how to make a album cover using photo shop cs4

Making a CD Cover on Photoshop CS3 (ACTUAL TUTORIAL W/ SOUND)

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL - HOW TO MAKE A MAGAZINE COVER

Photoshop made Easy - Make a Magazine Cover

Audience Research

 As Hip-hop being our music genre, I did some research on all the types of music genres initially. As a result, I found that majority of people are interested in "Classic Rock", however there were fairly a large amount of people who finds "Hip-op/Rap" enjoyable. The audience for our video will be mainly males although we expect some females to be into it as well.

After having an idea of people's interest in music, I decided to concentrate on my audience, so I researched the age groups that are most likely to be interested in Hip-hop music. As a result of the research, teenagers were the majority those were into Hip-hop music so would be our primary audience. So this led to me make a profile of the audience which could help us in making of the video and make it convenient for the viewers.

We want all our audience to buy our music or download the music legally, and for that we had to ensure that sufficient amount of promotion was being done, also there are other factors which influences the sale of the album:

• cover design- have to be persuasive to get the customer to buy the product
• good music
• featuring artist (not realistic in our case)

Meeting all the above requirement would reduce the illegal download of the music as we feel. This method is inspired from many of the Hip-hop artists in the industry as they've succeeded in doing so. 

This graph help us with the promotion process as it shows the form of media people prefer to listen to music.

CD Front Cover Draft

Progressing from the original idea, we thought it would be rather different to do a CD cover which is unique and would differ from the usual ideas of Hip-hop album cover and yet stays in the conventions of Hip-hop. 

SUD - Lost Since Birth - SNOW Edition

Lost Since Birth - SUD

Alternatively, myself and the group during the half term break where out and about on a snowy day and we decided that whilst we had the camera, we should record a winter version of the "Lost Since Birth" Video

Character Profile (Media)

SWAG - Hip-hop slang for the word fashion. this video shows a quick view of the type of clothing that would be worn by hip hop artists and the type of clothing that will usually be worn in hip hop music video.

1. NY baseball cap
2. Dark Lyle and Scott Jacket
3. Denim Jeans
4. Nike Air Max 90s

Media - Questions and Answers

Questions:

1st person

1. What is your favourite genre of music?
2. What do you prefer, underground or mainstream?
3. What do you like most about the genre?

2nd person

4. Does Hip-Hop relate to you in any way?
5. Give us a Hip-Hop quote?
6. Whats usually seen in a Hip-Hop video?

Then we decided to ask someone who is not really a strong Hip-Hop fan a few questions, such as:

7. What is your favourite genre of music?
8. Do you think the genre has been stereotyped?

These questions were asked before the video was made. This allowed to add extra things to the lyrics and the video. Things such as the catchy rhythm of the instrumental and melody of the chorus to attract a wider audience. By using a melody in the chorus, it mixes two genres together; Hip Hop and R&B, making the song suitable to fans of two different genres.

Props List

In order for our video to reach it full potential we need to use props such as:

• The camera – The camera is the most important prop as without it no recording will be done, obviously.

• The tripod – The tripod was a very piece of equipment, however it will only be useful for a couple scenes as most of the shooting is handheld. Therefore, it wasn’t as useful as it would be for shooting another music video or film.

• For male 1 protagonist, black hooded jumper, black baggy jeans, and black and white shoes, black and red hat – These items of clothing are very important as they represent the meaning behind the song. As you can see the clothing colours are all dark which resembles the darkness portrayed in the lyrics and in the video itself. Each item of clothing shows a different meaning behind it. For example the NBA fitted cap represents the new “swag” in the hip hop culture as well as the stereotypical black male look. The black hooded jumper is often related to crime such as robbery and muggings. This gives the artist a violent look. The use of baggy jeans has become a trend across all genres now but had originally started by the hip hop artists.

• Memory Card – Memory card was essential just in case of emergency. We will also be carrying an extra memory card just-in-case of full usage of memory capacity.

• Extension Lenses – These extra props are useful as it will allow us to use a wide range of camera techniques.

• Dogs – 1 American Bulldogs and 2 Staffordshire Dogs. We decided to include dogs in the background as it gives a more intimidating look towards the audience.

Character Profile

Letter Requesting Permission To Use Instrumental (Copyright Letter)

Before I started recording the song for the music video, I had to write a letter to the producer of the original song I was recording over. I sent them this e-mail to ask permission.

Dear Copyright holder,


I am an A-level student and I am writing this letter to request your permission for me to use the instrumental of your C-Sick – Film instrumental.

From your permission, I will be able to use this track for my A2 media studies project, which involves me creating a music video for a track vocalised by myself, but for this to work I need an already made instrumental to get me started. As well as this I need to create a Magazine front over and an album cover.

If I receive a letter approving my request this song will only be used in an educational context, viewed by my Media Studies class, my teacher and the OCR exam board. However, if the song gets viewed more than expected myself and the group will put the original song information on the YouTube information box giving all credit towards the producer(C-Sick).

I and the group look forward to hearing from you, please send full details.


Regards,


Basil Hassan

Target Audience

Hip hop/ rap songs are usually targeted towards a stereotypical group of teenage kids, aged between 15 to19 depending on the topic of the song, even though this category attracts a large scale of people, and does extremely well entertaining people. Reasons for this choice is that Hip-Hop/Rap songs contain a lot of bad language and violence not suitable for young viewers. They also include a certain amount of action and thriller which attracts a larger audience.

We created a profile for our audience. This would be what our ideal audience would be made out of:

British board of film classification

The Universal Children rating is generally suitable for all as it contains no violation or any sexual scenes.
There may be some inappropriate scenes for children who are highly sensitive or emotional.

The Parental Guidance (PG) film rating may contain a few scenes which could be inappropriate for young children as it could cause anxiety after watching daunting scenes but is generally suitable for viewing by everyone. It contains minor imitable behaviour and violence.

12 rating are for people who are 12 and over. An adult must take responsibility for allowing anyone under 12 to view or rent or buy a '12' rated video. It contains minor elements of discrimination, imitable behaviour, horror, language and violence.

15 rated video or films are only suitable for people who are 15 and over. It contains minor elements of discrimination and moderate views of drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex theme and violence.

18 rated film and videos are only suitable for those over 18. No one younger than 18 must buy or view any videos that are '18' rated. It contains high/strong use of discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex theme and violence.

Risk Assessment

During the recording of “Lost Since Birth”, we created a risk assessment to show us what to prevent whilst recording. Hazardous problems such as:


1. Tress passing (going to private owned areas)
2. Breaking equipment (camera, tripod, etc)
3. Equipment falling into the river on the side
4. Looking intimidating scaring of pedestrians
5. Causing problems on the roadside
6. Beware of the dogs fighting
7. Getting hit by a car on the road

Ultra Nate - Free

The audio instrumental from the music video "Lost Since Birth (Hopes Up)" was sampled from the classic club/dance songs recorded by Ultra Nate called Free. We sampled the melody of the song and added the Hip Hop/ Rap drums on top, giving it the Hip Hop rhythm.

Ultra Nate - Free



Reason behind choosing this song to sample is because somehow the melody creates emotion, allowing people to think and listen to the lyrics more than up-high instrumentals. This is important to us as it allows the audience to realise what is going on around the world.

Advanced Portfolio Feedback

From my feedback i found out that my research and planning was on the Level 2 and Level 3 boarder.

Things I must do:
- Risk Assessment
- Storyboard
- Questionnaire
- Analysis Of BBFC
- Audition Videos
- Costume Design
- Colour Schemes
- Font Designs

Pictures Taken Throughout The Process

This picture was taken with a famous up and coming artist who goes by the name of Nolay at the O2 academy.

Pictures During Video Shoot

These pictures were taken during the recording of the video.

In The Studio

First Draft Of Magazine Front Cover

1st draft of the magazine front cover below

Magazine cover slightly changed and edited below