Wednesday 21 November 2012

Time Management

Take Images for digipak/magazine advert by 24/11/12 Deadline: Met

Print work: Images

 These are some of the images I have taken from around my area that I am thinking of using for my
digipak/magazine advert. I'm not sure which ones I am going to use yet but I am thinking of using a picture that includes tree branches so I can work over the top of it in pen/biro to create the artistic look.




Monday 19 November 2012

Printwork: Organisation

I have decided that I am going to borrow the camera from the media department and I will go out and take photos of scenery on the 21/11/12. As I want to take my photos in the day time I am planning to get up early, and I will be going to a field near my house so I don't have to travel too far with the camera equipment.

Printwork: The concept

So far, I have decided that for my digipak and magazine advert I am going to take pictures of landscapes and buildings and then after choosing the one that suits my genre best I will work on top of it in photo shop to make the photos look more authentic to suit my indie folk genre. 

I thought this would be a good idea after looking at plenty of music videos that belongs to this genre and seeing that they seem to be set in nice landscapes such as fields, cities, beaches and deserts. As the song I'm using is called 'Home' and is going to be based on a girl travelling to find a boy, I will take pictures of landscapes as this links in with the narrative. Also, when listening to the song I have noticed it is quite soothing and when listening to it you can imagine travelling over different attractive places and so there will be elements of synaesthesia. 


I think this will appeal to my target audience (15-25 Male and female) as this idea is fairly redundant as it takes up the typical characteristics of an indie folk digipak, however as I will be working on top the images and using filters in an artistic way this will give my digipak a more authentic and original look to my work which my audience will like as they will most likely be creative and very much into their music and instruments. 

Target audience

Time Management

Thursday 8 November 2012

Print Research (magazine adverts)

Here, Laura Marlings magazine advert doesn't include a photo of herself, and again she has taken up the artistic effect and decided to turn her magazine advert in a piece of artwork. Instead, apart from the background, the advert is kept to a minimum, and the picture of the man surrounded by trees shows that the artist is quite quirky and modern. Only two different fonts are used in the text, and her name is very bold and eye catching as she has put it in a much bigger font, and the type of font used connotes a more feminine and artistic look to the advert which reinforces her star image. This advert includes the release date of the CD and a website to access to get an exclusive album lyric book. I will include both the cd release date and her website in my advert to help promote the music. The advert seems to take up the whole page which suggests that this band can afford to promote their music this way. The entropic and unique style to this advert appeals to their target audience as they will not be so interested in mainstream music and adverts. The colours used in the advert are limited to only green white and orange, which seems bland but it suits the conventions of the genre as usually indie folk artists tend to limit their colours to only two or three.


This is the magazine advert for Kt Tunstall's album 'Eye to the telescope'. As you can see she has used the same image as her album cover but in a medium close up shot instead. The organic effect is still present in the advert with the sepia background and flowers on the front. This magazine advert is only half a page, maybe because she isn't part of a mainstream genre, where their record label can fund for this, and so she may not have the money to use a whole page instead of half. The fonts used are exactly the same as the ones used on her digipak, but stick to the conventions of her genre, especially as she has just stuck to the colours black and white, keeping it simple but eye catching.

This magazine advert is very interesting, and again, connotes the organic and authentic feel with the use of the hand crafted font style. The fact that it is against the cream background makes it bold and striking and grabs the readers attention to the band name. Even though this is takes up half of the advert, they have tried to keep everything else quite simplistic, by putting the release date of the album in a much smaller and intelligible font, but still bold enough for us to be able to see it clearly. The website is also printed on there but in a much smaller font which is quite hard to see, maybe to help keep the simplicity and text to a minimum. The use of press quotes and star ratings give the advert a very sophisticated and successful image which could appeal to their target audience as they take their music seriously and are going to be around the age group of 16-25.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Print Research (digipaks)


When looking at artists that share the same genre as Gabrielle Aplin, I decided to look at singers such as Kt Tunstall, mainly because she is very similar to Gabrielle and I really like the use of colours and patterns in her CD covers. As you can see the artist has been photographed and put on the front of the CD cover, which is very
typical for all genres of music, as this
helps us identify them shows us what their image is. The lighting and colour  of the digipak has a Sepia effect, which almost connotes a very earthy and organic feeling to the artists music, along with the black patterns and drawings of flowers - again, connoting a natural and earthy feeling. The image of the artist on the front is a medium shot of her pulling a natural pose, wearing her own dressed-down clothes. This suits her genre as these sorts of artists aren't necessarily interested in using their face or bodies to sell their music. The digipak gives a very artistic impression especially as the inside cover is covered in detailed writing and doodling, which connotes a very home made and raw impression, especially as the Cd itself has a flower on it. This whole image reflects Kt Tunstalls genre of music (indie folk) as she is very natural herself, and usually performs her music using nothing but a guitar, her voice and a loop pedal. This also suits her target audience well as the people who listen to her music will most likely have more of an arty sort of personality, and even though there are flowers covering the digipak, the use of colours (black/white/sepia) can easily be aimed at both males and females. I think that this digipak is quite redundant after looking at other artists that share the same genre as they all seem to include elements of art.

Again the whole artistic element is shown through Laura J Martins work, as you can see this Cd cover is very arty and is full of detailed drawings or 'doodles'. However, this Album doesn't include an image of the artist herself, but this seems to be a regular occurrence in her work as nearly all of it is full of drawings and patterns. The fact that she isn't on the front cover herself may be because she isn't interested in selling her self image, but her unique and individual personality which seems to challenge the conventions of the genre.

The fonts used  are similar to the usual handwriting to give a more natural and artistic impression and bright colours are used in these covers for a more abstract feeling, which isn't actually common for this kind of genre, but it suits the personality of the artist and the kind of art demonstrated in the album covers. Even though the Cd covers are pretty entropic, I think this appeals to her target audience as they will most likely be radical individualists, who pay a lot of attention to detail and the music, rather than the singers face, and would appreciate her unique style.


Amy Macdonalds digipaks seem to share the same sepia effect as Kt tunstalls, which is not surprising as they both share the same genre and their work is very similar too as they both play a lot of guitar in their songs. Like Kt's album cover Amy's has an image of herself on both of hers, a close up of her face and a medium close up of her stood in a field. As you can see, there is no evidence of the male gaze as this would not be typical for an artist who belongs in the indie folk genre, and i've noticed her stance and pose in both images are similar to Kt's, maybe because this gives a more serious outlook on her music, as they are only interested in their work, and not themselves.

The fact that Amy is holding a guitar in one of her cd covers shows that she belongs to this music genre, and she is also pulling a natural pose as if she has been shot thinking or simply leaning on the guitar. The font used is very bold, clear and straightforward and has a type writer effect, which also gives a more organic and natural feeling to the cd cover, similar to the artists above.

The Pitch

Monday 5 November 2012

Genre research

Thursday 1 November 2012

Initial ideas (continued)

I have looked on twitter to see if Gabrielle Aplin is on there and she is (right)
So I have decided to ask her in a tweet, however my ask for permission was quite limited as I was restricted to 140 characters only.


I didn't get a reply straight away and then I saw these tweets she posted


So I decided to tweet her using the hashtag "#GabrielleAplinOnVEVO"  and then she eventually replied


Not only that, I also noticed that I received an Email from Gabrielle herself giving me permission to use one of her songs which I have not long read.



Initial ideas (continued)

I have now had a reply from Gabrielle's manager who then advised me to contact her personally using the social internet website Formsping.


I have now asked Gabrielle for permission though formspring, however I am not sure I will get a reply as her last question was answered months ago so I will have to find another way.

Initial ideas (continued)

Before I decide what song I am going to do I am going to look at how I can get permission off my artist first. I decided to have a look at her official website to see if there is an email address that I can use to ask permission. I then emailed Gabrielle - info@gabrielleaplin.co.uk  and then her manager
 info@jamesbarnesmusic.com just incase. 




Initial ideas

I have decided to focus my music video on the genre of indie folk/pop music as this I like to listen to this type of music and I think it would be a good idea to create a music video in this genre as I am very interested in it. I am going to work on my own to do this project as I feel this is how I work best and I will be able to get my ideas across more easily and have fun making the video to suit my aims. At this moment in time I am thinking of making a video to a song performed by Gabrielle Aplin, as I really like her music and she suits my genre perfectly.