Template for CD cover

I then took the time to design and create a CD template for our album cover. These are the designs an photographs I took of the completed template.

Research Of Magazine Advertisements

I have been researching into different magazine advertisements for our second part of the ancillary tasks. Magazine articles that advertise either the band or a CD or song they released are very hard to find online. However, I have come across a few ideas.

Firstly, I came across the "Sound and Vision" magazine advertisement. I feel that this relates to the "Blur" album cover I researched earlier. The choice of colours and several photographs explains a story and the colours could identify moods and emotions that are portrayed, which would relate to the music video. This is because we need something to relate so there will be a relation to the products as a whole. The font use and colours gives the poster a edge that is needed for this type of genre and target audience and has given me good ideas for creation and design of the digipak.

Although Jessie J does not fit in the genre or target audience we are looking for completely, the use of her magazine article shows a powerful and a strong confidence side to herself. The use of colours mostly portray black with a bold gold writing and title to embrace the title of the show to make it stand out, which has worked perfectly. The use of a closeup of her face makes the emotions stand out and attract the fan or customer into purchasing the product. The strong colour scheme is helping to give us a few ideas for when we design our digipak.

Research of Digipak

Below, I have researched and found other bands or singers that relate to the target audience and genre we used, and have found different ways bands have portrayed their album.

Firstly, I have found this album from "Blur." This is a unique type of album cover and I had ideas for some like this. The fact the album is split into four with the title in the middle gives the CD a unique appeal, that is differentiated in the market. However, if I was to do something like this for our music video, I feel it would not be cartooned and it could show both of the actors and two location shots maybe. This would work and I feel it would be different to the others out in the market at the moment. The use of the word "Blur" seems plain and all in lower cases, showing the focus is mainly on the photograph/background rather than the text. The only complication I would have with this would be that I need to add a title of the album but unsure about where this may go.

The image above has not been used on a CD but I think that it could give us a idea about the CD cover or a page inside. As the story focuses on both the male and female character in a relationship but shows both good and bad memories before she died, this gives a insight to both emotions and figures displayed. I have not come across a CD cover that looks like the one above before so this may be a good time in order to separate myself from the current music market in order to make the CD stand out.

The "Foo Fighters" album was another that I came across while researching album covers and CD's. This is because this album is simple yet colourful as you can see face's that colours have been exploited in order for them to stand out on the cover. The bold choice of red, pink, green and blue on a black ground shows that the colours stand out. This could also be said to relate to the title of the album "Wasting Light." This is because there is no light used in black, but contrasts with the bold use of the colouring of the faces. We could use this design and idea for ours as we have lots of close ups in order to show emotions, that we could use to put onto our final design of the CD cover.

The final CD cover I found was "Alanis." To me, this CD cover stood out from the rest when I was researching as I could see our actors in place of this female actor, in order to make our CD cover represent the music video and the other ancillary product we will make. I feel that using a overlay and changing the opacity of another image on top of the main image gives a sense of emotion and feeling, and this could represent our video appropriately. However, I feel that the choice of colour of the yellow could be changed to a blue or black and white in order for the image to shed more emotion. The use of font on this album is good but cannot be seen from far away due to the colour choices and this is a key factor we will be looking for when designing and producing our CD cover for "Alex Lloyd."

Ideas and Testers for CD cover

As a group, both myself and Emma decided what we wanted to have as our CD cover. This was a photograph of the man on with the girl in the photograph but with a changed opacity so that it tells the story of her maybe being there and breaking up etc.
Below, I have quickly created a design which could be one of the choices when thinking about the CD cover for our music video.

However, after researching other indie type music CD covers, we found that many of the bands did not actually have their band or characters from the music video on the front cover. This means we will be looking for photographs of either just "Alex Lloyd" or maybe a design for the front cover and then have photographs of him inside.

Final Cut

Below shows our final cut of our video for "Alex Lloyd-What We Started."

Untitled from emma maher on Vimeo.

Day 9 of Filming

Day 9 of filming included a place in Thamesmead which backed onto the river. This was because we had left the timing too late and we desperately needed footage but due to school time hours, if we went up to London to film, this would have meant the weather would be too dark to film. This way, we traveled to Thamesmead and filmed some good footage!! We then went back to my house and began filming the ending-she was going to die. We researched the ending before performing it and watched a video "Jamie T-Sheila." In this video, it is spent with a male character walking and miming, and at the end he ends up putting flowers on the grave. This video was very simple and ours differed from this, but the ending was similar. We thought this was a good idea as it didn't give the storyline away about how she died, but made it clear that she did. Feedback from our rough cut said there was not a straight forward storyline, and I think we gave that story line for our final cut. We also filmed the "You know what we started" part on the wall at my house as I had a plain and large wall suitable for filming. The memorial part was filmed in my back garden.

Day 8 of Filming

Once we got our feedback from the rough cut, we reliased we really had to do some work in order to bring our music video up to the standard we want. We began by filming the female character in the house again, but tried new things and established a storyline. It was set-the ending had changed but we were mysterious as to unravel it to the class. We filmed all the females parts and were happy with the footage we got from this day.

Researching into Advertisments

Another aspect of our ancillary tasks is not only to create a digipak for our music video, but also to create a poster of advertisement to advertise the music video.
I have annotated and shown aspects of the digipaks for both Florence and the Machine and One Republic, so I decided to take it one step further and use them again to view and annotate their advertisements like the posters that represent both themselves and their albums.

Florence+the Machine
Firstly, I have been researching for Florence and the Machine's posters to advertise both herself and her album in order to get more purchases sold or more concert ticket purchases.

If you take a look at both advertisements from Florence + the machine, you can see the same effect has been added and the same photograph has been used for both the album advertisements and the concert. This shows the artist has a specific house style she uses throughout her work so that customers and fans will not get confused and misplaced. This photograph is actually the same as what is used on all her merchandise and the CD itself. This means that all her belongings and merchandise all relate and suit each other which means it would be able t o tell her things from everyone elses if mixed up which is a good factor to have. From this, I have gained experience and skills into what I am going to be looking for and designing when designing and producing my advertisement of a poster shortly.

One Republic

Looking at both the advertisements I found for "One Republic" I can see both have exactly the same designs, comparing this to Florence and the Machine. This means that both images match so the customers and fans are able to tell who the poster or advertisement refers to. This is a key factor when thinking about creating and design our own music cover.

Design for the Digipak

Next, I have created, designed and produced a outline made out of paper/card to show the basic model of the digipak.
Below shows a slideshow to show what the digipak consists of. This is a front cover, a inductory cover, a cover for the CD to be held, and finally the back of the cover. This means that we will need a number of photographs to choose from in order for our decision to be the best and most appropriate for the CD cover.

Research to Ancillary Task

As a group, we have investigated and researched the brief.

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of the digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

We have decided that we want to make a CD package and a magazine advertisement in order to relate and link to the main music video.

Research to One Republic Ancillary Task

The next album I decided to analyse and research was "One Republic-Dreaming Out Loud." I decided to choose this album for research as not only did it relate to the target audience of our music video, but also One Republic was one of our music choices at the start of the coursework.

Looking at the CD cover for One Republics Album of "Dreaming out Loud," there is a vivid imagination for the colours and aspects used on the cover to describe both the band and their music. The album itself was released in America in November 2007 and the UK in March 2008.
The band became popular due to MySpace, MTV and other online commercials. The cover itself is full of effects and dark but mystifying colouring to illustrate the mystery behind some of the songs that have not been leaked or listened to before the album is produced. The glowing effect that has also been added the cover symbolises the title of "Dreaming Out Loud" which the mystifying aspect originates from, as it relates well. This is a key factor to consider as with our music video, it is about losing a important person in your/their lives, so relating the cover to the music video title is very important and has given me some ideas to introduce to the group for desiging next.

Looking at the back of the CD cover, I feel a contrast of colours has been used since the front of the CD cover. This is because the front has changed from a glowing blue effect to a mix of brown, beige and black to illustrate a photograph of the band. Having a photograph of the band or singers makes the CD in my opinion. This is because I feel that the customer(s) or user would want to know what the band looks like to have a image of them whilst listening to their music if they are for the first time. The bands mise-en-scene also sets the trends and target audience for their sellers which is a important factor to add.


The CD itself is quite plain and bland. This is because the main primary colour is white with a few smudge effects of grey, filled with black writing to illustrate the title and band of the CD and other information. I like the fact that the CD has writing all around the outer edge of the CD. This is because it gives it a vivid and unique edge to the CD, and iot is much needed after the plain background and colour choice!!!!
If i was to muddle up all the Cd cover, back panel and the CD itself, I do not think I would be able to match them all up. This is because different colour schemes, styles and effects have been placed onto each design making it impossible to tell they relate. This is a technique to learn for when we start to create or design the CD.

Research to Florence and the Machine Ancillary Task

I decided to get started on the research into different music covers which represented and were sold professionally in stores. I began by looking for music which related to our target audience for our music video. My first album I came across was "Florence and the Machine-Lungs." This album managed to reach number 1 in the UK and number 6 in America.

Looking at the album cover itself, it represents a large amount of emotions. Florence herself varies her music towards the Indie and Alternative look and style, which is much a like the target audience we are looking for.
Florence describes her music as the following: ''at best a kind of magic that lifts you up and takes you somewhere else'' and states that she writes her best stuff, ''when drunk or hungover!''
The album represents a innocent beauty within the CD, and as you can see the image has been portrayed. The use of colours is a little abstract but adds a lot of creation to the design itself. The CD cover itself is set with a thick black border to encourage the image to stand out, and I think this succeeds empowerment. The writing used on the CD also shows a innocent type look, with the curly and wavy writing for "Florence and the Machine" but a bold and outstanding words in capitals to emphasise the title of the CD. However, I do not think the correct choice of colouring for the text was appropriate for the word "lungs" as I feel that it doesn't stand out as much as it should, as well as it being placed on a white or light background. The mise-en-scene of this CD cover displays Florence as a middle length shot and is wearing light/white clothing to portray and carry on this innocent type look. A bold photograph has been photoshop'ed into the photograph to display the meaning behind the name of the CD, showing the reality of what is meant. Florence's eyes are shut and her face shows a elegant yet subtle look which I feel is a good effect for the CD cover itself.

Looking at the CD itself which was placed in the CD cover, the colour is abnormal and abstract as it is the mix between yellow and orange. The mise-en-scene displayed hands clutching something tightly, but it is unclear as to what exactly he/she is holding. However, my theory is that she is holding lungs to portray and relate to the CD cover and title. A effect has been placed onto the CD itself to show passion and in order to make the hands stand out and give a shadow or complexion for the CD. The use of the colour and font style for the title of the CD of ''Lungs'' is the same as what was placed on the front of the CD to begin with. This is the bold white font where there are two lines both above and below the word. This corresponds the effect throughout the digipak and this is a large fact to consider when I begin to create my album for "Alex Beckett" for my rough cut.

Finally, there is a back of the CD and this also relates to the CD itself. Looking at the colour scheme, compared to both the front cover and the CD for inside itself, the colour scheme has contrasted and instead of abstract and different use of colours, the back of the CD is just plain black and kind of dramatic. This colour scheme does not relate to the rest of the CD, but if they were to be mixed up, you would still be able to tell this back cover related to Florence and the Machines CD. This is because there is a large and annotated picture of lungs filling up the top half of the CD cover. By adding this, it makes the album correspond and link all the covers together.



Looking at the above slideshow, it shows some advertisements that Florence And the Machine and the production team have been creating, producing and manufacturing in order to advertise the album.
If I was to mix up all of the images including the CD cover, the CD itself and back version of the CD and take away the title of the album, I think I would definitely be able to tell that these were from the same artist or album. This is because they all portray and relate to each other, and although the colour scheme varies throughout, it is still easily conceived that they are from the same CD and artist.

Feedback on our Rough Cut

Once the rough cuts were uploaded onto each of our blogs , we all got together as a class and showed our videos in order to give and receive feedback in order to help improve our music videos.

Feedback 1
- Good opening timings, match in the beat with the song.
- Female keeps laughing and takes away the seriousness of it.
- Some shots do not match with beat.
- When he is standing still he moves slightly too fast as members of public slightly wobble.
- Too dark at the end.
Feedback 2
- Boy seems to be wearing different clothes in some parts.
- Good use of lighting in the beginning.
- Spend too much time on certain shots.
- Lighting towards end of video too dark.
Feedback 3
- Actress smiles at times.
- Nice dimmed effect in bedroom (sepia)
- Cannot see photograph on phone properly.
- Story is easily told.
- More closeups of actor and actress needed.
- Some bits too dark.
Feedback 4
- Girl laughing in argument.
- Like the shot in the graffiti scene!
- Need more close ups of him singing.
- Car scene should be shortened.
Feedback 5
- Pace of editing needs to increase during chorus.
- Fades and dissolves needed especially in verses.
- Camera is too dark at end.
- Needs a final shot.
Feedback 6
- Too many long shots-more close ups needed.
- Dark scenes.
- Timing issues.
Feedback 7
- Some shots are repeated a little, need more footage.
- Some shots need to be clearer.
Feedback 8
- Need less shots from back of body.
- Need more singing/miming parts.
- Sped up doesn't work.
- Too dark at the end.

Rough Cut

This is our version of the rough cut for our video:

Editing

Once we got the filming we thought we needed, it was time to use "Final Cut Express HD" This meant it was time to edit.....

The editing took us a long period of time and meant we kept having to go out to re-film parts we didn't like or bits we missed out by accident. However, by 31st January 2012, the editing for the rough cut was completed.

Day 7 of Filming

Monday 30th January 2012
Due to work commitments, I was unable to attend the filming. However, Emma and Charlie went to London to re-film some parts which were unsatisfactory. This included refilming the graffiti parts in South Bank to overcome the problems.

Day 6 Of Filming

Tuesday 24th January 2012
On Tuesday, myself, Emma and Charlie all went to London. We re-filmed the stair process at Crayford Station and went to London Oxford Street to film the rest.
PROBLEMS
When we looked at our footage from this day from a long and hard day of filming in London, we reliased that the filming from Southbank Skate park/Graffiti area, the footage was lost. This left us devastated as it meant we could not edit it into the music video as we hoped, as we would have to all try and find another day we could re-film this part.

Day 5 Of Filming

Wednesday 18th January 2012
On Thursday, we decided to re-film the bad memories from the park to ensure we filmed precisely and so it looked much better.

Day 4 Of Filming

Saturday 14th January 2012
On Saturday, we used both our actor, Charlie and our actress, Megan. However, i filmed them by myself as Emma had work commitments. The point of the filming on the Saturday morning was to film all the happy memories they both shared. I also filmed the memories of them walking. This went good and we began to edit all the scenes so far in class.