Digipak Design + Contact Sheet

Below is a screenshot of the images that were taken for the digipak cover. We didn't take many photos because we had a specific idea in mind after finding inspiration from a found image. 

The image below is another found image from google which we used as the inside of our digipak. Originally, the image was brown and the contrast was not as obvious. With the use of Photoshop, the image was desaturated and with the combination of the brightness/contrast and the burn tool, we created a darker brunt edge.

Below is the template for our digipak with the images we had taken on location. The front and back of the digipak are as symmetrical as we could get them to represent the good and bad sides of fate. The image is a direct link to the music video as they were taken at the same time of our filming. Once we had decided upon an image and edited it to how we wanted, we simply swapped the images from the photoshop file that we had form our practise. The back design was slightly changed from the practise digipak because we wanted to have the track list along the left hand side, rather than following the shape of the tree. Our decision t do so was influenced by the way Newton Faulkner' Studio Zoo looked were their track list was positioned. 

The inside of the digipak is the paper that we over laid onto the front and back image. We felt that this would offer  basic yet effective inside for the digipak, linking to what was shown on the outside images. 

Rough Cut 3

This is the third rough cut of our music video of the song Fate - Our Last Night. We have combined all of the techniques that we planned to use into this video, however we have not followed our plan entirely. There are shots that we changed and altered so that they matched into the sequence, this will be explained more in detail throughout the evaluation stage. 

Photo's Of Props

These are the props we used when filming our music video. We used a newspaper and 

then a lighter to set the paper on fire. 

We also used the actor's personal guitar, in which he brought into the filming session, on our request. This was useful as it would have been hard for us to get our hands on an interments like this that was available for our use whenever we wanted to film. Doug brought this in for us when we asked in to film the performance side of this music video. 

We also used a rope to act as a noose as we wanted the narrative to look like the person was contemplating suicide. This rope was something that we had to hunt down to find as it was imperative that we had it for the music video, as without it the whole narrative wouldn't have made sense. If we didn't have this, the narrative would have had to be changed. But it was intact for the recording process and was the main feature throughout the filming.  

Rough Cut 2

Our second rough cut consisted of more frames and more experimental techniques that we are going to be using for our final product. This rough cut contains more narrative then performance as we have already produced a rough cut of the performers, whereas the final cut will have even elements of both the narrative and the performance. 

When filming for the footage for this video to then looking over what we had, we found that we didn't have a awful lot of footage in which to edit to create this music video. Because of this some footage is duplicated in parts, to create the music video effect, however for the overall final piece this will be rectified and put straight. 

Techniques that have been used within this second rough cut are slow motion, reverse motion and being able to alter the speed in which frames play, overall I think that this has given us a fairly convincing music video, in which we hope to expand on for our final product. 

Digipak Practice

This is our initial idea for our digipak. After some trouble with the memory card our own photos were taken on, we chose an image from google, 'view here', as image to start with. We decided that we would use an image that links directly to the music video. The image displays a tree with a noose hanging from it. The image has had a filter overlaid over the top to create a grundgey effect. It is obvious the a vignette effect has been added to the photograph too. The use of this allowed us to add smaller text to the digipak around the outsides, without the image being too busy for the text.

We decided to use the original 'Our Last Night' logo on the digipak to make it more credible. The font that they use has been used by them throughout most of the band's career and is recognisable to that band. 'Age Of Ignorance' on the front of the album is the Photoshop font Chalkduster which we found to be quite a personal font as a result of it's cursive style. We thought this to be the best approach with regards to the font because the song can be personal to the listener. 

In photoshop I used the burn tool to make some areas of the image darker, particularly the bottom of the image where there are leaves. The image was already in black and white but it was something we considered as the music video expresses signs of depression and negative tones. We wanted to make the front and back symmetrical but the noose to only appear on the front of the album. With the use of the patch tool we removed the noose from the image and saved it as the back of the cover.

Once the image its self had been edited, we added in a line, to divide the information on the production, to the track list. Our own production logo was added to the bottom left and corner and a QR code to the bottom right. In small text was information that we added about the production of the album. 

The track list was positioned to follow the curvature of the tree but in future, we aim to have the track list to the left of the image. 

Digipak Analysis - (Newton Faulkner - Studio Zoo)

We have previously analysed the album artworks of many different albums, covering Escape the Fate and blessthefall. It is only till now that we have realised we didn't include analysis for the insides of those albums. We have chosen 3 different digipaks to analyse where we will concentrate on the insides of the album/EP.

The two we have chosen are Newton Faulkner's 'Studio Zoo' and Fort Hope's 'The Future's In Our Hearts'. One main similarity in the 3 we have chosen is the way they are made from card, as opposed to the plastic CD casing. This allows for the digipak to be folded out in many different ways, rathe than the simple, single opening.

This first digipak is that of Newton Faulkner's latest album 'Studio Zoo' which was released in August 2013. This album was unique in the way it was produced, streaming 24/7 for 5 weeks in Faulkner's home studio. Viewers were able to step into Newton's world all day everyday, viewing different aspects of the day through different cameras, from editing on Camera 4 to having lunch on Camera 1. Newton embraced the network of social media and kept his fans up to date, frequently tweeting updates or posting status' on Facebook to let us know which camera was getting the action at any particular time. Instagram was a big part of the communication with fans too, in particular, the hand written post-it-notes from Emily Coxhead (who took the role of photographer/designer and acted as 'Newton HQ'). The name of the 'live music documentary' and album, 'Studio Zoo' set the theme of animals throughout his home studio in East London and different toy animals became increasingly present as the recording of the album progressed.

All of the above contributed to the album cover/digipak for Studio Zoo. This first image shows the front cover of the album where Newton is sat at his computer, guitar in hand holding his computer mouse. The entire floor on the studio is filled with instruments, from guitar to the harp. Amongst the instruments can be seen the toy animals that appeared throughout his home. The shot was set up with the help of Newton's sister, Lottie, and brother, Toby. Emily Coxhead took the photograph from the position of camera 4. I think this shot particularly captures Newton's personality as we notice his posters on the studio walls, his Tetris lamp and his can of 'BEER'. The album cover is particularly colourful with the addition of a splatter over the image. The font for the artist name 'Newton Faulkner' is the same logo font that has been used throughout his other albums/EPs/singles (excluding Write It On Your Skin), t shirt fonts and advertisements.

The text '#StudioZoo' on the actual CDs is that of Emily Coxhead's which was a photograph that she posted on Instagram within the first few days of the album recording. The colour scheme for the CDs are that of the yellow post-it-note that she originally wrote #StudioZoo on. There is a single disk version of the album and a two disk special edition (which is the one we have here to analyse) and the second of the two disks is just the opposite colour positioning of the first disk.

The second image of the digipak shows the back of the album which is a similar photograph to the front, but instead, Newton has his back facing the camera and is playing one of his guitars. The splatter has been moved over to follow Newton's head as though representing "it's a burst of wonderful thoughts and lyrics and craaaazy things" - as described by Emily Coxhead. The shift of the splatter made room for the track list which is situated to the left of the cover. All text on the back of the album is white, which is a good contrast to the darker background. The font for the track list is a cursive style block capitals (which is the same font as the title 'Studio Zoo' on the front). The cursive font gives a real personal feel to the album; something that was key to the whole digipak after such an exclusive opportunity viewers were given.

On the inside of the digipak there are 3 main photographs, 2 taken by Emily and one by Newton. When opening the first fold of the digipak we see 2 photographs that completely fill the card. The image of the left is the artificial sheep that Newton has always had in his home, and a toy snake that has been places amongst Newton's big jar of sweets. The next photograph on the right is one of Newton's brother Toby Faulkner (left), Emily Coxhead (centre) and Newton's sister Lottie Faulkner (right). This is an important photograph because it shows the 3 people that worked hard with Newton to make the 'documentary' as successful as it was and those who were there with him everyday, from the beginning day which finished with a game of tennis on the Playstation Move, a few days at the Isle Of Wight Festival, and the finishing album release party. This is a candid shot of the three, most probably on some kind of social networking site updating their fans. Newton has captured the typical expressions of the people in the image; Toby was often sat at the back of the studio with his head down at his phone and Emily and Lottie smiling through each day.

When the second part of the digipak is folded out there is a booklet reveled and another photograph on the opposite side to the fold. The photograph shows Newton sat on his sofa with 2 more toy animals in the foreground. Shallow focus has been used in the photograph to concentrate on the toy animals. All of the photographs in this digipak have been taken in Newton's home, showing different aspects of his house. Normally the photographer would be conscious of the background and try to make it free from clutter and distractions, however, this is again an important part to the digipak because his home played such a big part in the whole concept of the 'live documentary'. Inside the booklet can be found hand written lyrics for each of the tracks with images from the whole 5 weeks. These photographs were again taken by Emily Coxhead.

Digipak Analysis - (Fort Hope - The Future Is In Our Hearts)

This is the first EP from the newly established Fort Hope. It is called ‘The Future Is In Our Hearts’ and as it’s their first EP so it’s fully focused on their future as a band and they hopefully represent it in this EP.

The front cover of this digipak is mainly photo based, as in the background of this cover is silhouette of trees, which have been contrasted to be made darker. This isn’t in reflection of the band, as their genre is Melodic Rock and those genres tend to not all into the dark and dismal subtitle. However this is what the front cover is trying to make the audience feel. The font is bright in contrast to the dark tree silhouette, which makes the title of the band stand out. It will be more eye catching to the audience, as they will be able to see the title straight away.

When opening the digipak, it opens like a book, with the CD pressed up against the right leaf. On the left leave however, there is a clear image of the band, Tom Barnes, who is a professional photographer, took this photo. This image is used in all of their promotion items, such as this digipak and an advert that we have already analysed. As they are recently formed as a band in January 2013, and so use the same image so that they have more of a chance in being recognised if they keep their image consistent. This image takes up the whole space of the left leaf, so it can be fully seen and acknowledged. For example, their even ewer EP of ‘Choices’ no longer has a band image present as at this point they have been formed just under a year, and they would have hoped that people would know their band image by now.

On the right side of the leaf, is where the CD is held, it is being held in by a transparent plastic, so that the background can always been seen though, which is can still be seen through the trees background. This band are very focused on trying to do everything themselves, because of this they have made the digipak themselves. The font on this front cover was created and designed by the band’s bassist Simon Rowlands (far right from photo above), so they have decided to make the digipak on their own, apart from the photo credit to Tom Barnes. On the right leaf, you can tell that this EP has been homemade, as we (the audience) can see the glue dabs that they have used to attach the glue to the cardboard material. The cardboard material is better for digpak's like this, especially for a bands first EP.

In the back of the digipak, there is the song list, as this is an EP only 4 songs are present, I can’t help but feel that it would have looked better had they have included more songs on this EP. This is very similar to the front page, as there is the tree background, that is the same as the front cover with exactly the same properties, with contrast etc. The only thing that is different from the front cover to the back would be that the font is smaller because it’s the track list of the EP.

Overall though, this is a very well put together digipak for a bunch of people that aren’t professionals in the digipak designing title. They can take credit for EP both in the design stakes and musically.

Initial Design Of Digipak

Below is a Prezi showing our initial digipak ideas. We have come to the decision that our album artwork will be directly linked to the content of the music video. Within the Prezi we have contained our ideas about colour, layout, inspiration and font. 

Constraints Of Weather & Time

As our music video is heavily outdoors, we are facing some constraints of weather and time. We have had a couple of shoot dates all on separate occasions, and we're finding that as soon as we plan to film, the weather takes a turn for the worse and we end up cancelling the filming sessions due to the extremities of the weather. 

For example we planned on filming today (5th December) but the weather conditions were really bad and the chance to still take the equipment to the location would have been risky. Our location is in a community park, and with weather as rough as we're experiencing it's hard to film when we plan. The best bet would be to be spontaneous and film won that day. Weather is something that can't be helped, it's just something that we have to work around. But then we'd hit another constraint of acting time. 

We're classing acting time as when our performers are free. They also have to work around their lessons. When recording the rough cut, it was during Matt and Doug's lesson time. However they sacrificed some time to help us, and this was greatly appreciated but now when we want to film our final cut, we are going to have to work around this carefully as lesson time now is crucial for the build-up for Christmas. As we've tried to be spontaneous with our filming, we aren't going to be able to use the intended performers of Doug and Matt. 

Overall, we think that it was risky planning our music video outside, and we should have thought more about the time of the year. We want to film outside in the winter months, it sounds unrealistic and we really should have thought about it at an earlier stage. As now we're struggling to find decent weather to film with. 

Storyboard

These are the pictures that explain shot by shot what the narrative and what it going to happen in our music video. We have included the performance characters in which the main narrative, so that we can see the storyline on a whole, and so that we can see what can happen overall. This will help us for when we come to film, as together with our shot plan we'll know straight away what to film and in what sequence it needs to be edited in, giving us a more organised music video. 

Some of these are duplicated throughout this storyboard/animatic as these are the performance elements, and these are going to be present to cross cut between the narrative. This will hopefully give the music video length and will make the video an overall more convincing product.