Photoshoot

Why is it important to carry out a photoshoot, especially when creating a digipak and magazine advert?

It important to carry out a photoshoot when creating a digipak and magazine advert because images are crucial to selling the desired product to the target audience.

Before conducting a photoshoot, we as a group set aside time to plan the shots we felt would be relevant to capture for the purpose of including them for our digipak and magazine advert. We knew that shooting these photos would be a challenge because we need to fulfil the purpose of communicating the Indie genre through shot type, location, clothing, hair and make-up which would therefore result in attracting a potential target audience to become fans of the artist.

Therefore, it is important to carry out a photoshoot, especially when considering that we needed images to include within our promotional tools for the artist because it is crucial to attract audiences whilst advertising the artist and her musical talents. 

What images did you take and why?

The image below has the background of a brick wall which was used through our chosen artist original magazine advert, promoting her to be an edgy and down-to-earth individual, not an overly manufactured star sold as a commodity. We chose to take this image because it is extremely conventional due to the use of the guitar performance pose and the background, both elements of which would successfully sell the artist within the Indie genre which may make independent record labels interested, in addition to a niche audience which enjoy music of that particular type. 

Where will your images be used and why? (digi/ad)


6/11 photos taken will be used within our digipak....

I have chosen to use the portrait of the artist for my magazine advert, mainly because it is more generic for a magazine advert not to be in a landscape style. Our chosen artist also had a big influence over photographic decisions I decided to make regarding my individual promotional products.


How are your images conventional to your genre?

Conventional Indie images usually involve a simplistic and mostly rural location in aim to appeal to the chosen target audience. This is because the music is medolic and meaningful therefore raw and not synthesised much like music of the Pop genre which may involve a very planned out photoshoot. We wanted our photoshoot to flow nicely whilst following a brief plan, outlined in a discussion previous to the day in which we participated in the photoshoot.

We knew it was important to ensure that all photos captured were typical of the Indie genre and what audiences would expect from it. Thus, we learned lots through conducting research relevant to our chosen artist (Nina Nesbitt -> Daisy), our chosen genre (Indie) and digipaks/magazine adverts, all of which follow genre characteristics of what we need to achieve a conventional outcome. 

All of the photos taken during the shoot involved posing with the guitar to primarily educate our target audience that our artist is musically able. Additionally, the central convention of the Indie genre is a guitar and is highly recognised throughout any promotion of any Indie artist, mainly due to the fact that the majority of Indie artists perform acoustic sets which is another way in which audiences can engage with their art form.


How do the images portray the artist and how does it appeal to the target audience? 

Capturing the artist to adopt similar conventions of the genre was very important to us as a group. This is because it highlights the artists representation of being down-to-earth and in turn reletable which provides a positive portrayl overall of the artist. This therefore increases the chances of appealing to new audiences as well as the loyal audience initially targetted, thus benefitting the artist as they create a base and in turn become more successful within the competitive industry. 

The images we have captured above portray our artist to be a highly relatable figure for our target audience of teenage females. Throughout this photoshoot, the artist wears the same outfit which is repeated. She is shoot wearing a floral dress, tights, black boots and a denim jacket; the same outfit worn in the final scene of our music video in which the artist discovers her boyfriends alcohol addiction. We purposely chose this outfit because the target audience would then view the artist to be relatable due to the affordable high street/recognisable clothes she wears, as opposed to designer labels which may be deemed inappropriate for our target audience as they may not aspire to purchase expensive clothes due to their 'name'/branding. 




She is seen wearing clothes that are typical of a teenager to wear and therefore allows teenagers to relate to her as a person. In addition to this they are given the opportunity to form a relationship with her through this as an individual and also as an artist. This is further encouraged through the close up shot of our artist as it provides the audience with an insight into her emotions and allows them to learn more about her as an individual and an artist. 

Include one example of how you photoshop to create a conventional product (before and after images)