functions of a digipak and advertisement.

An example of a digipak  and advertisement:

front of album cover

back of album cover

advertisement

Above I have posted a digipak presented by a famous artist of the hip-hop industry, Kanye West. It is noticeable that the artist himself is not on any part of this digipak or advertisement, however this isn't unusual for an artist who has made it in their career and so this piece is recognisable through the artist's name on the front of the album cover and through the particular animatic work posted on the advertisement which is part of his trade mark. It is easy to see that all the necessary information has been added to these pieces to ensure its exposure and ability to be bought. Although admittedly, not much has to be done to bring credibility to one of kanye west's albums and so this piece is quite simplistic and clean with only the colour scheme and album name to link them all together.

What is the function of a digipak and advertisement:
You could say that the function of the afore mentioned things is to represent an artist and the genre he or she represents and then there is further purpose which would be to attract the appropriate audience in order to insure the exposure of an artist. As well as this, there are larger targets to be met through a digipak and advertisement, for example one reason would be to build the artists rapport with their audience by letting them in on something they created therefore increasing their credibility and worth as an artist. And I would say that it serves a purpose In making money for the artist and the label they belong to, through sales and exposure. Lastly, I think that a digipak and advertisement is created in order to act as a type of momentum for the fans of the artist to keep in a lead up to another album release or their tour dates.

Ancillary project: overall plans

In preparation for the production of my digipak I decided to make sure that I had a variety of choices in the font types, images, colours and design ideas that I'd be using. This was very useful to me as I was able to compare all my ideas and choose the ones that I felt would effectively and correctly enhance and  present my work properly.

Font type short list: 

1. Myriad pro
2. A dripping marker
3. Times new roman 
4. Copper plate gothic bold 
5. Copper plate 
   
   Eventually, I was able to make a decision on the fonts I wanted to use and those were: Copperplate, myriad pro and A dripping marker. I chose these simply because they work well together and the first two mentoned suit the simplistic look I am going for. Despite the fact that the last font mentioned is more adventurous for the look i'm pursuing, i felt tht it would serve well in making the signiture of the artist stand out on the inside panel as it will be the only text visible when the album is opened. In order to make other information stand out in my digipak I will vary the font size according to the importance of the information. E.g: Artists name-large font size, Artist's website-smaller font size.

Colour short list:

I decided to come up with a few colour schemes that would possibly be used throughout my digipak and I chose to go with Black, Grey and White, I chose these colours because they compliment each other well, also they are the main colours in the moon idea which I am creating, however below i have posted the other choices:

• Black, Grey, White 
Follow ebony's board black white and grey colour scheme on Pinterest.
• Blue, White, Grey 
Follow ebony's board blue white and grey mood board on Pinterest.
• Green, white, Grey
Follow ebony's board green white an grey mood board on Pinterest.

Images:

• A lake or a nature field
• The artist himself
• The moons cycle 

design ideas:
As for the design ideas for my digipak I decided against it as through research on various other alternative music artist's album covers and advertisements, I saw that the majority of them were simple with the artist as the main focus or the focus would be on an abstract image to represent the extent of the artist's creativity. However i did realise that in that circle of artists the more recognised and sought after artists are the ones with the abstract images on their covers.

Ancillary project: where i got my ideas from.

 

As mentioned in a previous post i had decided to take my design idea from the artist himself in the sense that i would be using a personal intrest of his in order to connect to the audience. Following up on this idea led me to research about the moon and its cycle. Upon doing this research I was able to pick out what exactly I liked about it myself, as the creator of this digipak I felt the need to be able to connect with it myself in order to get a good idea of what effect I want it to have on the audience. Personally, what intrigued me was the different craters and shades of grey that appear on the moon, thankfully this came to my advantage as grey and white were the main colours I wanted to include throughout my digipak. As well as its colours, I was also interested in the different shapes it appeared in whilst in the process of its cycle, I loved this aspect of it as I could mimick its curves and bends in the was I place the images on the product, in order to make it more interesting seeing as i'm trying to be minimalistic with my cover this was a great way of making it more appealing for the consumer.

Researching Ancillary Products: Artist's Digipak & Advertisment

Digipak & advertisement analysis

DELILAH DIGIPAK AND ADVERTISEMENT

As you can see, the artist is the central focus of the digipak and advertisement. She has followed a really simple colour scheme and theme which is effective and she has only used two colours white and grey which fades to black around the edges of the digipak and advertisement.  The theme is followed through on her digipak although there has been a few changes made. The advertisement contains magazine reviews and also contains the aritst website and promotion for the album. The codes and conventions of the genre are clear to tell the audience what kind of music it would be if they had never heard of her before. The digipak and advertisement suggest that it would be pop/electronic music because of the graphics used and because of the how centered the artist is.





DIZZEE RASCAL DIGIPAK & ADVERTISEMENT 


This digipak is very effective as you can immediately tell the genre of the album by looking at it. This is because of the big bubble writing and bright colours that is carried throughout the digipak and advertisement suggests that the album will be something fun and pop. He has used three main colours; pink, blue and green which is carried into the cd and advertisement. The artist is not central in this  digipak or advertisement and is smaller than the  font and title of this digipak. The advertisement is different to other ones as it does not contain any magazine reviews or tour dates however the digipak does contain the barcode,  the record label and other bits that would be expected from a digipak and advertisement.






























CHASE AND STATUS DIGIPAK AND ADVERTISEMENT 

This is a digipak that I will take inspiration from as it is from a similar genre to the music video. It follows a simple colour scheme; black and yellow as you can see with white and grey. The artist is not featured on the digipak and the same picture is used for the advertisement as for the digipak. This is strong synergy so although the artist is not in the digipak or advert, their 'fans' and target audience will still know exactly who they are.

Planning an Ancillary product: My inspiration

Planning an Ancillary Product: Ancillary Pitch

Outside panels. The back and front will be a picture of a swamp/forest that I will take. I will use the same font as used in the music video with transparent text that will show the background and a grey scale of an image of our artist in the water to show the contrast. Only a strip of the artist will be seen.

This is the inside of the digipak and one panel will show the whole image of the artist. It may contain a few thank yous but I have to do some more research into whether alternative artists give thank you's on their ancillary work.

The cd will also contain writing on it "twentytwo" going around it.

The advert that I have decided to now redo is also in the slideshow - along with the picture that i may use a strip of and put on a grey scale.

the advert for my album. pitch

digipack inside idea, pitch analysis.

Digipack front and back pitch analysis

Ancillary production: digipak pitch.

My Digipak will be over 4 panels which includes the front cover, back and two inside panels, i decided to do this because it is the standard layout of an album and so through doing this i am able to show that i understand certain conventions and am able to follow them as well as challenge them which has been done within a few other projects produced whilst on this course. As for the album poster, this would be advertised in NME magazine, Q magazine and in and around train stations on advertising boards for people to look at when going up the escalators or waiting on a station platform. The running theme through my digipak is the moons cycle images. This is because where we have named the album after the artist, I thought that it would be interesting to include something that intrigues him as a person, which i found out was the ideas of space, consolations and planets, this further personalises the album as it is something meaningful to the artist.

This is the album poster I had created, i decided that the imgage i will use will be of iolo AKA-22, and him surrounded by to half moons on either side of him with a full moon in front of him, I decided to do this because of its simplicity and upon previous research a few alternative musically led album covers they either have strong emphasis on the artist or a recurrent abstract idea rather than glamour, and as iolo as an artist wouldnt be recognisable on a large scale i decided to go with emphasis on the artist to insure his exposure. Also incluided is the release date, image of the album cover, artists name and title. Below the featured song we made a music video to is displayed as well as statimg the fact that this is a 'debut album', the colours i will use on this poster will be black, white and grey to represent the state of space and to create the true likeness of the moon.

These are the inside panels for the album cover. Overall, this album cover will be presented over 4 panels, however instead of using the standard plastic case cover, the material I would like to use is cardboard simply becuase of the extra pocket needed for the actual CD, I wanted to make the images of the moons cycle noticable and clear so this was the best way to insure that this would happen. Furthermore, i wanted to include the artists signature on the inside of the album cover, i feel that this is quite mature, simple and again personal for the fans, this signature will be in white on a black background and the moons themselves will be white with shades of grey outlined in a dusty white to make them visible.

These are the outside panels for the album.As for this design idea the moon is again the link between all three parts of this ancillary work.the track list for this album cover, has been placed specifically in a row with the numbers beside them because I didnt want my album cover to be too conventional, i also like the simplicity of this layout. I have also included the logo of the record lable we are using, the barcode, artists website, copywrite information and participating parties information. On the front of the album cover I have decided to put in large letters above an image of the artists face the artist name, whihc puts emphasis on the artist himself once again whihcis the main focus for me.

Planning an Ancillary product: Feedback

these are the drawings and ideas for the digipack and advert

these are the drawings of the ideas that i have developed in my lessons for my personal digipack and advertisement page.

 this is the inside of the digipack where the cd would  be stored.

this is the front and back cover of the digipack i designed.











this is the advertisement design i created that would be in a magazine.

researching ancilary products: previous student work: Digipaks

1.

 

Despite the fact that the music genre of rock isn't my most favoured, I genuinley like this piece of ancillary work, I think that the colours used are subtly placed in the image used so the loudesnt colours such as red and blue have been played down quite nicely throughout the images which can be hard to do because of their vibrancy. This person has been able to represent their group clearly through the image as well. This is smartly done as they would be seen as a niche rock band and so making themselves easily recognisable was essential for the success of their digipak if this were a real situation.This group throughout each piece of their ancillary work, have managed to incorperate the element of synergy in order to link each piece together well. this was done through the style of the images used with the three of them together and the design idea of the recurrent triangles in the background in white and grey. I had noticed that the designer of this ancillary work had only used one font type in their digipak however played around with the size of it according to the importance of the information being displayed, for exaple their band name is in the largest size compared to the track list which is at the back of their alum cover. I would say that this group have followed conventions in the sense of what is typicvally on an album cover for example the barcode, production company, tracklist, title and band name. As well as this, it looks as though they did a lot of research on independant rock bands and have portrayed their understanding through the instruments in the images, as they are typically associated with rock bands. Overall, i think that this ancillary work is a success as they have included all of what is to be expected whilst keeping it clear and simple and have made it unique to suit the style of their band.

10. Steven, Maria, Ella, Elinor from 283goswell on Vimeo.

 

2.

As for this second peice of ancillary work Ithink it is really effective, this hasd been done over 6 panels which is intresting as it makes the buyer feel as though their is more to what it is they are buying rather than just the styandard 4 panelled album covers, this designer has given their buyers the oppurtunity to know more and to get extra information on the artist as well as value for their money. Moving on to the images used, I believe that they are simple and clear this designer has made relevant links throughout their digipak, and has even gone so far as to make a co-relation between the outfit the girl is wearing with the design elements of the digipak and have presented re-current triangles which is similar to the first groups design. On their work unlike the previous analysis this designer has used two different fonts throughout their digipak. Although this can be risky they were successful in making sure that they link and have used one of them to single out the artists name to make it stand out, and the other to communicate the rest of the information on the digipak. The colours used on this digipak are the bare minimum with most of it cming from the top the artist is wearing, this is effective because again it puts more emphasis on the artist and makes her the main focus above everything else. Intrestingly for this artist they have created two promotional posters which illustrate the artist herself and the relevant information linked to tour dates and the release of the album. Other information included are: magazine reviews, the actual album design image, the title of the album, artists name a barcode (linking to itunes) and a brit award it was noiminated for, which again adds to the value of the album. The genre of this artist is alternative pop and I feel that they were able to represent this properly thorugh their design as it is typicla for emphasis to be put on the artist themselves.

21. Khadeeja, Romy, Andreia, Luke from 283goswell on Vimeo.

3.

28. Korima, Eli, Kellie, Sian from 283goswell on Vimeo.
Lastly, this designer has again put the main focus on their artist, their album cover has been done over 4 panels using one image to cover two -anels and another to do the same. I like this idea because it's simple and looks well thought out as she is on grassland in both images so their is a clear co-relation. Within this digipak no synthetic colours ahve been added to the images, as they have used the image to cover all the panels, as for the design elemnt of the digipak an elegant vine swirl like design has been pasted over the images on the album cover but doesnt feature on the promotional poster, which leaves the font type -which is also elegant-, her outfit and the surroundings in her images to pose as the synergetic elements throughout the ancillary work. Important information on the back of the album cover has been used for example: the barcode, the logo of the production company a tracklist and extra information on the copy write ownership and participating parties. Their poster is similar to the second analysis in the sense that similar information and ideas are used to promote their artists album for example the image of the actusla album icons to represent where you can dowload the album from, the artists name and title of the actual album.
 

overview of the do's and dont's of designing a Digipak.

Research for ancillary work: Practice for Digipak

Above is the album art I had created in Photoshop as practice for an aspect of a Digipak. I decided to use a two paneled template to start with as it is the classic way of many artist cd's. I decided to use the 'artist' on the album cover with only her lower facial features and torso showing to create a sense of mystery. As for the album title I decided to use a simple but appealing font in the color pink as it highlights the fact that it is a cd aimed at women and it reflects the bubbly, fun and girly nature of the artist. I wanted to also make it more personal hence why I named the album 'Dina Jay' (the artists name). I then put this text on top of a cut out image of a child looking out onto an airplane runway to signify hopes and dreams of being free, which is relatable for many people. Additionally, the image is in black and white which is a good background for the pink writing to go against it. As well as this I kept a running theme of the pink font throughout the back of the album  and middle panel to show continuity and make sure that it flows. Upon previous research I noticed that a common factor for a track list is numbers outlining the order of the songs, and so I have created this on my practice product. I have also included product information on the bottom left hand corner, logos of the record label and production company involved, a barcode and the website linked to the main artist.

Album art skill developement

Ancillary research: codes and conventions

Brandon Flowers : Flamingo

I think the aspect that contributes most to the 'eye catching' nature of the album ancillary is the retro theme that runs throughout the images. They look like they were taken with a film camera, and don't look like they were taken with a massive budget (in stark contrast to Delilah's which is below). I couldn't find out what camera they were taken on, but it is relatively easy to replicate a film photo in editing, by adding noise and a texture . 
Another thing that really stands out on these three pieces is the colour scheme that runs throughout, the oranges, gold, yellow and reds. The only exception is the blue on the back of the album, which is a complimentary colour for red. The demographic is very much 20-somethings who live housing co-ops (who are also a very hip and influencing group), and the harsh yellow lighting and not super expensive looking furniture relates well. 
They use 3 different, not including the one on the billboard and i cant see the tiny font on the back of the album. I personally think that they're an odd combination, the Brandon Flowers name seems very vintage, whereas the Flamingo seems retro. I wouldn't have

Researching Ancillary Products: Practice Digipak

I made a practice digipak in photoshop today. By doing this, I have learned the following skills:

- How to add in layers
- How to change layers around so one is on top of another
- How to use the magic want tool to get rid of the background
- How to add in text
- How to adjust the size of the picture so it doesn't pixelate

However, this can be improved by

Research for codes and conventions of ancillary work.

Brandon Flowers-Flamingo.

Above the cover art for the CD is quite simple with an obvious color scheme of subdued yellows, browns and gold's. What interested me about this cover art was the idea that the artist was placed at the side of the album cover however is still managing to be a prominent figure on the cover due to the sudden change in the colors he is wearing. The black suit stands out among his surroundings. Additionally, I observed that three separate font types were used on this cover, the largest most individual one was used to represent the artists name and this was then merged into the image behind it.

As for the back of the album cover an old billboard which looks as though it was taken from the 70's is the image used in order to present the track list which has been presented in an old time cinema advertising font which contrasts to the cover fonts hence increasing the font types used to four. As well as this there is a shift in the color scheme as a strong blue, red and washed out yellow is used, the red was used to highlight the artists name and the albums title. Production information is also included alongside a barcode on the bottom left and right hand corners of the back of this album which allows fans to buy the album as well as giving off information about the people involved in the production of the album. This also acts as a type of recognition for the people involved.

Like the other two pieces that contribute to the ancillary work, the artists name is posted at the top of the poster, however this is more clear as it is printed over a darker background. Included is the actual album cover along with the name of the album as well as the release date and throughout all of this the three main fonts are used across different bits of information to distinguish their importance, for example the artists name is in the most noticeable font. Whereas, the feature song is in the smaller simple font beneath the album title. I did notice however that there is no reviews to signify the success or predictions of success for his debut album which indicates that Flowers isn't a popular artist amongst the masses therefore portraying him to be a niche artist. In analyzing this ancillary work I realized that this artist out of the two I am analyzing is the most similar to our artist "twenty-two" due to the simplicity in his look and the style of his music which is alternative rock.

Magnetic Man. 

Magnetic man's album cover is a strong contrast to our artist as well as the previous artist I had analyzed. The album cover is really is minimalistic and clean. this has been achieved through the use of the colors black and white -although it is clear that they have manipulated these colors by shading them to highlight the steel object being shown on the cover which looks like an 'M'-. Additionally, there is only one font type to signify who's album this is which looks futuristic which adds to the non-cozy like theme running  through the album art. cleverly the artists have used there own band name as their album title to create authenticity and a connection with their fans.

As for the back of the album cover, there is an obvious co-relation between the colors and font used to display the necessary information, which includes: the track list (ordered through numbers lining them), featuring artist (who have been underlined), production information, a barcode, the supporting record labels and production company logos. There doesn't seem to be anything that signifies the artists involved which is typical of Dub Step artists as conventionally it isn't about the artist themselves but more about the music created and how it makes the listener feel, which is another reason as to why the album cover seems more abstract.

 



As for the promotional poster created for this album release, we see a few differences in the way it is presented to the audience. They have added a new font which is still simplistic and one dimensional, which again reinforces the idea of futurism, and because of this they have successfully kept the look flowing throughout. Again the colors haven't changed which doesn't come as a surprise as it is one of the main factors that tie the whole digi-pak together. However, for once the artists have presented a silhouetted image of themselves with one white stripe across their faces which looks like a light coming through an almost open door with them waiting to come out, the idea behind this suggests that they are about to reveal themselves and the music promoted on their new album, this is effective as it still creates a sense of mystery and suspense. Unlike the previous artist mentioned this poster shows some comments from certain relevant magazines for their genre of music talking about their expectations and high hopes for this album which gets the audience excited to listen to it. Finally, I see that they have included their own website at the bottom right hand corner of the poster and have presented supporting labels and production teams across the bottom of the poster also. 



Researching Ancillary Products: Markscheme

What I understand from this is that for high marks, the layout and design of the ancillary product must be relevant to the music video and correlate. For example, if you have done classical music for your music video and have used a lot of greenery for the location, you can't then use a graffiti text font. Also, if you have done a music video in a location full of greenery and have used a soft genre of music, the picture for the ancillary product can not be in an alleyway, as that does not correlate.

In addition to this, the photo can not be manipulated poorly as that would not look professional. For example, stretching the photo in order to fit the frame so the artist then looks really tall or really wide. Instead, it would be ideal to use the correct frame so that the picture fits.

Researching Ancillary Products: Previous Student Work

I looked at previous student work to see the similarities between their music videos and their ancillary products. I looked at different genres of songs and their ancillary products to see the differences that would be evident in their ancillary products. I found that certain similarities between the music video and the text made the ancillary products particularly effective as they related to each other. For example, using the same text as the text used in the music video, taking mise-en-scene into consideration etc etc.

Video 1

Music Video for Video 1

By clicking the link, you can view the music video that this ancillary work belongs to.



As you can see, the digipak is very simple but very effective. It suits the theme of the song very well as the music video is quite 'mysterious', as is their  cartoon like ancillary work. The text suits the genre of the song as does the colours that they used.

Video 2

Music Video:

28. Korima, Eli, Kellie, Sian from 283goswell on Vimeo.




The ancillary product to this, although simple again, is effective for the genre. This is because it's in the same location as the music video and she is in the same costume. In addition, the text suits the genre well.

Video 3

19. Kris, Ruth, Erik, Huy from 283goswell on Vimeo.



Although I understand why this particular ancillary work got full marks eg. the colours used suited the genre very well, the special effects on the pictures etc. I personally think that the artist that starred in the music video should have been featured in the ancillary work. This is because she starred in the music video and sang in it, and he didn't make that many appearances. If the audience was to see this ancillary work before they saw the music video, they wouldn't know who she was and why she was there. In addition to this, I understand that the picture is there for effect and to suit the genre, however to me something looks off.

"Bloopers" - Hamit and Leanne

Notes for Evaluation Q4

Progress Review Blog

How successfully do you think your blog details the research, planning and construction stages of your music video?

I think that my blog shows the research, planning and construction stages of the music video very well as I believe that a lot of the things that we have done during these processes have been documented in detail and have been presented in a variety of ways. I have constantly been blogging throughout the process with no gaps during the process.

How happy are you with your individual blogging so far, in relation to the targets you've set yourself?

I believe that I have reached individual targets during blogging so far. I have done extra blogs individually and have contributed very much to a lot of the group blogs. I have blogged consistently which is one target that I set myself and I have used many different media in order to do this. I have also either captioned pictures or put multiple pictures into slideshows which is another target that I set myself.

skills development- Hamit

Production of VIdeo: Skills Development

During the process of making this video, I have learned many new techniques and have developed my skills.


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Finished!

5th december- hamit

in todays lesson we did no editing because we have finished our music video but we have had a chance to go through our blogs and edit them to get better marks. i have been going through my blogs to look at my spelling, terminology and technologies i have used in my work. my friends Iolo is going through the footage again to see if theres any mistakes or any tweeking to do in the music video.

this is a image of Iolos progress of trying to export the work after double checking if every things good enough to be given in.

this is a slideshow i created for a editing session we had on the friday the 14th of november- hamit

this is a short video of the images that was taken as we were editing our music video.

Final changes made

As we have now finished our student video, we made several finishing touches to our video. First of all, we added the title to our music video. We did this by writing the name of the song and the artist into photoshop. First, we produce the background and chose the font and the colour that you want. Then use the magic wand tool to remove the background layer so it would be transparent and we then saved this as a png. We imported this into final cut pro and added it over our first video clips. We also added a fade to the music video title so that it would not come in so sharply.

We also added colour filter to the videos that we thought that needed it such as the flashback scenes. We did this by adding colour correction under video effects and then changed the colours around. 

Using the colour corrections to change the colour of the shot.

Making the clips darker.