Final Digipaks:

Front Cover:

For my front cover I have decided to use the theme of polaroids as I felt that they were effective in reflecting the album's name; as polaroids often represent the ideas of time and age. I have used a medium close up image of my main actor flickering her hair. I wanted to use a medium close up, so that the outfit which my main actor was wearing was displayed. The outfit which my main actor is wearing displays a t-shirt of my chosen artist. This can instantly portray the importance of the artist and how well supported the artist is. I decided to include a photo of my main actor flickering her hair because I wanted to showcase the singer dancing but I didn't want to use a blurry photo. Similarly, I have used an edited version of this image on my front cover instead of the original photo; as the original image was lost due to the photo's dark exposure. For my front cover’s colour scheme I decided to use the colours white, cream and black; as I felt that these colours reflected the album's name. Furthermore, I like how the colours complimented each other. I decided to use the colour cream as it connotes the ideas of being relaxing and calming, and this could suggest how the album contains songs that are relaxing to my target audience. I decided to the use the colours white and black as they both connote sophistication, which is something that my products and artist aim to be. For the artist’s initials and the album’s name I have used the font 'From Where We Are’. I decided to use this font as it was a handwriting style font. As I felt that by using a handwriting font this would further reflect the theme of polaroids that I planned to use. Furthermore, it is effective as it can suggest a personal tone to album, showcasing how the artist has placed a personal touch on the album. 

Booklet:

On my booklet, I decided to place my main image within the centre of the page, so that it would be the first thing that my target audience would be. I decided place my image in a polaroid boarder so that I could display a similar theme of polaroids that I have used throughout my digipaks. The image that I have chosen to use, is a medium close of up of my main actor looking shocked. I decided to use this image as it was a visual representation of the lyrics, 'She's like 'Oh My God'. Similarly, I decided to use this image as I like the location that the image was taken in. I liked the location as it was bright and eye-catching and felt that it would catch my target audience's attention. I decided to use lyrics on my booklet so that I could showcase my chosen song's importance. I decided to use the lyrics 'My ex-man', 'brought his new girlfriend' and 'She's like 'Oh My God', as they were well known lyrics from my chosen song. I decided to use the font 'From Where We Are' as it was a handwriting style font and polariods often include text that are handwritten.

Spine:

I decided to only include the artist and the album's name on the spine, as it is a common convention of spines to only include brief detail. I decided to place this information onto the white border so that the text stood out more on my digipak. I have used the font 'From Where You Are'; as I have already used this font throughout my digipaks and this can display how I have used a constant house style. Furthermore, I chosen to use this font as I like how bold the text become against the white background. I also decided to include music notes between each word, as I felt that would make my spine look less dull. Similarly, I decided to use music notes on my spine as I had used already used them on my CD.

CD:

My intention for my CD were to make a panel that would contrast with the rest of my digipaks. I decided to use the colour purple for the main colour of my CD as it was a bright colour. I did this because pop products are well known for using bright colour schemes to grab their target audience's attention. Additionally, I decided to use the colour purple as it can connote ideas of transformation; and this can suggest the idea of the artist's own transformation into the genre of pop. Furthermore, I have used the colour purple because it can connote femminity and this will appeal to my target audience as majority of them are females. Furthermore, this could suggest how the album has songs which are more relatable to females. I decided to use the font, 'From Where We Are', for the album's title as throughout other panels of my digipaks I have often used this font to highlight key information. Furthermore, I felt that it was a good font choice as it was bold and stood out on the CD. The image for my CD case was of a sunset. Although, this doesn't link into the rest of my digipak and I decided to use this image to further emphaise how my CD contrasts with the rest of my product. I also decided to use this image as sunsets can often symbol transformation; this can further imply the artist's transformation from country to pop.

Back Cover:

While on my back cover I have placed the track-list within the centre of the page, I did this as it is a common convention that is used on back covers. Furthermore, I did this so that my track-list would be placed within a hotspot and would be the first thing that my target audience would see.  For the track list I used the font 'From Where You Are’ as I have commonly used throughout each panel of my digipaks to highlight key information. Furthermore, I think that this font style has been effective on my back cover as it stood out against the background and image. I decided use the font 'Thin Font' for the copyright information as it was a modern style font that would be appeal to my target audience as the font was clear on the page. On the right hand side of my back cover, I have included a bar code, copyright information and the company's logo. As I couldn't use any found images for my products, I have made my logo for the music label Big Machine, which supports my chosen artist. I have decided to include the company logo on my back cover because it can display the support that my chosen artist has for her album. While on the left hand side of my back cover, I have included a long shot of my main actor. I decided to use a long shot image so that my target audience would clearly be able to see her outfit, which is similar style to the outfit that she wears in my video. I do like this image as I think that my main actor is portrayed in a similar pose that most models pose in; however, I do think the location of the image is dull.

Overall:

Overall, throughout my digipaks I have mostly used a constant house style. I have used two selective fonts, 'From Where We Are' and 'Thin Font'. I mainly used the font 'From Where We Are' as it was a handwriting style font as I felt that this could display a more personal touch onto the album. Furthermore, I felt that this handwriting font further emphaise the theme of polaroids that I used throughout my digipaks. While I used the font 'Thin Font' as it was a san-serif font; as san-serif fonts are modern font style this will appeal to my target audience as the text are presented clearly. On my digipaks I have most used a constant colour scheme on my front cover, spine, booklet and back cover of cream, black and white. I decided to use the colour cream as it can connote ideas of calming and relaxing; this can suggest that the album contains songs that are calming and relaxing. While, I decided to use the colours black and white as they often suggest sophistication, which is something that the singer is often viewed as or wanted to be viewed as. I think that these colours have complimented well with each and I feel that they reflect the album’s name effectively. While on my CD, which contrasts with the rest of my digipak, I have use the colour purple. I included the colour purple as it was a bright colour and this could display how I have include pop conventions of bright colour within my digipak. Furthermore, I decided to use the colour purple as it can often connote transformation, which can imply the artist’s own transformation from country to pop. Additionally, it can connote femminity, which can suggest how the album includes songs which are more relatable to females. This can appeal to my target audience as a majority of them are females. Throughout my digipak, I have also included a range of different shot style images, such as long shots to medium close ups. A common feature within all of the images are that I have included the main actor from my video. I decided to use images of my main actor in different poses as I felt it would quite repetitive and boring if I had used similar poses throughout my digipaks.

Final Video

This is my final video for my coursework.

Director's Commentary

Director's Commentary Speech

This is a copy of the script that I plan to follow for  my director's commentary. However, I may add other points which I think of when I am filming it.

At the beginning of my video I decided to use fast cuts of my main actor getting ready as I wanted to express how upbeat the first four beats of the song were. I decided to use an outdoor location and film at night for the lyrics ‘I stay out too late’ as I wanted to use natural dark lighting to add a tone of realism to my video. Additionally, I wanted to show a visual representation of the lyrics. However, my original footage of this was quite dark so I had to digitally brighten it on Sony Vegas, so that you can see my main actor. I think in some aspects this has worked well, however looking back at my feedback and after re-watching my video I could re-lighten them so that my main actor’s face is portray more clearly. For the next few lyrics I decided to use regular cuts on a mixture of clips, to show my main actor getting ready for the different that she was on. For the lyric ‘I go onto many dates, ’I decided to use the technique of spilt screen. My original intentions were to have all of the date scenes playing at the same time whilst vertical, however as I had filmed most of my footage horizontally I had to work around re-sizing the different videos until I could get them to play at the simultaneously. I had also planned to do a similar format of spilt screen technique for the line “but I can’t make them stay” but in the end decided against this as the videos looked weird and unprofessional when I arranged them together and instead opted for fast cuts from each video instead. For the lyric ‘at least that’s what people say’ I decided to use footage of people gossiping to again show a visual representation of the lyrics.

For the lyrics ‘But I keep cruising’ up to the lyrics ‘it’s gonna be alright’ I used a range of footage of my main actor after the different dates. I used regular cuts, that kept in time with the beat, to showcase not only how the narrative of my video was building up but also how the beats of the song where building up as well. In these clips, you see my main actor tapping objects and starting to dance; this can portray how she is starting to let go from the tension that was shown in the dates. Additionally, it can show how she’s getting ready to dance and shake off it. In these parts of my footage I have followed conventions of most current pop music videos by using the technique of lip-syncing. I felt that by lip-syncing parts of these lyrics it display how my main actor was speaking directly to the audience.

For the first time that the chorus plays I used the same location from the previous scenes of my main actor still on her dates. Throughout the chorus, I decided to stick to the fast beat of the song and make regular cuts. I also decided to make cuts each time a word was repeated, such as play, hate, shake and break. For the lyric ‘players gonna play’ I shown how my main actor and three other characters were playing cards. For the ‘play play play play play’ I made cuts to of medium close ups on each player. I did this to set the tone of the chorus. Whilst the hate hate hate hate hate, I decided to use fast cuts of negative facial expression like eye-rolls and sighs to show that the other actors were angry or disappointed at my main actor. Whilst the repetitionof the word break, I decided to show my main actor being upset – which could suggest how she was a bit upset with the failure of her dates. However, the repetition of the word shake – my main actor is display as dancing and has positive facial expressions. And this can display to my audience how she dancing off negativity from the dates. Also throughout the chorus my main actor is constantly displayed as smiling so this can display how the positivity of the song and how she doesn’t’ care what other thinks.

For the second verse, I decided to move to a location of a work environment, as jobs and work places are often relatable to many people. Furthermore, it can showcase how the storyline of my music video is moving on. I decided to display more of a visual representation of the lyrics such as for the lyric ‘I never miss a beat’ I decided to show clips of my main actor clicking her fingers, for the lyric ‘I’m lighting on my feet’ I decided to show a close up of my main actor’s feet dancing. For the lyrics ‘that they don’t see’ I decided to use regular cuts to show slight conflict between my main actor and another actor. The other actor had a bored facial expression, suggesting she didn’t like my main actor. However, my main actor still had positive facial expression, showing that she didn’t care what others thought. For the lyrics ‘I’m dancing on my own’ I decided to show how my main actor was dancing to get to her desk. I decided to have her dancing as a form entertainment for my video and also to showcase the positivity of the song.  While the lyric ‘that’s what they don’t know’ I decided to include shocked facial expressions from other workers, suggesting that they don’t understand why my main actor is being positive. I did have some problems whilst I was editing this part of my video as some of my footage were originally filmed vertically while my other footage that I had used was horizontally. This caused me to have black borders around my footage. However, I got past this by changing the video ratio of my clips to 16:9. Although, a problem with this that I found was that a lot my long-shots were now changed into medium shots.

For the lead up to the chorus I decided to have, my main actor at her desk. However, she was constantly shown tapping pencils and slight dancing. I used fast cuts here to show the build of the beats of the song and how my main actor was getting ready to shake off negativity. I decided to have her shaking off negativity in a work place, to showcase how she wants to break free from a work environment, which many members of my target audience would be able to relate to as well. I also decided to use fast cuts, like I had done in the previous chorus, to reflect the fast beats of the song.  I felt that some of the clips which I had used within the chorus, such as the clips of her tapping objects for the repetition of the word play, weren’t relevant to the storyline. I also decided to experiment using some transitions such as push, within this part of my video to see if they would further reflect the energy from the song. The lyric ‘hate hate hate hate hate’ I showed conflict between the other actor and my main actor. My main actor had paper thrown at her, which then used to throw over herself in the lyric ‘I’m gonna shake shake shake shake shake’ which can show how she is being positive about negative about conflict and still not caring what other’s thinks. For the repetition of the word break, I decided to use extremely fast cuts to try and display a visual disruption of the video to reflect the connotation of the word break. Whilst the rest of my video, leading up to the ‘hey hey hey part’ I decided to use regular cuts of my main actor dancing to her car.

My original intentions were to have the whole footage for the ‘hey hey hey part’, to be black and white and use constant fast cuts; that would lead up to the line “my ex man”, of my main actor entering a café.  However, as I didn’t have enough footage to do this I decided to re-film my main actor lip-syncing the words as well in a different location. While I was editing, I decided to mix the footage together. Although, I only had the clips when she is at the café as black and white and kept the speech in colour. This allowed me to show a contrast between the two an also could suggest with the black and white lighting that main actor is thinking of the past.

From the lyric “My ex man brought his new girlfriend” to “but I’m just gonna shake”, I decided to use constant cuts between the couple and main. Although these cuts are at a regular pace. While from the lyric “And to the fella over there” to “we can shake shake shake, my cuts are then shown between the main actor and fella actor; these cuts are fast as my intention was to show suggesting flirting between the two. When the song stops video stop as well and only returns when the song starts back up again. The video returns back in colour, which can portray how it is showing present time. For the clap clap clap part, I used fast editing used to match the fast beats of the song. In the first clap, there are two videos, which are the same, are presented diagonally from each other on the screen, of my main actor dancing. While the second clap shows two video of main actor dancing, like pervious clap however opposite side. Then the third clap shows four videos of my main actor dancing.

For the last time that the chorus played I decided to use regular cuts on each certain word such as the word  “play”, “hate”, “shake”, “break”, “fake” to showcase the fast beat of the song. Within most of these clips I decided to use dancing of my main actor and other actors to showcase a form of entertainment that most narrative videos use. I decided use other actors that were shown as people who mocked or who disliked the main actor start to dance along with my main actor. They appeared to dance with my main actor one at time, before all joining in this can showcase uncertainty and how people are uncertain to shake off negativity. However, when they are dancing they have positive facial expression like my main actor had throughout my video, this can showcase to my target audience how important positivity is. For the lyric ‘Shake it off, I I I, shake it off” to the line “You have got to” I decided to use footage of different people having bad days but ‘shaking them off’ by dancing. I did this did this as I wanted to explore a storyline outside my main actor, but also I did this as entertain value for the audience. Plus I did this to reflect the inner meaning of the song – not only dancing but of people having to shake off bad things. For the lyric, “You have got to”, the video comes back to main actor lip-syncing them words – showing how this is an important message to my target audience and how at times they have to shake off bad things. For the rest of the lyrics my video shows my main actor dancing with others before tripping over. She is then shown to shrugs, showing to the audience how she doesn’t care and then starts dancing again until screen blacks out. This can finally showcase to my target audience of the song’s inner meaning of not caring what other thing and shaking off negativity.

Also in some parts of my video I challenge conventions by adding text, as most narrative music videos don’t display text. I only used text briefly and at the end of the lyrics such as, too late and brain, as I didn’t want to district my target audience away from the narrative. I chose to use text on lyrics from the each verse as they might not be as well-known as the chorus is and this can allow my target audience to learn more of the song. However, I think they have worked effectively as they add a further tone of entertainment and fun to my video.

Adding Text

To further add energy and entertainment to my video, I have decided to use more transitions and add text onto parts of my video. I plan to use text on the last few words of the lyrics in each verse, such as the word, brain or too late. I have decided against using text on the chorus or the verse leading up to the chorus as they are often well known and recognised. By only adding text onto the verse’s lyrics this will be effective as they aren’t as well known and this could allow my target audience an opportunity to learn the lyrics to the song. I have decided to use the font ‘From Where We Are’, as it a thick and bold text so I feel that it will stand out against my video. Furthermore, I have decided to use this, as I have used throughout my other products, and this can display to my target audience how I have used a constant house style.

Feedback for my Video

I decided to gain feedback from members of my target audience about my video; as I had wanted to know if my intentions of making a successful music video that reflected my chosen genre of pop. I also decided to gain both positive and negative feedback from my target audience so I would know both the strengths and weakness of my video furthermore how well it did or didn't reflect my chosen genre. Additionally, my target audience also decided to give me ideas of where I could improve or how I could improve my video. This was beneficial to me as it will give me ideas of how I could further make my music video further successful if I decided to re-edit it.

Positive feedback:

• My target audience liked how I had included a split screen of different videos for the lyric 'I go on too many dates' as they felt it was interesting, as they were able to view different things rather than focus on one date. Furthermore, they liked the use of different videos at the same time as they felt that the use of different videos emphasised the point of the lyric.
• They said that they liked my use of editing and they thought it was especially good at the start of my video as they liked the amount of cuts that I had done; they felt it emphaised the beats of the song well. They also liked scene where I had my actors surrounded at the table during the first part of the chorus. I liked the editing that I used for the lyric 'play, play, play, play, play' as  they liked how I had edited fast cuts of each actor's face; they found it to be effective and thought it set the tone of my video.
• They liked how I didn't fully show the actor who played the character with the 'hella good hair'. They felt that by only showing parts of the actor's body it added a tone of mystery to my video and allowed my target audience to think up their own interpretations of his look.

Negative feedback:

• They felt that in some areas of my video that I had included clips that weren't relevant in reflecting the song's lyrics. Like the clips that I used to present the lyric 'play play play play play', during the second time of the chorus, where I had my main actor tapping different objects against tables. They disliked this scene and said that they didn't how these clips linked into the lyrics of the song and that I should have included other clips that reflected the lyrics such as people playing video games or even have my main actor lip-syncing the words.
• Although my target audience did feel that I used a wide variety of locations they felt at times I could have used more different locations. They felt that the location where I had placed my date three was too cramped and that I should have used an area with more space. Furthermore, the disliked the locations that I had used at the end of my video where I had my main actor and three others dancing as they said they could tell it was located in a living room.
• My target audience felt that despite using a range of shots within my video, they felt it focused mostly around medium and close ups. They disliked this and said that after a while the same types of shots did become boring.

Areas where I could improve:

• One of the ways that my target audience felt that they could improve my video was by brightening the lighting at the beginning of the video as they felt that the clips were still slightly too hard to see.
• Although my target audience did like the use of outfits that I had used throughout my video they felt at times that they did feel a bit bland. To improve they would suggest to include a variety of different outfits such as jeans and dresses rather than just placing my main actor into different skirts and t-shirts.
• They also felt that I could have repeated the technique of split screen and having different videos playing at the same time for the lyric 'but I can't make them stay' as they felt it would have been interesting than just including quick cuts of each date. Furthermore, they felt it would have emphaised the point of how much she couldn't make people stay on the dates.