Category: Component 3

Evaluation of Digipak Shoot 1

Here are some behind-the-scenes of our studio shoot for the digipak:

 

Here is a short list of our favourite photos from the shoot:

WHAT WENT WELL?

• We captured a range of varying shots from extreme close-ups to long shots. This will allow us to show variation throughout the digipak and overall brand package.
• All shots were focused and taken in good lighting. This gives high quality to the shots as well as the brand itself as these images will be used across both the digipak and social media pages.
• The Mise-En-Scene was thoroughly planned out and executed to a high standard. Our idea of using a variation of black outfits (all within the same aesthetic) will enable us to colour correct with vibrant bold colours in post-production. The white flower earrings represented the genre of indie pop/alternative perfectly and overall made our star image look sophisticated and elegant.
• As a group, we showed good communication and teamwork skills. Although we had a tight schedule, we were able to get everything completed within the time frame. We had plenty of time to ruin the makeup, and change hairstyles, and outfits.
• To provide a comfortable environment for both the star and directors, we had music playing in the background throughout so it created an enjoyable atmosphere and no one felt awkward.

TARGETS FOR IMPROVEMENt

• At first, we struggled with lighting and the flash but then we got help from a photography technician who switched us to an on-camera flash which was helpful as it gave us more flexibility with our shots, seeing as we didn’t have to worry about the cable being a trip hazard.

Focus Forward

Overall, we work superbly as a group and had a very successful studio shoot. Now that we have a variety of different shots, we can begin to edit and format images into a rough layout for the digipak. In addition, we can start drafting posts/stories for our social media page, and interact with our audience. All our media texts will favourably capture our brand’s package.

Contact Sheets – Digipak Shoot 1

Following our previous studio shoot, we were able to compile a variety of shots ranging from extreme close-ups to long shots. These will be helpful in the production of the digipak and social media page.

Our star wore a variety of sleek, stylish black clothing which will work admirably will the colour correction later on. We managed to use our time effectively and gather the photos essential to the ‘rip’ effect. We have good contrasting photos of the elegant, peaceful star image to the more vulnerable, serious side of the star.

Focus Forward

After a very successful shoot, we have a series of high-quality, well-lit, and focused images that will come in use for the digipak and social media page. The simplicity of the costume will work cohesively with the plan to colour correct and make the photos bold with vibrant colours. Our social media page will have a variety of fun playful shots as well as stylized serious ones to represent the two contradictory sides of the star image. Additionally, we seek to have similarities throughout our brand and advertisement to the new album.

PMA For Digipak Shoot

In order to be prepared prior to our studio shoot for the digipak, we created a PMA (Production Meeting Agenda) to organize the hair, makeup, costume, and props that would represent the star image of our star.

Reflection

This plan has allowed us to identify the order in which we shoot our star as our goal is to get various shots of different outfits and poses. Additionally, to successfully execute the ‘rip’ effect we need to ensure we gather pictures of the more vulnerable and conflicted side of the star image by ruining her makeup; however, this will need to be done at the end of the shoot. This shoot will improve our time management skills as we have a limited time slot and a lot to get done.

DP Mockup

Before launching into the process of creating our digipak as a representative of our star’s new album, we roughly sketched out our design ideas for each panel so that we could visualize the intentions.

We utilized our previous padlet mood board to collate ideas for the design of our digipak. We decided to name the album, ‘Library of Liberty’ to reinforce the feeling of freedom and sense of change. As a group, we drafted 3 potential drawings that we thought would portray our artist and genre perfectly.

The front cover consists of incorporating a torn effect which reflects the internal feeling of being broken and trapped. The star will have a natural glow-inspired makeup look with simple black clothing that will make her look sleek and stylish, however, underneath the ‘rip’ effect the star will have ruined makeup with smudged mascara to make her look distressed and more serious. We envisioned the underneath image to be made monotone in contrast to a bluey-purple colour correction which will be applied to the image on top. This will perfectly highlight the struggles and suffocation of trying to fit in with societal expectations and reflect a breakthrough of change and freedom from being considered different.

As well, we are ensuring that we follow the formal and general conventions of digipaks within our genre; this is evident by clearly stating the name of the artist and album on the front cover. In the previous post, we collated together album covers similar to the genre of indie pop/alternative and found they usually incorporate illustrative elements and accentuate the star image by featuring the artist on the front.

The back cover, we were more conflicted about so came up with 2 ideas that could potentially work. The first one carries through the idea of using a torn ‘rip’ effect. The design is simplistic and is conventional. The track names are listed in down the centre and copyright details are visible. However, we thought the idea wasn’t strong enough and rather dull so decided to not pursue the design. Although, the second one is more stylized and striking with overlapping boxes of complimentary colours that would highlight colour corrected images of our star. This suits the genre of Indie pop/alternative with the bright colours and simplicity of design. As well, the formal and general conventions are included; there is a barcode, tracklist, copyright regulations and record labels.

Here is a list of the track names that will feature on our digipak:

1. Inferno
2. Kaleidoscope
3. Dismissal
4. Perfect Places
5. Karma
6. Dreamscape
7. Just Me and You
8. Tokyo
9. Today, Tomorrow, Forever
10. February
11. Bloom
12. The Shift

Focus Forward

Our understandings of the formal and general conventions of a digipak, specifically within our chosen genre, are evident throughout our mock up designs. With clear layouts, of both the front and back cover, we are now able to try replicate them onto Adobe Indesign and achieve the desired intentions of our digipak. We can further develop our knowledge and skills on editing softwares like photoshop to perfect the colour correcting and manipulation of images. This task has allowed us to plan the layouts that work conventionally, formatting, design elements, font styles, and colours; all of which will create a digipak that reflects our mission statement and star image. Our next step in production is booking the studio in order to shoot our star in ways that represent the desired star image of being ‘different’.

Digipak Conventions Analysis

Commonly, Indie Pop album covers utilize abstract art and illustrative elements which create a sense of surrealism. As well, the artist tends to be featured on the covers of their own albums accentuating the star image. An array of colours are presented throughout the albums, especially shades of pink and blue which can convey their music targets both genders of an audience. The art of the albums is simple and effective but yet impactful with bold colours and minimalistic expressions.

In order to fully understand the formal/technical elements and generic conventions present on a digipak, I analyzed an album cover that is found within our genre of Indie Pop. The album I chose to annotate is ‘Be The Cowboy’ by Mitski who is an artist similar to ours.

Focus Forward

By analyzing, I was able to identify the conventional features of a digipak. These include; a colour scheme, an image, an album title, the artist’s name, a tracklist, logos of the record label, copyright information, and a barcode. It is important to understand the different ways a star can be portrayed, through illustrative elements and imagery of themselves, or something symbolic. We will ensure, as a group, that we follow the similarities of album covers in our genre so that our digipak will become successful in the competitive market.

The Look Book – The Package

In preparation for building our brand, we created a look book compiled with a series of different posters, album covers, colour schemes, and social media pages which brought inspiration to our group. This allowed us to identify certain illustrative elements and styles that are particular to our genre.

Focus Forward

This look book provides us with the inspiration that will influence various elements of design for our star image and brand. It serves as a stimulus for our digipak and social media page. It has also made us reflect on what is appropriate to our package and genre. However, it is important to understand that the digipak is not advertising our music video but instead an advert for the star image.

Our Mission Statement – The Package Brand

To begin creating an integrated advertising campaign, we established a marketing strategy and mission statement for our brand.

We started to think more holistically about the star image and brand. By gaining a good understanding of the psychographics and demographics of our target audience; it allows us to identify their values, beliefs, and interests which are useful when we build a social media to sell the star image and create content specifically aimed at a certain group. Linking to Blumler & Katz, we thought thoroughly about how our audience would engage with our star and album through their uses and gratifications; whether that be by social interaction, personal identity, entertainment, or information. Examples could be, social media, synergized relationships (merch, collaborations with other brands), cross-media convergence (films, TikTok), podcasts, and radio stations. To develop our knowledge of our genre, we also researched artists similar to our star image. Comparing their album covers and social media pages corroborated the key conventions present within the Indie Pop genre. Additionally, we disclosed our unique selling point for the star image and their brand making our aims and what we want to achieve clear and definite. The mission statement expresses our star image and its message, which want to portray through our future content.

Focus Forward

This task has allowed us to have a clear understanding of our target audience and how we can stimulate A.I.D.A. By identifying how the audience can be encouraged to invest their time and money into our star and their brand, we can now begin designing a digipak that attracts our audience and interests them in purchasing it. Planning our marketing strategy was an important step as we have discovered different ways the audience can interact with our star image and brand.