Digipack Research

Digipak is a style of compact disc or DVD packaging. Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums to sell the Artist/ Artist’s music. The Digipak has a self-contained package that protects the disc from damage. It is shatter proof and allows for greater graphic display and market impact. The three section digipack sleeves opens up more design options because there is more room. However, they're more expensive than traditional liner notes and jewel cases. Digipaks can be more environmentally friendly than jewel cases because they can be made of recycled paper.

This is Maxwell’s CD cover as he didn’t have a Digipack when he released his single. (This is my artist for the music video)

     

Maxwell only had a simple CD design and has never had the full Digipack as shown below.

 This is one of the processes of making a digipak, on each box I have to come up with a design of what I want the final digipak to look like. The hardest thing about making a digipak through photoshop is making sure the design looks as professional as possible while making the design reflect the song and artist. What has helped me through the process is some tutorials for photoshop which talks/demonstrates step to step of what i have to do to achieve a certain design.

here are some tutorials that helped me:

http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/web/50-great-photoshop-tutorials-for-clever-beginners/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QajIxEGVPbU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYqJnv0ooNo

In my Digipack, me and my partner based the designs on the music video. We were complimented on the use of mise en scene throughout our video. We made sure to include still shots of some of the best scenes in our video while trying to keep the digipak looking professional like an actual artist's cover. We made sure the back and the front reflected the genre of the music which is slow and reflective (soul) so we didn't want to over do things and go crazy as compared to my other class mates whose genre's are more flexible as they can use colour and random tools on Photoshop that will reflect their song. As the message in this video is sad and is very realistic, we wanted to keep it simple while showcasing the feelings of the artist and the two characters in the music video.

This is the simple version which most artist use these days for their single but when they have an album to release, they will most likely us the six panel one as it is more attractive to the customer and will allow some artist to show off their skills, here is an example of a six panel digipak that shows off great artistry:

Editing Techniques for my music video

The use of Black and white

Me and my partner have chosen to use a black and white effect to show flash backs to the good times. We have chosen this create more of an effect because our video is supposed to be create emotion and have a reflective mood. 

The use of Sepia 
Me and my partner have chosen to have sepia as an option for us to create a dramatic atmosphere. We are not yet sure if we are going to include sepia yet as we are going to see if it works when we get the footage.

The use of ttransitions: 

• Smooth transition- we want our transitions to be soft as the song is very slow. This transition will help the shots move along nicely, making it it feel like a real music video.
• Dissolve will help us when our character finally dies as we want the shots to be long without it being one whole take. This also helps us with going back to the artist which is a form of performance.

The use of jump cuts and graphic match
The two editing techniques will help make our video different from others as it creates more of an effect. The jump cut will be used when showing the flashbacks and the graphic match will be shown through the use of two character's eyes. This will help show the main plot to the music video to show how the little boy is the artist singing.

Slow motion
The use of slow motion will help bring out the audience's emotion towards the characters in this video. We want to also showcase the mothers struggles as she feels she Will be stuck in that bad situation forever and that there is no way out. We want the audience to feel what the mother is going through and slow motion will help to show the hard life of a single mother going through a lot of things.

Breakdown Sheets

My Music Video Survey Results

I made a survey to find out how people respond to music/ music videos. I gave out this survey to 20 people around school and from the results, it has helped me understand what the audience for my music video would want and what I could include or take out from my existing music video to appeal to more people. For example, one of my questions asked if people enjoyed having a moral in a music video and more said yes than no, this is useful as my music video has a story and a moral, it shows  how people who are struggling should get help instead of letting things get from bad to worse and finally giving up on their lives.These are some of the results I received :

Music Video Animatic (FINAL)

Breakdown Sheet for my music video SNEAK PEEK!

Settings:  Living room, Kitchen, bedroom, estate, graffiti wall, park, stage, hospital                                                                                                                        

Location: St. Thomas Hospital where the mother character will be walking into the reception to show the audience that she has health problems which later on they will discover she has cancer. Tooting Hub where most of the shooting will commence especially the performance scene. Stockwell where we will shoot the establishing shots, the stair case and the door scene. Vauxhall Park where we will shoot the ‘heaven’ scene with the mother character. 

Crew members and roles:  Victoria Kaboyo and Faban Hiyabu - Both shooting with the camera and directing

Cast members:   A mother, a small boy, a teenage boy and a man

Extras:  The audience when the little boy performs which will be at tooting hub. The little boy’s friends performing with him mostly concentrated on the little boy (the son of the woman)

Wardrobe:

·         The little boy- school uniform, jeans and a hoodie, t-shirt – this is to make him look as normal as possible and the casual clothes when he performs

·         The teenage boy- T-shirt, jeans, hoodie- this would show how the teenage boy is like every other boys his age, normal.

·         The man- T-shirt and jeans

Make-up:  N/A

Props:  chain that the mother gives to the son in the park. Pills for when the mother commits suicide.

Special effects: The use of blur, black and white in some scenes to show flashbacks

My Music Video Animatic (1) and Feedback from my class

This is my first Animatic I did with my Partner. Since doing this animatic, we gained feedback from our class about it and they said that it was very good and the best thing about it is our narrative, they said that we really thought about how we were going to match the lyrics of the song to the story. However, they also stated that we needed to make some of our scenes less longer and use quick shots for effects. The best comment we received was and idea of what we could add in to give more of a dramatic effect, a student said that instead of having our female character go into an office having a doctor tell her she has cancer we could show it through the character having her hair falling out. This comment was very useful and it reminded me why feedback is very important!

My Pitch

Music video research and analysis

Katy Perry- firework

This video:

Tells a story (narrative) and is very inspirational as it tells the story of people who have struggles and come out with confidence, overcoming whatever circumstance they’re in. It has a good use of varied shot types like shot reverse shots and establishing shots. There are also varied locations with establishing shots showcasing all the beautiful locations. There is performance throughout the video which keeps the audience engaged with the artist. The video matches the rhythm of the music too.

Niki Minaj – Super Bass

This video:

Is fun and very playful, Sells the artist really well as she is in every shot with almost a close up every 2 minutes. Has a change of pace that matches to the change of the music (from fast to slow) and Is very entertaining even though there is no narrative. The director made sure to include bright attractive colour that makes it very memorable and reflects the artist’s personality. It also has attractive men so it can attract more women audiences.

Adele – Rolling in the deep

This video:

Has very fascinating effects like the glasses at the start of the video which brings attention to detail. It also Shows the lyrics through different aspects of the video like the man dancing with a of puff dust showing the end of a relationship. The action is done exactly to the beat which creates tension within the video reflecting on her emotions. It is very unique and personal. There are symbolic objects to reflect the lyrics like mirrors. There is a mix of slow motion and real time also reflecting on her deep emotional feelings. There is an aspect of Drama as well with the dancer and the drummer and piano to create dramatic tension.

Target audience of my music video

This is April and she is 17years old

• April listens to RnB and Hip hop and soul, she also likes a bit of Pop Rock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6y_4_b6RS8   R Kelly ignition remix is her favourite song

• April usually goes out with her friends on the weekend, maybe to the park or to a shopping centre. When she isn't with her friends, she loves hanging around with her family as she has a big family consisting of her mum and dad, her 2 older brothers and 2 younger sisters, this as you can imagine keeps her very busy in the house.
• April loves Cookie Crisp cereal but hardly gets any as her brothers always finish the box before she gets a chance to have any. This gets on her nerves as she has loved Cookie Crisp since she was younger.                                                                                
• April always takes the bus or train as she is always going all around London to meet up with her friends or go to college. She hopes to start driving after college as she doesn't want to rely on public transport as it is not always reliable.
• April lives in Norwood south London in a 4 bedroom house with her mum, dad, 2 smaller sisters and one older brother. The eldest brother has his own flat in Camden.
• April's favourite drink is Oasis as she loves  it in summer when she feels really hot!

• April's favourite TV shows are Big Bang show, One on One, My wife and kids, keeping up with the Kardashians 90210 and so many more. Mostly she prefers American TV shows.
• April's favourite vegetable is carrots as they do not taste of anything and they can be eaten with anything like dips or just good old Sunday meal with the family.
• April loves playing tennis and volleyball. She can never miss Wimbledon when it comes on and she loves Andy Murry.
• April's ideal partner would be a nice light hearted man who knows how to make her laugh and also is into sport. She want her man to be caring and be family orientated as she loves her family and he has to be accepted by her family before things can get too serious. She also loves a guy with good eyes and a nice body!
• She goes on Holiday to Florida in America a lot as she has family there, sometimes she goes by herself and sometimes with her family. She enjoys going to Florida as it is hot and the people there are friendly while there is so many different things to do like roller skating or going on the beach and the most obvious one, Disney Land Florida!
• April loves trying different sorts of food from all around the world, she loves Chinese and Latin foods when she has enough money, but when she doesn't, her and her friends normally go to Pizza Hut or Nandos after a hard day of window shopping. 

Copy right in the music industry

The law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used. The rights cover; broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public.

There are two types of Copy rights for music in the UK:

This is the logo for the copy right

·         the composition, musical score, lyrics, as well as any artwork or cover designs, as all of these are individually subject to copyright in their own rights

·         The sound recording itself is another type of copyrights in the UK and is signified by the ‘P in a circle’.

·         http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/protect/p07_music_copyright This information is taken from the Copyright service website for the UK

My three influential music videos

      

Madonna- Vogue

This music video was influential because it was rare at that time to have a video in black and white. Madonna was a very controversial artist and her video was exploring different aspects of beauty, for example, men dressed as women in suits and also she was paying tribute to Marylyn Monroe. The genre of this music video was pop and Madonna of course is the queen of pop.

 City high- What would you do?

This music video was influential because it told a story of how some women are treated without knowing their story. This video goes against the conventions of a R&B video as it shows that women are not just a piece of meat and they o certain things because that is the only way they can take care of their family, in this video it’s the woman being a stripper to take care of her child, this video is inspirational and makes us think, it gives a good message.

Muse- Super massive black hole

This video is really memorable as it has a strange concept to it. The video shows many different things that don’t really match with the song but it works as it conforms to the genre of rock as the different shots match to the beat of the music (The guitar). This video does not use storytelling but it works and probably reaches out to their audience.