Magazine Advert

This is the first draft of my magazine advert, I again made it using Adobe Photoshop CS3 editing software which I have made significant improvements on, I am now able to express myself with more creative freedom due to my advances using the software over a number of weeks. I used the same image as I had used for the cover of my digipak in order to retain a sense of continuity and brand identity, so that the band are identifiable to the target demographic. The image was inspired by the cover of Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" - which I have referenced throughout my project and I cite Sheeran's minimalist approach to his work as a huge inspiration to my own. I liked the idea of the girl walking away from the camera alone encompassed in a large environment to make her look all the more isolated.
Although it seems incredibly peculiar and breaks all conventions of my products, I had always had the idea in the back of my mind (ever since I knew I would be using my younger sister as the lone protagonist in my video) that the digipak would bear some resemblance to Eminem's 2010 album "recovery" - it shows the artist walking into the distance within an environment of incredible magnitude in terms of size in order to connote isolation, in the case of Eminem's album it serves as an extended metaphor for the lonely journey he has taken  from drug addiction to sobriety which, although isn't the case in my video, still remains valid for my poster/advert/digipak. The metaphor in my product speaks much more about bullying towards young people and how the youth of today can often be made to feel alienated due to intense pressure thrust upon them by the media forcing them to fit into trends and keep up with the burgeoning developments in fashion, technology, media, social trends etc.

Despite the fact the genre completely contradicts that of the artist I am producing for I felt the image was suitable for my own product, which has meant me risking breaking some conventions by allowing a hip-hop/rap album to inform some of my product research and design it brings a sense of diversity and a more eclectic dimension to my product. I have also framed the protagonist in a similar fashion by deliberately not placing them directly in the centre of the screen, this connotes somewhat a lack of importance and also allows for a more central view of the vanishing point.

However, upon feedback from my teacher (who also analysed and helped me formulate a revised plan for my digipak) noticed that the poster (like my digipak) is actually more of a grey colour rather than black and white - which is the look that I intended to acheive. This meant that I would have to adjust levels and contrast on photoshop to make the image darker and more striking and less dull. it also meant me adapting the elements of chiaroscuro in the image to make it more iconic. Chiaroscuro is merely a photography term that refers to the composition/treatment of light and shade in a picture. I feel that I want the girl to become somewhat of an icon in my video and recognised for certain characteristics so that she literally becomes an icon. I want the protagonist to become a symbol through the way I portray her in the video and the way in which I use certain photos and editing techniques in my ancillary texts - which is why I have chosen to frame her on her own throughout my video and ancillary texts. This makes the girl a sign - a symbol almost which then goes someway to making her indexical: you see the girl and this signifies isolation, that isolation is a theme. This is the approach I've taken to supplement my editing and use semiotics to help convey ideas/codes and conventions to the audience. This may seem quite far fetched, but I believe with the right editing and by further developing my magazine poster I can create a very well improved, revised second draft for my magazine advert.

Another piece of teacher feedback I have to take into account is that he feels the stars on the poster are too big and over elaborate - he said that they draw the viewers attention away from the words "breathtaking" and "album of the year" which are important for the viewer to read when analysing the poster - this is the final change I will have to make for my magazine poster in order to get it to a respectable standard.