conventions

Conventions of digipacks

• Many indie digipacks are kept simplistic with the front cover featuring a simple shot of the artist and the text kept to a minimum with just the artist's name and the album name. This shows how the artist wants the photo to be the main attraction as this is the first thing that the audeince's attention will be attracted to.
• The back cover usually follows the same theme so it ties in with the front cover. It usually has a very minimalistic look with a font used for the track lisitngs that is the same as a font used for the front cover. 
• The inside follows the same theme as the rest of the digipack which is minimalistic. Some inside panels contain lyrics to songs included in the album. 
• The fonts are usually kept to a minimim with just two or three fonts used.
• The colours are also kept to a minimum to keep the digipack simple. 
• Many of them have an added effect to make them look older.
• The photos used are usually not posed but more of a natural photo to make it look like the artist cares more about the music that their image.
• Production credits are included at the bottom of the back cover. 

Conventions of magazine adverts

• Indie artist's magazine adverts usually follow the theme of their digipack to link everything together.
• Many of them include a simple shot of the artist which draws the target audience in and makes the artists the main attraction. Again, this is usually a more natural shot and is not posed.
• The different text fonts are kept to a minimum and are simple to keep the main focus on the artist. The artists name is usually the biggest text and is placed at the top on most magazine adverts to show that the artist is the most important subject. The album name is usually the second biggest font as this is also an important aspect in the magazine advert. The rest of the text is usually smaller as it still needs to be included but is not as important.
• In many magazine adverts ratings from magazines, radios and newspapers are included to persuade the audience to buy the album. 
• The artists or recording company's websites are very often included at the bottom to allow the audience to find out more information. 
• The colours and fonts used usually tie in with them on the digipack in some way. 

video first draft

This is the link to the first draft of our music video. We are going to present this to our target audience and ask them for feedback so we can then change parts and add parts to improve. We will re-shoot some parts and edit these in to link together our digipack, magazine advert and music video.

http://youtu.be/7PR6VeUWQpQ

digipack research

Lana Del Rey's born to die album is quite simple with a simple front cover shot outside with not many effects and bold writing. She has used lyrics and kept the background simple.

magazine advert research

This magazine advert advertising Lana Del Rey's 'Born to die' album is kept quite simple with the text, photo and colours. It uses a simple mid shot which is placed in the middle of the advert, this will immediately draw the audiences attention to the artist which is the main subject. The artist is looking straight at the camera so it is as though she is making eye contact with her audience, this will draw people in to the advert. Simple fonts are used for the text and the different fonts are kept to a minimum, this will keep the main focus on the artist. The artists name is in the biggest font showing she is the most important part of the advert followed by the album title. The white text for 'Lana Del Rey' matches her white top while the blue text for 'Born to die' matches the sky, this ties the whole advert together. An effect has been added over the photo to make it look as though it is old. Text informing the audience of when the album is out is included at the bottom along with singles included in the album and the artist's website.                                        

Many digipacks and magazine adverts seem to use a simple mid shot, this will focus the audiences attention on the artist as their eye will go immediately to the photo of them. It also keeps it simple so there aren't any distractions to take their attention off the main focus which is the artist.

I have decided to use the same convention and am going to take some simple mid shots on varied backgrounds. Both outside with interesting backgrounds and also on plain backgrounds to see which will work the best.






Ellie Goulding's magazine advert uses a simple shot of the artist which seems as though it is not posed. It is more of a natural photo which is a convention of indie artists magazine adverts. Ratings from magazines are included at the bottom to persuade the target audience to buy the album. The text is kept simple with only two different fonts used and it all being white. This also makes it stand out against the dark background. The artists name is in a bigger font which makes it stand out more than all the other text. Websites for the artist and recording company are placed at the bottom so the audience can find out more information if they want to.

digi packs analysis

 Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding is an indie pop artist and her album 'Bright Lights' was released on 26th February 2010. Her main target audience is teenagers and young adults.
Front cover

 Ellie Goulding is shown in a way which seems innocent and possibly quite vulnerable which represents her as an artist. The background is blurrred out and the camera focuses on just the artist as she is the main star. The photo is a close up of her face which again draws the audeinces atention to the artist so the main focus is of her. The photo seems as though it is care free, not posed but insteasd an action shot just taken without her knowing. This suggests she isn't bothered too much about her image so adheres to indie conventions. The artists minimal makeup show she is making litle effort and is common with many indie artists. Her clothing also makes her seem care free as she is just wearing a white top and isn't dressed up while the white may also represent purity. Her minimal makeup, efortless hair and casual clothes are a common theme used on many of her albums. This will also appeal to the target audience as it will her seem just like them and so they will be able to relate to her. The photo has been taken outside which is common with many indie artists as it shows she is out exploring and  finding lyrics for her upcoming songs. The title stands out as it is in bright white and yellow and a simple font has been used. This keeps the album cover simple which again adheres to indie conventins. The writing seems as though it is lit up this, along with the lights surrounding the artist, tie in with the album title 'bright lights.'

Back cover

The back cover is very simple, keeping to indie convemtions where the main focus is on the music rather than the image. The blurred background ties in with the blurred background on the front cover keeping the whole album consistent. The lights make the title of the album 'Bright Lights' relevant and again are consistent with the front cover. The song titles are the main focus and these are clear and easy to see as they are in a simple font and a light yellow colour which stand sout against the background. The font used for the track listing is the same font as used on the album cover tying the back cover and the front cover together. Production credits are included in small text at the bottom.

CD

The CD is very simple which is a common theme that runs througout this whole digi pack. This shows Ellie Goulding is indie as the main foucs is on the music. The font used is the same as the font used on the front cover which brings the whole digi pack together. The simplicity of the plain yellow background make the album titile and the artists name stand out to the audience. This, along with the artists name in a larger font, make the main focus on Ellie Goulding as her name is the main thing that can immediately be seen when looking at this CD.

 Rihanna 

Rihanna is a mainstream aritst who's music appeals mainly to older teenagers and young adults. The album 'Loud' was released in November 2010. 

 Other inspiration

Nina Nesbit has used a natural looking, simple photo on a background of an apple tree which fits in with the title of her album. This makes the album cove rmore interesting than just a normal outside background but still keeps it quite simple. 

Feedback

We showed a draft of ou music video to the rest of the class and asked them for feedback on parts they thought were good, parts they thought were bad and ow they could be imprioved and whether hey understood the narrative.
The main comments we recieved were:

Good                           Bad                            How to improve

• The variety of shots are good 
• The shots of the artist singing are nice but they could be used more throughout the video rather than just at the begining 
• The editing is good and yo ucan tell a lot of efort and time has been put into that but a few parts are slightly out of time with the beat of the music.
• Even though there are supposed to be random shots some of them are a bit too random and confuse the audience too much.
• More random shots could be added to make it clear that they are supposed to be random and confusing for the audience 
• The narrative is easy to understand at the beginnig but some people did not get that they were supposed to be arguing and breaking up at the end

editing and effects

We have now got all our filming done and are in the process of editing it all. We wanted to include different effects to make the music video more interesting and to keep the audience interested. We have used time lapsing and sped this up for clouds and a clock to make it look like time is passing fast, we also thought this was more interesting and looked better than just speeding up normal footage as it has a more 'juttery' effect.
Clock and cloud editing:

For some of our performance shots we have added a sepia and grain effect to make it seem quite old. This is quite a common convention used in indie artists videos as it makes the footage seem less clear and as though little budget has been spent on it.
Performance shots:

We are going to make some of the shots reverse, for example the rose, to make it seem as though the girl in the video is trying to repair her love with her boyfriend as she is putting the rose back together. This is also more interesting for the audience than the normal forwards footage.