Q4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Final

Q4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages

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Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts? - Final

  Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts? - Final

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How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts? from wolfgang13

Q3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback - Final

Q3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback - Final

Q3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback from wolfgang13

Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products - Final

Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products - Final

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Part 2 - Ancillary texts

Q3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback - Rough draft

What have you learned from your audience feedback - Needs images embeded

What have you learned from your audience feedback from wolfgang13

Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts - Draft

Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts - Draft

During my research into magazine ads I had found the following products, music videos, Digipak and Magazine ad all bare a sense of synergy between them thus in turn promoting each other. I found this when analysing the magazine ad to Mumford and Son's Sigh No More, In which I had found that all products under the Sigh No More umbrella featured a similar art style which was probably inherited and originated from the music video's attached to Sigh No More as well as the artists commercial image. In the example of Sigh No More, a vintage theme was chosen among all three products to convey the group's Folk genre style visually. Said Vintage look can be seen in the music video to "little lion man" which featured a greenish brown filter to convey a vintage film look to the video and the print productions supporting it with the magazine ad designed in a graphical style reminiscent to 19th century graphic design.  The album art for the cover also continues this classical them featuring the Band furniture store which sells 19th century French furniture thus alluding to this vintage folk image.

As a result of this research I during the production of my ancillary texts I had to take in account how I could possibly carry on thematic elements of my music video to make sure all 3 products have strong synergistic qualities. This should in turn result in my magazine ad promoting my Digipak and my music video promoting my Digipak, which in turn would promote my chosen artist.

During the planning of my Digipak and print ads, I touched on and broken down elements that were prominent during my music video. These were as follows:

·          An eccentric theme/Random

·          Computerised themes/ tech themes around a virus

·          Frank Sinatra as a visual motif

·          Colourful and glitchy aesthetic

·          Robots and so called "infected"

With this in mind, I now had to illustrate visually these themes within my products to achieve a strong sense of continuity within my products. Moreover, I needed to think about also conforming to Electronic music genre print genre conventions to not only communicate my artists particular brand and style but communicate to audiences that my artists chosen genre is in fact belonging to a similar genre.

An eccentric/ theme based around the "random - Music Video

During the planning stage of my music video I decided early on to explore a theme based around the strange and weird due to the audio samples featured in the track and there strange comic value i.e. questioning how much orange is there in a dead body. In my music video, this sense of the random and weird was represented visually through heavy use of various props which intentionally had no real relation to each other such as bread and an image of Frank Sinatra or toy soldiers and orange juice. In addition this theme of the "random" was illustrated by the strange costumes worn by the infected characters i.e the heavy use of confetti, tin foil and cheap masks.

Digipak and print ad

For my ancillary tasks, I chose to embrace this sense of the random both depicted in track and music video in order to solidify synergy between products but also present my artist as fun and whimsical due to my reaction to the artists somewhat strange choice of Alan partridge audio samples within his track. In both print productions to some extent this sense of the random and weird was represented in a similar style of my music video by pairing visual elements that have no relation to each other commonly. On my Digipak cover this was illustrated by composing a scene consisting of objects  such as toy soldiers, orange juice, a computer and confetti and with the interiors , either using  stills of the strangest visuals of my music video or images from a photo shoot taken on the day of filming sessions which communicated this idea of the random in a similar way. Since my magazine ad mainly relies on the Digipak front cover artwork visually, this ideally would result in my ancillary tasks featuring a similar look summarising one of the prominent elements of my music video.  This should make it recognisable among audiences as part of the "Burnin fever umbrella" even if I were to remove the type surrounding my graphics indicating as to what it was. I would like to think that music video and ancillary texts work well together to in promoting my artist as previously mentioned as fun and whimsical and thus in turn emphasis the light hearted and upbeat nature of Burnin fever as a track. Moreover, the combination of my three media products should also communicate the sort of relaxed and laid back personality/impression I had found when contacting Tropiika the artist himself. He described Burnin Fever's overall mixing and mastering as "shoddy" however to take the piss out of the perfect mix. I hope that music video and ancillary will communicate this idea and lightheaded personality through its lack of serious subject matter and embrace of the random and strange.

·          Computerised themes/ tech themes around a virus - Music video

From research into genre conventions of electronic based music I had found that some sort of allusion to technology whether it be found within print production or music video to allude to the means in how electronic music is produced as well as connoting a futuristic of science fiction effect to the music. This can be seen in the promotional material to many of Daft Punk's works including their music video technologic and similarly in Kraftwerk and com truises promotional material as well.

http://christopherankamedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/g324-audience-profile-research-task.html - link to examples of technology seen in promotional materials

In my music video the technology theme was centred on a computer virus, which was interpreted by as a result of the scratchy nature of the track itself and the random and repetitious nature of the lyric "like a Burnin fever and let the love with feel" which reminded me of some sort of computer command. This was represented visually by the heavy use of shots concerning computers and a circuit board, sample footage of old computer and technology adverts and most importantly the glitch filter effect. This Glitch effect was chosen to both to represent this computer theme but also based on Goodwin's key aspects of music video was used to amplify the audio of the track visually during key parts of the song.

Digipak and print ad

On my Digipak this tech theme was  conveyed firstly on my front cover by similar to my music video featuring imagery of computers and the glitch effect as well as stylising my typography in an old TV static effect design. In addition, when discussing the type of font chosen for the subtitle of the Digipak front cover I chose the font titled TIFAX. From my research into electronic based music not only did I find that it was conventional to allude to technology and themes of sci-fi within promotional materials but I had also found that it is also conventional to feature some sort of reference to the 1980's or a retro theme. This 80's/retro theme within this genre I found is chosen for the purpose of alluding to the stylistic origins of electronic based genres as well as its height of popularity during the 80's. I found examples of this 80's allusion in the works of Eric Prydz, Kavinsky, Com Truise, Tesla Boy, Calvin Harris and Daft Punk.

*SHOW VISUAL EXAMPLES OF THIS VIA MOODBOARD*

Linking this back to the type of my Digipak and it tech theme, the significance of TIFAX is that the original font comes from the Texas Instruments TIFAX teletext decoder; one of the first teletext TV sets. This not only allowed me to communicate the tech theme by using quite angular type to allude to computer software typography but also allowed me to use a visual convention of electronic music i.e retro/80's themes by opting for a more "retro" take using type which references old technology. I used this similarly in the title card and kinetic type sequences of my music video; using mainly pixel based type to allude to both said technology themes in electronic music as well as retro themes. Within the whole design of my Digipak I stylised it with a computer based theme to conform to this genre convention as well as reflect the virus themes of my music video. The internal panels and back cover however were stylised like the commodore 64 graphics of the 80's and the overall theme of my print ad was stylised as a computer advert from the 1980's even altering the iTunes logo into the 1980's apple logo to reflect this theme clearly. All of these elements surrounding computers and old computer software and 80's culture in all three of my media products were chosen to effectively communicate to audiences that my artist produces work within the electronic music genre. This is so that if audiences particularly electronic music fans were to glance over my artists work either magazine ad, Digipak, or music video by using genre conventions  they should find it easy to identify said product as electronic based and be engaged easier. In addition, although more subtle on my magazine ad, all 3 products each feature the glitch aesthetic as mentioned previous to communicate a computer theme conventional to electronic based music but here it has also been utilised specifically in my ancillary tasks to communicate a prominent theme and visual style of my music video.

This idea of an ancillary products' theme communicating the tone of a music video I also found to be apparent in the design of Kavinksy's outrun album, which used an 80's cop thriller film look for its theme which reflected the music video Protovision ( the music video under the outrun umbrella) 80's cop thriller car chase theme. In terms of both Kavinsky and I I would like to say that we have used this synergistic quality between our products to convey a particular unique style/theme to our products. E.g. Kavinsky outrun is based on 80's cop thriller whereas Burnin Fever and its ancillary's are based on glitch art and "retroness" in order to offer a USP to audiences i.e. being recognisable as an electronic label but also offering something new to audiences.

The Robot - Music video

One major theme within my music video was the character of the 'so-called' Robot who initially served the role of the personification of the virus within my media product.  However, since my product purpose was to serve as a promotional product for my chosen artist the Robot character soon became a substitute persona for my artist.  During my research, I found that it was conventional for an artist to feature some sort of alter ego or convey some sort of anonymity to themselves within the electronic based music.  This can be seen by the likes of similar artists such as Dark Punk, Kraftwerk and their Robot personas, DeadMau5, and Cazzette. According to the theories of Andrew Goodwin, record labels may opt that there music videos reflect an artist's visual motif and in this case with these electronic artists it seems there persona's serve as visual motif to differentiate themselves from each other as well as in the case of the use of anonymity add a sense of intrigue to engage audiences with. With my main media product the Robot Persona served as a substitute to my artists lack of appearance in my product as well as allowing me to conform to genre conventions making the look of this "substitute artist" easily identifiable to those as someone working within the electronic music genre. Moreover, the design of the Robot's smiley face with the strange Frank Sinatra visual motif within my video were chosen to convey what I felt was my real artists light hearted and laid back personality based on his description of this own track. This was also chosen to emphasise the randomness of the video by combing elements of a robot in a suit and jazz musician Frank Sinatra.

Digipak and print ad

Just like my music video both my ancillary products featured imagery of the Robot persona I had developed, as well as my Digipak itself in one of its internal panels continuing the Frank Sinatra visual motifs developing more synergistic qualities between Digipak and music video. When discussing my ancillary products, the inclusion of the Robot's identity on both products with my music video were used to firstly allow audiences to effectively understand who the tropiika persona is by featuring the same character consistently on all 3 products. Additionally, with my ancillary products I opted for the Robot's identity to be distorted , using the electronic music's genre convention of anonymity to create a sense of intrigue for audiences. This ideally would hook those who are fans of electronic based music and are used to this mystery, towards my main product to find out who or what the identity of this robot face/Tropiika is, particularly on my magazine ad which features a QR code linking to my music video revealing this mystery.

Overall when discussing the effectiveness of my ancillary products with my music video, Digipak in particular these products were designed with elements to summarise themes of my video such as the robot, virus, a sense of random and a retro intertextuality. This was done in order to summarise my main product visually to allow audiences to understand the particular style being sold to them as well as using established genre conventions to indicate to audiences the type of genre sold and engage fans of said audience.

Ed Banger Records and my own media product

One particular brand style I used when designing both Digipak and print ad was the Ed banger records approach to print promotional items in order to attract audiences of house music towards my product. Ed banger records is a record label which specialises in electronic music such as house and after researching similar artist Breakbot and the label he works under Ed Banger Records I noticed that  they promotes there artists using quirky, abstract and illustrative styles to attract their audiences. As a result of this in order to attract said audience who consume this type of music I too opted for abstract and quirky elements within my ancillary products by basing my theme of my Digipak on a commodore 64 theme as well as using the theme of the random seen in my music video. For my magazine ad as mentioned previously I stylised it as an old computer magazine ad to continue the computerised theme throughout. This heavy stylisation of ancillary products should cause humour to those who get the reference whether or not within Ed Bangers target audience or and engage those with my product as they can find something to relate to/identify. In addition, the stylised look of my ancillary's with my main products theme of the random should effectively fit in well visually with Ed bangers abstract and illustrative style hopefully attracting Ed Bangers target demographic or those similar to normally consume this style of music and artist promotion.

                                                                                                                                     

Draft Q4 -How Did you use media technologies in the construction and research - (written content for Prezi)

 Draft Q4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Blog - To organise and record aspects of research and planning for my 3 media productions I created a new blogger to serve as host for many of my posts and productions. Blogger's ease of use and ability to embed documents allowed me to work with other web-based applications such as Prezi, Slideshare, and Padlet to allow me to present my ideas and research in clear interactive ways.  The integration between Prezi and blogger allowed me to mind map several ideas during the planning process of my productions allowing me to come up with several concepts on one canvas. This was especially helpful and with Bloggers ease of organisation via its labels system in which I could categorise my posts under a subject.  So say  if later in the future If I was stuck and I needed to remind myself of what to include within my productions or I wanted to use an old idea which at the time I didn't like as much I could simply go back to my blog and find said presentation under a post.

Prezi and its integration with Blogger also allowed me to organise my research and communicate my ideas with ease. In terms of research specifically if I wanted to further understand a certain aspect of a subject I was exploring i.e. the possible audience of Breakbot, Prezi allowed me to skip to the certain slide with a simple click.

Images of Padet, Slideshare and prezi Embeded

Image of Blogger labels

In terms of planning all three of my productions, I tend to produce many sketches in pencil to generate Ideas. Both Blogger and Prezi allowed me to present my scans and allow viewers to zoom into the fine details as well as annotations produced for viewers and myself that can be seen around these sketches.

Image of  screencap of sketches

Using Padlet when planning my Digipak cover, Blogger's ease of embedding 3rd party sites allowed me to embed a Padlet wall I produced which similar to Prezi allowed me to organise and mind map several concepts on one document allowing me easy access to these ideas in the future via bloggers labels system.

In terms of both planning and research, Blogger also allowed me to embed a Pinterest wall I had produced for my Digipak advert, which was centred on late 70's and 80's graphic design to serve as visual reference for the production of my Print ad.

Screen cap of Both Padlet and pinterest wall embeded

Bloggers embedding tools also allowed me to embed Slideshare productions which were used to upload word or PowerPoint documents as well as an InDesgin music video treatment to the web and in turn my blog. These documents ranged from shooting maps to help with the plan of where I would film within my chosen locations to a mind map of logo ideas for a Digipak as well as presenting my research about genre conventions within print ads. I also used Slideshare to document and show the process of how I produced props such as the Robot's head in the development of my music video as well as compiling photo images in a slide to present ideas such as ideal shooting locations for my music video.

Images of Powerpoint, InDesign and Robot head construction slide

Blogger also allowed me to embed Gifs I produced in Photoshop as well as Jpeg images which normally included things such as visual reference, examples, inspirations, drafts of my Digipak and print ad and the outcome of my Digipak and print ad etc. The use of Gifs allowed me to animate my images and present viewers concept images/videos of elements I would like to feature in my music video such as stop motion experiment. Sometimes these Gifs were used for illustrating and animating my photo editing process for my Digipak and Print ad as well as presenting a lenticular cover mock up version of my Digipak.

Screencap of Stop motion animation post and lenticular cover

Blogger also allowed me to embed YouTube video and create hyperlinks to other sites and products. This helped during the planning and research stage of my productions as well as allowing me to present my music video directly on my Blog. During planning and research YouTube's integration with blogger allowed me to link visual inspirations such as other music videos and upload drafts of my music video as well as audio edits I had produced of my chosen song in order to make it more manageable for a music video format. In addition YouTube and Blogger's integration allowed me to upload video concepts in preparation for my video for example I uploaded a slow motion experiment I produced using after effects and Photoshop to YouTube and then embedded this to my blog allowing me to clearly illustrate an idea I had for my video visually. 

Screen cap of post with youtube embeding

In addition, Blogger's embedding functions allowed me to embed screen grabs of survey monkey results I had received during my audience research stage. This allowed me to communicate both to viewers and me visually a summary of what my Questionnaire had found on potential target audiences. This also allowed me to direct my music video towards appealing to a target audience by referring to the graphs from survey monkey embedded on my blog allowing me to consume the important information with ease and base some of the aesthetic options of my video on this.

Finally Bloggers ability to add html code to the site allowed me to present my chosen artist's song through a unique and clear way by embedding the song itself on my site via the SCM music player. Initially I had it set that Burnin fever would play upon visiting my blog however this would have been slightly distracting for those wanting to read content. On the other hand, it is still possible to play the song via the play button on the top. This helped for idea generation during the planning stage since If I wanted more ideas on what I could include during segments of the track I could play the song at the top of my page whilst looking over my previous posts of influences and research.

Screencap of Survey monkey post and SCM player

Music Video - For My Music Video, I primarily worked with a small Sony HDR-HC9 camera. This allowed capturing intricate shots that would've proved to be hard to capture working with a larger camera such as the tracking shot of the hands typing. In addition to this, I used a tripod to keep my shot steady however there were times in which I used my arm for a deliberate paparazzi shaky cam effect. I also used a tracking dolly to achieve tracking shots as well as building a tracking dolly out of Lego's to achieve tracking shots in close quarter places. In terms of sound equipment, this was not needed as I was working with music video and thus removed any diagetic sound when editing. I also relied on natural lighting for my music video however sometimes I set up shots by shooting in a dark room and using a computer monitor as a light source to convey a sinister atmosphere.

Images of Sony camera and lego tripod

During the post production stage of my video I worked with Final Cut Express, I movie, and Adobe After Effects. Final cut served as my main editing tool as it allowed me to layer footage one over, edit sound files and cut and edit individual clips. Final cut helped when it came to the complex edits of my videos such as cropping clips to around less than a second in order for said clips to play and cut on beat achieving a desired flashing effect as seen during the sample footage sequences. Due to the many cuts and stop motion movement I had planned within my video, Final cuts layering system was very helpful as I could cut a selection of footage, copy and paste this several times  and then underneath have another layer of footage to create the look of one shot cutting to another one and then time it to cut back to the same shot with ease. This can be particularly seen around 2:03 - 2:07 as cuts from a panning shot to a close up then to another close up and then back to this panning shot playing underneath. 

Images of final cut, I movie and after effects logo's

Screen shot of Final cuts layering system

Embed youtube clip/edit of burnin fever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRKL1217yl8&feature=youtu.be

Initially, Inspired by Aphex Twin Windowlicker I wanted to utilise a slow motion effect to convey a distorted atmospheric look to my video in certain sequences set within the office. However, Final Cuts Slow motion effect I felt wasn't smooth enough to show a realistic look to this slow motion hence I used the editing software's fast forward feature, speeding up my certain clips by adjusting the speed and thus creating this robotic fast paced look to the movement. This fast paced movement also helped in amplifying the fast pace of the track. Additionally, Final cut allowed me to apply visual filters to shots making them much more aesthetically pleasing or helping to convey a theme or mood such as the use of Hue and saturation, which allowed me to emphasises a more upbeat and whimsical look in certain sequences. This with the static TV effect also allowed me to create the look of the "digital world" within my video allowing me to visual distinguish want was the real world and what was the world presented within computers.

Screen caps of applying each effect

Fast motion

Hue and Saturation

TV Static

Moreover, although quite basic, final cut featured a sound editing feature that allowed me to remove any unwanted diagetic sound and fade out my chosen track via manipulating the wavelength of the mp3 file.  Due to the length of my chosen track and issues with handling such a large cast, I had to fade out my video and track around the 3:51 mark making a condensed version of my video. As a result of this not only did I fade out my music but I also faded out my footage via the fade to black transition function on Final cut. Final cut also allowed me to edit the size of the frames of my footage. Using this and Final cuts layering system this allowed me to create visually dynamic jump cuts with not only the content of the shot changing but also the size of frame around it. This was used also to differentiate what was within the "digital world" of my media production and what wasn't.  Finally, Final cut's layering system and key frame animation tools allowed me to create smart transitions and fades.  For instance by placing one layer of footage over another and key frame animating the opacity levels of the top layer, I was able to fade one shot to another shot of a chicken hitting a wall. However, this technique allowed me to time the chicken hitting the wall roughly on beat by having the chicken layer play on top of the previous footage while on 0% opacity until I animated the opacity percentage to go up to 100 at a certain time.

Screen caps of wavelength feature in Final cut

Screen cap of key framing opacity

During the planning stage of my video, I had noticed that my track was possibly too long for such complex editing and featured many repetitive sequences that didn't offer any new changes for me to interpret visually in a different way as the time constraints offered hence using Garage Band I also edited my chosen track making it more condense. I removed around 87 seconds of sound in different sections of the track allowing me to move onto different moments of my initial storyboard idea easier. For example  Because I edited the music I could move from the office scenes  to the shots set at home easy since there is now a change in sound and as a result the office scene's don't become stale and repetitive.

Screencap of me editing in Garage Band

Other software I used during the planning and construction my music video was the ipad app Real World ASCII. Inspired by a fan made music video of Com Truise which used ASCII art to convey themes of technology and software, I too wanted to use this visual style for similar effect. This meant firstly experimenting with the trail version to see if I could recreate a similar effect and then eventually using it and my ipad to film a close up shot of lips uttering the lyrics. To film this shot using the ipad's multi task options I downloaded the mp3 file of Burnin Fever to my ipad and played the lyrical sample of  in the background to us filming on the app allowing my actor listen and lip sync the words.

Image of Ipad
Image of Real world ASCII logo
Image of lips during music video

Adobe after effects helped with more of the complicated special effects featured within my video such as the glitch art sequences, kinetic type and title card of the music video. I chose after effects for its reputation for being an industry standard special effects program in film as well as my familiarity with it. After a key frame animation system which allowed me to time and animate certain effects such as the glitch effects movement to amplify the scratchy nature of the music during certain sequences as well as timing the duration of type and animating type transitions during the kinetic type sections and the title cards self typing title effect I made. In addition, after effects versatility with other softwares allowed me to import an mp3 file format of the vocal sample of the track "like a fever Burnin and let the love with feel".  This helped when syncing the kinetic type in time with the words of the track as I could import the mp3 file and then key frame animate my type based on the timing of the sound on the timeline. After effects and Photoshop also have strong synergistic qualities allowing me to import gifs developed on Photoshop to after effects. This allowed me to achieve the Burnin text animation seen in my video by importing a Gif of fire from Photoshop to after effects and then applying a mask to the flames to place them within the type.

Screen cap of After effects - Glitch effect
Screen cap of kinetic Type sequence - Burnin
Screen cap of Key framing

I movie although considerably more basic than Final cut served as a tool for me to make easy stop motion animations as well as a converter for my after effect files to something Final cut could use. To create the stop motion animated effect within my video I had to shoot several shots of the same scene constantly but slightly adjust the scene to make it seem as if elements within the shot are moving. I movie allowed me to mount all these shots onto a timeline simply and then adjust the duration of these shots to about 0.04 seconds to create seamless movement.  I movie also allowed me to resolve a problem around file formats as I found that Final cut would not accept certain files such as mp4 during importing and this was the only file format I could render in After effects which featured good video quality without eating too much memory. I movie, allowed me to import mp4's and convert them to QuickTime files which could be easily used in Final cut. I movie allowed me to import my footage filmed on camera to computer. By importing my film via I movie not only did this help in organising my clips as they could all be found under one file but also when editing in Final cut this made sure that when I adjusted a clip whilst editing ,I didn't have to constantly keep rendering thus making the editing process less time consuming.

Image of editing in Imovie

Print productions - For my print productions, I worked mainly with Photoshop, after effects, InDesgin and illustrator during the production stage of my prints. Moreover, I used Pinterest during the research and planning phase of my production to build visual reference for the outlook of my magazine ad as well as the possible graphical style towards the front of my Digipak. Before constructing my Print productions during the research and planning stage, I used tools such as Slideshare and Prezi to present any logo designs and mock up sketches I had produced. The logo's I had produced prior the construction stage of my Digipak was produced via adobe illustrator. Using illustrators vector graphic format this allowed me to test out logos and see what fonts best suit each other so that in the future when picking my favourite design I simply place the vector image in Photoshop which due to its vector format will allow me to re size and adjust without any loss in quality.  

Photoshop, After Effects, InDesign and Illustrator logos
Screencap of logo mind map on illustrator

Producing sketches traditionally and then presenting them on Prezi allowed me to generate ideas and think in detail what elements from my music video should be presented on my print productions and how. By presenting them all on Prezi I had one place to access all these mock up designs easily and thus in turn allowed me to take elements from the designs I felt were strongest to develop a mock up sketch and eventually the final products. During this sketching stage, I also used Padlet to organise still shots from my music video as well as photographs taken whilst shooting my music video that could possibly work as artwork for my Digipak. The choices of these stills and photos were based on the idea of whether they conveyed themes of the video successfully as well as how interesting they were compositionally. Eventually, during the planning stage of my Digipak decided to a completely new photo based on one of my sketch designs to better summarise themes of my video on print. This photo would be used for my front cover whereas the stills from my music video and photographs taken during the videos shoot will be used as internal artwork to create synergy between print and music video.

Image of Sketches with Padlet

Before moving onto the production of my Digipak using InDesgin I printed out a small 6 panel net of a Digipak to construct in order for me to gain a better understanding in how a 6 panel Digipak can fold and where each art panel is placed against each other. This allowed me to plan my on panels via Prezi to see what stills best complimented each other.

Image of 6 panel test digipak
 

After this, I started to work on my Digipak front cover by firstly setting up a photoshoot in a dark room to take the appropriate picture for my production. Then using Photoshop I edited the photo by cropping out elements of the image to fit on a Digipak canvas and then using brightness and contrast and the levels function I adjusted the lighting of the photo to direct viewers gaze towards the computer seen on the front of the image. In addition, I also applied a hue and saturation filter upping the saturation of the image in a selected area to bring out the colours to make the image more appropriate for an electronic album as well as further draw viewers gaze.

Image of photos from Photoshoot

Using After effects I imported my Digipak front cover photo and applied a glitch effect to further develop the synergy between Digipak and music video and then exported this image back to Photoshop to develop on these details. This glitch effect process was also used on the internal art panels (the stills from the photoshoot and music video) to create a consistent computer theme throughout my product.

Screen cap of editing via After effects

On top of this for my Digipak front cover, I also added a scanline filter via Photoshop's layer blending system to bring out the colours of my Digipak and further push a computer feel on my cover.

Screen Cap of Photoshop Layering system

Photoshop allowed me to import logos I had produced earlier in illustrator as well as edit them adjusting the font chosen for my artists name to a similar style of the logo he uses on his website. Photoshop also allowed me to create type via the type tool, this helped when producing the internal artwork as well as editing the subtitle of my album cover to make it have an old static tv effect on it.

Image of my Tropiika logo compared to his
Image of Subtitle with tv static effect

When producing the internal artwork I firstly I adjusted my stills/photographs from the shoot by clone stamping any imperfections within the image and then applying a glitch effect. After this, the image would be resized with a black background around it and underneath I would apply pixel type to achieve the look of a video game graphic in order to keep the computer theme consistent throughout my Digipak.

Embed youtube video of gif of process of internal artwork

The old static effect on the subtitle of my Digipak was created by layering three copies of the subtitle over one another and adjusting the colour of each layer and then changing the bending mode. I then adjusted the position of them to create this digital distortion look to them.

Embed youtube video of gif of process

Similar to Illustrator, Photoshop allowed me to create vector objects and shapes. This was primarily used during the production of the back cover my artwork as I would work with Photoshop's shapes and type function to create a vector design based off of a commodore 64 load screen to further push the computer theme on my Digipak. Photoshop also allowed me to recolor elements such as the barcode and record label in order to keep the colour theme consistent as well as the computer theme.

During the construction of the physical Digipak, I downloaded six panel Digipak and then mounted my images on each slide. After this, I printed out the net to scale and constructed the product using scissors and glue.

Image of back cover next to commodore load screen
Image of photoshops shape function in use
Image of photoshop recolouring
Image of Digipak and Digipak net

Unlike My Digipak, my print ad was constructed entirely via Photoshop by importing my Digipak cover without type onto an A3 canvas and then editing it via a vintage grainy filter to make it look like a distressed old magazine ad inspired by my visual reference of old computer ads.  I then added type via the type tool and included appropriate graphics and logos such as a link to a digital distributor and the proposed record label logo my artist would work under.

Image of my magazine ad compared to old computer ad

For both my print productions, I decided to use the Ed Banger Record label as the proposed record label that would be the most suitable for my artist to work under.  From my research into target audience Ed Banger Records are a label, which only house electronic type of music under their label. Since my artist produces electronic type of music himself, such a label would help in finding him a dedicated and specific target audience. In addition from my research the way Ed Banger visually promotes there artists seems quite similar and suitable to how I attempted to promote my artist though the music video. One could argue that both me and Ed Banger attempt to promote their artists through illustrative and abstract styles. It is because of this similarity in artist promotion that I also believe that Tropiika would work well under the Ed Banger Record since the way I have promoted Tropiika via the music video shouldn't seem so alien to Ed Banger Record's audience since based on my research they would be used to this sort of abstract yet colourful style.

Image of ED Banger Records and ED Banger album art and promotional tools
Screen shot of all 3 media products produced

On my print ad these logos such as the Ed Banger Record logo and the iTunes logo were re-coloured via the FX tool to fit in with the colour scheme of the overall graphic. Also in the within the iTunes logo I edited the logo of the apple to make it look like the apple logo used from the late 70's and throughout the 80s in order to push the retro theme throughout my ad.

Image of original unedited  iTunes logo
Editted logo
Image of 80's apple logo

Finally, one last addition I made on my magazine ad was the inclusion of a working QR code which linked to my music video upon its scan. I created this QR code via QR code generator, an online app that allows people to create working QR codes. This was included on my print add to further add synergy to my print products making my print ad both promote the Digipak attached to my music video as well as the music video itself.

Screencap of QR code generator

Technologies used for evaluation questions

Question 1 - Video commentary/ YouTube to allow me to discuss my ideas and show my inspirations visually

Question 2 -

Question 3 -

Question 4 - Prezi to organise and present the many layers of my product clearly as well as its versatility with image and video embedding

Draft - Q1 - In what ways does your media product use,

Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uEJRmoIDVc - clockwork orange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOV5WXISM24 Acceptable in the 80s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK36lXlby4Q Thinking of you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_fCqg92qks - Call on me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMjCxV7u8OA - Brokendate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtdWHFwmd2o - technologic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yhheW10b5o - Burnin Fever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-9UvrLyj3k - come to daddy

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When discussing in what ways does my A2 media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music video's I will be exploring Andrew Goodwin's theory on key aspects of a music video. I will be mainly discussing how I utilised these key aspects as well as other elements from key music videos to determine the overall look of my Music video.

According to Goodwin there are roughly around 6 key elements of a music video

A music video will demonstrate characteristics conventional to its genre i.e. a heavy metal music video would conventionally feature a Stage performance and a music video for a boy band or girl band track would feature some sort of dance routine.

A Relationship between visuals and lyrics - this could illustrate, amplify or contradict

A Relationship between visuals and music - Similar to a relationship between visuals and lyrics, amplify, illustrate or contradict

Intertextual references to other media texts such as film, TV or perhaps other themes and ideas

References to looking and the voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Finally according to Godwin it is conventional for a music video to feature many close ups of the artist to allow the Record label to further push and promote their artists. In addition, artists may feature some visual motif or style, which recurs throughout their work for example Daft Punk's robot persona's

Linking this back to my own media product Burnin Fever there are times in which I have conformed but also attempt to develop many of Goodwin's key aspects for example the idea of the notion of looking as well as Goodwin's idea of Voyeurism. According to Goodwin the notion of looking refers to any sort of reference to watching something or eye contact. This can be represented via  mirrors, Tv screens, cameras etc. 

Throughout my video, the notion of looking has been represented however in some instances challenged for example earlier on within my video we see a mid shot of the Robot character directly addressing the camera with the intention of emulating news broadcast. In addition, during post production I edited the shot making the frame smaller in order to connote the look of a screen within a screen. This imagery of a screen within a screen can be seen throughout my music video and was inspired by the music video come to daddy, which was directed by Chris Cunningham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-9UvrLyj3k show clip of come to daddy 1:14 - 1:21

The idea for my own video was to create this idea of two worlds one which was the "digital world" like a world that exists within our computers, films and other visual texts which the Robot/virus  lives in and then our world. This idea allowed communicating two of Godwin's key aspects, intertextual references to other media products as well as exploring genre conventions typical to my chosen genre.

From my research of similar genre's of electronic music and their music video's I had found that many of them feature some sort of technology based theme or intertextual reference to technology and sci-fi. This could range from sort of subtle references such as the music video to Calvin Harris Acceptable in the 80's which features a science lab location as well as close ups of scientific apparatus (clip of acceptable in the 80's  0:56 and 2:30 mark) to more overt depictions such as Daft Punks technologic which features the artists robot visual motif (1:42 mark), imagery of a monitor playing type (2:25) and an animatronics robot (0:50 mark). Additionally, I found this technology theme to be found in Com Truise's music video Brokendate which sets its video against the backdrop of an 80's sci-fi film including imagery of computer graphics and wireframe design (1:26 mark and 2:52 mark) as well as sci-fi tropes such as laser pistols (3:38 mark).  From my own interpretation, many of these music videos utilise references to technology, as a way of referencing the means of how there genre is produced i.e. via electronic devices such as synthesisers.  Moreover at the time of electronic music's height of popularity as well as the stylistic origins of many of the sub genres which fold under it during the late 70's and the 1980, was seen as the future of music by some since nothing like it was heard before. Because of this, this would result in the many sci-fi themes present throughout these videos.

For my own media product these references and themes of technology was used both to convey genre specific qualities to communicate to audiences that my video was for an electronic based track.  Also due to my initial interpretation of the track centring around a computer virus as well as my own artists description of the style of Burnin Fever being sci-fi/futuristic, I utilised a heavily computer based aesthetic throughout my own product in order to illustrate visually this tone. This is s seen throughout my video through the use of glitch art to convey the look of the virus within my media text distorting things around it (1:17).  I also featured constant imagery of computers (0:12) and computer graphics (0:18, 0:28), sometimes in the forms of ASCII art (1:01) as well as even pixel art in the forms of the font chosen for the kinetic typography segments (1:38), the design of the robots head (0:58) and some of the rebuses seen during the typography moments (1:41). These computer graphic based visuals were used to convey a software look to the design and style of certain moments of my music video to distinguish what was in the digital world and at times present viewers with a look into the software the hacker character was using within the music video. Whereas by filming various close ups of computer apparatus this allowed me to set the tech tone whilst add some sort of sinister mystery since audiences don't get a full shot of what the hacker is doing or typing or if the virus is living independently.  This tech theme can also be found in the title screen of my music video since I have titled the video Burnin Fever.EXE adding a file extension name to the title to make it sound like a computer application.

Moreover,I attempted to convey this tech theme present within my chosen genre by featuring various stock footage of old computer adverts from the 1980's inspired by Com Truise's use of sample footage at the beginning of Brokendate (0:00 - 0:11), which are used to illustrate the audio samples used within the track as well as keep with the retro theme of the overall music video. The various samples used within my video include footage of commodore 64 ads (1:14) as well as technology related items such as clips of BBC'S ceefax (1:02) and footage from a Sinclair c5 (1:06) ad as well as footage from videogames (3:29) and a clip of a Robocop (3:28) advert. The use of these visual samples were used for a number of reasons, one being to represent how my chosen genre of music can conventionally use audio samples within their tracks and hence I thought it would be an interesting to use visual samples to convey this idea of recycling and re using other products to make a new product. According to Goodwin's theory, one could argue through this I have also developed on one of the key forms of music videos i,e a relationship between music and video by using sample footage to illustrate an idea behind the genre of music not the specific song itself. 

Moreover, when choosing these visual samples not only did they have to feature some sort of tech or sci-fi theme but they had to be "retro" and display and intertextual reference to roughly around the 1980's and 80's media. This decision was based on some of my findings when researching electronic based genres as I had found that many of them both in music video and print often allude to the 1980's. This can be seen within the music video's acceptable in the 80's, Brokendate and call on me by Eric Prydz. Although, acceptable in the 80s is deliberately an 80s centric  video  based on its lyrics, Call on me and Brokendate as well as acceptable all allude to the decade referring to the stylistic origins and height of popularity of electronic music during the 80's. This can be seen within Acceptable in the 80's featuring many stereotypes of the 80's such as its fashion styles and even the style of the props used which represented via the use of mis en scene (0:37). Whereas in Eric Prydz call on me, this 80's centric tone has been represented by stylising the video as an old 80's workout video as seen in the various costume of the models (0:08) wearing 80's style workout gear as well as in the mis en scene (0:05) in which we can see an old cassette player further reinforcing this retro tone.  In Brokendate this 80's theme is represented via its intertextual references to 80's sci-fi films such as terminator (0:39 - 1:01) evidenced by the music videos similar title card. In addition this 80's sci-fi theme and reference to the 80's is  also shown as in the costume, narrative and lighting of the music video; utilising a sci-fi noir look via its low key lighting (1:03) and detective stock character wearing a typical brown trenchcoat (1:06) and detective narrative all referring to 1980s sci-fi film Blade Runner.

For my own media product, I utilised this intertextual reference to the 80's by featuring clips of sample footage or footage of products which have their origins in the 80's for example using a clip of an 80's workout tape (1:02) from using a clip of robocop (3:28) an iconic figure of pop culture which was created in the 80's. Using this stock footage not only allowed to develop on conventions of electronic based music videos but was also used to initially represent the look of the virus present in my video overloading as I planned to have a build up in how random and frantic the images got .

 On the other hand, this then developed into representing the frantic style of the virus's personality as well as developing more of a relationship between music and visuals by illustrating the fast and frantic pace of the track once again conforming to Goodwin's theory on the key aspects of music videos. When watching my video notice how these stock footage clips cut on beat with the track with no relation to each other in terms of subject (1:02 - 1:08). 

This idea of visuals cutting on beat was learnt from my brief time looking at the music video Harder Better Faster Stronger in which visuals are cut on beat however not on every beat in order to allow audiences to have time to consume the visuals and understand what is being shown to them. I wanted my own video to develop on this element by instead opting for moments in which clips cut exactly on beat instead of leaving breathing time to amplify the pace of the track and create this random and frantic nature to my video.  This idea of fast paced clips was informed by looking at one of my chosen artists inspirations The Phantoms Revenge who on his website features a Gif of various images flashing one after another and the rehabilitation scene from clockwork orange (0:35) in which both audiences and protagonist are subject to see various stock footage of violence. For my product, I wanted to convey a desensitising and hypnotic look to the virus as it plays this various random footage constantly, in order to explain how the virus would turn people to the infected within the narrative of my video.

While still on the subject of Goodwin's key aspects of music video and relationship of music and visuals, not only did I cut sample footage on beat to amplify the frantic nature of the track but also there were instances in which I would cut peoples movement on beat with the track of the music. This was influenced by its use in acceptable in the 80's where in some instances Harris would dance slightly robotically(1:07) whilst holding an otter which one could argue was mimicking the street dance style of the Robot which gained popularity during the 80's further exploring the 80's theme apparent in the video. For my own media product, I adapted this element and had shots featuring characters in one position cut into another shot of the character in another position to offer the illusion of them moving. (1:09- 1:11). The purpose of this was to illustrate the look of computer/video game lag within the context of my narrative of the virus taking over the real world and further illustrate the tech theme present in electronic based music and there accompanying msuic videos. Additionally I also cut movements such as twitching and certain dance movements (0:47 - 0:49) to create a robotic and lifeless look to the subjects movements. With this allusion to robots in the movement of these characters, this further allowed me to communicate a tech theme whilst illustrating the music via the movements in the body. 

Finally, another example of me conforming to Goodwin's idea of a relationship between music and visuals is present during sequences in which the track of Burnin Fever itself starts to sound scratcher and in turn the visuals follow as I set for a glitch effect to be played over strange distorted imagery such as a dancing chicken. This was done to emphasise the scratchy nature of the sequence of sound being played in this instance by using distorted imagery to illustrate distorted sounds and within the context of my video show the virus running rampant. This change of visuals based on a change of music and its pace can be found in the music video Thinking of you in which around 3:12 as the pace of the music increases so does the pace and visual distortions of the visuals follow to amplify the electronic feel of the sounds (3:12).

In my media product I also attempted to challenge one of Goodwin's Key aspects i.e. the voyeuristic treatment of the female body quite briefly within my product. As Frazer (2005) puts it, the purpose of a music video is "to encourage sales of the music in other formats". Based on Godwin's theory of a voyeuristic treatment of the female body and Frazer's idea labels possibly use this convention to promote their artists as "sexy and desirable". I found this to be apparent in videos such as acceptable in the 80's (0:03), Thinking of you (0:32) and Call on me (0:19). I attempted to challenge this idea briefly with scenes such as the lip scene (3:30) to make fun of the idea of red lips being some sort of sex symbol and the use of the Barbie doll (3:31) being nude to convey themes of sexuality but in a subtle and humorous effect poking fun at literal objectification using an object to convey sexuality. The idea was to take this convention of music video and distort it to poke fun at it to show how strange this convention is.

Another Goodwin theory explored within my media product was the relationship between lyrics and video. As seen in acceptable in the 80's this relationship of lyric and video doesn't have to 100 percent literal to the lyrics presented since in Acceptable in the 80's the lyrics can be interpreted as referring to the age of consent. However, the director of the music video has reinterpreted this to mean referring to animal testing being acceptable in the 80's as seen in the various shots of scientists operating on a toy otter (0:17). For Burnin fever, the only main lyrics that were presented I felt were a bunch of random words made into a sentence and thus I interpreted this into some sort of computer command or virus leading to the virus narrative seen within my video. Inspired by Technologic's use of kinetic type (0:11) I too adapted this representing my lyrics quite literally as lyrics within the visuals of my piece however with the intention of creating this hypnotic command look to the virus within my video. I did also add some effects to the lyrics when flashing on screen for example setting the word burnin on fire (1:38) to add emphasis to the words as well as making the type glitchier (2:28) to amplify the scratchy sounds of the track.  Moreover, the lyrics are also made to look like they are sung during the ASCII art sequence (1:00) to help with the personification of the virus as if it's the viruses lips which are singing theme.

Other ways in which I represented a relationship between lyrics to visuals is somewhat in how I approached my artist's use of audio samples within his work. In the video to Thinking of you, the director has illustrated some of the lyrics visually on screen through suggestive or subtle imagery such as around 0:22 Tesla boy sings the line "A heavy breathing I can hear" and we see a shot of two lips in the background. (0:22) In Burnin Fever I approached this in a similar way by having some characters mime these audio samples and then when a phrase of interest presented itself cut to a shot reinterpreting this line in an abstracted way. For example, the line how much orange is there in a dead body was shown visually as firstly, lips eating an orange and then a shot of a Barbie Doll covering in orange juice. These were done to exaggerate the silly nature of some of these audio samples and keep with the context of my video presenting a virus distorting normality.

Finally, one bit of audio sample that was used to show a relationship between lyric and visual was the brief mention of Frank Sinatra during the opening of the track. Initially I wanted to represent the newscasters readout of a scandal involving Frank Sinatra as a brief introduction of the Robot character himself by having the Robot reveal himself to be Frank Sinatra, however I soon found myself using Frank Sinatra's likeness throughout the music video as some sort of visual motif (1:17). This was used to add some depth and create more of a humouress and random effect to my video by exaggerating the intertextual reference to Sinatra that was already present in the track and linking a figure that generally isn't associated with the electronic genre. This allowed achieve two of Goodwin's key aspects of music video intertextuality and the use of an artist motif within a music video.

According to Goodwin it is conventional for a music video to feature many close ups of the artist as well as the artists own visual motif in order for record labels to promote their artists successfully. Artist motif's such as Daft Punk's Robot Persona or Calvin Harris's former visual motif of the fly eyes (0:22) and eccentric imagery with vibrant colours (0:26) allow these artists to feature some sort of USP which sets them apart from other artists. In my music video although my artist is unsigned as mentioned before I attempted to develop a visual motif of references to Frank Sinatra to develop some sort of artist motif based on the random or perhaps just references to Sinatra himself with possibly future music videos to Tropiika feature some sort of visual Easter egg to this artist. Another example of artists using visual motifs to sell their work is the group Tesla Boy who tend to feature imagery of neon lights and strobe lights (0:39) to communicate that they are like a "party band"; their music being marketed as the type, which one would listen to at a gathering or a party.

Additionally, in my music video I featured various close up shots of the robot character (0:58) to serve as substitute for Goodwin's idea on a music video featuring close ups of an artist's face to further promote the artist to a new audience. As seen here in Acceptable in the 80's  (1:01) and Thinking of you (0:52) this has been used since these artists are or were not well known and thus need to feature there face within their works in order for people to recognise who they are and expose the artist to audiences.  Since I couldn't not get my artist to perform I instead created the robot character to both serve as the personification of the virus as well as the substitute persona of my artist which also allows me to conform to a genre specific convention of electronic music which is anonymity in the artist. Electronic artists who seem to follow this idea include Daft Punk (image of DAFT PUNK) DeadMau5 (image of DeadMau5) Cazzette (image of Cazzette) and with some artists challenging this convention such as Aphex twin. Who in many of his works features a distorted persona of himself as seen in come to daddy (1:38) in which characters wear rubber masks all featuring his likeness.

Goodwin also claims that there are three types of music video, performance, narrative and concept based. Other than performance based which shows the artist perform their music, I found from my research electronic based music videos tend to feature a mix of performance with concept and sometimes add in a narrative in the case of Brokendate's 80's sci-fi theme. Examples of this can be found in acceptable in the 80's, thinking of you, technologic and call on me all of which feature visuals or a theme with no coherent narrative. I believe this is mainly due to the fact that unlike other genres of music electronic based music relies more on the beat of the track rather than lyrics.  Hence, directors have to interpret how the music sounds to them not the meaning behind the words and I found this with my own media product. I decided to go for more of an amalgamation of the 3, using performance based conventions to promote my artist whilst having a concept based on the random and technology, due to my initial reaction to listening to the track as well as my artists description of its futuristic sci-fi style. The small narrative within my media product came from the lyrics provided within the track "like a fever burnin" as well as the scratchy sound of the song itself. The word fever and the distorted sound of the song as well as the random audio samples gave way to an idea of a virus distorting things in our world and I interpreted the line fever burnin as a virus spreading similar to how a fire spreads.

Finally, one last genre specific convention I used within my music video was the use of vibrant colour and neon lights. This can be seen in acceptable in the 80's (0:03) Thinking of you (3:24) and Technologic (1:34) to sometimes convey an upbeat mood to the music or create a sci-fi or electric/energy aesthetic. For my own video I used a hue and saturation filter at times to push the saturation of colours in certain scenes around the "digital world" (0:48) to contrast the dimmer less vibrant scenes in the real world (1:36). This was used in order to distinguish which is which and in the more saturated scenes convey a more upbeat and whimsical look to the scene depicted.

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Digipak and Magazine ad Evalution

 

In terms of my Digipak and print ad in comparison to real media products in terms of how I challenged and developed conventions of these mediums, through my research of real digipak's and print ads, I had noticed that all conventionally all both products including music video tend to have a synergistic theme between them. I found this when analysing print ads to Mumford and Sons "Sigh No More" and Kings of Leon "come around sundown". Although ads from two different genre's to my own I noticed a consistent theme between the two in which there was a sense of continuity in the aesthetics of the overall design. For example within the Mumford and Son's print ad and album art cover presented on the ad there was a theme of a vintage 19th century graphical design or allusions to the 19th century. This reflected the bands folk genre which in turn was represented in one of the Bands music videos attached to the album "little lion man" which featured a greenish brown filter to convey a vintage film look to the video.  

Show visual examples of Mumford and Sons products

This strong synergistic quality was similarly found on three of Kings of Leon products under the come around sundown label all of which print ad, album art and music video feature a sepia filter to convey feelings of warmth and nostalgia.

Show screen images of Kings of Leon products

This in mind I knew that not only must there be consistency in the style of my music video to print productions but also from looking at the Mumford and son's ad I learnt that the artwork should reflect the genre or style behind the artist being promoted. Also I noticed that the Mumford and sons ad was promoting the group's debut album and from this I found that if the Digipak and magazine ad belongs to the artists debut album, the artists face or identity should be featured somewhere in order to promote the artist and allow audiences to understand who this new band is. I also found this to be apparent on the artwork of Calvin Harris' debut album I created disco which also features the artist's image on front for similar effect.

Now, with this understanding of convention I conformed to conventional visual styles of electronic music in order to communicate effectively what type of artist I was promoting to new audiences easier. Through my research, I had found that images of sci-fi, technology, geometrical shapes, as well as imagery of neon lights and some sort of retro theme seemed to be a consistent visual style throughout this genre.

Show examples of research

For my own print product I wanted to carry the theme of the random, and glitch aesthetics thus conforming to this general convention of synergy between products. However, I also kept in mind some of the visual conventions of my electronic graphics research by pushing the saturation of the glitch effect on my Digipak cover to convey the look of neon lights. I also initially wanted to include an old computer monitor to convey the look a retro look within my Digipak however due to practicality of acquiring such a prop I had to settle on a more recent monitor to convey allude to the tech theme often found within my chosen genre.

Show images of music video in comparison to Digipak

However this retro theme was eventually communicated on my print ad in which I stylised it as an old computer magazine because I wanted to communicate not only the tech theme present within my music video but also the element of the use of retro sample footage within my video and keep the synergy strong and consistent within my products.

Show image of Print ad in comparison to retro magazine ads

Moreover when analysing album artwork and Digipak designs I had noticed that there was a convention of consistency in theme and colour that followed both throughout for example in Calvin Harris's albums, I ready for the weekend, the back cover was the front cover continued featuring a shot of the hair of the model on the front. Alternatively, on Kavinksy's outrun album which followed a film theme throughout by stylising its tracklist as a film billing block.

Feature images of these digipaks/album art

 For my own Digipak I adapted this idea of a consistent theme, basing mine on computers and computer graphics to visually communicate my albums electronic genre throughout whilst also generating strong synergy between Digipak and music video.

Show images of Digipak and panel

 However there was one convention of print production I didn't exactly follow but rather developed to conform to a genre specific convention of anonymity. On my print ads, I featured no image of my chosen artist except a distorted version of the robot's face. 

Close up of the glitched robot face seen on print ad

As mentioned previously the purpose of the robot character eventually developed into a substitute persona of my chosen artist. By slightly distorting this substitute persona's face, I wanted to create more of a sense of intrigue in a similar sense of Daft Punk behind my artist so that audiences have a small idea as to whom Tropiika is to identify him on other mediums such as music videos but would be invested in what's the mystery behind the artist.

Finally when discussing compositional conventions of magazine ads, I had noticed that many of these ads featured some sort of listing or z formation arranging information and elements in order of importance consisting of artists name top and centre, album artwork, release date and then extra information such as distributors, record label and artists website. 

Show visual example of this

This is mainly due to the context of its placement within a magazine and thus viewers are likely to skip this graphic so designers must find a way to condense and attract audience's attention quick enough. For my own ad, I slightly adjusted this arrangement developing on convention in order to keep consistent with the look of an old computer advert. In addition, with the inclusion of digital distributors on my print ad to create a professional look to the ad and link audiences to places in which they could consume the songs promoted I also included a QR code linking to my music video.

 Show close up of QR code

This develops on conventional composition tools of print ads as well as improving synergy between magazine ad and music video as well as Digipak since the ad's purpose is to promote the Digipak.