Evaluation Question 4

MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN CONSTRUCTION



MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN RESEARCH



MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN PLANNING



MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN EVALUATION

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

FINAL VIDEO

FINAL DIGIPAK POSTER

FINAL TOUR POSTERS

FINAL DIGIPAK

YOU'VE GOT THE LOVE VIDEO

Actor Release Form

Before filming the scene with the two young girls, we needed to ask for parental consent as they are under the age of 18.

To ask for consent we wrote a letter, and asked our media teacher to contact their parents to confirm our letter was legitimate.

Production Diary 9

Digipak Research - Little Mix

Little mix are a pop band, made up of 4 girls, who made fame when they won the X-Factor. They have recently

 released their 4th album 'Glory Days'. I will analyse the digipak for this album and also how they kept convergence throughout their products.

This is the front cover for their album. 

As a band they have been seen as much more mature then their X-Factor days. They have kept the same logo/ typography from their most recent 2 albums, creating synergy between them and the new album. The colour them for this album is pinks and purples, which corresponds with the music video for 'Shout Out To My Ex', the first single they released from this album. The border for this album is pink which matches the colour of the font. This image of the four girls has been used on many other products, from tour posters to social media posts.

This is the back panel of the digipak. It still has the pink and purple colour scheme. The image also has a connection to the front image, as it shows the sunset and the silhouette of 4 girls, with all their hands up. The tracklist is written out in a bold, easy to read font so that customers can easily identify the songs they already know which could persuade them to purchase the album. 

This is the CD which is kept in the case. It is bright pink, keeping in theme with the colour scheme. The same font and logo has been used, however the album cover has the name of the artist larger than the album name whereas on the CD the album name is larger. The record label is clearly shown at the bottom of the disk, with information around the disk in small font.

Here are the inside panels for the digipak. The image on the back of the booklet shows the 4 girls with their hands in the air, showing that they are having fun and enjoying themselves. This makes the customer feel happy and hence enjoy the album.

This is the front cover for the Deluxe edition of the album. Instead of a pink theme, this adopts a black theme. This makes the product seem a little more luxurious and higher end, as it is less bright or tacky. The pink and purple them is however kept, through the use of the purple logo instead of pink. The two album covers have similar features however they vary slightly. For example, the same image has been used however it has been placed onto the billboard, whereas the original album has the logo/font on the billboard. 

The back panel for the deluxe album is more or less identical to the initial album. there are only minor differences. The first difference is the colour of the logo/font, on this case it is purple to match the front, not pink. The second change is the image used, however as it is still a silouhette image and the pink and purple sky is still the same, the difference is not overly noticeable. The last change is that there is more text, due to the extra tracks on the deluxe addition.

Here we can see how the deluxe edition opens up, to show the DVD. It looks the same as the original album just with the flip out. The disk is purple, once again keeping with the colour scheme.



Little Mix continue this synergy throughout their promotion of the album. Most products and sites associated with Little Mix now have the pink/purple theme and the same set of images. This can be seen when entering their website. The image below shows how the filter used over the picture (which is used on the album cover) is a tone of pink/purple.

This picture shows another background the band have for their website. This image is used on the deluxe edition on the album. It keeps synergy between the product and the website.

Another way that synergy can be kept is through other items to do with the album. A key example of this is the tour. 'The Glory Days Tour 2017' poster uses, once again, the same image as the digipak and colour scheme. The black colour of this poster makes it seem more mature, showcasing how the band have grown up since their X-Factor Days 6 years ago. The white font helps the information be easily comprehended.

Digipaks are now, more then ever, being used online aswell. Streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Prime Music are easily accessible and in most cases cheaper for the public. This  has lead to streaming becoming the industrys highest source of income. Digipaks online are different however. We no longer need the back or inside panels. The tracklist is displayed via the website or app and the inside panels are not needed as there is no CD to hold. 

Here is how the Little Mix digipaks for both the original and deluxe album have been used. We can see it is less about the digipak and more the layout of the page. These are both pages from iTunes Store. We can see the different images used for the original and deluxe versions. The other difference is that the deluxe version has a purple background and additional image of Little Mix. This is what makes it more luxurious and high end, as well as the DVD.

Merchandise

Another way artists gain money from their fans is from the use of merchandise. This is items such as clothing, bags, stationary that showcases their logo.

This allows the fan to showcase their personality through their items, as well as promoting the band they like.

Using photoshop and InDesign I created some merchandise for Chelsea Violet.

Digipak Research - Katy Perry

Album Advertising Campaigns

Advertising Albums

There are many other ways that Record Labels will promote and advertise an album along with Social Media.

Mind Map created by Fay Davenport with GoConqr

Social Media for Chelsea Violet Ideas

From researching how social media is used in the music industry, we will now create social platforms for our artist.

We have decided to create:
-Facebook
-Twitter
-Instagram
-Snapchat
for our artist Chelsea Violet.

Here are notes on each:

We will keep convergence through Facebook in using the same profile pictures and headers. Convergence will also be fed through the Instagram platform, as we will share the photos that are posted onto Instagram onto the Facebook and Twitter page as well. Snapchat is the odd one out really, however it is mainly used for her fans who want to feel like they are getting to know her personal life and have behind the scenes access, which doesn't get posted onto sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Promoting Single on Social Media - Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran has recently released 2 singles after being silent in the music industry for over a year.

His singles went straight to Number 1 and 2 in the Uk Top 40 and Number 2 in the US Billboard 100. This is not solely due to Sheeran's huge following in the UK and celebrity status, the advertisement and promotion of the singles created excietement and awareness of the Suffolk singer's new music.

Social media is now used as one of the main promotion tools in the release of a single. This was definitely used by Ed Sheeran, who inticed his 16.9million followers with a series of tweets.

On the 13th December 2015, Sheeran posted an image (seen below) where he announced his break on social media and from the music industry after a successful 5 years. At the end he reassured his fans that he would be back with a third album next autumn...




















Exactly a year later, on 13th December 2016, Ed Sheeran tweeted an image of a blue square, along with changing his profile picture and header to a blue image. Although to most people this would not seem like a big deal, after a year away fans where avid for his return, and that being a simple change in social media showed them that he was back. Sheeran is known for having a colour theme run through his albums.


Plus, 2011, ORANGE

The main colour for this album was orange. Sheeran is jokingly known as one of the most famous ginger haired singers in the world. His ginger hair is one of the reasons he stands out so much, which could be the reason behind his orange case.







Multiply, 2014, GREEN

The main colour for this album was green. He changed his profile picture to album artwork and changed the header to a green colour. The extreme colour change makes followers gain attention and excitement as they know utmost be for a new album.






Divide, 2017, BLUE

The most recent colour is Blue. This was first revealed on the 13th December 2016 in a cryptic tweet that received 128 thousand RT's and 295 thousand Likes on twitter.

The blue square which was tweeted sent fans crazy...

The blue square tweet was followed by a video on 1st January, of Ed holding up a sign which read 'New Music coming Friday'. This received 274 thousand RTs and 510 thousand likes. I believe it received more as many people wouldn't of understood his tweet of just a coloured square.





This was a good way of getting fans excited for the year, a new year and new music from Ed Sheeran. This gained media attention from many radio stations, news reporters and fans, allowing the information of new Ed music to travel the world extremely quickly.

Another way Ed got his audience involved with the release of his new music was to make the audience guess his album name. His first album was Plus, then Multiply so the big question was will it Subtract or Divide??? Ed played on this and tweeted a video of a subtract sign transforming into a divide sign. This was accompanied by the caption '6th January 5am GMT'. This showed fans when the music was coming as well.

In the build up to the 6th January, Ed continued to use social media to create interest and excitement. On the 3rd January he tweeted a video of a set of words 'When I was six years old I broke my leg...' and on the 4th January he did this again but with the lyrics 'The club isn't the best place to find a lover...'. This got fans minds working about what the new music was about.

When I was six years old I broke my leg... pic.twitter.com/IDIoHf5h8b

— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) 3 January 2017

The club isn't the best place to find a lover... pic.twitter.com/SKmXJQZilu

— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) 4 January 2017

Then on the 5th of January he tweeted " ÷' which confirmed the name of his new album. He then tweeted two videos showing two different beats. This suggested Sheeran had two new songs to show. One video further more took forward the idea of the album being called Divide and the other Subtract, by the visuals that were portrayed on screen.

This then bring us to the 6th January, the release date for the new music. The tweet everyone was waiting for read, 'Cause I've been away for a bit here's two singles rather than one - Castle On The Hill & Shape Of You'. The video was a mixture of the previous beats but this time with the vocals of Ed Sheeran.

By regularly communicating with his fans and followers, he gained interest and world wide attention for the release of his music. Therefore by the time the music came out, everyone was ready to listen and purchase the singles which would have helped it reach the top of charts following its release.

After releasing his new music, Ed Sheeran continued to use his social media platform to communicate with fans and once again create interest and get people talking. He further done this by releasing the tracklist of 'Divide' and the artwork for the new album. This gets people excited as they read the names of the songs and guess the vibe of the album and what the songs are about. Along with the artwork was the release date, 3rd March. By sharing this to his near 17million followers will guarantee him sales and fans knowledge of when his album is out.



Social media is free, quick and globally accessible. As seen with Ed Sheeran, huge amount of worldwide interest can be created by using platforms such as Twitter.

Synergy Between Products

Creating my Digipak Advert

As seen in my previous research, I know that the digipak advert is a vital part in the advertising campaign for the release of a single and CD. It must accurately represent the CD and keep synergy.

When creating my poster, I decided to keep the main feel of the digipak front cover, so it would be easy for customers to find our product. I used InDesign to create my poster, as I believe it is the easiest way to lay out images and text.

For the background I used the copy and pasted the square background I had used for the digipak covers, until it covered an A4 page, on Illustrator. I then used the twirl took to create the same pattern as the background, whilst getting rid of the lines showing where the images had joined.

I really like the look of this background, as I believe it is unique and eye-catching. The colour scheme is kept throughout the whole digipak and poster, and the pink on the background helps it stand out.









For the rest of the poster, I made the 6 boxed images seen on the front cover of the digipak, the main attraction. I placed the name of the artist at the top, to stand out to the public. I placed the songs featured on the album below the title, so that readers would instantly see that the track You've Got The Love is featured, which is the main song due to the video.


After placing the release date underneath this, I felt like there was too much writing spaced together so I changed the layout.

For my second draft, I made the same change as I did when creating the front of my digipak. I removed the background from behind the images, to allow them to stand out and stop the background from being too overpowering. However, this did not solve the issue of the text looking too much bundled together. To solve this, I moved the title of the CD to the top of the poster underneath the artist name. This left the tracklist and date at the bottom.


For my third draft, I removed the background from the tracklist, to help it stand out from the poster. I then added the image of our logo, as I felt it would increase the convergence between my music video, poster and digipak. I moved the date to the left hand side of the bottom and placed the logo to the right. I was finally happy with this draft, as I believe the text is well spaced out, synergy is kept and the poster is professional looking.

Creating my Digipak, Inside and CD

For the inside left and right covers we decided to use two close up images of Chelsea Violet. This allows the user to become closer to the artist as they are closer to listening to the product.

The first image we used includes her looking at the camera. This creates a more personal experience for the viewer, as it gives the impression the artist is watching them. Below we can see the process of the image taken on the green screen to the end picture featured on the case. Once again I brightened her eyes, tidied her hair and eyebrows and added her onto the dark purple background. 

For the second image, we used one of her looking to the side. This is an angle frequently used in the music video, which allows synergy to be created throughout the music video and the case. After editing the picture I placed her onto the lighter purple background, to keep in colour theme.

CD HOLDER

The middle section for the top line of the digipak is where the case itself goes. We decided to use the same background as the outside of the case for the underneath of where the CD is held. For the CD

For CD we decided to have a pop art kind of feel. We chose to have a smiling mouth as the image used, as it represents our happy artist and the musical instrument of her voice. First of all we took an image of Hannah smiling. I then took this image onto Photoshop, and erased parts of the image around the mouth. I then smoothed out her lips and brightened her teeth. 

The next step was to take the template on and colour the CD itself the violet colour we wanted. We used the same colour as the lighter purple used throughout the case. I then placed the image onto the CD and erased the circle from the middle.

To finish, I placed this onto of the background I discussed earlier. I then added the Chelsea Violet Logo, however I changed the colour to white, so that it stood out agains the purple background. This also helped to create a modern feel to the CD before the audience even listen to the CD.

I will now place all the sides I have created into a template in InDesign, to create my final Digipak.