Advertising Packaging Feedback

After completing my digi-pack and poster for my album 'Embrace This Day', I received feedback from my teacher.

DIGIPACK

WHAT WENT WELL 

• interesting images that grab the attention of the audience
• excellent use of black and white colours throughout the packaging
• recognised that this is a digipack and not just a CD
• recogniseable identity imagry such as barcodes, iTunes logo and universal logo 
• interesting use of effects 
• effects on images are not too intrusive
• established a logo for 'ZARENNA' the artist by using a recognisable 'Z' on the inner lyric slot

EVEN BETTER IF

• suggestion to make the 'Z' image page into a lyric book
• background image on CD insert

POSTER

WHAT WENT WELL

• excellent use of image and text
• dates of digipack release are made clear
• same font and colour scheme used throughout
• important information is made clear to the audience by text size ect.

EVEN BETTER IF

• image of the cd itself on the poster to make very clear to the audience that this is a poster for the release of the digipack- not a tour date.

I was additionally asked questions by my teacher to answer on my blog about the digipack and poster.

1) What media term explains the imagery of the artist looking into the camera/straight at the audience?

The answer to this is DIRECT MODE OF ADDRESS. I used DMA for my images in my digipack because it was important to me that the audience felt an instant connection with the artist. I thought that if I used imagery which made the artist (Zarenna) look shy would disinterest the audience. I believed that the use of intimidation of the eyes in the images of Zarenna would also represent the nature of the artist's genre of music- which is dance. It could be suggested that if I used a less intimdaiting image- the genre of the music could be seen as soul/R&B.

2) Explain what font I used- where and why is it from?

The answer to this question is that I chose to get the front from an online source. This website is called www.dafont.com, the font itself is called Dolce Vita. I thought that this font went well with my music genre because of it's quirky and simplistic nature. The main feature of the font, is the reversed A. I believed this added extra uniqueness to the font, and to the digipack and poster too.

Choosing the images and Digipack and poster

Choosing the images for my digipack and poster were quite hard as I had a lot of images to choose from. I decided to choose ones that made Zarenna look as independent and crazy as possible, which is what the music video represents. I took several images in different angels of her face however I remained always behind the same white background, which is similar to my music video. I decided to use Zarenna's hand movements and facial expressions to express her personality as I did not think extravagant and busy images with bold clothing and make-up would be suitable for my aim of the digipack and poster. I thought that a clear face and black attire represents her dark personality and does not take over the meanings of the images. Other images include- 

Proof of my original prints 

   these images were scanned in via an A4 image scanner connected to Photoshop.

Digipack plan

Digipack Research and Conventions of a digipack

What is a digipak?

A digipack is a packaging for CD or special edition CD's- it is used to give an idea or feeling of the artist and type of music and genre of the album. It is to represent the artist and single as a whole which will promote them to their consumers- heightening sales.

Conventions of a digipack

• represent artist
• video content
• look professional 
• relevant information about artist
• barcodes (to be sold in shops)
• all songs from artist displayed on digipack
• genre is portrayed successfully 
• general flow of design/colour scheme

Rihanna- Rated R Album Cover

I chose to research and look into Rihanna's 'Rated R' album cover because I believe that the images and colours used are very similar to my idea's for my digipack. 

Make Up

In rihanna's album cover her make up is very devious and dark, suggesting that one main song on her album expresses something of this nature. I thought that the choice of lipstick and eyemakeup was very bold and stood out. This relates to how I would like my digipack cover make up to be for my main singer Zarenna, as she acts as a devious fallen angel in the music video for Embrace This Day and therefore dark makeup, like Rihanna's, would express this.

Posture

In Rihanna's album cover, one hand is covering her eye, a pose that my singer Zarenna does in the video for Embrace This Day. I believe that like Rihanna's make up, her posture represent's the devious and bold nature of one the main songs on the album. I believe the covering of the eye suggests that the song has a meaning of that she may have something to hide or is shy. I would like my singer Zarenna to pose in somewhat a similar way to Rihanna as she is hiding and trying to escape becoming the good fallen angel that also features in the video.

Effects

In Rihanna's album cover the chosen effect for the album cover is a very bold black and white effect which has a lot of contrast added to create detail. I think that the fact everything is very dark expresses the nature of the songs on the album and also emphasizes the choice of make up and posture of the album cover as she appears to look very scary. I may use an effect like this on my digipack however I may experiment with effects more such as using half/half (half colour and half black and white).