Ancillary: Digipack Update.

This is the back cover of my digi-pack, where I have placed the track list, the bar code and the record labels for my artist. I decided to stick with the same colour font which is the same as the front colour of the front cover of the digi-pack. I mainly stuck with the white font from the front cover, as I felt it helped with the flow of the digi-pack and added a touch of simplicity also the font  is the same which is "Century Gothic" from the front cover. I began to really over think the smallest things for the whole digi-pack as I thought mainly about the layout of the track list which is all centered aligned with the bar code, record label and websites. I think the simplicity of the whole digi-pack makes it look exceptionally good and professional if I say so myself. The reason I did the pattern in bold and regular font is mainly because that is what the front cover is like as half the line is in bold with the rest in regular font. I think it was important to take this concept over to the back  cover for the whole flow of the digi-pack as well as that it looks rather odd without it all just being bold or regular. The image for the back cover is actually from a different image from the photoshoot, I felt it was pretty important for the images to have the continuity that the fonts had just because I am the perfectionist I have been labelled as. It took a bit of time to merge both images to make it look like one whole image, but with some blending, a layer mask, some gradients and the clone tool I was able to make it look like a whole image. I tried this technique with multiple images but only one sufficed, which happened to be a similar shot of the artist with similar compositions, but the artist was looking directly at the camera. As the background was more or less the same with slight difference, it made it even more believable to merge. 

SHORTLIST of IDEAS

ALBUM INSPIRATION

Our Genre is INDIE POP

My Main Inspiration
- The inspiration for the style in which my album is like is due to the original artist of our song choice. Her album cover is similar in some ways. 
- By looking at ex-students ancillary work has also helped me to think of the layout and composition of my album.

She has a simple action in the front. The hair looks like the main attraction so for my artist I just went over her hair to make it a darker shade of black to make it stand out. The little dots in the Ellie Goulding album is also used as inspiriation due to the fact I have leaves instead of dots as a little added touch.

  Most indie pop music albums are not all heavily edited but do have loads of filters and colours added on. Some are very odd but thats due to the message the artist is probably trying to convey.

These are crtics giving their opinon on the album as a whole. Hopefully my album design would have better reviews !

PLANNING: Do's & Don'ts

DO'S:

• Include a barcode; Copyright info; Record label; Artist name; Album name; List of songs included.
• Have minimum of two colours.
• Make sure fonts and colours compliment each other.
• Make sure everything links to the genre.
• Make sure photo's are in focus.
• Follow the rule of thirds. 

DON'TS:

• Use irrelevant colours and pictures.
• Use unnecessary effects.
• Make the pictures stretched out.
• Put the text covering the artists face.

RESEARCH: Importance in digipacks

Digipacks are different from standard CDs. The reason for this is because a digipack is made of cardboard - and the buyer feel that they are getting something extra from it. Sometimes extra pictures of the artists may be included or even a bonus track so that the fan feel that they are getting something worth the money they are paying.

Digipacks also stand out from standard CD covers. They can have more than four panels. Below is an example of a digipack. Also digipacks show clarity of the artist allowing the audience to become familiar with their face to their music.

If I was to go to a store this would definitely catch my eye. I can see a big difference between the value between a digipack and a CD.

A CD however would look just like everything else on the shelves in the store which means that it becomes nothing special and is not eye-catching. 

Ever since people are able to to download music from the internet and so on the packaging of the album matters a lot - there is a lot of competition and therefore the packaging has got to be as good as possible.

RESEARCH: Album covers

Presentation2 from 09041996

These album covers relate to my genre as they are pop artists. Also they are all females from as young as Cher Lloyd to as old as Katy Perry. These artists have similar target audience as Yasmin Feruz as she is wanting young females to adults to buying her album. Also all these covers have something which I like such as the colours used; props; fonts and shot types. 

ANCILLARY WORK (19/12/13)

Today update from EazyRahman

MUSIC VIDEO

20. Amirul, Emadul, Abida from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Ancillary: Photoshopping Images

The image to the side is the image that I have decided to use for the front cover of my digi-pack as I thought it was one of the bests out of the bunch I had. Mainly inspired by Gabrielle Aplin, I feel this image is quite exceptional in terms of colours, compositions and lighting. The background of the image is out of focus, putting more attention on the artist who clearly has the lightest value which contrasts her from the darker background. The original image was quite dull and lacked anything interesting, so I decided do some color correction using the levels tool which made the dark colors darker and the light colors lighter, improving the overall tone of the image. I then moved on to fixing the skin tone of the artist as I felt the white colour was pretty dominant on the face of the artist, I ended up with a more brown and vintage look which was unplanned but looked way better than without it. I finally went on to fix the artist's using the clone tool, I feel by using this I was able to make the hair look a lot more full and less frizzy in some places. I feel this image links to the music video quite a bit as the green from the background, the black from the costume and red from the lips were all present in the music video.

This is what I have achieved so far, and this happens to the the first panels, the front cover of the digipack. I feel it is pretty good so far, but there are some things I could improve. I think I might have to play with the color of the image a bit more whilst I could improve the framing slightly. I decided to use the "Century Gothic" font as it is the same font that was used for the intro of the music video. This would be good for the whole synergy part for our new artist. I followed the conventions of digi-packs as the artist's name is bigger than the album name, however I feel the font should be different to each thing which is something I will look into as I go more into making the digi-pack. 

Audience Feedback.

This is all the audience feedback that I collected following the cinema screening, I managed to get quite a handful of responses regarding the things the audience liked about the video. However, I failed to ask any questions that would be of proper use to the evaluation questions, such as improvements needed, question that would be linked to the audience and genre. 

Research into Albums

Albums created before and after... happens all the time with artists.

When promoting an album or a new artist you can get fan signings. In this clip its Cashtastic signing peoples tickets for a show he is performing in. After this he could then release a mix-tape that his loyal and core fans have bought.  The second one is the appeareance of Nicki Minaj at her signing where loads of fans have turned up just to see and get their albums signed by the artist.

Album Cover (photoshop)

Photoshop

In media last week I was able to refresh my skills in using Photoshop. After learning the basics the best way to learn how to use photoshop is to just fiddle around with the tools.

After doing this with my mock up I was able to use it on the real thing and then I added color and brightened up the picture also I found out that the actual edit that I needed was possible. In my plan I wanted the pictures to have the sun flares in it and I couldn't accomplish this in the actual taking of the picture in the photoshoot.

more editing needed to accomplish a better standard

ALBUM COVER (creating)

FOUND IT !

After looking at different pictures over and over again I finally found a perfect picture for the back cover. 

This is the image i have chosen for my album cover, back and front of the outside. The reason to this that the lighting look similar so it doesn't look odd. She has the whole outfit and the color of the lipstick is bright in both so i can emphasis this characteristic to make it a part of the artists synergy and unique brand to promote her more, recently i looked at the Jessie J album cover and noticed that her main brand was her black lipstick and the black and gold image.So for Yasmin Feruz its her lipstick. 

The copyright information and website will go nicely in the center bottom. The tracklist will go on her right side. and Logo and barcode will be shown bottom left and right of the copyright information.

PLANNING Album Cover

Few Ideas of pictures for cover.

The main idea is still the same as the previous blog made about the layout and composition but these are experimental layouts that still look appealing. By improving my layout maybe it will make the album cover look better than what I initially think it should look like.

Here are some of the album cover pictures I have thought to maybe use as the final outcome of the ancillary work:

This is one idea I have had. The front cover (right) is probably what I definitely want to keep its just the back part of the album that I cant seem to get right due to the fact I have to consider that the bar code and other information is needed to be put on the back and may overlap the picture. The only problem to this picture is that the color and lighting is very different and even if I tried to edit it. the difference in color would dominate and make it look weird, it would look like two different pictures that don't go together.

In this back cover I have the right lighting for it all yet the eye contact in this doesn't look really good and the positioning of the shot is not really good in my own opinion. However I liked the setting and the way the artist is stood in this way, holding on to a part of the tree just makes her look confident and comfortable. Still no space for all the rest of the things that have to be put on the back of a album because it will end up covering up some parts of the picture that I want the audience to see.

In conclusion the final picture could be the second option yet I am still experimenting with other pictures we did take quite a few.

LAST WEEK PHOTOSHOOT (monday)

REVIEW OF PHOTO SHOOT

Last Week we went on a photo-shoot hour. where we decided to take pictures for our album covers. The best way to do this was that we each tell each-other as a group what we want and how it should look and did it.

I personally was going for a different approach to what i got now. But some shots did not work and wouldn't look good on a album cover. We first started with a wall which was white and used that as a blank background but then I decided I don't want to re-create a background for my album cover so I need something natural in the background to set a mood for the artist.

Most of our music video was shot in the settings of something natural like a park or some greenery. So it seemed like a good idea. The album is called CITY LIGHTS. So I will have to some how link the title to the image.

RESEARCH: Advertisements

Advery ad from 09041996

I did some research on artists advertise and found that they used similar colours to their Album covers. I feel that I am also going to do this by carrying on the colours: Red, Black and white/cream.

I will also:

• Show the record lables
• Repeat artist name
• Add ratings/reviews
• It will be a Debute album
• Add an official site

These three magazine adverts which I have analysed relate to my genre as they are pop artists. They also have a similar audience to our artist as we are looking to attract young teens to adults (girls in particular). 

Also the colours used in these adverts would help as colours is something that could be eye-catching and therefore be noticeable for audiences to read on and be interested in.

PLANNING: Mock Up Of Advertisement.

This is a quick mock up of the advertisement which I put together. The picture on this advertisement is the picture which will be put on the front of the digipack with the name of the album and the artist. On the right hand side I looked at a few previous students advertisements and took their ideas as well as took ideas from actual artists. 

I thought that the rating of the digipack was a nice touch and may attract more people to purchase the item.

PRODUCTION: Pitch of Digipack Mock-Up

So after doing my mock up and the photoshoots I had to choose which pictures I will definitely use in the digipack. I talked about my ideas and got good feedback. I did have to also change a few things after pitching my digi-pack to Rebecca. We decided that I should not have a picture of the artist at the back of the cover and also have no random girly words and lipstick. Reasons for this is because it won't look sophisticated but would look childish instead.

For the front cover of the digipack we chose a close up of the artist looking down. This shot was a good shot because it is a close up which is good since the artist is new and therefore her face should be shown properly. 

The colours in this shot go well together to show the main colours which I will use throughout. They are black, white/cream and red. This picture however looks like the lipstick colour is pink - I then thought that it did not matter as long as the lips are bright to show that the synergy is bright colours. 

On the back of the digipack will be plain white with a plane of the names of the songs. Along with the barcode; record label n so on.

For the CD inside of the digipack I will have the lips so they are really being emphasised. The hart shape will we the hole in the disk.

For the other side near the disk I will have a skyline (referring to the city) as that is quite conventional as the title of the album is 'City Lights'.

PLANNING: Photo Shoot.

Last week we went out to take pictures for the digipack. We first used a blank white wall to take pictures in front and then we went to the park to take more types of shots.

Bellow are a few pictures which we took and I thought I may personally use. 

Most of these shots are mid-shots. I feel that they look very natural and shows a serious side of the artist. 

 I later then went home and took my own pictures so I could have a variety to choose from; also I feel that the pictures that were taken at college are not girly and our main audience is girls. Below are a few pictures which I thought I would consider using.

I feel that these shots came out well and look more girly which will be beneficial as the main audience is girls. I am also trying to put emphasis on the synergy (lipstick) and lipstick is what girls are into along with their other beauty products.

PLANING OF THE ALBUM COVER

PLAN !


This is a template or layout of what my album will look like. It is very similar to the mock up I did recently.

The background will be made up of the actual picture so no need to think about the background very much but may need to on the inside and the spine. The album will have a nature feel to it so it will make the artist look like she is a nice person with a bright and open minded personality. Her song titles in the track list will highlight the kind of person she is which will also target the type of listeners she will have.

PAST STUDENT DIGIPAK

RESEARCH on Album Covers

Advertisement Analysis.

Advertisement Mock Up.

PLANNING: Digipack Mock Up

This is the first two panels of the mock up which I have created in the lesson. I have annotated the mock up to show what the ideas are in case the visual aspects are not noticed. After a long thought I thought that the first two panels will show my face and the inside panels will be more about the synergy - lipstick. However if I do have six panels instead of three then I will probably add a mid-shot of the artist in the middle of the three panels.
My main Colours are Black, Red and White. I am going to try and stick with the first idea about the synergy which is the poker dots although only ONE of the costumes in the music video had poker dots.

The group has decided to change the name of the album to 'City Lights' as they think it works better.

On the left side of the inside panel I will have the person who wrote the lyrics of the songs and produced the music for that song. The reason for this is because I don't want it to be only pictures especially if its the first album for this artist. However as mentioned earlier I may have six panels instead of four to make the a buyer feel that she is getting more.

There is one problem with the inside of my digipack. This album may be seen to be ONLY for girls because of the random girly words and the lipsticks. Even though this is the case girls may be the ones that are most likely to go out and buy this digipack as the stereotypes is that boys are more likely to be into rap and R&B anyway or just play games.
For he actual CD I intend to have the artists lips making is 100% clear that lipstick is the synergy.

RESEARCH: Digipacks

While I was making a mock up of my digipack with only four panels I needed ideas for the inside panels. I then looked at two pop digipacks where I got some good ideas which made me consider having 6 panels instead of four.

Firstly I looked at Katie Melua 'the house' where in one of the inside panels I saw a shot which looked really nice and I thought I should use it as it is appealing. 

This picture breaks the fourth wall as so do lodes of other digipacks. There is also a nice effect used on this picture and there are sparkles added. This close up is nice. 

The second digipack I looked at was Olly Murs 'Right Place RIght Time'. This digipack is also very appealing and you can straight away tell that the artist is a pop artist. The light colours show this as well as the font. Clear mid shots are used in this digipack and he is looking right at the camera to connect with the buyer. 

 Even the inside panels are eye-catching. All the fonts and colours compliment each other and work well. His costume also fits very well with the genre as it is smart, attract, playful and so on. 

The last digipack I looked at was Pink 'The Truth About Love'. I found the inside panel of this digipack very nice; The main colours are black, red and white - the same colours which I intend to use in my digipack. Also this arist is coming across as crazy and maybe being herself. 

After looking at these digpacks I have decided that If I do have enough nice shots taken at the photoshoot then I will have a six panel digipack. I would like to make my audience feel that they are getting more for their money and feel connected with the artist through the use of shots. 

Shortlist For Digi-pack.

MOCK UP !

Natural Drawing

There are Four pictures which will be used... most of the background is taken from the actual picture.

 I also picked the two texts I will use thoughout.

 

 

Quick MOCK poster version of what I want it to look like at the end.

Digi-pack Mock Up.

What are Digipaks?

LAST LESSON (9th December)

Update of the Process...

- Last lesson on monday we decided to do the photoshoot and get a better idea of what our digipack will look like and by doing this our mock ups of our album cover and inside panels.

This was posted later on our blog as a group blog. - still united in our work.

The photoshoot went well and we got some really good shots. We tried to take pictures individually so we can use shots that we individually need so that it will be easier to have different styles of album covers to create a variety.

Photoshoot for Ancillary Products

These are all the shots that we took for our digi-pack and advertisement, we used two locations, one of which was a white background with the other being the local park. We each planned what type of shots we wanted and took them ourselves but we do plan to share them within our group if needed. If the shots look blurry or of low quality, do not worry as I (Amirul) compressed them in order to upload them faster, the pictures used in the ancillary will be the actual photo which is not compressed. 

Digi-pack photoshoot by Slidely Slideshow

Start of Ancillary

Recently we started work on our ancillary stage of the project. To create a Digi-Pack for our Artist not specifically for the song we chose to do. To make the album cover I have decided we should keep the main synergy for our picture which is the lipstick seen in all clips of the music video for 'in my city'.

By looking at past student Digi-packs i was able to understand the do's and dont's of making a Digi-Pack.

New Words:

• Ancillary - Providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation, in this case its the media project. Something to supporting our music video.
• Digipak - a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs.

Digi-pack Analysis

Last Years Digi-pack

This was my attempt for a digi-pack from last year and straight away I do see some things that I did well whilst there are some things I could have changed. First of all, the good things for this digi-pack would have to be:

• I have a good colour scheme that is carried out through all panel
• The green and white text matched the images used as they artist is wearing similar colours which helps with synergy. 
• The artist's name is larger than the album name which follows the conventions of a digi-pack, whilst the text doesn't clash with the background.
• The images I use are of good quality and are not distorted in any way or form, also we get a good sense of the kind of artist he is. 
• The track-list style looks good with the song name big and the writers a lot smaller

Secondly, the bad things that I have on this digi-pack are:

• The artist name does kind of overlap the artist's face and kind of would disrupt the audience connection with the artist when seeing the cover.
• I feel the middle panel just has pictures so it could fill the space, and the "blending" in just looks really bad

Importance and Functions of a Digi-pack