Thursday, 28 April 2011
Initial Cast List
Dannii Hall as the female child
Sam Hall as her mother
Carly Jones as herself
Extras as other family members
The main character in our music video will be Dannii hall and the story about her mother and any other extras would be family members and the last character shown in our music video is Carly Jones our artist which will include shots of her singing in the studio.
Shot List
Below is the type of shots and transitions we can include in our music video however there are many more to consider using:
Close up shot - this will show the audience the emotions of the characters and allows the audience to connect with them like lacan states when you connect with the character to see how they think and feel in that situation so that they can try and understand thier emotions.
Wide angle shot - allows the audience to see the location of the scene and can gain an idea of the story line so that they are able to see what is happening around the scene. An example would be scream where you can see the character being kiled while also see her parents coming up the drive to the house.
Over the shoulder shot - so the audience can see what the character is looking at and can see it from their perspective. The example here would be namely from movies where the character as something to hide or is looking at something small like a mobile or a letter.
Slow down or speed up time - this can help the audience react to things in a better time so that you can show a lot lot oif time to make it seem quicker or slow something down to make the time feel longer. An example of this would be the effect within the matrix films.
Zoom out and in - this can help to show something important especially when zooming in on something as it is something in particular that is being shown or something being zoomed out to show something that could of been hidden before. An example would be to show peoples emotions or memories from a photograph.
Panning - this allows the audience to seem as if they are actually there witnessing what is happening in a scene helping them understand the storyline while helping them to also look at the big picture, to see the action while it is happening. An example of this would be during a chase or a running scene.
Fade in and out - this usually is a good transition to use between shots that are simialar to each other, for the beginning of the music video or fade the last scene out to black at the ending of a music video. Example of this: at the end of taylor swift "mine".
From the music videos that I have looked at or analysed all of them have included some of the shots and/or transitions above which i feel make them effective and are used mainly to help the audience understand the narrative of the storyline as well as the emotions of characters.
Close up shot - this will show the audience the emotions of the characters and allows the audience to connect with them like lacan states when you connect with the character to see how they think and feel in that situation so that they can try and understand thier emotions.
Wide angle shot - allows the audience to see the location of the scene and can gain an idea of the story line so that they are able to see what is happening around the scene. An example would be scream where you can see the character being kiled while also see her parents coming up the drive to the house.
Slow down or speed up time - this can help the audience react to things in a better time so that you can show a lot lot oif time to make it seem quicker or slow something down to make the time feel longer. An example of this would be the effect within the matrix films.
Zoom out and in - this can help to show something important especially when zooming in on something as it is something in particular that is being shown or something being zoomed out to show something that could of been hidden before. An example would be to show peoples emotions or memories from a photograph.
Panning - this allows the audience to seem as if they are actually there witnessing what is happening in a scene helping them understand the storyline while helping them to also look at the big picture, to see the action while it is happening. An example of this would be during a chase or a running scene.
Fade in and out - this usually is a good transition to use between shots that are simialar to each other, for the beginning of the music video or fade the last scene out to black at the ending of a music video. Example of this: at the end of taylor swift "mine".
From the music videos that I have looked at or analysed all of them have included some of the shots and/or transitions above which i feel make them effective and are used mainly to help the audience understand the narrative of the storyline as well as the emotions of characters.
Final proposal
Our final proposal is the scenes we plan on filming mentioned in the filming schedule. The genre of our music video is narrative and through the visuals and lyrics the audience can understand the story. We will be filming in various locations mentioned on the schedule making use of certain props needed for the scenes. We will be using a variety of shots to create various effects for the audience which has been said in more detail on the post "shot list". Our music video is also Pop and soul which will be aimed at our target audience of teenagers to young adults and also one of characters would be of similar age to some of our target audience so they could associate and understand her emotions better.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Magazine advert questionnaire
The questionnaire below was given out to twenty people, ten male and ten female all between the ages of eleven and eighteen providing good results from a sample of my target audience. This was taken out to provide me with the knowledge of what an advert should look like and what my target audience liked when looking at my first design thus in turn it will help me create a magazine advert suitable for my target audience. Initially I however had more questions than the ten below yet felt that it took far too long and made people give me answers that wouldn’t help me in my design so decided to throw them out and leave the ones that were key in altering my advert to make it more professional or effective.
1) Do you think that the background colours fit in with the calm tone of Carly’s music?
Yes No Some of them
2) Do you feel that there are enough images on the advertisement?
Yes there is enough No there isn’t enough
3) How about the font? Is the size efficient enough to catch attention?
Yes it’s big enough No it’s not big enough Needs to be a tiny bit bigger
4) Is the style of font effective, does it draw you in? (explain what parts you like and don’t like)
Yes ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
No ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5) Where the text is coloured with a different background (such as ITunes) do you think that this makes the text stand out more or make It look less attractive to look at?
Less attractive Stands out more
6) Are the magazine ratings from Billboard etc suitable for the advert?
Yes No
7) Do you feel the white borders for the images work or do you feel black would be better, or maybe even some other colours? (State what)
Keep them white Make them Black Other colour
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
8) With the background colour being red and bright does it create the wrong tone for the soft pop type genre that Carly uses?
Creates the wrong tone Creates the right tone
9) What would you change or add to the advert if you could?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
10) The digipak advert has many different features which do you think is the most important and will gain more public interest? (if other state what)
The pictures The ratings from other magazines The place where it is being sold Other
1) Do you think that the background colours fit in with the calm tone of Carly’s music?
Yes No Some of them
2) Do you feel that there are enough images on the advertisement?
Yes there is enough No there isn’t enough
3) How about the font? Is the size efficient enough to catch attention?
Yes it’s big enough No it’s not big enough Needs to be a tiny bit bigger
4) Is the style of font effective, does it draw you in? (explain what parts you like and don’t like)
Yes ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
No ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5) Where the text is coloured with a different background (such as ITunes) do you think that this makes the text stand out more or make It look less attractive to look at?
Less attractive Stands out more
6) Are the magazine ratings from Billboard etc suitable for the advert?
Yes No
7) Do you feel the white borders for the images work or do you feel black would be better, or maybe even some other colours? (State what)
Keep them white Make them Black Other colour
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
8) With the background colour being red and bright does it create the wrong tone for the soft pop type genre that Carly uses?
Creates the wrong tone Creates the right tone
9) What would you change or add to the advert if you could?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
10) The digipak advert has many different features which do you think is the most important and will gain more public interest? (if other state what)
The pictures The ratings from other magazines The place where it is being sold Other
Questionnaire on First draft Digipak
Front cover:
1) What genre do you feel the front cover supports?
Pop R&B Rock Drum & Base
2) Do you feel that the text is an ideal size?
Too big Too small Ideal size
3) Do you feel that the colours of the text go along with the pins close by or do you feel that only one of each should stay?
Match Don’t match keep pins Don’t match keep colour of text
4) Do you like the contrast of colours or do you feel that they should change? If so give some examples.
Yes I like them No I don’t like them
(suggest other colours here) ........................................................................................................................
5) The image is of the artist do you feel that it suits the genre of pop or do you feel that a different one could be used?
Same image Different image
6) What age group do you think would be attracted to the digipak?
Six and below Seven to Twelve Thirteen to Eighteen Nineteen to Twenty Six Twenty Six and above
7) Font style is a big issue for album covers do you feel that the style used is effective and eye catchy?
Yes Just the artists name No Just the album title
Back Cover:
1) Do you feel that the jeans take the attention away from the track list?
Some of it All of it Most of it None of it
2) Would a single picture with the track list over it be more effective than having the jeans as well as the flower, white background and the flower type effect?
Just a single picture Keep the same
3) Do you think the colours should be bolder or stay plain and simple?
Bolder Stay the same A bit bolder
4) Although black and white colours are used do you think that colour should be used instead?
Stay black and white Full colour Mixture of the two
5) Where do you think the track list should be placed?
On the left In the centre On the right
The centre Digipak
1) Do you like the basic effect used here and why?
Yes ....................................................................................................................................................................
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
No ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) Do you feel that the digipak should include text?
Yes Some No
3) Is the colour brown suitable for the middle or do you think that other colours should be used or even just an image?
Its suitable Others colours Just pictures
4) Will a image per side be better than say an image that goes across both sides?
One image for each side one image that clears both sides
5) Any other comments?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Questionnaire Digipaks
I conducted a questionnaire to see what piece of a digipak the audience viewed as the most important so that I could influence my own digipak to make it more effective and attractive. I asked a few short questions to twenty people in order to get a good sample so that it would be more representative than say if I interviewed three people. This factor also allows me to get a range of views from people with different ages however I only asked teenagers as that was my target group so I only needed to know the data to suit the digipak for their needs rather than that of someone closer to the age of eighty who may not view the digipak in the same light or the style of music. The results are next to the answers in brackets however to explain it easier I have also included pie charts.
1) When you look at a digipak (album) that you own at home what do you tend to look at first?
Front cover (12) Middle of the digipak (1) Back cover (7)
2) When viewing an album from a store what is it that makes your final decision on whether to purchase it or not?
The track list (5) The front cover design (9) The price (3) Back cover design (3)
3) What part of the digipak do you look at the most (Which you currently own)?
Front cover (7) The track list (5) Back Cover (2) The book inside (6)
4) Which piece of the digipak package would you say is most important?
Front Cover (9) Track list (5) Back Cover (2) Booklet (3) The pictures (1)
5) Do you feel that a digipak should be quite basic ( a few colours and a couple of pictures) or all out crazy (lots of colour with a series of images that may or may not match)?
Quite Basic (5) Mixture of the two (8) All out Crazy (7)
1) When you look at a digipak (album) that you own at home what do you tend to look at first?
Front cover (12) Middle of the digipak (1) Back cover (7)
2) When viewing an album from a store what is it that makes your final decision on whether to purchase it or not?
The track list (5) The front cover design (9) The price (3) Back cover design (3)
3) What part of the digipak do you look at the most (Which you currently own)?
Front cover (7) The track list (5) Back Cover (2) The book inside (6)
4) Which piece of the digipak package would you say is most important?
Front Cover (9) Track list (5) Back Cover (2) Booklet (3) The pictures (1)
5) Do you feel that a digipak should be quite basic ( a few colours and a couple of pictures) or all out crazy (lots of colour with a series of images that may or may not match)?
Quite Basic (5) Mixture of the two (8) All out Crazy (7)
Final digipak Evaluation
The front cover of the digipak I haven’t changed due to the largely positive feedback that I received from the questionnaire that I used. The audience stated that the thought the colour scheme matched and that the image was edited well to find along with the genre of the music as well as matching the artist who seemed to fit the genre of music extremely well. Due to these reasons as well as others I decided that I didn’t want to ruin it by changing things that people thought were great for something I liked as the product was aimed at the target audience who answered my questions and not for my own interests. That said however I did the back cover as well as the centre page which I felt lacked a certain feel to it even before I began to hand out the questionnaire which the public agreed with.
The back cover I edited to go along with what the audience/target group suggested within the questionnaire which included using just a single image, making the colours more bold and making the text run through the middle instead of having it to the side. So taking everything into account I completely altered in back cover by getting rid of everything aside from the track list. Thus starting from scratch I incorporated the one picture idea b using a flamed candle which Carly herself stated was useful to refer to one of her songs known as catching fire. The photo I enhanced so that it came of brighter as well as larger yet altered it just slightly enough to allow the photography to fill the back yet not appear stretched in any way or form.
After the above editing skill I then altered the text of the track list to again go along with my target audience so instead of having them plain and black I altered them into a yellow colour to contrast the red from the image as well as using a font known as wet pet allowing me to create the dripped quite effect that allows the letters to flow down the page. This I feel matches the tracks together yet also allows their difference to be shown with each line having a different stretch effect added to it to increase this factor which I felt make it more appealing as well as allowing it to draw more attention than the first draft did. I then aligned the words so that they were going clean down the middle before I showed the first draft as well as this copy to another group of people where I asked them to pick the best one which all of them stated was the candle version. This feedback shows that I went in the right direction.
I then edited the middle of the digipak and this time instead of having one shared image, I divided the page into two so that I could manipulate each side by changing it completely. For instance the left side I used a full picture of Carly which would match the picture that would be on the small booklet inside of the pack thus connecting the two ideas into one. This was due to the fact that the target audience felt one nig image of the artist was better than two smaller images thus I followed their idea by fusing it within my own. The image was edited on photoshop however beforehand with be changing the contrast to blend in with the pack better as well as changing the brightness so that she appeared similar to the one of the front, again to connect the two images together.
The right side however I used a dark tunnel which had a light coming through the middle of it which I took a year or so back under a bridge with the water rippling through. That was when an idea struck me and I found a few old digipaks one of which had a similar tunnel like image for the CD to fit in with the image pasted on the disk so that the hole in the middle showed the light tunnel effect underneath. Taking inspiration from this I selected this picture and used it in a similar fashion however it didn’t seem to match the other side with Carly having a white background and the tunnel having a black one. So I used a blur effect to join the two together slightly making it seem like they were attached in the middle all along thus making the digipak image that I desired for to start with. I also wanted the middle to be more subtle than the rest of the digipak as the back and the front cover were more colourful and outgoing so I wanted to create a contrast between them. As well as this my target group stated that they did get sick of seeing a lot of colours all of the time on albums and the such, when it wasn’t needed.
The back cover I edited to go along with what the audience/target group suggested within the questionnaire which included using just a single image, making the colours more bold and making the text run through the middle instead of having it to the side. So taking everything into account I completely altered in back cover by getting rid of everything aside from the track list. Thus starting from scratch I incorporated the one picture idea b using a flamed candle which Carly herself stated was useful to refer to one of her songs known as catching fire. The photo I enhanced so that it came of brighter as well as larger yet altered it just slightly enough to allow the photography to fill the back yet not appear stretched in any way or form.
After the above editing skill I then altered the text of the track list to again go along with my target audience so instead of having them plain and black I altered them into a yellow colour to contrast the red from the image as well as using a font known as wet pet allowing me to create the dripped quite effect that allows the letters to flow down the page. This I feel matches the tracks together yet also allows their difference to be shown with each line having a different stretch effect added to it to increase this factor which I felt make it more appealing as well as allowing it to draw more attention than the first draft did. I then aligned the words so that they were going clean down the middle before I showed the first draft as well as this copy to another group of people where I asked them to pick the best one which all of them stated was the candle version. This feedback shows that I went in the right direction.
I then edited the middle of the digipak and this time instead of having one shared image, I divided the page into two so that I could manipulate each side by changing it completely. For instance the left side I used a full picture of Carly which would match the picture that would be on the small booklet inside of the pack thus connecting the two ideas into one. This was due to the fact that the target audience felt one nig image of the artist was better than two smaller images thus I followed their idea by fusing it within my own. The image was edited on photoshop however beforehand with be changing the contrast to blend in with the pack better as well as changing the brightness so that she appeared similar to the one of the front, again to connect the two images together.
The right side however I used a dark tunnel which had a light coming through the middle of it which I took a year or so back under a bridge with the water rippling through. That was when an idea struck me and I found a few old digipaks one of which had a similar tunnel like image for the CD to fit in with the image pasted on the disk so that the hole in the middle showed the light tunnel effect underneath. Taking inspiration from this I selected this picture and used it in a similar fashion however it didn’t seem to match the other side with Carly having a white background and the tunnel having a black one. So I used a blur effect to join the two together slightly making it seem like they were attached in the middle all along thus making the digipak image that I desired for to start with. I also wanted the middle to be more subtle than the rest of the digipak as the back and the front cover were more colourful and outgoing so I wanted to create a contrast between them. As well as this my target group stated that they did get sick of seeing a lot of colours all of the time on albums and the such, when it wasn’t needed.
First Draft Digipak Evaluation
This digipak design (my first draft) is based on the unsigned artist known as Carly Jones who we produce the music video for with one of her songs as the track. Thus to finish the production the digipak cover, inside and back was created with the design being shown above with the album cover the same track title as the one we made the music video for. I selected this name for the album as I felt that it clearly showed the connection to the artist’s video and noticed that usually during up and coming artists first album’s they usually use one of their released songs as the album cover. I believe that this is show that their target audience can clearly recognise who actually sung the song if they say heard it on the radio instead of seeing the artist within a video. For example artists that have done this include: Rihanna – Music of the Sun, Pink – Missundaztood along others. Yet this method isn’t always used such as with Avril Lavigne’s debut album named Let go which she hadn’t gotten a song of. That said nowadays the method of using song titles as the title for album’s are becoming increasingly popular and more so for albums targeted at a younger audience so seeing as my target audience is for teenagers and upwards to around early twenties, I feel that it would suit their style.
The text I used for the artist’s name is called Chaparral Pro which is also red in colour and size twenty four. I chose to include the artist’s name so people who know who’s album it is as it is just as important maybe even more so than the digipak title. The colour red I used as I feel that it is a fairly bold colour that catches people’s eyesight rather well and as well as this it ties in with the genre of some of her music which relates to love or some kind of relationship between people which red stands for. I also used this colour to fit in with the pins on the picture as the red pin is near the top of the pack thus I placed the artists name in an upward position compared to the album name text which ties in with the blue pin thus is placed lower down to match the blue pin almost creating a kind of mirror type feel.
The reason to smile text I used is in times new roman, size seventeen and is in the colour blue as I mentioned earlier. I chose to use the blue colour to tie in with the song reason to smile and how it is suppost to make the audience feel which is sad or at least slightly upset as the song is about someone looking for a reason to smile due to a trauma to them that they can’t overcome. Within the video this is explained as the characters mum dying due to suffering from cancer and she is trying to cope with the pain while trying to move on yet finding it hard with the memories. I picked the size seventeen as I wanted the text to remain pretty big yet to be smaller that the artist’s name so that she gets more published with the media and society in general. The text was picked as I felt that it needed a simple tone to the design to flow with the artist’s thoughts and her personality which I felt was quite calm and laidback.
Digipaks are known for having a picture of the artist or something that ties to the songs as the cover and this album is no different. Going along with this stereotype I used an image of Carly within the top centre of the digipak which I took within the college in close proximity to the artist so that she wouldn’t miss any of her lessons. Due to this factor however and the fact that she couldn’t get any transport to go to any other locations my ideas were limited to what I could do with the image. However I was able to take a photo of her facial features and her mid body so that the target audience could recognise the artist as well as the track before I modified the photograph on photoshop. First of all using photoshop I edited the image by using the sharpen tool to make the features more defined and clearer then followed this step by using the contrast tool to make the image more brighter and noticeable due to lack of lighting when I actually took the image. Next I used the burn tool to get rid of a few scar’s as well as the clone tool to help create the clean skin that is stereotypical used on album covers as well as magazines. The effect I then used is known as lens flare which creates a flare similar to that from a lens at a designated point that I chose to be within the upper right corner of the photo to create a purer feel to it as well as making the image more noticeable.
The back however I took a completely different approach to as instead of using another picture of the artist I used a picture of a flower as well as using the track list which is presented on the back of the digipak in black and white shades of colour. I felt that the back of the device needed to show the target audience the songs presented on the album like with nearly ever album out there today which seems to be a set rule as nowadays there isn’t an album released without a track list on the digipak to show what songs it has on it. Thus I took this factor to incorporate it into my digipak.
The track list I used is a list of songs given to me by the artist as I felt that it gave the digipak a more realistic feel than say if I made all the songs up apart from the one that the artist recorded for us, reason to smile. I made the text of this arial with the size being twenty so that is was still a large text that could be read from a far distance away but so that I could fit all of the songs in as well as including the image of the flower. The font I used in order to keep it clean and simple as every text design that I used seemed to be either be too professional or not enough such as a text that was old English yet so joined up that I couldn’t identify some of the song titles, nor could a group of people I asked on the matter either. Thus I felt the clean and simple text option would suit better as it allows people to view the track list and during a short questionnaire which I conducted people only seem to view the back of digipaks when they first purchase the album and when they want to find the song that they like but not for anything else such as looking at the image on the back.
Due to my findings I didn’t want to spend too much time on the back yet more of the front as people commented that they looked at the front of an album much more than they did with the back. Thus I took a photo of a flower that I found within the village. The reason I took the image was because I felt that it tied with the video of reason to smile with the link to death as well as the title of the digipak which is the same name as the video track. After taking the photograph I began to edit it using photoshop, for instance I used a blue hue effect to the image to try and match it to the blue text on the front however it didn’t fit right and neither did red so instead I made it black and white. Thus it goes with the text as well as the background colour creating a kind of mellow feeling towards the digipak which represents the artist’s type of music which are quite slow and as I mentioned before are mainly about feelings and the way that people express them.
So that the photo fitted with the back of the digipak I used a flower texture for the white background to match along with the image so that it didn’t look out of place. I then bordered the photograph and text with an image of jeans to again match the casual feeling that I wanted the album to create and express through the whole digipak. However I do feel that it might be a step too far as it looks too different from the rest of the album yet I do like the texture like feel that it gives as it links with the target audience as studies I have looked at show that jeans are a top brand of wear for teens and upwards.
The middle of the digipak again I took a different idea for as I had to remember that half of the image was going to be covered by a hole where the CD would be kept. That said I still wanted to include the artist within the middle of the digipak allowing it to flow as the audience opened the pack up. Due to this factor I added two images of Carly yet showing her more laid back and connected with the music by her expressions and the emotion that I think people can feel when looking at her facial features. The two pictures are presented together yet slightly apart so that each one can go on a different side with one being where the CD is placed and the other being where the booklet would be left.
That said I placed the photos so that their eye view is looking towards the other image hopefully allowing the audience to see the whole aspect of the digipak as it is known that we as humans recognise images by their facial features and follow the way they are placed or the direction that they are looking at. This is believed to be why when looking at a painting of a photo of a person staring back at the viewer they can sometimes get intimidated. I feel that this is a good technique to use as it is subtle and doesn’t provide too much extra work on top of the digipak design itself.
I didn’t decide to use any text on the inside as I felt that it took attention away from the rest of the digipak and as well as this I didn’t feel that text really suited it. For one I couldn’t pick any text that I felt suited the artist of the songs even when using quotes from the song title as well as Carly. That said if I found the right text I ma consider using it within my final production piece of the digipak.
Colours that I used were picked in order to match the front of the album cover as that was what people would see when they opened the front cover so I tried to keep the background colour as close as I could, keeping it different shades of brown while also using the colours brown and blue to border the images. This also matches the text on the front cover which I feel creates that flowing effect so that the digipak isn’t too different when someone looks at it otherwise they may not know exactly what they are getting which some people, especially my target audience, don’t like. Yet seeing as I clearly tied in the feeling throughout the digipak I think that people will know what they are buying when looking at the digipak both inside and out.
The text I used for the artist’s name is called Chaparral Pro which is also red in colour and size twenty four. I chose to include the artist’s name so people who know who’s album it is as it is just as important maybe even more so than the digipak title. The colour red I used as I feel that it is a fairly bold colour that catches people’s eyesight rather well and as well as this it ties in with the genre of some of her music which relates to love or some kind of relationship between people which red stands for. I also used this colour to fit in with the pins on the picture as the red pin is near the top of the pack thus I placed the artists name in an upward position compared to the album name text which ties in with the blue pin thus is placed lower down to match the blue pin almost creating a kind of mirror type feel.
The reason to smile text I used is in times new roman, size seventeen and is in the colour blue as I mentioned earlier. I chose to use the blue colour to tie in with the song reason to smile and how it is suppost to make the audience feel which is sad or at least slightly upset as the song is about someone looking for a reason to smile due to a trauma to them that they can’t overcome. Within the video this is explained as the characters mum dying due to suffering from cancer and she is trying to cope with the pain while trying to move on yet finding it hard with the memories. I picked the size seventeen as I wanted the text to remain pretty big yet to be smaller that the artist’s name so that she gets more published with the media and society in general. The text was picked as I felt that it needed a simple tone to the design to flow with the artist’s thoughts and her personality which I felt was quite calm and laidback.
Digipaks are known for having a picture of the artist or something that ties to the songs as the cover and this album is no different. Going along with this stereotype I used an image of Carly within the top centre of the digipak which I took within the college in close proximity to the artist so that she wouldn’t miss any of her lessons. Due to this factor however and the fact that she couldn’t get any transport to go to any other locations my ideas were limited to what I could do with the image. However I was able to take a photo of her facial features and her mid body so that the target audience could recognise the artist as well as the track before I modified the photograph on photoshop. First of all using photoshop I edited the image by using the sharpen tool to make the features more defined and clearer then followed this step by using the contrast tool to make the image more brighter and noticeable due to lack of lighting when I actually took the image. Next I used the burn tool to get rid of a few scar’s as well as the clone tool to help create the clean skin that is stereotypical used on album covers as well as magazines. The effect I then used is known as lens flare which creates a flare similar to that from a lens at a designated point that I chose to be within the upper right corner of the photo to create a purer feel to it as well as making the image more noticeable.
The back however I took a completely different approach to as instead of using another picture of the artist I used a picture of a flower as well as using the track list which is presented on the back of the digipak in black and white shades of colour. I felt that the back of the device needed to show the target audience the songs presented on the album like with nearly ever album out there today which seems to be a set rule as nowadays there isn’t an album released without a track list on the digipak to show what songs it has on it. Thus I took this factor to incorporate it into my digipak.
The track list I used is a list of songs given to me by the artist as I felt that it gave the digipak a more realistic feel than say if I made all the songs up apart from the one that the artist recorded for us, reason to smile. I made the text of this arial with the size being twenty so that is was still a large text that could be read from a far distance away but so that I could fit all of the songs in as well as including the image of the flower. The font I used in order to keep it clean and simple as every text design that I used seemed to be either be too professional or not enough such as a text that was old English yet so joined up that I couldn’t identify some of the song titles, nor could a group of people I asked on the matter either. Thus I felt the clean and simple text option would suit better as it allows people to view the track list and during a short questionnaire which I conducted people only seem to view the back of digipaks when they first purchase the album and when they want to find the song that they like but not for anything else such as looking at the image on the back.
Due to my findings I didn’t want to spend too much time on the back yet more of the front as people commented that they looked at the front of an album much more than they did with the back. Thus I took a photo of a flower that I found within the village. The reason I took the image was because I felt that it tied with the video of reason to smile with the link to death as well as the title of the digipak which is the same name as the video track. After taking the photograph I began to edit it using photoshop, for instance I used a blue hue effect to the image to try and match it to the blue text on the front however it didn’t fit right and neither did red so instead I made it black and white. Thus it goes with the text as well as the background colour creating a kind of mellow feeling towards the digipak which represents the artist’s type of music which are quite slow and as I mentioned before are mainly about feelings and the way that people express them.
So that the photo fitted with the back of the digipak I used a flower texture for the white background to match along with the image so that it didn’t look out of place. I then bordered the photograph and text with an image of jeans to again match the casual feeling that I wanted the album to create and express through the whole digipak. However I do feel that it might be a step too far as it looks too different from the rest of the album yet I do like the texture like feel that it gives as it links with the target audience as studies I have looked at show that jeans are a top brand of wear for teens and upwards.
The middle of the digipak again I took a different idea for as I had to remember that half of the image was going to be covered by a hole where the CD would be kept. That said I still wanted to include the artist within the middle of the digipak allowing it to flow as the audience opened the pack up. Due to this factor I added two images of Carly yet showing her more laid back and connected with the music by her expressions and the emotion that I think people can feel when looking at her facial features. The two pictures are presented together yet slightly apart so that each one can go on a different side with one being where the CD is placed and the other being where the booklet would be left.
That said I placed the photos so that their eye view is looking towards the other image hopefully allowing the audience to see the whole aspect of the digipak as it is known that we as humans recognise images by their facial features and follow the way they are placed or the direction that they are looking at. This is believed to be why when looking at a painting of a photo of a person staring back at the viewer they can sometimes get intimidated. I feel that this is a good technique to use as it is subtle and doesn’t provide too much extra work on top of the digipak design itself.
I didn’t decide to use any text on the inside as I felt that it took attention away from the rest of the digipak and as well as this I didn’t feel that text really suited it. For one I couldn’t pick any text that I felt suited the artist of the songs even when using quotes from the song title as well as Carly. That said if I found the right text I ma consider using it within my final production piece of the digipak.
Colours that I used were picked in order to match the front of the album cover as that was what people would see when they opened the front cover so I tried to keep the background colour as close as I could, keeping it different shades of brown while also using the colours brown and blue to border the images. This also matches the text on the front cover which I feel creates that flowing effect so that the digipak isn’t too different when someone looks at it otherwise they may not know exactly what they are getting which some people, especially my target audience, don’t like. Yet seeing as I clearly tied in the feeling throughout the digipak I think that people will know what they are buying when looking at the digipak both inside and out.
Monday, 4 April 2011
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)