photoshoot

The reason why I had to take pictures is simply as they play a crucial role in promoting the artist and their music as much as possible. Pictures are a successful promotional tool as they connect the artist with the audience; the latter does not want to see a lot of text in a magazine advert or in their digipak. Images should be the dominant aspect as they appeal to the audience. People buying a magazine with an artist such as Gabrielle Aplin promoted on it or buying her digipak would want to see artwork rather than information as the indie genre is all about creativity. Pictures give the artist the chance to express themselves creatively and come up with innovative ideas to engage with the audience. For my own advert and digipak, I had to take various pictures; these includes images of the artist as well as images of indie locations I thought were suitable. I had to ensure that I took a variety of shots of both the artist and any additional pictures, such as location images. This is simply as having the same type of shots is exceedingly dull and unappealing for the audience. In my own digipak, I have used different angles in my six different images which helps to maintain interest and creativity throughout the digipak so that the audience can feel like they are really getting something back from the artist. It is also important to have a variety of shots as when it comes to editing, you may find that you did not actually like the style of shot that you originally intended for. When I took all my images, I made certain that I took lots of different shots from different positions and angles, e.g. some in high-key lighting, some in more low-key lighting, some quite close up and others further away. The reason for doing so is when I initially took pictures for my magazine advert, I accidentally took them too close up to the artist and therefore when I placed the image in Photoshop and made to enhance the size, the artist was standing a lot closer to the camera then I wanted. Therefore, I had to re-take the pictures whilst standing at a much longer distance.

Above are two screenshots of the original picture I used for my magazine advert, and the picture after I edited it. As you can see, they starkly contrast as the original image has been taken during the day-time, whereas the other has been edited so make it appear to be set during the night-time. The reason I took a picture of this image specifically is because I was inspired by Bastille's "Bad Blood" album cover, which features the artist alone on a road during the night. However, I evidently did not want to copy the album pixel for pixel, so instead decided to manipulate this idea in my own way. I thought having the artist standing still on a road with their back to the camera but their face directly towards it would create a lot of connotations regarding the artist. I wanted to portray the artist as being quite dark and enigmatic, but evidently not venturing into the rock genre. When I took this image, Amy was actually in her school uniform, however when I planned out this shot, I wanted her to be in dark clothing as I did not want the clothes to be the main focus in any way. The darkness of the clothes juxtaposes with Amy's face, making it stand out more, which is the outcome I was intending. The choice of location for this particular image was also crucial; I did not it to be in a field as I wanted to get the sense of the artist travelling down a road, as this reflects personal journey. However, I wanted to capture the image in a location that still reflected the indie genre, hence I picked a place surrounded by trees. Another mediated aspect of the image is the position of Amy in the picture. When I first took pictures for my magazine advert, I mistakenly took them too close up to Amy and therefore when I inserted the image into Photoshop and stretched it to fill the page, Amy was standing too close to the camera for my liking. Therefore, I re-took the pictures and ensured that I was standing at a good distance from the artist, and at a position that a good bit of road was shown, as well as the trees. I had another issue in the original taking of the image in that Amy was not positioned centrally in the shot and therefore you did not clearly see that she was on a road; the second time round I made sure to change this. From looking at all aspects of the image, I can see that the image both conforms and subverts the indie genre conventions; it follows the conventions in that the location and the use of a long angle shot as opposed to a close-up shot, has followed indie expectations. However, from research I have seen that images of the artist playing a musical instrument in a field are far more conventional than the artist alone on a road at night. Despite the subversive aspect of the image, I am glad I chose to take this image and edit it as I did as I think it makes a far more interesting and unique image for a magazine advert.

This way, the audience will find the magazine advert far more appealing than your stereotypical image of an indie artist as it provides them with the reassurance that the artist's music will also be different to what they conventionally and perpetually hear all the time in the indie genre. The good thing about my image is that it gives me the freedom to use a lot more editing, which may not be a convention of the indie genre, but I can create a much more appealing image; for example, I can edit the colors of the image so that they contrast well with the colors of the text. I can also use editing techniques such as outer glows on my text, which I already have, which I would not have been able to do with having my image set during the day-time. I think little editing bits like that make the image better served for a magazine advert. To the right is a screenshot of the final version of the picture where it has been used for my magazine advert.

For my digipak, I wanted all the pictures to be quite different from each other. Therefore, I made sure that they were all taken from different angles and positions so that the audience would feel they have been given something that the artist has put a lot of time and effort into. One of the images I used was of Amy sitting by a brick wall. The reason I chose this image is because the location was something that you would stereotypically find in the indie genre; therefore, if it were in a digipak, the audience would automatically be able to recognize the genre of it. Instead of having Amy standing against the brick wall, I chose to have her sitting down as the picture has been taken at a slanted angle that enables you to see all of Amy as well as the wall behind her and the surrounding location, such as the stream. This way, the picture appears to be more than just a simple picture of the artist standing at a brick wall, facing the camera. Instead, it seems to have been given a lot of thought and a creative input. I did not want Amy to be looking directly at the camera as it would have ruined the natural look I intended. Amy looking up rather than directly straight just made the image look a lot more interesting; it also corresponded to other images I took where I avoided having pictures of Amy looking straight at the camera. This image will be used as one of my blank images for my digipak, as I play around with the editing a lot to make up for the lack of text. I do think it is a highly conventional image, as both the location of the image, and the costume that Amy is wearing are elements you would automatically link to the indie genre. The costume is a good way of helping to build a relationship with the audience as they can aspire to have the clothes that Amy is wearing.

The image I decided to use for my CD is actually of an indie location rather than featuring the artist themselves. The reason I chose to do this is because from prior research I discovered that it is highly unconventional of the indie genre to feature themselves on a CD case as they like to put focus on a design or idea rather than their own selves. For my CD design, I took a variety of images of the nature around me; as I live in the countryside I was able to make use of the fields and trees alongside the sunlight to get a good indie style picture. Some pictures were taken at sunrise and others nearer to sunset but during daylight. From looking through them thoroughly, I decided the best one to use would be the one where the sun was rising as it fitted with the album title of "desolation". As the colors of the image are quite vivid, it meant that I did not actually have to edit it a lot; I simply increased the contrast and decreased the brightness, as well as slightly changing the hue, to give a strong red-ish color. The reason for doing so is because I wanted the CD to reflect the album title; the word "desolation" has quite negative and powerfully destructive connotations, which I think my image reflects. I think the image I chose for the CD is both conventional and subversive of the indie genre; normally, images would be quite soft and gentle-looking in comparison to my own. However, it is highly conventional of the indie genre to use images of nature, as it reflects the rustic and natural style of the music. Despite the colors of the image being subversive, I think the CD would not look as good if it were in daylight, as firstly, it would not be particularly striking, and nor would it fit in as well with the rest of my images. The images in my digipak vary, with some being quite dark and others lighter, and therefore I wanted to keep to this theme. Overall, I think the edited image is quite good and fits in as a CD design, as there is not much occurring in it; it is a simple image which simple editing, fitting in with the simplicity of the indie genre and my other images. The darkness of the image juxtaposes well with the white colors I have used for the text; whereas a light image would not have the same bold effect. In terms of the audience building a relationship with the artist, I think they successfully can as the image has been taken of a location that is accessible to all people, in that trees are all around them. If an image such as one of the artist's face was used, then it would not have the same effect; the album would actually seem to be less about the audience and giving them something back but rather focused more on purely the artist. Instead, an image of a location that the audience see everyday but captured at a beautiful time of the day and further edited would mean that the audience would appreciate the CD more. Having an image of yourself is easier than having it of something more meaningful; the image reflects the indie genre.
Another photo I have decided to use is a picture of Amy, the artist, on a swing. This photo has been used for my personal note side of my digipak and is actually in the same location my group and I used to film the scene where the couple in our music video first meet. Therefore, if the audience have seen the music video, they may recognize the location or the costume or iconography of the image. The reason I have used this image for my digipak is because I think it represents the artist as the target age group are seen to be: young and carefree. Having the swing in the image automatically springs this connotation as swings are obviously associated with young people. Despite the fact that it is a personal note and therefore makes more sense if Amy were facing the camera, I thought having an almost caught off-guard image where she is swinging would look more natural. I also wanted the tree and wide scope of the field scenery to be featured in the image and therefore it looked a lot better to have Amy with her back to the camera. In addition, having Amy aligned completely to the right and leaving the whole left side of the image blank (in terms of something with a lot of color obstructing it) means that my personal note can fit in nicely. The positioning of her head helped to mediate this natural look as when you actually swing, you have your head up. It also helps with positive connotations for the image as raising your head is a sign of happiness; this links with the use of the image as due to the fact that this is for a personal note, the artist needs to be happy. As it is for a personal note, I wanted the image to be taken in a location that completely reflects the indie genre; the use of a field is highly appropriate. Due to this, I do think my picture is truly a conventional indie image as I ensured to keep the natural lighting and colors of the original image when I came to editing it. I did not want the personal note to be edited too much in terms of coloring, as I wanted to maintain a stereotypical indie look. The natural colors and lighting also reflects the authentic representation of the artist I want to get across to the audience. I think this makes the image more successful than if I excessively edited it as personal notes should be less about show but rather about meaning. This subsequently allows a good connection to form between the artist and audience as the latter will appreciate the genuine nature of the 
mage. Furthermore, the fact that Amy is not facing the camera tells the audience that the artist is not concerned with themselves but actually about their music and giving the audience something more; the image and the personal note will therefore correlate well. I have not quite finished my personal note for my digipak, however the editing styles I have chosen is simply blurring out the background and slightly sharpening just the image of Amy out of the whole picture.

Overall, I found taking pictures for my advert and digipak relatively easy as I had previously planned out exactly what shots I wanted at what time, angle and location. Therefore, if my group and I were filming a scene for our music video in a location where I needed an image, I could easily just quickly take a few. However, whilst I was taking the pictures, I admittedly did fail to take into account variables such as the lighting or the position of the camera to the artist. When looking at the camera display, the image sometimes does not look as pixelated as it would if you were to then put the image onto a big screen computer. The low quality of the image simply derives from the poor quality lighting. Therefore, once my group and I made this mistake when filming a specific scene in our music video where the lighting was poor and we watched it on our Mac and realized how grainy the image looked, I ensured when we re-filmed this scene that I would re-take my images I needed from this scene in better lighting. I also made the mistake of taking shots of Amy at too close of a position in another circumstance and therefore had to re-do the shots to rectify this error. However, after I overcame these setbacks, I found that I was able to quickly get the shots I desired as I experimented with the settings on the camera to ensure the lighting was appropriate. I found that it was better to take all my images in high-key lighting as it made editing a lot easier in terms of retaining the quality of the images. Planning out the images I needed before actually going in to take them was exceedingly beneficial as it meant that if one member of the group was filming a specific scene without the person who needed a shot from that scene, then they would be able to show the person filming their plan of the images they want and then that person would be able to take the pictures for them. This happened in my own group on more than one occasion. I asked Molly to take some images for me of Amy in the field, Molly asked me to take some pictures of Amy when I was taking pictures for my magazine advert and Clare asked me to take pictures of London when I was up there filming for our scenes of London in our music video. This saved so much time as it meant that we did not have to keep going back and forth, if we could just film and take pictures on the same occasion.