Digipak: Developed Ideas

With The Beatles, Gorillaz, and the Howling Bells' magazine advert in mind, we created some final few digipak designs. As we are unsure of which one to use, all three of us will create mock-ups, and after some audience feedback we will settle on a final design. We particularly liked the idea of having similar images on front and back cover, but front would be the band member's "Just a day" where they are pictured doing very normal things like putting on clothes (could be filmed like a surprise paparazzi photo) and the back cover will show them in the exact same position, but holding their instruments and rocking out (looking they enjoy being surprised-photographed). "Normal by day/Rockers by night" vibes.

Digipak: Initial ideas

After our research, we had a group discussion about what we wanted for our front and back covers for a digipak. In terms of what the digipak needs to include (Barcode, track listing), we pretty much agreed on the same things so that matter did not have to be discussed further. From our research, we knew we wanted to use bold colours, a box/square-ish house style, and have images of the band members. Our ideas were:

• Have four images of band members; in different coloured t-shirts, holding an image of themselves which would also be holding an image of themselves. This would continue, creating a surreal and funky look. The image of themselves might alternate in facial expressions or poses.


• Have four images of the band members; holding a single image of themselves doing a funny expression over their face.


• Have four images of the random people (a woman, a pot-bellied man - people you would find on a 'just-a-day' street) holding images of the band members over their faces.


• Have four images of the band members doing "Just-A-Day" things. E.G. brushing their teeth, drinking tea...


• Alike to Gorillaz, draw cartoon versions of the band members, in a mug-shot style


• Simple mug-shot images of band members, with different/funny/opposing facial expressions?


• Draw cartoon versions of the band member's "Just-A-Day"

Digipak Research: Templates

There are a variety of templates for digipaks, such as the simple 4 sides, and 6 sided. It is important to have an understanding of the net layout of digipaks, so when we print ours we know how to position each side.




In comparison to our current time limit/scale, we..don't have much time at all!!! Therefore. we have decided to use a 4 sided template. This fits nicely with our specification points, as we plan to have a front cover, a side of behind the scene images, a side with the lyrics presented in a creative way, and the back cover. The actual behind the scenes footage DVD will be stored in a slot under neath the side with exclusive images, as with the actual music DVD whcih will be slotted under neath the lyrics.

Digipak Research

The following research is secondary only, and all images are sourced from Google.

6 sided, DVD digipak. Includes a plastic frame inside to secure the DVD. Images are only on the inner sides, not on the frame itself. Roughly A5 sized. Front cover is simple, and images are limited.

6 sided CD digipak. Front covers house style of bright yellow and streaked, contrasting colour continues on the inside sleeves. Artwork is prevalent. Not much text. Left side includes an extra pocket, most likely includes a lyrics booklet or exclusive images. Bold image at the centre is an effective and eye catching front cover.

4 sided CD digipak. Image on inside sleeve is a close up. Heavily photo shopped. Includes plastic frame for CD/DVD. Little to none text.

Maltese-Cross digipak.The art in this digpak is inspirational as it uses the same style of photo, and same style of editing (changed the hue of the photo) but each image has a different colour. I like the way each colour used on the faces is mixed together in a zebra-print like pattern on the actual CD, which ties them together nicely. The format of this digipak is interesting too, as each panel folds out at each of the four sides, rather than folding out like a book/CD case. The use of bright colour on a black background is effective too and it puts emphasis on the images themselves.

Gorillaz digipak 1. As discussed, we plan on having a cartoon/drawing element. This will match our music video's green screen and suit the fun and quirky vibe to our song/music video. Here, Gorillaz uses a similar format to a Beatles album cover, but instead of actual human portfolios, it is their cartoon counter parts. The illustrations themselves is very stylised, portraying their style of music and their personalities as individuals.

Gorillaz digipak 2. Different from the one above, this digipak is much more standard in its format. There is more text than most on the left side, which could be a note from the band, or a description of the digipak. (Writing is too small to see). It could be inferred, by looking at the images below the text, it is a piece of writing by the band, talking about their journey as artists and which of their albums they like best, like some kind of perosnal commentary for the fans. This would be a nice, personal touch to the digipak and put emphasis on the "Collector's item" aspect of a digipak.

What is a Digipak?

• A Digipak is like a DVD extras set for a single or album.
• It is similar to a Collector's item
• The cover/pack itself can have 6 sides or 4.
• It includes a DVD of music video(s)
• DVD details - age certification or 'Parental Advisory: Explicit Content' label
• It includes behind the scenes footage of the music videos and tours
• Copy of lyrics
• Exclusive Pictures
• Track listing

(Our digipak will included the items coloured in red.)

A Digipak should also have...

• Bar code
• Price
• Copyright logo
• Record label logo
• Producer's name
• Band's logo
• Can have the website
• the 'Compact disc' logo

The digipak should also be marketed as a new product in its own right, rather than an extension of renewed product of the an album/single.

Notice/Reminder of Subsidiary Tasks

As we have little time left to do the coursework, we as a group have decided to move onto the subsidiary task (although someone during each lesson will continue to do a little bit of editing on the final music video).

For our subsidiary task, we have chosen to do...

• A Digipak for the single, including front and back cover and insides, with all rnecessary logos/credits.
• A magazine poster advertising the single and digipak, which will be linked to the digipak in terms of aesthetics but will not be the same.

As with the final video, research will be done seperately, but shared at idea discussions. At this point it is clear to us that the drawing used for the green screen will be used in either of the two subsidiary tasks.

Audience Feedback From Classmates

Unfortunately, all the comments given to us about our almost-final music video was not written down or recorded in any form, so I'll paraphrase.

• The Majority thought it was enjoyable, and the range of clips were good.
• Saturation on the green screen needed to be toned down, at times the people looked pink
• Some clips needed to be lip-synced better
• The last few clips with the "Do do do do" was a very good way to end the music video
• The opening was of Jack climbing down the clip was WAY too long
• Female singer for a song sang by a male was confusing - to make it clear that the video was a somewhat tribute video, show clips of each band setting up in the beginning to establish they they are not the original artists (some music videos do do this, such as the original Feeder video which features fans only, never the actual members of feeder)

We will finish off our music video by following this feedback.