Digipak: What is a digipak?

By definition, a digipak is: "a type of packaging for CD's or DVD's, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more disks." They are made out of paper or card with matt or gloss varnish with a plastic fixture that holds one or more discs, it is a sleek packaging solution and available at lower prices. A standard 4 panelled digipak has a finished size of 139.5mm x 6mm x 125.5mm

The most common CD digipak is the one with four panels which opens like a book, however, the digipak with six panels is also popular as it provides a larger canvas for artwork and text information about the CD. Furthermore, due to the use of cardboard, the number of panels is endless as there are 8 and even 10 panelled digipaks.

The digipak is an alternative to the common jewel case that grew in popularity among record labels and artists in the early 2000's. The digipak style is often used for special edition CD's or premium packaging for DVD's, however, digipaks are less resistant to abrasion than jewel cases, meaning it shows signs of wear quicker. 

Manufacturers want to reduce the environmental impact of digipaks by  introducing recycled components into its trays: one has announced a tray made from recycled bottles, which eliminates the need for the brittle "teeth." Another case eliminates the plastic tray altogether and instead, replaces it with a paper tray made from sugar cane and egg cartons.

New Ideas

After being inspired by Dodie Clarke's Sick of Losing Soulmates new video we have reconsidered some of our video narrative. We have made some major changes to Ruby's story line, including her motivation for running away. Instead of having her mother character see her watching something liberal on TV, her parents will see her out with her girlfriend causing them to have a row and therefore prompting Ruby to leave and on her way. This new idea immediately ran into trouble as we were unsure why Ruby would run to Alexandra Palace instead of to her girlfriend but we are going to iron out these problems when we further develop this idea as we have yet to fully discuss or pursue this. 

Another new idea we had was to use Megan's real parents for her story line instead of Cem and Nadia because we felt that the pair looked too young to be Megan's actual parents as they will be more convincing and Megan will be able film them during the Christmas holidays. As well as possibly using our head of sixth-form and her husband to be Ruby's parents which requires a lot of planning and advanced coordination. However these ideas are in early stages of development and as a group we have yet to develop them. 

Sick of Losing Soulmates - Dodie Clarke

Dodie Clarke's song "Sick of Losing Soulmates" has had a video upgrade. The new video follows the story of a couple over time as they fall in and out of love. This video is inspiring because of its fantastic video editing and aesthetically pleasing shots. Furthermore, the story shown in this video is not unlike the one we developed for ourselves as it has lgbtq themes throughout as well as themes of loss and moving on. 

This video has inspired us to slightly change the narrative for our and instead of having Ruby watching something liberal on TV, we decided to have her "parents" see her out with her girlfriend. Futher consideration and planning will go into this and we are yet undecided whether we will persue this new idea. 

Act of the Apostle - God Help the Girl

This clip from the musical God Help the Girl can be is an inspiration for Ruby's story line, as in our music video as we include some things that this video does. For example, we wanted to use the shadow of Ruby's parents in the video instead of showing their faces, this creates an illusive feel to the piece whilst also allowing it to relate to audiences also in that situation. The video also includes a bit on the train, and whilst we did not intend to have as many shots on the train as this video has, as a group we can take ideas from this video and try several different shot types and see which one works the best in the final piece.

Sleep On The Floor - The Lumineers

The newest Lumineer song has been an in inspiration for our video for several reasons. The video itself is of very good quality, the shot variations the use of different screen orientations is very aesthetically pleasing and goes well with the meaning of the song. Also, this video has similar ideas to the one we are making, this will allow us to take inspiration from the things the video does so well in the sense of the travelling scenes, how it is cut to the music the seamless transition between locations etc. This video is something to live up to as it takes a simple concept and makes it beautiful which is what my group and I are aiming to do. 

Character Profile: Megan

We chose Megan to be one half of our music video as not only was she willing and able but she was exited to, that drive and determination allowed us to get filming done and done well. Additionally, Megan has not acted in many things before so this experience has allowed her to broaden her horizons. Finally, Megan seemed like a good fit for the story line we have paired with her, plus her athletic nature makes her a good and willing runner, so every shot in which she is running is convincing because she has committed to the run.

Audience Feedback

We showed the 30 second draft of our video to our peers to get their feedback. The main feedback we received was about the emotion of the characters in the video, some thought that the parents arguing did not contain enough anger and when Megan left the house she looked like she was smiling. Also, the tiny bit of silence between audio and visuals was jarring and many wanted the song to start with the first shot of arguing. In addition, Nadia (who played the mother,) did not look convincing as a mother. However, we have gathered that it may just be because the group we selected know Nadia. We will show the clip to other groups and ask for their feedback and see is the same answers reoccur. 

Music Video 30 Second Draft

Character Profile: Cem and Nadia

The people we chose to portray Megan's parents were our friends Cem and Nadia. We had some worries about them when shooting as we did not give them any script however the footage looks good and the dialogue is muted so you cannot hear them arguing about Trump. One problem that appeared was that they do not look like adults or parents of an 18-year-old, we hope it is believable to those who do not know the pair as we may have to reshoot if this fact draws away from the rest of the video. We hope the costume choice makes them look a bit older as I asked Nadia to dress "motherly," and Cem to dress as if going to work in an office. The dynamic between the two is hopefully enough to distract the audience from their age, additionally, the footage used in the video of the pair account to less than 15 seconds I hope people do not dwell on it too much and that the rest of the video makes up for that detail.