Layout of Digipak.

The Digipak has to be 280mm horizontally and 182mm vertically. Yet i will have to take 20mm of of the above measurements for the spine. So on both the front and the back i have 130mm in total to work with.

What should go on my digipak?

Look for logos and bar codes, pay attention to where they are placed on the Digipak, e.g. Jet Pack Man could have their own logo that is placed on the cover in order to create a symbolic sign that fans can associate with the band.

Look for various styles of front and colours, specific colours or styles of writing could represent the band in different ways.

Look for various images/fonts on the spine, the font could be the same on the whole of the Digipak?

What sort of images are on the Digipak? Is there any theme of representation presented though then? e.g. Could use particularly artistic/creative images as the band abstracts from the mainstream, non creative/commercial images.

Different types of Digipaks.

TEXT

PHOTO

GRAPHIC

David Hockney.

David Hockney is a English painter/photographer, based in London. I find his work very interesting as he uses composite polaroids to create these image bellow. I am drawn to this as the use of various angles and exposures create a abstract and fascinating image. I think this style of photography fits into the art house genre as it subverts away from the commercial style of simple standard photographs. I would like to use composite polaroids to create the artwork for my DVD cover.

Other Digipaks that i think are interesting.

I am now going to analyse some other Digipaks that i think are interesting to get an idea of other ways to create the Digipak.

Rage Against The Machine.

Here we can see the the bands representation being displayed constantly through out the Digipak, their band logo (the star) is presented on the spine and on the front cover, the colours green and red are strong colours that represent their strong personalities and view points. Live performance photographs are in the backgrounds to show another side to the band. Bar codes and logos are presented clearly. Same font is used though out in red and white, this DVD cover is simplistic yet effective as it still represents the band well.

Muse.

Here we can see that there is a block colour used to cover the whole of the front and back covers. The font is all in the same golden colour. The bands logo is also in the gold font, it is presented on the front cover and also on the spine of the Digipak. The art work represents the band well as the are well known for having abstract artwork. All of the logos are also in the gold font, this consistency in colour looks good as it is neat and draws the cover together.

Research into Digipaks.

I am going to analyse this Digipak cover as i think Jet Pack Man have links to The Cure, therefore i want to see how their Digipak has been created to get an idea of how to create my own.

The Cure.

Here we can see that this cover is bright and vibrant representing the bands image. The bands name is clearly presented at the top of the front cover in black to stand out against the bright colours. The same font is used through out the Digipak but in white to stand out against the back. Bar codes and logos are presented clearly and neatly o the spine and at the bottom of the back cover. Two different pictures are used both of live performance. The front cover has layers to overlap the image of the stage and then the shot of the singer. The back cover has a image of the stage again with a good rage of colours that draws the viewers eye in to the picture as it is against black.

The Cure.

I think Jet Pack have taken influence from The Cure through stylistic elements of producing the music. I think i could take influence from their art work as it is simplistic yet effective, this will help me to create ideas for Jet Pack Man.

The Cure

I like the idea of this artwork as it is simplistic. The first photograph is abstract art, i like the idea of this as it is very different from the mainstream, this would link to the representation of Jet Pack Man as the divert away from mainstream music. The second photograph is of a child drawing, this is very simplistic, resembles innocence as it is a child drawing yet it is slightly disturbing as we don't know exactly what the child is drawing, other than the lead singer. 

The Maccabees.

Jet Pack Man links with the Maccabees as they link with the same sound, their image and representation are very similar as they are both typical indie and quirky bands. I think that i could use ideas from their album art as they images are very art based which links with the idea of my music video being highly art house based.

The Maccabees - colour it in.

I like the idea behind this photograph with the cups of paint, i think this is unusual and quirky, this represents the band well, this is what i need to do for Jet Pack Man, i want to represent them as being indie, quirky and different. I like the idea of animation art for the second photograph, this again linking to the idea of an artistic and different album cover as it differs from the norm of the mainstream.

 

Bloc Party

Jet Pack Man are very similar in sound to Bloc Party, i think that i can work with ideas from some of their art work. 

A weekend in the city

Here Bloc Party have used time lapse to create their art work. This would link well with my music video as the whole piece is time lapse. Therefore i could create something that matches my music video well if i used time lapse. I think photograph 1 is interesting as it is

 a high angle shot, i like the lighting here as it works well to create a street light effect, which represents the idea of living in a city. Photograph 2 is interesting as the blue lighting again creates the idea of living in the city, the time lapse works very well here, also the blue lighting hanging look very interesting as they create a surreal effect. I like the framing in these photograph, the composition and balance within the photograph are good. I like the use of the rule of thirds as the two sides of the road are divided well and the sign is in the bottom third and the lights are in balance with the rest of the photograph. 

Research into three CD covers.

I am going to create a Digipak for my band. To begin i am going to research into bands of a similar genre to see how they base their ideas. Firstly i am going to research in to CD covers to get a generaly idea of how the bands representation is created. I am going to look at how the image has been framed and composed in order to get a good idea of how to create my photograph. I am going to look for specific styles that they use in order to create certain representations within the photograph. I am going to look at the mise en scene and see if i can find various links that add to the representation of the band. 

Planning to create the Digipak.

Front cover 

Spine

Back cover

The Digipak cover must represent your bands image and audience. 

Representations:

Narrative (if applicable)

Audience

Genre

Ideology

Web - freecovers.net

Final Video.

Re-filming the ending.

After reviewing my film i decided that the ending as not powerful enough. It was not clear to the viewer what was going on, they did not know if she was still in the game world or what had happened to her. So i decided to film a shot that is the same as the opening shot, i wanted the girl to look like she was coming out of a bad dream, almost as if she couldn't breath, i wanted this shot to be around 5-7 seconds long.

Adding the titles.

I have decided to add some titles so the opening and end scenes of my music video as i want the viewer to be able to understand that the girl is going into and coming out of a game like world.

I have thought about a number of possible words and have come to a conclusion that i should keep this part very simple. Enter for the opening scene and Game Over for the end scene.

Re filming the end scene.

I reviewed my video and thought that the ending was not clear enough, that the viewer may not be able to distinguish the ending clearly. So i decided to film a shot that fits the opening shot, but with the girl coming out of the world, almost as if she is waking up from a dream.

Final process of editing.

I have nearly finished editing my footage now, the whole piece is completely in order, the first section is all in sync with certain parts of the song. Now all that is left to do is to make the last section fit certain parts of the song. I want the ending to be distinctive, i am going to cut the last 10 seconds of the song so that they are fast paced, i want it to almost look like a flash back as she leaves the game.

New structure to video.

Inside room -----> girl

Intro - melodic -----> press button

11 seconds - Frantic -----> fast montage of settings

23 seconds - verse - vocals - "you seem so alive" -----> girl

45:10 seconds - chorus - vocals -----> time lapse montage

1:08:00 seconds - verse - melodic -----> girl

1:54:07 seconds - chorus -----> time lapse montage

1:54:07 seconds - guitar solo - fast paced -----> this has to be striking, conversation with brother

2:16 seconds - refrain - slower verse -----> girl and montage

2:56:23 seconds - fast verse - outro -----> "nothing between my eyes, nothing between my heart" - girl at night

Outro - slow down pace - girl

Last shot back in the room

Editing sound in garage band.

I began editing my audio by selected various lops and samples that i thought sounded eery and distorted as i wanted the opening scene to have an unsettling feel to it. I then placed the audio into place and cut it into various sections to make it synchronous to specific areas of the footage.I used a loop that sounded like white noise, this created the unsettling atmosphere that i wanted. I finally chose to use a electronic sounding loops, i cut a small section of this clip and copied it, i then placed it on each part of the footage that cut from one to the next. 

Final filming and changes made.

*Changes made*

After reviewing my footage i thought that some of the shots i had were slightly too long, i wanted to cut my footage up to make it more paced, therefore i decided to film some more footage in order to gain this effect. I also found that some previously filmed footage did not work when edited. I do not like the scene with the bench and the scene when the girl slides down the lamp post. I decided to cut these out as they did not fit the footage as well as i had hoped.

Creating sound in garage band.

Today i decided to create sound for the opening to my music video, the piece of footage that is filmed in night mode, with the girl and the game options. I wanted this sound to be unsettling and almost distorted to fit with the idea of the game world distorting everything around her. Also to link with the tradition ideas of the thriller/horror ideas to the video.

Progress made 30/11/09

I have made progress with the editing on my footage, i began adding effects to the clips. I wanted my video to be visually linked to the art house genre as the band themselves are interested in this and their fans are most likely to recognise this when they watch their video. Therefore i decided to try and adjust the colours within the footage, i used the brightness and contrast effects to create a vivd range of colours and then used the exposure adjust effect to create a brighter effect to the footage.