DIGIPAK DRAFTS & PROCESS

Now that I had all my research and planning - I started to construct my digipak.

FRONT COVER:

Initially, I had the idea to hand write the digipak title on my graphics tablet, however once I tried this out I realised it didn't look as professional as I had hoped. 

I then went on to visit the site 'Dafont.com' to look at different fonts which would work well in my digipak. As my video has sketchy drawing in it, I wanted to keep this theme running throughout, so I looked under the 'handwriting' category on the website to experiment with a few fonts. 'Da font' was really helpful as I could type in anything as a preview before comparing and downloading the font to use.

http://www.dafont.com/

Test fonts...

I then started experimenting with the photos I had took whilst filming. At first I wasn't sure if to rotoscope the image or hand draw it and then scan it in and maybe add some thicker, sketchier lines, so I experimented with both.

Hand drawn drawing of Lisa:

(explain)

I decided to rotoscope the chosen image and add colour to it so it had both elements of my music video featured in it - the colour and also the animation. To do the rotoscope on the photo, I simply used the 'lasso magnetic' tool to crop out the background to be left with the original image.

Then, I created a new layer

After doing this, I used my graphics tablet to draw over the original image - making sure I was always clicked on the BLANK layer when drawing, so I wouldn't be drawing over the original image. I then started to add colour to the rotoscope drawing and also tone and shade by simply using a slightly dark/lighter colour and blending it with the 'smudge' and 'blur' tool.

I carried on doing this process until I was happy with the outcome. I then changed the background colour to a pastely neutral yellow so it wasn't a solid white and had a slight colour to it. I used the brush tool to add random lines in the background. I did this because doing so reminded me of a school/college book when you're doodling and thought it may attract my audience more as they are in the 16-24 category. It also fit with my music video as it's all very sketchy and doodley. I added the artists name and album name at the top of the digipak, and then rubbed out the background so it looked like white clouds which are also featured a lot in my music video. I typed 'LISA ROGERS' in capitals as I wanted her name to be the 2nd main focus - Lisa is the main focus which is why she is central and takes up most of the cover.

Draft 1:

Draft 2:

I decided to change the background slightly as I felt it was missing something, so I once again used my graphics tablet to draw spontanious circles on my front cover background. I like this one more as it has more character to it and the red fits with the mise en scene of my video alot, as my artist has redy brown hair, a red skirt in my video, and red also signifies love which is what the lyrics are about. Using red will help the audience recognise the cover more as it's very eye catching and abstract.

Draft 3:

I did some more research and asked for some opinions on my digipak and realised that the main texts would look a lot better at the side of the digipak.

Draft 4:

I changed the skin tone and drawing a little on this draft as it looked disproportional and too pink.

Draft 5: 

After getting some constructive critisism from my audience I decided to change the background and text of my digipak. The background looked too loud and vibrant, although my genre is indie pop, the song has a delicate feel to it and I think the background was too over the top and colourful. I decided to tone down my cover and create a white background, I then used the 'blending options' and chose a 'pattern overlay' I looked through the present Photoshop patterns and too my surprise it had a pattern that I felt worked well with my photo. The pattern is a pastel blue colour with a slight texture to it. I think this looks a lot better as it's not as overpowering and doesn't take the focus off the album name and photo. I also decided to keep the 'doodle' feature on the cover but tone it down by just using black lines, this also helps my main product and ancillary texts to relate more as in my music video the majority of rotoscope animation is in black and white. I also decided to change the text colour to a deep red to match my actresses mise en scene in the video and also her hair colour. I'm happy with my final cover as it's not too overpowering yet has an alternate individual look to it compared to conventional indie pop covers.

Draft 6:

 I've changed the image a little as I think it looked a bit scary...

Draft 7:

I decided to try use the original image as I wasn't sure if the animated version worked well on my cover. However, I feel like the image on this one is out of place, so I'm going to ask my audience what they think of this draft.

Draft 8:

I've started to try out a more simple idea after taking inspiration from the band Never Shout Never and Jason Mraz. After asking the audience their opinions on which album cover to use, the majority advised me to go with the bottom as it was simple and different. It also was an image directly from the music video which will allow the audience to recognise straight away the connection from the music video and the album. However, I need to thicken up the text as it's quite hard to see without looking close up.

Draft 9: FINAL

After adding the final touches to my digipak cover I'm happy with the final outcome, it's fresh and alternate -fitting to my niche audience's needs.

INSIDE DIGIPAK:

CD DISK

Draft 1:

Draft 2:
For the CD part of my digipak - I once again used a still from my video, I chose the point where I used a POV shot of my artist looking up at the sky. I liked this shot as the brances and leaves where all in a sort of circle in the sky - giving me enough room to have my CD designs in the middle where the sky was. Another reason I chose this image is because it followed the house style of using blue and white, whilst also fitting with the indie 'nature environment' stereotype.
For the actual CD's I decided to create the same design, but create one CD for the music, and one DVD for extra features such as behind the scenes footage. I did some background research on what needed to be included on the CD by looking at pre made CD's from Beyonces work and a general CD I found on Google.

I then applied this info to my own CD and DVD...
Draft 1:

Draft 2:

Draft 3: Final

 Final 2 disks

Inside left image

As I wanted the audience to feel more involved in my artists life and the products, I decided to add a personal message from the artist to the audience on the image I was using for the inside of my digipak. I use a draft I was going to use for my front cover as it was the photo I wanted to use and hand hand drawn animated scribbly lines in the background which fit with the theme of my products. This is the message I wrote on the image...

‘’Hey guys! Thanks so much for

purchasing my new album! I’ve 

been working hard on it for months

and hope you all enjoy it! I have

the best fans ever, I wouldn’t be

where I am today without you all

so I’d just like to say thank you

all SO much! To show my gratitude

I’ve made an exclusive DVD along

with my new CD just for you guys!

 It includes a load of ‘behind

  the scenes footage for you all

   to enjoy! Thankyou so much!’’

            -Lisa Rogers.

               xxxx

Final draft for inside left image:

Booklet: 

I wanted the booklet to be really simple as the information was going to be mainly inside.

I decided to take a screen shot from the music video and blur it out and just add my artists name.

Here is the image before blurring it...

Here is the image after blurring it...

I decided to use the same font once again to make sure continuity was followed. I also decided to use the brush tool to add a white background behind the font, I slightly changed the opacity to 90% so it wasn't fully solid white and was more softer on the image.

Here is my final design for the booklet:

BACK COVER:
I originally wanted to use this image of my artist walking in my back garden for the back cover, however, I've used a lot of animation throughout my digipak and I didn't think it would fit well.

I was going to use this image for my backcover and blur it to add the writing. I thought this might look good as the front cover and back cover would look the similar but the houses would be on opposite sides. However, I decided not to go forward with this idea as the front and back would confuse the audience too much.

First I went to image > adjust > levels. I changed the highlights of my image as some of the clouds looked quite dull and I wanted them to be bright and contrasted.
Image after changing levels:

I then decided to blur the image so the test was easy to read on the back cover.
Image after blurring:

I needed to create a institutional information on the back of my album cover. So first I created a logo for my artists record label. As I'd wrote ''(C) Ruby Rogers Music'' on the CD's, I decided to use a Ruby gem as the record label logo.
I created the gem shape using the lines on Photoshop and then filled it in red. I then went to blending options to add some textures and shadows to make it look more realistic.
I chose a present texture that was available on Photoshop and changed the scale and depth to fit my gem.
Logo:

Next I added the institute information such as the record label name, the credits - the writer and producer, the website addresses, the executive producer and the copy right laws. I also added a bar code at the bottom and a 'compact disc digital audio' image.

''WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY: LISA ROGERS

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: ANDY RICHARDSON

LISAROGERSMUSIC.COM   RUBYRECORDS.COM

© 2012 RUBY RECORDS           

All rights reserved

Unauthorised duplication is a violation of all applicable laws.

Manufactured in the UK''

Next I needed to add the price and track names. I decided to sell my product for £7.99, this is because I knew my audience were dominantly 16-24 and were students so didn't always have spare cash. I also noticed a lot of albums on iTunes were sold for this much - which made sure I wasn't under selling or over selling my product. I decided to place the price at the top right hand corner in a yellow shapes circle - this was so it would catch the audiences eye when they started reading down the back cover.
I also decided to add an 'EXCLUSIVE!' in yellow with a black background to try encourage the audience to purchase the digipak. I also thought if I wrote 'exclusive' it would make the audience feel more involved in the product and it may also attract them as they could want to find out more about the artist.

I then decided to use cross hatching behind the song names with my graphics tablet to carry on the sketchy look of my products.

FINAL DIGIPAK

VIDEO STILLS FOR DIGIPAK

Looking at the shots I filmed, I thought some of them may be good video stills for the digipak/magazine cover.

I think this shot may be good to use as part of the digipak where the CD disk goes as the trees are filled around the sides so the CD could fit in the blue gap.

I like these two photos as they could be cropped and manipulated for the front cover on Photshop. They are both medium close ups and look very natural. I also like how the sunlight is reflecting on her face creating the look of a summers day.

I think this photo would go well on the back of my digipak where the names of the songs go.

ROTOSCOPING

To rotoscope my video I used ADOBE FLASH PROFESSIONAL. First, I needed to export the section of the video I wanted to rotoscope, to do this I went to File > Export > Media and clicked 'match sequence settings' so everything was at the right settings.
I then needed to use ADOBE MEDIA ENCODER to change the format of the video to a FLV Flash file.
I selected the video I wanted to encode and looked for the FLV Flash video setting making sure it had 'match source attributes' selected. I then pressed the encode button and it was done!

Next I needed to start rotoscoping my test video. So I created a new file in Flash also known as the 'Stage' I made sure the stage was also set to 1080 x 1920 so none of the video would be cropped out.

Flash made it so much more easier than hand rendering drawings - this is because it imports the video frame by frame so you can adjust each one as you go along.
I started off by creating a new layer and naming it rotoscope. I did this so I wouldn't be drawing over the actual video footage, but a new layer so I could easily rub out or make any changes without rubbing the video out. I made sure I was always clicked on the video layer when drawing.

I then right clicked on the frame which I wanted to start drawing on, and clicked 'INSERT BLANK KEYFRAME'. Adding a key frame meant the drawing would only be applied to that certain frame, and not be floating in the same place when the video was played through.

 I then pressed F6 to copy the blank key frames to the rest of the frames which I wanted to draw on. Now I was ready to start!

To draw with I used a graphics tablet with the pen it came with. I hadn't used it much before so was worried if it would be easy to use, and it definitely was. Once I got the hang of it I could draw easily on my key frames.

I used the brush tool and set it to a medium thickness. I wanted the rotoscope to appear like it was gradually building up in to a cartoon effect, so I started off by drawing a small line, moving to the next key frame and doing the same thing.

At the start of the process I was worried as I'd not used Flash before, but felt like it was a challenging task and would develop my skills and prove to be a good idea at the end. The whole process was quite tedious and seems never ending. However, once playing the video back and seeing how well it looks all played together is what kept my motivation up.
I also hid the video layer to see what the rotoscope would look like without it and played it back, which I also liked aswell.

Final outcome test!


I have also started rotoscoping the chorus where my artist touches the wall and it turns into a rotoscoped alternate reality. (Unfinished)

PHOTOSHOOT 1 FOR DIGIPAK & MAGAZINE ADVERT

MAGAZINE HAND DRAWN AND DIGITAL MOCKUP

HAND DRAWN & DIGITAL MOCKUP!

 

MAGAZINE ADVERT CONVENTIONS

Magazine adverts are usually functioned to;
-Promote the artist
-Sell the song/album
-Be eye catching to the audience

Magazine conventions:
-The release date
-Album song/title
-Image of album cover
-Artists name
-Information about product
-Where it's avaliable to purchase
-Record label logo

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

MARINA & THE DIAMONDS

Looking at Florence's products, I can immediately notice the resemblance between both of them, this also occurs on Marina's products. The same house style is carried out through both magazine advert and digipack also, both these features create continuity between both products. This allows the audience to easily recognise the product when it's in the magazine and also when it's on the shelf in the style of a digipak. Both the image and text on these magazine adverts are very dominant, showing the importance of the album. I've noticed on some magazine adverts the text is usually placed at the top or bottom, leaving space for the main image and then extra text to sell and advertise the product. Each magazine advert is eye catching in it's own way. Florence's product has an alternate indie feel to it, by using a long shot we are able to see the full length of Florence and notice the costume she is wearing. It looks very elegant and the composition and floral imagery reminds me of an Art Nouveau style painting by the artist Mucha.

Example;

However, the composition and style on Marina's cover is very different, yet still is eye catching. The camera shot is a close up which makes Marina very dominating in the photo. She's also laid down which is an unconventional code in magazines and digipaks so this could create the ideology that she is trying to be represented as being rebellious and individual. The magazine advert as a whole is quite dark and dominance, creating power and sophistication. However, the white typography breaks this down a little as it stands out clearly against the dark colours, I think this is a good effect to use in a magazine advert because it immediately attracts the readers attention, especially in a magazine as the image scale will be larger.

The other typography on both magazines is usually placed at the bottom of the photo, the text usually includes the date the album is released, information about product, where it's available to purchase and the record label logo somewhere underneath or to the side of the text.

DIGIPAK HAND DRAWN AND DIGITAL MOCKUP

HAND DRAWN & DIGITAL MOCK UPS!

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER

CD'S (1+2)

BOOKLET

IMAGE WITH TEXT