Inside Cover Pages

Today I have also designed a page which will be on the inside of the CD case:


This is the same image as I used for my advertisement, however I have cropped it and added some different effects. Firstly, I added different brush stroke effects and then I added the pieces of text which are lyrics taken from the chorus of the song. I then added the lighting effect which illuminates the text as well as the figure in the centre of the image.

The font I used was not the same as the font used for the band name and song title on the front and back covers, for precisely this reason. This font was to be associated with the band. However, for these lyrics I used a different style of writing but I tried to choose one which was quite similar to the band text so that there wouldn't be too much of a difference between them.

I think this looks effective and fits in well with the front and back cover of the CD as well as my other products. I like the black and white colour scheme of my CD cover pages and the advertisement. I think it makes them look quite professional and they all work well together.

CD Cover Design

I have designed the front and back cover for my CD using Adobe Photoshop CS3. This is my first front cover design:

I have edited one of the photos taken at my filming location. I added similar effects to the image as I did with the advertisement. This is so that the products are linked and can be easily identified as being for the same thing. I think that the image looks good as my front cover image and I think the effects worked well and I am quite pleased with the way it looks.

I added the band name and song title in the centre of the image in a white text that stands out well over the blackness of the trees. I have used the same font as on the advertisement so that the products are linked in this way too.

Originally I had placed the record label on the front cover too, but looking at some of my own CD's, I found that the record label is commonly found on the back cover rather than the front so I made this alteration.

Below is my first design for the back cover of my CD:

I am very happy with the back cover of my CD as I think it looks very effective and it also links in with the rest of my work. I added a few different effects to this image to give it some variation to the front cover.

I kept the font for the band name and song the same and positioned in the centre of the image. I used the same sized font for these this time, because it is not so important to have the band name in a larger font on the back cover as the customer would already know from looking at the front who the band are.

I added the track listings in the top right corner in a bold, black font which is easily readable over the white of the sky in the background. I used this same font for the information at the bottom of the cover which gives credit to the producer of the CD and the record company. I have also placed a copyright warning underneath this which warns the customer that copying the disc is illegal. All of this text is conventional of the back of a CD.

I also positioned the record label and a barcode in the bottom right corner, which are also conventional of these products. From looking at some of my own CD's at home I found that the barcode is commonly found in this position although it doesn't really matter where on the back of the cover it is as long as it is there somewhere.

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.