CD digipak design

Here are some pictures of a very good one from last year.

The group took all their own photographs for this.

They paid attention to little details, such as putting a bar code, logos and smallprint on the back.

Note, you can just design the four panels separately, you don't get extra marks for putting them together like this group have done (although it looks nice).

You can screengrab pictures from your video for this task, but the best ones last year actually took the extra time to do a photoshoot and get some really impressive new shots.

Before doing this task, you should put up research on your blog into CD digipak designs and include some images of real ones.

Evaluation

You can't really do this until your video is finished, but as some groups are reaching this stage already here are the 4 evaluation questions. They are set by the exam board, and you have to answer each one in detail on your blog. Be creative in how you answer the questions- last year groups used directors commentaries (particularly for question 4) and recorded interviews with people who had watched their videos for question 3. They also used photographs. However, it is important to include detailed analysis for each question.

The four questions are:

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. How effective is your combination of your main product and ancillary texts (the magazine advert and CD digipak)?

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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

Ask your teacher for guidance and a new help sheet will be appearing on eloreto in the next couple of days.

Remember the blog makes up 40% of your marks for this project and this is a crucial part of the blog.

Another finished rough cut

It's great to see some high quality work coming in already. This Lady Gaga video is fast paced and contains some great shots- an example of another group that has worked hard from the outset and still has plenty of time to add the finishing touches over the next two weeks.

For those groups that are not at this stage yet, you have two weeks to try to get your piece up to this standard. With two weeks of hard work, anything is possible. It's great to see so many groups using the editing suites and studio outside of lesson time and after college. We're really impressed with the general standard of work this year- keep working hard!

How to get an A on the CD digipak and magazine advert

1. Look at real examples- see below for magazine advert, and CD cases are easy to find.
2. Make yours look as professional as the real examples.

Example of magazine adverts

These were taken from an online edition of a music magazine. There are two adverts here- note that you need to do one full page ad, but this gives you the gist of what you have to do. Look at the features of the bottom advert in particular- mini version of the CD cover, logo of brand (Ministry of Sound) and logos of stores where you can purchase it, date of release and web address for further info/ downloads. Simple but effective.

A2 Coursework Deadlines

The deadlines for the A2 coursework have been announced:

• Friday 26th November- deadline for completing the music video.

• Friday 10th December- deadline for completing the blog, CD digipak and magazine advert

That means 3 weeks to complete your music videos and a further 2 weeks to complete the rest of the coursework. Most groups are well into the editing process by now, but quite a few groups need additional footage you must work hard both inside and outside lesson times between now and the deadline dates. Remember the editing suites are available outside of lesson times and many groups are already coming back in their free time to use them. Don't leave it all to the last minute when your editing suite might not be available.

A finished rough cut! From this year!

A group has already finished a rough cut of their video. It is not the absolute finished version, but this group has given themselves plenty of time to get this up to a very high standard.

They have already recorded loads of footage and spent a lot of time both inside and outside lessons working on this. The editing suites are available outside of lesson time. Use them!