Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout my A2 Media Studies advanced portfolio production work I believe I followed a lot of convention of real media products because I wanted to make my products as believable as possible, I wanted them to be something which my audience can relate to and take in the point of my product which I am trying to get across to them. For my music promo video, I think the reason I chose to stick with the basic convention was to keep it real to life so it could be a video in which my audience can possibly reflect on and believe it to be something they have gone through themselves or possibly could go through in some point in their lives. There were two challenges to the conventions of a music video in my own which were making the whole video black & white and having some important flashing lyrics fading in and out of the video. I basically did these for impact and again to further emphasise what the video was about and how these two challenges would help the audience to have more belief in the narrative of the video. As the song I chose was called ‘A lack of colour’ I knew I wanted to have the video black&white from the start. The song is about a relationship which has broken up and the boy has lost all the colour from his life now that he has lost the love of his life therefore the use of a black&white video shows that the boy has no colour in his life now and that his entire surroundings and himself have lost any part of colour and happiness which he had when the relationship was still alive. The use of black&white inputs further impact to the song because the video is shot in the boys bedroom where he has now become a recluse from the world and with the use of black&white it adds impact onto his isolation from everything now that he has lost the love of his life which was once the one which put the colour and happiness into his life. Secondly the use of flashing coloured lyrics fading in and out was to show the most important lyrics in the song which I believe shows the passion and real life situation of what the song is about. I decided to use colourful fonts for the lyrics because they provide impact for the audience and it shows that the lyrics mean a lot and that they are what I want to portray the most to the audience because I believe they tell a story and with the most important lyrics it shows the turning points and what was done to try and get the relationship back on track. When I was first trying to think of ideas on how to show some of the lyrics within the video I originally wanted to put lyrics into the background so it looked like I hadn’t put them there on purpose such as using stickers with the lyrics on then and then get my girlfriend to shoot the video with my having to show her what to do so it was quite hard to do everything.

For the rest of the video I followed a lot of conventions. Such as miming within the song, I believe this shows realism for the song because I used direct miming when I sang in the video this showing the audience that the words are real and that they mean a lot when putting them randomly in the background of something which was in the shot, however this I couldn’t carry this idea out because I didn’t have enough time as at first the people I wanted to use couldn’t fully commit themselves and had other things to do so I had to use myself as the main character sang. The use of singing instantly shows that the song is about the person who is singing it and that it’s there story and it’s giving a different perspective to how they’re living through it to my audience who have also possibly lived through it. The of direct miming by looking at the camera and singing makes the whole video more believable which is again what I was aiming to do. Another convention which links to my miming is direct mode of address where the character in the video look directly at the audience when miming or during the rest of the video. The use of this has a great impact for the audience as it shows more emotion and realism to the story making them identify that the story is portraying true meanings and feelings. I also believe that the direct mode of address creates more knowledge and meaning to the narrative in which present real life situation into music videos so that the audience can relate to therefore making them like the video.

In my video I wanted to make the lyrics more important than the actual video because I believe that the lyrics show greater meaning than the video. This is why I put some important lyrics onto the video and also used object within the video which portray some lyrics for example the use of an alarm clock showing the time 7:03 which is a lyric within the song. I believe that by doing this it varies out both the video and actual song to both being important when the audience watch the video. I didn’t just want my video to have no narrative and just basically be about nothing I wanted the lyrics to shine through and show the true meaning behind the song. Due to wanting my video to be entirely about the narrative of the song I have declined using such themes as sex, sexy clothing, choreography because as these theme do sell a lot of music in the music industry I didn’t want my video to follow this and become a video in which the audience fall for just because of the unique clothing or sex shots so I went against using these in my video to ensure that the audience input all their attention into the narrative of my video.
The mise-en-scene such as the characters costumes and where I used to shoot my video are conventions of music videos. The costume of the main boy character was sort of messy and like he didn’t really have a reason to make sure his clothes where nice. So to express the way the boy was feeling now he has lost the love of his life I used jogging bottoms and a baggy t-shirt to show the audience that he has no life in him anymore and that he is sleeping in clothes he wore the night before because he’s hurting from the break-up and that doesn’t see any reason anymore to get dressed nicely because he only did that for his ex-girlfriend. I believe doing this provides great impact when the audience what the video because it’s again showing realistic tendencies within the video because if a relationship breaks up in real life then the boys usually tend to depart themselves from everything because they can only think about what used to be with the relationship therefore using messy clothes it’s showing the audience exactly what would probably happen in the alternate real life situation. Also I shot my entire video in my bedroom as that is where most people will spend their time if they break up with the person they love again showing again how I want my audience to relate to my video. The use of my bedroom shows one of the main themes which I wanted to get across to my audience which is isolation and by having myself (the main boy character) spending all his time in his bedroom strongly suggests to the audience that he has isolated himself from the world due to having nothing to do now he has lost his girlfriend.

When looking at my narrative I decided to sort of show an ending in my portraying of the lyrics to how the song ends. I did this by using a photo of myself and my girlfriend at the end of my music video to show the boy dropping it to the floor when the lyrics ‘This is fact not fiction for the first time in years’ play because it shows the audience that he has come to terms with the fact that he is never going to get his relationship back and that it has now come to his mind that the relationship is in fact ended and not fiction anymore. I believe this allows the audience to see how the video ends and how the whole interpretation of the lyrics has come to show how the boy has come to terms with everything what has happened.

CD Covers

I believe my CD covers for my music promo video do follow the conventions of real media CD covers. I decided to follow the conventions because I didn’t really want my CD covers to throw of the whole idea behind my music video for example I didn’t want my CD covers to not related to my music video. So to make my CD covers relate to my video I used actual screenshots from video for all the photos which I used when constructing my Ancillary products. This is showing the audience that everything including the CD package is realistic and relatable. Conventions which I followed are the fact that I made the band names font bigger than the album name and I did this because when analysing real media CD Covers this happens in all of them and I believe it’s more important because the band are the ones who are singing the songs therefore their name should be in a bigger font also so that the audience can easily find it in any music store because the albums are shelved by band name so I wanted to make mine more eye catching and bigger for the audience. Although I did want my CD covers to follow all conventions I did however choose the main album photo to be of both the main boy and main girl characters as it shows who the song is about. Instead of just using the normal photo I decided to make it again black&white and also when making my CD covers in Microsoft Publisher I made the photo transparent by using the transparent tool, I did this at first just to experiment but when I made it transparent it appeared to me that it looked quite modern which is what I wanted as well as still keeping the whole narrative intact when following onto my CD covers.
Another convention which I followed was the use of font styles for the band name and album title because when I analysed real media CD covers the bands/artists tend to use the same style for both their names and their albums title and I did this because it provides consistency throughout the covers and suits the genre of the song.

A convention which I made up myself was putting the most important lyric of the song, which is used the most throughout the song, at the bottom of the front cover I did this because the lyric provides huge impact within the song and it tells a lot about what the story of the song is about. I decided to do this because I believe it’s quite unique as I researched a lot of real media CD covers and none what I found used this convention so I choose to do it. I used a handwritten font which I found on http://www.1001freefonts.com/ because I wanted the lyrics to look like they would have when the band wrote them in the first place so I made them look handwrote so that when they audience buys the album it also looks like the band have actually wrote them themselves therefore giving the audience a sense of self satisfaction in that they have something of which the actual band have written themselves.

For the back cover of my album I used the end shot of where the photo of the couple is seen dropped to the floor I chose this because it expresses the ending of the song and how the narrative ends so this shows the follow on from how the music promo video links to the CD covers. However, as I used this photo I actually used 3 other photos of the couple and placed them around the one which was actually in the music video so that it shows the good times in the relationship but also shows that everything has come to terms that the relationship has gone. I again made the back cover main photo black&white but made the 4 photos I used in colour so that it suggests to the audience that the photos of when the boy and girl where together have all the colour in his life whereas now she has gone there is no colour. Through the back cover I didn’t really break and conventions other that challenging the colour of the photo as again when analysing real CD covers I didn’t come across one which was in black&white. The conventions I followed on the back cover was the use of the track title being put on the back cover and also the bar code at the bottom left hand corner which most every album has on it. Also the use of the bands record label shows the followed conventions from real media products. Overall I didn’t really break any conventions when producing my CD Digi-pack because I wanted everything to be realistic and in comparison to my music video.

Magazine Advertisement for album release

For my final ancillary product I had to product a magazine advertisement for the album release. With my magazine advertisement I again chose to follow typical advertisement conventions. However, with this product I decided now to fully make it link with both my video and CD covers in terms of colour because I believe that the advertisement isn’t really being sold like the CD therefore shouldn’t be black&white like the rest of my products entirely because I want it to be attractive in the magazine so that the audience see it as an eye catching page. I decided to make the background a light blue colour so that it would be colourful and appealing for the audience.
A convention which I followed but also kind of challenged was the use of the album front cover on the advertisement to show what album its advertising. When I researched and analysed magazine advertisements I saw that the bands used their album covers but didn’t use the whole cover on the page they tended to use only half or some of the photo however, I chose to use the full front cover so the audience can get a glimpse of the cover and maybe get an idea of what the genre of the album is and what the songs will be like. Also I did this because when the audience go out to by the album they will know what the entire front cover looks like meaning they will be able to find the album without any problem.

Another convention which I used was the critic reviews. I believe these have a huge impact on the advertisement because the audience want to know other people’s perspectives on the album and this could persuade them to definitely buy the album. I again chose to use colourful fonts because I want it to be eye catching for when the audience are reading the magazine.
I again used the bands name and album title at the top of the advertisement which is a convention because every advertisement for an album will do this as it’s their album which is being advertised. However, this time I made the album title more important because it’s the album which is being sold not the band and as the album is new and never before released it will only be advertised for release once therefore it needs to be the most important thing on the page thus the reason why I put the full front cover on the page.

Finally the last convention I used was lures at the bottom of the page which detail the specific hit song which the album has had as a big mainstream hit. Also it shows what else is on the album and when the album will be released. Another thing I used on my advertisement was the bands website as this is also a convention as all the advertisements I researched has the band/artists website on it so that the audience with an internet connection can find out more about the albums release.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I believe overall the combination of both my main product and ancillary products are effective however, I believe my main product and my CD covers are more effective as a duo then all three together. My music promo video and CD covers are effective as a duo because I tried to link them together as much as possible. For example using screenshots from the actual video as main photos for both my front and back covers for my CD. The use of the bedroom and the shots and photos I used for my products all provide a story to the audience in which I wanted to get across to them and they all follow that link of narrative which is the main point I wanted to happen from the start. I believe that using the 4 photos of the couple in the CD covers and magazine advertisement show that I wanted to provide consistency throughout all my products and I believe I made that happen. Also the use of a black&white video and black&white CD covers it shows that the main narrative of the song is that the boy now has no colour in his life now that he has lost the love of his love therefore both the video and CD covers show this making it very effective. Overall I believe my products are very effective because the audience themselves can possibly relate to the story of the song and the lyrics as they could have gone through a similar situation sometime in their lives.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From my audience feedback I have learnt that my main aim of making the narrative and lyrics of the song the most important factor throughout all of my products. However, due to not finished my products till a late stage I didn’t get as much audience feedback as I would’ve liked. But I did get some and it has helped a lot to show that I have ended knowing that my aim has got across to my audience.

I asked 16 people 3 questions which I wanted to know the most for my products. Even though these 16 people are my friends I told them to be entirely truthful with what they say about my products so that there is no bias at all. The first question I asked them was ‘do you think my video provides a strong narrative interpretation of the lyrics?’ and 100% percent of them said yes. They told me they said yes because they actually feel the video is believable and the lyrics show what the whole song is about and that the way I presented the boys isolation and no colour in his life with using a full black&white video fully provide the strong narrative.
The second question I asked was ‘do you like how the video is presented and if not then why?’ this was a 50/50 response rate. People said they liked it because of the strong narrative and how the emphasis on the lyrics and direct mode of address to the audience make it entirely believable and relatable. However, the other half said that the video looked a bit rushed and that it could have been edited better due to some parts of the miming being out of focus.
My final question was ‘do you think both my main product and ancillary texts show consistency’ and 90% of the people said yes it does. They said this because of the same use of black&white colours to emphasise the meaning behind the song and the use of the same texts and font colours made the whole products link together. The other 10% said that even though they liked all the products the magazine advertisement didn’t follow the video as much as the CD covers do due to it being more colourful and avoiding the meaning I had tried to get across from the music video and CD covers.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the production of my advanced portfolio I did use new media technologies to help research and construct my products. I believe the use of these new technologies which I hadn’t used before within a coursework piece helped me further my skills and therefore make my work a lot better than what it used to be.

For the start of my advanced portfolio I began to plan what I wanted to do and how I wanted to use this to construct my products. First of all I looked at many music video on YouTube and actual music video channels on the TV to try and find different aspects of music video which I could incorporate into my own and find ideas for how I wanted mine to be. After researched music videos and analysing them so that I could find conventions from them to use in my own video I began to research the history of music videos and how they first started and I used the internet to find this information which was a great help as it broadens my idea of music videos and advancing my knowledge of them.

I then had to choose the song I wanted to use for my video so I chose 3 of my favourite songs and then listened to them a few times and brainstormed ideas for each song and then looked back on them to see which I could get the best video out of and provide the best meaning for my audience. I listened to the songs over and over on my Apple iPod which is a media technology and this helped me because I could make ideas in my mind then write them down for each song and then see which song has the best ideas for a music video. When I chose the song I wanted to use I then began to research music into that specific genre to see what conventions real media texts used when producing a video for that certain genre. I again then used YouTube to watch the music videos of that specific genre which was acoustic music to see what I could use when producing my own video.

Next I began to analyse the music lyrics and see how I could interpret each lyric into the music video and see how I could show the true meaning behind the story of the song for my audience as that was my main aim. I again used the internet in some parts of the lyrical interpretation which was finding a website on Google which shows other peoples perspectives on what certain lyrics meant as I struggled to find a true meaning behind a few of the lyrics.
The next stage was to create a storyboard which would help me get a final rough idea of what I wanted my video to look like. Due to never having to create a storyboard I didn’t really know what was needed on one so I again used Google to find samples of other peoples storyboards to that I could find out how to structure one when creating it myself.

For the construction of my music video I used a programme called Matrox which was within the programme Adobe Premier Elements. When I had shot my footage on a digital video camera I transferred the footage from Mini DV to the editing suite and then began to edit my video together as I wanted it to look. As the editing suites were fairly new media technology to what I have used before it was quite a struggle to find my way around it however, when I began to find out how to use the editing programme Adobe Premier Elements I started to find out that you can use several effect. I used the effect which made my video black&white as that is how I wanted it to look. Also tools such as the pen tool, razor, speed duration, hand tool helped me when creating my video as I had to use them all when editing and cutting my video into how I wanted the final product to look like.

For my ancillary texts I used the programme Microsoft Publisher to create and construct my products. This programme was very good for me as I am very experienced at using it however, even though that is a good thing it’s also a bad thing as the programme is quite restrictive with the amount of things you can do on it. Such as Adobe Photoshop allows several different effects and would have been a better option but due to doing my ancillary texts on a home computer I didn’t have the Photoshop programme installed.

The photos which I used for my ancillary texts where all screenshots from my actual music promo video and I did this by using a home computer and playing the video in a programmed called VLC Media Player and then pressed the screenshot button when I wanted to use the shot from the video as a photo. When I got all the photos I wanted I then opened them up in the programme Paint as I am also very comfortable with using that programme and then resized them by using the crop tool to the size that I wanted them to be. As the photos were already black&white I didn’t have to change any of the brightness or contrast to the photos as they were already how I wanted them to be presented like. However, for my front CD cover I did add an effect to the photo which was making it transparent and I did this by using Microsoft Publisher by clicking the transparent tool on the photo and this at first was an accident but I liked how it looked as it provided a modern edge to the photo and made it more attractive for the audience.
I again used the internet to find some unique texts to use for my CD covers and magazine advertisement which I found on the website http://www.1001freefonts.com/ I chose Annabel script as the font for my band name and album title as I believe it showed what kind of genre the song was. Also again I used Google to find the bands record label logo which I found very quick and easily and this was used my CD back cover and magazine advertisement. I also used the same programme Microsoft Publisher when producing my magazine dvertisement and I again resized the photos in Paint by using the crop tool.

Another media technology which I used was a Blackberry 9700 mobile photo which I used when getting the 3 other photos which I used on the back cover of my CD and my magazine advertisement of the couple at different times in their relationship.

Overall the media technologies I chose to use where entirely because I have a lot of experience of using them and I believe this helped me a lot because it meant that I’d have hardly any troubles when producing my products and that I’d know several effects and ways of changing and editing my products. The only trouble I encountered was the use of the editing suite as I was quite new at using it and needed slight guidance to find how to use certain effects when producing my music promo video. However, with using programmes that I am used to also has a downfall which is some of the programmes are limited with what you can do on them so if I was to create this again from scratch I would try and get better at using Adobe Photoshop so that I could make my CD covers and magazine advertisement look more professional and better set out.

In conclusion I believe I have achieved my aim of providing a strong narrative throughout my media products for my audience. I believe some aspects of my products are better than others such as I think my music video could have been a lot better in terms of quality I believe I could’ve used more locations and better mise-en-scene to provide even more of a realistic meaning. However, I like how the consistency of my products is seen and that the used of same photos and same text fonts emphasises the meaning and genre of the song which I wanted to get across to the audience. Finally if I was to shoot my video again I would definitely use a different main boy character as I had to cast myself therefore this didn’t allow me to have full control of the video camera so I couldn’t entirely have my input into how I wanted every shot to look like because I had to tell the person using the video camera what to do instead of seeing how the shot looked through the camera and due to the person capturing the footage on the video camera not being very experienced at using the camera some of the shots had bad framing so if I was to do a music video again I would take control of the video camera so that I could capture the best footage through how I would be seeing it through the camera. However overall I am pleased with my products and I am very happy that my main aim of capturing the narrative behind the story of the song has worked very well.

Final A2 Media Studies Advanced Portfolio productions - Ryan Berry

Here are all my products for my A2 Media Studies Advanced Portfolio. Which are my main Music Promo Video and my two Ancillary texts which are a CD Digipack for the albums release and a Magazine advertisement to promote the albums release.



Music Promo Video:




CD Digipack:



























Magazine Advertisement:

Final Magazine advertisement

Here is my final Magazine advertisement product.

Editing of Magazine Advertisement

Magazine Advertisement

Here is the start of my magazine advertisement for my album. I have transferred the front cover of my album to the advertisement and then positioned it in the centre as this is how I wanted it to be.

Here I have given the advertisement a background colour blue because it's attractive and catches the eye of the reader also it is emphasising the word colour which is used in the song title. I have also again used the same font 'Annabel Script' for both the band name and album title I have done this to again provide consistency from the album covers to this magazine advertisement. Finally I have also used the same 4 photos which I used on the back cover of my album because they emphasise what the song is about and it is again consistent because the audience will be able to recognise the photos from the album when reading the advertisement.

Here I have used a text box to input a brief summary into what the album consists of so that the reader/audience know what to expect when they purchase it.

Here I have transferred the bands record label logo to the bottom right hand corner. Also this is my final magazine advertisement.

Audience Feedback on Drafts for my magazine advertisement

As I have designed four different drafts for my magazine advertisement I have decided to show 10 people my drafts and then gain feed back from them on which would be the best for my finished magazine advertisement.

I asked the 10 people to choose which draft they would like to see when reading a magazine advertisement and which one would appeal to them the most.

Draft 1 - This draft received 1 vote for the best advertisement draft. The reasons for choosing this was because it is all set out well and everything is easy to view and find when looking at the advertisement.

Draft 2 - This draft received 6 votes for the best advertisement draft. The reasons what because again everything is set out well and all the text will work well when overlapping the main album cover photo. They also said that the use of the band website, information about the album and distribution logos work well being at the bottom of the page with the rest at the top.

Draft 3 - This draft received 2 votes. The reasons behind this was because it doesn't contain much information and the photo will be attractive for the audience.

Draft 4 - This draft received 1 vote. This was because it was much like draft 2 however, most of the people I asked preferred draft 2 therefore they choose that one instead.


After this feedback I have decided to choose draft 2 to base my advertisement on as I now know it will be attractive and well set out for my audience. Although I have decided to choose draft 2 I have also decided to use the stars from the critic review from draft 3 and use these when making my magazine advertisement. Overall I believe this audience feedback has helped me choose the best option for a magazine advertisement and this will eventually help me design the most attractive and best advertisement for the audience. As there is no colour on the drafts I have decided to use bright colours for the text so that they're eye catching and easy to read for my audience so there is no problem when reading the text.

Drafts of Magazine Advertisements

Here are 4 different draft designs of ideas that I want my Magazine advertisement to look like. The use of different positions for the text and images gives me variety to choose the best advertisement for what my audience will prefer out of the 4 designs.

Textual Analysis of magazine advertisement 3

This magazine advertisement is for the band The Vines’ album The Best Of which is an album containing all the best hits from the band.

This advertisement is very unique as its quite different to the normal advertisements which use a photo of the band. This advertisement uses the actual photo from the album cover but it stretches over the bottom of the advertisement to give more of an effect. The photo used is of loads of vines and leaves which works perfectly with the band being called The Vines. It’s a very unique idea and looks to be drawn by hand. This advertisement isn’t just one which the band aren’t really bothered about because they have used different font ideas and text sizes which make the advertisement more fun and impactful. The text ‘The Vines’ is the biggest text which is also in bold as it is the text which is the most important to the audience as they need to know who the advertisement is advertising. The album name and band name both follow each other like one sentence and are covered by leaves and vines in a unique and old fashioned style. The old fashioned style could represent that the band have been around a while and emphasising that its their greatest hits and this shows that they’ve had a very long and good career in the music industry.

Textual Analysis of magazine advertisement 2

This is a magazine advertisement for The Stone Roses 20th anniversary of their career as a band. This advertisement has an excellent structure and is very unique and colourful. It is a great advertisement to send out to their audience as it draws people in and has various information to show their audience that it will be a great purchase. The advertisement has used a full black background which gives of impact to the audience and also it allows a lot of text of bright colours to be able to be used top of the black background. The red, white and blue text are bright colours and are easy to see on the black background for their audience who are reading the magazine. The main band name is central to the advertisement as it’s the most important part to the advertisement as it’s the band whose album it is, its also the biggest font size on the whole page which backs up again that’s it is the most important text. The great thing about this advertisement is the use of critic reviews from different magazines and newspapers who have listened to the album, this is a great idea because it gives a very brief insight to the album which could make their audience want to purchase the album even more. Also it’s a great idea because they have used three different font colours which make it avoid being boring as its more colourful and attractive to the audience. The other text saying it’s the original groundbreaking album re-mastered by Ian Brown & original producer John Leckie this is important information for the audience as its showing them that what is the same or new about this version of the album. The photo used is a section of the actual album cover which shows their audience the album which the advertisement is advertising. The text underneath the photo is the smallest text and this is showing a brief list of what the album consists of which is good for the audience as its providing information which they will want to know. One the left and right its showing logos of companies which will distribute the album such as HMV. Also its providing a website for the album which their audience can go on if they have an Internet connection at home.

Textual Analysis of magazine advertisement 1

This magazine advertisement is promoting the release of Noah and the whales album The First Days of Spring. This advertisement would be published in a music magazine such as NME and it will help promote the album for its audience to see and then buy.

The advertisement shows the album title, band name, critic review of the album, when its released, what the album contains inside with it being a CD/DVD release and finally it says you download a free MP3 of the album and where you can download it from. The album title is in a different font to the other text as it’s the main album title and the band want it to stand out the most of the advertisement because then their audience will know what they need to purchase. Its in a fancy font which looks like it quite a spring season font which emphasises the album name. The next biggest font is the band name Noah and the whale and that’s because it’s the next most important thing because obviously the audience need to know who the band are in case they don’t recognise them from the photo. The next biggest text is the next important text as it is following of which is most important to the audience, as the release date is the next biggest text as it shows its released 31 August which is important to the audience so they know when they can purchase the album. The rest of the font follow the same font and style as its just text which is not as important but filling up the advertisement. Personally I think a good idea of this advertisement is the critic review because that’s going to be a good point to show to their audience as if the critics have given the album a good review then their audience will be more confident to purchase it. The photo which is used is of the band and It fills the whole advertisement. The photo is of the actual album cover but stretched out into a portrait style which more of the sky added to this photo so it fills the whole page. The photo suits the advertisement well because due to the album being called The First Days of Spring, the word spring is the most important because the photo looks to be shot in a field which emphasises the word spring and what the album is trying to get across to its audience. The photo shows the four band members which the main singer looking to be taking a photo with a camera whilst the other three members look up to the sky. The main singer looks to be the only singer in focus as he is probably the most important band member as he is the singer. The rest of the members are behind the main singer making him the dominant member of the band.

Overall the advertisement is showing its audience what it wants to with it covering all the important things which need to be considered when making a magazine advertisement.

Subsidiary Product 2 - Magazine advertisement - Analysis of codes and conventions

When a magazine advertisement is published for an album release it usually follows several conventions such as The band name and the album its advertising, part of the main album cover photo, critic reviews, distribution logo, band/artist website, and a brief introduction of what the album consists of such as hit singles.

The band/artists name and album title are usually the biggest fonts on the page as they’re advertising the band or artists album release so with this text being the biggest its catching the eye of the audience when they’re reading the magazine also sometimes they will use different text to what they have used on the actual album so its different and unique providing more eye catching advertising for their audience. Also sometimes with the font, they often use font which shows the specific genre of the music they’re advertising such as if an album has an autumn sense to it then they could possibly input falling leaves into the font which is artistic and unique. The next thing used on a magazine advertisement is the use of the album cover photo which will be put onto the advertisement however, sometimes the bands/artists don’t choose to use all of the cover they often use part of it just to show which album it is advertising. The use of the album cover instantly shows the audience whose album it is and what album it’s advertising. The album cover photo is usually the eye-catching point of the advertising as the colours and size of the photo are attractive for their audience and the photo is mainly what many people like to view and what catches their eye mostly on an advertisement or album cover. Another main convention of magazine advertisements for an album release is the use of critic reviews, bands and artists often use these around the album cover photo to give other magazines or media related companies perspectives on the album. This is a great addition to an advertisement because it tells the audience what to expect from the album and whether or not it’s good enough to purchase. Even though this is somebody else’s view on the album it can still be a huge impact on the audience mainly because everybody likes to hear if the album is worth listening to or not. Critic reviews are usually in a bold and attractive coloured font because it has to be eye catching for their audience as it’s a main part of the advertising because the critic reviews are selling the album because the reviews are always good ones on the advertisements. Another convention used is distribution logos these are always relatively small as they aren’t very important however, they’re still used to show who is distributing the album and this can allow the audience to possibly view this record labels website and look for other bands and artists who are signed to the label. The use of the band or artists website is good because it allows anybody with an internet connection to easily look up the band or artist on their website and find news about them for possibly upcoming tours or just information about a latest single or even the album which is being advertised in the magazine. The text for the website is often always small because its not really important however, its still easily noticed and readable for the audience. Finally a brief introduction to what songs and on the album is very important to the audience because it shows them what to expect on the album and how many songs will be on it. The main positive of this is that if the audience have listened to a song of the band or artist and then not known if it will be on their album then this advertisement will let them know.

Overall the use of these conventions help to make the advertisement attractive to the audience and provides the most important information to help the audience choose whether to purchase the album or not.

Final Product - CD Covers

This is my Final front cover for my Digipack.

This is my final back cover for my Digipack.

Editing of CD Covers

FRONT COVER

With these photos it shows how I have used the print screen button to screenshot parts from my music video then transfer these screenshots to the computer programme Paint from there I have cropped all my photos and the re-sized them to fit a CD cover box then I finally saved the new image to use when completing my final CD covers.

Here I have transferred my photo to Microsoft Publisher to begin editing it.

Here I have gone onto the website http://www.1001freefonts.com/ and then used the font Annabel Script which is the text I chose to use for my album name on my front cover.

Here is how the font looks on top of my album cover.

Here is the photo for my album cover but I have used an effect on it. I did this my clicking on the photo then using the transparent tool. I did this to provide a more modern edge to the photo and make it more attractive to the audience.

Here is my final front cover for my Digipack. I again used http://www.1001freefonts.com/ for the band name and the lyric at the bottom of the cover. The band name is the same font as the album name which is Annabel Script whereas the lyric at the bottom is using a handwriting font which I wanted to use to give it more of an effect that the band has penned the lyric themselves and this font is called Cheyenne Hand Italic.

BACK COVER

Here is the photo I have chosen for my back cover and this will show how I have edited it to the final product.

Here are 4 photos I am going to use on the back cover of my Digipack. The photo on the bottom left hand corner has been re sized to 40x40 and I will be doing this for the rest of the photos as well so that they fit on the back cover where I want them to.

This is how I re sized the photos to 40x40 by opening them up in Paint then clicking on the re size button.

Here are the 4 photos I am using on my back cover and how I am going to position them.

Here I have inserted a bar code which I got of google images and then transferred it onto my back cover after I had saved it to my desktop from google.

Here I have inserted a text box so I could write the track list on the back cover. I have used the same font as I used on the front cover for the band name and album title, which is Annabel Script, I did this because it provides consistency throughout the Digipack and I believe it works well.

Here I have found the record label of the band whose song I used for my music video and I have copied it so it can be transferred onto my back cover.

Here I have made the Universal Records logo Transparent so that it doesn't have a white filled background.

This is my final back cover for my Digipack.

Photographs taken for CD Covers

Here are the photos which I have chosen to use in the production of my CD Digipack. Due to my own character, in my video, having other commitments I have had to use screenshots from my actual video so I have took time to find the ones which I believe provide the most impact for the audience and the ones which will show what the narrative of my video is trying to portray.

Drafts of CD Covers

Here I have drafted several different designs of front cover ideas and then I will conduct some audience research to help me choose the best option.

Textual Analysis of Back Cover 3

This is the back cover for Michael Jacksons history album. This cover follows the same image of the sky but this time without the image of Michael Jackson. The use of sky follows the same imagery taken from the front cover as the sky on the front cover is showing the statues highness and power. This is a good idea because it follow the same image for the front and back covers which looks well presented and shows that it has a meaning behind it because its not just all over the place and not followed. The text is all the same font style. The album has two discs and the album title is put before the start of both sets of lyrics for both disks. Again HIS is an italic and bigger font to the TORY this is emphasising that its HIS history meaning Michael Jacksons. The first disk before the lyrics it says History Begins and the for the second set of lyrics it says History Continues this is showing that with both disks of amazing songs its emphasising that Michael Jackson has had an illustrious career. The lyrics are all in the same font of block capitals which shows it easy to see for the audience and it also goes well with the background again making it easy to read. At the top left it shows a quote from the actual singer himself Michael Jackson which will make the audience want to buy the album so they have an actual quotation of what Michael said. This album cover doesn’t have a bar code which is fairly unique because most albums follow the convention of having a bar cover at either the bottom right or left hand side of the cover. The trademark logos of the distributors and the text about the producers are at the bottom right hand side and this text is significantly smaller than the rest of the text as it isn’t seen as important as the main titles and lyrics of the album.

Textual Analysis of Front Cover 3

The album is a Michael Jackson album called History. It was released in 1995 and it contains all the greatest hits up to that date. This album got to number 1 in several countries and was a massive hit in the whole world.

The main focus of the cover is the massive statue of Michael Jackson that instantly implies that he is the main priority of the album and he is the king of pop. The title of his name and the title of the album vary in sizes and font however, all the text is in block capitals which gives more impact than normal text. The fact that Jackson and History is in a bigger font is because the use of Jackson is showing his last name and that he is the only Jackson around and History is the name of the album so that’s what he wants everyone to see when they’re in the shops to purchase the album. The statue of Michael Jackson is an actual statue what was made in real life. Statues of people such as famous people are to represent their work in their specific industry, they usually show the history of that certain person as their history has shaped life. So this statue of Michael Jackson goes with the title of the album ‘History’ as the statue is historic of his career. The background of the sky indicates that the statue is standing tall and further expressing his King of Pop status. The statue on the album will be shown to the audience when they see the album and they will instantly know its Michael Jackson because he is so iconic to his career and this statue emphasises this.

Textual Analysis of Back Cover 2

This is the back cover for Death Cab For Cuties album Plans. This cover looks much like the front cover but differently set out. This back cover is more dark and mysterious where the front cover is easy to see. Again the back cover used the same photo of the plant but its harder to see. The use of the wholes in the wall at the back is again used to show the sun shining through like it did on the front cover. However, on this cover the light is much brighter whereas the plant is darker. This is showing the alternate to the front cover which will show the audience both sides of each main part of the covers. The lyrics are set out to the left hand side of the cover just one after the other again using the same font style and colour. The cover is very basic and doesn’t really say much about it. The lyrics are dark colours like the rest of the cover showing a mysterious style. The bar code is at the bottom left hand side of the cover with the text about the record label and band website is on the right hand side. The bands website is used on the cover which is good for the audience as it allows them to view the website if they have a computer with the internet. The cover overall doesn’t really look very presentable as it looks quite basic and easy to make however, this doesn’t give any facts that the band are the same as the album has sold exceptionally well.

Textual Analysis of Front Cover 2

This album cover is showing my chosen band Death Cab For Cutie’s 6th studio album which was brought out back in 2005.

This album cover doesn’t really display much, its basically the title of the band and title of the album overlaying on the cover which is of grass and a plant. The background of the album is out of focus symbolising that it’s the title and plant which they want to emphasise mainly to audience. The album cover sends an image to the audience that there isn’t really a story behind the cover. The title doesn’t go with the cover and the imaging of title, the title is trying to get the point across that nobody makes a plan they live their life how it pans out and that emphasises that the album doesn’t have anything set out in stone it will come across how the band have wanted it to. The title of the album PLANS is shown in block capitals so that it is the main important meaning behind the album it want to give that certain meaning to each song which is represented to the audience. The band name is in normal letters which no capitals as the band are saying the title is more important than the band name because the band have been around several years whereas the album title has never been around before so it is more important to get that title across. The image is showing a contrast of colours between red and green which are fairly colour and stand out however, the background is full black with light shining through. Overall the cover is quite dark and possible represents how mellow the album is and how easy it comes across because the cover is also easy. The cover overall is easily set out and it doesn’t look like much effort has gone into the cover whereas the album is amazing. So I think the album is trying to get across that its quite mellow and easy to listen to which the album cover also represents.

Textual Analysis of Back Cover 1

The back cover for Chris Browns album Graffiti is set out in three columns as the lyrics are on the left then the photo of Chris Brown in the middle and the rest of the lyrics on the right side of the cover. The main emphasis of the cover is again the photo of Chris Brown as its not really following and meaning to the cover however, the photo look quite futuristic with the use of the glasses as they look unique which is emphasising his own style and music scene. The way the lyrics are set out allow the cover space to be used up so it isn’t leave much blank space. The lyrics use a unique font style which both the front and back covers follow which is the graffiti style font. This font is used for all the important text on the covers which is a good way to follow the structure and unique meaning of the word graffiti which is both the title of the album and the font style. The use of a dark blue background goes well with the white text as its easy to see for the audience. The bottom half of the cover shows all the information about the producer of the album and the record label who is distributing it this text is all in the same font as its more serious and isn’t really part of the album style. The bar cover is also set out on the bottom right hand side which again fills up the space this allows the cover to look well presented and set out which gives a sense of a well worked cover.

Textual Analysis of Front Cover 1

This front cover is for Chris Browns' latest album Graffiti. It was released in 2009 and is his latest album to be released.

The album is called Graffiti and it shows the album singer Chris Brown holding a can of spray paint expressing the album name graffiti as he is making graffiti. Chris Brown is the main focus of the album as he is the biggest thing on the album he is stood holding a guitar on his back and a can of spray paint. The guitar shows that his album is moving into a kind of rock genre which is different to his other albums. It shows the rock side of the album just by showing him with a guitar because people are used to see Chris Brown as just a singer but this album cover showing him with a guitar will instantly show his audience that he is going a different way now and putting some rock into his music. The album doesn’t have his own name on it, it just has the album name. This is saying that he has made such a big name for himself that he doesn’t need his name on the album because people will already know who he is just by showing himself on the album. The album name Graffiti is in a unique graffiti font which Chris Brown is shown spraying himself from the spray paint can therefore showing why its called Graffiti. Unlike other albums this cover is emphasising the album name and due to Chris Brown shown making the album name himself its giving a sort of meaning behind the cover which is how I want my album cover to come across. The hand what Chris Brown is using to spray the graffiti is bionic this is showing a sense of futuristic further emphasising that his album will be like nothing anyone has ever heard him sing before. The album is quite dark and this shows the dark side of the album and how its changed from upbeat to more of a rock sound. It also shows the seriousness of the album and how Chris Brown wants his audience to see that he is serious about this album.