Digipak Development

I have taken the digipak template and prepared it for editing in Photoshop.

First I opened the template .psd file in Photoshop and then created grid guidelines with the ruler tool along all of its edges to outline the front left, front right, inside left and inside right of my digipak.

Using these guides I then created rectangles to fill them with the rectangle tool and coloured them different colours so I could distinguish easily between them. I then masked out a side piece of the inside left quadrant to form the opening of the tube pocket as seen on the template.

I then created a custom shape using the magic wand and marquee tools to define the shape of the CD tray, filled this in white on a new layer and lowered the opacity to simulate the clear plastic.

I then created a CD sized circle tool shape according to the template and used a layer mask to make an inner portion of the disk 50% transparent, just like a real CD.

I can now change the colour or style properties of any of these shapes freely as well as add text and images. I will interview my peers next to gauge preference on colour, font and images.

Digipak Template

I will be using an industry standard digipak template:

to make sure my digipak, if produced for real, would be the correct size. It is a 4 panel pack with a tube pocket on the inside left which would be to house a folded poster or perhaps a booklet of behind-the-scenes photos and lyrics.

Music Video Questionnaire

An audience feedback questionnaire about things such as types of edit and filming locations for my music video can be found here.

Todorov's Narrative Theory

I have decided that my video will not follow Todorov's theory as it will be anachronic which is more common for a music video.

Goffman's Character Theory

My music video will only include one main protagonist who will drive the plot and be the subject of the action and several bit players (city kids) who will contrast the protagonist and have no back story.

Propp's Character Theory

Advert Analysis: Blackstar - David Bowie

made using Canva.com

Advert Analysis: My Everything - Ariana Grande

Digipak Analysis: Family Jewels - Marina and the Diamonds

Digipak Analysis: Glorious - Foxes

Music Video Analysis- Hungry Like the Wolf

Song Choice

I have chosen to make my music video for the song Uptight Downtown based on my previous ideas.

I have asked for permission from the artist's label, Polydor, to use the song...

...but as there has been no reply for a significant amount of time I will go ahead with the song, which I am allowed to do as it is for educational purposes.

Video Analysis: Amazing - Foxes

Filming and Editing Practice 2

This is our second group video shot as practice for filming a conversation, hence the over the shoulder shots and 'shot-reverse-shot'. It is in the style of a news report and as such demonstrates the conventions of that genre such as a title sequence and anchor looking directly into camera.

If I were to shoot with sound again I'd use an external, directional microphone to pick up voices better.

Filming and Editing Practice 1

Working as a group of 4 we collectively shot a reel of footage and edited it together in iMovie as preliminary to our video projects. It is in the style of a short film/docu-drama and so features the POV Steadicam shot and dramatic non-diegetic music synonymous with that genre.

If I were to remake this I would make more use of camera movement such as panning and tracking to show the new found vigour of the male character in the second half. This will be especially important for a music video as constant camera movement is a common convention to make it exciting to watch.