Finished Music Video

Completed Magazine Advertisement

We wanted our magazine advertisement (edited on Adobe Photoshop CS5 ) to include key information, such as: 

• the name of our band (Disciples of Rock - so they would know who to check out, if they enjoyed the songs)
• the title of the album (L.O.U.D - as we wanted to give the audience a clue as to what this album is about - breaking free and not standing in the silence any longer)
• the best selling song of the album (What Do You Want? - to advertise the music video also)
• the release date, so they now exactly when they can get it
• some 5* reviews, so they know that the album is worth listening to - also the reviews are from HMV and iTunes (so they know where they can purchase the album)

Idea 1

The rubix cube matches our key prop in the video which symbolises how our artist is no longer being manipulated like a puzzle would be, the colours also match the loud vibe we were trying to create. However we felt that for a rock genre this did not stand out enough and engage our target audience and not everyone would be able to figure out that symbolic code of the cube.  

Idea 2

With this idea we were going to have an image of the artist holding her head and then add some musical instrument flying from her head - similar to thoughts, however although an intriguing idea we felt that the image contradicted our idea that the artist is now bold with a new status of independence.

Idea 3

We therefore opted to use a more outgoing pose which relates to the rock genre (with our artist making the stereotypical rock hand gesture), she can also be seen wearing a leather jacket and headphones - thus implying her involvement with musical rock. But this image was fairly small and we felt it could be hard to make our properly.

Thus we chose this image which emphasises rock even more (with those rock hand gesture and an intense face - something many relate to rock musicians), the image also includes lots of loud colours like the rubix cube (linking directly to the album's message about making noise).

Final Idea

For our final idea however we thought it best to remove the black and white gradient from the background, as it drew too much attention away from the imagery and the key information by over-crowding the advertisement. The black background also allowed for a more professional look were you can't see the surrounding black boxes of the text and image.

Completed Digipak

Having used this template we were able to create our digipak on Adobe Photoshop CS5

Our Front Cover

For our digipak we really wanted to convey how our artist is trying to break from her long kept silence, this is why although the artist has her mouth shut, she can be seen (in almost a x-ray like fashion) with musical instruments (guitar, drums, microphones, musical lyrics and a speaker) in her throat (to symbolise her new found voice). The effect we have chosen is great, as it emphasises the colours well, linking visually to our use of the rubix cube (which we feel represent the manipulative game she's trying to break free from)! (Hence our album is called 'Loud'.)

Spine

Our spine involves the name of our band ('Disciples of Rock' - as we follow that genre specifically), as well as including some white slanted lines (that we think are symbolic to guitar strings - something used often within the songs as well as the video).








Inside Left

For our inside left cover, we opted to show our artist in an almost evolutionary stage (starting from an almost unnoticeable ball hidden in the corner of the room, until she reaches her new found freedom of speech). We also felt this filter added the idea of not only sound waves but chains (again what she's breaking free from).

Inside right

We have included a bright colourful background to emphasis the loudness of our album and then the vinyl is a record player including the title of the album and the name of our band. The colours link to the rubix cube we used within the music video and emphasis our theme of a 'game'. In addition the messy overlapping lines convey the 'loudness' of the album and video.

Back Cover

Our back cover simply shows the songs within the album (with the number one hit at the top, so it draws in the most attention). And although quite simple with not too much overcroading, it still remains pretty bold and distinctive adding to the theme of being loud. We included not only the barcode but the production teams logo and iTunes (a possible site you could purchase it from).

Finished product

Social media feedback on magazine cover

Evaluation of music video

Today we made a mind map of the possible cinematography, editing and mise-en-scene we could have used within our music video. 

Blue Circles- Represent the aspects that we managed to include within our video.

Orange Circles- Represent that we developed this.

Red Circles- Represent how we challenged this.

From doing this we saw that we have used everything we put down, which shows that we have effectively achieved our aims of including a variety of camera shots and editing techniques, as well as including all the props stereotypical to our genre. In using all of these techniques it will make our music video more appealing to our target audience and will subsequently help to encode our genre well. In addition we have developed various techniques and have not challenged anything within our mind map. However our use of the rubix cube theme throughout the video is challenging the typical props used and themes of a rock genre e.g skating and rebelling. 

Music video

CD cover

Possible pictures for our album cover

On our album cover for the CD we want to include images of some of the equipment we used, however we need our images to be shown on a Matt black background (so it didn't appear in a white box on the CD)! So I took the images we wanted and using word document I was able to use tools to get rid of any background, leaving just the image itself and then I placed each on to a black background and screenshot them (ready for use in Adobe Photoshop).

Digipack ideas for layout

Digipack design ideas

Plan for editing in music video

Through looking at similar products from a rock genre, I found that in Avril Lavigne's "Smile" music video, she changed from low key black and white editing, to colour throughout. We decided to use this concept within our music video, by starting it in black and white then changing to colour with the introduction of the rubix cube, due to the theme of a game.

In addition the location of parts of the video are very basic and plan, with just a white back ground. We decided to develop this through the use of our location in the drama studio. By doing this the main attention is on the artist and the music of the song.

My plan for our magazine advertisement

For our magazine advertisement I felt that the album of the artist should be settled in the centre to make it the main focus of the advertisement. To emphasis the album cover further I would include a colour scheme of black and white vs the colour of the album particularly the old fashioned megaphone situated on her cheek - symbolising her sudden outburst of anger. The font will remain in the style of the rock genre with a similar font to David Guetta's electronic logo which is slightly electronic looking. Additionally the title name 'loud' will be much larger in sizing than the other details to draw attention to the concept of the album which is to break free and use your own voice! But other details include the date of release, our record label, reviews, our website and most importantly we want the song to our music video to be mentioned as the best seller on the advertisement - as it will bring our video more attention.

Magazine advertisement idea

Drawing of my magazine advertisement idea:

For my magazine advertisement idea I took inspiration from looking at previous artists advertisements of their album, as well as the layout within the magazine. I have put the bands name at the top of the advertisement, in the biggest letters so that it stands out to audiences. Furthermore the majority of the space is took up with the artists image which will appear at the front of the album. This is because as it is a new artist, we want to advertise her as well as the band, so she is a popular image within the music industry. In addition the audience will recognise the album within shops as they know what it looks like. Moreover along the bottom there will be reviews out of five, in addition to the release date, record label and production company. 

Practicing editing still photos

For this I took still photos in various locations and shot types, so we have a range of ideas for what camera angles to use within our music video, to make it more exciting for audiences to watch more than once. On final cut express I then edited each one in different styles and colour themes so that there is a range of ideas to consider for editing that can be used on different parts of our music video. I have tried to stick with a red or black theme so that it goes with our rock genre, therefore audiences will be able to recognise this and decode our video. However I have also used one or two in a paint/blur style, in very colourful colours to represent our artist being in what she describes as a 'game', along with the colours representing the rubix cube.

Analysing music magazine advertisements

                                Magazine Advertisements

Jesse.J's magazine advertisement for her album 'Who are you'

Having analysed this advertisement I found that there are some specific key factors that we as a group should use to attract an audience for our music video, such as:

• the artist name
• a picture of the artist
• the album name
• the best selling song on the album - we could make this 'what do you want from me' as it'd make someone viewing it more likely to go straight to that song and its video
• logos of the record label/s
• where you can find the song such as the artist's very own website or somewhere like iTunes and HMV...

There are actually some other key factors that we could consider to include for our magazine advertisement, such as:

• the release date
• any reviews to make the album seem better

Its therefore evident that Jessie.J is trying to rely solely on her status alone in order to sell the album as she hasn't found it necessary to include further details. In conclusion we need to think about what details our artist needs to inform their audience with and how we could be display them to attract the target crowd.



Analysing music magazine advertisements

 Analysing conventions of a magazine advert for a CD: 

I looked at the Arctic Monkey's advertisement for their CD within a magazine, looking at the conventions of the layout, colour, text and themes. The name of the artist was the biggest on the ad, showing that they rely on their branding alone to draw attention. The CD was a medium close up of a girls face, showing that the artists are not even on the advertisement, which could suggest they are not interested in promoting themselves/ their image, but the music itself. 

The main conventions that are normally seen within a magazine advertisement for music is:

1) The artists name

2) A picture of the artist/band

3) The logo or name of the record label

4) Reviews in the style of stars out of five

5) The release date of the album

6) The albums names, in addition to some of the previous singles being advertised

Album Name

These are words that we have brainstormed in relation to our song genre and artist, we hope to get an idea of an album name from these.

When brainstorming we thought about how the artist is singing about her controlling relationship and how now she is tired of her partners 'game' and how she just wants 'independence' rather than the 'mayhem' its causing her to feel. We also believed that her relationship could resemble a natural disaster hence the use of 'riptide'...

But overall we like 'independence', 'play' and 'loud' the most, therefore we hope to use these within our album name.

My first attempt using Adobe Photoshop CS5 to edit album covers

Adobe photoshop cs5 from Madeleine Fox

Practice editing on Adobe

Editing for our music video

One type of editing that looks effective on our music video is the use of still pictures. We took 12 different stills of our artist holding the guitar at different angles, all in the position of clock hands. We then lined them up along our timeline in the right order and made the speed faster for each individual one. This way when played the still shots would look like a moving image/timelapse of the guitar representing a clock going round. This additionally looks successful as it matches the lyrics of our song through "Don't wanna waste my time on you again", and still keeps the rock feel to the music video.