Construction Analysis

This is the analysis of the development stage of our DVD cover for our promotion package. This is an extremely good way of analysing our products as we can analyse each indivdual addition to our DVD in high detail. The first two steps have been missed out as the first one is a blank screen, and the second one I placed a black text box over it. I did this as it is a very popular colour in rock music DVD covers, plus having a black background is a code and convention of a rock music DVD cover.

The second step I made was to put a text box, with a white background on the page. This is to make room for the bar code. To make the bar code, I downloaded a special font which makes different bars for each key. I used a random selection of keys to make the bar code.

The next step was to start making progress on the content of the DVD cover. The first step for the content was to put "Debut Promo Pack" at the top of the page. We felt this would be a good feature to have on our homepage as it shows that it is part of a promotional package, and it is their first promotional package as well. We chose that font as it is still a stylish font, which isn't boring and plain, but is still clear and allows the user to read what we have written on the DVD cover.

The next stage was to put the name of the band. The name of the band is very important as it would be something which people would look out for in a shop, or as part of a promotional package, it would be something R&R reps would look for, so they know who they are watching. It is also a code and convention of music DVD covers to have the name of the band on the front of the DVD, which is something you can see on our pre-existing DVD cover research. We chose the same font as on the other texts we have produced as it offers a nice extra bit of detail on the "S" in Stentorian, so it makes it a little more interesting, and it also keeps a common theme within the texts, so people know that they are looking at the same promotional package.

The next two stages we did were to put the title of the album, "The Unseen", and place the main picture we wanted to use on the text. The title of the album is important as it helps differentiate from different albums either by the same artist, or by other artists. It is again using the same font as the title, and the top of the cover, as well as the other texts in the promotional package, this is so we create a recurring theme, which people will eventually recognise as the Stentorian promotional package. It also helps us write clearly, without being bland and boring with our font. It also allows us to have small amounts of detail on the "T" in The and the "U" in Unseen. This adds just a little more to the text as it just makes it a little bit more fancy, which helps it jump out of the page and make you notice the cover. The Unseen is written on a slight slope as it makes it fit the screen more efficiently, and it is a code and convention of DVD cover design to make the text not follow a linear pattern in writing, I.E. not to just go parallel across the page, but to go on a slight slope. This creates in the readers mind a sense of disruption, something which is associated with rock music, and their stereotypical anarchistic views.

The image we used is one of the bands beta logo's. They allowed us use of this logo as they also wanted to see the feedback we received from using it on our texts (which was positive), so they could decide if they wanted to use it or not. The logo is an image of the Union Jack, with Stentorian written over it. The union jack already had effects on it to make it look like it had corroded slightly. Using this logo is supported by our research into pre-existing products as one comment from one of our DVD cover was that they liked the fact that a union jack was used on one of the covers, which works well with this band. We decided to feather the edges of the image so it settled nicer on the page, it looks like it is blending in and becoming part of the page, instead of just an image on the page.

This step was putting a filter (the same one used on our website) over the logo for Stentorian. This gives the flag a look like it has been ripped, and is old and worn. This is a good representation of the band as they are a classic rock band, with progressive rock influences, two styles of rock which are quite old now, so having an aged look it a representation of the music they play. This also looks visually attractive as well as it helps the DVD cover jump out of the pile more, and instantly becomes more attractive to the audience. Our post-production research shows that the use of this filter was very effective on our products, and we are extremely pleased with the results they helped us produce.

To give the DVD cover a more of a professional and realistic look, we decided to include a quote on the front of the DVD cover. We chose a well known magazine, NME, and the quote said "A band to look out for in the future". This quote therefore shows people that they aren't rock royalty yet, but could be on their way to it, and that people should look out for them and support them at gigs in their local area etc. The word "future" puts a lot of different images in people's heads. Some think of their lives etc, while others think of what technology etc will be around, to say something is big in the future is making a huge prediction, so this shows that the band would have real potential that a big name like NME would be willing to risk their credibility by saying that they will be big in the future, suggesting that they are a very good band.

The previous 3 images showed the use of official DVD logos and symbols. I got these symbols using a font which has all the major DVD logo's and age rating's, which correspond to a key on the keyboard for example the letter "f" is the the DVD logo. This font came in handy when producing this text as it adds a much more professional look to the DVD without the use of images. It is a similar font to the bar code font, and was downloaded from the same website.

This image shows text being added to the spine of the DVD cover. This is purely, Stentorian, written in the same font as the rest of the text, but flipped to be on it's side, so as to be able to fit down the direct middle of the spine. Having this sideways text is a code and convention of DVD covers, and it used so when it is in a rack or a pile, you can see what DVD it is without having to look at the front.

The next element added was the same Stentorian logo, added to the top of the sideways writing. This was done as it is a code and convention of DVD covers and was seen on the DVD which we analysed as part of our pre-production research. We felt that it worked well on other covers, and due to our research stating that our audience like union jacks, we decided to use that same logo, but just have it a little bit smaller, and have the original logo, with no effects on it.

This image shows a basic code and convention of the DVD logo being added to the top of the spine using the same font as before.

This image shows the track listing on the back of the DVD cover. This is a basic code and convention of any music DVD. Track listings are used to show what content is on the DVD, on this one a selection of 8 songs has been included, and the music promo video has been listed too. We used the same font, again, to keep the recurring theme going, and because it is a quite interesting font, which offers our DVD cover to be a little more dynamic. We put the track listing in the middle of the back page as we felt it is more space effective, and we planned to move small images around it.

We decided to put another quote at the top of this page, to give a more of a professional feel to the website. This time we chose MOJO as a name for the quote.

This image shows the development of the first images the band. The first image is of Dan Linehan. We chose this image as Dan is facing towards the camera, and is leaning into the shot, as if he is in mid-motion of movement. We felt that this image was the most natural of the images we had of him, and the iconography of the shot, being the bass in the foreground with the black clothes, this image was collectively with all these things the best image for this DVD cover. Iconography is important as it helps the user of our texts to build up an understanding of what we want to show using this text. We put the image at a slant, as it again fits the page better around the track listing, but it also creates the sense of disruption in the user of these texts mind as it is not an ordered image any more, which is a representation of rock culture, as stereotypically, rockers do not follow order.

After the first image of Dan Linehan, we added the rest of the images, these being of the rest of the band, Adam Campbell, Ben Harris and Mike Gaines. The picture of the lead singer is the same as the one used on the website as we didn't have many shots of the lead singer due to our photo shoot needing to be cut short. This photo was the best photo, as the subject isn't making direct contact to the camera, and it swinging the microphone around. This is a typical iconic rock picture for a lead singer. This image has too been given a white text box and shifted about so it isn't a strait image. The image of rhythm guitarist, Mike Gaines is a near enough direct shot of him playing his guitar. He again has a typical rock'n'roll stance, as it playing his guitar. His guitar is again in the foreground, in some ways making his guitar more of the subject for the shot, rather than himself. He also has been given a white border and has been shifted to create an unordered picture. The last picture is of Ben Harris, the lead guitarist. He is standing dead on to the camera and has a very powerful stance. His guitar and amp are in the foreground on the shot, making them the primary subject of the shot, which automatically draws attention to them, creating a good array of mise-en-scene and iconography. His photo has been given a white border and has too been slightly altered to be slightly out of order.

The previous 8 images show the DVD information section being constructed. This is a key feature on most if not all DVD's and contains information like DVD length, soundtrack quality and disk format. We decided to build our by having lines on our page, seperating each part of the box. We had a large line to seperate the images and track listing from this part of the cover too. After we had the appropriate amount of lines, we used two text boxes to put the text in between the lines. When the information has been put in the text boxes correctly, they were put in place, and the information box was finished. It is a key code and convention of any DVD to have this information box, so we felt it very important to feature this on our cover.

This is yet another logo being tried and tested by the band, which they have given us permission to use on our productions. It is just a white background with Stentorian written in black on it. We decided to put that image on our cover there so it is like a symbol for Stentorians record studio/label, and how they released this package as an independant record label. This is a code and convention of music DVD covers so we felt it was neccessary to include this within our cover.

The previous two images show two characters in the font we used to make the DVD logo and Dolby Digital logo. This font came very much in handy in the production of our texts to help us produce a realistic professional looking text.

This image shows the age rating of the DVD. We chose PG as it is the only age rating within the font we used to create all the official logo's. We created this part of the cover by placing one large text box with the age rating inside that one on the page. Then within that we placed two smaller text boxes, one containing "Suitable for all the family" and the other containing "Parental guidance advised". We created this as it makes the DVD look for official, and look a lot more professional. We are pleased with the way it has turned out.

This image shows the bar code being added to the cover. As you can tell, this is not a proper bar code as it doesn't have the numbers at the bottom of the bar code, but it looks realistic enough. The font we downloaded for this helped create that professional look and feel to our cover.

This is the final image, which shows some official text copied off the back of a music DVD cover. It is basic copyright and legal disclaimers which feature on most DVD covers, so we felt that we should include these bits on our cover.