Abandoning Sunday // Real Talk (Music Video)

Here is the Final Cut for my music video for Abandoning Sunday's single, "Real Talk", taken from the latest album, "Struggle".

The video follows two characters, Elliott and Tom, as they try to resolve the issues in their lives. Elliott is struggling in his relationship and begins to question his faith, and his faith in himself, as he tries to become happy in his relationship again. Meanwhile, Tom feels alone amongst his friends, and much prefers the solace of isolated locations where he is at one with his thoughts. Unbeknownst to him is how much he is missed by his friends, who go out searching for him, and find him as he exits the forest, and show him how much they care for him.

The video is a narrative one that follows the structure set out by Todorov's Narrative Theory, and adheres to many of Goodwin's theories about music videos, including the link between lyrics and visuals, that is detailed more in Question 1 of my Evaluation.

Check out Abandoning Sunday through the following links:
Website
iTunes
Noisetrade
PureVolume

Magazine Advertisement - Abandoning Sunday // "Struggle"

Above is the design for my Magazine Advertisement for Abandoning Sunday, created in Adobe CS6 Photoshop.

For analysis and explanation of the image of the front cover, see here.

The magazine advertisement's purpose is to support the digipak itself, to achieve more sales. Hence, the front cover of the digipak, that the audience will be able to identify with, takes up a prominent position, centre aligned in the top third and centre. Regarding composition, this is where the image is most noticeable. I help the digipak to stand out by juxtaposing it with a slightly darkened background- the image, of Marriott's Way (taken about 1 mile further down from where the rear cover was taken, on an Autumn/Winter morning), provides a clear but detailed backdrop that still allows for the text to be read clearly. It is in keeping with the autumnal theme and is also aesthetically pleasing, and creates a partial link to the back cover of my digipak. There are regions of colour contrasted with the browning leaves, helping these colours to stand out, such as the yellow leaves to the right and the leaves that are not yet brown in the foreground. The bare trees and dying leaves are perhaps indicative of some of the issues the album deals with, such as themes of sadness (winter or seasonal depression could be dealt with here), but more so gives a sense of tranquility. 

Regarding the advertisement, the text contains several features of persuasive writing that are typical of advertisements and also includes many other features that are conventional to this text genre. As expected, the name of the artist and album takes a prominent position at the top of the page in a large font so that it is recognisable to the audience once they have seen the eye-catching front cover, which also stands out due to the drop shadow effect placed on it and angled to 45 degrees. The persuasive features come from the form of the reviews that are below the album cover- of course fictional, but for this purpose, contain superlatives, to help sell the album to the audience- "the best", for example. The source it comes from also matters too- for the quote review, I chose Alternative Press, an esteemed American based magazine whose counterpart in the UK would be Kerrang!- although Kerrang! tends to focus towards more typically "rock" and metal acts, which doesn't share interests and musical tastes of my audience (see audience research). Alternative Press have a broader audience and the magazine can also be obtained in the UK. One of the other reviewers, AbsolutePunk.net, is an online news and forum site that focuses on reviews in the alternative and punk genre as well as there more mainstream genres. Putting 5 stars for this review will mean fans of various different genres will recognise that this is a very good all round album that everyone can enjoy, similarly using esteemed newspaper The Guardian for the other review will allow a lot of the British public to access the advertisement, and see that the album is well recognised. The text is all in white and in the same font, "Please write me a song", that I have used across my products, creating a link. The text below the reviews picks out the two previously released singles, typical of advertisements, so that people who are familiar with the artist will know what songs feature on the release. "Out now" is in an increased font size to help it stand out at the bottom of the page.

Regarding other effects I have used in Photoshop here, I have inserted logos for each of the social networking sites my band uses, Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud, and placed these logos in the bottom right hand corner, so that the audience will recognise that this artist is on each of these services and that they can search for them. I did this by importing a png version of the logo into a blank photoshop, ensuring it was on a transparent background with no white area, and then copying it across to my design before adding a colour overlay to change it to white, making it fit in with the house style of my advertisement and look aesthetic. The website however is typed across the bottom, which also makes the general design more accessible as it is in an easy to view area and does not disturb the layout of the other icons. To the left, there are png images stating that the album is available on iTunes, and the increasingly popular Google Play store. These buttons have been adjusted to be the same size on the page so that the design is still smooth and ordered and not disrupted by large variations in the image. The record label image, for Remedy Records (see digipak post) also features in the advertisement- although it is fake, the purpose of this is to create a recognisable logo that can be identified with by audiences so they recognise the style of music this artist falls under, and also gives a mark of authority.

I would place my advertisement in British magazine(s) Kerrang! and/or Rocksound.

Kerrang! was first published in 1981 and was named after the distinguished sound a guitar made when playing a power chord. Originally devoted to the new wave of British Heavy Metal acts and hard rock acts, it is now the most devoted rock music magazine in the country and since 2000 is the best-selling music magazine in Britain. 

I would place my advertisement in this weekly magazine because Kerrang! is an esteemed magazine in the UK for it's association with the musical genre of rock as a whole, and all of the sub genres it incorporates. It plays a vital role in bringing bands to the forefront, for example, scottish rockers Biffy Clyro once headlined the Kerrang! tour in 2007, and now they are one of the largest rock bands of current times. On the left, the image of a recent Kerrang! cover (at the time of writing), with the main focus being on the Kerrang! Tour 2015. This tour is sponsored by and ran by the magazine, and features British rock band Don Broco as the headliner. The magazine cover also makes reference to You Me At Six, who, in my audience research, I found as a band my target audience enjoys listening to, as well as pop punk bands like Blink-182 and We are the In Crowd, popular/well known acts like Muse and Young Guns and post-hardcore bands like Bury Tomorrow and Slipknot. The magazine is the most apt for my artist as it reaches a wide target audience, who are dedicated through subscriptions to the magazine, who are interested in various musical genres and are open to new music and new bands. The magazine features reviews, where the album could also be featured, and posters. The target audience is typically younger audiences, from teenage to young adult, who are interested in music. Kerrang! also has a TV channel, where it plays music videos, and has the esteemed Kerrang! Top 100 bands every year, a platform on which my artist could develop- my artist is American, as stated from the start of my coursework, due to logistical difficulties, and hence building a UK fan base is very important, which could be made possible by being placed alongside such esteemed acts in a popular UK magazine.

Alternatively, I could place my advertisement in Rocksound. Increasingly in popularity and championing rock music along with popular sub genres pop punk, post hardcore, punk and emo, Rock sound is a UK magazine that offers a contrast to the popular and more recognisable Kerrang! and has more of a focus on lesser known acts, and aims at being "more underground and less commercial" - an ideal starting point for my unsigned artist. 

Similarly to on the Kerrang! cover, popular bands are featured and are recognised, such as Fall Out Boy, and We are the In crowd and Don Broco, possibly due to the UK tour the bands were on in the Kerrang! Tour recently. In the bottom left, lesser known bands such as Alkaline Trio, Thy Art is Murder and The Story So Far feature, most of which are lesser known, meaning my band could have more of a chance of successfully reaching a dedicated fan base in the rock genre's audience. 

Each year, the magazine comes up with it's album of the year, which is yet to be announced for 2014- the last winner was post-hardcore band Letlive. with The Blackest Beautiful in 2013. Previous winners include Biffy Clyro (Puzzle, 2007) and Bring Me The Horizon (There Is a Hell... 2010), and also has a Hall of Fame where esteemed albums are recognised. Weezer, Queens of the Stone Age and the Offspring feature, showing that this magazine has more of a potential to reach an older fan base who are more familiar with these bands, as well as british bands Bring Me The Horizon and Enter Shikari, whose albums were coined as genre defining. 

As my artist is American, it should also be considered that for an American magazine, Alternative Press would be the most ideal medium, as the monthly magazine incorporates a large variation of music and distributes in reviews, interviews and features to the localised American audience and worldwide, and would also be a good platform for my artist to gain recognition.

Digipak - Abandoning Sunday // "Struggle"

This is the design for my Digipak. In this post, I will proceed to explain why I have chosen each of these images and explain how I produced them.

Above is the Design for my Front Cover of my Digipak. I opted for a simplistic image that in it's composition presents many different meanings. The design lends itself to the Reception Theory, in that I, the author of the text, have encoded it with a desired, preferred meaning through taking the image, and my audience may agree with this or see it differently. Alternatively, the Uses and Gratifications model could be considered, as the image is relatively simplistic and the audience can make of it what they will, to fit their needs and what they are looking for in a digipak. 

The image itself was taken on the same day as all other images in the digipak, at Thorpe Marriott Green, a public park. To take this photo, I positioned myself crouched at the bottom of a slight slope in the field, and framed the shot so that the sun was in the top right of the image and the field posed as a backdrop. I then called my dog, the West highland Terrier in the photo, who started at the far end of the field, and ran towards me. 

I decided this was an apt image for my digipak by playing off of the album's name, which I knew to be "Struggle". The term struggle, relating to a time of endearment through a difficult period, due to whatever circumstances, is negative, but many believe that to have struggled shows strength. I decided I wanted to contrast the negativity of the album title, which would have a prominent position in the image, by juxtaposing it with a positive, uplifting image, which I could get from this shoot. The dog running connotes a sense of freedom- it is off it's lead, and is free to go wherever it chooses. By using a dog, I make it universally relatable, as it is so different to a person- no social bias is percieved, reaching a wider audience. The dog running through the field also  suggests that the "struggle" can be beaten, or that it in fact, isn't real. The design is inspired by the digipak I analysed, Deaf Havana's "Old Souls". This "preferred" reading is the one I have encoded, however as it is a simple image, the audience may see it how they choose, meaning it could be decoded in different ways.

In the post-production part, in Photoshop I edited the photo by cropping it to the desired size but keeping the original ratio. I then proceeded to edit the Levels to bring the colour out more, before adding a Warming Filter at 20% to make the image seem more like summer. This filter also accentuated the band of sunlight seen in the top of the image in the sky and enhances the lens flare at the top right and bottom right corners. 

This is the back cover for my Digipak. This was shot down Marriott's Way, where it passes through Thorpe Marriott Green and is near to where the front cover was shot. On a different day, I ensured the weather was similar before taking this shot, as I knew I wanted to have continuity between the covers of my digipak. Again this image lends itself to Reception theory and I have chosen it for a reason that relates to the album title and message of the album's lyrics. 

I took this image by crouching just before a slightly raised area of the former railway line where the path crosses into the more suburban area- I did this in order to capture a more symmetrical image. This shot was also intended to have a vanishing point, visible before the track list was added, as this section of the track is long and straight. I chose this section over a more open area as the trees give a symmetrical feel to the image and this helps to create meanings- the encoded meaning in this image is that the audience/viewer, is on a path (metaphorically and literally). This path may seem monotonous and endless, but ultimately there is an end- the brightness of the image contrasts the literal meaning of the word "struggle" like in the front cover. The shaded areas could be seen as representative of these struggles along the path, and the brighter areas offering the positives- a simple Light vs. Dark analogy that gives clear connotations that relate back to "the struggle". The image, as a whole, was partially inspired in the initial process by the opening line to Dante's "Divine Comedy", in "Inferno, Canto I" which famously states:

"Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself with a forest dark, for the straight foreward pathway had been lost"

This is also in keeping with the scenes in my Music Video, where my character finds himself lost in the forest, looking for his way out, which he finds via a Beach, and then his friends. This too aligns with my artists religious undertones, as Dante's epic poem is one the most prestigious pieces of religious literature of human history.

In Photoshop, I first edited the image by bringing out the colours by adjusting the levels. The image was taken on my iPhone camera and so quality was high. I then applied the same filter as I did with the front cover to give continuity. I then used the same type face, "Please Write Me A Song", that I used in the video for "Real Talk", as well as the Magazine Advertisement and the front cover, to type out the track listing for the album, and centre aligned it using rulers. I also created a barcode using an online generator as this a common feature of digipaks and is of course necessary, and keeping it in this position avoids the confusion of the audience and seller. Also required is a Record Label and copyright information, i.e on Deaf Havana's digipak there was copyright information relating to BMG Entertainment and in Real Friends', the Fearless Records logo was in a prominent position. As my artist is unsigned, a needed to create a record label and logo, to demonstrate where it would go on my design. 

My record label, "Remedy Records", takes it's name from a popular pop punk song by State Champs (Remedy) and along with the jagged font, the design may have connotations amongst part of my target audience. The two "R"'s also enable for a smooth design to be created. I made the sides of the shape with a gradient rectangle and then a colour overlay to change it to white when I inserted it into the digipak. The image will be found in my digipak and on my advertisement.

Putting the front and rear covers together, along with an extra panel, allowed me to construct the full outer of my digipak, shown above. The front and back covers have been re-sized from the square shape to fit the dimensions of a digipak, without affecting the aspect ratio (the barcode is now at the bottom of the rear cover). The notable differences here are the spines and the extra panel.

I wanted to use an extra panel in order to create continuity and to display an image that the audience would see upon opening the digipak. The image is taken from the same shoot as the front cover, making it look as though the image has slightly changed and the dog has moved. Similarly to why I used the image on the front, the picture connotes happiness and has an uplifting feel due to how the dog appears to be smiling. The lens flare remains and there is a similar filter used to the previous images that also helps to enhance the white-ness of the dog- perhaps symbolising hope, due to the connotations of the colour white in regards to Light Vs. Dark ideas and connotations. There is also a lens flare in the top right corner of the image, suggesting brightness and the associated attributes to this, combined with hope, to, effectively, bring an end to the struggle.

To construct the main spine (between front and back cover), I used Photoshop, and copied a 1cm length of the front cover, and then adjusted the size to make it look as though the image carried on- the grass and trees continue as does the shadow of the dog and trees. This also gives a sense of continuity to the digipak making it more aesthetic. I then added a shape and made it slightly transparent to darken the image to a required level which would allow the text to be clearly read. In the full version, I have the text "RR-001" at the base, a convention of spines, which has the Record Label, often as an initialism, followed by the number of the release on that label- which in my instance is of course 1. For the other spine, I extended the image out, this time using part of the original image, by keeping it an extra cm wider, and then applied the shape to make it darker. Again in the full digipak, the same text is duplicated here, in case it is placed this way around.  

Lastly, this is the design for the interior of the digipak. Following my analysis of Deaf Havana's "Old Souls", I wanted a single image to take up all 3 panels of the interior of the digipak. This allows my product to be related to the reception theory and uses and gratifications models, which focus on what the audience does with media, and the way in which they interpret the image/media- I have left a lot open to the imagination with this image. However, I feel it fits in with the theme and style of my digipak and presents a great wide image to look at. Taken on the same day as the rest of the shoot at the Thorpe Marriott Green, this is also a shot I use in the music video to "Real Talk", linking my texts together.

In Photoshop, I first brought out the colour in the image by adjusting the Levels, before adding a similar Warming Filter to make it appear brighter and enhance the light from the sun on this clear day. I added darker rectangle shapes in line with where the spines are using rulers and then added circles where the CDs would be placed, showing my digipak is capable of holding two compact discs (12x12cm) or a CD and DVD. On the left panel, I have added the text of the artist and album name, before adding details about the artist. At the base, the record label logo is centred below a horizontal line, which could be used a slot for any booklet to go alongside the digipak.

Regarding the composition of the image, I moved the photo so that it was divided into three bands- the base, which is the grass, the trees, and the sky- which, technically, makes it more aesthetic, and leaves a lot open to the audience to determine- in light of the reception theory, the audience could interpret it in many ways- similarly to "Old Souls", it creates a blank canvas, indicating there are no secrets with this artist and the lyrics are honest. It could, in keeping with my previous reference, be interpreted in a religious context, in that the Divine Comedy was split into three parts, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The clear skies are also symbolic of hope, and that the struggles of day to day life will clear, and the beauties of the world will become apparent- as one of my favourite musical artists Rou Reynolds [Enter Shikari] stated, "Sometimes it's beneficial to take a step back from everything and appreciate the honour it is to simply be alive. We're able to inhale air, to witness the beauty of our planet and to hear the wonders of rhythm and harmony. What a privilege it is to experience so much in such a relatively small pocket of time."  It is the essence that I wanted to capture with the digipak as a whole, in direct juxtaposition with the album title of "Struggle", that there is always hope and beauty amongst the struggles that we face in life. The digipak deals with the issues that the band deal with in their lyrics, such as self-depreciation and depression, by offering a bright symbol of hope for those who enjoy the artist to find solace in. 

This concludes my write-up on my Digipak production. 

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