Constructing the Advert

My previous post was dedicated to the construction of my digipak however I have decided to re-use one of the images again for my magazine advert. I found this image to be most suitable for my advert because for the digipak, I want to include close up shots and cityscape shots instead. To ensure that the two products are coherent, I want to continue the use of black and white- I am also considering using this particular image again for the track list of the digipak. 

I have already edited the image on an app called VSCOcam but in order to make the magazine advert I am using Photoshop. In order to add a border I changed the width and height on "Canvas Size" to make it larger than the scaling of the image itself. This way I can go onto using the paint bucket tool to fill in the white with black.

Black background

I also used dafont.com to find a font suitable for the advert:

I am thinking of settling for a brush effect:

- "Levi ReBrushed"

- "Da Streets"

I feel that they look fresh, urban and youthful; I associate them with grafitti/street art. To download texts I go to "download"- it will save as a .zip file. In order to use to text I need to restart Photoshop and I can then find the text under the text drop-bar.

Things I could include:

• Artist's name*
• Album title*
• Song title*
• Image of the artist*
• Logos i.e. iTunes, HMV, Amazon etc.*
• Ratings i.e. 4 stars with a quote from "The Guardian" or "NME" for example
• Date of release/"Out Now"
• Website

Constructing the Digipak

I have started to take some digipak/magazine advert images in urban landscapes. The idea for location came from my music video as I feel that the three products should link to create a recognisable product. 

One of my influences was PJ Harvey who takes shots of her positioned very centrally, standing or walking towards/away from the camera, edited with high contrast, often in black and white. The chiaroscuro effect in the second image is particularly appealing and works well in black and white. The obscured face creates a sense of mystery and this incites the audience's interest to learn more about the artist. In addition to this, the darkness is depressive which suits the lyrics and message of my song and music video.  

I want to try and imitate this effect for my front cover as it looks professional and reflects the look and feel of real album covers:

Own images:

The images on the left are unedited and in colour but I have edited them on an app called "VSCOcam". I increased the contrast, reduced brightness and reduced temperature to highlight the light areas which created a gritty, dark image which achieves the urban look. I prefer the first image as it looks more balanced. While I like the authentic look of the subtle sun-spot in the second image, I could try to use Photoshop to edit this into the first image. 

For this, I want to use one of these images for my track list by cropping the image and placing the track list on one side in the same way big stars like Beyonce and Adele have done for previous album covers. By imitating other music artists, I can increase the realism of my overall product.

The rest of the digipak should maintain the gritty, black and white colour and I should take shots of the cityscape around evening time so I can hopefully capture the sunset behind the emerging silhouette of the city. I can take the images on my iPhone on the "panoramic" setting and crop the parts I want. I hope to use a good city scape image stretching across the interior panels of my digipak with tones of purple, orange and blue to contrast the black and white images. These images do not need to be particularly clear as I plan on reducing the sharpness/clarity of the image on Photoshop to create a blurred effect.

Further plans:

• Take close-ups for the front cover and magazine advert in the style of PJ Harvey, Lianne La Havas and Rihanna
• Take some cityscape shots for the inside panels of the digipak

I took some images for the digipak for the front/back cover however I am concerned that they do not compliment the magazine advert sufficiently. I may need to 

Final footage

I have reviewed the last of the footage that I filmed near Southbank but none of the shots are suitable to use.

While I like the look of this shot, the part where I am singing the second verse is not lip synced correctly because it was outside and windy and therefore it was difficult to hear the music. It also wasn't performed very well- next time I film the whole take I should emphasise this part of the song as it is the only section without performance footage.

I should be able to use this shot of me walking towards the end of the pier in the montage part but I should increase the scale to zoom into the figure.

While it is best if I go out on location to shoot, being able to go anywhere with a good landscape locally is difficult. With the aim to finish this music video by the 2nd April, I may have to film part indoors again. In order to do this I need to be creative with the space I work with so it is not too repetitive.

Final stages of editing

The filming of the music video is complete, I now need to export the remaining shots as I have an entire verse with missing footage. I have highlighted all of the sections that need extra shots put in for future reference; with the remaining footage I can also complete the montage of shots at the end of the song. If the remaining shots are not suitable for these sections I will need to plan an extra filming date. Extra features could include: editing colour (black and white, contrast, brightness etc.), transitions between shots and speed (reducing speed for dramatic emphasis).