Magazine Advert Ideas

In continuing my theme of split screens and wanting to create a brand identity, I will use a similar layout for the magazine advert to my album cover. However, I will possibly be using a different picture in order to not make them look too similar. I will also be adding additional information in the magazine advert, such as three panels for tour dates, singles featured on the album or for where people can download/buy the album and a panel that will say the albums release date. This is my flatplan for the magazine advert:

I will be using the same house colours and typography for all of my promotional materials in order to create a distinct brand identity that will be recognisable to fans and potential buyers.

Another idea I have thought about is still splitting the advert into two sides like the split screen I will be using in my music video, but instead making the left half of the page a picture of the character lip synching in my video and then the right side having all the information including tour dates, album release date, featuring singles, etc.

Digipak Cover Ideas

After discovering I would be able to use my idea for 'Heartbreak Beautiful' I started thinking of ideas for my digipak cover. As I have previously said, I will continue using the theme of split screens throughout my promotional material. Here is a flatplan of the cover, annotated with
some of my ideas so far:

I would like to use the album name Heartbreak Beautiful, as it is the same name as the song I will be using to make my music video. Through research I have found that the majority of the time an album will be named after a track from said album, such as Paramore's 'Brand New Eyes'. As this song will act as the first single off of the album, it makes sense to make this the album name. This also makes me more able to create a brand identity for Snakes Hate Fire, as I can tie in things from the music video with the album, such as the split screen and different outcomes from the same situation. After searching to see if any other bands have made similar album covers, I have found no other albums that use a split photo effect like I want to for my album cover, making it unique and creative. However I did find that Christina Aguilera achieved a similar effect with her album 'Bionic' and this will help aid me when editing my own:

An idea that I came up with was to make multiple different album covers for the album, portraying the music video of multiple situations with different outcomes. However, I am aware that this will take a lot of extra work which I may not be able to do in the limited time we have to produce our promotional products. I was inspired by the band 30 Seconds To Mars for this idea, as for their 'This Is War' album they allowed fans to pick 2,000 different covers for the album. They asked fans to send them pictures of themselves or people they admired, or images they loved and the 2,000 best ones were chosen. Here are a few:

30 Seconds To Mars Album Covers

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I feel like this is a very creative and unique idea, and would like to be able to do something similar with my album cover if possible. However, if not I also like the idea of face filling the whole of the frame, and this is also something I would like to achieve.

Problems I Have Encountered And Overcome

In order to film my music video for 'Heartbreak Beautiful' I had to be sure that I was able to use split screen at the editing stage, otherwise the idea would not work and footage would be useless. After finding out from my teachers that there was no way to use split screen on our editing software (iMovie) I tried to resolve this problem by seeing if I could use functions such as 'picture in picture'. However, this proves unsuccessful as without being able to resize the original video I could not get two videos to run alongside each other simultaneously. I tried filming the original video portrait instead of landscape so that it would not need to be resized, but again this did not work as the video was unable to be rotated so it was the right way up. The only other option I could think of to salvage this idea was to try and acquire another kind of editing software such as Final Cut Pro which has a split screen function, however this was something I was unable to do as it is very expensive and would also be a steep learning curve for me in the limited time I have.

After speaking to my teachers about this problem they suggested I either come up with another idea for the song which does not involve split screen or use my idea for 'Innocent'. Whilst trying to think of ideas for 'Heartbreak Beautiful' this is what I came up with:

• Playing one video after the other instead of using split screen, however this may confuse the audience.
• Showing the character have a dream life where everything goes right, with the final scene showing that actually her life is the complete opposite (such as her dream life if her living in a nice house with a car and a job, when in reality she is living on the streets).

Although these ideas would both work, I was still very set on my original idea and further investigated a way around my problem. I received and email from Apple which informed me that a new version of iLife had just come out, which included the new iMovie 11. I inquired as to whether this new software update allowed people to do split screen:

As I already have iMovie 09 I would be able to upgrade to iMovie 11, giving me a way around my problem and allowing me to do my original idea - meaning I will be able to plan my shooting schedule and start filming as soon as possible.

Brand Indentity in Similar Products

I will be researching how bands similar to my chosen band (Snakes Hate Fire) market themselves and create a brand identity.

Paramore

(Paramore)


(Snakes Hate Fire)

A band similar to that of Snakes Hate Fire in regards to genre and style is Paramore. Much like Paramore, Snakes Hate Fire are a pop-rock band formed of 4 male members and 1 female member. I have analysed 3 different forms of promotion by Paramore - their album cover, website and a magazine advertisement for their album, in order to see how they have created a brand identity across all these promotional products.

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Paramore Promotional Material

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I was unable to find a magazine advert for their album, however I found a magazine advert for the first single off of their new album 'Ignorance'.

Typeface

The typeface for the album cover and the magazine advert are both the same, but in different colours. The band name is in the same font (Helvetica Neue Thin) and the track/album title is in the same font (Edwardian Script ITC). This allows an audience to link the magazine advert for the single with the album. Both of the titles of the magazine advertisement and the album cover seem to be set in the corners, however the band name seems to be larger than anything else, which seems to suggest that people will be more likely to recognise the band name than the album or single title. This is also done as the images used on both sets of promotional material is not a picture of the band, but a random image, therefore the band name needs to be more eye catching for potential buyers.

However, when looking at the bands website I find the typeface is completely different to that of the album cover and the magazine advert, which is unusual when trying to create a brand identity. This 'typewriter-esque' font is found on no other forms of promotion, even when further inspecting the back cover of the album:

The typeface on the website does however tie in with the colour scheme of the website, and does not look out of place. The font is in capitals which makes it eye catching and has a sort of old fashioned look, which goes with the neutral colourisation of the album and website. This font is also a masculine looking font, which contrasts with the rather feminine colours used. On the other hand, using a masculine font would make sense as the band is male dominated. However, they have a female singer and the majority of their fanbase are female, and I feel like this is why they have tried to mix both femininity and masculinity.

House Colours

The album cover and the bands website use similar house colours in order to create a brand identity. They both share a cream/off-white neutral background, which may give the image of a calmer more mellow album. However, fans of the band know that their music is pop-rock and know that it is not calm sounding and therefore juxtaposes with the bands sound.

The magazine advert in contrast has a black and white theme and does not have any of the house colours seen in previous promotional material. Upon further research I found that this is because the image used in the magazine advert is actually the same image used for the single cover. Although the black and white is different to the soft creams and browns used as the house colours in other promotional material, they are still neutral colours and do not directly contrast with the album cover or website, going along with the natural colours theme.

Star Image Motifs and Style Features

Paramore have always used the same lower case Helvetica Neue Thin font for their band name on all promotional material, making it instantly recognisable to audiences. They do not use any symbols or recognisable images, however the band is recognised by the lead singer Hayley Wiliams' trademark bright red hair, which is oftern incorporated into promotional material such as using a bright orange font for the title of their last album 'Riot!'. Among the promotional material I am analysing here, the band have chosen to use a bright yellow butterfly with its wings detached not only on their album cover but on their website home page as well. The bright colour of the butterfly's wings contrasts with the cream/off-white background and makes it stand out, catching potential buyer's eyes. This seems to be a theme for the new album and acts as a recognisable image for the band as it would stay in your mind if you saw it in a magazine. Paramore have said that this image of a butterfly divided from its wings inspired the line "The angles were all wrong, now she's ripping wings off of butterflies" from their song 'Brick by Boring Brick' on the album.

Selling Music Using Artists Image?

The band have never used images of themselves for covers of their album, which is also shown in the album I am analysing today. They use the image of a butterfly with its wings detached throughout the promotional material, showing that they are trying to sell their music not their image. On their website the only images you see of the band are pictures from tour or stills from videos, not used as promotion. On the magazine advert and image of two ornaments on a curb is used instead of an image of the band themselves, this also shows that the band are well known and do not need images of themselves on the cover of their promotional material in order for it to sell, as the peaked at number 1 on the official UK Rock charts.

No Doubt

(No Doubt)



(Snakes Hate Fire)

Another band similar to Snakes Hate Fire in terms of style and genre are No Doubt. Although No Doubt were around long before Snakes Hate Fire, they share some similarities of sound and the way they look as a band, such as No Doubt have 3 male members and 1 female lead singer, similar to that of SHF.

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No Doubt Promotion Material

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As I could not get an image of the website from when their last album was released I will compare the album cover and the magazine advert to their modern website.

Typography

The typography used on both the album cover and magazine advert is the same as they are both exactly the same image. The 'Old English' font gives the album cover and magazine advert a royal look, which ties in with the idea that this is a greatest hits album and they have come to the top of their career. Using the same font on both pieces of media helps create a brand identity as it is a unique font that potential buyers and fans will associate with the band and album. The black and white colour of the typography ties in with the black and white theme of all of their promotional material, also creating a brand identity. However, as the website is more modern it uses different typography, as No Doubt have recently reformed. The typography used on their website interestingly is the same as the typography used on the red sticker on the album, which shows that even thought the band have reformed they are still trying to link their new image with their old one to keep their audience attracted.

House Colours

There seems to be a theme of black, white and red across all of the promotional materials that I am analysing. Through research I have found that No Doubt have had these three colours incorporated into other albums of theirs as well, and as I am analysing their modern website I can see that this has transferred into modern day. The 2 main house colours are black and white, as seen on their album cover and magazine advert. This allows them to stand out from other artists, as they will usually use colourful images of bright, eye-catching colours to make people notice their material. No Doubt offers a different style for people to opt for. Red is used as an accent colour, as seen from the sticker on the album cover. This stands out on the black and white background and catches a potential buyers eye. This has also been used in other albums of theirs, such as 'Rock Steady':

These house colours create a clear brand identity for the band, and if someone sees a magazine advert or album cover with these colours they will more than likely link it with No Doubt. We also see a use of these house colours on the bands website, with black and white being the main theme with accent colours of red in random links and text, showing that they are still using this to keep up their brand identity today.

Star Image Motifs and Style Features

Much like Paramore, No Doubt do not seem to use any reoccurring icons or images in order to create a brand identity. However, they do seem to use pictures of themselves in all of the promotional material I have been analysing. This seems to show that the band are most recognisable by their image, in which lead singer Gwen Stefani shown up front standing out as the female lead singer in a male dominated band. Also, in most pictures I have seen in No Doubts promotional material, one of the male members of the band is either always looking at Gwen or looking away from the camera whilst the other members use direct address. This is interesting as in most band pictures either all band members would be looking at the camera or looking away from the camera, and this is another thing that makes No Doubt stand out and be different.

Selling music using artists image?

As I have noted previously, No Doubt tend to use pictures of themselves on most of their promotional material and especially in the material that I have been analysing. However, as this is a greatest hits album it would make sense to have the band on the front because it allows fans both old and new to recognise that they have bought out a singles compilation. On the other hand, this gives the impression that No Doubt are trying to promote their music through their image as if it would not be as successful if they were just selling it without their image, as if they are not well known enough.

How will I attempt to create a brand identity for my artist?

If I were to use 'Heartbreak Beautiful' I would use a theme or star image motif of split screens. This is because this will be a prominent part of my music video, and I want to continue that by making the album cover split into two images, and also use this as part of a magazine advert. I also aim to maintain the same typography throughout my promotional materials, as I have seen this has been successful for Paramore. As the band have split up I will be unable to take shots photos of them for any promotional material, so I will be using either images of my character from the video or images that could be linked with the different situations of the video. As the album would be called 'Heartbreak Beautiful' I would want to have one side of the album as a sad image for 'Heartbreak' and the other side of the album cover as a happy image for 'Beautiful'. I feel like this is an inventive idea as through my own research I have yet to find an album cover or any promotional material that uses split screens quite like this.

If I were to use 'Innocent' I would make my theme or star image motif close-ups or medium close-ups of my character from the music video, using light house colours to promote the connotations of 'Innocent'. I feel like the music video would be very character orientated, fixed on the idea of the girl getting over her boyfriend and therefore I would want her to be heavily featured in the promotion. The last shot of the music video would be the girl walking away from the camera, linking arms with her friends and looking back as she says the line "Cos I'm all I need". This may be a good image to use for the front cover of my album as I have yet to see anything like this for other album covers. The girl would be using direct address looking straight into the camera to connect with the potential buyers which makes it eye catching, this is a technique I have seen No Doubt do with their promotional material. The fact that it would just be the main girl character turning her head round to look at the camera with the rest of her friends looking the other way is also similar to No Doubt's use of direct and indirect address. Much like 'Heartbreak Beautiful' I would also aim to use the same typography throughout the promotional material in order to create a brand identity.

Target Audience

With both of my ideas I will be targeting an audience of teenagers to young adults (approx. 15-21 year olds). I feel this age group are the most likely to enjoy a pop/rock band such as Snakes Hate Fire and I will also try and attract this age range by using teenagers in the video itself.

Although I feel my video could appeal to both genders, I feel the 'Innocent' video would appeal to women more as it will be based around a girl who is getting over her ex boyfriend. The 'Heartbreak Beautiful' video may be more relatable to both males and females, as most people have felt that they have missed out on opportunities in their life or wish things had turned out differently. However as I will be using a female character this may appeal to women more, unless I intend to use voyeurism. My target audience will also be students as the age range I am trying to appeal to would either still be in school, have just left school or will be in university.

Draft Storyboard and Possible Scenes

Before drawing out a storyboard I came up with a list of situations for Heartbreak Beautiful that I might be able to include:

Valentines day - Expectations: card from a secret admirer and flowers. Reality: bar of chocolate and a card from mum.
Facebook - Expectations: changes relationship status to 'In a Relationship'. Reality: changes relationship status to 'Single'.
Pub - Expectations: a guy approaches her and buys her a drink. Reality: The guy walks up next to her, gets his drink and walks away.
Town - Expectations: girl is sitting on a bench in town waiting for her boyfriend, he turns up and they walk away hand in hand. Reality: the girl sits there on her own eating her lunch whilst the boy walks up and meets another girl who is sitting on the other side of the bench. The girl watches them walk away hand in hand.
Smoking - Expectations: girl is offered a cigarette, refuses and walks away from the situation. Reality: the girl accepts the cigarette and we fast forward in time to see her looking dramatically older with yellowing teeth due to her addiction.
Engagement - Expectations: girl's boyfriend gets down on one knee and opens a small jewelry box to reveal an engagement ring. Reality: girl's boyfriend gives her a small jewelry boy revealing a bracelet.
University - Expectations: the girl comes downstairs and opens a letter excitedly, thinking its from her favourite university. The letter says she has been accepted onto her course. Reality: the letter says she has been rejected from her course.
School - Expectations: the girl is sitting in a class room surrounded by friends, laughing and joking. Reality: she is sitting isolated reading a book whilst the other girls are sitting in their own groups around her, possibly making fun of her.

I will attempt to film most of these situations even though I wont need all of them just because I think it would be better to film more than I need than to film too little. Then I will have a variety of footage to choose from. My draft will include the University, Facebook and School scenes but these may be replaced by other scenes.

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These are my draft storyboards. At the moment they are just a rough plan, as I am still not sure on what song I will be using, however I feel it is essential that I plan for both. My finalised story board will be in much more detail, with more indepth planning such as more shots, more precise timing and a better idea of lighting arrangements.

Draft Storyboard for Innocent

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Draft Storyboard for Heartbreak Beautiful

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It may be hard to see some of the comments I have made next to the drawings, so I will also include the original images here:

Innocent:

Heartbreak Beautiful:

Pictures of Locations

I have been able to take a few pictures of my ideas for locations. I found a large field/park area which could be used for both videos. The field could be used for 'Heartbreak Beautiful' during the lip synching shots. The park could be used as a location for the character to walk through during the walking shots in 'Innocent'.

There is a walking track through the park which I could use to film the journey shots for 'Innocent', as well as an obstacle course which I could also use for some interesting shots. The field in the 3rd picture would be perfect for 'Heartbreak Beautiful' as it looks very tranquil, and shots of the light coming through the trees would really go with the tone of the song and video. The only problem I may face is people in the park or field that could interrupt continuity and would disturb my vision for the character to be alone in the field.

However, if there are traveling issues I may use a local field called Pinehill Field to film in, which has basically the same field layout with trees, but doesn't have a playground.

I have also been able to get in touch with some people from the University of Bedfordshire, who have allowed me to use their student union for filming. This location would also be good for both videos as it could be used for one of the scenarios in 'Heartbreak Beautiful', such as approaching a guy at a bar and not approaching a guy at a bar. In 'Innocent' this location would be used to film the scene where the character meets a new guy, or for when the character is hanging out with her friends.

However, I have recently been informed that the student union is being demolished as a new one is being made around the corner, therefore I won't be able to film there. After talking to the people at the student union again though, they have said that I can film in the new one when it opens at the beginning of October.

UPDATE

I have been informed that I will be unable to use the new student union due to privacy reasons, therefore I have had to come up with new situations to film. One of these is a situation where the girl is on Facebook, in her expectations she changes her relationship status to 'In a Relationship' however in reality she changes it to 'Single'. This is a good use of Goodwin's theory of the notion of looking through screens within screens. This will be shot in the office in my house:

There may be a problem with lighting and space, as there is only one small window and it is quite a small room, therefore I may have to use artificial light or change to a different room.

I have also taken some photos of the dining room where the University acceptance/rejection scene will take place:





Problems I found when taking these pictures are again space and lighting issues, especially from the angle of the first pic. Therefore upon filming I may need to use another angle, or use artificial lighting.