Final Music Video

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 1

Our production brief was to create a 3-5 minute music video for a song of a particular genre of my choice, I was asked to pick my group that I would be working with, I chose Tyler Osman and Jake Butler for my group. I was then told to make a magazine advert and digipak cover along with the music video so that it would demonstrate my understanding of how to market an artist, however throughout all products I would be creating, there had to be a connection between them all, the digipak and magazine advert need to appeal to my target audience so that my artist was therefore marketable. In the video I had to use various different camera techniques within the video and different locations in the video so that it feels as though the video is always going from one location to another.

Music artists in the music industry decide to make a music video for one of their own songs for a number of beneficial reasons. One plausible reason for an artist to create a music video for one of their songs is so that the artist receives additional promotion from the popularity of the music video, this is because artists usually release songs that are upcoming from their album and what to get as much promotion out there to the public eye as possible. Artists create music videos for songs in an upcoming album of theirs because it creates hype and buzz around the albums release so audience will go home and try to see when they can get the new album of an artist they like, which in turn increases sales of the album. Another purpose of an artist creating a music video for a song in their new album is so that the audience can visualize the song when they watch the video, without the video, it might be harder for an audience to understand the meaning of the song. The video can be presented as a narrative or a theme/message that relates to the lyrics of a song so they are able to visualize the song easier, this allows the audience to build up a relationship between themselves and the artist because they can now clearly see what the artist was trying to get across. This is effective for artists because it can allow more audiences to listen to the song and watch the video and understand what it means and how they then know more about the artist if it is a song that's personal to the artist. The last reason an artist creates a music video is so that the audience to visualize a representation of the artist and how deep the song is for the artist, for example, less colour could connote the meaning that the video is more realistic and more harsh about life which could make it more realistic. The realism portrayed in the video may encourage more active audiences to analyze the video and question certain elements and design choices made when the music video was being created.

All 3 purposes mentioned in the above paragraph can be seen within my chosen genre, which is the indie rock genre, with my chosen artist's, Jake Bugg, music video for "Two Fingers". When the song was released Jake Bugg was still advertising his debut album called "Jake Bugg", this therefore creates hype and buzz amongst audiences because the video shows that the song is a personal story to him talking about what his life was like when he was growing up, it shows that he wants to be taken seriously and audiences will therefore try to analyze his music to see the representation he wants to get across. The next purpose visualizing a song is used here because the video demonstrates a direct correlation between the lyrics and the visuals in the music video, "he's with my momma, they're yelling an' fighting" while the visuals show a man with Jake Bugg's mum in the video followed by a small argument as both actors are shouting at each other. This allows the audience to understand the lyrics easier because they're being told to the audience visually, which makes them enjoy the song. The last purpose that was mentioned before is the artists representation and how they want to be seen, this can be seen with Jake Bugg, he is someone who wants to be taken seriously as the songs he sings are all personal songs he has shared with audiences, this enables the audience to build a relationship with him as an artist because they will eventually understand why he wants to be taken seriously and why he sings about leaving his past behind him.

When creating my music video, I found that there are many conventions of the indie rock music genre, these conventions helped me understand the genre further and they helped me when I started to create my video. One example of a convention I researched was a depressing theme is used to create more depth and meaning to an artist, this can be seen in the music video for "Two Fingers" as it handles a difficult subject matter. The song's theme or message is that the artist, to get what he wanted, left his old life behind him and started his music career, the reason this is depressing is due to the fact he mentions he left his family and friends and some people may find that the sacrifice would be too high, Bugg even says he friends are some of the best people he has ever met in the music video. This convention influenced my ideas as I used a real life and depressing message in the video as well to make the music video feel more realistic for the audience. An additional convention i found when doing my research into the indie genre was that the artists in the video all seem to showcase their talents with instruments. This can be see in the same video "Two Fingers" when Bugg is seen a few times practicing with a band and later performing to his fans. The technique is used to illustrate how talented the artist is as they can play the instrument as well, it further evokes the idea to the audience that the songs are personal as well because the artist wanted to play the instrument to show how much it means to him. This inspiration was taken into account when i began thinking what my artist will commonly be seen with. Another convention is that the artist sings the song in time with the lyrics in the video. This is done to establish a connection between the visuals and lyrics and to visualize the lyrics easier for the audiences sake, they in turn understand the lyrics that they may not have thought twice about before, this can be seen near the end of the video "Two Fingers" when he performs to a crowd and sings "so I kiss goodbye to every little ounce of pain" in time with the song. This convention conveys to my target audience that the artist is very talented as it shows the audience he can play and sing at the same time which is quite a difficult task and to perform it perfectly in time as well, my target audience will therefore respect my artist because of this talent. The last convention is that most indie music videos use some sort of narrative in the video for audiences to follow and later can visualize the the lyrics and video. This again works with "Two Fingers" where Bugg sings "he's with my momma, they're yelling an' fighting" when his mum and another man starting arguing aggressively in slow motion. This appeals to audiences because they like the fact that they can now visualize lyrics behind a song and they then know what the artist was trying to get across.

My music video uses the conventions that are evident in my chosen music video genre. One convention I have used in my video is the depressing theme. After watching Jake Bugg's "Two Fingers" music video, I was inspired to use the same convention for my video but change the theme the video was portraying, I instead show the audience that it's dangerous to run away from everything to become famous because people won't be there to help you when you come back unsuccessful. This sums up the idea behind the narrative because the artist runs away from home to try and become famous, it doesn't work so he ends up going home without money but can't get inside the house because the people who live at the house have changed the locks. This appeals to the audience because it addresses the idea that some peoples dreams don't always become a reality and the audience will see the idea behind the video and think it's very realistic and will like the video further.

Another convention that my music video used was the artist holding the instrument he plays in real life. I was inspired to use the guitar after watching the music video for another Jake Bugg song called "Trouble Town" where the guitar is seen prominently throughout the video and is also used as a motivational push for the artist. The use of the guitar can be seen during a mid shot when my artist is on a train and takes the guitar out to see if it's tuned correctly. The use of the convention is supposed to showcase my artists sheer talent in the music industry and that the song is personal to my artist because he wanted to play it himself for his audience, it also shows that the guitar is pushing the artist more to try and get the fame. The audience will then respect my artist as the fact he sings and plays the instrument shows he is talented in his craft which will further encourage them to buy the artists albums so they can become fans of his music.

Another convention I will talk about above that is evident in music video is the narrative within the video. The narrative I watched for my research into the indie genre was the "A-Team" as the video follows a poor woman with a drug addiction until she eventually reaches his demise. My narrative starts with someone getting a cab at night before the video cuts to another shot of the same boy with the text earlier that day, the video then shows the audience he is going to London to perform music like a busker, he has no success so he goes somewhere else in London and is then ridiculed, his money is then stolen and has to go back to his hometown where the video started. The artist then runs out the cab without paying and goes home and finds the locks have changed while the artist ponders on the step of the house what to do. The narrative is depressing because it tells the audience a narrative about someone who was dedicated to his craft, but it didn't work out for him but his old life has already moved on, showing the audience he shouldn't have ran away and warns them of what could follow when leaving your old life behind you. My audience will find this narrative engaging because it doesn't follow regular narrative structure in the sense that it doesn't end well for the character, they will then analyze the meaning of the video and respect the message that the video is trying to achieve.

An additional convention i'll be talking about is the use of black clothing within my music and my artist. This inspiration came form another Jake Bugg music video called "Broken" which is the artist singing in a bar to try and calm people's troubles. Black clothing is seen throughout my video as my artist never changes his clothes while busking to indicate that he cannot afford better clothing or a flat or hotel to stay in while he performs. The black clothing is used to convey the idea that the artist is represented like the indie genre because the colour black strongly represents the indie genre because of the realistic and dark ideas behind the narrative and the themes of my music video. The audience would relate to the colour black because it's a colour commonly associated with the indie genre and is a negative colour that strongly correlates to the indie genre.

A convention that can be seen in the video is the artist with messy hair or hair the artist hasn't bothered sorting his hair. The idea came from the video made by Bob Dylan which is called "Subterranean Homesick Blues" where Dylan also has messy hair. In my video, the artist can be seen throughout with messy hair or straight hair, this was done because the artist had to stay in the city busking for a day so his hair style changing wouldn't make logical sense. This is conventional to the genre because it represents my artist as a messy person or someone that is messed up because he doesn't seem to really care for how he looks in the city. The audience will relate to this convention because a lot of artists in the genre normally do have messy hair to convey to the audience that they're troubled people with troubled pasts.

The last convention i will be talking about is the urban locations used throughout filming. This idea came from the music video for Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" again because he is standing in the foreground while their is only buildings in the background. This convention can be seen in my video as it's the location my artist leaves at the beginning an ends up returning to after the stories event have taken place. The urban environment is a convention because it shows that the artist could have come from a rough area and that he was raised in that sort of environment. The audience will find this relatable because it shows he started out as a regular person living in normal environment but was able to get into the industry which the audience will respect because it shows he was able to accomplish his dreams.

Final individual Ancillaries

Digipak

Magazine Advert

Rough cut

Audience feedback is crucial to a production because the audience provide useful and effective feedback for the creators to take on board and to make these changes in the areas of the video that are lacking in certain aspects. The audience are useful because they give a good indication to what should be kept in the music video and what they liked about it, the creators will take note of this and make sure to nature make too many changes to this part of the video. Rough cuts are key essentials to making a music video because these videos are not the finished products, meaning when an improvement has been stated, the creators can then work on these improvements so that the audience are satisfied with the end product.

Me and my group received feedback from a number of sources, one method was to use the social media site youtube, this is where we uploaded the video initially and audiences could leave comments in the comment section of the video. Another method was to show the product in front of our class so me and my group could acquire some good things as well as improvements from our fellow students and teachers. Finally I showed the video to some family members of mine to see if they could offer any feedback, indie has such a wide audience age range that it wasn't a problem going to people for some criticisms as well as good things that me and my group did with the video.

As stated before, me and my group created the rough cut in the efforts to achieve some constructive comments and things we did well. Me and my group created a rough cut first so that when me and my group had all our comments and pieces of feedback we could then use them all to better the final production. If all these improvements are made it will make the video look better and feel like an actual music video as with our rough cut there are improvements to be made but we just need the audience to point out particular problems. The rough cut comments and improvements gave me and my group a good indication of what we needed to improve on and what we did well, and if all these improvements are made to our existing video then we would have accomplished our task of making a video that appeals to our target audience. The rough cut we made and what we will do with that information will benefit the industry because all audiences will feel appreciated that their feedback that they gave is going to good use and will be implemented and rectified so that they can have the most enjoyable experience when they watch music videos.

One comment we received on youtube about our video that shows we did something right was that we had a good use of a narrative which could mean that it was well structured or easy to follow or that the narrative of the artist was constructed in a way that the audience member were able to empathize with him, the next part of the comment states that we used locations well. The narrative part of the comment i can agree with because we had to go over the whole narrative a few times so that we were all aware of what was going to unfold within the music video. The part of the comment that said we used locations effectively was also something i could agree with as we took care trying to pick locations that would like different but still convey the same ideas as before e.g. me and my group used Loughton high road to try and show a different part of central London.

Another positive comment we received was from a fellow student saying that the artist has a very clear representation throughout the video, and that the way he is portrayed struggling to make it in the city is clearly demonstrated throughout. I believe that me and my group did convey this effectively when making our video as there are several scenes that show he has reached his lowest low/rock bottom like when the camera cuts to an extreme close up of the money box and there are only 1 and 2 p coins showing that the artist isn't making any money which also relates to the scene where he runs away from the cab because he didn't pay the fare.

The last positive comment me and my group received was from the teachers saying that we have used a wide range of diverse camera angles and techniques throughout the entire video wherever it was possible or needed. Me and my group can agree with this comment because we kept making sure the shots weren't being repetitive whilst filming in London and Loughton. All of the shots we used were used so that the audience would be interested in the amount of diverse camera techniques used and some of the shots we used help create certain ideas from the audience like when the artist tries to get into his house near the end and the shot is a high angle shot looking down on him as if to suggest he is inferior.

The first constructive comment me and my group received was from our teachers after showing them the video was that the lens on the camera wasn't adjusted properly and as a result certain shots are showing the artist out of focus. This is extremely noticeable when watching the video a second time an me and my group are very thankful for this constructive comment. However re filming the shots would be problematic because the filming location would be very difficult to get to again so that it's still bright and sunny as we are in the middle of winter, and the distance was very far for re filming all the way in liverpool street, this is also the reason why the second location is Loughton because it's busy as well as close by so me and my group thought that it would work there. Me and my group just need to focus on how to clear up the camera shots so that it doesn't look as if they are out of focus.

Another constructive comment made was that we need to use filters a lot more in our video so that it can look more professional as stated in the youtube comment we received. Me and my group have taken this comment on board and think that we could use a grainy filter to take some of the colour out of the video so that it looks a bit more depressing this makes it more conventional for the audience which will make it more professional as it will look like a realistic music video for the indie genre.

The last constructive comment made about our video was that one of the characters in the video, who is a successful individual and signs an autograph at one point, doesn't look as though he is a successful music artist. This is a very good comment that was made because though me and my group knew what he was, the audience would struggle understanding his purpose in the video, me and my group know he is a direct opposite from our artist but because the successful person isn't given much of an identity and it's difficult to see if he is even a music artist whatsoever. Me and my group planned on re filming these scenes so that he was listening to an Ipod so a connection could be hinted at, but in relation to the camera shot that should follow this one, he isn't seen at all with the with the ipod or even headphones, so this was a problematic constructive point but we still haven't corrected.

Me and my group will start improving the video by adding several filters throughout, one idea me and my group have had is to use a filter that takes away a lot of the colour from the shots our artist is in so that it looks as though it is a depressing story. Me and my group then had the idea of adding colour back into the video when our artist is playing the guitar and when the successful artist is on screen because the colour would show success for the successful artist and would show hope for our artist. One last correction me and my group will be making is that there is a focus filter we can use to blur the edges of a shot so that the artist doesn't look out of focus as much anymore, he'll still be blurry but the background will be a lot more blurry so that our artist stands out.

Digipak - Miss Miller

The purpose of a digipak is to ensure that the audience are getting the most exclusive content from their favourite artists in the music industry, they are essentially albums with additional content, more information surrounding the artist, and some even include additional photographs for the digipak which are called artwork pictures, there are two of these photos in every digipak so that the audience feel as if they're getting their money's worth. They promote the artist because they include more inforamtion about the artist, this information may enable the audience to relate or respect the artist further as they may see the artists as down to earth, to do this, the artist includes a thank you note to his fans to ensure that the audience builds a relationship with the artist and likes the artists music further. To create my digipak for my artist I used photoshop CS6 because it had such a wide range of editing options for each photo, you could add blurs, change the contrast colours or the brightness of the picture, you could add filters to photos, you could download additonal fonts to make it look as if it belonged to the indie genre and you could even edit out all of the background the you didn't need/ had to get rid of. To come up with my idea of the digipak I researched two existing ones that belonged to the same genre as our artist, that being Jack Johnson as in his digipak he had many photos, artwork and a track list for the audience, this inspired me to implement the same styles like the guitar being present with the artist, an artwork photo of the artist looking straight at the camera which were all conventions of the indie genre. I will now analyze all 6 slides of my digipak and what I used to create the pictures and how this demonstrated my understanding of the indie genre conventions.

The colour of the digipak's front cover was used so that only a slim amount of colour could be noticeable. The most obvious pf the colour present are black and white while the orange blends in with the orange brick wall. The purpose of the colour choice was to make the white and black stand out the most of all the colours, this is so the artist is clearly visible as well as the name of the album and the artist. The colour black for the artist connotes that he is dark and that his music is dark which is emphasized by the black guitar and black clothes, the writing at the bottom left also conveys this which just further emphasizes that he is a dark artist. I used two images for this first slide for a few reasons. The first image is the one with the artist, but because the background involved certain items that were not necessary i had to cut out the background and replace it with image 2 which the brick wall behind the artist. The reason why i used the effect of two images was so that the front cover/slide of the digipak seemed more realistic to the audience and they will then purchase the digipak based on the authenticity of it. The connotation of these two images put together is that the artist comes from an urban/rural area in which he had to play the guitar in order to get himself out of that lifestyle, urban/rural areas are often poorer than other areas, this ties in well with the indie convention of coming from a poor background. The layout/design of the front cover slide of the digipak was very important because every detail had to make it look realistic. One such detail was adding a shadow to the image with the artist which reflected onto the wall, the reason for this was so that it looked as if the artist was actually resting near the wall. The layout of the text was done so that it wasn't in the way of the artist so the audience knew what artist they were buying, it also created the effect that the text was like a piece of graffiti. The layout of the text and pictures that were used all tie in with the convention that the artist came from a poor area and because of this his music can come across as a bit more real or darker than other artists music which will make audiences buy his digipak so they can listen to something new. The typography was very important because I had to download a few extras to capture an indie effect. The typography that I used were all indie related fonts from a website, this was so that my digipak conformed to the indie genre. The typography in the digipak are all conventions of the indie genre but the connotation is that it's graffiti in a poor rural area, the poor rural area is a convention that's commonly used amongst a lot of graffiti artists.

The next slide of my digipak is my first artwork photo of the digipak, in every artists digipak there are at least two of these which are just additional pieces of content for the audience, nearly every one of these artwork photos are used to convey a deeper meaning that the audience are supposed to understand. Firstly lets take a look at the use of colours for the picture, when creating this specific artwork photo i deliberately increased the contrast so the colours were more colourful and each colour could therefore stand out much more, this is clear with the one of the buildings in the background being bright and blue where as the coins are clearly a dark tint of orange which makes it stand out from the rest of the colours in the picture, the brightness effected the colour of the pavement so that it wasn't too bright as it was before. The blue in the background will appeal to my target audience as blue is a conventional colour of the indie genre, the colours in this artwork slide are all dark colours, the pavement is dark the people in the background of the money box are dark apart from the sky and the building. Blue is the colour that represents sadness or depression, as most indie songs and artists have storys that are quite depressing or have a depressing tone, however these depressing songs/ stories that music artists tell come across as more real or relatable for the audience, which is why the target audience of indie fans would enjoy this digipak as they can understand it's the indie genre. The slide promotes our artist effectively because the audience will understand the connotation of our artist starting his career having little to nothing in terms of money but having to go to the city in order to make it big, they will also appreciate the songs as they can understand they're probably real events while he was starting out. There are only two images used in this slide but the images are exactly the same. The first one is the background of the original , i added a blur effect to it so it made the second image of the money box stand out from the background, i was then able to change certain details of the box so that it was either brighter or more colourful than the rest of the background behind it. The effect this has the audience is that they focus on the money box, it's central in the frame and is the most clear in frame, the audience will then think that the digipak is mostly about the artists struggles he had before becoming famous as he is now and that the digipak is a much more personal story. The layout/design were both very important for this picture to get right because if it wasn't, it would result in the picture looking unprofessional. The layout needed to be precise because the image showing the money box had to perfectly overlap the blurred background picture so the audience don't see the same thing twice. The design was incredibly important as well because the colours needed to show the difference in the two pictures so that the audience know what is supposed to stand out, the blur effect of the background makes the audience focus on the foreground which is the money box, the audiences attention is locked onto the box because it's much clearer than the rest of the slide. The layout will appeal to my target audience because they will understand the connotation of the money box being the absolute minimum of what our artist had yet the fact that my artist had no money will be central to the songs included in the digipak. This promotes my artist effectively because he comes across as a regular person who was lucky enough to make it into the music industry which will show the audience he wants to make music he know the audience will like as they are all indie fans.

This slide of the digipak is the disk slide, meaning that this will contain the disc that contains every song in the artist's album/digipak that the audience can listen to. The first element to look at is the colours of the picture, the audience from the disk can see orange, green, black and white. However the green is faded and blurred which means this isn't the important part of the disk. The colours black and white illustrate the genre conventions as they are dull colours or blank ones, however the orange of the album name pops out, this could mean while in a genre that is mostly dark with many artists' stories of how hard it was to get famous, the orange evokes that this artist is different in the genre and is unique. The audience will listen to the digipak's songs because of the orange colour which makes him stand out from other artists in the same genre. For this slide i used two images one being the picture of the artist and one which acts as a disk template, the white circle in the middle as well as the outer edge of the artists picture. The effect this created for the audience was that it made the digipak look more authentic so the audience were able to relate to it being more of an actual digipak. This appeals to my target audience as well as any audience because the images make it look realistic to an actual digipak. The way the picture of the artist looking out into the lake, represents him as looking into what the future could bring for him as he is looking forward, this relates back to the concept of the digipak about being stories of his hardships because the way he is looking could mean he's looking forward in the hopes that there are no difficult hurdles he must overcome. The layout/design of this slide was also extremely important due to the fact that there would be a CD in place so i had to make sure that everything about the CD would match to a real life one. Some choices i made are very much conventional to a standard digipak CD, the digipak name on the CD, the record producer is also featured on the disk and finally the little text on the left hand side of the disk is all about the use of copyright to the disk, this makes it look as though it is a real CD as they all include a copyright warning along the edge of the disk. The audience see that this is a real disk with an artists work  on it, they want to listen to the album because of the layout as it looks like a real digipak CD, as long as it looks realistic enough, the target audience will listen to it. I used 2 types of typography/font on the disk slide. The first is the same used for the name of the digipak on the front, just the colour is different, again the orange being used to show he's different, the other use of font is a very plain and formal one on the side with all the copyright warnings along the edge of the CD. All of these design choices are so that the audience can actually believe this is a CD for a digipak that an artist created so this is why the typography is kept normal, as this is conventional to an actual CD. The language of the CD was kept formal, this is because when copyright warnings are made they are always formal. The effect this has on the audience is that they believe that this could be an actual CD for the digipak and it shows that the artist in question takes his music very seriously which makes the audience respect him a bit more.

This slide of the digipak is all about the artist thanking the audience for their purchase and their support for his efforts, this means there is much more text and language here than any other slide on the digipak, yet is just a short message for the audience. Firstly the colours that are present here have been present throughout the digipak, the 3 central ones are orange, white and black, there is green but it's faded so the audiences eyes aren't concentrated to that part of the slide. However these 3 colours orange, black, and white are all repeating colours in this digipak, the black and white relate to the conventions of the indie genre which makes indie fans believe it is an indie digipak which encourages them to listen to it, and the orange makes him stand out from the genre or the black and white so indie audiences want to listen to it so they can understand what is so original about this artist in particular. This means that the colours effectively promote my artist as an original artist in the indie genre and the audience will want to listen to him and buy the digipak to found out why he has been represented this way. There was only one image used here but I copied one and blurred the background of all the trees and pavement, this is so the audience focus on the artists positioning and the writing, the blur makes sure that side of the slide hasn't got too much of the focus. The images show that the important part of the slide is the right, where the artists appreciation of his audience is, this makes him come across as likable as he shows he only cares about his fans and how they see him as an artist which encourages them to talk about the artist or to buy the digipak. The layout and design were very important when creating this slide, the layout of the text had to make sure it didn't overlap the artist because this would make it look unrealistic, the design was important because the right hand side of the slide needed to look unimportant, this is why the blur effect has been used, to convey that the most important part of the slide is the artists words to his audience. The artists target audience will like this because they would probably by the digipak in the efforts to listen to his music but instead are thanked and cherished by the artist for buying the digipak which comes across as likable and down to earth. The typography was very important to get right for this slide, firstly i used the font/typography on the right as it looked like graffiti which conveys the poor area as poor areas commonly have a lot of graffiti, however the white writing is supposed to look handwritten but the artist himself almost as if he is giving the digipak his personal touch. This will appeal to the audience as it shows he used true stories of his own to write the music and he feels very proud of this digipak, this makes the audience build a relationship with the artist as he uses true stories for his songs. This promotes my artist as being passionate for his own craft in that he wants to be appreciated by his audience and wants them to know he worked very hard on the creation of the digipak. The language of this slide of the digipak isn't at all formal, however this was also important to consider. As stated, the language is informal and humble, he even shares a personal thanks from himself like when he writes "from the bottom of my heart" makes the audience feel as though the writing is genuine. This would appeal to my artists target audience because they would be flattered at the fact that the artist has gone out of his time to create a piece of additional piece of content and thanked them for their support which will build a relationship from the audience as well as the artist.

This slide is the second of the artwork pictures in the digipak as well as the last one for the artwork. This has a total lack of colour, most obvious one is black, there is also dark gray for the pavement and dark orange for the brick wall behind my artist. The whole look of this artwork image is bleak or gloomy, I decided this because the indie genre about being a bit darker than other genres. This artwork would appeal to my artist's audience because they will be fans of the indie genre and will like this style to an artwork as it shows the artists true feelings, as audiences of the indie genre like these deeper meanings. This promotes my artist as coming across as dark amongst his audience and his way of expressing his true emotions. The image that I have selected is an image where my artist is sitting down looking straight at the camera with a brick wall behind him. The image is conveying that the artist while writing his music and while the audience are listening to it, it's almost as if he is sitting down and talking about these stories and actually putting his emotions into what he is writing. The audience will like this because if he writes as if it is a personal story to another person and the audience members themselves, then they are able to build up a bigger relationship with the artist and his music. It promotes my artist as a person that just wants to tell his fans his story before he got famous which makes come across as a nice person because he wants people to hear his story. The layout and design of this slide was important when creating this slide, the brick wall behind the artist was to show that he came from a poor area, because it's behind him it's almost as if the layout suggests he tried to leave it behind him, the design choice of less colour was to symbolize the dark nature of the artist also because this colour made it seem conventional to the indie genre. The audience of my artist will appreciate these layout and design choices because indie audiences like knowing the deeper meaning to an artist, and most of time these artists portray something that is of a dark nature.

The last slide of my digipak is the tracklist which is a lost of all the songs featured in the digipak. In terms of colours, I have again decided on using the 3 main colours from earlier, black, white, and orange, the black and white connotes the indie genre and again the orange connotes the artist standing out in this genre, the website name which is my artists name is the part in orange which shows a clear direct correlation between the artist and his uniqueness when it comes to his music. The audience will understand this design choice and will want to listen to the songs because it shows that the artist stands out from the genre. The artists representation seen here is that he is a new and unique addition to the indie genre and that he wants people to listen to his digipak so that they can understand him. The image i have used for this slide is of the guitar rested up against a brick wall, the connotation of this image is that there is a direct correlation between the guitar and the wall, which is that the brick wall represents the artists past in his old urban town while the guitar represents the music my artist loves to make. The audience will find this appealing because they like these connotations that have been put into the digipak for their ideas on what certain slides are supposed to mean, which sparks discussion about the artists digipak which makes more people respect the artistic vision of the artist when he created it. This promotes my artist because as discussion between audiences begin of what certain pictures mean in the digipak, more people will then want to see why they're talking about it and also get involved in the fans discussions. The layout and design of this slide was important, the layout was made so that the track list was specifically to the left of the guitar as well as making sure the text didn't go over the guitar in the first place, the barcode and record label were also placed at the bottom because this wasn't meant to attract the audiences attention as well as the website. The design was done so that the text for the track list stood out specifically and the background image i designed so that the contrast was lower, meaning that a bit of colour was taken out from it. These layout and design choices compliment each other because they both accomplish the same task, which was to make the track list stand out against the background image. The audience will appreciate this because they can clearly see the order of the digipak's songs so then they could then talk about the song with their friends and recommend certain ones to them. This promotes the artist effectively because his audience are actually doing some of the advertising for him because they're recommending their friends to listen to certain songs. The typography was important to consider for this slide, i used the handwritten font that the artist's name was written in at the start of digipak an i also used a very plain and regular font for the website at the bottom. There are 2 effects of these fonts, the handwritten painted one comes across as if the artist himself has painted it on the wall and it also ties in well with the area he grew up in being poor so graffiti would probably be common on a lot of walls around that area, the plain font for the website was so that it looked professional for the audience and makes the digipak look more realistic. The audience will find this appealing because they will want to do some more research on this artist by going to the website to find out more about what hes doing next, tours etc. This promotes the artist because the audience are trying find about more about him and what he's doing next so that the fans can support him in his efforts. Finally the language for this slide is pretty basic and conventional in terms of track lists when it comes to creating digipaks, it is written in a list format and only includes the song titles/names so the first song for example is called "Two Fingers". The reason for this language choice is because that it looks realistic and would be the sort of language one would find on a track list for the digipak. The audience will find this appealing because it's informative as well as simple, they know what song is what because of the order that is specified in the track list. This promotes my artist due to the fact that fans will know the song titles and will start talking about them to their friends which gives my artist more fans.

One weakness i had using photoshop was cropping certain photos so details that weren't important were not in the frame. However i found this was very challenging and complicated because it seemed like whatever i did wasn't working. To overcome this, i asked someone for help who had experience and showed me that you only needed to press a certain button or to use a specific tool. One strength i had using photoshop was controlling the contrast and brightness of the images so that it would look much more conventional to an indie digipak in real life. I believe that utilizing this tool for the images to the best of ability was helpful to creating the digipak because it made my pictures look darker and overall, better looking than before.

I believe my digipak conforms to the indie genre conventions because there are many different elements included like close ups of the artists face, the instrument the artist plays, specific uses of different colours i.e. blue for sadness, orange to show he is unique. I think the this digipak would appeal to my target audience because they are indie fans and like music from that specific genre, however the digipak shows that he is a new addition and is original through the use of the orange text so they will listen to it in hopes for a new talent in their favourite genre. The digipak will make the audience build a relationship with the artist as it contains additional information about my artist that fans will like and it also includes a thank you for his fans which means he comes across as down to earth. It is, for these reasons, why i think my audience will relate to my artist.

Final Product

After receiving the feedback form my target audience, i decided to go back and change/add some specific details to further advertise the artist to the audience so that the digipak is more appealing to their needs. The first slide I made a change to, in the order on the picture to the left, was the second slide or the first artwork photo, I added a lyric I thought was relevant to the video and the image, "run down some dark alleys, in my own head", the lyric is in the video and the image relates to times being hard for my artist like not having much money as emphasised by the empty money pot. The disc slide or the third slide I changed by adding a picture of a brick wall instead of the picture where my artist looked out into the lake, the reason for this was because the target audience, as well as myself, noticed there wasn't a clear connection between every picture of the digipak and that picture so it was replaced by a brick wall to connect the digipak with the CD slide. The next slide I changed for the digipak was the personal message slide, I only changed the colour of the fonts so the artist's name is orange and the message is white because when the message was orange, audiences found that it was hard to read so this is why i changed it. The last change made was to the 5th slide and I added a graffiti font in the background with some more lyrics for the song so that it doesn't look empty and pointless, I added a filter effect over the picture as well so that it looks grainy which shows my understanding of the genre and so that it shows my skills using photoshop.