Creating my advert.

Stage 1.

I have chosen this image if my artist to be the basis of my advert. It shows my artist in a natural and playful way yet the mise-en-scene and lighting suggest a sombre tone which would be present within the music on the album. Additionally, the image is reflective of the music video I have created which was one characteristic of adverts that I picked up on in my reflective analysis. However the image does need to be edited as it doesn't stand out in the way that I would want it to.

Stage 2.

In this stage, I have edited my original image in such a way that it contains a red tinge with a grainy quality to it that again is reflective of my music video. The well-known phrase "looking through rose-tinted glasses" is applicable here as I wanted the image to reflect the nostalgic feel that is present within the music video. In addition, the red tinge make the image stand-out more than the original image which was one reason for editing in the first place.

Stage 3.

I started to add some text to my advert, found at http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=the+only+exception. The reason for this particular text was I felt that it reflected the artists style of music and personality. A curvy style of font suggests a sense of respectability and maturity that is seen within 'Alice's' music, yet it also presents a natural character (especially against the natural background). However by adding the text I am able to see that 'Alice' herself does not stand out from the image as the eye is drawn to the bolder text, therefore this is an aspect I am going to have to edit.

Stage 4.

As you can see from above, I have edited the image so that my artist now stands out against both the background and the bold text. Now the viewer's eye is drawn to 'Alice' herself instead of the surroundings. In addition, I have begun to add 'critics comments' with the stars that is a typical convention with adverts that promote albums and singles.

Stage 5.

In this next stage I have more 'critics comments' as well as moving around the text of 'Alice' and 'Numb' into slightly more appropriate places, however I am still not fully satisfied with their positioning. Additionally, I have included a date for release- an important piece of information for an advert that is promoting the album's release; as well as the logo of the record label Sony BMG and a website for the artist. Most of the information that is required of an advert is present which means that it now a case of rearranging for a better composition and making sure all of the elements stand-out against the background.

Stage 6.

I have moved around the elements of the advert so that they can be considered as more aesthetically pleasing. In order to avoid confusion, I moved the title of the album down so that the viewer would not consider the artists name to be Alice Numb. By moving around the 'critics' feedback (which now includes a quote; another convention of an advert promoting an album), I have been able to put the date in a better place, whilst changing some text to white not only makes a change on the page, but also makes the certain aspects stand out against the background. In addition, I have made the image a little bit lighter to make the advert successfully catch the eye of the reader, whilst also indicating at the artists character and genre of music.

The Facebook logo, Song BMG logo and an official website for 'Alice' are also included at the bottom of the advert- again more conventions of a real advert, therefore meaning that I have included them all.

A2 Media coursework- Final video

Working on the feedback on my rough cut, here is my final music video. I have included extra shots of 'Alice' performing the song whilst writing the lyrics. I decided to stick to the idea of 'Alice' sitting in her room rather than performing a private concert that was another suggestion as I believed it fully explored the concept of a down-to-earth artist to its greatest extent. Additionally, I was able to enhance the nostalgic feel to the video as it is clear that 'Alice' is thinking back to this relationship; another reason to take the relaxed concept of writing the lyrics.

Rough Cut of Music Video

Here is my rough cut for my music video. I have attempted to stick to my shot list in regards to the shots, however there are a few that due to various reasons had to change. The video is meant to have shots with the more 'home video' elements to them. In order to do this I used the following effects:

- Fast Colour Corrector to create a reddish tinge that creates the nostalgic feeling throughout the video.
- Dust and Scratches in order to provide a grainier/ blurry effect to some of the shots.
- Roughen Edges so the video has a 'vintage' feel with a specific border around the shot.

From various feedback on my rough cut, it would seem that I need to provide more 'performance' shots to fully allow the creation of the star motif within the video. My ideas for this are focused around the concept of my artist writing the song and thinking back to this happier time. Not only does this idea provide much more 'performance', it also enhances the idea of nostalgia as 'Alice' is remembering the past.

Audience Profile

I have created a mood board in order to convey the audience that my artist of 'Alice' would most likely appeal to. The mood board gives the impression that fan's of 'Alice' are females of the same age group as the artist and also convey the same sort of style that my artist- well dressed but still casual and a down-to-earth sense of reality. Additionally, these young women would be fan's of festivals and would be able to hear 'Alice' live at these events. They would have an interest in boys, yet they would be boys of the same style as them and so chances are very high of them also being fan's of Alice.

As I have re-used my artist from my AS coursework of a music magazine (http://hannahgordonsmediaas.blogspot.com/) some of the ideas behind the audience are the same, however as the artist has grown older, so have the fans and so it is fair to suggest that interests have changed slightly to reflect an older fan. I have included my mood board from my AS year to show both the similarities and the changes to 'Alice's' fan base.



From my original mood board, the concept of the audience's appreciation and enjoyment of Pop music is still relevant, however at the time of making this mood board, my artist was new on the music scene and so was catering to a broader audience in order to have the best chance of being successful in the music world. However, my artist is now established and has altered her perspective on music slightly and with it a slight alteration in audience. It also has to be remembered that this mood board was in relation to a music magazine and so reflected what would also be present in the magazine, rather than just the audience themselves.

Shot list

In order to fully comprehend whether my music video idea will work and portray the right emotion that I wish to get across to the audience, I have created a shot list in the form of an animatic. In doing so, I can easily see my video in the formation of hand-draw images; the length of shots and whether my initial idea is workable.

By creating my shot list in this format, it would seem that my idea for the music video is workable being a simple concept presented through varying shots of both people and objects. I feel that if I am able to recreate this animatic successful in the form of moving images, then my video will fully convey the emotion behind the song whilst also presenting the artist of Alice in the correct light.

I have followed Andrew Goodwin's music video theory and so the shot list (and eventually the video itself) contains elements of the link between lyric and music to visual, a substantial amount of close-ups as well as the presence of a star persona, a sense of the voyeuristic element, an indication to the genre of the song as well as a sense of intertextual references. All of these elements mean that my overall video will have followed the codes and conventions of a music video of this genre and so making it more successful as coursework.

Copyright issues.

As the song I wish to use is held by Warner Bros Records (as this was the label they were with when the record was released), I need to ask permission from them to use the song in order to avoid having any future problems due to copyright. The only way to contact this major record label is to write them a letter which I have print screened below:






This will then be sent to the following address:

75 Rockefeller Plaza
New York,
NY 10019

Contact Sheet of potential images for album cover/ advert

To create my album cover and advert, I need to have a selection of original photography that is relevant to my artist's music and personality. I have taken images and put them into a contact sheet.