Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Digipak final


This is the final edit I have done for my digipak.

Summary of medium conventions


After doing a lot of research in to the conventions of the genre of my music video, folk, I applied all of these conventions in to my own work in order to make my video, digipak and poster look a lot more authentic and appealing to my niche target audience. I didn’t start producing any work until I had researched and analysed the conventions of folk videos, digipak’s and posters, this was really helpful as when it came to producing them I knew exactly what I needed to include. 

I used all of the conventions of folk to make my digipak and I believe each panel of my digipak is conventional and represents the folk genre. My front cover is a shot of the artist sat on his bike in the woodlands. I chose to use this image as the woodlands would be conventional of the genre and it featured the artist which is conventional of album covers. He is also wearing conventional clothing, a casual checker shirt and jeans and is sat on his bike looking away from the camera looking relaxed representing him and his music. The image I used is black and white so I used a bold white font for the artist and album name in order for it to stand out.  I chose to use a simple font as again that represents the genre and the artist.  

For my back cover I have used a conventional shot of the folk genre, it is a big open field with a few sheep in and some trees down to one side, I believe each of these represent the genre. I chose this image as I would be able to put the song title down the middle which is also conventional of album covers, I also added a barcode in the bottom corner which is conventional of albums. Again I have used a bold white font against a black and white image.

Both of the inside panels feature the artist, who is in colour, against a black and white image of the woodland. Like the front cover we can see that the artist is wearing clothing which is conventional to the genre and the woodland are he is stood in is also conventional. Another conventional feature is that in one image he is holding an acoustic guitar which represents him as an artist and the genre.  The fact the artist is the only thing in colour really makes him stand out.  Each panel also features an initial of the artist in a big bold white writing which really stands out against the black and white image.

Both of the disc feature just one simple image of trees and lakes yet these are effective as they are conventional of the genre. The spines also feature conventional images of fields in black and white with the album name in a warm orange colour which represents the genre.

For my poster instead of using a conventional image of the artist in a woodland area I chose to go for the plain and simple look. I used a medium shot of the image so we are able to see his conventional clothing from the waist up and I featured the artist name, album title and all other essential information. I even featured a star rating and quote from the mainstream music magazine NME, which is conventional of album posters. 

poster drafts





These are the three digitial drafts for my poster that I produced. On each one I featured conventions of album release posters, such as the artsits name, the album name, when it is realsed and where you can get it from.

Photos for poster 2nd shoot






These are the second lot of photos I took for my poster. I much prefer these ones as I have used a plain background which will be much easier for to work with and to write on. I chose to use a plain background as I wanted to go for a plain and simple look as this represents the artist and his music.







Photos for poster 1st shot






These were the first photosI took for my poster however I decided not to use them as I didnt like them and the because of the background I wasnt able to put writing on them as you couldnt see it clearly so I did another photoshoot against a plain background.

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Ben Howard album advertisement analysis


This is the magazine advertisement for Ben Howard's album 'Every Kingdom'. It features all the conventions of a typical album advertisement, at the top of the poster is the artists name in big bold white writing, this makes it really stand out to the audience. Underneath that is the title of his album which is also in a white font and next to that it says 'the debut album' so this tells us its his first album and is an up and coming artist. At the bottom of the poster is all the details for the album, this is so people know when its out and it tells them that they can pre order it now. The poster is very plain and simple yet it is effective. The basic font represents the artists image as is he is a cool and calm artist.  The image is very simple but it focus's on image of the artist swimming alone in vast open waters.  The use of the cool blue colours of the water also represents the artist and his style. 


Ben Howard is signed to communication records which are an independent record label who sign a lot of independent folk artists. This advert would appear in smaller independent music magazines who focus on less know acts with a niche audience but it could also appear in NME as NME covers a lot of genres and niche audiences.


Ben Howard would have a niche audience as folk isnt a very mainstream genre but he would appeal to both genders but mainly to males aged 16 - 24. He appeals to a younger audience as he is only a young man himself and people can relate to him.  The majority of his audience would probably be in social category E as they are most likely to b students.  


This poster represents the artist and his image and his style. It is a plain simplistic design which represents his genre as he plays cool calm music, it also represents his style as he is a trendy young man who just wears casual clothing but it could also represent his attitude.