Digipak Initial Ideas

Before even beginning the process of designing my album cover, I had an initial idea in my head of how I wanted the final product to look. I pictured a simple cover, featuring my artist however I did not want it to be close up.

For me the song Pretty Hurts relays a message of insecurity from the artist and I wanted this to be portrayed in my album cover. I therefore directed the photo on the right and chose this to be the base photo for my album artwork. I believe this photo shows the artist in reflection, perhaps thinking about the message of the song, thinking about how they feel about themselves or even looking out on the pressurized society we have created - this is an enigma. While the artist is still the focus of the photo, she is off-centered and distanced, making the overall photo softer and portraying the underlying emotion of the song. From this point, I began to add text and different filters and effects to create drafts to choose from for my final album cover.

Idea 1:

For my first idea I decided to make the song title the focus of the picture but combined a bold font with a pastel colour scheme to maintain the softness I wanted from the image. I placed the name of the artist at the bottom of the screen so it was still a prominent feature but not the main focus. I like this idea because it looks modern and is striking while also matching how I proposed to brand the artist and music video.

Idea 2:

My second idea for my album cover framed the initial image using a soft gray so the difference between the image and frame wasn't too harsh. I then used a standard, more formal font to add the song title and artist name either side of the image. I like this idea because it has a more mature and professional look but still captures the emotion of the artist through the image.

Idea 3:

For my third idea I decided to add a monochrome filter and just like the previous idea I framed the image, this time with a pure white. I also cropped the image into a standard square and centered it ensuring the frame surrounds the image completely. I then used a standard font to add the song title and artist name. I like this idea because even though the song is catchy and a 'pop' hit, the underlying message of it is important and I believe this album cover looks more mature, enabling the song to be taken more seriously. However, I do think that the picture loses its emotion with the filter and the overall cover is not as striking.

Idea 4:

For my final idea I added a translucent baby pink accent to the corner of the picture to contrast the colours of the image and make the whole cover look more modern. I think that this effect is striking and would target a younger audience. The font is also less formal, contributing to this idea. While I like the colour scheme how bold it looks I don't think it looks as professional as the other ideas, this perhaps undermines the message of the song.

Risk Assessment Grids

Production Schedule

This is the production schedule I have developed for the making of my music video. I have estimated dates in which I hope to have each stage of the production completed, however with all productions this is subject to change. We are unable to predict unforeseen circumstances such as the weather and external actors, therefore this production schedule is optimistic. If we do have issues, we can refer back to the production schedule to predict the impact it will have.

Editing Ideas

While mind mapping ideas for our music video, we came up with the idea to add illustrations onto the video using the 'Scribble Effect' on the software Adobe After Effects. This is because the narrative and accompanying lyrics to our music video are quite serious and cover a topical issue - bullying and self image - and the chorus' of our music video will feature numerous shots of people affected by this. However, these shots will be still shots with both the camera and characters positioned only in a single place with no movements. Therefore, by adding illustrations to these shots it makes the shots more striking and will act as the movement that the shots lack.

This effect is used in Justin Biebers 'What Do You Mean?' lyric video embedded below. It was used by director Laban in order to enhance the shots which otherwise have no narrative and are in black and white. However, unlike our video he uses the effect over moving images.




However, we have never used this effect before and only have limited experience using the software Adobe After Effect, therefore in order to see if the idea was feasible and to learn how it is executed before beginning the filming process, we have practised over the music video Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande. We left the first 10 seconds of the video without effects and then experimented with different shapes, brushes and colours in the following 10 seconds in order to compare. Our practise is embedded below.

Music Video Synopsis

Below is a presentation displaying the synopsis for my music video. I have split my music video up into different stages which will feature various scenes and shots in order to form the narrative. Each stage is explained below.

Music Video Synopsis from CharlDale

Digital Storyboard

1. This scene will be displaying the protagonist scrolling through social media and seeing the 'ideal' representations of women by the media. This will be a close up with the camera in a fixed position.
2. The second scene will show the protagonist examining their own image in the mirror, comparing themselves to societies expectations. This will be a longshot however will zoom in to her expression, ending in a medium close-up.
3. The third will be the scene of the chorus and comprise of a montage of still images. Each image will show a real person holding up a sign displaying too... with an adjective following showing their insecurity. These will be medium closeups but may have inconsistencies.

1. The fourth scene will be uploaded footage of a recent Victoria Secret catwalk. This will once again visualise how the media only represents the 'ideal' women. The music video will then return to the chorus montage shown in the third scene.
2. The fifth scene will show our protagonist running through a forest area, effectively running away from the pressures of societies. This will comprise of medium-long shots and long shots. 
3. The sixth scene will be an extreme long shot which then cuts to a close-up. The protagonist will be leant up against a tree-trunk, reflecting and then will close her eyes.

The final scene will cut to the protagonist in the same position as she was leant against the tree trunk but instead she will be in bed. This is a match on action. An extreme close up will show the protagonist open her eyes. Back to the pressures of society.

Storyboard 1