Photoshoot

It is important to carry out a photo shoot so that we have a range of different images to use for the different promotional media aspects of our project. It is important to capture images that will incorporate our chosen genre as well as the narrative that we have chosen to follow in order to attract our chosen target audience so that the music video is successful. 

We took images of one of the group members that we have then decided to make our artist as there is not one present in our video. We reenacted the movements that a DJ would be likely to make in order to capture the dance genre and these elements of the song that we seem to have otherwise ignored in the conventions. We took these images in front of a green screen so that it would be easier to edit on photoshop with different background etc. This further added to the ease of incorporating the dance genre as it allowed us to add club scenes behind and create professional looking digipak and adverts etc. 

We will use the images that we have taken will be used for both our music advert and digipak. The photoshoot was hugely important to create these projects successfully as an advert would struggle to attract an audience without any images for them to relate too. It will help to engage the audience and give an insight into the style of music that they will be listening too. The images that we have used for the digipak and advert are conventional to the dance/house genre as it shows our main character in a position that you would stereotypically imagine a DJ to be standing in. 

The images portray the artist as being mysterious and unknown as I have blacked the image so that the identity of the artist is kept a secret. This reflects the artist in the music video as he is not present and by creating an unknown artist it adds a secretive aspect and adds to the attraction for the audience. 

(Images - Explanation of which ones are used and why?) 
(Step by step images of how I photoshopped the digipak front cover) 

This is the photo that I used for the digipak as I felt that it would be the easiest to incorporate with the background that i had chosen. It would also be the easiest the edit on photoshop to hide the identity of the artist by filling the image with black filler. It was also one of the images that did not have part of the figure cut out, other that his left hand. However this would be easy to use for the digipak as I wanted the image to be placed on the right hand side and this would therefore go unnoticed as it would meet the edge of the product (Include image of Digipak cover) 

Meetings and Discussions

Group meetings and discussions are crucial when working as a group as it allows discussion to take place where each individual can have their views and opinions. It will result in the creation of a more successful music video as it will lead to a combination of each members ideas being incorporated. It also highlights areas that may have otherwise been overlooked such as the music video theory etc. Not only this but it will allow the filming process to be more efficient as we have already discussed and decided what we are including.

 

 

Group Digipak

Each group member created their own digipak to be able to be creative and come up with individual ideas. It also allowed us all to grasp the Photoshop software and improve our knowledge on a practical aspect of media studies. Following this we all showed each other our own designs and discussed what we felt to be the pros and cons of each. Upon this discussion we decided which we felt complied the most with dance conventions as well as which looked the most professional and would therefore achieve the best grade. We therefore decided to choose my digipak. 

      Our digipak has a continuous colour scheme running throughout each page which makes it appear more professional. The colour that I chose was purple so that it didn't single out any gender as it doesn't hold as many gender connotations as colours such as pink or blue. I also felt that it was bright enough to attract the teenage target audience that dance music is aimed at - paired with the club background - the digipak is greatly conventional to the dance genre. I also chose to follow the genre conventions by hiding the identity of our artist as this is a feature of many different dance artists (and their videos and digipaks). 

      Front Cover:

The front cover we felt complied to the dance genre conventions as it featured a club scene background. This reflects the location that this type of music would be enjoyed by the target audience and therefore draws them in - enticing them to buy the album. There is also a set of DJ decks at the front of the image which would fit the expectations of the audience as it relates to the electronic production of the music and beats. I also chose to conceal the identity of the artist by filling his figure in black with a lighter outer glow to make him stand out from the background as well as giving him 3 dimensions. There is also a range of bright colours present on the front cover which, again, is conventional to the dance genre as it connotes vibrance which in turn gives the impression that the audience are enjoying themselves. The main colours however are blue and purple which I have chosen to continue through the rest of the digipak to create consistency throughout - making the digipak appear more professional. The font I chose is bold and draws the attention of the audience without the need for a bold colour. The limited amount of information provided on the front cover was also intentional as it allows that main focus of the cover to be on the images and artist. This will allow the target market to be drawn in to the cover and feel as if they will have a good time as this is the most important aspect of the dance genre.

Welcome Note: 

The Welcome Note page is greatly simplistic as it features a plain purple background and a filled image of the artist (with an outer glow). This once again continues the colour scheme that I have followed throughout to make sure that each page flows and helps to create an image for the artist. His figure has once again been hidden to represent this consistency between each section of the digipak as well as following the genre conventions of a mysterious and hidden identity of the artist. The simplicity of this page allows the writing to be that main feature and means that their attention will not be detracted. The bright white colour of the font also helps to achieve this as it stands out against the dark colours of the artist image (black) and background (purple). The font that I used for the front cover I chose to continue to this page to again represent consistency. It is also a bold font that draws the attention of the reader and will persuade them to want to read it. The writing gives an insight into the type of music that the target audience should expect from the album as well as any collaborations that may appear on the CD. This will further entice the audience as they may recognise familiar artists names which will create a better reputation for 'Willzon' as they will assume that their music will be of similar quality. 

CD Cover:

The CD continues the purple/blue colour scheme similarly to the other digipak pages and further enforcing the artist image that we have created through a continuous colour scheme. The image that features underneath the colour overlay are beams of light that is once again conventional to the dance genre. It reflects the strobe lighting that would be present in clubs and therefore once again reminds the target audience of familiar locations and also gives an idea of what type of music to expect. I also chose to continue the bold font onto the CD so that it was similar to front cover. Therefore when the CD is taken out of the case to be played the font on the front cover and CD is consistent - further enforcing the artist image to the audience. 

Image 1:

The first image that I have incorporated is of the artists identity which is the first time that it has been revealed to the audience. This will allow the audience to become familiar with 'Willzons' identity rather than the blacked out images that have been incorporated previously. This will help to create a familiarity for the audience and therefore make it easier for them to relate to the artist and form a relationship as a result. By hiding his identity previously however it will create a mystery behind the artist and therefore make the audience more interested in finding out more about him. The dance genre conventions have once again been incorporated through the background image of a bar with a display of alcohol bottles. This again goes back to the conventions of dance as alcohol would be consumed in bars and clubs which is where this music would be played and enjoyed. This will therefore mean that the setting will be familiar to the audience and make it more relatable. I once again used a purple overlay on top of the image to continue the colour scheme throughout. 

Image 2: 



Back Cover:

The Back Cover features the same background image as the front cover to show consistency throughout. I did however choose to flip the image so that they would join when the Digipak is opened so that it appears as one image. The vibrant purple and blue colour scheme has once again been continued to grab the attention of the audience. The bright white writing (used in the welcome note) also contrasts the background colours which allows it to stand out against it. This is essential as the important track list is the main feature of the back cover so that the audience can familiarise themselves with the artists songs and also identify any that they may know already. The Parental advisory sign is also present in the corner as it is a convention of CD digipaks and warns the audience of any explicit lyrics that may be present. This makes the CD appear more professional and as if it could really be sold. 

Group Advert

Analysis Of Magazine Adverts

Magazine Advert one:

The Calvin Harris magazine advert includes all the vital information that is required in order for the advert to be successful including tour dates and album releases. This will promote the artist and present their image to the audience, creating awareness and increasing sales. It is crucial for the advert to give the right impression to its audience and present the correct artist image in order to attract the correct target market. Avicii's magazine advert follows the conventions of the dance genre by hiding his identity. This is achieved by his back facing the camera in the main image. This helps to create a mystery to his identity as dance artists like the audience to focus on their music rather than the image that is created of them as an artist. Pop artists for example focus largely on creating an image for themselves and sell this to its target audience. Although his identity is hidden it allows the audience to focus on the crowd behind him, displaying his work (DJing) and giving the impression that he has a large fan base as there is a vast amount of people in the image enjoying his music. His body language, with one hand in the air, suggests that he is enjoying what he is doing and continues the impression that everyone is having a good time, and so will the listeners of the album. It also suggests that he is a popular artist with a large fan base, giving the idea that he is successful due to creating good music, which will further entice potential customers to buy his album. This supports Dyers theory as he believes that the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. Avicii in this advert is absent through his masked identity but present through his large following and body language. This means that the audience is given enough information to be persuaded into buying the album but enough information is hidden to create a sense of mystery. 

Avicii is also in casual clothing, making his audience able to relate to him more easily as he is wearing normal clothes. This supports Dyers theory that artists must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. The checked shirt that Avicii is wearing would be considered as being ordinary as it is clothing that his target audience are familiar with and would perhaps wear themselves. This will enable Avicii to build a relationship with his audience and therefore lead to creating loyal customers. However the artists extraordinary side is shown through the huge crowd that has gathered to hear his music. The image as a whole presents Avicii as being fun and carefree which are often traits found in artists belonging to the dance genre and therefore appeal to the specific audience of dance music. This will therefore achieve the main purpose of the magazine advert which is to sell tour tickets and increase the awareness of Avicii as an artist as these aspects would all persuade the intended target market to purchase Avicci's products etc. that are being promoted by the advert. 

Soft blue tones are used throughout the advert in the form of the banners held by onlookers, the checked shirt that Avicii is wearing, fading into the colour of the sky. This allows the main headline of 'Avicii - Part of the At Night Family' to stand out in a bright white colour - grabbing the attention of anyone who comes across it. The type of font, as well as the logo, that has been used also helps to achieve this as it bolder and differs to the other, more simplistic, fonts that have been used elsewhere in the advert. The dark colours used for the DJ decks and the bottom of the advert allows the dates and venues along with other useless information to be more visable for onlookers. There is little information present on the advert which allows it to remain uncomplicated and easier to read, meaning that readers are not overwhelmed by useless information and can instead get the messages of the advert by one single glance - crucial for a magazine advert. The light and dark contrasting colours are conventional to the dance genre as this specific kind of music is usually playing in nightclubs and concerts etc where the setting would usually be dark with bright lighting. The light blues and blacks could therefore be mimicking this idea to display the different genre conventions.

Magazine Advert two:

The layout of the magazine advert is fairly simple with only crucial information displayed, such as: the artists name, the date of release, the record label logo, where to buy it and two reviews. These are the only aspects that are needed in order for the advert to be successful, as this is the only information that the target audience would need to know in order for it to create a hype and increase in sales. The little information on the advert is also conventional to the dance genre as it leaves an element of mystery for both the artist and the song as well as keeping it as simple as possible for the teenage target market. This relates to Dyers theory as one of his key paradoxes states that 'a star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer'. This leaves the audience intrigued and creates more of a hype around the album as people are unsure of what to expect. Other dance artists also do not feature themselves in their adverts or music videos such as: Swedish House Mafia and Klangkrussell etc.

Due to the simplistic layout the image of a brick wall with graffiti writing in an isolated building or street is the main focus, placed in the centre of the advert with the writing scattered both above and underneath it. The writing is also in a simple font in the colour white, which further emphasises the image in the middle as the writing is not bold enough to detract from the brighter colours present in the picture. The graffiti holds the connotations of being rebellious and breaking the law. This would most likely attract a younger audience as the youth are the most likely to be taking part in activities such as this and would therefore be able to relate to it. This therefore reflects the target audience of the artist/album and would therefore attract them to buy the album that the advert is promoting. This is conventional of the dance/house genre as the target audience is usually teenagers as it is a genre that has only become popular fairly recently with the younger generations. The graffiti also gives an idea to the audience about which type of music they are likely to expect from the 'The XX' without revealing too much about the artist etc and is therefore another devide that has been used to create a sense of mystery.

Digipak analysis

There are many purposes that an artist would create a digipak for their album. One of these is that it promotes the album by representing the artist and the songs as well as expressing a message through aspects such as the images used as well as the fonts and colour schemes. This also helps to make the cd eye catching which will not only attract fans of the music/artist, but also a wider audience. The corporate identity of the artist/band may also be represented within the digipak and present a recurrring theme. There are also more practical uses of the digipak such as a list of the content of the album on the back which will allow the audience to browse through the songs that are on the CD and entise them to purchase the album and therefore increase sales. Lastly it is used to store additional promotional materials eg. sleeves within the digipak could include booklets and posters.  

There are two types of packaging for a CD, a digipak or a CD case. A digipak has six slides and as a result has more space for higher quality images/visible artwork, information and promotions - making the CD a collectable and therefore providing the artist with a better chance of attracting buyers and fans. A CD is more basic than a digipak and contains less personal detail which therefore makes it harder for the artist to create a relationship with their consumers.

This way the artist has a better chance at attracting potential buyers, such as fans, as they will see the digipak as more than just a disk of music, it is a collectable item as well. In comparison to the jewel case, all of this additional information is easier accessible, the sleeve in a jewel case is easily ripped when removed or put back into the plastic grips, making it unappealing to remove. On the digipak all information is very easily accessible.


Analysis of one digipak:

David Guetta's digipak for his album 'One more love' is a fairly simple design with an abstract pattern continued throughout each section. On the front cover he uses dull colours including: Black, Grey, Gold/Brown. This contrasts the conventions that are usually followed for the dance genre as bold colours are used to reflect the type of events that the music is usually played. This is most often in nightclubs and concerts etc that would use a large amount of vibrant and bright light sequences to compliment the upbeat song. The vibrant colours however have been incorporated into the digipak through the abstract pattern that has been used on the other sections. This is therefore conventional to the dance genre as most digipaks will include bright colours to attract the young audience that the dance genre targets. This consistency is something that I decided to use within my own digipak. I used a continuous colour scheme of purple/blue throughout each section so that each flowed and were recognisable by the audience. I also used the same background image for the front and back cover to continue the consistency and to create a memorable digipak.

The digipak does however comply to the genre conventions by creating mystery around the artist, in this case it has been achieved through the use of the sunglasses worn by David. I chose to incorporate this into my own digipak by making the artists figure black and therefore keeping it hidden from the audience. Another example of conventions being followed is through the artist being presented as being ordinary. The clothes that he is wearing creates this idea as he is wearing a printed t-shirt that is familiar to his teenage target audience. This acts as a way for the target audience to be able to relate to him and therefore help to build a relationship between the artist and the audience in order to build loyalty. This conforms to Dyers theory as the audience view him as ordinary (through his clothing) but also extraordinary through the use of the colour gold on the front cover to remind the audience of his wealth and power.  

Planning artist image

Within our group we decided not to include an artist due to the genre that we had chosen to follow of house, where the artist is not usually present within the music video. This is due to the fact that this style of music focusses on the beats rather than the video. However due to us breaking the conventions of the stereotypical house music video by including a narrative there is a main character that is presented throughout the video and therefore acts as the artist. It is important to successfully create this artist image so that it correlates with the decisions that we have already made regarding the genre, narrative and locations etc. If these aspects do not correlate it will lead to the music video looking amatuer. Our group therefore discussed the artists image at great length in order to portray the character in the way that we wished to the audience. We planned in detail the outfits that he would wear and the way in which he would act to come across sincerely to the audience.  

Within the video we have tried to maintain the accessability of the artist by dressing him in everyday clothes that would allow the audience to relate to the character. This is especially important due to the nature of the narrative that we have chosen, as it will not be successful if the audience are unable to sympathise with the situation. In many of the scenes showing the relationship of the characters the male (the artist) is dressed in jeans and coat which is clothing that our target audience would wear on a daily basis and therefore makes the scene appear more realistic and therefore more believable, creating a more successful music video. To contrast this we dressed him in a suit when visiting the grave stone, this will allow the audience to understand the importance of this scene as well as showing that he has an authority over the other characters. 

The males hair colour is a natural brown shade which again adds to the accessability of the character as it is a hair colour thats familiar to the audience, wheres if we were creating a Rock video for example we may incorporate an artist with red hair to shock the audience. It is styled in a way that is also familiar to the teenage target audience that we are aiming our music video at and will hopefully lead to the video being more enjoyable for this audience.