Digipak feedback

After completing my digipak, I got feedback on it:

• The digipak as a whole looks quite professional,the images and layout are clear

• Should the cover feature the artist? However, I have justified the choice of not including the band on the album cover through my research into album covers of artists belonging to the same genre.

• The back cover: the track listings are good as well as the positioning of them

• EBI: add video to track listings as it is a digipak-digipak's have other forms of media on them compared to an album which usually just has music

“good to see that you have added the video to the track listings”

• Inside disk: the white disk is a little plain and resembles a sample CD, album disks tend to be more sophisticated

• EBI: do an alternate version of the inside with the opaque disk template without the actual disk to be used on the net of the digipak

• Inner lyrics: good for including a band logo

• EBI: add the black band along the bottom to ensure it looks like an opening for a booklet, not just a plain cover saying 'lyric booklet'

I did several sketches of logos before hand to experiment with what looks most appropriate. some consisted of the band initials inside shapes to like with the geometric patterns on the album artwork, however, they tended to look to childish and so I decided to use just the initials but put one inside the other. 

Feedback question: can you explain where the fonts are from and reasons for use?

Throughout my research on digipaks and artist branding, I found that most bands have a font that is associated with them; a font they use for all of their products and so I decided that I must use a distinguishable font for my band too. I have used the font ‘Hacked’ from dafont.com for the name of the band as I felt that it embodied my desired image for the band as it is quite contemporary and edgy. Additionally, for the normal text (track listings and font on the magazine advert) I used Avenir, a font in Photoshop as it is very simple and clean and went well with the busy title.

Advert feedback

I created my advert by using the original images of the two guys who I chose to be the band members, however I felt their clothing in the images doesn't reflect the genre properly and so I used Photoshop to place the heads on to separate bodies that I had chosen which better embody the typical look of artists in a band. Additionally, I chose a mostly monochrome colour palette to ensure that the digipak cover and the artists stand out. Finally, I included reviews from publications that would typically review the music of a rock band (Rolling Stone, Kerrang and NME). 

After completing the magazine advert for the album and artist, I got feedback on how to improve it. 

Feedback: It is simple and looks professional, the front of the digipak is on the advert, which shows what it is advertising. 
Even better if: the arm of the man (Ed) with the beard looks slightly crooked/ at a wrong angle so to fix this  i could move his arm out of the frame or alter the shape. 

I experimented with trying to fix the arm problem by moving his arm entirely out of the picture, this however it looked slightly strange as there was just one arm in the picture belonging to the other guy.

I also tried moving the image so that more of the arm was in the picture so that it showed the angle of the arm wasn't distorted or bent. However, this resulted in the two band members being too close, and Ed looks more like a background figure instead of part of the band.




I have decided to move the image so that the arm is no longer visible as i think the composition as a whole is improved as the two men look more like a duo and the space between the top and the arm left a white space which drew too much attention.

Additional feedback: "good to see changes to positioning of the artist i.e. his arm"

Feedback question: Can you explain how the band and the image is tapping into the zeitgeist?

Zeitgeist is the intellectual fashion or domininant school of though that is typical and influences the culture of a particular period of time. I have addressed the current zeitgeist in music which is the trend of beards and tattoos, especially within the rock music industry. Firstly, I chose a man who had a beard as it is commonly associated with being fashionable and 'cool' among young men, as well as the tattoos which are typical for current musicians. by utilising these features, I have made the band image more believable and in turn, provided potential for them to be popular as they fit in with the desirable musician image at the moment.

Advert research

As part of the marketing for the band, we have to create a magazine advert for the artist and the album.

I have looked at several typical magazine adverts and I have found:

The artist, even if they don’t appear on the cover of the album, they often appear on the advert to sell their image as well as their music, for example, All Time Low. This feature makes it more obvious that it is a product that its trying to sell, as usually the artist is as the centre of selling their products, additionally, as the artists are in the music video featured on the digipak as well as on the advert, it links the two together, further selling their image.

 Another element of the adverts are that it always has the cover of the album in some way to emphasise the product and ensure it is recognisable when people go to buy it. Both Fall Out Boy and Florence and the Machine do this by using the cover of the album as the image for the advert. On the other hand bands such as All Time Low include an image of the cover of the album on the advert somewhere. This is effective as is solidifies the brand of the artist and makes the album more memorable as there is a single reoccurring image for consumers to see.

The obvious feature that is used is a constant typeface. Each artist always has a particular font that is specific to them to ensure that people immediately associate the lettering to the artist.

Additionally, the date of album release and critic reviews also make an appearance on the advert to provide consumers with information on when to get the album, the reviews could act as a comfort for consumers as often people seek out others’ opinions and acceptance before buying things.

I will use all of these features and elements whilst creating my magazine advert, to make it as realistic and successful as possible. 

advert sketches

 

 

I sketched out possible designs and layouts for my advert poster to get an idea of the most effective and realistic layout for it. My first sketch is influenced by other adverts I have looked at, as well as influenced by the aesthetic of polaroid photographs as polaroid's are associated with the alternative/indie culture and so matches the genre of the band and the song in particular. I have put the name and album name at the top to instantly inform viewers of what the poster is advertising, also this would make it more recognisable to fans. A typical convention of album adverts is that they have the release date and reviews of the album on the poster to encourage people to buy it. In my sketches, I too have included this as it is key information for my audience.

 

The second sketch is more open, the text is over the background and placed in the spaces between their bodies. The name and album are still at the top of the poster, in the largest font to attract attention to the artist. I feel this sketch is much less successful compared to the other one as it looks just as an image with text on top. with no borders or any other objects to accentuate the band or to make other things stand out, I feel this layout would not catch people's eye and so would not be as successful in marketing the band. 

Mumford and Sons advert analysis

Taking images

Taking original images:

I took images of the two people who I wanted to act as the band members of The Crookes. Firstly, I took pictures outside, however, I realised that it would be more difficult to isolate the image in Photoshop when I come to create my advert poster and so I moved inside and photographed Ed against a white wall.

In terms of direction, I asked for him to look quite straight faced and look away from the camera, instead of using images with direct mode of address, as the pose of looking past the camera emits a 'cool', relaxed feeling.

whilst taking images of Jeremy, I used the same direction of looking away from the camera, however, here I experimented more with different angles at which to take the images. I wanted to see if side angles or low or high angles would create or contribute to a particular image. However, I feel that to suit my sketches for the advert and the pose in which I want the two band members, a more level angle looking directly at their face is best suited.

Copyright and record labels

An important feature of the back cover of an album is the copyright text, without it, it looks bare and as if something is missing. I will include copyright text on the back and so I have to research the contents of the copyright text in order to make my digipak look professional and realistic.
the text always starts with the year that the album is being released, followed by the name of the band and the record label who produced the album. this is followed by lines of text that are exactly the same in every copyright statement which warn of things such as replicating and lending the album which is prohibited.
My copyright text:
2015 The Crookes, under exclusive licence to Fueled by Ramen. The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Fueled by Ramen. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, reproduction, public performance and broadcasting of the record is prohibited. Made in the Uk.

Another feature that was important to research was the record label that I would use throughout the marketing of my artist. Different record labels are specific to different genres and artists and so I have to choose an appropriate and realistic label and feature them on the copyright text and their logo on the digipak packaging itself.
I looked at some record labels that are connected with British rock bands and found these:

Virgin Records-
You Me At Six are signed to this label and so initially I thought they may be suitable for The Crookes, however after some more in depth research, i found that more high profile pop acts typically belong to this label and so i decided it was not suitable for my artist.






Sony Music Entertainment-
a popular record label that many bands are signed to, however, again the acts most commonly associated with the label are pop acts such as Adele, Bruno Mars and Calvin Harris





Fueled By Ramen-
this record label is heavily linked with rock/indie bands, for example Fall Out Boy, Fun. , Panic at the Disco and Twenty One Pilots (duo much like my artist). and so I have chosen Fueled By Ramen as my record label as the bands signed by them make fun and energetic music similar to The Crookes, so i feel this is the most suitable record label to chose.

digipak planning

For my digipak, I have decided to use images of the sea instead of an image of the band. I have chosen this because not only do indie album covers never feature a photograph of the actual band, but also because it relates to one of the tracks on the album 'waves'. This is a common thing to do for bands-they either name the album after, or base the artwork around a song on the track list, not necessarily the main singles from the album.

 

By researching on several websites for high quality images to use on my digipak, I found this image that I will use as the background image. I will crop it slightly and alter the colour levels to match the feel and colour scheme that I am aiming for (more blues, greens and pinks) as this matches the most frequently appearing colours in my music video. 

I am also using an original image that I have taken. This image is a cropped version of a photo I took on holiday in the canary islands of waves against a cliff. I feel that this image will go well with my found image as it creates contrast between distance-far and close up shots of the sea.

I intend to combine the two images together by using geometric shapes e.g. a triangle or hexagon with the close up inside the shape and the found image as the background. I have found that many indie album covers feature some element and use of shapes, with scenic images. Additionally, I feel that by using images of soft waves and subtly combining them, it will create a relaxed, laid back feel which is an ideal state to listen to music in and project the image and attitudes of the band in general.

I also did some sketches to design a band logo for the inside of the digipak.

 

 I decided to use the two letters of the band name and link them together. Firstly I tried to continue my use of shapes by putting the letters inside a circle or triangle, however this looked very boring and wouldn't translate well onto Photoshop. I believe that the most successful and minimalistic logo design is the T within the C as it has the most potential to represent the band and make them recognisable and during live performances, it would be on the kick drum or on the backdrop.

Targeting my audience

I used several pieces of iconography and specifically used the mise en scene to appeal and access my target audience. 

Trying on sunglasses-I included this sequence of shots to enable my audience to identify with the girls in the music video. For many young people, especially those in my target audience, fashion is important and sunglasses tend to be a key staple in many people's outfits and so this identifies with the activity of shopping which many young people do with their friends. Additionally, the clothing for sale in the background is similar to the style of clothing that I believe my target audience wears and buys. 

Graffiti wall- I am trying to attract an artists and creative audience and so by incorporating contemporary artwork and street art into the music video, it makes it more accessible to my audience and more appealing too. Additionally, the bright colours along with Jeremy messing around having fun against these backgrounds encompasses the young, energetic, free image I was aiming for

Underground- Famous iconography of London so it is a familiar and recognisable sight to my London audience as they use it often which would make them more likely to watch the video if they can personally connect with something. 

Looking through art prints and records is specifically aimed at my target audience as these are two important interests for them.  Also, some prints in the background featuring the union jack solidify the bands' British origin and the typical nationality of the target audience. 

Editing

Editing has been a slightly different process throughout my music video production compared to my film opening production. As there are a much greater number of shots, I have edited them in a way where the clips are ascending upwards, overlapping the clip before as only the top clip is shown. In my last project, I was able to line the footage along one line, however in a music video, the pace of editing has to be much faster. 

By using the audio wave forms on the original track, it has made it much easier to edit to the beat of the music, making it look much more like a music video as making it easier and more pleasing to watch. 

A new skill I had to learn whilst editing is how to edit the lip syncing to perfectly match the original track. I completed practise exercises to learn how to link the video to the original wave forms so that the lip syncing was in time; these exercises were the Britney Spears re-make as well as editing a small sequence for 'You wanna what', a country song. Additionally, an issue I have had throughout this editing process is loosing time rendering, as the lip syncing clips were much longer than usual, and so they took a long time to render. To reduce this time as much as possible, when filming, we filmed each verse separately to make the clips shorter than one clip lasting the whole song. 

feedback on music video

In class, we did a peer feedback session where the other class watched our unfinished music videos to suggest what could be adapted or changed to make it more successful, as well as offer feedback on audience and brand image.

Describe the brand image:

 

What conventions of the form/genre can you see clearly?

 

 

 

 

What is your favourite shot in the music video?

• chorus-all characters are singing
• bright backgrounds
• birds eye view of the girls walking and the pictures
• snapshots of the girls having fun

 

Who do you think the target audience is?

 

 

what do you think could be added/adapted in order to improve overall impact of the music video?

• different setting for artist/crop shots so artist is alone in the shots
• change mise en scene of artist-its less thoughtful considering he is the one you need to brand
• faster pace of edit to carry fun vibe

After gaining this feedback, we have decided to re-film the lip syncing shots as they did not fit in with the fun, colourful mise en scene of the rest of the video. Initially, after filming him in a room with a white background as we were limited with time, these shots were not atmospheric or presented any image of the artist which is what the video is supposed to be about. We will re-film the lip syncing in the same setting as the girls-we will film against graffiti backgrounds in Camden to create a running image and atmosphere throughout the video.
This feedback was very helpful in validating our filming and how we approached our audience as the feedback from the brand image and the target audience is accurate to what we intended to achieve. Additionally, it has helped me in deciding to change the video to make it look better, and more exciting and to properly sell and brand my artist.



Album covers

I have decided to do some further research into album covers to get an accurate idea about what they usually have on the front. Despite my research of Lower Than Atlantis' album cover, i have found that almost all rock/indie bands never have the band members themselves on the cover. this is probably due to the fact that generally in the rock genre, their popularity and brand are not focused on their image, but more on the music itself. 

All of the covers, despite not having a relation to the artists in terms of appearance, the photos always have strong links to the album title or the title of a song on the album.

The Killers, a very popular band, never feature themselves on the front cover of their albums, this is because they have a very distinctive theme of artwork that is on all of their covers and so their appearance is irrelevant to selling their music as they have already established an image. this suggests that they have no need for them to appear on their covers.

 Additionally, You Me At Six, a popular British rock band have also never featured on the cover of any of their albums. They are probably most similar to my artist as they are of the same nationality, music genre and fan base and so their marketing techniques would be similar. I can also take inspiration from this album as i like the layout of the song titles on the back being in the middle and also the continuation of the image from the front to back. 

I have also found that the disks belonging to the albums tend to be quite plain. The typical design of them is that they are a plain colour, usually monochrome and they feature the name of the album and often the band. This simplicity is typical of the genre as album artwork tends not to be very extravagant but they also continue the themes and colour schemes of the rest of the album artwork.