New Digi Pack Ideas

Urban landscapes were important in my print productions as they are generic signifiers of the underground genre. This image above is the front cover of 'Sum 41- Underclass Hero' album. This is significant as 'Smaller Than You' are influenced by American Ska-punk/rock such as Sum 41 and Mad Caddies. This album cover is effective in amplifying and portraying the band in an urban landscape. The front and back panels of my vinyl were influenced by the dim and unglamorous graffiti backdrop of this cover. I think overall this image could be seen as portraying the band in a negative light with the conveyed signifiers of youth rebellion. This is ironic as most young Ska-punk bands portray themselves this way purposely as it's generic to the 'prototype' of the genre, and is developed to be humorous and appealing to their youthful audience. I think this production is significant in appealing to the bands youthful demographic with the appearance of the lead singer on the front, the location and post-production of the image (Photoshop).
I think the use of the bright pink for the font is effective and eye-catching to the audience, but could be leaning more to a female audience, which isn’t useful as my product is targeting predominantly a male audience. I really like cartoon sketched effect of the album title below the bands name, I think this is significant in portraying the music and genre as humorous and youthful (relating to the slap-stick comedy narrative in my video). I think the contrast is extremely effective and creates a threatening and unglamorous landscape full of dim shades and tones. Although the lead singer’s costume is hard to determine, his gelled up hair and black skinny jeans add to the grunge-punk dimension of their music and image.




This image is the front cover of the Artic Monkeys -'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' . This image influenced my earlier manipulations for my digital pack, but strongly inspired my image of the bassist from 'Smaller Than You', for one of my panels for my vinyl.
I think this Artic Monkey's album cover is extremely effective in establishing contemporary Britain and the unglamorous side of, drugs, rebellion and youth. I particularly think these message come across through mine as the young boy is looking directly to the audience and conveys a powerful rebellious side due to his stance, the smoking and the urban scene in the background. The black and white image is extremely effective and helps to connote an unglamorous and dingy lifestyle, as portrayed through the man on the cover. Although this is significant it wouldn't apply to my vinyl as I am producing it as eye -catching and vibrant as possible to reflect the upbeat genre. I also love the simplicity of the cover and wanted to achieve this on mine, but, as 'Smaller Than You' aren’t mainstream like the Artic Monkey's they needed as much promoting and marketing as possible to engage the audience. This is because this simplistic effect of the Artic Monkey's cover doesn't promote the band's image itself and isn't too engaging and eye-catching with the audience, which is what I wanted to endeavour.

This image above is my most recent manipulations for the inside left cover of my viynl.

This image is of Jasper who featured in my music video as a skateboarder and is also the bass guitarist of 'Smaller Than You'. I am either using this image of Jasper, the images below manipulated of Sam (the trumpeter) or the images manipulated of a skateboarder in my earlier drafts. The one I will choose will be used for my inside left panel and will consist or the bands logo and the record label/logo my group are producing. I manipulated this image by cropping it to a smaller size and changing the contrast, so it was much higher in contrast and colour. I then added a lens flare to enhance a large glow onto the picture, adding extra effect. I asked Jasper to stand in front of a brick wall to simplify the image, projecting him in front of a significant urban signifier. I asked him to wear a t-shirt and a black jumper and wanted to capture him smoking on camera. This would add to the urban effect of the music video and genre, and also emphasise youth, with the brick background reinforcing an urban environment. The bricks also connote a fragmented distorted image which relates with the front cover image of repeated and spilt up parts of one image.

Below, further experimentations:

Above are two manipulations of my digi pack's front cover. I want to integrate repeating images throughout my digi pack and experimented with this idea on Photoshop. I cut the picture up with the rectangular marquee tool and moved the images around to create a fragmented effect. I also experimented with the font again but felt these two images although are simple, tacky and unprofessional.

This image above is a final through for my front of my vinyl digi pack. I am creating a front panel, back panel, an inside panel and another panel displaying information, which also has a slip to hold the vinyl record. The layout will be that the front cover opens up to show both the image of Sam on the inside left and the information on the right panel. The back and right panel will contain the record in. This image I created on Photoshop and was a further manipulation of my other developments. I downloaded a specific font from Dafont.com, which I think relates to the image and style of the Ska punk band. This font integrates an authentic style with a youthful bold text font creating a punk style. I used the Eyedropper tool on Photoshop to get the colour of the skateboard to use for the font. I chose contrasting colours of a tepid blue and a pastel murky orange for the finishing font. Although this cover is quite simple I think it utilises the Ska genre well as it is bold and contrasting, attracting a youthful audience with the image of skateboarding, bright colours and an urban style.

The two pictures above of Sam from ‘Smaller Than You’ really emphasise the youth and style of the band. I wanted to you all members of the band but found it complicated to market them all so I went for the style of marketing their music video though this digi pack. I manipulated these two images above of Sam on Photoshop and change the contrast and burn parts to make it bolder and more attractive to the audience. I then added a lens flare to make the left side bright and manipulated added light to the image. The first image of Sam is my favourite as I manipulated hi top to be brighter to the yellow writing and his headphones stand out. I created his costume to fit the digi pack. I made him wear headphones which signifiers a modern youthful generation's style and also references music. I wanted him to wear a simple top and a long coat for the perfect costume of Ska and indie punk. I took other shots of Sam, but found this was the best.

Digi Pack Drafts

Above- Image for Inside oppositte to the record.

I had a recent photo shoot with a few of the skateboarders featured in my video. I wanted one of my vinyl panels to have the profile of a young male on it, and found this quite effective, especially with the shadowing around the profile of the face. I was inspired by the Artic Monkeys 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' black and white album cover above. This image is quite similar to mine in only having one focal point, being the male in the perspective. I think the Artic Monkeys is a good influence in showing how to convey certain messages, smoking which connotes rebellion and this young male referencing youth rebellion.

Above- Back Cover

This image above is one I took whilst shooting the music video for possible images for my digi pack. I manipulated the image by changing the contrast and highlighted certain areas with the burn tool on Photoshop to make its contrast higher to fit with the genre of Ska. From research into the genre of Ska I have found that the sleeves of vinyl often have recurring images repeating and very strong bright contrasting colours, which is the pattern I am aiming to achieve. I want to integrate skateboards, youth and colour into my digi pack and though this image of both the skateboards side by side could be good as it sets up duality, which is common in Ska artists/bands Vinyl.

This second image is of a band member in Smaller Than You and I took it black and white to see the effect. Although I wanted extreme bright colours I think this image works well with my digi pack aiming to a youthful audience. This is because the image is of a young 18-year-old guy who is interested in music himself and listens to Ska on a regular basis. I wanted the image of his profile as it seemed a good angle to shoot. I have found his generic popular haircut is stereotypical in young generations at this time period (having aside shaved of short) and found his appearance perfect for my genre. His long dark coat and tartan scarf creates a Ska-punk image appealing to the target audience.

This is a portrait image I took of a band member, and changed the contrast like the one above to bright and used the colour balance on portrait to magenta and cyan to create this authentic colour effect. I cropped the sides of the image to give it more length and though it also creates the image I wanted to portray through my did pack. This could be a possible back cover of my vinyl. I want to integrate close up shots of band members and skaters who feature in my video to promote the band and it's genre to the audience.

This was my first draft of a front cover but though it turned out quite tacky and uncreative. I wanted to use repeated images on the front cover and to enhance the extreme bright colours of the skateboards with the use of the burn tool and the brightness and contrast tool.

This image below is one of my final possible front covers for my vinyl digi pack. I like the duality and spilt between the image and how it says 'Smaller Than You' behind the two skaters ho feature in my music video. I think the boys appearance is especially significant as it portrays youthful skaters. The skater on the left has a tattoo on his arm and a Guns And Roses authentic -shirt applying an intertextual reference to the front cover. During the shoot i drew on both the skateboards, one having the bands name and the name of the single to promote themselves everywhere to the audience. On the second skateboard I put my name and my groups name as produced the music video. This almost seems like a behind the scenes clip board, where in films they use snap boards to cut and end scenes .I think this will be good for the digi pack front cover as it relates perfectly to Ska and youth, but also is promoting my music video to emphasise audiences to watch. This last image is of another skater featured in the video and I thought he would be perfect for the didi pack cover. His appearance is also generically youthful and 'indie' as well as Ska. He has the same haircut (the shaved side with a long fringe), which is extremely renowned to young boys at the moment. I took a picture of him in front of a repeated image of Jeremy Kyle, emphasising the media and the parody of youth. I cropped this image so it was just his profile in the shot and changed the contrast and manipulated the image to magenta and cyan using the colour balance on Photoshop.

Textual Analysis Of Florence And The Machine's- Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) Marked Version

Digital Pack Ideas

I have started designing my digital-pack on Photoshop in the style of vinyl, which I have independently researched. I have to make four panels, a front cover, two inside and a back. I also am going to be downloading a specific font (from da.font.com) that will be in the style of the band I am promoting (‘Smaller Than You’) and the genre. I want my front cover to be bold and effective, but not too complicated. From the research of vinyl and Ska music I have found that the appearance of the packages/records/CD’s entail repeated bright images and the use of black and white together, or bright contrasting yellow's and greens like Studio Ska. I want my front panel to have a white background with bright writing and some skateboarding images repeated in some sort of format, but still want it to attract attention. For my back panel I want an extremely large picture of the band, or a single band (like the image of Dandy Livingstone on his single) member playing an instrument, promoting their style and image. The two inside panels I want to make extremely bold, one displaying gig events and song titles. For the last panel I am going to create a logo or some sort of motto or image that represents either Ska music, Smaller Than You or their music label. This will advertise the band and label even more and get the audience familiar with their style, making them stand out.

The information drawn from my conclusions of my questionnaire results-target audience are extremely significant for designing my digital-pack and advertisement, as it shows my target audiences consumer habits for music. As I want the best reception from my target audience on my digi pack I want it to be specific for them (the audience) for example I am making a vinyl digital pack format as from research I have found the Ska punk audience enjoy this style. I also want it to be available for download on Myspace and Itunes as this would make the distribution of my band and digital pack larger. However I don't want to pull audiences away from buying the single just on vinyl as I think this style is more important to the audience of Ska and myself as people are trying to bring this format of music back. I think if all my audiences downloaded the single from the internet it would be disappointing as I want to distribute the music in a sentimental authentic form for audiences to enjoy, but may loose sales and awareness if it isn't distributed on the internet as this is what modern society knows best (internet consumption).

Magazine Ideas- Outline

I am going to create on Photoshop Premiere Elements a magazine advert for the release of Smaller Than You's single Who Knew. I created an extra track for the Vinyl release called 'Skank Through Youth', as it connotes not only the bands youth but their genre.
The magazine I am going to present my advertisement in is Outline. Outline is an independent Norwich local magazine, and is renowned for music and Norwich's youth and student life. The A5 sized magazine is perfect to pick up and carry around, and is available for free at 300 outlets in Norwich, including HMV, Soho Hip and Kinki Boutique. These types of shops help to promote Norwich and give popularity to the contents inside. The magazine is packed full of student life, Cafés, venues, restaurants, shops, nightlife, reviews of films and most importantly in my case, music. The magazine is published monthly and has been running for 7 years informing Norwich's dwellers on the fine city. Outline also is useful for music audiences as it advertises Norwich's music scene which is extremely big. This guide is almost a music guide for people who don't hear about acts playing and helps the small venues for popularity.
For this magazine advertisement I have decided to release the album only in SoundClash to keep with their British and Norwich roots but also have made it available to download on their Myspace, as from my audience research I learnt audiences enjoy the proliferation of technology and the internet for their asses of music. SoundClash is perfect for their release asit is associated with Ska punk underground music and is an independent music store, reinforcing independent and new music to Norwich.
The music reviews and interviews are featured in the magazine are extremely big renowned acts, including: Biffy Clyro and White Lies. I went onto the site of Outline and found this weeks issue features Reel Big Fish which is a popular talented Ska band, reinforcing why I should advertise Smaller Than You here. This would give them a wider target audience as almost every student reads Outline and their fan base could even reach Cambridge as it also issues there. The issues can be read online and this magazine has worked with large succeeding companies such as ;Future radio, Universal Island records, Atlantic records and Norwich theatre royal. This wise spread of contacts means that my advert publishing here could reach a larger audience and world raise Smaller Than You's sales.
Outline has it's own website which raises its popularity, they also use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise, market and share information on the magazine.

Exploring Vinyl!

Vinyl records are analogue sound storage mediums consisting of a flat disc inscribed with modulated spiral grooves. These records replaced the gramophone cylinders and come in many different formats and deigns. The small 7" (45rpm) records usually have one track per side, but a 10/12" (45rpm) record can hold up to 10 and 15 minutes of music. Above is a picture of some of my mothers 7" records which I was looking at to get an idea of the appearance of Vinyl for designing my own for Smaller Than You. The beginning of Vinyl records were usually sold in a cardboard layout slip with a hole in the centre enabling people to see the record label and song track. Nowadays the medium 10" size are quite rare, so I didn't have any to look at.
These 4 small Vinyl's were my favourite out of my mother's collection. I really like the simplicity and design of 'The Pretenders', the vibrant retro look of 'TheWalker Bros- Classic Cuts', and the dramatic close up image of Dandy Livingstone.
The minimalist look of the presenters and colour scheme is very similar to The Specials, it creates duality and stand out a lot. I like the ying yang effect and how even the record itself plays with the same style. On the back it has the song listings for track A and B, and has little information anywhere else. I think this is effective and myself as a customer would buy this.
'The Walker Bros.-Classic Cuts' scheme also creates a kind of duality, there is a mirror images man and women dancing on either side of the front of the record. The colours of pink white and black create a retro effect and link with their American Pop group style. The back of it is very detailed with track listings on top of the same repeated image of the man and the women dancing, and the bottom half has another repeated image of a Phillips radio showing advertising. I like the choppy font of the main title, against the bold smaller font showing the other information. I think this retro look is eye-catching and humorous, but may not go with the genre of Ska and image of skateboarding.
The third above of Jane Birkin's vinyl is really effective. The repeated pattern on the phonogram image in bold blue red and white seem symbolic and creates a hypnotising effect. They look like mini dart boards and look good but don't fit with the Jane Birkin style or type of song.
The fourth on the picture is of Dandy Livingstone's 'Come Back Liza', although this is very cheesy the layout is simple and bold. The picture of him is an extreme close up and establishes the artist and his audience's needs, the image and his reggae genre. Dandy Livingstone was a Jamaican musician and producer as is known for his song "Rudy, A Message To You" covered later on by 'The Specials'. He was part of Ska Beat Records at one point in his music career, which is quite ironic as the genre I am studying is Ska. I think this layout is good as I want my audiences to know who there artist is and can establish the type of music from the appearance of the product. Because 'Smaller Than You' consists of 6 members it may be hard to accomplish a close up of them all on their album/viynl cover.


I also like the back of Meat Loaf’s 'Dead Ringer' Vinyl, as the picture on the back is effective showing him live in performance. This establishes Meatloaf and his genre and the dramatic close up gives the audience an image of him with his passion for music. These larger 33" LP vinyl’s above are significant in my research as the vinyl I am producing, although will be in the form of a single (45"), will have the qualities of the larger vinyl. The larger ones often opened up like books, and had the actual record in a slip on the right hand side. I want to accomplish this, but in a smaller side. This means my production will have a proper front cover, will open up to have a left image and a right image and behind the right image and the back of the vinyl the record will be held. Although this isn’t familiar with the 45" I think it will be effective for my production as it will enable me to add more information and images of the band.




I even found some really old Disney and Care Bears on vinyl which was quite humourous!
Many of the large Vinyl's have extra features, which made the whole product more appealing. On one of Stevie Wonder's packing the theme was nature and had many images of natural substances and the front had in brail spelt out it's title which really made a stronger relationship with him and his audience. Some of the Vinyl’s opened up like a book and had the lyrics, or extra background biographical information on the artist/band. I like the idea of it opening up and having either a poster or the song lyrics on the inside of the cover, an another slip with the actual record inside. The smaller 45" ones often have small booklets inside, like what you get with Albums these days, entailing song information and lyrics which was also a good idea.