Album Cover & Digipack

Here is my digipack which I what I want my CD to be presented as. This is how I want my star to be presented. Its important to show a link between the video and the album cover. The Video presents the star and that's got to be seen in the digipack. But I want to establish an image because this is her first album. The genre of the music is seen clearly through the digipack and I took the images which I felt represented the genre of music the best. Using the audience off facebook also helped me to choose the images which I have used. Its important for me to collect the opinions of the audience and doing so I have come to these conclusions to create this album.

I chose to call my act Hayleigh because its more suitable to the genre and I choose to call the album to infinity and beyond because I wanted her o passion to achieve to come through but also because I'm using intertexuality and this will draw the audience in because they will understand the link. Using black and white resembles my video but not having her in the middle is also a characteristic of the Indie genre. The position and the shot I used I feel are similar to other solo women Album covers. Using effects also helps me to create a close link between the genre and the colours clearly replicate an Indie genre rather than a R&B artist.

This the inside cover and I choose to add several pictures and using the same background and effect on the pictures to create the link between the cover and the middle. I used many pictures because I want to establish the artist and let the audience see her and the style which she represents. The pictures create character and allow the audience to be attracted to her.

Keeping the link between all the covers I did the same here as previously to keep continuity. I used different pictures which both have clear characteristics of the the Indie genre and they establish an artist and help to draw in the attention of the audience. I have include in small print about rights of copyright and the producer and writer. This is to make it professional with a bar code and a website link to allow the audience to look into her more.

Feedback - Final Music Video

I've shown my music video to friends and family so I am able to collect some feedback about the music video. This is the feedback which I have collected:

• There is a clear story and its a very powerful and emotional story

• Its well edited together and there is equal amounts of narrative with performance and they don't over power each other

• The effects I have used compliment the video and don't over power the video

• The effects highlight the music genre which I aimed to achieve.
  

• The fade out is one of the best moments along with the pushing towards the end. The way it is edited together makes it look professional and smooth.
  

I wanted to achieve these things ad I feel my video is overall a well put together peice which shows alot of emotion and its very powerful storyline.

Gemma Hallisey - "I hope that never happens to anyone! Its really sad"

James Horwood - "Thats a really original storyline. Its normally shown in a very different way. The use of sterotypes and symbols are really well used! Good job! I love it!"

Music Video

This is my music video with the new footage and with added story. I think that my music video has come together really nicely and it fits clearly to the genre of Indie which I have targeted. My two music video genres are clear with performance and narrative and I hope that my target audience enjoys it.

Album Cover & Digipack First Draft

This is my first attempt at the album art and digipack. But I'm not fully sure whether I am happy with this. I used the black and white idea but the dots make it feel more the like its part of the R&B style therefore I think I am going to do a re take and a re draft after I collect feedback in order to improve it.

Re - Shoot

From our feedback I decided that it was important for me to add some extra footage to my music video because I felt as though it became very boring and its better to have more than not enough. This meant I need to do some more planning about what scenes would be good to film based on my facebook.

• Needing to show we live together

This was a piece of feedback which was not clear in our video. So I was trying to find simple ways in which we are able to show we live together without making a whole new story. Previously I believed that the dog would ruin the scenes, however, I think that the dog shows that we're a family and more together. So this created a new scene of us walking the dog together and showing us coming into the house together. This hopefully makes it cleaner that we were very serious but also o the day of the shoot there was one car in the drive which I believe shows that we share.

• Could include an argument

This I found particularly hard to do but I felt like to was a good scene to do if we were able to pull it off. While looking through other videos its very serious and it has a very strong impact on the video and it shows emotion and it adds to the story making it clearer. It will hopefully fit into the video and contribute the narrative.

• More moments where we are a couple

This I felt was key and very important for us to include so we have shot scenes like in the kitchen and the living room where we are together so we can show the emotion between because this is a key feature to include in the video.

These are key features which we filmed and I will edit into my video to improve it and make it more professional. While it was easy to shoot and this day was very productive and quick as we were on a time limit. It was crucial that we got this filming done as soon as possible so I am able to have enough time to edit it into my video.

Album Cover - Audience Feedback

My Album Cover

I allowed the target audience of the age range which I want to appeal to look at pictures and ask them to decide which was there favourite. Below are the options which were they mostly appealed too

Here are the amout of people which agreed with the pictures. They are in order of above.

I think its really important to see what the audience looks at when they want to buy an album, its clear that they have seen that the pink dress is clearly appealing to the male eye, based on things which they have said. After looking at the pictures there are some that would not be suitable for my image and what I want to be seen as. It doesn't match my song and the feel of my video.
So I took the second picture which was next choosen and decided that I wanted to see what effects I would add to the picture to make it more creative and similar to that of Alanis and Imogen. This is the when I first started playing, the first design which I liked because its slightly moody and it would still appeal to the target audience. However I think this would be more appealing as a single release instead of on front of an album.
Below is my first attempt at an album cover art. I like the theme of black and white which runs through this design but I have just began to get use to the software and I am finding it interesting and I want to continue with this idea.

Feedback - Rough Cut

I showed my rough cut to the class on Thursday 11th November. I collected this feedback based on my rough cut;

• It was suggested that I needed to add some more scenes in about the couple as it was too repeative with the two scenes that I have.

• It needs to be reinforced that we live together and its not just his house I'm walking into.

• I need to double check my lip syncing because it was out of time.
  

• The effects which I have put in my video are relevent and help to improve it. It looks good and just need to keep the effects going throughout the whole video.
  

• There is a clear story and narrative and they link together. They are presented nicely and the studio scenes are nicely filmed and put together.
  

I agreed with this because I felt as though it was boring watching the same scenes over again and I've looked into different ideas which I would like to try and shoot to make it seem like they are more a couple. But also so its clear that they live together. I have been looking through some videos to gather different ideas about how to show we live together but to add scenes.
Britney Spears - Everytime



From this video, I like the beginning where they are fighting against each other and arguing. This is seen through them pushing each other and the expression. However, my original idea of smashig a vase is seen in this video also and its a very effective way to show anger. Further they break more than just one thing and I would like to try and replicate a scene similar to this to show the emotion.

Bleeding Love (version 2) - Leona Lewis



There are some interesting shots and sequences which I'd like to include within here to show the situation. The opening scene is a small arguing which I would like to incorporate. This isn't as extreme as the one from Britney Spears and I think it will be eaiser to do but I would like to try it because it this would be more appropriate to the scene. There is a scene where he is packing up his things to leave and this would be a powerful scene for me to try and include because it shows I live there and heartbreak which I want the audience to feel.

Bleeding Love (version 1) - Leona Lewis



This video is all about heart break and there are many scenes in this video which I would like to try and replicate. Its really important for me to be able to see a variety of scenes so that I have a range which I can choose from to include in my video. Its important for me to be able to show how I am feeling the us as a couple.

Rough Cut

This is my rough cut and the first full version my music video. I think so far that it is quite a successful story and it portrays the genre of music which I want it to appeal to. I like the effects which I have used and I don't want to include too many because this won't match the speed of the song and the changes to the videos which I have done compliment my video to show clearly my emotion and the narrative. My favourite part of the video so far s the moment where I come into the house. I think I have put it together well so that it is in time with the music. But also what I want to fix is the moment where George vanishes and I feel as though this needs to be done better.

However, there are things which I don't like about my video. The first thing is that there isn't enough footage and I want to include more to show that we are a couple who lives together. But also I need to make sure that my lip syncing is in time and matches the music.

But overall I like how my music video is beginning to come together. There needs to be a few more changes and there needs to be more editing but so far I like what I have produced.

Indie Album Covers Research

While looking at these artist, it would't apply directly to my song and album. Although I have a female solo artist, it doesn't account for the music genre. As I am releasing a Indie Album my album cover needs appeal to the target audience. Therefore, looking at relevent artists would be key.

Alanis Morisette



You can see from this album art that shes not the center of the piece and you don't see her face fully. There are a range of different effects on the album covers as she isn't the center and she has presented herself in a particular way to create an image which is suitable to the specific audience. Rather than looking at her body a key focus is her face and shes presented in a beautiful mannor rather than a way which presents her as sexy. Her name is seen clearly while the name of the album isn't the center of the piece, which helps me when I am creating my album. She has two names which I think is important feature to these artists and I will need to take into consideration when creating my artist name and image.

Imogen Heap



Her album covers have similar charactersitics as Alanis. There are different effects which are used within the album and she isn't looking at the camera either. It focus's on differet aspects. While the first album creates an unusal image for her but it is related to the music genre which is what I hope to portray in my album cover art.
I like the effects which have been used in the last two albums as they are similar. Black and white with little colour. I would like to try this effect and create an image based on a picture where I am not the center of the album to match the genre which I am appealing to.

KT Tunstall



Now KT Tunstall has different album covers they similarly are in black and white; showing the effects and they aren't focused on her body and focus on the image which she is presenting. Her name is clearly shown and the name of the album is seen. This is different to the two other artists, I think this is because she is a more current artist and is more recent having her albums released in the past ten years.

But I think that I would like to present my artist more similar to Alanis because I think her image is created more clearly and more appealing to the target audience which I am appealing to.

Album Cover Ideas

Here are some of the pictures which we took to be part of the digipack and a possible album cover. I need to choose an album cover which will represent the star and the music which will be on the album, but I need to make it appeal to an audience as well.
This is the picture which I would like to put as the album cover as it has me in the center and it portrays me in an indie/rock kinda way with the background and pose. But there are several other pictures seen below which could also be used as my album cover. I will using the social networking site Facebook to see which one is more popular to a target audience.

R&B Album Covers Research

Britney Spears



From these two Britney Spears Covers you can see that she is the the center of her album and the cover to showing her. They are two clear different pictures and different images of her portraying her in two different ways. While Toxic is portraying a younger version and is creating a sex appeal to the audience her more recent album of Circus is portraying her as an innocent. It is appearing to be an older fashion with the hair and clothes and the look on her face. This seems to be a similar trend for female artist to be on the cover as this is seen from Shakira also.

Shakira



We can see Shakira is on the front and the center of the portrait. From the first Album cover from an older album, there is more of her figure and as Shakira developed she is known for her dancing and her star image has been similar throughout her career. Shakira genre of music is different to Britney Spears but they are both on the front of their album covers. This is seen also from Christina Aguilera, Cheryl Cole and Rihanna.


However, this is very different for the Indie Genre

Linkin Park & The Used



On both of these covers, neither of the artist are featured on the cover. The covers are representing the genre of the album and presenting the 'feel' of the album itself. This is very different to the solo female artists above. While they focus on Star image, this indie/rock genre focus on a representation of the album.

Looking at the two main genres which I would like to appeal to helps me to make crucial decisions about the album artwork and digipack which I will be creating. I will need to be sure that I include characteristics from both genres which will mean I will try and combine the two album works.

Day Two Shoot

Day Two Shoot
This day was also very successful; we managed to film more than we planned. We faced a few problems on this day which we had to overcome for example we needed to film other scenes which we originally planned for another day of shooting, but we needed the same location thus we had to think quick on our feet to get the right arrangements on the Monday before the shoot. There were several things which we had to do on the day like take the picture of George and myself for the photo frame. This was easy as we waited for us all to get together to travel to the locations; the locations were locate so they were easy to access.
A problem which we were faced with which we feared about was if the photo frame didn't smash when we dropped it. To work around this we took different shots where the audience would see the photo which she was carrying. We decided to be discrete to make it more interactive for the audience and used symbolism rather than literal meaning. Another problem we were faced with was the dog which the house owners have, we had to keep him out of the shots so they didn't ruin the moments, this can be seen in the video below where we forgot on our first take of the shoot. However, we managed to look after him well and keep him amused but also keep him out of the shots.