Evaluation Question 3 - Audience

What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

This evaluation question also includes another video (in addition to part 1 and part 2 seen directly below):

• New idea feedback

Viral Vid and QR Code

In my evaluation Q4, I have discussed in detail how our viral video concept and our QR code, linking to our Twitter, have allowed us to create a more user-generated promotional package, whilst also enabling us to link the video and the ancillary texts together. These two elements helped to create excitement among our target audiences, building up suspense and allowing anticipation to build.

Part 1:

Part 2:


Gaining audience feedback on our productions enabled us to identify the areas that we needed to improve and change, and allowed us to directly gain critique on our texts from both our primary and secondary audiences. The feedback we received was varied, as each individual that we approached gave us different ideas and views, and so we had to balance the improvements and combine this feedback to produce effective texts.

When creating our products we had two target audiences in mind:

Primary Audience:

Our primary audience is female 13-18 year olds, as pop music is commonly listened to and purchased by people in this age range. This age range also covers the fans who listened to Atomic Kitten before they split in 2004, and so the exclusive new tracks included in our digipak and advertised on our magazine ads will attract this audience. This means that this target audience is appropriate for our genre and for Atomic Kitten, as their recent reunion will attract more old and new fans to viewing our products.

Secondary Audiences:

Performing on Loose Women

We decided upon 3 secondary audiences. The first audience is the 8-12 year old 'tween' audience. We chose this age range, as we felt that they're reasonably reflected in our video through the 'innocent' romantic narrative conveyed throughout, and also because they are the same age that the primary audience would have been when Atomic Kitten were popular in the 90's, and so we can predict that the group will still appeal to people of these ages. Another secondary audience is 19-24+ females. This is because after we researched past Atomic Kitten's public appearances, we discovered that they have appeared on shows such as Loose Women, and Kerry Katona herself spent a brief time actually presenting this show, meaning this audience will also be familiar with the group and perhaps some of their material. Because this audience is predominantly white middle class and middle aged women, we felt that we needed to take them into account as our secondary audience rather than our target audience, as it would not be totally appropriate. Finally, our third secondary audience is males. We have targeted this audience as it is important that we appeal to and promote our work to a mass market, and so we applied aspects of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory to attract this male demographic. Atomic Kitten also applied this theory to their videos, through the use of objectification, to widen their audience and increase their viewings and purchases.

Jenny Frost in FHM

   Atomic Kitten, and other pop artists in general, tend to target mostly female teenage audiences and commonly promote their music in radio or TV interviews. To attract their secondary audiences, for example the male audience, female pop artists will also usually appear in magazines such as 'FHM' and 'Nuts'. Atomic Kitten however did not appear to promote their work through these magazines, except a couple of mag ads of the members seen in FHM. They attracted this audience more through the use of objectification in their videos, as their main focus of promotion was on their young target audience and so their reputation needed to stay 'innocent' and 'clean'.

Ways in Which We Gathered Feedback:

To get audience feedback, we mostly showed our texts to the individual or group and then filmed their reaction and feedback. We took great advantage of this and asked them questions regarding these texts, for example whether certain shots in the video worked effectively or not. By recording them, we can also pick up on points that we may have missed at the time and so it is useful for us to video them for this particular reason. Some people preferred not to be videoed, so we simply recorded their voices instead, which practically provided us with the same opportunities that we would have had if we were videoing. The only possible limitation with just having audio is that we may forget which age category they fall into when it comes to editing the clip and re-analysing it.

   For constant feedback, we were able to ask our media class. This was extremely helpful as they are all within our primary target audience age range, yet they are all males and so this allowed us to easily see if our texts appealed to a mass market and our final secondary audience. Because they required feedback themselves, they understood some of the more technological questions that we asked, and were able to give us more specific and detailed feedback in regards to things like effects and tools used in softwares.

   Fan forums and websites also provided another way of receiving audience feedback, on top of gaining extra research about our artist, genre and audience. We could easily display our rough cuts and sample videos for fans to comment back on, and because the fan forums are specific to the group and the genre, we knew that the feedback would be genuine and constructive. We didn't get as many responses as we had hoped when uploading these videos and so we advertised our products on social networking sites too, especially Twitter.

Web 2.0

   The Web 2.0 theory can be argued to reflect the ways in which we gathered our audience feedback. Social networking sites all have comment sections making it easier to gain instant and direct feedback from other web users and we can reply to these comments, to create a sense of a relationship between the audience and ourselves. The user generated web, as stated by the theory, is the main concept that can be applied to our audience feedback, as using the internet has allowed us to collaborate on ideas with our target audiences, which has proved to be extremely useful.

Ways in Which We Utilised our Feedback:

Music Video

An example of how the Pussycat Dolls convey the
Male Gaze Theory

Audience feedback proved to be the most important factor in realising that our original idea was not effective as we first hoped it would turn out to be. We gained feedback from people included in all of our target audiences and soon came to the realisation that we needed to make a major change if we wanted our video and ancillary texts to be successful. There were a whole range of things which all contributed to the poor outcome, in particular the locations and the cast which were used. It was said that these locations were not effective enough in conveying the 'famous' and 'urban' theme that we wanted and that the cast were not believable when performing on screen. We re-shot a lot of footage and took on board all of the feedback we received to try and improve the video, however we soon began to realise that it was not working and that nothing we could do would improve the video to the standard that we wanted. Because of this, we drafted an entirely new idea to a completely different song, however we made sure we did not stray outside of the pop genre. Because the Pussycat Dolls were an all-American dance group and took on the Male Gaze Theory concept to an extreme, it was difficult for us to create a video surrounded by more conservative British influences and so we decided upon the British group Atomic Kitten. Atomic Kitten seemed like an appropriate choice, as they have also recently reunited in 2012 after a split in 2004, meaning that our products could be linked in to this reunion as 'come back material'.

   When we pitched our new idea, we had the opportunity to gain feedback on this idea, and to ask questions about how to develop and expand the idea to make it work effectively. In response to our questions, they provided us with thorough and detailed ideas for the narrative and particularly locations for the performance side of the video. We also had the advantage of pitching the new idea to a member of our 19-24+ secondary audience, which meant we could get an extra perspective on the idea, and we could hear what they thought so that their views could also be considered.

   One of the most frequently occurring positive comments that we received was in relation to the common boy band convention that we conveyed through the use of laughter images and footage. We used these images and footage as we felt it invited the audience to viewing our products and the more relaxed vibe appealed more to the younger audience. These images worked effectively in the sense that we were able to use them across all 3 texts, and they promoted our products in a good light.

   Negative feedback proved to be the most useful form of feedback. We showed our rough cuts to our audiences and they tended to pick up more on bad aspects rather than the good aspects, which in fact was a great help as this meant that we could easily depict the areas pointed out and improve them to our best abilities. Most of the negative feedback was related to shaky shots and long takes, which obviously needed correcting straight away. It can be difficult when editing to focus on everything in the shot at once, and so it can be fairly easy to miss a slight camera movement. By having the audience pick up on these movements, we were able to improve our video so that it was more professional. To make sure that we improved every shaky shot, we thoroughly analysed each shot and noted down an unwanted camera movement that we saw. Once we had replaced or split these shots up using shot reverse shot, we then began to add more effects and continue with the rest of the editing. Because this was the most obvious problem, once we had corrected the shots, the video looked much more professional and fresh. Another common point that was brought up was the style of the editing and the cutting to the beat. We tried to cut to the beat as much as possible, yet some people did say that it was slightly off and pointed out more opportunities to do this and so we also made sure that we took this feedback on board.

   A specific example of how we utilised our audience feedback was when we were unsure about how to end the video. We created a vodcast displaying our two possible endings and then showed this to our target audience to find out which one they thought worked best. The majority of our audience said that they preferred the ending with the girl group layered onto the fire, and so we used this ending in our final video.

Ancillary Texts
As well as our music video, we got feedback from the same audiences on our ancillary texts. In a way, gaining audience feedback on these texts was easier than the video as we could show them all together, allowing for easier comparison between earlier and current drafts.

Digipak
From our first draft of our digipak, we were told that the idea was well thought out and that it worked well, and so we simply expanded and developed the digipak into our final product based on this, making sure that we stuck to the professional theme we were aiming for. The stickers on the front and back did need to be changed a few times so that they stood out more, and we were constantly told that the inside of the digipak needed more composition such as layering, and so we took this into account and layered 3 images to create more visual excitement. We did reject some feedback from one of our secondary audiences however, when it was suggested that the inside needed even more composition. We disagreed and thought that if we used any more layering in this image, it would not be effective and would look amateur. We feel that by rejecting this feedback our product has turned out more effective than it would have if we followed this feedback. These were the only major negative points that we received and so the feedback for our digipak was relatively positive.

Mag Ads

'Revised' draft

Original draft

With our mag ads, we used a variety of images for both the teaser and final advertisements. We got feedback on all of these ads, and were told that some worked better than others. One of the teaser mag ads, some feedback that we received suggested we move the QR code onto Poppy's dress and to remove the 'COMING SOON' from the ad as a whole. The removal of the 'COMING SOON' creates more of a buzz about the ad making the audience more intrigued. We were told to try moving the QR code onto the bottom of the dress to reflect the Male Gaze Theory. By having it placed here it is drawing attention to her lower body and is subtly objectifying her body (taking into consideration the younger audience). This is to attract more of our secondary male audience. With one of our final mag ads, we had an image of half my face placed next to the text. We were told that the framing of this image did not work at all and so we chose a different, full length photo which proved to look more professional and effective.

The Benefits of Audience Feedback:

Basic model of the Uses & Gratifications Theory

The Uses and Gratifications Theory, put forward by Blumler and Katz, argues that the success of a text depends wholly on the audience rather than the producers. The theory claims that audiences choose how they want to consume texts to gain feelings of relaxation as well as emotional pleasures, as spoken about by Rick Altman. Audience feedback is important before the final product is produced as we as producers need to be sure of their views and feelings towards elements of the texts and whether they would reject or interpret the product on release. Stuart Hall's theory of preferred reading can also be applied here, as the audience is in control of how they interpret and understand a text, often through the use of intertextuality. Because we ourselves used intertextuality from various existing productions, we feel that our audience should be able to understand our text and will therefore be able to follow the video and see the links between the texts clearly.

Basic diagram of the way digitisation works

   Digitisation has allowed us to gain feedback from a wider audience and has provided us with a huge advantage in receiving a variety of views. All of our feedback combined has enabled us to create 3 products which are all of a high standard, taking into consideration existing texts and theories to back up our choices. Because our texts have received a lot of useful feedback from our target audience, we feel that this has also helped us to engage the audience in different emotional ways, and because they can see improvements that they may have suggested, a stronger relationship can be built between the fans and texts can be built. 

   Audience feedback has also enhanced our self criticism skills, as our work would have been extremely subjective without the incorporation of different views. It allowed us to see our work from other peoples points of view, rather than being totally self involved with the work, which was also a major advantage as it meant we could spot things that weren't quite right that we may not have picked up on without outside input.

Evaluation Question 4 - Technologies

How Did You Use New Media Technologies In The Construction And Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

This evaluation question includes another 2 videos (in addition to the vodcast seen directly below):

• Our viral video
• Testing our QR code

QR Code and Viral Video
Viral Video
For our original production track 'When I Grow Up by The Pussycat Dolls', we developed the idea of a viral video, to increase and improve our audience interaction. Here is our promotional viral video below:



The viral video idea was to use the basic dance from the video (choreographed by ourselves) and get fans to send in their own clips of themselves performing the dance in the video or a dance of their choice to the chorus of the song. It was also an idea to get them to send in videos of themselves singing to the song. This idea gave us a platform for creating a fan-based video using the footage which fans could send in, and meant that the whole video and production was more creative and user-generated, involving willing fans in the success of the production. Brigid Cherry has written about how the development of the internet has encouraged fans to send in these user-generated, fan-based videos so as to develop productions further. We wanted build a relationship with our target audiences and we felt that by promoting this viral video, we did that.

Us choreographing a dance routine for the PCD video

   In relation to the user generated content, we can also argue that we reflected the web 2.0 theory by doing this. This theory, coined by Tim O'Reilly, states that the web is increasingly becoming user-generated as audiences can now easily contribute to the production of texts as a result of digitisation. We feel that the idea of getting fans to send in videos of themselves dancing to the same song allowed our target audiences to become involved and, particularly with the primary audience, makes them want to watch other videos and listen to other Pussycat Dolls tracks. Gauntlett argues that the divide between the audience and producer input is slowly disappearing too, as a result of convergence. His argument can also be reflected in our video, and links together with the web 2.0 concept denoted in our production. This is because he is arguing that the audience and producer are 'becoming one', with both beginning to offer creative input into the success and releases of new texts, which is important as this is a major element which contributes towards building a strong relationship with the audience and mass market. As producers, we have taken on board our audience feedback and ideas an have incorporated them into our video, which is arguably emphasising this decreasing gap between roles.
   Although we didn't actually carry this through into our new and final production for 'It's OK - Atomic Kitten', we still feel that by initially doing this, we have added to the audience interaction element of our production as a whole. On our target audiences, it has the effect of intriguing them and making them feel as though they want to watch the video repeatedly, perhaps to learn the dance, and become involved in the process of production. This is important as it creates a connection and relationship between the audience and ourselves, and so it makes them feel as though they have a say, and can easily influence our decisions.
   By doing this, we have increased our use of technology by creating extra videos on Final Cut Pro X, whilst also nicely linking the 3 texts together. If the video intrigues and involves the audience, then they will be more likely to want to research our production to discover more information about the viral video and to enjoy the digipak and mag ads, as well as learning about how we have progressed and the stages at which we're at.

QR Code

Our QR code

One of the major features which we used on our digipak and mag ads was a QR code. We used it on our teaser mag ads especially, as we wanted to anchor the use of Barthes' concept of narrative enigma. The use of the QR code and the lack of writing intrigues the audience more, making them more likely to want to scan the code to discover what the ad is actually advertising. It provides an interactive link to our groups Twitter page, which was achievable through the development of digitisation. Having it link straight to our Twitter page keeps our fans and target audiences updated on our progress, whilst also proving links to our other texts.

our twitter page

   We also used it on our digipak, for some of the same purposes. Narrative enigma wasn't used in our digipak, as it needed to advertise the groups comeback, but we still included it so that the fans who bought the digipak can also have access to a quick and easy link to our Twitter, to find out about the groups comeback and to see what else may have been happening.

   As well as talking about convergence, Jenkins also spoke about a cultural shift, with society increasingly becoming a 'participatory culture'. By including a QR code in both of our ancillary texts, we have supported this view as it allows our audiences to gain easy access to our Twitter page and from there they can find out more information about the viral video, as well as our progress and other texts. This meant that they knew where and how to send us their videos, therefore enabling them to 'participate' in the final production of our promotional package.

   Here is a short clip demonstrating how our QR code works. Poppy is scanning the code using her smartphone, and it instantly comes up with a link to the MKTP Productions Twitter page. As mentioned previously, the increase in digitisation has allowed smartphones to cope with this kind of technology, and in our increasingly materialistic society, a wide number of people are using smart phones, making our QR code available to a mass market.

Research & Planning

Blogger

Blogger has played an essential role in displaying the development of our final products. The blog allows us to write posts to keep our work updated, and it's easy to to embed images, screenshots and audio to visually support any text. Adding links and embed codes to text paragraphs also helped us to back up points, as it directly links readers to the website or video that we may be referring to, making posts generally read-easy. Having an individual blog means that as well as collaborating as a group, you can also showcase your individual research in a way that you choose, whether it be in vodcast or text form. It is an interactive and useful website which can be viewed or accessed by anyone which helps to further promote our work to a wider audience. The use of links lists also made it easier to navigate the blog, encouraging people to browse through the posts, as it appears organised and thorough, and is more appealing to the audience for browsing. Because we can create it ourselves and directly interact with other users, the website reflects the Web 2.0 theory, stating that we as users collaborate and define the internet in ways which we choose, leading to a user generated web. It reflects this concept through the ability to comment on posts and leave feedback and to create links leading to any other website that you wish. 

YouTube 

For research purposes, we used YouTube to study existing music videos by the group themselves, as well as genre specific and general music videos, to gain a better understanding of the typical and common music video conventions. We found YouTube to be extremely useful, as we could always find what we needed from a variety of sources all based on one website. This website was also user friendly, and allowed us to gain feedback directly and instantly. We added tags to some of our videos too, to make the videos more widely available to a wider audience, in the hope of receiving more feedback and constructive criticism on rough cuts.

Divshare

Divshare was one of the websites that we used to transfer documents onto our blogs that needed to be uploaded in the correct format. The website allowed us to upload almost any type of file that we needed onto our blogs and gave a professional effective finish once posted onto our blogs. When we used it for word documents, there were no real issues and it worked with ease, but when we tried to upload an audio file, it didn't always work as easy and problems would always occur. Because of these reoccurring problems with audio files, we often used Podomatic instead.

Podomatic 

After struggles with Divshare, we settled upon using Podomatic. This website proved to be much easier to navigate and work, and because it is specifically designed for transferring audio files, we suffered no problems. We used it mainly for uploading our podcasts onto our blogs, which we found useful for ourselves as the blog holders as well as users, as it added an extra element to the blog and meant that there we not many large paragraphs of text to read through, and helped to build a relationship with the audience, as it made them feel more involved in our work.

Fan Forums and Websites

Using fan forums has enabled us to directly ask our target audience and the Atomic Kitten fan base questions about the group and proved very useful in gaining extra knowledge about our target audience. Fan forums tend to be interactive meaning you can post your material into the forum for fans to view, and we found this element of these websites very useful in the sense that we could post rough cuts and sample videos and receive feedback from the other users.

Gmail

We chose to use Gmail for sending emails as it is linked to Blogger and YouTube via our Google+ account, meaning we only needed to create one account for all these websites and we only needed this one account throughout our research and planning. We used this email service as a way of contacting the cast and the record label for consent to use the track as it is a fast, direct and professional service which made it easy for us to use.

Facebook 

We also used Facebook as a means of contacting each other, although it was only used for communication between the production group as we felt it was unprofessional to contact cast members in this way.

Our Instagram profile

Instagram 

To update people on our progress further, we posted photos to the photo sharing app Instagram.We posted photos of ourselves behind the scenes of editing and filming, so that fans can follow our work and keep up to date with our progress. You can add tags to the photos, similar to the use of tags on YouTube, so that when other users search those tags your photo will appear. This feature makes the photos more available to other users, which will in turn hopefully widen our audience and increase the number of views. As well as adding tags, the ability to like and comment on photos makes the service more interactive as we can directly interact with our audience. In the past few years, Instagram has become a more widely recognised app, being used by both celebrities and ordinary people from around the world, and so we felt that it would be good to create an account and we can easily contact and update both our primary  and secondary audience.

Our twitter homepage

Twitter 

Twitter is a universally used social networking site, which meant there was a great opportunity fro audience feedback from people across the world and promoting our production to a wider audience. Similar to on YouTube and Instagram, we used hashtags to link and spread our work. Using Twitter has been easy and useful, because many people use it and we have been able to quickly and easily promote our work.






Magazine Websites 

As part of our research for the magazine ad, we searched on the internet for previous Atomic Kitten group and individual advertisements to get ideas for ours. We also researched where they have appeared and discovered that they have mostly appeared in many teen magazines like Now and Look. As well as this, they have also appeared on FHM front covers, which relates to and attracts the secondary male audience. We then searched publication figures for the sales of these magazines towards each age groups, so that we had a clear idea of which magazine our advertisements would succeed the most in. Research was extensive for this, as there were many things that would come up in the search which weren't relevant.

Construction & Exhibition

HD Camera 

For filming our video and taking pictures for our mag ads and digipak, we used a HD Canon LEGRIA HF R36 video camera, so that the material was of the best quality for our budget. These cameras are reasonably priced, so they're affordable and easily accessible and they are now more widely used since the process of digitisation, and are becoming easier to navigate. We had no problem with this camera on shoots, providing that the batteries were always fully charged before hand.

USBs and SD Cards 

We used USB devices to easily transfer files between each other and computers at home and the macs at school. The HD camera required an SD card for storing the files when filming, and to transfer this footage onto the computers ready for editing, we used an SD card reader.

Final Cut Pro x

Final Cut Pro X was the software that we used for creating our video. It has a wide range of effects, titles and editing tools which we used to shape our video into almost exactly how we wanted it. One of the main effects that we used throughout the video was layering, which was one of the more complicated techniques to complete, as we had to make sure that the opacity of the shots were just right, and that the layering blended well with the underlying shot, so as to maintain the continuity of the editing. Another effect which we used on more than one occasion was the split screen, as it offered an alternative to layering whilst still showing more than one shot at a time, and also helped to portray the characters' emotion and thoughts effectively. Because we have used this software before, our skills and knowledge have been greatly enhanced and we have been able to use more effects and tools than we have done previously, because we have become more familiar with its navigation and the outcomes of all the possible choices. However, there were still some tools that required outside help from classmates and online tutorials as we couldn't work them ourselves or they weren't achieving what we wanted. In some cases, we had to re-think sections of the video and edit them according to what we could carry out rather than what we wanted to achieve at the end. This software is becoming more frequently used by major film producers, as it offers a massive variety of effects and alternative transitions, to make videos more interesting and fun to watch.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop was used for creating our Digipak and Magazine Advertisements. I had previously used Photoshop and so I was relatively familiar with the software, however I did need reminding on how to carry out the more complicated techniques. Once I has re-familiarised myself with the different tools and effects, I was able to begin editing our products and putting them all together, and our final products were completed to a high standard because of the capabilities of this software. Because I was already fairly familiar with this software, I didn't take me long to get started, however some members of our group were confused and overwhelmed by the tools available and so it took them longer to get used to navigating it. For this reason only, it may not be the most appropriate software to use for such major products if it is the users first time using it, as it can take a while to get used to.

YouTube 

As well as for research and planning, we used YouTube for production and exhibition. The website provided us with a platform to upload rough cuts, sample footage, audience feedback and vodcasts, which we could then embed onto our blogs. YouTube also links to Final Cut Pro, as we could export our videos off of Final Cut Pro straight onto our YouTube profiles, which proved very time efficient. John McMuria analysed content on YouTube and discovered that the most frequently watched videos involved white middle class and that minorities do not tend to be recognised as much. After researching his findings, we decided to promote our work on other platforms as well as YouTube, to make sure that our video was reaching people of all ages, gender, ethnicities and religions.

Evaluation

Blogger 

We used Blogger for our evaluations as well as research and planning. The use of links lists made finding previous research to anchor points made in our answers much more convenient and less time consuming. We have also created our evaluation questions on Blogger, using both text form and embedding videos and other types of files, which ties in all of our work completed over the past few months.

Final Cut Pro 

Final Cut Pro was used again for vodcasts to be included in our evaluation questions. We recorded ourselves speaking and then dropped this into a new project, before adding screenshots and titles, so that viewers can easily follow the points being made. Because there is an inbuilt record tool, it made it easier for us to establish these videos and we have been using it for many other video that we have created and so it was simple and quick to put together.

VLC Media Player

To include short clips in our evaluation vodcasts, we used the VLC Media Player. This software was pre-installed into the macs that we work on so all we needed to do was to open it up and press record. This proved to be very useful as it added an extra visual element into the vodcast rather than straight images and it can visually demonstrate points being made, making it easier to follow for the viewer.

Screen Capture

Screen capture has been an essential tool for our evaluation questions. You can download it off one of many sites online and as soon as it has downloaded it is ready for use. You open up the screen or image that you want to screenshot, then you simply open up the application and capture the region of the screen that you need. Screenshots have been essential for all the vodcasts that we have created, but for the evaluation questions they're even more important as we needed to be able to clear back up our points. Taking screenshots as we developed our products proved to be very useful and less time consuming, as we already had them when it came to needing them.

Prezi

To add an alternative visual and interactive element to our evaluation questions, we used the online presentation website 'Prezi'. This website allows you to create an interactive presentation, where you can state and expand as many discussion points as you wish. You can then create a path, which follows the text in a chronological order, so that you can present it in an orderly and clear fashion. Once you have created an account, you can create as many presentations as you wish, and they are relatively simple to navigate, depending on the amount of text. This website is another example of an online service which reflects the Web 2.0 concept, as it is majorly user generated, and also has to option to share with others so that they can expand and develop the presentation, forming a collaboration. We only used this website for a section in Question 1 however, as it can be fairly time consuming if you're creating a large presentation, and if there is too much text in one presentation, creating the presentation can become rather complicated and it can be easy to mix up the path which it will follow when being presented. Despite this, it provided an extra technology for us to use which overall proved to work very well.

Rough Cut 6

Teaser Mag Ad Drafts 5 & 6

Teaser 5

Teaser 6

In these 2 ads, we have used images of candles and have incorporated layering into these images, to create a more visually enticing image. 

   In the 5th ad, we have used 3 separate images and made them into one. We took individual shots of each of us holding a candle against a white background, then used the magic wand tool on Photoshop to cut around the image and saved the image as a PNG file, meaning it was transparent. We then placed these PNG images onto one Photoshop file and lined them up next to each other. Because it is a teaser, we then layered the QR code onto the middle candle.

   In teaser 6, we used the same image of candles surrounded by rose petals twice, but we reduced the opacity of both these images, then moved one slightly so that the candles had a 'doubled' effect. We then put this over a full opacity image of the group. This image is similar to that used on the back of the digipak, although it is not exactly the same. We again added our QR code to this mag ad.

Digipak Draft 6 - Inside

Final inside image

After we received the feedback stating that our first initial idea for the inside of the digipak was not working, we drafted a new idea which still included the use of candles. We used the same image used in one of the teaser mag ads (taken from the video) of the tea lights and rose petals on a white table cloth. We then layered this image twice to give a 'double effect' and reduced the opacity of both these layers. We then took a still image of the large candle and layered this on top. We added effects to these images, to make them appear softer, as well as enhancing the contrast and shadows to make them more eye catching and bright.   
We asked the same primary audience who we asked previously and they all preffered this composition, saying it was more effective and looked much better. We decided upon this image as our final inside image, because it proved to be more successful amongst our primary audience.

PP - Cat Video & Pictures Phenomenon

When creating our teaser mag ad we decided to use a picture of a kitten to play on the growing cat video phenomenon and also as it relates to our artist's name 'Atomic Kitten'. As the popularity of these videos is so vast, this teaser mag ad will hopefully broaden are target audience and create more interest, encouraging people to scan the QR code on the mag ad.

The guardian wrote an article about this growing popular phenomenon. 'The economy of internet cat videos? Yes, it’s a real thing. The Internet Cat Video Festival? Another real thing. A “meme manager” whose job is to build online brands for Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat and Grumpy Cat? Oh yes, he’s real too.' 


For example, Grumpy Cat came into the limelight in 2012. He shot to internet fame – initially on Reddit and subsequently on YouTube – on the strength of its naturally unimpressed face. Its official channel now has just under 155,000 subscribers and 25.4m views. This is the first video uploaded to his channel.



 

There are blogs and websites dedicated to the most watched cat videos and countdowns of the most popular, an example of one is this post on Mashup. There are also websites dedicated to the cats alone with famous ones such as lolcats  and I can has cheezburger receiving 1,500,00 hits per day in May 2007 and now receiving 500,000 hits per day. 
SOURCES:The GuardianWikipedia

Teaser Mag Ad Draft 4

Re-design of Draft 3

We used the same image as draft 3 for this teaser, however some feedback that we received suggested we move the QR code onto Poppy's dress and to remove the 'COMING SOON' from the ad as a whole.
   The removal of the 'COMING SOON' creates more of a buzz about the ad making the audience more intrigued.
   We were told to try moving the QR code onto the bottom of the dress to reflect the Male Gaze Theory. By having it placed here it is drawing attention to her lower body and is subtly objectifying her body (taking into consideration the younger audience). This is to attract more of our secondary male audience.