A2 Media Studies: CD Digipack

CDD: The History of Music Recording

CDD : Initial Research - Codes and Conventions of CD Covers

Our task was to research CD cover design. We looked at 4 different CD album covers and had to understand what was included on each of the front, back, and inside covers. From this I saw a reoccurring pattern of the same thing being included on each album. Above I have taken a picture of my notes.

Front Cover:

Artist Name
Album Title
Image

Back Cover:

Track List
Artist Website
Barcode
Producer, Record Label etc..

Inside Front Cover:

Information on the CD and Artist and Producers
OR blank image

Inside Back Cover:

Blank/Image/Pattern

CDD : Analysing An Existing CD Digipack

Completing this task has helped me understand what is needed within a digipack and the order of how everything should be placed. Each cover of the album has a specific section of information which gives detail for the background of the album or what is included within it. Researching what is needed will help me have a better understanding of what I will need to include in my own digipack.

'I'll Keep Calling' by the band J P Harris and The Tough Choices

The band are not presented in the album cover image, instead an artwork is used representing a country style scenery. Using a piece of artwork indicates that the importance of music quality is higher than the artist. The album name and band name are placed at the top of the front cover clearly presenting who the album is produced by and what it is titled. The font size and design are also both the same keeping the theme clear and simple. The artwork used for the front cover is very busy. It contains themes of greens and blues within the background of the piece. Also, it includes a focus of a man using a payphone who is wearing bright coloured clothing which shows contrast with the background. The man links to the genre of the band’s music due to him looking county-like and including a truck yard in the background. Furthermore, the payphone links to the album title. From the background and genre of music being represented the artwork suggests the man is a truck driver. This is also represented through Mise-en-scene as he is wearing a checkered shirt and a baseball hat an also has tattoos on his arm, which links to truck drivers. Additionally, the man in the artwork does have the same facial characteristics as J P Harris, therefore still having some involvement within the album cover.

The back cover for the album is simple and understandable. The track list is placed top left of the cover. They have chosen a bold dark coloured font which is a similar style to the front cover. Having the font bold helps the track list stand out. Within the track list information is shown for what number each track is, what the title is of each song and how long each song is. However, each track time shown is in a smaller font to show more importance of the song titles. Both producer and artist information is shown bottom left of the back cover. The record label logo and contact information is addressed along with the producer and an address. It is important the record label is clearly noticeable on the album to make sure they are given recognition from the audience and it gives them more advertisement which is important for the media industry. The record label logo, album title and artist name are also repeated on the spine of the digipack. Once again, this is to advertise both the album and the record label. Alongside this information on the spine, it also includes the album catalog number which indicates the release format and label. Underneath the information of the producer and record label is the barcode for the album. A barcode is exclusive to a specific product and is a common convention for Digipacks. Finally, the phone from the payphone on the front cover is hung over the back cover with a paper-like effect background. Not only does this phone connect to the title of the album ‘I’ll keep calling’ but it could also symbolize that the truck driver has decided to stop calling which is why the payphone is hanging.

Both inside covers of the album are a simple brown color with a paper-like effect, giving the album an old-fashioned style. This could link to how vinyl record covers use to look as they both have the same paper look. They also feature the theme of the album by having trucks drawn at the bottom of the cover. This gives the inside a less of an uninteresting look but also keeps the audience more drawn to the front cover. The trucks are also drawn to match the colour of the background to keep the theme of brown within the inside cover. More information is included on the back inside cover for the record label and information on the band’s contact information. This information is represented in a small skinny font but still easily noticeable for the audience. The front inside cover contains a lot more information personally from the band themselves. At the top of the cover, information on the members of the band and their roles within the band are displayed. Each band members name is displayed in a bold black font to stand out and attract the audience members. Next to their names in a skinnier font are what each member does for the band. Underneath this there is a thankyou message from the band. Having this helps the band communicate their thankyou to the public about their success and mention a thank you to everyone who helped them. Finally, there is a section at the bottom which gives information on who recorded and produced the music and who created the artwork for the digipack. It includes all company names the band worked for and it also includes copyright information about the songs.

CDD Practice: Understanding the template and designing a digipack

As an introduction to creating our own CD Digipack, I took some notes on understanding how to use and design a digipack template and what should be included; how each square should be positioned. Below is an image of my notes.

CDD Practice: Using Photoshop

I have created a simple practice CD Digipack in photoshop to give me an understanding of how to lay out information in a digipack and what works/doesn't work. This also gave me an understanding of what I should include in my own digipack and re-sizing my images. Below I have screenshot my process.

First I changed the background to black and added the image of sam to the front cover. What I will need to consider for my digipack is the size and shape of the mage due to the image of Sam not filling the front cover.

Next I added the artist name and album title to the digipack where I thought would suit it and look appropriate.

I then added the track list and producer logos to the back cover. For my digipack, I will also add a small print to the back cover.

I then added a CD template for the inside back cover and the song tracks on the inside front cover. Although I like the text style in the inside front cover, for my digipack I will include an image instead to give the digipack more of the artist's style.

From this practice, I like how the name and title goes down the spine and having the artists name featured on the back cover.

CDD Planning: Initial Ideas

Here are my sketches for my initial ideas. Within my CD Digipack, I want to have a romantic, dark colour scheme in order to achieve continuity with my music magazine advertisement and music video. I also want to make sure that the design and layout is a common convention within the indie genre. After sketching out my designs, I have decided that I want to begin by photographing both Brandon and Olivia to get a collection of strong images to portray both the artist and the theme of the music video.

CDD Planning: Audience Feedback on Initial Ideas

After showing my audience members my initial sketches, they seemed to like design 4 best due to the use of bold colour and simple yet intriguing use of imaging and text.

'Design number 4 is probably one of my favourites. Every element of it seamlessly blends together with harmony from its bold use of colour to the positioning of images. I like the idea to put the album name and artist sideways on the front cover as it frees up more space for the image whilst intriguing the audience as it goes against conventions of normal placement of the titles. Leaving the back bare for the song list is also a smart idea as too much imagery would detract from the already great album cover.'

'I really love the way you have kept a colour scheme throughout the Digipack, helping it flow and not breaking the design. I also like the use of imaging with the artist. It's not too much of the artist nor is it too less.'

CDD Planning: Chosen Idea

This is my final sketched plan for my Digipack design. Within my Digipack, I want to have the artist being very serious and 'cool' to give the impression of a teen boy. Also, I want to make sure that the design is symbolic as this is a common convention in the indie genre. To do this, I want to have a colour scheme of red and black and white in order to achieve continuity with my music video and magazine advertisement. The red resembles the love of a relationship but then having the artist in black and white to achieve the other side of him as an artist. First, I want to focus on getting the correct images for the front and inside back cover of the digipack.

CDD Planning: Photoshoot

My setup consisted of a white backdrop, my Nikon D3300 Camera, two soft boxes. I feel the white backdrop gave an effective background for the photographs as every image came out very clean and well defined. On the other hand, there was a difficulty of not gaining shadows on the backdrop due to the lights. This was due to me not having a backlight therefore, only having access to using two-point lighting instead of three-point lighting. This mean't depending where the subject stood, shadows would then be formed. This problem led to me moving the soft boxes round throughout the photoshoot and also having the subject move around a lot more to gain the correct angles and lighting. In terms of shadows, some images were actually a success in the shoot and gave the image more of a dramatic effect. In the end, this problem had also helped the photoshoot become more successful instead of just a problem.

I positioned both soft boxes either side of the camera which was directed towards the subject. I set up the camera to be on a tripod but when trying to get different angles of the subject it was easier to hand hold the camera rather than keeping it level. Having the camera hand held also gave me more opportunities to use different levels and directions of photographing the subject. Finally, having the camera hand held helped towards the soft boxes as instead of sometimes moving the lighting source, I could move to the direction of the light along with moving the subject, making it quicker for me to capture my subject rather than getting the light source correct. Furthermore, I also tired to prevent further light sources such as a natural light source and artificial light from intervening in my photoshoot. I did this my closing all blinds in the room and also turning off all lights. This helped the soft boxes have a much better focus on the subject and create a crisper final image.

CDD Planning: Chosen Images

After my final photoshoot with Brandon and Olivia, I decided these images below will work best for my CD Digipack. They will work well with how I have decided to lay out my Digipack and I also feel these images are the strongest out of all of them.

CDD Planning: Tutorials

Throughout my photoshop process for creating both my Digipack and Music Advertisement, I learnt from many tutorials what I needed to do to improve my images and understanding how to get rid of blemishes and improve the lighting etc. Below I have linked the videos I watched.

CDD Process: Photoshop Process

I first began by choosing a couple images I took of Brandon as I was unsure on which image would work best for the front cover for my digipack as I liked all of them. I changed the backgrounds to neutral colours and changed the hue/saturation, colour balance of the skin tone and also fixed any blemishes. After doing this I decided that some of the images would look good in black and white so I also explored using the black and white filter.

I decided I liked the image with the white glow around Brandon best so I then took this onto the digipack layout. I created the glow using the burn tool to reveal some of the white background. I decided to match the digipack background colour with the background colour of the image as I want the digipack design to flow throughout. However, I wasn't so keen on the grey background as it looked very dull and boring for such a fun artist therefore, I decided on using red as it is exciting and eye-catching, also it can resemble love which links to the theme of the digipack as it is based on a relationship.

Once I changed the background to red I was unsure on the grey image. I added the artist name and album title to see if it would go well with the image however, I wasn't so keen on the grey image either. I decided to go back to the other image I had edited of Brandon and see if it would work better with the layout of my front cover. I really like this image as it has the shadow of his face behind and it gives a nice dramatic effect to the image. I decided to take this and try different ways to blend the shadow with the background. In the end, I changed the background of the image to the red using the lasso tool to cut around him and then changing the colour. I then chose a deeper red for the shadow. I used the lasso tool again to shape around the shadow. I then filled the shadow with the deep red. When testing this image with the black and white effect earlier on in my progress, I liked the shadows the effect gave Brandon's facial structure, so I decided to have Brandon in black and white. I feel the black and white filter contrasts well with the red and it also goes well with the white text.

I was happy with the outcome of this image and added it to my digipack layout. Once I was happy with the image placement, I moved the artist name and title in the correct positioning and locked it into place. I then proceeded to adding the text and logos to the back panel of my digipack. I wanted to keep the back panel simple however, not looking empty so I decided to include a barcode, some information on the producers and record companies, the record company logos, the artist name and the track list. This was enough information to fill the page but it looks neat. I also added the artist name and title on the spine so the album can be recognised from the side. I downloaded the logos for the record labels from google, using the transparent background setting so they had no background.

I then went on to completing the two inside panels of my digipack. For the inside front cover, I decided on only having information on the artist and the production of the digipack. I felt having just text kept the album simple but it looks neat and the red background keeps that eye-catching effect with the chosen font and colour. I did some research on what should be included on the inside of a digipack. I found this website very useful when it came to writing about the production. I also got further information about Tom Grennan from my research I did on him earlier in my blog.

http://emedia.srss.ca/A9-CD%20Package%20-%20Sample%20Text.html

I decided for the inside back cover of my digipack I would include the image I took of Brandon and Olivia together laughing. I feel this image resembles the theme of the album well and also links to my music video which is the chosen single for my digipack. I used the lasso tool to cut out the shape of Brandon and Olivia. I then changed the background to black and used the burn tool to blend any parts of the background that could still be seen around them. I decided to put the image into black and white to match the image of Brandon on the front cover. I also cut the image to a circle so it would be hidden when the CD is in the case and then will be revealed when removed.

CDD Version 1:

Overall, I am really happy with how my first version of my digipack has turned out. I like the bright red background and then the contrast with the black and white images. I also like how simple yet eye-catching it is as a whole digipack. I will show this to my target audience and will get feedback on what should be my next steps to improve or change.

CDD Version 1: Feedback

After showing my Digipack to my audience, I asked them what they thought was good about the design and how the content could be improved. They liked the bright red theme I had throughout the digipack as it stands out and would be noticed in a music store. They liked the font colour and style as it suited the style of the digipack, simple and neat. They also liked the layout of the information about the artist. When asked what could be improved, one piece of feedback was that the front image of the artist was good however, his eye-contact direction flows down to the bottom right corner of the digipack. This leads the audience to look at this part of the front cover however, there is nothing in this area. Therefore, I will change the position of this image or use another photo I took of Brandon.

CDD Process: Changing the front cover image

I decided to change the image after receiving my feedback due to the image not matching the positioning of my front cover design. Instead of having the side profile image I decided on using the same image I used on my Magazine advertisement due to it being a strong image. I knew this worked well as artists such as Jessie J have also used this technique; using one image for both their advertisement and CD cover.

To begin I changed the hue/saturation of the image to get the correct skin tones due to the dull lighting. I also changed the brightness/contrast of the image to make it darker however a more dramatic professional finish.

I then added a black and white filter to the image and changed the settings until I was happy with the outcome. Once this was complete, I began to change the background to the red I have used on my digipack to match the colour theme.

First I cut out the background around Brandon so I could fill this with red. I also used the refining edge tool to keep the edges of brandon portrait smooth. I then filled the background in red using the bucket and brush tool.

Next I used the brush tool with a feather edge to fill in the white spaces that surrounded Brandon. I wanted to do this by hand with the paint brush as I was able to get into detail with the brush rather than using the bucket tool. Although this was time consuming I was very happy with the outcome. I also filled the shadows with a deeper red to keep the shadow effect.

Once I was happy with the image I cropped it to the right size and imported it onto my digipack template. I adjusted it until it was in place and then to finish it off added a parental advisory label to the bottom right corner.