After putting our digipak into the casing, we asked people in our class to do a survey on which genre they think our digipack represents, this was to give us an idea of how well our work represents the album.
After looking at the results of our survey, it is clear that not many people thought that our digipack was from the indie-rock genre, however we have opted to not make too many dramatic changes as after doing in depth research of the genre, we know that ours fits the criteria well.
Below, is our second draft of our digipak, we have tried to include a simple structure throughout the four panes, but also keeping it conventional to the indie rock genre. In order to do this, we kept our colour pallete, font/typeface and overall aesthetic of the digipak the same. Although our images seem extraordinary to other genres, this is usual for ours, and fits in well with other band’s covers, such as Oasis and Arctic monkeys.
Before we put our images onto the digipak, we manipulated them on photoshop and played around with the filters, sharpness and graphics. This was because many of the photos we had taken were too sharp, and therefore did not represent our star image and branding in the way we wanted to.
Here is screen-castify of our teachers feedback for our digipak, we will work on the comments given in order to ensure that it is he best of our ability whilst still being conventional to the genre.
Targets:
It is important that we are able to self assess our work with a close analysis, this will enable us to look closely at our digipak to see what needs improving but also what works well. In order to complete my self assessment, I used the assessment criteria to compare with the front and back cover of our digipak, this included seeing whether the star image and brand package was being portrayed through the conventional and technical elements.
TARGETS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
Here are the contact sheets for the shoot of our digipak, overall we are happy with how the shoot went, as the photos have turned out how we envisioned and planned. We were much more organized compared to other shoots we have done previously, and this made a big difference. Some of the images are not in focus, however we made sure that it was fixed in order to get photos that were sharp and focused. Despite us not using a variety of angles, this was purposefully done and the mise en scene keeps the audiences attention and keeps the image interesting.
As a group, we sat down and planned our shoot, with a production meeting agenda and a risk assessment. These are crucial for the shoot, as it ensures everyone is kept safe and we are well prepared for it.
Above, is our photographic mockup for our digipack, having clear examples and a plan for this will allow us to ensure that the audience will be able to decode our album cover in the way we want. Including the repetoire of elements, for example the colour pallet we want to use, will enable us to enhance the narrative of our brand and star image through our album cover and how it is portrayed.
We have also included the genereal conventions used on a digipak, on our hand drawn mockup, the annotations will help us to remember to include these as they are important within the music industry. By using the conventions of the indie rock genre, but twisting a few ideas, will make sure that our album is the same but different to the others.
As we will be designing a digipak for our star, analysing other work from the genre is critical in understanding the conventional repertoire of elements that are used commonly. As well as the typical forms, technical conventions to a digipak must be used, such as barcodes, copyrights and track lists etc… these all infer general information to the audience that is always needed (even if its for legal reasons).
Moving forward, this had helped us to understand what is expected of the typical indie rock CD and the conventions we should take into consideration, both formal and technical. Especially when it comes to the visual appeal of the front cover, this is as it portrays the whole album to the audience. And represents not only the star, but the music and brand.
Below is a slideshow our group created, to highlight our brands mission statement. It is important to have a clear plan for this as it will enable us to understand how to bring in a wider audience to invest their time and money into our brand. We now know that integrated advertising will be an important factor to this, as it would promote our brand over several different platforms. By providing a Unique selling point, call to action and mission statement, we now know to to appeal to our target audience for the indie rock genre.
Focusing forward, we now have a brand and star image to work with, this will allow us to make a more personal connection between our digipak and the star. We also know common attributes to the indie rock genre fans, so can create our digipak to the references that they visually like, however not just the digipak and the star but the SMP, digipak and the star – all wrapped up together in one package/brand.
In order to understand what ideas, styles, fonts, images and colours would be appropriate for our ‘package’, we created a look book on padlet so we could analyse current work from our genre. Looking at images that inspired us from the indie rock genre allowed us to notice what repertoire of elements are conventional to it and how they convey meaning to the audience. After looking at other artists social media pages, websites, album covers and tour posters, we now have a deeper understanding of how to represent our stars image through marketing strategies like these. It is important that we use DVD’s, merchandise, records and unique album covers to sell our stars image and bring in a wide audience.
