Specific research into CD Disk Covers

Another section of the Digi Pack is the actual CD, which needs to be produced. I have researched the CD covers of the main album I have been basing the album cover on, which is Rihanna. The CD covers contain the same themes as the outer case which creates continuity which is what we would like to achieve in our work.

We have already decided that our CD disk and the whole digi pack will have strong continuity throughout to be sure that it links well with our music video. The main themes on the digi pack are black and white with a slight impact of colouring with a red 'A' on the front cover which resembles Alice's first initial. We want the artists name and album name on the CD disk as this proves good continuity.

The first cover I looked at was from Rihanna's 'Talk That Talk' album which contains the same letter 'R' on the front album case, however it has been tilted to the side. It works well however this CD looks too difficult to create especially due to our limited ICT programmes.

I then began to look at other types of CD's that Rihanna has produced and came across her 'Good Girl Gone Bad' album which contained the CD seen below. I like the use of a plain black background and this would link back to CD case, and the CD looks simple yet it looks professional. By using the name of the artist and the album name on the CD gives strong continuity which we will have on our CD disk.

After looking closely at both of these CD disks I will now go on to create our CD disk for our digi pack. I will try to incorporate ideas from both of these covers into our disk and prove this by comparing them as I produce them.

Further Specific Research: Digi Pack

I have continued to look further into the making and presenting of digi packs and as a group we have made a decision of how we would want the photograph of Alice on the front to look. We have considered the meaning of the actual music we are using by evaluating the lyrics and have come to the decision that the front cover should be in black and white as this will link back to the actual video we have produced with the black and white scenes. As it is a digi pack and the CD will have other songs, and so the cover will have to link to the other songs as well. Considering that the song we are using is called 'Less Than Perfect' and the ending is optimistic, we are still going to have quite a depressed and belittled image on the front cover of Alice as the lyrics are meaningful and the main theme of the song we are using focuses on self harm, and so the other songs on the album are likely to be similar.

 

I have begun further research into black and white CD covers and photographs:

 

 

This cover is of Avril Lavigne conveys a feeling of depression because of her facial expression and the font used. My group and I like the idea of using a dominant colour on the photograph however this would not link well with the continuity of our music video.

The way that Duffy is positioned on this cover is much similar to how we are planning to position Alice, as it conveys an element of hopelessness and inferiority. The font used at the top of the cover looks like hand writing or a signature with is quite effective, whereas the font used at the bottom of the cover is harder and more distinctive. On our music cover we are planning on using the same few fonts as this would keep continuity solid throughout our work.

 

The cover from Wretch 32, although he is male, conveys distress. He is facing to the side which presents an element of secrecy. Having his eyes closed portrays a feeling of distress as well, because he looks unhappy. The font being in a rectangle box in the corner looks quite boring and almost like a stamp. I don't think this style of font would be beneficial to our work.

 

Rihanna's album cover is simple in black and white, although her facial expression is not quite like we have planned for Alice. She looks energetic and has a lot of expression, however we wanted Alice to have a blank expression or even have her face covered by her hands to convey her shame. The font used is effective as the 'R' links to Rihanna as an iconic symbol. I like the idea of having the artists name and the album name separate or conveyed separatley on the cover.

 

This cover from Adele is simple and her expression of holding her head up in her hands with a cigarette conveys her emotion and the lyrics in the album well. By using a plain font allows the audience to become aware immeadiatley of the cover and the colour change in the title of the album goes well with the rest of the image. One of our ideas was to use Alice holding her face in her hands in the image to convey distress and this image will be useful when comparing our work back to research.

 

This is the back of Adele's CD cover and the theme of black and white is carried throughout which works really well. A different image is used which conveys Adele looking more glamorous and looking down. We will be using more than one image of Alice, however we want her to look similar in both photographs for the steady continuity in our work.

 

After looking further into album covers and digi packs we are ready to photograph Alice, as we are now aware of which angles to use and how to position the camera in order to get the best shots possible.

 

Magazine Advert Research

As a secondary part of our ancillary task we have been asked to create a magazine advertisement to go with our music video and CD cover. We have all researched the magazine advert and discussed how we would like our advert to look, I will then go on to create the magazine advert all whilst referring back to my group for their opinions and changes they would like to make.

We have already discussed this aspect of the overall task and we are aware that this advert will be promoting the music video we have created. Considering that the main emotion throughout the music video is one of vulnerability, sadness and depression we will be using one of the photographs from our photo shoot with Alice that conveys a deep sadness which will mirror the lyrics of our chosen song. 

These are the images that my group and I are most likely to use in our magazine advert:

These photographs portray Alice with smeared eye make up which relates to how she is presented in our music video. We have chosen to dress Alice in the same clothing as it highlights the continuity throughout our music video and would remind our audience of the music video when looking at our magazine advert. 

I will now research real magazine adverts and promotions for music singles and decide which layouts and colours I think work well together in order to guide our work.

General Research:

I began to research general magazine adverts and focused quite intensely on photographs which contain hands and arms as these are the photographs of Alice we have roughly chosen. 

These images of Beyonce are quite plain upon first look however the second photograph contains Beyonce as a different persona with a lot more make up and accessories. We will not be doing this with Alice as we are focusing more on the emotional turmoil of her lyrics in her songs and less on her external image to the public. The use of two CD covers in the corner of the magazine advert convey the continuity between Beyonce's products and we are eager to use this in our own work.

Jessie J also uses her hands in her magazine advert, however her main theme in this magazine advert is attitude and we were not looking for this. The positioning of the photograph is central which is useful as the artist is the main focus. The layout is simple which we liked as a group because we think this may be achievable. The artist is wearing thick black make up similar to Alice's however, Alice's make up will be more smudged and convey a deeper upset.

Specific Research:

I have decided to look more into emotional artists song, such as Adele and in some cases Rihanna, as they focus their promotions on the individual song being promoted rather than an image being portrayed to the public.

Considering that our other ancillary task has been based on the album covers from Rihanna and Adele, I decided to look into their magazine adverts which supported their albums to see how they incorporated their own themes into the production.

After using Google to research Adele's music magazine advert I noticed that her album cover for the magazine was featured on the magazine to highlight the continuity. The pictures are also very similar of Adele looking down with the same make up and slightly different hair style. The advert much similar to the album cover is very plain and simple yet very effective as it highlights that they are representing the same song/songs. The fonts used are also the same including their colours which is useful to know as when creating our magazine advert I will be using the same fonts and colours to highlight to continuity we will have.

Rihanna also has the same featured effect in her magazine advert, although in a different way. The same photograph has been used on both pieces which is the best way to present continuity. The target audience of this music would be able to recognize the photograph immeadiatley and be able to relate the two advertisements together with the artist. The fonts used are similar to the ones used on the album cover which also portray continuity. 

Both artists are also using their hands and arms in the positioning in the photographs much similar to our idea of Alice holding her hands against her head in the photograph. Her make up being smeared is similar to Rihanna's advert, although Rihanna's make up is more prominent. Although the simplicity of Adele's album and magazine cover has influenced our ideas most as this is most similar to our album cover. I will now go on to create our magazine advert, all whilst referring back to these two adverts.