Annatation of an advert: Corinne Bailey Rae

Corrine Bailey Rae is similar to my artist 'Melissa Hill' in the way that they are both very simplistic both in their branding and their music. Simplicity is a constant theme for my artist due to the rural shots of the music video, the gentle editing used and the branding of the artist throught the digipak- which further accentuates the rural theme of the video.

The colouring of this advert appears very light and optimistic- autmnial colours suggest a peaceful and happy atmosphere can be found in the album being advertised.

The simple use of delicate fonts ensures no attention is taken from the central focal point (being
the image of Corinne) and expresses the theme of clarity which is also part of the simplistic branding to this artist, which will appeal to her audience that are familiar with her music.

There is a little but sufficient amount of text which allows the audience to pay attention to what is necessary, for example the release date of her album, her website, record label and where the audience can purchase this album.

Corinne is wearing a very simple dress and has very little make up proving the more 'natural' look; this again adds to the overall 'simplistic' theme which is what I aimed to acheive with my artist Melissa Hill.

Magazine Adverts...

Why advertise?
People use advertising services in order to create awareness, interest, desire and effectively encourage you to take action which in this case would be to buy the artisit's album.

The common conventions of a magazine spread advertising an artist's album are as follows...

• Brand name/artist name
• Focal point e.g a central picture of the artist- of which the audience may or may not recognise depending on the artists relevence to the public eye. ( May be first big break and therefore will be a 'fresh face' to the industry.)
• Possible reveiws of the album: 'Daily Mail - a chilled, sunday relaxing listen'
• May include a picture of the album itself so the audience know to recognise it in the shop/ online
• A small amount of text with futher information including record label, website, where to purchase the album, release dates, contact details etc.

Final Net....

I think it was highly appropriate to have two black and white images on the inside of the album as all the 'flashbacks' of the couple in the music video are too in black and white. The back cover picture is a classic still of the couple together, taken from the footage used in the music video. However, I wanted this shot to be in colour on the back cover to signify the happiness and content status of their relationship; the picture on the back is a true representation of the narrative within the music video.

Front Cover

I went through a couple of ideas for the front cover of the album both of which are close ups of the artists face..

A second idea which I decided was the strongest image for the cover is this one...

I think the colours work really well, they are not too bright but not too dull which is a perfect balance due to the video being in both black & white and colour. The use of clear, simple font is a convention used in order to not take any focus away from the artist's central image this also reflects the theme of rural simplicity which is further accentuated in the music video.

Digipak Annotation

Digipak: Initial Research

Digipaks are a type of packaging of which emphasises the brand of an artist/band. Various different genres of music will explore different themes in order to portray their own unique style.
The main features of a digipak consist of:

• Title of the album/single
• Song list
• Photographs/ graphics
• Inside can include a piece of writing by the artist, a possible list of thank yous'
• There can also be a commentary of each song included. For example, the people involved in creating the song, producers ect.
• Sometimes, the packscan include bonus material such as stickers or special information

Obviously the front cover attracts most attention and sets a first impression...

The layout, font, colour and theme used has to be carefully thought about in order to portray the right brand image. For example the us dark colours on the cover would suggest maybe a heavy metal / rock band. Light, pastel colours would portray a softer, lighter sound to the album.

Edit, Edit, Edit!

Just a last minute editing task...


I was advised to have a shot of my artist slightly earlier on in the music video in order to successfully help the audience to establish their focus on this main character.


I didn't think a random close up shot would fit in to the atmosphere so instead, I played around with the opacity and had about a four second shot on top of the scenery shots I had already edited in.  This way, what I had done was still there but the soft close up shot sat on top of the clip behind. 


As a result, I didn't have to change what I had already done, but added to it in order to establish the main character in the piece. The soft editing also suits the atmosphere of the music video very well.


Here is a screen grab showing how my target audience will relate to the footage...