Student digipak and magazine advert analysis

Finished advert

This is our finished magazine advert, we chose to use the same picture and font that is on the front of our digipak because it helps with brand identity and the feedback we got from our drafts suggested we should.
We originally just had the NME rating but it looked a little lonely so we put in another from MOJO magazine.
Overall the advert was easy to make as we already had the image from the digipak so didn't need to edit the image again.

Making the advert

 We started to make the advert by having the black and white checkers as the back ground and then layered a white rectangle for our image to go on. We then took the image from the digipak and added it on to the centre of our advert. We used the same font on the advert as the digipak to ensure brand identity. Overall the magazine advert is looking how we want it.

 

 

 

 

After putting the image and font in place on the advert we put in the websites, logos and release date. The release date is in the same font as we used on the back of the digipak. The final steps in making our advert is to add in the reviews from NME and MOJO magazines.

 

 

 

 

Magazine advert drafts

Our first two ideas are very similar. The both have the checkered border, the same image as the digipak, the two tone logo and the release date and websites in similar positions. The only slight differences is that the album name is in different places, one has a rating and one has Madness' logo.


Our third idea is fairly different although it does still fit to generic conventions the same as the others. The checkered pattern, the logos, artist name and album name etc. It doesn't have the black and white border all the why round just a section at the top. The main image on this is the image used on the back of the digipak. This one has a rating and a quote 'The rockiest rock steady beat of Madness'.
The feedback we got was good and that we should use a combination of the two first ideas because they will have better brand identity with the digipak and will be more easily recognisable. We were also told to make sure we have the correct form of rating as NME doesn't use stars it uses a number rating.

Generic conventions of magazine adverts

For this we struggled to find any magazine adverts for albums from our genre so we have used posters for gig dates and for the artists in general.
Characters
Like the digipaks in this genre, adverts/ poster mostly have the band as the main image. The Specials poster here shows that they are walking with stern expressions. The body language of the characters connote that they are trouble and rebellious which is what this genre is generally stereotyped to be. This promotes both the artists and genre well as it represents what the genre is about, which sometimes is about some quite controversial issues.
 Some of  the posters don't feature any images of actual people but feature cartoons of people in black and white to connote the ska movement like The Selecter's  gig date poster.


Mise-en-scene
Costume - The costume is usually the normal 2 tone ska clothing. Tight trousers, blazers, braces, collared shirts, white socks etc.
Lighting - If there is an image of people and not a cartoon then the lighting is usually high key to connote happiness and the style of their music.
Actors - The majority of artists in this genre are young males. This poster for The Specials shows them with quite stern and serious facial expressions.
Make up - Mostly in this genre, make up isn't used although Terry Hall from The Specials does use some eye make up.
Setting - In this poster, it is a fairly urban setting to fit to the genre and connote the working class which will listen to this genre. If there isn't an image it is usually a black or white background.

Iconography
The main iconography in ska adverts/posters is the clothing worn in the 2 tone ska movement. This includes tight trousers, blazers, collared shirts etc. Also the black and white checkered pattern is featured on most adverts because it signifies the 2 tone ska movement and the music.

This poster for The Selecter's tour for next year features the black and white checkered pattern. It also has pictures of their different albums attract the audience to the tour. Featured on the front album 'Too Much Pressure' is the 2 Tone Records logo. As most bands in this genre are under that label, their products will have the logo on.
You can also see it on the top left corner of a Specials poster.
The image to the right is from the 2 Tone Records website, showing all the artists under this label.


Themes
The main theme throughout Ska music, adverts, posters etc. is the black and white contrast. There is mostly a black and white checkered pattern used. Another theme is that it adverts tend to be simplistic where you only get the information you really need which entices audiences in as it doesn't push you into a product but rather pulls you in and interests you.

Font
Magazine adverts from this genre generally use bold block lettering which stands out from others which is usually black or white with black outline. This again uses the general theme that runs through Ska products. The Selecter as you can see from the above poster have their own font which they use on all their products. Although it doesn't necessarily follow the same font as other bands it has a similar sort of style with how it is pointy and sharp lettering. An audience can easily recognise this font.

Generic conventions:

• Black and white checkered pattern element
• Bold and block lettering
• An image of artist or cartoon
• Black and white contrast
• Simplistic - not too much information
• 2 Tone records logo

Conventions of magazine adverts

Conventions of magazine adverts from LillieCram

Brand Identity

Brand identity is the visible elements of a brand, such as colours, design, logo, name or symbol, that together can identify and distinguish the brand in the consumers mind. Usually a magazine advert for a digipak will have a similar if not the same image on as the digipak but with different information such as the date it is released etc. This is so the consumer can see the magazine advert and then the digipak will be instantly recognisable.
For example the image on Kings Of Leon's 'Only By The Night' album is exactly the same on the magazine advert.

Magazine advert brief

• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

Finished digipak

This is our finished digipak. I think it all goes well together and although it doesn't necessarily all follow generic conventions in terms of images and layout, it still suits the ska genre with the use of the different fonts and the black and white checkers.
The only real problem we had when creating the digipak would be when we wanted images of the band on the back we didn't gather enough when out filming and couldn't get any stills from the music video.
I think what we have produce fits in well with our music video to continue the dream like, surreal theme.

Digipak update

On the inside we decided to put in the lyrics of the song 'Our House' and the pictures that we was going to put on the back but then changed our design. We used the same font as we used for the tracklisting so the whole digipak goes well together.



On the inside where the CD goes we put in a brick wall, at first we had it in the original red brick colour but it didn't look right and didn't match with the whole digipak and stuck out a lot. We changed it to black and white so it was a lot more subtle and drew everything together. The sole image that is in colour is Lewis to promote him as the artist. Although most Madness and other bands in the ska genre have an image of the whole band on the front, we decided to challenge this by have a more narrative concept to our digipak to advertise the music video.

Digipak update

On the back we started to put in different images as we planned to on our draft, we then discovered that we didn't have enough images and the images we did have would look better on the inside. So we decided to put in a back ground of the black and white checkered pattern that we originally was going to have in the title to fit to the genre.
We started to add in the different information that we needed to on the back, this includes: the barcode, record label logo, copyright information, artist website and label website. We also added the record label and the compact disc digital audio logo on to the spine.

The front and back look well together, the black and white pattern goes well with the font. The fact that Lewis is the only one in colour emphasises him as the artist.

Digipak update

We have added a white background to the whole of the digipak and begun on the back cover. We started by adding in the track list of ten songs. We chose a different, but similar font to the one on the front. This is like the font that Jess used in her draft idea so we chose to use it on the back to incorporate all the different ideas but still sticking to a similar theme throughout.
We have also put the artist name and album name onto the spine.

Editing the digipak

After deciding on our final design for our digipak, we started to create it. None of us had great knowledge of how to use Photoshop, so to start with we had a play around to figure the different tools out.
We began by cutting all the characters out of the main image we got by using the eraser tool which took a lot of time, after the first one we found a simpler and quicker way to cut the characters out. We put them all into position behind Lewis at a slight angle peering at the side of him. We made all the characters in black and white and changed the lightness of them to create the ghost like feel as if they aren't really there to fit in with our video's concept.


We originally thought about having the artist name and the album name in a font with the black and white checkered pattern inside the letters but after looking at the fonts on Photoshop we found another font that we liked which also meets generic conventions of ska.

The front is looking how we wanted it to, we chose to keep the front simple but with a unique concept that fits in with the music video to keep consistent with the brand identity.

Digipak drafts and feedback

We all did a draft for our digipak each so that we could visualise the different ideas we had. Mine and Gemma's ideas are similar in that the main image has all the different characters behind Lewis as if he can't see them and they are a secret within the house. Jess' idea had more images on, one of the house, a close up of Lewis and a picture of Lewis running down the corridor.

The back images we all did we different also.



Gemma did a back with the track listing as the majority of the page with smaller images surrounding it, this is more conventional to our genre.
The feedback we got suggested that we use the black and white checkered effect used in the title and the way that the back is laid out from Gemma's because this is more conventional to ska digipaks.





My draft is similar to Gemma's in that it has the characters on the front hiding behind Lewis, mine is different however because of the positioning of the characters. On the back I have put the tracklisting, the copyright information, the record label information etc. to make sure we have all the conventions.
The feedback we got suggested that we use the image from my draft because it is more unique.








Jess' front cover was different to mine and Gemma's as it has 3 images on and not just the one. Jess' front illustrates more of the narrative and Lewis rather than the characters.
The feedback suggested that we used the font from this one because of the bold style.

Everyone also liked the brick effect used on the inside of Jess' draft, so we will use this in our digipak.

Generic Conventions of Digipaks

After looking at conventions of a digipak throughout all genres, I have looked at my genre specifically to see what we can include into our own digipak.

Conventions of a digipak

Digipak Brief

• A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)

Editing update

In the final feedback session we were told that we need more clarity that Lewis is jumping down a rabbit hole at the end of the Alice scene. We already had a shot of a swirl before he comes out of the wardrobe, so to make it more clear what was happening we put the same swirl shot fading onto the shot where he jumps down the rabbit hole. 

Feedback

Today we did another student feedback session in lesson. Our video is much closer to being finished now so this feedback we got will help us to sort out any problems and help us to reach a final music video.

Good points:

• Good idea,
• Funny and interesting
• Casting right - well acted
• Clear narrative

Bad points:

• Need more clarity on the rabbit hole bit.
• In bathroom  scene he has jacket on going in but then doesn't have it on when out, isn't clear he is in shorts
• Impact points at the start need to be edited a bit more to grab attention of the audience straight away, a lot better towards end

Editing update

In the first feedback session, we were told that we needed to make the impact points better and maybe put in a few shots of the Alice scene as Lewis runs away from the Grease scene because of the beats in the song at that point. So we went back to edit  to see how it looked and we decided that it looked better so kept it like that.

Student Feedback

In one of our lessons we watched everybody's music video so we could give feed back to each other. This helps because we can have people with fresh eyes on our video to see any mistakes we may not have noticed while watching it constantly, it is also nice to look at other peoples music videos to take a break from ours.
The feedback that we got was:

Positive feedback

• People said that they liked the initial concept of the video because it is unique and fun which will keep the audience interested and also fits well with the genre of music we are doing.
• They were impressed with the fact that we had synced the lip syncing nicely.
• The fast paced editing where Lewis turns from one character to another because it flows smoothly.
• They found the video funny which is what we wanted the video to be, this way we can keep the audience interested and laughing.

Negative feedback to improve the video

• One of the big things that we need to change is to hit the impact points better this way it will make the video stand out better.
• We also need to start filtering the video so that the quality looks better.
• We need to get the beginning finished because with out the beginning the video doesn't fully make sense.

Editing update

We have now editing all the different scenes, now we just need to add in the beginning and end.

Editing the Grease scene went well. Gemma made the transition between Lewis turning into a character from Grease look really good.






We have edited the Alice in Wonderland scene, it looks really good. We have slowed bits down and edited the running away bit so you can see Lewis from different angles.

We have also edited the Willy Wonka scene, the beginning of this scene features Lewis coming out of the wardrobe after jumping down the rabbit hole from the previous scene.
We added in a fade from Lewis coming out of the wardrobe to a point of view shot of him looking at the Wonka chocolate bar so that the audience are aware what scene it is.
We added an effect onto the shot where you begin to see the Oompa Loompa so that it is enigmatic and ask yourself, who is it? and also to show the confusion from Lewis point of view.

Editing update

 After editing the bathroom scene we moved onto the next scene, the emos. We have started the scene with a point of view shot of Lewis going into the room and a fade of a group of 3 candles to give an eerie and enigmatic feel.

We changed the contrast so it was more clear and not so pixelly. 

Overall the editing is going really well and is looking how we want it to.

 

Editing Update

We have begun editing, we cant do the beginning scene because we need to get the footage as we forgot to do one little bit on our last day of filming. However, we have edited the bathroom scene. In all of our scenes there will be a bit where Lewis is going towards a door and then opening the door so we will have to make sure that there is no continuity problems. I think we have done this quite well in this scene. This scene looks how we planned and we are very pleased with it.

Filming

On Sunday we did a full day of filming getting as much done as we could. We managed to do the Alice in Wonderland scene, Emo scene, Charlie and Chocolate Factory Scene, Grease scene and we changed the masquerade ball to some Arabic women praying. Everything went really well, the cast looked great in their costumes and although there was a lot of costume changes everybody kept going for us and stayed patient. The day was a great success.