Creating my digipak

Template
I created a template using photoshop and used this to guide the construction of my digipak. This ensures that each panel is the same time and that the folds all line up.

Background for both the front and the inside

Polaroid for the front cover

In order to connect the album cover to the video we have produced I decided to use a polaroid image on the cover, as this relates to the polaroid photo which Jonny looked at  during the rain scene in our video. The use of polaroid also allowed me to use the white space at the bottom to write the artist name and album name; this could make it seem like a note he had written on a polaroid about his life. I also used a font which looks like hand writing as this can create a personal aspect to the album and could allow fans to feel a connection with him as the writing on the polaroid looks like it's been written by him. This also shows the focus on the simple natural things, which are conventional of alternative rock artists, as it suggests that there is no need for hyperbolic colours or fonts; hand writing is more natural.

Shape to put writing on, to make it stand out from the map background

In order to make the text for the track list and the thank you note from the artist to stand out from the map background I decided that I needed to use a shape or background for the writing. It was essential that this connects with the theme of freedom, travel and nature which the map shows in order to create cohesion between the components of the digipak. Therefore I chose to cut out a photo of a piece of paper which had been made to look old, as this connects to nature and could also represent the style of paper often relates to maps and travel.

Photos for the inside panels

On the inside of the digipak I decided to show aspects of Jono's life through smaller polaroid images. These are all photos which I personally have taken, however as the weather has been bad this winter I chose 2 photos from my holiday to french last summer, as these sunny and beautiful shots suggest that Jono has traveled a lot and has experienced many aspects of nature around the world. Some of the images were taken whilst we were out filming and show that he has been through relationships. These polaroids will provide an insight, and a visual representation, of what his songs are about.

Audience feedback about my 3 products

Over the past 2 days I have asked my peers for constructive criticism about my three products. They all felt that my products are eye catching and fit well with the genre of alternative/indie rock. However they also believed that the font I have used for the artist name - Jono is quite difficult to read and could be mistaken for the word 'Jana'. I also visited a year 7/8 tutor group and showed them my products - they also felt that the word Jono was difficult to read. Therefore I decided to edit the font by deleting the joins between the letters in order to make it clear and easy to read.

Here are my updated products:

 

Music video title

Digipak

Magazine advert

Magazine advert progress - audience feedback

Whilst creating my advert I had two slightly different ideas and could not decide which would be most successful  Therefore I decided to put together a rough version of each advert and ask my target audience which they preferred. Below are the two adverts which I constructed: 

Creating my album magazine advert

This is the plan for my album advert. The background is a 

faded map and there is a picture of Jono overlapping this which I have cut out using photoshop. In order to construct this advert I first of all needed to open the map and lower the opacity so that the image became a lot lighter and softer in colour; I felt that this was necessary because it made the background for my advert more easy on the eye and appealing as the colours weren't harsh.

This is what the map looked like after I had done this...

I then wanted to cut around Jonny's body so that the image of him could overlap the map and still show a large proportion of the map. In order to do this I used the quick select tool on photoshop and selected the space which I wanted to cut out of the picture. I was important to have unlocked the layer so that the chosen space was deleted completely rather than just turned white. I have recorded how I did this using QuickTime Player...

Following this I downloaded some fonts from dafont.com and wrote information about the album, such as the artist name, the album name, album release date, star rating from music magazines, a website address for the artist, the See Tickets web address and a his twitter @ so that our target audience could easily access information about Jono, buy tickets and music and watch music videos.

Changes to ancillary plans

I had originally planned on using the image on the left for my front cover; inspired by Jake Buggs cover. I was aiming to make him look serious similarly to how Jake Bugg looked. However after talking to my audience I have found that they believe that this image makes him look very tired and as though he may have been taking drugs, which is not a habit which I want my album cover to promote, as it is aimed at young people who may be influenced by their favourite artists. It was also felt that he does not look very attractive and that although he is making eye contact, this image does not particularly draw the audience in. In addition it was also suggested that Jake Bugg's album was not actually very appealing or eye catching because the image is black and white. In addition my audience felt that I may be more successful creating an album cover and poster which showed clear connotations of the genre indie/alternative rock.  

Therefore I have decided to use a different image (shown on the right) for the cover of my digipak; I will experiment with different ways to edit the colour of the photo I have now chosen, and see which looks most appealing. I also feel that the new image may be more suitable for the genre because it contains more nature which is a convention of indie rock products.

However rather than editing this image to be black and white and making it fit the size of the cover of my digipak, like Jake Bugg's album. I will instead be editing this image to look like a polariod photo for the cover of my digipak -  therefore it will be in colour and have a white boarder around the edge. This image will not fill the cover of my digipak either, instead it will be rotated slightly and placed in the corner of the cover; in the background I plan on using an image of a map throughout my digipak and also on my album advert - this will connote freedom and adventure which relate to the genre of indie/alternative rock. In order to show a visual representation of my new idea I have drawn new plans for my album cover and digipak. Drawing these plans has helped me materialise my ideas and show others how I aim for my final products to look.

Album advert plan:

Digipak plan:

Ancillary task photo shoot

Below are all the photos when Jonny and I went into Ottery St Mary in order to take photos which I hope to use for the digipak and album poster. It was important to take a lot of different images in order to have enough choice to cover the faces of the digipak. It was also essential to consider how the images will all work together and how the products will be assembled, as I will needs to make sure that I take a wide range of good quality photos.

Photo editing research

The use of Sepia - The cover of 'One Day' has been edited with blue/sepia tones, I feel that these make it look very classic and eye catching, however the colour blue could also have negative connotations which suggest that the relationship between the couple on the front is flawed or that something goes wrong within the film. I believe that this would be a suitable edit for my digipak photos because it would be appealing to audiences and would also connote some of the issues Jono covers in the songs on the album. I need to edit the images to look appealing and eye catching, however I also need to ensure that they look natural as this is a key convention of indie/alt rock products. Two albums which have been particularly inspiring for me are Jake Bugg's and Tom Odell's debut albums. The covers of both of there both focus on the artist, showing them with serious facial expressions and casual clothes on. They seem to be standing in the street and the background is slightly blurred. Although I plan on using a map and polariod photos for my digipak, rather than one large image of Jono; I am going to use a large polariod image of him for the cover of the digipak and some will also be positioned on the inside of the digipak, therefore I am going to use Jake Bugg and Tom Odell's covers as inspiration when I take photos of Jonny for these polariods. When I come to edit my photos of Jonny, I plan on experimenting with black and white and the ways in which colour can be edited using photoshop.