Digipak: Outside Cover - Third Draft

There is not much improvement between our second and third draft. The only thing we added was the title and the artist's name. To do this, I used by Wacom Bamboo Tablet in Photoshop, which allowed me to write directly on screen. This meant that the writing on the panel is authentic and unique, which makes the entire digipak seem more personal. We felt this was a necessary aspect to include, as it will show that more thought and effort has been placed into our project which would, in theory, make it more appealing to consumers. Below is the third draft.

The other panels will most likely include text, but this will be using a font, rather than being written using the tablet.

Digipak: Outside Cover - Second Draft

After brainstorming some ideas for one of our panels, we settled on using polaroids showing two screen grabs we made. We would then take a photograph of a surface, and place it under the polaroids, making it seem as though it was all one image.
We decided to take a photograph of a wooden surface as our music video contains a lot of natural elements, such as lighting, settings and scenery. Additionally, the Polaroid photographs make the digipak feel mroe 'vintage', consequently placing it into the same bracket of album art/covers as other music and music videos that mirror our own. Therefore, we feel that we will be targeting the same audience that we focused on in our music video, as well as creating a universal product. Below is the second draft of the outside cover of our digipak.

We feel as though this draft is an improvement on our first, as therefore is a continuation of the colour palette throughout, with earthy colours evident in all panels. Additionally, we feel each panel is now equally as strong as the next, whilst still providing a different element. This is important, as we do not want the digipak to be repetitive and boring.

Digipak: Outside Cover - First Draft

As our coursework requires us to create a six-sided digipak, we must also design the outside cover, thus having six sides in total.
As a group, we decided that we would use screen grabs for the three outside panels as it would show a clear link between our music video and our digipak. Below is a selection of screen grabs we took that we thought we may use.

Using the template we designed, we were able to place our screen grabs into our digipak and begin to piece our design together. Below is the first draft.

We decided to increase the contrast and saturation of the photographs, thus making them more dramatic and striking; something which will help draw the audience into our product. However, we felt that the design was consequently too bold and was not congruous to our music video. We then applied fill layers with a low opacity to soften the images and make them appear less overwhelming.
After looking at the design as a group, we decided that the panel on the right was the weakest and did not fit the idea we were aiming for. We then brainstormed some ideas for the front cover. Below is the brainstorm. (We are still undecided regarding the choosing of an idea).

Digipak - Creating a Template

In order to make a successful digipak, we need to create a template that is to scale and contains all the aspects of a digipak.
After measuring a digipak, I managed to gain the correct dimensions, and could therefore begin to create the template.
Using the pen tool in Adobe Photoshop, I was able to draw straight lines of the length I needed. I then duplicated these lines and placed them into the right area, creating a six-sided digipak template. Below is the template.

Digipak - Taking Stills From the Music Video

In order for us to create a digipak that is congruent to our music video, we have decided to take some stills from our video and place them into our design.
Below are a selection of stills which we feel could work.

 The above image could work well, although the face may be slightly too large to fit into one panel. The background is also overexposed, which is of detriment to the image.

 This image is my favourite and the lighting is interesting. This would make an effective panel, although it might not work as the central panel, as the track listing would have to go across the face.

The silhouette is effective and eye-catching, although the contrast would need to be increased.
We feel that with these images, amongst others, we could create a professional standard digipak that would match our music video.

Digipak - Detailed Analysis

To understand the construction of a digipak regarding the images selected, fonts used and overall layout, I have decided to analyse a digipak in detail. Using slideshare, I am able to present my powerpoint, which I have done below.

Fleetwood Mac

View more PowerPoint from connrray

Digipak - Collecting and Analysing Images

After researching what our group needed to include on our digipak, we have decided to experiment and take pictures for this part of our project. We have also decided to analyse this images, and see whether they are suitable for our digipak.

The above image is of some love heart shaped sweets which I photographed over the summer. I thought we could potentially use this image for our digipak, as the three sweets in the centre of the image would each take up a panel. This would allow us to have a continuous image on our digipak, which would help it look more professional. However, I feel as though this image is slightly irrelevant as the sweets do not feature in our plans for the music video. Also, it would be hard to include them and make them the focal point of the video; if they were, this image would be the ideal choice for the digipak.

I think this image is more relevant than the previous, as we could easily make one of the characters in our music video wear this piece of jewellery. Moreover, it is possible for us to include several shots of this necklace, thus making it significant and memorable. This will show a clear connection between our music video and the digipak, which is something we would hope to achieve. A problem with this image is the empty, uninteresting space to the left of the necklace. As I do not think the image would be effective if placed on one panel, the image would consequently be placed across three panels. This would mean that two of the panel would be uninteresting, which therefore means that a third of our entire digipak is unattractive.

I like this image as it features one of the characters from our music video, as well as providing an interesting and aesthetically pleasing backdrop for our digipak and possibly our advertisement. Moreover, this image looks relevant to the kind of music video we are hoping to create, which means that our digipak and music video will show a connection between one another. To see what the image would look like when cropped to the dimensions of a digipak I measured, I used photoshop to edit the picture. The cropped photograph is below.

I think this image is still effective when cropped to the correct dimensions, which therefore means that we may use it for our digipak.

This is another image we are consider, but feel as though this would only be effective if we include some shots where the lights is blurred in our music video.