Digpak research - Examples of designs

Examples of professional digipak's

Professional Digipak's 

When I started to research digipaks, I felt it would be best to use some of my own as inspiration, that way it made me get a better idea of what a digipak feels like. 

1. Led Zeppelin- Mothership

Album cover

I thought that this front cover was very striking due to the bold use of colours. You can tell that the genre is rock because of the lightening bolts at the top of the album. This is one of the conventions of rock music and this symbol is widely recognised.

CD and opened

I liked how the layout was simple on this digipak as many digipak a have unique layouts. Personally, I prefer this layout as it is more pratical. Moreover the CD ties in with the theme of black and red adding continuity.

Insert

The insert is similar to the front cover. This is so the audience is familiar with their style they are trying to achieve. Moreover the symbol of the plane is very iconic for 'Led Zepplin' which adds to those brand image. 

2. The Beatles- A Hard Days Night

Album cover

I think that this album cover is very unique and stands out due to the pop art feel. It has each member of the band on the front which adds to the bands image creating a brand identity. It had conventions of the 60's such as bold images so it follows the rock n roll genre.

Inside

    

I like how this is unique inside. It folds how containing different slots for the insert and CD. The image of the apple is very iconic for the Beatles so it becomes instantly recognisable. Also i am inspired by the used of a mid shot to show the band together which lets the audience became familiar with the band.

Digipak research- Types of digipacks

Features and the Digipak with recycled tray made from sugarcane.

- Digipaks typically consist of a book like paperboard or card outer binding with one more plastic trays to hold a CD or DVD on the inside. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak is often used generically, evne when the media holder is a hub rather than a full plastic tray.

-Manufacturers have sought to reduce enviromental impact by introducing recycled components into its trays; one has announced a 100% post-consumer PET tray made from recycled bottles. Another one goes one step further by toatally eliminating the plastic tray and replacing it with a paper tray made from sugarcane and egg carton. Many pronters use recycled or sutainable material for the board stock.

TYPES OF DIGIPAKS-

Digipak-style packaging isoften used for CD sinles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak is used as a package for DVDs and DVD sets. Such packaging is less resistant to abrasion than jew cases, so it tends to show signs as domestic U.S printer and disc replicatoe Oasis Disc Manufacturing recommend coating the raw printed paper with a protective UV coating, ensuring greater longevity.

Altogh less vulnerable to cracking than a jewel case the disc tray inside the package remains rather brittle and is prone to cracking if the package is crushed. Digipak-style cases grew in popularity among record labels and recording artisits in the early 2000a

                                                         This is a standard 4 panel digipak.

   

This is a 6 panel digipak with the CD placement in the centre

This is a 6 panel digipak with the CD placement on the right

Digipack Reasearch - What is a Digipack

Digipack research and interesting album covers

Digipak research:

Digipaks are a trademarked product firstly made by MeadWestvaco. They are   made out of cardboard or any other heavy paper material designed to hold and protect CD’s. There are a few different designs to this type of CD packaging; it can either be flipped open like a book e.g. like a normal jewel CD case or there is the three panel digipak design which means the CD is placed in the center of the packaging so this time there is a left and a right  panel to be flipped open, this allows more room for multiple CD storage and album cover art.

Flip book digipak design

Three panel digipack design

The digipak has both advantages and disadvantages for example, they are more expensive than jewel cases but look good and hold more room space for CD’s, a lot of bands and labels prefer them because of this.  Digipacks can be easily damaged and tare if not careful and overtime the paper material starts to peel apart however, they do not crack like jewel cases. They are also environmentally friendly which means they can be recycled although; they are not always necessarily made this way. The outer proportion of the digipack is made out of paper which makes it a lot flimsier than the jewel case; this also means the teeth of the tray fall out easier allowing the CD to fall through the packaging because there is nothing else holding it in place unlike the jewel case where there is nowhere to escape.

Overall, Digipaks are great if an artist wants more room to express a creative and inventive album cover, the downside to them is that they can be expensive and break easier than the jewel cases but in most cases the digipak is a popular choice.

Cover art artists:

Cover art should be interesting and eye catching in order to attract it’s target audeience and fans to increase sales. It should also define the artist(s) enabling the fans to recognise who the album belongs to.

I have done some research into artists that have designed covers for musicians and found a useful website that provides information about the artist and their cover work. The covers I have found designed by these artists were done between the 1950’s to the 1970’s, most of them are very iconic, bright and colourful. I have print screened some of them as examples:

Album covers:

These are some album covers I’ve picked to help give some inspiration for my own digipack I will be designing to go with my music video. I think all of the albums I’ve looked at are really interesting and different and say a lot about the artist and their music. Some stand out more than others and some are just plain but they all have a unique flare.

I like Lady Gaga’s album cover ‘Born this way’ because as usual she takes things out of the ordinary. I think that the image of her as half bike, half human relates to her wild, wacky side and her music. The image has obviously evolved from the centaur (half human, half man mythical creature) which suggests Lady Gaga is a modern day version of this and something very unusual. The album colour portrays the artist as very rebellious and a person that can’t be tamed or broken. I particularly like this album design because it certainly relates to the artist well, if i was to walk past it in a CD shop i would know by a glimpse that it was Lady Gaga’s and i think the overall design has been cleverly designed and thought about.

Again, another cover that stands out to me is Christina Aguilera’s ‘Bi-on-ic’ album. The overall covert art is eye -catching but not only because it is interesting to see  but because it suggests a lot about the artists life. The idea of a bionic woman obviously relates to her song featured on the CD but also that maybe at times in her life shes had to be the strong, bionic one and wanted to reflect this through her art and profession as a musical artist.

Red Hot Chili peppers album cover ‘i’m with you’ is another distinctive design and very recognizable. The image is iconic yet so simple and slightly random but works well. I think the image may have something to do with the song and the artist’s feelings, maybe the drugs is to take away the pain of not being together, maybe it’s away of handling the situation and the fly represents the ‘fly on the wall’ saying so wherever you are i’m always there too. I find this album cover visually effective, the saying is true, less is more!

I find this album cover interesting because it displays an image of a child in a leather jacket holding a lighter which suggests that Taylor Momsen (singer in the The pretty Reckless) was a ‘rebel’ from an early age, the image has also been linked to the album title ‘Light me up’.

I think this album cover is really eye-cathing and colourful. It reminds of the colour spectrum and stain glass windows, the design is really unique amd while looking at it makes you think about what it could be and mean. Although the image isn’t a specific picture that could be easily identified as something it instead contains elements such as the Earth, stars and the colour spectrum.

I found this album  while searching for really different and unusual covers and i thought this one was so origional. Again, it’s a cover that’s so simple but one that’s probably been  thought about the most. There’s no image but yet it’s still striking and stands out.

I really like this album cover too because it hasn’t really got any connection with the artist’s music or title. It’s another bland but interesting cover because it allows you to have your own imagination and thought about what it may represent and why the cover has been designed the way it is. The Typography and title name, choice of colours and the way Bruno is dressed also reminds me of the style of cover art used in the 50’s/60’s.

Finally, I think this cover art for Joss Stones album ‘This way up’ is creative and reflects the artist imaginative flare. I like the way the image isn’t just about the way the artist looks but about the art, the art of the cover and the art of her music, I also think it’s interesting that they have added numbers and included a pencil and extra text ‘colour me free!. It’s another cover that’s been designed to make the buyer/fan think.

I have also created a montage of album covers of artists that i like, some are fairly modern and some are old. I have taken some elemements from a couple of these albums to help create my own digi pack for example, i have included the nickelback, daughtry and Rascal flatts album because it ties in with the country, rockstar look.

StoryBoard

This is my final Storyboard...

1st

1) Opening scene - A wide shot of a chair with an outdoor Wide shot
2) Singer character walks in the shot while singing and stands beside the chair
3) Close up shot of the singer character to show his facial expressions while singing

 

2nd

1) Location and sttoryline changes but the character is the same, where he is walking on a path and         the camera is slowly moving up from his shoes to his body - while the music is playing in the             background

3rd

1) Walking on the same path, the front veiw is shown of the character to show his expressions that how sad and confused he is while walking alone. Back view again - to show he has gone far.

4th

1) While walking the character come to a point where he has to choose a way to go and the close up        shows his confused and sad facial expression. Then he chooses a way and he alks there.

5th

1) Character is walking around in a lost mood where he sees an empty bench and sits here there along and keeps thinking very sadly. Then gets up and walks off. 

 \

6TH

1) Scene changes and character starts singing and then montages are showed of him walking in a lost mood

7th

1) Character is watching the fireworks and very happy, this is the only time he has been happy in the       whole video. 

  8th

1) Character close up to show how happy he is now. Scene changes back to here character was                singing and he walks of the empty chair and thhe video ends 

Letter of permission to use the song

Here is my slip asking The Script for permission to use his song for my A2 media studies coursework.


19th November 2015

Sony Music Entertainment 

Dear The Script

My name is Adeeb Hussain and I am currently studying A-Level Media Studies at Aldenham School. 

As part of my coursework this year, I am creating and producing a music video to a song of my choice.  Your song, The Flares as the song I would like to create a music video for, and I am writing this letter to seek your permission to do so.

Please note, this video will be used only for my coursework and will not be distributed or marketed in any form.  I would greatly appreciate your permission to use this song.

Many Thanks,

Adeeb Hussain

Lyrics of Flares by the script

THE SCRIPT LYRICS

                                                      "Flares"

Did you lose what won't return?
Did you love but never learn?
The fire's out but still it burns
And no one cares, there's no one there

Did you find it hard to breathe?
Did you cry so much that you could barely see?
In the darkness all alone
And no one cares, there's no one there

Well did you see the flares in the sky?
Were you blinded by the light?
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?
Did you? Did you?
Did you see the sparks feel the hope? You are not alone
Cause someone's out there, sending out flares

Did you break but never mend?
Did it hurt so much you thought it was the end?
Lose your heart but don't know when
And no one cares, there's no one there

Well did you see the flares in the sky?
Were you blinded by the light?
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?
Did you? Did you?
Did you see the sparks feel the hope? You are not alone
Cause someone's out there, sending out flares
Someone's out there, sending out flares

Did you lose what won't return?
Did you love but never learn?

But did you see the flares in the sky?
Were you blinded by the light?
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?
Did you? Did you?
Did you see the sparks filled with hope? You are not alone
Cause someone's out there, sending out flares

Well did you see the flares in the sky?
Were you blinded by the light?
Did you feel the smoke in your eyes?
Did you? Did you?
Did you see the sparks feel the hope? You are not alone
Cause someone's out there, sending out flares
Someone's out there, sending out flares

Interview of the script

Sharing an interveiw of The Script

Enjoy.....

About the Artist - The Script

It was the very large from rags-to-riches story, the proverbial emotional roller coaster ride, a blockbuster action-packed and superstars. Three boys from Dublin had managed to conquer the world, with songs whose energy, as it reflects the emotional debris of their own hard Vita as well as her lifelong love for pop, rock, hip hop and soul. Over the past two years, the band managed to equal a handful of hits, including songs like "We Cry", "break-even" and "The Man Who Can not Be Moved". Their debut album "The Script" reached number one on the charts in the UK and Ireland and has sold nearly two million copies worldwide. They went with some of her greatest musical heroes, like U2, Take That and Paul McCartney on in gigantic stadiums. They gave a triumphant "Homecoming" concert before 78,000 fans as part of the Irish "Oxegen Festival". They won in the category "Best Live Performance" at the "Meteor Awards 2010" - and sat down with it against their "mentors" by U2. And finally they wrote even US chart history: her single"Breakeven" was the slowest number one hit of all time: forty weeks needed the song to the top of the "Billboard Adult Pop Song Radio Airplay Charts" - and sold while more than 1.7 million downloads (!). But all this was only the first "concept".Now is the time, an entirely new "script" to write. We are in a recording studio in London. 

Two young Irish some shots to hear. The good-looking, dark-haired Danny O'Donoghue is the charismatic singer and keyboard player of the band, who shaved Mark Sheehan is the talkative guitarist. The third member, the friendly but taciturn drummer and multi-instrumentalist Glen Power plays in the neighboring Studio a one beat. Danny and Mark can not sit still. You jump around to music that echoes from the huge speakers, a mixture of hip-hop rhythms, flowing melodies, sparkling hooks and anthemic choruses with greatly increased potential for addiction and emotive lyrics that Danny finished with his smooth-soulful voice. There are the songs from their second album 'Science And Faith "and one can justifiably claimed that the band is extremely euphoric." We started in very small clubs, and now we play in big halls, at festivals and even in stages, "says Mark. "It is for us as a relatively new band still quite a shock to occur at viewers in front of these crowds.But we still want to reach everyone, touching every one of you. "" I am extremely excited about this album, "explains Danny. "We are much more confident when it comes to our sound, and therefore we were able to concentrate on it to refine the songwriting. We tried to find the essence of what we do, songs that mean something to people. Something that people want to sing out loud at a concert. ""We had a lot to think about who we are, what we are and what relevance does all this, "adds Mark. "We took all of our experience and tried to make something positive of it. 

We wanted this album to just get to the point. "" For me, it was to work to exhaustion, "Danny continued. "We come in here and just give everything for the tracks: emotionally, spiritually, lyrically and musically. Then, when we come out of the studio, we are totally managed. Job done. "The studio door opens us rushes drummer Glen. "I killed the track, people!" He exclaims, "Wait till you hear him! I've got blisters "on your hands! With The Script it is always so: the three band members are in the utmost passion and with great seriousness in the matter. This then has the effect, inter alia, that they also like to talk in their zeal all messed up. The way to their new album was strange and had many twists and turns. Danny and Mark had met as teenagers in Dublin and had a long fight for their musical appreciation -. And that, although to her early admirers included even the legendary U2 Somehow she landed in the United States and worked as a songwriter and producer with R & B stars like Dallas Austin, Teddy Riley and the Neptunes. The chance meeting with Glen resulted in the fact that the musicians from then concentrated on developing its own songs, from now on as a trio. But in the midst of recording their debut album in Dublin died both Mark's mother and father Danny - experiences that processed the band among other things in the bittersweet song "The End Where I Begin". Meanwhile, the piece is one of the live favorite script-fans. In the middle of her meteoric rise, at the moment of their biggest triumph, broke to make matters worse, the global economic crisis on their Irish home in and hit the country in a European comparison much harder than many other States.Given the hardship and uncertainty of their compatriots attracted The Script it before, not too much to wear their pride and great joy over the commercial breakthrough on display. And so begins a new chapter in the band's history. "We arrived triumphant return to Dublin and were Immediately faced with the harsh reality, "said Danny recalls. "They're waiting his whole life to the moment when you can say, 'I did it!' But all people around you say, 'My life just goes down the drain."I had a pretty bad conscience when I saw my friends, who had always told me that I should look for a real job, I mean" can provide family and I already gave a beer, as it was not doing well, "admits Mark. "But the tables had turned completely around easily. And when we wanted to tell excited the fact that we had just played with McCartney 'and were number one in the charts', they could only say,' I've just lost my job 'or' I just separated from my wife '"." What is happening in Ireland, is a microcosm of the entire rest of the world ", speculates Danny. "We are back in Dublin and we see a lot of relationships of people who have come to know, when they had money - and who do not know the feeling of having no money. People who lose everything, their jobs, their homes, their furniture. Drink cheap wine, eat on the floor, only candlelight and it's as if they get to know just. 

That must be a bad thing but not always. It's like a return to reality, it is located opposite practically naked. These were the thoughts that went before us in the head around, as we thesong, For The First Time 'wrote. I had the feeling that this could be a real flagship that could dictate the tonality for everything we wanted to say emotionally. The remainder has then result therefrom. "The development of the songs took rapidly gaining momentum. "Exit Wounds" is about the damage that can cause a relationship. "You Will not Feel A Thing" tells of the suffering and the pain that it takes upon himself to protect his beloved. "Nothing" describes the drunken phone call from a man with a broken heart with the lost love ("We have all been gone through," said Danny). "Do not Change A Thing" warns to always leave a door open, which makes it possible to return to a beloved person. And the title song "Science And Faith" deals with the overarching importance of love in the universal balance. "How are trying to approach this whole issue in optimistic fashion," says Danny. "We treat complex emotions with simplest means. That's the battle we fight in our songs. "" At first hearing like the main theme somewhat joyless sound, "says Mark," but I think if you come from Ireland, lives all a subliminal hope held. It's about the ability to clearly come up with things and to get over them. No matter how bad it gets, we Irish tear us together and move on. "The Script are songwriters first rate class, combining thoughtful, heartfelt lyrics with lush melodies. In recent months, they had numerous requests to write songs for other artists (including Beyoncé and James Blunt) to cancel, to be able to concentrate entirely on their own music can. "Honestly, for me, we are just three people who write for themselves.We write the songs together and we feel, for us, as friends, "said Mark." If there was someone with whom I would like to write songs, then I would have founded a band with this person, "explains Danny. "I love to write with these types. It is a challenge. When you enter the room, then you'd better have what it takes, because these guys are damn good. "That Paul McCartney personally asked that the trio should Support him in a series of stadium concerts in the US, can they still do not, however, quite grasp. "It was pretty crazy that he likes our songs that he knew and came to see us on stage" marvels Mark. "He said the reason why he had chosen us, was our humble and honest message. We do not preach, we want to invite the people only in our world, to share our experiences and that people are related to us. McCartney took the view that we dedicate ourselves to important issues. "Thereare a songwriter certainly hardly any greater honor than this certificate from the mouth of a Beatle. But these are the spheres in which The Script move now - in the highest realms of Pop. But they always remain accessible - artistically, emotionally and spiritually, but always with integrity and sustainable. "We are nothing more than a couple of guys from Dublin," says Mark. "I do not have the impression that we are playing in a big band. We make music that really is important to us. I have the opportunity to express myself in this band. But going on not for me. I'm not going to change the world. I will heal anyone. I find much more that most of these songs heal me, for them to finish, some feelings you have to be aware of before. , 

The End Where I Begin 'is really a painful song for us, which deals with the loss of parents. If we play him, ask the people, it's not like every night open up old wounds? '. And yes: that is exactly. I present myself to the song. I remember why it was written and what he is. And then we play it. But that's not very hard for me. I feel realigned. I then have the feeling to share something with which everyone can do something. You all have already lost someone. You understand all exactly where this song comes from. And it feels good to play it. "" Do you know what is The Script? "Asks Danny. "There is the possibility, a sense of despair that I have in my stomach to take, think about it, to put it into words, to sing about having a band playing the song, and someone to listen to him , in whose brain he penetrates and understands him and thereby experiencing the same feeling. That's just an incredible thing. That's nothing you could work out with a calculator. But it's exactly what we're trying. "" And it's worth it, "says Mark. "The idea that somewhere a person sitting in an apartment and hangs up our music, because she is in pain, and we are the soundtrack to this feeling, whatever happens in their lives. That to me is the greatest power of music. And I get the not in my head that someone used our music for it. Because I do it myself: I am sitting in a room and looking for a song that brings my feelings. That blows me away every time around. "Get ready for the return of The Script. And is a story that still have at hand progresses period some interesting twists.