Completed Digipak and Advert Draft (HA)

Digipak Journey (MK)

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The idea for our music video sprung heavily from the fact that our 'inspiration' video reminded us of the 'Great Gatsby' era and the setting for it. After doing a lyric analysis, MKTO's song 'Classic' gave many references to different years such as: the 1950's, 60's - we particularly focused on the 1920's. However, during their music video, a lot of visual mise-en-scene features gave us hints that they were trying to portray this 'Gatsby' vibe. I initially wanted to follow this route for my Digipak and Poster due to the fact that our music video would link with it.

(1) I firstly made a mood board, including various screenshots from our inspiration video, to give us an idea of how we want to visually portray this song on screen. I included existing artists that also influence the band of the song, fashion style in regards to what the actors were wearing and what we thought related to our chosen era (modern clothing and theme inspired) and most importantly the type of colours that we thought were relevant and would represent this era clearly.

(2&3) Next, as a group, we decided that our Digipaks and Posters could stick to this theme of 'Gatsby' as well as the music video, so we looked at various different fonts that we thought looked the most like the 'Gatsby' theme and decided on Raconteur NF.

(4) This photo is the official cover for 'MKTO - Classic'. We looked at this a lot due to the fact that it gave us a lot of inspiration to how we could lead our ideas on to create our Digipaks. The 'record' idea firstly gave me the hint to develop it further by researching various different forms of 'music' player - however, at the time, I didn't think to continue into this due to the fact that our theme is Pop and I didn't think it would have been relatable.

(5) The colour palette shows possible choices that I made during the initial stages of my work. When looking back, although for my first draft I created a very modern look - something that I now regret doing - I learnt from this mistake and decided to stick with most of these colours until the end. These choices also came from the fact that at the time I was doing a lot of research into existing Digipaks and had a lot of inspiration come to mind when this process happened. However, I didn't really take into consideration the theme or our target audience - only the way it was presented on the page. I think that this may have been the reason for me not thinking in depth about the choices I had made.

(6) The first series of photos show the first Digipak that I looked at for inspiration: 'Purity Ring - Shrines'. I liked the composition of the CD cover and how the artist had incorporated illustration for the main theme of the Digipak. In relation to this, I looked at two other covers by FKA Twigs and SBTRKT. The running theme of this first analysis was the fact that the covers are simplistic and only required a centre image, no text. I liked the way that wanted to grasp their audiences just by one illustration/photograph that they thought represented their albums the most. This was something that I wanted to incorporate into my own final Digipak.

(7) The second series of photos show the second Digipak that I looked at for inspiration: 'Kid Koala - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome'. This Digipak is primarily illustrative based - this not only being on the front cover, but on various panels of the Digipak. I liked this idea due to the fact that it is creative, imaginative, but quite basic. However, it does work. By having only two main colours on the Digipak, it doesn't distract the audience away from the great drawings. The other attention to detail was also on the fact that the typography is hand written and works alongside the theme of the Digipak. This made more sure of wanting to go down the illustrative route for my Digipak.

(8) The last series of photos show the third Digipak that I looked at for inspiration: 'Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'. This Digipak is a mixture of photography and typography (predominantly photograph on the front). I looked at two other album covers - one by Kanye, another by JAY-Z and Kanye. I think that by collectively looking at each cover, I instantly could relate it back to our initial theme of 'Gatsby'. The Gold and Silver covers, alongside the Gold/Yellow typography in Kanye's MBDTF album create the sense of 'wealth' and 'authority'. I think that I could develop the colour and theme into my own Digipak draft.

(9) This photo is taken from the first draft of my Digipak. The look and theme I was trying to portray was simplistic and modern. I think that the most influence on this design was the first Digipak I researched was by Purity Ring and Kid Koala - combining simple and typographic features into my own work. However, I don't think the choice of colour and placement wasn't too direct to what I initially wanted to achieve. I think I focused more on look than design - the modern idea that I went for in the end doesn't particularly appeal to our 'Pop' audience. I also took the font choice from my previous project.

(10.1&10.2) I looked back at various screenshots from our inspiration video so I could find various objects that could influence my final Digipak. I decided to stick with the illustration idea due to the fact that I can incorporate my talents into this piece of work. I also decided to revert back to the 'Gatsby' theme and find objects that relate to this. I also thought of the many 'Pop' conventions that I need to follow which include things like having an interesting concept and colours. I was able to take photos of our two leading boys which also gave me inspiration on the sort of formality on my Digipak.

(11) I looked in various different books for more inspiration and I found two images that I thought could work alongside my theme: Playing card typography and a gramophone. I think that these two features could be the main eye-catching pieces in my Digipak, to which I was able to also incorporate the initial colour choices I picked at the beginning of the research process.

(12) This image shows the final design for my Digipak/Front cover. I decided to mix typography and illustration, alongside the initial colour choices and 'simplistic' theme. I made sure that my front cover idea had originality, but keeping to the 'Pop' conventions and style. While doing this, making sure that every aspect of my Digipak was eye-catching to our audience.

Journey Board (KC)

Journey Board.

Update / Changes (All)

As a group, we decided that our original idea/ storyboard wasn't practical. The idea consisted of spending a lot of money and time, which we are both short on. We then discussed on how we can simplify the Music Video according to our budget. The conclusion we all came to was that when it comes down to filming again we are going to record the performance as many times as we can and making sure that we have enough footage/shots to make our video fast-paced when it comes down to editing it. Alongside this, we have decided to go with another story/narrative idea that involves a lot of balloons and our main actors/extras. I think that we can get a stable amount of footage from the two days that we are filming again if we incorporate the advice we had been given and from what we have learnt from this process.

Reflection Post on Digipak (KC)

We had received our Digipak with comments, guiding us as to where I should make amendments. It is evident through the comments that the Digipak needs to be more unique and hold more design. In order to achieve this, I will research into more Digipaks, similar to my desired style, and incorporate some aspects into mine.


Aspects That Went Well:

• Font used for the Band related to the era it is trying to portray.

Aspects That Didn't Go Well:

• Too plain/ not enough design.
• Digipak looked like it belongs to another genre.
• Incorrect use of space.

How To Improve My Digipak:

• Include 1920's theme throughout the Digipak.
• Change the colour theme.

How To Improve My Advert:

• Include more design.
• Alignment of the words.
• Decrease the size of the date.
• Move the date upwards.

Reflection Post on Digipak (MK)

After receiving back our Digipak/Poster drafts with feedback, I was able to fully understand what aspects I did right and what I need to improve on. I think that the main problem with both of my drafts is that I didn't link my research to what I produced. I think that when I was creating the draft I was rushing a lot and decided to use conventional styles instead of producing something precise and relatable to the artist and the theme of the album. The research that I need to achieve in the next week will go into depth along side my existing Digipak/Poster research posts. I regards to both my poster and Digipak, I think I need to change the font choices and colour decisions more relatable to my researched artists.

In regards to the poster, improvements include:

1. Q's don't use Q's - they use stars.
2. Check if Billboard use stars.
3. Text is too pixellated.
4. The pattern doesn't work in the text.
5. This is too plain and didn't work.

In regards to the Digipak, improvements include:

1. The left cover is too plain.
2. Catalogue number on the spine of the CD rather than record logo.
3. Cover is too dull and doesn't really work.
4. Make the legal text smaller and put record/copyright logo on the right.

What I did well:

1. Track listing placement is laid out well.

What I need to do over the next week is to make major improvements to both Digipak and Poster themes so that they relate to what I initially researched.

Reflection Post on Digipak (HA)

After receiving my draft of Digipak I can see where I need to improve on  the piece. The first improvement I need to make are to the two left covers and inside cover. I used these panels for the lyrics to the ten songs on the album. I poorly arranged these lyrics and didn't allow for appropriate spacing. To make sure this happens I will use a borderlines to make sure that none of the lyrics overlap onto each other. I will also make sure that there are an equal amount of lyric columns on all panels along with the size of the columns unless a set of lyrics end, meaning that it will have to start another column. The font size of the lyrics, I feel, could be improved as it is difficult to see and read. The font for the song titles is also larger that it should be along with the spacing between the song numbers and the titles. This makes the album look unprofessional and generally untidy. Applying all of these improvements will be quite easy and I feel that I could improve the digipak to a higher level in a short amount of time.

Shot List Colour Coded (HA)

Shot List A3

Realisation of Error on Digipak and Advert (HA)

After looking over my Digipak and Advert, I realised that I have not put a 'PARENTAL GUIDANCE' notice on the documents. I should have put this on there because some of the lyrics are explicit and may not be suitable for children that may listen to the album.

Digipak Analysis (HA)

Album Analysis

Advert Analysis (HA)

Advert Analysis - Copy

Advert Analysis 2 (MK)

Advert Analysis 3 (MK)

Advert Analysis 1 (MK)

Digipak Analysis 3 (MK)

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Digipak Analysis 2 (MK)

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Advert Analysis 1 (KC)

Advert Analysis One.

Digipak Analysis 1 (KC)

Digipak Analysis One.

Digipak Analysis 1 (MK)

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Digipak Photo Source

Weekly Reflection Post:6-10/10/2014 (MK)

On Wednesday, we had a chance to take a few shots in our chosen location. However, our two leading guys were unable to make it, but our lead girl was. The meant that we were able to not only get the first 2 seconds of the video, but play around with the placement of the camera and rehearse many times. This took us longer than expected, but was needed due the fact that we didn't know what to expect on the day. When filming, we had to use an SLR camera instead of the Handycam because it was unavailable at the time, however, we have tested the footage and have discovered that it is something that we can use in the duration of the filming (Note: We have practised using the Handycam during the preliminary tasks).