Evaluation for A2 Media production

1. EVALUATION
Holly Corden

2. ANCILLARY TEXT 1
Digipak for album release
Album Cover
For the album cover we used the typical features found on other album covers, such as a large title and central image.
The title of the band name we
chose to make relatively large
so it would stand out slightly
more to the title of the song.
We chose the colour black so it
would contrast nicely with the
background. Each one of these
features would draw the
audiences attention to the
band.
For the album title we opted for
the colour red as it would be a
stark contrast to the other
colours used on the cover as it
contrasts to the dull colours of
grey and black. This would give
indication that this specific
feature is a key feature of the
album cover, as this is the
album name.
BAND NAME
ALBUM
TITLE
The image we used on the
album is a typical image for a
pop album cover; it being large
and one of the main features
on the cover. The image used is
one we took on the day of
filming, this meant us sticking
to the 1950’s theme
throughout our portrayal of the
band. This would most likely go
on to be the bands signature
style, if an actual band. We
edited the background on the
image so it would be grey; this
gives opportunity for all other
features to stand out but also
as it defies the typical
expectations of a pop album
which would be bright colours.
We did this to give our album
cover an element of
individuality.
IMAGE

3. ANCILLARY TEXT 1
Digipak for album release
For this we took the image
used on the album cover but
created a silhouette, enabling
the main attention to be on the
front. We also did this to ensure
that the back didn’t appear
crowded as the track list and
band name are also important
features on the back. We
added a bar code to allow the
album to appear legitimate.
We decided to use some of the
photos taken to create an
insert for the album. We edited
each image onto a different
coloured stripe background to
add a pop of colour to the
album, this is as it follows the
typical conventions of the pop
theme. It also ties elements of
the album to the music video
as the zombie characters
appear in the images.
This is the image we would use
to go behind the CD. We used a
red striped background to tie in
the red used on the album
cover and used the same black
silhouette from the back of the
album. This allows the image to
be kept fairly simple but
effective.

4. ANCILLARY TEXT 2
Digipak for album release
Album Poster
We decided to use the same
images as we used on the
album insert for the poster as
we liked these images and also
they fit the conventions of pop.
We also used these images as
they are bright coloured and
would stand out against a grey
background. We also chose to
use these images as they
feature both the housewife and
zombie characters therefore
link to the music video.
IMAGE
We kept the colour white for all
of the text on the poster so it
would contrast with the grey
background and also gave the
poster a more classy,
sophisticated look. We added a
date onto the poster as this
would be the album release
date.
We stuck to typical conventions of an album poster by added the artists name, an image, album name and a release date.
We used the same font used on
the album cover for the bands
name, as this would be the
bands established logo, again
keeping the colour white to
stick to the chosen scheme.
Again, we kept to the theme of
white for the text but this time
added a pink shadow, this is to
allow the title of the
album/single to stand out
significantly. We used the same
font for the title on the poster
as it is on the album cover.
At the bottom we added a
‘website’ and the ‘record label’
of our band. This is as these
features appear on most other
posters therefore would be
typical conventions.

5. ANCILLARY TEXT 2
Digipak for album release
Album Poster
We decided to use the same
images as we used on the
album insert for the poster as
we liked these images and also
they fit the conventions of pop.
We also used these images as
they are bright coloured and
would stand out against a grey
background. We also chose to
use these images as they
feature both the housewife and
zombie characters therefore
link to the music video.
IMAGE
We kept the colour white for all
of the text on the poster so it
would contrast with the grey
background and also gave the
poster a more classy,
sophisticated look. We added a
date onto the poster as this
would be the album release
date.
We stuck to typical conventions of an album poster by added the artists name, an image, album name and a release date.
We used the same font used on
the album cover for the bands
name, as this would be the
bands established logo, again
keeping the colour white to
stick to the chosen scheme.
Again, we kept to the theme of
white for the text but this time
added a pink shadow, this is to
allow the title of the
album/single to stand out
significantly. We used the same
font for the title on the poster
as it is on the album cover.
At the bottom we added a
‘website’ and the ‘record label’
of our band. This is as these
features appear on most other
posters therefore would be
typical conventions.

6. MUSIC VIDEO
As we wanted our music video to fit as many of the conventions of a typical pop music video as we were
able to, some aspects arose difficulty due to our limitations and restrictions, such as the lighting aspects
(as we wouldn't of been able to get the funding for proper lighting) and also quality of editing and filming,
as we didn't have professional equipment.
We shot the video using natural lighting as this would enable the colours to be true to form and relatively
bright, giving the video a high-key lighting.
There was a set theme to our video, so we stuck as close to this theme as possible through the use of
costume, setting and props. We conveyed the narrative of our video through the characters and their
acting. Through the use of costumes on the housewives we showed that our video is supposedly set in the
1950's. We chose for the zombies to be dressed in all black so they had a stark contrast in relation to the
housewives, also as black is a very dark colour and often associated strongly with death.
Although we wanted our video to be a typical pop video we didn't have certain elements seen in many
other pop music videos, such as the sexualisation of women. We did this as we didn't believe using this
aspect would be fitting to the lyrics in the song or the overall theme of our video, also as this is not a
message we would want to convey.
In regards to editing we tried to keep it as simple as possible in order to avoid our video looking 'cheesy',
using only straight cuts. We added some slow motion and sped up parts to keep the audience engaged as
this would be an interesting aspect to the video but we ensured that we only added these features where
appropriate so the video didn't seem overloaded with different edits; we wanted to keep the video as
straight forward as possible in order to convey the 'story' to the video.
Due to a technical issue we were unable to export the final edit of the video therefore unable to upload to
the internet therefore we only had the option to film the screen and upload the video this way.

7. AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
We attempted to create our music video to be as fitting to what the audience said they look for in a pop music
video. We opted for a narrative and attempted to make this a comedic narrative, as pop videos aren't particularly
serious in general but also as this is something we thought an audience would find entertaining. Our video received
positive feedback from our target audience of young females.
Below is some of the feedback we received on the plot of our video:
“The housewives are meant to be hopeless and everyone expects them to just cook and clean but they
united together to fight off the impending zombie apocalypse.”
“The plot of the video fits well with the song.”
“The plot really flows with throughout and you can tell the housewives are trying to show how hard it is
for women in society today.”
“The plot showed the stereotypical world of a woman in a non-obvious way.”
We also received feedback on other aspects to the video such as make-up costuming:
“The make-up on the zombies and them dressed in all black shows that they're separate from the
housewives and the hair/clothing on the housewives is very reminiscent of that era.”
“The costumes were very realistic and appropriate to the era.”
People also commented on the editing of the video:
“The editing was creative and had a very professional feel.”
“The editing looks almost professional because it isn't jerky and the clips fit nicely together.”

8. USE OF TECHNOLOGIES
Filming:
We mainly used the Nikon P500 camera for most of the filming, whilst using an iPhone 5s and iPhone 6
plus for certain shots. We kept the camera on a tripod to ensure the frame would be consistently still and
not appear shaky or jerky, also as the camera is quite large and keeping it on a tripod was the most ideal
thing to do as most of our shots were long and mid shots; although we did handhold the camera for some
close-up shots. A lot of the close-ups were shot using the iPhones as they proved more effective for these
types of shots due to their size, it is also ideal the quality of the iPhone is relatively high. We also used the
Nikon to take all of the images used in the ancillary texts.
Editing;
We used iMovie 09 to edit our video as this was the best software we had access to. Despite this being an
older edition of iMovie, it had everything we required to edit our video. An issue we faced is we were
unable to export the footage from iMovie and so we had to film the screen to be able to upload the video
to the internet to share it. As a result of this, parts of the film appear to look jerky and poor quality.
To edit the images for our poster and digipak we used Adobe Photoshop CS5. Using photoshop enabled a
relatively professional result as we are all particularly familiar with this software and the certain features it
has.
Other technologies:
Our research mainly came from the internet, YouTube being a main feature to view and analyse already
existing videos and gain ideas from these. The internet is also very useful for presenting ideas as websites
such as SlideShare allowed the presenting of ideas to be very simple but effective, with SurveyMonkey
being useful as it allowed us to gain ideas for our video and target audience.