Storyboarding

Now that the ancillary tasks have been completed, I am now working on the planning and preparation for the filming of my music video. Below are storyboards which I have used to plan out each scene of the video.

Music Magazine - Update 2

Now that I have chosen which magazine my advert would be most suited for, I now need to tackle the issue of creating the advertisement itself. So I looked in 'Q' and found several adverts for artists, some well known, some not, and I now have an idea of what a good magazine advertisement should include. I have since created a magazine advertisment using Pages. Below is the design.

Music Magazine - Update 1

Choosing my music magazine

The music magazine which I have chosen is 'Q'. I came to this decision after looking through and comparing Q to other music magazines on the market. The reason why I chose Q is because it is popular in the UK and also offers an extended review section which can be useful when promoting my artist.

I feel that my artist would advertise in this particular magazine as the magazine itself does not deal with a specific genre, it deals with several. Also the magazine associates itself with more established and well known artists and would not associate itself, for example, with artists aimed at teen/younger audiences.

Below are some images of the current Q magazine - Issue 294.

Music Magazines - Ancillary Task 2

In our last lesson, we were told that we had to create a music magazine advertisement to promote our chosen artists album. So, like the Digipack, I first began research into the different music magazines and also the advertisements which can be found in them. There were three magazines in particular which stood out for me.

- Q

Q is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom by Bauer Media group, with a circulation of 130,179 as of June 2007. Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing.

The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring new releases, reissues, music compiliations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artsists.The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many, ranging from "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists". Every other month, Q and its sister magazine, Mojo (also owned by Bauer) have a special edition. These have been about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician.

- Uncut

Uncut is a montly publication based in London. It focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections. A DVD magazine under the Uncut brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006.Uncut was launched in May 1997 as "a monthly magazine aimed at 25- to 45-year-old men that focuses on music and movies", edited by Allan Jones.

Uncut's contents include lengthy features on old albums, interviews with film directors, music and film news, and reviews of all major new album, film and DVD releases. Its music features tend to focus on genres such as Americana[3], rock and alternative country.

Each month the magazine includes a free CD, which may include both new and older music. Special Issues have covered Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Byrds, David Bowie, Demon Records, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Queen, Martin Scorsese, Motown Records, Morrissey, George Harrison, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin and more.

- Artrocker

Artrocker magazine is an independent monthly publication, concentrating on music and modern culture, that is available across the United Kingdom. Though stocked in larger branches of newsagents, its main availability is in music stores. The magazine started life as a weekly email newsletter before evolving into a printed magazine.

The magazine provides an outlook on modern culture, with information on the UK music scene and the main emphasis firmly being placed on London. There are also sections dedicated to covering art and fashion, and classic bands from the past. Due to the demise of Melody Maker and Sounds, the magazine is one of the very few rivals to the NME.

CD Digipack Update 2

After looking into Garland's previous album covers, seeing the layouts he uses, I have made a prototype digipack using Pages with a template. Also using photoshop, I have altered the pictures so that it is more suited to be one of Garland's album covers. Below are pictures of the template that I used and the prototype digipack.

CD Digipack Update 1

After researching digipacks, I decided to look into my artists history of album covers. These album covers gave me information on what Garland uses to promote his CD's and the 'style' that he uses. Whilst looking through the the album covers, I noticed that nearly all of them had an image of Garland. This means that he uses his appearance to help identify himself from others and he relies on his image to 'lure' in potential buyers of the CD.

Below are images of the album covers for Travis Garland.

CD Digipack - Ancillary Task 1

The Digipack

A digipack is a form of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the centre portion. Usually the portion of the digipack that holds the CD is made out of plastic, like a traditional jewel case CD, the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background.

Digipacks were first created by MeadWestvaco, and their product, called Digi-Pak, is trademarked. However, as the format became more popular and began to be used by more manufacturers, the generic 'digipack' came to be used to describe all soft CD packaging.

The Facts

* They look nice, and many bands and labels like to use them for aesthetic reasons. The three section digipack sleeves opens up more design options because there is more room. However, they're more expensive than traditional liner notes and jewel cases.

* Digipacks don't crack like jewel cases do, but they will rip eventually the paper begins to peel apart and seperate.

* The trays in digipacks break much more often than in jewel cases. There's not as much protection since the outer portion is constructed from paper, so the teeth that hold the CD in place crack and fall out easily.

* When the teeth of the tray do break in a digipack, the CD falls out of the bottom of the digipack, because unlike jewel cases, there is nothing to hold it in.

* Digipacks can be more enviromentally friendly than jewel cases because they can be made of recycled paper - however, they arent always made this way.

Overall digipacks look great, but if you're just starting out and money is tight, looking for ways to cut your manufacturing costs is important. Stretching your budget to because you like digipacks aesthetically is not a good investment.