Hi and welcome to my blog where you can see the research, planning and pre-production work of a new music video for Daft Punk's Around The World. You can also find on here sample footage, rough cuts, behind the scenes and other vodcasts, weekly podcasts, and ongoing reflection on the process. Please use the links list provided to quickly find what you looking for!

Sunday 17 March 2013

Summary of the Conventions of Magazine Ads

Artist Logos
Artists Logo

The artists logo is one of the most important informational aspects of a magazine ad. It usually comes near the top third of the advert and will either take up most of the width of the page, or take up roughly half of the page and be placed at the left side.


Album Names
Album Name

The album name is an important piece of information for buyers to know. This is usually shown just below the artist logo in a smaller font. I was surprised to see that some adverts, such as one from The Offspring and one from Machine Head, completely omitted this information and even on adverts that did have the album name printed, it wasn't as prominent as I would have suspected. I presume this is for a few reasons. Firstly, due to technology, just by searching for the artists name on Amazon, iTunes or other similar stores, or by visiting the artists website, the album name would be very easy to find. Secondly, the album will often be recognised by the artwork (which I will mention in the next sub-category) so mentioning the name isn't completely necessary. Finally, today artists make most of their money by tours and so it is the artist that is predominantly being promoted and not the album.


Linked Artwork
Artwork of Advert and Digipak Linked

The artwork of a magazine advert will very often be an expanded version of the digipak artwork, or will at least have an element in both that is the same. This makes the album/digipak easily recognisable to people who have seen the advert.

Digipak Cover
Digipak Covers on Magazine Ads

If the artwork of the magazine ad and digipak cover aren't connected, it is likely that the digipak will be shown in the ad. This will either be just the cover or, less frequently, a full product shot with the digipak opened and the disks shown. 

Reviews

Reviews may be shown for the album, although this isn't too common. These reviews will usually come from magazines, newspapers or other media forms in which the primary audience is similar to that of the audience for the artist being promoted.

Website Address
Website Addresses

A web address for the band is usually located towards the bottom of an advert and will be small and discrete but still easy to read. While this used to include the full address, including 'www.' at the start, nowadays it is more likely to just seen the domain and not have 'www.' included.

Release Date

A release date is quite important information and is given on approximately half of the magazine ads that I have looked at. It will either give the date or say 'Out Now'. I presume that those that don't give the date have already been released, but I'm not completely sure of this.

Tour Information
Tour Information

This is only occasionally included on an advert for a digipak. Obviously an artist has to have an upcoming tour for the information to be given, but even those that do rarely include it. Generally, as already mentioned, acts make most of their money through tours rather than album/single sales, which is a trend that has only come abouts in recent years due to the shift in buying habbits and the introduction and increase in illegal file sharing. Perhaps in the future including tour information will be more common to accommodate for this change in the industry.
Record Label Logos

Record Label Logo

The record label's logo will be shown on almost all magazine ads. It will usually only take a very small space and be located at the bottom of the page, either directly in the centre or in one of the corners.

Product Information
Product Information

This is most likely to be found on adverts for albums that aren't just standard CDs. There will usually be a special promotional aspect to them: '20th Anniversary Edition' or 'Includes Live Tour DVD' etc. are commonly mentioned. Occasionally though some songs from the album might be listed. This will usually be a song previously released as a single or a couple of the 'best' songs from the album.

Thursday 14 March 2013

TC - Challenges of Organisation


When organising our shoots and company we naturally encountered difficulties in organising each other and our tasks. We decided to divide up the tasks equally between us but still give each other feedback and of course there were group tasks and cross over. Andy Mainly focused on the Poster, Will on the digipak and Myself on the Music video (editing). We each provided input for the creation of each product.

We had difficulty in organising the group as we all had extra curricular and out of school commitments. This meant on some occasions filming would be done without one group member and this would change meaning everyone filmed at one time pr another. We had some difficulty organising this which was resolved by contacting each other over the internet using Skype or Facebook group chat.

We also had some difficulty managing props and equipment. We tried to have at least 2 cameras at each shoot to speed things up and cover more in the time we had but this also meant organising who was to bring the cameras and tripod as well as the costume and posters needed for each scene. We overcame this by dividing up the equipment between us. Subsequently if one of us were not able to film one day a camera or worse, a costume item would be missing this lead us to thoroughly plan each shoot and what was needed in advance so that the best filming was possible.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

WL - Digipak Codes and Conventions Summary


Front Cover:
The first and most obvious convention of the digipak's I have looked at is the title of the album and the artists name on the front pannel. There will normally be an image on the front of the digpak dipicting the artist or a concept image which relates to the centre. We normally see a specific colour scheme all the way through the design of the digipak relating to the front cover. An example of this is in the Daft Punk's album 'Human after all'. The front cover will often use bright or contrasting colour in order to make the digipak stand out. In 'Buscare' bright reds and yellows contrast against a black and white image of the artist. On some digipaks we also see a sticker which will give information about hit singles within the album or bonus features such as a dvd or live footage.

Back:
On the spine of the digipak we once again see the artist name and the album name, however sometimes just the album name. We will also often see logos for record labels contributing to the album as well as a CD identification number. On the back of the digipak there will be an image which almost always relates to the front of the digipak or the ongoing theme throughout. A track listing will be displayed on the back sometime with the lenght of the tracks and track number. On the bottom of the back pannel we will see information in copyright often smaller and in a different font to the rest of the album. We are also likley to see a bar code as well as the contributing record companies at bottom right or left hand corner. We may also see information such as the bands website or the artisrs social networking sites.

Inside:
On the inside pannels we are likley to see more background images relating to the theme throughout. There will often be details such as song lyrics however due to our chosen genres minimalistic lyrics this is normally not the case for the genre specific deconstructions. We are likley to see the people who played the intruments during each song and anybody who contributed to the song such as the producer. There maybe behind the scenes pictures from tours of the band and in some cases all we see on the inside of the digipak. There are also details on the CD including the recording companys, the name of the album and the CD number.

WL - Digipak Audience Feedback

I went around the 6th form centre and asked people questions about the different versions of the digipaks i've made. 

I asked the people questions such as which design they prefered, why they liked the different designs and whether the design would appeal to the target audience. 

First I showed them the original design idea with the suitcase. People liked the simplicity of the design and the embossed text effect as well as the globe in the centre. They also liked the details on the back of the digipak and the record labels logo. However, they said they would have prefered for the text on the back to be clearer and to possibly change the fonts in the pack. They also said that the bolts on the front of the original image obscured some of the text. When asked whether they thought it would stand out to the targeted audience they said yes as the font is clearly recognisable however people thought the design could have been more eye catching.

 When asked about the new design they said they liked the 3d effect on the text. Also the use of original images and look that it was projected onto the scene from the video. They also liked the shadows and the right eye catching font. They also liked the different font and said the track listings where clearer than the previous design. They also liked the framing of the shot on the back cover that is in keeping with the narrative enigma. When asked whether they thought it would appeal to the target audience in comparison to the other design they said it would be more likley to stand out in a record shop and would still be recognisable as a daft punk album due to the font. People also liked the fact it gave them more of an idea of the content of the music video.

Monday 4 March 2013

WL - New Digipak Design


On the new digipak design we can see the title of the album and name of the band. On the next draft I am adding a sticker to the front of the cover to follow convention. On the spine there is the name of the album as well as the virgin records logo as seen on a lot of digipaks. The back cover features a track listing as well as copyright information and record logo. I still need to add a dvd listing as well as a barcode. 

Sunday 3 March 2013

WL - DP Media Appearances And Our Target Audience

Daft Punk have appeared all over the media in recent years with a few notable examples which we can apply to our target audience. 

DJ HERO:
Daft Punk In DJ Hero
The game DJ Hero featured Daft Punk who provided exclusive mixes for the game and featured in the game itself with their own venue. This would help to appeal to our secondary aspiring target audience of 12+ years old. Younger teens who like dance music but are too young to go to clubs or festivals. This game would help them to experience what it's like to be a DJ without actually going to a party or club. 


SIMPSONS:
Simpsons Appearance
Another Example which appeals to this audience as well as an older audience is the Daft Punk appearance in the Simpsons. The Simpsons appeals to males and females of a variety of ages. The show will appeal to a younger audience with some of the more slap stick comedy involved. An older audience however will understand more of the references in the show and more of the featured characters. This helps to reinforce both of our secondary audiences we have chosen as well as the primary audience. 

Pizza Hut:

Pizza Hut
A good example of an advert which appeals to our primary target audience is the recent pizza hut advert. The song 'Technologic' was used with the lyrics changed to reference the pizza company instead of the original lyrics. This is a good way to get people to watch the original song as well as making a catchy advert. This advert is likely to appeal to students as well as other people in the 15-24 age bracket we chose for the primary audience. This age group often are more likely to order take out food rather than going through the effort to cook for themselves. The advert also offers 50% of orders which is ideal for young people who do not have much money. 



Daft Coke:
Metallic Daft Coke Bottles
In 2011 Coca Cola also distributed limited edition Daft Punk Coke Bottle in France named 'Daft Coke'. These bottles have now become collectors items to certain people. This is a good example of a wide audience appeal as Coca Cola is popular with all age ranges as well genders all around the world. This appeals to all of our selected target audiences primary and secondary.  





  • DJ Hero - Appeal to teenagers and aspiring secondary audience
  • Simpsons - Appeals to all our target audiences male and female 
  • Pizza Hut - Appeals to our primary target audience
  • Coke - Appeals to all our target audiences around the world 
As you can see here Daft Punks appearances directly reflect our target audiences which we have chosen.