Research and Planning - ADVERT: Drafts of Adverts

Drafts of adverts

Once we identified the details that we associated with our music video and advert such as the artists name, album title, key singles, release date and other generic conventions associated with the advert, we created drafts of our advert. This allowed us to make numerous changes after receiving feedback from our target audience, this helped us make the final advert effective and suitable to meet the target audience's standards, encouraging them to promote the album through either word of mouth or social media, which would make more people aware of the album. We identified the importance of an advert as it will be exposed to a mass audience and is used to encourage them to buy a product. Therefore, we understand that the presentation our advert and use of conventions are vital to ensure the album and artist's success. 

Draft 1:

Analyse your use of conventions using PEER:

• An image is included of my main artist who is wearing dark clothing and a hat, he is not facing the camera and is looking up. This is portrayed in a long shot cropped down to a portrait shot to fit the size of an advert. This is conventional as it gives off the theme of hope and makes the artist look mysterious.

• The background image is very simple with only the grass, some trees and the sky to be seen, this is so the artist is the focal point of the image.

• The layout of the information is neat and the information does not look too cluttered. This draws the audience to the advert as there is not too much to read on the advert.

• The information I have included is conventional which is the artist name, album name, key singles, the release date as well as the parental advisory label. This information is all relevent to the proper release of the advert and is therefore conventional so the audience are aware of the most important things.

• No sub images are included, this is to avoid confusion.

• The unconventional part of this advert draft is the theme of hope and the lack of star image on this advert as the artist is seen looking up and appears to be praying.

• Adorno and popular culture - The advert generally follows convention to appeal to a mass audience, however the image of the artist is unconventional as he is not appealing in the advert due to not looking into the camera which is conventional. The advert is targeted for the masses but due to it being the genre of hip hop it may not appeal to the bourgeoise.

• This advert allows my artist to promote their different ideologies and values as he is dressed as a typical young working class male and can be seen as promoting the idea of hope.

Audience feedback - Natalie, 18.

What did you like about it?

Image is very interesting and shot well

Typography is clear and is consistent with digipak as well 

Release date, artist title and album title is clear.

What did you not like about it?

Cannot see artists face

Typography colour does not go well with the image

How can it be improved?

Consider changing typography colour

Consider changing image as artist image is not clear of who he is.

Add where I can stream and buy the album

Draft 2:

Analyse use of conventions using PEER

• I have included an image of my artist and he is looking away, this shows that he is mysterious and can promote the idea that the audience should find out more about him.

• The artist image shows him wearing a hoody and tracksuit bottoms with the hood up, this is so that he is shown as a typical young working class male and therefore can relate to a mass audience and is he relatable to the target audience.

• The typography can be seen as promoting the theme of sadness and death, which are the themes of the album although there are others.

• The advert itself is in black and white or grayscale, this is to show how varied the album is as white could represent purity and innocence while black could represent darkness and have negative connotations.

• The fonts and the information on the advert is clear and and neat , there is little information on the advert itself so people can stop to read it easily.

• The language I have used is simple so that our target audience who are mainly working class people are able to understand it properly.

• There are no sub images, confusion is prevented this way.

• Adorno and popular culture - this follows popular culture as it is a conventional advert with simple imagery and text and therefore appeals to a mass audience. The image of the artist is typical for the hip hop genre and a lot of the audience can be drawn in this way. The advert is targeted for the masses but due to it being the genre of hip hop it may not appeal to the bourgeoise.

• Dyer's star image, star image is evident in this advert as the artist is clear in the advert so he can become a recognisable brand.

Audience feedback - Daniel, 20.

What do you like about it?

The black and white editing is done well as it is not too much of either

The artist image is clear

I can see where I can buy and stream the album

What do you not like about it?

The typography is a bit too dark and does not clearly contrast with the background image

The layout is cluttered

How can it be improved?

Change the colour of some of the text

The key singles should be clearer

The layout should be spread out more

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the drafting process has been vital as it has helped us develop our product further based on the feedback we received. We were able to make some changes and come to a decision on which draft we were to use. Our final advert was conventional enough to appeal to the mass audience and our target audience and certain parts of it such as the clothes the artist wears and the editing used on the advert allowed for us to target niche audiences. We picked draft 2 as we thought it was extremely important to promote our artists star image to ensure he becomes a well known brand, especially as it is his debut studio album. If we had not drafted our advert we may have made an unsuccessful advert which would not have reflected our genre and may not have reached the target audience the way we had hoped for.

Research and Planning - ADVERT: Advert Information

Advert information:

What information will you include in your advert?

Album name:

The name of the album will be "Changes", this is a quick and easy to remember title, which will also hopefully intrigue the audiences as the tracks on the album relate to this title.

Release date:

Our chosen release date will be 27th January 2017, this is right after the 10th January press campaign and the 14th January TV launch. The TV launch should help the artist get as much recognition as possible prior to the album release. The album will also be released on a Friday which has been specifically chosen as most albums are released on Friday's to ensure as many people are able to listen to it.

Downloading availability:

We have reached out to well known streaming sites and have come to an agreement to stream the album on the following, Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, Amazon Prime Music and Google Play Music. These are all also available to download provided customers have the correct subscriptions. All of these services have the most number of users which is within the millions, it will therefore allow the artist to become a lot more successful and easy to reach. Giving the audience multiple platforms or applications to download the album on can ensure success.

Key singles:

Die Too Young, Culture and Mortality. These are key singles as they have taken the longest to record and are the first songs written by the artist. These songs also have the widest appeal for our target audience, also express the themes the most out of the whole album, although the whole album does so.

Explicit lyrics label:

We will be including the explicit lyrics label as some of the songs do contain profanity and some sexual language, it is important to inform the audience that the album is not suitable for listeners under the age of 18 or those without parental supervision.

Setting of image:

Images will be captured outdoors, and with brighter backgrounds to express the theme of hope. The text and the background colour however may be contrasting to this to show how varied the album is in terms of tone. Overall the images will be engaging and unique to conventional hip hop album adverts.

Costume, hair and makeup:

The artist usually wears darker clothing and on a day to day basis wears typical clothing as a young male from an inner city. This means he will be sporting tracksuits and large jackets and a hat, this should show the artist as someone who is conserved as he is upset inside and has been through a lot, but the contrast with the brighter background can show that he is able to express himself.

Cinematography:

After studying existing adverts, we learned that most of the images captured are close up or medium shots of the artist, this is to make sure that they are the focal point of the album and the advert. This is suitable for the star image of the artist but may not express the theme of the album as much. We will most likely vary between long shots and close up shots, ultimately deciding which is more effective for the artist as we believe expressing the themes of the album is very important.

Lighting and colour of advert:

The lighting and colour of the advert will be contrasting as we wish to convey a theme of hope, which can be interpreted very differently if not executed properly. It will not be so contrasting that the advert is difficult to look at, rather it will be unique and eye catching, the artist image should reflect the mood of the album, but the colour and lighting will express the themes. The main colour scheme will involve blue as it is a neutral colour and can be seen as something positive such as hope.

This information is vital as these factors within the advert are essential in contributing to a successful music video.

Research and Planning - ADVERT: Creative Brief

Creative brief for advert:

Who are they?

ME-Ka is a songwriter, singer, record producer and actor who initially was an actor who had minor roles in low budget television movies from the age of 12. At 15 he started singing, songwriting and producing music which lead to underground recognition and recognition within his community. He then began performing at small clubs and small local festivals, eventually releasing 2 EP's and a mixtape on websites such as DatPiff before signing to D-T records, where he then began helping write and produce other artists music from the same label. He has just returned from a European tour and as it had sold out he had established an International status as a hip-hop artist and will release his debut album under the D-T records label.

The album concept:

We wish to establish an album cover that will represent ME-Ka's star image in the best way possible. This is to attract a variety of different audiences between the ages of 18-25, from all ethnic and social backgrounds, but mainly aiming at those of working and skilled working class backgrounds. This is because they are more likely to be able to relate more to the Hip-Hop genre. Our album should be reinforcing ME-Ka's ideologies and beliefs, and hopefully also appeal to hip hop subcultures as well as a mainstream audience. However the designs of the album cover will hopefully be different and not necessarily conventional as it should be unique enough to show the mainstream audience that ME-Ka's style is different. This way it will allow the artist to be even more internationally recognised, to not just ensure domestic  success alone.

Why are we doing it?

We are creating an advert as it is an effective source of synergy which will help advertise and promote the album. We hope that the advert will be perceived by a large, mass audience by being advertised on billboards, magazines, bus stops, buses and as posters on the street, these platforms are all easily accessible by large audiences. The advert should also help the artist gain more recognition by making him more popular within the industry as hopefully be more recognised on social media which will be vital for his come up. The album will hopefully be sold on an international scale as well as domestically, the advert should appeal to the hip hop subcultures as well as a mainstream audience, whether they are already aware of the artist or if they are just looking for new music. To make sure the advert is successful, we will ensure it has usual conventions of adverts for hip hop music artis, such as a clear and appealing image of the artist, with large and clear typography and colours and lighting which will reflect the mood we are trying to put across.

Comparable products;

These adverts can be compared to the advert we are making as they contain the similar colour scheme we wish to use to portray the themes of hope. It also promotes the focal point of the album as there are close ups of the artist, this is important as the album is very self centred on the artist. The lack of facial expression also makes it difficult to read the artists mood and can therefore be interpreted differently.

Audience

The demographics of our target audience include, working and skilled working class people, aged 18-25, any gender and ethnic minority. It is broad therefore it can reach the widest audience and can relate to as many people as possible. We wish to also educate those about ME-Ka and his roots, coming from a lower/working class background but getting commercial success allowing him to succeed. The advert should help the sales dramatically and the audience should be able to look at the advert and be intrigued by the design of it, as this may be the first time they are seeing this artist.

How will we know that it has worked?

The amount we sell in the first week of the album release, as well as whether it gets on international charts and holds its position, also the general feedback from both critics and audiences. A focus group will be held with people between the ages of 18 and 25 who fit our demographic. They will be shown drafts of the album designs and give us feedback, this allows us to make the correct changes and take on constructive criticism which allows us to create a final draft which will be the most appealing to the target audience. For the album to engage the target audience is very important as it could determine how successful the album is, we will use our feedback to ensure the album is affordable for our audience as well as learn what they like and do not like about it.

Launch dates:

ME-KA's campaign dates:

Press Campaign: 10th January 2017

TV Launch: 14th January 2017

Album release: 27th January 2017

Limitations that may occur:

Consistency may be an issue when making the three products for the digipak, to ensure this though we must continually update and keep editing the products to make sure the lighting, typography, themes the digipak follows are very similar. The advert may not be appealing to everyone, although it follows the theme of hope, it could be interpreted differently and the advert may not engage some audiences. To oppose this we will have to keep the typography interesting and the lighting may have to be slightly different to the digipak for the advert to be more appealing to a mass audience.