This is my final draft of my digipak and I am extremely pleased with the outcome as it portrays the key themes of anguish and anger that I wanted to display through the colours of blue and orange. This represents my preferred star image for the artist as he is conveyed as sombre yet compassionate.

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Improvements from Draft 2:

• For the front page I decided to remove the border and use an image with the star facing towards the camera as this brings more engagement with the audience, but his face still remains serious and sombre which keeps the effect of mystery I had previously. Also I changed the fonts of the artist name to create a softer look from the bold album title, which also adds to the contrast of his different emotions. With this, I moved the artist’s name to the inside cover as he is already a well known, established artist.
• The middle two pages have been switched around so that the circle affect in the stain glass window will fit with the circle of the disc. Also I removed the writing on the window using a clone tool and replaced with the quotes to create a more minimalistic look as the cover was too busy.  I used an image of the star turning away from the camera and edited a dual lighting effect using the contrasting colours of orange and blue to convey the connotations of anger and sorrow he feels.
• For the tracklist I used an image of a bookcase and used the glow outline filter as used on the front as a background for the tracklist. This created a fluidity of glow through the pages linking to the front as the same effects were used. I changed the fonts to create more engagement with the audience as there is an element missing and added a glow for a pop of colour as the page looked dull and tedious. To also add some colour I used a blue box with a low opacity in order to make the tracklist stand out from the image behind, this contributed to the glow that is repeated throughout the album.

Below is a tally of results from when I showed my product to my friends and other students to gather their opinion on which genre they thought my digipak fell under. My genre for my album is R&B which was the category with the most votes. I was pleased with this as it represents how I have used the appropriate conventions for my genre and they have been received successfully to my audience.

Here is my draft 2 for my digipak, I am happy with the progress I am making with my digipak however there are many adjustments and improvements I want to make.

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What’s different to Draft 1?

• Added a bright and distinct gradient colour to the image used on the front cover.
• Changed the typefaces into a more bold and unusual typeface.
• Experimented with the colours of the border and the typefaces to coordinate with the gradient on the image.
• Changed the images for the inside and back covers to experiment with new creative ideas for the digipak.

Teacher feedback:

• The border on the front page works effectively as it creates a frame within a frame.
• The colour theme of blue and orange are complimentary.
• Add different fonts for artist name and track list to make it softer.
• Switch pages two and three to link the stain glass image to the circle from the CD.
• Use less quotes and possibly use the quote instead of the writing on the actual image itself.
• The picture of the jewellery should have an element added to create more engagement with the audience.

From this feedback, I am going to make improvements to my digipak:

• For the front page I am going to experiment with lighter colours for the border to gain back the vibrant blue used in album title, and add stroke to the image of the artist to make it pop from the border. Also I will change the font of the artist name to create a softer look from the bold album title, which also adds to the contrast of his different emotions.
• The middle two pages will be switched around so that the circle affect in the stain glass window will fit with the circle of the disc. I will also use less fonts and maybe remove the writing on the window using a clone tool and replace with the quotes to create a more minimalistic look as it’s too busy.   For the jewellery picture I will need to add an effect possibly a glow line affect to represent the feelings flowing through him. This will then lead onto the track list and both images will have a different colour to represent the orange and blue connotations of anger and sorrow.
• For the tracklist I will need to crop and remove the wall from the image and change the fonts to create more engagement with the audience as there is an element missing. This will include a glow of fluidity of glow through the page linking to the middle page.

I am happy with the result of my first draft of my digipak as I have included all of the typical components that are essential for me to include.

I assessed my first draft of my digipak using the assessment criteria to understand how it will be marked and if it contains the necessary elements to get a good grade.

As a group we went to the Priaulx Library to gather images to use on our digipak. We used our production meeting agenda and hand drawn mockup to set up our shoot for the shoot and here are the shots we got from this.

Evaluation of shoot:

Overall the shoot went successfully and we are really content with how it went. We created images that work successfully with our preferred star image as we achieved all of the shots we aimed for at a range of angles. The lighting of the different shots varied from each camera we used each but we used this as a positive as it allowed us to play with the different lighting to portray the themes as we wished. In particularly our production meeting agenda and risk assessment sheet allowed us to be aware of the potential risks that we need to keep in mind as well as reminding us of the costumes and equipment we will need to be prepared to bring. This meant that the shoot could run smoothly and we would have no problems with forgetting equipment. From this shoot, we now have a clear idea of how we want our digipak to look as well as possible effects we can include on our image.

In preparation for my shoot for my digipak, I created a plan for the aims and details of my shoot as there are endless decisions to make, from picking the mis-en-scene, to choosing the best location and equipment. I understand that it is essential to gather different and unique shots in order to have a wide range of choice to make my digipak successful and appealing as possible. Below is my Production Meeting Agenda, which contains all the information I will need for my shoot, as well as my Risk Assessment which displays any possible potential hazards I may face and how to control these.

To plan out each side of our digipack we drew a mock up to annotate the designs with the conventional technical elements (barcode, song titles, publisher etc) but also labelled the designs with how the Media Language of print will help encode the star image and metanarrative of the performer including font, colours, design, graphics, illustration, framing etc. The mock up portrays a retro location and a juxtaposition for our star. The urban street artist in an old fashioned library portrayed unconventional and challenging assumptions.

Front Cover- Library ( A retro location and a juxtaposition with the star) Mid shots, Close ups and Long shot- Mysterious Strong Image. 

Inside left- Images for polaroid, see different side to the model – Long shots, mid shots, close ups.

Inside Right- Close up of boxing gloves or maybe jewellery, showing rings, necklaces

Back Cover- Textured paper, quotes featured with tracklist

This hand drawn mockup will benefit our production of our digipack as it has allowed us to plan the different conventions and the type of images we want to display on our cover.

After completing our marketing strategy and considering how genre is reflected in the design of a Digipak. We created a padlet moodboard which accumulated lots of ideas for our digipak. We also have lots of inspiration after looking at other digipaks to see the conventions used and ideas that we like and what will be appropriate for our genre. We’re focusing on the sense of self reliance, introspection and style to the image. He is to be looked up to – extraordinary in that sense. through his digipack to reflect the songs in his album . It was also important for us to figure out what other aspects we need to include such as type faces and colour palettes. We have decided to use a dark palette with elements of gold tones throughout to present the emotion of his warm and laidback personality.

This task has been beneficial for the production of our digipack as we are discovering new ideas and gathering inspiration that is conventional for our genre. For example, I now know what typefaces, colour schemes and mis-en-scene I should be considering to use when we make our own digipack.

Before making our own digipak, it is important that we assess examples to develop an understanding of the conventions used not only in a generic digipak but one with a similar genre to ours. I decided to look at Khalid’s ‘American Teenager’ digipack as he is also a contemporary R&B artist. I thought that this album portrays the same star image to what we are trying to portray in our own digipack and found it visually intriguing and interesting to talk about. I have focused on all of the different conventions he used on his album cover and will consider these conventions when creating my own digipack.

From this task, I have learnt that It is important to remember that using colours, fonts, designs, register, tone, framing, composition will all convey and sell a story. I learnt that this is a mini textual analysis on how media language is used in this album cover to convey an idea, genre, brand, image. This task really helped me out with picking apart the key features and conventions of a digipack. I know this will help me in the production of my very own Digipak and for when I start to analyse text for more media essays.

Before we start planning the print and web elements of this promotional package. We need to be clear and understand about the mission statement for our whole campaign. For our integrated marketing campaign we needed to ask ourselves these questions for each section:

Who is our Audience?  Who they are (demographics)

• Who they are (demographics)
• What other media they consume and participate in.
• What their values attitudes and beliefs (ideology / psychographics)

A Call to Action

• How do we want the audience to engage with our star / album
• How will they invest time and money in our star / album

Who are the competition?

• Three similar bands / artists.
• What are the trends in album designs of similar stars / bands?
• What does their website look like?

Your USP (Unique Selling Point)

• Is our star already established or trying to establish a new presence in the market?
• What is our star image & how are we trying to innovate / develop that image?
  • Are we mixing up elements of different genres?
  • Are we trying to re-brand your star?
  • Are we emphasising the ordinary or extraordinary?
    • Remember according to Dyer meta narratives include both.

Your Mission Statement.

• Include an agreed mission statement that includes the central idea that will unify our brand.
  • This will include ideas represented in our music video, but must also bring in a wider range of ideas that we will develop as we make a 3D Moodboard.

We thought more holistically about the album and created an integrated advertising campaign below: