Re-Assessment After Audience Feedback of Front Cover

Back to The Original

After re-assessing another possible photo for our digipak album front cover and looking at the audience feedback, we have decided to come back to our original front cover idea. However as it was an initial idea there was no text or title for the cover. We have changed it by adding a font that makes what was earlier called ‘dull and uninteresting’ front cover idea  without any text now look more professional. We gave our audience a print out of the two ideas which we had for our front cover and asked them to comment on hat they though best represented an album cover and if they believed wether it could be a real album cover.

Here is what some of the audience had to say about the the two front album covers and which one they preferred.

Stephanie Girgis - The first one looks really nice, I like the font and the way its in black and white it looks fancy and I could see it being a real album cover. The second one looks a bit childish and to basic, I don't think an artist would have that as an album cover.

Niyat Tesfarmariam - ‘The first album cover looks really professional and well done compared to the second one which looks like it was done in 5 minutes’.

Christian Kalialia - The second one is nice I like the framing of the singer and how he is slightly in the middle of the cover. The second one for me personally stands out with the yellow font and how you can see the artist, but the first one has more mystery because his face is obscured and it matches the song because it’s sad.

Nicolas Ramovic - The first image is more attractive to the second one. The picture looks nice and the way he is leaning on the three. The text is more appealing than the second one. Overall out of the two I'm more attracted to the first one as an album cover.

After intensive audience research we have decided to go with the first idea as our album cover as we feel it more appealing and suits the song and the band better than the other image.This now our final decision on our album front cover. This will be the focal point of the album. From the front we see just the lead singer but on the back of the album we will have a full band image. 

Audience Feedback for Album Front Cover

Re-evaluation on Front Album Cover

After asking for further feedback from our audience on our album cover we are reconsidering the initial image that we will have on our front cover;

Aimee Lowe - 'I dont think that the image with the 'Pencil Sketch' effect is very cohesive with your music video theme. It looks like snow but in your video there isn't any'.

Hannah McGee - 'Its  a nice effect but you cant really see the artists face. If I was in the shop it wouldn't jump out at me and I wouldn't pick it up. 

Sean Gallagher - 'To be honest not being rude or anything its kinda dull. sorry!'

New Design

As a group we've decided to change our initial front cover album. To a more basic and relatable front cover. We tried to take a more simplistic approach with this second album cover but have elements of colour that would stand out and attract anyone that notices it in the store.

Final magazine advert

After lots of consideration and feedback from our target audience as well as other audiences, this is the final magazine advert design we have chosen. Our main reasons for choosing this simple design are that  it is suitable for the indie genre which we have chosen to go with and because it received the most positive audience feedback out of the options from our initial ideas.

The leaves for the background of the advert fit in with the theme of our music video as we took the photograph while we were filming the video. The leaves on the floor represent the love that the singer has lost, because they have fallen from the trees and now lie dead on the ground like his dreams for him and his girlfriend. They are also the colour yellow which signifies that the singer is in the process of getting over his ex. Like traffic lights, yellow is in-between because one chapter of his life has ended but the new part is yet to begin.

We wanted to include an image of the album cover to show customers what we are advertising, and because of its black and white theme we didn't want the yellow of the leaves to draw attention away from the product. Therefore the background image is slightly faded to make sure that the sharpness of the black and white will catch the eye of customers.

As the band are not yet well established, we put their name at the top of the advert so that straight away it is clear who they are and their name can start to be recognised. We also chose to put the release date in the same eye-catching bold and underlined font to have the same affect of sticking in people's heads when they see this advert so they can go away and remember when the album is available and who it is by.

The album cover is central to make it clear that this is the product and to show people what it looks like so  people can recognise it and buy it. However, we deliberately didn't want it to be the main focus of the advert because as our genre is indie, we wanted the digipak to be quite edgy, hence we didn't have a clear image of the singer's face on the front. We decided that focusing on the album cover in the advert would defeat the purpose of the mysterious identity on the album cover as in many indie-rock bands the music is their identity rather than their image and we share this view that a band should be known for their music, after all it is what they are employed for.

Audience Feedback on Magazine Advert Drafts

I asked a selection of people from our audience for their opinions on the three different adverts that we initially designed. I made a tally chart below of the results:

 Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

The feedback we received told us that the most popular advert overall was the third one. This advert either scored higher or equalised with the other two options in terms of the different features such as font and background. These factors show us that we should move forward with the third advert choice and use this as our final magazine advert for our album. Below are some quotes from the audience:

Simon Duncan: “I think the background in the third advert is best. I know it’s the same as the first one but the fact that is it washed-out makes it a better canvas for the information. I can still pick out the leaves in the background; it is just less “in your face". Also, the font is really classy and stylistic adding to the individuality of the advert. The first font is actually quite hard to read if I am honest.”

Bernie Johnston: “I do like the font in the second advert because it is clear to read but I think the background ruins it. I see how you are trying to show the album in the advert by making it a close up but I don’t think it works very well. If I had to pick my favorite overall I would pick the third one. It shows the product you are trying to promote and it is plain and simple but still eye-catching because of the colour scheme with the blue in the “&” and the “5”.”

Hugo Del Sol: “It’s hard to choose but if I were to see any of them in a magazine I would see the third one fitting quite well. The other two options are just a little too harsh on the eyes, I feel like I have to really concentrate to look at them. Plus I just think the third design is better, I like the subtle background and the font is really cool… quite different. I suppose that matches the genre of the band, Indie!”

Magazine Advert Drafts

These are three drafts of the magazine advert that will promote our album. There are three different backgrounds and three different types of fonts and so audience feedback will be important to collect so we can gather opinions and ensure we have the best made the best choices.

Magazine Advert Number One 

This advert is busy and has a lot going on. This may mean that the audience will focus more on what the actual message of the advert is. It also makes it stand out meaning it is eye catching which is vital for advertising and promotion. This advert has a picture of the actual album on the front, showing the the physical object. The background is of fallen leaves and it surrounds all the different features. This background ensures it follows the autumnal theme that has run throughout the music video we made and the actual digipak. The yellows and oranges add a different texture and a pop of colour also. The reason this font has been used is because it mirrors the typography that has been used for the album cover. It is very stylistic as well, meeting the indie genre of  of the band and music. 

Magazine Advert Number Two

This advert is a lot more simplistic compared to the previous one. The colours used are more subtle and less obtrusive. The background is a close up of the actual album cover. The reason this has been created is because in the previous magazine advert research i carried out i noticed that the main artists face took up the whole A4 page and it was also an image taken from the album. Seeing as this product already exists and the advert has been successful, i feel this "star image" is a valuable aspect to have. The font is a lot thicker and larger here because the image itself is less clear. The word "enough" has been made yellow to add some colour to the grey, black and whites. It also fits into the autumnal theme that we want to carry through this project. 

Magazine Advert Number Three

This advert is still simple but has a quirky style. The background it still the autumnal leaves but it has a "washed over" effect. The advert is less busy but has an element of colour. The CD cover has been placed in the middle of the A4 page so it is very prominent. The shadow effect behind it gives the audience the impression that this Album has presence and is important, there is star quality and it stand out from anything else (again following the indie theme of individuality). The font is highly stylistic and may not to be to everyone's taste. This is why audience feedback is needed. The "&" and "5" are a light blue colour to add to the design of the advert. It also makes the "5" stand out so that the date is placed in the audience's memory. 

Final version of music video

This is our completed music video, uploaded from YouTube. Taking note of the audience feedback from the rough cut, we made a few changes and of course finished off what was left to do such as lip synching and adding titles.

We added a filter for the argument scene to indicate the change in mood. This was prompted by a comment on our rough cut which said it was a sudden change from the romantic flashback to the argument so we felt adding a filter gave a subtle change in mood but was suitable for the video. 

We also changed the duration of some of the clips to make sure they were in time with the music and that we had enough shots of lip synching and the band performance as much of the video is following the narrative. 

Audience feedback

After screening our music video to an audience we received some comments about what went well and what we could improve.

The most popular scene was the bench scene at 1:01. This indicates the loss of the protagonists partner and by following the couple shot with one of just the singer alone establishes that the relationship was a thing of the past. As previous feedback showed us that the frequency of the flashbacks can create uncertainty and ambiguity amongst the audience concerning the relationship status of the singer, we are very pleased that this scene was noticed and praised. 

Another feature of the video which the audience liked were the transitions. One audience member (Abinav Battachan) said "I like the transition, it fits really well,".

Looking at the post on YouTube, we received a comment suggesting the opening titles need to be improved for clarity; Daniel Da Silva - "Overall the video is very good, but the opening credits should be changed to a better, clearer font". This is something we are considering but we will need more audience feedback before making a final decision.

Another important bit of feedback we received was that the lip synching was very well timed. This was a big focus for us from the rough cut we posted as that was very obviously not completed by the singing being so out of time. For u to have perfected it was a difficult task so when the audience noted this aspect of the video we were very proud as we timed it all manually.

Lyrics Booklet

This is our design for our lyrics booklet that will be inserted into the digipak we make. We Decided to present the lyrics on the leaf. This is following the autumn theme we have throughout our music video because the the yellow and brown colours of the leaves are prominent. We kept this background simple so that the audience focus on the lyrics. The white font is easy to read as it stands out against the bright yellow and dark blue. We planned this design on powerpoint initially and then edited it on photoshop. We managed to blur the background and make the leaf more focused and clear overall. 

Magazine advert initial ideas

For part of our coursework we are required to make a magazine advert to promote the song that we have created a music video for. We have done a lot of research into what a lot of magazine adverts include and how effective different things are and from this we have an idea of what to incorporate in our own advert. Things that we know to include are the bands name, name of the album, release dates, links to other information, a picture relevant to the band or songs and perhaps other things such as ratings of the album and picture of the front cover. We have chosen to use the photo below as the background for the advert as it sticks to the autumn theme of the song. We believe that this is a good background for the advert as it is bright and stands out to readers but at the same time reflects the sad theme of the song. Our idea is to add the front cover of the album on top of this background with other information about the album. We will add bold lettering on top of the background with the name of the band and album so that readers know what is being promoted. We are also going to add the album cover to the front which is likely to be either of these two.

Audience Feedback front Cover

Audience Feedback

I asked people from our target audience for their opinions on the front cover options. I flicked through each one of the versions of the picture with each person separately so that there was no bias. There was a mixture of opinions but the majority voted that they liked the "Pencil Sketch" the most: 

Here is what they said about the picture: 

George Pitsialis  - "I think this effect actually looks like a proper album cover. I have seen designs like this before which means you are on track with whats current in the music industry. Also, I just genuinely really like it. Its interesting to look at, not boring." 

Hyder Marcos Al-Said - "Design number 4 is my favorite. It hasn't got much colour but i don't think that matters because there is a lot going on anyway, it would be too busy otherwise. The black and white is a good contrast and you said that the theme of the song was sad so it matches perfectly, the light and the dark, the good times and the bad."

Amber Rose Barco - "I chose this effect because it's different. I thought the other designs were good but i just found my eyes wandering towards this one quite a lot. That's proof that it is eye catching and i'd say that is something you'd definitely consider a positive.  You're right about the snowy effect as well, it is clever because it is like an illusion, it's not snowing but it does look that way. His face is also kind of covered, making it mysterious and intriguing. This one is definitely the best."

DigiPak Research

Initial Research for 'Enough' Music Video Digipak

A digipak gives audience more information when it comes to content compared to a disc with a regular CD cover. It is a forma of marketing used by many artists and recording labels to encourage buyers to purchase a hard copy of the album wether it is in a high street store or online rather than downloading or streaming the music online. This is crucial as the sale of albums having gone down as buyer prefer to download their favourite song(s) rather than paying for the full album.

There are many template options that could be used for a Digipak and the following are just some of the possible 'Flat plans' that we are going to consider for our digipak. 

Here is one of the simplistic forms of a digipak that many artists use for their albums. It is made up of the front cover,inside front cover, back cover, spine and CD holder.

This is another common form of a digipak which has the same conventions as the one above but has a tube section where we are able to place a lyric book r album poster.

   

This is a template for a digipak. We can use this to help plan the final design for our own digipak. It is simple and includes all the elements needed to make an effective product for our target audience.

The front cover:

This is the front cover picture I had in mind for our digipak. However adding different effects to this may make it more interesting and atmospheric. There are some examples below showing a variety of effects that we could use:

This effect is called "Chalk Sketch". The colour has been filtered out now and the picture has a black, white and grey effect. It also makes the picture look snowy. Snow and winter connotes romance and love, this is good because the theme of our music video is relationships and breakup.

This effect is called "cutout". The picture now has a cartoonist look. The colours are still prominent but that they become darker, blurring into each other. The artist's face is still visible and easily noticeable because the important features are highlighted. this makes it very eye catching. 

This effect is called "Light Edges".  The overall picture is now brighter, exposing 

the colours more and defining all the features in the background as well as the artist. it has given the picture a speckled effect, adding texture which is something which can be quite powerful for an album cover, making it stand out.

This effect is called "Pencil Sketch". This makes the picture look as though it has been hand drawn. I feel it enhances the personality of the digipak because hand drawn art shows that time and effort has gone into it. Even though it is a digital effect and it wasn't truly hand drawn, it may still attract the audience because of the sentimental connotation behind it. Atmosphere has been created because the snowy effect is prominent here also. 

This effect is called "Glass". It makes it look as though the audience are looking at the picture through a window.This does add a different texture to the digipak but i feel that it is a little impersonal. The audience need to be able to connect to the artist but if it seems they are blocked off by a barrier this may not happen.        

Rough Cut

Before we do all the final editing and perfecting our music video, this is a rough cut to check our progress. This shows all the shots roughly edited together in the order we want them to appear.

We still need to shorten it as at the moment is is longer than the actual song. We also need to fix the timing, especially for the lip synching and add filler shots where necessary to make the shots transition smoother between scenes. For the flashbacks with the girl we want to add video effects to make it clear that theses shots are in the past.

Audience feedback
To get a rough idea of how our video would be responded to I asked a few people to view the rough cut and give comments on what they thought. The majority of the feedback was to correct the lip synching which was something we were already aware of. In addition to this I was also told that the shot of the protagonist leaning against the tree singing could have been shot smoother as the kinetic camera movement is a bit jolty. As well as this the audience which viewed the rough cut also said it was cliche to have a band playing at the end of a heartbreak song, showing that we have followed the conventions of a music video of this genre. Other positive feedback was the scene with the flashback on the bench followed by the singer alone on the bench, suggesting the girl has disappeared. Comments on this were that it created an emotional depth to the character as loss is very relatable.

As the video is posted on YouTube under the name 'Music Video For Enough Rough Cut' on my account MayaTyrrell, there were some comments left by viewers on YouTube. Comments taken from here include:
  

Daniel da Silva 

"Takes too long to cut in at the beginning, music and video not in sync post 3 minutes."
  Dylan Mogoi "I'd have some sort of sound (if possible) in the opening scene, or alternatively just have it      shortened. Greater transition into the argument possibly, rather than a sudden change from a romantic moment outside? I'm a fan of the disappearance at 1:05 though hahah"

 Andre Conde 

"The video is good as it is slow to match the song but it could pick up a bit more at the end"

From these comments we tried to make as many improvements as possible to make our audience enjoy the music video more. As the length of the introduction was mentioned as long we shortened in (as suggested) by removing the shot of the half empty wardrobe, although this was a favourite of mine to symbolise that half of the singer is missing, metaphorically. We also added titles to the opening to add more texture to the soundless shots and to give them more purpose. Furthermore we aim to add sound effects such as birds chirping of the ambient noise of cars outside or wind.
Towards the end we used shorter cuts to quicken the pace of the video a bit as well as adding several different shots of the singer in different locations singing the long note, also avoiding the scene from dragging on.

 

 

Costumes

As we have decided to use an autumn/winter theme, inspired by the slow pace of the song and the bells that reminded us of Christmas time, the actors will be dressed mostly in dark colours and plain clothing. Also the location was a factor, as for the outdoor scenes our singer will need to wear a coat due to the weather conditions.

We have included a shot of the protagonist taking his coat and a scarf outside with him, this highlights the time of year the video is set in. We think the autumn/winter theme can create a pathetic fallacy as the song tells the story of the sorrow and emptiness that follows a break up, and the weather will reflect this in its cold and dullness.

In our video we wish to include flashbacks of when the couple were together and happy, so for these scenes the actors will have to wear clothes reflective of an earlier, happier time in the year. The protagonist will wear just a t-shirt or casual shirt with jeans to show he is more relaxed and laid back as well as that this was before it turned cold for winter.

The female role (antagonist) will also wear casual clothing, jeans and a sweater or top. These will be light colours, either pastel colours or colourful but definitely something girly so pink, purple or yellow. She will wear her hair down because it is more casual and playful.


We also have a scene where the girl will be with the boy but in his present state, he will be wearing his outdoor winter outfit and she will also wear a coat. We considered she could still wear lighter clothing but in this scene she is from his imagination rather than a memory so we thought she should match his clothing to show this.

Another flashback we want to film will be as if the couple were coming home from a party or formal occasion. For this the protagonist will be wearing a suit (also links to the band's name) with a smart yet informal shirt to keep in mind his youth.
The girl will be wearing a similarly smart yet not formal dress, which will show her femininity either with the colour, floral pattern or lace details.

For the fight scene to show the change in mood from the happy memories the protagonist will wear faded coloured clothing, and he will wear layers to symbolise how he is building up walls and this leads to his sadness in the scenes where he wears the coat. The cold atmosphere between the boy and the girl is also reflected in the clothing.
The girl will wear black and white to show that she has lost her passion and she is just cold and heartless.