Creating My Album Magazine Poster

This is a screenshot in Photoshop showing how I created my poster. As you can see, I'm following my second design and just need to add in the record labels, magazine rating, copyright information and the website. 

Second Draft of Album Magazine Poster

This is the second draft of my album poster. I like this design better because I feel that the album cover is shown more and therefore represents 'Kandy Rayn' as their own brand. I also believe that I've included all of the necessary conventions and that they are located around the page better than on my first draft. This is vital as it is what catches the attention of the audience. Therefore, I'm going to base my poster on this design.

First Draft of Album Magazine Poster

This is the first draft of my album poster. As this is my first design, there is still room for improvement. I've included all of the general conventions but I think that the image of the album cover isn't big enough, which means that it will not be eye-catching for the audience and they will not be able to identify with the band. However, as this is only my first design I believe that my ideas will develop when I design my second one.

Researching and Analysing Album Posters

Example One:

The advertisement above is for the grime artist Wretch 32's album 'Wretchrospective'. The conventions conform to the general conventions used on the majority of magazine advertisements:

-  different styles of font (with the artist's name clearly displayed) [WRETCH 32]

-  name of album displayed [WRETCHROSPECTIVE]

-  sponsors / shops;  (shows availability for the audience to purchase the album) [iTunes, HMV]

-  the date (for when the album is released) [6th October 2008]

-  Myspace (for further information of the artist) [MYSPACE.COM/WRETCHCLART]

-  record label [Wretchro Boys/ The Movement]

-  picture of the album; same house-style

Example Two:

The advertisement above is for the hip-hop artist Jay-Z's album 'The Blueprint 3'. The conventions conform to the general conventions used on the majority of magazine advertisements:

-  different styles of font (with the artist's name clearly displayed) [JAY-Z]

-  name of album displayed [THE BLUEPRINT 3]

-  the date (for when the album is released) [09.11.09]

-  website (for further information of the artist) [www.jayz.com]

-  record label [ROC NATION]

-  same image of album used for advert; same house-style

Example Three:

The advertisement above is for the r & b artist Janet Jackson's album 'Discipline'. The conventions conform to the general conventions used on the majority of magazine advertisements:

-  different styles of font (with the artist's name clearly displayed) [JANET JACKSON]

-  name of album displayed [DISCIPLINE]

-  the date (for when the album is released) [25/02]

-  website (for further information of the artist) [janetjackson.com]

-  same image of album used for advert; same house-style

Example Four:

The advertisement above is for the r & b artist Gwen Stefani's album 'Love. Angel. Music. Baby'. The conventions conform to the general conventions used on the majority of magazine advertisements:

-  different styles of font (with the artist's name clearly displayed) [Gwen Stefani]

-  name of album displayed [Love. Angel. Music. Baby.]

-  the date [album in stores now]

-  website (for further information of the artist) [www.gwenstefani.com]

-  same image of album used for advert; same house-style

Example Five:

The advertisement above is for the house/electro artist Basement Jaxx's album 'Rooty'. The conventions conform to the general conventions used on the majority of magazine advertisements:

-  different styles of font (with the artist's name clearly displayed) [BASEMENT JAXX]

-  name of album displayed [ROOTY]

-  the date [JUNE 25]

-  website (for further information of the artist) [www.xlrecordings.com]

-  same image of album used for advert; same house-style

Overall, I can conclude that the majority of album posters consist of:

- different styles of font e.g. the font can be the same style but different in the sense that it is smaller/bigger, in capitals or lowercase and bold or normal. Having different styles of font is a marketing device used as it's what attracts the audience and engages their attention.

- the same image from the actual album cover is used to maintain a house-style and so that the audience can identify with the artist.

- the sponsors, record label and where you can purchase the album. These are often small logos so that the artist is kept as the main feature of the poster.

- bold colours are often used as another device to attract the audience.

- one central image of the artist. This image is often the main feature of the poster and is very big and sharp in order to stand out so that the audience can instantly identify with them.

- website so that the audience can gather more information on the artist and get things such as merchandise, gigs/tour information, exclusive photographs and songs etc.

Our Music Video - Draft One

This is the first draft of our music video. As we had a tight deadline to meet for the Expressive Arts Evening, the video had to be done as soon as possible so therefore we just need to add a few changes to the video and re-sync one or two parts. Hope you enjoy the video for now!

A-Level Media Music Video Group 3 from Sidney Stringer on Vimeo.

Ancillary Task 2 - Album Magazine Poster

For my second ancillary task, I am going to produce a magazine poster for my band's album. Before I actually start to produce it, I am going to conduct some research to help me identify the main features used on existing album magazine advertisements. This will help me to gain a thorough understanding of the conventions used in order for me to be able to apply them properly onto my own advertisement.

Creating My Digipak

Here is a screenshot of me creating my digipak using Adobe Photoshop. 

As you can see from the image above, I still need to create my back cover. So far I've created my front cover, inside and base for where the actually CD disc is going to be placed. I'm keeping to a consistent theme of maintaining the house-style of vibrant colours, which are the girls' individual colours they represent in the video and lollipops as these are elements which represent 'Kandy Rayn'. I've added the yellow background for the front cover although it is not a colour represented throughout the music video because it coincides with the girls' colours to create a 'candy' like effect and has associations with sweets/candy. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Photographs Used for Ancillary Tasks

Here are the original and edited pictures I'm going to use for both my ancillary tasks, which are the digipak and album magazine advertisement. I've added a tint onto the pictures which exemplifies the girl's individual colour that she represents throughout the video.

 

Megi = Pink :)

 

Vanessa = Purple :)

 

Me = Green :)

 

Samantha = Red :)

Photoshoot

Today in class we set up the white screen and had a photoshoot in order to take photographs for our ancillary tasks. Unfortunately I couldn't find the lollipops I initially wanted for the girls, so therefore had to use an alternative. On the other hand, I managed to take some good shots and the lollipops worked quite well considering I can manipulate them in Photoshop to how I want them to be. I will change them into the colour that each girl represents i.e. I represent green so therefore I will change the colour of my lollipop to green to add a unique touch. Here are some of the photographs I took which I am considering using for both of my ancillary tasks:

Second Draft of Digipak

This is the second draft of my digipak. I like these ideas more than my first digipak so I think I'm going to use this design. I've kept the front rather simple and I'm going to include an individual photograph of each girl. In order to do this, a photoshoot will need to be set up in order for me to get a good variety of shots to choose from. I'm going to keep the images at mid-shots so that the clear emphasis is on the girls as this is supposed to be their debut album. I will also need to get some lollipops for the girls to hold in the position as I've drawn them on my design. A prominent feature I am going to include is the individual colour that each girl represents. I believe that this design is more realistic to achieve so therefore I will base my digipak on this design.

First Draft of Digipak

This is the first draft of my digipak. I really like the ideas for the front cover, but I'm not sure as to whether they will be realistic enough as initially I would like to have droplets of candy falling behind in the image of the four girls, such as candy rain which matches our band name 'Kandy Rayn'. However, creating these images of falling candy will be quite hard to do and very time-consuming, so therefore I might need to reconsider my designs.

Analysing Albums by Solo Artists

I thought I would conduct some research into albums by solo artists to see how they differ from an album for a band. I will also look at artists of different genres in order to gain a wider perspective and understanding of how they may or may not use similar conventions.

Taylor Swift:

Pictured above is the album 'Speak Now' by Taylor Swift who is an American country-pop singer. Her album cover shows an image of her with her name and the name of her album. Both texts are of different font styles, however they look similar and the swirly writing effect that they create show how Taylor has a signature look. This means that the audience will be able to identify with her. The image of Taylor herself (mid long shot) is what dominates the cover and her pose gives the impression that she is swinging her dress around with purple paint like effects added on to give an overall effect. This is significant because as the main artist, the emphasis needs to be on Taylor and she needs to be the main source of attraction in order to catch the audience's attention. 

Jordin Sparks:

Pictured above is the self-titled debut album by Jordin Sparks who is an American pop/ R & B singer. Jordin's album is very plain and just consists of an image of herself and her name. The shot used of her is a medium close up, which once again draws all of the emphasis onto Jordin in order to ensure that she is the main focus for the target audience. From the mise-en-scene, I can establish that Jordin is dressed quite casually which could reflect her personality and she may also want to look quite simple as this is her debut album. There are no bright colours and the colour black is what dominates the cover as she is wearing black against a grey/black background and her name is in black too. The font used for her name is of a specific font, which I personally like as it is clear and coherent. 

Leona Lewis:

This is the second album 'Spirit' which was released by British pop singer Leona Lewis. All of the space on the front cover has been used by the image of Leona herself, which is a close-up of her face. The image is plain and Leona has neutral make-up on which reflects her personality and also doesn't create any dominating contrasts on the cover. Her name and album title have been done in the same font and in capitals which shows how Leona has kept to a consistent house-style. The colours of the text are also quite basic.

50 Cent:

Pictured above is the album 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' by the hip-hop artist 50 Cent. I chose to analyse this cover because I feel that there is a lot of representation on it through analysing the mise-en-scene. Firstly, a special effect used makes it appear as though somebody has aimed a gun at 50 and shot through glass, but missed. Guns and violence are usually associated with hip-hop. 50 reinforces this view as he has several tatoos down his left arm, is standing topless, wearing an expensive watch and a very 'bling' chain with a cross on it. This shows how he is conforming to the general stereotype of an hip-hop artist. The parental advisory label also indicates the nature of the content of his songs which once again shows how swearing is very explicit with hip-hop artists. 50 Cent's name is very big and bold, particularly the '50' part which gives the impression that 50 is making his mark in the music industry as an established, dominant hip-hop artist. However, the title of the album 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' is in a rather fancy font which draws a contrast to his name. A medium long shot is used of 50 showing how he is the main feature of the album to attract the audience.

Calvin Harris:

This is the album 'READY FOR THE WEEKEND' by Calvin Harris, who is a Scottish electro-dance producer. I thought this would be a good album to analyse because Calvin hasn't featured a picture of himself on his cover, unlike most solo artists and has a picture of a woman with funky glasses instead. This shows that it isn't always necessary to include an image of the artist themselves, as they can have an image associated with them or that is different from them completely. Calvin's name is written in a kind of technical font, like we would usually see on a digital clock. This suggests that his album is quite unique. The whole front cover also has a house-style as we can see that the colours of grey, black and white resonate throughout the cover.

Researching and Analysing Album Back Covers

I'm going to research and analyse existing album back covers in order to understand the conventions properly and how they're used for when I create my own.

Example One:

Above is the back of The Saturdays album 'Headlines'. From the image you can see that they kept the font style and colour the same as the front cover showing how they maintain their house-style. A barcode is also used which makes the album look professional as do the record label logos. The spines however are in back as a way of keeping the emphasis on the actual back cover. The song titles are all placed in the middle too, with the copyright information placed at the bottom of the back cover as although they are important, don't need as much emphasis unlike the actual song titles. This is because this is an attractive feature for the audience which appeals to them.

Example Two:

Above is the back of The Saturdays album 'Wordshaker'. Despite a prominent colour scheme being used on the front, the back is a little less subtle with not as many dominating colours like on the front. One spine is blue, whilst the other is green showing how The Saturdays do maintain some elements of their house-style. This album was released before 'Headlines' and has the song titles, record label logo, barcode and copyright information located on the right of the album. This draws a contrast to their latest album 'Headlines', which they released after and shows how they haven't maintained the house-style in the format. Although all of the information is placed under one another, it is still put at the right on the back.

Example Three:

Pictured above is the self-titled debut album by JLS. As you can see, it is quite simple with the boys' colour scheme of the individual colours that they represent. The four lines of colour placed under the title on the front cover is also used on the back showing consistency. It is also used in the spines which reinforces each colour that each member in the band represents. The format is similar to 'The Saturdays' and has the songs, record label logo, barcode, website and copyright information located in the middle. I like this back cover as I feel as though everything is balanced out, and there isn't too much unnecessary writing on there which makes it coherent for the audience. The black background also helps to emphasise the colours of the individuals.

 

'Outta This World' is the second album by JLS. This is quite similar to their debut album as it maintains the same format and layout on the back as all of the information is located in the middle of the album. The spine is also the same and in black. The background image used is quite 'space like' to relate to the album title 'Outta This World'. All of the font is in white to stand out. The boys' individual colours are represented on the front however not on the back unlike their debut album. 

Researching and Analysing Album Covers by Existing Bands

I'm going to conduct some research into albums by existing girl bands. As we made a music video for a girl band, this research will benefit me and will give me an insight into the general conventions used and how the artists use them to appeal to their mass audience which will be useful for when I create a digipak for my band.

Example One:

The Saturdays always use their individual colours for each girl, which is a similiar feature to what we've done in our music video. From the image above you can see the latest album released by The Saturdays called 'Headlines'. By analysing the mise-en-scene I can establish that the girls are wearing casual clothes, but are sitting on an individual coloured chair with their shoes to match the colour of the chair. For my album cover, I think I will use each of the girl's individual colour as an prominent convention e.g. Megi was pink, Sam was red, Vanessa was purple and I was green. This shows individuality and expresses the girls' personalities e.g. pink and red connote love/passion and green connotes nature etc.

The album 'Chasing Lights' pictured above is the first album by The Saturdays which shows the girls representing their indidvual colours by wearing brightly coloured dresses with black tights and shoes. The whole image of the album is in black and white apart from the girls dresses which is a unique element used by 'The Saturdays' to make them each stand out as individual personalities.  Their name is also keep within their house-style by using the same font on each album for their name.

Although the girls have used a different font style here for their name for their second album 'WORDSHAKER', they have still kept to the convention of each girls' individual colour thus maintaining an element of their house-style. The mise-en-scene shows them more done up compared to their previous albums as they have their hair in different styles whilst all wearing fancy dresses.

Example Two:

Although a bit distorted, we can see from the image above that Girls Aloud also use bright, distinctive colours on their album covers in order to appeal to and attract the audience. The girls are all wearing dresses with bright shoes to match. They've used the same font in different colours for different texts, in order to stand out and appeal to their target audience.

Example Three:

I thought it would be good to look at the girl band 'Cherish' as they consist of four members who are all sisters and our band is made up of four members. By analysing their albums it will give me an insight into how the four girls are used alongside general album conventions to appeal to their target audience. 

Their first album pictured above entitled 'unappreciated'  is simple and basic. It has an image of the four girls pictured together again against a plain background to make the focus remain on the girls and make them the main feautre of the album. Their name 'Cherish' is in a different font style in a different colour, whilst the album name 'unappreciated'  is in a different font. Both fonts are in similiar colours of white and grey to keep with the consistency of the grey/white background. The girls are all also wearing black to keep a theme and to not have any bright contrasts as the focus of the album is on each of the members of the band. As the album is also called 'unappreciated', by having a mid close-up of each of the girls this creates a sense of vulnerability within the girls and therefore matches the album title. For my ancillary tasks, I will need to include elements which relate to our band name 'Kandy Rayn' and I have established that these will be bright colours and the use of lollipops.

 

In contrast, their second album 'THE TRUTH' shows all four girls pictured together with quite an urban/hip-hop look which portrays their image and genre of music which is a combinaiton of R 'n' B and Hip-Hop.  The girls are dressed quite street/hip-hop to coincide with the urban background theme. The band name is kept within the same font maintaining the house-style and is also in red to stand out against the black and white image of the girls against the urban background. The name of the album is in white and a different font style to contrast against the band name. The girls may have deliberately used a black and white image with a more edgy street look to appeal to a wider audience as they feel it shows versatility and displays the girls' personalities.

Example four:

The self-titled debut album by JLS pictured above is very simple. JLS are a boy band consisting of four band members so therefore it is useful to gain a broader perspective on how they produce their album covers in order to appeal to a mass audience. Their album is similar to Cherish's debut album 'Unappreciated' and just has a mid close-up of each of the members on the front. The image has been changed to black and white in order for their name JLS, to stand out in white along with their individual colours that they represent which are placed in order of how they are standing underneath their name. This reinforces how they are unique and represent an individual colour just like the girls in our band do. They may have decided to keep this album simple as it is their debut album and once they become more recognized, they may feel more comfortable with going for a more edgier look and experimenting new ideas.

Overall, I can conclude that the majority of existing bands use vibrant colours on the front to appeal to their audience. Although this may not always be the case, the image can sometimes be changed to black with particular elements standing out like the title of the album, the name of the band and any other features that the band may have such as their individual colours. This is done as an attractive and unique feature to appeal to the target audience. As the bands I've used above also have a target audience of young teens and young adults, the bright colours represent youth and energy and thus they relate to the target audience.

Digipak Moodboard

I've made a moodboard for my digipak consisting of things that I think relate to our band name and image 'Kandy Rayn'. 

From my moodboard above you can see the associations that 'Kandy Rayn', has such as with sweets and vibrant colours. These are elements I am going to consider using for my digipak. Even some of the sweets pictured above have associations with love, such as the love heart lollipops and the famous 'Love Hearts' sweets which contain love messages on such as "MY BABY" and "LOVE YOU". This matches our image perfectly as our album is called 'Love Engime' and thus you automatically associate the songs included on our album to all contain elements of love and romance, just like our song 'Be There' which our music video is based on. 

Analysing Digipaks and Promotional Packages

I analysed the digipak for The Script in order to gain an understanding of how they use conventions to create a distinctive and unique look which reinforces the establishment of the artist and what they represent. I will also conduct some further research into exisiting digipaks by both bands and solo artists. Also, I thought it would be useful to analyse a promotion package used by artists as a way of promoting themselves and analysed the promotion package for Rihanna to see how she does this.

The Script:

This is the digipak for The Script's new album 'Science and Faith'. The front cover shows a picture of the band, with a medium close-up being used for the lead singer and a medium long-shot for the other two members in the background. This serves to convey that more emphasis should be on the singer, as he is the lead vocalist within the group and thus the main feature of the album as the audience will be able to recognise him. All members of the band are wearing black which is a dominant colour on the cover, as it creates a contrast to the natural landscape in the background, which is of a gold, sand-like colour.  This not only creates a sense of authenticity, but it also gives a pleasant warmth to the album. In the top right hand corner is the name of the band which is in a large white font and quite bold to stand out. Their same iconic font is used which shows how they've stuck to a house-style and it also means that the audience will be able to identify with them easily as it will be one of the first things to attract their attention. Underneath their name is the album title, which is also in a white font but more spaced out which once again gives more emphasis to the band's name. Both the band name and album title are in smaller fonts compared to the image of the band which shows that the band, just like any other artist, are the main feature of the album and are therefore what will appeal most to the audience.

The back cover on the other hand, has a different image as it does not include one of the band, but of the palm of two people's hands touching. This close-up of the image suggests that it should be of prominence because it represents the genre of The Script, whose songs are often about romance, love and heartbreak. The image reinforces this as it shows a connection between the two people's hands. The hand we can see the most is of a male, which furthermore suggests that the other hand could be of a female reinforcing the love aspect. The track list is placed in the top right hand corner and the songs are in black and a very small font, with the song title on the left followed by the song number on the right. On the bottom right, there is the record label and copyright information which creates a parallel to the track list and thus creates a coherent layout for the audience. A barcode is also used on the bottom left to show authenticity and professionalism, which is followed by the record label logo. This is a similar feature I am going to consider using for my digipak. The background of the cover is also of a cream-like colour which keeps the album neutral and henceforth keeps the emphasis on the image of the two hands. This is specifically done to reinforce The Script and their genre of music. The image on the right, in the 3rd tray is once again of the two hands, but this time they are holding one another as if in a pact. This shows a connection and strongly reinforces what the songs signify, which is love and romance. The actual CD disc itself is in black and yellow/gold which keeps to the house-style and shows consistency. Overall, the layout is kept quite simple and coherent with strong powerful images which dominate the digipak in order to give a sense of warmth and love.

Rihanna (promo package):

What is a promo package?

The whole point of a promo pack is to get your music heard and to define yourself as an established artist. Having an informative and professional pack can be what distinguishes you from other artists,whether they are in a band or solo. It should also reflect you as an artist and portray your personality. This is important because it will be what gets you recognised in the music industry and will be what engages the audience. A promotional package can consist of elements such as a digipak, posters and a teaser (promo) video/advertisement.

Digipak:

This is Rihanna's digipak for her new album 'LOUD'. It is a six-fold digipak and contains 2 discs. One particular feature that attracted me to this digipak was the use of the colour red, which dominates the whole digipak and therefore creates a house-style. Rihanna's hair colour coincides with the floral theme she uses, as represented by the roses which are usually associated with the colour red. A strong colour being used is productive because it is one of the main conventions which appeals to the audience. The front cover shows a close-up of Rihanna's face which suggests that she is the main feature of the album. The image is what dominates the front cover and is quite strong, however she has her eyes closed which creates a sense of vulnerability. Her red hair and red lips also create a sense of love, as red connotes passion but on the other hand it can be quite seductive too. Although the album is called 'LOUD', a contrast is created because Rihanna's name and her album title are in a white font and aren't bold either, which shows how they create a soft aspect of the album and maybe Rihanna herself.  The two discs also have an image of a rose on them which shows how Rihanna has stuck to a consistent theme. Although they are not red, they still compliment the floral theme. Rihanna's name is in a smaller font compared to the album title, as the album is called 'LOUD' and therefore by the album title being of this size, this exemplifies that. The image inside of Rihanna lying down in a bed of roses is spread over 3 pages which shows how 1 image can be used and still have a big significance.

Posters:

These are the posters used in Rihanna's promotional package. As you can see, she has kept to the house style of the colour red, roses and used the same font for her texts. This creates cohesion and this means that she can easily be recognised and identified with by both professionals and the audience. On her second poster she has the iconic use of the letter 'R' which has been used on a previous album and therefore creates identification with her because of her brand.

Promotional video:

This is Rihanna's promotional video for her album 'LOUD'. She has clips from her one of her latest videos 'Only Girl in the World' which itself has the red and pink theme with flowers. It highly anticipates the release of the album especially since Rihanna has already released two hit songs which are 'Only Girl in the World' and 'What's My Name' that are featured on the album.  This video is like the third installment of the promotional package and builds up exhilaration for the audience who can't wait for the album to be released. This is because the audience can see that Rihanna is sporting a new look and therefore would be excited to see what else new Rihanna is releasing including her songs and the material she has on her new long awaited album.

Ancillary Task 1 - Researching Digipaks

Now that the video is complete, I am going to start producing the first of my two ancillary tasks which is the digipak. Before I create my ancillary task however, I am going to research into different types of digipaks. A digipak is a form of presenting a CD or DVD through a book style paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one ore more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside.

Four-fold digipak:

The digipak above is a CD digipak. The front would usually have an image of the artist or artwork associated with the artist and the title of the album, whilst the back would include the track list and other information. Inside would be a slot for the CD and maybe a poster of the artist on the left.

Six panel digipak:

From the images above you can see a six panel digipak. The front is similiar to a four fold digipak and consists of an image of the artist or artwork associated with the artist and the title of the album, whilst the back would include the track list and other information. Inside however, would instead be two slots for the CD rather than one such as in a four fold digipak.