Group 29: December 2012

Thursday 27 December 2012

Mock up front and back cover

Before i was able to start making the album cover it was crucial that i started planning what was going on the front. During the lesson i had looked at a variety of examples of digipacks and from this got the information and ideas of what to use. Doing this also helped me be organised and prepared for when making my real digipack as i used this as a guide on where to start and what to add if anything was forgotten. On the from i planned on using a big close up of the artis the reason being is because when looking at most albums of our genre this is what they used. followed by a long shot at the back.

Photos for digipack plan

The slideshow above is an indication of the pictures i plan on using. I have chosen these images in particular as i feel it captures our artist well giving the audience a clear view of the artists face. Most of the images i have used are very clear showing who the artist is which was important when deciding the photo i will use. A close up of the artists face will be used for my album cover and a long shot of the performer at the back. On the inside panel i plan on using an image of the performers t shirt where he is looking up and we see an angel clearly demonstrating the purpose of the album. The CD will follow the convention of the side panel and the angel will be the design on the CD followed by his name. The images which i have selected as shown above are clearly suited for out RNB genre, from the research which i conducted i found out that male performers tend not to smile at the front as they are more serious, female covers such as jessie j however tend to smile and laugh. The images which i have chosen i feel will be liked by our target audience as it clearly shows the artists face as the lightening clearly reflects him.

Overall it was important in collecting images for my digipak as i was able to see what would work and what wouldn't.

ideas and inspiration

When online i looked at many album covers to give me some ideas which allowed me to generate what i wanted to take from these inspirational covers and use it for my own. As shown many of these covers have the same thing in common which is they all have the main artist at the front facing the audience this is so we straightaway see the artist allowing us to identify the album. This is important as we see not many people might no the name of the artist but could recognise who they are. If the main image isn't in front the audience are less likely to purchase the album.

Main inspiration
My main inspiration was inspired by many albums i have however picked out 4 main ones that i feel is what i will design my digipak on. I like the way in which all albums kept it simple with the colours fonts and images in which they used. We can clearly see the images they used take most of the front cover where not much is also going on in the background.

All these artists link well with our genre of music and the styles all these artists have in common we can make a clear connection with out audience which is young teenage girls.

Fonts/ colours and styles

On this page i collected a number of styles of the fonts which will give me an idea to use when creating my digipak. The fonts i have indicated on this page are all shown to be simple and easy to read not to complicated. I have also illustrated a coloured chart to show the types of colours i will plan on using as the genre of our music is up beated and aimed at a young audience i feel that bright colours are essential for the front of the digipak i have analysed and clearly pointed out the colours which i may use and shown below.

As shown opposite here are some fonts which i have created on power point to see which one i plan on using for my album cover. All the fonts are shown to be clear and easy to read, making sure that it suits with our target audience as well as the genre. I printed this off and then went to ask people what one they preferred.

3 Magazine covers of the same genre

Below i have analysed 3 magazine ads linked to the genre of my music. The artists which i have analysed are chris brown, cee lo green and also tinnie tempah. All these artists have the codes and conventions which i was looking for as inspiration when planning for my digipak

Opposite is shown to be chris browns advertisement followed by the album cover of his album. When looking at this advertisement we see he used the same image for the front of his CD cover but used different colours in order for it to stand out to the audience.

The font has also stayed the same however the colour changed from being gold to red and white giving con nation of a masculine, strong, powerful album

Again we see cee lo green use the same conventions as chris brow with a close up of the artist at the front. However in this case we see the same image and layout has been used on the CD cover with no change.

But however is shown to be clear and stands out to the audience well.

Here we see again similar codes and conventions are used. All of the covers are shown to have a close up of the artist followed by simple bold clear text for us to read the name of the artist followed by additional information such as the record company and company logo.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Planning - Layout ideas

Looking at these album covers i think that i will either have the text on the top or he bottom of my album cover as i feel it will be able to look clear and easy to read. Plus, having it at the bottom seems to go well with the genre that i am going with.

Planning - Layout ideas

These are some album covers that i have looked at. I think that i will use a close up shot of my artist because it is his first album and it will be a better way for him to be recognised as a new artist. By looking and analysing these album covers i have noticed that close up and mid shot's of the artist are used that are similar to our artist genre. Long shots are mostly used on bands as shown above and graphical album covers are used mostly on rock albums.

Sunday 16 December 2012

Planning - Do's and Don't's for digipak/advertisement

This is picture of the sheet we were given during lesson showing suggestions to guide us when we construct our digipak covers and magazine adverts.
In today's lesson we were shown a couple of previous student work, looking to see if they followed these do's and don't's. Some were good and linked to their actual music video quite well. Others didn't follow some of the suggestions, the font's used in some weren't clear or simple. Others chose a picture that didn't really allow the artist to be recognized because a side picture of the artist was used.

Saturday 15 December 2012

Research - Practicing creating a digipak

Today we got to create a digipak to practice our skills using photoshop. We were taught basic skills like opening files, adding texts, cropping, cutting the background etc. We got to choose any celebrity so i chose Nicole Scherzinger. I tried to stick the do's and don't's list we were given. I used a close up image of the celebrities face so they can easily be recognised. I also stuck with a basic font style and used the same font for the celebrities name, album title and the track list on the back. The artists name is also bigger than the title of the album title which i noticed all album covers do.

Nicky - how to create a free slideshow

Friday 14 December 2012

Research - Analysis of three magazines

Ancillary: Analysis of 3 digipaks genre

On this page i have gathered 3 digipaks these include Jessie J, Wiz Khalifa and also tinnie tempah all these chosen artists link best with our chosen genre of music which i have then analysed examples are shown below.

Opposite i have analysed the digipak of jessie jay, their album/ digipak follows the conventions in which i plan on using when creating mine. On this i like the way in which the colours and fonts are not to complicated and the way in which it links to each panel as we see black white and gold are the main colours used. The main image is one convention i liked as it is close and clear showing us the artist in detail which is what everyone likes to see. The background colour and images also continue inside the panel as we have another image of the artist followed with the CD

I had chose to anaylise tinnie tempah. This album/ digipak was different from the 2 above as it was shown to be more crowded. My favourite part on this digipak was the front cover where we can clearly see the artist followed by the name of the artist then below the name of the album named 'invincible' the background is also not to complicated so we can focus on the artist instead of what the background is showing which is important when making cover for any album. We are also given more information on the artist at the back, that the other 2 do not give.

Wiz Khalifa is another artist which i felt suits our genre best. The album/ digipak is very different from the one above as we see the colours are not best matched and the artist is also not shown to be at a BCU. The track list and fonts used are clear allowing us to read what to expect in the album. One aspect i disliked was the colour scheme as i thought it didn't match what we saw in the front cover. The image at the front is also clear where we see the artists face

Thursday 13 December 2012

Research - Analysis of three digipaks

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Research - Software

The main software that i will use is photoshop. This is a software that allows you to edit pictures easily and add effects. It has many tools that make it easy to do simple tasks like cropping a picture or brightening the picture. Photoshop is a software that i have used before so i am familiar with it. To create the digipak i will be open up a digipak template to get me started and give me a guideline.

The other software that i will be using is Quark Express. It is a software that allows us to add text, Photoshop already have this tool but it will be easier to use Quark. The software has a range of font styles so we will be able to try out different styles to see what goes with our digipak and what will fit in with our genre. I haven't used this software before but i feel that it will be easier than Photoshop because with Photoshop you have create many layers which get's annoying.

Tuesday 11 December 2012

PLANNING: Attempt of creating a digipak with photoshop

In todays lesson i used photoshop as a practice in creating a digipak as an idea. I took any image of a celebrate in this case was Jessica Lowndess and i used one of her images to create the front cover of the digipack taking on board the sheet of dos and dont's. The front cover was a close up of the artist so that people could recognise who it was.

PLANNING- Taken Photographs for the ancillary product

PLANNING- front cover Ideas

On this page i have collected a variety of covers to help me see the type of images they use on the front. From gathering this i can see that close ups are used to show clearly the main artist, the colours are also not to complicated and the text isn't too big. This will help me latter on when taking my own images of the performer.

Opposite i have taken some screen grabs off our performer when he was performing. i have done this to show some of the expressions and shots i could use when planning on taking some pictures for my ancillary product as well as the magazine. I will take on board not to over complicate the cover and to make sure i get a close up of the performers face as people who are buying this digipak want to see the performer in front so that they can immediately recognise the music which he does. The colours will also be simple no more than 3 colours will be used on the front cover as keeping it simple is important.

Shown opposite is one male artist who our video is closely linked to this is of the artist Dappy. the front cover of this particular album is of a close up of the artist this is manly used so that the viewers and audience who buy his CD recognise the artist straight away this is ideal when wanting to sell the product to the audience. As shown on this page as well as a close up of the artist we also see the text on the top right hand side not very big this is so that the main attention is put on the image and not what the text is saying. it is important as shown on this album cover that only 3 colours no more are used as too many confuses the audience as too much will be going on around the CD, this cover has been kept simple and basic.

Research - Importance and functions of a digipak

In today's lesson we began looking at digipaks and their importance and functions.

1) Why are CD/Digipak covers (artwork) still used, given the drop in sales?

Artwork is still functions of advertising/promoting the artist, getting themselves recognized
Artwork is still needed even if you download the song. On an iPod you can chose to view your songs from 'cover flows' which allows you to go straight through albums and shows the album covers.
Hard copy for fans to keep, this is something special for them and to keep it as a memory

2) How important are the ancillary products to the artist and industry?

They are important because they promote the music and the genre of the music
They also help bring the fans closer and feel more connected to the artist especially with the extra little bookelt you get which may be filled with pictures of the artist or a few behind the scene images of days in poruction
They make money
For the industry it helps to sell the label

Progress review blog

On my research, planning and production blogs i feel that they have gone well as they show many things that i have learnt through the process. With the research i feel hat i blogged about music video's well and what i liked about watching them. This was a good way for me to see what makes people watch the same music video over and over so i tried to keep the music video we created interesting for our target audience. AS most of the planning side of the music video involved a lo of group ideas and everyone's input most of these blogs are done in groups. I am happy about my blogs about constructing the music video as i feel that i have shown how i have done things in a visual way using screen shots and video's. This shows that i met the target that i set for myself earlier which was to make my blogs more visual. So far i have over 70 individual blogs now. The blog that i am most proud of is the first day of constructing the music video as i was able to show how we used markers but showed this by using camtasia and was able tell you what i was doing whilst recording the screen. The blogs i feel i could improve on is the blogs about filming as i feel they don't show everything we got up to filming or more behind the scene video's which would have shown what we got up to. Therefore, i wish we filmed everything we go up during filming and my blogs showed what it is we did.

Final music video

29. Ipek Ibrahim, Hafiza Mussammad, Jebeen Uddin from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Friday 7 December 2012

PLANNING- Practicing using photoshop

In todays lesson we used photoshop which gave me the chance to experiment with the types of tools i could use when coming on to make my digipak. Below i have shown some print screens of how i used photoshop on a celebrate of my chosen choice.

PLANNING- List of Dos and Don'ts

During the lesson we were shown a few examples of previous work completed by students. We were shown both good and bad ones so we can see how the individual lost marks and how they gained marks. We were then given a sheet which clearly stated the dos and don'ts when making our digipaks and what we need to focus on to gain marks. Most of the work we were shown lacked the information needed inside the digipak although the graphics they used were effective. I also had the chance to look at the posters they created, i realised most lost marks as they didn't stick to one font as well as the colour which they chose didn't go well or didn't stand out as much. This task overall was helpful, when doing my digipak i will be able to look over this sheet making sure i don't do any of the bad things such as using to many colour, fonts and over using filters.

RESEARCH- Software i will use

Photoshop will be one software i will be using when creating the digipak for the artist we have made our music video for. Photoshop is an easy way for you to edit and add effects to an image giving it the professional look. Photoshop allows you to clearly set out the ideas for your Digipak where i will be able to edit and add a variety of effect on the photo when making the digipack. With this programme i will also be able to play around with the colours and filters seeing what best suits the genre of our artist. I have used photoshop many times and i feel using this programme for the Digipak will be a great way for me to place the performer on the template given and use the effects to the extent making it look more professional and realistic.

Quark XPress is another software I will use when creating my Digipak. We were told this was an easy way for us to create text on our product as using photoshop to do this would be very tricky this however is an easy way to add text and change it if for example we changed our mind on the font we wanted to use. This again when doing practice was easy and interesting to use for the first time. This programme was new to me and i understood why the teachers said this was an easier way to add text, when using this it was interesting and straight forward to use.

RESEARCH- Digipak and Advertisements

below i have done an presentation on the ancillary production

PLANNING- Examples of Digipaks

Digipak's come in all different shapes and designs. You can get 4 or 6 sided digipaks, but they both tend to have the same information informing the audience about the pack. They also mostly tend to consist of more than just a CD but also a booklet about the artist making them feel like they are getting there moneys work. These leaflets contain facts about the artist such as what they like doing and pictures of them back stage making the people who buy the CD feel special as they see things that not everyone else sees .

As shown above there are a variety of digipacks from all types of music genres. Overall this helped me see the types of colours designs and also information which they tend to put on them. The colours are often based on 3 no more making it contrast and link into the video itself.

PLANNING: Summary of class discussion

Today during the lesson the class had a discussion around the importance and functions of digipaks and the impact they have on the music industry. As a group we were given 5 mins to discuss the following questions:

1. Why are CD/Digipak covers (art work) still used, given the drop in sales?

There are many reasons to why covers are used and made even though people in our society don't purchase music.
Art work is needed for downloads as people who download certain tracks want the cover of the artist on there iPod so that when the song plays it makes it clear and organises it from the artists album cover.
Covers/art work are also used for advertisement for the artist allowing them to be recognised.
People/ serious fans who are major fans of artists will also purchase a hard copy to keep as memories

2. How important are ancillary products to the artist and industry?

Promotion: Ancillary products are important for the artist and industry as it promotes the artists image, a way of connecting with fans makes money.
Industry: Ancillary products sell the label and bring in new revenue.
Ancillary products are very important as it lets people know more about the artist promoting clearly what they are about.

I have clearly demonstrated the 3 main ways which makes a success to an ancillary product. This will help me when making my digi pack keeping in mind what i need to do.

PRODUCTION- Progress review blog

Here i have done a review on how successful i think my blog has gone and how i feel the planning and construction of my music video has come along. i have overall clearly stated how happy i am with my blogs and targets i have set myself.

Sunday 2 December 2012

Production - How i feel the music video came out

My final thoughts on the music video
I am pleased with how the music video came out. I really enjoyed the whole research, planning and production of it. I learnt many new skills within the production process of the music video including different shots that should be included and different skills within editing.
I feel our ideas grew a lot over the last few weeks and even though we had a few last minute ideas we were able to use them in our music video.
A lot of time was spent getting the editing to look right when the beat drops in the song however, i think they finish came out good. I like how we were able to edit along with the beat and i feel our core audience will be able to connect with the music video and song together.

Production - What changed from planning to final viedo

Quite a few things had changed from planning to production like the story between the artist Montell liking a girl. We decided not to use the clips we filmed as we felt it would be too much and didn't feel like it went well with the music video in the end.

The ending was another thing that changed as we originally planned to end with a sunset. Instead we ended with one of the projected footage's of the sunset with other clips on top so you could see them. The camera also moves down to the flow which suggests it is the ending of the video. We used this as it looked quite good and just made it seem like the end of the video.

We also planned on using text of the artists name and the song title however we didn't include them. This was because we didn't feel it fit in with any of the beginning scenes and to have it near the middle wouldn't look right. Also as well in music video's you don't normally see the title of the song or the artists name appear but i think it is something artists will begin to do more.

For the beginning of the music video we wanted to have the artist in a shadow but we weren't able to do this. We did play around with a few of the affects but we didn't wanna use something that wouldn't come up again in the music video so we decided to just begin with a fade in of a close up shot of the artist. This will allow him to be recognised straight away.