experiments

1. Experiments

2. Process
Experiment 1:
For my Album/CD cover, I decided to find a background which is like a location which I
want to film in for my music video. The background is a graffiti wall which has instant
conitations of youth and urban atmosphere. This is important because it can tell the
target audience who see the cover a bit about what the song behind is about. I also
involves two pairs of shoes, the 'Nike air force 1' and 'Dr martens' shoe. My song is
about the idea of diversity, the difference in youth culture/fashion and the toxicity
between people from the different cultures. The air force is a commonly worn shoe
with young people whereas the Dr. martens' shoes are different to the manly trending
trainer. Displaying the two shoes in front of a background which is associated with all
young people shows the idea of unity between the different fashion cultures which is
what my song is trying to make out. Alternatively, the audience could interpret it in the
sense that it is just saying how separated and toxic the different cultures of people are
in fashion. This is show as the shoes are faces opposite ways from each other. I then
wanted to try and test multiple different texts in front of the background to find the
style which stands the most out to the audience.

3. Background
With my background design I decided that I would collect a background image with
graffiti on it. This is because in my music video I will be involving lots of graffiti walls
and general urban areas. I'm including this specifically because the idea of graffiti has
connotations towards youth and is also a thing which young people do as part of their
culture It also creates the idea of creativity and art which is a significant factor which
thrives within lots of young people. Giving off these ideas will tell my target audience a
bit about the song before they are here it and will appeal to a general young audience.

4. Experiment 1: Version1
In this experiment I tried this broken type font which I like. I think the large variety in the angles of the
letters makes the word look more fun and creative in which can be seen in youth culture. The font is
broken and crackled slightly which makes me think of the idea of separation and pieces that need to be
put together. This could suggest the separation between youth and the toxicity between each other's
culture groups. The text is in all capitals which gives off the idea of shouting or the word being louder or
more enthusiastic when said. This correlates with the position which it is in on the page and the size
which makes it come out more to the audience. There is also a drop shadow effect on the text which I
added which makes the text come out to the audience from the background graffiti image and adds
another layer from the two shoes. I experimented multiple colours for this text however the colour
yellow worked the best as it contrasts from the background and stands out better. The colour yellow in
general has connotations of sunshine, happiness and creativity which helps as I want to shoot my music
video when its bright and sunny and within the video it will involve a happy atmosphere. The idea of
youth creativity is a big factor within the song in which is also portrayed in this experimental album
cover.

5. Experiment 1:version 2
In my second experiment I decided to try a graffiti font. I like this idea because it
correlates perfectly with the graffiti background and just generally looks in place. The
general connotations of graffiti include youth culture and young people. Although
some graffiti is seen as vandalism, It is seen as art by most young people which will
appeal to the general young audience. It is also a familiar sign for those who live in
urban areas which will appeal to them but can also appeal those who don’t live in
general urban areas as its new and exciting for those young people. I decided to use a
yellow colour because it stands out from the background and comes out more to the
audience. This is also done by the drop shadow which I included in the text.

6. Experiment 1: version 3
In this experiment I decided to use a more formal font. This contrasts from the less
formal graffiti background. I wanted to involve this because that idea of contrast and
difference is what I'm trying to express in my song when talking about youth culture.
One pro of using this font is that it is also easy to read up close however on the other
hand, from afar it can be slightly difficult to pick out compared to experiment 1 and 2.
The text is yellow which I preferred of other colours because it stands out from the
background way better. This also compliments the dop shadow in included which
helps the text stand out as well.

7. Process
Experiment 2:
I made a music video to the beat for my song which included royalty free videos online
which relate or are like what I want to film for my music video. The video just involves
young people enjoying themselves and some showcasing of their hobbies and fashion
cultures. I wanted to try and practice interesting effects and transitions which I could
use in my music video so that it's not just regular and blunt. I explored a large range of
techniques which you can do on premiere which I may not be able to do with a
camera or just to make the video free flowing and stay engaging to my target auience.

8. Experiment: techniques and
transitions experiments

9. When doing my actual music video, I want to include a good number of
consistent transitions and effects to keep my music video entertaining and satisfying
for aesthetic reasons. Doing this experiment allowed me to test and practise a couple
of techniques and transitions. One effect which I really liked is the strobe/x-ray effect
which I used at 00:47 till 00:48. I think that the use of strobe is an effective transition
between two cuts because it takes the audience's attention off what they see in the
first clip to then kick start the second clip which is engaging and exciting. I personally
don’t necessarily enjoy using the x-ray effect however I think its best used in
transitions like this because it adds to the change in picture and colours on the screen.
An effect which I didn’t think worked well necessarily is the echo effect used at 00:31
till 00:33. I think that this effect could be used better in different clip than the one I
experimented with because it makes me unsure of what is going on in the clip and
there is just irregular and unnecessary movements going on.

10. Process
Experiment 3:
In my third experiement I made 2 examples of a promotional poster. They differ in
layout which both have pros and cons. For example, experiment one is A4 however
could be scaled to fit a phone screen.of the poster.

11. Experiment 2: Version 1
In this experiment I made the background a solid brick wall. I
did this because it has a general bland colour which makes the
album cover in the centre stand out more. I also wanted to
include the brick wall as it has connitatons of urban
environment which I want to involve in as the scenery in my
music video. I decided to include 'Antony sibanda presents' at
the top because it is in a noticable place for my target audience
to see as one of the first things. It will tell my audience who
made the song to begin with. I made sure it was smaller than
the album cover in the center as that is the main image of the
poster, the most eye catching and most important thing for the
audience to see. Instad of the relsease date of the song I put in
words 'Diversity Out Now!'. This informs the target audience
that the song is available to listen to. I wanted to keep
consistansy from the album cover in the text on the poster in
yellow which also stands out infront of the brick walls .Below
these words are the available platfroms which the song is
published on which will be the first question they ask after
seeing that its already out. These are positioned at the bottom
of the page and smaller as they are less important than most
other thinsg on the poster.

12. Experiment 2: Version 2
After some feeback from the experiment I decided that I
wanted to change some things in the poster to make it
generally better. The background bricks in the first version were
quite bright and in the face of the audience which I decided to
change by changing th ebrigtnesss and contrast to look as if th
eimage was taken at a later and dimmer time. I didn’t want my
album cover to be dark also, so I decided I'd add a vignette
effect around it to make it stand out to the target audience.
With the 'Antony Sibanda presents' I thought that it was quite
small and isolated at the top of the poster so I made my name
larger to be more noticable to the auidence and spaced ut the
letters so that it's easier to read as the graffiti letters are quite
messy and could be hard to read, especaly with a long word. I
enlarged the word 'presents' and positioned it slightly below
my name to fill in space on the poster however not make it as
big as the main album cover attraction or my name at the top. I
then removed the word 'diversity' because its already displayed
in the album cover which didn’t need to be repeated. I then
decided that I would change the text aroud my album cover to
white because it still stands out over the brick background and
at the same time makes the yellow in my album cover stand out
more for the word 'diversity

13. Experiment 3: version 1
In my second experiement I decided to do a different layout for a promotional poster. The
album cover is positioned on the left whereas the text and available platforms are positioned
on the right of the poster. For this poster I decided that I would attempt to have less on view
with larger text and image to just be straight to the point for my audience. I think that this
layout would be effective if It was to appear on YouTube advertisement banner.

14. Experiment 3: version 2
After some feedback of the first of experiment 2 I decided that I needed to make some changes. I
wanted to improve the background because before it was quite boring and plain even though
there is a blend from black to white. I added a yellow tint to keep the colour scheme and added a
pattern in the background for a more exciting look. I wanted to remove the text saying 'diversity'
as it is already displayed in the album cover. I enlarged the text of 'out now' to be the second
thing my audience sees. This means that my audience will see the name of the song and the
connotations of the song through the album over then notice that the song is out and available as
they are reading it. I added an 'available on these platforms' to make up for space from the
diversity title which was there before. One thing which I would change is probably the text font of
the text because gold over yellow isn't clear to read

15. Reflection
• What elements of your experiments will you
include in your final product?
From experiment 1 I would like to take forward the idea of getting a graffiti wall as the
background which will mean me taking an image of a graffiti wall with a similar colour
scheme. I also think I want to involve the graffiti font because it fits the best in my
opinion and fits the scenery of the graffiti behind it. From experiment 2 I would like to
involve the strobe/x-ray effect in my music video because it is a very exciting effect
which can be used consistently in clips or as transitions. I also want to involve some of
the artificial camera movement effects which I practised in the experiment because It
is engaging as the movement can be swift and ad emphasis to whatever is going on.
From experiment 3 I would like to take forward the idea of a brick wall possibly behind
and the general layout with the vignette highlighting the album cover because it
focuses and makes the album cover look way better.