Planning: Digipak analysis

Planning: Digipak analysis

During one of our planning lessons, we had to analyse digipaks that have been created by artists that have a similar representation in the industry to our artists and try to take out some of the good key points that are in their work in order to apply a similar structure to that of ours. 

For our digi pack analysis we choose to look at:
The End Of The Beginning - Skrapz

Blue Print 3 - Jay-Z

General findings:

• Bold outstanding colours.
• The title of the album is also labeled in quite a big bold outstanding sized font.
• Artist image is apparent however it is slightly being lost in the darker lighting.
• Parental advisory symbol is present.

From this research here is some key factors that I am looking for in my project:

• We want a close up shot of both of our artists, in in order to best present star image.
• Lighting will also be brighter in order to enhance the star image of both artists.
• We will be using contrasting colors throughout the digipak (white for 1 artist black for another) this will again make our artists stand out within the digipak equally. 
• Facial expressions that will be used we be quite serious to present the themes of professionals being in their element which helps to build the anticipation of the digipak visually as it must be considered as the visual interpretation of the albums tracks.

To conclude I believe that the digipak is extremely important as it is considered as the face of the album and the entire musical campaign to an extent, this is why we must create something of a visual sensation to excite and engage fans both old and new and also best capture the primary themes of the album.

Planning: Shot List

Planning: Shot List

This is the shot list that was created by our group 

Planning: Production Roles

Planning: Production Roles 

Production Roles

Director =Josh: 

We chose Katie for this role because she has experience in directing from directing her thriller production in last years’ project where she was able to organise the production efficiently.  

Editor = Amani: 

In last years Thriller Production, Amani was seen going out of his way to learn and experiment with various amount of edits on Final Cut Pro. Therefore, we chose him to be our based editor as he has experience from creating a successful project last year. 

Camera person = Josh: 

Joshua filmed his groups last years’ thriller production which we have identified that this is an advantage for us because he has a well developed understanding when operating the camera. 

Print design = Amani: 

We decided that Emine would be the print designer due to her previous work experience in photography where she gained a specific skill set on how to take professional pictures which will benefit us when we are doing our digi pack.  

Producer = Josh: 

Joshua was chosen for this role as he is extremely organised in which this would be beneficial for us as he would be able to assist the director on tasks such as what days and times we will film and ensure our cast members will attend this. 

Storyboard = Amani: 

We chose Amani for this role due to his creativity and ability to quickly create a scene and adapt ideas from scene to scene. Amani’s previous skills in art will benefit the group because from drawing each scene, it can give everyone in our group, a clear idea of what we will be filming. 

Photographer = Josh: 

Due to Emine’s developed skill set from working in photography studio, she would be most appropriate and suitable to the photographer role. 

Location manager = Amani:

 Katie has given us several locations that we can have easy access to and that we as a group have found that these locations that Katie has recommended are very suitable to our production idea. 

Cast control = Josh: 

Josh immediately acquired the cast consisting of two performers to represent our two ‘artists’ therefore Josh would be most suitable for the role to control and handle the cast. 

Costume, Hair & Make up = Amani: 

As they are females and are very familiar with using make up, they would suit this role. They are both also very passionate about fashion and clothing so they would have certain ideas for what type of costume our artist should wear to match the particular locations. 

Lighting = Josh:

Emine developed the skill set and knowledge of lighting which is part of photography therefore she would suit this role. 

However after a discussion with our group later on down the line we decided that we would split up the group into two between Katie and Emine and Josh and Myself meaning that i have now taken the roles of Katie as well as maintaining my own roles and josh has done the same but taken the roles that Emine had previously.

Planning: Digipak Information

Digipak Information

Album Name: Ying & Yang

Artist name(s):

SWEENEY - (Amani)

MD - (Michael)

Track List:

1. Differences. (INTRO)
2. You Are.
3. Squad Only.
4. Wavey.
5. (MD)MA.
6. P.H.A.T.
7. Trilla.
8. Spectre.
9. Lost Tape.
10. The Equilibrium.
11. C.R.E.A.M.
12. Paypa Chase.
13. LEGO City.
14. My Fung Shway. (Feng Shui)
15. The Mirror's Edge. (OUTRO)

Music Institution: DefJam Records.

Production Company: KAJE Records.

Parental Advisory Symbol: Present

Planning: Lighting and Colour

Lighting & Color

Lighting and colour in 'I Won' - Future ft. Kanye West

It is black and white in colour. I really like the use of this as it is a very distinctive and cool effect that gives the video a classy look for mainstream artists who usually do not tend to be formal or classy. This black and white theme is an idea I already had in mind to go along with my idea of a black vs white; one artist dressed in white and the other dressed in black as well as making my two performers have contradicting actions within the narrative to portray the idea of opposites. I am very interested in recreating a black and white concept as it helps can vary and create both a classic or urban feel.

Lighting and colour in 'Don't' - Bryson Tiller

The lighting in this video shows a contradictions between high key and low key lighting. The high key lighting and use of all white clothing on the female character is used to represent her as an asset in the music video which plays against the stereotypical conventions of females being passive in a music video.

Lighting and colour in 'Wavey' - J Spades ft. Young Teflon

The music video that has helped influence my music video in terms of lighting and colour is J Spades Ft. Young Teflon - Wavey.

As in this music video the use of lighting and colour helps to emphasize the theme of being 'wavey' (under the influence of drink and drugs) also the black lighting is cleverly used to enhance the star image of the two performers which is similar to the way we would like to shoot our own music video.

This is a good example for our music video specifically as our key themes for our music video is indeed; drink, drugs and females, we also have included the use of star image within our music video as we also have 2 star performers in our music video. 

Planning: Pre Production paper work

Pre - production Paperwork

Production schedule:


Location Recce:

Client Release Form

Planning: Artist Image

Planning: Artist Image

Our artists' image is important to our product and campaign because it is critical that we get both of our characters image and identity correct in order to attract a wider ranged audience as they are two different artists coming together for a collaboration album. 

For the first artist image I will be looking at SWEENEY who takes over the voice of Youngs Teflon in the Wavey music video and is one of the rappers out of the two artists on the collaboration album.

Because of this we will have to not only differentiate each artist in terms of actions and representation and overall role of the music video, but they will also have to be distinguished in terms of mise en scene such as costume colour lighting and facial expressions. Hence the reason why we have chosen this actor in particular to be our more aggressive character, as you can see he has a more serious and arrogant facial expression which is what was first realised when auditioning for potential characters and looking at how they are represented by one picture of themselves.   

Actual artists that best resemble that to SWEENEY is:

• Lil durk.
• Ace Hood.
• Youngs Teflon.
• Skrapz.

The resembling artists have not just been chosen for their appearance and image in the media but they have also been related to our artist because of their lyrical content and  primal and serious aura that they carry during performances and in their music videos which is now attached to their image within the media.

An important image aspect that also manipulates the them of this music video is the Ying (also known as yin) and Yang binary opposite theme. This has influence over the SWEENEY's characteristics as their are 2 different sides to the symbol, he is present as the side known as Ying. This is because the characters overall appearance (all white clothing relates to the touch of white in the circle) is deceiving and his actions best present and show us that a slightly darker character that carries Ying energy.

From this we earn that our artists appearance is pure and white and innocent looking however his dark actions show how he really is.

As a result of this research upon artist image here is a first glance of our 1st artists image and appearance below, as you can see the appearance has been heavily influenced by the artists mentioned above as well as the theme.

The second artist that will be analysing is MD, his artist appearance within the music has been influenced by the following music artists that are established within the industry already:

• J spades.
• Trey Songz.
• Skepta. 

Our reasons for MD being influenced by the following artists is because J SPADES is the original artist that MD will be covering in the song Wavey as he has to sing the chorus as well as his own verses jspades is an artist heavily involved in rap but he has been known on many occasions to sing through his choruses as other the other names mentioned that influence our character, all of these artists' image within the media are heavily influenced by females and womanising as  a lot of girls love them for not just their appearance but for their boss like status and persona within the media, Which is what is needed for our character MD in the music video as he will be talking about why he is wavey and why n one else carriers themselves like him.

The reason why we have selected images of our artists in black attire is because if you didn't know who they was within the media they could be mistaken for bad people that influence themselves in crime as they are wearing all black attire, which is the idea and theme that we are going for with this character as he plays the opposite role in the Ying and Yang theme against SWEENEY and is Yang the good character with a bad first impression because of his overall appearance, however it is his actions that prove that he is different from his contrasting character.