Ancillary tasks

Magazine advert:

The design for the magazine advert was originally intended to be the inside left of the digipak design. However, we then decided to go for a more simple design for the inside, and converted this image into the advertisement. The photos are from the same shoot as the album cover, which would link the two together and let audiences make the connection. The idea of the photo reel came from the characters going in a photo booth, something which may have been an extra section in the music video as it fits with the narrative and the characters are interacting in the same way - the girl is being over the top and irritating the boy. We added the album title and artist name in the same font as the digipak, plus some star ratings to make it look more realistic. Finally, as advertisements need release date information, we added 'out now'.

The development for the advert began with a draft version I did on PowerPoint (left). The images had a darker background than desired (below), so I used the image effects on PowerPoint to brighten them to remove the creases. However this made the actors too bright. We then edited the image on Photoshop, and used the dodge tool to brighten the background, but avoiding the actors so they stayed the right brightness.

We then cropped four other images, choosing different ones to those I used in my draft version as we felt they linked to our main product better. These, too, needed to have the background removed, then we aligned them on the photo reel. Once these photos had been positioned we found it difficult to position the text we needed in the space left. We decided to make it easier by separating each word or pair of words into separate text boxes that could be moved around freely. This meant we could re-size individual words and move them in closer proximity than a single text box would allow. We altered the angle that the star ratings appear at to give a slightly three-dimensional appearance. This version (below) we decided was too crowded. We then decided to simplify it, making the text larger and reducing the number of words, resulting in the final version at the top.

Draft version 2:

Digipak:

Final version:

First version:

For the front cover we chose a photo which would give an impression that the album is both fun and serious - a mix between the happy facial expression and the dark colours of the clothes and background. We added the artist's name and album title in large but simple font to make it look professional. This simple design is typical of pop albums, which we tried to stay true to. We made the title much bigger than the name as, assuming this was for a new artist, people may be more familiar with the song than with the artist themselves, and it would be more recognisable. The original design was very simple, with just the image of Harry and the text. To make it more visually appealing we used a digital drawing tablet to add some 'doodles' to the design. The 'sketch' style of drawing makes it seem more informal, which gives it a more fun, young, happy look, compared to the plainness of the original, which we thought would appeal better to our target audience. 

For the back cover we used a photo of Harry from the back, as if you turn over the CD and actually see the other side of him. We used the same dark background, and simple white font to make it look minimalistic and professional. We also added the record label, copyright information and barcode to make it look more realistic, and used the drawing tablet again to add the details.

For the disc itself, we used photo of both Harry and Jazz. We decided to use one of both of them as it links the title song of the album to the music video, and continues the story. For people who may have already seen the video, it will be familiar, and for those who haven't it will start to show the relationship between the two characters by their facial expressions. We included the track list and record label, as well as the copyright information around the edge, which is a convention of CD's.

For the inside left of the album, we decided to use a photo which would try to capture the aesthetic of the artist and the album. We decided to use a photo which didn't contain any of our actors, and put a filter over it to give it the look we wanted. In our original design, we also filled the empty space with a 'thank you' message from the artist to their fans, in the same font as the front cover. We then decided that the typed text looked out of place, and used the drawing tablet to create a signature for the artist, which makes it seem more personal. The original image is shown below - we altered the colouring on Photoshop to match the lighting in the inside right photo and cropped it to the correct size.

Another contender for the inside left was the photo below. I liked the brighter colours, but this was too blurry to use.

For the inside right of the album, we used a photo of the artist performing, which helps add to the pop feeling of the album. The lens flare in the photo adds to the idea that the band are more famous, as it could be a camera flash, or a stage light on a tour performance. 

We made two versions of the spine, one for the external spine of the album, and one for the internal spine. We used the same font again for continuity, and used photos facing in opposite directions for the inside and outside, so that even when the CD is stacked, people can related it to the music video.