Group: Audience Feedback

This is the audience research questionnaire we created on Survey Monkey. We will be analysing the results of this questionnaire as part of our collaborative evaluation.

The survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R9LNL95

As well as this, we conducted further audience research at a screening of our video last week. We handed out a physical questionnaire to some audience members, particularly those who conformed to the description of our target audience. These are the responses we received:

Group: Final Cut of our Video

This is the final cut of our video. We uploaded the finished video to YouTube in order to share it online with ease, which will help with obtaining audience feedback, as we can embed it on social networking sites such as Facebook.

HR: Final Advert

In what ways does your print product use, develop or challenge forms of other similar products?

• The way in which the advert has taken inspiration from other media forms is by using a similar format to Marina and the Diamonds previous print products. They include the protagonist, except the way that I have altered this convention is by not breaking the fourth wall.
•  Usually in her print products, she looks straight into the camera but I have challenged this by making her look at the award. I have kept to the rule of thirds to make the print easier for audiences to read. This is a conventional approach to print products.
• It is also conventional that I have added a website to the poster in case audiences wish to find out more information about the artist.

How does your product link to the other print and moving image products your group has constructed?

• The advert links to the digipak because it has got the lyrics in the background, expect I have used all lower case whereas the digipak used upper case letters so it allows a link between the two ancillary products, but also through the video because the lyrics are auditory rather than visual.
• The diamond is an important aspect of our promotional package because when people look at the logo they will remember the link between the artist and the logo. As it is a diamond it is an illustrative representation of our artist Marina and the Diamonds name. The diamond is large in the digipak and video but not in the advert because it would have drawn attention away from the text.
• The green dress is a predominant iconic visual for our promotional package. It connotes envy which links with our theme of celebrity culture. It is used in the bridge of the song when she is gaining her stardom which we felt worked with our ancillary products.

What other techniques have you used in the software not already mentioned? To what effect?

• By applying a lens flare to the advert, it links with the lighting in the music video, allowing the audience to draw their eye towards the text that is by it which is the song title, the release date and the artists' name. It also breaks up the dark colours in the video by contrasting with a lighter colour.
• I decided to put a black curtain in the background then lower the opacity because I felt it would link well with the music video of when she gets her supporting actress award so it is easy for audiences to understand why her facial expression is sad in the advert - it refers back to the music video.

Group: Editing Development

• As well as the vignette effect we have added to our montage and flashback shots, we created another .psd in Photoshop to use above the shot in which Electra receives her award. We did this to disguise the fact that we did not have enough extras to fill the audience.
• As you can see in the first screen shot, there are clearly seats that are empty. But by adding the .psd we can disguise this. This creates verisimilitude within our video, as it is realistic that an award ceremony would not have empty seats.

• Another aspect of editing we are working on today is improving the montage. We feel it needed a greater variety of shots, so we have added footage from earlier in the video (for example, shots from the opening sequence) to this section.
• As well as this, we are in the process of adding transitions to the montage to give it a more stylised effect. Once again, we are using the cross-dissolve and dip-to-black transitions. We feel they are very effective technique, as they create a more interesting visual, as well as being a convention of many music videos of this genre.

• To counteract the static nature of some of our footage, we created an artificial zoom in Premiere Elements. We did this by adding a keyframe at the first and last frames of the clip.
• Firstly, we zoomed in to a larger percentage at the first keyframe, but leave the end keyframe at 100% zoom. By doing so, the clip will automatically zoom out at a consistent rate from the first to last keyframe.
• To create a slower zoom out, you zoom in to a lesser extent at the first keyframe. We also used this technique to create the movement of the diamond at the very end of the video. In this case we also used a keyframe two thirds through the duration, so that the zooming would slow as the diamond fades to black.

RA: Digipack - Final

In what ways does your print product use, develop or challenge forms of other similar products? 

• I chose to have the subject of the photograph slightly off-centre on the front panel of the digipak. This creates a more eye-catching visual as it is unconventional, and therefore will encourage a more focused consumption of the product.
• However, other aspects of the layout conform to the more traditional reading path. For example, the text on the front panel is presented within the rule of thirds. It is also conventional in that it shows the protagonist from the video, therefore adding to the artist's meta-narrative. It is common for record labels to encourage inclusion of the artist, as it helps to add to their star construct by advertising them to potential consumers.
• For the inside panels, I chose to display the lyrics of the song. Many digipak albums contain a booklet of lyrics, but as this is a single so only contains one song, I chose to adapt this convention by using the inside panels as a lyric booklet. The right panel is where the CD would go.

How does your product link to the other print and moving image products your group has constructed? 

• I chose to shoot the subject with this stance to create the shadow effect on her face so as to tie in with the message of celebrity culture that our song and video connotes.
• As well as this, it creates a visual link as the use of lighting, shadows and silhouettes is a recurring visual element within our video.
• I decided to adapt my idea so that the back panel of the digipack is made up of mostly white negative space with a diamond in the centre.
• I did this for a number of reasons: the reference to the artists stage name 'Marina & the Diamonds,' the suggestion of a record label to create a professional look, and to link all of our products together as the video, poster and digipak all feature this diamond image.

What other techniques have you used in the software not already mentioned? To what effect? 

• I created the smoky effect behind the text by using the eyedropper tool to select the shade from the front cover, and then used a textured brush on a low opacity to fill in the background.
• I also used the eyedropper tool to select the shade of green from the dress to use for some of the text on the back and inside panels.
• I used the text tool to add the lyrics, titles and 'small print' to the digipak. The main font I used was 'Myriad Pro,' and I also used the italic feature for the artist name on the front panel.
• I used the crop and eraser tools to fit the various layers to their section of the template. I also used the eraser tool on low opacity and soft brush to create the feathered edge to the background layer for the inside panels.

HR: Advert Development

As I thought the background looked plain with it being all black, I decided to add the lyrics of the song in the background subtly in grey as well as adding a black curtain so it works well with the theme of our music video. I made the opacity around 70% so again it would not overpower the main photo of our protagonist.

 

I also made the text light pink with a bevel and emboss effect on top of them so they showed up against the bright lens flare that I placed behind the text so it would catch the audiences' eye so they are drawn to read that section of the text.

Finally, I added a diamond in the bottom right hand corner of the advert as if it were the record companies logo.



Group: Editing Development

For the montage shots where our protagonist is not singing, we decided to give it a vintage effect on top of the clips, so I did this on Photoshop by making a new transparent layer and using a large brush with a feathered edge and coloured it in black. Then I imported it onto Adobe Premiere Elements on another track on the timeline and altered the opacity of the .psd file so it was not so harsh.



To improve the first verse of the track to make it more visually stimulating, I referred back to our opening by adding shots that we did not use in the opening so that we did not repeat shots and it makes our audience think back to the beginning making the storyline move along. For example, I added an ECU of our protagnonist's eye to connote a voyeristic representation.

To make the transition from the chours to the verse refer to the end of the clip, I added the silhouette shot in the bridge of the song on top of the close ups of the posters. I made the poster shots fade out while the opacity of the silhouette shot faded up to 100% rather than 50%.