Question 1 - Miss Georgiou

Question 1: in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


Our brief for this media product was to create a music video between 3 to 5 minutes long for a song within a genre that had been chosen by our group, which for my group was indie due to the fact that we were all avid listeners of the indie genre, therefore we felt as though we would enjoy and feel more confident with this project. The choice of genre and artist gave our group total create control over our music video which meant that we could be more creative in terms of our narrative, our interpretation of the deeper meaning after analysing the lyrics and how we wanted our video to look visually. The purpose of a music video is to expose an artist to an audience through the use of visuals as these clearly show the audience what they look like and how they are feeling, to show the audience the creativity that the artist possesses through the use of a narrative or performance as these are usually planned extensively before filming, or to express to the audience that the song has a deeper meaning, also through the use of narrative or concept as an audience will usually appreciate when there is a bigger purpose behind the creation of a song. These purposes can all be seen in the music video for the song 'wings' by Birdy, who is an example of a well known artist within the indie genre. Visuals of the artist performing the song can be seen throughout the entire music video, but especially at the beginning when the audience can see her lying down on a couch in the middle of what appears to be a living room. These visuals are beneficial to the artist due to the fact that it introduces her into the music video as the artist and allows the audience to see clearly who she is, therefore they will be more likely to recognise her in other aspects of the media, such as magazine articles or on social media, which are other popular ways in which an artist can connect and communicate with their target audience. Furthermore, the audience will be able to see that the artist is at a house party with a larger group of people, most of whom appear to be young adults. The target audience for this video are of a similar age, therefore they may be able to relate to this setting and the idea of friendship groups that are often associated with teenagers. This setting is suggested to be the narrative behind the song due to the fact that the location of the music video remains the same throughout, therefore the audience may feel as though the location is purposeful and they may relate the lyrics of her song to the visuals that are being show. This purpose of this is to show the audience that there is a deeper meaning behind the lyrics and that the artist has thought about what they want their audience to see. This means that the audience will be more likely to think about the music video while they are watching it and will therefore remember the video for longer...


There are several conventions of the indie genre that are included in our own music video, for example, the use of a close up of the face of the artist at the beginning of the video helps the audience to see clearly what she looks like and how she is feeling at that particular point in the video. The use of a close up is beneficial to the artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know who she is, however, after seeing these visuals of her they will be more likely to recognise her if they see her images in other aspects of the media. Furthermore, it is important for the artist to be able to connect with an audience because these will be the people who are going to buy into her music and continue to buy her music which in tern will help to increase her success within the industry. The use of a close up is more personal due to the fact that an artist is completely exposed in the sense that this specific shot in the video will be all about her, which is conventional to the indie genre as indie artists are known for writing their own songs that are often based on real life experiences, therefore the lyrics of these songs will relate to the artist directly and will be likely to tell the audience things about the artist that they may not already know, for example, indie artists often write about past relationships or friendships, which will appeal to the audience because these are often topics that the audience will be able to relate to and they will therefore feel as though they are not going through these situations alone.

Furthermore, in our music video we have also included elements of both performance and narrative styles. We have shown performance through the use of visuals of the artist playing the piano while she sings at various points during the video. These visuals of a musical instruments is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music and for having their own individual styles regarding their music and also their appearance, which is why they do not tend to find into the mainstream. This arguably helps the audience to view indie artists as being more relatable because not everybody will seek to keep up with the mainstream or be able to afford the designer brands that are associated with the mainstream, therefore indie artists will be of a similar personality and style to them. Furthermore, the audience may also envy how talented an artist is in the sense that she has the ability to sing as well as play a musical instrument which usually take a lot of time and effort to learn. Performance is used in our video to break up the longer sections of narrative, for example, the scene in which the two characters first meet is followed by visuals of the artist playing the piano, which then transitions into the first date scene. We felt as though the combination of the two styles would make our video more interesting for the audience to watch due to the fact that they do not have to be constantly focused on how the narrative is developing. Moreover, the use of performance allows an indie artist to show their audience any other musical talents that they may have such as the ability to play a musical instrument which is conventional to the genre because indie artists are known for writing and performing their own music. The use of performance is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as always being on the road in order to perform for new audiences. Indie artists are known for being solely focused on and passionate about sharing their music with their fans, which is why they are not always too concerned about how they look and keeping up with current fashion trends. The audience may find it easier to relate to these indie artists due to the fact that they may not be able to afford designer brands that are associated with popular music artists and the mainstream. Most of our music video is heavily narrative based due to the fact that we felt a narrative would help to engage our audience and make the video more interesting for them to watch as we are giving them visuals to relate the lyrics of the song to. For example, narrative can be seen towards the middle of the video when the male character and artist are on a date at his house, drinking wine at the dinner table. The use of a narrative will make the audience feel more involved in the lives of the characters because they will feel as though they are there with them which will appeal to them due to the fact that they may feel as though the artist views them more as a friend, rather than one of the hundreds of people sitting behind a screen watching the music video.


Moreover, we used a flashback at the beginning of our video when the audience see the elderly lady's face merge with the face of the younger girl which we felt would show the audience that the video is of a past event and that the two characters are the same people. The use of this flashback has the potential to make the video feel more personal to the artist due to the fact that we are suggesting that she is sharing a memory with the audience and allowing them to get to know more about her life outside of the industry. The use of a flashback connotes the idea of going back in time which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is know for being old fashioned and therefore for not fitting into the mainstream which is often dictated by artists from within the pop genre who are known for being rich and popular and for setting the current fashion trends which the younger generation are often influenced by. The audience may find our artist to be more relatable due to the fact that she can be seen wearing affordable clothing such as grey dress and black leggings, and in an easily accessible locations such as the park which will appeal to the people who may not be able to afford or like to wear designer brands and who may have been to some of the places featured in the video themselves. It is often difficult for an audience to be able to relate to people from within the music industry due to the fact that they are highly talented and can therefore afford to live luxurious lifestyles, however, my music video arguably portrays the artist as being more natural due to the fact that she is not trying to flaunt how much money she has through the visuals of expensive clothing which has the potential to alienate members of her audience. Having said that, our group arguably challenged this convention through the use of visuals of a modern mobile phone which the audience see her drop after she finds out that the male character has died, as well as well known London landmarks such as the London Eye and Big Ben which can be seen during the time lapse towards the end of the video which we felt would make our video more relatable to the modern day audience, thus increasing the appeal of our video to a wider audience, which has the potential to boost the sales of the album if the audience like the song and can therefore increase the success of our artist within the industry. Furthermore, other artists and record labels will be more likely to want to work with our artist if she is successful because she will be more well known within the industry and will have people talking about her, therefore other artists will be able to increase their own exposure by being associated with her. By working with other artists our artist will gain exposure into newer audiences that she may not have been able to reach on her own, especially if they are both from different genres of music. Most of the conventions that are used in our music video conform to the indie genre due to the fact that we wanted our video to be recognisable within the genre and to compliment the other music videos that our artist has already produced in order for her to continue appealing to her established target audience.

Final individual ancillary texts - Miss Georgiou

Magazine advert and digipak

Rough cut - Miss Georgiou

Rough cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8BaE0YDXO4

Audience feedback is important due to the fact that they are the ones who are going to determine the success of our product, therefore their feedback allows us to identify which aspects of the music video that they like and dislike, and these are things that we can change in order to help the music video to appeal to our audience who we are hoping will buy into the artist and her music that we are trying to sell. A rough cut is essential to carry out because it allows us to identify what the audience like and what needs to be improved in order to aid the success of our music video. The audience opinion is important regarding the success of an artist due to the fact that if the audience like the video they are going to be more likely to want to watch and listen to the song again which could increase the sales of the album and the exposure that the artist received through people listening to and watching her music video.

There were several different ways throughout the production process that we received feedback from our target audience, for example, the first in which we received feedback was by screening our production to a group of people within our established target audience of teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 to 25. This age range was decided due to the fact that the members within our group are of a similar age group therefore it will be easier for us to relate to them and we will have a better understanding of what they would and would not like to see in a music video. Furthermore, the screening allowed us to received positive and constructive comments in person and the audience could clearly talk to us about what they liked and disliked, enabling us to fully understood what we needed to do in order to improve our video, for example, one audience member told us that we needed to include more relationship based and emotional scenes in order to make the audience and the narrative feel more emotional/personal and to develop the relationship between the two characters in the video. In our video, we included a date scene which we felt would show the audience the progression of the relationship between the two characters due to the fact that it follows the scene where they both meet for the first time, and therefore shows that they decided to meet up again. Another way in which we received feedback was through the use of focus groups, which was where small groups of people from within our target audience could watch our rough cut music video and talk to us about what they liked and disliked about the video. These focus groups took place before the final deadline for our music video, therefore, if there were any aspects of the music video that they did not like we had enough time to change or re-film those aspects in order to help our video to appeal to them. This would result in our video being more successful because we will have provided our target audience with a video created based on their tastes and preferences, for example, when we first filmed the performance scene where the audience can see the artist playing the piano we decided to try and make the lighting lower key, however, after looking back over the footage we realised we had made the lighting too dark and therefore the audience would have been unable to see clearly the artist and appreciate that she was playing the piano. We also received feedback through the use of questionnaires, the whole purpose of which was to establish what our target audience would want to see in a music video and for us to identify aspects/elements that we could include in our own music video in order to create a video that they will want to watch and recommend, which will boost the success of the artist and her music, for example, the audience wanted part of the music video to be set in an easily accessible location because this would be easier for them to relate to due to the fact that it is likely that they will have been to these places themselves, for example, the beginning of our music video is set in the park which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is not a mainstream genre of music, therefore indie artists will not receive a huge amount of money from selling their music due to the fact that is likely the genre will only appeal to a select group of people. Indie artists will not be able to afford to hire our expensive studios and use green screens which are often used by most mainstream artists in genres such as pop in order to make a higher quality music video. YouTube was another good way for us to receive feedback from our target audience due to the fact that the application is easy to use and can be used by a worldwide audience, therefore our music video will be able to reach more people. Another benefit of YouTube is that it can show us the number of likes and dislikes that our video received and allowed our audience to comment their opinions beneath the video, which we received notification about, thus helping us to stay aware of how our target audience were reacting to our video. The target audience we important to consider and keep in mind during the production stage due to the fact that they were the ones who could determine the success of our video and the artist herself. This feedback would benefit our production because it would help us to improve our music video so far and enable us to identify and change elements that the audience may not like about the video, thus helping to make our whole video more appealing to the target audience. This was important for us to do due to the fact that if the audience like the video they are going to be more likely to recommend it or want to watch it again themselves, which has the potential to boost the success of the artist and her music. The feedback will also benefit the music industry due to the fact that it allows us to identify the weaknesses within our music video which would have had the potential to decrease the success of the music video. The more successful the music video is, the better the reputation the music industry will received as a result which could potentially lead to more artists wanting to work with them due to the fact that they will want to be successful too. This may also make the audience more aware of the different record labels and the artists that are signed to them, thus increasing their exposure and broadening their potential audience.

POSITIVE

A common positive comment that we received regarding our music video was that the audience enjoyed how detailed and clear the narrative was. The idea of a using a narrative conforms to the indie genre as indie music videos are often heavily narrative based due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own songs based on real life experiences which makes them more personal to the artist and usually used to express a deeper meaning to the song which can then be expressed to the audience through the use of visuals. Receiving a positive comment regarding the narrative was important to us all due to the fact that as a group we spent a lot of time deciding on a plot line and ensuring that the story would compliment the lyrics to the song we had chosen, therefore it would have been disappointing had the audience not liked or understood the narrative.

The audience also mentioned that they understood that the use of a lower key lighting was to emphasise the use of the flashback at the beginning of the video which was one of the most important aspects of our music video because it helped us to develop the narrative and explain to them the importance of certain characters, therefore it was important to the video that the audience understood what was happening and why we had included certain elements. One member of the target audience especially liked the incorporation of the flashback, which he referred to as a 'time movement'. The use of a flashback connotes the idea of going back in time, which we felt conformed to the indie genre which is often perceived as being old fashioned and would help us to make the video appear as though we are showing the audience a memory from the artist which is conventional to the genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences which therefore allow the audience to get to know more about them. We also felt the flashback would make our video more interesting to watch due to the fact that it shows the audience two different stories joining together which would help us to hook the audience and keep them curious when wanting to know the relevance of the elderly character in regards to the narrative and other characters. The flashback was important to our music video due to the fact that it helped us to develop our narrative by explaining to the audience who the elderly lady seen at the beginning of the video is by going back in time and showing her journey to the present day. Receiving a positive comment regarding the use of a flashback was important to our group due to the fact that we worked hard to develop a narrative that complemented the lyrics and allowed us to use a flashback, therefore it would have disappointing had the audience not liked it or not understood the purpose behind it.

Another positive comment received was that one audience member liked our use of fades and transitions between the shots in the video, for example, the most common transition used in our video was cross dissolve. Achieving a smooth transition between scenes was important because they helped the video as a whole to flow better which makes it easier for the audience to watch due to the fact that it helps to make the video feel more like a short film/cinematic experiences for the audience rather than a music video. We also felt that a clearly explained and performed narrative was more likely to be remembered by the audience when compared to only showing the audience visuals of the artist singing which they would be able to see in all of her other music videos, therefore this video would have lost its originality. The story would help our group to make the music video feel more personal to the artist because it feels as though she has put thought into the music video and has taken the time to plan out a personal story that she wanted to share with the audience.

CONSTRUCTIVE

One constructive comment that we received was to include more elements of performance within the music video, however, we purposely decided to make our video heavily narrative based in order to express to the audience the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of the song which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore it is more personal to them and allows the audience to get to know more about the artist. Furthermore, lyrics can often be quite ambiguous, therefore the use of a narrative clarifies to the audience what the lyrics actually mean and helps to give the song more meaning. After receiving this comment we decided to include more elements of performance in the video to break up the longer sections of narrative, for example, in between the shots of the artist and the male character saying goodbye before he went off to war. Adding more performance to the video was not a problem for our group due to the fact that while we were filming we filmed extra footage of the artist just singing in case we ran short of narrative or needed to include more visuals of the artist just singing. It was better for us to film too much at the beginning because this would ensure that the footage and its lighting and location would compliment the footage that we already had. The use of performance shows the audience visuals of her which helps to clarify who she is and what she looks like which is beneficial to our artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know who she is. Our artist will need to expose herself in order to build up a loyal fan base of people who are going to buy into her music and increase her chance of being successful.




Another constructive comment that we received for our rough cut was that the audience could not identify a set colour theme throughout the video. This was partly due to the fact that we decided that the lighting would become more lower key as the video progressed in order to show the audience that the narrative was developing (suggested by the fact that the lighting was becoming darker), for example, the audience see the male character dies towards the end of the video, which is followed by the artist scattering his ashes. These particular scenes are not intended to make the audience feel happy but to show them that there is a deeper meaning behind the lyrics such as 'the darkest fairy-tale') which gives the audience the idea that the two characters are not going to have a happy ending (the idea of death) and to make them feel more emotional when they watch the video which we wanted because we felt this would help to make the video more memorable. However, after looking back over our music video we have decided to enhance the filters that we have already added to the video in order to make them more visible to the audience. We feel as though by making the use of filters more obvious to the audience they will be able to understand the mood of the narrative better and see clearly how the artists are represented as feeling during specific points within the video.

One element of our music video that a member of our audience did not particularly like was how unrealistic the death of the male character scene was, which can be seen towards the end of the video after he is sent off to the war. In regards to the constructive comment, it was obviously difficult for us to film in a location that resembled an actual warzone, which is why throughout those scenes we decided to use mostly close up shots to keep the audience focus on the character, rather than his location. Furthermore, we obviously couldn't use a real gun because of health and safety and the fact that none of us actually own a gun, however, I do feel we did the best with the resources that were available to us and that at the end of the day the audience knew that he had been killed, therefore the purpose of those scenes had been achieved through the use of visuals of him holding a gun, lying on the ground and the use of khaki green colours and an army print t-shirt.

In conclusion, there were several comments of constructive criticism that we received from our target audience regarding the rough cut for our music video, for example, it was recommended by someone that we needed to add more filters to the footage in the music video in order to help make it appear more old fashioned which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as having a vintage style and the genre itself is seen as not fitting into the mainstream. Our group has decided to look over our video and to enhance the filters that have already been used on the footage, for example, the effect Combat was used on the footage following the flashback to make the lighting appear more lower key in order to create more of an old fashioned atmosphere. We want the audience to be able to tell that filters have been used within the music video because the use of different colours help us to express the mood of the narrative and to show the audience how the characters are feeling at specific points within the video, for example, the use of a lower key lighting towards the end of the video while the artist is scattering the ashes in the park will suggests to the audience that she is upset/depressed due to the fact that the male character has died. Another aspect of our music video that we plan on adapting following receiving the audience feedback is the use of performance scenes to break up the longer sections of narrative within the video. We plan on using performance to show the audience that the scene has changed, for example, visuals of the artist singing will be seen between the opening sequence of the artist and the male character meeting in the park and the date scene that follows. In order to decide what changes we are going to make to our final music video we will need to organise another group meeting so that we can all express our ideas and discuss whether making these changes will actually improve the video we have so far.

Planning the digipak - Miss Miller

The digipak

A digipak consists of a gatefold style, which is a similar style that is used for books and usually has a paperboard or cardboard outer binding which makes up 6 sides in total, this provides an artist with the opportunity to include more for visual artwork of a higher quality, for example, an image of themselves, and information about themselves for their fans benefit, for example, a digipak will often contain a letter from the artist directly for the audience that helps to add a 'personal' feel to the album as the audience will feel as though they are the only ones that the artist have done this for and that they are directing the letter directly to them and not to hundreds of other people. Digipak's are often used for CD singles or special edition CD albums and are therefore seen more as a collectable and are arguably worth more to the audience due to the fact that there will be the idea that not everybody is going to have them and that they may also include bonus tracks that are not found on the CD. There is usually an unspoken competition between fans regarding who knows more about the artist, or who has met the artist the most amount of times, therefore the audience will want to own something related to the artist that feels more valuable than just a regular CD.

On the other hand, a Jewel CD case which is most commonly used CD case and the one you would expect to see protecting the CD's when they are sold in shops, has a plastic outer shell which helps to protect the paper and CD that can usually be found on the inside, therefore the CD is likely to last longer and may cause the artist to be viewed as more professional. Also, the album details, such as song and album names, are usually solely on the front and the back of the case which is often see-through, therefore this helps to grab the audiences attention because it allows them to see all the necessary information, and if they already know what the album cover looks like it will make it easier for them to spot the album in the shop. Furthermore, a jewel CD case usually contains a booklet made up of the lyrics of the songs from the album, which may appeal to the audience because it will allow them to learn the words to some of their favourite songs.


I will be creating my own digipak for Gabrielle Aplin, who is the artist I have chosen to use for my final music video production in order to promote the artist as well as the album that she has released. Planning is important in order to create an effective digipak because I will need to think about the colours and images that I am going to use, and the information that I am going to include in order to promote the artist and her new album well so that an audience will want to buy it. Furthermore, planning the digipak helped me to decide which conventions I should include so that an audience will associate the digipak with the artist and the indie genre, for example, the use of isolated locations shows the artist as being an individual, and the use of affordable clothing which she will be seen wearing in the images will help her to be seen as more relatable, due to the fact that her audience may not be able to afford designer brands that celebrities are often associated with wearing.


I decided to use a variety of colours on my digipak, in particular natural colours for the images of the artist, for example, there will be no special effects added onto the image because I want her to appear more genuine and relatable, which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie songs are often based on real life experiences, which is why their music often feels more realistic and makes the audience feel as though they are not going through these experiences alone. I wanted the colours of my digipak to convey the emotions of the album, therefore the use of colours such as blue and purple compliment the song names "please don't say you love me" and "home" which sound as though they are going to be personal to the artist which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often write their own songs that are based on real life experiences. Furthermore, I used the colour blue on every slide within my digipak due to the fact that the indie genre is often perceived as being emotional and the colour blue relates to the term "feeling blue" which implies sadness and suggest that her songs are going to have a deeper meaning to them. These colours will appeal to the target audience who will be keen to know more about the artist and will feel as though they will be able to do that by listening to her music which is personal to her. Also, these colours will help me to promote the artist effectively due to the fact that the target audience will want to know more about the artist and the use of these colours will suggest that her music is going to tell them more about her due to it being based on real life experiences. She will be viewed as more realistic and as someone who the audience can relate to, which will make it easier for them to build a relationship with her because she does not flaunt the money that she may have and her fame to an audience who may not be able to relate to that type of lifestyle.

For the cover of the album and digipak I decided to use a close up of the artist which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that they help the audience to see how the artist is feeling and will give the digipak more of a personal feel because indie artists are often perceived as writing songs that are based on real life experiences that they believe the audience will be able to relate to so that they can show them that they are not going through these experiences alone. The use of a close up could represent the artist as being more realistic because they audience will be able to see how she is really feeling, rather then how she wants the audience to think she is feeling, which therefore makes things seem better than they already are. I also decided to use side profile images of the artist in order to suggest the idea that there are many different sides to a musician, especially indie artists who often use their music to tell their audience more about themselves, due to the fact that their songs are often based on real life experiences. I felt that the use of these images would help my artist to be perceived as more down to earth due to the fact that she can be seen wearing affordable clothing, for example, leggings and a grey tee shirt, natural looking makeup and in easily accessible locations, which implies that she has not been changed by the music industry in order to fit into the mainstream and that she enjoys what she does, which suggests to the audience that she is passionate about sharing her music, as opposed to just being in the industry for the money. I also decided to use an image of the sky for the CD itself, due to the fact that the weather often connotes the idea of different emotions, for example, sadness which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as writing their own music that is based on real life experiences, which therefore allows the audience to get to know more about them through the stories that they tell them and helps them to be viewed as more realistic. The use of these images will appeal to the target audience who will be able to clearly see what the artist looks like, and therefore if they see images of her in other aspects of the media, such as a magazine article they will be more likely to want to find out more about her which will help to increase her exposure within the music industry which could also help to make her more successful, as there may be magazine readers who do not know who she is, but may be interested to listen to some of her music after reading about her. Furthermore, the use of these images promotes the artist as being more natural, due to the fact that she appears happy and caught in the moment, especially in the side profile images of her, which suggests that the picture could have been taken by a friend, rather than for the purpose of the digipak. The use of images overall will benefit the artist due to the fact that they will help the audience to recognise her and her album when they are looking in stores that sell music.

The front cover of the album clearly tells the audience the name of the album and artist, and shows them an image of what she looks like, which is beneficial to the audience because it shows them what to look out for if they want to buy her album in the shops. The audience are shown all of the necessary information, for example, the name of the album and artist are in bold above the image of her which could suggest that she is trying to promote her music rather than herself, which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are perceived as caring more about sharing their music with an audience rather than trying to become as famous as they possibly can, which therefore implies that they are not in the industry for making money and helps to explain why they are always on the road performing for their fans. Furthermore, the written information within the digipak is separated between images of the artist, one of her side profile, laughing and one of her standing in front of a brick wall, isolated locations of which are conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as doing their own thing and as not fitting into the mainstream. Also, the image of her laughing suggests that the shot is candid and helps to represent her as being more natural due to it suggesting that the picture was taken by a friend, rather than for the purpose of a digipak, therefore she is not posed for the camera and is not trying to make herself look as good as she can, which helps to make the digipak and the artist feel more realistic because nobody looks good all of the time. Also, the audience may not be able to afford plastic surgery which is often associated with the music industry to make celebrities who are constantly in the public eye appear younger than what they are. On the back cover of the digipak the audience are shown a list of her song names, for example, "home" and "salvation" due to the fact that some of these songs will have been released before the digipak itself, therefore if the audience have already listened to these songs and like them, they will be more inclined to want to buy the full album. Also, the songs are written in order from the shortest length of the song name to the longest, due to the fact that, not only did I feel this was nicer for the audience to look at, but it also made it easier for them to read because the words flow the same way their eyes will as they are reading.

The typography that I decided to use for my digipak appears to be handwritten which I felt would help me to give my digipak more of a personal feel to it because it will look as though it has been written by the artist herself, which I hoped would help to try and persuade the audience to buy the album because there will be the idea that they will be able to feel closer to the artist, which is also conventional to the indie genre because indie artists are often perceived as writing their own songs that are based on real life experiences which allow them to tell the audience more about themselves and is beneficial for the audience due to the fact that Gabrielle Aplin was new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know that much about her and so the digipak will need to promote and introduce her into the industry which will allow her to build up an audience who she will be able to direct her future songs towards and who are going to buy her music. Furthermore, on the fifth side of the digipak I have included a written message from the artist thanking her audience because I feel that this will help to give the digipak more of a personal feel to it because the audience will feel as though the message is directed to them and not to hundreds of other people, and the message itself tells the audience how the artist feels about them. A digipak may often be seen as more valuable due to the fact that a typical jewel CD case does not include a message from the artist and usually contains less images and information about the artist, therefore the audience will view the digipak as being something that other fans may not have. I have used mostly informative language within my digipak, for example, a list of the songs that feature on the album on the back cover of the digipak and the name of the artist and album on the front of the digipak because I felt that by showing them this, the audience would know what to look out for if they want to buy the album in stores.

My digipak differs from a jewel CD case in many different ways, for example, there is a small message written by the artist to the audience thanking them for their support which helps to give the album more of a personal feel and helps to build upon the relationship between the artist and the audience because the typical jewel CD cases will not include this letter, therefore the digipak may feel more valuable to the audience. The digipak will also include more images of the artist and information about her that the audience may not already know, which helps to make the digipak feel more personal and also gives the album more of an individual feel because most people will own the jewel CD case.
In my digipak, I feel as though my artist is represented as being natural and as someone who cares about her fans, for example, by including a handwritten letter for the audience from the artist helps to give the digipak more of a personal feel because the audience will feel as though the artist is talking directly to them, and due to the fact that not everybody will own the digipak version they may be seen more valuable to the audience because not everybody will have a letter from the artist. Also, there are more sides to a digipak compared to a jewel CD case, therefore the audience will be given more information regarding the album and will be shown more images of the artist that they may not have seen before which may make them feel as though they are getting to know more about her. The majority of the conventions that I decided to use within my digipak conform to the indie genre due to the fact that I wanted my digipak to be recognisable as part of the indie genre and for the audience to associate my artist with the indie genre, for example, the use of emotional colours such as blue to imply that the songs have been written by the artist herself and are based on real life experiences. Also, the use of a close up of the artist for the cover of the digipak is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that it will give the audience a clear image of what the artist looks like and shows them how she is feeling which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie songs are often based on real life experiences. Furthermore, if the audience know what she looks like, when they see images of her in other aspects of the media they will be curious to find out more about her. I have also decided to make the typography on the digipak appear as though it has been handwritten by the artist, as I believe this compliments the idea that indie artists write their songs themselves, which also helps to give the album and digipak more of a personal feel. Having said that, the use of a long shot image of the artist is arguably subversive of the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as being open about their feelings which is why they usually use close ups as this allows the audience to see a clearer view of their facial expressions, however, a long shot creates a sense of mystery due to the fact that the audience will not be able to see her face, although this could represent the fact that she is knew to the music industry, therefore not many people will know that much about her and so in that sense she is still a mystery. The digipak promotes the indie genre as containing songs that are based on emotional experiences, for example, the use of the colours blue and purple and the visuals of clouds on the CD itself connotes the idea of sadness, which compliments the perception that indie artists often sing about emotional experiences that the audience may be able to relate to. The indie genre is a more personal genre of music as the narratives within the songs allow the audience to get to know more about the artist. Through the use of a long shot image of the artist, Gabrielle Aplin is perceived as being mysterious which is arguably due to the fact that this was her debut album and she was new to the music industry, therefore people will not know too much about her and in that sense she is a mystery. I feel as though I am more aware of the images that I need to take for my digipak due to the fact that I have already planned what I want my digipak to look like, therefore when I am filming I will know the exact shots that I need to take and how I want the artist to appear in the images. Also, through planning the digipak I have decide to try and use as little Photoshop as possible, due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as being more natural and relatable, however, Photoshop is often used to change images and to make things appear better than what they are. I could potentially use Photoshop to enhance the writing and key information on the digipak, for example, the name of the album and the song names due to the fact that they are the most important aspects of the digipak. I don't want the audience to be able to tell that the images used in have been Photoshop because I feel as though this would be subversive to the indie genre.

Individual digipak - Miss Miller

Individual digipak

The purpose of a digipak is to promote an artist to their target audience in order to advertise the release of a new album which has the potential to boost the sales of the album which is beneficial to an artist due to the fact that this will result in more money being made. A digipak helps an artist to build a relationship with their fans due to the fact that it often includes several images that allow an audience to see what an artist looks like and how they are feeling which helps to give the product more of a personal feel, which is conventional to the indie genre because indie artists are known for writing their own songs that are based on real life experiences. Furthermore, the back cover of the digipak usually includes a list of song names that feature on the album which benefits the artist due to the fact that singles will often be released before the album itself, therefore if the audience like the songs that they have listened to, they will feel more inclined to buy the entire album which will further boost the sales for the artist.
The reason we used the software Photoshop CS6 to create the digipak due to the fact that it is used by all of the professionals, therefore we felt it would help us to give our own digipak's more of a professional feel. Also, this particular software allowed us to experiment with different colours and lighting, for example I was able to use a black and white setting in order to make the lighting of the images more low key which was beneficial because indie music is known for having a deeper meaning. Furthermore, I could download different styles of font such as Photographs, DK Lemon and Luna from the website 'dafont' to use on my digipak that complimented the indie genre more due to the fact that they looked more handwritten which is conventional because indie artists are known for writing their own music. I came up with the idea for my digipak, firstly, by researching what a digipak was and what it should include, for example, the name of the artist, the name of the album, images of the artist and songs from the album. Also, through analysing other indie artist digipaks, such as Ed Sheeran and Gabrielle Aplin I was able to identify common features in each which were conventional to the indie genre and that I could include in my own digipak to help make it recognisable, for example, the use of a handwritten/typed style of font is conventional due to the fact that the indie genre is often perceived as being old fashioned and a typewriter is seen as a vintage way of writing. I feel as though the use of a handwritten font will make the digipak feel more personal, due to the fact that it could imply that the artist has written it herself which is conventional in the sense that indie artists are known for writing their own songs that are based on real life experiences, which therefore allow the audience to get to know more about their personal life.

The front cover will appeal to the target audience due to the fact that they can clearly see what the artist looks like through the use of a close up image which allows them to see how she is feeling. Furthermore, by including the name of the album means the audience will be able to go and buy the album in the shops and listen to her new music and the audience may be aware that indie artists often write their music themselves and will therefore feel as though they are going to be able to find out more about the artist by listening to her music. This will also help to promote the artist effectively because the audience are made aware of what her new album is called which could result in more sales for the artist and more money being made due to the fact that they know what to look out for in the shops. The use of the colours black and white for the image of the artist and for the writing on the front cover are arguably conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is often perceived as being old fashioned and as not fitting into the mainstream. The colours connote the idea of the past and help to give this slide more of a vintage feel, which could therefore suggest that the artist is going to share past experiences with them through her music. I decided to keep the image in colour due to the fact that I felt this would help the darker writing to stand out to the audience which will benefit the audience because they are the most important aspect of this particular slide. I feel as though the use of a close up image of the artist will help the digipak to feel more personal as the audience are able to clearly see what she looks like and what her facial expressions which is conventional as indie artists often release their emotions within their music by writing and singing about past experiences, and this could therefore imply to the audience what they can expect to hear on the album. Furthermore, in the image the artist arguably looks caught off guard which is conventional because indie artists are perceived as not caring so much about what they look like and with keeping up with current fashion trends. Also, the audience can see that she is not wearing designer clothes which helps her to come across as being more relatable and realistic due to the fact that not all of her audience will be able to afford designer brands and is also conventional to the genre which is often perceived as not fitting into the mainstream. Furthermore, the darkness of the image arguably implies that her songs are going to have a deeper meaning to them which is conventional due to the fact that indie songs are often based on real life experiences which are not always happy experiences. For the layout and design of this slide I decided to position the name of the artist above her image due to the fact that I felt this would help the audience to associate the name with the face. Also, I felt as though the audience would be more likely to remember who she is and what she looks like. Furthermore, I wanted the front cover to look similar to the front cover of a book due to the fact that celebrities often release books that allow their fans to get to know more about them which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often write their own music which is based on real life experiences. I used a handwritten style font for the name of the album due to the fact that I felt this would make the digipak feel more personal because it looks as though the artist has written it herself which is conventional to the indie genre as indie artists are often associated with writing their own songs that are based on real life experiences that the audience will be able to relate to and that allow the audience to get to know more about the artist. Furthermore, the boldness of the album name helps the name to stand out on the cover and is more likely to be remembered by the audience who will know what they are looking for if they want to buy the album from the shops. It can be seen that these two fonts are used continuously throughout the digipak as I felt this made the digipak look more themed and helped to tie the whole thing together. Also, I added a darker outer glow to the white writing due to the fact that these colours contrasted each other and therefore helped the name of the album and artist to stand out which is beneficial because they are the most important aspects of the front cover. Furthermore, the language used on the front cover is arguably informative, for example, I have included the name of the artist and the name of her album so that the audience are made aware of who she is and her name purposely sits above the image of the artist due to the fact that I felt this would help the audience to associate the name with the face. Furthermore, by including the name of the album the audience are made aware of what the new album is called so they will be able to go out and buy it in the shops which is also beneficial for the artist due to the fact that this could lead to more sales and more money being made which is beneficial due to the fact that the success of an artist depends on whether or not an audience buy into their music. I feel as though my digipak represents the artist as being old fashioned especially through the use of the colours black and white which connote the idea of the past. I also feel as though the digipak represents the artist as being more personal and talented through the use of a handwritten style font which she implies that she has written the music herself.

This side of the digipak will promote the artist effectively due to the fact that I have included the name of the artist and the name of the album on the CD, therefore they will be constantly reminded of who she is whenever they listen to her music, this is beneficial to the artist due to the fact that it may help to boost her exposure and keep the audience interested in her life. I decided to use dark colours such as black, brown and dark green on the CD due to the fact that both the front and back covers of the digipak also have a lower key lighting, therefore this slide will complement the rest of the digipak. Also, the use of a lower key lighting is also arguably conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often write their own music based on real life experiences, therefore it could be suggested that indie songs often have a deeper meaning to them because they are personal to the artist, therefore the darker colours could imply that through her music the artist is going to express things about her that the audience do not already know. Furthermore, the darker colours could create a sense of mystery about the artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry therefore the audience will not know that much about her and may therefore feel more inclined to want to buy her album and listen to her music in order to get to know more about her. An image of an isolated location such as the forest is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that these places can be easily accessed by the audience, therefore the audience may be able to relate to these places due to the fact that it is possible that they may have been there before themselves. This may also make the artist more relatable because the audience often perceived artists as having lots of money and living expensive lifestyles, however, indie is not the most popular genre of music, therefore indie artists do not make a huge amount of money. I decided to use an image of a forest due to the fact that in the actual music video that we created, some of the scenes take place in a forest such as the running scene and the scattering of the ashes scene, therefore the audience will be able to see a theme that relates the digipak to the music video. For the layout and design of this slide, I decided to position the name of the artist above the name of the album due to the fact that this is the same way the names are set out on the front cover of the digipak, therefore the two slides complement each other and can be identified as part of the same product. Furthermore, the use of the two different fonts (DK Lemon and Autumn Chant) are the same as the two fonts used on the front cover of the digipak, therefore the audience will be able to see that there is a clear theme throughout the digipak, and therefore all of the sides will complement each other. The audience may also find the digipak more interesting because it does not all look the same, and the change in fonts show clearly what the name of the artist is and what the name of the album is, that way the audience have no doubt. Furthermore, the use of a handwritten font (Autumn Chant) is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own songs that are often based on real life experiences, therefore the audience may feel as though they will get to know more about the artist by listening to her music. I was inspired to use this style of font after analysing Gabrielle Aplin's digipak because this style made the digipak feel more personal to her like she had taken the time to write the information herself. Also, the language used on the CD is very informative such as the name of the artist and the name of the album which means the audience can know clearly what type of music they can expect to hear due to the fact that they may associate the name with the indie genre, if they already know who she is. Also, they may recognise the artist or some of her music due to the fact that artists often release singles before the whole album, therefore they may have already heard some of her songs and like them. The use of an image of the forest could represent the artist as being quite mysterious which she is in the sense that she is knew to the music industry, therefore the audience will not know that much about her, however, they will be able to find out more about her by listening to her music because indie artists often write their own music based on real life experiences, therefore her songs may give the audience an insight into her private life.

This side profile image of the artist laughing will appeal to the target audience due to the fact that this could be an image of the artist that may only be available on the digipak which may make it feel more valuable to the audience because there is the idea that not everybody will have bought the album, therefore not everybody will be able to see this image of her. The audience may also like how happy she looks in the image which will also promote the artist effectively due to the fact that the audience can clearly see how she is feeling; therefore, her facial expressions may suggest to them that she enjoys what she does or that the songs on her album will make the audience feel happy too, which may interest them into buying the album. The colour of the image is black and white which I felt was more conventional to the indie genre compared to if I had left it in colour due to the fact that indie is known as being an old fashioned genre of music and the colours black and white connotes the idea of the past. Furthermore, there is a low key lighting theme that can be seen throughout the digipak which therefore makes my choice of colours feel more purposeful and will show the audience that there is a specific mood and could foreshadow what the style of music is going to be like. The side image of the artist is arguably subversive in the sense that the audience are not given a clear visual of what the artist looks like, however, she is a mystery in the sense that she is new to the music industry, therefore the audience will not know that much about her, this may therefore entice the audience to want to buy the album due to the fact that indie artists often write their own songs based on real life experiences which make it easier for the audience to get to know more about their personal life. I decided to use this side profile image of the artist laughing due to the fact that the visuals of her laughing implies that she is happy, which could suggest to the audience that the music on the album is going to make them feel happy, too, this is because indie artist often write songs based on how they feel and the lyrics clearly show the audience how they were feeling while they were writing the music. I was inspired to use this image after analysing Ed Sheeran's advert for his album '+' which features an image of him laughing which made him look happier and more relatable to the audience. Also, the photo looked more candid compared to had it been taken by a professional photographer for the purpose of the magazine advert, which I felt the audience would be able to relate to more due to the fact that not many people will be able to relate to the lifestyle that celebrities live who often have photographers taking pictures of them. The image is a close up of the artist therefore it takes up the entire square which means the audience can clearly see only her which could imply that she is the most important aspect of this slide, therefore this slide is entirely based on promoting her to the audience which is beneficial because she is new to the music industry, therefore the audience are likely to be curious to find out more about her in order to build a relationship with her. The artist needs to establish an audience who are going to buy her music which will help to make her career more successful, due to the fact that more fans will lead to more views of her songs and more money being made. There is no writing included on this particular slide of the digipak, which therefore causes the artist to be the main focus and most important aspect of this side which is arguably subversive of the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often care more about exposing their music to larger audiences rather than being concerned with what they look like and keeping up with current fashion trends due to the fact that they write their music themselves, therefore the lyrics relate to their lives and are more personal to them. This is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that the genre does not fit into the mainstream, which is why indie artists are often perceived as always being on the road for gigs in order to expose their music to a larger audience. I feel as though this side of the digipak represents the artist as being a happy person through the use of the visuals of her smiling, which could make the audience feel as though her music will give off good vibes and that they will want to listen to her songs over and over again, therefore the album is worth buying.

The image itself will appeal to the audience due to the fact that in the image she is looking towards the ground which will create a sense of mystery about her because they cannot clearly see her facial expressions or how she is feeling, therefore they may be curious to find out more about her. Furthermore, the audience are shown what the names of her songs are, all of which have quite personal names such as ‘Please don’t say you love me’ which could imply that they will have a deeper meaning behind them. Also, some of her songs including ‘Panic chord’ will have been released before the album itself, therefore if the audience have listened to these songs before and like them they will be more likely to want to buy the whole album. The names of her songs on the back cover will promote her music which is beneficial as the music is the most important aspect to indie artists due to the fact that they often write their own songs based on real life experiences which therefore makes the music more personal to them. An indie artist will want to sell their music to as many people as they can because indie is not the most popular genre of music, therefore indie artists will not make a huge amount of money which is why they are often perceived as always being on the road gigging in order to increase their exposure cheaply but on a wide scale. Furthermore, singles are often released prior to the release of the whole album, therefore if the audience have heard some of her songs and like them they will be more likely to want to buy the entire album in order to listen to the songs that were not released as singles which could result in more sales for the artist and more money being made, this could also increase an artist’s chances of being successful. For the colours I decided to use a lower key lighting for the image of the artist by lowering the brightness in order to give it more of an old fashioned feel which I felt would be more conventional because indie is often perceived as being more vintage and as not fitting into the mainstream like the pop genre which connotes the idea of bold, bright colours such as pink. Also, the audience can clearly see that the artist is wearing a grey, long sleeved top that is not revealing at all which arguably represents her as being more relatable because she does not come across as caring about current fashion trends and wearing designer brands, which some of the audience may not be able to afford. Furthermore, because the writing is white and has a white outer glow, the darker background enables the information to stand out clearly on the image which is beneficial to the artist due to the fact that the music is really important to them due to the fact that they write their own songs which makes them more personal, therefore they will want to give it as much exposure as they possibly can. Also, this allows the audience to know what to expect to hear on the album who may have already listened to some of the songs such as ‘Please don’t say you love me’ that were released as singles before the album itself, therefore if they liked those songs they will be more likely to want to buy and listen to the whole album. Furthermore, the use of the colour white for the written information could connote the idea of innocence, which relates to the artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore she is yet to become a product and does not know what to expect when it comes to the release of her album, she has to rely on the exposure that she is receiving through her digipak. In the image of the artist she is not looking directly at the camera which creates a sense of mystery about her, however, she is a mystery in the sense that she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know that much about her. The audience may feel as though they will get to know more about her by listening to her music due to the fact that indie artists often write their own songs based on real life experiences, therefore the audience will have to buy the album in order to find out more about her. This is arguably shown by how personal the names of her songs are such as ‘Please don’t say you love me’ and ‘Home’ which sound as though they relate directly to the artist. The image of the barcode was used to show the audience that it is an item that can be bought in stores which I felt would make the product feel more personal to the audience because they can own it individually, however, the image is only small due to the fact that it is one of the least important aspects of the slide. I also included a small image of the Parlophone record label logo to show the audience who my artist is signed to in order to ensure that the label get their recognition for their contribution to the artist’s success due to the fact that they are arguably the foundation for their career because record labels often provide their artists with funds and promotion in order to expose them and their music to an audience who are going to buy into their music and aid their success. I positioned the name of the record label and barcode in the corner of this side due to the fact that they are arguably the least important aspects of the digipak therefore I wanted the audience to pay more attention to the image of the artist which was placed in the centre of the page, drawing the audience in to looking at her and giving them a clear view of her face. I also wanted the name of her songs to catch the audience’s attention which is why I made the information bold by using a white outer glow, however, I did position the songs names slightly off to one side in order to ensure that they didn’t cover the artist image. It was important for me to make these specific sections stand out due to the fact that the audience are more likely to know who she is and some of the songs that she has released as singles, rather than the record label that she is signed to, therefore they will be more likely to stop in a shop if they see an image of her or if they recognise the song. I have used an outer glow for most of the written information throughout the digipak in order to help the most important aspects to stand out, for example, on this particular slide I used a white outer glow because I felt that, against the darker background, the white would help the writing to stand out, allowing the audience to clearly read what the song names are. At first, I struggled with getting the written information to stand out against the image of the artist, due to the fact that the background was so dark, however, after experimenting with the font setting (fx) I realised that the outer glow was good for helping the important information such as her song names to stand out. The language used on the back cover is very informative, for example, I included the song names that feature of the album such as ‘Salvation’ due to the fact that some of the songs will have been released as singles before the album itself, therefore if the audience have listened to and like some of the songs, they will be more likely to want to buy the entire album, which benefits the artist as it is more likely that the audience will buy the whole album which enables them to make more of a profit. Indie is not the most popular genre of music due to the fact that it does not fit into the mainstream, therefore indie artists do not make as much money as the artists within the more mainstream genres such as pop and rap do. The use of a handwritten font for the song names could suggest that all of the songs on the album have been written by the artist herself which is conventional due to the fact that indie artists often base their music on real life experiences which also suggests that all of the songs are related to her and are about her life which means the audience will be able to find out more about her by listening to her music.

This image will appeal to the target audience because of how relaxing and easy to look at it is, due to that fact that there is no deeper meaning, therefore there is nothing for them to have to think about. Also, the image compliments the rest of the digipak through the use of low key lighting, which I felt helped to create a sense that there is a deeper meaning behind the album, which may intrigue the audience to want to find out what that is. This conforms to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often write their own music based on real life experiences, therefore they are likely to have a deeper meaning and tell the audience things they may not already know about the artist. The use of natural colours such as the green from the grass in the background helps the artist to come across as being more realistic due to the fact the way the audience are seeing the image is the same was she would have; therefore, this implies that there are no special effects used to make the image appear better than what it actually is. This conforms to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is not a mainstream genre of music, therefore indie artists will not make a load of money that can be spent on special effects or studios that they can hire out to film in. Having said that, I did tone down the brightness of the image in order to create more of a lower key lighting which helps this side to complement the rest of my digipak which has a darker theme. The use of a lower key lighting arguably conforms to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music, therefore they are likely to have a deeper meaning to them because they are so personal to the artist, and the lighting therefore arguably foreshadows the mood of her songs such as ‘Salvation’ which may cause the audience to feel as though they are going to find out more about the artist, which will appeal to them because she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know that much about her and the artist herself needs to establish an audience who are going to buy into her music and enable her to succeed in the music industry. The audience can see that there is no writing on this particular side of the digipak due to the fact that the image of her hand takes up the entire square which is arguably what I want the audience to focus on. I chose this image of her hand, firstly due to the fact that there is a short scene in the music video of the artist walking through a field, dragging her hands through the branches, therefore the audience will be able to see a relationship between my digipak and the music video itself. Furthermore, this image feels more indie, which will help to make my digipak recognisable within the indie genre as they can see that she is in an easily accessible location which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that it is cheaper in the sense that the artist does not have to pay to film there, which is beneficial to them because indie is not a mainstream genre of music, therefore indie artists will not make a huge amount of money that they can spend on special effects or filming in studios with green screens. Also, these are locations that the audience could have been to themselves, which helps to make this side of the digipak more relatable. This side of the digipak represents the artist as being quite mysterious in the sense that they are unable to see her face, however, she is arguably mysterious due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore the audience may not know that much about her, which will also help to promote the artist into the music industry.

This side of the digipak promotes the artist due to the fact that I have included a mid-shot image of her face, which allows the audience to be reminded of what she looks like and by continuing to show the audience images of the artist they will become familiar with her face and will be more likely to recognise her if they see her image in other aspects of the media such as a magazine. Also, she is standing in a setting that looks similar to a performance scene that can be found in the actual music video, therefore the audience will be able to relate my digipak to the video which helps to promote the music video we created, too. Furthermore, the message itself will appeal to the audience due to the fact that this side of the digipak was created with only the audience in mind, therefore they may feel as though the artist thinks about them and appreciates them and it will feel more personal because this is the closest some of them will get to meeting and talking to her. The audience will be able to see that the message is positioned on top of an image of the artist, therefore the audience will be able to relate the message to her which I felt helped to give the message more of a personal meaning and clearly showed them that the words were her own. Similar to all of the other sides of my digipak, this image was also made a lower key by toning down the brightness of the image, however, the audience will still be able to see her face which was made possible by the orange outer glow around her hair which helped to highlight her face. The orange outer glow arguably draws the audience in to looking at the image because it helps to highlight her face, and it also helps to make the digipak feel more realistic due to the fact that the lighting is natural where the audience can see that she is standing outside. This is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is not a mainstream genre of music, therefore indie artists do not have the money to spend on special effects and hiring out studios. Furthermore, due to the positioning of the image in comparison to the message they will then notice the message due to how it stands out and feel to curious to see what it reads. Having said that, I still managed to keep the written information the most important aspect due to the fact that the colour of the actual font is white, which could connote the idea of innocence which relates to the artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore she has yet to become a product and does not know how well her album is going to sell because she has yet to establish an audience who are going to buy into her music. There is also a black outer glow around the message to the artist, a colour which contrasts the white which helps the message to stand out and prevents it from getting overpowered by the image. This is arguably conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are perceived as caring more about their music rather than keeping up with current fashion trends, which is down to the fact that indie artists write their own music, therefore the lyrics are more personal and realistic to their lives, and in that sense they are exposing themselves to their audience. The use of the font ‘Autumn Chant’ which looks similar to a handwritten font helps the message from the artist to feel more personal due to the fact that it looks as though she has taken the time to write the message herself, which may therefore make the audience feel as though she cares about them. This is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music, therefore this may suggest to the audience that this artist writes her own music to, which further helps to make the digipak feel more personal and implies that by listening to her music the audience will get to know more about the artist, which is beneficial to her because she is knew to the music industry, therefore not many people will know that much about her or will know if they like her music; every artist needs an audience to sell their music to. This side of the digipak is arguably the most personal and will be the most valuable to the audience due to the fact that it was created with the audience in mind, for example, the word ‘I’ makes it feel as though the message is coming directly from the artist herself to the people reading, and the word ‘you’ makes the message feel personal to the audience who may feel as though she is speaking directly to them, rather than to the hundreds of other people who may have also bought the album. The message itself helps to give the audience the impression that the artist appreciates them which is important for the artist due to the fact that they would not be successful if an audience did not buy into their music. I decided to use this image of the artist standing in the cornfield because I liked the way her eyes appeared as though she was looking directly at the audience, over the message from her to them. This I felt helped me to make my digipak feel more personal due to the fact that it looked as though the artist was speaking directly towards them individually, which arguably made the digipak more valuable because not everyone will have the chance to meet her, however this message could be similar to something she would say if they ever did meet. The image had to act as a background for the message to the audience due to the fact that they would not have been able to see it had it been the other way round. Also, by positioning the writing in front of her face the audience were still able to see the image but it didn’t take away from the message itself which was the most important aspect of this side due to the fact that it feels more personal to the audience and comes directly from the artist herself.

The main struggle that I faced when using Photoshop was ensuring that the written information on the advert could be seen over the image of the artist which I realised depended on the brightness of the image. After experimenting with the colours, I decided to give my advert a black and white theme to it rather than keeping the image in colour like I had planned to do due to the fact that these are more solid colours and all other colours can be seen over the top of them, therefore I had more choice of the colour font I could use. Furthermore, I also struggled with finding a font that I felt complimented the advert, however, in order to overcome this struggle I had to go onto the website 'dafont' to download different types of fonts that I felt were more conventional to the indie genre such as typewriter and handwritten which were styles that I was inspired to use after analysing Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert for her album 'English rain' as I felt that these styles helped her advert to appear more vintage and personal which is conventional as the indie genre is often perceived as being more old fashioned, and indie artists are known for writing their own music which is based on real life experiences. On the other hand, after establishing how to use the software and what the software included, I decided to experiment with the effects for the fonts, for example, I added an outer glow to the written information that I felt was the most important such as the artist name in order to help the information to stand out, ensuring that the audience would read it. I also experimented with the colours of the digipak, for example, I used white for the writing itself with a black outer glow due to the fact that I felt the best way to make the writing stand out was by using contrasting colours. These colours are also conventional to the indie genre which is often perceived as being old fashioned, and these particular colours connote the idea of the past.
In conclusion, I feel as though the majority of my digipak conforms to the indie genre, for example, the use of the colours black and white are conventional because the indie genre is often perceived as being old fashioned and as not fitting into the mainstream and these specific colours could connote the idea of the past which will be more personal to the artist due to the fact that there may be things that the audience may not know about her. Furthermore, indie artists often write their own music which is based on real life experiences and most of her songs such as 'Home', 'Please don't say you love me' and 'Salvation' all have personal names which could imply that they are going to be about her life and personal to her, which may interest the audience into wanting to listen to them. Also, the use of a close up image of the artist is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often write their own music based on real life experiences and close up images are arguably more personal due to the fact that the audience can clearly see how the artist is feeling, therefore she is exposed in the sense that the image is all about her and all the audience can see is her. Furthermore, the use of a handwritten font will help the digipak to feel more personal to artist because it looks as though the artist has written the information herself, which is conventional in the sense that indie artists often write their own music which is based on real life experiences that allow the audience to get to know more about them due to the fact that the words relate to their life. The digipak allows the audience to build a relationship with the artist due to the fact that it includes several images of the artist that allow them to clearly see what she looks like and how she is feeling. Also, some of these images may only be found on the digipak, therefore the audience may feel as though they are more valuable because not everybody will own the album, therefore not everybody will be able to see these images. Furthermore, the name of the songs such as 'Home' and ‘Salvation’ imply that the album is going to be personal to the artist, therefore the audience may feel as though they are going to get to know more about the artist if they listen to her music. The digipak will appeal to the target audience, firstly, by how is represents the artist as being more relatable through the use of natural lighting and close up images of her face due to the fact that these suggest that she is not trying to promote herself as being better than what she actually is. Furthermore, the audience will like how personal the digipak is through the use of the message to the audience, the close up images which expose her and the names of the songs such as 'Home' also give the digipak more of a personal feel which is conventional because indie artists are known for writing their own songs, therefore the audience are likely to feel as though they relate to the artist herself.