Mock up of Digipak and Magazine Advert

Filming Location

My group and I wanted to film at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, to capture the beautiful outdoor locations and to conform to the genre of our music video and similar media we have looked at. Prior to going to film, we messaged the Botanical Gardens to ensure we had permission to film and visited the site as a group to look even more at specific locations we wanted to use, to save time on the day, and be aware of any dangers of risks that could be associated, especially as we'd have a lot of expensive equipment with us.  

Storyboard of music promo video

Roles Within The Group

Working in a group, we wanted to make sure we distributed the roles when creating the coursework fairly, below shows which roles we allocated to which person:


Although we are working in a group we all carried out our own research. 


Anna - Filming, Main editor, Ensuring we meet the needs of target audience 


Olivia - Filming, Creative director (planning of shots and locations and where they would appear in the video) 


Abi - Filming, Main photographer, Planning ancillary products  

Analyzing Magazine Adverts

Once an artist has released an album to help promote it magazine advertisements are often used. One of the ancillary tasks is to create a magazine advert for the song we have chosen and to promote the artist and digipak we have produced. On the right is the advertisment poster for Ellie Goulding's album 'Bright Lights' which was also featured as a magazine advertisement. The main image takes up the whole page and is the same image that is featured on her album cover allowing fans to reconise and make a clear connection, the same title of Ellie's name and the album name is also featured on the advert as it appears on the cover. Underneath this there is some smaller white writing, all centrally aligned, with a review from The Guardian and stating how it is a number one album from the BRIT Award winner and featuring 7 new tracks. This is particually useful for those who don't know Ellie Goulding's music and it encourages them to listen with positive recommendations from other sources. 

On the right is the magazine advertisement for Marina and the Diamond's album 'The Family Jewels'. This again uses the same main image which is on the album cover (which iv'e analysed below) , this gives the audience familiarity and then they may read the advert  further. This advertisement also advertises Marina's single CD, in which the cover is pictured in the left hand corner of the advert. This again helps to promote Marina's music, as the single cover is likely to remain familiar in the audience's mind if they want to buy it or see it again somewhere. The text on the smaller image is in a pale pink, and the single name is also repeated bigger on the right again. This is the brightest colour on the advert, so although it is not the largest text it still gets attention drawn to it. To the left of the cover image there is also some bold text explaining that the album contains the single and that it's out now on iTunes. Making the audience aware of other, perhaps more accessible ways of buying the music. 

Research of Digipaks

As part of our coursework we are also required to make a digipak to go alongside the music video we have created. Below are some examples of album front and back covers from similar artists to that we are making our video for. On the right you can see the front and back cover of Ellie Goulding's album 'Bright Lights'. The front cover uses a close up of the artist's head, with her hair all over her face as if she has whipped her hair back and connotes a fantasy, surreal feel. She is facing left, with her eyes closed with a content, relaxed look on her face. The lack of eye contact leaves the audience feeling intrigued and wanting to know more, about the mysterious artist. The background is out of focus and uses yellow, blue and green colours. To link with the album name 'Bright Lights' there are also small circles, this helps enhance the state of euphoria and gives a slightly more feminine feel.

Just over half way down the cover 'Ellie Goulding' is written bold and glowing in a pale yellow colour, and just under this smaller it reads her album name 'Bright Lights'. The text is very complimentary to the image and the readers eye is drawn in. I think this CD cover is quite open minded and mysteriously simple to attract Ellie's wide target audience and does not give too much away encouraging people to listen. On the left you can see the back cover to this album. This is also very simple, it uses a similar background that is behind Ellie on the front cover, which is out of focus with small sparkles of light. Again linking to the unknown and keeps the listeners wandering as to what to expect. There is a small bar code at the top in the middle, and a simple track list centrally aligned in pale yellow bold letters. There is also a small amount of text at the bottom of the cover in white with all the legal information. The digipak gives an almost spiritual feel, with the bright lights and content look on Ellie's face, it could suggest how seriously she takes her music, and the cover almost welcomes listeners to her world.

This is the cover for Alyssa Bernal's single Cali, Cali, Cali. It is quite different to Ellie Goulding's in the fact it has a much more natural friendly inviting feel. The image is of Alyssa facing to her left but turning her head and giving eye contact to the camera smiling, she has her guitar on her back and you can also see leaves in the bottom left hand corner suggesting she is outside. From the artists young age, sweet innocent smile and fairly natural appearance I think it is trying to appeal to teenage girls. The pale coloured clothes and background look light and pure, the brightness of the cover almost looks angelic and very innocent. It gives a calming summery feel, which can be associated with happiness and bring positive thoughts to peoples minds. The text of the artist name is on the left hand side of the cover in a light blue curly font, making it not as bold and striking like Ellie Goulding and more feminine. The CD name is written in a similar smaller font underneath in black helping add professionalism and neatness. In comparison to the Ellie Goulding cover I would definitely say this cover is more fresh and inviting and aimed at a younger feamle audience.

On the right is another CD front cover. This accompany's the music video I analysed 'Clean White Love' by Lisa Mitchell. The first thing I notice about this cover is how the main image does not pill the whole of the cover and looks more like a polaroid photograph in the way it is presented, this is eye catching as it does not meet generic conventions of CD covers making it more usual and eye catching. The colour of the close up of the artists face is also quite abstract and it appears like a purple light is shining onto her. There is no indication of the location but I imagine a nightclub or disco where that lighting is normal. The artist looks at ease with her eyes down towards the floor, very little is reveled about what her body is doing and I feel intrigued like iv'e only been given half a picture. The title is written at the bottom of the cover in a slight horse shoe shape in lowercase lettering. It is all joined together in a curvy font, it looks like a piece of ribbon, flowing and gives the impression of the music being very carefree and a natural talent for Lisa Mitchell. Her name is written in bold underneath as quite a contrast perhaps suggesting Lisa Mitchell does take her music very seriously and wants her name to be remembered.

On the right is an album cover from Marina and the Diamonds. Like Ellie Goulding she comes into the category of 'indie pop' and her style relates to the song we are using to create our music video. Her album cover contains a close up of her face, she is lying back and turning her face giving eye contact to the camera. Her dark hair is spread out and her face is nicely made up an almost gives off sexual connotations. The back ground looks like a vintage carpet with William Morris style leaves. Marina and the background are very contrasting, perhaps giving the message her music is very different and controversial or that she has incorperated modern and more tranditional music together. It gives the audience mixed messages as in what to expect from the album. The text on the cover is written in white in the top left hand corner of the cover, the writing in in a casual sketchy font and positioned disgonally. The lettering starts off big and gradually gets smaller, it looks written in an urban, graffti style and links in with the photograph of Marina looking well made up, and sterotypical of a 21st Cenury young woman, who enjoys taking care of themself. Her style of music is becoming increasing popular and mix of urban and more traditional elements on the cover appeal to both fans of modern pop and also more unual indie genres.

On the left is the back cover to this particular album by Marina and the Diamonds. Comparing the back cover to Ellie Goulding's they are completely different. This album uses an image of the artist on the back cover. Marina is leaning back and facing her head towards the camera, in an unnatural, and slightly uncomfortable position. Her eyes are gazing into the distance and she is made up as she is on the cover.

Research Into Similar Media

Above is a music video of a song in the same alternative genre as the song we have chosen, Ellie Goulding- Your Song. Similar to our song, the artist is a female and we feel the songs are a very similar style.


Ellie Goulding's video is fairly simple and made up of lots of short shots of Ellie in natural and everyday locations.The video is very realistic compared to other genres music videos, with natural settings, no set choreographed dance routine and no flamboyant outfits. This ties in with the innocence of the song Ellie is singing, to also compliment the reality of the music video the camera work is slightly shaky and the camera often shifts focus between the main subject (Ellie) and the background. The camera work helps make the audience feel part of her song and story as it is almost given from the perspective of her friend filming on a handheld camcorder. The camera work looks slightly unprofessional making the audience feel more involved and connected to Ellie as a person or friend. From looking at the video, hearing the song and looking at the artist I would say the intended target audience for this song is fairly broad. Her music tends to come under the genre of 'indie pop'  aswell as having elements of folk and electro, meaning her music tends to appeal to a vast audience. The video as a whole is very down to earth and allows the audience to really focus on the music rather than the mise en scene. The video does not really follow a story line and clips of Ellie at locations like the park, by the waterfall and on the train, are all integrated with each other and clips are shown throughout the video. The locations Ellie is at suggests she is very free spirited and enjoying life, she is usually smiling and sometimes with friends, this is also reflected in the lyrics of the song 'I put down in words, how wonderful life is now your in the world'. The editing between these clips are fast straight cuts, which speeds up slightly during the chorus to compliment the faster tempo, this makes the video more visually pleasing to watch as the beat of the song and editing is coherent.

Another song me and my group thought was similar to 'All these things' is Aylssa Bernal- Soaking up the sun, as you can see above. This song comes under the genre pop, and is similar to the song we've chosen as it is by a young female artist and the song is guitar led.


Similarly to Ellie Goulding- Your Song, it seems there is no set storyline to this video. It consists of the artist in realistic outdoor locations, smiling with friends walking down the street, shopping and swimming. The video is made up of lots of short clips but they are not as randomly ordered like in 'Your song', it usually sticks to one location and within that cuts away to close ups of Alyssa Bernal singing, or the same location using different camera shots. Between some of the cuts a fast orange coloured fade has been used and gives the impression of the sun shining directly into the camera lens. This helps transition between locations and links with the title of the song and the general summery happy vibe. The camera work is very smooth and steady and also uses a rewind effect after Alyssa has jumped into the pool, this along with the variety of camera angles and shots makes the video more abstract, despite having natural settings and mise en scene. This music video seems to be aimed more at teen girls interested in pop music. The video is very stereotypical in terms of a young girls social life, shopping, with her friends and her boyfriend and the lyrics sound quite nieve of a girl who thinks she is in love. Many teenage girls can probably easily relate, or want to feel that happy, so look up to the artist as an inspiration of how they want their life to be.

Lisa Mitchell's Clean White Love is another music video in the pop genre from a single female vocalist. Her video begins with a couple of mysterious close ups of a 'missing' poster on a lamppost and then to her face as she brushes her hair off her face. The initial close up is very shaky and given from the perspective of the artist as you see the video go on, this allows the audience to straight away understand more about the artist as they see the world from her eyes. The video is very similar to Ellie Goulding- Your Song in the sense that it is made up from lots of short clips which appear to be filmed as a home video, with unsteady camera movements and casual settings with the artist and 'her friends' messing around with one another and going about a normal day out. This helps give a sense of the artist being very outgoing and easy to connect to as she comes across very free spirited which helps warm the audience to her. Similar to the other two videos, Lisa Mitchell lip sings some of the lines of her song throughout the video. But unlike Alyssa and Ellie she does not have a set location with a close up of her singing which it keeps referring to during the video, it is more random as she is just casually with her friends. Fast editing tends to be used throughout with straight cuts moving from location, camera angle or shot. Zoom has also being used adding to the realism of a home video and speckled effects giving it a lower quality old feel.

Target Audience

Holly Lovell is very similar to artists such as Ellie Goulding, Alyssa Bernal and Lisa Mitchell. These do not follow the conventions of a typical pop artist so they would fit into the genre of indie pop. The target audience can be addressed via NME (new musical express) which is an indie pop media company that was originally just a newspaper but has now become a magazine, a radio station and is also online. This means that it is easily accessible for the more alternative target audience through various different mediums. Another radio station which would be appropriate to reach the target audience would be Radio 1 as it shows a wide variety of different musical talent including indie pop. 

As a group we did some initial primary research into our target audience. Everyone we asked felt that Holly Lovell was of a similar genre of music to Ellie Goulding, Alyssa Bernal and Lisa Mitchell.  We then asked our target audience their favourite features of the videos by these artists some of the common responses were:

"I like the colour burn flickers and fast paced editing"

"I like the home made realistic feel and the fast paced editing - don't know what's coming next"

"I like the nature themed idea and vintage effects"

After receiving this feedback it became clear to our group that fast paced editing as well as unusual effects such as colour burns were a very important feature of indie pop music videos. People also liked the natural locations as well as the hand held camera movement on the videos creating a home made feel to the music videos. As well as using our tripods during filming we also want to have some areas filmed using a hand held camera. We also want to allocate a lot of time for editing as this is quite a significant feature for indie pop music videos and would appeal to the target audience.