Test Shots For My Front Album Cover

After looking at theses images, I have realised that the writing that will be placed on the front cover of my album cover will have to be very light to stand out. This means that it is not my initial idea, therefore I need to edit these images and change the colour to black and white, which will make them look more professional. Personally, I think the close ups are the best images of the above, as I think the lighting is perfect as it emphasises the artists feelings and emotions. The next step is to change location, to give me the option to chose the best image possible for my front cover of my album.

Ideas for my front cover of my Digipak

Above I have edited existing images which will assist me to create my final front cover for my digipak. I have decided to use 2 different types of images to help me to create a better understanding of what type of front cover I want. The first image the model is slightly to the right, whereas the second image is  central. Personally I prefer the second image as I think it is more eye catching as there is a hint of gold on the clothing, so could potentially make it look more professional. I have decided that my artist name is going to be at the top of the album cover as it is very conventional and I think will look perfect on my album cover. Depending on the length of my artists name will depend on what type of style writing I will have. If the name of my artist is long like 'Beyonce' I will have the style of writing like the second image above; as it covers the top of the page so is very eye catching and will stand out.

I have researched digipak templates, to allow me to have the best out come. I have chose to use the six panel digipak for my work with 2 CD's, as it enables me to create a CD with my track list on and a CD for extra features songs and music videos. I believe this is very conventional for music digipaks as by looking at existing products such as Rihanna and Beyonce, I believe that I am able to create something just as good to the audience. 
The image above shows the net of the digipak and what will be placed where. The pack will represent my artist as I have created a image and personality for her, which is unique to the artist. I am going to base my pack around my music video, however having different styles in there as well, never the less i will keep to the conventions of pop artists.

Digipak Ideas

After looking at the full digipak all together it has made me realise how important it is to have the correct colours and what type of camera angle the picture needs to be. For example, most of the front album covers are close ups are a medium close up.

Therefore, my digipak will have the at least 2 different colours that will contrast with each other to allow my product to stand out and the camera angle will be a close up as I think this type of shot is more effective. However inside the digipak I will follow the conventions again and produce a medium/long shot, as variation intrigues the audience; as there will be new images to be seen. I have decided that my 2 main colours will be black and white, as I think black and white looks classy and more professional.

Filming Day 4

I have planned a shoot for the 25th February, which will enable me to re-shoot any filming that needs to be improved to look more professional and to fill in the missing gaps/blank spaces that I have in my 2nd draft music video. This filming was very short notice as my actress (Chloe) has a apprenticeship so is working most days and is very busy however managed to get the day off work; so I have arranged to hire the lighting and filming equipment for the night which is very important in my video to look professional. I have borrowed the filming equipment from college for example the video camera, tracking device and a tripod. The weather also looks like it is going to be good, which will allow my actress to perform at her full potential as if it is windy and cold it can effect the footage. The weather forecast is shown below.

Filming times; that is yet to film or footage that needs re-shooting

'Treasures that they hide' - 1.45

'Like the sun who says the night'-1.50

'Darkened sky'-1.57

'Ohh Ohh' 'We are fire' x2 2.10

'The flame will never die' 2.20

'We will glow' 2.33

'Oh Oh' 2.54

'We are fire, we shoot the flame up high' 2.57

no sound- 3.11

'Oh you and I' 3.17

'Oh Oh' 3.30

'Oh Oh' 3.40

'We will glow' (This will be a re- shoot as I need to make sure my actress stays focused for 7 seconds as it is the end of the music video. My actress will look directly into the camera which will allow the audience to connect with the music video.)

This has helped me as I now know what is left to film in my music video to enable my product to be completed. It will assist me with the planning and my organisation of the rest of my filming days, to enable me to produce the best possible outcomes that the time I have left.

2nd Draft - Music video

          After completing my second draft, it enables me to see where more filming needs to be done. From looking at my music video again, I need to focus on the middle part of my video as this is where there are blank spaces. I will look back at my story board to see what other shots/ filming needs to be done to fill the spaces.
         Overall, I am very pleased with my 2nd draft, as the timings and the varied effects that I have used show a good range of my abilities. For example the lip sync in my video is accurate with the song timings, along with the different types of shot I have used, displays a good understanding of the genre and the lyrics of this popular song. However the last shot I have placed on my timeline, I will need to change, as the clip will need to finish the end of the song which means the clip will need dragging out. In all the video clips of the lip sync 'we will glow', my actress started talking or laughing just after she had finished lip syncing. Therefore this part of my filming will need to be repeated. At this point in time, I was hoping that I would have finished my filming, as I thought all my filming was perfect and looked professional. However looking back at some clips that could have been used, they don't look professional and wouldn't look correct in my music video. Therefore, I need to start filming and editing again straight after half term, to enable my video to be complete.

Conventions of Album Magazine Adverts

Existing Album Magazine Adverts

Magazine Ad Mock ups

Designing different templates for my music video advertisement allows me to create different templates and chose the perfect one for my genre. Above are 3 brief mock ups that I have created by looking at some existing adverts. It also allows me to have a simple idea of the layout and how my magazine advert should look like. Planning a mock up allows me not to miss out crucial parts to of the magazine advert. The main conventions are the artists name, album name and to have a main image. I haven't decided which template to use as of yet, as I need to do more research, on how to make the album advert successful.

Possible Font Ideas

Personally, I think it is very important to have big, bold and aesthetically pleasing fonts on my digipak and magazine ad. To find the best font for my product, I did some research to find the perfect font types for my product. I want my fonts to match both my genre, and the style/image of my artist. The images/fonts above are my favourite fonts I found on the site when using the song title Glow' as a sample. Handwritten, bold and brush style fonts would suit my products best due to them being more personal and original than the more traditional fonts, which adds a unique and adds emphasis on the audience. I will continue to experiment and create new ideas with these styles and see which ones work best in my drafts as I still don't know which font will look the best. I used dafont.com to research different font types, I have used this site as I know it is reliable and useful with a different variety of font styles due to using it for my coursework products last year. This has helped me, as I can start looking at different styles to see which would work best with my product

Possible colour scheme ideas

Colour schemes that fit the genre and image of an artist is key for both digipaks and magazine ads, which is why I want to ensure I use the perfect colour scheme on my products to enable them to stand out from the rest. When it came to researching colour schemes and digipaks, I wasn't really sure where to start when it came to thinking about a colour scheme for my product, because looking back at existing products, there wasn't any conventions for my genre or  'set in stone' colours that are used in different genres, as each artist appeared to have their own unique style when it came to digipaks.
Below are different colours that a bold that would stand out.

Here are some existing album covers that are presented in bold colours that I personally think stand out and are from the same genre as my music video.

Personally, I feel if I chose bright colours for my colour scheme that would have to look perfect to get the correct effect, as sometimes album covers can look cheap and messy. For example, I think Sam Smiths album is just right but I feel the writing on Katy Perry's album makes the cover look quite unprofessional.

Whereas, others artist in my genre have darker colours, for example black and white, as they contrast against each other. Personally, I think this approach looks more professional and stands out. Below are some examples are darker album covers.

After looking at the possible ideas for my digipak, I have decided that darker colours will be perfect for my album cover as my music video is set mostly at night. I also think that it will stand out and look more professional. Especially if I use black, white and gold, it could add more stylish. For example the Beyonce album cover (top left) has added a hint of gold by the use of the bracelet which adds a more exclusive and fashionable approach.

In the existing album covers there are at least 2 to 3 different colours on the digipak. After noticing this I am only going to use 3 colours at the most, for my album cover, as I think the more simplistic products look the best.

Digipak conventions

Name Of Artist

For my music video I have decided to create a different name for my artist instead of just Chloe which is my actresses name. Changing the name of my artist will allow her to be unique and create a new identity. For example, Lady Gaga is actually called Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, but is only known as Lady Gaga, which has created a whole new identity, as she is know to be crazy and wear very unique clothing, for example the meat dress. I have done some research into unique names and the meanings that could appeal to my target audience.


Artist Names by s0017035 on GoAnimate


After looking at these names, I particularly like, Anastasia, Caggie, Ampika and Sophia. I have decided that my artists name needs to be short and snappy. It is an unusual name so it will stand out to the audience. I particularly like the name Anastasia and I am likely to use it in my products.