WEATHER FORECAST FOR SATURDAY 1ST FEBRUARY

 

I checked the weather forecast to make sure the weather is going to be ideal to take photographs in on Saturday afternoon. I finish work at 1pm and I am in walking distance of the areas I plan to visit so therefore the weather change at 5pm will not affect my plans to shoot.

ANCILLARY TEXTS LOCATIONS

 

 

 

Here are some possible locations as to where I could shoot some photos for my ancillary texts. I plan to take photographs on Saturday afternoon in Hull's old town near the marina and underneath Analby Road fly over as these have quite a artistic feel to it due to the graffiti and old buildings.

BREEZEBLOCKS - ALT J ART

This is the album art of Alt J's Breezeblocks. In relation to the video it has no links and goes against the conventions of the indie rock/ alternative genre as the band appear on the front. However, this could just be that they are advertising the single and it is not their album cover. From analysing this I have decided that I want my album cover to be related in some way to the music video so all three of my media products have continuity and are recognisable to its audience as being part of the same product. This will help with advertising. I think this image is really creative in the way the black and white is brought into the image in the triangle. This looks really creative and I will consider using this idea for my own products.

REFRESHING SIMPLE PHOTOSHOP SKILLS

I havnt used photoshop since creating my As foundation portfolio so to refresh my skills I decided to take an image of the male cast member and practise a few skills I may need when creating my anciallary texts.

Changing Brightness

Altering the Colour Balance

Clone Tool

 

Changing the Hue and Saturation

Changing the image to Black and White

 

Altering the Shadows and Highlights





Layering images

 

AN AWESOME WAVE, ALT J DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

An Awesome Wave by At J has an abstract image that makes it stand out on a shelf amongst other digipaks. The abstract image allows the audience to make their own assumptions as to why there is an abstract image on the front and also creates recognition once they have identified with the album. Similar to AM, An Awesome Wave does not feature the bands name on the front cover  which intrigues a wider audience to look at the album, this seems to be a convention of albums from the indie rock genre. The minimalistic idea is also a convention of the indie rock/ alternative genre and is used on this album. As the band have also chosen not to have themselves on the front of the album this also reflects the genre that they belong to as they may feel they want the audience to focus upon and buy the album simply for the music not for who the band are. The back of the album has the track names in bold and the colour scheme is also brought into the text. The back of the album has a barcode which is also conventional of any album, along with the record company logo and information on any co producers. I like the look of the back of the album with the large track names, in order, as I feel it steers away from the typical track names being lined up down the side to the left of the back cover, this is a feature I will consider using on my own digipak. The text is bold and is in a simple font which makes it easily readable to its audience and makes it the main focal point.

 

 

The Cd for An Awesome Wave is also very minimalistic and follows on from the back cover with the same colour scheme. The track list follows the edge of the Cd which also reinforces the track list to the audience. Some tracks, however, seem to be more visible than others which reduces the quality of the Cd. 

HOLY FIRE - FOALS DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

Foals - Holy Fire digipak follows the conventions of a pre existing digipak and has several traits that make it identifiable to the indie rock genre. The band name features on the front cover in a simple sans serif font, so the audience can identify who the album belongs too, the title of the album is also on the front cover. The main image takes up the front cover with the title being bold and recognisable in the corner, in contrast with the image the title stands out. The main image may be linked to the name of the band as it features the silhouettes of people riding horses through the sea. The silhouettes featured link it to the indie rock genre as they are a code used in indie rock music videos. The main image is also dark with a mixture of blues, greens, greys and light browns being visible, this reflects the ideology of indie rock. Following conventions of the indie rock genre, the band have chosen not to have a main image of themselves on the front cover, the band may have done this to make the album more about the music than the actual members of the band. The text on the back cover and the spine of the album is the same as the text used on the front cover, this creates continuity between the digipak and also makes it easy to read. The text is white which makes it stand out in contrast to the plain black background, this keeps the digipak minimalistic, this is also a convention of indie rock. As the track list is the largest text on the back cover and is positioned in the centre of the cover, the text becomes the main focal point to the audience. The album pack has all the conventions it should have on it, them being the main image, the title, the track list, the spine, the artists web address, the barcode, the format of the disk, the record label and any copyright information.

The disk to the album also features the white on black contrast to make the text easy to read and draw the audiences attention. Unlike the other digipaks I have analysed the disk has the track list also featured on the disk which I think is a good idea. The disk itself has all the elements of the back cover featured on the disk which reinforces all of the information the audience need to be aware of, the band name and title is also featured on the disk, this brings together the whole digipak and gives it continuity. 



 

AM ALBUM COVER RESEARCH FOR DIGIPAK

 

This is the album cover for Arctic Monkeys new album 'AM'. Unlike other artists they have chosen not to put their band name on the front cover of the digipak and in fact their band name on appears once on the inside of the didgipak in small writing. This image is an AM wave and is very effective in the sense that this abstract image, stands out from a far. The full didgipak is in black and white, along with the same image from the front of the didgipak on the CD itself. Unlike other digipaks, the album is cardboard with a slot for the CD to be placed in at the side, this is very unique and unusual and makes the digipak more interesting. Like all digipaks there is the track numbers and names on the back along withe their labels logo, information on production and a bar code. These are all features that I need to include on my digipak. Inside has a picture of the band, again in black and white dressed in clothing they would no0t normally be associated with, this connotes a new era for the arctic monkeys or could connote a sense of rebellion. This digipak also has a book of the song lyrics slotted int he opposite side to the CD, this is generally a convention of a digipak. From analysing this digipak I have found that abstract images make a statement along withe being interesting. Colour choices are very important as even though black and white seems a little dull, the contrast of the white against the black is very effective.

ALBUM CONVENTIONS ANALYSIS