Group Magazine Advert-Miss Miller

Group Magazine Advert
17/12/14
Vasil Nikolov

In order to achieve a fully professional magazine advert, my group colleagues and I had a meeting where we portrayed our individual magazine adverts and started to develop our personal one using ideas from each of our individual magazine adverts. This allowed us to produce a final magazine advert that was conventional to the indie genre and could link with our digipak as well. We crafted our group magazine advert using Photoshop, which allowed us to use several tools that are usually unavailable on paint. This way it allowed us to produce a final magazine advert that we were all pleased with.

My Magazine Advertisement Proposal

For my group magazine Advertisement, the group decided that the choice for the artist`s position was too bold...This quickly resulted in the drop of the overall design as we agreed that the artist would take too little space due to the size of the tree. Furthermore, the way in which the artist`s face was put on the moon was too clunky as even with the use of the blur tool did not hide the edges of her neck. A part from that, the group did like the colours that were used as they were warmer than the colours of the other choices. Another feature that the group liked was the writing techniques that I had applied as it made the writing more personal for the fan base and the font colour was a lot more readable than some of the versions. Nevertheless, the group also commented that the amount that was written was too enigmatic, which would confuse or annoy the audience. This is why we decided to use the white colour from this design as well as the theme font for some of the writing as it complied with some of the indie conventions (Such as making the writing more personal in order for the artist to make a bond with his audience and make them feel as if they have known each other from a distant period). 

Lilly`s Group Magazine Advertisement Proposal

From Lilly`s Group Magazine Advert we took the style of writing, layout, background, Artist clothing and the extra information that she had written. We found the advertisement to by far superior to my creation as the audience could clearly see the artist as well as develop a personal bond as she is looking at them on an equal eye level. The cinematography used in the magazine advert was more conventional for the indie genre as it allows the artist to show himself and what he likes to wear to his audience. This is why we decided to use her cinematography. We also had a slight criticism which was the added filter to the picture as it made the otherwise bright colours very gloomy. The layout was far easier to understand as it showed to the audience the artist with all of his traits and negative habits. This was far more conventional for the indie genre than my one as it is was easier for the artist to build a relationship. Furthermore, the clothing that was senn in the advert complied with the artist representation. Another criticism that we had was that the colour of the font (which was mainly black) was too unreadable. This resulted in the writing being more unreadable due to the natural black spots in the background, caused by the shadows casted from the tree or the artist. This is why we agreed to modify the text by making it white which increases the readibility.

Our Group Magazine Advertisement

In the beginning we had decided to keep Lilly`s mid shot as the shot was portraying our artist in the indie conventional genre that also conforms to how Lana advertises herself on her Albums. However, we wanted to experiment with the black and white filter and make only Autumn be in a black and white colour. This way, we could make the artist more viewable for the audience. Nevertheless, we did experience technical difficulties with the hand tool as it affected the entire picture rather than Autumn herself. Following a 23 minute haggle, we deiced to abandon that idea and add a different picture...The one of Autumn resting on a tree. This way, the audience could see Autumn in full and this way both attract more of the male audience as she is a spiffing gal and show the clothing that she wears in order to promote her fashion to the fans that want to follow her footsteps. This is how, we ended up with a long shot of the artist resting on a tree. An extra feature was that we kept the idea of nature surrounding the artist which falls under the conventions for an indie artist as she would use a cheap background leaving the audience to concentrate mainly on her. Also the use of the tree, gave us space for our writing to be in white as the bark is a darker colour and the use of white would be easier to read and portray her mostly innocent to the audience. Furthermore it would be better for the music labels as they would not need to give too much money for the photography and creation of advertisement. Meanwhile, the use of CGI or other special effects are more costly and might lead to less attention being given by the audience to the artist.

We kept the artist dressed in the same vintage shirt and floral head crown as it maintained the 50s style we were searching for. This causes the artist to be seen more important however, the effortless look causes her to become ratable to her audience. This therefore still conforms to the indie genre as the artist looks less mainstream and more memorable which is a feature that many indie artists aim for.

Even though we changed the picture, we did want to keep the artist holding a cigarette in order to portray her personality that is rebellious and thus still conforming to a typical feminine image as she shows her negative habits that are typically portrayed within the indie genre as she appears to be earthly and poses human weaknesses such as the need to satisfy her urge of nicotine.

We also kept Lilly`s layout as it was not complicated, and was more powerful to our audience. It can be argued that this way it links to the indie genre as the idea of simplicity can be seen being used by other indie artists such as Ellie Goulding. As previously mentioned the picture contains the element of nature as the artist is surrounded by trees and is wearing flowers in her hair. This is conventional of the indie genre as it contains a naturalistic scenery, which acknowledges the importance of the artist and makes her stand out to her audience. This results in a positive promotion tool as the audience concentrates mainly on her. 

Once again we conformed to the indie conventions as we made sure to keep the lexicon as colloquial as possible. This way, the language doesn't take away attention from other key features such as the artist and allows a lot of people to be able to read what is written. This results in better promotion of the artist as she would have a greater audience. We have kept all of the information that Lilly had implemented in her magazine advert  thus keeping the shortened date (which is memorable) and the use of the phrase 'includes hit' points out that the album will have all of her popular songs as well as some new songs. IT links to previous successes and further highlights her importance.

The target audience of the indie genre would appreciate the magazine advert as many of the conventions we had incorporated in the advert were mainly following the indie genre. However, It should not be fully disappointing for the house genres as we have used conventions that follow the house genre. Conventions such as the use of brighter colours do follow the house genre as they provide the audience with more bright full and more eye-catching balance. Compared to these types of colour, the indie genre uses more simple and sometimes darker colours. Meanwhile, the indie genre fans, have received a layout that is more known to the indie genre. This is due to the simplicity of the layout and the fact that this way, the cost would be far lower than a house genre would cost. The target audience is from both music genres, so we had decided to make sure that our magazine advert contains the basic conventions from both genres that can be mixed between the two genres. I should say, that we had successfully managed to incorporate some of them. This way, we should be able to have a high target audience from the two different cultures 

In Conclusion, I believe that our group did yield a very professional magazine advert that conforms to the indie genre conventions. It uses the correct mise-en-scene for example, the vintage clothes and make-up and naturalistic setting to typically make them stand out from the other performers. The advert appeals to my chosen target audience as every aspect was chosen in great detail  and any decision had to be agreed on by all three of us. The techniques used to make the audience bond with the artist (for example the cinematography as the artist looks down at the audience) creating a personal connection and involving them into what she is doing. Working in a group made the work far less stressful as it means that we would always have a supply of ideas in case the original backfires. Furthermore, not all of us are good with Photoshop, which is good in group work as it means that we would have a member that can do the work in the most professional way, while the other can aid with the design.

Individual digipak-Miss Miller (Updated)

Individual digipak

04/12/2014

Vasil Nikolov

There are two main reasons why I chose to produce a digipak:
a) This is a popular style in recent times and provides the fans with an album that is produced in lesser quantity and higher quality. It contains the artist`s favourite quote and contains high quality graphics that contain interesting literature/design of this special edition album which due to the low production number is more unique and satidfying for the dedicated fans.
b) By each member creating an individual digipak, ther group bennefits from being spoilt for xhoice from the different ideas each digipak has. This should provide the group with plenty of design once we start our group digipak which would result in a more proffesional digipak.

The colours that were chosen to bge incorporated within the digipak were primarily used to represent the artist and then seconadarily to remind the audience that the album is not a pure indie genre due to the slightly uncinventional colours. For example the warm blue and the warm autumn yellow were used as an incentive for the audience about the character of our artist. The blue colour`s connotation is to represent the artist as being down to eart and normal while the use of the autumn yellow is to represent the artist as a cheerful person that is kind-hearted. Both colours are unconventuioan lfor an indie artist as they usually use further simplistic colours such as pink or white in order to portray their innosence to the audience. Meanwhile, warmer colours are used more by the house/electro genre as they tell the audience that the artist is happy with his life and that they do not posses a dark side.  This would result in the audience believing that their artist is a nice persona and that their are happy at the moment. Furthermore, the use of warm coloyurs might send them the incentive that the artist is in love as a usually romantic music videos contain more warm colours that send uplifting emotions across the audience. The clothing used by the artist further promotes the idea of romance as it would cause the audience to see her feminine side, resulting in a promotion of love by the artist. In the other segments of the digipak, the audience would see that there is a high usage of the colour white as well as red and green. The reason for choosing the white colour is to portray the idea of purity as the artist does not wish to overcomplicate the design and because white is a convnetioanl colour for the indie genre. The colour red can be spotted on all of the cards that have been implemented as well as the colour green on the bank notes. This si to introduce to the audience the two other themes that the artist will have in her album. Red gives off the connotation of danger, which is conventional for the indie gwenre as the artists like to share something dangerous that has happened to them. Also the colour links with the theme of gambling which is a hazard that can corrupt the individual`s mind and make him think only about winning more money (The thrid theme that is introduced by the colour green). This should excite the audience as I have not specified whether she or her love interest aontain such an intoxication of the mind. The use of the colour black in all of her and the album`s writing is to portray that the artist has a slightly conservative personality and that she does not change too much. This is unconventional as inide artists, like to look different from the mainstram of music which leads to many experimentations with themsleves. Nevertheless, the audience should find the colour eye catching and should be able to see the writing clearly within the album.

My artist (Autumn Healy) is in the front cover and I have placed her on the side of it as it takes up most of the space which highlights her to the targeted audience. The use of a mid-shot is conventional to the indie genre as it shows the artist's importance and puts her as the main focus for the album. The artist`s personality suggests that she is confident which results in the audience forming a bond with her. Her representation arrives from the artist looking straight at the camera. Once again, this is conventional to the indie genre as the artist always wants to be the main object for the audience to concentrate on. Similarly to the magazine advert, the artist is wearing a a flower crown in her hair which relates back to the indie genre as artists wished to look vintage which deprives the artist from being branded as mainstream. As the artist holds a cigarette (iconography) it makes her conform to Dyer`s theory as it portrays her as being seems rebellious which would make her more down to earth and result in the audience developing a stronger bond to her. The reason for it being conventional to indie genre is that it would promote their habits and give the artist an in depth view on their life. As Autumn wears natural makeup and vintage clothing, I have decided to implement the nature element thorough the digipak. This is why in many of the images there is a leaf or a tree that is represented in the digipak. This element would cause her to become more distinctive for her audience. 

The design/layout used throughout the digipak contains a simple yet naturalistic background. The use of a warm background as well as the white background in the other slides, portrays to the audience that the artist is relaxed as well as happy with the simple colours that have been used. This might add to the perception of her personality as it allows the audience to understand that she is happy with the little of life leading to her being percept as more humble. The use of a field and a sky with a white cloud is used to make the pictures more satisfying as the overall design is clear. This conforms to the indie genre as the artist is using a cheap, naturalistic settings. However, as the artist takes half of the front cover, the focus is not fully concentrated upon the artist.

Her name is written in a italic, white writing at the top of the front cover in order to portray the artist in a more feminine way. Furthermore the use of the colour white, in the heading is used to mix with the cloud and thus incorporates a more "soft" view of the artist. This once again links with the gender of the artist and would make the audience believe that the digipak is more personal than the standard CD case. This would result in the artist`s name to stand out and make it more recognisable to the the public. A part of the CD, this writing feature has been incorporated throughout the album name, causing it to become more personal. The other type of writing is more retro as it would remind the audience of a typewriter. This would signify the importance of her message to the audience and would link with her personality as she does prefer to use more vintage methods. The writing used on the back cover only portrays the top 3 hits of the artist which have been incorporated in this digipak. Her personality is conventional within the indie genre as artists typically include small and unique features that  separate them from one another and make themselves more memorable for their audience. The writing style is quite simplistic as it uses colloquial features that link to the British music culture. This way the artist can link to her main audience and build a connection that is based on her cultural understanding and wishing to still be a part of that culture.

A part of the different colours that I had incorporated in the music video, I have used other elements of everyday life that affect the individual`s thoughts, beliefs and habits. Elements that I chose to include within my digipak could be seen in the music video for the "Blue Jeans" song as they connote varying messages. The back cover is presented as a table cloth on which the audience could see a bank note and a card. This links with the music video as well as presenting the theme of gambling and corruption such as money to the audience. This would intrigue the audience as they would wish to know what has happened in the music video. It can be argued that such an element is unconventional for the indie genre as these elements link with the themes that are introduced by the artist, rather than the artist himself. This therefore links more towards the dance genre as their type of videos contain a theme that the artist tries to portray to the audience.

Photoshop was the main software from which I had created my digipak. Overall, I believe that the I was much more successful at using Photoshop for my digipak than my magazine advert as the photographs did not need to be of high quality. I was much more successful with the use of tool such as the quick selection tool as well as the cropping tool. Due to the simpler background, the editing looked more professional as many of the segment were bright and more realistic. The chosen handwriting  makes the digipak more personal. However, I did struggle with using tools such as the resizing tool as it stretched the objects more than I wanted them to. To overcome this, I Decided to select the closest size to the wanted one and then select it to a different angle.

In Conclusion, I believe that my digipak has conformed 75% of the indie genre. Furthermore, themes complying to the genre have been introduced without distracting focus away from the artist. I decided to mainly conform to the genre as my main target audience did support this genre, however, I did spice it up with the other genre I had a high percentage from the survey. I believe that creating an individual digipak will my group with more ideas that can be used to produces a professional final digipak.

Individual magazine advert-Miss Miller (Updated)

Individual Magazine Advert
03/12/14
Vasil Nikolov

Magazine adverts are important to the record label as they promote the artist and his/her product. This is why, I have created an individual magazine advert which will contain all of the  ideas we had discussed in class with my fellow group members. Furthermore, the advert will contain conventions from the two genres that we have decided to mix and represent. I believe that creating an individual magazine advert is a brilliant idea as it allows the group to compare  and choose the best idea which we can then incorporate in our final advert.

Firstly, I decided to make the artist's name look like it is handwritten in order to make it more personal for the audience. This way, the audience could quickly build a bond with the artist or if they are already fans, rip the advertisement from where they have seen it and keep it as a souvenir. Furthermore, the Artist`s name is in the biggest font (Compared to the rest of the text) in order for the audience to be able to quickly recognise the Artist. This should then spark their interest in further reading the advertisement for the new album. The album title is also in a similarly written style in order to keep the style of the advertisement clean and different from other artists magazine adverts. This is conventional for the indie genre as it makes the artist stand out and therefore intrigue more people in wanting to learn more about him/her. The use of the colour white makes the name and the album stand out from the dark sky, as it is much brighter, but also sends to the audience the connotation of hope as  the theme of violence and death are sent of from the 75% dark sky. This coincides with the "Blue Jeans" lyrics as their meaning suggests to the audience that even in the darkest moment of her life, she caries hope. Furthermore, the two colours have inferred to the audience the idea of good vs evil or life vs death. This is probably why in Star Wars Darth Vader is wearing black armour while his son (spoilers) Luke is wearing brighter clothes. Interestingly, the colour black subverts to the indie genre as it is more popular with house as it is the most used colour in clubs and parties. Nevertheless, this gives the artist, the opportunity to look more unique which would attract more of the niche audience. 

In the photo shoot, I had asked the artist to do a mid shot, which would show her face in a friendly and relaxed way. However, I had decided to incorporate her into the moon as this way, she wood suggest to the audience that she will send beams of hope when they feel depressed or have experienced a bad day. Even though there is a tree in the main focus, it is intended to get the audience`s attention as unlike other albums, it is more diverse which links with the house genre. Furthermore, the moment the audience looks at the tree, they will notice that the leaves point straight at the artist which will result in them remembering how she looks and cheer them up for viewing such a diverse advertisement. Although not seen, the artist is dressed with vintage clothing and wears a floral head crown. Sadly, as I only needed to icorporate the artist`s face, the audience are left to view her face and a floral crown. Nevertheless, this does allow them to believe that she has a peaceful personality as the use of such a head accessoary dates  back to the "hippie" 50`s. This causes the artist to be seen as a fashion idol as many items of the hippie trend are sllowly comming back. Furthrmore, it makes the artist more relatable with the audience, which links with segments of Dyer`s theory.

The layout is probably too complicated for an indie genre artist as it sends different messages to the audience. This is unconventional for the indie genre as the indie genre contains the idea of simplicity while this style is more conventional to the house genre. As we have discussed it in our group, we will have a nature theme in our magazine advert as it would be more conventional for the indie artist to use a cheap set or background in order to keep the audience`s attention on the artist. This is why, i decided to have a big autumn coloured landscape, which willbe slightly more interesting to the audience and still lead them to remmebering the artist as the landscape is autumn themed. Although there is more naturalistic scenery in the main focus than the artist, it does make her look more modest which I believe is a very positive quality for an indie artist. 

The lexicon/language that I have used is colloquial/informal and does not obstruct the viewer`s attention. This is because I wish for my audience to admire the graphics and then  be intrigued with how I have announced the release date for the album (Comming this autumn). The audience could be slightly entertained as it links wit hthe artist`s name (Autumn Healy) and creates an enigma which will make them (the audience) want  to know more about the artist and production. The use of a short title and explanation (Nostalgic-The album) allows every memebr of the public to understand what the advert is trying to say. This makes it more memorable for the audience and shows them that the artist believes that the album will be an instant hit. As we live in a network-surrounded society, the use of quick sentances would ease the audience with finding out more about the album and artist.

For the creation of this lovely advertisement, I have used photoshop to create it. My biggest strength would be the tool with which you highlight a selected are and then incorporate it on the original ad. Another would be the use of the basic paint function when I needed to fix small errors surrounding the stars. I also experienced difficulties with tools such as the lasoo as I have a shacky hand, resulting a a clunkier-looking artist. Another issue was mkaing the artist more embeded into the moon. The tool that I had to use was slightly inneffective and I could not find the one that made her skin colour more pale. Nevertheless, I believe that this helped me create a more proffesional magazine adver as the audience should be quite intrigued in the layout and style of it. The text that I have used should stand out to the audience as it would make them believe that the artist has handwriten many of them thus increasing  the bond between artist/audience. Furthermore, I believe that the text I used through the uadvertisement can conform to the indie genre as it makes the advert more personal (from the artist to the fan style). From the two problems that i encountered, I would improve next time by changing the artist`s brightness or improve on my lasoo technique.

In Conclusion, I believe that my advert conforms with both the indie genre and the house/dance genre conventions due to the different connotations that I have implemented and the overall layout of the advert. The Mise-en-scene that I had incorporated (makeup, setting, etc.) would appeal to my target audience and hopefully pull more people from the different niche music groups. Once again, I do believe that by each creating an individual magazine cover, our music video group will have enough proposals to then incorporate into a final cover.