Using Illustrator...Making a Music Logo

As part of our media studies A2 coursework we are required to make a magazine advert and a digipak. We have used several programmes such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. We used Adobe Photoshop to put our Magazine advert and digipak together, and we used Adobe Illustrator to create a logo for a music company. The name of my music company was called Feevah entertainment. I created a logo using illustrator by rearranging layers and creating new layers to fit the logo that I wanted. I chose the name Feevah Entertainment because a fever is something that is contagious and catchy and the music that is produced by this company are said to be contagious and the feeling that it gives to its target audience is catchy and it spreads across a mass market as opposed to a niche market.
The font of this lodo is called Chalkdust. I chose to use this font because it has a cold feeling and the colour blue shows that it is also associated with catching a fever of some sort. The spelling of Feevah is different to the normal spelling as it would catch the target audiences eye because it is a bright colour and also people would wonder why it is spelt differently. The fact that it is spelt differently also shows that the music company is not like other music companies it is distinctively different. After this logo was created we saved it and exported it from illustrator to import it into photoshop to be used on our digipaks and magazine adverts. Firstly before we could do our own digipak we had to practice using specific effects and tools to create an image that we wanted specific to our agenda. Below is the Digipak I made in practice before I started making my own digipak:
Below is the magazine advert that i created to promote the album by En'Vogue called Soul Sisters:The dominant colours are black and gold because it shows the artists as being very elegant celbrities that take pride in their appearance. The magazine has all the typical conventions of a normal magazine advert such as the artist name, the album name, review from critics, release date, and release location e.g. HMV or Amazon.com.

Photography Training

During photography training with Ms Jones, we learnt about the key skills to taking pictures with a digital camera. There are four main aspects that need to be considered whilst taking photos. These are:

• Composition
• Exposure
• Lighting Effects
  
• Post Production

Compostition
Everything in he frame has to be their for a reason.
The Rule Of Thirds















The rule of thirds state that whatever you are taking a picture of should be focsed on one of the power points or down one of the main third lines. This has more of an effect as it makes the pictures look more professional and not so much like holiday snaps.

Exposure

• High Key Lighting- Lighting always has to be white and at the back and, and at least two lights for the front.
  
• Low Key Lighting

High Key Lighting
During the photography workshop we were shown pictures of high key lighting and we attempted to recreate them trying to get the same effects as the photographer had achieved. We used to key lights to get the brightness right in her face and we used the interactive white board as the background for the picture as it would reflect the whie light as well. To add more of a balance as well we used a white sheet which also reflects the light onto the subjects face. In the end we achieved a similar result to the template we were shown.


Low Key Lighting

During the photography workshop we were also made to recreate pictures in low key lighting using minimal lights. We used only one light to highlight the subject's side profile as it was in the picture. All back lights had o be turned off so shadows were not inappropriately cast and the picture looked as similar as possible. To get the effect we needed we were given one key light which we shined slightly behind and above her to get the same effect as the picture given.














Ansel Adams (Extra Reading)

Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his back and white photographs of the Western America, especially in Yosemite National Park. One of his most famous photographs was Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California.

With Fred Archer, Adams developed the zone system as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs and the work of those to whom he taught the system. Adams primarily used large-format cameras, despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.

Digipak Analysis

This digipak has six panels which all add up to the main picture that the artist is trying to create. The dominant colours of this digipak are greys, blacks and red. The greys and black could connote darkness and negativity and the only parts of colour being the red blood. Red, however, connotes pain, lust, love, danger and compassion and all of these feelings may be incorported in the music featured in this digipak. The images on the digipak could also represent the feeling ofthe artist or how the artist perceives themselves to be. The blood images feature on the parts where the CD rests this could draw the consumer to the CD because the only bright and dominant colour is red and this could catch their attention.

This digipak at first seems very simplistic. The colours are quite cold and dull, which connotes that the music featured on this album could be about the coldness. The music could be quite mellow and solmn as well. Also the season shown on the digipak looks like winter, during this season quite alot of people could develop seasonal affective disorder which is where, their mood changes according to the season, e.g. in winter they will become depressed. So for me this digipak creates a kind of depressing type of music. I personally wouldn't buy this digipak unless i knew about the artist previusly because it doesn't really catch my eye and it doesn't emit a positive perspective of the music so it doesn't appeal to a young energetic target audience. It would probably appeal to an older, more mature, laid back, white target audience that probably know about the artist already as there is no image of the artist on the cover.