Conclusion

I have created an online Prezi to display my feedback to my audiences' views and to my pieces overall. The link is below:

http://prezi.com/6wpu2c_mi_zt/present/?auth_key=jg9f5ul&follow=2xcu2fhwzor-

Evaluation question four: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

As I wanted to keep my blog quite media rich, I decided to use various technologies to present my ideas and evaluation stages. For example, when creating my print tasks, I used Adobe Photoshop which is quite a recent technology which allows great photo editing quite easily and creates professional looking pieces. When taking photographs and recording my video, I used a Cannon 600D DSLR camera which enabled great quality images and video footage. This is much more advanced technology than in the past as they are much more visually pleasing. When editing my music video, I used the program Adobe Premier Pro which enabled me to use a range of effects o make separate recorded clips a flowing music video which looked very professional when previewed.

When displaying research and evaluation stages, I used the website http://animoto.com/ to create a slide show to music which displayed some images and some text. This meant that I could create a mini website for my developments and it was more technological than a stadard PowerPoint. A further website which I used during developments was http://prezi.com/ as this enabled me to create an online presentation in the theme of a mind map which shares ideas. These looked successful and added a professional touch to my research and developments.

In terms of displaying videos, I created my own Youtube channel which enabled me to upload my music video and audience feedback recordings onto my own Youtube website. This then meant that the videos were easily accessed and also added the use of a new technology.

Evaluation question three continued...

After gathering some audience feedback from my target audience about my music video, I have learnt that my clips and use of natural settings relate well to my music genre and the song itself. In addition, everyone seems to like the use of character and how she shows natural beauty as opposed to being made up and dressing inappropriately as this does not fit the indie music genre. On the other hand, they seemed a little confused by the change between black and white and colour as they didn't know what the effect of this was supposed to be.

Overall, I feel the feedback I have recieved is in quite a bit of detail which helps me, however, I feel I could have gathered more.

Evaluation question three: What have you learnt from audience feedback?

I have interviewed a female aged 18 who I felt would give me some extreme in depth detailed feedback on my music video. I have asked her questions about the music video which I felt would help me most. I chose this girl as she fits into my target audience as she loves to listen to indie music genres and is very natural herself. I also felt that she could relate to the emotions well. I have posted this interview on my Youtube channel and posted the link below:

http://youtu.be/1syOoSdd97w

After I had posted my music video on youtube, I had recieved some feedback on my video and I have print screened the comments below:

These comments were given before I recorded the main audience feedback interview. I did not really feel that this audience feedback helped me as there were too few comments, however one of them was quite detailed. I felt it would be more appropriate to record feedback with set questions which would recieve more detailed answers.

In addition, I have attempted to gather some audience feedback via a questionnaire, however, I have only gathered four in depth answer sheets as many were not helpful at all as they only gave short or one word answers which I did not learn from. These questionnaires have been print screened below:

Evaluation question two: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The second evaluation question is to explain how effective the combination of my main product and ancillary texts are.

The online Prezi which I have created answers this evaluation question. The link is posted below:

http://prezi.com/uhu0jpdzuc8x/present/?auth_key=iyzvqx5&follow=2xcu2fhwzor-

Evaluation question one continued...

I have created an online prezi to present my ideas of how I felt I have constructed different elements to my video in relation to my most inspirational texts.

http://prezi.com/mnadmtdmoe4s/present/?auth_key=k3f6uqv&follow=2xcu2fhwzor

I have also filmed myself talking about how my video has constructed narrative elements, as well as including theory too. I have posted the video on my Youtube channel and the link is below:

 http://youtu.be/uaTgz-yy5As

In relation to my print tasks, I took Adele's 21 album cover and Ellie Gouldings Lights cover as my inspirational texts as these were professional covers. I loved the way in which the characters were percieved to be extremely natural and the colour schemes used were also natural. My main aim when designing my print tasks was to relate them to nature. I did not want any false elements to the cover or advertisement as I felt a natural theme had to be followed throughout. This short animoto presentation compares my CD cover to that of a professionals.

http://animoto.com/play/mP1nREb7S2l9AbspaXFtyQ

Evaluation question one: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Above is a print screen of 9 frames of my music video. This idea was inspired by the work on the website www.artofthetitle.com. I have selected these frames as they are the most influencial parts of the video. In terms of the storyline within the music video, I wanted to create a video which didn't show a storyline, it mainly acted out emotion which signified a broken relationship in order to let the audience draw their own conclusions as to what happened with the relationship. The lyrics to the song 'Skinny Love' also tell a story of how the relationship was broken. Within editing on Adobe Premier Pro, I used the black and white effect odd times within the video in order to try and create a contrast between what the character is doing in reality, and her thoughts within certain moments.

My first frame is how the music video initially starts. This frame introduces my main and only character. Within this frame the character is walking up a set of stairs within the Holy Trinity Church. The audience are instantly intregued because the footsteps are in time with the music which instantly captures emotion and the soft flowing lyrical music. I decided to use a medium close up for this frame so that the middle of the body and hands were on show as opposed to the head and feet. I wanted the music video to rarely (if at all) show the characters face as I wanted the video to be based purely upon touch and senses in order to capture emotion. In terms of editing, I used effects on Adobe Premier Pro to make this frame black and white. I wanted to keep having a contrast of black and white and colour to separate the difference between thoughts and reality.

Frame two shows the character walking up the middle of the church, just how a bride would on her wedding day. She is also dragging a silk like material behind her which is giving the effect of a brides veil. This shot then pans up to eye level as the character walks up the floor and turns into a long shot. This gives the idea that the camera is showing each footstep she takes and also creates the impression that she is taking singular steps to overcoming her broken relationship.

This third frame was purely to show a technique which I have frequently used on Adobe Premier Pro. This fading out technique helped me a lot throughout making my video because this enabled me to create a very flowing video which matched the musicality of the song. This effect also made my video look more professional.

The medium close up shot of my character in black and white in frame four was videoed hoping to create emotion. Her hands made a love heart which signifies the main meaning of the video and also relates to the design of the hearts on my print tasks. I also used slow motion techniques within this part of the video in order to slow the hand movements down and create more emotion.

Frame five is the only time in the video in which we see a part of the characters face. I wanted this to happen deliberately to give the effect that she is now looking back on all of the events which have happened in the past and she is now closing the door and locking these thoughts out of her mind.

In the sixth frame, we have a similar effect to frame two whereby the silk material is recreating a typical brides veil. In this part of the video, she pulls it from her head and drops it to the ground, however, I have used slow motion techniques again in order to create more of a flowing technique which fits more with the music. The camera also follows the material down to the floor which indicates how the relationship has just fell to the ground.

The seventh frame shows the change of setting within the music video, when we change from the Holy Trinity Chirch to Seaham beach. I start this setting off by filming the waves coming into shore. The sky also reflects in the sand to add some subtle colour within the frame. This shot is quite a close up shot. Also within this setting, I added some background sound effects of waves which added further effect to the shots.

The eighth frame shows the footsteps that the character has taken in the sand along the shoreline. The footsteps then all get washed away by a wave and then the video then fades to black which is the last frame on this print screen.

Evaluation

Now I have completed all of my coursework pieces, I now need to evaluate my work. I am extremely pleased with the outcome of my work and the final outcome is exactly how I had envisaged it in my head.

My music video

Now I have finished my music video, I have uploaded it onto youtube. Below is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcCvu_wFXs4&safe=active


I am extremely pleased with the outcome of my music video. I am pleased with myself because I feel the video looks quite professional considering I have never used the program Premier Pro 5.5 before. I used various techniques to produce an effective video. Some of the techniques I used were changing some clips to black and white, slowing down the motion of some clips, adding sound effects of sea, and adding blackouts and smooth transitions. Overall, all of these techniques come together to create a smooth running video which flows well and matches the song exactly. I love the way in which the model creates emotion by walking half heartedly dragging her arm behind. This fits with the music well and matches the narrative of being broken hearted. The mix of colour and black and white enables a contrast between the clips and consistantly grabs the audiences attention because there is a consistent change of motion or background etc.

My lecturer suggested to me when my video was almost complete that it would sound good if I added a sound effect of waves to the part of the video which is set at the beach, I listened to my lecturer and researched free wave sound effects. Once I had found one I cut the clip in certain waves so that the sound matched the waves. I then changed the volume of the clip so that it was subtle and not over powering. I love this effect and it just adds that little bit more effect to the end of the video.

Overall I am very impressed with the outcome of my video.

Developments on Adobe Premier Pro

 To the left is a print screen of one of the main tools I used within Premier Pro at the beginning of my editing process. The razor tool which is highlighted in the dark grey colour enabled me to cut some of the clips which had some unwanted footage in them. For example, some clips had some unsteady camera handling so I cut these parts out and then slid them along the bar so they played one after another.








This print screen shows the effects that are available to use within the program. I used 'video effects' to make some footage black and white, but the main effect I used which I found most helpful was the 'cross dissolve' tool as this ensured a smooth transition from clip to clip so that the video flowed better with the music.

To the left shows the tide sound effects implemented into the project. I then put the sound effect into another audio tab at the bottom of the screen so that it played along with the Skinny Love song.

Sound effects websites

As my lecturer suggested it may by good to add a subtle sound effect of waves to accompany the beach scenes, I decided to look for free wave sound effects. Here is the link for the effects I have explored:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=free+wave+sound+effects&meta=&aq=f&oq=&safe=active&surl=1

Youtube videos I have visited

During my developmental stage when creating my music video, I had never used the program Premier Pro before. In order to learn some techniques, I researched some Youtube videos to help me. The ones I used are listed below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vje-Fq2ZjNY&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eku4Jic3bWk&safe=active

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8HrWSsX9yg&safe=active

After visiting these websites I also felt I needed to learn myself some of the techniques, so I decided to fiddle and find out how to use some techniques by myself!

My research into Premier Pro 5.5

As I am using a program which I have never used before, I found this website very helpful to show me techniques to use:

http://layersmagazine.com/category/premiere-pro

Recordings I have taken

After a successful day of shooting, I have recorded some very successful footage to go towards my music video. The clips were taken at the arranged locations of the Holy Trinity Church and Seaham beach. I am extremely pleased with how these clips have turned out.

Written request for use of music

As I will be using the song "Skinny Love" by Birdy within my music video, I have constructed an email to send to ask for consent to use the song. A print screen of the email is shown below:

Possible problems I may come across

When trying to record my music video, I may come across some problems along the way which may delay recording. For example, my model may not be available to record on the days I am available which may delay recording until we find a specific day that we are both free and the church is available. In addition, the weather I want may not be the same on the day I record because I would like the sun to shine through the large windows and stained glass to create a good effect, however, as time passes, I just need to find a day when me and my model are free and weather on this day will have to be sufficient.

In order to solve these problems, I will sit down with my model to organise a specific date and time to record the video and put it in our diaries so that everyone is aware of the time. In terms of weather, I may just record the model so that her back is always to the camera and her face is never shown in order to represent a silhouette look if weather is not appropriate on the day of recording.

Time management

Due to very high work loads, I feel I am falling behind with my media coursework and so my blog is not very up to date. I intend to work hard and focus on this coursework in order to get ahead again and back on schedule.

Resources needed

In order to create a successful music video I will need the following resources to create the recordings:

• Professional camera (Cannon 600D)- I will use this camera as a family member has this camera which I can borrow. The camera has a recording function which is very high quality and will help to gain good quality video recordings.
• Flowing delicate dress for model- I hope to find a delicate and natural looking dress for my model to wear which will flow nicely with arm movements etc within the video.
• Piece of silk/flowing fabric- I would like a piece of material for the model to drag behind her to try and represent a bride veil which will help to imply a broken relationship.

Consent

I have received consent from my model to participate in my music video and this is shown on the scanned image below:

I rang the Holy Trinity Church and also visited to ask very kindly for permission to film in the church and they said that I was very welcome to use their facilities.

Character profile

My best friend is the ideal model for my music video, I hope to gain her consent to participate in the video.

Name: Kate Ayre

Age: 17

Interests: Art, Graphics

Height: 5"10

About: Long brunette hair, green/brown eyes, very slim, fashionable

Work: full time education



Kate is a very tall and skinny individual which fits with the whole idea of 'Skinny Love'. In addition, she is very naturally pretty which adds to the realistic look and many teenage girls can relate to her as a similar person rather than a person who they can look up to but will never be. I wanted to create a very natural theme throughout the song and Kate relates well to this theme well.

Flat plan...

For my music video, I have drawn a flat plan for the ideas that I want to happen throughout my video. The scanned images below show what I want to happen.

At the beginning of the video, I would like a medium close up shot following the model up some stairs in the Holy Trinity Church in Hendon. I would like her to drag her hand up the banister to give a sense of touch.

Next I would like her to walk around a large pillar separating pews. I feel that if she walked around the pillar carrying her hand behind, this would give a good effect.

After this, I would like her to walk around the circular space next to the grande stained glass windows as I feel this adds a contrast of colour. Also, it adds a different shape to the video rather than walking in straight lines like at the beginning of the video.

I would like the model to carry a piece of material which follows behind her as I feel this would represent a brides veil which again signifies the broken relationship. In this shot of her walking up the middle of the church, I would like a close up of her shoes which then pans upwards to release more of the surroundings.

Next I want to create emotion within the video so I would like her to sit on a pew and lean into her hands to give the idea of crying and sad emotions. This will represent thoughts felt by the model within the video.

In order to add a contrast, I would like the next part of the video to be shot at Seaham Beach near the peer. I would like a close up of the waves coming into shore and showing different directions of the waves.

To set this scene further, I would like a pan from right to left of the model walking along the beach. This will then show the wind in her hair and signify that she is trying to relieve her emotions with fresh air.

I would then like a close up of a footprint in the sand which then gets washed away by the sea to imply that her boyfriend has been washed out of her life.

Towards the end of the video I would like a long shot of the model sitting looking out to sea as though she is thinking about all that has happened and reviewing her past.

Lastly, I would like the model to walk along the shoreline showing her footprints in the sand and then her footprints to be washed away by a wave and then gently fade to black.

Holy Trinity Church

http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Ourchurches/Completelistofchurches/Holy-Trinity-Church-Sunderland-Tyne-Wear/

The website above is about the church and shows some images of it.

My research into the church:

Holy Trinity Church is one of Sunderland’s oldest and most significant buildings. Modern-day Sunderland began as a small parish carved out of Bishopwearmouth to serve the soaring population of the East End. Built in 1719, the church would have seemed strikingly modern in its day. It was designed in a Baroque style that was radically different from Sunderland’s earlier churches, which were Saxon and medieval in origin. Even the brick construction was novel in an era when most ecclesiastical buildings were of stone. Holy Trinity was an emphatically modern church for the new township of Sunderland.

Attributed to William Etty of York (c.1675-1734), the church is a compact, symmetrical edifice. A tower rises at the end of the nave, but does not disrupt the simple, rectangular floor plan. The whole is executed in warm red brick made of clay dug from the Town Moor. Dressings of sandstone impart a sense of dignity and align the church with the Baroque style of architecture. Tuscan pilasters are clasped to the façade and the large central door is set within a heavily rusticated arch. The tower is a square structure that originally terminated with a cupola, but now only the four pinnacles at the corners remain. Rusticated dressings strengthen the tower itself. The original short chancel still projects at the rear, but a circular apse was added in 1735.

http://www.sunderlandheritage.org.uk/buildings.php?id=18

Church location

Ideally, I want a church location to film inside of for the video. However, when visiting churches in my local area, most of them will not allow videoing within the church. However, the Holy Trinity Church at Hendon said they would happily allow me to use their church to film in. 

The image of google maps shows the places of the churches I have visited to view and ask permission:

Chosen beach location

I have decided that the most appropriate beach to film my music video will be Seaham beach. This beach looks traditional and has some enclosed places where my character could sit and look out to sea. This location will be a great contrast with a church location and will add a more natural theme as the wind will connotate the character washing away the thoughts of her ex by walking along the beach.

Beach ideas...

As I want to create a good background setting for the video, I have decided to research different beaches which I could possibly use for the video.

Firstly, I think Seaham beach would be quite a good location because although it is quite a large open space, there are some parts such as next to the pier where the setting would be quite appropriate because it is more enclosed. The image below shows the location I was thinking about. This location is where I took some of my photographs earlier before my print tasks.

Seaburn beach is quite a nice location which may be a good background as the sea is quite calm and reflections on the sand may look quite good in an open environment. However, I was wanting an enclosed area so that the video piece would have a more detailed background. The image below shows Seaburn beach and its qualities.

A further possible location would be Crimdon Dene beach. This beach is quite open however there are some parts of the beach that are enclosed which would add further effect to the music video. The image below shows the beach, however, I still feel that Seaham beach would be more appropriate.

Location ideas after print tasks

I have thought further about location ideas after creating my print tasks. I still like the idea of using a beach but I think a contrasting location to use as well as the beach would look quite good.

I have created a prezi to show my ideas...

http://prezi.com/arf-bpmpsz58/present/?auth_key=ae6bno5&follow=2xcu2fhwzor-

Reflection on music video inspirational texts...

As I am about to start my music video, I have decided to reflect on my inspirational texts which are visible in earlier posts on my blog.
When accessing youtube clips, the Skinny Love music video by Birdy appealed to me, as well as the Ellie Goulding Your Song music video. I like how these videos were focused on one person and relied heavily on the meaning of Love and broken hearts. I also value the black and white colour schemes used on the videos with contrasts of coloured clips too.
I aim to create a music video which is focused on one individual (preferably a very slim female teenager) as well as focusing mainly on the senses like touch. These elegant senses and emotions will relate well to the subtle broken hearted theme which is evident throughout the song of Skinny Love.

Log so far...

Now that I have completed all of my print tasks, my task is now to create my music video.

Audience feedback

After completing my print tasks, I recieved some feedback from my lecturer asking me to alter some things. He suggested I take out some of the text on my magazine advertisement and make sure all of the font types are the same rather than using different ones as they might confuse the audience. I will ammend these feedback points.

Below are some images of audience feedback gained from people in my class who are girls aged 17-18 which fit into my target audience group. I have scanned their feedback and attached them below:

What my album would look like on websites...

I have used the ASDA website to display my album cover to show what it would look like if displayed on an actual website.

My Final Print tasks

The link below is a animoto presentation displaying all of my final print tasks:

http://animoto.com/play/3jmagcaqfiGL0LoWxwIPaw

Log so far...

Although I have created a CD cover and magazine advertisement, I feel it is necessary to create a simplistic inside design for my album. I intend to create a CD design and a simple design to present the CD on.

Final Magazine Advertisement

This is my finished magazine advertisement after many developments. I really like the natural theme and the subtle colour scheme used. I also love the simplistic design and think the advert compliments the CD cover well.

Magazine advert text

As I wanted to make the layout for the CD recognisable, I used the same 'Skinny Love Birdy' text as my CD cover. This would make the advertisement more recognisable to the reader and easy to associate with the album in stores.

As further information for the advertisement, I decided to add further text using the same font type as the 'Skinny Love' heading. This information would be simplistic yet stand out to readers. I wanted the advertisement to be very simplistic so that the advert was focused mainly on the album.


http://prezi.com/dhpmlw2873d4/present/?auth_key=tgpjsis&follow=2xcu2fhwzor-

Above is a link to a prezi which I have created showing images of the text which appears on my magazine advertisement.

Heart shape

In order to enhance the effect of the magazine advertisement, I have decided to create a heart shape similar to the one on the back of my CD cover. I felt this would add a subtle look to the background and would compliment the background well.

I used a white brush tool with a certain effect which gave the brush a 3D look. However, I changed the opacity levels so that the heart blended into the background.

More colour options

As I felt it was necessary to experiment with different colours, I decided to vary the colours using colours related to the CD cover.

The print screen above shows another possible coloured background which I could use for the magazine advertisement. Although I like this colour, I think this colour would be too dark and wouldn't be suitable as it would not follow the naturalistic theme.

Many magazine advertisements use black backgrounds so that text and images stand out. However, I feel this colour is too harsh and wouldn't relate to my theme. The colour black gives off negative connotations too. 

This lilac colour relates well to the CD cover and I feel this colour compliments the natural theme too. However, I still feel the blue colour will work better.

Start process of my magazine advert

I decided to start by creating a background base for the text and images to stand out on. I wanted to create a background which related to the colour scheme of the CD cover so that the magazine advertisement accompanied the CD cover well. I really like this blue background as the colour is not too bold to lose the effect of the CD cover image, as well as the text.

Magazine advert inspirational texts

I have researched some magazine adverts which advertise CD's in order to gain some further ideas for layout ideas for my magazine advert. Although some of these texts do not follow the same genre as mine, I like the designs of them and I could be inspired by them.

The above image is an advert for Gwen Stefani's album. I really like the design of this advert, I like how it is more focused on images as opposed to text. The text used is minimalistic, yet stands out and serves its purpose. I will strongly consider this design when creating my magazine advertisement. Furthermore, I like how all of the colours use compliment each other and how the text colour matches the colours in the main image.  

I quite like the simplistic approach used on this advert. I also like how it mainly focuses on two colours and uses a plain and simple design. I would like to create a simplistic advert as I feel these have more effect. In contrast, I don't like how there is quite a lot of text on the advert and there are too many things to focus on. 

This inspirational text is my favourite. I love how it is focused on one main image with very minimal text. The image gives off many possible meanings such as the marks on the guitar suggesting it is old which then relates to the name of the album 'A long time ago'. I like the use of monochrome and pastel shades of colour as these give off a natural approach.

My magazine advert ideas

As the coursework project states, I needed to create a magazine advert awell as the CD cover. As I wanted to create flowing themes throughout the print pieces and create recognisable themes for the CD, I felt it was necessary to use the same heading text and font types as used on my CD cover. I also wanted to use a similar colour scheme and include a heart shape similar to the one used on the back panel of the CD cover. In addition, I felt it is necessary to include an image of the front panel of the CD cover, so that if viewers see the magazine advertisement, they can recognise the CD cover in stores.

My final CD cover design

The print screen below shows my CD cover design as a whole. I feel it looks very professional and represents the theme of love well. The design also represents a natural approach, which relates to the song 'Skinny Love'. I love the colour scheme and the effects used which enhance the overall look. I am very pleased with the design.

Inside of CD cover

I have made a few animoto presentations to show the making of the inside of my CD cover:

http://animoto.com/play/T1QE31B8avl68sQR0Fk0gg

http://animoto.com/play/f4gYnuFhtqyILCoKkeARQQ

The middle panel of the CD cover

My quick last process of the CD cover was to create a middle panel for the CD. I felt it was essential for this to be extremely simplistic. In order to create this, I intended to use a block colour with minimul amount of text.

When creating it, I used a dark grey colour to compliment the colour scheme and added the name of the CD, as well as a number (as this was common on my inspirational research texts) and the production company initials. This design created a bold effect and serves its purpose well and also makes the cover look more professional. I am happy with the design.

My Final Back panel design

After considering many ideas for the back panel, this is my final design (below). I think it works well and compliments the front panel well. It also continues with the theme of love by the use of the subtle heart shape. The colour scheme works well and accompanies the colour scheme used throughout the CD cover. In order to create the heart effect for the background I used an embossed paint brush tool to draw the heart free hand. I then duplicated the layer and changed the colour to white. I then used a grey overlay on the background and varied the opacity to create a complimentative monochrome design. I made sure that the text stood out on top of the background by using text effects such as a drop shadow. These effects also gave a 3D effect which accompanied the cover well. To add further effect, I duplicated the name of the CD cover and placed it on the back panel, again, to give a flowing technique. As I didn't want the 'Skinny Love' heading to distract the eye from the song names etc, I adjusted the size and made it smaller and placed it in the top left hand corner. In order to make the CD cover look realistic and professional, I tried to add some product information including producers etc. Overall, I love the overall back panel design and it accompanies the theme well.

Trying back panel ideas on Photoshop

As I did not want to just create one final back panel with no developments, I decided to try out many different ideas in order to make a decision of which design worked best and complimented the front panel well. This would make sure that I was definately choosing the best idea for the CD cover.

The above print screen is a possible background design for my back panel. Although I like the sky image, I feel it would look too much once text and other features have been applied. However, I would like to use colours related to those in the sky above.

Above is another example of how I could design my background. This simplistic theme may work well on the CD cover, however, I feel this may look a bit too plain and may need a subtle pattern to take away from the bare look. 

In order to add some detail to a plain coloured background, I decide to experiment with the brush tool to create some hand drawn hearts. I varied the types of brush to create different effects. However, I think the plain brush tool with a slight smudge around the edges looks the best as I think the grass effect brush tool looks too much. I will definitely consider using the heart shape on the back panel.

What else should I include on my back panel?

After considering background ideas, I thought about what other factors I could include on the back panel. I considered using:

• Text to show the song names and to show the producers and price etc
• The name of the CD using the same text as the front panel

Back Panel Ideas

When thinking of how to design my back panel, many ideas ran through my head. Some of these were:

• Shall I use an image of sky as the background to relate to the front panel? However, I did think this would be a little over the top and would take away from my front panel.
• Shall I use a plain colour related to the colour scheme? I felt this may be more appropriate as a plain colour related to the colour scheme would follow with the theme smoothly, but would also create a good base for the text to go on. On the other hand, a totally plain background may look too boring and unprofessional, yet would continue with the natural theme.
• Shall I create a subtle pattern to accompany the plain background? This may look quite good as the text would not be masked by too much detailing but would not look too plain.

Front panel of CD cover

After shortening the line on the word 'birdy', I feel the overall look of the front panel is quite professional looking. The look of the cover continues with the natural theme and appeals to the target audience. When I shortened the extended line of 'birdy' I changed the colour to light blue and added some drop shadowing effects to make it stand out more. I love the wqay in which the heart in the sand connotates the theme of love. Below is a print screen of the design. I now intend to create a back panel for the CD cover using related colours to the front panel.

Implementing text onto my chosen image

The print screen above shows my chosen image with the text in which I liked the best. I really like this natural theme which is created on the cover space. I feel it matches the song meaning of love. However, I feel the extended line on the word 'birdy' is too long and ruins the effect of the heart in the sand as it covers it. I will use the select tool and press delete in order to shorten the line so that it does not cover the heart.

Implementing text into Photoshop

As I wanted to have as many developments as possible whilst working to my deadline, I decided to experiment with different words and fonts. This font is a simplistic font which continues with the theme of straight lines. I also added a drop shadow and a highlight effect. In order to make the text stand out even more, I copied and pasted the text and placed it behind at a slightly off angle and changed it to a low opacity. This then highlighted the shadow more. Although I like this font, I feel this name for the CD is inappropriate. 

                                     

The text above is another experiment of possible text for my CD cover, however, I feel it looks a bit too harsh because of the font type and the drop and inner shadow edits. I feel this name may be a bit too obvious and I think I would rather have a name which suggests heartbreak as opposed to just saying it. 

I really like this font type because of the simplistic look. I used lower case to add more effect to the lines and continue with the natural theme. In order to create the extended lines, I used the scale tool. This enabled me to lengthen the lines as much as I wanted to create more effect. Although I really like the plain grey background, I think that an image would look better behind the text. 

Blog Progress

Whilst I was working on my coursework, I ended up falling behind with my blog work because I was concentrating too much on my print work. Although this happened, I am now working hard to get my blog up to date with all of the processes I made throughout the print work task. Although my blog work fell behind, I was still working well to the deadlines which I created for myself on my calendar of December.

CD Name Ideas

As I want to add text to my CD cover, I felt it would be essential to think of some name ideas. Here is a list of name ideas which I thought would relate to my CD cover and type of music:

• Heartbeat
• Who Will Love You
• Stop and Stare
• Skinny Love
• Low
• Heart throb
• Love
• Broken
• Broken Hearted
• Look Back
• Down

These possible names relate to theme of a broken heart and a bad love life. I particularly like the name 'Skinny Love' as this is the name of the song in which I will use on my music video, however, it also represents the feeling of a broken heart or low times. 

Image Edits

In order to develop my image, I have varied the use of different edits on Photoshop in order to enhance the look of the image.

This first edit looks quite effective. I like the varied shades of grey and white in the image. I also like the way in which the heart is a very dark colour and stands out on the lighter sand. In order to create this effect, I used many of the adjustments such as Exposure, Brightness and Contrast, Vibrance, Colour balance and Channel Mixer. Although I like this effect, I feel it may be too harsh looking for the soft and fragile emotions created in the music.

The image to the right is an addition to the edit above. I have tried to add some colour into the heart shape to try and add some vibrancy to the image. However, I feel this effect takes the eye away from the original image and more towards the colour. To create this I used the paint brush tool to add the colour, as well as the colour picker tool to select a subtle colour. The colour seems to make the image quite child-like and this was not the effect I was trying to create. Although, at this stage I was just experimenting.




To the left is another edit of the photograph. These effects add a cartoon look to the image which is quite eye catching because the eye is drawn to the heart shape. In order to create this effect, I used the Threshold, Black an White, Colour Balance and Brightness and Contrast photo effects in Photoshop. However, I would like the text to be black and white which would then be disguised within the image and I did not want this to happen.








As I decided that too much editing led to the images not looking as good and taking away from the original photograph, I decided to just add a colour overlay of a light blue to add some more highlighted areas. Although I have done this, the image still looks natural and relates to my theme. I think that this image edit would work well on the front panel of my CD cover.

Chosen Photograph for front panel

As I would like to create quite a simplistic and natural looking CD cover, I have decided to use this photograph from my photo shoot that I took at an earlier date.

I like the use of horizontal line in this image and I feel it would look good if I was to continue the theme of lines throughout the text. I also really like the light shining on the wet sand which looks quite good. In addition, the photo looks quite dream like, which again, relates to what I was trying to create.

I think this photograph relates well to the theme in which I was wanting to create of being natural. As I want to use this photograph in my print task, I feel I wouldn't have to add much text as the photograph in itself stands out in its own way. This image on the front of a CD cover will really symbolise the genre of music and the theme of strong loving feelings which is created through the lyrics of Skinny Love.