For the purpose of my a levels, in media studies, I was faced with the task of creating a music video for any genre of my choice, due to my interest within indie/ alternative music, this is the genre I chose to create a music video to. This task also included making ancillary texts, such as an album advert and a digipak (front, back, inside, cd and spine.) When combined and finished, these two products would demonstrate a marketing campaign for the song, complete with branding and house style.
What is house style?
A style guide is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents , either for specific use or general publication. This is also known as house style, which refers to a specific usage and editing conventions followed by writers and editors to ensure stylistic consistency in a particular publication or series of publications, for example newspapers, magazines and websites. House style guides provides rules on such matters as abbreviations, capital letters, numbers, date formats, spelling and terms of address.
Why is a house style important?
The quality of the corporate identity is reflected in all printed matters, as well as online marketing emphases the excellence of the products and the attitude of the business. Therefore, a careless or professional presentation, which is dissatisfactory, does not result in success. The first contact with a consumer, needs to create an impact and also create a good impression, if the product is already sloppy then a good impression is not made, possibly resulting in loosing or not gaining any business.
The house style must reflect the branding strategy and the values of the brand (most values are reflected in the tagline.)
What is branding?
A brand is the identity of a specific product, service or business. A brand can take various forms, such as a name, logo, colour combination or slogan. A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The idea of branding and the word itself, has evolved to encompass identity, this affects the personality of a product, company or service.
Why is branding important?
Branding is important because it is a method of highlighting what makes the product you have created, more successful or different to the competitors you have.
There are four successful elements to successful branding:
- 'The Big Idea' which is the starting point for any branding project. It is a summary of your business' or products' personality, and what makes it different therefore successful.
- 'Vision', the understanding of where your business is heading or where you want it to head to.
- 'Values', clarifies the understanding of your business and what is stands for. The values are important as it is how individuals view your business.
- 'Personality', when you start communicating your brand to consumers, you will also be expressing the personality of your business through tone, language and design used.
How have you created a brand identity across your music video, digipak and advert?
I believe I have successfully created this brand identity throughout my digipak, as every element is consistent throughout. I have used similar images, in similar poses. The model in the images I have used is wearing the same outfit, with the same makeup and hair style, this is also shown through my music video, creating brand identity, as every element of the model is the same throughout the digipak and the music video. The model poses in dance still poses on the digipak and the advert, for example hands crossed behind her back, tilted frame and even pointed toes. I have also created brand identity throughout my digipak, as the editing throughout is the same, the digipak has been edited with the same tools and colours on each side of the digipak. This created brand identity, as there is a theme of colours which are all similar. All colours are the same, which I ensured whilst creating. The colour is a mix of blue and green, which can be shown on the spine, front, inside, back, etc. The style of the digipak is also consistent throughout, it is simplistic and there is a theme of pictures being used to create style in the digipak and advert. The style, is basic but yet successful, consisting of limited text on each side of the digipak. Another theme which is used throughout the digipak and advert, is the use of conventions have been included throughout all of the digipak and advert. Finally, I have also created brand identity as the fonts are all the same or similar, for example every time 'Another Love' or 'Fletcher Logan' is mentioned of any of the media products, the font for this is the same, it is named 'code' off of the website, www.dafont.com. Also, minor text is all created in the same font as well, verdena. The major theme which is emphasised throughout all three media products, is the theme of dance, as either the poses of the advert or digipak are dance stills and the performance of the music video is contemporary dance.
How do you think your digipak design will sell the song/ album to the audience?
I believe the digipak design will sell the media product I have created, as firstly it conforms to the conventions of not only a real digipak, but also the genres conventions, which I have used. By following the conventions, this will sell as it makes the digipak come across to audiences that it is professional and the real deal, professional. By also following the conventions of an indie genre, this will make the product sell as it has been edited unique, rather than other genres of just using an image of the artist, rather I have edited the image in a alternative way, relating to the genre and making it more interesting and attractive to audiences eyes. Following the conventions, makes the media product relatable to audiences and easily recognisable to audiences as they are aware of the conventions, therefore when in a store that sells these media products this will stand out to them as they will known that the media product belongs to genre and by using the conventions, this attracts target audiences. The design of my digipak, is interesting and different but still suits and relates to the genre I have used, due to the design of the digipak being different, this will be attractive to an audiences eye. The digipak design will sell, as not only is it successful and professional looking, it is creative and shows consistency of design and theme throughout, e.g. colour, style, images and font.
How do you think your advert will sell your album?
The advert is one, informative, therefore will most likely sell to audiences. By informative, I mean it features conventions, such as making it known to the reader where the album can be found e.g. iTunes, Spotify or google play. Also, it informs audiences when the album is released, e.g. Out Now or often involves a date when the album is going to be released. It is also successful, as it interesting and different, for example the use of editing I have used, for example the layered pictures of the model in different positions, this will stand out to audiences as it is creative and different, it is not basic and it does stand out to individuals. The advert will also successfully sell the album, as there is consistency throughout, e.g. the theme. colours and styles etc, therefore all media products advertise and promote themselves and the other media products, as they are all similar, therefore will make each product recognisable to audiences.
What elements of your advert and digipak communicate the genre of the music video and the style?
The advert and digipak communicate the genre, as they each conform to the conventions of an indie genre, for example the digipak and advert have been edited to a style of an indie genre, as they are each alternative and different, they are not basic, rather they are unique and creative. They each follow the conventions, as rather an artist being featured, there is someone different to the band or artist on the digipak and advert, this is similar to Arctic Monkeys album 'Whatever People Say I Am, Thats What Im Not' as this does not involve, the band being featured or any artist rather someone different to the band, similar to what I have done, used the performer as a model for my digipak and advert, this follows the conventions of an indie genre as the albums hardly feature the bands themselves, as they are more about advertising their music rather than their image, they normally feature artwork or a logo (for example Arctic Monkeys album AM.) The digipak and advert communicate the genre as, it is similar to other designs of indie digipak and adverts, for example my album is similar to Circa Waves album and the CD, is similar to Tom Odell's CD.
Below is an example of an indie album cover which looks similar to mine, this denotes how I have followed the conventions of an indie genre for a digipak. The fact that there is a successful indie album that looks similar to mine, suggests how my digipak is also successful as it looks similar to other indie album covers, therefore easily recognisable to audiences.
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