My final Digipak design

Magazine Advert techniques

To create the background I formed a black block colour and used an effect so it faded out towards the opposite corner. I then used the eraser tool in photoshop to erase much of the background to white, leaving the shapes on the page creating a unique backdrop.

Creating the red stripe was fairly easy and adds more colour which nicely contrasts with the guitarist jumper and the text shadows. I opened a new document on drew a straight line on the page. I then used the 'deform' effect to make allow it to curl round, as shown. I then used the brush tool and the opacity to draw a line down the thin line created. I then inserted it onto the poster behind everything else by dragging it down layers.

'Perfection' was very simple to achieve, which I feel looks very effective. I wrote the first 'Perfection' in black and then duplicated the layer twice more. Each layer, I converted to a different colour- red and white, which I then layered them together to create the three colour effect. The 'out 20th December' just used red and black, using the same technique.

The most interesting technique I used was the shadows of the guitarists. I used the brush tool on a new layer with a large, low gradient brush. I then painted round the sides of the models and then lowered the opacity to make them less visible. The layer was then moved beneath the models so it looked like a shadow behind them.

I created the drummer using the paint tool in photoshop. by using a think brush I draw the outline and then filled in with a block colour to create a sillohette.

Final advert

This is my final magazine advert for my digipak. I created it using photoshop with different tools and effects.

Progress of digipak

I have printed out my digipak to see how it will all work. The problems I had with it was the the left page printed pit backwards. So I will need to address this. I also do not like the back cover much as it does not look as professional as the others. I have decided to change this and see  what other effects I can use to make it more suitable.




The images are upside down/.
i suggest turning the monitor upwards... this way they will be the right way up.
I haven't worked out how to rotate them yet.

Digi-pak update

I took a number of photos for my Digi-pak on monday, I am taking a few more tonight of the band member who could not make it. I am in the process of editing these in order to use them..

Focus Group

I have created a focus group on the well known site 'Facebook' and added various amounts of people. those in my target audience and also a few who may not think of this as their favourite genre to hear their input.

I will begin by inserting images on products created and ideas into the group to hear feedback from those included which will help me create a better music video and print.

Album update

This is on of the bands actual album cover for a few of their songs- not including the one we are using. I don't particularly like it because I do not believe it represents the bands energy. It looks like they have gone for a sophisticated looking album, but for an energetic band. Furthermore it does not represent their songs in the way they are performed. Many of the bands songs are upbeat and fast, but the cover signifies slow and meaningful songs which is not generic of a song to album relationship (the album portraying imagery from songs).

CAR!

After weeks of questioning whether my group will get hold of a car for filming, we have reached a conclusion.
We have a car! and a driver!

My neighbor has agreed to drive his tradition convertible for us on three conditions:

- he knows the dates which we are filming
-he is not away
-it is dry


We have a back-up plan of contacting local dealerships and using the green screen if this does not go to plan.


I have not been able to get photos yet because it has been raining, but this shall happen soon.

Inspiration

After visiting a convention talk with the chief examiner.. we were inspired by a fellow media group from a previous year.... they also featured a car in their video and went round car dealerships requesting to sit in their car to film.

As we are experiences a few issues with our car, we thought we may try this idea... it would mean using a green screen for the background which wasn't our intention... but we are still open to ideas

Text

I have been looking at different typography, to use for my digipak and which I think would be the best suited for the genre and band.

The text I have chosen is called 'The quick monkey' which is really quirky and sets off a nice vibe to the album.

I downloaded this font from dafont.com and installed it into windows, which I could then use in my work.


I also looked at the following.


-ExperiTypo5




-waste of paint

-Network Vampires

I did not use any of these because I felt that they did not really fit into the genre of music I am working in. Network vampires would of been ideal if the band was more metal than upbeat rock as it shows an eroded feel which does not fit in with the band I am working in.

Text feedback

I posted my blog post of 'Text ideas' onto my Facebook wall and asked for some opinions.

I received three likes- which was pretty pointless as it didn't tell me anything, and 2 comments: shown below-

Text ideas

Hey guys, I am creating a digi-pak for a punk rock band called Late Nite Reading, a teenage group with an upbeat song, and I could really do with your help.

Comment below with the text you like the look of which would fit into the genre, muchly appreciated :)


 1. 2.

3.

4.

Paramore

I like this poster because although there is not a complete image of the album being advertised, the name of it covers the page. The full imagery of the title 'Riot' covering the whole poster is very mind-filling and will encourage the audience to remember the name. The single red colour title stands out amoungst the rest, furthermore connoting a audience visual relationship to the album cover.
It is very memorable and catchy which will help audience sales.

Art work

I have noticed that many digipaks and albums like to feature some kind of art work to illustrate their album name or one of the songs. As much like their other albums, Green day have used the same font to show a coherent relationship between the albums which is part of their own house style. The artwork is of a man and woman kissing by a brick wall which could have some significance to one of their songs, which is something only their audience may recognise.

Advert research- Portrait

FINK
The name of the band is in big letters, which is considerably larger than the rest of the text in the advert.

The white text contrasts well with the sea background, which I am guessing has some connection to the album theme.

The image is very central, and is really clever, showing the album within the album. I really like this idea, however I do not believe it will be suitable for my genre.

The overall effect is good with the image showing an instant recognition and the main focal point. The text is in the same font as the band name which shows the connection between the two products.



ZEBRA HEAD

- phoenix. The imagery immediately shows a connection between the advert and album name by using the fire wings. 

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- The album cover design has become the advert which I do not really like because the advert looks too busy. However it does create audience recognition of the album cover if they wish to go and buy it, they know what to buy. 

- all the text is in the colour of white which stands out nicely upon the background. 

-The imagery I over to the left allowing space for the text on the right which shows it is proportional.

-overall I would not really use the features from this advert in my own as although the idea is good, it is too busy and I do not like the idea of the album cover becoming the whole advert.

Advert analysis- Landscape adverts

ROME- 

The simplicity of the colour scheme is very interesting and it draws your attention to it more than if it was covered in colour.

The main image is of a black heart with ink (?) dripping down at the bottom- with minimal detail. This is situated in the middle of the advert which is the main focal point. 

The serif font 'Rome' is particularly interesting as it is different from the rest of the sans serif font making it unique to the artist and will relate to the album being released, which shows there will be some connection.

The rest of the text is sans serif and certain phrases such as 'Out now, Rome' in the colour red, which stands out from the rest of the advert, which contrasts and works really well with the black and white.

Dananananaykroyd

There is an instant visual to the album cover on the advert, named 'There is a way' with the advert background matching the text on the album, and the advert text contrasting the same white as the album background. The two contrast really well and they do not take the value out of each other.

The album is split into proportional thirds, each with one or two words in. Each third has a pattern emerged into it in a light grey colour with similar patterns in a darker orange scribed into the advert background instantly showing audience recognition between the two. 

The band names seem to be in capitals in all of the adverts I have looked at, perhaps to grab the attention of the audience as it will be the first thing they look at, and if they have heard of the band, they may buy the album in the shop.

Digipak analysis- Evanescence

Amy Lee- the lead singer of Evanescence is the main focal image on the front of the digipak cover along with a very tall narrow door. She is used as part of the male gaze with the way she is stood in the doorway, back to the viewer and her head slightly turned round but looking down. The male gaze is brought to attention by her shoulders and how the elegant white and grey dress does not cover the right one and her long draping black hair is out of the way, neatly flowing down her back.

The contrast in town of the light brown, on the left side of the door and the very dark blue on the white could show how she is walking through the narrow door into the light. The low angle photo shows the height of the door and the detail is very distinctive which is something I really like. The band name and title is really detailed with the pattern around which comes off the serif text nicely which is a nice effect. 

On the reverse side, the front imagery is portrayed further, with the open door taking up the right side of the back-cover and the dark sky illuminating with the detail of the door frame. On the left simply is the titles of the songs included in the title, in the same font as the text on the cove, following the line of the door frame with simple decoration of a stem & thorns.

Inside is very plain. A very light brown (similar as that on the cover)  with faint littler flowers as decoration. This digipak is a four parter, and on the left side, is a little booklet which is attached containing all the lyrics and also images of the band, decoration and singularly the lead singer. 

I like the simplicity of the inside as it draws your attention to the decoration and detail to the attached booklet contaning the lyrics, although this is not compulsory for our digipak

Digipak analysis

Third Day Chronology - Volume 1 and 2

It is interesting how the Christian Rock band  decided not too use an image of themselves on the front cover of volume one but not volume two

 v.1 cover shows entrophy by a green misty dark green with only the and name 'Third Day' and the album title in the middle of the design. This connotes that the target audience commits to the band and the music they produce, therefore an image of them isnt always neccessary on the cover, which may occur within mainstream artists.

The lack if imagery deforms the idea of rock as it provides no evidence of it being in the genre just by looking at the cover. Indented into the cover, in a darker green is a symbol framing the white serif font. At the bottom stands the serif text 'Volume one' connoting that this is the first album of many which they have produced, and is an alternative way of creating albums as they lead from each other.

Volume two shows an image of the band accross the cover showing signs of redundancy. The Band name and title, which is the same as v.1 is situated about a third the way down the page, with the same serif text from volume one, in the middle of the cover. The use of the same text connotes similarity and the two albums are very similar, perhaps because both albums are worship songs which share the same use. Again, in the middle, at the bottom is the text 2001-2006 suggesting these were the songs created within this time scale. The main colour used for this cover is a dark red, in the same misty effect as v.1. The use of the same symbol, framing both the text and the image in this example, also shows the familiarity between them and the connection between the two.

On the inside of the digipak, the next two pages, on both digipaks shows lots of screen grabs and images in a grid, with 5 images by 5 images.

All images have been manipulated with effects to fit in with the colour themes of the albums, volume 1, being changed so all images are the same dark green as the cover and red for volume 2.

The lighting is shown clearly through white, black and the shades of colour. Each image in both digipacks is unique as they show different aspects of the bands life and ways they preform, and they are mixed together so they are not just all performance elements.

The mise-en scene shows elements of instruments and recording equipment connoting natural photos being taken in time of recording the songs to which were then inserted into the digipak which is really uncommon in many bands to use so many images within their album, showing performance of the songs and recording.

In very few, the artists are looking into the camera, which connotes further that the images were more natural than staged and the ones where they are looking into the camera, such as in the recording studio, they look like they are having fun.

The background of where the disks sit are plainly coloured with the colours and effects shown on the cover of the reds and greens turning the main attention of the digipak to the sections of all the images.

The back covers again are very similar, showing the same design. At the tops are little paragraphs explaining about the album and about te band. Then the image of an open book displays the song titles and also the contents of the dvd which are included. This is very interesting as it connotes a sense of being home written and writing ideas down in a book. The sans serif text of the titles are not block colour but hazy and somewhat hard to read which adds to the effect of the hazy background.

digipak

a digipak is a cardboard flip-out case which cd's are often distributed in, instead of the plastic cases. The first digipak designed was to replace the 'long box' that cd's used to come in.

Lyrics of our chosen song

These are the lyrics of our chosen song. We looked into the lyrics and through the results of the synaesthesia activity to develop a concrete idea for our video.

We felt that the song is about a broken relationship and the reconciliation.
Our ideas have developed to a contrast between a narrative and performance, with the narrative about a road trip of the band, sweeping through the roads to a house where the broken hearten girl lives.

This time around                                        (wants a second chance?)No resign, no doubtI won't push you                                              (Saying he will change for her)Listen closely, 'cause this ones for you
The reason I am falling downIs because what comes around, it goes around

(chorus)Perfection is not a requirement               (The girl does not have to be perfect to be the right one forPerfection wasn't even in the argument                                   him)Perfection is not for me Perfection is not the way I'll be
I think you knowI'm careful, not slowMaybe you'll seeThe end result for you and me                   (One day they will be back together)
The reason I am falling downThe reason I am falling downThe reason I am falling down
Is because what comes around, it goes around
(chorus)
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, naNa, na, na, na, na, na, na, naNa, na, na, na, na, na, na, naNa, na, na, na, na, na, na, na

The reason I am falling downThe reason I am falling downThe reason I am falling down                                     ( he is down because he has lost his girl)
Is because what comes around, it goes around
(chorus)

Digi-pack Format practice

We experimented with images in photo-shop in preparation for Digi-pack creation. This was the opportunity to try out new tools which we were not familiar with and to test out different layouts and designs which we may use within our own design. 

The main technique which I learnt whilst practicing was the shadow effect, and how to make a set of people really look like they are in the selected scene. 

Requesting to use the music

I used twitter to send a request to the band asking whether we could use their music, this is because they are unsigned, theres limited ways of contacting them, and as they use twitter frequently for updates, I proceeded with this way of attempting to contact them.