Final Music Video and Audience Feedback

Final Music Video.

This is my final music video which has been uploaded to YouTube to I can receive audience feedback.

 

 

 

 

I used the social networking site of Facebook to advertise my music video to both members of my target audience and other audiences outside my target audience age range.  The music video is also publicly available on Youtube for people of the world to view and leave feedback or comments.

Some feedback can be seen on YouTube while other feedback was gained through Facebook as not all of the audience had a YouTube account to comment on the video.
Most of the feedback was positive. There were positive comments about the range of camera angles used and the lighting in most of the shots. One of the main criticisms however was the lip syncing. Lip syncing is incredibly difficult to get completely in time.  On the editing programme pinnacle, it appeared that the lip syncing was in time. However, once the video was exported and I viewed the video on another screen on a different programme, the lip syncing was slightly out.
My experience with lip syncing has opened my eyes to how editors must continually be changing the editing on a music video to get it absolutely precise before it is released to the general public.

 



Photoshop and Final Digipak

Photoshop

To create my digipak, I used the photo modifying programme Adobe Photoshop elements 4.0. To begin with, I 'cut out' all of the objects that I was placing on my digipak. These included pieces of ribbon and the individual objects featured in the bird cage.

To cut out the piece of ribbon, I used the magic wand tool. I had to turn the tolerance down to make sure I didn't accidentally cut out any thin pieces of ribbon. I then went around the piece of ribbon to make sure all of the background was gone. In some places I had to use the magic background eraser to delete the background because the magic wand tool would differentiate the background from the ribbon. I then used the smude tool to round off any jagged pixels and make the image of the ribbon look more realistic. The results of this can be seen below:

My next step for the piece of ribbon was to modify the lighting and contrast. I felt the ribbon was not red enough in the original image I chose to cut out. Therefore, by fiddling with the lighting and contrast, I managed to brighten it up to make it look more effective and visually attractive on my digipak.  The difference in colour can be seen  on the pieces of ribbon displayed on the digipak.

To cut out all of my objects for my digipak, I used the same process. I used the magic wand tool with the tolerance turned down followed by the smudge tool to make the image look professional. On some of the objects, I fiddled with the brightness and contrast to make them more visually attractive and stand out more. Some examples of my cut out objects can be seen below.

After cutting out my objects, I started to make my digipak. I decided to use my template that I used for my designs. I imported my template into photoshop and started to add my images. It became clear however, that the quality of my images was being lost on the template. This was because of the low pixelation on the template. My digipak on the template can be seen below.

I could have carried on using this template. However, the poor quality of my images, pieces of ribbon

and text were not reflecting the amount of work I had put into the digipak. I then decided, using the measurements on the digipak template, to create individual sections of the digipak and put them together at a later stage to create my final digipak.

After individually constructing the 5 different sections of my digipak, the front, back, spine, inside left and inside right sections, I used a tool on photoshop to flatten the image. This combined all the different layers into one image. I then saved the different files in a new format; JPEG format. This allowed them to be saved as pictures instead of Photoshop images. I then saved a new digipak PDF template, downloaded from the website http://www.discwizards.com/cd-dvd-artwork-templates.htm. Using the programme Page Plus, I imported the PDf and tehn added my images to it to construct my digipak.
My final completed digipak can be seen below.

Record Label Research

Record Label

 

If I was going to release my promotional package for my new artist, Tempany, my artist would need a Record Label. A Record Label is a company that coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion of music for a artist. They also enforce the copyright for sound recordings and music videos.  One of the generic conventions of a digipak is that the Record Label's logo will be displayed. For my digipak designs, I used Universal Music Group's logo because that is the record label that Nina Nesbitt, the artist who originally sung the song I used for my music video, is signed too. Therefore, I need to research different record labels to see which one would be the most suitable for my artist.

 

Universal Music Group(UMG)

 

Universal Music Group's roots can be traced back to 1934. It is the largest music company in the world and one of the 'big three'. It is owned by the French Media conglomerate Vivendi which also owns companies such as Universal film. UMG owns Universal Music Publishing group which is the second largest music publishing company in the world. In 2010, the company employed 6,967 people and had a total revenue of $6 billion. Some famous artists that are signed to the record label include Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Tom Jones, Elton John and Ellie Goulding.

 

EMI

 

EMI is the forth largest buisness group and family of record labels in the recording industry. EMI was originally a British multinational music company head quatered in London, United Kingdom. EMI own some other record companies such as Parlophone and part of Virgin Records. The revenue for the company in 2009 was £1.072 billion. Famous artists singed to EMI include 30 Seconds to Mars, Lilly Allen, Foo Fighters, Gorillaz, Coldplay and R.E.M. On September 21st 2012, the sale of EMI to UMG was approved in both Europe and the United States by the European Commission and the Federal Trade commision. This deal came with the condition that the merged company divest one third of its total operations to other companies with a proven track record in the music industry to still make sure that the music industry market has some diversity.

 

Sony Music Entertainment (SNE)

SNE is the second largest music corporation in the world. It is owned and controlled by the Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation.

The company which evolved into Sony Music was founded in 1929. Its Revenue for 2010 was $5,672 million. The company also own other smaller record labels, the most famous being Columbia Records. Famous artists include Alicia Keys, Backstreet Boys, Fatboy Slim, Johnny Cash, One Direction and Whitney Houston.

 

Independant Labels

 

There are many independent labels across the world. An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organisations of a major record label. A great number of bands and artists start on independent labels. In the UK there are lots and lots of independent record labels such as Bleeding Heart Records, O Rosa Records and Stolen Recordings. A full list of notable UK independent labels can be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_independent_UK_record_labels

 

 

 

I have decided not to go with a Independant Record Label. Independants give more control to the artist about what music they would like to produce. However, they lack the connections and subsidiary and parent companies that can provide other resources which they cannot.

This leaves me with a choice of the 'three' major record labels. I have decided not to go with Sony Music Entertainment. This is because they mainly focus on the American market, which could be useful for my artist to 'crack' America but for the launch of her career in the UK, not so good. EMI own such record labels as parlophone which have a good track record with making successful artists. However, since the company was brought out by the parent company of UMG, vivendi, I feel as if my artist would be better off being part of Universal Music Group, their original company. They have all of the resources to promote my artist across several different mediums. 

 

 

Reshoot of Digipak Images

Original Images - Reshoot

 

Where my images from my first photo shoot of the bird cage did not work and could not be modified to fit my digipak on Photoshop, I had to take more images of them. I wanted  a completely white background behind my birdcage to use as the background for my digipak I first tried using a white sheet. This was more effective when uploaded into photoshop than the images with the light diffuser box. However, despite adjusting the lighting and contrast in Photoshop, the crease in the fabric could not be hidden.

I then attempted using sheets of white A3 paper. When I uploaded these photos to Photoshop to check the quality, I found that the idea of white paper was perfect for what I wanted to crease. However, the joining of several pieces of white paper had created shadows which made the photo look unprofessional.

I then tried using sheets of A1 sized white paper. This technique finally gave me the images that I wanted for my digipak. Examples of all my techniques can be seen below.



 

Once I had found the technique that gave me effective images that I could use on my digipak, I experimented with lighting. I used one bright light as well as the flash on my still digital camera to try get the most professional looking and visually interesting photos as possible. Some of my original images can be seen below.

 

I have chosen the shot seen in the top right hand corner to use on the back cover of my digipak. I like how the light from the side has reflected onto the beads on the cage. I will edit this photo in Photoshop to make it look professional on my digipak.

The image in the bottom right hand corner is the image I am going to use on the front of my digipak.  I have chosen to use this image because of the high quality. The colours from the objects stand out  clearly against the white background. My use of the light coming in from the left hand side of the image is being reflected on the beads attached to the cage adding another dimension to the image.  I will edit this image in Photoshop to make it look professional and attractive to my target audience.


I also took images of all the objects I used in the bird cage singularly. These would be used on the inside of my digipak to represent the songs and reinforce the house style of the digipak. The original images can be seen below.

Original Images

Orginal Images

 

For my digipak, I needed to take my own images to use to make my digipak unique. I borrowed a 'vinatge' bird cage from a friend to take my original images. I brought in several items from home to represent different possible songs to fill the bird cage.  I decided to use a light diffuser box as a background. I thought this would help me create several different interesting shots with varied lighting. Examples of this can be seen below.

 

    I was happy with how my images turned out. I decided to use the image featured in the centre of the top row. I chose this one because I liked how the light highlighted my objects and also reflected on the beads woven around the cage.

    My next step was to upload this image into Photoshop to edit it into my final digipak. I tried several ways to remove the lines from the light diffuser box. I first tried the cloning tool. This copies pixels from one place to another. This worked but did not look effective because of the difficulties of copying the exact light from once place to another. I then tried fiddling with the lighting and contrast of the shot. This did help to remove the lines from the image but it made the bird cage blend into the background therefore loosing some of the image. The final technique I tried can be seen below. I used the magic wand tool to remove the background around the bird cage completely. I turned the tolerance down on this tool so it would pick up extra lines making it more accurate. However, I found that this tool could not completely distinguish between the background and the bird cage because of the similar colours. Therefore, some of the bird cage was being removed in this process. My attempt at this piece of editing can be seen below

 

 

 

    After trying all of these techniques, I have decided that the best way to proceed is to re-shoot the images of my bird cage using a plain white background instead of a light diffuser box.  I will take these images on the 15/11/2012.

My next step was to take images of the red ribbon which would feature on my digipak. I brought 2m of red ribbon from a fabric shop located in Chichester. I created several different patterns using this ribbon on white paper and took photographs. My original images can be seen below.



I am featuring ribbon twice on my digipak.  One to 'hold up' the birds cage on the front and another to go all the way across the inside. The image I took which can be seen in the top right hand corner above is the one I have chosen to hold the bird cage.  The image just below is the one I am going to use for the inside of the digipak. The shot for the birdcage is one of my favourites from my photoshoot.  I would have used it again on the inside of my digipak to help reinforce the house style. However, for this to work the image would have had to of been streched making it look out of place.

 

Digipak Designs

Digipak Designs

 I now need to plan and design my digipak. From looking at different templates of digipaks, I have decided on my basic template for my digipak. I would like to have a digipak that is wrapped up and sealed in some way. This has the connotations of it being a present for the audience. I got this idea from this digipak that I looked at for ideas about different templates.

Because I am going to have a cover over the digipak, I have decided to keep my digipak template simple. I used the website http://www.duplication.ca/printspecs/digipack.htm to look at and download different template designs. The template I have decided upon can be seen below.

With the two bits of my digipak together, I believe it will be interesting and dynamic which will attract the target audience. In questionnaires I conducted at the start of my production, 60% of my target audience responded that a attractive digipak would encourage them to buy the physical version of the album rather than purchase it online. Therefore, it is important that my digipak attracts my target audience. 

I am going to experiment with different design ideas of my digipak and then create the cover for my digipak after I have found a suitable house style. For this, I am going to use  Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0. I am going to use my digipak template and use images online along with my own original text to create a few mock ups to decide which one is best.

 

This was my first design.  I decided to have a digipak covered in text. I discovered a font that I liked; Tropicali Script BTN Bamboo. I used this font throughout this digipak design to help create a house style. I used lyrics to decorate the inside of the digipak. The target audience will be able to identify these with certain songs once they have listened to the album.  I used the main colours red and black to help create a house style. I added a lighting effect called ommi in the centre.  This 'exploded' out from the middle to cover all parts of the digipak helping link them together. I also added all of the generic conventions to the digipak such as the songs being listed in order, a bar code and a copyright paragraph.

 

 

This was my second design.  My idea was to have a 'vintage' bird cage which had objects inside representing the different songs on the album.  This cage was then held up by ribbon which would be featured on the inside of the digipak to help create a house style.  I used the same font text as on my first digipak design for my artist and album name on the front of the digipak. I like this style text and it also looks like robbin linking strongly with the house style of this design. The back of the digipak is similar to my first design in layout. This is because I feel this is the most conventional and attractive layout for my target audience. At the top I had butterflies to help add interest to the digipak. On the inside of the digipak, the butterflies continued and the red ribbon was featured again reinforcing the house style. I decided to have song lyrics on the part of the digipak not covered by the CD to help make the digipak more interesting. I liked the ideas within this design. However, I feel that it would target more of my female target audience and ignore the smaller male audience.

 

 

 

This was my third digipak design. I used the idea of flower patterns to create my digipak house style. On the front of the digipak I had a flower pattern which framed my artist and album name. I once again used the same style font as before. On the front of the digipak, I liked how the pattern framed the text making it stand out. I once again used a similar layout for the back of my digipak. This time I moved the Universal logo and barcode to the sides of the digipak to allow for larger text. I had a black flower image behind the text which works as a watermark. This was very effective and made the digipak seem more professional. To make the song names stand out, I had them in a bright red colour linking to the album name text colour on the front of the digipak. On the inside of the digipak I had a mirror image pattern. This looked professional and interesting but possibly a little plain for the target audience. In this design, there are several ideas, such as the watermark on the back of the digipak, that I liked. However, to use this as my final design and create it as a real digipak, I would have to create all my own patterns. This would take up a considerable amount of time and work to make them look professional.

This is the design I have decided to create into a real digipak. I have chosen this design because I liked the ideas within it. However, I am going to change several things about this design. Within the bird cage, I am going to have several different objects which will represent different songs on the album. Depending on which objects work within the cage and which ones I can find, some of the song names displayed on this design will change. The only one which will definitely stay is Glue because that is the song I used for my music video.  I am going to make my digipak more attractive to the male part of my target audience. I am going to change the background colour from a yellow cream to possibly a white to make it more masculine. Instead of the butterflies, I am going to take photos of some of the objects which will be displayed in the bird cage in the image at the front of the digipak. These will then be seen around the digipak to help represent the songs and to create a house style. One of the main things I liked from my third digipak design was the watermark on the back of the digipak. I am going to try re-create this using the house style from this digipak design. One of my ideas is to take a picture of the bird cage empty and use that as the watermark.