Group meetings

Group meetings are essential to carry out for a number of reasons. It allows our group to listen to other members suggestions, have proper organisation and also discuss changes that need to be made. Without having meetings, this would cause confusion, information would be lost and things may change in the production without the consent of another member, which may cause a rift. As a group, it also allows us to create mind maps to creatively picture out what we want in our video, allowing us to compare and discuss all ideas, this is important as others may not only disagree with your idea, but may have a better one than you and also your groups feedback on ideas can also determine whether an idea of yours works or not. Group meetings also allowed us to pass over vital information, for instance, Tyler emailing me and Charlie the email he sent to mercury records. The creation of our storyboards was also vital in planning our music video and could not have happened if all group members were not present to discuss and help with ideas, as we would become confused over the narrative and it would become messy and unorganised. Our strenghts were that when we realised that sometimes it wasn't possible for all members to attend meetings previously arranged, we set up a chat on an app called "Whatsapp" between the three of us, which allowed contact without having to meet face to face and ideas to be traded and also vital pictures to be sent over, such as storyboard images. All group members were active in this chat and very helpful and it definitely contributed towards our success.

Overall, I realised that when carrying out a group meeting, it helps with making group production efficient, it prevents distraction and allows things to run smoothly, however it is still important to try to be flexible and work around issues when it comes to meeting if anything does come up prior. 

I believe me and my group worked well as a team when it came to planning and following our timetables that we arranged with each other. The only instances where we did have some problems towards meeting the schedule was if a group members personal issues prevented being able to complete tasks on certain days such as family commitments for example, but me and my group did manage to work around these factors and in the end found ways of completing tasks set and working around obstacles that we faced, which mainly contained rearranging times, which we did perfectly, linking back to using whatsapp to do this also which really did help. 

If I was to go back and do group meetings again, the one thing I would change would be to discuss our music videos narrative in greater detail as a group together to avoid any more confusion, as this was a small problem we came across, and therefore to make further discussion time talking about the storyboard planning and making sure everyone was clear with the narrative.

Magazine advert

Individual Magazine Advert

Having a music advert is essential for a music artist in advertising a new album of theirs. It can also be used to advetise upcoming concerts. It is important as with no real advertising, not many people would know that an artist has a new album coming out and they want people to buy their album so that they make money, so for this to happen they must at least make people aware of it and advetising in a magazine is one way in which they can do so. Many people can see it and ask themselves more about the album and is the advert is appealing enough it will make the viewer want to go and buy the album. To create our own magazine adverts, we used photoshop CS6, an app with lots of editing tools which enables us to make our pictures and font attractive and also stand out in high quality. We came up with our ideas for our individual music adverts by researching genre conventions and what had previously been successful by indie artists, for example Ed Sheeran and also went to various locations to take photos and find the best which we felt personally represented our artist. 

In terms of colours, there arent that many in the picture besides the actual image, I used black and white font not only because it is conventional to the indie genre as many videos have been shot in black and white by indie artists, for example Hozier - Take me to church, but also it represents the artist, black to show his troubled emotion and dark feelings, further shown by the black clothes he is wearing and also white font, to show deep down he is an innocent person, which connects the audience with the artist as they feel sympathty for him, he is an innocent man going through dark times.

Many conventions of the genre are present in this advert, one being that the artist is holding and playing his guitar. The guitar is the main instrument of the indie genre and many artists of the genre are seen playing or holding it in their music videos, for example Ed Sheeran, Noel Gallagher and Bob Dylan. The artist is also wearing normal casual clothing, which many other indie artists do, they won't wear flashy clothes or jewellery to show off like a hip-hop artist would, they seem down to earth and wear any clothes that you might wear yourself. The artist is also in a rural location, playing his guitar and looking across a lake. Indie artists tend to prefer being here as it is true to them and where they come from, for example, Hozier - Take me to church is set around villages and a log fire. Indie artists are never seen playing in an extravagant location because they aren't known to brag, they want to fit in with their audience and act as if they are on their level and one of them and my artist does this by being in a forest, somewhere that many people live by and can freely walk to any time they wish. 

The image used is of the artist sat down playing his guitar looking across a lake. This has many connotations, one being that he is a troubled character (supported by the black typography and his clothing and loneliness) and that he wants to get away from everything and lakes are considered peaceful places, so he has decided to come here to be alone and do what he loves, play music. Here he is in his own company and can forget about all his problems and just sit and chill doing what he loves. Also, a person looking at lakes is meant to connote they are reflecting upon something, which shows that the songs of the album will mainly feature songs about the artists past and what is hurting him. The title "Rock Bottom" also links with the picture to show he has nothing left, not even a house to sit in (supported by our music video narrative) and that all he has is his guitar, his prize possession. Another image used in the advert which is not relevant to connotations is the music label that the album is being produced from, as this is vital information as it is included on all magazine adverts and shows who the artist is signed up with. 

The typography included is in black and white font, which is conventional to indie as many videos of the genre are shot in black and white. The artists name is in big and the letter "N" is used once but in two words, John and Spencer, going through a gap in the middle of both words to add a cool effect. It then shows the album title in big bold letters, which is important as the title is essential information as potential customers will want to know what exactly they might be buying. It is neatly organised in a vertical fashion down the page, then listing three songs that appear on the album, giving the audience a sneak peak of what they will hear when they buy it. This is important as if a popular song is featured in an advert, it may tempt potential customers to buy it as they know it is a well known song. Another piece of vital information given in typography is the release date and without providing it potential customers would be confused and not know when the album comes out. 

The language used features reviews from reputable sources. They are from Daily Maily, AllMusic and Rolling Stone, all well known critics who all give the album 5 stars and postive comments. The comments feature "Amazing", "Album of the year" and "Breathtaking". This is important to have, as potential customers will not only be drawn in to the fact that they album is rated so highly but also where these reviews come from, they are all well known sources who would have reviewed countless albums over many years, so fans will know for a fact if this album is receiving 5 stars from them, then it must be something worth buying and listening to.

I did find difficulties however when using photoshop. Images were hard to cut and I often ended up removing more of the image background than I wanted and had to undo my steps. I noticed that zooming in when using the cutting tool helped more and I was able to cut more accurately and avoid bulging and unrealistic edges on imported images. 

One strength I had when using photoshop was when implanting text on the advert, I found that I had a seemingly endless supply of fonts to choose from and many sizes could be chosen, so I was definitely not limited when it came to finding which type of font best suited my advert.

Ed Sheeran is an indie artist I have definitely taken inspiration from, he is the most successful indie artist in the world and relates to his audience by coming across as down to earth, I show this by being in a rural location and wearing casual clothing. He also is seen in his videos a lot with his guitar, just like our artist is in my music advert.

I believe that my advert conforms to many indie genre conventions, through iconography and setting and costume. I believe it appeals to our young target audience, as younger people like to feel free and we can see that the artist is free and has escaped from reality and is in his own company. Creating this magazine advert will help promote our artists album as it will raise more awareness around it and create more sales for the artist as it is getting more attention. It also comes as a sneak peak and potential customers seeing this will want to view more and know more about the artist.

Photo Shoot

Photo Shoot – Miss Miller

Pictures were taken in the making of our music videos for a number of reasons. It is essential for planning our digipak, a 6 sided piece which features a CD, Artwork, track list and a personal note from the artist. Many images will be used throughout and it is essential to use the highest quality and best fitting images we can get, which meant we had to take a lot of photos in different places to find the right fit. Photos were also needed because of our magazine advert, which is what attracts a potential customer to an album and signifys the album, it is usually also the front cover of the album. An album without photos will be pretty dull and lifeless and the audience would not be very attracted to it, hence why it is essential to go out and take these photos.

The Pictures that we took mainly consisted of me (the artist) with my guitar and it included me playing it leaning up against brick walls or looking over playing into a lake or sitting down by it. We felt this is necessary as this truly shows the rural environment, artists in the indie genre are proud of where they come from and don't need to show off by showing their viewers that they are in an extravagant location, instead this is plain and simple and also relatable, as the artist is in a place, a forest and a brick wall that you probably see or are at every day. The artist is always seen with his guitar, or if not, there is a shot of the guitar on its own. The guitar is the main instrument of the indie genre and having it in many photos shows that we have included conventions and also artists of the indie genre are always seen either carrying or playing their guitar in music videos or album covers, for example Ed Sheeran, Noel Gallagher and Liam Fray. Doing this also shows the audience what type of sounds you can expect to hear before buying the album. 

On some occasions, weather was a factor and we couldn't take any pictures in the rain, as this would worsen photo quality and also may cause damage to our camera or even ourselves, as mentioned in our risk assessments. Aside from that, we had relative ease taking these photos as the locations weren't hard to get to at all and the photos themselves did not take much effort, they were simple, but effective and conventional.

It shows the artist as a person who is troubled, he wears all black clothing and would always rather be alone and that him sitting by a lake looking over shows he could be reflecting about his past. He also is shown as someone who has a passion for music, he is seen in various locations with his guitar and always travels with it and it shows that this is his most valuable item and also his life.

As a group, we will use our taken photos to create our own individual magazine adverts and digipaks for our artist, to make it the most appealing and realistic as we can. We can compare ideas with each other and help with ideas as to what works best and also make sure that our images not only support indie conventions, but more important sell our artist to the audience as who he really is. The purpose of taking these photos in urban locations was because it is conventional to the indie genre, artists of this genre like to show the fans where they come from as it gives the fans a piece of them. It is also used to show emotions, for example a person looking across a lake is considered to be reflecting on the past, which is exactly what my artist is doing. The more conventions we can include from the indie genre, the more popular it will be as we are sticking with things that sell well and what a high majority of indie fans are familiar with, which betters our chances of having increased popularity.