Evaluation

Introduction:

Question 1:

Question 2:

Question 3:

Question 4:

Our Music Video

It has been a long and hard journey in the production process of our music video but we have finally done it. Here is our official music video!

Many thanks to Simone who acted as the artist, the dancers, the media support staff and more importantly the rest of my team!

Rough Cut Video Feedback

In order to see what improvements we could make to our music video, we decided to create a rough cut of our video and get the views and opinions of our target market (16-24 year olds). What came up the most was that our video did not have enough shots per second to coincide with the speed of the music so therefore we made the decision to go through the unused footage again and try and see if there is anything valuable that can be used so that there are more shots per second, we were successful in finding some more footage and have now adjusted the speed of the visuals to the speed of the audio.

It was also said that there was not enough footage of the acting artist Simone so Layla recorded some more footage of Simone lip-synching the lyrics so we have also corrected that matter and there is now much more footage of Simone. The minimal amount of effects that is included within our video was another point that we recieved from the feedback, to resolve this problem me and the rest of the team have selected certain aspects of our music video that would be suitable to include effects and have done so accordingly.

My Magazine Advertisement

Here is the magazine advertisement I have created for my CD, I have purposely placed a large HMV logo at the top of the advertisement as HMV is a well established and respected music outlet amongst music listeners so therefore it will automatically give viewers of my advertisement something to relate to straight away. From the previous research I had conducted on magazine advertisements I noticed that the majority contain the cover of the actual CD within the advertisement so this is something I decided to incorporate within my own media package and I have placed a pink border around it to ensure that it is eye catching and grabs the attention of readers.

The release date of the CD is an essential piece of information that must be included within every promotional advertisement for an artists CD or single which is the reason why I have decided to significantly enlarge the font in comparison to the rest of the text so that the date stands out to the reader and further encourages them to go and purchase the CD. Ratings are another piece of information that I have noticed to come up time and time again within magazine advertisements as it shows the reader that purchasing the CD is not a waste of money and respected music critics actually favour the CD which again is used as a marketing tool to encourage the reader to purchase the compact disk. I have made sure that the critics are people that are known within the music scene and who's opinions people value such as DJ Westwood and Time Magazine.

Underneath the ratings, I have also included what artists are featured within the CD, I did this because certain readers may not be very big fans of Princess Landa's music but if they recognise another artist whose music they prefer more then it may persuade them to purchase the CD.

Existing Magazine Advertisements Research

As part of the process of designing my magazine advert to support the promotion for our video and the CD, I have decided to research some existing magazine adverts in order to identify the different graphical elements such as effects, edits etc and also the placing of images and text that all join together to create an effective advertisement.

Here is a magazine advertisement from UK grime/hip-hop artist Wretch 32, it is very plain in terms of the fact that the advertisement is just an enlarged version of the CD cover. Nonetheless we can see that the name of the artist has been placed at the top right corner and also the text font is different from the rest, this is because it is the first piece of text that has been placed on the advertisement so therefore will allow fans and others to identify who is the artist is.

Certain effects have been added to the title of the CD in order to make it stand out which I also hoping to incorporate within my own advertisement using Adobe Photoshop, the release date of the CD has also been made bold which has been done to raise awareness to fans and keep the date memorised in their minds so they go and purchase the CD when it is released. This advertisement has also stated the names of feature artists which has been done because

listeners of the artist's genre may not necessarily be a fan of Wretch 32's music but if there is a song on the album that features an artist they are a fan of then it will encourage them to purchase his compilation disk.

Places of purchase are also identifiable within the advertisement, having more than one place of purchase allows for ease of access to the target market and therefore ensures that it reaches the intended audience and more. Popular music stores such as HMV have been listed within the advertisement and this instantly gives the advertisement a sense of status and shows that he is a mainstream artist, to ensure that my audience can identify with the advertisement I will include such factors within my own advertisement but at the same time ensuring it is aesthetically attractive.

Here is a magazine advertisement from unsigned artist Kyra Simone, from the outset it is evident a lot of editing has been put into this production which I will be able to incorporate into my own magazine advertisement using my past experiences of Adobe Photoshop. It is also evident that the artist has been airbrushed in order to ensure that she looks much more attractive to her audience and the revealing clothing has been purposely worn in order to give a more sexual and seductive look to the artist which I have decided to incorporate into my own magazine advertisement due to the fact I want to conform to the music industry's view of female musicians being portrayed as sexual objects.

In terms of colour style, the colour of the writing that states the name of the single and its release date is highlighted in a different colour to that of the rest of the writing, this has been done to ensure that it stands out to everyone reading the advertisement and further encourages them to go and download the single. Due to the fact that the artist is unsigned she has purposely put the single as a free download in order to boost her status and attract popularity which is a factor I must take into consideration when designing my magazine advertisement but as my advertisement is for a CD, I believe I will put a price tag on it.

CD Cover- Front & Back

In order to choose the most effective CD cover for our artist, I have created my own CD cover and the rest of my team have done the same. In our next team meeting we will choose which cover is most suitable and use it as the primary CD cover.

Here is the front cover of my CD which I have created. As you can see I have gone with the whole Jamaican theme as it signifies the origin of the genre but also allows my tarket market to relate to the album, the picture of Simone which I have used is also very effective as it creates a dominant and independent look to the artist which has come from her pose but is also very seductive and attractive through the use of revealing body areas. I have ensured the title 'No Time Fi Dem' is highlighted in white so that it stands out from the name of the artist and attracts people who liked the single and interested in hearing more from the artist, the crown on the princess also further emphasises the artists status and can also act as a trademark logo which is one of the reasons me and my team have decided to use it for all our cd covers. I have also created a promotional box to highlight the fact that there are exclusives included within the package which acts as a unique selling point that can attract consumers into purchasing the CD, the Jamaican flag behind the text also once again promotes the genre of the CD.

Here is the back cover of my CD, I have made sure to stick with the Jamaican theme but this time I have edited the photograph to make it black and white and this was done to ensure the areas in colour such as the tracklisting were highlighted and stood out, I chose this photograph because it has the artist within the view of the camera which represents the fact that all eyes are focused on her and she is the woman of the moment, the artist that everyone is focused on. This highlights her importance within the scene and boosts her status. I have also provided links to the artists Twitter in order to enable listeners to find out more about the artist and be able to follower her on a more personal level which will increase her fan base.

Photoshoot Images

Here are the images from the photoshoot taken by our cinematographer Haroon as mentioned in my previous post:

This photograph is very effective in the sense that it is a full body shot which therefore creates a much more seductive look to the artist as it highlights revealing areas of her body such as her legs and chest area. The position in which she is standing in also displays dominance and signifies the message that is being portrayed within the music video which is female independence and dominance over the male gender, nonetheless the expression which is shown on her face is not very attractive or gripping so therefore I do not think it is suitable for my CD cover because although I am trying to further promote the main single 'No Time Fi Dem' and its messages (female independence/dominance) I must still conform to mainstream views of the industry and I must accept that most female artists within the reggae scene are viewed as sexual objects.

Here is another photograph I have chosen as a possible CD cover choice, it is much more seductive than the previous photo and the pose which Simone is doing is dominant yet the glasses that are covering her eyes could show that she is hiding what she really feels and that it is all just an act. It is evident within this photograph that her chest area has been pushed out and this further highlights the area of which the male audience will mostly be concentrated on especially within the reggae genre, the background of this photograph is not ideal but that can all be replaced with a much more suitable background through editing software such as Adobe Photoshop.

This photograph is very effective as it shows that all eyes are on the artist and that she is in the limelight but I do not believe is it suitable for the front of my CD cover as the image of the camera prohibits the viewer from seeing the artist as a whole which may demotivate them from purchasing it as it would not be aesthetically attractive. Again her chest area is highlighted which has been created from the pose in which she is in, I will use this photograph for my back cover as I believe it is an effective photo but not effective enough in order to grip viewers as a front cover.

This is another possible photograph that can be used for my CD cover, this is very effective simply because of the pose she is doing. The pose shows her without a care in the world and the smile on her face further proves this, also it seems as if she is dancing so therefore it would further promote the genre of the whole album which is reggae/dancehall and allow the target market of the artist to relate to the dance move and therefore further encourage them to purchase the cd.

Team Complications

We are in the continuing process of editing our music video but for a few weeks running one member of our team has not been seen within the editing suite, to resolve this issue the rest of the team have put in overtime in order to ensure that the video is completed on time. I am the editor of the video but the input of the rest of my team is essential in order to create a finished product that we are all happy with.

Evaluation of Shoot #4 & Photoshoot

Thankfully our fourth shoot went very well and we managed to get our singer Simone to mime the verses and the chorus of the song, whether it is sufficient enough will only be found out once we go back into the editing room and review the footage. Our cinematographer Haroon also managed to take photographs of Simone and the backing dancers for us to use in the creation of our CD covers which we will edit using various software such as Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. I already have a few CD cover layouts in mind and will get started on designing it as soon as we have finished the editing of our music video. I will upload the pictures from the photoshoot on my blog for you all to see once we have uploaded them onto the computer!