Digipak Start & Photoshopping

Today I took pictures for my digipak cover, it started off rocky as two of the people I had asked to attend were not able to at the last minute but I pressed on nevertheless. The pictures were fairly easy and quick to take as it was just two boys and two locations.

I chose to use people that were not in the video as it made the most sense in real life as album covers did not usually use images from one of their videos unless all their videos had the same or similar themes as well as actors. Originally the image was meant to include four band members but instead of coming to take the pictures a different day I kept it as two as it was similar to one of my favourite bands, Twenty One Pilots, who also only have two members. 

After finishing the pictures I went into school in order to get a small head start on photoshop, learning the tools and testing different ideas as I did not want to waste my lesson time doing so. I think this session was extremely helpful as I have started editing my cover as well as learning the basics of photoshop. All there is left to do is to finish editing and constructing my digipak. 

And That's a Wrap

After some colour correction and any other small edits that may need to be finished we have completed our final advanced portfolio piece, after this we will move onto our individual digipak work and exam revision.

Overall I am extremely proud of the product we have created, we put a lot of effort into it and the finished thing is not what we had first intended as our ideas have morphed through time but something we are happy with and something we hope will get us good marks. 

Digipak Analysis

This album cover has very significant, clear and consistent theme throughout. The front and back cover have similar images on the background, however the front cover has a cartoon image of the artist standing in the middle of the road in a suburban street overlapping the images of pinkish clouds that are also on the back cover. The images are very soft and have a pale, mute colour palette that match the font style and colour. It gives a general feel about the songs and the artist as the soothing tones of the colours hint of what kind of music is in this album.

The font style is italic and reminiscent of script and calligraphy. The font on the back matches the font on the front perfectly except for its size. The mute pink colour of the font matched the colours of the album tying in with the soothing tones. However, the font and colour of the artist's name, it is smaller all caps and in white. This takes the attention away from the artist and brings all attention to the art. The names of the songs are in a bullet-point list form like many of other albums.

This album style keeps with the indie genre as it is simplistic, consistent throughout and has a cartoonish version of the artist instead of a real picture.

Digipak Analysis

The front cover of the album features the band at the center in a non-musical setting. The band is in the foreground and center of the image and there is a mass of things going on in the background. The image is both full in the background but in the foreground very clear and focused on the bad. The image is also seemingly unfiltered, it may have been photo-shopped but there have been no significant or obvious changes to the image, like colour change or image manipulation. Not all of the artists are looking towards the camera, the picture of the band seems very natural, like they are in the middle of conversation. 

The font type is all caps and unconnected which makes the album title and artist name very clear, like the band on the cover, the font is also centered on the album. It is in a space where nothing is happening in the picture, this makes it stand out and does not clutter the entire cover. The font is black which is uniform and in keeping with the Mumford and Sons style.

The font on the back of the cover is the same as the font used on the front. Unlike other albums the song names are not written in a bullet point list form nut in a kind of brick wall layout, similar to the image they are layered over. Unlike the font on the front of the album, the font on the back is white. This may just be to stand out of the dark colours in the picture, this juxtaposes the image nicely and creates a stark image. 

The image on the back is not at all linked to the front image, it is darker and unrelated. It is an image that allows to focus on the song names and not the actual picture. It is artistic and aesthetically pleasing as well as non-specific enough to have the main focus be the words.

Heavydirtysoul

Twenty One Pilots has released a video for their song Heavydirtysoul that was released on the Blurryface album (2015). I thought I would highlight the use of single location in this video because it it done so well, the pictures match the visuals in a very subtle way creating meaning that is drawn out by every individual. It a video that desires to be interpreted as it has no clear dominant reading. This is not something we are trying to recreate in our music video but I really enjoy this style nevertheless.

Character Profile: Ruby

Ruby's character is a teenage girl who has trouble revealing her sexuality to her parents, which ends up being the catalyst for her departure as her strict conservative parents catch her out with another girl and confront her about it. She runs away from the business and hubbub of the city in order to clear her mind and come to terms with herself. She comes off as really anxious and confused throughout the video as she is conflicted on whether she wants to bend to the will of her parents for a simpler life or just feel happy and content expressing her true self. 

In the video we try to portray a silent a character arch for Ruby's character not only using her actions but other imagery intersected throughout the video and the lyrics of the song linked to images to signify a change. Hopefully we have done this in a way that is clear enough to an audience so they can understand the emotional and physical journey of both the characters. 

Filming Day 5

We have finally filmed the shots we needed to complete the video, all we have to do now are reshoots that Megan and I will film next Thursday and editing. We are on the final stretch to finishing.