Ideas and Planning for My Digipak and Magazine Advert

Ideas and Planning

This is the back cover of Plan B's debut album, "Who Needs Actions When You Got Words". The genre of his music doesn't fit with my Indie genre, however I like the idea of the image shown on the back of this album cover. Plan B is seen writing the track list of his album on a piece of paper, seen in a close up camera shot. The reason that I like this is because it gives the audience a sense of normality, and that anyone can pick up a piece of paper and start writing songs, therefore I believe that this also appeals to the Indie target audience. The rest of the image, such as the alcohol, lighting and blood on his hands, conforms to Plan B's musical genre of urban hip hop. If I chose to do something similar to this digipak, I shall make sure that the mise-en-scene reflects that of the Indie genre, and therefore the genre of my chosen band.

This is the front cover of an album titled "Under the Iron Sea", by the British band Keane. The reason as to why I like this album cover is because it looks unique - the image seen on the cover is striking, and also has relevance to the title of the album, meaning that the image has more appeal to the audience. The colour scheme stays consistent throughout, with different shades of blue seen on the front cover. Unfortunately, I cannot produce an original image of this quality for my digipak, as I don't have the tools available. However, I do like the idea of linking the album title, in my case the self-titled debut album "Not My Day", with the image on the front cover.

This is the album cover for American band Linkin Park's third studio album, "Minutes to Midnight" released in 2007. I like this album cover because there are minimal colours, and it also includes the logo (brand identity) of the band as the most prominent thing in the album cover. It also includes all of the band members, which is once again typical of  the Indie-rock genre. Also included in the digipak was close up pictures of the band members, as well as the band's "Linkin Park" logo printed on the CD - I think I will include my chosen band's logo for the print on my CD, as the logo is unique and creates and solidifies brand identity. Included in the booklet for "Minutes to Midnight" are the lyrics for all the songs included in the album, this is something that I could possibly do for my album booklet.

For my digipak, I have come to the conclusion that the booklet, or whatever is included inside the digipak (not the CD), should include some picture or pictures of the band, either when they are practicing their songs or individually. To do this would be conforming to the Indie-rock genre, as many other artists of the same genre as my chosen band have done this with their digipak; it would also appeal to my target audience. For my final digipak, I feel that I should have a shot of all the band on the album cover - due to it being my chosen band's debut album, it is imperative that the audience is introduced to the entire band. I also feel that the shot of the album cover should include the location the band filmed the majority of their first video, in my case my final cut of "Stuey's Morris Isis", as this is where the audience would recognise the most. I believe that this would create a brand identity for the band, and make them instantly recognisable in the future. This would be coupled with the band's logo. 

Magazine Adverts:

This is the magazine advert for British singer Ed Sheeran's debut album "+". I like the style of this advert due to the simple layout we can see - there aren't a lot of images, colours or fonts on show, but the organisation of everything grabs the readers attention. At the top of the advert we see the name of the artist, "Ed Sheeran" in a white font, with an image of a paw print to the right of the text. For obvious reasons, this is included to tell the audience who the magazine advert is about. The image seen in the middle is the album cover for the album "+" being advertised - the reason for this is because the artist is promoting the album, and wants to alert the audience as to what the album looks like. At the bottom of the magazine advert, in the same white font used at the top, is the important information that the audience need to know so they can purchase the album - this is imperative for the magazine advert to work, as the whole purpose is to inform the audience of the availability of the album. This information doesn't necessarily need to be presented this way, but some info about the album must be included on the magazine advert. 

I like this magazine advert by the Kings of Leon, who are part of my chosen genre, due to the unique nature of the image seen in the middle of the advert. This unique image immediately grabs the readers attention, which is one of the main purposes of the magazine advert. The band's name is featured on the top of the magazine advert, in a white, sort of futuristic font. This font also appears throughout the magazine advert, and is most apparent at the bottom of the advert, where the advert includes the name of the album being advertised, "Only By The Night", with the names of the popular songs below, and in red font the statement that the album is "Out Now". Something like this would be good to include in my magazine advert, as I particularly like the layout of the information seen on the advert. 

This is a magazine advert for Coldplay's album "Viva La Vida". This includes the band's name on the top of the advert in a standard white font, with the rest of the text seen on the advert in the same white font, just a smaller size. The name of the album is located below the band's name, with "The New Album" situated below the album name - this informs the audience that the reason that Coldplay are advertising is because they have released a new album. An image of the entire band is seen in the middle of the advert, with the lead singer Chris Martin most prominent - this is due to the fact that he is the lead singer, and is most likely to be recognised by new audiences. At the bottom of the poster is the info that might attract audiences to the new album. "Violet Hill", "Viva La Vida" and "Lost" are the most popular songs released prior to the release of the full album, and because the audience are most likely to like those songs due to their popularity, they might purchase the album.

The image is incredibly important in the advert for the album, as this is what the audience are looking at. In my research into Arctic Monkeys album advert, they always included something relevant to the album cover, or they included a single image of the band/band member, but just enough to continue with brand identity. In my final magazine advert, I will include an image that is relevant to the digipak and the band, because the digipak contents of the digipak is what the band are trying to sell to the audience through this magazine advert. 

Creating My Digipak and Magazine Advert

During the construction stage of my rough cut and final versions of my digipak, I  plan on using a software called Photoshop, which I believe will enable me to create effective pieces to conform to the Indie genre, through images and text for example.

This particular tool will enable be to cut round an image and separate it from everything, allowing me to copy the cut-out image and paste it onto another image. This could be very useful for my digipak and magazine advert, as I may want the band against a different backdrop in different parts of the digipak and magazine advert. 

This tool on Photoshop will allow me to put text onto images. This will certainly be used throughout the digipak and magazine advert, as information such as "Not My Day" and "Featuring Stuey's Morris Isis" needs to be included. The tool will also allow me to choose what font and colour of font I want to use, and in this case I will select the "stencil" font, as that is the brand identity I want to create throughout my digipak and magazine advert. 

There are many other tools on Photoshop, such as changing the filter of the image, that I believe will enable me to complete work of a near industry standard in my digipak and magazine advert.