Filming Update

After having technical issues with my draft footage, I have decided to refilm tonight alongside taking new pictures for my improved digipak. The problem I had with my draft was the use of fast-motion effects on the footage, which after rendering left a black screen wherever the effect had been used. This meant that the video was completely out of sync and not how I had planned it, so I will refilm taking this into consideration.

Digipak/Magazine Ad Feedback

Digipak: 1/10

Simplicity of back cover and silhouette works well.

Images are good individually but there's no cohesion.

Font/image/mise en scene need linking.

Sizing of front cover needs adjusting.

Needs barcode/record logo/year etc.

Needs to be 6 panels.

Magazine Ad: 0/10

Ratings need to be shown who from.

Rethink design and star image.

CD Cover 1st Draft

This is my first attempt at a CD cover for my digipack. As it is a draft, this time I imported a found image as I have yet to take photographs to use in my final cover. I searched for an image with a flat-peak hat being worn, in order to illustrate the genre. After this, I loaded the picture into Photoshop and using the lasso tool cut around the image. I then played around with effects to apply to the image, with the idea of using a silhouette type effect. I eventually settled on a static style effect, and then added text from http://www.dafont.com/ and created a black border around the edges. Finally I imported the parental advisory logo in order to make the cover look legit.

CD Cover Analysis 4

This is the album cover for N.E.R.D's Seeing Sounds. What I find particularly effective about this image, is the use of the rule of thirds. The cover is quite clearly split into three sections, with the text being the middle section, the band being the lower section and the gorilla's face being the top section. This means all three areas, although some overlaying, all appear seperate and the attention is drawn to them differently. Although the picture is quite abstract the image as a whole still works well in my opinion, the text does not look out of place and the editing of the animal is effective at making the cover look interesting. Although this kind of work would be very hard to recreate, I still want to take inspiration from the use of thirds as this is a good example of it working well.

CD Cover Analysis 3

This is the album cover for Frank Ocean's 'Nostalgia'. Again, this is another simplistic cover similar to the effect of the Mount Kimbie cover below - a simple image layered with text stating the title. The image this time lacks editing, with perhaps only brightness and contrast alterations. This creates the effect of a vertical gradient of darkness, with the orange BMW being the centrepiece drawing the majority of attention from the audience's eyes. The tinted windows of the car create a sense of mystery around it, especially with the unique colour of orange - something rarely found on cars like this.

CD Cover Analysis 2

This is the cover for Mount Kimbie's LP Crooks & Lovers. The simplistic photo and text work well together to create an effective cover. There are elements of the photo that appear to have been edited, such as the depth of field shown from the woman to the buildings and the gradient effect on the right hand side. These still appear to be simple modifications to the photo, however work well to make it more interesting than it perhaps would be if the picture was not edited. The font again is simple and clear, with the letters being slightly spaced out to fill the width of the cover without taking up too much space vertically. The picture itself appears to be quite random with no real relation to the album title, however, in my opinion it does look interesting and different. The cover is very similar to that of the Carbonated EP, however more editing appears to have been applied to that, with more gradient use, and a film reel effect at the bottom. I would like to take the inspiration of simple design from this cover and incorperate it in my own work, as I feel a more complex cover with lots of elements could have an unwanted bad effect.

CD Cover Analysis 1

This is the cover for The Streets' fifth and final album, Computers and Blues. It features the band logo in the top left hand corner of The Streets lighter, along with the album name above. This is a quite unique way of conveying the information needed without taking up the whole cover. There is some disjuncture in the way that the image does not relate to the title much, however this tends to be quite common with album artwork. The use of the two red lights turned on are fairly effective as they create interest in the image, without that it would just be a standard image of a building. The darkness in all the other windows draws the majority of attention to both the top left corner and the central area, which are the most important areas due to the album name and what appears to be the artist Mike Skinner in the window. This is not clear at first but when closer attention is paid to the image it becomes more apparent. The use of the colour red contradicts the album title with the word 'Blues' however this doesn't seem to draw away from the cover being effective.

CD Cover Ideas


The reason I like and have taken inspiration from these covers is mainly due to simplicity. This is something I find most effective after having researched into digipaks - as covers with too much going on distract from who the artist is. With the xx/biggie smalls cover I like the use of iconography. After releasing their album, the xx have been commonly associated with the cross symbol, with it being used on adverts, videos, posters etc. so it is easily recognizable that they are the artists. The inclusion of Biggie Smalls' face behind the cross is another use of iconography due to him being such a famous and well known character. Linking the two artists together however could possibly cause confusion in the audience - as they are from very different genres. So the text of '...?' and 'wait what?' act as the voice of the audience whilst the text at bottom confirms what they have seen in a way. This is something that can make a cover very appealing to the audience - a level of interaction.

Pitch