Development of reverse digipak panel - newsboard

My initial idea was to use an enlarged image of a slanted news board for the reverse cover of my digipak, as shown in a previous post. I have since experimented with various pictures I have taken outside local shops, and have found a different, yet very similar idea to be more effective.

Rather than using an entire news board for the reverse side, I will most likely use one of the images I have taken of a 2-dimensional news board against a brick wall. This idea has proved to be far more practical as using a 3-dimensional board posed the issue of getting the correct angle and size to fit the entire image so that you can still read the writing on the news board, whilst still having enough room to fit the track titles, being the initial idea. One shot I have taken is shown below. It was particularly difficult to achieve a good angle to fit the whole of the board on the screen of the camera.

Minimal amount of news board visible, and not enough room in which to place track titles.

Instead, these are a few I have taken on the board against the brick wall. One bonus of this progression of ideas is that the bricks can connote the urban atmosphere in which the majority of the music video itself was shot, and is fitting to the ska genre and youthful, urban target audience I am trying to appeal to. I can now also use the individual bricks as a method of showing the track names of the E.P. I can use Adobe Photoshop to insert text onto the bricks to make them look as though graffiti writing has been painted on them, as shown below. Development on this graffiti idea is shown in the previous post when analysing the 'Does it offend you, yeah?' album artwork.

Original shot of a news board against brick wall, greater space for track names to be shown, and bricks connote urban culture.

Photoshop can be used to remove original headline writing from image, using 'clone stamp' tool.

Photoshop can be utilised further to remove all writing, add effects to brick work, posterize news board to give bold, comic-like effect that is fitting of the genre, and text inserted on bricks to show track names as if graffiti.

This image is close to what i propose to be the final design for the reverse of my digipak.

'Does it offend you, yeah?' and 'Sam's town' digipak ideas

This album cover from the band ‘Does it offend you, yeah?’ is a good example of a similar effect to the one I shall be trying to achieve with my own design. With this artwork it is mainly the graffiti effect of the writing that I am focussing on. The use of a graffiti styled font presents an urban theme and connotes youth culture within the genre. As the target audience of my own digipak will be an urban, youth culture, I see this to be a good example of the style of writing I will be using on my own digipak.

The style of this graffiti does not so much connote the ska genre of my own productions, and instead works very effectively with bright, bold colours and a scruffy font against a dark background to present the electro/alternative genre of the band them self, as they too much like my own band have a youthful, urban target audience. For this reason, a graffiti style font (though likely to be a much bolder, clear font typical of the ska genre) is what I want to use for my own digipak.

I will be using this graffiti design on both the front and back of my digipak. On the back to present the track titles of the E.P., and on the front to use for the E.P’s name (Moneygrabber) up against an urban background, written on the wall of the background much like the style used on the next album cover...

... ‘Sam’s Town’ is an album by the alternative rock band ‘The Killers’. As you can see from the album artwork, there is a person in the foreground, with the name of the band and album appearing as if it has been painted on the wall of the urban background. It is a combination of these two album covers that I want to use for my own work. Like Sam’s town, I want to have the actors (as band members) in the foreground of the shot, with an urban graffiti wall as the background. Then I want the name of my E.P. to appear on the wall in the background as if it has been painted on like graffiti. As explained previously in this post, the graffiti and urban mise-en-scene is a typical convention of the ska genre and connotes the youthful target audience of which I am aiming it at.

Responsibilities

Our group for the planning and shooting of the music video consists of four members – Myself, Lizzie, Andy and Harley, however this group will be split into two sub groups for the editing of the videos to produce two differently edited videos. This will ensure that each member gets a larger input to the editing process and are taking up larger roles in it’s production. The majority of research has been conducted individually, though ideas have been shared within the group.

The group will be equally responsible for organising between ourselves, convenient times for shooting and getting actors/props together for shooting. We will all also be responsible for the care of the recording equipment (camera and tripod) during various stages of the shooting process.

Me

With regards to the production of our music video, I will be solely responsible for my own research and input to conventions of the genre to be included in the video. I will also be involved as an actor in some performance and concept aspects of the video, acting briefly as the trumpet player of the band. I will have a large input into the filming of the majority of shots and directing of the video. I will take my turn to be responsible for the looking after of camera and tripod to be brought to school each day and to shoots. Lizzie and I shall take equal responsibility with the editing of our video, using our own knowledge of both genre conventions and the editing programme itself to complete the production.

Lizzie

Will be responsible for both her own, and group input to research into conventions of the genre. She will take up largely a directing role within the group, and be in charge of ordering the actors to perform as looks best on the camera, however Andy, Harley and myself will also have large input into this also. Lizzie will most likely be taking the largest shooting role of the group, as the rest of us act as band members, jointly direct, and film during other shoots where we are not the focus of the camera. She will also be responsible for the looking after of the recording equipment, and have equal input with myself into the editing of the footage.

Andy

Will be responsible for both his own, and group input to research into conventions of the genre. Andy will be one of the main actors in the video, featuring prominently as the band’s guitarist. However he will be contributing as a joint director with the rest of the group, mainly from the lens end of the camera. When we as a group are conducting a shoot that is not focused on Andy, he will be equally taking responsibility for filming shots and directing. He too will have be looking after the equipment, and between Harley and himself will have equal responsibility for the editing of their own video.

Harley

Will be responsible for both his own, and group input to research into conventions of the genre. Harley will feature briefly as an actor as the band’s drummer. He will be equally responsible for the directing and shooting of the production when not the focus of the camera, whilst inputting ideas and thoughts towards shots and concept/genre conventions throughout the shooting and planning process. Between Andy and himself, equal responsibility will be shared for the editing of their own video, with constant input from both members on opinions and physical processes (the actual editing through Adobe Elements).

The Skanx - Moneygrabber: Final Cut

Narcissism

Narcissism is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others.

The name "narcissism" was coined by Freud after Narcissus who in Greek myth was a pathologically self-absorbed young man who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool. Freud believed that some narcissism is an essential part of all of us from birth. Andrew P. Morrison claims that, in adults, a reasonable amount of healthy narcissism allows the individual's perception of his needs to be balanced in relation to others.

• In the film Iron Man 2, Nick Fury tells Stark he cannot be a part of the Avengers Initiative because of his compulsive self-destructive behaviour, textbook narcissism and greed.
• In the film To Die For, Nicole Kidman's character wants to appear on television at all costs, even if this involves murdering her husband. A psychiatric assessment of her character noted that she "was seen as a prototypical narcissistic person by the raters: on average, she satisfied 8 of 9 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder... had she been evaluated for personality disorders, she would receive a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder."

Initial digipak design sketches

Front (right) and back (left) cover

This is the initial sketch idea for the outside covers of my digipak. The front cover, shown on the right hand side, will most likely feature a shot of the band and Jack (who was initially in the band, though over the shooting period has taken up more of a 'friend of the band' role). It will work well as being a generic image to represent the genre, and also instantly establish the band (actors in this instance) and genre. I will use large, bold lettering that is iconic of ska, to present the name of the band in the bottom corner. The track name will also featuer on the front cover being formed by monopoly money to spell out the word 'moneygrabber', which is strongly referencing our video as we used monopoly money in this way in the form of stop motion, and establishes the theme of the song as being about a money-grabbing woman. I am likely to include a chequered black and white border which is also iconic of the two-tone sub genre. I will also experiment with different image effects, such as adjusting the saturation, to improve the appeal of the image.

For the back cover of the CD case, i will be using a large image of a news bulletin board (more zoomed than in the illustration, shown by the arrows!) where on the board there will be a news headline referencing a contemporary money-related political issue such as the education cuts or banking disaster. This would again be relevant to the theme of the song (money-grabbing!) as the bankers of recent times have been publicised as being overly greedy with the administering of bonuses, causing drastic negative effects on the economy. This lack of money and jobs within society is also a large issue raised in This is England, which would be a good intertextual reference. On the reverse of the news board, which will be presented at an angle to the page to connote the quirky, fun nature of The Skanx and ska genre, will be the track listings and any other information necessary to the EP. I again adjust effects to make it more appealing.

Middle inserts

For the CD insert i am contemplating the idea of using close-up shots of the actors' faces, dressed in ska costume, facing the camera whilst looking at each other across a quartered page in an almost pop art style, not dissimilar to that of the Blur album cover 'Best of Blur' analysed in a previous post. this would establish the band members themselves, as well as presenting them in an interesting, quirky way that is fitting of the genre. i will most likely be using diagonally relative black and white colouring for the boxes in which the faces will be, as it is a simple iconographic of the two-tone genre.

Finally, for the face on which the CD itself will sit, i will be using a simple image of scattered monopoly money, which will be the sole focus of the page. This will again be referencing the stop motion sections of our video, as well as the song title itself. I feel that this will work effectively as it will be a bold design, typical of the genre, that will grasp the audience's attention upon opening the case. The bright primary colours of the money will represent the fun nature of all of the ska genre, it's carefree target audience, and the song itself. The connotations of freeness that this bright colour brings are in a sense ironic, as the audience of the song living amongst contemporary political issues are anything but free.