Digipak Back Panel 2

Here is my final design of my digipak back panel. As planned, I kept the background the same colour, which helps to keep the consistency between the front cover and the back panel. Also, it is a relatively simple design as this has helped the names of songs stand out against the design. I added in a few bonus tracks as this was a convention I found most popular throughout all the other digipak and album cover back panels for many bands and artists.

Digipak Back Panel

Now that I have completed the front cover to my digipak, I have to create the back panel. I am going to use the same background as I did for the front cover to show the consistency throughout the whole digipak design, also I am going to keep the font of 'Impact' the same. The design on the back panel will be relatively simple to emphasize the song names and the bonus tracks featured on the album.

Digipak Front Cover

Here is the final draft of my digipak front cover, here you can see that I still decided to use the silver bland background. The design is a guitar which makes it unambiguous to my audience that this album consists of music from the pop/rock genre. Also, the way that the silver colouring becomes more luminous towards the centre makes the guitar appear to have a glow. I also, still used the band name that I constructed. The use of the white borderline around the black writing of the name makes it appear more striking to the viewers attention, which could also contribute to the idea of lightning. The name of the album is towards the bottom right hand corner, also with the white borderline around it to make it appear more striking - this works in collaboration with the use of punctuation as this makes the album title sound more striking phonetically, therefore the white borderline adds more effectiveness to the whole feel of the album name.

Digipak Background

I decided to use this as my background for my digipak as it is a relatively bland colour. This way, the words and the design that I am planning to use for my digipak front cover will stand out. Also, as it appears to be silvery and not just a plain white, this makes it simple, but not over simplistic to the extent that the background has no siginficance to unconsciously catching the eyes of the viewers.

Digipak Panels

I originally decided to make my digipak consist of 6 panels due to the fact that the majority of digipaks that I came across consisted of this amount of panels, even though my questionnaire results declared that most of the respondents would have preferred 4 panels. However, I have now come to realise that my questionnaire results were in fact most suitable, therefore I have changed my mind and decided to have a digipak that has 4 panels as this would be less time consuming. Also, I am not planning on having a narrative throughout the panels of my digipak, so I do not necessarily need to have 6 panels.

Image Ideas

Due to the fact that I wanted to use symbolic imagery on my digipak front cover, I thought that reseaching a range of images of the same kind of thing would be useful. The main image I wish to broadcast on my digipak is an electric guitar as this is very symbolic of my music genre at a first glimpse. Therefore, I researched these specific pictures. They are all relatively ordinary images, however, I plan on editing an image of a guitar into a different colour by using Photoshop, as this will make the plain image of this instrument more vibrant and contemporary for todays teenage audience.

Band Names

In order to create a captivating digipak I realised that the band name was essential as the band name is an aspect which helps to promote the whole group as well as the album on it's own, apart from the actual name of the album. I looked at areas of interest to my target audience and tried to use key words from particular areas of interest to help me gain an intriguing yet enticing band name which is different to what is out on the market currently. I looked at names around "power" and "energy". This would not necessarily be classified as an area of interest for my target audience as such, however, Pop/Rock bands would like to generate a feel of power and energy about their band name as well as the aura they might let out towards their audience. This is an aspect which I would suggest all bands aim to have and not just Pop/Rock bands. Also, I looked into the area of film, since films might have names that are inviting to their specific target audience, plus film names could possibly be passed off as band names and the audience might not even tell the difference. An example I chose for a film which could have had the potential to be a band name was "Twilight". Many people, and many other target audiences are aware of this film, and in my opinion this is an inspirational name of a film that could be useful for a band name. One last area of inspirational I analysed into was different areas, in this I mean location, for example, the rock band "Children of Bodom" named their band after a lake called "Lake Bodom". Another band is "Linkin Park" which I am guessing they named after some kind of park, these are reasons why I looked into this particular area for inspiration. Overall I came to like the name "The Lightning" for a band. Therefore, this is my chosen name for the band's digipak I am proposing to create.

Digipak - Initial Ideas

Due to having my questionnaire results, I have now been able to create a few initial ideas as to what to include on my digipak that would be suitable for my target audience. By having initial ideas, this will also lead me to have a rough sketch in my mind how I would like my digipak to finally come out. Here are a few of the ideas I have gained:

- Bright, bold colours e.g blue, red, yellow, green

- Symbols or images that represent the band or the genre of pop/rock e.g guitars, music notes, an image of a band etc.

- Use names of songs for the back of the album cover that are relevant to the pop/rock genre

- Possibly use dark font, maybe in block capitals to contrast with the bold colours

- Consideration of using graffiti writing when illustrating the name of the album e.g Michael Jackson's front cover of "Bad"

Digipak Questionnaire Results

Overall, the responses I received from my digipak questionnaire were successful due to the fact that the majority of the candidates had posted their responses back to me via Facebook as 17 people out of 20 replied. Therefore, this has given me a valid amount of data as to base my digipak outcome on. I have decided to put the results of the first few questions into graph form to make it directly comparable when looking at statistics. This should hopefully result in my digipak attracting the target audience I wish to receive.




Out of the 17 candidates that responded, 7 of them were males and 10 of them were females. This shows that there is not much noticeable difference in the gender preference when relating this to the statistics of the other questions. This could show a relatively high rating of validity when looking at peoples preferences.




The majority of the candidates that responded were between the ages of 16-21 which is the age group of the media group and myself, therefore it might be easier to relate to what my target audience is looking for with the designs I choose for my digipak as I would also be able to reflect what would attract me. Hopefully this will take into consideration the interests of many 16-21 year olds making my digipak attractive to the eye of those between these ages.

I gave the candidates options as to how many panels they believe would be most suitable for a digipak. By looking at the graph, it is clear to see that the majority of people would say that 4 would be most suitable for a digipak, 8 people agreed with this. However, 6 other candidates voted that 6 would be a more suitable amount for a digipak. In result to this, I have decided that as there is not much difference in the statistics showing how many voted for a digipak consisting of 4 or 6 panels, I will make my digipak consist of 6. The reason for this is because in my research of digipaks, it was very rare that I came across a digipak consisting of 4 panels as the majority of them had 6. Therefore I am going to conform to the generic conventions of digipaks when in the process of creating my own.

Also, this graph shows that the majority of people would prefer bright and bold colours opposed to dull colours. I think that this would be very convenient when relating this back to my music genre as bright and bold colours stand out the way in which our song stands out to all people,including those who aren't really into the pop/rock genre. For this reason, this links my digipak in with my music genre.

I also had answers generated from other questions such as 'What grabs your attention on an album cover?'. The majority of people voted for bright colours and only a minority voted for a photograph of the band or artist and graphics. However, I am still going to try and attempt to somehow include a bit of everything to make my album cover have a more varied image that could relate to the minority as well as the majority.

Moreover, another question that I found relevant that I generated answers from were 'What are you mosty likely expecting to see on a Pop/Rock album cover?'. Out of the options of 'symbolic imagery', 'photograph of band/artist' or 'graphics', a high percentage voted for symbolic imagery which I thought would be an option I would chose if I was to not conduct a questionnaire. In result to what would attract a major audience, I am definitely going to choose symbolic imagery as a way of creating my digipak. However, I am still going to attempt taking into consideration the minorty by considering graphics and photography of my band or solo artists as a means of making my outcome appeal to everyone and not just the majority.

Editing Cont...(Part 5)

In our free periods today, we organised another editing session for a few members of the production team and I as we were getting anxious about our deadline approaching. Again, we managed to add in extra special effects, especially the ones which relate back to the Marvel comics.

Effects

The production team and I made use of the 'romantic effect' in a particular clip which happened to turn out grainy which was not what we thought would be very compelling for our audience and overall grade. So, we accordingly added in this effect. The scene in which we added it into was a scene that we were not intending on being romantic, however the 'romantic effect' helped to put forward a contradiction and in some ways sarcasm as the scene in which it was added was a scene that was in action during the time of the lyrics "...devil did him a deal..." was being played.

Here is an example of our use of the 'romantic effect'.

Another use of special effect which we put to use was the 'reverse and speed'. We used this when the female character made up her mind on who was her 'Superman'. Therefore, we used this special effect of 'reverse and speed' to make it appear that all the other male characters were going back to where they came from so that the intended 'Superman' is the one singled out to be the main male character. Also, we found that as this particular special effect made everything appear fast moving, it was another aspect which helped to keep the audience engaged and keep their mind occupied with the narrative because if the narrative was slow moving, then the audience would easily lose interest.

Here are a few examples of the special effect of 'reverse and speed' being put to use.

A further transition which was in fact very vital for the narrative of our promotional music video was the 'cartoon effect'. Not just did we use this effect due to the fact that some of our clips came out dull and grainy and this effect helped to brighten them up and physically appear clearer, but it also related back to the original storyline of 'Superman' and the cartoon comic books. This special effect did admittedly come out similar to the dream effect, however this was thought to be a positive aspect because it added on to the cartoon and childlike feel, plus it could be considered to represent the female characters thoughts.

Here is a few examples of the 'cartoon effect'.

Transitions

Again, the production team made use of the 'jump cut' as it makes the clips change with the beat of the music to give an upbeat, fast and rhythmic feel to the video as a whole, which will again add to the audiences engagement.

Another transition which we had not made use of before was the 'fade' transition. This transition was put into use during the lip syncronization of the leading female character to show signs of deep thought and imagination. This appears effective in this video as it could show a sense of confusion and a deeper understanding to the audiences knowledge of the characters feelings and emotions.

Digipak Questionnaire

I decided that to begin creating my digipak for the ancillary task, it would be a suitable idea to compose a questionnaire in order to gain answers from my target audience as to what they would find most appealing for a rock/pop band’s album cover. I am intending on asking around twenty people for their answers for my questionnaire because it would be too time consuming to gather answers from a higher number of candidates. I am hoping to post my questionnaire on social networking website such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Myspace’ in order to gain immediate communication and responses from the questionnaire candidates. The questions in which I have put across will in result effect the outcome of my digipak such as the main colour scheme and what I should actually have featuring on the front cover that would be most pleasing for a specific age and gender. Furthermore, I have included in my questionnaire four album covers which are from a range of solo artists as well as bands from a similar music genre, this may also effect what I decided will be in the front cover of my digipak for inspiration as this will help to gain various images from different album covers which can result in my album cover being relatively diverse.

Digipak Questionnaire

I decided that to begin creating my digipak for the ancillary task, it would be a suitable idea to compose a questionnaire in order to gain answers from my target audience as to what they would find most appealing for a rock/pop band’s album cover. I am intending on asking around twenty people for their answers for my questionnaire because it would be too time consuming to gather answers from a higher number of candidates. I am hoping to post my questionnaire on social networking website such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Myspace’ in order to gain immediate communication and responses from the questionnaire candidates. The questions in which I have put across will in result effect the outcome of my digipak such as the main colour scheme and what I should actually have featuring on the front cover that would be most pleasing for a specific age and gender. Furthermore, I have included in my questionnaire four album covers which are from a range of solo artists as well as bands from a similar music genre, this may also effect what I decided will be in the front cover of my digipak for inspiration as this will help to gain various images from different album covers which can result in my album cover being relatively diverse.

Editing Cont...(Part 4)

In yesterday's media lesson, the group and I had the opportunity to resume our editing of our promotional music video, so consequently, we made the effort to replace the twenty seconds we lost and to make it of a higher standard as required by the rest of the production team. The replacement of the work we lost was much easier to replace and produce due to the fact we already had some experience with this area of work, also our storyboards were a great help as this is what we originally followed, even though we have decided to add in extra pieces in certain areas which are noticable in our work so far.

Special Effects

We agreed that using special effects will add to the atmosphere which is created throughout the song in our music video. We all consented to using the 'dream effect' which iMovie produced on the clip which had the sign that said 'saucy singles speed dating' and on the clips which had all three characters walking down the road to the speed dating venue. This produced the audience with a clear understanding as to whats happening within the narrative in the music video. Also, the dream effect could help relate back to comic books.

Here is an example of the 'dream effect' we used on the 'saucy singles speed dating' sign.

And here is another example of the same effect being used on one of our characters walking down the road.

Transitions

We also applied transitions in areas we thought would be effective such as when the female character was on her dates with the three characters. We applied the 'wipe' transition as it maintained the chronology as to who the female character dated first, second and third. This also maintained the discrepancy between the different archetypal characters.

Another transition in which the production team and I gathered to be very useful was the 'jump cut'. We thought this would be quite compelling when applying the beat of the song to this as it produced an upbeat and fun appeal to our target audience. This can also again when viewing remind us of comic books generally, because comic books usually have a fast moving storyline which is always able to attract our attention, so by adding this particular transition, it should successfully attract the attention of our audiences and keep them engaged in the fun and yet musical beat accompanying the action.

Analysis of a Digipak

It is most commonly known that the majority of digipaks have six panels, and it is rarely seen that digipaks have any less than that, however I have possession of a digipak which happens to have only two panels consisting of the front cover and the back. I would have originally chosen to have made a thorough analysis of a digipak consisting of more however I am unable to access one at this moment in time. Evanescence is a Pop/Rock band which is the same genre to our chosen song despite the fact that this particular band has more of a Rock vibe to their music compared to mine.


Front Cover

- The image of the woman on this front cover is the most eye catching point of the digipak cover because it appears that everything in this image is evolving around her even though she is not situated directly in the centre of the composition of the album cover. Her image could possibly give away connotations as to the band members identities, such as the long white/cream dress suggesting connotations of innocence and maybe purity. This could be symbolic of the bands main female singer. Also her pose appears relatively vulnerable with the way in which she looks back over her shoulder. This could be to connotate, again, the lead female singer of the band and how she might possibly be in a vulnerable position as she is in the spotlight compared to the rest of the band because of her status. ( This could be classified as main convention on a CD front cover: an eye catching image that is representative of a band/band member.)

- The colour-scheme of the front cover is literally half black and half gold. The image of the female is of her looking over her shoulder into the darkness of the black side. Some people could perceive this as having some meaning behind it, or maybe even some kind of narrative. Nonetheless, linking this to genre of music, this could be symbolising the two faces of music this band has for example, the softer rock songs that this band sometimes produces compared to the heavier rock songs. Moreover, this black could depict the sense of mystery the band still wishes to hold from their audience.

- The female in the picture is very pale with dark eyes and is not smiling which could be seen as a somewhat ghoulist, dead feel towards this certain character. It could possibly go against the conventions of which the band is wishing to perceive, if this image of the woman was to smile? The image is definitely not stereotypical in terms of sex appeal in some peoples opinions which attracts a predominantly female audience.

- The font is very noticably printed in the colour of gold against the black background of the right side of the album cover. The font type is not stereotypically gothic, but in some ways considered to be because of the elongated ends of specific letters which are clear to see once viewed. The font type contradicts the colour it is printed in which could again, symbolise the two phases of rock the band goes through: soft to heavy. However, the pattern around the name of the band is "swirly", this could just be the bands logo as a way of helping to promote the name of their band by presenting it in a more eye catching way, instead of just having the band name written with nothing to compliment it.

- The low angle shot helps to make the long door look even more elongated than what it already is, this might help the audience relate to all the images in which this shot appears to emphasize and then it will help them again, relate this back to the gothic theme in which this band alot of the time in their music videos portray.

Inside Panels

- The left panel could be seen as proceeding on with the narrative. The image is of a moon, which could symbolise the other side of the door from the image of the front cover. By opening the front cover you could be classified as opening the door. The font is still consistent as on the front cover, again with the swirly pattern placed around the font. The colour-scheme is also similar however more gold is used to show that the inside is more angelic - again relating the bands dull image on the outside and how it is different to what it is on the inside. Moreover, the swirly pattern here is more dominant, this could be to show the bands individuality as it could be looked upon as something they created and generated into print - showing their unique style towards the audience.

CD Compartment

- The CD compartment is somewhat different as it consists of only a goldish colour-scheme which could represent that the CD is 'sacred' and the most important part of the digipak, which in fact it is. However the compartment which holds the CD is in jewel packaging which is very common in all digipaks as it is still lightweight and convenient for the environment. There is a pattern of swirls again underneath where the CD is placed which leaves remaining to the eye only the background of gold. This almost brings the main attention to the CD itself.

Back

- Again, the perspective of the back of the digipak is interesting as it reveals the bands creative point of views. The gold writing is superimposed on the black/brown background which tries to put across the fact that the song names are very important, however your eye view always seems to end up facing that of the picturesque view of the night sky on the right. This is a way of just trying to emphasize the narrative which goes throughout the digipak. Some may not even consider this to be a narrative but just simply different ways of viewing this particular scene which is taking place from different angles, which could relate back to the different audiences having different views towards this band.

- As it is the back of the digipak, it will obviously consist of the generic conventions of the back of an album cover for example: the bands website, the record producers, the record label, copywrite details and of course the bar code which is a main generic convention of the back of an album cover.

Overall, I do have a liking to this digipak, however I am not too fond which the amount of panels this consists of, therefore I would not necessarily choose to product a digipak consisting of only two panels. Generally, the colour-scheme of this digipak would not be something I would particularly choose use when in the creation of my own, however to gain some initial ideas as to what would be most suitable to include for my specific target audience, I would have to create a questionnaire and gain audience feedback before making any vast decisions.

Editing Cont...(Part 3)

As week by week continues, the deadline for our promotional music video is nearing, therefore we have to spend more time in the media room editing. At times, some of the production team is not free the time other members are which can result in a few complications but we usually work around these.

Today, a member of the production team (Reena Chadee) used her time wisely to go and edit so that we were able to have at least half of the music video complete as time was rapidly running out. However, she came to realise that the work which we had managed to do efficiently at the City Learning Centre was not saved which resulted in us having only eight seconds of editing footage instead of up to twenty eight which we were able to complete. This took us a great amount of time to produce due to everything being so precise and sharply matched so that the clip moved precisely to the rhythm of our song. When we discussed what had happened, we tried to think of ways in which we could improve what we had already managed to do so that when we reproduce the twenty seconds we had lost again, it would be of a higher standard and with more inspirational ideas so that we will result in having a more successful production of our promotional music video.

What is a Digipak?

Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pakis often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot" rather than a full plastic tray.

Made mostly from thick card, the digipak is virtually shatterproof and allows great graphic display. Originally used for the album packaging of leading musicians, the digipak and digipak family are now priced reasonably enough to be used for any CD or DVD project. The digipak is an extremely versatile packaging. It can be made to accommodate a booklet either by placing in a die-cut slot or gluing onto one of the panels. In addition, the panels can be increased from 4 to 6, 8 or more. The DVD digipak is a popular alternative to the DVD box which is now widely used for feature film DVD releases which are special editions because it increases the value and creates a premium product.

CD and DVD digipaks make a big statement, they represent the ultimate custom packaging for your CD or DVD replication project. A digipak is also a more environmentally friendly option when compared with traditional plastic jewel cases or DVD cases.

Material: 300gsm card with matt or gloss varnish. Printed 4 colours (CMYK) or Pantone colours. Spot varnish, lamination and embossing available.

Dimensions (Based on standard 4pp digipak): finished size of 139.5mm x 6mm x 125.5mm. This will obviously vary depending on the amount of panels, however this is the most common size.