Magazine Advert Draft 2

I did some more work on my Mag-Ad and made it better.

Diary 26/11/12

I found this video for the effect I'll be using in my magazine advert.

Magazine Advert Draft 1

I have given some thought to my magazine advert and I've decided to go with powerful simplicity. this is a preliminary design I have made. Obviously I will be using my acxtors rather than the actual band but essentially I'll be creating this type of advert.

Schedule

I have been considering the limited amount of time we have left to film and I've decided to set myself mini deadlines to ensure I am ready to film as SOON as possible.

21^st November – Storyboard, Signed Actor Release Forms

25^th November – Filming plan (Location details and time sheet plan)

2^nd December - Filming Location 1

Research into Digipaks

Researching on Google I found many digipaks, of all sizes (how many CD's it can hold) and colours.

I looked primarily at this digipak for SteelWing. They use a futuristic font to emphasise their Progressive Metal style. Their track listings are very eyecatching as the letters are predominantly Russian but if focused on can still be interpreted as English quite easily.

The front cover boasts a futuristic robot/soldier next to an alien. On the back it’s a zoomed image of this alien face. This could be a reference to the problems this band has had to overcome in their fight for fame and recognition and is very aesthetically pleasing for their intended audience and fans.

I also looked at this Oasis digipak.

The image of the guitar is artistic because it doesn't show all of it and it is suitable for the title of the cover because it says 'Acoustic'. The back is simple enough, and follows the colour scheme (sticking to 3 or 4 so it does not get too crowded) and it lists all the songs on the CD; this will be useful for a listener to choose which song they want to listen to first. Unfortunately, due to the camera angle I cannot see what it says on the inside, but I presume it includes either lyrics or band information.

This digipak layout is simple and calming due to its natural colours of brown, green, white and yellow. Even the CD itself is decorated, which shows they were thoughtful about the design, as it added additional information or just summarised in case you lost your cardboard digipak sleeve. The information on the left is I assume band information, however what is missing I think is a picture of the band to make it feel more personal, however they could have one on the back.

The front is very simple, because it only uses two colours however, it is very abstract which could highlight the bands individuality or type of music. It has an image of the band members which is good as it makes the digipak more personal to their fans.

From this analysis I understand to have a colour scheme that has a maximum of 3-4 colours and to have a good balance of text and images, as I do not want to crowd the small amount of space available in a digipak. Often less is more. 

Research into Music Videos that I admire

"Riot" by Bullet for My Valentine is the first music video I have chosen. This music video is good because of the way it sets the scene and shows the narrative but also includes performance. I chose to do this in my video as well. The camera settings used make the video look better because it shows a greater contrast between the white and black making the black more prominent and thus showing the true metal style, deriving from emo/gothic and biker fashion.

For these same reasons I also admire the following music video; "Waking the Demon" also by Bullet for My Valentine.

Diary 15/11/12

I have been working on my digipak for the past couple of lessons and I am finding it quite difficult as every time I feel I'm getting close to my preferred design I get a comment that shows that my digipak isn't giving off the right impression. I need to work on it more but keep in mind my deadlines.

Track Listing Possibilities

These are a few different ideas as to how I could layout the back cover of my Digipak where my CD track listings will be written. 

Tracks

Diary 08/11/12

I realise that I will need a few choice pictures of a band for my Digipak and Magazine advert but the ONLY band in our school is already being used by 2 other students and they're very difficult to get together because one member goes to another school and the others all have jobs. I feel that they may be unwilling to be in my magazine also so I am considering a few different options to fix this problem.
1. I form a band with the right look for my music video even if they don't play the instruments
2. I use other musicians from the year and form a band which probably won't suit the style.
3. I try and find a local band from another school or older and convince them to help me out.

Analysis of CD magazine adverts

I thought it would be beneficial to research CD magazine adverts in order to get an idea of how to design mine. I noticed in each one that the artists name are always big and bold, some ratings from music magazines and lists of the albums top songs.

kings of Leon album advert

This advert for the kings of Leon album only by the night is very well informed as well as containing a memorable image of the band that will stick with anyone who sees it in a publication. The information included is useful and relevant such as the news that it has been released "OUT NOW" where it can be bought "PLAY.COM" and what songs are included "SEX ON FIRE, CRAWL AND USE SOMEBODY". The four band members faces split up and reconnected as a single face mixedwith that of an eagle is a very memorable image which doubtless also tells fans something about the style as well as being very eye capturing.

Dethklok cd advert

This magazine advert was published in several black metal magazines to advertise the release of the first metalocalypse dethklok cd. The name of the band and album is clearly visible at the top and some of the songs are listed at the bottom. This advert is instantly recognisable as an advertisement for dethklok as it makes use of the bands logo and mascot facebones a giant skull with several large horns.

As magazine adverts go this one is lax in design as it contains very little information such as critics reviews or a release date or even information about where to obtain the album. This could of course be intentional as it causes the audience of the advert to think about and remember it due to both it’s simplicity and lack of detail and it’s shock value. This type of advert would need to be carefully aimed at the target audience of metal fans presumably a lot of thought was put into what magazines it went into and where it was published.

Diary 06/11/12

I was looking today at all that remains to be done in order to get my music video planned, researched and then finally filmed before I can edit my final product and I need to speed up. I am adressing this issue by planning to stay behind in school with some other friends to get feedback instantly and churning out post after post of quality material in order to be able to shoot in the next 2 weeks.

Tripod Zoom/Vertigo Effect

This video effectively demonstrates just one of the many effects I wish to use in my music video. This effect is very powerful at creating a certain altered sense of depth when seen by the naked eye and I beleive the audience will be taken aback by seeing this in my music video.

Research into equipment choices

For taking pictures of the band for my digipak and magazine advertisement, I will be using a Canon 550D. This is because with the equipment in school I can attach remote flash lights to it and use a softbox, so the light isn't too bright or too dim.

When I record my music video I will be using the same Canon 550D camera and using a tripod to get steady shots. I feel this would be appropriate as then I can maintain the same quality images throughout for continuity purposes.

My post production equipment will be Adobe Photoshop CS3 for editing photographs and creating the magazine advertisement. However, for the footage of the music video I will be using a combination of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Sony Vegas Pro 11 and Adobe After Effects CS3. 

These high tech programmes will aid me in creating the best product available.

My only issue will be the cross compatibility between all these programs.

Research into music labels

Research into existing music labels on Prezi