Looking at Digipaks in the Current Market

A more mainstream artist's album cover like Rihanna will generally just have her face as the main image. This image alone will work to sell her album, as her face is so instantly recognizable that people do not need to see anything else when deciding whether or not to buy her album. This is reflected through the fact that Rihanna's name is not even on the front of the album, purely the album name in a simple font. The vivid reds and purples in the photo also help the album jump out at people from the shop shelves.

I think that this album cover is very effective with its use of colours, which helps it stand out on a packed shelf. The background is very neutral and grey coloured, nothing of note is actually taking place there. Your eyes are instantly drawn to the 2 massive red and blue bits of cloth that are flying in the air. It is only once you look closer at the image that you realize they are actually huge capes that are being worn by 2 people. Although this image has absolutely nothing to do with the music it is representing, it helps to attract in potential buyers of the album through the stunning artwork on the digipak cover.

The Mumford & Sons album art is similar to the Biffy Clyro album art, in that it is not clear what relationship the image holds to the actual music of the band. As Mumford & Sons are an alternative band, it is clear that the album art is not going to be mainstream, like Rihanna's album cover image of just her face, as there is no single person that personifies the band for audiences.

I think that this album cover from an album by The XX is the most striking of the 4 that I have looked at, as the designers have been very brave and simply put a huge white X on a plain black background. However simple the cover seems it would actually be very effective at drawing people's eye to it on a packed shop shelf as I have never seen an album cover like it before. The X would almost instantly tell fans of the band who's album it is, and would interest others into picking up the album to find out.

I think that I would like to incorporate aspects from the last 3 albums that I have looked at:

- A striking photo on the front panel that instantly draws your eye to it

- Use only 1 or 2 bold colours in the images so that it does not look messy and cluttered

Digipak Research

A digipak is a style of CD and DVD packaging. They consist of a book-style paper binding, and have plastic trays capable of holding a CD.

Examples of digipak covers in recent times:

Possible Shots for the Ancillary Tasks

Whilst we were filming our scenes at Charlotte's house, I made sure to keep my camera with me at all times so that when I saw a potential photograph that could fit into our ancillary tasks (magazine advertisement and digipak) I could snap it.

These are a few of what I came up with:

Starting Filming

We filmed the overdose, rose, love and argument scenes at Charlotte's house, because it was the biggest house between us, she has a field out the back of her garden which we could have use of.

After learning how to use the camera and eqiupment...

and applying the necessary make-up...

We were ready to film.

Time Management

So that all of our group knows when they have to be available for filming, we printed out a calendar and wrote on the days that we are all free. This way can can keep on top of the work and meet deadlines.

Characters, Props and Outfits

We have now decided on our main characters for the video, Claire and Jack. Seeing as they are in the group, we all felt they would know how to portray the feelings we want the audience to see better than someone who did not have that knowledge. This also meant that we did not have to arrange our filming schedule around someone who wasn't in the group, so we have more of an opportunity to film on any day we want to.

Props

The main props that we need are roses and pills. We were able to get theseeasily from a supermarket quite cheaply.

Outfits

Claire will have 2 main outfits, one all in black, and one cream/white dress. These colours are to reflect her mood at points in the video: happy and sad.

It really did not matter so much to what the boy is wearing, as he is simply the catalyst for what is going to happen in the story, so he can just be wearing casual clothes i.e. jeans, t-shirt and jumper.

Copyright Letter Update

We have not yet received any reply from the record company about whether we have permission to use the track, which means we can continue to use it until they object.