Progression of digi pack

For the aucillary task i am doing the back cover for the CD cover, which we are doing as one of the tasks. I am trying to make the back look interesting as it's just as important as the front as we are getting more information about the album and with using interesting colours i will be able to attract the audience.

1. Downloading the brushes.
I wanted to have a certain kind of brush to use for my back, so after looking on websites i found a brush style called 'party lights' after trying the brush out i discovered it wasn't the right brush for my ideal look i wanted for my part of the cover. I looked on another website were i found 'sparkles' and i found the style i wanted.
2. Photoshop

back background (before)

After a year of not using photoshop it took a while to get used to controlling the brushes and knowing when to add a layer. Because i need to have the artist on the cover so i used pen to cut him out from the background and saved it to a file. I then tried my brushes out onto a black background on photoshop and got two ideal backgrounds i would like to use, naming them 'possible background 1 and 2' after few edits i decided to pick the first as it was more symmetrical and looked more effective then the second.

possible Inside background

3.Brushes and how i've done it
using the website i followed the instructions to firstly use white paint on a black background and then adding another layer and use a brighter colour which was green, and placing it on top of the white, this has made the lights appear to glow. I have used repeated shapes in different colours this has made my background look symmetrical.
4. Putting it together
After deciding the which background i added another layer (this makes 7 layers in total used to make the picture) i managed to make the picture smaller and look normal rather then out of shape. with this i then smudged the picture into the background to take away the roughness of the cutting which i have appeared to have done well.

Back edited with artist

How i did the back cover
By using a sky and cloud brush i have been able to make the background appear to be a night sky. I have also used the sparkles brush so i have been able to make the theme party as well as the Cd album theme.

Progress

We spent an extra day in college to complete the video, and after a few more minor adjustment the video will be finished. We finished editing our footage to match with our storyboard and are now adding colour to each clip to get a different party light effect in the video. After we finish doing this this we will be done editing and are hoping to watch the video through fully a few times in order to see if there are any further minor adjustments we can make to make our video better

Feedback

Obviously the big issue is getting your footage edited for Friday and tying to ensure you don't end up with very few production marks. You also need to work on the ancillary tasks. The research is much better but there are still some significant gaps - have you anywhere identified your target audience??? Have you uploaded your storyboard? These also need to be attended to.

Ancillary Task Progression.. ..

We have our pictures and we're ready to go! from the pictures we have taken of our "artist" we have each chosen one image which we like and would like to work with when creating our individual panels. In regards to the front panel which we have all decided to create as a group we've also looked through our collection of images and we've each chosen an image we like but to make it fair we showed 20 people all three images and asked each person which  image they like and we noted down each persons answer and we used the image which recieved most 'Likes'. Creating a panel for our DigiPak panels is a task which fortunately are not having trouble creating as it isn't a task which is too difficult. I myself am lucky in the sense that at AS level when doing coursework, I chose to do the print option which entailed creating a music magazine cove, writing the feature article and creating the contents page for my magazine. In order to do this I was required to use InDesign and Adobe Photoshop. In order to create our panels we must use these two pieces of software, as a group we're finding that it is easy for us to use these pieces of software as they are fairly straghtforward. So far progression DigiPak panels is coming along well and we aim to be done within the next couple of lessons.

Ancillary Task - Research on album colours

Eye-catching and bold colours are what attract attention when looking at album cover colours. They need to have all of the relevant information on the cover such as the artists name and maybe a name for the album, they will need to also make the writing as well as the background stand out. This will make it more attractive and therefore it will be noticed.

Mika


As we can see, there are a lot of colours on this cover which will grab a lot of attention as it is bright, colourful and eye-catching. It not only has a lot of colour but several of images and shapes which looks very appealing from up close and very colourful from far away. From up close you can see a piano, birds, a girl, etc including the face of the main artist from Mika. From this we can tell that the singer is the man in the corner, this is a useful piece of info as we would like to know who sings it.
They have chosen a specific font for this cover which is done in white to make it pop out of the rainbow colours, this makes it clear that the artist is called Mika. Also in small, black, italic writing, there is a title of the album, this is also to stand out from the bright background. This is a good example of an album which has a title, album name, is bright, colourful, stands out/eye-catching and very attractive which will therefore attract a lot of attention and audience.

JLS


There is a picture of all four members of the band on the cover, which will help new customers see how many there are and JLS are. The background is dull and plain yet it has a colourful bar to make not only the band name but also members stand out. Although its dark and plain, its still eye-catching as you get more about the band, their faces and band name, which is vital information we need when looking at albums. This album is different to the other albums which are bright and colourful, which will make it stand out due to it being so unique.







Usher


Again, dark colours are used, in this case it is used to make him seem like a silhouette. We could use something along these lines for our album, as we have a solo artist who should be shown as standing out, being independent, just like Usher looks. Although dark colours are used, the colour red stands out a lot more than it would on a coloured background. This was done to make the artists name stand out from far away,  which will attract attention as its bold and bright. The background although dark and plain, has a faded effect and has a white tint towards the bottom and around Usher. This makes Usher stand out more as he is highlighted, it also makes the background look a lot different to just having a boring colour.

Rihanna


This album is very bold and eye-catching, its bright red which stands out against Rihanna's bronze coloured skin. Her hair and lips look highlighted against her face which creates an effect to make her features such as her closed eyes also stand, out. This means that we're not focused on the coloured parts of her album but also the other bits such as her features. This is effective as her bright coloured hair and lips, which stand out, highlight her eyes and nose which makes the artist stand out. 

Nicky Minaj


Baby pink all over the front cover is a bit too much, however it is  bearable to look at and it stands out. Although it is all pink, you can see the main artist stand out, even though she blends in at the same time. The artist is on the front cover along with her name and album name, this is useful to those who are new to this artist as they will receive all of the vital information. This album is very eye-catching although it is very plain and simple, however it has that look that makes you want to look closer at the album.

Gwen Stefani

This album has a white background which then makes the colours added on top stand out a lot more than it would on a coloured background. As well as having subtle colours, which have a smudged effect, it stands out and makes the main artist stand out. Again this is useful to those who don't know or have never heard of this artist as they can see the artist as well as her name and album name.





Overall, we have come to see that the albums that have bright, eye-catching colours yet are still subtle, are the ones that are most looked at as they stand out. Also by having a picture of the artist, their name and album name, it helps give the audience brief information about the artist and maybe some of their personality. We will take all of this into consideration when making ours.

Ancillary Task - Research on album/CD cover fonts

Ashley Tisdale - Guilty Pleasure 


The font for this Album/Cd cover is typically girly for the name of the album which appears to look like a signature. The font which they use for the name of the artists which is bold, this is a typical R'n'B and dance type of genre.

David Guetta ft Akon 


This is a dance genre, this font is more like a paint brush writing
the font is big and bold which makes the album look more noticeable,
which is quite good as it captures the attention of the audience.

Chris Brown - Kiss Kiss 




This CD/album cover is almost depending on the font as the background is plain. The writing is Bold and over powers the white this makes the background less plain.

Ke$ha - Tik Tok




This album is different compared to the others, the writing isn't  bold, how ever has a $ sign in the middle of the name which makes the writing stand out more. Which is effective for the Album.









Fonts we could use in the album... 

• Star Avenue

This could be used for the artists name on the front, this font looks more useable as it's neat bold and big.

• Jellyka 

This font, appears to be a signature which could be used in the inside cover because it's showing audiences the signature of the artists so they feel like they know him a little. 

• Chaparral Pro (in italics) 

This could be used for the listing of the songs as it's not overpowering but will look attractive on the back of the album 

• Riesling

This appears to be handwritten and it can be made to appear to be the artist signature, which means the artist looks more like a star.

Fonts taken from Dafont.com 

Ancillary Task - Research on type of shots we need

Progression of Editing

So far editing has been going according to plan despite the fact that before we got started neither I nor Jess or Saliah new very much about how to use Final Cut Express, however as time went by we all have found that it is becoming considerably easier for us to use. We've made a lot of progress since we first begun editing. I'm quite pleased to say that I feel i my skills have grown a lot from what they were when we did our training on Final Cut Express, to what they are now that i've spent a lot of time editing the video and using the software to its fullest extent.

We hope to have our video finished and edited within the next week or so. For now that its all.

Progress.. .. ..

Fortunately for us since our last progression update we've had much more luck as we finally got our party footage. Though Jess wasn't feeling well we decided together that we should press on and get our footage despite her absence, this meant that i was filming on my own as Saliah plays the role of our leading lady in our music video. At first the thought of handling this responsibility didi phase me a little and left me unsure of doing it but as we got into it i found i was ok doing it and I am pleased to say that i feel i managed it well. However all did not go as planned as we did not get to use the lighting equipment which was alittle let down however in retrospect I think it may be good that we didnt as it our footage is clear and it gives our "party" a realistic look as we wouldnt see a party funded by students using professional lighting equipment at a house party. Now all we have left to do is do our last bits of filming with the Green Screen, this may prove to be more difficult than it should be as for us its a matter of timing as we are not all free at the same times so this is definitely something we are working out as we feel that as long as either myself or jess are present to film and saliah and imtiaz are present (lead actors) we should be able to get this done. Editing is proving to be a tricky task as myself, Jess and Saliah are new to Final Cut Express but we are determined to master it and create a video which shows our skills and ideas in the best light. With that being said editing our footage will be easier than getting the Green Screen footage as we can all stay back during workshop hours to edit it which would suit us as then if we need any assistance it will be easier for us to get help from Mike or Nikki (our colleges Media Technicians).