Planning: Digipak

These are some images of our male artist, i decided to get some images of him that could fit the digipak. The expression on his face is normally serious one of the themes i see in the professional genre of digipaks to this song. I got many shots so that i could have many images to choose from and have a trial and error when using photoshop.

Screenshot of Complete Advertisement

Screenshot of Complete Digipak

                                  Inside panels                                        Back Panel                      Front Cover 

Analysis 3 Digipaks

Digipaks are essential in the advertising marketing industry, not only does the Digipak package the disc but most importantly it sells the artist, by using images that catch an audiences attention. It incorporates many different things such as where to download the artists music, logos from record companies, thanks to fans and family on the inside and obviously song list on the back.

This DigiPak relates to my genre its also grime/rap like Wiley our original artist. The front Cover shows the artists face, the parental Advisory logo is obvious and will definately be put on my Digipak. The artists name is in big lettering along with the album name. The overall Digipak is very simple, the attension is placed upon the artist and also the tatoo on his neck.

This album cover belongs to Devlin, he is another rapper associated to grime and the Digipac has caught my eye. We can see the artist up against a wall, its a simple image, his facial expression is serious as most grime artist like to represent themself like serious people. The artists name 'Devlin' is the most significant and outstanding part of the digipac.

The Dark lighting here is what attracts my attention, the graphic editing where you can see the artist holding what appears to be New York City looks interesting. The font used for the artist name and album name are the same, it collaborates well with the theme of the whole digipak and this will be taken into consideration.

My digipak will contain the image of the artist, an effect on the background to add graphic effect. The colours will all be black and white and will follow on the advert so that they can relate once more. 

Final Video Vimeo

Dennetta, Fabian, Miguel, Ira from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Analysis of One sequence from Rough Cut

One sequence that was vital was where our actor, Fabian, had to put across to the audience and we had to capture an essetial part of the concept where he was clearly with a woman in the same bed. This scene was increadably important, unfortunately once we put the clips onto Final Cut pro and were able to see them we felt the shots wee too dark. Weconsulted our teacher for a scond oppinion and it clearly made an impact in contrast to the rest of the shots which were caught in rich lighting. We quickly got our equipment and although we hit a slight dilema where the actress from the scene couldn't participate we dressed our team member Ira in a wig and took the shots. By taking in mind some tips from the teachers on how to capture the best shots and lighting we recorded well and finally came back to the edit suite we had excelent and much improved shots.

Planning: Shortlist of fonts, design, layout and design ideas.

To get started I needed to get the simple basic ideas for the digipak out the way. I needed a font, layout idea, design ideas which would allow me to research various types of ideas so that i could choose the perfect one.

Font

These are all font that I initially wanted to use, i then finally came to the conclusion that i would use the, Enduro Dos font seeing as it looked modern and eye catching.

Colours


The colours i want to use where definitely black and white, the silhouette dark urban effect it has to it makes it look entirely professional in my opinion. The image below is an image that i want to recreate for my digipak, the black and white theme works perfectly even for the genre of music.

Design

My design is going to have the artist as the main focus, i want the artist to look past the camera seeing and the title of the album would be 'lure of my memories' therefore adding an image that would connote a man thinking.

Layout

The layout will have the essentials logos on the back, parental guidance logo is vital for this genre and the title, image and artist name would all have a uniqueness to them.

Planning for Digipak: Mock up

In order not to waste time we all made mock ups of what we wanted our digipak to look like. The digipak i made follows many conventions of \ones we see in the genre of the song we made our video to.

 The whole digipak has a set theme of black and white, there are no colours involved. The title and name of the album are in two different fonts, although this is challenging i managed to get the right fonts to look professional. 

Front

The front has the image of the artist looking in a direction, past the camera, the blur effect behind him makes a day dream sort of effect which relates to the name of the album, lure of my memories. 

Back

 I also put some of the logos that I would use for my digipak. The track list was to be in the back I plan to select a font that can fit in well with the digipak.

Inside

The back of the digipak would contain a spread image across both panels in order to keep a limit of image so that there wasn't a barrage of different pictures.

Digipak and Advertisement Mock up: Planning

Using a bunch of photos captured previously by our male artist 'Y.Shocker,' I produced my own mock-up plan of what ideas and imagination I wanted to use as my digipak.  This was a very relaxing yet creative lesson that I really enjoyed using equipment such as scissors, paper, pritt stick and coloured felt tips. We had to print our photos and transfer these images onto a paper CD cover template following the functions of a digipak e.g. Using a barcode and copyrights labels.

Below is my front and back panel which use the same background scheme of a neutral surroundings which was included in the take photograph. On the back panel, I've decided to keep my tracklist aligned to the left hand side using capital lettering. Underneath all this is followed by a few supporting logos such as Realplayer and EMI Records.

The front panel uses a close-up photo of the artist stretched amongst the whole of the panel making it the background and focal point. The parental advisory logo is very important with this album since the genre Grime and Rap use explicit lyrics. Iv'e also decided that the artist's name would be in big and bold typography along with the album name in a different font in a smaller size which in this case is 'Lure of my Memories.'

Above is the inside panels to my 4 panel digipak. On the left and side I have used a black and white photo of the artist which has a natural and cool mood. Possibly I will add dedications to fans and important people to the artist. However on the other side, another long shot of the artist is used with the same colour theme of black and white keeping both panels the same.

Short-List of fonts, colours, layout, and design ideas.

Fonts:

I am going to be using one font type throughout my digipak varying in size in different panels.

Colours:

Correlating with the image that I am going to use on the front of my digipak i am going to use a grayish theme throughout the digipak. I have decided to change my initial idea of the front as the wide array of colours made my digipak look too vivid and the artist wasn't really displayed adequately.

Design Ideas:

I have decided to use an effect on the digipack which runs throughout the digipak.

Layout:

I am going the make the layout of the text simple and easy to read with minimal effects. I decided on this due to the quantity of digipak's i analysed with the same genre, none of them had stylish effects on the text or the images, they were plain, simple and effective.

Overview Do's and Don't' of design work

When constructing a Digipak or magazine advertisement, there are various functions you can and can not follow such as...

An example of what a digipak should not look like is...

A CD panel like the one about has a lot of functions which have not been followed. The amount of colours used which is 4 different colours is too much for such a calm posed photo. Even though the background colour and the blue photo do not compliment each other, I think it looks quite interesting but different. The font of both the album and artist name seem either too victorian or sans-serif for a rap album (the genre is given but the artist's pose and mise-en-scene). Along with the colour and size of these texts do stand out amongst the audience but do not follow the simple steps of producing a CD Digipak. One thing that isn't noticable is an album with this specific genre of Rap/Hip Hop needs an Parental Advisory logo.

Short-List of fonts, colours, layout and design ideas (planning)

As a group, we have come up with a few ideas of what fonts, colours and designs to use for our individual Digipaks. It was a hard decision as everybody had their own imaginations and ideas but we had to combine them together and come to a final decision of 2 ideas for each topic.

Fonts:

- Serif lettering (sharp and strong edges)

- Bold/Extra Bold font to stand out for the audience
- Large sized for front panel (Artist's name)
- Smaller sized for Album name (preferably in different font)
- Same font as Album name for Tracks list.
- E.g (Academy Engraved LET , Broadway BT , Simplified Arabic Fixed , MisterEarl BT )

 Below are some examples of how the Artist's name could look on the front panel of the digipak.

Colours:

- Neon blue or Beige Brown combined with black

- Colour that represents a young male rapper (blue)

- A colour that will stand out on the whole front and back panel.

Layout / Design:

Front Panel

Back Panel

Analysis of 3 Advertisements (research)

Advertisements are everywhere! They can be Billboards, Magazine pages, TV adverts or even Pop-Ups on the the computer. Music advertisements broadcast an artist's album/single/concert following the simple functions used to create a Professional Advertisement. I have collected 3 different styles of advertisements which all persuade an audiene to buy an album but all have different advantages/disadvantages to them.

Lady Gaga: Live on Stage

- Contrasting coloured image using a cartoon effect but the artist is not recognizable from this picture.

- Focal point of the white large text which states the date of concert which is very important to the audience.

- All other use of text uses capital letters and same 2 contrasting colours used in photo.

- Big and bold text at the top alone is the artist's name which states who the person is and does attract to the eye (also uses patterns to make it attract to females)

- Use of icons and logos at the side to show supporting acts or companies.

- Overall is a catchy poster advertisement aimed at young females as it uses variety of text size, same font and great use of minimal colour.



Imran Khan: Unforgettable

- 3/4 of advertisement is the artist's appearance in a variety of shot sizes e.g. Long shot, close-up shot

- Supporting fans webite used effectively in a completely different font and colour.

- Serif bold font used for release date along with same font without boldness for official websites.

- 2 different stylish sans serif font used for artist's name and album name which brings a more urban audience to attraction. 

- Simple and traditional layout used with a big photo and text underneath.  

Rihanna: Good girl gone bad

                        

- Hot red background contrasting the album cover.

- Effective album cover using traditional opposing colours of black and white.

- Recognizable yet stunning photo of artist give the advertisement a serious mood.

- All text in white and sans serif font with minimal use of different text size.

- Brand logo of used to promote album

- A very plain and simple layout and not enough information used

- No name of artist or album name.

Do's And Dont's Overview

Our teachers handed us a simple Do and Don't handout setting guidelines that would set us on our way to making a proffesional looking digipak.  Above is a screenshot of a section of the handout. Many of these rules had to be recited for example the rule on how we should not place text in front of the artists face, they helped me a lot seeing as  hadn't made a professional looking digipak before. The image below example of a failed Digipak, you can see the name of the artist covering the image on the screen, this covers what should be the main part of the cover. There are two different fonts used in this video, although this could be pulled of the creator of this digipak clearly uses the wrong colour and fonts as it seems like it was made in about 2 minuets. By looking at these unsuccessful digipaks the Do's and Dont's where vital. 

The image here is one of the past years final digipak. The digipak follows many of the conventions from the Do's and Dont's, there is no font covering the artist, the name of the artist, title and song list are all in the same font. The digipak works for me because there is a colour consistency throughout all the digipak sides, i will learn from these digipaks and hopefull make a succesfull looking digipak myself. 

Feedback from the Rough Cut

Initially due to the lack of shots that we had for our rough cut the teachers feedback was use full in making different scenes correlate with each other, the feedback from our animatic and pitch helped us design a plot for our music video. The way in which each actor is moving had to be filmed constant keeping with the 180 degree rule making it look as if both actors were actually meeting up, feedback such as this helped us make more sence of the plot we wanted our audience to see. 

Mock up of my Advert

Mock-up of my Digipak

  Front and Back Panels 

                                                                  
                                                                        Inside Panels

Overview of 'Do's and Dont' of design work

DO	DONT
·         Use a clear font	·         Stretch images, this will make them out of focus
·         Use appropriate sizes for: 1.       Images 2.       Font	·         Use layer styles
·         Use clear photos that are in focus	·         Use unnecessary effects. Any effects used must suit the genre
·         Use photos that are an appropriate shape for the page	·         Place text across artists face
·         Use a layer that follows the rule of thirds for composition	·         Use a font simply because you ‘like it’
·         Use an appropriate type face that follows: 1.       Genre conventions 2.       A house style	·         Feel you need a separate photo on every panel- be creative
·         Be clear on where to place the font , it must: 1.       Follow genre conventions 2.       Be clear from a distance
·         Follow the conventions of the 3 colour rule and use colour that is appropriate for: 1.       Images 2.       Font 3.       Background
·         think carefully about how you use and integrate: 1.       Font 2.       Text and language 3.       Image remember that placement of text next to an image will anchor specific meaning
·         use appropriate industry logos and conventions, properly positioned: 1.       Barcodes 2.       Date 3.       Copyright 4.       Titles 5.       Artist name

Introduction to Digipak's

We were introduced to digipaks at the beginning of the course where we learnt about the programs that would create a digipcak, these programs included photoshop and quark.

Digipaks are used by record companies to promote a artists album, the digipaks can vary in size, there are 4 and 6 panel digipaks. the contents of a digipak vary on the genre.

Photoshop has amazing altering features which allows users to cut an image out and add visual effects to a picture, text can be manipulated and altered to suit the users requirements.

Quark is specialist software which allows users to create simple digipaks. simple digipaks consist of a picture of the artist or a location, record company logo and bar code. Quark is perfect for novice users as it is simple to use with very few icons. 

In the creation of my digipak i intend to use photoshop as conventional 'grime' digipaks consist of a wide array of visual effects which make the album look more urban which intern draws in a specific audience

Anylisis of 3 Adverts

The two advertisements featured above both share the same features which are they both have a mini version of the CD cover, they both include the artists official web address for further information/ downloads, they both include the record company logo. and they both have the release date for the album. from this correlation i can see that all of the featured information about the adverts are necessities which all adverts must include. The 'UK MCs' advert includes additional information such as the retailers logo where the album can be purchased, in this poster they included three retailers 'ITunes', 'hmv' and 'play.com'.

In both adverts the background is dark with white text, this creates an illusion which draws in the audience and makes them want to read it. Due to the capabilities of the world wide web posters are now having to put online retailer logos where consumers can purchase the album from.

The advert above is from Dizzee Rascals new album 'boy in the corner', in this advert information about the venues are made significant and are written in bold capital letters which interlink with the same font as the album cover. The image on the advert correlates with the album name 'boy in the corner'. The advert also contains record company logos and distributors. The album web address is featured for more information on the new release and gigs.     

Analysis of Digipaks (research)

Without Digipaks, an audience can not tell what genre a CD is. Therefore with the simple packaging of which attracts the eye tells the reader not only the artist but they type of music they are about to purchase, Below I've analysed 3 completely different CD Digipaks from artists in contrasting genres.

50 Cent: Curtis

Front:

- Simple yet clear and eye catching album cover

- Minimum of 4 colours (Black/white/blue/gold)

- Parental Advisory logo to warn for younger audience (always on bottom left of right hand corner)

- Well known gangster font with sharp designed edges.

- Extreme close-up shot for defined features.

- Use of image in correct order (eye contact with the audience)

- Lighting of dark shadow portrays the ghetto life and his style of music which is dark.

- Promotional sticker using binary colours to image which stands out. 

- Gives an overall depressed but serious look to the album.

Back:

- Using opposite colour to front cover but fades to black to link with it.

- Use of small font for tracks list, but not recognizable to read from far.

- Detailed design of a badge using gold to portray the jewellry and richness of rappers.

- Producing labels and barcode used correctly.

- Simple background design of blue with gradual black outer area and gold areas of design.

- Large font of '50' tells the audience what is he commonly known as.

Busted: Busted

Front:

- Almost like a photograph taken at a Police station.

- Long shot shows physiques of all artists and their dress style.

- No title or artist name used so they expect audince to know them by face.

- All artist in the same pose shows their childish mentality

- No colour scheme used, just a natural photograph

- No thought to mise-en-scene (seems like normal outdoor clothing)

- No use of lighting to draw attention

- A laidback normal but not as effective album cover.

Back:

- Capital letters with slim bold sans serif font

- Numbers written as '01,02,03' to show how young and childish they can be (age generation)

- Barcode and Labels used correctly

- Realplayer logo used to promote.

- Grey background using faint black lines (Theme of lines used)

- Good choice for a first album and suits the rock/pop genre.

The Saturdays: Headlines

Front:

- Bright and contrasting colours used to suit the pop genre

- Exposure of legs attract to the opposite sex

- Black and white colours used for the album name which is effective amongst the image

- Long shot to expose figure of singers

- Large basic font for band name with a glow ( suited to the teenage generation)

- Whole album is sassy and full of life to the eye.

- Background of faded blue shades almost like sorbet theme

Back:

- From shades of blue to purple for the background (both cool colours)

- Same font used as band name ( bright and clear to read easily)

- No image used as the front cover is busy enough as it is.

- Barcode used correctly.