Digipak practice 2

The second idea we had for our digipak was much more artist image based. We looked at having an extreme close up of our singer as the front cover, holding four playing cards that spells out the word 'Love'. We like this as it would be easily recognisable on a shelf in a music store and shows the artist in a very visual way. The disk is a very simple design, just the names of the song and artist on it. The image we put on it is a page taken from the Alice in Wonderland book, to link the theme behind the song to the actual product. We like the simplicity of this idea but have decided to go with our first idea as it is visually more interesting and links more to the song.

Digipak practice 1

 To go with our thoughts of continuity throughout our digipak, we thought that it'd be a good idea to, on the background of the disc itself, have grass showing. This relates to the continued theme of nature and freedom. To join the grass we thought it would also be a good idea to reintroduce the theme of playing cards. We did not yet decide how to include them on the disc so currently the four symbols are seen adjacent to the mock up of the disc just to keep a reminder of what our music video is based around and shall consist of.

The image shown below is hand drawn, similar to the one created above but shows how we could perhaps introduce the symbols to our work by being situated around the center of the CD in a crossed arrangement.

Music magazine draft analysis

The first thing that we decided we needed to include was to be the playing cards. We wanted to introduce a theme of continuity throughout our magazine ad, digipak and music video and we found that using the playing cards was a good way of doing this!  

We think the location included in this draft relates well to our folk pop genre as the outdoors and nature is usually associated with the genre that we have chosen. The positioning of the model in the picture has been criticised as you cannot see her face. If a small proportion of her face was to be visible, the audience would find our poster more accessible as they'd have somebody to relate to and perhaps feel empathetic. 

We still need to decide on some of the elements of design in this advert, including the costumes, the word positioning and the font of the different areas of text. In the traditional Alice in Wonderland film, Alice wears a blue dress but in our modern interpretation of the story telling, we will probably have her wearing a white dress.  

The scenery in this mock up of a magazine advert works well in correspondence with the song title 'Out on my own' as we can quite clearly see that she literally is out side, on her own. 

Magazine advert draft

Secondary audience research

Eliza Doolittle

We chose this female artist because we decided she is similar to our chosen artist, Gabrielle Aplin. They both conform to the folk pop genre, however Eliza is more well known with over 186,000 twitter followers compared to Gabrielle's 134,000.
Eliza Doolittle has sung popular songs such as 'Pack up' and 'Big when I was little'. She's a British singer-songwriter who is signed to the same record label as Aplin, which is Parlophone.
Doolittle's music is often aired on BBC Radio 1 & 2, and her first ever album debuted at number 3 on the UK albums chart.
To see the similarities and differences between our chosen artist and Eliza Doolittle we posted a questionnaire on various sites on-line aimed at her fans and collected the response we got.


Questionnaire

 How old are you?
10-15  16-20  21-25 25+
 What gender are you?
Male  Female
Favourite music genre?
Indie  Pop  Rock  Metal  Dance RnB  Other
Would you consider yourself a fan of Eliza Doolittle?
Yes  No

Please click these links to listen to ‘Pack up’ by Eliza Doolittle and ‘Out on my own’ By Gabrielle Aplin

1.       Would you say that both singers conform to the folk/pop genre crossover?

2.       Do you see any similarities between the two singing styles? If so, what are they

3.       ‘Out on my own’ doesn’t have a music video, do you think by having one the artist is more successful?

4.       ‘Pack up’ is a narrative style video, do you prefer this over performance based (for this specific genre)?

(Note: this is an example and the links aren't actually operating)

We got a variety of responses from such websites as Facebook and certain fan forums. Majority of the people who replied were female aged between 10-20, something we expected. 8 peoples favourite genre was pop which is what these songs would be classed as, and 12 people considered themselves to be fans of Eliza Doolittle. After watching/ listening to the two songs many people could see certain similarities in the actual singing style as well as the lyrics which seem to be about journey and happiness. 4 people said that they didn't think music videos were that important for an artists success but seeing as Gabrielle Aplin didn't have one at all they liked the idea of us creating one for her. It was clear that for this particular genre, narrative based music videos are the way forward with over 1/2 our replies saying that they much prefer that to performance based. This research has widen our knowledge on the folk pop genre as a whole and made us take note of certain comparisons available between singers within that sector. 

Response to magazine adverts

We wanted to take note of a few of the techniques we have found through doing these analysis as we want to carry them onto our advert.

• No more then two different types of font used to reduced potential page cluttering
• Stick to very simple colour schemes, no more then three colours combined
• Make sure the image is simple but eye catching so that readers don't skip over it
• Natural is key- natural make up and simple clothing, natural lighting where possible

We also took note of the things we need to include on this advert:

• Artist name
• Album/ single name
• Record label logo
• Release date
• Any USP (international best seller etc.)
• An image of the artist 
• Websites/ stores you can buy the music

Magazine advert 3- Lana Del Rey

We really like this advert because it's it very unpretentious. it just shows the artist in simple clothing and basic make up. The direct eye contact will attract the readers attention because it is like she is staring directly at them. The background is good because its just the outdoors, not staged in a studio or green screened. We like what she has done with the writing as well as she has used white writing on a blue background, and blue writing on the white back ground of her top. This enhances the viewing pleasure of the advert as it just makes it look more neat overall. She has also used only two fonts, which is a common occurrence we have noticed throughout the adverts we have looked at. This technique also makes the advert look better in that its not cluttered or over the top.
Her make up is very simple which is something we want to do for our image as it just has a more relaxed feel to it. It appears to be a very natural shot but you can tell lighting has been used to enhance her face structure, something which we are looking at trying to achieve because it improves the quality of the image. Also included is websites you can buy her music from, intertextuality something that is very important due to so much variation in technology now.
From this analysis we want to take away the natural feel to it, and the techniques that have been used to add to the image without the reader being consciously aware of it. We also really like the idea of a colour match between the writing, her top and the sky which is a very good way to combine the text with the image.

Magazine advert 2- Jessie J

This is a magazine advert for Jessie J. You can clearly see a picture of her so you know exactly what it is that the advert is trying to sell. The writing is bold and obvious, the difference being that more than one font has actually been used here. However, we don't think it does create a cluttered effect which is what we believed would happen originally. This could possibly be because the different font is actually for Jessie J's logo, not the information about her album. The main colour schemes are gold and white. these are very simple colours but effective as they are easy to see on the black background.
It is a studio image, with luminous lighting to accentuate her features. We don't want an image like this because we think it is too artificial and posed. Our music genre is folk pop which typically has a more relaxed feel to it then music such as that sung by Jessie J. Nevertheless, we do like her make up style and how dramatic it is, but we wouldn't personally use it.
The overall advert has maintained a good level of continuity in that her nails, lips, clothing and hair are all black which is a stark contrast to the white of the back drop and matches with the black text box. She has included all necessary information as well as some unique selling points ( 'includes the number 1 international smash') which would attract people to buying her music. Also included are two logos that represent the record label she is signed too. We like the simplicity of the image and how she has such an obvious emotion on her face, but for what we are designing its too posed and dramatic.

Magazine advert 1- Stereophonics

The image is different to the typical things we have come across, in that it is four male band members. As we are doing a single female artist already its not something we will be copying, but the techniques might be helpful. They are sat at a table which is something very ordinary, but then the table is in the sea which shocks the reader and would make them take notice in something that is out of the ordinary. The font is very easy to read and limited to only black and white which add a classic feel and make it clear. There is no unnecessary writing it gets straight to the point with the:

• band name
• album name
• release date
• website

All being in clear view. The image looks like de saturated colour has been used which makes the image appear darker, but a front light has illuminated the band members making them stand out amongst the waves. They have used the iconic saying 'keep calm and carry on' which is recognisable by a large majority of people so if the image didn't catch their eye then that saying might.
We like the simplicity of this advert as it gets straight to the point and has an interesting and engaging image that is different and stands out. We want to be able to include an image that grabs people attenton otherwise readers might skim over it, thinking its nothing of importance.

Responses to audience analysis

From the questions that we asked on the various social media websites we got a variety of replies. However, the main consensus was that our Alice in Wonderland theme suited her music genre very well and would look good when created.
We also manage to establish our target audience, which is females aged 13-20. We reached this conclusion as the largest majority of her fan base fitted into this category, and personally we are able to offer an insight of what they may want.
The video will be shot very naturally, with natural lighting and simple camera work to increase the continuity of the editing. The response was very positive overall and means that we can stick to our original idea without having to change it too much, if at all. We are still sticking with the original idea of just showing the single artist performing her song because everyone agreed that due to the genre of her song (folk pop) the video wouldn't quite match if we were to dress it up too much, like with dancers or special effects.
The magazine advert we will create got mixed reviews from websites. We had two main options, an abstract image or a photo of the artist. They liked the idea of it being abstract, so not including the actual artist but merely something that could be easily recognised from within the music video. But also, many liked the idea of an extreme close up of the artist, her face partially obscured by some object that has significant meaning in our video (like playing cards or a page from the Alice in Wonderland book) for this reason, we will try out both options and see which one we like the most.
For our digipak we found that people prefer the look when it all links in nicely, whether the font matches on the front and back covers or if all parts have images with a clear link. We found this research helpful and will start drafting our digipak keeping in mind what the audience expects.

Digipak 3- Imagine Dragons

Imagine Dragons - "Night Visions"

This CD front cover, for the band Imagine Dragons, is very simple. It puts the focus on one person. Many bands will put their front cover as an image of all band members but they have gone in a different direction from this. The simplicity of the one person in the picture means that the audience doesn't have too much to look at and is not so full on. Although the colours of all elements of the digipak are desaturated, there is purple on the front cover which is then continued to the CD itself. We believe it is a good idea to introduce continuity for our digipak so that it is easily identifiable in relation to our music video. 

The back cover of Imagine Dragon's album is kept simple with just a simple list of the songs. The background is black and the font is white which causes it to stand out a lot. This is the same for the front of the CD and the same font is used, again showing the continuity of the piece. All the information that you would expect to see included within a digipak is found on the back cover of this album. We believe this is effective as it prevents the front cover from being crowded and we would probably do this ourselves. As a consumer of this CD, if you were to see the CD itself alone you may not relate it to the rest of the digipak because it is only one colour with minimal text on it. To avoid any confusion, we would be likely to include an image on our CD that is relative to the song we have chosen to use and henceforth the theme of the album in it's entirety. 

Digipak 2- Florence and the machine

Florence and the machine - "Lungs"

The image on the front is of the artist, wearing a pair of lungs as a necklace. As the title of the album is Lungs, that's a clear visual link between the two main elements on the cover. Its more bright then the cover of Bad Blood and we like that there are flowers and birds in the background, as we wanted to incorporate nature into our music video. Again, the writing is white on a black background which appears to be the most eye catching writing form and possibly something we will use in our digipak.
We really like her make up and hair style, it looks quite casual and effortless but then it really enhances her natural look as well, for our Alice theme we wanted to keep the appearance of our artist quite simple and not over the top.
All that's on the front cover is the album title, whose album it is and the main image. We want to keep our cover very simple too and so may take elements of this layout and use it for ourselves.
The back cover is very basic, but something we hadn't seen before. There's an image of lungs, and different sections have been given numbers. These numbers correspond with album songs and the overall appearance is quite artistic and different. We like the idea, but it wouldn't work with what we want to do.

Digipak 1- Bastille

Bastille - "Bad Blood"

The writing is a good contrast to the background image as its white on black which always shows up well. The image is very dark, and a simple but effective idea. It doesn't particularly link with the album title of Bad Blood as it's someone running down a road at night with what looks like car lights on them, but it still looks good and the colour of the writing matches the lines on the road nicely. It has all the acknowledgements on the front in very small writing, but we'd rather it was on the back as it does make the cover look slightly more cluttered then we would prefer.
The picture on the back cover is similar to that on the front, its the same road but now its a cars headlights, probably the source of the light on the front cover picture (which is a nice way to link them up).
The font for the list of album songs is the same as on the front, and also in white. For ours we are going to make sure that the writing matches in this way, as we think that visually it will just look better. It also includes Bastille's web address and the record company on the back, something which is important and provides people who buy the album with access to more information.
We like the simplicity of Bastille's album cover, but personally think the image is too dark and abstract for our vision of a digipak. The font is unique and easy to read, something we will try to carry over to our own design.

Digipak definition

A digipak is a type of CD packaging, and involves a front and back cover and then of course the CD within. For our digipak we are considering:

• Images
• Font
• Layout
• Information on our chosen artist

We chose to look at the digipaks of:

• Bastille - "Bad Blood"
• Florence and the machine - "Lungs"
• Imagine Dragons - "Night Visions"

There are some conventions of digipaks that we are going to conform to which include a song list on the back cover, the name of the album and the artist on the front as well as an image representation of the band and the logo of the record company that they work for.
We will also include typical things such as the barcode, website and copyright information.

Starting with the audience analysis

Picture 1. The Facebook fan page we found, we wrote a little questionnaire that hopefully some people will be willing to answer

Picture 2. 'Fanpop' a website dedicated to fans of pop music, where we just did a poll on whether people would actually watch an Alice in Wonderland themed music video. However there are only 20 fans of that page so the chances of getting a good reply is quite low

Picture 3. Asked a question on Yahoo answers for fans of Gabrielle Aplin or just indie pop fans

Hopefully we will receive a few various replies that we can use to help mould our music video

Born Ruffians - needle

We looked at Needle by Born Ruffians. The music genre would be classed as indie rock. It was more for a comparison then anything else as its a performance based music video of a male singer.
Its set in a very urban area, surrounding flats shown in one of the first shots followed by a few close ups of the instruments the band will be using. This is different from what we want as we are doing a narrative based video of just a single artist however we can see how it would be effective for the fan base they are aiming towards as a lot of indie rock music videos are performance orientated for example Two Door Cinema Club and The Lumineers.
The camera work is quite simple, just a series of cuts to get from one shot to another and a slight warp effect used at certain times. However, that effect is used in the video a bit too much I think and is slightly off putting to watch. It seems as though it wouldn't be too hard to make a video in this style if you had the band and somewhere for them to play but we still want to stick with our narrative idea as we think it will have the best effect on our audience and look the most aesthetically pleasing.
There is a slight storyline in the background of the video in that he's shown having fun with friends or cycling through places, its not all just him performing which we thought looked nice as they have combined the two ideas.
We liked that some of the shots showed the audience watching him perform as it shows how much the fans enjoy his music and how much fun people are having listening to him play which makes the video just seem more happy.
The outfit he is wearing is very stereotypical of an indie singer, so it fits the genre he is aiming at. Although we will be using a costume in ours (Alice in Wonderland outfit) we think that it will still attract the audience we want because of the actual music and the story behind it.
Its not until near the end of the video that you realise there are other singers and people playing instruments which makes you wonder; if it was a band, why has only one main singer been shown throughout the entire video? It could have been personal choice or just the style of video they wanted to make but it is a bit confusing and one of the reasons we want to stick to a single artist so that there aren't issues with the amount of time someone is in front of the camera compared to someone else in the band.

Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts

Birdy- Wings

This is a song called 'Wings' by the artist Birdy. Her music genre would be described as indie pop. The opening scene reveals characters in fancy dress, clearly its a 'morning after the night before' style scene. Its similar to what we want to do in that there are costumes and a narrative going on, as well as the use of the outdoors and animals.  There's one main character (who is the singer) but the story focuses on her, as well as showing the people around her. There's a moment where it is quite slow paced and all the dancers are standing around as though waiting for a change, something which we would like to see if it would fit in with our video style. The contrast between this video and what we want to do for ours is that there are a lot of people in each shot, many dancers and spectators. We want our video to focus on telling the story of 'Alice' in our Alice in Wonderland theme. I like the use of close up shots on her face which is something we'd like to include as it shows her singing the song and the emotions the words trigger in her face.
She appears to be on a literally journey with wide shots showing her walking towards the party, and journey is definitely one of the things we wish to convey in our video. I like how dramatic it is, with people in flowing clothes cantering on horses and fireworks at night but I think for what we are trying to achieve this could look slightly over the top. I like the set, in that its a grand house and the surrounding fields which would have suited our idea well but we have to work with what we've got to hand which will still fit to our needs and look good on camera. I feel like the music is quite similar to our chosen song as well in that it is also indie pop and tells a story, which is why this video was good to analyse.

Ellie Goulding - Burn