Major Project: Initial Ideas

 For this term my first idea is that I use photography but I would also like to use some mixed media to create an art collection of between 4-6 images that could be my portfolio for this term. Maurizo Anzeri has good examples of this idea, in this image he has overlaid the Photograph with embroidery creating a strange mask over the woman underneath.  I like the muted colour palette here and this kind of sepia look is a possibility for my own work. 

Angelo,  from the “Let Them Play” series, 2010

Miles, for Dazed and Confused, 2011*

In this image the pink embroidery again really works over the black and white image and actually this image reminded me of Lazslo Moholy Nagy's work, it has a kind of constructivist sensibility to it. 

Laszlo Moholy Nagy, Gelber Kreis (Yellow circle), 1921

Laszlo Moholy Nagy in his studio

My second idea is to create images and turn them into a film a little like Chris Marker so it may be a combination of personal images with stock images - this will create a narrative like La Jetée (1962) - A short movie by Chris Marker or San Soleil.  La Jetee is a science fiction movie that was the basis of Twelve Monkeys, [Terry Gilliam's] '12 Monkeys (1995), his 1995 film inspired by La Jetée, develops Chris Marker’s ideas even further'(Filmicmag, 2015) . Filmicmag states; 'An interesting cinematic spectacle unlike anything I’ve seen recently, the artistry behind Chris Marker’s seminal film, La Jetée, is groundbreaking. Simplistic in scope, yet vastly deep in its subtext, the film is told through a combination of still monochrome images and the voice-over of a man.' (Filmicmag, 2015).  When I first saw this I was in my first year at university and its photographic beauty is astounding.  I would take black and white images and create a story - this can be narrated and/or there could be subtitles.  There is a simplicity to the images but the soul and longing are palpable throughout and it is the stillness of this moving film.

La Jetee by Chris Marker (1962)

Sans Soleil (Sunless) - Chris Marker 1983

San Soleil is an epic that goes around the world a woman narrates the story and talks about the place the people, and the stories, the diegetic sound comes through quieter and louder depending on the place and the colour and life moves through the world, this a moving film rather than photographs but includes still images and the beauty of the stillnesss again comes through and the film covers so much of life war, sex, work, children, life...

I like the idea of moving between the images, feeling life breathe in-between the images, there have been papers on that moment between images, or the moment we press the shutter. I like the ideas here I want to tell a still story that moves through narrative, through time.  

References

Filmicmag (2015) A comparison of 12 Monkeys & La Jetée, Filmic. Available at: https://filmicmag.com/2015/12/29/a-comparison-of-12-monkeys-la-jetee/ (Accessed: 16 October 2023). 

Advertising Research: Gen X & Retro 1980s 2nd Version

 In this post, I am going to look at advertising in relation to Generation X which will link to my advert for the 1980s retro party event. 'Gen X still reads newspapers, magazines, listens to the radio, and watches TV (about 165 hours worth of TV a month). However, they are also digitally savvy and spend roughly 7 hours a week on Facebook' DMUIC (Digital Arts Handout, 2023) In regards to my own advert as I would like to reach my target market I would put advert in a music magazine such as Q, however this has actually closed down now (Savage, 2020) and possible on social media but probably Twitter and Facebook. Magazines have struggled to survive with the rise of online magazines, cost (now a magazine is very expensive as print costs have soared and the covid pandemic meant that now people really relied much more on information online as they could not physically go out.  The editor of Q stated; 'We've been a lean operation for all of my tenure, employing a variety of ways to help keep our head above water in an extremely challenging print market.' (Savage M. 2020)

Q Magazine, David Bowie Issue (2016) 

Forbes magazine askes the question; 'Why is Gen X-centric marketing still missing the mark so badly?' (Wiley, 2022), Wiley reminds us in his article that Gen X are the smallest generation and often we are overlooked.  However, we are at the height of our earning power in our careers and therefore should have money that we want to spend on goods and services that perhaps other generations would struggle to afford and being that we are older we want more luxury items as our tastes have evolved over the years! Wiley states; 'Gen Xers are in their prime spending years, second only to baby boomers in terms of buying power'  (Wiley, 2022).  Therefore considering advertising for Gen X I would use any means available as Gen X will access both traditional and digital media and I do think if adverts were honed to attract them they would be more likely to spend money, Personally as a Gen Xer I am out off by adverts aimed at Gen Z and Y, they do not have what I want and I will spend more time searching for the goods and services that I am willing to spend money on.  

References

DMUIC Digital Arts Handout (2023), Target Market Behaviours, Leicester, DMU

Savage M., Q Magazine to close after 34 years. (2020). BBC News. [online] 20 Jul. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53477377 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2023].

Wiley, D. (2022). Council Post: Here’s How Brands Can Authentically Connect With Gen X. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2022/03/31/heres-how-brands-can-authentically-connect-with-gen-x/. [Accessed 25 Oct 2023].

Advertising Research : The 1980s an the Spending Power of Gen X

 I have been creating an advert for 1980s party for Gen X.  In this post I am going to discuss advertising and marketing to Gen X. 

'Gen X is sandwiched between baby boomers (a traditionally, well, traditional generation) and millennials (a more tech-savvy generation)? This creates an exciting opportunity for omnichannel marketing.' (Kowalewicz 2022) This means that Gen X will look at newspapers, billboards, Facebook (maybe some social media), websites and traditional magazines. 

Photobooth: Hamlet Cigars 1987

My own advert I will be marketing through hopefully the local newspaper, 80s music magazines with the right demographic such as Q or NME, after checking this assumption I discovered that Q magazine is actually closing after 34 years due to a massive drop in sales. 'The magazine's circulation had fallen to 28,000 per month from a peak of 200,000 in 2001.' (Savage, 2020).  This magazine is the music magazine I read when I was younger and appealed to my generation it is unsurprising now that it does not appeal and in physical form as younger people consume only online and due to the expense of magazines and newspapers less and less Gen X are buying them or with less frequency due to cost. 'The cost-of-living crisis will be very tricky for the magazine publishing market to navigate given magazines will likely be considered by many to be a luxury, non-essential item. As of September 2022, the cost of living crisis led 32% of magazine readers to cancel a magazine subscription.'(UK Magazines 2023)

The advert I created contains an images of Axel Rose from Guns and Roses who were at the height of their power and in 1987 'Appetite for Destruction' sold 30 million copies (2021).  Using this group also helped with the Halloween theme as the group are edgy and would be known by Gen Xers everywhere.  I went to a Gun and Roses concert recently and the audience were mostly of my own age and possibly millennials.  

The advert I have created I do think will appeal to my audience both in concept and in placement of the advert.  

References

Lewis, D. (no date) Gen X marketing + selling strategies (2022): BigCommerce, The BigCommerce Blog. Available at: https://www.bigcommerce.co.uk/blog/gen-x-marketing/ (Accessed: 11 October 2023). 

Kowalewicz, R. (2022) Council post: Three tips for marketing to Generation X, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/05/12/three-tips-for-marketing-to-generation-x(Accessed: 11 October 2023). 

Savage, M. (2020) Q magazine to close after 34 years, BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53477377 (Accessed: 11 October 2023). 

UK magazines Market Report - Market Size, Forecast & Growth (2023) Mintel Store. Available at: https://store.mintel.com/report/uk-magazines-market-report (Accessed: 11 October 2023). 

Ebersole, B. (2023) 13 facts about guns N’ roses, Facts.net. Available at: https://facts.net/history/people/13-facts-about-guns-n-roses/ (Accessed: 11 October 2023). 

Guns N’ roses album sales (2021) BestSellingAlbums.org. Available at: https://bestsellingalbums.org/artist/5051 (Accessed: 11 October 2023). 

Final Advert: Halloween Soiree

 This is my final advert...

I really enjoyed making this advert, it is fun and I think the message is clear.  I wanted to remove the background from the logo but as I used a logo maker it would have taken ages as there were no layers and removing the background on Photoshop using quick action removed much of the text as it could not recognise the difference between the background and the writing.  with more time I would have made it from scratch on Photoshop but with time it had the right look and message and I liked the slogan 'Art to Die For!' on the brand.  The image that I created on Photofunia I thought worked well and kept to my plan of using muted and limited colour palette.  I do think the poster has impact and works and the final result within the timeframe is a good achievement. 

Creating an Advert: Final Process for 80s Halloween Event

 Now I have created my plan and the digital assets I need I will create the final advert using Pixlr as we did in practice.

I began by opening Pixlr E and clicking on Create New, I then went to 'Print' on the dialog box and then A$ as this was the size specified in the advert brief. I then added a title and a black background so I then had a canvas, I also rotated the page to landscape orientation by clicking on Page and then page rotation c/w. 

I then opened my Axel image as I felt this was the best image from my assets and it is landscape so it kept within my plan 

I then selected all by clicking on select and then selecting all from the top menu and then I went edit and the copy and then I clicked back to canvas and clicked on edit and then paste.  As there was some black edge once I had used the transform controls and placed the image I just cropped it very slightly for a clean edge. 

I then opened my logo by clicking on file open image and uploaded the logo I created.  I then went to select all, edit, copy, and then clicked back to the canvas, and went to edit, paste, and then just used the move tool to position the logo.

I then added my text layers for the information on the party - so I clicked on the text tool in the left-hand tool menu and added two text layers.  I changed the font to 'Easterica' and the top title I made this 125pts and changed the colour to a kind of zombie green to match the dark green foliage of the trees.  The address at the bottom was the same font and color at 74pts.

I then checked the image for quality and made sure I was happy with the layout and then I exported the image as a png and saved it as jpg as well so I had two good quality copies to add to my blog as my  final poster!

Creating an Advert: Ideas, Planning & Digital Assets

As Halloween is coming up I thought I might create an advert for something that is Halloween-related so here are a few ideas: 

• A Halloween Art Exhibition
• A Halloween Movie Night
• A Costume Party for Gen X (The 80s live!) 

I looked at some other adverts just to get some further ideas...

Beav Arts, Brighton (2023)

The above advert I like the monster image and the font used for Beavarts - the poster works quite well but looks a little like it may be for children and so the target market here is not quite what I am after.

Godmachine: Flood Gallery (2019)

The Godmachine is perhaps more what I was thinking of with my own ideas - this is definitely for adults and actually looks like a great event for Halloween time. 

Halloween Movie Poster original

This is just an original movie poster for Halloween and I actually like this advert the most as I really do think the black and white looks great, the use of rule of thirds is very well done here and the image is really simple and striking.

Halloween Movie Night 

The above poster works but I actually think it is too silly and too colourful so although its message is clear I really don't like this!

Halloween Costume Party

I like the muted and limited colour palette - like the black and white this appeals and the image is striking with a clear message.  

After looking at these posters I think I definitely want a limited colour palette or black and white.  I will do the Gen X (1965-1980) costume party, as I understand this market as this is my own age group, I want it to appeal to both men and women. I need a good name and tagline and a brand/logo so who is holding the party with the party information.  

I will now do a quick sketch of my initial design and upload this so I can think about the layout and plan my outcome clearly. One of my favourite things to do is to visit the graves of my favourite dead artistsso I will call this 'The Dead Artists' Collective'  

I want three faces coming out of the gloom 80s but decayed and ghostly, limited colour palette, possibly using that pinky/purple of the poster above and black and white.and a small logo with a skeleton and easel for the dead artists collective brand.  I think I want it to be landscape orientation.  I will have a play with this though.

I then began thinking about my favourite 80s pop stat and so I started with Adam Ant, I found this image and then used Photofunia to halloweenise!

I quite liked this look so I think I may create a few more of these of 80s pop stars for my concept advertisement for the 80s event!

I have used here Annie Lennox and Axel Rose!

I then created my logo on the Free Logo design Maker we used in practice

The name of my brand is The Dead Artists Collective and I liked the slogan 'Art to Die For!'

I now have created all my digital assets, in my next post I will create the final advert.

Creating an Advert: Class Practice

 Today we discussed adverts in class and looked at different types of adverts and how they were laid out out, who the target market was and how they used logos and branding.  This was to help us think about how we could make our own advert.  

So we had a practice and we made a animal sanctuary advert - I looked at some other advert - here is an example below.

Example Donkey Sanctuary Advert 

For my own advert I followed this process.  I began by choosing a donkey image that I felt had impact from Unsplash

This was the image I choose. 

I then opened Pixlr E and clicked on Create New

I then created a canvas by clicking on 'print' and then A4 in the dialog box and I choose a white background

I then need to open the image I downloaded from unsplash of my donkey's so I clicked on 'File' then 'open' and then the image opens in a new window on Pixlr.

I then used the top menu went to Select and the Select all, then I went copy and then I clicked on the tab for my canvas and clicked paste, so my image appear in the canvas, I then used used the transform controls to adjust the size.

I went to the free logo maker freelogodesign.com

I then added the name of my brand/company and the logomaker gave me lots of options to customise which I did very quickly on the free maker.  I then downloaded as png so that I could add to my advert.

I then opened the logo on Pixlr by going to file, open and logo - again I selected all and then copied and pasted onto my canvas. 

I then moved logo into place using transform controls I placed it in the left hand corner and I adjusted the size to make it slightly bigger.

Lastly I added Text as I needed a tagline and where people could donate to my charity. I clicked on Text in tools menu, I created new text layer I used Adolfini font for the tagline and Veranda for the website so that it stood more for donation.  

Once I was happy with the text and the placement I then went to file, export as png 

My final advert looks like this!

Reflection: I enjoyed making this advert, I believe it is simple and effective and I liked the donkey image as I did think it had impact.  The logo I would have played with this for longer if I had more time and would have made the background transparent.  I would also improve my tagline and fonts if I was creating this again.