Digipak Draft 1 and 2 and 3

Draft 1 needs to be assessed in relation to the assessment criteria in the powerpoint in the blog – you need to award yourself a grade once you have assessed it. You can simply cut and paste the analysis and then insert your own examples from your text.

Draft 2 needs to be up Monday or Tuesday so that your teacher can do a screen castify on it.

Draft 3 needs you to print it off and then put it in a case – take a photo – then do a quick survey amongst friends asking which of the 7 genres it represents. Present this research as evidence that your star image, metanarrative, branding works.

We move on to the Social Media page next week – SO LOTS TO DO.  Tuesday afternoon would be a good place to start?

WE MOVE CLASSROOMS IN 2 WEEKS SO ALL YOUR PRODUCTION WORK NEEDS TO BE COMPLETE BY THEN UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO SPEND LUNCHTIMES, AFTER SCHOOL HERE….WHY NOT?

Understanding the Marking – Self Assessment

TASK

Now that you have Draft 1 of your digipack – the front and back panes, you need to understand how it will be assessed and whether your project is on the right lines.

Does it contain the necessary elements to get a good grade?

Embed your digipack panes and use the following criteria to assess its appropriateness and level of production skill.  What level do you think you are on in relation to the following…

Assessment criteria

  • Use of camera and Photoshop to take & manipulate engaging images.
  • Selection of mise-en-scene in the photos and the meaning it communicates.
  • Creative use of DTP to integrate images and text and  use colour / typefaces

Make a google slide and create a similar assessment to the ones in the slideshow.  This will give you a good idea at what level you are currently working at and what you need to do to improve.

Photoshop and Indesign – just a reminder

photoshop

The application of choice for your digipack photography is Photoshop.

As you know from your Music Magazine, it’s a really complex piece of software but it’s worth investing some time in learning some of the amazing things it can do with images and copy.

Here is a link to a Youtube site, which offers tutorials on how to use Photoshop and may also be helpful in giving you inspiration for the design of your Digipack.

When you are laying out your digipack, you should use a template that would be used by professional printers. This template has clear guides for size of each of the four panes your need to design as well as the spine. Or better still, measure our cases and create your own templates in Indesign so that you can be sure it fits.

It is some time since you used Indesign and Photoshop.

Here is a slideshare with links to some of the basic skills.

These are the instructions in written format.

You can manipulate your photo in photoshop before exporting and placing into Indesign.

  • The tool bar at the top has a category called FILTER. In here you will find all kinds of presets to change how your photo looks – adding presets to make it look like a pen and ink drawing, mosaic etc.  You can also use the Liquify tool to alter the image – real photoshop territory and make eyes bigger and legs shorter etc.
  • The other tab on the tool bar called IMAGE options to change the colour to black and white, add gradient shadow to the background and change the exposure etc.

Or visit our Faculty of Arts website, where Serena has collated a simple ‘how to guide’ on how to extract an image from Photoshop to use in Indesign.   

or see the final page of this presentation for another way.

This is controversial, but you may want to ‘change’ the way your model looks.  Think about the impact this has and how it can relate to Media Ecology – can we really trust what we see today?

Cutting out tricky hair (works really well)

 

Photographic Inspiration

This website has lots of ideas from artists and media makers around the world. It might just offer you some inspiration for your MES – remember simple but meaningful use of MES could make all the difference: some broken plates, antique books, a bright red balloon, tattered armchair, sleek hair do, interesting window frame, bright red lipstick, beaten up car etc.

However, be careful not to over stretch yourself. Look at previous student’s work and see what is likely and possible. You may have to ‘cut your cloth’ (plan one’s aims and activities in line with one’s resources and circumstances) and do something simple and brilliantly as opposed to attempt something spectacular but badly.

Here are some links to some specific pages that could whet your appetite:

Continue reading

DP Creative backgrounds

  • DP Backgrounds – be creative – get out and take shots!

    Click on this link to open a file with all kinds of backgrounds that I took at home last night. As blank canvases they are not particularly exciting but take them into photoshop and play with the filters and liquify and you could end up having some really funky backgrounds for your Digipak.

    You have to get some shots in – experiment and look for angles, perspectives, textures and composition of random objects.

     

DP copywrite and template

Copyright Info

© & Ⓟ Your name/band nameyear. All rights of the produced and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

You can use the publisher logo and barcode from the web.

Use the digipak template in indesign or Mr Gregson’s in the P Drive.

P:\Digipack Template

If you want it to be absolutely accurate then use the following dimensions which will fit in the plastic covers better.

Front Cover and Inside Left.

  • 125mm wide x 120mm high

Inside Right:

  • 140mm wide x 120mm high

Back Cover:

  • 150mm wide (includes 2 x spines of 5mm each) x 120mm high

Your Digipak project should look something like this.

DP PMA and RA

This week you should be planning, executing and producing your Digipak.  Make sure your planning is precise and comprehensive. All planning documents should be uploaded to the blog. You will have to organise your group, models and performers. Remember you have fewer lessons this week so you need to work in a focused manner.

Attached to this post are links to shot lists, agendas and digipak templates.

You should also use Adobe Indesign to create your templates. You can choose one from the list.

Use Photoshop to amend, edit and manipulate your photos and Indesign to construct the actual Digipak.

You must also include your contact sheets in the blog and give an overview of which shots you finally choose and why. Make copies of the PMA and RA sheets.

Production Meetings Agenda

Risk Assessment

Hand drawn mock up

Key Terms: genre, star image, encoding, decoding, preferred readings, REPERTOIRE OF ELEMENTS, NARRATIVE, the same but different – developing, using conventions.

 

Please use the next lesson(s) to produce a hand drawn mock up of the digipack you are going to make in the next 2 weeks.  Collate the best ideas from your moodboards.

You should:

  • Drawn, mock-up design of digipak – 4 panes on A3 paper.
  • Annotated with conventional and technical features.

 

Annotate the designs with the conventional technical elements (barcode, song titles, publisher etc) but also label the designs with how the Media Language of print will help encode the star image and metanarrative of the performer – font, colours, design, graphics, illustration, framing etc. What are the conventional design features for your genre that you will be including? What are you using to encode meaning – what media language will you be employing – font, text, colour, images etc?

PDF the design into your blog.

Digipak moodboard -padlet

KEY TERMS: brand image, connotations, representations, star image, repertoire of elements, genre conventions.

After considering how genre is reflected in the design of a Digipak, you will now have to create a group padlet moodboard to collate ideas for your Digipak cover @ 20 images You must add comments as to why it has been included…

  • the sallow colour palette matches her mellow star image,
  • the distressed font helps represent the anarchy of the band etc.
  • the provocative image is representative of her confident and arrogant nature of the band

Remember you are creating an album cover for the band/performer – not just the song you have done your music video for, although this will feature in the song list.

You should consider all of the following and find images, ideas to illustrate the feel of the Digipak design.

  1. Images – MES, locations, characters, designs, graphics, illustrations, photos etc
  2. Typefaces
  3. Colour Schemes
  4. Inspirational Digipacks – something similar?
  5. Logos
  6. Copy Ideas – text etc.

REREAD YOUR MISSION STATEMENT – THE BOARD SHOULD REFLECT THAT USP, THEIR VIBE, THEIR BRAND.

  • Colour Scheme Designer (Mixes colours and find complementary ones)
  • Colour Lovers ( a brilliant site with pallettes hex codes (copy and paste in Photoshop)
  • Flikr (great images)
  • Pintrest (good for typefaces, textures, design ideas…)
  • Behance (Lots of portfolios of work from inspirational creatives)
  • Typography to inspire (100 great pieces of typography to feed your inspiration)