Further Research into the Magazine Advert

As i would be advertising for a band tour rather than the release of the digipak (so that i could use and develop newer images rather than exploring new ways to advertise the same images as on the digipak) i thought i should do some extended research into venues and areas.

The Wild Wolves, currently, are playing in venues such as pubs around London, performing small and local tours. I thought that a south-east tour would be enough, as with the release of the digipak they'd have more publicity, and it's closer to home (so they'd be more well known from other local gigs). I decided on locations, then followed up with research into what venue in each location that would be appropriate for performances.

My locations are: Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Cambridge, Norwich, Peterborough, Northampton, Milton Keynes and London (including Watford/Dartford).


I researched various gig websites for the locations via Google, and found out what sort of artists had been playing at a few of the local venues, and what sort of prices they'd be selling for. Obviously, the more well known places and artists (such as our UEA LCR in Norwich) would be considerably more expensive with bigger and more famous artists, and i decided to not place these venues as a chosen one, as the tour would be advertising the rising success of the band, not "keeping up appearances" as it were.

Chelmsford
Here i found The Twist (a gig venue for up and coming or well established artists such as Enter Shikari or Bring Me The Horizon - completely the wrong genre for our band meaning it would be advertised to the wrong demographic, resulting in low ticket sales), St Anne's ("haunted" venue with camping and live music nights - this venue seemed to casual and promotional for our sort of tour) and High Barn (unique venue for live music and filming, promoting many different genres, seemingly the best bet for chelmsford especially with the "Indie" genre - unique) which is the chosen venue.

Colchester

Colchester websites showed me 2 main venues, the Sky Rooms and the Arts Centre. The Sky Rooms was home to a club with some live performances, which did not seem suitable with the Indie-folk genre of our band. The Arts Centre however was home to live music, theatre productions and poetry, an all-rounder with similar bands to The Wild Wolves performing, so i chose this as Venue 2.

Ipswich

Ipswich was home to The Regent, Cherry Tree Inn and the Riverlodge. The Regent had performing artists such as Tinchy Stryder and Peter Andre, a common theme of Pop (with some rock), which was definately not the right scene for the band I would be promoting with the advert. The Cherry Tree Inn was home to live music, however these acts were local and "background entertainment" which wasn't the right promotion for the band. Riverlodge was a live music venue for up and coming artists, with live music every weekend/weekday and an open mic night on a Tuesday. This seemed much more suitable for the band for a weekend (or weekday) so this is Venue 3.

Cambridge

The corner house, The Red House and The Rock appeared here. The Red house was home to piano and jazz music, and The Rock was so named due to its rock performances, both of which were unsuitable for our genre. The Corner House however was home to electric acoustic music, and "sweet" Indie-folk music, which is exactly the venue genre we were looking for, hence my decision for Venue 4.


Norwich

Norwich has 3 main gig venues, UEA LCR, Waterfront and the B2. The UEA as mentioned above usually holds bands that are already very famous, which is unsuitable for the promotion of our band. The B2 is home to extremely small bands trying to make it, within the rock or screamo genre, which is the wrong grounds for The Wild Wolves. The Waterfront however, is a local venue for local small bands, or mildly famous bands (mainly for the Indie genre) which seemed much more appropriate for the genre and the price.


Peterborough

A choice between Met Lounge (Larger Indie bands from NME tours), The Dragon (live music weekends for all genres) and Blackfriars arts centre (Indie/Rock genre) led me to chooce the Brackfriars Arts Centre as this would be for smaller bands (but not too small) and the venue would appriciate the right genre of our band.


Northampton

Out of The Roadmender, a venue for larger Indie bands, Club Revolution, a club venue for dance music, or famous DJ's and Sunnyside Northampton, a venue who like Indie and catchy music but don't like heavy metal, the latter here seemed to fit the best with our genre (especially as we think our song is extremely catchy).


Milton Keynes
The Albion Arms is a pub venue which promotes new acts - this seemed quite good for The Wild Wolves for the promotion tour, however i didn't feel the pub venue would fit in with the tour. The Spice Lounge venue is a club, playing live music on weekends, however the genre of these live acts are usually Pop or Dance. The Stables venue was similar to The Albion Arms as a music venue, however it's not a pub but a separate venue specialising in gigs, making it a better choice as a venue.

Watford
Watford was home to Loudwater Farm (which held dancing shows), The Horns (where an R.E.M cover band were performing who had appeared in BBC's 'The One Show' - again, the wrong genre and image for our band) and The Drawing Room (who specified a dislike for cover bands and described themselves as an intimate live music venue with an outside space for 200 people - which seemed to fit the style of The Wild Wolves Indie-Folk genre, and the fact that it will be a summer tour - so the space outside could be used).


Reading
Plug N Play Studios was unsuitable due to its obvious genre (and the genre of the bands playing - Hip Hop/R'n'B) and Mango followed the same pattern. The Rising Sun Arts Centre however seemed to be the most suitable venue for the band.

Further Ideas for Digipak - Photos

Below are photos from a new photoshoot, edited with a "black & white" tool (using microsoft word's "format picture" tool). This tool has created a similar effect to shadows, relating them to the shadow puppetry in our music video, yet using the same actor posing as the band member from the real life section of the video.
Here is an example:

The following picture has also been edited with Snapfire (a photo editing program on my laptop) to make the picture browner, and more neutral, to fit in with a colour sceme of woodland (browns). This has been done with the sepia tool and warmth adjustment.

The next photo also has a similar colour set, this time edited in Paint, adding in text with different "fun" and "casual" fonts to suit the name of each song (along with the colouring of the names). This is a possibility for the backcover of the Digipak.

The next picture is another version of the above, however with a lighter and brighter colour (the green background). I made this one to explore the use of colours with the Black & White shadows, to see the effect (like certain album covers, e.g: Paolo Nutini).

This next picture is another possibility for the backcover of the Digipak, with the names of the tracks on the CD. This time the picture is just simple black and white, showing the artist smiling, wearing a generic costume of a chequered shirt and a simple t-shirt underneath. I chose this t-shirt for the actor as i thought when i edited the pictures to Black & White, the t-shirt logo would stand out as it was black on white.

This picture (same photograph as above) is a different approach, as i would like to use this image for the front cover with the artist name instead of the above picture, with the track names for a backcover. I think this picture would be more suited for a front cover as it clearly shows the artists face, and markets the image quite well. Also, the artist has a happy fun expression, drawing the audience to the personality perhaps.

The following 2 photos were experiments, as i'm not sure if i will use photos of a piano/keyboard. I like how the key stand out from the picture, and the last picture is a coloured version of the first. This was to again, explore the coloured possibilities, to make the Digipak cover stand out to the audience more.

As you can see, i have included the actors face in these photos, as the Digipak is created to market the band/artist, which i hope these pictures do. They are mainly mid shots and close up, as this will show the artist, to market him directly to the audience (as does the music video).

Magazine Research

NME – New Musical Express
NME is a weekly music magazine, originally published in 1952. The main genre through the 70s was punk rock, although when the magazine experienced sales troubles it touched on the hip-hop and pop genres.
In 2002, the magazine reasserted its position with newer bands such as The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Vines & The Libertines. The magazine now focuses on new Indie British bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party & Arctic Monkeys. In 2008 the magazine also started including softer bands like Coldplay, although still keeping to the Indie genre.
NME also organise a wide variety of tours for up and coming bands, including Rock, Rave and Indie tours. The tour names refer to the genre of music of the bands, such as “ShockWaves NME Indie Rock Tour” and “ShockWaves NME Indie Rave Tour”. These tours have included bands such as The Big Pink, Florence & The Machine, The Ting Tings and La Roux.

Outline
Outline magazine is also hugely based online with their “Outline Online” website. It is a local magazine mainly featuring bands, gig reviews, photos and listings from Norwich and Cambridge. On their website they have a music drop down list, with live reviews, album reviews, band reviews and a Local Band list (the reviews also partially featured in the magazine).The website is also linked with Blogger, FaceBook, Twitter and MySpace.
The main Genres of the bands features in Outline are Indie, Rock, Punk and Indie Rock, with local Norwich bands such as The Kabeedies and The Lost Levels.

Q
Q is a monthly music magazine, dating back to 1986, originally sub-titled as “The modern guide to music and mode”. The magazine includes many interviews with popular artists, and a Review section that evaluates new releases, radio broadcasts, TV music, live performances and reissues. Q produces a special magazine every other month, usually specializing on a specific genre/musical times or a specific influential musician/artist. Q is sister with Mojo magazine (which will be mentioned below) and Empire, a film magazine.
Inside the magazine promotional gifts are given away, in the form of cover-mounted CD’s or books, and there is a section called Q50; Q’s 50 essential music tracks of the month.

Mojo
Mojo, the sister of Q (above), was first issued in 1993, with cover stars of Bob Dylan and John Lennon (The Beatles). More modern issues have included The White Stripes, Radiohead, Oasis and Bjork, having stayed with similar styles of music (Indie-Rock/Older style Indie and Rock-Pop). The magazine includes a CD which ties in with the theme of the magazine or a certain article within the magazine.

Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a popular Rock magazine, with original cover bands like AC/DC. Modern issues have featured Fall out Boy, Biffy Clyro, Paramore, 30 Seconds to Mars, YMA6 and Lost Prophets.
The magazine features band posters, band/music news and reviews of new bands, live performances and albums. The main genres featured in Kerrang! revolve around Rock, with extras being Nu Metal (Linkin’ Park/Limp Bizkit) and Heavy Rock (Machine Head).
Kerrang! also does music tours (similar to NME), however these tours keep within the Rock genre. These tours have featured bands such as All Time Low and My Passion – Heavy Rock/Emo bands.
The magazine also has a yearly CD featuring this genre of music, mainly from bands that have featured in the magazine over the year.

Look - recommendations page for music (like other fashion mags)
Look is a fashion magazine with a musical recommendation page. The fashion is mainly "high street", "affordable" and "up-to-the-minute" with shopping advice, celebrity style/news and real life stories. The celebrity news in the magazine suggest more of a Pop genre (if we were to label the celebrity news), leading to the genre of the recommendations they make.

Pop music magazines such as "Smash Hits"
Smash Hits was an extremely popular music magazine for hit music, pop tunes and boy/girl bands (Boyzone, Cheeky Girls, etc.). Smash Hits stopped publishing in 2006, and seems to be replaced by magazines such as Heat - tuning audiences to celebrity gossip/news about pop stars, rather than focusing on the pop's music.

Research Into Target Audience - Initial Research

Revised: Digipak Research

To begin planning my Digipak i researched other artists albums who had a similar genre to that of The Wild Wolves. Initially i mainly looked to the front covers of the albums (as they are usually the first impression, and the back-cover/inside relates to the front) and found some pictures that i have posted below. I thought that by looking at a group of front covers by similar artists, I could establish and utilise any generic conventions seen in their album pictures.

This first CD cover belongs to James Morrison's first album, Undiscovered. James Morrison's music is little like The Wild Wolves, as it is more Indie-Pop than Indie-Folk, however he supports the Indie-Folk/Pop image with his soulful Indie music. This album cover is a simple image of him, the artist, marketing him to his new audience. The space in the picture includes his name and the album name, and there is a lighting effect/lens flare from the top right corner behind the artists head.

This next album cover belongs to Florence & The Machine - a relatively new "big" Indie band that has risen quickly in popularity. This album cover prominently focuses on the image of the lead singer (Florence) and the title of the album, "Lungs", with the text and the added imagery of a paid of lungs hanging from her neck like a necklace. This shows the bands Indie genre by developing a unique and interesting album cover whilst still focusing on the band - a marketing requirement.

The above 2 pictures (Jamie Cullum, Bob Marley) sport the artists face taking up the majority (and nearly the whole) of the mise-en-scene. This clearly shows the marketing aspect to the album, and also how important the image (and style) of the artist is. Each album cover has it's own unique feel to it, with Cullum's being cast purple and Marley's emphasising the warm colours (representative of Folk music).

Paolo Nutini's work is more colourful than the other productions (with Cullum's being just one flow of purple). Nutini also displays the animation side in his productions, which relate to his one animated music video and his genre (with animation and Indie becoming more strongly linked). These album covers above show his sense of his own music (colourful) and focus on how he is portrayed to the audience - animated, friendly, holding a guitar...

An image of the artist is shown in all of the above album covers - telling me that for a successfully Indie album cover, I must focus the mise-en-scene directly upon the artist, whether this is a large shot of the artists face, or a recurring image of the artist as seen in Nutini's "these streets" album cover.

Another recurring idea throughout the productions is the unique addition to the digipak - and the relation it has with a music video produced by the artist. This tells me that to make the digipak as attractive as possible, I should make a connection between the imagery on my digipak, and the imagery in my music video, to encode a personal flare of the artist into the print productions. This has given me a wide variety of ideas regarding the animation in our music video, which can be a strong link between productions, and a strong unique factor to my digipak.

Disney President: Simba

Simba (The Lion King)

Simba, the King, son of the late King Mufasa, is a perfect candidate for the President of Disney. Simba already knows and holds great responsibility; leading his tribe, being a father, and having to look after his multiple friends from hunters, bigger animals, or power-hungry relatives (such as his Uncle, Scar).
A Disney President needs to have these qualities. Leadership, compassion and bravery are a must have. The elected Disney President needs to be able to progress with new ideas to promote the company and keep it successful. They also need to be a quick thinker, and develop fair and effective solution. Simba is able to provide all of these, as his experience as a Prince cub and his experience as a King and a loving Father has allowed him to utilise these skills.
Simba's life has not always been smooth, but he is consistent throughout his life of his passion, love and success. Simba is able to make friends with just about anyone (including a Warthog and a Meerkat) and this, combined with his fatherly skills, allows him to lead in a fair and just way.
However, as Simba is a King, this provides him with the opposite skills, of leading the way of survival, and doing what is best for everyone in the long run. This is an exeptional skill for a Disney President, as he will be able to lead a just and long running company, increasing and supporting its popularity.

The Disney President will probably need to be comfortable in the spotlight. Simba is used to this! He has appeared in multiple films and has given special appearances on TV shows (through which he has shown what a good animator he is), showing his connection and passion to the film/TV industry - a good factor for a competitor of a media industry president.
If all of this wasn't enough, Simba is a lion. Lions are known to be brave and logical, two important skills of leadership. He won't be afraid to take risks to keep the company successful, and he will be able to think logically and clearly to develop a solution for any problem.

By the end of this extremely strong campaign for Simba, you should be prepared to vote for Simba, as this would be a vote for success. If that hasn't convinced you, just think, Simba is a talking lion! That would certainly promote Disney to the world - having a brave, strong lion with the gift of human speech!

Goodwin's Music Video Analysis

Andrew Goodwin developed a useful way to analyse music videos, which has proved to be a useful reference point for our own music video analyses. (while writing in "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" - Routledge 1992)


Genre Characteristics
The video should demonstrate genre characteristics, so visual aspects that are suitable to what sort of music that is going with it. For example, a stage performance for a rock video, but then a dance routine with singing for a boy/girl band.

Lyric & Visual Relationship
There is usually a relationship between the two, either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting, to strengthen the song and the music video (so maybe audiences remember/like it more).

Music & Visual Relationship
Similar to the genre characteristics, as visuals connect with the music, and also similar to above, as they can be illustrative (guitar with a guitar solo), amplifying or again, contradicting (for example, Blink 182 is a rock band but made a music video that looked like a boy band, for contradicting humor).

Visual styles
For example, bands and their record labels will need close ups of the artist to sell the artist, or the artist may develop motifs which can recur across their other music videos and other work.

Notion of Looking
Reference to this notion of looking, for example, screens within screens/telescopes, etc.

Voyeuristic Treatment of the Female Body
Nowadays this is obvious in R'n'B music videos or rapping music videos, to demonstrate their wealth/luck and how women want them because of their musical skills.

Intertextual Reference
These references could be to films or even TV programmes with which the music is associated, for example music videos showing film clips are usually in the soundtrack to the film, so the two medias can advertise each other simultaneously.