Dgipak Research Following Themes Part 3 - Kanye West

Kanye Wests album covers are strange in the sense that his face isn't on any of the covers. However he has themes on teh 1st three albums, the theme is a bear. This bear acts as a icon of Kanye West and his fans recognise is when they see it. Although i doubt i will do something similar in my work i wanted to make my group aware of it. 
College Drop Out 

Late Registration 

Graduation

808's & Heartbreak

My Dark Twisted Fantasy 

Watch The Throne 

Digipak Research Following Themes Part 2 - Nas

While researching artists CD covers I looked at some of the trends in Hip Hop album Covers. I came across Nas and found some of the trends he creates with his first 4 albums. Our artists have an element of Hip Hop about them according to the original artists.

Illmatic

This was his 1st album and was pinnacle in terms of the style of all his albums to date. Firstly the font on this album has been used on all his albums. The building in the background is of his housing projects, the theme of having a photo of him in front of them was used on his 1st for albums. Also the structure of having his name in the top right corner, album title in the bottom left is the same in all albums

It Was Written 

I Am

Nastradamus 

The idea of keeping a subject within the photo the same is made a theme in Nas albums. The font creates a trend, this is something we could try to do. We could have a distinctive font for our artists. 

Digipak Research Following Themes Part 1 - J.Cole

J.Cole is a American rapper & an artist who has a distinctive story he tells through his album/ mixtape covers.
Warm Up 
This was his 2nd mixtape, but its importance is that it started his career and his theme which has appeared on all his work after its release. The two main features of this album artwork are: The font used for his name, where their is a horn on the 'O' and a halo on the 'E'. Also the Basketball theme here appears on his later work, he is pictured with a basketball but fans of his music will know hi story of being a basketball player at university. 

Friday Night Lights

This mixtape continues the theme with the use of the font on his name. This is unique and makes the artist distinctive from other artists. Also the use of basketball and his clothing (basketball jersey) relate to the previous mixtape and therefore continuing the theme.  

Cole World: Sideline Story 

This was his debut album however because of his rise to fame through his mixtapes he didnt stray from his theme in teh other mixtapes to attract a new audience, instead he just continued the story he began with his pervious work. Therefore as shown you can see the same font for his name which was used the pervious to mixtapes. Additionally you can see the baskeball theme is continued. He may not have the basketball but the baskeball jacket/Nike Jordons and the changing rooms are indications of teh continiuing themes. Lasty the album name reflects the story told in his pervious mixtapes. Its a metaphor as he was going through a  'warm up' where he was unsigned then he started to build a name 'lights' now he is a big name in the industry but is still far viewing the game from the 'sideline' as he hasn't hit great heights yet... 

Even his single artwork follows a similar theme with the lady in the changing rooms and his name font being the same.

Researching Ancillary Products - Analysis of three digipaks

What I like about N-Dubz CD package, is that they have used the image more than once, they have also included the same photo on there tour magazine.

I like Example's CD cover as it is simple yet entertaining, the use of the various photobooth style pictures project fun and what his music will be about, which is what I want to incorporate in Double Trouble's digipak. I also like the fact it has a theme feel about it, This had encouraged me to give my digipak a theme, as I think it will make my artists fans feel closer to them.

I like the futuristic look on the Front and Back panel, I think it makes Tinie Tempah look more prominent. I like the font on the Front Panel, however I don't like it used on the back panel I think a simple font would suffice as I'd prefer it to be clear so no one would have problems with reading.

Each of the CD's has influenced me and given me ideas.

Love.Live.Life - I want to use a continuous image on both the digipak and advertisement.

Won't Go Quietly- I want to give my digipak some kind of theme that represents them and their audience can relate to.

Disc-Overy - I want to keep my CD housing simple and add some kind of effect to the background of the Front panel so my artists stand out.

Researching Ancillary Products

Whats on a digipak (Images, information, text, font, artwork) all have to relate to the genre and the artist(s)

For example you couldn't have Evanescence (the american rock band) with a brightly coloured, girly digipak as that would not have any relation to rock.

So before finding three digipak's that relate to Double Troubles's genre I had to find out exactly what genre they were. Wikipedia says 'Hip hop, pop music, rap'

However the former artists Rizzle Kicks call there music 'grindie, grime and indie infusing or indie-pop'

With this information I did a search on other UK artists who convey the same genre. and came up with 10 artists

• Cher Lloyd
• Cover Drive
• Dappy
• Ed Sheeran
• Example
• Labrinth
• Maverick Sabre
• N Dubz
• Olly Murs
• Tinie Tempah

Researching Ancillary Products - Digipak Task

In today's lesson we had an introduction to digipak's the importance of them and their function. 

Rebecca showed the class examples of some good digipaks from the previous year and some not so good digipak's. Below is a not so good digipak Rebecca made of 'Dan London'

     Dont's

• Use various fonts
• Use various colours
• Use various font sizes
• Stretch images
• Use unclear images
• Put text over the face of an image
• Use text/colours/images that do not relate to the genre

It was our task to make a better digipak for Dan London, using the advice she told us about making a successful digipak

I used a head to toe image of Dan, however when making a digipak to introduce a new artist, its advisory to use a clear picture preferably the artists face as they need their audience to remember them.

I used the same font throughout except the distribution and record label information at the back. I used two colours black and white. and purposely put 'Dan London' in white as it stands out more than the black. I didn't want to stretch the image across two panels, and I didn't want to include another image of him on the back panel, so i used the pick colour tool to take a colour from the wall Dan is standing behind and fill the back panel with that colour. Lastly I added a bar code, record label's logo, and the information for the score of the CD.

Analysis of Three Magazines Research

Common features on advertisements are:

• Album Title or Image
• Artists Name 
• Tour Dates (Special Guests, Arenas, Ticket Sale Information)
• Artwork

The advertisements below are examples of this. 

Analysis of Three Digipaks Research

Our artists are a genre of UK hip hop/Pop however the original artists classify see themselves as having a indie influence. Below are three examples of artists album covers that relate to our artists.

Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner 

I like the use of background. The album title and the background go together as his sitting in a corner and teh album itle is 'Boy In Da Corner' furthermore the use of colour is good in backing the artist and the fonts stand out against the yellow so its plain but effective. 

Chipmunk - I Am Chipmunk
This album cover is very similar to Dizzee Rascals in terms of colours. I really like the use of fonts  and the size of it, it adds humour to the cover and shows the funny side of the artist which is shown in some of the records on the album. It simple with three colours used and this is osmthing we will try to impliment into our work.   

New Boys - Skinny Jeans & a Mic - Too Cool To Care

The font of the first album cover matches the artists brand image, in the sense that its got a spary paint effect which reflects the new school vibe of teh artists. Also the bright use of colours which also link with the artists videos. Their album covers link to our artists as they are both young and having a new school image to up hold as they reflect the image of modern teenages. Therefore dress code in bothe album covers is important in showing the artists style and gnere.  

Digipak Example

Digipak Function

The function of a Digipak is to offer fans of an artist the physical copy of their CD. The introduction of 
digital sales has halted the sales of physical CD’s. However to many fans CD’s are a collector’s item, they have added value to the music and are seen as something special. They give further information on the artist & therefore aim to bring the fan closer to the artist 
The design of the Digipak is very important as it attracts the fans to the artist. The Digipak needs to be distinctive because the artist needs to stand out against all the competitors in the same CD store. Each genre has its own style and conventions you expect to see on a CD cover.                                                                                         Usually on an artist 1^st album cover they will have a photo of themselves on the album cover, as they are trying to introduce themselves to their audience. However on their sophomore albums they may not have a picture of them on it. When creating our Digipak we will have to make it fit the genre of the song we picked. We will stick to 3 or 4 colours & use the same font throughout.

Cinema Visit

On Tuesday the 6th of December we will be going to the cinema for our music video premiere. This visit represents an opportunity for us to get feedback on our music video from peers & other media students. Personally, it will be good to see our work on a big screen as we haven't viewed the final edit out of Final Cut Pro.

Researching Ancillary Products - Importance of Digipaks

Digipaks have become a common packaging style, as well as reduced production cost (in comparison to other ancillary products such as jewel cases). It adds more value to the actual music/artist. Digipaks are made of cardboard and can offer numerous panels, often filled with information or images of the artist(s) which is what makes this product different from pther types of CD packaging.

Digipaks have become very important to the music industry as they attract buyers and can widen an artists fan base. Also in this digital era more and more people are legally downloading music as well as physically purchasing. Either way the digipak art is included.

Below are examples of digipaks of Rihanna's album Loud I found on Google images and iTunes.

I had a look in my house to see if my mum had bought any digipaks and I found 'Marvin is 60' A limited edition tribute album

Planned Ideas

We finished our music video on Friday at 12. We think we completed it to a good standard, and managed to do include many of the features we planned.

Locations Planned: Locations used our highlighted

     

·         Southbank Skate Park

·         Rosemary Gardens

·         Alexander Palace

·         College Studio

·         Regents Canal

·         Gainsborough Studios

Planned editing Ideas:  Editing ideas used our highlighted

·         Still Image turning to life

·         Split Screen in studio of artists performing

·         Trumpet Slide

·         Bikers doing tricks in reverse

·         Words coming out of the trumpet 

Performance Overview

Now that the video is complete, I & Lorenzo took some time to review our performances in the video. As I was a last minute replacement in the video I wasn’t fully comfortable in front of the camera. However after filming several times I became more comfortable & this is reflected through my performances in the final video. Lorenzo who is also in Group 29 was more suited to the performance role as he is doing the same role in his video. Together on screen we give out & indications that have a friendship which helps represent the artists the way we wanted. I feel working with Lorenzo was easy because of our off screen friendship therefore we look comfortable together on screen. We weren’t fans of the song therefore we had to try and act like we were enjoying performing it. However, as a group we feel that I & Lorenzo did a good job of looking like we enjoyed it as we delivered a energetic/ playful performance. 

Added Song to Blog

I added the soundtrack of our song to the blog. This isn’t the original as a live band plays the instrumental. I decided to add it as when I visited the original artist website they had their songs playing in the background. The purpose of this is to promote the artist, as it gives new viewers to hear songs they might not have heard before. 

Researching Ancillary Products - Do's And Dont's

Do's & Don't

Do's

- Use a clear font 
- Use photo's that show the artists face (close ups) 
-  Use two fonts at the very most 
- Follow the conventions of your artists genre 
- Use a maximum of 3 colours  
- Ensure you have your record lables logo, barcode and artist website   
- Release Date and tour dates must be carefully placed (if on tour) 
- Artist name and album title must be bigger than other text.

 

Don't 

 

- Don't stretch images as it clearly shows on the digipak

- Don't over use fonts and colours  

- Don't place text over artist faces 

- Use the actual artists that appeared in the video and dont introduce new artists