My Digipack update

This is my initial idea, the feedback I got for it was that it was a very creative idea but it would suit a much more established artist. One of the criticisms was that it was hard to make out the artists face, and since this is the debut album that would be a bad thing because the artist needs to be instantly recognised.
I will need to fix my album cover idea to fix this and I need to keep in mind that the artist must be recognisable. 

More Photoshop experimenting

Because I want to cover my artists face in graffiti for the digipack, I thought it would be a good idea to experiment a bit more on photoshop as covering a face would be a difficult task. I used lots of different filters until I got the effect  I was looking for.
This was the result of my first attempt.

this was the original image.

this was the image after I went on photoshop, the paint on the face was too transparent. 

Here is the result of my second attempt.

Here is the original image.

Here is the image after manipulation, The paint looks more opaque than the first one.

After playing with Photoshop for a bit, I realised the effect would look better depending on the artwork I chose to cover the photos face in, so for my final product I am going to have to pick artwork which has lots of colour so it doesnt look translucent. 

album cover mock up

Here is the front and back of the cover I would like to design, because our genre is alternate hip hop I thought itd be best to do something different so I'm going to attempt to cover my artists face in graffiti. The cover also carries several references to the music video we produced such as the location and the artwork.
The feedback I got from Dan was to make sure the albums name stands out a bit more. 

The same theme carries on inside, with the same references to our music video, only there will be a different photo of our artist who will still be covered in graffiti. 

digipak Group Design Ideas

We have decided that all our individual designs should have a colour scheme of black, white ,green and colours that are dominant in the music video so we could establish a link between the video and the digipack. As a group we have decided to call the album IVXX. We have also decided to make a 4 panelled digipak.

The fonts we will be using are:

Urban Jungle

Bright young things 

progress review blog

digipak poster idea

digipak idea

digipak cover ideas progression

I decided to draw a few concept ideas to use for my front cover of the digipak.
The first idea was to have the words IVXX scrawled over the face of the artist on a plain background but I decided not to do it because there wasn't a clear enough link between the digipak and the music video we had produced.

1st concept.

The second idea I decided to include a forest in the background as a reference to the music video.

2nd concept

I also thought it'd be a good idea to try the same design in another location in the music so I decided to included a wall covered in graffiti in the background of the 3rd picture. 

3rd concept

In the end I decided to integrate both backgrounds into the picture and cover the artists face in graffiti with a forest in the background. I did this because I wanted to establish a link between the music video and it would've helped to attract the target audience because our target audience like stuff that is a different to others and stuff that is unique. 

4th concept. 

 

Photos i plan to use

gif maker

• The first image of our artist which is black and white i plan to use in the inside of my digipak. I chose to use this image because i believe it gives a nice effect and is well suited for the inside and it is not too complicated. i also think it is appealing. 
• The second is of our artist standing in the forest with him looking in a different direction. This image is used to establish the artist and tell the audience this is our artist and to appeal to our audience which is you younger. 
• The last image i plan to use on the back cover of the digipak, i think it would be good to use in the back because it would seem more suitable out of all the photos i have taken. 

All these photos i have chosen will be edited and changed to make them stand out more and more appealing to the audience. 

Do's and Don't's

Shortlist

shortlist for digipak

For the production of our digipaks we plan to use two fonts. The fonts we are going to use are 'Urban Jungle' and 'Bright Young Thing'. We chose these fonts because we believed they were some of the best to use and also would be well suited to our genre of music and our artist. The 'Urban Jungle' was a good font to  use because the font had building and sky scrapers within it so it gave a urban feel to the digipaks. We used 'Bright Young Things' because we liked the font style and thought it would suit the digipak idea we had. The colours that would be used in our digipak idea were black, white, green and blue.

We agreed on these colours because we all had different ideas for the digipak and wanted to use colours which most of us were comfortable with and thought would be appealing to the audience.

 urban jungle

 bright young things

magazine advert analysis

 The first magazine advert I will be analysing is an advertisement for Rage Against the Machines anniversary album, the magazine consists of a black ground and a picture of their album cover, this reflects the type of music they make because they want to make a statement in the music they produce and it is also good at attracting attention because the album cover shows a monk being burned which would catch anyone's eye. The writing on the magazine advert is also good at attracting attention because its written in big white letters and it is easy to read. It follows the genre conventions of political rock because it contains an image referring to a major incident in this case a protesting monk, most political rock albums would usually contain a reference to something major.

The second advert is an advertisement for the Savage heart. This advert doesn't include a shot of the album, instead it uses the same photo used in the album cover, this helps to make the album more recognisable because if the audience see the album in the shop, they'll think back to the advert if they have seen it. There are also a couple of reviews which would help attract an audience. The colours of the fonts are written in different colours so its easier to read so the audience can remember what was written on the advert.

The 3rd advert is an advertisement for a musical rendition of War of the Worlds. It includes pictures of aliens on the album. The advert places a lot of emphasis on the New generation/interpretation, using it as a unique selling point in order to attract a new audience. The names of the artists included in the album are written below the tag line, this helps the audience identify who is the track. The advert follows the same colour scheme as the album, this helps the audience identify a link more clearly. 

    

Digipak analysis

The first digipak I will be analysing is The best of 2pac - part 2:Life. It is in the hip hop genre and the outside panels are black and white. The album is paying tribute to 2pac and the colours black and white are used as a sign of respect for the late rapper. The font used for the title of the album is in bold and it stands out which could reflect the contents of the album. The image used on the front cover is effective in attracting an audience because it shows Tupac in a respectful pose which stands out from the usual hip hop albums where there is usually a rapper with diamonds on his/her teeth posing next to a car. The back of the album is more or less similar to the front. Overall the outside panels are very effective in paying tribute to Tupac by keeping the album looking simplistic and not making it look over the top.

Outside Panel

The inside panels of the digipak continues with the black and white colour scheme. The inside consists of a panel which holds the CD  information about each song and a letter from the mother of Tupac thanking the customer for buying the album.

inside panel, some words from Afeni Shakur.

The next album I will be looking at is a compilation album with songs from various artists called Nuggets. The outside panel has a white background but the foreground is dominated with a whole range of different colours and patterns. This reflects on the different styles of the different artist included in the album. The font used for the title stands out because its the brightest thing on the cover and is quite big which is good for leaving an impression on who ever is looking at the album.

Outside panel

The inside panels of the digipak has a more consistent colour scheme as it is mainly yellow, the same colour as the title of the album. There are lots of images of records all on top of each other which reflects the album being a compilation. The inside goes into more detail of the tracks included. 

inside panels 

The 3rd digipak I will be looking at is Delays, the outside panels consist of the same gold circle with a red background, the front cover consists of a wing with stars and the back cover consists of the track listing in the gold circle.

outside panels

The inside of the digipak has almost the opposite colour scheme to the outside, it contains a black circle surrounded by red leaves, with a gold star and another golden image, this suggests that there is more to the album than meets the eye. 

inside panels

Looking at Digipaks

The top digipak is from Tupac. The front cover follows the colour scheme and the idea of having an image of Tupac, on the three different panels.  The colour scheme which is black and white is also used with he font. the Front panel shows a large image of him and the title of the digipak to the side of the panel. Then the middle panel has an image of Tupac with the song titles. The far left panel shows an image of Tupac in a frame with a note written by his mother, thanking the people who helped make the album. 

The bottom right digipak is from a compilation digipak. It has a more vibrant cover with more colour. The left panel shows the song titles on the CD. 

The bottom right digipak is from the Delays. It has a constant image of a circle on both panels and colour scheme. The colours gold, red and black are used. The left panel shows the song titles while the front cover shows and image of a wing. 

The top digipak follows the colour scheme with the black and white. Its minimalistic and is good in that way as it is not too complicated. the same with the CD a black cover with white font. 

The bottom left shows and image of records all mixxed and which goes with the idea of a compliation CD. The colour scheme is also followed the font of the album name is used for the inside cover. The inside text shows the album name and information on the tracks. 

Lastly, the album by the Delays shows a red circle which is used and black within the circle and gold image. It follows the scheme and is shown well. 

Digipak Analysis

I have been looking at more digipaks for help and guidance in what i should be doing. One i think is very interesting is, Kanye West's 'Graduation' digipak.

The front of the digipak shows an image of a bear wearing clothes associate with a hip-hop artist or college student. The image has many different colours but stand out well and will catch and audiences attention. The album name and artist name is on a sticker at the top of the album which can be removed, which shows that the people behind the digipak were not concerned that the album name and artist was not printed directly onto the digipak. The last detail is the 'Parental advisory' logo at the bottom left.

When you open the digipak, the theme of the artistic pictures carries on with the bear in graduation attire and is basically graduating from college. This connects well with the name of the digipak. There is no other information on the digipak but it is still beautifully crafted and the art well chosen. It is kept constant with the graduation theme not confusing or ruing the digipak. 

Lastly the back of the digipak. This has the same image from the front cover back seen from a different angle. On the left side of the digipak there is copyright information, it says the main people who helped make the album and other copyright information. lastly the is a barcode along the black strip. 

Even though this may seem very minimal it is done well. The art is produced well and placed in the right places on the 2 panel digipak. It seems as if the artist wants his audience to stick this on their wall or place it on a table to enjoy the art on the digipak as  also the music which is a good selling point as it makes them a collectible item and interesting for the audience.

Experimental Product

In the lesson we explored the photoshop features and learnt to use the software. I learnt how to use the different tools on photoshop and how to lay the images so you can make something close to a digipak. I found it difficult at the start to get used to it but then soon found it familiar, i started to look for pictures for my own digipak and how i would construct it.

If i worked harder my experimental Digipak may have been of better quality but during the lesson we just had fun with the software and got used to the tools.

Audience Feedback

The feedback i got from friends from facebook.

It was not as in depth as i would have hoped but it was still great having somebody thing the work you have done is good.

experimental product

here is the final version of my experiment on photoshop

experimenting with photoshop.

In todays lesson, we started to play around with photoshop, in order to get used to the programme so it would be easier for us to produce our own cover and advertisement. 

I used a lot of layers to produce this and I followed the genre conventions of a hip hop song using pictures of my media teacher Dan. It was a fun process and it also made me learn alot about photoshop. 

starting on Digipaks

Today we used Photoshop to start learning how to use all the tools so we can create a digipak to a professional standard.

here I am experimenting with different effects or filters that I can use on images 

I have added a filter on the image and have included the track list at the panel which is the back of the digipak and also used an image of the street.

Now I have enlarged the photo of the artist to an appropriate size and included the name of the album as well as the name of the artist. It is important to use two fonts which make it look a lot more professional and simplistic. I also have stuck to a common colour scheme which is black, grey, white and lilac which are all subtle colours which I think fits well with the Artists image and genre of music.

This is the completed version of my Digipak task. I have used a barcode and the name of the record label.

what I have not done is included the name on the spine of the digipak, and the copyright information which is written at the back of the cover.

Final cut

The final cut of our music video I think is really good, I'm very happy with how to came out but one thing I think we need to work on are the transitions in the video. I think we created a music video that reflects in what we had originally thought of.

Digipaks

The Digipak is a similar to an album but is made out of paper or cardboard and has four panels or six. In class we talked about why digipaks were used and useful in getting interest in music. The art work also being another important factor on a digipak. The digipaks today are a new modern way of selling and packaging cd's. It helps artists design their own album. They are common to keeping the designs in digipaks constant using the same font.

Skills development

In A2 I have learnt many different techniques. 

• To use Finalcut more effectively

During this project i have improved how to use Finalcut and have learnt about the different techniques in editing.

• learning a different way to edit

the editing was also new and we had to learn how to properly mark in and sync our track and to make sure that we edit to the beat.

• filming more footage

we also had to film a substantial amount of footage so we had a variety of shots within our music video.

Feedback

Functions of a digipak

Digipaks are a modern approach to packaging CD's. They usually contain more than 2 panels which has whatever the artist/record label has decided to put there and the usual place where the CD usually is.They are often used for special editions of CD's. Digipaks can provide more information about the artist and they can also add value to the artists material because it would be giving the audience more than just music, it provides the audience with a different outlook on the artist.
Digipaks have a consistent design scheme so the colour scheme and the font used on a digipaks would be the same throughout the entire package.

PRODUCTION - Skills Development 2

Producing the project this year was a lot different to the project we did in AS. We ignored factors that would've been essential last year such as continuity and we had to more filming  and have more frequent edits, and also adding factors such as Mise en Scene,shot types and the biggest factor sound we had a lot to do. The main plan was to film in settings that fitted with the mood of the song, and we did that. And while producing our rough cut, we cut from one location to another as we were trying to follow a specific part of Andrew Goodwin's theory, Disjuncture. But after  showing the rough cut we learnt that songs that follow a disjuncture style must also have some sort of structure to it in order for it to make sense, something we learnt following the feedback from our peers and the teachers.
Another thing I learnt from the production of this project was that the communication had to be more frequent between my group, we  communicated alot more than my group last year. This factor allowed us to present our ideas in more detail to each other before filming so we could quickly make any changes to the plan we were following. ( we mainly communicated on smartphones)
I learnt a lot from editing this year too, such as matching the base tracks we filmed to the song.Most of the base tracks were too fast for the song so we had to slow the footage down.
I also learnt some new tricks this year such as using the Colour Correction 3-way filter this year, so we could  adjust the settings of the saturation filter we also placed on the music video.
Overall the production process this year has taught me a lot and it will help us with our planning for the digi packs.

Editing

FINISHED THE PRODUCTION OF THE MUSIC VIDEO

Our group has finally finished the production of the music video. It was a long and slow process  and we have learnt a lot from it, now our group is moving on to the production of the digipacks.

Final Stages of editing

Today we reached the final stages of editing, we added some more filters to our videos such as the Light Ray filter, and we also added some text at the beginning of the song, saying the name of the song as the artist doesn't mention Mad Meditations.

editing

Editing
by: aa42075

Rough cut

The rough cut for the music video we are making.

editing

animated gif maker

editing

In today's lesson, we carried on from where we left off,we added more base tracks to our current selection.
The hard parts of editing today was that our artist started to rap faster during the song, so it was difficult to align it correctly to the song. We managed align most of them and we begun cutting them. There will be a cut every beat, and for some sections, the cut comes after two beats.

Unable to film in the recording studio

Unfortunately we were unable to book the recording studio in time in order for us to film with the artist I there. And this was a prominent part of our storyboard and now we have to scrap the idea, so as a group we have decided to stick with the rest of the storyboard and to miss out the shots of the artist in the recording studio.

Thoughts on editing

We have begun the editing process and there are good points and some bad points of the process. 

• The pros are our group have a significant amount of footage, so we'll have a lot of base tracks and it would give the music video more movement as there'll be a variety of locations and angles.Within the first 10-20 seconds, we have used more than 5 base tracks and a number of scene shots. 
• We are editing to the beat, after every beat the camera cuts to a new shot so that is going well. 
• The music is in sync with most of the base tracks.
• One disadvantage is that some of the base tracks are going to fast so its difficult to line it up with the MP3  our group has countered this by slowing down the footage so its perfect. 
• Another disadvantage is the transitions we were using for the opening shots went to fast so we've had to slow down the opening shots too to get the effect we were looking for. 

Overall, I think we have done well for the opening stages of the music video, and we hope to add filters and effects once we have completed the rough cut. 

location changes

We had to limit the number of locations we were supposed to film in because we had problems with getting permission to film in certain locations such as Alexandra Palace. And due to the weather we had to cancel some of our planned filming sessions, which was as Carneby Street and China Town. This was a big problem for us as a group as we all decided to film at these locations. But we had filmed nearly 15 base tracks at the location we were able to film at and so we had more than enough footage to start editing.

editing rough cut 1

In this picture, we were checking to see if the video was in sync with the song. 

Going through the footage, we labelled the footage we would use for our base track,.

random editing shot

We also looked at the footage we wouldn't use as base tracks to see if we could add any other shots of the artist.

Viewing the base tracks