Digipak Plan

Here is a range of images produced as an rough idea for each side of the digipak. Producing these images will allow me to go into the creation stage of the digipak with a clear mind of what I wish to create.

Front Cover:

The idea for the front cover is a shot from the music video of the path in the graveyard. This is a quite powerful image and with the appropriate fonts included to create the image, it could have a quite a strong impact. We are still undecided whether to have the image black and white or in colour.

Inside:

The image that will be used for the inside page behind the front cover will be the image from the music video of the girl sitting against the wall surrounding by image. This is a powerful and interesting image and will be good to include as we want the digipak to have a strong impact and stand out against the thousands of other CD's.

CD:

For the CD, I wish to use the image of me with the champayne glass of blood including the background of the graveyard. This image is strong and eye catching, appealing the album buyers and encouraging to watch the video to find out the reason behind these images.

Editing Photos

In order for us to gain the wanted look on the digipak, we had to edit and play aorund with some of the images.


This is the full image which we will use as the front cover for the digipak. On the far left is the original image. The image in the middle was the first edit, with both saturation, highlights and shadows being adjusted. This made the colours on the image pop and made the image more dominant and clear. On the right is the second attempt of editing the image. This time I went the total opposite way, the picture almost looking black and white. Both images are nice and effective but I think the middle image above would work best as a front cover.

Above it the image for the back cover. The image on the right is the original, full sized image. With the image on the left, I have not only edited the image so the colours in the grass and graves stand out more, but I have also cropped the image so only the most interesting and appropriate part of the image is visible. This will be useful as I would not want the full image on the digipak.

Digipak images

As a group, we did not put aside a specific day to take pictures of the main characters for the digipak. To subsitute for this, we will do two things. The first thing we thought of was to use the images we took whilst filming of the various shots and angles that we liked so we could see what the clip would look like before going ahead with the filming. The second was to use screenshots from the music video itself. This will be a good idea as it will create a strong and clear link between the music video and the other two products.

Below is a short slideshow of images that we can use in the digipak created by Fahmina Ali :)

Digipak research

To allow me to see ideally what the band digipak should look like, my first step is to perform a great deal of research.

Above are two images of album covers from bands belonging in the same genre as The Ghost Frequency. The top image is the Arctic Mokeys, a very famous Indie band from England. I like this cover, the simplicity of the image stands out. Also, the laid back and careless attitude of the model reflects the thoughts and feelings of the band. I think it is appealing how even the album name does not appear on the front, it almost appears unnecessary. The band name, located at the top left hand side of the album cover, stands out as it is bordered by a white shape. This album will stand out on shelves and is a good representation of the band. I think it will greatly appeal to the bands target audience.

The bottom image is the Kings of Leon cover for the album titled 'Wasted time'. The image on this album cover is also simple but interesting and intriging similar to the Arctic Monkeys cover. The font is in clear white, standing out against the Sepia background. The image itself is intriging, suggesting along with the album name, that the woman has been captured in wasted time. I believe that this product will stand out on shelves, capturing the publics attention.

Above is an image of the digipak for Lady GaGa's latest album titled 'The Fame Monster 2'. Similar images of Lady GaGa are shown throughout the unfolded pack. This makes it clear to the user who the artist is aswell as increasing audience interest. I like the way that the album name is written behind the CD holder, giving the user something different to see once the CD has been removed.

After looking at similar genres digipaks, I can see that a simple image is all that is necessary to capture attention. I will take this into account when producing the digipak.

Existing Band Websites

Whilst researching existing band websites, I found that all of the band website followed a set of website conventions, annotated in the images below.

Above is the Kings Of Leon website. A image of the band has been manipulated using a photo editing software to make the band members stand out against the background by adding shadows behind each member. The lead is singer of the band can clearly be identified as his stance makes him stand out against the rest of the group. The website contains both internal and external links, internal links being the navigation bar at the top and external links being the small shop section at the top of the page allowing the users to quickly and easily purchase songs. The band name has dominant and powerful position on the page, making it clear to the user which website they are visiting.

Above is the arctic monkeys website showing similar features to those seen on the Kings Of Leon website. I like the way the band image, band name and buttons link together to create one heading. The external link on this website takes the user to the bands YouTube page, increasing the interaction that the user has with both the site and band. The news appears on the home page of this website, making it a lot easier for the fans to find out what is happening with the band.

Digipak- What to include?

After looking a various digipaks both online and at home, we soon realised that they have their own set on conventions that are clear to see. All the digipaks I viewed have many things in common including:-

• Dominant image on the front, either a logo, band member or actor.
• Band/artist name is clear on legible on the front cover.
• Album name is located either underneath the band name or at the bottom of the album cover. This is once again clear and legible.
• Track listing on the back.
• Bar code located at the bottom of the back page.
• Same style image/background carries on inside the case.

I need to ensure that our digipak meets this set of conventions.

Editing the video

To edit the video, we used Final Cut Express on Apple Mac computers.

This software was extremely useful and generally quite easy to use. To create the look we wanted, we used various tools like chroma key, colour corrector and quick cuts.