Ancillary Task - Magazine Advertisement

Another ancillary task was to create a magazine advertisement which I also chose to do. For this I used an image I had taken for my video and edited it so it was suitable to be advertised in a magazine. First I put the image in black and white and also put a paint strokes filter over it, this is very similar to the digipak album I created as I wanted all of my ancillary tasks to look consistent. I chose to put these effects on as it made Teagan look chilling and creepy as she is in parts of the video and on the album cover. The magazine image is very similar to the front cover of the album, this again is so that the bands promotions look consistent and the audience knows from the image that its that particular band. I then added on the text of the band and album names, using the fonts from dafonts.com. This again was so that all of my ancillary tasks and the bands merchandise was consistent throughout. Further on I added on two reviews which I got off metacritic.com, one from Q magazine and the other from musicOMH.com. I thought that putting reviews on my magazine advertisement would be very effective for the reader as they can see what professionals thought of the album, something that might make the want to buy it more. Finally I added on my ancillary website URL that I made, the reason for this was to mazimise the potential audience that would see the promotion, visit the website and then buy the album.

Ancillary Task - Final Digipak

As I did each part of my album separate, I was excited to see what they all looked like together. I knew what I had in mind and that it would be the way I wanted it to look but putting it all together makes me pleased with what the final outcome is. 

As you can see I have put the front, back and middle together to create my album. I have also  decided to print them off and insert them into a physical CD case to see what it would look like on the shelves. 

Middle of Album Cover

Middle Cover

I chose to use three images that I had taken for my video for the inside of my album, this was so that there was a link between my video and my album all together. I chose these certain images because they were disturbing but catchy and looked sinister which is what I wanted to portray through Teagan again. Again you can see that i have edited all three images and put them in black and white, this is so that they all look similar to each other and the rest of the album cover. I decided instead of using one image I would change it up and use three different ones that look the same. This is so that the audience can see multiple pictures and not just one on every different page. 

I edited the images in Microsoft Word by changing them to black and white and then adding a chalk sketch filter over it, this made them look more shadowed and dark as well as sketchy.  I also changed the dimensions of the images so that it would be the same as an album cover and cropped them all so that Teagan would be in different positions in each image. I then put all three in a column together and grouped them so that they would be one picture. I decided not to put any text on the middle cover as I thought it wasn't necessary, to me, the pictures say enough.

Back of Album Cover

Back Cover

For the back cover I chose an image that I had taken for my music video, again because it would link between my video and the album. I chose this because it looked chilling and creepy, referring to the twins in the shining. Although this was going to be the back cover I still wanted to make it eye catching so that the audience will remember it. If the front cover catches their eye they will probably pick it up and turn it over to look at the back, therefore I wanted an edgy image that will stay with them. I have edited the image as you can see and put text onto it. I chose an image which has a lot of free space around it, a perfect canvas for more text than the front cover i.e. the song list and artists name. 

I edited the image in Microsoft Word again as this is an easy way to do it, however the latest version has lots of effects on it. I changed the image to black and white to match the rest of my digipak and added a paint strokes filter over it, this made it look blurred and creepy just as I wanted it to. I then added the text of the artists name and the thirteen different song names, again I used the same unique fonts from dafonts.com and the same font size, this was so that my digipak would all look the same and would be consistent throughout. I changed the dimensions of the image, again so that it would be the same as an album.

Front of Album Cover

Front Cover

I chose to use an image that I had taken for my video as my album cover, this was so that there was a link between my video and the front cover of the album. When I was taking these photos, I originally hadn't planned for one of them to be my album cover, however I knew straight away after taking them that I wanted to use one of them as they were eye catching. I chose this certain image because it was edgy and looked sinister which is what I wanted to portray through Teagan. I also chose this image as it had a lot of free space around the edge, giving a great canvas for the text to sit on. As you can see I have edited the image and added text onto it by using effects and special fonts. I decided that I not only wanted my album cover to be in black and white but also the whole of the digipak. I thought this would look effective and catch the audiences eye when going to buy an album. It also looked better in black and white because it represents Teagan's evil side like in the video. 

I edited the image in Microsoft Word by changing it to black and white and then adding a film grain filter over it, this made it look more shadowed and dark as well as fuzzy. I then added the appropriate text of the band and album name and I thought it would be better to get some unique fonts off a website called dafonts.com. I chose 'Urban Jungle' for the bands name and 'Sacrificial' for the album name. I decided to choose these two fonts as they were edgy and bold, in particular I chose 'Sacrificial' for the words 'cough cough' as this font looks spilled and splattered as it would look if somebody coughed it up. I also changed the dimensions of the image so that it would be the same as an album cover.

Album Cover Research

For preparation of the ancillary tasks, I first chose to look at album covers to see what different styles there were so that I could get an idea of what my digipak could look like. A digipak is the packaging of a CD, this is what the fans see when going to buy the album, therefore it is important for the artist to make it attractive so that it catches the eye of the audience. Digipak's include the front cover, which the audience most likely will see first, the back cover which often has the list of the song names on it and the middle when it is opened. The middle of a digipak can vary with different artists, some may be plain and just contain the actual CD itself, others may extend out to reveal images or text and others may include a booklet with either images or even sometimes the lyrics to the songs on that specific album.

Most famous pop artists have their own face on the cover of their album as this is simple, cheap and the audience will know the artist just by looking at the cover. For example some that I found on the internet are Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Tinie Tempah and David Guetta, as you can see it is both male and female artists that establish their face on their album covers. 

However the band that I have chosen aren't extremely famous and they are not in the pop genre. Although Everything Everything's latest album cover has their four faces on I am not going to follow that path as I want to change it up a little. Instead I am going to use an image from my music video, possibly of Teagan to go on the front cover. This makes mine different as it is not the artist being shown but that it has a reference to the music video that I have made.

Location

The main location that I used throughout my music video was Cannock Chase, this was because i thought it was a great open landscape that suited my idea well. I wanted a vast wooded area where there were no houses or people to be seen as I just wanted my sister Teagan to be alone in the video. This would create the creepy effect of a young girl alone in the woods that i wanted to achieve. During the time of filming it started snowing, this could of been a real problem due to continuity, as the snow would be in certain shots and then melted away in others. However as the snow kept on falling I decided to shoot some of my video on the chase in the snow. I thought this would put a nice effect of scary snowy images of the woodland in my music video. 

For the other location I filmed in a child's bedroom and the upstairs landing at my nans house. I chose to film here as I wanted a long narrow landing for Teagan to walk up, so that it could look similar to 'The Shining'. I wanted a contrast of her looking young and innocent in the pink child's bedroom and then looking more evil and sinister down the narrow landing as it is in 'The Shining'. I also liked the lighting at my nans house as it was soft in the bedroom which matches the sweet young girl and then bold spotlights shining down onto the girl as she turns more evil.

The final location that I used was my back garden at home and the little woods that run behind it. I chose to film here because it was a bit different to the other locations and it would let the viewer see a different piece of scenery. I didn't originally plan to film here but when I started to edit my video I realised I hadn't got enough footage to last the whole length of the song. On the other hand this was a close by and handy location that worked well and suited my theme for my music video.