1st Magazine Advert draft

Experimenting still with the digipak cover, I tried to imitate what other magazine adverts had done. I put my digipak cover at the top and filling most of the page with a block of one colour for writing to give information about release dates, etc. I feel that this is rather basic and not very interesting for a reader looking in a magazine, therefore I will look into the magazine advert once I have a digipak to base it on.

Plan for Ancillary tasks- Magazine Advertisement

Largely black in colour, the magazine advertisement for Jessie J's album is very contrasting. With background behind her white and Jessie J's pale skin tone, she stands out from the black clothing and bottom section of the page. The large, gold 'Jessie J' indicates that the advertisement is trying to get the attention of the reader to be on the artist, as she is well known ... 

Unlike the previous example, the advertisement is trying to gain attention by using bright colours instead of very contrasting ones. Also, this advertisement depicts an ocean whereas the other had the artist as the main focus. This may be because this album is by band and do not want to have a single person on the cover, or because they're album is of alternative genre. Both seem to have the CD case on the front with a block colour underneath to include reviews, extra information about the CD or release dates.
This album is very colourful and suggests an alternative genre as it is unusual and doesn't concentrate on an artist/s. The block of blue at the bottom on the page ties in with the main colours of the digipak, blue and green, as well as it not being very in focus.
I like the surreal sense from this magazine advert and the way it has reviews at the bottom

Again, this advertisement has a lot of black on the page, like the first example, but it also contrasted by another colour mainly being white. Also like the Jessie J magazine advert the name of the artist/s is large, in the centre of the page. However, unlike the first advert, this one has a lot of bright colours from the centre. From closer inspection, it is clear to see that the images are coming from a person with there arms out to the side, in the position of a cross. From the name of the album 'Hold Me Down' it can be assumed that the advertisement is suggesting that the images and colours within the individual have been kept inside them and now they are being released. Like the other two examples it has a block colour at the bottom for information, such as the release date. This album seems to be from the rock genre as it uses a lot of black in the background but has a burst of colour which suggests the alternative genre as well.
From this advertisement, I like the way the colours have a theme and the release date being large because it shows the reader the main information after the band name. I also like how the name of the album and band are in the centre of the page because it draws the focus inwards, even with the colour. I will try to use these elements in my own work.

1st Digipak draft

1st complete digipak

As the video has two hearts connected by a message, I thought it would look nice to have them both on the digipack cover to show the link between video and CD case. I thought the writing would look best in white to not be too similar to the red heart next to it. I drew the heart on My Paint and copied them onto the digipak. I think this links well with my animation but I still want more colour.

 

5th changes

Going back to the 1st effect, I changed the background colour as to highlight the heart on the image. I then changed the writing of 'Hollie Smith' to white to go with the new colour of blue. Although I really liked this cover I felt that there was somthing missing to it. I have mentioned in my previous investigation into other digipaks that I would like to use bright colours to show happiness but none were present here. I tried out a full digipak notheless.

 

4th changes

The 2nd effect that I tried was 'Radience'. I was trying to create a sense of sunshine to the image and so used this effect to try and achieve that. It didn't work. I believe that the effect didn't work because it took away too much from the face and the writing. I also find that it looks a little odd and not like a digipak cover.

 

3rd changes

After cropping the image to make it more square shape, as a digipak cover it, I tried out a couple of effects. This effect is 'boken shapes'. I changed the shapes to a heart to go with the theme and added the extra 'glow' that was optional to the effect. I liked this effect but because the background was so light it wasn't very noticable. I also used the 'eyebrow pencil' effect on picmonkey to make her pupils darker and her eye make up. I thought the boken shapes effet took away from the colour of her eyes and so used the eyebrow pencil effect to highlight them.

 

2nd changes

Next, I increased the 'temperature' to create a warmer feel as I thought the song and album would be very light hearted and the original image looked a bit pale to be a pop genre album. I then added the name of the album and artist. I used red because of the connotation to a heart and green because it went well with the other two colours. 

 

1st change

I removed the background from the image and used to picmonkey.com to make the following changes to the picture.

 

Original picture \/

This is the original picture that I took for my digipak. Although it's not the image I originally was going to use for the cover, I looked at other digipaks and thought that the genre I am going for tends to have an individual on the front, usually the artist/s. I didn't want to have it that way but I thought the genre will not be fully conveyed without it.

Plan for Ancillary tasks- Digipak

For my digipak cover, I don't want to use a picture from my music video as I don't think I could find an image that could fully represent the idea from the song and the video. Instead I will look into creating a bright front cover that is drawn on a program called My Paint, which allows for the work to look as though it has been hand drawn. I think this will be easier to use as I won't have any visible mistakes on my digipak and the images will already be computer based.

An example of a digipak style is when a single picture goes across two or more sides. This displays a large landscape image because the maker may want to send a clearer message. For example, in the digipak above it has a sunset at a beach across both sides which conveys relaxation and romance. This is because individuals usually associate a beach with a holiday or time away from working as well as films/media products representing sunsets as a event couples/young lovers watch together.
I feel that having the image on its own better creates this idea because there is no other picture to distract or create any other messages.
For my digipak I would like to have a image that spreads onto 2 or more side just because I like the look just one photo across the whole digipak. As well, I think it would allow me to show the message I want to convey in a single image.

On this digipak, there is a plain yellow cover with a bright, multicoloured inside. On the front there is what may be a logo, possibly for a band or is symbolic of the CDs content. It conveys the genre is light rock as the logo resembles a tattoo. Also the colours are not dark and grungy which shows that this is not a rock or heavy rock album. On this particular CD there is a black print of a child with a speech bubble with a love heart depicted inside. This suggests that the album is about love but perhaps more about the innocent and unconditional love that children feel, as there is a child instead of an adult on the CD. The multicoloured inside of the digipak conveys happiness as it's just a burst of colour. 

What I like about the album is that there is no artist on the front which is typical of modern digipak covers, especially with the pop genre. As I am trying to be unconventional with my type of music video, for example not having a love story and no sexual meaning behind it, I want to make an irregular digipak which suggests the message behind my video. 

Colour Correction

Original Shot
 After Colour Correction

Using Colour Correction I increased the Saturation to make the shot brighter. I did this because I wanted to make it look sunnier and therefore more positive. Although it's only a small change, I feel like it makes a big difference to the look and feel of the shot. Instead of it looking like a dull street, it looks warm and conveys a happy summertime feel.
I have done this with all of the shots of the two girls together to symbolise the importance of it. When the Girl is alone I have made the shots darker, also using Colour Correct, to suggest that without the heart she isn't happy.

Editing Schedule

Throughout October and November I will edit and film all of my footage on Final Cut Pro. As I need to  film in different locations, I haven't been able to get all of my filming done in one go.
When editing a piece of film, I am always going to start with getting the times correct for the slot of music I want to fill. Once the timing is exact, I can then move onto making smaller tweaks such as colour correction and changing any positioning so that it looks better.
Throughout October I will have finished my filming that involves my talent so that I can do anything filming that I need to make afterwards.
In November, I will do all the filming that I need to create, such as any animation I explore and playing the guitar. I will also start my ancillary tasks, a digipak and a magazine advert, in November so that I can add the finishing touches and am able to create my evaluation in December.

Ideology

The ideology behind my music video is that once you accept yourself for who you are you can learn to love yourself. The concept is very cliche but I feel that with a comedy element to the video the message will be put across better than simply saying it.
A lot of music videos are male dominated, whether it be a male artist singing/rapping about women in a derogatory way (Robin Thicke- Blurred Lines) or females dancing provocatively (Rihanna- Pour it Up) and exploiting the Male Graze theory for hyped publicity of their work. I find this demeaning to women and gives an unfair representation of the gender. This is why I wanted to make my video in a purely non sexual way and by only having actresses it removes the idea that this is a romantic message or one of sexual direction and therefore my target audience can concentrate more on the message of the video.
I want to convey a positive concept every time the Girl and the Heart are in shot together to suggest happiness when the Girl has her friend. For this I will brighten up the shot using colour corrector and to contrast this, take some colour away when she is on her own.