Individual digipak analysis - Miss Miller

A digipak is a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs, and we created an individual digipak in order to plan for what our group digipak would look like. Having created them individually we are able to combine ideas in order to create the most conventionally and effective digipak that will attract our target audience, as each of us had different and creative ideas.

Within my digipak I had decided to use an image of the artist looking into a mirror to represent the album title 'A True Reflection', as her reflection is also in the image. Lipstick was used to spell the album name out and this is relevant because throughout the music video we recreated numerous amounts of clips are used to show her applying lipstick. The artists name 'Sophie Mae' is placed underneath in large font so that it stands out against the background, however I used a white colour so that it did not take too much attention away from the image. The colour of the lipstick is red to represent the love and passion that is portrayed within her music, which is inspired by her break up experience with her ex boyfriend. This appeals to the target audience as within the soul genre a lot of past events are sung about and the fans enjoy listening and experiencing them through the songs.

For the CD I decided not to use an image of the artist and keep it plain, as within the soul genre there is a theme of simplicity. The kiss mark is used to link back to the reoccurring appearance of red lipstick and lips within the music video as well on the cover of the digipak, the repetitiveness of the lips concept is to allow the audience to connect to the artist as they have a sense of familiarity. The black colour of the actual CD was to encourage the kiss mark to stand out and also represents the deep and emotional side of the music. This represents the artist as very relatable to the audience as it shows how she experiences relevant situations that ordinary people do as well, the simple layout also conveys how her successful career has kept her grounded as she choses not to promote her money and fame.

The song list side of the digipak has the background of an image of our artist standing in front of a graffiti wall, I chose this image as it represents our artist as quirky, vintage and bold, which will attract the target audience. The graffiti wall conveys how our artist has a very creative and free spirited personality, which allows the audience to connect with the artist as they can see an insight into her on a personal level as well as her sticking to the conventions of the soul genre. The font used is the same as used on the front of the digipak, to match the colour and style themes, it also stands out the most against a colourful background. The song list is placed within the centre of the page so that it is the main focus and it is the most professional style used within CDs/Digipaks.

The two images used within the back are both still images from the music video we produced, I used these images so that the audience would feel familiarised to work that the artist has already broadcasted. The image of the flowers dying on the floor represent the concept that love can come to an unhappy, unexpected end which you cannot control and the perfume and lipstick image represents how females turn to beauty to help cheer themselves up and move on. I used a negative effect on both images to make them look more unique and quirky like the style of our artist, I believe this also follows the conventions of the genre as it persuades the audience to see the image through a different view.
For the personal message page I decided to use an image of the artist that I edited to represent the album, 'A True Reflection' as I reflected an image of the artist of her leaning against a brick wall. This image was chosen because I believe it offers the audience an image that they have not previously seen and digipaks are meant to give the audience a deeper insight into the artist. The font is once again in white to follow the colour theme, however the font is different as I decided to chose a font that was easier to read.

While using photoshop I struggled adjusting the colours of images in order for them to all look similar and fit the theme I had arranged, however after many attempts at tweaking the contrast and brightness I decided to let each image have its own purpose and effect. Therefore I used subtle changes that were easy to undo and replicate on other images I was using.
I found adding new layers into the images such as; wrtiting, easy to apply as it mainly required organisation, I believe this helped my overall digipak as it meant I could align the messages and titles in an effective way to attract the target audience.

I believe my digipak conforms to the conventions of the soul genre as the images represent similar emotions that the artist is portraying through her lyrics and music, which are pain and despair as they represent heartbreak. The colour scheme diverts slightly from the conventional colours used within the soul genre however they represent our artists personality, which is quirky and vintage. My digipak appeals to my target audience as it uses bright colours to attract their attention and offers an extension of personal knowledge about my artist which is what they will find intuitively appealing, such as the personal message and extra images. Creating an individual digipak will help ensure my group will produce a successful final digipak as it means we can combine ideas that will result in our digipak being most effective and conventional.

Individual magazine advert - Miss Miller

We each created an individual magazine advert because it will make it easier for us as a group to evaluate and reconstruct a better quality magazine advert with a contribution of all our ideas combined. Each of us have different and creative ideas as to how our advert should look however having actually carried out producing the advert we can see which elements from look the most effective and are best to use, we can also identify any improvements we can make.

Within my magazine advert for the font I have used colours that match the ones used within the image, I decided to apply this because I believe they are bold enough colours to stand out and be seen however they also blend in enough so that they do not steal any focus from the image itself. The green used represents the down to earth, relatable personality of our artist and the white is used to symbolise her purity and innocence, therefore the audience can connect with our artist knowing that she is an ordinary person like themselves. The font of the artists name is written in very quirky and authentic writing to match her identity, I chose this font to also create her a recognisable trademark that people will associate with her image. The font used for the album name is slightly more simple as I decided to reflect it so that it would match the message of the name, 'A True Reflection'.

 I chose this image because it makes our artist look very relatable, she is in a very common setting wearing very conventional clothing for the soul genre for example the big bold hat, which conveys a trendy traditional image. Her body language is also very relaxed yet composed although as she is looking away from the camera and down towards the ground it represents her as gloomy and upset, which is conventional to the soul genre. The name of the album is placed at the top of the advert to allow the audience to be aware of what they have to remember in order to purchase the product, as the artist may have many other albums which they could possibly become confused with. The name of the song featured on the album is directly above the name of the artist so that they can recollect the song through association with the artists identity. 

Throughout using photoshop I did struggle with specific tasks such as reflecting the album name and changing shadowing of the font however having investigated certain areas of editing I came across many other techniques which I found useful to me. For example from trying to change the shadowing of the artist name, I discovered how to change the thickness of the lettering and therefore managed to make the font stand out more which in result attracted the audiences attention more effectively. My strength within using photoshop would have to be editing the image in terms of brightness, contrast and highlighting as I believe my image has improved from the original because it has much more attractiveness and life to it, which will grab the audiences attention for a lot longer.  

I believe this advert is appealing to my target audience as the image of the artist used portrays her as hurt and innocent, which means the audience would want to listen to the music to find out why. The colours used also grab their attention and they are bright and emphasise the setting of the image, which  represents my artist as trendy and urban, this is the same style and image in which the target audiences have. I believe the image within my advert is conventional to the soul genre as it represents my artist as sad and hurt which is the message throughout all of her songs and stereotypically all soul material, she is represented as this through her body language and the inability to see her facial expressions. However I do believe the colours used within my advert do subvert from the conventional colours used within the soul genre as typically they are dull and dark to represent the emotions of the artist. I believe my advert appeals to my target audience as I have created a trademarked font which will allow them to be recognised by her and she looks very approachable and relatable which will allow them to connect with her. Having created my own individual magazine advert I do feel much more confident that my group will produce an advert that will be most effective and successful as through combining ideas each element within the advert will be creative and conventional. 

Photo shoot - Miss Miller

We took several pictures of our artist, locations or objects that we came across whilst we were carrying out our filming. The pictures that we took will be used for both our album magazine advert and our digipak, therefore it was important to take variety of different images also using different camera angles so that we had more choice. The digipak includes four images itself therefore we needed a wide range of images so that we did not become repetitive or boring, using different angles also added a professional effect to show that we know the different influences each angle represents. 

 We took this image because we agreed that using an image within the bath setting represented our artists vulnerability as well as showing her in a voyeuristic manor. As she is naked the male viewers will be enticed as it portrays her as promiscuous, however as not much skin is showing we are keeping a classy theme to it. I believe this is a conventional image to use for the soul genre as the water represents her tears and the bath represents her to be trying to wash away from her past relationship. This setting has also been used in many previous, existing music videos from the soul genre because of gloomy atmosphere it sets within the music video. We intended to use this image in our digipak as we felt it would be effective to use to show, audiences that buy the digipak, a more personal side to the artist. However we did not feel that it had strong enough potential to be used as the cover of the album magazine cover as it may be too controversial seeing as our artist is naked and therefore may be inappropriate for our younger audiences.

We chose to take this image because we believed the flowers represent love and having them on the floor crushed portrays how the love had been destroyed especially from using a high angle, as it conveys how love makes people weak and vulnerable. We intended to use this on our digipak as we feel using this particular image informs the audience of the past experience and emotions the artist has felt, which allows them to connect to her indirectly. I believe this image is conventional to the soul genre as many love related objects are used to emphasise the true meaning of the song and lyrics, flowers are one of these many conventionally used objects. The audience are all aware of the true connotations of the flowers therefore they can most likely relate to having received or given flowers to someone they love.

We chose to take this image as we feel it perfectly represents not only our single but our album, which is called 'A True Reflection' by having the album name being written on a mirror in red lipstick and our artist looking at her own reflection in the mirror. The lipstick used to write the album name was used to give the image a more personal incentive so that the audience can tell how deeply in love she was, the red colour connotes the love and passion our artist had for her previous relationship. Having our artist in the image was used because we felt she could assist the audience into finding the connection the mirror has towards the word 'reflection'. We chose to use this image as our album cover advert as it conveys what each song within it represents, we also feel it was the most conventional to the genre, as it shows creativity and is relatable to the audience. 

This image was taken as we believe it is conventional to the genre because the artist is not directly looking into the camera which represents her being wounded and too hurt to show her face, hiding her face from the audience conveys how she is trying to hide her broken heart. Her body language shows how she is leaning on the wall, which connotes that she is looking for support which she no longer has now she is single. We intended to use this image for our album magazine advert as we feel it is a simple yet effective image that represents our artist, we also feel it helps build a relationship with the audience as she looks like an ordinary girl in a very relatable location. The extra background also fits in with our layout for our advert as it gives us space to add in the album title, artist name and single title. 

Planning digipak - Miss Miller

Digipaks are a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs. The purpose of them is to contain extra information or pictures about the artist to create a personal feel for the audience so that they feel more connected to the artist. Digipaks often contain bonus tracks, which differentiates them from CD's as well that they have more sides including more information, this means that they are a more effective approach to reaching the audience and promoting the artist. I will be creating a digipak, therefore my planning is imperative as it allows me to highlight any needed changes, to make sure that it is directly suitable for my target audience and represents my artist conventionally to their genre. 

Within my digipak I have chosen to use a closeup of the artist on the main cover, she will be looking at the camera with a blank expression as this is a conventional image to use in the soul genre as it conveys the mood of the music. There will also be bright colours used, for example bright lipstick and eye makeup, this is because I feel it will emphasise her facial features in which I want the audience to focus on. However this is not a conventional choice of colour because dull colours are normally used to create an emotional vibe, to match the meaning and lyrics of the song, which is normally related to heartbreak. The font of the artists name will be large and quite quirky to match the vibrant, big personality of the artist, it will also be in black to make sure that no attention is lost from the image, however her name will still stand out.

The song list will be wrote in a simple, block font so that it is simple to read and the audience can notice any songs they already know and be attracted to buying it. There is 8 songs on the album and an additional 2 bonus songs added as part of a advantage of the digipak, the bonus tracks will be written in more noticeable font to show their significance of being special. The layout of the track listings will be in the middle of the back page so that the presentation is conventional to a normal CD/Digipak. 
The images that will be used will consist of both posed shots of the artist and images of objects/settings that convey the genre of the music the artist produces for example; A black/red rose to either represent the dark/depressing or the love/passion side of the lyrics. 

A personal message will be wrote in front of the extra image of the artist who is leaning against the brick wall, this will be done to allow the audience to connect with the artist. Having a personal message including appreciation of her fans support will mean that the fans will be encouraged to carry on following her journey and music. The personal message is an additional piece of information that distinctively distinguishes the differences between digipaks and an ordinary jewel CD case. The image within the background of the personal message is of the artist leaning against a brick wall, this image is used because represents a place that is personal to the artist. The image will also be reflected to represent the name of the album 'A True Relfection'.

The CD itself will be plain with the exception of the artists name on the top right corner, this is so that the audience are not distracted from playing the music, however are further reminded of her name so that she is more likely to be remembered. The colour of the CD will be grey as this colour connotes the dark nature of the songs meanings however is also a subtle colour that is quite light so it does not drain the quirky colour scheme. This helps promote the artist to the audience as it portrays her as simple, which means people can relate to her.

I found planning my digipak useful as it allowed me to evaluate all of my decisions and from this I can decide what elements I wish to change or tweak for example the colours, images or font. I am more aware of what images to include within my digipak as it has allowed me to focus on how I want my artist to be represented and how I can reach my target audience by being conventional to the genre. 

Planning magazine advert - Miss Miller

 The importance of magazine adverts in relation to promoting an artist's album is very important as it is a huge deciding factor as to whether people will be interested in purchasing the actual album itself. If the advert it eye catching and intriguing then people will be more likely to buy it, however if it is unappealing then they will not bother to take a second glance at the album. I will be creating a magazine advert for my artist and I am planning how I will carry this our because there is a long and effective though process into producing a successful magazine album as it needs to be both conventional to the genre, attract the audiences attention and promote the artist. 

Within my plan of our magazine advert I have decided to use an establishing shot for the image of our artist even though this is not the conventional shot to use for the soul genre, typically a close up is used, so that the emotions of the artist can be conveyed to the audience through their facial expressions. However I chose an establishing shot, because I wanted to capture the setting of our music video within the advert, as I believe the setting allows the audience to identify the genre considering the setting we chose is very conventional to the genre as it is a brick wall, this shows how urban and current our artist is.

Within the shot our artist is leaning against a brick, graffiti wall, her body language shows how she is confident and edgy as it is not a very traditional body position, it allows the audience to be aware of her edgy style. Her body language conveys how laid back and free spirited she is, which is a major part of her image from being in the soul genre.

I chose to use bright colours for our artist costume, as this represents her vibrant personality and quirky culture, the colours will also co-ordinate to show that she is a perfectionist through her organisation of colours within her outfit. The bright colours also allow her to stand out against the brick wall within the advert, it emphasises her importance and success within the industry allowing her to seem more desirable to the audience.

Her makeup is quite bold to show how she likes to look after herself, however  not enough to take away any distraction from the rest of the mise-en-scene within the magazine advert.
The font used to write our artists name will be in plain, vintage writing to be conventional to the soul genre, it allows the audience to relate to the artist as she is portrayed as ordinary. This handwriting also will be used to encourage the audience to remember her identity as it is a very distinctive font which represents the artist and impressionable.

From planning my magazine advert before actually making it, I believe it has allowed me to analyse my decisions so that I can notice any decisions I have made and consider how they could be changed to make the advert more appealing to promote the album or conventional to the soul genre. As this has made us reconsider what kind os image to use as the main focus on our magazine advert, we will therefore take images throughout the whole filming stage, using different shots and angels, as well as additional shots that will be more posed for. I feel very prepared in the making of our magazine advert now because I am aware of the importance of each different angle, therefore know I need o capture my artist in many different ways.