Advert Analysis

This advert is the most minimalistic of the three I have analysed, but is effective because of the contrast between the monochrome palette and the splashes of colour. The advert is not overcrowded with text, drawing the eye to the few vital pieces of information included, and focusing on the album cover at the top of the page. The black and white artwork is made to stand out against the dash of pink in the background. The album cover itself is simple in its design; the artist name and the album name are placed over a grey-scale photograph of waves breaking on a rock. The pink text used on the album cover is repeated on the advert, in keeping with the colour scheme, advertising the release date of the album and the release show date only. I like the layout of this advert, and intend to base my own advert, similarly, on the album artwork.

Advert Analysis

This advert was also found in Mojo magazine. Once again, this advert is quite colourful, and contrasts a rich orange with a deep green. The artwork is reflective of the album cover, bearing no relation to the music but attracting the audience to the advert and the album. 

I don't particularly like the way the text has been placed over the background, as it obscures the audience's view of the artwork and makes the advert look too busy, although the light yellow does stand out from the darker colours underneath. The name of the band is written in dark purple and stands out against the orange background, but the album title is larger on the page and is a lighter colour, therefore insinuating that this is the most important piece of information and drawing the eye firstly to this. 

The block of text includes more information than that of the previous advert, stating the release date of the album, availability and featured singles. As before, web addresses are present on the advert for extra information about the band. The lack of variation in the text font and size, as well as the layout, however, subtracts from the information which is being retained by the audience, as it looks like it is quite a lot to read at first glance. 

At the very bottom of the page there are ratings from critically acclaimed magazines, thus boosting the album's reputation and persuading the audience to purchase the product. 

Advert Analysis

The first thing to attract my attention to this advert was the psychedelic colour palette; there is scarcely any text, allowing the audience to focus solely on the important information - the album title, the name of the band, the headline "New Album Out Now" and where to buy. The audience is directed to the product information and is shown where to purchase the product from, without being distracted by unnecessary text cluttering up the background.

The colour of the text has been chosen so it is bold against the colourful background. The name of the band is written in white, whereas the album title is black; this establishes a clear distinction between the two and makes the other stand out. The album title and the name of the band are equal in size, suggesting that they are equally as important.

The album cover is displayed in the middle of the advert, and is separated from the background due to the white border, which is simply a continuation of the artwork. The eye is automatically drawn to the centre, because of this. The advert is almost split in half due to the contrast in colours. The red/orange is bright and first attracts the eye to the album information; the darker blue/purple then catches the audience's attention and draws the eye to the header and the web addresses. By including the Amazon logo, rather than just placing the text in a similar way to the other address, the audience knows from first glance where they can purchase the album from and is drawn to the black box surrounding the address.

Album Adverts

Music Video Effects

Although this song does not fit my chosen genre, the video displays several of the elements I want to capture in my own work (over-saturated colours, white noise images, rewinding of recording tape etc.)

CD Covers #3

CD Covers #2

CD Covers I Like

Audience Feedback

These are the comments I received on my pitch last week. Overall I think the responses were good; my ideas concerning psychedelia, surrealism and the abstract were well regarded by my peers, as well as the use of a shaky camera effect.

After much thought, I have decided to dismiss the idea of including a narrative element within my video, as this will create too much work for myself and possibly take away from the ideas I already have, rather than adding something unnecessarily to the video. 

The saying "less is more" applies here, and a simple performance video would more than likely result in a better video than if I overcomplicated my ideas and tried to achieve something that wasn't possible. By trying to shoot a narrative piece with a non-existent budget and limited software available, the professional style of the music video could be sabotaged in the process. Therefore, I intend to stick to performance, though adding in some shots of the band which are not related to the instruments to break up the song.