Digipack

Below is my digipack design for what would eventually be the album.

I decided to use some still pictures i captured on the day of filming outside as the cover and inside pages of this multi-sided digipack plan. My music video is mostly a concept, there is no performance involved from a "singer" only a guitar player. Therefore, i decided to carry this concept through onto this plan, rather than show an image of the band or peoples faces shown in my video.

I felt the album cover was the most striking picture as the sun is reflecting across the canal which creates a beautiful image. I used landscape shots for the other images to stay on the same theme and also reflect the bands feel good image and music. I put some logos and a barcode on the back cover to make it look authentic and more proffessional.

Questionnaire results

Here is a sample of the results i got back :

1)   How old are you?
- 14

2)      Are you male or female?

     - Female

3)      What is your favourite genre of music?

     - Indie

      4)  What do you think is good / could be improved in this video?
     - I really like the feel good tone of the video and the fast cuts along to the music. I think there could have
      been more guitar playing.

1)   How old are you?
-19

2)      Are you male or female?

      - Female

3)      What is your favourite genre of music?

      - RnB

      4)  What do you think is good / could be improved in this video?
      - I love how all the shots seem natural, it makes it more accessible and relatable to a youthful audience.

1)   How old are you?
-40

2)      Are you male or female?

      -Male

3)      What is your favourite genre of music?

      - Rock

      4)  What do you think is good / could be improved in this video?
     - I liked the variety of shots and activity as it never got boring. I think some of the shots could perhaps be
       sped up slightly.


I received a lot of positive feedback through asking a variety of people, and also found it very helpful in what i could have done better. Peoples answers varied according to their age category and genre taste, this was useful though as i got a wide range of feedback.

Questionnaire

I carried out a questionnaire once my media product was complete to find out what a range of different people thought of it, and to get constuctive feedback on my work. I distributed the questionnaire in different ways, some were on paper, some i asked over social networking sites such as Facebook, and others i asked the questions out loud, more like a structured interview. I kept the questionnaire short and straight-forward so it was accessible and understandable for all ages and not time-consuming. I kept the first half with only closed questions so they could be analysed with ease and compared. I made the last two more open so i could gather more in-depth and qualitative data also.

Questionnaire

1)   How old are you?

2)      Are you male or female?

3)      What is your favourite genre of music?

      4)  What do you think is good / could be improved in this video?  

    

5)      Would you buy this record? Give reason for your answer.

Filming locations

As soon as i thought up my revised ideas, i had a clear knowledge of the location i would use for the main shots for my video. Both my storyboard and developed ideas included a large park, preferably with swings and a roundabout for the particular shots i wished to do. I immediately thought of "Wildwood park" which was nearby and had everything i needed in its location. Here are some still shots i took whilst making sure the location was right.

I decided i wanted the cake-making and guitar playing in a natural and comfortable environment. I planned to use my own house for these shots, and thought it would work well as this would be an expected location for these activities, and the actors performing would feel comfortable.

Storyboard

These are my rough storyboards for my music video. I found it helpful getting my ideas onto paper and in a more visual format.

When it came to shooting and editing my video, obviously i added many other shots inbetween the scenes shown above, and used repetition and special effects on some shots also.

Development & Finalised Idea

Initially, my idea was to create a youthful happy video using a group of friends as the main focus point. I wanted to create different scenes, such as them in the park, trying on different clothes in a shop, and also going to a nearby city to create a feel good scene of giving out "free hugs" to strangers and filming the reactions they got. I felt that all these ideas would create a modern version of the original video, with brightly coloured clothing, and the idea that these friends were "on their way" in the sense they were at that stage where they would be leaving home to go on to university and other adventures. I got the free hugs idea from a clip i had seen on Youtube a while back, and now since it was first seen, many groups of people have made videos doing it all around the world. It creates that warm feeling because usually you wouldn't even look twice at a stranger, but this movement is bringing you closer to everyone around you, whether you know them or not. Below is the original video that started this movement off, with over 68 million views, it had a huge response around the globe.




Unfortunately, I was unable to get a group of people available to travel to our nearest city when needed, so my ideas had to be revised slightly as i felt this concept wouldn't work as effectively in a small town. I did take some of the ideas from what i had thought up initially; for example, i decided to still use shots at the park. I decided to take some inspiration from the film "Matilda" as my chosen song was a soundtrack for that movie. Bike riding and hula-hooping were then finalised ideas. I decided to also film some cakes being made, and for them to spell out the song title "send me on my way" at the end. I also wanted their to be some form of recognition for the music playing, so i decided i would get a guitarist in my video also.  I planned to use artistic and varying camera shots for all these ideas to make them fun and interesting.

Rusted Root album covers

I decided to have a look at some of the album covers Rusted Root had created as i expected them to represent the bands image and personality. It also helped me start to think about ideas for my digipack. As expected, their album covers matched up to everything i'd previously seen about them. Bright colours like their clothes on the video, artistic and interesting elements, and they also appear rustic, nature-based and welcoming. All of these aspects shown on the covers could tell me a lot about the band and their music, even if i hadn't heard of them before. An album cover is crucial for a band, it could make or break sales as it is the first thing the customer will see on the shelf, and people will always make an initial judgement on something. The cover has to not only represent the band, but the music and their desired audience. Also as expected, the majority of their covers did not have the band themselves featured, but an artistic concept. There are arguments both for and against having the artists profile appear on the cover.  For example, people may not recognise it so quickly if the band is not on the cover. Therefore, they will have to go the extra mile to look at the titles on the albums which could potentially minimise their audience as some may only know what the band look like and not what their name is.