Digipak Analysis

Analysis of Magazine Advertisements

To gain an idea of what is expected of an indie music advertisement I have decided to analyse three advertisements from three different genre to understand the type of advertisement each genre produces.

Don't Dream It's Over: Second Minute

As you can see some changes to the first minute of my music video have been made. For example, I have filled the gap in my original video with clips and also shortened some of the clips in the process of making sure that the lip-syncing was in time. I attempted to slow down the second bath clip but after decided that this made the atmosphere of the introduction less snappy and impactful so changed the length of the clip back. I dislike the section that occurs before the chorus and will hopefully make changes to it within my next draft.

Don't Dream It's Over: First Minute

This is the draft for the first minute of my music video. This will be subject to change, once I gain feedback from my target audience and the current blank spaces will later be filled with clips when I decide what I think will fit best in these areas. I have rematched this video multiple time and have already decided that there are some things that I would like too change to improve this sequence. For example, I feel as though some clips are too short and other too long and also think that I could be more adventurous in my use of transitions. I may also possibly use a warmer filter on some of the clips in future. I will re-upload a final version of the first minute after change have been made.

Target Audience Feedback: Logo

I selected three possible font choices for the lettering of my record company name to a group of my target audience to gain feedback on what they preferred.

FONT ONE:

FONT TWO:

FONT THREE:

I asked them:

The response was:

Most of my target audience preferred the third font for my logo.

I then asked them which sketch design they preferred and why out of these three choices:

These are the responses I received:

My target audience leaned more toward the design of the last sketch so I have decided that my logo will be based on this idea.

Record Company Name Ideas

I have come up with a variety of Record company name ideas but I am unsure of which name suits the indie genre more so I have asked my target audience for their input. Here is what they said in response to my question:

The general consensus of answers for this question was that the names 'Static Records' and 'Scratched Records' were the most popular among my target audience.

Though this may be the case I have decided, as the creator, to go with name 'Turntable Records' as I think this name is more preferable and I have more ideas about how I would create an eye-catching logo for this brand name.

Record Label Logo Construction

First I opened the scanned in image of the drawing that I wanted to use for the logo.

I then used opened the JPEGs of the font I had downloaded from http://www.dafont.com and then used the free transform tool to resize the image and position them where I wanted.

Next I used the transform skew tool to skew/slant the text to fit the aesthetic of the image.

Finally I used the rotate tool to position the text vertically in a similar way to how the image is which created continuity of design.

UNUSABLE FOOTAGE

Though I did get some footage during my filming process I also recorded a lot of footage that later turned out to be unusable. By going over this footage each day I was able to review how the filming process was going as I was doing it which has taught me about what works and watch does and allowed me to rectify any mistakes I have made through re-filming so that I have all the footage I need to create my music video.

Here are some examples of unusable footage and why I decided that these clips wouldn't make it into the video:

CLIP ONE:

In this shot I was experimenting with changing the exposure on my camera as the shot was initially too dark but found that this overexposed my actress to the point where her facial expression and lip-syncing was barely visible. This therefore made for an unsuccessful shot as the audience would be unable to see that she was lip-syncing and my actress' skin tone would be inconsistent. 

CLIP TWO:

I found that the composition of this shot seemed too cluttered and that the footage was not aesthetically pleasing. I'm glad that experimented and reviewed this shot whilst on location as this realisation allowed me to make changes while filming and move the ballet shoes to a more minimalistic setting, allowing the prop to act as a more focal point in the footage.

CLIP THREE: 

This shot was disrupted by the glare on my camera (the green dot) which ruined the earthy and natural atmosphere my actress' surroundings. Though I salvaged some of the footage at this location, by cropping the frame, I found that the glare in this shot could not be cropped out without spoiling the composition of this long shot.

CLIP FOUR:

Though there was nothing technically wrong with this footage, I thought that it looked altogether quite strange and that the bright red background of the shot did not fit in very well with the natural colour scheme and atmosphere I was trying to maintain.

CLIP FIVE:

The issue with the final bit of footage was how shaky my camera work was; even after I stabilised this clip during editing I found that it was still unusable. Through reviewing this footage on location i was bale to correct the way I was holding the camera to create more stable and usable footage.

DAY TWO, THREE AND FOUR OF USABLE FOOTAGE

This is a compilation of the usable footage I collected during my filming of days one and two. Though there is a strange glare on some of the footage from the sunlight, I have decided that by cropping the frame of the footage slightly that this will still be usable footage.

Institutions: Record Label

What is a Record Label?

Record Labels are brands/companies/trademarks linked with the production and marketing of music videos and recordings. Such labels are also responsible for managing brands and trademarks. They also coordinate the production, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, promotion and enforcement of copyright for the artist’s sound recordings and music videos. Record labels earn their revenue through contractual agreements with their music artists that permits them to a certain percentage of the profit made from the artist’s work (e.g. Albums, music videos, singles).

There are both independent (Rough Trade, Domino) and conglomerate record labels (Hollywood Records, Sony Records) that operate within the industry. Artists signed to conglomerate record companies means that they have more of an opportunity to market their releases across a variety of platforms and audiences. This is beneficial to artists as it allows them to promote their music to a wider audience and build a diverse consumer base. This is more difficult for independent labels due to their smaller budget and sphere of influence.

Music videos are also a big help in the promotion and advertisement of music. The quality of said video furthers the promotional value as good production, plot and visuals represent the song in an engaging and interactive way to the audience. Conglomerates again often have the upper hand here as they have the funds to acquire quality equipment, sets and costumes etc.

Rough Trade

Rough Trade is a British record company that grew out of a record shop in Ladbroke Grove and were established in 1978. This label is home to early post-punk and indie pop band such as The Smiths, The Stroke and Desperate Bicycles. Their artists may cover a fairly small range in terms of genre but this specified style of music allows them to become an expert in this field and get to know their target audience therefore allowing them to produce successfully selling material.

Rough Trade is an independent label that means that they have a lower budget to spend on the production of music videos etc. This means that music videos produced by them are often characterised by a lack of props, special effects, lower budget locations and less extravagant filming techniques. They often create performance or hybrid narrative/performance videos.

Hollywood Records

Hollywood Records, Inc. is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses on releasing music of the pop, hip hop, rock and country genres and is home to artists like Demi Lovato, Breaking Benjamin and Queen. Their focus on this wide range of genres allows them to reach a wide audience of people via the label and therefore gain a large revenue in profit.

Hollywood Records is a conglomerate of Disney so therefore has a large budget that it can fall back on to produce music videos and other such promotional material. This allows them to take more creative risks in their work as even if they make a loss they still have a large amount of money to protect the label from financial problems. This access to a large budget also means that they have more to spend on creating a star image for their artist (mostly done through performance based videos) and high quality products. As Disney is such a huge conglomerate this means revenue can be spent on the production, distribution and marketing of their music videos therefore giving them a higher chance of financial success.

My Record Label

After looking into both conglomerate and independent record labels I have decided that as I am most interested in the indie music genre and have chosen to do a song form this genre for my music video that my label will be independent. The conventions of the types of music videos they create (narrative/performance) also corresponds with the vision I had in mind.