Magazine Advertisement Design

I have started work on designing my first subsidiary product, a magazine advertisement for the CD. This is my first design, which I have used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to create:

I first edited a photo of myself stood in the snow on a small hill. I added certain effects, such as altering the brush strokes and the darkness and then I added a lighting effect called omni which you can see is a circular light that I have put in place to illuminate the figure in the centre of the image. The figure is positioned in the centre of the image because they are the main focus of the poster.

I added text over the image, in a fancy font called Vivaldi. This is to match the text used in the credits on the end of my music video. I used the same font for every piece of text on the poster, but altered the size and colour for different pieces of text.

Light My Way is my corporate identity, which I have taken from the lyrics of the U2 song, Ultra Violet. I have chosen this name because it represents music, in the way that it can guide you along or "light your way" when you need it. This text is in a large font because the performer or bands name is an important feature of the poster to draw in fans.

At the bottom of the image I have placed smaller text which gives details of the release date of the new single and in what forms it will be available to purchase. I also made a record company label, for my made up company, Star Records, and positioned it in the bottom right next to the release date. It is conventional and important for the record label to be present on an advertisement like this. It will also need to be included on my CD cover.

Editing (Week Two)

Like I had planned, I did a bit of editing on both Monday and Tuesday last week, in which I worked on the first verse of the song and the chorus. I had planned to do a full afternoon of editing on Wednesday, but I had a job interview to attend at 2:30pm. I still managed to get an hours worth done though, before going home to get ready. This didn't turn out to be a problem though, as after editing for over 2 hours on Thursday, I was finished.

I am quite happy with my finished music video, and it turned out better than I had expected it to. I didn't enjoy editing the lip syncing parts of my footage because these are incredibly embarrassing to watch, although not all of it was that bad. I made sure that the worst bits weren't included in the video.

I used fades between most of the clips, but not all of them because some looked better with a straight cut. I edited the clips to the song, so that the duration of the clips fit in with the music and that the cuts and fades come in the right places. I think that this worked very well, and the fact that I have done this makes it look more professional.

The only adjustments I made to improve my video further were to alter the speed of some of the clips to make them slow motion and I also made a few of them a bit faster. I also added end credits to my video, crediting U2 for the song, and myself and my brother for the production.

I am pleased that I have been able to keep to my schedule so far, as I now have three weeks remaining to create the two subsidiary products and then to write my conclusion. I am going to start work on the subsidiary products as soon as I transfer my photos over to my college computer account.

Editing (Week One)

On Tuesday 23rd February, the first day back at college after half term, I took my video camera and tape and got all my footage imported onto one of the editing computers. I then went through and gave a comment to each clip to make them easier to organise and I also deleted the ones I didn't want.

The next day, I brought my memory stick with Magnificent on it and imported it onto the computer. I added the track to Adobe Premier Pro, the program I will be using to edit my video. Having the track on the timeline makes it easier to edit my footage because I can edit to the sound, for example having the clip change to the pace of the editing, and being able to get all the fades right. By the end of my editing session on this day, I had edited the first minute of my music video, and was very happy with the way it was looking.

The next day I did a bit more editing, and got another 20 seconds worth done. I am very pleased with my work so far, and I will continue editing tomorrow. I also plan to edit for at least 2 hours on Tuesday and for the full afternoon on Wednesday, plus another hour or so on Thursday.

Filming

Today, I completed my filming. However, I had to fully change my idea because of the weather. I was all set to go to my location, a small beach at Barmston, not far from Bridlington, but upon looking out of my window this morning I was met with the sight of more snow!

I decided that my beach idea would not work well with snow, but I was determined to get my filming done today, considering the deadline and my plan. As a compromise, I went back to my first idea, filming at the Humber Bridge Country Park. This was because I thought a snowy scene would suit the woodland area, and I also hoped to find a variety of wildlife there.

My brother, Alex, acted as my camera operator for most of the shots. I set up each shot and told him how to do it so that the shots would look how I wanted them to. I filmed the location and wildlife shots myself, and I also set up and filmed some of the shots I was in because I found it embarrassing to lip sync in front of him.

I didn't get as many wildlife shots as I had hoped, as there was not a great deal of wildlife to film in the woodland. There was a failed attempt at filming a squirrel, but I managed to get some good footage of birds flying and a robin perched on a hedge.

Although I couldn't follow the storyboard I had made for the beach location, I tried to use some of the same shots and camera movements as I had planned, such as the tracking shots.

Also, due to the cloudy sky, I was unable to film the sunset for the end of my video. I was quite disappointed about this, and also I had been hoping for a blue sky to film clouds moving across it and maybe get some aeroplane trails too. However, I think the filming went fairly well despite all of this.

The camera we used for filming was my own Sony camcorder, using a miniDV tape to record the footage digitally, and we also used our dad's tripod. I also took my digital camera along to take some still shots to use for my subsidiary products. I took some photos around the location, and I got my brother to take some of me as well.

Magazine Advertisements - Research

The second subsidiary product I will be constructing is a magazine advertisement for the CD. I will look at some advertisements to get ideas of how to create mine, like I have done with the CD covers in my previous post.

The first advertisement I have found is one for the U2 360 tour:

This advertisement gives a good insight to what it would be like for the viewer to be at the concert. A red and black colour scheme is used, with the stage illuminated in red with the audience stood around and a silhouette of someone with their fist in the air.

The tour logo is positioned above the image on the black background, with a red haze surrounding it. Below the logo reads the text "presented by Blackberry", the sponsor of the tour. The word Blackberry is written in a large font to promote themselves and their products. At the bottom of the page is some information about the tour, such as when it begins, what the stage is like and how the fans will be able to experience the band in a new way.

I think this advertisement is very effective. The way the stage lights up the poster makes you want to be there and be part of the audience, like being in that red glowing light unites the U2 fans.

The second advert I am going to look at is one that was published in magazines when the U2 iPod was launched:

Apple typically advertise their products in this way, with the silhoette of a person over a brightly coloured background. Here, Bono is positioned in the centre of the image, singing into a microphone, over a purple background.

To the left of the image is the text, advertising Vertigo on iTunes. The simple, white font used links to the simplicity of the image and the colour matches that of the microphone wire.

I think that these adverts are very effective and attractive because of their bright colours and the figures used stand out very well over these backgrounds.

CD Covers - Research

For my first subsidiary task, I will be creating a CD cover. To do this, I will first look at some already existing CD covers to help me with designing my own. I will also need to create a corporate identity for the band, a name that relates to the music and sound of the band in some way. However, I can still use the name of the song, Magnificent.

The first CD cover I am going to look at is U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind album cover. This was the 10th studio album to be released by the band, by Island Records in 2000. The album sold over 12 million copies and won 7 Grammy Awards. Below is the cover of the album:


The cover features a black and white photo taken by Anton Corbijn in the Roissy Hall second floor of the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris. The band are positioned in the centre of the image so that we as the audience focus mainly on them. Each member of the band is carrying luggage (the Edge typically has a guitar case at his feet) and it seems that Bono is checking his passport. The title of the album is positioned above the band members in a plain text, with each letter capitalised.

On the left, there is a sign that reads "J33-3→". Bono added this at the last minute, as a subtle religious message, refering to the verse Jeremiah 33:3 in the Bible; "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." This same religious message can also be found in the lyrics of Unknown Caller from No Line On The Horizon; "3:33 when the numbers fell off the clock face."

The airport used for the album photo is also the location used for parts of the video for Beautiful Day, which is one of the songs from the album. This links the album cover to the music, which I am going to do for mine. I will take photos at the location when filming my video and use one for my CD cover.

The second cover I am going to look at is from U2's 12th studio album No Line On The Horizon, released in 2009. Below is an image of the cover:

The majority of U2's album covers feature images of the band members, however this one does not and nor does it even have the band's name or album title written on it. This is because in the deal made between U2 and the Japanese photographer, Hiroshi Sugimoto, a condition was made that U2 could not place any text over the image. In return, Sugimoto would be able to use the song No Line On The Horizon, the first track on the album, in his future work. Bono was inspired by the photograph to write this song.

The photograph features the Lake Constance, and is 1 of 200 images in the photographers Seascapes collection. The equals sign that appears over the image was not placed upon the image itself, but instead on the plastic sleeve which the album comes in.

I like this cover, and I think it suits the album very well. I think for mine I will use an image of the location for the cover, and maybe have the performer either on the back cover or the inside of the CD.

My Plan

To make sure I get all my work done by the deadline date, the 26th March 2010, I am going to devise a plan with dates by which I hope to complete certain tasks:

• The filming - I am planning to get all of my filming completed over half term, meaning I have from the 13th to the 22nd of February to do this.
• The editing - I will start this in the first week back after half term. I am unsure how long this stage will take, but I will allow myself at least 2 weeks for it. Therefore, it will hopefully be complete by the week commencing the 8th March.
• The subsidiary texts - I will begin planning and research for these today and maybe try to be working on these alongside the filming of the video over half term. After the research has been completed I will start work on the products straight away, hopefully getting both sorted within a week.

If all of this goes to plan, I will have a week left before the deadline to make any adjustments or improvements to my work, and to also write the conclusion.