Cover shots for Digipak

To show a clear correlation between the digipak and music video itself, I will use still shots taken directly from the video. I am planning to edit two of the images together, one two shot and one single portrait shot.

Music Video Initial Feedback

Katie
"I really like the whole overall look of the video, it's feels a very current teenage style especially with the coats and shots of the shoes and just the general look of the characters really suits the message/ feel of the song about youth etc. Also I thought it was clear that your character wasn't completely happy but it wasn't overly obviously like the way you mixed in her looking bored with her actually smiling was good, it wasn't like always looking bored. I think it would be too obviously done if she was sad the whole time"

Kate
"Narrative: I really liked the contrast between the two narratives, Julia the one who wanted the teenage fantasy and then you being the one who has it but doesn’t want it. Fitted with the song - really clear.
Song- my favourite part solidified your story especially when you spoke directly to the camera mouthing the words - my favourite camera shot.
Visuals- I liked the switching between the two girls and particularly liked briefly bringing in other teenagers in shot making it a more universal theme of ‘teenage fantasy ‘ more relatable.
Loved the close up shots of both you and the guy laughing as well as your emotionless expressions showing that you didn’t want to be in a relationship I thought the juxtaposing of this worked really well.
I like the quick shots between you and Julia (when she’s sat in front on red tiles)"

Gabriella
"Love the shots of you under his arm, very natural and the end lip syncing is done naturally and fits well with the narrative being more focused on you. Cleanly wraps things up. Really like the fast forward rewind shots of diff people - links well to the narrative being relatable and applicable to the audience listening. Could maybe have more shots of Julia explicitly looking at couples since if you didn't know the story line of books she was looking at it may not be so clear. But good parallels between both 'story lines' e.g. shots of both you and Sam on train and Julia on train. Makes narrative clearer."

Alev
"Knowing the focus of the music video as growing up, I think this was effectively achieved in many ways. The contrast between the couple and single individual was particularly evident with the fast paced shots between the two states of relationships - like at the train station. Also, I really enjoyed the cutaways to the surrounding environment, which was perhaps to show isolation felt by the single individual. The direct address to the camera at the beginning at end ultimately summarised the narrative of such contrast in wanting and rejecting a relationship. I think this tied up the video very well."

Digipak Ideas

My initial ideas for the digipak involve showing a clear contrast between the couple in our music video and the single character. I think I will try and keep the cover as simplistic as possible to stay in keeping with my researched genre digipaks.

A rough layout of the album cover could be the top half the portrait of the single character with the bottom half of the couple's portrait. Possibly having the couple's portrait without the faces could be linked to the idea of the "teenage fantasy" and longing for the idea of something rather than the reality.

Magazine Advert Analysis

Starting to look at the conventions of magazine advertisements, in the lesson we worked on analysing examples from various artists. This involved the more artistic choices in the images used as well as the conventional inclusion of artist and album names for example.

 



Genre Albums

In researching similar artists' album covers, there are multiple similarities in terms of colour, composition and relation to artists.

Daniel Caesar 
Rhythm and blues, Soul music, Neo soul

• More abstract photograph, less focus on the artist or "star image".
• High exposure and brightness
• No inclusion of artist name or album name - subverts convention aside from 'parental advisory'
• Inclusion of the parental advisory label

Ella Mai 
Contemporary R&B

• Portrait shot of the artist, conforming more to the theory of the "star image"
• Simplistic. The font creates the idea of being timeless, traditional. Also created by the choice of a black and white photograph. 

Sabrina Claudio
Contemporary R&B, Alternative R&B

• Artist and Album title not included - less conventional
• More heavily edited covers, colour tinted image (second album cover)

Star Image

Richard Dyer's star theory is made up of the following key ideas:

1) The star as a construction 
The star is a construction and not a real person. This is created through various forms of media be it music videos, magazines or advertising. 

2) The star as a commodity
The idea that stars are produced to create a profit. Record labels may create similar stars as they know the trends that will work to generate this profit.  

3) The star as an ideology 
Stars represent certain social groups and views will therefore create certain ideologies. Consequently, fans will often copy their style or even share their views. 

Paradox of the star 
The star must be both ordinary and extraordinary 
The star must be both present and absent

Digipak Introduction

• Show correlation with and compliment the music video or brand of the artist. To do so, possibly use a still shot from the music video as the main image.
• Consists of four panels and a spine
• 300gsm card matt or gloss
• 139.5mm x 6mm x 125.5m

Generic conventions: Track list, cover photo, album name, artist name, CD art or art behind CD, photos of the artists/behind the scenes, reviews, record label details, bar code, parental advisory, hologram.

Semiotics: Ferdinand de Saussure - signifier and the signified. Roland Barthes - denotation and connotation. Stuart Hall - Reception theory, encoding and decoding, dominant reading (negotiated, oppositional).