Ancilary - Production: Final Mock Digipack.

Outside

Inside

Ancilary- Planning: Album Covers.

                        

These four album covers, have really inspired my digipack design, i really like the close ups of Adele's and Rihanna's albums as i think they are more intimate and share a more personal aspect of them with their audience. Whereas with Beyonce's album cover for I AM..SASHA FIERCE, its more powerful and authoritative which compliments the overall tone of the album.  Rihanna's hair on her album cover is very bright and goes with her bright red lipstick which instantly attracts the audience. I also like the how Rihanna is posing in her album cover as its pretty and much calmer than her usual over-sexualised look. 
I particularly admire Adele's covers for her albums 19 and 21, as they are very simplistic but also say quite alot. I like that the photo for 19 is just her fringe, her left eye and her nose as i think its very artistic compliments her music as its very emotional and raw. I think as our song is very upbeat and quirky we might be able to interpret Adele's pose for her album 21 into our album to and instead of our artist looking down she could look at the camera with a smile.

Ancillary Planning: Mock Up DigiPack (FRONT)

Here is my mock up of my first go at making a digipack. I used photoshop elements but found it a little bit difficult as I am used to the normal one and this is more basic so some things I wasn't able to use. Also  I was able to use the paint brush to help choose the certain colour from the background, I found this was a very useful experience to be able to understand how it has to look. With the actual picture I didn't change the colour but I did edit the picture by changing the low lights, shadows and naturals so give more of a contrast to my face. When we took the pictures the picture I wanted on the front I liked the neutral colour across the whole digipack. All together I was really pleased with how it looked. I did start out with a 3 panel but it was proving difficult so I changed it to a 2 panel and printed it out to make my own font for the artist name. I used bubble writing but made it look sharp which I think fits well with the genre and the music and especially our target audience. I also chose for my individual mock up to have each letter of LUNA in a different bright colour. I really like the way I added the track listing the side of the picture and it fit just right. For my first go at a mock up I was really impressed and now I'm going to work on the inside wish me luck..

Ancillary - Production: Font for Artist Name.

These are 12 different fonts that may be used in our final digipack/ advertisement. They vary from animated and fun syles to, quite serious and mature. As we have a wide range of audiences, all of these fonts can be used.

Ancillary - Research: Mock Digipack.

I really like the mock digipack i created, as her name is Luna, i really ran with the idea of space and stars because i think this will make our digipack stand out and be recognized easily. Also i think the idea of space is very appealing as its loud and different to other albums.
I decided to make a 3 panel digipack so that i can have an extra flap for the inside, i decided to add photos, as to show that, it was an extra something for Luna' fans. As you can see, i hadn't finished editing the pictures properly, i filtered the pictures i took of Lyah by adding Film Grain, and changing the saturation but have decided to change this because the display on the outside of the Digipack is far too different.
I really like the font i used for Luna because its big and animated, which i think relates to the overall tone of our artist. I fond the font on Photoshop and was very surprised by the range of fonts they had as initially i thought i was to use Quark Xpress for my text.
Overall, i really like this mock digipack but i think for the final it should be toned down.

PLANNING: Practice digipack idea

This was the unfinished piece of the mock digipack idea. By using Photoshop Elements, I was able to change the colour by moving around the Tint, Shadow and Exposure. With this I was able to see which colours I wanted, and so I decided to go along with red, purple and yellow. I think the colours did go well, but I got feedback from one of my teachers, Dan, and he commented on the red, that it did not go well as the others.

This was only a practice version, I was just trying out the different aspects of Photoshop, bringing in the images and trying to match it with the background. At first I had thought of just keeping it one colour background, which was hard because I had to find the right colour to match it with, since some bits in the background did not have any colour. Afterwards since I changed it and added effects, it actually didn't matter about matching the colours at the begginning.

I did not have enough time to add the name of the artist or the title of the album, but I will be doing a story board showing where they will go. Also, the tracklist will be on the image in the middle (the 2nd image on the template).

I think this practice really helped me out with using Photoshop, since before I had not used it much. I am now more familiar with the tools and I will be able to contribute more when we do our final digipacks.

Ancillary Planning: Mock Up Pictures

Here are the pictures that we took for the mock up digi pack that we took this lesson. We are now going to edit and put them on the digi pack so we have an idea of the outcome. 

Ancillary- Research: Analysis of 3 Advertisements.

Analysis of 3 advertisements.

Ancillary Research: Analysis Of Digipacks

 This is Taylor Swift Red her new album which is also a digipack. She has kept hers very simple which is really effective. She has used two fonts, and a maximum of 3 colours *red, white & black*. They have also made the album name in the same colour as her lipstick which is a convention with albums. They often have colours from the artist and then they use it on colour picker, this helps to blend it together better. It also is a close up shot of her face as it connects with the audience. She also has a promotional sticker on the side as it shows 16 brand new songs, which will entice her audience to buy it as there are new songs. I really like the simplistic look this gives and it also stands by her as an artist.

This is Florence and The Machine Ceremonials album. This is a lot different to Taylor Swifts as there is a lot more going on. First of all this is a lot darker, she also has two fonts. The most eye-catching thing to this cover is the image of Florence. Its a mirrored image showing her back and the side of her face, it's very different and unusual which Florence often goes for. The word Ceremonials looks very eye catching as well as it isn't in a normal font. Overall this again stands by what the artist is like so that the people that enjoy her music just know its her by the look.

PLANNING: Font examples

The fonts I have used here are:
Book Antiqua
Monaco
Hand of Sean
Birth of a Hero
Trajan Pro

Research: Analysis of magazine advertisements

The first advertisement I will be looking at is Marina and the Diamonds' Family Jewels. She fits perfectly to the genre my artist is. As we can see, they have basically used the front of the digipack cover. The font is done as if its written by someone on paper, with the same retro/vintage looking background with the plants/floral print. The name of the artist is in bigger fonts, which attracts her audience, or anybody else that sees the album on a shelf. It needs to be recognizable. It also has a second smaller image, which is to get out her new single 'Shampain'. This is a very effective way of getting more people to buy it, since they may know of that single already. The smaller image of the CD is done by using the same font, but just in pink, so maybe its easier to distinguish it between the album and the single. They have also added an "Out now on iTunes" phrase. This is usefull for the audience, as iTunes is where most music is bought. I really like this, as it is just the artists face on the advert, its appealing.

Here is Jessie J's album advert "Who You Are". Her face is clear, it attracts the audience straight away, we are drawn to her face and her name instantly. The colours used go well with each other, the font is big, golden, and bold. Right underneath it there is the album title, in italics, smaller, white font. They have promoted Jessie J's previous smash hit "Price Tag" which features another famous artist named B.O.B. This is a great way of publicity since B.O.B. fans may also enjoy this music. Her genre is mainly R&B-Pop. Even though it doesn't match my genre perfectly, it still shows a strong female artist. We both still have the same target audience, which are people around the age of 13-25.
They have also included her website which is useful.

Finally, Two Door Cinema Club's 'Tourist History' album advert. They are mainly indie-pop/rock. Which is pretty similar to my genre, and their target audience may have more of a range of people, since they also have rock. However, I thought their advert was very effective. Their band name is written in a funky font that's the largest of them all. And then straight underneath it, is their album title. They have written that it is 'out now' and extras that their audience may be interested in. The colour scheme is plain and simple, its a monochrome effect. Also, the main picture in this is a cat, with a crown and sparkly eyes. This looks a little strange but in a good way. They have also added tour dates underneath which is effective, as their fans can see when they are coming to their city to play a gig. And again, they also have added their website, for people to get more information from.



By looking at these advertisements, I have a better understanding of how to go along doing my own advert for my artist. Examples may include to add things such as: website, company logo, where to purchase (like iTunes).

Research: examples of advertisements in magazines

Here's a gif just capturing some magazine adverts of albums I have seen.



These bands however did not relate to my genre, but I took pictures of them for inspiration.

Ancillary - Research: Analysis of 3 Digipacks.

Lady Gaga's album for The Fame Monster is very consistent the colours are quite plain consisting of dark grey, black and white, which i think supports the overall tone of the album. The album cover is a mid-shot photograph of lady gaga with her coat collar covering her mouth. The album contains the same font on the track listing and CD. As this is Deluxe EP, the album  contains to discs. 

Santogold's debut album cover is very quirky and surreal, the cover shows santogold with her mouth open leaking gold glitter, i think this is very fun and epitomizes her alternative pop/ dubstep sound. I particularly like the CD and it's my favorite CD design compared to the other digipacks i analysed  i like that at first glance all the images look identical but are in fact different and quite eerie. The back cover of the Album has a gold glitter back ground with the track listing and the bar cod on the bottom left corner. The font is unconventional and childish which i think relates to Santogolds music.

I think that Marina and the Diamonds' Family Jewels album is reminiscent of a painting as the colours are quite muted and airbrushed. This album contains a booklet with song lyrics and acknowledgements which makes the Album more personal for the audience. I really like the photographs as i think they are very demure and pretty compared to Santigold and Lady Gaga's photograph. When taking photographs for our Digipack i think i will be more inclined to ask our artist to pose like Marina as the shots came out very good. Despite this, i didn't like the CD design, because the songs on this album were very animated and immature i would have suspected there to be more colour to attract a wider audience. My favorite part of this album is the font, as it is very attractive and big, the track listing at the back of the album is'nt conventional and makes the album more attractive.

Research: Analysis of digipacks

My first example of a digipack is Ellie Goulding's Lights album. The front of the digipack is displayed with Goulding's face, big that covers the whole space. It makes her face youthfull with the no make up look(more natural make up) which is great for her target audience, ( There is a strong sense of continuity in terms of colour, as we can see its mainly black and gold. On the image that she has used, there is a sort of shimmer/fairy dust which can be related to fantasy, something unreal. In terms of it going with her genre (which is indie folk + electro pop) we can see the edginess.
With the font, it is as if her name, Ellie Goulding is lighting up, since it is bright and seems like it is glowing in the dark (due to the lights). This is a very clever way of making the album name a concept in her digipack.

The back of her digipack is plain, but it still goes along with the colour scheme, by having the font in a sort of gold colour, simple but effective, since the front is already filled up with an image of the artists face.

Ellie Goulding's digipack does also relate to my genre (which is indie-pop) because she herself is in that genre. Same with her target audience, we both aim to the younger teens+adults around the age range of 13-25. The album cover looks youthful, which I am planning on to do with my digipack too.

The next digipack I will be looking at is "Family Jewel" by Marina and the Diamonds. Her genre is similar to my genre again, hers is Alternative/indie-pop too. For the front of her digipack, they have used the face of the artist, looking straight at the audience (whilst laying down). Her stage name, and title of the album is placed on the left, and it is one of the things that catches our eyes and makes us want to read it. It's font seems funky just like the vintage looking background. This may be used to attract Marina's target audience, just like ours, who are people (mainly females) aged 13-25.

The back of the digipack is done in a very creative way. They have put the track list going around  Marina's face. It stands out, edgy and quirky.  Even though I think a bit more colour would go well with this, it still does attract their target audience well. The track list is in the same font as the title  + album name which is good.

I really like the photo's they have taken for this digipack, and I too am planning to take close ups of my artist, and play around with the effects on photoshop to try out how it'll look.

Finally, the last digipack I will be looking at is Lily Allen's 'The Fear' album. This again is similar to my genre, Allen concentrates on pop music, same with us. In the front of the digipack, we can clearly see the bold black font that writes her name, and her album title in italics and smaller. The cover looks interesting, Allen is placed sitting on top of letters, the main on being an A (representing her name). She's in a baby pink dress, and seems to be wearing a hair accessory (looks like a tiara). It seems a little childish, but it targets her audience well, which again is people ages 13-25. It's full of colour, yet not messy.

The back again replicates the letters/design from the front cover. Its consistent and conventional. It has the track list placed above the design. And we can see the record label logo + other company logo's well. Its simple but effective. I really like this digipack, as it stands out, and different from what Lily Allen usually does.

I was inspired by these 3 artists for my own digipack. None of them have used really bold colours (wit the exception of a few in Lily Allen's one) which I plan to take on. I think having only a few colours present is more effective than having so many going on and making it look messy.

Research: Examples of Digipacks

These are just some digipacks I have found, and thought I could come back to it, and get more inspiration from.

Olly Murs:                                                      Pink:
     



    The Nuggets



As you can see, some are 3 panel digipacks and some are 2 panel.

Ancillary Research: Class Discussion

We had a class discussion in our first lesson after the music video was finished, and began to discuss our ancillary project. We discussed the importance or digi packs and here are some of the things our class came up with. 

Anciliry: Practice DigiPack.

Production: Review of Music Video.

Production: Summary Of Editing Experience

 This is a summary of the whole editing experience good and bad.

Review of Production

Production: Review of Production Stages