Over the holidays...

Ive managed to download Adobe PhotosShop CS5.1 at home so I can complete my digi pak and advertisement over the holidays.

Altered Images

 These are some of the images that I brightened using PSE.

The start of creating the Digipak, Via Adobe Photoshop

THIS IS PROCESS OF STARTING THE ANCILLARY WORK ON PHOTOSHOP.

FOR EFFECT I DECIDED TO ADD AN IMAGE OF CHANDELIER FOR THE BACK ROUND, BECAUSE IT GIVE A CRYSTAL EFFECT AS OUR ARTIST IS NAMED CHRYSTELLA.

I HAVE ALSO DECIDED THAT I FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE USING PHOTOSHOP FOR TEXT INSTEAD OF QUARK BECAUSE I FOUND THAT IT WAS MORE COMPLEX USING QUARK.

evaluation cinema recording on music video

This is when we were watching back on our music video on big screen!! The audience were very supportive as they were cheering!

final font

I went on to www.dafont.com and i chose 6 fonts that i liked and that i thought would go well with my theme for my digipak. As i explained before i did not want to use anything that did not symbolize or mirror our artists character. Chrystella's  is humble, classy, bold and charming, therefore we did not want to go for a font that was Gothic or too girly or childlike as that's nit the image that we are trying to put out to the viewers. The image that we are putting out to the viewers is that Chrystella is urban, young, classy, full of energy. 

The font that i finally came to a decision to use as my main font was Balmoral. I wanted some advise so i asked my teachers on what they thought would look best with my digipak, and soon after i found a font that i absolutely  feel in love with on Photoshop; Copperplate Gothic light and Copperplate Gothic bold, these are the fonts that i have decided to use, based on the fact i wanted to keep my digipak looking simple but classy and readable at the same time.

Last minute inspiration

 

I was struggling to think of the perfect way to add all three images to the back of the digipak until I saw this image of a Destiny's Child album cover. I want to re create the same use of cut up images in my digipak , and i already have started the process.

First day of creating the digipak

Taking the photos from the harddrive and saving them onto my student account

Starting point

Whilst i was working on the digipak i noticed the background of the photos were a bit too dark for what I wanted. So I lightened them. The process can be seen below.

Before and after.

 

This video shows how i managed to completely remove the background of the image - making it easier to use and blend in with the other photos on the main digipak.

 

How I used the clone tool to proper blend in the image into the middle of the two other images.

editing images on photoshop for digipak

Being able to shoot photos for our digipak in the photography room using a kodak camera we had some ideas about how we wanted to present our artists. The thing is we didn't want to portray our artist in a sexual way as that is not what our artist is about. She is all about empowerment for all females and to be able to put across to the world that being half naked isn't the only way that female artists sell, its purely based on talent and being able to connect with the audience. We wanted our artist to look sophisticaed and sexy without showing assets of her body parts.

As i looked back at my image i noticed that i could add more to enhance her look and make her look fabulous. As i am a photography student as well i am familiar with Photoshop and realized that i could do so much more with the images. As all human beings and celebrity's, artist also have flaws that are either covered up with makeup or using technology, as we didn't glam up our artist too much using make up it was easier to Photoshop. Our artist had scars and dark patches on her skin which were visible in some places but nothing that photoshop couldnt handle. Below is the artist and her normal skin without the photoshop affect(the image that is shown is not the same pose for my front digipak but i just wanted to show the scare and how the skin wasnt photoshoped before so you can tell the difference):

As you can see her skin was smooth but editing would make it look even better. In photoshop i used the Clone stamp tool; >>>

 which basically copy's a part of her skin that is flawless and i can then paste it onto the piece that needs to be covered up as you can see below she had a scare and now it has disappeared. (screenshots step by step of how i achieved a scare less look):

I adjusted the diameter so that it could cover up more in a short space of time.

After achieving this look i decided i wanted to airbrush the image by using blur on Photoshop, Below i will show step by step how i achieved flawless skin. (I am now using the image that i used form my digipak):

As you can see i had to play around with the Radius and the Threshold as i didn't want her to look too fake and but just right and natural, after this i played around with the lighting as i wanted her lips to pop out.

After i had edited all that i thought was needed i went on to www.rollip.com, where i can upload the photo and  change the effect and so i did. below is the final image: 

I am extremly happy with how the image has turned out as i feel that although it was a long process in finding the right lighting effect and the right contrasting effect it worked perfectly fine. i feel that the lips and the green ear rings pop out to the audience and her skin looks glossy and flawless and this is the look that we are going for. I especially chose this image because i was inspired but "The Saturdays" album cover where it was all head shots of them and i thought it was really different, clean and classy. (below the saturdays album cover)

Analysis of magazine adverts

 

Positives elements of the advertisement

- Clear image of artist

- What is being promoted is clear 'the new album'

- Logo for company is clearly seen

- Single titles in bold red - encourages people to buy if they like the songs

 - Clear theme throughout - hard imagery

- Only three colours ( greyish white/red/black/)

Negative elements of the advertisement

- No clear release date

 

Positives elements of the advertisement

- Clear image of artist

-Release date can be seen

- Logo for music company is clearly seen

- Album cover is seen in ad

 - Clear theme throughout

- Colour scheme is simple and similar to album cover

Negative elements of the advertisement

- Not exactly clear that it is for an album - could be for a DVD

For my advertisement i will take inspiration from the positive elements and make sure that i do no include any of the negative elements from either of these advertisements.

Font research

Today i saw that shaiann had gone onto a website called http://www.dafont.com/ where you could look at different font styles and play about with some. Well i decided to go and have a look at the fonts and i liked a few as some of them stood out to me. For my digipak the theme i am going for is basically to have the writing in some form link with the artists personality, as i wanted the audience to be able to tell from the type of fonts that i use what the artist is all about. And as our artist is really classy and sophisticated and glamorous i decided to go for some sophisticated but easy to read fonts. Some of the fonts that i used i didn't really like after i had a look at some more but i will still post them anyway. 

: This font is called Alie Regular. This font is one of two of my most favourite fonts as it is clear for the buyers to read and it has some sort of sophistication with it as well.

:This font is called BRUSH SCRIPT. I do like this font it is bold however i dont feel that it is lear enough for people to be able to read. Although it is readable i Feel that it is a bit too much as our artist is a warm and very to herself, this font to me just seems to busy.

: This font is called  FG ALISON. This font i feel is pretty basic and  neat but also to secondary school handwriting style so i don't feel that i will be going for one this one in my real digipak.

                        This font is called  ITC Arid. I love this Font it is so classy and crystal/glass like. This is the type of feel that i am going for. I feel that it also links with the artist as its sophisticated not over the top, visually beautiful and lady like.

 This font is called ITC BLAZE. Im not so sure about this font as the words are too squashed together and to me looks a bit gothic and thats not what out artist is about.

This font is called SMUDGER. Well this font doesnt actually resemble our artist but i feel that it could somehow go with the digipak, who knows we will see what font wins me over. :D

Analysis of covers of digipaks from the same genre

This CD cover is a close up of RnB star Rihanna. There is an album title 'LOUD' but no text that shows her name. It may be because she is such a big star and is very recogniseable - in relation to my cover I would have to put Chrystella's name as she is a new artist with a debut album. There is a strong theme of red - in the make up she is wearing and her hair. I think LOUD and the theme of red correlate as they both relate to each other as red is a bright , and 'LOUD' colour.. I intend to also do this with my digipak - maybe have the colour of her lips running throughout the theme.

This is the cover of Alica Keys' album 'As I am'. Just like Rihanna's it is a close up of her entire face. She is looking directly into the camera / straight at the audience. This relates to the album title as it signifys strength and power. In my digipak for Chrystella i want to put across the connotations of a strong woman who isnt afraid of anything , just like what this album does. The colours are also very simple. There's a nice black and white photo and a red & black font with the album title in a white font - all in capitals , which again relate to the album title.

The third and final album cover is from Kelly Rowlands newest album 'Here I am'. Just like the previous two it is a close up of the artists face - a reacccuring theme in this genre ( which i will obviously continue with my cover ). There is a blue tint in this cover , which shows that it is common for the covers to have some sort of colour theme - usually one. The name of the artist is in big bold white letters and is bigger than the font for the actual album title - which is small and blue, which almost makes it blend into to the theme. 

Overall i have discovered that my final image needs to be a close up of Chrystellas face and that i need to think of one colour theme to be on the front. Also the name of the album should be smaller than her actual name.

IDEAS IDEAS!. PLANNING OUR DIGIPAK

BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT I WOULD LIKE THE INSIDE OF THE DIGIPAK WOUDL LOOK LIKE. THESE ARE THE SORT OF THINGS WE ARE GOING FOR.

Digipak Covers

At the moment our groups main focus is on our editing, and making sure we meet our deadline, also ensuring that we have enough shots and base tracks, so that in case we are missing a few shots we are able to quickly re-film parts.

We have be talking about different ideas that we would like to try out with our digipak covers. As a group we though that the most important thing that we want on the digipak cover is a picture of the artist. This to us is very important, as we feel that every fan wants to be able to have c image of their artist as they want to be able to visually see them. We also thought that if we did not have the artists picture on there then it doesn't really look like an album. Whats also important is to make sure that the artist looks presentable and glamorous especially as thats the kind of artists that we are working with, therefore make up and hair are key factors for our digipak cover.

Below i have taken some artists digipak covers that have inspired us to think about possible ideas for our own digipak. I feel that it is important to have a close up of the artists face or possible a long shot of their body. I think that a long shot of their body gets audiences attention as they want to be able to see their style and also it helps the audience to understand the Artist a little more, and the digipak cover could give a hint of what style,pace,genre the didgipak is; it sets a mood to the overall product.

As you can tell from above most of the artists are looking directly at the audience, this brings us back to Andrew Goodwin's theory where woman often look into the camera to show they cease to be passive, have power, be in control and show authority, as they lure their audience in. This is definitely what we are trying to portray. As Beyonce say would say "who run the world GIRLS" LOL.