This the final week for lessons being devoted to production. You must therefore make every effort to complete and update your blog with all the relevant products and research and planning tasks.
We will be using the last two weeks of term to focus on the Critical Reflection essay which is an important submission. If there are still tweaks to the products then you can carry on using frees, lunchtimes and after school to improve them.
ABSOLUTE PRODUCT DEADLINE
By the last day of term – your final products must be on your home page under Component 3 The Brief. Done and dusted.
1 X Music Video
4 x panes (with spines) JPEGS with PDFs attached of the DP
1 x Social Media Page – screen shot of home page hyperlinked to the actual site
+ 1 slideshare with screen shots of the SMP in case the site is removed (you should be collating these as you go, just in case and it has happened a couple of times)
Plus your Critical Reflection Essay in the category – formatted and proofed.
If you feel that there are tweaks you want to do to the blog over Xmas then feel free – HOWEVER, in our experience, if you leave it until then – it just won’t happen. You deserve a break but this will mean for several of you, you must put some extra time and effort in between now the the last day of term to ensure it is all completed and you are happy with it.
Next term we move on to the exams and this will be a whole new way of tackling your course – make the most of this 25% of your overall marks and do your
KEY TERMS: BRAND, STAR IMAGE, CONVENTIONS, COLOUR PALETTE, PHOTO MANIPULATION, GRAPHICS, ILLUSTRATIONS, FONT/TYPEFACE, MEDIA LANGUAGE, REPRESENTATION
Draft 1 needs to be assessed in relation to the assessment criteria in the slideshow below – you need to award yourself a grade once you have assessed it. You can simply cut and paste the analysis and then insert your own examples from your text.
Draft 2 will be a teacher Screencastify.
Draft 3 needs you to print it off and then put it in a case – take a photo – then do a quick survey amongst friends asking which of the 7 genres it represents. Present this research as evidence that:
Your digipack received a ‘preferred , negotiated / oppositional reading.
That the representation of the star / genre is evident in the design.
That your branding communicated your mission statement.
Final draft all 4 panes and reflection using key terms above. then it goes on the home page, introduced as 1 x A3 with labelled panes and the full PDF attached.
KEY TERMS: assessment criteria, star image, brand, package, integrated advertising.
TASK
Now that you have Draft 1 of your digipack – the front and back panes, you need to understand how it will be assessed and whether your project is on the right lines.
Does it contain the necessary elements to get a good grade?
Embed your digipack panes and use the following criteria to assess its appropriateness and level of production skill. What level do you think you are on in relation to the following…
Assessment criteria
Use of camera and Photoshop to take & manipulate engaging images.
Selection of mise-en-scene in the photos and the meaning it communicates.
Creative use of DTP to integrate images and text and use colour / typefaces
Make a google slide and create a similar assessment to the ones in the slideshow. This will give you a good idea at what level you are currently working at and what you need to do to improve.
This website has lots of ideas from artists and media makers around the world. It might just offer you some inspiration for your MES – remember simple but meaningful use of MES could make all the difference: some broken plates, antique books, a bright red balloon, tattered armchair, sleek hair do, interesting window frame, bright red lipstick, beaten up car etc.
However, be careful not to over stretch yourself. Look at previous student’s work and see what is likely and possible. You may have to ‘cut your cloth’ (planone’saimsandactivities in linewithone’sresourcesandcircumstances) and do something simple and brilliantly as opposed to attempt something spectacular but badly.
Look around – we have some amazing backdrops:
Visit boredpanda.com at home (as it is blocked in school) and visit the photography section where there are various amazing ideas for photos.
https://www.boredpanda.com/i-create-surreal-conceptual-photography/
https://www.boredpanda.com/everyday-objects-brought-to-life-with-smartphone-yahav-draizin/
https://www.boredpanda.com/model-shows-how-she-makes-incredible-photos-kihmberlie/
https://www.boredpanda.com/photography-tricks-jordi-koalitic/
https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-low-budget-photography-setting/
Or look at the ordinary and make it different in photoshop - all kinds of backgrounds can be liquified, over exposed etc to create some exciting backgrounds.
This week you should be planning, executing and producing your Digipak. Make sure your planning is precise and comprehensive. All planning documents should be uploaded to the blog. You will have to organise your group, models and performers. Remember you have fewer lessons this week so you need to work in a focused manner.
Key Terms: genre, star image, encoding, decoding, preferred readings (Hall's theory), REPERTOIRE OF ELEMENTS (Altman's theory), NARRATIVE, the same but different - developing, using conventions.
Please use the next lesson(s) to produce a hand drawn mock up of the digipack you are going to make in the next 2 weeks. Collate the best ideas from your moodboards.
You should:
Drawn or photo mock-up design of digipak – 2 panes (front and back) on A3 paper.
Annotated with conventional and technical features.
Annotate the designs with the conventional technical elements (barcode, song titles, publisher etc) but also label the designs with how the Media Language of print will help encode the star image and metanarrative of the performer – font, colours, design, graphics, illustration, framing etc. What are the conventional design features for your genre that you will be including? What are you using to encode meaning – what media language will you be employing – font, text, colour, images etc?
Find a digipack cover from the same genre as your music video, not your actual artist – find another similar band / artist from the same genre).
Find the back panel; that would be great for some of the technical forms i.e. bar code, publisher logo etc.
Annotate it for the formal / technical conventions and generic conventions.
Make it detailed and use the terms/ideas in the sheet above.
Download as a Jpeg & PDF.
Upload it into your blog.
EXPLORE
You should focus on: the representationachieved through: images, graphics, illustrations, font, colour, technical conventions (bar-code, parental advisory, album title on spine, tracks on the back), register of copy, mise-en-scene, composition, intertextual references, how does the cover communicate meaning, denotations and connotations, image manipulation, filters, generic conventions, how can it be ‘read/interpreted’ by an audience, star image, meta-narrative, representation?
As a group, contribute to the overall moodboard for all the ideas, styles, fonts, images, colours that could and should be appropriate to your ‘package’.
You should all contribute @ 10 images each so that the tablet moodboard has about 20 – 30 images in total.
You can get inspiration from anywhere – could be a news photo or a TV advert – but as long as it serves as inspiration for your eventual digipak and social media page ‘look’.
Use your music video as inspiration too but REMEMBER, the digipak is not an advert for the music video but an advert for the star/band/artist
The track for the MV is just one track on the album.
Caption the images – what is it about them that is relevant?
What does it represent/connote/signify/portray in relation to the overall mission statement/brand.
You will have to do some research about your genre of music – what are the core values, aims, background to the sounds?
Think about your audience too
How do you want them to ‘read’ the image/design/ideology?
Complete a post in the padlet with the common key descriptors that you have used – these key descriptors will inform your approach to the design of the Digipak, Social Media Page and launch of the Music Video.
KEY TERMS: brand, integrated advertising, package, continuity, coherency, promotion, audience, USP, mission statement, call to action, reject the text, star image
Remember the brief?
“A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music video (major task), together with a social media page for the band and a digipak for the album’s release (minor tasks).”
It is important to note from the beginning that you are not making a digipack and social media page to advertise your music video! You are launching a new album, which contains that song, but which also contains a number of other tracks.
So before you start planning the print and web elements of this promotional package. You need to be clear about the mission statement for the whole campaign. You must think more holistically about the album, the band (star image) and the brand and create an integrated advertising campaign…
Your Marketing Strategy & Mission Statement
Complete a Google presentation to complete as A GROUP using slides to address the questions below:
Remember to lay it out well with bullet points – less is more sometimes.
How do you want the audience to engage with your star / album?
Think Blumler & Katz (Uses and Gratification – entertainment, information, personal identity and social interaction).
How will they be persuaded to invest time and money in your star / album?
Who are the competition?
Name three similar bands / artists.
What are the trends in album designs of similar stars / bands?
What do their social media pages look like?
Your USP (Unique Selling Point)
Is your star already established or are trying to establish a new presence in the market?
What is your star image & how are you trying to innovate / develop that image?
Are you mixing up elements of different genres?
Are you trying to re-brand your star?
Are you emphasising the ordinary or extraordinary?
Remember according to Dyer, ‘meta-narratives’ include both .
Your Mission Statement.
In 50 words or fewer write an agreed mission statement that includes the central idea that will unify your brand.
This will include ideas represented in your music video, but must also bring in a wider range of ideas that you will develop as you make a Moodboard.
TASK.
As a group, create a Google slide (example) that addresses the various aspects and complete brief notes in response to the questions.
Then, complete the mission statement in production groups and copy it into your blog.
This blog post is essential for when you come to complete Creative Critical Reflection and have to address the following question:
‘HOW do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?’
TWO EXAMPLE MISSION STATEMENT:
One
“Sunnies puts the vibe into indie rock. Influenced by the best of Poland’s underground punk scene and the top tenners of UK Brit Pop, the Sunnies aim to go ‘where no man has gone before’. Combining a musical landscape of hard rock rifs, abrasive punk lyrics and indiistic themes, the band will satisfy the hardest of new wave critics. The new album, DON’T RAIN ON MY WELLIES, is destined for a Grammy – making it number 3 on their mantelpiece of success.”
Two
“Skye is this decade’s rising moon. Mixing indie folk and Appalachian A Capella, Skye’s haunting acoustic tones and her quirky and experimental performance style, combines the best of festival fantasy, giving her fans a visual and auditory kaleidoscope. The new album, SKYE HIGH, features the hit song, ‘SIGH NO MORE’ and will tease the socks off the best of British female artists including Kate Bush and Florence and the Machine.”
