How Photoshop Was Utilised

(By Rosie)

Digipack: Inside Image (including CD)

We used the following image from our third photoshoot and edited this adding initially a brown gradient fill as designed. We were not satisfied with this look and decided to change our design to make the inside more in fitting with the remainder of the digi-pak. 

(Design: Rosie, Hannah and Katie) 

Digipack: Stages of Back Cover

Here are the stages of the construction of our back cover. We changed many features of the design as we went along as it didn't look right.

(Construction: Rosie, Hannah and Katie)

Digipack: Back Cover Photoshoot 2

We decided to do another shoot for the back cover as we weren't happy with the images we'd previously considered. Knowing we needed a landscape shoot with the golden hour effect we decided to organise a photo shoot later in the evening to achieve the golden hour. We wanted a location where we wouldn't get houses or other buildings in the shot and would have rolling hills to meet a horizon line. Because of this we choose to do it on a lay-by we knew of on the M25 which would offer the setting we wanted. Below are the two best photos of the day and two that have been preliminary edited.

(present at Photo-shoot Rosie and Hannah - Editing, Rosie)

Digipack: Back Cover Research

Digipack: Back Cover

Research and planning

Back covers generally follow the same trend/ have the same features- an image relating to the digipack as a whole which creates continuity, a track list and a barcode. In some instances the spine is featured upon the back cover (usually consisting of the artist name and album title).

Here are some examples of back covers with similar artists to our own:

 This example is of the artist Adele’s album ‘21’

It is a very simplistic and generic back cover, consisting of the artists face, track list, barcode and spine.

It also has text running along the bottom; this text is information on the record label and producers.

This example is of the artist Dido.

It is very similar to the Adele back cover, in terms of colours and features; the only feature not on this back cover is the spine.

We can note in both examples so far, that the artist is visible on one side, and the track list is visible on the other.

This example is of the artist Pixie Lott’s album ‘Turn It Up Louder’

In this example, the layout is very similar to the Dido back cover, with the same features as the Adele back cover.

This example is visibly more colourful, and it is important to note that the colours link to all the different features; pink of the shoes corresponds to the pink text, the black dress the artist is wearing corresponds to the song titles and the spine consists of all 3 of these colours.

This next example is of the artist Birdy, who is the artist of the song in our music video:

On our digipack cover, we have an image of our artists with a golden hour effect, taken in the green and floral grounds of hall place.

We had the idea of using a landscape image at golden hour on our back cover; like in the Birdy example, the continuity will be shown through between the back and front cover through golden hour and the location.

In the shoot for the front cover, we managed to obtain some landscape shots:

In order to create more of a ‘golden hour’ effect, I resorted to using the same photo editor I used for the front cover, an internet site called ‘PicMonkey’.

Step 1: Crop the image into a square

Step 2: Step 2: Changing the saturation and temperature, adding the effects dusk and radiance.

FINAL IMAGE:

Using evidence from the research and examples, the features that need to be put onto the back cover are the track list, the barcode, and production information.

As a matter of convenience (and since we kept the artist name and title the same) we will use the original Birdy track list (featured in one of the above images). We will number the songs “01, 02, 03 etc.”, using the Dido example as inspiration. As I analysed in the Pixie Lott back cover, all the features are colour co-ordinated. Therefore, the numbers will be in a shade of green linking to the trees and the song titles will be in black so that they stand out over the light brown background. Green is classed as an ‘earth colour’, linking to our Gaia earth child theme. As the text will be placed in a centre format, the barcode will be placed in the centre at the bottom of the cover, and on top of this will be the production information.

(work by myself)

Ancillary Task: Photoshoot 3

We decided to take another photoshoot of our model as we were not completely satisfied with the selection for the inside of the digi-pak. The girls used the same make up and dress which is featured in the music video for continuity. They took a range of shots with the use of nature including trees and flowers. We were sure to frame these using the rule of thirds.

(Modelling: Katie, Photoshoot: Hannah and Rosie) 

Digipack: Stages of Front Cover

As we previously decided, our back cover was to be a landscape shot at golden hour (the location being the same place our front cover photo had been taken to enhance continuity).

Once we had decided upon the photo we were to use, we began planning into the construction of what was to go where i.e. where to place the text in accordance to the artists face.

We decided to use lower case font rather than uppercase, with more of flowing look, which adds to the Gaia earth goddess ambiance of our front cover. We were also having issues with deciding upon a name for our artist, so we reverted back to the original artist of the song, ‘Birdy’.

We cropped the image so that it is in the rule of thirds; here is the idea implemented upon the image in use:

As I previously stated, our back cover is to be a landscape image at golden hour; to link our back image to our front image, to further enhance continuity within our digipack, we thought we should edit our front image to mimic this golden hour.

(above section by me)

To ensure the final front cover was to our exact liking, we played around with many different features including a white gradient fill (as initially designed), a lens flare and the levels of the image.  

(Design: Hannah, Katie, Rosie)

Digipack: CD Cover design and drawings

Second Shoot

We weren't happy with the photos produced from the first photo-shoot due to the backdrop; the dead trees and rubbish bins took away from the pure look we were aiming for.

To counteract this, we shot in the grounds of Hall Place (a setting we’d previously used in our video).

The grounds are a lot greener, eliminating the backdrop issue.

We attempted to get images of all the shots we were aiming to use in the digipack; the image on the front, inside photo and back image. We also experimented with shots for the poster.

Examples of pictures for the front cover:

As previously established, we will be using close up shots on the front cover of the digipack.

When deciding upon the look of our CD cover, we had to consider a few things; the genre of music, the look of the model/ artist (to correspond to the music genre and ambiance of the song) and research into similar CD covers to guide us in the construction of our own.

From our previous research we found a number of CD covers; as a general trend, the cover contains a close up of the artist’s face, with the artist’s name (usually featured in large font along the top) and single/ album cover featured in smaller font.

As a group we looked at these for inspiration, finding one in particular which we thought linked well to the look we were trying to achieve. We felt this cover (shown below) linked well to the ‘Gaia earth goddess’ ambiance we were trying to depict throughout the construction of our work. The artist Dido is portrayed in a very pure, feminine and elegant way, styled in light, silky fabrics, light makeup expressing her purity and hair soft hair moving in the breeze.

We based our first shoot on this idea, styling our model in a very similar way (the details of this clothing can be found in an earlier blog post).

In our second shoot we changed the location to one with more greenery to enhance the ‘earthy’ look of our cover, and this resulted in giving us the image we would be using on our cover.

(above section done by me)

After deciding to use this picture as our front cover photo:

In order to gain the best possible front cover, we designed multiple pictures which we could use as the final product layout:

This design features the title of the album being written down the side of the CD and the artists name being written along the bottom of to balance out the writing. The picture has been cropped so that it will primarily be on the right hand side of the cover

After looking at our research, particularly focusing on the artist of our song, Birdy, we designed a cover which just features the artists name as the title of the album as well. This would enable the model's face to take up more of the cover and would not cover her face as much. Like the first design, the picture has been cropped so that the model's face is more on the right hand side.

There is also the option of having the album title in a semi-circle above the model's head and the artists name is down the bottom of the cover. The model is more centered for this cover as this fits more with the placing of the font.

This design is a close-up of the model's face which is more on the left-hand side. The album title is featured above the model's head and the artists name being down in the right hand corner to balance out the design.

This is a simplistic design, typical of most of our research, which would fit well with the simplistic idea we are going for with our model. The model is centered here, with the artists name being placed above the model's head whilst the album title is placed at the bottom of the cover.  

(second section done by Katie)