Digipak Further research

A digipak is a style of CD or DVD packaging that is used to promote a particular artist

My digipak will have between 4 and 6 sides including front, reverse cover, spine and disk impression 

Mind map of conventions found on digipak's discussed in class

Analysis of 'rock' genre CD covers

The Foo Fighters - In Your Honor  released in June 14, 2005 

Name of album/artist - This does contain the name of the artists and the name of the album
Bar code - this doesn't have the bar code on the front cover
copy right - there isn't any copy right symbol on the front cover
Song titles - there is the name of the song 'in your honor'
Picture of artist - there isn't a picture of an artist but there is a picture of golden eagle surrounded by what appears to be banners, with a wreath looking flowers on top of it. There is also a lone Buffalo at the top of the CD cover.
Sticker of front (featuring the song ...) - there isn't a sticker on the front of the CD cover.
Record label - On the front cover there isn't a mention of a record label
Producer - There isn't a mention of the producers on the front cover
Website - There isn't a website presented on the front cover however it could be on another part of there digipak
Parental Advisory sticker - There is no parental advisory sticker on the cover meaning that the songs are suitable for everyone and do not contain strong lyrics or ideological content.
Composition -
Text - The font seems to be old fashioned.
Colour scheme - The use of blues and whites may represent the american flag, this could be due to other factors such as the stars and the words "in your honour"

Foo Fighters - The Pretender released in 2007

Name of album/artist - The name of the band and album cover is shown
copy right -  this doesn't have the bar code on the front cover
Song titles-  There is the mention of the song title, which is also the name of the album cover.
Picture of artist - There is not a picture of the artist instead there is a light bulb shaped in the name of a hand, and would have some hidden meaning and symbolic in a way that reflects the meaning of the pretender.
Sticker of front - there is not a sticker on front however there is the name of the featured song
Record label - The name of the record label is not on the font cover
Producer - The name of the producer is not of the front cover
Website - The name of a website is not on the front cover.
Parental Advisory sticker - There is no parental advisory sticker on the cover meaning that the songs are suitable for everyone and do not contain strong lyrics or ideological content.
Text - The colour of the text for the name of the band is the same as the other CD cover i have analysed, However the name of the album are both different colours which may help them stand out
Colour scheme

AC/DC - Let There Be Rock released in 1977

Name of album/artist - Is both present
Bar code - is not present on the front cover
copy right - There is no copy right symbol on the front cover
Song titles - the titles are not present on the front cover however the name of albums are often the name of the main song
Picture of artist - There is a picture of a hand, it is most likely of the lead singer/guitarist however from this image it is difficult to say
Sticker of front - there is no sticker on the front
Record label - The name of the record label is not present
Producer - The name of the producer is not present
Website - a website is not mentioned and since AC/DC album was realised during a time where it was uncommon  for a band to have a website or access was limited to the internet
Parental Advisory sticker -  There is no parental advisory sticker on the cover meaning that the songs are suitable for everyone and do not contain strong lyrics or ideological content
Composition
Text - The text doesn't have graphic match, but the same colour this would suggest that the logo 'AC/DC' is used to give brand identity.
Colour - The colours are monochrome, using black and white

The Offspring - Ixnay on the Hombre - February 4, 1997

Name of album/artist -  The name of the band and album cover is shown

Bar code - is not present on the front cover
copy right - There is no copy right symbol on the front cover
Song titles - the titles are not present on the front cover however the name of albums are often the name of the main song
Picture of artist - There is a picture of a hand, it is most likely of the lead singer/guitarist however from this image it is difficult to say
Sticker of front - there is no sticker on the front
Record label - The name of the record label is not present
Producer - The name of the producer is not present
Website - a website is not mentioned on the front cover
Parental Advisory sticker -  There is no parental advisory sticker on the cover meaning that the songs are suitable for everyone and do not contain strong lyrics or ideological content
Composition

To conclude from these album covers

• The name of the artist and name of the album is present on all of the album front covers.
• The bar code is not present on the front of the album cover.
• The copyright logo or any copyright disclaimers are not present on the front of the cover.
• The song titles is not  present on the front cover however the name of the main song is usually the name of the album. 
• The picture of the artist is not always used and sometimes another image is used instead that has a symbolic meaning. 
• There was not a sticker on the front of the CD cover saying the name of the featured song on the CD covers I analysed however the name of the featured song is on the cover as the album name.
• The name of the record label is not present on the front cover and nor is the name of the producer. This would suggest that the front covers focus's on the band and the produces and record label would be placed on the back.
• A website is not mentioned on the front cover.
• Parental advisory stickers were not present on the CD covers I analysed, however this could be use to the lack of references to violence or other ideological content on the album and still could be a convention.

From what I have found the structure of CD covers differers and so do its use of generic CD conventions and the way it is structured differs with some conventions not being seen on he front but on other sides and parts of the digipak.  

Zak sketch.

During our media lesson, Zak chose to draw a design of the singer for our animated music video. He planned to design and make his own mouth animation to add to the video. We had earlier thought of adding another shot of the singer and mouth movement to add more variety to the shots.



Zak's picture of singer

Notes about the design and possible movement.
* 10/frames per second
*mouth movement
*Eye brow movement
*looking movement

Close up of picture

Editing

Editing 

1. We firstly animated the images we created and imported them into Adobe
Premier Pro  

2. we began to start editing the clips length and placing then in a basic order. We tried
to get the animation to reflect the songs pace and instrumental parts.

3. At this stage we felt we overused some of the clips and so began to create
a more equal ratio between the singer and guitarists

4. We then added some cutaway, this cutaway was a set of speakers pulsating. We felt
 it was important to add variety and to help break up the music video.

5. At this stage after animating the images of the band members in Adobe Flash
we began to structure the clips. We looked at adding some ideas that we
initially had e.g. "scan/animate souls.

6. After Zak drew the drummer and animated it we began to try and fit it in
to the music video and also continued to try and fill in the gabs with different
animations and different types of shots e.g. mid, long, close up etc.

7. Zak and i began to try and come up with an opening sequence. We tried
experimenting with the use of motion in some of the clips.

8. Zak began on looking into the ending sequence, it involves the female
guitarist strumming the last of the notes of the song.

9. At this stage we chose to add more of the female guitarist, this was
difficult as with the framing of the picture she could only be shown from
the right side.

10. At this stage we decided upon using a variety of shots, and
began to zoom in on the audience and other characters. This was
useful as we only used a small variety of animations and allowed us
to re-use shots. 

11. We decided that it would look more appealing if the ending sequence
cut to black. This follows the motif through out of leaving blank
 spaces between some clips in order to give a quick, clean effect that
transitions such as 'dip to black' wouldn't be able to give. 

12-a. At this stage we began adding video transitions, we chose to use a small
range consisting of dips to black and white.

12-b. We added transitions by first selecting the transition we wanted to use
and in this case 'dip to black', then proceeded to click and drag the effect on
to the desired clip.

13. At this stage Zak added the titles, this is of the real bands name the 'Foo Fighters'
which produced the song 'The Pretender'. By using the songs original band name
 we hoped to use there influence of being rock/alternative rock genre artists in order
to help successfully promote the song.

14. I created a side ways shot of the lead singer and after animation added a green
background in order to achieve a later process of ultra/luma key'ing them.
(ultra/luma key'ing gives the user the opportunity to replace a colour i.e. the
band members backgrounds, so that a background can be placed behind it.
This allowed us at a post production stage to add in the previously drawn
backgrounds to the clips.)

* note - we later chose not to use this clip due to the difficulties we had in ultra/luma keying*

15. We then, after peer assessment began to shorten some of the clips down to reflect the
pace of the song.

16. I created another image of the guitarist, i my artistic skill improved since
i first drew the original image of the male guitarist it was difficult to replicate it.
After becoming more foamier with Sai (an drawing computer programme) i was able
to use the vector/line tool and create a more defined and better quality image.

After animating it me and Zak used this more proportionately then the other animation. 

17. We began to think about the use of a group/band shot.  

18.   After discussing this i chose to draw a group shot of the band members.

As it was difficult to replicate the band members as since i initially drawn them
my artistic skill had improved meaning i was unable to produce the same results. So i
decided to instead of drawing the characters over again i would reuse the pictures i had
 already drawn and change there stance and position in order to keep its brand identity.

When it came to drawing the female guitarist that Zak had drawn it was difficult to replicate
his style. So i decided to trace the image by using the line tools. I did however alter some
of the aspects as Zak had not drawn the female guitarist from the knees down so i tried to
produce a full body image.

19. At this stage i began to try and better lip sink the singers mouth to the pace
of the lyrics by shortening, lengthening and changeling the speed. This
 wasn't difficult as the  animation was able to lip sync easily with most songs.

20. Both me and Zak drew and animated our own audience to be used as cutaway.

21. At this stage we felt that the drummer wasn't very heavily present so began too add more
of this clip. We focused on it more when there a greater presence of drumming within the song 

22. After tracing and colouring come of the images needed to create the group shot
i tried to position them by moving them and scaling them down in order to create
perspective. I decided not to use the drummer as i felt there was no room for him to
be placed. 

24. Since the drummer could not fit into the group shot we decided to add more
shots of the drummer as well as close ups on the banging of symbols and slight
zooms. We focused the drummer mainly at instrumental parts where the drumming
was more noticeable.

25. At this stage we began to re-do the introdcution and add a differnce sequnce
of shot types of the malw guitarist.

26a. We then began to experiment with the luma key before gonig into post production

26b. By clicking and dragging the effect ont the desired we were able to remove the background colour
being blue and replace it with backgrounds that me and Zak had previoulsy made

After these stages we went into post production where insted of luma keying we used the Ultra Key which was a much simpler and easier tool to use. We had to drag the ultra key onto all of the desired clips, this took about 3/4 hours and was very repetative and unenjoyable however nessisary inorder to add background images and improve the quality of the piece as a whole. 

Shot list/story board

This is a general idea of what shot types and sequences we are going to use in the creation of our animated music video

Titles of the band and name of the song using a slide transition so the titles split to reveal a group shot of the band and then pans an audience.

There is a close up of the male guitarist cutting to a pan of an audience then cutting between a close up of the singer the male guitarist and shots of an audience.

There is a close up of the male guitarist playing the guitar slightly zooming slightly in and reverse zooms then cutting to a close up of the singer and then using fade transition fade to a pair of static speakers.

Next an extreme close up of the singer as the vocals begin then cutting between the drummer as the drums kick in after this a shot of an audience jumping cutting back to the drummer at a mid shot then a shot of the female guitarist as the second set of guitar begin to become more prominent.

Then a performance shot of drummer, male and female guitarist zooming in on hands and instruments.

There is shots of the singer off center so only half of him can be seen, the same effect is then played but reversed so he is facing the other side it then quickly cuts to the drummer, to an audience and then back to the drummer.

The next sequence is of the singer and female guitarist, it starts with both the female guitarist and singer both in shot and then cuts between them in the same location but one shots instead.

Then there is a close up of the singer focused on there mouth as he sings then cutting to a set of speakers pulsating then cutting to mid shots of the male guitarist and drummer.

There is a close up of the singer followed by a close up of the drummer hitting a symbol followed by long shot then a close up then extreme close up of the singer.

A shot of the audience cutting to a shot of the female guitarist then a mid shot of the singer then quickly cutting between shots of the drummer female guitarist and singer.

A close up of the male guitarist cutting to an extreme wide shot of the singer on a stage with an audience jumping up and down; this is followed by a shot of the female guitarist and singer.

The next set of shots of the male guitarist are similar to a previous sequence of the singer, in this the guitarist is positioned so that only half there body is in shot on the left switching to a shot where there on the right where again only half there body is visible; this then cuts to an extreme wide shot of the singer and audience; this is followed by the male guitarist playing the guitar and zooming in slightly.

It cuts to the female guitarist and then to the male guitarist playing the guitar; it cuts to the singer; it cuts to the female guitarist then a close up of the male guitarist hand strumming.

The next sequence involves the female guitarist and singer, it cuts quickly between them followed by a sequence of the singer positioned so that only half there body is in shot on the left switching to a shot where there on the right where again only half there body is visible.

There is a wide shot of the singer and audience followed by a close up of the audience and then a close up of the singer; next cutting between the speakers and singer.

Again there is an extreme wide shot of the audience and singer, this is followed by a one shot of the singer where the back ground changes and fades to a different one; it then cuts between the audience, male guitarist and speakers.

There is a wide shot of the singer followed by a mid shot; this is followed by close ups of the drummer and male guitarists.

A two shot of the female guitarist and singer, cutting to close ups of both the singer and female guitarist in one shots; followed by a shot of the drummer.

The next sequence cuts between performance shots of the singer, male and female guitarist focusing on the male and female guitarist.

There is a shot of the drummer then singer; there is a close up of the drum set followed by another shot of the singer; it then cuts to an extreme wide shot of the singer and audience and followed by a shot of the speakers pulsating.

A wide shot of the audience, cutting to the singer; there is then a close up of the drummer followed by an extreme wide shot of the audience and singer.

There is a close up of the singer followed by a wide shot of the singer and then an extreme close up of the singers mouth; this is followed by a close up of the audience.

Next there is performance shots of the female guitarist drummer and singer cutting between them.

This continues into the next sequence however the singer is not present and towards the end there is a shot of the speakers and finally a shot of the male guitarist.

There is a close up of the speakers followed by a close up of the singer; a mid shot of the drummer; a wide shot of an audience and then cutting back to the singer.

A shot of a pair of speakers cutting to a close up of the singer; it then cuts between the drummer, audience and singer.

There is a shot of the drummer cutting to a female guitarist then close ups of the drummer playing the drums and symbols and finally cutting to the singer performing.

There is a shot of the drummer cutting to a shot of the male guitarist; it then cuts to the speakers pulsating followed by a shot of the singer then of the audience.

There is an extreme close up of the male guitarist this then cuts to the drummer and then a close up of the drum set; this is followed by a wide shot of the singer and a wide shot of the audience and singer in a stage type area; then it cuts to a shot of the male guitarist.

A shot of the audience cutting to the female guitarist then again a shot of a wide shot of the singer and a wide shot of the audience and singer in a stage type area; it then cuts to the male guitarist  and then cuts back to the audience.

Leading towards the end of the song the cuts between shots become more quicker, the shot of the female guitarist is quickly followed by a shot of the singer, then audience; it then cuts to the speakers and back to the singer.

the next short sequence is of the speakers, it cuts to the audience; it then cuts to the singer and back to the audience jumping to the song; and cuts back to the singer.

For the final sequence there is a mid shot of the drummer and then cuts to the singer as he screams the last word; this is followed by a close up of the female guitarist then cuts to black after the guitar strums; this is again repeated and as the music stops the music video cuts completely to black and the final sequence is complete.

Animation

Here is some of the completed animations, exported of gif documents to give a preview to what our music video will look like

This is an amimation of an audience, i drew this using photoshop and animated in in flash. The colour sceame was apopted from my media partners own audience animation. This was inspried by anime, as within some anime extra charecters are often outlined and blank. This may be used to help draw focus and attenchion to the main charecters, in this case the band members. I plan on using this in our music video to be used as cut away, and help add variety to the shots.

This is another animation of the second female guitatist that i had drawn and animated to help add variety to the shots, i do not plan on using this within the video as i feel it is of low quality and does not fit in well with the rest of the animations.

Below are some detailed animations that i had planed on using in our music video, i used trace art, where an image in traced on a different layer. I used a screen shot from the pretenders offishial music video. However, after adding them in to the music video, it was the general consessis that it didnt fit in well with the 'comic' style of the rest of video so i have decided to draw another image of the singer from a sidewards angle.

This was my first attpemt in animating the singer the animation of the singer based on the Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Groul

This was my second try at animating the singer, i belive it looks much better then the previous verison, however the image does jump.

This is the singer animation as seen in my earlier post, http://media-bell-h540.blogspot.com/2011/10/singer-drawing-and-creation.html I animated his mouth, however i did not do this to a spefic song or lryics and i have found that is syns to most songs that match the pace

This is the cutaway we plan on using, a pair of speakers with a pulsating background to give the illusion of movement and volume. 

Singer - drawing and creation

Between us myself and Zak have delegated different responsibilities regarding the drawing of different characters. I chose to draw the singer for our music video. Me both decided on a concept and will be basing it off Dave Grohl the lead singer from the Foo Fighters. After discussing the art style's with Zak it was decided that it would be cartoon like similar to the guitarist that i drew previously.

After looking at some music video's of the Foo Fighters pausing when Dave Grohl was in shot to get some sort of reference. I looked at some designs Zak had done at an earlier stage of production  and also used it to base my initial design for the singer.

(insert pics from Zaks boook)

Finished design for singer
(click to enlarge)

I used the Phoneme Mouth Chart as seen below to add a realist movment of mouths for singing. I drew a small scetch of each different mouth movement on the design for the singer which i would later redraw and resize to fit the picture.

Phoneme Mouth Chart by Will Boyer 

After this i then scanned the image into the computer and used it to draw the singer