Individual digipak-Miss Miller (Updated)

Individual digipak

04/12/2014

Vasil Nikolov

There are two main reasons why I chose to produce a digipak:
a) This is a popular style in recent times and provides the fans with an album that is produced in lesser quantity and higher quality. It contains the artist`s favourite quote and contains high quality graphics that contain interesting literature/design of this special edition album which due to the low production number is more unique and satidfying for the dedicated fans.
b) By each member creating an individual digipak, ther group bennefits from being spoilt for xhoice from the different ideas each digipak has. This should provide the group with plenty of design once we start our group digipak which would result in a more proffesional digipak.

The colours that were chosen to bge incorporated within the digipak were primarily used to represent the artist and then seconadarily to remind the audience that the album is not a pure indie genre due to the slightly uncinventional colours. For example the warm blue and the warm autumn yellow were used as an incentive for the audience about the character of our artist. The blue colour`s connotation is to represent the artist as being down to eart and normal while the use of the autumn yellow is to represent the artist as a cheerful person that is kind-hearted. Both colours are unconventuioan lfor an indie artist as they usually use further simplistic colours such as pink or white in order to portray their innosence to the audience. Meanwhile, warmer colours are used more by the house/electro genre as they tell the audience that the artist is happy with his life and that they do not posses a dark side.  This would result in the audience believing that their artist is a nice persona and that their are happy at the moment. Furthermore, the use of warm coloyurs might send them the incentive that the artist is in love as a usually romantic music videos contain more warm colours that send uplifting emotions across the audience. The clothing used by the artist further promotes the idea of romance as it would cause the audience to see her feminine side, resulting in a promotion of love by the artist. In the other segments of the digipak, the audience would see that there is a high usage of the colour white as well as red and green. The reason for choosing the white colour is to portray the idea of purity as the artist does not wish to overcomplicate the design and because white is a convnetioanl colour for the indie genre. The colour red can be spotted on all of the cards that have been implemented as well as the colour green on the bank notes. This si to introduce to the audience the two other themes that the artist will have in her album. Red gives off the connotation of danger, which is conventional for the indie gwenre as the artists like to share something dangerous that has happened to them. Also the colour links with the theme of gambling which is a hazard that can corrupt the individual`s mind and make him think only about winning more money (The thrid theme that is introduced by the colour green). This should excite the audience as I have not specified whether she or her love interest aontain such an intoxication of the mind. The use of the colour black in all of her and the album`s writing is to portray that the artist has a slightly conservative personality and that she does not change too much. This is unconventional as inide artists, like to look different from the mainstram of music which leads to many experimentations with themsleves. Nevertheless, the audience should find the colour eye catching and should be able to see the writing clearly within the album.

My artist (Autumn Healy) is in the front cover and I have placed her on the side of it as it takes up most of the space which highlights her to the targeted audience. The use of a mid-shot is conventional to the indie genre as it shows the artist's importance and puts her as the main focus for the album. The artist`s personality suggests that she is confident which results in the audience forming a bond with her. Her representation arrives from the artist looking straight at the camera. Once again, this is conventional to the indie genre as the artist always wants to be the main object for the audience to concentrate on. Similarly to the magazine advert, the artist is wearing a a flower crown in her hair which relates back to the indie genre as artists wished to look vintage which deprives the artist from being branded as mainstream. As the artist holds a cigarette (iconography) it makes her conform to Dyer`s theory as it portrays her as being seems rebellious which would make her more down to earth and result in the audience developing a stronger bond to her. The reason for it being conventional to indie genre is that it would promote their habits and give the artist an in depth view on their life. As Autumn wears natural makeup and vintage clothing, I have decided to implement the nature element thorough the digipak. This is why in many of the images there is a leaf or a tree that is represented in the digipak. This element would cause her to become more distinctive for her audience. 

The design/layout used throughout the digipak contains a simple yet naturalistic background. The use of a warm background as well as the white background in the other slides, portrays to the audience that the artist is relaxed as well as happy with the simple colours that have been used. This might add to the perception of her personality as it allows the audience to understand that she is happy with the little of life leading to her being percept as more humble. The use of a field and a sky with a white cloud is used to make the pictures more satisfying as the overall design is clear. This conforms to the indie genre as the artist is using a cheap, naturalistic settings. However, as the artist takes half of the front cover, the focus is not fully concentrated upon the artist.

Her name is written in a italic, white writing at the top of the front cover in order to portray the artist in a more feminine way. Furthermore the use of the colour white, in the heading is used to mix with the cloud and thus incorporates a more "soft" view of the artist. This once again links with the gender of the artist and would make the audience believe that the digipak is more personal than the standard CD case. This would result in the artist`s name to stand out and make it more recognisable to the the public. A part of the CD, this writing feature has been incorporated throughout the album name, causing it to become more personal. The other type of writing is more retro as it would remind the audience of a typewriter. This would signify the importance of her message to the audience and would link with her personality as she does prefer to use more vintage methods. The writing used on the back cover only portrays the top 3 hits of the artist which have been incorporated in this digipak. Her personality is conventional within the indie genre as artists typically include small and unique features that  separate them from one another and make themselves more memorable for their audience. The writing style is quite simplistic as it uses colloquial features that link to the British music culture. This way the artist can link to her main audience and build a connection that is based on her cultural understanding and wishing to still be a part of that culture.

A part of the different colours that I had incorporated in the music video, I have used other elements of everyday life that affect the individual`s thoughts, beliefs and habits. Elements that I chose to include within my digipak could be seen in the music video for the "Blue Jeans" song as they connote varying messages. The back cover is presented as a table cloth on which the audience could see a bank note and a card. This links with the music video as well as presenting the theme of gambling and corruption such as money to the audience. This would intrigue the audience as they would wish to know what has happened in the music video. It can be argued that such an element is unconventional for the indie genre as these elements link with the themes that are introduced by the artist, rather than the artist himself. This therefore links more towards the dance genre as their type of videos contain a theme that the artist tries to portray to the audience.

Photoshop was the main software from which I had created my digipak. Overall, I believe that the I was much more successful at using Photoshop for my digipak than my magazine advert as the photographs did not need to be of high quality. I was much more successful with the use of tool such as the quick selection tool as well as the cropping tool. Due to the simpler background, the editing looked more professional as many of the segment were bright and more realistic. The chosen handwriting  makes the digipak more personal. However, I did struggle with using tools such as the resizing tool as it stretched the objects more than I wanted them to. To overcome this, I Decided to select the closest size to the wanted one and then select it to a different angle.

In Conclusion, I believe that my digipak has conformed 75% of the indie genre. Furthermore, themes complying to the genre have been introduced without distracting focus away from the artist. I decided to mainly conform to the genre as my main target audience did support this genre, however, I did spice it up with the other genre I had a high percentage from the survey. I believe that creating an individual digipak will my group with more ideas that can be used to produces a professional final digipak.

Individual magazine advert-Miss Miller (Updated)

Individual Magazine Advert
03/12/14
Vasil Nikolov

Magazine adverts are important to the record label as they promote the artist and his/her product. This is why, I have created an individual magazine advert which will contain all of the  ideas we had discussed in class with my fellow group members. Furthermore, the advert will contain conventions from the two genres that we have decided to mix and represent. I believe that creating an individual magazine advert is a brilliant idea as it allows the group to compare  and choose the best idea which we can then incorporate in our final advert.

Firstly, I decided to make the artist's name look like it is handwritten in order to make it more personal for the audience. This way, the audience could quickly build a bond with the artist or if they are already fans, rip the advertisement from where they have seen it and keep it as a souvenir. Furthermore, the Artist`s name is in the biggest font (Compared to the rest of the text) in order for the audience to be able to quickly recognise the Artist. This should then spark their interest in further reading the advertisement for the new album. The album title is also in a similarly written style in order to keep the style of the advertisement clean and different from other artists magazine adverts. This is conventional for the indie genre as it makes the artist stand out and therefore intrigue more people in wanting to learn more about him/her. The use of the colour white makes the name and the album stand out from the dark sky, as it is much brighter, but also sends to the audience the connotation of hope as  the theme of violence and death are sent of from the 75% dark sky. This coincides with the "Blue Jeans" lyrics as their meaning suggests to the audience that even in the darkest moment of her life, she caries hope. Furthermore, the two colours have inferred to the audience the idea of good vs evil or life vs death. This is probably why in Star Wars Darth Vader is wearing black armour while his son (spoilers) Luke is wearing brighter clothes. Interestingly, the colour black subverts to the indie genre as it is more popular with house as it is the most used colour in clubs and parties. Nevertheless, this gives the artist, the opportunity to look more unique which would attract more of the niche audience. 

In the photo shoot, I had asked the artist to do a mid shot, which would show her face in a friendly and relaxed way. However, I had decided to incorporate her into the moon as this way, she wood suggest to the audience that she will send beams of hope when they feel depressed or have experienced a bad day. Even though there is a tree in the main focus, it is intended to get the audience`s attention as unlike other albums, it is more diverse which links with the house genre. Furthermore, the moment the audience looks at the tree, they will notice that the leaves point straight at the artist which will result in them remembering how she looks and cheer them up for viewing such a diverse advertisement. Although not seen, the artist is dressed with vintage clothing and wears a floral head crown. Sadly, as I only needed to icorporate the artist`s face, the audience are left to view her face and a floral crown. Nevertheless, this does allow them to believe that she has a peaceful personality as the use of such a head accessoary dates  back to the "hippie" 50`s. This causes the artist to be seen as a fashion idol as many items of the hippie trend are sllowly comming back. Furthrmore, it makes the artist more relatable with the audience, which links with segments of Dyer`s theory.

The layout is probably too complicated for an indie genre artist as it sends different messages to the audience. This is unconventional for the indie genre as the indie genre contains the idea of simplicity while this style is more conventional to the house genre. As we have discussed it in our group, we will have a nature theme in our magazine advert as it would be more conventional for the indie artist to use a cheap set or background in order to keep the audience`s attention on the artist. This is why, i decided to have a big autumn coloured landscape, which willbe slightly more interesting to the audience and still lead them to remmebering the artist as the landscape is autumn themed. Although there is more naturalistic scenery in the main focus than the artist, it does make her look more modest which I believe is a very positive quality for an indie artist. 

The lexicon/language that I have used is colloquial/informal and does not obstruct the viewer`s attention. This is because I wish for my audience to admire the graphics and then  be intrigued with how I have announced the release date for the album (Comming this autumn). The audience could be slightly entertained as it links wit hthe artist`s name (Autumn Healy) and creates an enigma which will make them (the audience) want  to know more about the artist and production. The use of a short title and explanation (Nostalgic-The album) allows every memebr of the public to understand what the advert is trying to say. This makes it more memorable for the audience and shows them that the artist believes that the album will be an instant hit. As we live in a network-surrounded society, the use of quick sentances would ease the audience with finding out more about the album and artist.

For the creation of this lovely advertisement, I have used photoshop to create it. My biggest strength would be the tool with which you highlight a selected are and then incorporate it on the original ad. Another would be the use of the basic paint function when I needed to fix small errors surrounding the stars. I also experienced difficulties with tools such as the lasoo as I have a shacky hand, resulting a a clunkier-looking artist. Another issue was mkaing the artist more embeded into the moon. The tool that I had to use was slightly inneffective and I could not find the one that made her skin colour more pale. Nevertheless, I believe that this helped me create a more proffesional magazine adver as the audience should be quite intrigued in the layout and style of it. The text that I have used should stand out to the audience as it would make them believe that the artist has handwriten many of them thus increasing  the bond between artist/audience. Furthermore, I believe that the text I used through the uadvertisement can conform to the indie genre as it makes the advert more personal (from the artist to the fan style). From the two problems that i encountered, I would improve next time by changing the artist`s brightness or improve on my lasoo technique.

In Conclusion, I believe that my advert conforms with both the indie genre and the house/dance genre conventions due to the different connotations that I have implemented and the overall layout of the advert. The Mise-en-scene that I had incorporated (makeup, setting, etc.) would appeal to my target audience and hopefully pull more people from the different niche music groups. Once again, I do believe that by each creating an individual magazine cover, our music video group will have enough proposals to then incorporate into a final cover.

Photo-shoot-Miss Miller

Photo-shoot
20/11/2014
Vasil Nikolov

It is important that we have a photo-shoot with our artist as with the pictures, we should be able to create our digipak and magazine advert. This is why we made sure that we took relevant images with which, we can portray our artist in an appropriate way for our audience. The images that we have included on the advert and digipak are vital in informing the audience about what our artist is; her lifestyle and what to expect her to be. Basic, the use of this photo-shoot allows us to portray the character of our artist with which we can intrigue our target audience. It is also important that we make her attractive for potential fans that wish to purchase the artist`s music. Therefore conducting a photoshoot would give us many opportunities to show off our artist and produce images that can be included onto the advert and digipak.

We took this picture of the artist (holding a cigarette) looking straight down the camera lense in order to present her as string and powerful.I intend to use this photograph as my magazine advert as the picture is conventional to the indie genre due to the artist portraying his bad habits bad habits such as: smoking, drinking and other bad habits. These habits are the typical for artist of the genre as they can portray their "broken" personalities, making the audience feel interested for them. The artist is dressed in vintage 50`s clothing which follows the original artist representation and the use of a cigarette collides with the codes of the 50`s as smoking was seen as "cool" in that period. This creates a relationship between the fans and the artist as she allows them to find out more about her personality and personal interests.

Here, the artist is "chilling" on a bench and having a smoke. We decided to photograph her due to the natural background. Furthermore, as we have filmed in the autumn, the autumn colours are matching the artist's name (Autumn), which creates a link for the audience to remember. I intend to use this picture on the digipak for the back cover where she is looking at the cards table due to her bold look and having a poker face. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as the artists is using cheap background that makes the audience less distracted from her. The audience might feel connected to her as the artist is looking straight down the lense, making them  feel like they are having a chat with her. This creates a connection between the artist and the audience and connects to a segment of Dyer`s theory.

I intend to use this picture as a backup for the magazine advert. As my magazine advert requires autumn background, I can possibly use it on photoshop so I can extract and mix it with the moon and stars that I have downloaded. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as similarly to the first one, the artist is showing her rebellious behaviour.

Finally, the artist is resting on a tree in Victoria park. Filmed in a mid-shot manner mid shot to get a view of the artist's clothes. I intend to used this picture for the CD of the digipak as one side of the Cd where she is enjoting nature, while on the other side, there will be a picture of playing cards with money. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as the artist is using a cheap background and allows the audience to see our artist`s natural beauty. As the shot is different from the previous, it allows the audience to see the artist in her entire form and beauty. This causes fans of both genders to fall for her and wanting to hear more from her and see more of her.

In Conclusion, having a photo shoot was a very successful decision to do, as we used surroundings that made the pictures more conventional. These images conform to the indie genre and give our artist naturalistic features. Each group member will be creating drafts of digipaks and magazine adverts on paper and then on Photoshop.

Planning Digipak-Miss Miller

Planning Digipak

12/11/2014

Vasil

A digipak provides the fans with more information from the artist (such as a personal fan message). This strengthens the bond between the fan and the artist. Digipaks are also quite unique and more attractive as they featured bonus tracks and also other rarity moment, which increases the demand for the artist and the profit for the record label. The use of strengthened cardboard allows more space for the artist to insert high quality graphics/pictures which further intrigues the dedicated artist fan.

There is a second type of a CD, which is known as a jewel CD case. This type of case is argued to be more traditional and durable due to the use of a plastic case. Nevertheless, the use of such CD is not so much for the Artist`s fanbase, but more for the audience that wants to try out the artist. AS the Jewell CD case contains less images and less songs it is quicker and easier to make, which results in a lower price. The case will not let the booklet to bend while the digipak can have its contents lost. Furthermore, Jewell CD cases are easier to store, which for the music fan on the road is perfeect as vehicles have limited storage facilities. Thus both types of CD packs, have their positives and negatives.

In this post, I will be explaining how I will plan my digipak. I will be planning a digipak as we all ready have an audience in the music market that we can target this digipak at. To begin with, the artist can be seen at the back of my digipak. This is because I wished to create and enigma for the audience with which I could intrigue them in the first place to check the digipak out. As some of the songs inside contain two types of genre, I have decided to use a simple set for the front cover as this links to the conventions of the indie genre and as there is a leaf on it, the audience would want to see what is portrayed in the rear cover. Once they flip the side, they will witness our artist looking at a poker room through a window. This is a slight hint to the content of the "Blue Jeans" music video. Autumn Healy (our artist`s name) will be portrayed as being independent through her clothing and posture. With part of the set being seen, the audience would then notice that there is a small list of the artist`s songs that is portrayed via the poker hand that is left on the table. On each of the cards there will be two songs and on the last card, there will be the bar-code with the price. The vintage style will still be seen through the artist`s writing from the personal message and also through the titles of the songs that have been embedded in objects from a 50`s club. Thus the use of the front cover will be unconventional for the indie genre as our artist will be portrayed at the back, while the use of autumn scenery and a leaf with her name and album name, should intrigue the audience in the first pick up the digipak. Furthermore, this way, the audience can build a memorable image of the album and be able to separate it from previous artist albums or other artists that have decided to use the conventional style of a close-up with the artist being in the middle and  some scenery at the back.

The colours within this digipak are going to be a mix between the indie and house genre. This will be used to show the bravery and pride of the artist in her experiments with new types of genre. On the front cover, there will be simple setting, displaying a hill in the middle of autumn with the night and moon being displayed. The ground will be with autumn colours, but they would have passed through a filter that reminisces a film from the 50`s. This way conventions such as cheap scenery from the indie genre and the use of both bright and dark colours from the house genre should intrigue audiences from both genre`s. The colour that will be seen on all of the slides from the digipak will be red. It will be used on the artist`s lips under the form of lipstick; on the playing cards as well as the moon on the front cover. This should give off the connotation of love, life as well as dangerous subjects such as gambling, home abuse (Home abuse will be seen in the slide where there is broken glass from the bottle). The use of a heart shaped leaf and the black spade on the CD should give a hint to the audience what the theme of the new song is (gambling and love) which would intrigue the audience as the artist presents a piece of their own life experience in the form of a code. The digipak would also feature pure colours such as white, which converts to the indie genre and causes the audience to be less distracted from the message that the artist is trying to give them. It will mainly be used, in the Personal message side, as well as the ones that contain objects with built in lyrics.

Usually, the layout that we agreed to use was for it to be simple. However, when we meet again on our next meeting, I would show them this layout and design, which is slightly more complicated as it contains more enigmatic design as well as the main themes of the the songs in the album will be displayed via the graohics and colours that I intend to use for the digipak. The artist's name will be in white and bold making the artist`s name more noticeable and standing out. This highlights her importance and promotes the album as being more memorable. Furthermore the use of the colour white, would portray that she is new at experimenting with the house genre. Most of the text will be writen in type writer style (a part from the front cover and the personal message as they would portray that she has thought more for her devoted fans and wishes to make them more personal for each fan) which adds to the vintage look. Furthermore, it makes the text/layout look more feminine, which shows the artist's "down to earth" side and makes the digipak more personal for the fans.

 
There are many different connotations that can be taken from this digipak. For example, the CD features black spades and a £5 note on one side and an autumn leaf on the other side. These objects will be placed on a white background in order to make them stand out further. This is conventional to the indie genre, yet subversive as once again the themes of love within life and social dangers within humans are portrayed within this album. 

In Conclusion, this planning has aided me in deciding what to taking pictures of for the digipak as well as what photos should be made on set. This plan should also help me when using Adobe Photoshop CS6 to create the digipak as well as the adverts surrounding it. In turn when it comes to creating our group digipak,  I would have built up a substantial amount of knowledge surround the creation of digipaks and also how to make it intriguing for the audience which will further assist in creating a group digipak that is appealing to our target audience.