Final Digipak

Album Cover



Steph and I had a selection of over 30 photos to choose from for our four slides for the digipak. We used the photo of the band as they were in the video for the front cover for the front cover so that the album is recognisable because of the music video. Because of the size of the picture we had to use photoshop to cut it down the size. By cutting along the two band members on the left and right we were able to move them closer to the middle in order to fit the square shape of the digipak. We looked up fonts on the internet that looked like a gritty suburban grafitti, and used the one the we liked the most, in order to create the idea that the band are intentionally pretending to be from that kind of background. I had the idea of using a space invader as the band symbol, as it goes with the idea that although the band tries to be like other rap artists, they are infact a group of nerds. We took some images off of from the Space Invaders game from Google and inserted them onto the picture again using phtoshop.


Back Cover



Originally we wanted to use the shot of the alien in the ship as the back cover but put the track listing along the horizontal panels of the vents on the back wall, but they were too small and we would be unable to show the alien in the picture as well, so in the end we decided against it but still used the same picture. The track listing was dont in a font we thought was similar to the scoreboards on old arcade games.


Inlay 1



The inlay 1 is used as it is a shot of the band from behind, which we put there as it goes directly behind the front cover which had the front of the band on it.


Inlay 2



The inlay 2 we wanted to use a shot from the video, so we took a screenshot of the ship landing and photoshopped some more images from Space Invaders into it.

Task 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Alex:In order to discuss with a visual aid which digital technologies were used in the making of Intergalactic, Alex and I constructed a commentary script

Steph: For the pre production stage of the pop promo, we continuously used the internet, especially Youtube to research other bands and songs that are similar to our chosen one. The Youtube site enables us to watch, listen and comment of a huge variety of songs which was really helpful. We also used the search engine; Google to research star images and music genre to improve the development of our own ideas of the pop-promo.

Alex: Another example of new media technologies used in the planning of the music video is using a Sony PD170 to film the storyboards. Once filmed we used final cut pro to produce an animatic. During the shoot day we used a Sony NX5s and shot the whole video in high definition giving which gave the video better quality and thus a more professional feel. When in the studio filming the video, a 42 inch Samsung monitor was used whilst the song was being played through a CD player. Steph and I used a blue screen in our pop video as we wanted to put in backgrounds like magazine covers and Simon Cowell to show the aliens rise to fame clearly.

Steph: After filming the music video, the rough cut was transferred onto a Mac G5 where we used final cut pro to edit the music video. The software used for after effects was called After FX, this was used to change the background from the blue screen to the images evident in the music video.

Alex: For the exhibition and distribution of our music video we uploaded it onto Youtube, facebook and Blogger. All of which method are via the internet and so they are new media technologies. Youtube allowed us to reach a mass audience of all ages, cultures and genders which was beneficial as feedback was very broad. On the other hand, facebook only promoted the promo to our friends and therefore to a more confined age group.

Steph: In conclusion, new media technology played a very consistent role in all areas of producing our media product, ultimately making the whole process more efficient and time effective. The most interesting new media technology we used was the after effects, especially as both Alex and I had never used the programme before.

Task 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our video was uploaded onto Youtube so can be viewed by a potential global audience. We received comments like “Well performed - narrative slightly unclear. Great setting and after effects :) GOOD JOB. !”
Because the video was on the Hurtwoodhousemedia channel on Youtube it may not be seen unless the audience goes specifically into this channel. The video was also posted on our blogs but again this is opens us up to a limited audience as people would have to log into Blogger before seeing it.
Steph and I posted the video onto our facebook pages which allowed our friends to see it, which allowed us to gain a more viewers and better feedback, like “Great after effects, good job!”
In one lesson we got twenty people to fill out a form about the video asking them questions after watching it. The questions included 'was the narrative and the alien's rise and fall from fame clear?' which meant we were able to get a better understanding of how we could have improved our video or anything we could have added to it before publishing it onto the internet. This would have been better to do during the production of the video as we would have been able to change certain aspects of the video to improve it.
70% of the people we asked liked the song choice, although only 45% of the viewers had heard of the Beastie Boys. Everyone answered on the questionnaire that they enjoyed the video.
Both Steph and I agree with many of the comments about the narrative not being very clearly, and if we could improve one aspect of the video that would definitely be the thing we would improve.

Task 2 - Poster

We had to find a number of venues for our band to perform in that we could put on our poster, so I decided to look at the venues that the Beastie Boys played in themselves, assuring that the kind of audience that would attend would be the same. We can assume that as the band is a mainstream group, in a years time they would have gained some popularity and would be a well known, allowing them to play in large arenas with large audiences.
We used the photo from the digipak back cover for the poster and the same font type and colour for the title to show synergy between the two products.