Ellis's Media Blog

To make the digipack I used a website called 'Canva' to put all of the images and text together.



After the focus group, I used their comments about the digipack to improve it and make sure it fit better with the genre and the other products. I decided to se a TV on the front cover instead of the skull because it fits better with the genre of our band, and less like 'death metal' or 'heavy rock'. The geometric style of the front cover fits better with the conventions of similar products, and with what the focus group suggested. The TV also fits with the other two products, making the campaign more cohesive.

I also took the skull off of the CD panel and put in the same geometric design on the front cover to keep the same theme running throughout the panels. I kept the photo panel and the back the same because they still fit with the other panels and the genre.

To make the TV I took inspiration from the ones in our music video and from some other ones online, and on Keynote I created my own design to go on the front cover.

Here's a screen recording of some of the changes that were made to the website just after the focus group:

Before doing the actual focus group, Phil and I went to show some of my designs to Matt (a rock fan). Matt liked the skull design and though that it did fit with the band's image, however, he didn't like the colourful red/blue logo (as did Phil), so I changed it to black and white before the actual focus group.

When talking to Phil (a non-rock fan) he thought that the skull may come across as too 'heavy metal', so we wanted to see what the actual focus group say before changing it.

There's a spectrum in the rock genre from indie/soft rock to heavy/hard rock, and each side has different iconographies. The indie/softer rock is more associated with romance and fun, whereas the other side of the spectrum is associated with death and violence. Our band is in the middle of the spectrum because they're not very light or very dark according to the video. If our digipack does come across as too dark, I may have to adjust it, because we need a cohesive campaign with a clear star image.

To prepare for the focus group I printed off 5 copies of the digipack in the right 140mm by 125mm size, and folded and stuck them to look like an actual album. I also wrote the questions that the group will be asked:

1. What are your initial thoughts after seeing the digipack and website?
2. What genre do you think the band is?
3. What bands do you think are similar to the one in the video?
4. Do you think the casting was right for the genre?
5. So you think the star image is similar across all of the products?
6. What do you think the narrative of the video is?
7. Would this video make you want to go out and buy the single or the album?
8. Is there anything you think we can do to improve these products?

Harriet prepared the website of what she'd done so far by sending the link to the focus group, and Phil sent the video to show the group.

THE FOCUS GROUP

Digipack:

The focus group seemed to like the look of the digipack and thought that it was 'consistent' in style and colours, and that 'each page is relevant to the previous'. I think that I will keep the same colours and themes running through the digipack as someone said 'it looks like it could fit in a shop', so the style is quite professional.
Having looked at the digipack and website, the focus group thought that the video would be harder rock, so the other two products should be changed match the tone of the video. To do this, I will change the skull on the digipack, and the website will be changed slightly too.

Apart form this, they liked the casting and thought that the star image was consistent across the products. They thought that similar bands were Royal Blood and Nothing but Thieves, which is what we were aiming for .

Having looked at album conventions for rock bands, I've had to change the front cover design a few times to make it fit better. here are some I've done so far (bearing in mind that not all of them are fully finished and that the band name changed):

This one didn't really look like an album cover so was scrapped.


This one was slightly better but I still didn't think it worked as an album cover.


This was the back of the album. The TV fits with the theme of the music video, but it looks a little too cartoon-ish for the band's star image.



This one is better as it showcases the band like a lot of rock album covers do, but the picture should have an effect on it to really fit the conventions.

This one is bright red and black but the band look cool. There's an effect on the photo to make it look rough and old.

We looked at videos of two focus groups and determined wether they went well or went badly.

• the respondents were reflective of the target audience
• the sample is big enough but not too big that they overpower
• the product maker manages the feedback well, and was including people that may not have come forward quickly or loudly
• he also listened to what they said rather than talking back at them

• the closed questions mean that there's not much detail in the answers, only yes or no
• the leading questions mean that the answers are biased and have a value of judgement

Here are some more ideas I've come up with for the digipack design.

Phil has finished the performance cut and has almost finished the narrative cut, the only thing left is the colour grading and a final check to make sure it's perfect. I went to the editing suite every now and then to see what Phil had done so far and to see where to take it next. We're very happy with the result so far and think it's come out the way we wanted it to.

Phil has put in some image match shots that fit together really well make it look great.

It's probably best not to have just the singer on the front because it may cause upset with the 'band' if it were real, and the covers I've researched don't have the band on the front at all, probably for this reason. However, I'm following the conventions by putting the band name big and bold on the front of the album cover.

I went to HMV to look at the digipack conventions but found that the CDs were wrapped in plastic  so I couldn't see the inside designs. Unfortunately, they didn't have all of the albums I was looking for, so I took photos from the internet for them.

Royal Blood

• This is their first ever album
• There's no sign of the band even though there is someone on the cover, and there's a black and white theme
• The band name is a prominent feature, but the album name isn't there
• It's not an actual picture but is a stylised drawing
• Same font on front and back

• This is their most recent album
• It's similar to the first in the fact that it's black and white, stylised, and doesn't show the band themselves or the album name, but does have the band's logo
• Same font on front and back

• Black and white theme
• No album name but has the band name / logo
• Rebellious connotations (cigarette)
• Is a picture, not a drawing

• Black and white again
• Not even the band name / logo is on it, probably because they're already established
• Very simple design, front carries onto the back

• Black and white
• Big, bold logo
• Album name smaller at the bottom
• No pictures, just the drawing of wings / lions

Our group is looking at website conventions for the blues-rock genre, so we've chosen some similar bands and looked at their sites to get an idea of what ours should look like.

Rival Sons

http://www.rivalsons.com/

Content

• The logo is the first thing you see
• Their newest album is the next obvious thing that you see, and all of the links where you can buy it (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal)
• When you scroll there's a bar with their social media links
• The next page is their tour dates (even though there aren't any at the moment)
• Their shop is next, where there's a link to their merchandise page
• Links to where you can buy the rest of their music
• Lastly is the contact / newsletter section

http://royalbloodband.com/site

Harriet looked at these two bands:

Arctic Monkeys

http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/

Content

• Video of their latest song
• talking about their new album
• Where you can buy the album and links to where you can get it
• News from the band eg. charity work
• Who made the website
• Links to their music videos
• Links to: home, news, photos, videos, releases, forum, newsletter and store

http://www.qotsa.com/

Content

• There's a promo video of the band's world tour
• All of their social media / newsletter / share are there
• Also has buttons for: buy, tour, shop, guide

On the afternoon before our shoot we set up the majority of our first set for the performance (drums, lights, amps, mic stand), and most of the lighting was set up then too, ready to start shooting at 9am the next day.

I was really looking forward to getting started on our shoot day as all of our planning had built up to this. I felt prepared for it too, having prepared the schedule and shot lists we wanted, as well as rehearsing the cast and making sure they were all available for the day. The cast came on time and warmed up ready to start shooting. We got the cast and crew biscuits to keep them going along the way. Before we started shooting, we had to adjust the lighting to make it look good, and arrange the TVs on set on each side of the band, as well as connecting them to another camera.


We were really happy with the look of the set for the performance, especially with the addition of the TVs and the smoke. The shots we got with the siren look really good, and even though the 2 actors were on opposite sides of the room, they interacted well with each other. Our only issue with this was that it was quite difficult to know how to get them to interact, which we should've thought more about beforehand.



Roles were split quite easily between the three of us. Phil was on camera doing the main filming/directing, Harriet was on the other camera for the TVs, kept morale up and did costume, and I was on playback as well as directing the cast if anything needed changing (basically floor manager). Half way through the day, Harriet and I swapped roles so we had a chance to try out different things. We tried to keep the cast directing to one person at a time because it could get confusing for them to listen to 2 or 3 different opinions or voices at once.



I really enjoyed using the camera for the TVs because I got free reign over which shots I got, and could fit in movement and just have fun with it.

We didn't have any major problems, only the fact that the singer had cut his hair since we cast him, so we just got some gel and let him mess it up a bit (so he could make it look how he wanted), and it still fit really well. We didn't have enough time to do the water element, but I think we got enough variation with the TVs to make up for it.



I'm really looking forward to seeing the edit because I'm excited to see what all of the elements look like together, and how it'll fit.


I think that our group worked really well together as a team because we each brought different things to the production and the shoot, and we complemented each other well with no arguments.


From the shoot, I re-learned how to use the camera, and also learned how to clear away lighting equipment properly. Matt told us that depth is really important in making a shot look good, so the positioning of the TVs really mattered.


We want to put the video on or website, probably on the main page, but we got some pictures of the band that we'd really like to use on it, and potentially on the digipack too. Using these photos will make the 3 different products fit together because they'd all have the same colour scheme and style, as well as featuring the band.