My opinion...

I am very impressed with the outcome of each of my products, through my research and planning in ordrer to include everything i feel needed to make my video a success, i think i have achieved this. However, i do feel there are a couple of things that i would of liked to change about my products. For example, i feel that the storyline to our video although interesting and fun, may appear too confusing for some viewers. If i had the chance to change anything about my video i would change it to make the storyline easier and more step by step in order to ensure the audience understand. After showing my final video to some friends, they agreed that the storyline of the video can seem quite confusing as they were watching it, and it you didn't already know the storyline, understanding it may be a bit tricky.
I would also change some of the footage we filmed, in order to make our video more precise with the beat and cut of the video matching, creating a more professional look. We however, tried our best in order to do this as much as we could throughout the video, this so the audience do not get too bored, and there is not a long clip of film that hasn't been edited.
I think that the song choice we decided on was excellent, the song itself is very popular included the artist Katy Perry, making the video easier to film, as it is so well known and liked. The feedback we have recieved from the target audience, from our questionnairres also was quite positive, however the tips they had mentioned to improve our video we took on boared and tried to include.
Apart from the few i have mentioned, I wouldn't change anything else about our video, i am pleased with the outcome and feel it is a good piece of work, of which i am proud of.

The magazine advertisement and Cd digi pack i am pleased with also, if i was to change anything about these two products, i would simply make the audience become more aware that the products are related. The magazine advertisement i am pleased with, it is packed with information about the product, and it is bold bright and creative, these will sell to the audience. The Cd cover i think is effective, the abstract front cover being different from many others i've seen, again attracting the audience to the product and making them aware of it. If i was to change anything about the cd it would be to include more photographs; i feel this is important to interest our target audience, being a similar if not the same age group as us, thats what i personally am interested in a cd cover. All in all we were aiming to be quite different with out product and attract an audience in our own way rather than copying what we know already sells.
Overall, i am impressed with our work and what we have created from our earlier research, planning and equipment; i feel the music video, cd digi pack and magazine advert all work hand in hand and do a great job attracting to our potential audience.

Our finished music video...

Posted here is our final and finished music video to Katy Perry's 'Waking up in Vegas'. We created the video as best as we could following the guidelines we set our self, such as including mise en scene, considering the audiences feedback, questionnaires and results.
The storyline of the video simply revolves around the two main characters, played by Ricole and Rosco. On a trip to Vegas they discover there winnings from a cash point, and become rich, automatically having the time of their life in Vegas, however, they soon lose it. we have tried to show this within the video, through using different techniques and effects with the video; for example when they win it, money pours out of a cash machine, and when they lose it, we have reversed this clip illustrating their loss of money.
The video begins with a pan shot of the cash machine, immediately attracting the viewer and giving them a clue as to what the video would revolve around. Then a close up of the artists face, again in order to quickly attract the audience. We made Ricole mime, as from looking and examining recent videos most artists mime to the song throughout, giving the audience a performance.
The shot changes as the beat changes to a medium shot of her in the bed looking left and right; not only does this match the beat it also becomes aware to the viewer that she has just realised where she is, confused and hungover, this represents what happened the night before.
As the lyrics say 'we need a taxi', we added a flash, as this represents a flashback of the night before. We now see the couple arguing, we did this in order to give an example of a typical couple, on a night out after a few drinks. This we believe relating to our target audience, teenagers.
The shot again changes to Ricole miming, then again relating to the lyrics ' spare me your freaking dirty looks' showing her rudely basing past two members of the public. We have done clips a number of times where they relate to the lyrics to make it seem more interesting and give the song a general meaning.
The clip changes again this time showing the cash machine and money pouring out of it, this is when they win. A number of different shots follow, matching the beat, showing different clips of money and representing their winnings. The fact Ricole throws the money on the bed, and is shown burning it emphasises the amount of money they have won, expressing it's loss of importance now as there is more than enough of it. We also showed clips of playing cards, simply in order to relate to the theme of Vegas, and a casino.
The chorus arrives, and we have reversed the shot of the boys in order to add a sense of fun to the shot. There are a number of clips following this, all by the fountain. We chose this as our location as it is different, a busy scene, and not many videos have included it. We also thought that it would be amusing to have this, showing the four of them drunk, and celebrating their winnings on a night out. We added a number of shots here, as we were aiming to get as many different angles in as we could, keeping the audience interested and wondering what is coming next. We ended the chorus with a photograph being taken of the four of them, the flash represents the flash back to the next morning, we are now where we started, in the hotel room.
This next part of the song relates to the lyrics, again she is miming, wondering why she is wearing ' your class ring' again refering to the fact that they are unaware of what happened the night before. This continues, however again flashes back to the night before, keeping the storyline.
We now see the couple as he has just proposed to her, however they are very happy; this explains why she was confused in the morning, slowly unravelling the storyline. Following the lyrics again, this clip then revolves into the next chorus. It is at the same location of the fountain. We thought it would be a good idea if they were trying to take a photograph, we then used this later and added the triple to the beat of the flash, coin, and it dropping into the fountain; this is were it all begins to go wrong. Immediately after the coin was dropped into the fountain, we decided to add a sense of humour to the video and we see Ricole getting her foot stuck in the drain, a slapstick way of portraying the storyline.
After seeing them argue the song begins to slow down, and the beat stops; we then slowed down the pace of the video in order to match this effect, making Ricole sing close up, in slow motion. The transition used from the upbeat and lively music to the now slow and staedy music is effective, then showing a medium shot of the couple, in her attempt to 'make up'.
After the word 'me' we have included a number of very short shots, from earlier in the video when the couple were happy, laughing and having a good time. This i believe adding something interesting and effective to the storyline, showing the transaction between before and now in the present. By doing this we were able to also make the clip much more active, as the slow singing lasts for roughly 20 seconds, which in a music video is a very long time to have just one shot.
As the beat drops again, we continue to see the couple arguing, again including lively and active shots.
At the beginning of the video, we see money pouring out of a cash machine, representing their winnings resulting in the video turning happy and exciting, here we have done the opposite, again explaining their situation this time from their loss of money, after spending it all! We used the effects on the programme to reverse and slow down the money pouring out of the cash machine; also the playing cards we showed fanning earlier have reversed, emphasising their loss.
A number of quite short shots follow, in order to keep the audience interested and wanting to see what happens, this portraying Ricoles night after leaving her boyfriend.
Towards the end of the song we decided to create a mirrored effect of the couple, showing their frustration and emotions ater the argument they had. We thought this would be a good idea, and something different that not many videos have, impressing the audience and also reflecting the couples emotions thinking the same thing. By doing this we were also able to fit as many different shots and camera angles in, adding variety.
At the end of the video, as the musci slows down, we see the couple accidently bump into eachother. Rosco lifts the camera reflecting the good times they had during the night, and they both smile. This adds a cheesy yet happy and fairytale like effect, supporting the 'happily ever after'.
The couple begin to walk off, showing a clip of the four off them walking away together, happily, reflecting back to the beginning of the video, the effact we were aiming for. The last shot of the video is a close up after a fade out transition, of Ricoles face, in the same location as ealier, in the hotel room. This lastly emphasised the fact that the whole video represented her flashback from the night before. This is effective i feel and a good way to end the video.

Creating the Digi pack

Cd Cover/Album

After we had finished our music video, we were very much focused on completing the cd album cover and the digi pack. It was particularly important that we aimed to create and focus on a synergistic campaign; all relating to one another in a certain way promoting the advertisement clearly and effectively.
Underneath is a preview of our digi pack which we created in order to promote the song and the artist...



Here is our finished digi pack product. We did not want it to be too crowded as we aimed for it to be rather simple, yet effective - allowing the importance of the main two aspects, the song itself and the artist, to be the main product of advertisement, and not to confuse our audience. The back of the cd cover is simply plain white and features the songs included on the album in black font, designed in a cirlce shape. This i believe adds something fun to the page without it being colourful and busy. We have included a barcode and coopywrite details to produce it as a real cd cover, making it as lifelike as possible. The front of the cd cover shows an image of our artists fingers showing the 'peace' sign. We also thought this was a gd idea as it represents the 'V' in Vegas, adding a twaist to the front cover. We didn't originally settle for the front cover to be like this one, and had researched front covers with the artist themselves featured on it, focusing on close ups of the artist, as from what my reesearch has shown, this is what most cd covers look like. However, after thinking about a number of different ways in which we could improve the front cover, we came up with this idea. The background is blurred and has lots of bright lights, also we though was good for emphasising the theme of 'Vegas'. We decided to focus more on a colour scheme of black and orange, looking stylish yet bright and bold. Her fingers on the front cover are an orange cover, and have had effects on them in order to create an interesting and abstract look to the cover, which is certain to grab attention. We decided to have the font in white underneath saying 'Carmen Veronica' the artist and 'Waking up in Vegas' the song name, to attract attention but not take it away from the main cover. The inside of the cover shows a photograph of the artist, we thought this relevant for the audience, again we have kept the white writing in the same font as the other pages, and have included a number of specific details on the page, showing tour dates and the locations. Included is a quite from the song, which we thought would look good and attract attention to the viewer, we had looked at some of the insides of cd covers and most of them included either pictures or the lyrics, we thought we would combine the two of them, this time adding a bit of busy colours going on in the page, as it will be inside the cover. Keeping the same colour scheme of black and orange also, complimenting the white font we are positive the cd cover will attract attention as it is very bold. I am positive that the way in which we have created the three individual pages of the cd cover, mean they compliment eachother and keep the theme of the synergistic campaign.

Magazine advertisement

Above is our final magazine advertisement product, i have shown the stages in which we created this piece of work and made it clear what we did first and how we developed it, improving it further. We began with a plain and simple sheet, with the photograph of Ricole in the centre and her artist name above. Jess and I both agreed that we nliked this photograph the most, i think the pose she is doing by sitting down is different from most posters you see, when the artist is standing. It adds character, and the fact that she is holding a lighter adds a sense of fun and also the impression of an outgoing, crazy and adventurous girl. The fact that she is looking up directly into the camera, gives a seductive look and attracts attention to the poster, through the audience's veiw, she is looking right at them; this being an effective advertising technique. Next we added the front cover of the album, the main aspect fo the poster, and a couple of pugs, which we would fill with information about the product. As the stages develop you will see that we have added more and more information within the pugs on the page; again we needed to stick mostly to the same font as the cd album and also the same colour scheme, this time adding grey into the colour also. We wanted it to be quite matchy, following the same theme as the other products advertising the video, this allowing it to be easier for the audience to undertsand each product comes from the same source. Whilst adding more pugs either side of her, we still aimed to keep Ricole and the product the main aspect of the poster, like many of the other magazine advertisements that i researched earlier (shown on my blog) they all show a famous person advertising the product, which allows the persons target audience to automatically become curious of what the product is. We also included a quote in order to advertise the product further, as we found out many advertising campaigns do so. We tried to make our magazine as full with information about the product as possible, in order to grab attention and catch the audiences eye, persuading them to buy the cd.