Reconstructing the digipak

Text
Colour scheme
Images






For the reconstruction of the digipak, I decided to use bolder colours compared to the washed out ones I used before. I predominantly used black, white, grey, purple and blue. I used similar photos that I had used in the previous design but repurposed them in a different arrangement so that it was clearer to where the front of the digipak was

I used the sketches of the characters from the video:

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However, I still thought this was too complex and so decided to use a silhouette of the artist instead. 

To make the image look more natural, I changed the opacity to make the silhouette more opaque to give it the appearance of a shadow: 

Audience feedback

Positives and negatives of using the sampling methods and techniques that I did:

Audience feedback survey - second cut

Comparing the skeleton with the final cut

Cohesion of media products

Third and final cut

We made some final minor changes here. I think one of the most significant changes we made was adding a short clip of the protagonist in prison at the every end of the video. I think this worked to make the video more intense and darker which is appropriate for its genre. 

MUSIC VIDEO

Editing

When editing the video, we added a variety of different effects to make the video more engaging and up beat. 

Slow motion 

To add suspense and tension to the final fight scene we put the clips in slow motion. Combined with a mix of jump cuts, this showed how time was passing but that it was passing slowly for the female protagonist, This makes it obvious to the viewer that this is a distressing upsetting scene. 

Reversed and sped up footage

To create a more lighthearted mood at the start of the video, we used editing techniques typical of a pop video. We sped up the shot of the artist dancing to crate a sense of bliss during the Bristol scenes, and repeated but reversed the shot of the protagonists holding hands to demonstrate the happiness that the characters felt whilst together. 

Green screen

Using the green screen 'cutaway' effect on iMovie, we were able to create the illusion that the protagonist was being watched on CCTV. We chose to do this in order to demonstrate the binary opposite of Freedom vs Confinement and the loss of privacy that the protagonist has to deal with now that he has lost his freedom. Combined with jump cuts, this also creates the feeling that the protagonist has been in the prison for a long time, under constant watch suggesting that he is a very dangerous character and therefore foreshadowing the final scene of the video. 

Conventions used, developed and challenged

Conventions used, developed and challenged in my video:

Conventions used, developed and challenged in my digipak and digipak advert (click the picture below):

Question 4

Digipak feedback (positive and negative)

From this I have learnt that the majority of people liked the colours used in the digipak which were representative of the genre but felt that the spread of colours was uneven. I had a lot of conflicting feedback over the mixture of black and white with colour but I do think that the alternative genre is also a genre which people either love or hate and if the digipak is representative of this then I think that there is no need to make any further changes to the colour scheme. This was also something that my media partner Charlotte picked up on, also saying that the digipak was very representative of the genre. To conclude, I would like to make some final changes to the product. The digipak does currently look confusing as the pattern I have used is confusing. I will continue to use the same photos but will change the amount of colours I have used and use simple, bolder backgrounds.  

Improvements I need to make second cut

Improvements:

0:08 – Turn down the volume of diegetic camera

0:13 – Shorten the diegetic noise of door slamming

0:27 – “now” – should still be a shot of the Bristol footage and characters

0:30 – Lip syncing should continue to 0:30 and cut to Bristol footage after “now”

0:32 – Clip of bear holding the heart lock should last until after “but I feel it still” (0:33) This will ensure that the next shot then reversed shot footage is also on the beat.

0:37 – Lip syncing should start on “Im” so that the bear flicking water on the lion only lasts for the “oooh”

0:47 – Lip syncing out of sync

0:48 – The next cut needs to begin on “feed”

0:57 – Lip syncing is out of sync

1:06 – 1:10 – Editing needs to be on beat

1:18 – Shot should cut after “now”

1:20 – Shot at 1:20-1:21 should last until 1:22

1:23 – Lip syncing should cut immediately after “we should fight a war for peace”

1:25 – Random solid colour shot

1:27 – Shot at 1:27 should cut after “now”

1:28 – Shot at 1:28 should cut after “goodbye”

1:29 – 1:31 – montage of bear flipping bottle should cut like this:

1 shot- “goodbye” “

2 shot - to my”

3 shot – “hope and dreams”

1:34 – montage in bear in cell should cut like this:

1 shot – “we could”

2 shot – “wait until”

3 shot – “the walls”

4 shot – “come down”

5 cut – shot already included before the lip syncing

1:38 – replace lip syncing cut with a shot of Sam dancing

1:46 – End lip sync cut as soon as the lyrics stop

1:54 – Shot of prisoner walking down the hallway needs to be the same shot as the one used with the canter effect

2:02 – shot of bear laughing should begin on “im”

2:07 – shot of bear throwing down kitchen towel should only last for the duration of “now” – shot of bear dropping phone should begin on “might”

2:09 – preferably use a different clip of bear – seems staged

2:13 – Shot at 2:13 should begin later on – should begin on “oooh”

2:22 – lip syncing should only last for “I feel it still”

2:27 – POV shot of bear should cut after “now”

2:31 – POV shot should cut after “now”

2:34 – Lip syncing out of sync

2:37 – first head flick of Sam’s and the ting should be a shot of bear in prison, the second ting should be a shot of Sam’s head flick

Digipak advert - Audience feedback and final changes

One of the thing that I learnt from the audience feedback of my digipak was that the contrast of colour/black and white worked well. This is therefore something that I applied to the digipak advert.

                                

More audience feedback:

                  

After receiving this feedback, I changed the spacing between the texts and edited the album font so that it looked more similar to the artist name. I also changed the colour of the release date text and moved it to a more appropriate place where it could be seen clearly. 

  

DIGIPAK ADVERT

DIGIPAK

Digipak progression - back sleeve

I used the same photo on the back cover of my digipak as I did for the front. I created a plain shape so that the text would be clearer and easier to read. 

I used the light font from DaFont to create the text for the songs featured on the album. The font worked well because it was less bold than the font used for the album name but was still in a similar style. 

I finished the design by adding the barcode and the record company as well as a copyright notice. I also changed the colour of the background image so that it was more interesting and fit consistently with the colour scheme of the album. 

Digipak progression - centre panels

Although I liked these designs, the general feedback from other media students was that the digipak didn't feature enough images of the artist. Therefore, I edited a photo of Sam, increasing the contrast and making it black and white. I then put it inside one of the circle designs.

Digipak progression - left inner sleeve

For the left inner sleeve I used a sketch of a lions head to represent the female protagonist seen in the music video. The use of a similar style also allowed me to clearly link the two album sleeves together. 

   

I edited the cement background so that it was brighter and looked more similar to the wall background I used on the right inner sleeve. I used an eroded font against he cement background to show the link between the two images. However, after receiving audience feedback the general comment was that the change in text colour looked out of place. This was something I changed for the final design: 

Digipak progression - right inner sleeve

I posterised and increased the contrast of my image. 

I then made the image black and white and filled in the artists hair with the same colour I used for the band logo. 

I created a pattern by editing this shape together multiple times.

I combined the two elements together layering them so that the artist was at the back. However, I felt as though this didn't work with the front cover I had created. 

 

Using a sketch I found on the internet, I edited the sketch on top of the photo I had taken of sam in the studio. O then edited the photo taken at the prison into the background. 

Digipak and Digipak advert - further development

Improvements made: 

Bevel and emboss shadow added 

More squares added 

Same image used for every square 

I added a background to the image as I thought the colours were too plain and white. however, this didn't fit with the genre and so i took inspiration from Portugal. The Man's other album covers and looked at some psychedelic artwork: 

This however, was too colourful ad distracted from the main image of my artist so I added a black and white effect which I thought was more genre appropriate as well. 

Picture applied to digipak poster and digipak: 

Second cut

Camera
The camera work remained the same as we didn't make any improvements as no re shoots were necessary.

Lighting
The lighting throughout the video was improved as we adapted it on certain clips to improve the quality of the footage.

Editing
The video now has a more polished finish as we got rid of the vignette filters on the footage after the negative feedback we received for using it. The ending clips were changed so that the cross cutting between performance and narrative was more appropriate as there was an equal split. However, the lip syncing in the final part was not up to sync and this is something we will need to improve for the final video.

First cut

What worked and issues we still need to overcome

Sound

In general I thought that the lip syncing was in time with the song. However, there were certain clips, especially the lip sync "gone with the fallen leaves" that were obviously out of sync. The diegetic noises of the camera and the door slamming also worked well and helped integrate the narrative with the performance and song. 

Camera 

The camera movement in the performance half worked really well and helped achieve the indie genre look that we aimed for. The shot of the protagonist when the door slams is slightly grainy and could do with adjusting. 

Lighting 

The overall lighting in the video worked well but some of the prison scene clips are still too dark despite us increasing their brightness. The lighting for the majority of the clips was appropriate and conveyed the mood of each scene accurately. 

Editing 

Match on action is fluid throughout the fight scene. The use of jump cuts is mostly appropriate however, in some cases the jump cuts were not appropriate and felt over used. Some of the editing was off beat and the lip syncing started mid sentence which slowed down the continuity of the video. The reverse clips made some of the Bristol footage more interesting. 

Improvements to make: 

Sync the lip syncing 

Adjust the lighting in prison footage 

Try using different editing techniques instead of just jump cuts

Do further editing to ensure cuts are on beat and when they are off beat, the offbeat cuts are appropriate. 

First cut - Audience feedback

From the audience feedback via Facebook we found out that the most important issue to address in terms of our video was the filter we put on some of the Bristol footage. Although we did this to show that these were clips from the past, from the feedback we learnt that it dampened the quality of our video.

Improvements to make:
No Filter on Bristol footage
Sync up certain clips of the lip syncing
Edit the order of certain cross cuts between performance and narrative