Evaluation

Throughout the band identity assignment, I have completed various things such as, an album cover, a band poster and a music video. Many of my ideas started off as simple photographs or videos that have been edited and tweaked to fit the criteria.

Throughout the assignment, I have used my own Sony camera, college's Canon 5D camera and a flip video camera. I have also used blogger to document my assignment and the internet to research.

One problem that I encountered was that any image that I edited in Photoshop, I was not able to put into my blog. I overcame this by selecting 'command', 'shift' and '4' together in order to screen grab it and I was then able to place it into my blog. I also struggled with the text on my album cover. As I originally wanted the text on the left hand side, I tried to rotate it so that it was vertical but it was always at an angle. For some reason, it worked okay on the right side and so I just had to work around this.

Bring Me The Horizon and Bullet For My Valentine had the biggest influence on my assignment. Bring Me... inspired me with their album cover for Suicide Season, which was simple yet extremely effective whilst Bullet inspired me with the fact that most of their band photos were just simply of the band, with very little added effects needed.

Overall, I am fairly pleased with my whole assignment. I feel I did very well with the music video and my album cover but if I had the opportunity to redo any of the assignment, I would reshoot the image for my band poster, adding some colour into it, or alternatively edit it in photoshop.

Videos

We were given a flip video camera and asked to video what we wanted in order to get a feel of using the camera. We all had a go at taking different videos and began to improve our recording skills.

This was the first video we attempted. Whilst it is a little rough around the edges, mainly due to the shaking, I feel it is still a relatively good, short video.

In this video, I feel we have made improvements. We eliminated the shaking by keeping the camera placed on a table and experimented with different positions, such as flipping the camera so that it was upside down, and tried out different effects.

Final Album Cover

This is the image I have chosen to use as my final album front cover.

I completed a shoot in the studio and placed my model onto a vintage style chair.

I tried to make her look and feel relaxed and comfortable.

I like the way the lighting is soft and illuminates her face.

I purposefully positioned the chair and my model in the centre of the photograph as I have placed the text down the left side of the cover.

This is my final front album cover with text.

This will be the back of the album cover. I have aligned the image so that my model and prop only take up one third of the image. This gives me enough room to add in a track list. I chose this image as I like the way the colour of my model's clothes goes well with the colour of the prop and the light is harsher than the front cover but illuminates that section of the image more than the rest.

This is the image with the track list incorporated. I opted to change the colour of the text for the back cover, turning it into a light brown colour, in order for it to suit the photograph.

Final Poster

This is my final poster image.

I used the cropped image I previously mentioned and added information about the gig in the form of text.

I used the font Jazz LET in 18pt and 24pt font size.

I feel it lacks colour and enthusiasm and so if I were to do it again, I would incorporate a bit more colour into it.

band poster final ideas

As the background photograph I have chosen for my poster is busy, I have decided against putting a photograph of the band on top of this. I will stick to simple, bold text to contradict the background image.

examples of concert posters

wikipedia's definition of concert posters

many concerts, particularly rock concerts, have custom-designed posters that are used for advertisement of the event. these often become collector's items as well.

these are good examples of simple posters or flyers. they typically contain few or no images and little colour. many are bright coloured, such as the 'Pantera' poster above, with bold, large text in order to attract attention.

these posters are examples of bands designing unique flyers. this could be due to the identity, theme or style of the band. many of these contain many different, bright colours, with the main focus being the band's name and the image featuring. 

some flyers or posters contain images of the band itself, often with simple text so the eye is drawn directly to the image.

researching into CD sleeves

After researching into templates for a suitable CD sleeve, I came across the website www.discwizards.com, who had a wide selection of CD cases.

I downloaded the sleeve template and it opened with Microsoft Word.

Once I have my chosen image, I will upload the image into word, using this template and then print it onto matt photo printing paper or something similar that is thicker than paper.

Developing ideas for design

I have decided upon a simple sleeve for my CD, as the image will be simple to match. I will purchase a plastic sleeve to then put it into to protect it. I will research into CD sleeve templates in order to print the correct size for a CD.

Developing ideas

After looking into the research I have already done in detail, it is my decision that the album cover will be simplistic but effective, as is the 'Bring Me the Horizon' album cover. I will keep the background unobstructive so that the person, people or object within the photograph is the main focus.

Intro to album covers

During this part of the project, I will be researching into different album covers. I will be using this research to create initial ideas and then develop them, eventually creating my final album cover. I will also create a flyer or poster and complete shoots either in the studio or at a different location. I will then finish by thoroughly evaluating my final work, describing what I like about it and what I don't along with what I would change about it were I to do it again.

:)

initial ideas for flyer/poster

my design will be based upon one picture layered on another. the image underneath will be of a landscape but with something distinctive in the background. the image on top will be a portrait photograph of someone looking as though they are in a band, although i am not too sure as of yet how i would like them to pose. on top of this will be text explaining the details of a gig e.g. place, date, time, price etc. the text will be in a simple font and probably either white or black, depending on which is more visible, as the background is quite busy. whilst out taking pictures, i captured an image of the memorial statue outside of burton college. whilst looking through the viewfinder, i zoomed in slightly, so as only to capture the top of the memorial and a tree in the background. i believe this photograph was a success and have decided to use this as my background image. i have yet to photograph the portrait image as i have not managed to get in the studio. this is the background image i have decided on:

after putting the image into photoshop and imagining it as part of a flyer or poster, i thought it may look better if i cropped the image, removing the very bottom of it as i find it distracts from the main parts of the photograph, the memorial and the tree. this is the image after i had cropped it:

i believe this to be a big improvement and am now happy to use this as one of my final images.

Researching Album Covers

An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially-released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer part of the protective sleeve used for all types of records or the front-facing panel of a CD package and, more recently, the primary image accompanying a digital download of the album or of its individual tracks.

This album is simple but really symbolises the songs on the CD. I think the effect of the crumpled paper looks good and i like the idea that you're seeing the back of somebody. It looks effective.

This is extremely simple, with just text on a plain picture. Whilst it uses some special effects, it only has a white background, grey text and the woman in a black dress. These are monotone colours, making the image look even more simple. I think this image inspired me the most in terms of what album cover i will choose to create myself.

This album cover is cartoon which doesn't really appeal to me as an album cover but again, it's simple, keeping the colour scheme constant.

This is a more busy and complicated album cover, with several people in the frame. I don't think i would choose anything like this for my own album cover as it is too hectic and demanding.