Evaluation

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













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





Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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

Music Video: The Wild Wolves - Moon Song

Our final submission of our music video of The Wild Wolves song, "Moon Song":

Revised: Digipak - Planning of Final Submission

For the final submission of my digipak panels, I decided on 6 panels instead of 4. As most album's have inside booklets about the album and the band, i also wanted to create a shorter version so as to include extra information without making the panels messy, unreadable or too busy.

For the front cover, I decided on using a picture of my artist for most of the mise-en-scene, with an image of a wolf (that i will personally draw on photoshop) standing over him. I also decided to include a soft background from the animation of my music video, to create a better texture in the mise-en-scene.

After looking at various other artist's albums i have decided upon including a panel for reviews of the band (and album), a panel dedicated to the lyrics of the "hit single" (as a booklet of ALL lyrics are found in most album packages), a panel behind the CD of the online information for the band and a back-panel of the songs on the album, and the small print.

I think that all of this information will create a successful digipak that promotes the band and sells itself.

Magazine Advert - Final Submission

This is my final submission of a magazine advertisement for the bands Digipak, and will be placed in both Outline and NME.

Magazine Advert - Further Ideas

These newer ideas are clearly visually set out like my last idea of a magazine advert, however instead of tour dates and a tour release, this advert features reviews of the bands album, availability and online contact sites, along with the image of the front of the Digipak.

I have done both portrait and landscape versions of the advert, as shown above, as the layout will depend on which magazine the advert will go in, and whether i decide to utilise a whole or half page of the magazine for the advertisment.

Magazine Advert - Placement

For the placement of the advert featuring the album release of The Wild Wolves, I have decided on 2 magazines. These 2 magazines would be NME and Outline.


NME is the New Musical Express, as mentioned in an earlier post. It's a weekly magazine featuring and concentrating on music. It has featured many successful bands, for example The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party - all of which carry a certain element of the Indie genre. In 2008, the band started including softer bands like Coldplay - instead of just hard Indie, Rock and Indie-Rock - this is a good element to the magazine as The Wild Wolves are a soft Folk-Indie band, not Indie-Rock. This makes the magazine highly suitable for the advert to be featured in, as it fits in well with the genre, and it calls itself 'New Music Express' - introducing and promoting new artists - suiting the advert type of a debut album release. The magazine is also strongly linked to the NME ShockWaves tours, which includes a specific Indie Rock Tour and an Indie Rave Tour - featuring bands such as The Big Pink, The Ting Tings, La Roux and a band we have related our band to multiple times, Florence & The Machine.
In NME, there are a few pages dedicated soley to advertising bands tours and album releases. The advert i have made for The Wild Wolves debut album release will be featured among these pages, featuring as an A5 landscape portrait - taking up half of one of the pages in the spread, as the pages of NME are A4 in size.

Outline is a more local magazine, with a huge promotion link to their 'Outline Online' website. As the magazine features gig reviews and listings from bands around Norwich and Cambridge, the magazine is well suited to advertising The Wild Wolves as a local band. Outline also promoted newer acts and their successes, such as The Kabeedies and The Lost Levels. The Kabeedies (and other multiple bands featured in Outline) are strong Indie in genre, showing that the magazine also fits with the band in that style.
The advert would feature on half a page, which is relatively smaller than NME as the pages are A5 size, however half a page fits the advert in nicely, which is landscape, and this is also due to the fact that Outline have a smaller spread of adverts within its magazine than NME.

Magazine Advert Planning of Final Submission

For my final Magazine advert, I have decided on a few strong links from the digipak.

Firstly, I decided to use the same title font, and the same reviews to promote the solidarity and consistency of the quality of the band.

I have decided on an image of the artist playing the guitar to promote to audiences the music of the band. As the magazine needs to be eye-catching, I am planning on a bright or colourful background on which i will place the edited image of the artist, which will take up around half the mise-en-scene.

I have also decided to use logos from HMV and iTunes to strengthen the image, promoting its release in stores and online to keep in time with the mass rise in sales online (legally through iTunes) - this will further be supported with links on the advert to online resources of the band including their MySpace page, their personal website (made up) and their record companies website (made up).

Finally, an image of the digipak front cover will be included to strengthen the promotion of the digipak rather than the band as a whole to focus marketing on this album - an objective of our magazine advert.

Magazine Advertisment Ideas

Idea 1:
This first picture is my initial attempt at a magazine advert for the bands tour. I decided to utilise the same actor we used for the music video to create a strong image for the magazine advert. I decided that an image of the 'artist' was essential for the advert in order to strengthen the marketing of the band, rather than just the Digipak or band tour.
This initial attempt was quite simple, as i was trying to generate ideas for imagery by practicing. I decided that locations and dates were essential as i was advertising a band tour, so decided to make these texts plus the band image cover the majority of the advertisement. I also thought to include reviews of their live performances from similar magazines (2 of the ones used) as i used for one of my Digipak inside cover.




Idea 2:
This second picture is the same as the initial idea, however i thought that changing the layout of the text could spark up more interest on the face of the advert, as i have seen adverts in magazines such as NME or Outline with tour dates set out in this fashion. I have also added 'small print' at the bottom of the advert, displaying information about the tour performance prices and times, along with where tickets could be bought online. This was to make the image more professional, as again adverts in magazines or flyers handed out usually include this simple information to make sure audiences can easily access the band, instead of having to search for tickets or information.

Idea 3:

I decided to take a different approach with my 3rd attempt, with inspiration from previous ideas, my Digipak front cover and other various adverts i have seen. In this picture, i placed more emphasis on the name of the band, The Wild Wolves, and changed the picture to match the editing style of the digipak front cover, creating a strong link between the 2 print productions. I kept my preferred layout of the dates, and changed the setting of the reviews, adding in a number out of 5 stars along with the quotes, to strengthen their image. Making the text above and around the picture exaggerate the image of the artist. This copy also includes the small print of the venue times, prices and online information sources.

Idea 4:

This next idea was rather spontaneous, and is a revision of my second idea. I decided to try out some photoshop elements effects on the artists picture, to make the image stand out more. I also made the background lighter, as the black background seemed a little dull and grim, so i thought a lighter background would give an overall lighter view to the band and the advert, similar to the light-hearted and light mise-en-scene in our music video.

Idea 5:
This last idea uses the same image and effect as the 3rd idea, however i have chosen a more interesting and strong font and layout for the band name. I got this idea from another tour advert for the band Chester French, who had an interesting display of the band name. I have also chosen to keep the reviews and the small-print at the bottom, with the tour dates at the top. This has a similar yet warmer light background as the previous idea, and i experimented this time with a landscape advert rather than portrait, to see if the layout would suit this version better.

However we have now been told our adverts need to feature on advertising the album release rather than a band tour, so i will be using these ideas as frameworks to revise ideas and advertise the album, but keeping the style and imagery of these initial ideas.

Digipak Panels - Final Submissions

Front Cover:


1st Page of Booklet:


2nd Page of Booklet:

Last Page of Booklet:

Behind The CD Holder panel:

Back Cover:

Further Research into the Magazine Advert

As i would be advertising for a band tour rather than the release of the digipak (so that i could use and develop newer images rather than exploring new ways to advertise the same images as on the digipak) i thought i should do some extended research into venues and areas.

The Wild Wolves, currently, are playing in venues such as pubs around London, performing small and local tours. I thought that a south-east tour would be enough, as with the release of the digipak they'd have more publicity, and it's closer to home (so they'd be more well known from other local gigs). I decided on locations, then followed up with research into what venue in each location that would be appropriate for performances.

My locations are: Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Cambridge, Norwich, Peterborough, Northampton, Milton Keynes and London (including Watford/Dartford).


I researched various gig websites for the locations via Google, and found out what sort of artists had been playing at a few of the local venues, and what sort of prices they'd be selling for. Obviously, the more well known places and artists (such as our UEA LCR in Norwich) would be considerably more expensive with bigger and more famous artists, and i decided to not place these venues as a chosen one, as the tour would be advertising the rising success of the band, not "keeping up appearances" as it were.

Chelmsford
Here i found The Twist (a gig venue for up and coming or well established artists such as Enter Shikari or Bring Me The Horizon - completely the wrong genre for our band meaning it would be advertised to the wrong demographic, resulting in low ticket sales), St Anne's ("haunted" venue with camping and live music nights - this venue seemed to casual and promotional for our sort of tour) and High Barn (unique venue for live music and filming, promoting many different genres, seemingly the best bet for chelmsford especially with the "Indie" genre - unique) which is the chosen venue.

Colchester

Colchester websites showed me 2 main venues, the Sky Rooms and the Arts Centre. The Sky Rooms was home to a club with some live performances, which did not seem suitable with the Indie-folk genre of our band. The Arts Centre however was home to live music, theatre productions and poetry, an all-rounder with similar bands to The Wild Wolves performing, so i chose this as Venue 2.

Ipswich

Ipswich was home to The Regent, Cherry Tree Inn and the Riverlodge. The Regent had performing artists such as Tinchy Stryder and Peter Andre, a common theme of Pop (with some rock), which was definately not the right scene for the band I would be promoting with the advert. The Cherry Tree Inn was home to live music, however these acts were local and "background entertainment" which wasn't the right promotion for the band. Riverlodge was a live music venue for up and coming artists, with live music every weekend/weekday and an open mic night on a Tuesday. This seemed much more suitable for the band for a weekend (or weekday) so this is Venue 3.

Cambridge

The corner house, The Red House and The Rock appeared here. The Red house was home to piano and jazz music, and The Rock was so named due to its rock performances, both of which were unsuitable for our genre. The Corner House however was home to electric acoustic music, and "sweet" Indie-folk music, which is exactly the venue genre we were looking for, hence my decision for Venue 4.


Norwich

Norwich has 3 main gig venues, UEA LCR, Waterfront and the B2. The UEA as mentioned above usually holds bands that are already very famous, which is unsuitable for the promotion of our band. The B2 is home to extremely small bands trying to make it, within the rock or screamo genre, which is the wrong grounds for The Wild Wolves. The Waterfront however, is a local venue for local small bands, or mildly famous bands (mainly for the Indie genre) which seemed much more appropriate for the genre and the price.


Peterborough

A choice between Met Lounge (Larger Indie bands from NME tours), The Dragon (live music weekends for all genres) and Blackfriars arts centre (Indie/Rock genre) led me to chooce the Brackfriars Arts Centre as this would be for smaller bands (but not too small) and the venue would appriciate the right genre of our band.


Northampton

Out of The Roadmender, a venue for larger Indie bands, Club Revolution, a club venue for dance music, or famous DJ's and Sunnyside Northampton, a venue who like Indie and catchy music but don't like heavy metal, the latter here seemed to fit the best with our genre (especially as we think our song is extremely catchy).


Milton Keynes
The Albion Arms is a pub venue which promotes new acts - this seemed quite good for The Wild Wolves for the promotion tour, however i didn't feel the pub venue would fit in with the tour. The Spice Lounge venue is a club, playing live music on weekends, however the genre of these live acts are usually Pop or Dance. The Stables venue was similar to The Albion Arms as a music venue, however it's not a pub but a separate venue specialising in gigs, making it a better choice as a venue.

Watford
Watford was home to Loudwater Farm (which held dancing shows), The Horns (where an R.E.M cover band were performing who had appeared in BBC's 'The One Show' - again, the wrong genre and image for our band) and The Drawing Room (who specified a dislike for cover bands and described themselves as an intimate live music venue with an outside space for 200 people - which seemed to fit the style of The Wild Wolves Indie-Folk genre, and the fact that it will be a summer tour - so the space outside could be used).


Reading
Plug N Play Studios was unsuitable due to its obvious genre (and the genre of the bands playing - Hip Hop/R'n'B) and Mango followed the same pattern. The Rising Sun Arts Centre however seemed to be the most suitable venue for the band.

Further Ideas for Digipak - Photos

Below are photos from a new photoshoot, edited with a "black & white" tool (using microsoft word's "format picture" tool). This tool has created a similar effect to shadows, relating them to the shadow puppetry in our music video, yet using the same actor posing as the band member from the real life section of the video.
Here is an example:

The following picture has also been edited with Snapfire (a photo editing program on my laptop) to make the picture browner, and more neutral, to fit in with a colour sceme of woodland (browns). This has been done with the sepia tool and warmth adjustment.

The next photo also has a similar colour set, this time edited in Paint, adding in text with different "fun" and "casual" fonts to suit the name of each song (along with the colouring of the names). This is a possibility for the backcover of the Digipak.

The next picture is another version of the above, however with a lighter and brighter colour (the green background). I made this one to explore the use of colours with the Black & White shadows, to see the effect (like certain album covers, e.g: Paolo Nutini).

This next picture is another possibility for the backcover of the Digipak, with the names of the tracks on the CD. This time the picture is just simple black and white, showing the artist smiling, wearing a generic costume of a chequered shirt and a simple t-shirt underneath. I chose this t-shirt for the actor as i thought when i edited the pictures to Black & White, the t-shirt logo would stand out as it was black on white.

This picture (same photograph as above) is a different approach, as i would like to use this image for the front cover with the artist name instead of the above picture, with the track names for a backcover. I think this picture would be more suited for a front cover as it clearly shows the artists face, and markets the image quite well. Also, the artist has a happy fun expression, drawing the audience to the personality perhaps.

The following 2 photos were experiments, as i'm not sure if i will use photos of a piano/keyboard. I like how the key stand out from the picture, and the last picture is a coloured version of the first. This was to again, explore the coloured possibilities, to make the Digipak cover stand out to the audience more.

As you can see, i have included the actors face in these photos, as the Digipak is created to market the band/artist, which i hope these pictures do. They are mainly mid shots and close up, as this will show the artist, to market him directly to the audience (as does the music video).

Magazine Research

NME – New Musical Express
NME is a weekly music magazine, originally published in 1952. The main genre through the 70s was punk rock, although when the magazine experienced sales troubles it touched on the hip-hop and pop genres.
In 2002, the magazine reasserted its position with newer bands such as The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Vines & The Libertines. The magazine now focuses on new Indie British bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party & Arctic Monkeys. In 2008 the magazine also started including softer bands like Coldplay, although still keeping to the Indie genre.
NME also organise a wide variety of tours for up and coming bands, including Rock, Rave and Indie tours. The tour names refer to the genre of music of the bands, such as “ShockWaves NME Indie Rock Tour” and “ShockWaves NME Indie Rave Tour”. These tours have included bands such as The Big Pink, Florence & The Machine, The Ting Tings and La Roux.

Outline
Outline magazine is also hugely based online with their “Outline Online” website. It is a local magazine mainly featuring bands, gig reviews, photos and listings from Norwich and Cambridge. On their website they have a music drop down list, with live reviews, album reviews, band reviews and a Local Band list (the reviews also partially featured in the magazine).The website is also linked with Blogger, FaceBook, Twitter and MySpace.
The main Genres of the bands features in Outline are Indie, Rock, Punk and Indie Rock, with local Norwich bands such as The Kabeedies and The Lost Levels.

Q
Q is a monthly music magazine, dating back to 1986, originally sub-titled as “The modern guide to music and mode”. The magazine includes many interviews with popular artists, and a Review section that evaluates new releases, radio broadcasts, TV music, live performances and reissues. Q produces a special magazine every other month, usually specializing on a specific genre/musical times or a specific influential musician/artist. Q is sister with Mojo magazine (which will be mentioned below) and Empire, a film magazine.
Inside the magazine promotional gifts are given away, in the form of cover-mounted CD’s or books, and there is a section called Q50; Q’s 50 essential music tracks of the month.

Mojo
Mojo, the sister of Q (above), was first issued in 1993, with cover stars of Bob Dylan and John Lennon (The Beatles). More modern issues have included The White Stripes, Radiohead, Oasis and Bjork, having stayed with similar styles of music (Indie-Rock/Older style Indie and Rock-Pop). The magazine includes a CD which ties in with the theme of the magazine or a certain article within the magazine.

Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a popular Rock magazine, with original cover bands like AC/DC. Modern issues have featured Fall out Boy, Biffy Clyro, Paramore, 30 Seconds to Mars, YMA6 and Lost Prophets.
The magazine features band posters, band/music news and reviews of new bands, live performances and albums. The main genres featured in Kerrang! revolve around Rock, with extras being Nu Metal (Linkin’ Park/Limp Bizkit) and Heavy Rock (Machine Head).
Kerrang! also does music tours (similar to NME), however these tours keep within the Rock genre. These tours have featured bands such as All Time Low and My Passion – Heavy Rock/Emo bands.
The magazine also has a yearly CD featuring this genre of music, mainly from bands that have featured in the magazine over the year.

Look - recommendations page for music (like other fashion mags)
Look is a fashion magazine with a musical recommendation page. The fashion is mainly "high street", "affordable" and "up-to-the-minute" with shopping advice, celebrity style/news and real life stories. The celebrity news in the magazine suggest more of a Pop genre (if we were to label the celebrity news), leading to the genre of the recommendations they make.

Pop music magazines such as "Smash Hits"
Smash Hits was an extremely popular music magazine for hit music, pop tunes and boy/girl bands (Boyzone, Cheeky Girls, etc.). Smash Hits stopped publishing in 2006, and seems to be replaced by magazines such as Heat - tuning audiences to celebrity gossip/news about pop stars, rather than focusing on the pop's music.