going be simple and stereotypically boring, but rather that it would quite different to what the audience may expect to find in a indie digipak. 

The reason I used this particular image of Amy as firstly, it was different to the one I used on the front cover; I did not want another image of Amy looking directly at the camera, but instead one that would give other connotations. This one in particular was a good choice as I liked the way Amy was looking to the side, as if in deep contemplation. These connotations relate to the back cover as it shows how despite the busy hustle-bustle location of the city and the links to a celebrity lifestyle, the artist still takes time to slow down and think about things, showing how genuine she is. This is extremely appealing for the audience to see as i shows that despite being a "celebrity", the artist does not regard herself like that, but rather prefers her rustic roots. The use of the artist looking into the distance on the right hand side has been purposely chosen as part of the layout; this way, it gives the digipak a more finished look as the to go through the digipak the audience have to turn the pages to the right. Therefore, it seems as if the artist is looking into the distance at the next part of her album. 

The font I used for writing the track-list on the back cover of the digipak was chosen to balance out with the other use of fonts. Using "Love Monster" was an evident better choice as it is a lot clearer than the other font. Furthermore, the font has a much more professional look to it; there is no need for the typography to have any particular connotations as it simply needs to look as if it belongs to the indie genre, which it does. When I initially put the track-list on the back, I decided to have the songs spread out across the back cover, rather than in an orderly format. However, it did have the same high quality finish; instead it looked rather messy. Therefore, having an orderer layout was important in reflecting the success of the artist, showing that they are well-liked and produce good music. It also helps to link with the background image of the city of London, as cities have connotations of business and professionalism, which I wanted to show on the back cover. This helps to represent the artist as being quite extraordinary due to the celebrity side of her and having to create good quality products for her audience. The reason I put an outer glow on the text is because firstly, I simply wanted it to stand out more, giving it a boost and enhancing the overall appearance of it. Secondly, putting the white/yellow glow on actually links to the fact that the image is set during the night, and therefore the glow connotes to stars and a transcendent light; this again helps to connote heavenly matters, linking in with the music in the album.

With regards to actually using Photoshop, there were many tools I found difficult to use whilst making my digipak. For example, having to work with different layers proved to be harder than I anticipated as at times when I was trying to edit one layer separately to the others, all the layers in the Photoshop file would edit. Therefore, I had to find a way around this; instead I would duplicate the layer I specifically wanted to edit in another file, edit it there and then duplicate it back to the original file. This occurred with digipak sides such as the front and back cover where I had two images layered together - an image of the artist cutout of another image and the background image. As I wanted to make Amy’s face stand out against the dark background, I wanted to increase the brightness of the image of her, whilst keeping the other image dark. However, when I selected the layer of the cutout of Amy to increase the brightness, the background also became brighter and therefore the night-time effect was ruined. So to overcome this I had to go the long way round and separately edit the images. Another weakness I found was it was initially difficult to make the front and back cover look realistic so that the artist looks naturally in the shot. As I wanted the image of Amy and the background to be of different brightnesses it was not easy to find the right balance of contrast between the two images to get the look I wanted and also look natural. Therefore, I had to work on this for a while till I got the right look.

However, I also found that I had many strengths when it came to using Photoshop. I was able to use the basic tools such as blurring, sharpening and changing the brightness/contrast/hue/saturation quite effectively. I also managed to use the cut out tool quite well which I had to use a lot. When using this particular tool I think I had a strong point of remembering to ensure keeping the image look as realistic as possible and would therefore remember to use the blur tool around the edge of the image so that it would not look like it was actually from another image.

Overall, I do think that my digipak both conforms and subverts to the indie genre conventions, but conclusively adheres more to them than otherwise. This is because I have taken into account the genre expectations of the audience, whilst finding a way to make it more unique. For example, the inclusion of both a countryside and city location both conforms and subverts genre conventions as countryside locations represent the rustic nature of indie music; on the other hand, the city locations oppose this. However, including both appeals to a wider audience as it is more realistic to have both settings. In addition, having both settings allows you to give a craft a better emotional response from the audience as different locations mean different things to people. Despite the fact that I have made my digipak so half of it is in a dark color scheme, I have adhered to the convention of natural lighting as I recognize it is a beneficial way to make the digipak more indie. I ensured that the sides that I made stay looking set during the day all matched in their warm tones and therefore have managed to both comply and disregard genre conventions. Aspects such as these are what I think has made the digipak more interesting. In addition, I think this is what appeals to the target audience, as people of the ages 15-25 do not want to see the same old things repeated, particularly in an indie genre. It is a lot more appealing to see something familiar, such as the artist wearing indie clothes, or playing a musical instrument or in the countryside, but with a unique twist, as I have done. I have thought about how to best make all the aspects of the digipak relatable to the target audience as they are the main concern. For example, I have considered all the connotations of the costume, the make-up, the facial expressions, etcetera, the artist wears and how it will appeal to the audience. I have also taken into account how the layout/design of the digipak sides individually and as a whole shape the audience's opinion of the artist; for example, the typography I used in a side must link with the image. All these factors combined help to ensure that the artist can build a successful relationship with the audience as they will make the latter feel as though this is not simply a product for financial benefit, but rather something to give back to the audience and something they have put genuine care and effort into. For example, the artist a lot of the time is not portrayed as a celebrity but rather she seems more ordinary and alike to the audience, yet her clothes and ability to sing are still extraordinary and something the audience will aspire to. This balance helps to maintain that personal relationship between the artist and audience, making the digipak overall more successful.