Drafts

Before I go head-first into the project, I will need to create one or two drafts so I can see what will work and what will not work when it comes to making my media text.

Front Covers



I have drafted up three different ideas. To the left I have divided the page into four quadrants, each with a head in it. The heads are looking at each other so that the circle in continuous. Looking at it like this, the page seems a little bland, and so the separate quadrants will be coloured in separately so as to keep them as separate quadrants. Looking back to the Marmaduke Duke cover, I believe that vibrant colours will ensure that my product is more easily seen and therefore there will be a higher chance of sale. The album name and title are centralised, and thus it has become the main focus point of the page.

To the right I have drafted up two ideas, both similar in design. It features the homeless person (who is the main focus of the music video) sitting / lying down with a cardboard box on top of him. This adds to the stereotype and mise-en-scene of the image. Possible effects could be to alter the contrast of the image, and this in turn will make the image seem more gloomy - and therefore it will relate more specifically to the focal character.

From these ideas, I believe that all three have good points about them, and relating back to the codes and conventions, it is apparent that the image to the left has:

• Colour - The four vibrant quadrants will certainly catch the eye

Whereas the two images to the right lack the colour which I have seen, however I believe that the image makes up for the fact.

Back Cover

I have only drafted up two designs for the back cover. To the left is the follow-on design from the four quadrant idea. Again, four coloured quadrants have been created, however this time whichever colour was top right has now been allocated to top left and vice versa. This gives the impression that the cover is one sheet and can be flipped over to reveal another side. The font is basic - the tracklisting being in the top left quadrant. This meant that there was nothing in the other three quadrants, and so I decided that I would flip, rotate and mirror the text so that each quadrant divider acted as a mirror. Unfortunately, due to my inability to write as this, it has not been very well shown, merely by the numbers being the desired way round.

To the right is an image which follows on from the third design from the front cover. Again, when the CD is flipped we see what is believed to be the back of the original picture, a 360 degree viewpoint. To show this clearly the head of the homeless person is seen sticking over the wall. The tracklisting is written between the wall and the sky, thus taking up some fairly open space.

Looking at these two designs, I believe that they both relate well to the codes and conventions discussed earlier:

• Colour scheme - The left image certainly continues the colour scheme, however the right image continues with the image to give a 360 degree view. I feel that this is just as good as a continuous colour scheme.




• Tracklisting - Both include tracklistings, and numbers to boot. I believe that numbers are necessary as this will help to consumer to locate their favourite tracks easily.

Inside Faces




The inside face usually consists of two separate images. Here, I have drawn up three images which I believe each have a certain relevance to the video. I have decided to use stills from the video, as this will ensure that continuity features throughout and therefore is something that the consumer can relate between. If I go along with the quadrant theme, this will break the continuity and therefore this is something that I will have to think about.

Magazine Advert

Looking at the five magazine adverts earlier, it was apparent that there was not much that could be done, and so I drafted one idea. This idea features the album artwork, selling points (such as singles) and tour dates (as seen with the Depeche Mode advert). The advert is fairly simple, a black background with white / red / yellow writing (whichever stands out the most) and a picture of the album artwork set in place that will take up roughly a third of the page. Codes and Conventions which feature in this design are:

• Information - Relevant information is included which will make the consumer more knowledgeable about the product advertised.


• Text - As with a draft, this is not so apparent, however the different blocks of text will be linked together so as to create more continuity.

The colour scheme is not particularly thrilling; a black background with coloured writing, however I believe that the album artwork will make the consumer stop on the page - especially if I go through with the quadrant idea.