PRODUCTION - My Advertisement so far . . . Hmm

My Advertisement for the Digipak !

• This is not the final product, in fact this is merely something I put together on power point to develop some of my ideas and really conduct an illustrated brainstorm, below is an image of what I ended up with thus reflecting on the sort of preliminary work I want to work on.

PLANNING - Mock up Ancillary work, PITCH !

How Was My Pitch?

Summary :

• We were all as a class required to individually present to our teachers a pitch presentation. This was more of a 1 to 1 discussion face to face with the mock ups present for us to dissect and analyze. Personally I used my teachers comments and guidance to come up with some strengths, improvements and weaknesses.

The Mock ups I presented :

• Digipak -

• Advertisement - 

Strengths:

• The strengths clearly were the fact that I had stuck to three colors throughout the three pieces of work consistently and they all worked well together.
• The layout I used for the back of my Digipak front cover and the text for copyright was excellent.

Weaknesses:

• I think my teacher had reminded me that I had to use everything that I created and nothing borrowed or taken off the Internet, this was a bummer as I now could not use the rose design for the back cover and advertisement. This specific part had me excited however I understand I cant use the design unless I draw it myself.

Room For Improvement:

• Definitely considering the three pices of work the advertisement needs the most work and the colour scheme of it does not go well with the rest of the work as black seems to dominate.

Planning of Ancillary Products - My Pitch

Last Wednesday before I started my production work I had to pitch my ideas to my teachers and explain how I was going to execute them. This was so we could be notified if there was anything wrong with our initial ideas and make sure we would follow all the conventions of ancillary work. During the pitch I was informed that images which we had not taken ourselves could not be used in our work due to copy right so some of my ideas had to be changed. apart from the back of the digipak nothing else has been changed to date.

My original idea of having red roses on the back of my digipak was changed. This is because I did not take the photo of the roses myself and after some feedback I felt that their was too much red for my liking. So I decided to change it. Underneath is what it looks like now:

ANCILLARY PLANNING: Mock Up of my ADVERTISEMENT

ANCILLARY PLANNING: Mock up of my DIGIPAK

This is the mock up of the front cover of my digipak. I decided to go for a black and white theme which is quite urban and will therefore create the look I want for my artist. I am also going to include red as well as the rose because these are two of our synergy products. 

This is the inside of my digipak mock up. 

ANCILLARY WORK: Choice of locations for Photos

When we first thought of where we should shoot, we thought the best place to do it would be in the room where the green screen is since the black curtain is in there and we wanted a plain background. However, when we got into the room and started taking pictures we encountered a problem. I was wearing black and the curtain was black; as well as my hair being quite dark, so this did not work. We then decided to try the other side of the room where there was a white wall, however it was a little dirty so we decided to go and find a cleaner white wall. We went to one of the staircases and we found a large white wall that was perfect. We also had a fan on us, and since there was a plug next to this white wall, it was perfect. 

ANCILLARY PLANNING: Overview of Costumes in the Photos

The reasons behind the use of the colour black was mainly because we did not want the photos to look too messy and confusing. We were not sure how we would be using the images and what effects we would possibly be putting on them so even though our artist is urban, we did not want to mix too many colours as we were afraid it may not look good with the effects we may decide to use. 

We also decided to keep the red lipstick as we did not have a rose on this day and the red lips is one of our synergy products. We also decided to add on the fur scarf as we thought it would create a very trendy look for the artist. Many artist now compete for fans and many of them use fashion as a way to reach out to these fans. 

ANCILLARY PLANNING: Photos of our Artist for the Ancillary Work

 These were some of the pictures we took for our ancillary work. We decided to stick to very plain black and white backgrounds as we were not yet sure whether we would need to crop out any pictures and we were told that with a pattern in the background it would be much harder. 

 

We tried many types of pictures but we were happier with the pictures that were closer to the artists face as opposed to pictures that were further away. 

ANCILLARY PLANNING: The DO's and DON'T's of Design Work

ANCILLARY PLANNING: Where have the ideas come from?

 

I got many of my ideas from Rita Ora's album cover and her advertisement. Even though I will not be taking the same approach in the way she has her advertisement, I took the use of black and white and then the influence of the strong colour red, since it links in perfectly with my music video. I then also used her album cover as an inspiration again because of the use of of the black and white with the red. I also really like the simplicity of the cover and it looks very professional. 

PLANNING - MOCK UP OF ADVERTISEMENT!

MOCK UP OF ADVERTISEMENT

PLANNING - MOCK UP OF DIGIPAK!

MOCK UP OF DIGIPAK

PLANNING - An interesting Photo of Karma taken from the Music video !

PLANNING - Where have my ideas come from?

Ideas & Thoughts!

Initial Main Thoughts And Ideas:

1. Use a white background with black text.
2. Use an angled image of Karma from her neck upwards of her looking down illustrating the male gaze theory described by Laura Mulvey.
3. No image of anything on the back panel.
4. Writing on the actual CD. 
5. Inside panel should contain another picture of a rose.

Reasons for these ideas:

• I had looked at various previous student work as part of my research and had realized that the simple Ancillary pieces which use white backgrounds are more effective, in addition I already decided to use white, red and black as my three main colors meaning I needed to choose between the three for a background color and I feel that white will appeal to our specific target audience better.
• The other decisions I have made above are all linked to one influence and that is the research I done on the Ancillary work of urban pop artists. This was crucial as I found interesting conventions such as writing on the CD instead of images, this will help me use less pictures and keep it more professional. I understand I must use an image of the rose somewhere as part of synergy but mainly looking at Elli Gouldings products i felt as if a low gazing image of Karma would be perfect for the cover of both digipak and advertisement.

PLANNING - Reasons behind the choice of our location

Location !

Main influences for using Locations:

Black Background !

• Firstly, I think we decided immediately to use the studio as we understood that this is where the professional pictures would be taken. The black background complimented Karmas costume making it seem like this would actually be a very good idea to use a black background.
• We also created the effect of her in motion as we grabbed a fan and kept it a meter away from her face whilst taking pictures this idea was excellent but came along with various limitations.
• The problem with her hair flying about on a black background was that a few group members wanted to use plain backgrounds to use photo shop tools to cut around her figure however her dark hair on the black background literally made this impossible.
• We fiddled about with the lighting and took some more pictures and to be honest the pictures can be used easily but obviously with the background in place and not cut out.

White Background !

• The limitation of the black background simply brought t our minds that we should try the white background so we headed out into the hallway where we found the perfect white wall.
• So we placed Karma in various poses and it worked out very well, now whether we wanted to cut out or keep the background we could decide to do with either.
• Personally I wanted a white background throughout my whole ancillary work and this collection of pictures will actually help very much.

PLANNING - Overview of costume ideas

Karmas Costume !

The picture above illustrates exactly what Karma will be wearing for the photo shoot which will hold the photos Group 23 will be using for their Digipaks and advertisement. We decided to use the black jacket and the straightened hair as we felt it would create a visual link for the audience due to the fact that Karma has already worn this in one of the base tracks of the epic music video. In addition I think the use of red lipstick was inevitable as this was one point of synergy throughout this whole project and to njot use it would be a big mistake. However this whole costume is not exactly the same costume she wore in Hounsditch during filming, in fact we have included the black vest and a fur scarf along with a silver chain which all demonstrate the urban side to our urban pop genre.

Karma's costume in full:

• Black Jacket
• Black Vest
• Fur Scarf
• Bright Red Lipstick
• Straightened hair
• Silver chain

PLANNING - A short list of photos I am thinking about using...

Shortlist Of Photos

PLANNING - A shortlist of fonts, colours and text ideas

Design Ideas!

RESEARCH - What do we place on the actual CD?

When thinking about the Do's and Don't's I realized that I must research on what the artists of my genre place on the actual CD of their album . . .

Hmmm !

RESEARCH - Outline of the DO'S and DONT'S of Ancillary work !

Do's and Don't's of Design production work !

Make sure you do this:

• Stick to two clear fonts as maximum, ensure they complement each other and are appropriate considering the genre... they must create a visual link between the images as well, this will ensure the work looks professional
• In terms of colors, stick to three colors make sure they go well together and again fit the genre alright.
• Make sure that photos used are clear and are in focus, this is crucial as it decides whether your work comes out as professional and consistent or rusty and unprofessional.
• You MUST follow the rules of thirds for composition.
• Remember to include bar codes, copyright information, title of album, artist name, record company logo, website and artist website. basically all things you usually see on a Digipak but dont be fooled! you must ensure they are positioned well and in the right place.

Make sure you don't do this: 

• We must not use any effects that are not needed and make the rest of the work look edgy and off point. Photoshop has a lot of interesting features but not all of them will ensure that your work complies within the genre.
• NEVER stretch images just to make them fit into your panels. Always remember if the image doesent fit then you cant use it as you will lose marks vastly for stretched images.
• Placing text across the artists face such as album title or artist name will make you lose a lot of marks as this is seen as a 'rookie' mistake.
• The fonts you use must be chosen because of the way the fit into the criteria such as does it go accordingly to your music video theme? is it the same color and font type as your other fonts? and does it challenge the genre? You MUST NOT use a font because it appeals to you REMEMBER it must appeal to the audience.
• You do not need to have photos on every single panel, this will ruin your work some genres do not even require a photo of the artist on the cover. you cant use pictures just to fill spaces this makes you lose major marks.

RESEARCH - Analysis of 3 Magazine adverts

Magazine Adverts Of Same Genre!

Ellie Goulding - ''Lights''

- This magazine advertisement of Ellie Gouldings debut album ''lights'' is actually a very interesting and beneficial advertisement to analyze as it is of the same genre.


- I firstly not the large medium close up of the artist as this is eye capturing, the positioning of her face not only vocalise's her but it is clear that she is the artist who is releasing this album, her costume, make up and hair will appeal to the target audience.

-The text remains the same in terms of font and color which also matches her hair and background colour, this touches upon the synergy we discussed in our class discussions and immediately I made a visual link with this specific piece of work.

Jessie J - ''Who you are''

- Here again we see a consistent form of colors the gold contrasts against the black which is eye catching but more importantly, this stays the same and is used professionally.


- There is few references to media brands in the bottom left and right corner of the advertisement.


- There is no reference to any sort of ratings for the album however it does promote some of the singles in the actual album in its limited amounts of text.

Delilah - ''From the roots up''

- This is very similar to the magazine advert for Ellie Goulding we saw earlier in terms of the adverts contents, we see clearly visible some music magazine ratings which will appeal to the target audience and maybe the secondary audience.

- the picture of the artist is a medium long shot this time but it is still giving off the same effect. We as the audience understand she is the artist and the abstract image raises questions about the artist herself.

- The consistency of the font again is something important for me as I now know that my advertisement will also need to be consistent and hold visual links between colors, images and font types.

RESEARCH - Class discussion, breif summary of the function of Digipak !

SUMMARY OF CLASS DISCUSSIONS !

Production of Ancillary Products - Where Have My Ideas Come From?

My initial ideas came from looking at a range of digipaks, including artists like Rita Ora, Katy B, and Ny. They are all reasonable urban artists which means their ancillary work would be similar to what I would produce.

Combining all together I though I would be able to produce something urban as well as professional.

Planning of Ancillary Products - Mock Up of Advertisement

Planning of Ancillary Products - Mock Up Digipack

Planning of Ancillary Work - Why We Choose These Picture Locations?

The main reasons we choose these locations were:

1. We wanted to use a play background for editing purposes. Many tools which are available to used on photoshop work much better if the background around the artist is blank.
2. We chose the black studio because it was a professional area where pictures are meant to be take. Also we could also manipulate the weather for effect e.g. using the fan to create a wind effect in our pictures.
3. If we want to use simple but effective colours on our Digipaks photoshop will be able to easily pick up the colour of the pictures background and paste it elsewhere
4. We choose to take our pictures indoors because it is much easier to control lighting inside as the light is not natural. To get professional looking pictures the lighting has to be correct to eliminate shadows.

Planning of Ancillary Products - Karma's Costume!!!

Karma's Costume

Karma's Photoshoot Description

1. Black Jacket
2. Black Vest
3. Fur Scarf
4. Bright Red Lipstick
5. Straightened hair

 The picture above shows what our artist will be wearing in our Digipak and Advertisement. The red lipstick is our synergy product so it definitely has to be in the pictures we use, as it acts as a direct link to the music video Group 23 produced.  The black jacket and straightened hair were both used in our ''Houndsditch'' basetrack which is why Karma wore them for the photoshoot. As you can see our artist is also wearing a chain which represents the urban side of her since many urban artist use jewellery as a symbolic item. The new editions to our costume are the black vest and also the fur scarf. Pop artists often wear excentric clothing the music videos and photoshoots, so we decided we will do the same in ours as we did make a video to an Urban Pop song.

Researching Ancillary Products - Magazine Analysis UNFINISHED

Rita Ora - Radio Active

As Rita Ora is an Urban pop artist she already has a lot in common with our Urban Pop Artist called Karma.  From looking at her magazine advertisement for her Radio Active tour, her design, layout and colouring all comply with the conventions of Urban Pop. First of all from looking at the font you can see it is relatively urban and the pinkish background is very pop like. So having the font and and background together creates the Urban Pop effect. Furthermore the effect on the picture has also been given a stylised pop music genre airbrush. I have though about using similar effects on my ancillary work.

Ellie Goulding - Lights

As we choose an Ellie Goulding song to create and a music video for and base our ancillary work around, I thought it was a good idea to analyse an Ellie Goulding advert to find similarities between my ancillary work and also Ellie Goulding. 

Planning Ancillary Products - Short List of Digipak Photos

The reasons the pictures above have made my short list is because I like the shot distance and pose our artist Karma has done in the pictures. Also all the pictures are of a good quality ( although some quality may have been lost through uploading). Also all the pictures feature the bright red lipstick which was one of our synergy products. Also I believe plain backgrounds look good for ancillary products because often you do not need to cut around your artist which does not look very professional.

Planning Ancillary Products - Do's and Don'ts of Design Work

Things you should do:

• Use a picture of your Artist on the front
• Use a maximum of 2 fonts which are easy to read
• Use a maximum of three colours on you Digipak and Advert
• Use a good number of relevant song
• Use reviewing magazines relevant to you genre
• Use synergy which relates to you video

Things you should avoid:

• Too many colours
• Fonts which cannot be easily read
• Irrelevant music reviewing magazines
• Using pictures to fill blank spaces
• Using stretched or bad quality images
• Making your work look like its been made for different artist- follow the same theme in all your production work

Researching Ancillary Products - Short list of font, colours and Layout

Fonts 
From the time we finished producing our Music video we had already decided which font we was going to be using on the rest of our productions work. This font is called Mix Tape and features in our music video. Here is a picture below:

Although this is the main font which will be featuring on all my work, I think I may use a supporting font aswell, but at this moment in time, I am still contemplating. If I do use a supporting font, it will still be urban aswell as a little more fancy.

Colour Scheme

The colour scheme which I thinking about using is red, black and white. The red has been especially chosen because its the colour of our synergy products: the red lipstick and roses. I have chosen black and white because these two colour go with virtually anything, so there will be limitations to what I could so with them.

Layout
I am thinking about using a standard layout to any other Digipak. I will be using the 4 panel template. This will be explained deeper when I blog about my mock up.

Researching Ancillary Products: Analysis of Three Digipaks

Ellie Goulding - Lights 

This Digipak initially relates to our genre of urban pop because we choose an Ellie Goulding song to make a video to and it was classified as urban pop. Besides that You can see its a Digipak of a pop artist because of the effects used. The sparkling light effect is something which would be found in a lot of pop music video's. Personally I believe the colour scheme used is what makes it seem and look urban, which will make it urban pop like our genre. The dark blues and blacks contrast with the bright lights which give the impressions the artist is urban and real, but also makes pop music. This will relate to the audience due to factors I mentioned before; darker colour scheme to urban fans and the special pop effects to the pop fans.

Marina and the Diamonds

This relates to my genre because firstly Marina and the Diamonds is a pop artist who covers a wide range of pop sub genres. The actual design of the Digipak has an Urban feel and I think this is because of the font which has been used. Also the colour scheme is quite simplistic which makes it feel like the artist is a little less mainstream. Personally I think this is unusual for a pop artist because normally they use much brighter colours in their work. The effects and poses in the pictures relate to the audience because they stand out. Pop videos generally try to make the artist look glamorous and that has been done on this Digipak.

Rita Ora - Ora

Rita Ora is an upcoming urban pop artist. You can tell this by the way she dresses and speaks. Also from analysing her Digipak the colour scheme and font once again relate to our music genre, audience and music video concenpt.  The red, black and white works well and was the colour scheme I was planning to use on my Digipack. Furthermore the font is almost graffiti like which is something which urban artists use a lot in the work. Therefore because of these reasons it would relate to our target audience.