Green Day Poster

 

This poster is promoting the album "21st Century Breakdown" by Green Day. It is a concept album, which tells the story of a male called "Christian" and a female called "Gloria" - of whom are displayed on the poster.

This poster, like others I have looked at has the image as the central focus of the poster. Due to the image displaying two characters embracing and kissing, with the album title underneath it tells the audience that these two characters are part of the underlying story of the music contained in the album. I can appreciate the way that the album title is placed at the bottom of the poster as a way of promoting the characters. However, I don't think it really grabs the audience's attention is it is too small and is placed in an awkward position.

The two characters are represented as two rogue teenage lovers who find comfort within themselves when it appears their surroundings are dark and dank. This would appeal to a younger audience as they could relate to it as they may have experienced it or it could perhaps influence younger people to do so. The genre of the music is also displayed through this as the music on the album this poster is promoting is about running away from a modern world that's corrupted by bankers and corporations. This rings true in this day and age and echoes the album title "21st Century Breakdown".

I like the artwork however. I believe the stenciled artwork adds another element to the poster, especially if it is pinned up on a wall; it can blend in with its surroundings and appear to be part of the wall it is placed on. This can look and seem clever, but I think it could backfire and blend too much into its surroundings.

I'm not a big fan of the font that is used either. I don't think it fits the genre of music particularly well as it would be more at home on a poster for a rap/hip-hop album due to the conventions that are connotated with rap music. I also think that the colour of the font isn't very appealing as it blends in with the rest of the poster.

In short, the only thing I really admire about this poster is the image of the two characters kissing and embracing. It's a powerful image that I would like to replicate at some point. Other than that, I can't see myself using anything from this poster in my own work.

Tegan and Sara Poster

 

This poster is promoting the release of a new album from the act "Tegan and Sara" - I've chosen this poster because it shows two people on the poster, which is something I want to replicate. It is also minimalist in nature as there is very little spread out across the poster, with the central focus being on the two faces shown and the name of the album.

In terms of image, I like the two that are used. It introduces the band but could also, unknown to the viewers of the poster, it could be showing a couple that are disjointed from each other and are not engaging very well. In terms of music, it would make the audience want to listen to the music if they are in a state of mind where they desire to listen to music which compliments their mood of feeling distant from somebody.

I think this poster would appeal to the audience because it offers something different. Not only does it show the musicians, it puts them on a pedestal that makes the audience think about them more and their personal influence on the music. Hitting a personal note with the audience is something I'd like to do with my poster.

I like the colour scheme that is used as it creates a nice contrast between the pale white skin of the two female characters and the "&" symbol that is in white. There is also a nice correlation between the dark hair of the two female characters and the black text used. The red lips create a nice diversion of the audience's attention away from the rather plain colour scheme.

The text used is also rather minimalist and of a decorative nature. It provides an element of artistry to the poster as opposed to an image of just two characters looking away from each other. This sort of font is not dissimilar to the style of font I want to use.

Overall, I like this poster. It's bold, yet at the same time minimal and to the point.

The White Stripes Poster

The above poster is advertising a show that showcases the release of a new album. Whilst it doesn't contain a great deal of information, I'm more interested in the imagery of the poster and the effect it has on the audience.

The emphasis in this poster is on the band's name. As 'white' is in capital letters and takes up a large portion of the poster. This immediately draws the attention of the audience in as the band are quite well known and it would make them think that it was The White Stripes as soon as they saw that the word 'white' was in bold capital letters; particularly as it is in white and displayed on a red background (a colour The White Stripes frequently use in their music videos, digipaks and advertising).

The image of the woman straddling the band's name gives the impression that their music is quite promiscuous and perhaps male dominated. The poster would also attract attention of men too due to the appearance of a seductive woman.

The genre of the music most likely to be alternative due to the font and colour scheme used. The imagery of the female straddling the band name is also quite trendy and at the same time, very different to other posters used by pop bands as they have to take into account a younger, wider audience. Therefore, I also think this poster would appeal to older people aged 18-30 as they wouldn't be phased by the appearance of a promiscuous figure.

I really like the fonts used in this poster and the colour scheme as they're both eye catching and contemporary. However, I would favour using an image that related more to the music as opposed to just making the advert interesting.

Gaslight Anthem Poster

This poster displays artwork from an era that I love. Nowadays, it is known as "Americana", usually displaying characters and themes from 1950s. The key aspect of this poster is the couple however, which is something I want to show in my own work.

The central focus of this poster is the couple kissing whilst they sit in their 1950s American cars. One car is facing in the opposite direction to the other, which shows that the two characters may be going in two different directions. There is perhaps a story behind the couple displayed in the poster, which would make the audience want to listen to the music to see whether their story is told in the music.

The poster makes it look like the band is telling a story with their music. By this, I mean that this could easily be a poster for a play/musical as well as a gig or promotion of an album.

The band name and the date of the gig is displayed at the top of the poster in order to show that this is their show and their work. If the audience is impressed by the artwork on the poster, they will immediately give credit to the band for producing the artwork or going about recruiting the right people for the right job.

I love this poster, however I think my own work will be more minimalist. I will be taking photos as opposed to drawing and I also want the audience to be struck by the images on the poster. I don't believe this poster has the 'wow' factor that I'm looking for.

Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions (Digipak Research)

 

 

This digipak is the most recently released out of the four that I have analysed so far. It's one of my favourite albums but I've never really taken much note of the digipak itself, until now of course.

 

The front cover shows a male and a female facing each other in a vast open space in the middle of the countryside. They both each have a flag tied to them, each of which is a different colour - highlighting that there are opposites in their character or that they both believe different things, as flags are a sign of partisanship. There is a fire burning in the background which has been neglected and appears to be spreading; this shows that there is perhaps danger on the horizon for these two people. There is a lot of colour on the front cover of this digipak but the saturation is rather low which hints at a lack of life in the scene and perhaps in their relationship. I love the photo, it is incredibly sharp and is probably the product of several photos pieced together due to the rich detail that is displayed in every aspect; every fold in the flags is visible and there isn't one distracting pixel. I also like how the title of the album and the name of the band is rather minimal; it is underlined in plain black font at the top of the digipak and the photo is the main focus of the front cover. This is something I want to replicate across my work.

 

The back cover of the digipak follows the theme of the front cover as the same landscape is shown. There is however no people in shot, but a different colour flag remains, which implies another person is in the shot. The track listing is placed to the right and is set out in a uniform fashion. It doesnt' however add anything to the image that is displayed on the back cover, which I think is something I would like to include in my own work.

 

The theme of the digipak is continued through on to the physical CD. The two flags are shown from the front cover on the CD but they have merged together; this has a deeper meaning as it displays the two flags [people] coming together, which relates to one of the songs on the album "Many Of Horror" - "When we collide we come together...". The tracklisting has been wrapped around the two flags which brings the digipak together as the text is being used with the images to good effect.

 

I think this album will appeal to older people, aged 18-25. I say this because it takes a mature mind to disect what is displayed on the digipak; this is the target audience I am making my music video for so I believe this is the most significant digipak I have analysed.



 



Another Front Cover Idea!

I've had an idea for my front cover as I was conducting my similar media product research. The "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge" album cover got me thinking about my own.

I envisaged a front cover that contained a close up of two faces, one male and one female, on a white background, shot in black and white. I then thought, "how can I make this one coherent piece of work?" so I thought that the inside of the digipak should represent the inside of the two faces, as if you were opening up the two people - almost going towards creating a 3D digipak. The reverse of the digipak would simply be a rear close-up of two faces.

I think this would be an innovation in terms of digipaks. I have never seen it done before.

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (Digipak Research)

 

 

The digipak I am analysing is Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance. The initial impressions of this digipak is that the front cover has been graphically designed by hand; the CD has been produced using design software and the back cover is simply a construction of image and text.

 

The front cover is an image of a couple either pulling away after sharing a kiss. They are stained in blood which shows that their relationship has been tarnished by a death or a horrific accident. The possibility of it being an accident/murder is heightened by the drawing of the female character; she is shown to have a 'ripped' neck that has been sewn back together. This gothic image would be appealing to those of a sensitive nature that would be particularly vulnerable to acts of such severity. The most common age group that is associated with these types of people are young people aged 13-18 as this is a period in somebody's life when they are particularly emotionally vulnerable. This age group would be able to relate to the heartbreak shown on the faces of the two characters. The font of the album cover further adds to the dishevelled image that is portayed by the two bloodstained chracters; each letter is a different size and case to the one that precedes it. Not only does this add to the image of the two characters but it gives the text a life of its own and becomes a separate image to the drawing.

 

This font is carried over to the CD itself. However, it is now a blood red colour on a plain white background. As well as the text, there is an image of a crucifix on a chain and the track-listing. The blood red text on a plain white background makes the CD look like a crime-scene; as if the red text was blood stained on a plain white floor. This gives the impression the music is going to be rather depressing or sadistically themed.

 

The back cover is rather simple as it just contains a photo of the band as well as the tracklisting. I don't believe it makes the digipak a coherent piece of artwork and it appears to look out of place with the rest of it. I believe it would have been better if they continued the theme of the front cover on to the back cover; possibly with a rear view of the couple to make it appear like a 3D piece.

 

I do appreciate this digipak and I believe the front-cover is very powerful. However, I think the rest of the digipak appears to be disjointed and appears as three different designs.

Green Day - Nimrod (Digipak Research)

 

 

 

This digipak contains one of my favourite album covers of all time. Yet, after looking at the digipak as a whole it has become apparent that the rest of it is also highly effective in terms of being a coherent digipak as the colour scheme and images used play a part in the whole piece.

 

The front cover uses two images which have been edited to cover the faces of the two characters with the phrase "Nimrod" - this has both explicit and implicit meanings. One could take the front cover at face value and state that they are just being called "Nimrods". However, when you take into account the mise-en-scene it appears that the two characters are politicians or at least are high up in society. The label "Nimrod" implies a high level of incompetence and could therefore be an attack on the way they are performing their job. In contrast, it could simply be a label for someone who is rather idiotic.

 

The CD is designed to look like a part of the album. This is achieved through designing the CD to look like the "Nimrod" label that covers the faces of the people on the front of the album cover. The track-listing is displayed on the CD but in an artistic fashion; instead of simply listing the tracks on the album and numbering them, the tracks are handwritten out as if the album was pressed from a piece of scrap paper.

 

The back of the digipak continues to follow the theme of the rest of the album. The "Nimrod" label is deployed yet again to the same effect. This time, it appears that the people being labelled "nimrods" are the general public. This again has a deeper, hidden meaning  as the general public also vote for these nimrods that are displayed on the front cover in general elections.

 

I like the pictures used in this digipak and I also like the deeper meanings contained via the use of the "Nimrod" label. However I don't think the tone of the album would suit the song I am using for my music video. In order to make a coherent piece of work I don't think I would go down this route. However, I will take into account the methods used to construct this digipak.

 

 





First Filming Session

I recently conducted the first filming session for my music video. I was unable to shoot the scenes in which contained myself as I have lost an element to my tripod which enables me to mount the camera. However, I went ahead and filmed the scenes which contained the ballet dancer only.

I believe that it went really well. I got a variety of shots from different camera angles and managed to shoot the dance routine in full several times.

The lighting in the dance studio was exactly what I was looking for. It was even throughout the seen and provided a nice contrast between the white walls and the black costume the dancer was wearing. This also allowed me to shoot with a low ISO which made the all round image quality sharper. I could also use faster shutter speeds too, reducing the blur from the ballet dancer.

The next time round, I believe I will have all the footage necessary to put my music video together.

Time Lapse Photography

I'm going to conduct a time-lapse photography experiment which I will be able to use in my music video. The subject of my time-lapse photography experiment will be a white rose; I aim to take photos of this rose every hour over the period of seven days in order to show it slowly dying (much like the love in the music video). This may take a few attempts but I am confident in my own ability to get it done first-time round with minimal fuss.

Here's an example of what I want to achieve by Sam Taylor-Wood:

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Digipak Research)

 

The reason I have chosen to analyse this digipak is largely due to the front cover. It is an iconic photo that beautifully displays the costumes of the two characters.

 

The underlying meaning behind the photograph on the front cover is, in my opinion a woman succumbing to a man. Not in a sexual or romantic way, but in the sense that she has realised she has done wrong and has given up arguing. This is shown through the use of mise-en-scene, i.e. the black long flowing dress she is wearing which makes her resemble a ghost, or perhaps even a demon. She looks as if she is parting ways with the man who is conscious of her existence, but is yet collected and seemingly unaffected by her departure. This contrast in attitude is something I would love to display throughout my work, not only in the construction of the digipak.

 

The costumes used resemble what I want my actors to be wearing when shooting the music video. The white/black attire of the man and the pure black dress of the woman shows a neat contrast in the image which also contributes to the underlying meaning of the photo.

 

The viewer's attention is immediately drawn to this photo as there is a plan cream background which further brings out the contrast in the two character's clothes. This is simple, yet effective.

 

The simplicity of this digipak continues in terms of the font used. Although it isn't standard, bold arial font it is still far from a font that beams with thick borders and opaque lines; it's as if somebody has hand-crafted the album title on to the digipak. This font appeals to me and I would consider using a similar style when producing my own digipak.

 

The back cover of the digipak retains the simplicity of the front cover, with only the album title shown along with the track listing on top of the cream background that is used on the front cover. I appreciate the coherency of the digipak as it retains the same theme throughout. However, I would like to make my back cover more interesting and add a few more images in there to make the digipak look more like a DVD case as opposed to the standard CD digipak.

 

There isn't too much to say about the disc itself. It's a plain CD with text and logos written across it. Very much like the back cover, I would like the CD to contain images as well as text in order to make the digipak one whole collective piece of work as opposed to the CD just being inserted into the cover. Perhaps making the CD part of a montage would be more effective.

 

Overall, I do like this digipak. However, it's only really the front-cover that interests me. As a result of this, I will be taking into account the design of the front cover but not the back cover or the CD.

Hide and Seek Storyboard (See Link)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmxdgj41ztzf1o3/Hide%20and%20Seek%20Storyboard.pdf


This is the storyboard I created for my music video using my tablet at home. Although the drawing isn't very good, it gives me a good basis to work from in terms of piecing my music video together. When I shoot my video, I will take stills from the moving images to create a more graphical storyboard in order to piece together something that I want my music video to replicate.

Music Video Shoot

I'm going to be shooting my music video tomorrow at a dance studio. I'm looking forward to finally getting started on my music video and putting my creative mind to work.

I have a one hour slot from 7:30 - 8:30 in the evening. I aim to get it all shot in that one hour, but that's rather ambitious and it won't matter if I have to do another session of shooting.

Front Cover Idea

I've had an idea for the front cover of my digipak. It uses a photographic technique that shows motion blur.

I want to use this effect in the following way:

Two people standing opposite each other in a dimly lit room whilst one of the parties remain still, the other will rock back and forth creating a messy 'cloud' of blur in front of the person remaining still. I think this will be effective as it conveys lyrics in the song that I am using, e.g.

"spin me round again... when busy streets a mess with people would stop to hold their heads heavy"

I think this would work wonderfully if pulled off. I'm confident in my photographic talents that I will be able to pull it off without using Photoshop.

Digipak Research Outline

I'm going to be researching five digipaks as part of my ancillary task research. These will be...

- Green Day: Nimrod
- Biffy Clyro: Only Revolutions
- Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
- My Chemical Romance: Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
- Alkaline Trio: Good Mourning

All of these digipaks have elements that I want to recreate in my own work. I will be analysing or at least focusing on the front cover, back cover and the physical CD. The inside cover is something I have already figured out. I need to research other aspects of digipaks though.

Examples of Costumes Being Used

The above images are examples of the types of costume I want my characters to be wearing in my music video. I want them to be wearing dark clothes that also contrast against each other as I will be shooting in high-contrast black and white.

Not only do I desire I high-contrast in my images, I also want the characters to be dressed as if they were attending a funeral to symbolise the death of the relationship being shown in the video.

Survey Results

I have decided to conclude the survey that I started up at the beginning of the course. The information that I have gathered will be vital in ensuring that I produce a piece of work that pleases my target audience and at the same time, sticks to certain conventions.

My survey is here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P8BH9C6


Here are some pie charts showing the views of my target audience (15-21):

 

 

 

Based on these findings, I've been able to establish who my target audience is. I will now begin to target them using specific techniques in the making process of my music video, digipak and poster after conducting thorough research of media products similar to those that I'm eventually going to create.

 

I believe my target audience, according to these findings on Survey Monkey to be aged 15-21 (as I posted all of my plugs for my survey on Facebook - my friends are all in that age group). They're quite evidently all very engaged in music videos as most people stated that they watched four or more music videos a week, with most of them views being on YouTube; they are therefore very up-to-date with the current ways on how to watch music videos and engage with artists using technology.

 



Most people said they like to see an interesting narrative in their music video, coupled with it reflecting events in their own life. Nineteen out of the twenty-five people who answered the question entitled "When a music video is particularly interesting I tend to give credit to..." said they give credit to both the artist and the director of the music video. It is therefore important that I produce a music video that reflects the lyrics of the song, in order to make it appear there was a real, strong relationship with the director and the artist.

I look forward to meeting the needs of my audience in the near future!

My Target Audience

Having gathered the results of my survey and analysed the answers given, it is now important that I establish my target audience and have a clear idea in my head the demogrpahic I am targetting.

As mentioned previously, I believe my target audience to be aged 15-21. Due to the genre of music that I'm using, I also think that they will be interested in alternative forms of music that also show a lot of emotion. This is not something you often find in pop music, in which the music videos usually just feature dancers who have little relevance to the music or the lyrics in the song; my music video will be doing quite the opposite. Although the song I am using is simply a piano and a voice, the other music that band produces is consider heavy rock music, in this instance my music video may attract older people or another sub-audience that would like the music video for the particular song I'm using, but not necessarily that whole genre of music.

My music video, digipak and poster will appeal to both genders as it will feature both a man and a woman. The narrative in the music video will be relatable to both genders too as both sides of the story will be told.

I want to show the fashion taste of my target audience to come across in the music video too. I want to have my characters smartly dressed but at the same time, I want an element of young fashion to come across, which may include using trainers with a suit or a jacket that isn't particularly smart in order to appeal to my young, alternative audience.

Audience Research Video: Everything Is Borrowed

Here's an audience research video whereby I got somebody from my target audience to respond to some of my favourite music videos.

Audience Research Video: When We Die

Here's an audience research video whereby I got somebody from my target audience to respond to some of my favourite music videos.

Audience Research Video: Floods

Audience Research Video: American Idiot

Here's an audience research video whereby I got somebody from my target audience to respond to some of my favourite music videos.