Day 5 - Filming

Today, I have been filming the photo album scene. This is where the female character is looking through the photos of her and ex boyfriend in the living room. Then she just rips one of the photos of her and the ex in half to portray to the audience that she is over at him.

She was wearing different type of clothing so our music would still look interesting. However, she is still using white colour on it so it shows her purity and innocence.

Ex Student Magazine Advert Analysis

I have chosen to analyse this magazine advert from one of the ex student's in our school because it is the same genre as ours. This will give me help me on what we could include on our music advert. 


Magazine Advert

Digipak

The use of the same image, simple fonts, red and black colour from their digipak are effective as it makes it easier for us to identify what the poster is about. Their main colour scheme is red and black; this is evident through the colour of the fonts they have used, the logo and the stars at the top left corner. It also implies that she is targeting at goth and emo people because these are the colours that we stereotypically see on them. The use of red as their colour scheme grabs the audience’s attention. It also connotes as danger, blood or romance which reflects to the theme on their music video. The use of framing the artist on the wood makes the audience feel that she is in prison and she can’t get out of the lonely place.  I like how they used the lighting on the main artist because it makes you focus at her and also it creates the black edges which makes you feel the situation she is in. Black also portrays how the female artist’s life is dull and it links back to the album title “My Happy Ending”. The use of high angle siginifies that she is asking for someone to help her on how to get out of the dim place. The use of ratings from one of the well known music magazines in UK and one of the quotes is really good as it causes the audience to buy their product. The font they have used within the magazine advert is simple which lets the audience to read the texts easily. They have used capital letters on the album title, artists’ name and the release date which makes it stands out from any other texts and these are the important things that the audience wants to know. The website placed at the bottom right corner on the page and the use of red makes the texts makes it easier to see what they have written on it. They have placed the logo at the bottom left corner because it is not that important but it is also what we normally see in a magazine advert. 

Overall, I like how they have composed their magazine advert as it stands out and it reminds you from the music video and their digipak. The use of rope on the wood and around the artist neck is very effective because it establishes the type of character she is. They also picked the right colours as it matches the theme and genre of their magazine advert.

Conventions of Magazine Adverts

These are the conventions of Magazine Adverts:

• Name of the artist
• Release date
• Brand identity
• Website
• Company logo
• Name of the album
• One of the song names
• Tour dates
• Magazine/ Newspaper rating
• The shops where you can get them
• "Follow us on...(Twitter, Facebook)

What is Brand Identity?

A brand identity symbolizes the company's values, services, ideas and personality. Record labels create a brand identity as a base to sell the artists music on. An artist needs a unique selling point in order to create a market for them in the music industry. It is a key to a successful business of any kind.  One of the most common logo that we recognise is Coca Cola. The logo and design of Coca Cola is so well-known and recognisable that Coca Cola even once put out an advert consisting purely of the red and white 'wave' that they were so confident on people recognising their brand, and it was a successful advert.

Building a brand identity neeeds a consistent use of the same logos, characters, designs and themes, and re-branding a company is a risky move that can often go wrong or have negative compact, for example in 2001 the Royal Mail re-branded themselves to 'Consignia' but quickly changed as it was so not liked with both the community and the companies employees.

Magazine Advert Brief (Ancillary Task 2)

Brief:

• a magazine advert for the digipak (CD/ DVD package)

Final Digipak

This is the final image for our final digipak

The use of close up shot on the female artist's face promotes her to the audience and they can focus on her facial expression more. We made the female artist look directly at the camera to show that she is directing to the audience. The hand on her lips represents her as being feminine and sexy looking. This implies that she is aiming on male and female audiences. The use of black and red writing on the font contrasts with each other. Also the red font connotes as love which relates back to the main theme of romance. The red colour also attracts the audience's eyes because it stands out. The use of Jellyka- Nathaniel font looks like a signature from the artist which signifies as more personal. The use of black on the album title makes it look professional and it stands out from the main image which is easier for the audience to read. We have used an effect to the main image so it gives an effect of bright colours which one of the generic conventions of pop digipak. The use of bright colours also grabs the audience's attention. 

Final image for inside cover (left) 

The use of footprints on the sand implies that something used to be there but it's gone which relates back to the main theme of our music video. I have changed the opacity level of the images on the right hand side into 75% so it blends in well with the background image. We have used the images from one of the photos in the photo album of our music video because we want something that would remind our music video to the audience. The use of white on the lyrics and candara font makes it easier for the audience to read the lyrics. We have aligned and placed the lyrics right at the centre of the page so it looks professionally done. 

Final image for inside cover (right)

The use of vignette effect around the edges makes the artist as the main focus on the page. We have placed the female artist on the right so it looks unique. We have used an effect to create a bright colour effect because we want it to stand out and it is one of the generic conventions of pop digipaks. The use of the same clothing from our music video reminds the audience what is her character in the video. It is also one of the latest fashion trends which implies that we are aiming for the female audiences. The white colour of her top portrays her character role of being innocent and the red reflects on the main theme which is romance. 

Final image for back cover

I have flipped the original image so the female character is on the right hand side as it would just take away the main image. The use of bar code, copyright information and company logos makes the back cover professionally done as this is what we would expect to see in a back cover of a digipak. The use of Script MT Bold and white colours on the font makes it easier to read for the audience and it stands out from the backdrop image. The copyright information is placed at the bottom corner on the back cover and the font size is really small because it is not that important compared to the track list. The use of the same font and colour for the album name and the artist's name shows that it is our font and colour scheme. We have place it at the centre on the spine as we want it to stand out from the others. 

Editing Process for our Digipak

This is a screenshot while we was editing a photo of the female artist and the male character for the inside cover. 

We have used Photoshop while creating our digipak because we want to delete some parts of the photo that we don't want to include. These are the tools we have used while editing photos:

• We have created a new layer and used magic wand tool to select the parts that we want to cut off. 
• We also used polygonal tool as we want to make sure that the edges are straight so it makes the photo look tidy. 
• We have used contrast to make the colours on the photos vibrant and colourful so the audience won't get bored of looking at it. 

This is a screenshot from our recent digipak that we have created so far. 

Front Cover: We thought we would use an effect to the female artist's face on the front cover as we want to make it look brighter which is a generic conventions of pop digipaks. We thought that we should use black colours for the font but different font styles on the artist's name and the album name as it would keep it look interesting to the audience. The black colour of the fonts contrasts with the blonde hair of the female artist. 

Inside Panels (Left):
We have added a little bit of contrast on the footprints so it looks vibrant which would grabs the audience's attention. The use of white on the lyrics and the simple type of font we have used makes it easier to read for the viewers. We thought that we should have the pictures from the photo album on the right hand side of the page so it doesn't take away the image of the footprints. I thought that if we have the pictures of main characters in a 'Polaroid' effect, it would make the photos look like they came from the photo album. I have changed the opacity into 75% because I want it to blend with the backdrop image. 

Inside Panels (Right):
I thought we could have a mid/long shot of the female artist posing because it doesn't make our digipak boring. The use of vignette effect around the edges makes the female artist stands out and makes the audience focus on her face and body. The use of latest fashion trends on her implies that we are targeting on female audience's as they would be able to identify themselves in her. This is because females especially teenage girls are stereo-typically into fashion and magazine. The idea of using the same clothing in the music video reminds the audience to the music video. 

Spine:
We have placed the bar code number at the top of the spine and the logos at the bottom. We have placed the album title and the artist's name at the centre because it is the main subject and this is most important thing on the spine. We have used the same font styles on the album name and the artist's name from the front cover. 

Back Cover:
We have placed the bar code on the side because it takes away the image if we place it at the bottom. We have used white colours on the track lists and use fancy writing so it stands out from the backdrop and makes the audience to read it. We have placed the company logo, copyright information and other logos at the bottom of the page because this is where we would see it in a real digipak. 

Back Cover Ideas:

Final Editing:

This is a screenshot of the final digipak for our music video. The changes we have made are:

• I have changed the font colour of the artist's name in the front cover and spine into red because I think black is just boring and red also matches the main romance theme of our music video. 
• I have rotated the artist's name on the left because I want to attract the audience's eyes so they will buy our digipak. 
• I have aligned and placed the lyrics right at the centre of the page. 
• The copyright information is placed right at the bottom corner of the page and move it a little bit further from the female artist's feet. 
• I have change the font style and make it a little bit bolder because the first one is quite hard to read. 
• Made the bar code number at the spine into size 5 because we don't want it to stand out with the album name and the artist's name.  

Feedback of our digipaks

These are the ideas that we have presented into the whole class:

Idea 1:
          

Idea 2:

          

Idea 3:

          

Feedback
After we have showed and explained the ideas we have got for on each of the digipak, we have received different comments from different people. These are the feedback we have got:

Positive:

• They like my idea of using close up shots on the front cover as they would see her expression more and it is also one of the generic conventions of pop digipaks. 
• All the images links back to the music video which makes them think about it.
• They all like the idea of having footprints on the sand for the inside panel because it reminds them on our music video.
• The fonts that I have thought of for the front cover was effective because the audience thinks it fits in with our genre 
• They like my idea of having the female walking down the path because this is what they see at the start of our music video and they also see it right at the end. 
• One of the students liked my idea of showing half of the female artist's face on the front cover because it gives a mysterious kind of effect to the audience and it also gives an enigma on why just showing half of her face. 

Negative:

• They think the mid shot of the female looking on the right doesn't work. 
• The egg timer and orchids aren't effective compared to the footprints on the sand.

Final decision:

After the feedback they have made on the ideas for our digipaks, the whole class has to make some votes on which ones we could use for the front cover, inside panel and back cover. These are the decisions they have made:

 

Front Cover

The close up shot and the angle of her face shows her melancholic expressions which would remind the audience into our music video as this is the type of character we have portrayed her as in our music video. It would also be clear to them who the music video is about and authorize them to feel closer to her. The fancy font style for the title would attract the female audience's eyes because it looks girly. The signature type of font for the artist's name makes it look professional and more personal. 

Back Cover

 

They think that this idea for the back cover works very effective as it would remind the audience into our music video as this is what they would see at the start and end of it. The placement of the bar code, company logo and copyright information at the bottom of the page is what we would normally expect to see in a music video and it looks professionally done.

Inside Cover

 

They thing that the footprints of the sand works well for the inside cover as it links back to the music video and it also reflects on theme of the whole song, as the female used to have something but doesn't have it anymore whereas the footprints means something that used to be there but isn't anymore. The lyrics on the left hand side is effective because it would be easier for the audience to read the words. 

 

Conclusion:

Overall, I think we have used the generic conventions of pop digipak which would be easier for the audience to identify the theme and genre. The whole composition of the digipak has some meaning that associates with our music video which would remind the audience about what it was about. 

Inspirational Digipak

Front Cover

This is one of the digipak that inspires me because I think it has covered the generic conventions of a pop digipak and it has targeted the audience they are aiming for which is what we want to accomplish in ours. The use of simple background and mid shot makes Madonna stands out even though she is placed on the side of the page which is what we are expecting to see this on a front cover of pop digipak. I like how they have used blue as their colour scheme and this is evident through the colour of top she is wearing and the colour of the background. Also the title is "Ray of Light" which matches the bright blue colours they have used as their colour scheme. The female looking straight towards the camera portrays that she is directing to the audience and it makes you buy the CD. Madonna stares directly at the camera also implies that she is mainly aiming to the male audience as she looks seductive and pretty which would attract the audience's eyes. 

Inside Cover

The inside panel has got a booklet that contains track list  lyrics and some photos of the female artist which is what we would expect to see in a digipak. I like how they have got different poses of her inside the booklet which keeps the audience interested while they are reading thought the lyrics. I like how they have used white and simple font styles because it helps the audience to read the texts inside it. The bright blue colours grabs the audience's eyes and also it stays in their mind even though they are looking at different ones.









Back Cover

The back cover looks unique from any other pop digipaks as we normally expect to see a full shot of the artist or band members but this one isn't showing that and they on capture half of her body. This creates an enigma to the audience as they might think about what is the reason behind it? Or maybe they want the audience to focus on the clothes she is wearing and the background they have used because they have used too many close up and mid shots on the front cover and inside panels. I like how they have placed the bar code at the top instead of placing it at the bottom of the page where her dress is as it will just take away the main image. All the company logo and copyright information are really small at the bottom of the page because they are not that important. I like how they have placed the numbers on the right instead on the left because it makes their digipak look unique and interesting to look at. 

Conclusion:

After looking through this digipak, it gives me some ideas on what we could have on our digipak as they have portrayed and used generic conventions of pop genre. For example, it would help us where and how we would place the female artist on our digipak. And how we are going to represent our female artist or what clothes would she needs to be wearing? I found out that we could use bright colours and a close up shot of the female artist as this would attract our target audience. The use of simple fonts and different font styles keeps the digipak interesting which is the type of font we could possibly use for our digipak.  

4th Digipak Analysis

Beyonce - Greatest Hits

Front Cover:

The use of close up shot on Beyonce's face makes the audience focus on her sexy and feminine looking. This implies that she is aiming on male and female audiences. The use of close up shot also makes the audience grab the CD immediately as they can see clearly on who the artist is. The use of big, bold, gothic type of font on the artist's name makes it stand out and it also reflects on the artist emotion as she is not facing directly at the camera which implies that she is embarrased. The use of white on the album name and the artist's name represents her innocence and purity character. 

Inside Panels:

On the left side of the inside panel, it shows information about the female artist which some audience might find it interesting. They have placed her past albums at the bottom of the page which some audience might identify what they are. The use of black clothing on Beyonce and the black background reflects on the gothic type of font they have used in the front cover.  It portrays that she also has the other side of her which everyone has but they are just hiding it. The wet look type of clothing and the heels she wears clearly shows the nice shape of her body which implies that she is targeting at male audiences. The use of different styles on the disc keeps the inside panel attractive. The close up shot of the female on the centre and right side of the panel makes the audience focus on her facial expression.

3rd Digipak Analysis

Rihanna - Loud

I have chosen to analyse this digipak because her songs are mainly pop genre. 

Front Cover:

The use of extreme close up shot on her face makes the audience see the sort of pain and the emotion on her face. However, her glossy red lips can be interpreted as sexy which would grab the male audience's eye. The colour scheme they use is red which signifies that it might be about love/romance. The use of simple and capital fonts makes it stands out and easy to read. The use of white implies that she is innocent. 

Inside Panels:

The use of close up shot on the female artist's face gives us the feeling that she is going on an emotional journey with this album as she still looks a lot more vulnerable than the front cover. She is also holding the rose as it was a cigarette in a message to say this is relieving her stress off her shoulders. The female artist also portrays herself as putting on more of an act as to say “I'm okay” but she really isn't, this is indicated by the fur jacket she is wearing, this also gives people the message that its not just Rihanna who puts on these act’s, it can be other people too.

Back Cover:

They have used a medium shot of Rihanna looking down with her hair hanging over her face makes her look depressed. Also you can see a much more sense of vulnerability than on the front cover when you could sense toughness and strength. The use of Arial font on the track lists makes it easy to read for the audience and it also implies that Rihanna represents as simple woman. They have place the female artist on the left hand side so the fonts won't take away the main image. They have placed the bar code and other texts at the bottom which is what we normally see on the back cover of a digipak. They have used small font size on other texts but made the fonts nigger for the track lists as this is the main important text at the back cover. 

Conclusion:
I like how the whole photo gives an opportunity to speak for itself and make you want to listen to the album and hear Rihanna express her feelings.

2nd Digipak Analysis

Britney Spears - Femme Fatale

I have chosen to analyse this as the second digipak because her songs are mainly pop which could give me some ideas on what my group could include in our digipak. She is mainly aiming at younger audience which is the same as our target audience. 

Front Cover: 
The use of close up shot and the female artist seductively looking towards the camera appeals more to the male audience. The use of plain background makes Britney stands out even more to the audience. The use of white clothing represents Britney as innocent and pure. The use of gold on the album and the artist’s name works well apart from the area where the writing is on her hair, which you can’t really see properly. 

Inside Panels:
The idea of not having a lot of photos from the female artist makes the digipak look unique because we always see lots of photos of an artist inside the digipak. The inside panel looks really simple but the use of black background makes the gold writing stands out and grabs the audience’s eye. The photo of Britney inside the panel is quite revealing which implies that she is aiming on females. This also resembles a fashion image as you may have seen this in a fashion magazine. The photo they have used is quite dark which matches the black background. 

Back Cover: 
They have challenged the outside cover on this digipak as the theme they have used inside contradicts with the light colours they have used at the back. They have placed Britney on the left hand side of the cover so that the track lists is very clear and it wouldn’t take away the image of the photo.  They have used black for the texts which is different from the front and inside panel. This makes the texts stands out and understandable to the audience. The bar code and company logo is at the bottom of the page which is what we would normally see in back covers of a digipak.

Conclusion:
I like how they have used the close up shot of Britney’s face because she is an artist that people recognise so this would draw someone into buying it as it is clear who the artist is. The idea of simplistic signifies that it could appeal to older audiences. 

1st Digipak Analysis

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

The first digipak that I am going to analyse is Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. I have chosen this because it is the same genre that my group are doing.

Front Cover:
The front cover is filled with Katy Perry’s body, this is because they want to promote the artist to sell the album and for the audience to can associate with the song and Katy. The artist is presented provocatively and revealing as they have used none clothing on her. Her sexy look and looking towards that camera grabs the audience’s eye. They have used one of the generic conventions of Pop genre as their main colour scheme is pink and baby blue which are bright colours. The use of candy theme implies that they are mainly aiming for young teens and it also appeals to the children. It also implies that Katy Perry represents as sweet like the candy floss but also innocent. The candy floss at the background also gives a dreamy kind of effect which links back to the album title 'Teenage Dream'. The use of medium - long shot of katy perry laying on pink fluffy clouds by herself, she stands out from the light blue colour backgrounds because of the pale colours of her skin , the clouds and the sky with her black hair which makes her look like she wants to be someones teenage dream. The “teenage dream” writing which is supposed to be candy canes and the clouds meant to be candy floss, this personifies how this picture is meant to have a “sweet” vibe to it, which kind of has a message about Katy herself who comes accross as the “american sweetheart” in most of her songs on this album. 

Back Cover:
They have placed the barcode at the top right hand side of the back cover and the copyright information at the bottom of the page which looks really professional and this is what we normally see on the back cover of a digipak. The use of candy font and pink is very effective as it is very colourful and unique. The blue backdrop and the candy floss contrasts with the writing which makes it easy to read the texts. I like how they did not use an image of Katy Perry at the back as it would look too much on the back cover.  In my opinion, the font style of the tracks fits in with the pop genre as it looks cute, girly and pink. I like how they use blue for the bonus tracks as it stands out from the track lists and it would be easier to see which ones which.

Inside Panels:
The use of close up shot on Katy Perry’s face and the plain black on the background stands her red lipstick and make up which implies that she is sweet. The use of red lipstick, mascara, eye liner and none clothing makes the artist look pretty and revealing which would grabs the audience’s eye. Her serious face and looking towards the camera implies that she is directing to her audience and we should buy the album as we feel the same way as her. The candy floss background stands out the female artist more which signifies that she is the main focus. This photo appeals more to the audience because it has so many meanings behind this photo and really gives the audience something to think about when listening to her album. 

Conclusion:
I like how they use a candy floss theme as it looks girly and unique. It also gives a dreamy type of effect which links back to the title 'Teenage Dream'. They have used generic conventions of Pop music and it is clear who they are targeting for.

Ex Student Digipak Analysis

The digipak that I am going to analyse from one of the ex-student in De Aston is My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne. This is because they have got a romance theme which fits into the genre that my group are doing.

Front Cover:

I like how the composition of their front cover as it is very professional to look at. I like how they placed the font on the wood as it stands out and very easy to read for the audience. The vignette effect on the front cover is very effective as well as it highlights the female artist, props (wood) and fonts. The high angle shot and the use of lighting on her face implies that she is isolated and she is the main focus to the audience. Her eyes looking towards the camera shows that she is directing to the audience and makes you feel how melancholic and lonely she is. The use of simple and handwritten font fits with the basic and rebellious image. The black and red colours that are used with the fonts fits in with their genre as red connotes as love which is the genre that they have in their music video. Red also connotes as blood and danger which links back to the main title “My Happy Ending”. They have made their female artist look like Avril Lavigne as she has got eyeliner and red lipstick. This is also a stereotypical type of Emo/Goth person which most of Punk genre music video have.

Back Cover and Spine:

The use of vignette and silhouette effect looks very nice and it leaves an enigma to the audience. For example, they might think why are they covering and hiding he’s face, who and what kind of character he is in their music video. The font style and size stands out and very clear for the audience. The use of red on the fonts signifies that this male character might be dangerous and harmful. Also this is one of the colour schemes that we would normally see in Punk/Emo/Gothic genre. The bar code, company logo and copyright at the bottom look very professional and this is what a digipak looks like. I like the how they have used the back cover background on the spine as the artist name and title stands out. 

Inside Panel:

The use of black background contrasts with the red petals makes the white colour they have used on the lyrics stands out and easy to read for the audience. The red petals also connote as romance/love and it is quite feminine which implies that the female artist is girl but has the connotation of innocence. However, the red petal with green stem on it makes it difficult to read the lyrics. The red, white and black colours they have used in here, reminds me of what the female artist was wearing throughout their music video. I like how they placed more petals on the right hand side of the page and the lyrics on the left hand side as it doesn’t take away the main image on the inside panel. 

Conclusion: 

After analysing this digipak, I thought that it looks professionally done and they have mainly used the generic conventions of Punk/Emo/Goth theme. This lets me compare and improve the ideas that we have got for our digipak.