Creation of the Magazine Advert

Now, we wanted to complete the second ancillary task. This meant that we needed to create a magazine advert for our project.

For our magazine advert, we wanted a photo that expressed Alice using more body language. The image we picked is shown below. We ensured to use the same make up and clothing which is present on the back of the CD cover. We also ensured to link our advert with our film as she is holding her hair back (something she does regularly in the video):

Again, we wanted to ensure continuity throughout our products. We therefore, decided to make the photograph black and white (just like the digi-pack). We did this in Photoshop.

Like the background to our CD cover, we wanted to have a dark, black background. By using the 'paint' tool and the 'eraser tool' around the edges of the photograph in order to make the background black.

Some parts of the photo were rather hard to edit like shown below:

We wanted to put the photo into Indesign to see how much the outline of the photograph stands out. We will probably have to put it into photo-shop again to edit the photograph further.

As shown, the image is still not professional looking. Therefore, we went back into photo-shop in order to further edit.

We were able to create a spacing around the image of Alice using the 'eraser' tool. This function allowed us to give a smudge effect around Alice, highlighting her.

When going back to in-design, we had a problem that the top of the image was too sharp, it did not look professional (this is highlighted below).

To solve this problem, we decided to decrease the size of the magazine advert, allowing us to get rid of the sharp cut at the top of the photograph. This did not cause a problem all of the key information still fit onto the page.

We tried to keep strong continuity throughout all of our ancillary task by keeping the colour scheme, fonts and outfit of Alice the same. Our first draft is shown below:

After having feedback from our teachers and class mates, we realized that this poster does not look professional enough. The smudge around Alice was not thought of as a nice feature. Therefore, we have decided to get rid of this: 

To get rid of the smudged white line, we went back into 'Photoshop' and used the 'eraser' tool. Some parts were very difficult to edit as we wanted to ensure not to accidentally erase any of Alice's arm. 

By then putting the photo back into 'In-design', we decided to add more typical magazine features to the poster. 

By looking back at our research, we focused on Olly Murs' which allowed us to see the major use of Red and also comments on the 'debut album'. We thought this was very effective (shown below) and therefore, used his feature on our own. 

Another feature we have decided to use is the use of red. This is something that was discussed earlier on. With our feedback, we decided to add this as a feature. As well as this, we decided to add on some ratings from magazines on our advert. This makes it look more real. By using real magazine names, we can increase the realism of our product. 

Shown below, highlighted in red are the new features we have added. We used the same Font throughout our products.

As well as making sure it relates to our research, we have ensured the advert links to our other ancillary products too. 

The final product is shown below:

Creation of the CD

The last part of the Digi-Pack that I need to create is the CD that is going to go inside of the CD Case. Most of our Digi-Pack is black and white colouring. This meant that to maintain continuity, we also made the CD black with white writing. We created the CD through 'Indesign'. For the writing, I have spaced out the lettering using the 'Character' box. We placed the text on the top of the CD. 

The next stage was to add an extra white circle in the middle of the CD in order to make the CD not as plain. We wanted to break up the black slightly. 

For the layout of our disk, we made such to link it to our research. As you can notice in my previous, CD research, we wanted to base our CD around Rihanna's 'talk that talk' CD. This is because we particularly liked the layout. 

(As shown below) in the real product, the artists name is the dominant image on the disc. However, we wanted to promote the CD more then the artist as we felt this was important. When looking back at other research such as Adele's CD, she has the name of the album rather then the artist (a feature which I believe is very effective). We have also added other details at the bottom of our CD such as copyright details, producer details and broadcasting information. This makes the CD more realistic. 

Our final product is therefore, shown below:

Creation of the Back Cover of Album

For the back cover of our Digi-pack, we decided to relate the picture at the back to our video. The front cover photograph was used to promote a whole album. This photo and the one on the magazine advert will have make up running down Alice down her face - this relates to Alice in the video (depressed and feeling useless). The photo below is the one we have chosen to use. I believe our model is successful in conveying extreme emotion:

Just like the front cover, we wanted to make the back cover black and white also. We used photo-shop to make the image black and white. Using the effect of 'halftone pattern' meant that as well as turning our image to black and white, it also made the photograph lighter. As a group, we decided that we really liked this effect:

Shown below is the photograph after the effects have been applied. I believe that the photograph manages to stand out. The photograph being lighter also allows emphasis on Alice's eyes. This is important as this is where all her emotions are shown.

As you can see, this photograph is put on a white background. After discussion, we decided we wanted the background to be darker as it would make Alice stand out. Like in Adele's album (shown below) there is use of smudge going from dark to white. This is something we wanted to incorporate into our own product.

I believe this feature makes the image look more professional and still draws attention towards Adele herself. Therefore, we started experimenting on photo-shop to see which effect would work best for us. Firstly, effects were put on the background of the photo. We left an outline around Alice's face so that once a darker background was put on, Alice's face would stand out. We did this by changing the diameter and hardness of the brush. This created a blurred effect around Alice. We deleted the rest of the background for now.

Highlighted below are some difficult parts of editing. Due to Alice's backcombed and rather messy hair, they are hard to edit around. Therefore, we will have to use zoom so that we can carefully edit.

The 'Paint' tool was then use to make the background completely black.

The outcome is shown below:

I believe this effect has been very successful in creating a great image for the back cover of our album. I believe that the use of the black background links well to the black makeup going down her face. I believe the use of black emphasises the darkness Alice feels in her life. It reflects the idea that she does not know what to do. It also links well to our research of Adele.

Turning to In-design,  allowed us to continue with the creation of our album back cover. The next stage we decided to work on was the song titles which are displayed on the back of the album. We decided to use the same font of 'Adobe Garamond Pro' in order to maintain continuity. We decided to have around 10 songs on the album as this reflected our research. We made sure that all of the songs were similar themed (all containing hints of pessimistic attitudes and depression).

After inserting the text, we decided to 'place' the photograph so that we could better picture what the background would look like.

Once we placed the photograph, we decided to move the text to the top as the photo took over the song titles. One thing we noticed as a problem was that in placing the image, the bottom and top of the photograph were cut off.

discussion as a group, we made the decision to move the photograph to the top of the page and have text etc at the bottom.

The evidence above proves that you can see the sharp different between when the photograph ends. This is something we needed to change as it looks unprofessional. Before trying to change it in 'effects' we will add the text and see if this makes a successful difference.

First thing we tried, was to add the name of the artist going down the side. This is a feature that Adele has on her own album. We have rotated the word 90 degrees so that it goes up the side.

We then began to add the title of the songs onto the image. Shown below is our first attempt. The words will be spread out more but we will tackle this later.

The bottom of the photograph still appears as rather sharp and violent. As a group, we did not like this. Therefore, we will adjust the photo to have it fade out at the bottom. By using the gradient function, we were able to make the bottom of the picture lighter. However, this Did not work. Therefore we tried editing the photograph to make the edges softer. I used colour and paint and in the end, Alice looked rather ghostly in the image (an effect we like). I believe it emphasizes her sadness.

We will then will place the image with the writing. The photograph above will be the one that is used on the cover.

Next, we decided to create the bar code of the cover. This was created on Microsoft word:

Shown below is the barcode placed onto our product:

We are happy so far with the process. For our next stage, we went Back to our research. Again, looking at Adele's album we took an idea from her cover to add 'bonus tracks' to our list of songs: (We have ensured all our songs are from the same artists)

Next, we added the terms and conditions onto the cover in order to let our audience know about the copy rights.

When putting on the terms and conditions, we wanted to ensure it looked professional. We kept it linked to the real products we researched. We used our own names for producers etc due to our product not being real:

Shown below is therefore, our final product with the bar-code, song titles and terms and conditions placed upon the image. I believe it is successful and goes well with our front cover.

Creation of the Spine

The spine of the album was the most simple of the four part Digi-Pack to create. It is the smallest section to create. Due to the whole album having a black background, we decided to make the spine that colour too with white writing. We used the same font as the front and back cover to maintain continuity. 

The same space between the lettering has also been used. We believe this will link extremely well to the rest of our Digi-Pack. 

Creation of Front Cover of Album

After  doing a lot of specific research into our ancillary tasks, our photo-shoot allowed us to gain the exact images we wanted. For this part of the product, we decided to use photo-shop. Therefore, shown below is the image we have chosen to use for the front cover of our album:

Wanting to relate to our research, the first thing done within editing was to change the image to Black and White using Adjustments.

We wanted to ensure that our product related to our previous research. I was very keen that we stuck to the Black and White imagery. I believe that the beginning of our product is already rather similar to real media.

Next thing to do was font research. From our evidence, we wanted our fonts to be sharp, simple and wanted them to stand out on the CD cover. Shown below are the fonts that we started with:

From here, there were five fonts that took a particular fancy. Since we were not able to decide between them, we decided to go back to our research  to help us. We compared the fonts to Adele's music album to see which would be most effective. Although Adele's font is less bold then our examples, the thicker writing is something we liked.

It is extremely important that we get our font right as we hope to use it throughout the rest of the ancillary products in order to maintain continuity. As seen, Adele has the use of a Green '21' on her album cover. This gave us the idea that we might put some colour into our own product. However, we did not know what to put into colour. We wanted to ensure it remained professional.

We still did not know exactly what we wanted. For now, we have 'Perfect' in Red and 'Alice' in white. To see if this would be successful, we decided to start creating our product. This would allow us to be able to better picture our product. We edited the product further through Indesign.

The title started at the top right of the cover (shown below). However, after discussion as a group, we decided that we did not like this. It did not appeal.

Looking back at our research, Adele's title is at the bottom of the cover. We wanted to stick to our research so we decided to try using the title at the bottom which we preferred  The font that we decided on was 'Adobe Garamond Pro' as it is one that appeared most effective alongside our photo.

We then decreased the size of the font. We did not want it taking too much attention away from the photograph. 

For the artist, we decided to have an 'A' which relates to our research of Rihanna. The style of the lettering means that our audience will know that the artist is Alice.

Although we wanted to put colour on our front cover, as we looked at the product, we decided there was too much Red. It was too bold for the simple cover we wanted. We therefore decided to change the font colours.

We wanted to experiment with different fonts and styles in order to find the best one. We decided we did not like the full White writing and since we did not like the 'Perfect' being in Red, we decided to try the 'A' in a Red font instead.

We ensured to have the group agreeing at each point. Therefore, as the use of 'A' was experimented with, our group sent messages to each other on a group chat. This allowed us all to discuss our products and see each other's opinions on it.

As a group therefore, we were able to come up with a final decision on the font and style to make the 'A'. Shown below are the features we used in order to change the font.

Our final product is therefore, shown below: