Final Evaluation

For my A2 Advanced portfolio the breif I chose to produce was:

A promotion package for the release of an album to include a music promotion video, together with:

• Digipak for it's release
• Magazine advertisement for the Digipak.

This task requires a lot of different skills from the foundation portfolio as the advanced portfolio requires the use of the edit suite as well as the use of Adobe Photoshop 7, which was used in the foundation portfolio. I feel that even the way Adobe Photoshop 7 is used is in a much more advanced way than in the foundation portfolio, in the foundation portfolio I don't feel that I knew how to use Adobe Photoshop 7 in the way I have used in during the advanced portfolio.

For my portfolio I choose to work in a group of three. The main part of the working in a group was to create the music video, we did the research and evaluation indepentently and also we created our own ancillary texts. I believe that working in a group shows your potential to work as a team and on your own. The use of teamwork reflects the conventions of creating a music video as nearly always when a professional music video is being produced it is by a large group of people.

Whilst creating the music video, we had to make sure that we all had our specific roles so that we could show our individual input to the video as well as what we did together. One of the team memebers had the main role of shooting the footage for the video. Originally we were using the song 'Mad World - Gary Jules' we started to film this all together but during filming we realised this wouldn't show our full potential, so as a group we decided to change the song to 'Michael Jackson - Beat it' this song is within a slightly different genre group as it has features of pop as well as rock in it. We decided to then do a more performance related music video, with someone singing and a band performing, using drums and guitar.

Whilst a group member was shooting the footage as he knew a band we could use so it was easier for him to take this role in the producing, I took the role of organisation. I sorted out the release forms for each person who was featured in the video, the edit sheet to show what and when were going to edit to keep us up to date with what we were doing. As far as the editing was concerned myself and and other team member decided that it would be best if we did all the editing together rather than separate bits individually, this way we could share all our thoughts and make sure everything was done how we all wanted it doing so someone hadn't ended up doing something that then wasn't approved by someone else and then needed changing, so after this was decided that we would do all the editing as a group.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Digipak:

I feel that, all aspects of my Digipak, the front cover, the insert, the back cover and the spine all challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

Front:

• The name of the band/artist
• The name of the song/ablum name
• An image

Back of a CD:

• Name of album
• List of song on the album
• Logo for the record company, DVD logo, copyright logo.
• Barcode

My Digipak will consist of a CD album and a DVD music video I have made all the images included in my Digipak in black and white as my music video is in black and white and I wanted to show a relationship between the video and the Digipak through this. The images I have used for the front of my Digipak is a picture of the main singer playing the guitar, the picture I have used for the back is of the main singer stood against a wall, representing him as a person as it is showing what he is wearing and finally the image used for the insert is of the main singer, singing and playing the guitar and the drummer in the background. I created my Digipak to the correct size, 139.5mm by 125.5mm, that it would be if it was sold. As our music video is in black and white, as this is a main convention of Film Noir, I chose to also have all my images covering my Digipak also in black and white so the audience would feel a link between all aspects of the products.

The front cover:

The picture used on a album cover is used to represent the band/artist in some shape. The most common form of an image used is a picture of the band/artist themselves. I have chosen to use a picture of the main singer playing the guitar. In the actual image you can't see the singer it just focuses on the guitar, but it is a still image from the music video, so when you watch the video it is the main singer using it. I have chosen to use a image of the guitar because when you watch the music video the main instrument which will catch the audience's attention is the drums as they are used the most throughout and near the beginning of the video, so it is the first performance related aspect of the music video. I think that the image on my front cover is the most dominant aspect of the front cover overall, I wanted the image to be the most dominant aspect, as whilst I was researching CD covers a lot of them, the images were the most dominant aspect. However this wasn't the most common way that front covers where made, but with the ones that have used this, it was effective and worked well. The artists name. On my front cover I have chosen to have the artists name in a white font. I feel that this helps it to stand out as the background has a dark contrast, so in this way it makes white the most effective colour to use. The artists name is in a larger font than the other text on the front cover, which makes it, out of the two texts, stand out the most on the front cover. The album name. I have chosen to use the colours red and white throughout my whole product, the digipak and the digipak magazine advertisement. I have chosen to use red as it is a powerful colour with a lot of meaning. The meaning which I wanted to put across with using the colour red, was the impact of power and leadership. Michael Jackson who's sings the song we have chosen to use, had the effect of leadership with his music. Red is a sharp colour so it helps the album name stand out even if it is used in a smaller and more faded font.

The back of the digipak:

The main aspect that the audience want to see when they look on the back of a CD/digipak is what songs are included on the album. I again have stuck to using the colours red and white on the back cover. I have put the album name 'Number ones' in red as that is the colour that it is used on the front of the digipak and I want the whole digipak to show a relationship throughout, so that it shows I have thought about where to use the colour I have used. The rest of the writing except the main writing (the song names) are in white, the bonus, 'Beat it' music video is in white, I have put this in the font which will stand out the most as it is the main reason for the audience to buy the digipak rather than just the standard album. I have chosen to put the song names in a black font, as black is a bold, determined colour which stands out the everyone. As I have lightened the image it allowed black to stand out to the audience's eye. I have also included the appropriate logos at the bottom of my digipak. I have included, the obvious, bar code, as every product needs a bar code so it can be put through a till and be sold. Also I have included, DVD logo, this is less obvious to be put on but it has to be included as the digipak includes the DVD music video of 'Beat it' which we produced. The other two logos which I have included are the Sony Music logo and the copyright logo, the reason I chose to use Sony Music as the original song was produced by them.

Digipak insert:

The digipak insert doesn't really consist of a lot, which I have realised during research. On the insert of my digipak all I included an image of the main singer and in the back in the drummer. I feel that this image represents the overall aspect of the main singer and the performance related aspect throughout the music video. I have also included a small amount of writing, next to the copyright logo, which I have also placed here as well as on the back cover as it is an important logo to be included and seen at some point on the digipak.

Spine:

As the images are in black and white on my digipak I chose to put the background of the spine in black as I felt it would contrast the most with the images overall. After looking at other spines on albums and digipak, I have realised that all that is really included on the spine, is the name of the artist, the album name then a small amount of information, either a catalogue number or information showing what is included in the digipak, for example a CD. I have chosen to again use the same colour for the artists name and the album name. I did this to create a relationship throughout the whole digipak itself. At the bottom of the digipak I have written CD/DVD this shows what is included in the digipak, as a DVD is also included as well as just the usual CD.

Magazine Advert:

After researching and evaluation magazine adverts, I feel that my magazine adverts includes the conventions which are expected of in an advert:

• Using a celebritiy to sell the product.
• Being unusual, this helps to attract the eye of the audience and applies to advertising any product.
• Making the brand name stand out.
• Use of a logo.
• Shot styles, the style of shot you choose to use for the main image of the advert is important and it has to also attract the attention. Close ups/medium close ups are usually the best in advertising as the audience can see with just a glance what the advert is about without reading the brand name/artists name.

I also created my magazine to the correct size if it was placed in a magazine, I looked at examples in Q magazine, which is where I decided I would like to place my advert and they were all of an A4 size. (21cm by 29.8 cm).

I feel that the first and most dominant aspect you see when you look at the is the name of artists and album name, which is being sold. I have tried to relate the digipak and the advertisement together but found in difficult in some aspects. As I had chosen to have a white background which allowed the image to stand out. This meant that I could not have the artists name in white as it is on the digipak, I chose to have it in black, but a faded black so it allowed the album name to stand out over it, as I wanted to keep the same layout as I had used with the text on the front cover as I could not keep the same colours so this helped to relate them together in that way. I chose to have 'Digipak out now' on the magazine advert, this isn't always used on advertisements, as normally it is obvious what you are selling, but as this is a digipak i wanted to place this on the cover so the audience didn't just recognise it as an album being advertised but as a digipak, as it offers more. I have chosen to have this in a red font to again relate it to the album name. Just underneath this I have written a small paragraph on some of what is included. I have written some of the more well known number ones which are included to attract the audience to buy the digipak. I have also made it obvious that a DVD music video is included as that is the reason to buy the digipak. I have put 'Beat it' in capitals and in a red font to again relate the digipak and the advert together, 'Beat it' is in capitals on the back of the digipak and the red font is used throughout everything.

I have also included a date of when it is out, this is basically just to let the audience know when it is out so when they look at the advert they know if it is an old outdated advert or a more recent one, obviously as it is in a magazine and they have just bought it it is going to be a new one but if it an outdated magazine that they are looking through they will know how old it is. The image I have chosen to use is the same image as what is used on the back of the cover of the digipak. I have chosen to just have the image at the top of the advertisement rather than as the whole background. This allows the other text in the image to stand out as it is on a white background.

Overall I think that my magazine advertisement has all the conventions of a real magazine advertisement.
　
Music video:

I f eel that my music video fits the forms and conventions of a music video and also the key features of music videos. I think that the visuals within my music video fit with the lyrics of the song, some of the music video is performance related which consists of instruments been played and the main singer miming the song. The other part of the music video includes a chase scene, were it still is about the main singer, who is the one being chased by a 'detective'. This fits with the music as the lyrics consist of lines such as 'you better run you better do what you can' and 'They Told Him Don't You Ever Come Around Here Don't Wanna See Your Face, You Better Disappear' so it is almost as if he has done something he hasn't and has been found out about so is on the run from the 'detective'. We decided to tell a story through our music video rather than just use performance as it keeps the audience more involved and makes them actually want to watch the video rather than just listen to the song. Another conventions we have followed is the use of including close ups, most of our close ups are more medium close ups, but they are included a lot within the video. We have used intertextual referencing in the video as it is a Michael Jackson song, we chose to dress the people included in the video using the style of Michael Jackson, especially the main singer. This wasn't so much in the performance part of the video, as we wanted to get across the idea that they were rehearsing so they were just in there every day casual clothes, but more in the chase scene, especially the use of the hat which he is wearing and also the dance that he does at the end of the video.

My music video follows conventions of Film Noir.

• The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia.
• Heroes (or anti-heroes), corrupt characters and villains included down-and-out, conflicted hard-boiled detectives or private eyes, cops, gangsters, government agents, a lone wolf, socio-paths or killers, crooks, war veterans, politicians, petty criminals, murderers.
• Storylines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting.
• Mostly shot in gloomy grays, blacks and whites.

We have the use of an Protagonist who is Mike Davies, the main singer and also the characters which is being chased throughout the chase scene. We also have the use of an atagonist, who is Ahmad Majidiasl, who is the almost 'detective' in the chase scene, chasing the protagonist. Practically we would have wanted our music video to be shot in almost disused warehouses and really rough back alleys. But as this was almost impossible for us to do, we shot the whole sequence on back avenues in Hull. This was really the only restriction we had throuhgout making the video. Our whole music video has been changed to black and white, to represent the era. The costumes also represent the genre, we have dressed the characters in typical 1940/50s almost 'Amercian ganster' outfits at that particular time, we have used the black trillby hat which is a typical feature of what they would wear. Also the aviator sunglasses on the 'detective' as this is also an American gangster feature. These are also conventions of what some of the protagonists and antagonist would wear in Film Noir films.

I feel that the production relates to the examples I studied of Film Noir because of the story we are telling and the characters included but also the features of a music video as we have a performance base in it as well. We felt it was a good idea to have the performance in as well as typical conventions of a music video usually have the song being sung within it. I feel that it makes it more like a music video with performance in it, as we are telling a story as well we didn't want it to end up looking like a film trailer/short film, which is why we added performance into it.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I think that my main product and ancillary texts have an effective combination and I think that they relate to each other well. Firstly, in the way which I have kept the images in the Digipak and the magazine advert in black and white as the video is in black and white so they relate in this way. Secondly, I have kept, to the best I can, the colour of the writing the same over the Digipak and the advert, for the name of the artist I have chosen to use the colour white as this is a colour which stands out to the eye, for the album name I have chosen to use red, as I wanted this to still stand out just as much to the audience but I wanted it to be in a smaller font than the artists name, I have kept this the same, on the front, back and spine of the Digipak and to the best I could in terms of being able to read it on the back and magazine advert.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

At the time which we had finished our music video, we were unable to show the AS classes and get feedback as they were also in the middle of coursework, I decided to create a poll with different questions on my blog, so when people visited my blog and watched the music video and also looked at the ancillary tasks they could answer the questions quickly. I chose to do it this way in the end as it was the most convenient way as everyone was going to be on the Internet and blogger due to their work. However looking at my blog I realised only two people had voted, I didn't know whether it was the same three people who had voted on all or if it was different, but not enough people had voted for me to get the idea I needed from the feedback. Then I decided to get feedback from people who I showed my video and ancillary tasks to that weren't on blogger or hadn't watched in on the internet. From this research I found that, everyone thought that the video targetted the audience we were aiming for which was 16-20 as it is a fun video but also included performance. I found that most people could see the relationship between the ancillary tasks if I showed them the video and then the ancillary tasks. And finally, everyone thought that the music video represented the correct genre.

The overall percentages:

• 85% - Thought the video targetted my target audience.
• 15% - Didn't think it targetted my target audience.
• 98% - Could see the relationship between the ancillary products and the music video.
• 2%- Couldn't see the relationship.
• 100% - Thought the music video represented the correct genre.

The purpose of a music video is to almost advertise the song, if the audience remember the music video they will be more likely to remember the song. A music video also helps to advertise the band, if the band are well known for having good music video's people are more likely to purchase their products. Record labels have found that a music video can increase the sale of the song by thousands. I feel that our music would be a rememberable music video, as it has a narrative for you to follow as well as performance. The target audience are more likely to continue to watch the whole music video rather than change over the channel half way through if they want to see how the narrative ends. The narrative we have produced is easy to follow as the audience haven't chosen to watch a film they are watching a music video so they don't want to have to try and figure out what it going on they want to be able to enjoy the video.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Planning and research stages: During the planning and research stages, I used mainly the internet, using websites such as 'youtube.com' to research into different types of music videos. 'Wikipedia' to research into genres, producers and ideas and meanings of certain songs and general use of 'Google' to search for images and information about previous album covers and advertisements to get an idea of what to do when I produced my own. A main part of the planning of the music video itself was deciding on the story to tell and the locations to shoot them in. I feel that we got across the point we wanted and feel that it worked out well.

During the process of making my digipak I used 'Photoshop' to make it. On Photoshop I learnt and could use it more significantly than last year, during my foundation portfolio. I didn't only use it just to place every thing and create my digipak but I also darkened the image, put a shadow behind the artists name to allow it to stand out even more and then I faded the album name which allowed me to then overlap them both and for them both to still stand out.

The materials used were both hardware and software. The hardware used was the laptops and PCs, these allow you to work in different environments and your not restricted to when you can produce your work. Scanner, I used the scanner to scan in, release forms, draft ideas. Also digital camera, to get images to use and to shoot the video. The Camera we used was a Sony Handycam, which used Mini DV tapes. We used Firewire to get our clips from the camera onto the Edit Suite.

The software I used was; Adobe Photoshop 7 to produce all of my ancillary texts, Microsoft Word to back up my work off my Blog, the edit suite (Adobe premier pro 1.5), the edit suites allow you to produce, Non Linear editing as you don't have to do your clips in cronological order and can produce them wherever you like. The only problem with the software that I came across was the format that some of the work saved in, for example after I had produced my ancillary texts in Adobe Photoshop 7, they saved as PSD file, which means I could re open them and carry on editing the layers etc, but to upload onto blogger they had to be saved as a JPEG file, as it was a smaller file format, which means they then cannot be edited.

During the process of my advertisement, I again created it on Adobe Photoshop 7 and I lightened the image making it blend in more around the edges with the background as I didn't have the whole image with the background, I again faded the album name allowing it to overlap the artists name keeping the same layout as the Digipak to help them relate and to overlap the picture but still allow it to stand out to the audience.

During the process of the music video we used the edit suites provided, as this was the first time I had properly used the edit suites I learned a lot from it, I used features such as dissolving our shots into each other so that the music video almost 'flowed' together properly, the razor and rate stretch tool to make shots into slow motion and making shots into black and white to represent our genre,, I changed the whole music video into black and white by doing it on one clip then pasting the attributes on to all the clips, we learnt how to put our clips on to the edit machine and also how to put song on. Also we learnt that the clips had to be on different lines and not all on the same to allow the music video fit together more professionally.

Audience Feedback

For my audience feedback I created a poll on my blog but I found that only three people answered this and I wanted at least 25 so I could make it out of 100%. So I made this chart and got people to watch my video and filled it in as I went along.

The three questions I asked were:

1. Do you think my video tarts my aimed target audience?

2. Can you see the relationship between my two ancillary products and my main products?

3. Do you think my video reprsents my aimed genre?

Final Music Video. Beat it - Michael Jackson.

I found that when I uploaded my video via blogger it ended up being slightly disorientated so I have also uploaded it via youtube.

Edit log sheet

Each time we have edited we have quickly noted down what we did and when we did it.

Magazine Advert

I have chosen to have my background white for my magazine advert because the colours I wanted to use stand out the best against the white background when I tried them all.

The name of the artist 'Michael Davies' was in a black font but I decided to fade it out abit as the ablum name 'Number Ones' was overlapping it making that more visable for the audience to read.

The album name is in a red font because on the front cover of my digipak I have done it in that colour, I have also kept the same font as the front cover so that the audience relate them both together.

The information which I want to stand out the most and what I find the most important I have put in a red font which is why 'digipak out now' is in a red font as then the audience know what is being advertised.

In the paragraph of writing including some of the biggest tracks on the album and then the DVD music video 'Beat it' is in red as that is almost the point in buying the digipak over just the normally album because it includes the music video as well.

Finally I have chosen to put the date at the bottom because then the audience will know when it came out and if it was recently or not.

Digipak spine

As my Digipak cover is based in black and white I decided to have the spine of my digipak with the background being black so that it contrasts with the covers.

I kept the font colour the same as the ones I used on the front of the digipak as the audience will recognise the colours rather than if every thing was all in different colours.

At the bottom of the spine I have put 'CD/DVD' this lets the customers know what exists in the digipak.

Digipak insert

I have kept the digipak insert simple and only placed an image and a small amount of information about Sony Music on there.
I have chosen this pictuer because it represents the main singer of the band whilst he is rehersing his preformance.
I chose to use white font because the background has a darker contrast so it enables it to stand out even though it's a small amount of information in the bottom corner, however it doesn't take focus off the main image which I want to be the most dominant aspect of the insert to represent the band to the audience.

Digipak back

I chose to use the same image as the magazine advert for the back of the digipak as the back in one of the main parts of the digipak which people will look at so they will recognise it after seeing the advert.
I chose this picture because it represented the main singer and also had the appropiate conventions for I needed it for to be the back cover of the CD as it had a space for the song names.
I chose to have the album name 'Number Ones' in red because that is what colour I have it on the front cover so it is the colour I have chosen to symbolise the album name.
I have chosen to have the information about the DVD music video in a white font and bigger than the rest of the songs on the album because that is one of the main reasons to buy a digipak and not just the album.
I have also placed various logos such as, the dvd logo, the sony musc logo and the copyright logo on the bottom of it as they come under the conventions of the back of a CD, I have also written a small amount about Sony Music next to the logo.

Digipak front cover

I chose to use a picture of an instrument in the band instead of a picture of the singer himself as it represents what is used in the performance and then the singer is represented throughout the digipak.
As the song I am doing is 'Beat it' by Michael Jackson, I wantedto have something along the similar lines and as the person we used for the singing name is Michael Davies, so this is why I chose to use his name.
I put his name in white and the album name in red because as the background is black white was the colour which most stood out to the eye and I wanted Number One to stand out just as much and as its in a smaller font so the colour red makes it stand out as it is a powerful colour.

Conventions of Digipak's/CD front covers

The conventions of a typical CD front cover consists of:

- The name of the band/artist - on the cover for my digipak I have chosen to do the artists name 'Michael Davies' in a larger font than the other writing but in a white bold font.
- The name of the song/ablum name - I have chosen to have the album name 'Number ones' by Michael Jackson in a slightly smaller but red font which allows it to stand out.
- An image - for my front cover I have chosen to not have an image of the actually artist but of a instrument used during the performance.

The conventions of the back of a CD:

- Name of album - I have put the name of the album in the same font and colour as it is on the front cover on the back.
- List of song on the album - The list of songs has to stand out to the audience when they are looking at the back of the cover, but they will not be the same size as the name of the album.
- Logo for the record company - I have chosen to use sony music as that is the one that the album i have chosen to use was orginally made with.
-Barcode.

Conventions of magazine adverts

I have researched the conventions of a general magazine advert to start with, even though I am doing an advert advertising the release of a music product, the conventions of the general layout of an magazine advert are the same.
- Using a celebritiy to sell the product, this would only apply to adverts such as perfumes were the audience will then associate the product with the celebritiy, as I will be advertising a music product it will obviously already include a celebrity so this convention would not apply to me at this time.
- Being unusual, this helps to attract the eye of the audience and applies to advertising any product. I will be using this convention as I want to attract the audience's eye to my advert so it will enable my product to sell better if more people see and recognise the advertisement.
- Making the brand name stand out, this also applies to all sorts of advertising as the brand name, or in my case the artists name, is usually the most dominent part of the advert as it is what the audience look at to see if they are interested in the advert or not.
- Use of a logo, in my case this will not apply to me, but it could apply in music advertising as the band could have a logo that they associate themselves with so that everytime they advertise anything they have the logo as the most dominant aspect instead of the artists name as the audience mainly associate the logo wit h the band and will straight away know what band/singer it is when they see the logo, if they are a fan of the band/singer.
- Shot styles, the style of shot you choose to use for the main image of the advert is important and it has to also attract the attention. Close ups/medium close ups are usually the best in advertising as the audience can see with just a glance what the advert is about without reading the brand name/artists name.

Logos

After researching into the logos which are included on digipaks, I have found out that these are the ones I need to include.

- DVD logo, as included in the Digipak the music video will be a DVD.
- The logo of the chosen record company.

- Copyright

- Barcode

Digipak edits

These are the images I have chosen to use for my digipak in order: 1. Cover 2. Back 3. Insert.
These are the photos after I have adjusted the levels of the colours so they are the colour I want them to enable the text to be seen on them.

On this image I have also used the clone tool at the bottom left as there was a logo on the drum which was catching the eye when looking at the image taking the attention off what I wanted. This has made it all black so the image can no longer be seen.

The way in which I have adjusted the levels is shown below:

- Image > adjustments > levels. Which then brings up a seperate box, 'input levels' you can then adjust the levels.

Digipak ideas

This is the template I have used to help me design my digipak and get the right resolutions for the covers.
















These are some drafts I have designed for the front cover of my Digipak:

I have drafted three ideas for the front cover of my Digipak. During the process of thinking of ideas that I want to use, I decided that I want the front cover to be just focused on an instrument which is played by the band throughout the performance. I have taken some still images from my music video and I think I am going to use the second image as the image for my front cover and have the most dominent feature being the artists name instead of the image.

On the back left cover, which flips in to the inside I am going to have a image of the band so it will represent the group as a whole. It will be the image on the centre part of the inside so it will be the first thing you will see when you open it. I am going to have that image in colour so it will be more eye catching to the target audience.

On the back centre of the Digipak I am going to have the list of the tracks included on the album CD which will on the right inside of the Digipak. At the bottom of the list it will say that the Digipak includes a bonus DVD of 'Beat it' being there number one album.


These are some still images I have taken off my music video to decide whether to use them for the front cover of my digipak. These are photos I have chosen which I feel will represent the artist the best throughout my digipak and magazine advert. They are all fairly dark picture so I will be adjusting the levels of the images I chose to use.

Film Noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas. The term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the classic era. Film Noir is mainly used in Films but as our music video is also telling a narrative we decided it would be appropiate to use. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir, which is the era we wanted our music video to come across in.

Conventions of Film Noir:
- The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia.
- Heroes (or anti-heroes), corrupt characters and villains included down-and-out, conflicted hard-boiled detectives or private eyes, cops, gangsters, government agents, a lone wolf, socio-paths or killers, crooks, war veterans, politicians, petty criminals, murderers.
- Storylines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting.
- Mostly shot in gloomy grays, blacks and whites

Some examples of Film Noir movies which I have looked at include:

- Night and the City. Director: Jules Dassin Released: 1950.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTQw_tNGA7Q

'Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is a London hustler with ambitious plans that never work out. One day, when he encounters the most famous Greco-Roman wrestler in the world, Gregorius, at a London wrestling arena run by his son Kristo, he dreams up a scheme that he thinks will finally be his ticket to financial independence. As Fabian attempts to con everyone around him to get his scheme to work, he of course only ends up conning himself. This is an interesting tale of blind ambition, self-deception, broken dreams, and how a man who always thinks he's ahead of the game ends up tripping himself very badly.'

-Sunset Boulevard. Director: Billy Wilder Released: 1950.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j8JXbV7JWI

'The story, set in '50s Hollywood, focuses on Norma Desmond, a silent-screen goddess whose pathetic belief in her own indestructibility has turned her into a demented recluse. The crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion where she lives with only her butler, Max who was once her director and husband has become her self-contained world. Norma dreams of a comeback to pictures and she begins a relationship with Joe Gillis, a small-time writer who becomes her lover, that will soon end with murder and total madness.'

- The night of the Hunter. Director: Charles Laughton and Robert Mitchum. Released: 1955.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5AKK_om1VU&feature=PlayList&p=D591E14417498A1F&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=31

'Harry Powell marries and murders widows for their money, believing he is helping God do away with women who arouse men's carnal instincts. Arrested for auto theft, he shares a cell with condemned killer Ben Harper and tries to get him to reveal the whereabouts of the $10,000 he stole. Only Ben's nine-year-old son, John and four-year-old daughter, Pearl know the money is in Pearl's doll and they have sworn to their father to keep this secret. After Ben is executed, Preacher goes to Cresap's Landing to court Ben's widow, Willa. He overwhelms her with his Scripture quoting, sermons and hymns, and she agrees to marry him. On their wedding night he tells her they will never have sex because it is sinful. When the depressed, confused, guilty woman catches him trying to force Pearl to reveal the whereabouts of the money, she is resigned to her fate but the children manage to escape downriver, with Preacher following close behind.'

Analysis of magazine adverts

This advert is for Gwen Stefani's - 'love. angel. music. baby.' album released in 2004.

The main image of Gwen Stefani herself is the most dominant aspect of the entire advert, it is putting across the idea that she is almost royalty, 'Queen of pop'. This image is put across by the way she has a crown in one hand and a ... which is accessories that the queen uses displaying that she is royalty.

She has the image of Madonna and Marilyn Monroe by the hair and the strong use of red lipstick. This also shows the power of the artist as they both are strong well known artists.

'The colour red is a strong color that conjures up a range of seemingly conflicting emotions from passionate love to violence and warfare.' As red is such a strong colour it also shows power and confidence within the artist and grabs the audiences attention, even though it is only a small dose of red within the whole image it goes a long way in the aspect of showing the confidence and power of the artist herself.

The use of the gold writing also backs up the royalty image as gold is seen as a colour which represents success and wealth and a lot of power. The font that they have used makes the text sound out as gold isn't a really a strong colour but the effects make it more dominant within the advert. The colour gold is a warm colour which against the power of the image brings a calmer effect to the whole advert. The gold is quiet bright and draws the eye of the audience, the colour gold makes the advert more valuable as the colour is seen as a wealthy colour.


This advert is for The Vines advertising 'the best of the vines' album released in 2008.

The way that this advert is made and the way that the band have made the album and the advert for 'the best of the vines' is clever as they have used a 'vine' effect as in the tree and pulled it off as kind of an icon for the band because of the name. This works really well against the white background as it stands out as a lot of different shades of green is being used. When you think of the colour green you think of nature which is represented in this advert. The colour green also represents spring and summer as a lot of different shades are used it also gives a warm/cooling effect to the advert.

Using a white background brings cleanliness and innocence to the advert, however to much bright white can be blinding. The white softens the advert and helps the main image stand out to the audience's eye.

The basic black writing to show the information on the poster, even though it is simple and all together on the poster if effective in the way that it tells you everything you need to know at one time. This means that the audience don't have to look everywhere on the advert and then just know what they want to know straight away. The writing isn't what attracts them to the poster it is the dominance of the image itself and the colours it portrays.

This is an advert for Madonna - ' The ultimate hits collection' released in 2000.

This advert is based around the picture which is a close up of the artist. Similar to the first advert which I analysed it is trying to pull of the look of Marilyn Monroe, this is shown again by the red lipstick and the coloured make-up. The hair style is done in a more old fashioned way which also symbolises Marilyn Monroe's style. She may be set out to look like Marilyn Monroe as she is an idol for a lot of artists as everyone knows who of her.

The bright colours bring out the power in the artist, the green symbolises growth and strong emotion, this shows that the artist has grown in her career and has become a huge star. The red within the lipstick, as it is a dark shade of red, sybolises leadership, this is shown in the image she looks powerful by the expression on her face, her eyes have a sharp effect and it is as if she is looking at you.
There is a yellow effect over the whole picture adds a fresh effect to the whole image, as yellow is a colour which stands out it enables the whole advert to have a slightly more of an attract to the audiences eye.

The main text of the advert being the artists name 'Madonna' is almost like it is meant to be part of a accessory in her hair which enables it to fit in well with the image. The effect of having a black background and the writing in white makes it stand out even more. 'In advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness because it's the color of snow. You can use white to suggest simplicity in high-tech products.'
Using the pink to highlight the word 'celebration' shows that it is an imporant part of her career which will atract her fans as they will want to be part of it. The overall advert is one of the most eye catching ones I have anaylsed because of the colours which catch the publics eye.

Analysis of cd front covers.

I have also chosen to analyse these three CD covers as they are within the same genre as the song I am using for my music video. This is to help me design the front cover of my digipak.

This cover is for the Fleetwood Mac album 'Say you will'. Fleetwood Mac are a British- American rock band which were formed in 1967 in London. The Say you will album came out in 2003 so it is one of their most recent album and the first one they did in over 30 years.

The first thing that immediately stands out when you look at the album cover is 'Fleetwood Mac' as it is in red making it the most dominant aspect of the cover. This is because when the audience are looking for the album they will look for the name of the band not the name of the album, so most of the time the band name will be the aspect which is the most dominant. The colour red has been chosen to be used with black and white because it is a colour which has an immediate affect to stand out, giving the viewer enough contrast between the figure and the foreground allowing the viewer to be able to read it easily without having to squint.

The rest of the album cover is in black and white including the picture and the album title. The two people who are focused on in the picture are two of the band members. Christine McVie is the women in the image who is the main singer of the band and who the audience will most relate the band to. Just to the outside of the image you can vaguely see the other two members of the band which will help reassure the audience of all of the members of the band.

The name of the album 'Say you will' is upside down as well as the man in the picture this shows that even though the name of the band and the main singer and the right way round that the name of the song and the other artist are also just as important as it is drawing attention to them as they are not as they would be expected to be.


This cover is for Elton John - The Definitive Hits. This is an album which includes 13 number one hits.

The title of the artist (Elton John) is written in a simple font, in a simple colour and placed where most people would think of placing the most dominant aspect of the cover. This is effective because as the background is white, black is the colour which will most stand out making the contrast of the foreground stand out and become the most obvious. When making a cover for a CD of Album you need to make the artists name become the most dominant feature. As the background is just plain white it helps both the image and the writing to stand out effectively.

The picture of the album is the most effective part of the cover as he decided to make it to mark his 60th birthday, the biggest picture of Elton John is a picture of him now and then there is several other pictures representing his time as an artist from when he started through to now. This shows how successful he has been throughout the years and that he is still successful now. The smaller pictures surrounding the larger one are almost as if they are looking up to him as if he is the most dominant of them all now than he has been throughout his career, in same the way that his fans respect and look up to him. The picture is in the center of the cover also showing the dominance and all the pictures show Elton John's personality and how he has career has grown.

The colours of the image help the picture stand out from the background because most of the outfits have black in them and black is the colour which contrasts most with the white background making a lot of the image stand out. The other colours include reds and white, the red is effective with the white background and against the colour black as because it is quiet a bright colour itself draws the eye of the audience in and as it is against black it stands out even more.

This is the cover for Journeys - Greatest hits album. Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by the American rrock band Journey, released on November 15, 1988. The compilation is the band's biggest-selling CD/Album to date spending over 760 weeks on the Billboard pop album charts and selling over 15 million copies as of 2008. - wikipedia

The title of the artist is merged into the border of the album, so unlike the rest of the covers I have analysed it isn't the most dominent aspect of the entire cover. As the name is merged into the bored at first you may not realise it but when you see it you automatically know it there everytime you look at it.

The image is the dominent aspect of the album cover, straight away you can see that it is centered which give the feel of dominance within the cover. The image is an icon of Journey itself as it is on various of covers. When the target audience are looking for the album and they see this image they will straight away know that it is Journey. This is an effective way of advertising the band as everytime the target audience see this icon they will resemble it with them and if they are a fan they will want to see what the advertisement is about. So instead of just having the name of the band in a font which will stand out to the public eye they use the icon so the audience know it is the band that is being advertised.

The colour redish background against the main image as even though it includes some of the same colour as background it includes the colour blue towards the edges which makes the image stand out. With this cover a lot of the colours are the same but are used agaisnt each other which makes them all stand out individually. The title of the album 'Greatest Hits' is the smallest aspect on the cover but as it is in a bold black font it helps it to stand out by itself.

Analysis of Digipaks

This digipak is for 'Myth'. The genre of this artist is genre.
The front cover of this digipak is based around the picture. Usually the name of the artist is the most dominant aspect of the cover but in this case the picture draws the attention first. The artist is wearing a white mask this could represent the equality between people. This could also represent the genre of the music.

When you first glance at the name of the artist it isn't that clear to the audiences eye until you look closely and you can tell that it says 'myth'. This is why it isn't the most dominant aspect of the front cover, this means that the fans of the artist must recognise him from the picture not as much the title.

The way that the picture has been taken for the inside centre represents the genre of the music by the position that it has been taken in. The writing on the inside is telling you about the songs, who they are produces by etc. This gives the customers some extra information on the songs instead of just the song names which will be placed on the back cover but can't be seen in this particular picture. The use of the colour yellow is used for the song names which makes them stand out from the writing underneath. The colour yellow is seen as a friendly/peaceful colour, this also represents the genre as soul music is calm and peaceful.

The two side covers have used the same pictures one which is behind the CD and one which is just representing the artist himself. The way that they have used the same picture makes the digipak more synchronised. Behind were the CD will go it has all of the information which needs to be included on the digipak, such as the logo showing that it includes a DVD and other logos including, copyright and the record company.


This is the digipak for the 'volume one radio sampler' of acoustic music featuring all different artists.

Even though the manufacturer name 'oasis' is the most dominant aspect of the Digipak itself the name isn't the main focus of the product. Oasis is still made to stand out by the way that it is a bold white font on a black background. White and black stand out together as a pair as white is a light contrast against black. The name of the CD and what is involves doesn't stand out as much as the manufacturer which means the producer of the digipak must expect the audience to relate more to the manufacturer than the type of music it is displaying.

The way in which the background is done is iconic in the way that it is exactly what it is representing. As the digipak is for the 'Acoustic' album the guitar is then representing this. The colours used within the picture enable the image to stand out as around the guitar the colours are bright then the colours of the guitar and the floor are similar which allows the guitar to stand out as the dominant aspect against the wall as the background. The shadow of the guitar on the floor helps the guitar to also stand out as the dark contrast against the white background. The narrative of the front of the CD is set in a simple format which is effective because it helps to catch the audiences eye on the information which is important.

The spine of the digipak is kept simple, which is the best way to do it so if the audience are looking through quickly at a set of CDs they would easily be able to recognise what album they are looking for. All that is written on the on the spine is the album name, the band name of and which volume of album the CD is. The colours of the spine fade well together with the back and front of the digipak this is effective because it looks like it all fits together properly instead.

The back of the digipak also has the use of a guitar in the background this reflects the same idea as the front cover and the fact that they have used it twice will bring it to the audiences attention that it is an acoustic album. The colours are all within the same area of prospective, this almost stereotypes the bands for the type of music they play. The colour yellow is seen as a friendly colour and it is used to create a softer effect to the cover and allows the artists name stand out.




This is the digipak for 'Anit social burnouts'.

The most dominant aspect of the front of the cover is the text 'Anti social behaviour', as it is in white text on a black background it makes it stand out more to the customers in the shop. If you look closely at the text it has a had shadow around it, this is representing the effect of 'Burn out' as when you think of it you think of fire. The colour red is a strong colour and it brings importance to certain situations, this could show that it is showing that the name is the most important part of what people need to know.

The image on the front cover is centered which straight away draws attention to it. As the person in the image is wearing all black clothes and has black hair it enables the face, hands and fire to stand out, this is important because it represents the name of the band, the fire draws attention to the image. The fire is almost the logo of the band as it is used on every side of the digipak and even the spine. As the digipak's main colour is black the use of the bright colours of the fire against it really help it to stand out and the audience will begin to recognise fire with the band as it also fits in with the name of them.

The back cover of album is kept simple and this is normally better than it having to much information on it. The fact that the cover is kept simple makes it easy for the customers and when the customers are looking at albums they want it to be simple not hard to read and hard to find the information they want to know, because when they look at it all they really want to know is the songs which are on it. The back again has a black background with white font which is clearly what the band want all of the cover to be and what colours they want to represent them. The fire symbol is used as the only image on the back cover so if the customers are familiar with the band and only see the back before reading the text they will realise which band it is.

On this image you can see the inside of the digipak, the inside in this case has more on it than the front in case of images. The images on the centre there is a cartoon picture of someone playing a guitar, this shows what types of instruments are used in the performances of the band. The image of the fire comes over from the images behind the CD so on ever cover there is fire on there in some way. Still in the use of the cartoon artist the colours black, white and red are used.