FINAL EVERYTHING

My final music video

 My final digipak with pullout

My final magazine advert

Digipak and magazine advert feedback

As part of my  task for making the digipak and magazine advert, it was crucial to get feedback from people so I could build on what I had already created. Thus, I put a picture of them up on my twitter page and waited for people to write their comments.

This shows the tweet I made with the images attached.

These two screnshots show the feedback I was given, both good and bad, the good enabled me to see what I had done well, whilst the bad was constructive criticism that I could then go back and work on, so my work was the best it could be.

Digipak individual panels

Here are close up of the individual panels on my digipak.

This last picture is the first part of the three piece pull out and is the one that will be placed on the sixth panel, whilst the other two will come out as part of it.

My digipak

My digipak has taken blood sweat and tears, but I am very satisfied with the end result. It has a mixture of panels, including a message from the artist himself, a photograph of the artist, and other appropriate, or in some cases inappropriate images, such as the cow, which simply fir with the 'Gag' theme. Additionally, I opted to incorporate a pull out into my digipak. This was for one of two reasons. Firstly, when looking into other digipaks, I found they commonly featured pull outs or pockets with parts to take out and read. Secondly, I had a string of images from set that I thought were hilarious and thought that it would be too good an opportunity to miss if I did not include them, so I did. Moreover, I chose green for the colour scheme because this is the colour of the guitar in the video, and the colour of the kayak that featured in some earlier scenes. Finally, after many attempts at playing around with colour, I changed my mind and decided to make my work black and white as I personally felt it looked more effective, especially witch such a bright green being incorporated.

This is what my digipak will look like. The top right hand image is the first image in the pull out, so the others (seen below the digipak) will be folded behind it so that the rest of the digipak can be seen, and it will thus form a pull out. Lastly, I chose to keep the pull out in colour because in some respects it is not officially a part of the digipak and also it adds to the comic quality of the images.

Here is a version where the green is showing as for some reason it did not appear in the screenshot above. The empty panel will be on the right hand side at the top and that is where the pull out will go.

Digipak draft

Here is a draft of what my digipak looks like at the moment. Obviously it is incomplete and this is because I am going to take some new shots, whilst re doing the shot on the front cover to make it look more effective and resemble the sign of a hitchhiker, rather than the plain piece of paper it currently shows. Thus, I will have a more striking cover, instead of what it looks like at the moment. I have put in a lot of hours on this draft and learnt a great deal about Photoshop, considering the first time I ever used it was 4 days ago. When around, I have asked teachers for guidance, but when working on it by myself, I have been watching tutorials, reading a Photoshop magazine, and even just playing around with all the tools till I found what it was I wanted. The theme for my digipak is the clouds as I personally think they give a nice feel to the sense of a journey and time from day to day. Moreover, green is featured on each panel of the digipak as it is a common colour in the video, seen through the guitar, and the kayak in earlier scenes. I am proud with what I have achieved so far, however I would imagine that my final draft will differ greatly from this one as I need to amend the colour and the sky on some panels, whilst completely creating or recreating others.

An introduction to Photoshop

Being a media student has enabled me to learn how to use a number of programmes, that previously, I was unfamiliar with. The newest one is Photoshop. Although I have always been surrounded by work that has been edited on Photoshop, I have never worked on it myself. Today, when looking at digipak's and how to create them, we practised on a photo of Jessie J. I was a bit slow at first but these things come with practise and I look forward to the potential that Photoshop with offer when it comes to piecing together drafts of my digipak. Here are some screenshots of the work I did.

 This was me amending the settings for my new project, as the digipak template has to be 12 by 12.

This is the photo of Jessie J that I used. I had to make sure I was holding down the shift key when adjusting the size to make sure that I did not jeopardise the quality of the image.

Here, I had to use a lasso tool to go around the outline of Jessie J, before creating a mask over her.

Finally, this is a basic attempt of playing around with the photo, where the gradient tool was used to change the colours. Moreover, the opacity was decreased so that Jessie J could be seen through the colour.

Analysing CD covers - Taylor Swift

As part of my coursework is to create a digipak for my new artist, it is vital that I analyse existing digipaks so that I am familiar with the conventions of them.

Analysing CD covers - Eminem

As part of my coursework is to create a digipak for my new artist, it is vital that I analyse existing digipaks so that I am familiar with the conventions of them.

Digipak research - specific to journeys

This is the front cover of the original album that the song 500 miles belongs to. Although not specifically linked to a  journey (as there are of course other songs on the track list) the image does give a sense of spatial awareness as they are stood above the town looking over it.  This could indadvertedly be related to a journey which is the theme I am going to use throughout my digipak.

This is Beiruit's album cover. I like this as it once again, depicts travel, seen through the car and the road. Moreover, I like the style as it appears almost vintage and old fashioned, yet simple.

Again, Bruno Mars' album cover presents the idea of a journey as it is simply a long winding road.

Finally, Eminem's album cover for Recovery, continues the theme of the road and a journey.

These have all given me ideas as to what I can create for my own digipak and I am certain that the idea of a road/journey will be my dominant theme.

Digipak conventions

Front cover:

• Usually has the name of the artist and the title of the album
• The artist's name is often in a larger font as the album is effectively selling the artist
• Often the artist's face in close up but if they are well established they tend to not have their face
• The colour, font, and choice of image should reflect the genre of the artist
• Sometimes it reveals labels such as the parental advisory sign
• Often a very obvious colour scheme
• Level of creativity or quality that you would not get on a standard dual cd cover

Back cover:

• Song titles in order of sequence
• Font used is the same as the front cover
• Barcode
• Logo of the record label and sometimes their website
• Copyright information
• Credits eg producer/songwriter (rarely)
• Website of the artist
• Record labels postal address
• Continues the theme from the front

Spine:

• Artist name
• Album title
• Reference number
• Record labels name and logo (sometimes)

Inside:

• CD tray, can be transparent with an image beneath it
• Images are a continuation of the same theme
• Image of the artist inside
• Booklet with songs lyrics
• Quotes from some of the lyrics spread out
• Personal message from the artist
• Lots of small images
• Songwriting credits etc

The function of an album cover is to advertise and promote an artist and to essentially make money. Also, the album cover establishes the genre of the artist and thus attracts their target audience. Finally, it showcases the star's image.

Here is an example of a digipak done by Rihanna

Digipak Research

A Digipak is the gatefold packing used for CD singles or albums. They benefit the artist because it represents their genre, and gives a sense of their image as an artist. Furthermore, it showcases the creativity the artist is incorporating to their music and star image. As making a digipak and an album magazine advert are part of my work, I have done some research .

Most digipak's have a theme that runs through each panel. These are some I have found from existing artists that I really liked. One feature of digipak's is to have a similar picture on each panel that look the same but are different.

These two digipak's are my favourite because they have taken such a simplistic idea and made it look effective. The Florence and the Machine cover is striking as it has the lungs as the common theme to match the title of the album. The Script's album cover is again very simple with the hands in different positions, adding a feel of continuity across the didipak. This is something I want to consider when designing my digipak as I think it looks professional.

Digipak initial ideas

As '500 Miles' is about travel, distance and essentially a journey, I thought the idea of

a road was suitable for my digipak. However, I am not sure whether I just want the artist on the road, or whether it will be of their feet, or the back, or even face on. Also the idea of seeing the road from the persons perspective is something I am taking on board. Finally, using a sign looks interesting as well so these are ideas I am going to play around with. Here are some initial pictures to demonstrate what it could possibly look like.