Final Digipak // Sachin Mistry

Digipak Changes from Draft to Final - Michael

 This was my first completed draft. Originally I was pleased with this as I liked the continuity throughout. From feedback I received I was pleased with people's initial reactions. Many people commented on the  photography and said the inner stretched out photo worked very well alongisde the front cover. I also received a comment that stated the change in colour between the black and white collage and the inner two panels worked well. as it was a nice blend. 

 In my second draft, I decided I wasn't fond of the use of the collage as I believed it looked messy and less professional than it could, so I got rid of it and took another photo that fitted in and had a similar style to the photo on the first inside panel. Many people told me they liked this photo and it suited the overall digipak much more than the collage and that the layout still worked well.

In my third and final draft I decided to keep the same photo that I used in the second on the right inside panel. However, I also decided that this didn't fit with the theme that had continued throughout the rest of the digipak, as only one person is present in the picture. To fix this issue I went into Photoshop and duplicated the first figure. This then meant my final digipak was consistent, clean and appeared professional throughout. 

Final Digipak and Magazine Advert - Michael

My Creative Journey Explained // Sachin Mistry

My initial ideas started with the band Placebo in the top right hand corner. I saw this image and was intrigued by the framing of the people and the different expressions they possess. As you can see to the right of this image I tried to duplicate this image but with a slight difference putting a twist on the image. I did this by creating a shadow on on of the band members but essentially making their faces brighter. I like this affect as it also emphasises my album title 'Hard Light' which was the effect that I was going for. The third image is also interesting as it is similar to the Placebo's photo but it is painted and likewise the faces are connected which makes the painting stand out more.

The next step was to establish a font, the one that you see at the top is the Orator Std Medium. The reason that I like this font is because of the larger than normal space in between the letters. Also I like how they are all caps as it brings a simplistic feels to the Album cover I like. The next one is Roboto Regular Condensed, this is also another simple font, and style of the letters are slightly bold which makes it easy to read and attractive to the eye. The third one down is the AR Bonnie Regular font, the reason why I liked this font is because of the way it looks slightly old fashioned but I don't think that it would suit our music genre too well. The last one is AR Blanca Regular which is an unusual font, as it is in italics and also it has quite an old fashioned theme to it sort of like calligraphy. 

Then I decided on a colour scheme which I could potentially use throughout my digipak. I then did some experiments with Max, as he was playing one of the band members and on a photo I took, from a photoshoot, I added a black and white filter which matched the colour scheme.At this point I spent some time looking at images of double exposure photos which I thought looked amazing, and the effect is as if the person is fading away. As you can see on the far right that I have tried this effect with Max and George, I fell like this could have been a goof idea for an album cover. Also when choosing images to 'overlay' on top of the original image I made sure that they where matching the colour scheme of the blacks, greys and whites. 

This is the Dirty Projectors album cover which I found when search for album cover inspirations, I have also analysed this album cover and said that I like the way that they have photographed a two because it looks like they are looking at each other and also as they have blank facial expressions it intrigues me as the font of the name of the band and the name of the album in small and situated in the top left and right hand corners. Below is a photo from one of the photo shoots I did and what I tried to do is recreate the photos, but as i took them from a higher angle I didn't quite like the look of photo. 

This is the 'Ghajini' digipak where I took my inspiration from. It is an indian movie and this is the sound track on CD presented in a digipak form. The reason why I like this is because the photos, specifically the polaroid like photos which I thought looked authentic. 

This is the side shot that I used for one of the panels in my digipak. The image to the right is edited with a sepia effect on it. I think that this looks good as it gives deep blues and orangey coppery colours which I really like. I then copied the same image over onto a Photo Shop page and started to experiment with the image. What I eventually did was smudge the image so that it looked like a brushed effect which became the background to the other two inside panels. If I could make changes I wish that I could use the edited image in my digipak as it would maintain the same colour scheme.



As you can see on the right the top image is of the band 'Years and Years' and these photos are form the interview by COUPdeMAIN a music/lifestyle magazine from New Zealand. I liked the idea of the polaroid which is a development from the 'Ghajini' digipak as these also include them. 

This is the colour scheme for my digipak,, and even though I has 6 colours I think that this is the main colours as these are the ones which attract the consumers attentions when looked at.

This is the splash hands which I created. I saw this effect on Tumblr and then I looked on YouTube for tutorials, and then made this hand image. I then tried to make this on Max who played the main character in the music video. 

This is the band logo that I created for the band and also for our group. I think that this represents us very well and also as I used this in our pitch our peers identified this and linked it to our band which is exactly what we wanted. 

This is the final digipak on the bottom right hand corner and the one to the left is the album cover. The image above and to the left of this is the image which I used and also edited in Photo Shop for my digipak album cover and advert. 

Creative Journey // Sachin Mistry

Creative Journey (Digipak) - Michael

As part of my research and development for the creation of my digipak, I came up with many different ideas and took inspiration from many different sources and other forms of media that already existed. This document represents the 'creative journey' that I took to end up with my final media product.

In the top left hand corner of my creative journey piece, I have included three photos that broadly represent examples of 'Levitation Phototgraphy'. I have taken photos in this style in the past and found that they always have potential to look professional and intriguing. I was always interested in using this kind of photography when creating my own digipak so that I could give my own cover something interesting and a little different, so that it could stand out from the crowd..



The next section of my creative journey represents the stage in  my planning where I decided that I wanted to include both band members on the front of the digipak. When planning my own digipak, I thought of albums I knew myself and liked with a theme of two people on the front, I took inspiration from albums such a Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' , Biffy Clyro's 'Only Revolutions', The White Stripes 'Get Behind Me Satan' and Fleewood Mac's 'Rumours'. These album covers played an important role in aiding when making a decision on whether to incorporate the band on the front of the cover.

After deciding I would use both band members on my cover, I got an idea from the White Stripes album, that I had already took inspiration from. On this famous album cover the duo are shown in front of a red curtain. This gave me the idea to find other albums featuring a similar theme. I found  that Eminem's 'The Eminem Show' was very similar. I was so inspired by watching Kings of Leon's music video for 'Charmer', as is set in a sparse theater in front of a dark red curtain.  

After finding inspiration in all of these different examples, I ended my creative journey by taking a photo that incorporated all of these visual styles. I used the photo I took, alongside some minimal text, to create a digipak cover I was proud of and that fitted into a genre I was aiming for.

Feedback Received from Draft Digiak - Michael

CD cover analysis #1 // Sachin Mistry

CD cover analysis #2 // Sachin Mistry

CD cover analysis #3 // Sachin Mistry