The document provides an analysis of the design choices made for the digipak of the album "They Don't Know" by Scenes Productions. Key design elements included using images of the main characters David and Sam that related to the story in the music video. Blurred effects and dream-like filters were used to convey the concept that the story takes place in a dream world. Consistency was maintained across the front, back and inside covers through the use of similar fonts, filters and imagery. Official elements such as barcodes and parental advisories were included to make the digipak look professional. The goal was to tell the story and concept of the music video through visual elements of the digipak design.
2. Front Cover
Choosing an image for the front cover was challenging as most house music front covers
usually focus on one specific thing, for example the actual ‘They Don’t Know’ cover is a
fingerprint with the bands name over it.
I wanted to choose an image which would tell the audience a bit about the story of our
video too, the significant focus on David having his middle finger out connotes his characters
state of mind during the video, he becomes annoyed with his daily routine and storms out
his office, a concept we took from an Avicii video called ‘I could be the one.’
The focus of the video has to be on the main artist (in this case David) so it made sense to
have David on the front cover rather than Sam’s mask which we originally intended. Also I
choose to use a blurred effect on David again to highlight his importance and perhaps his
current state of mind that everything is a blur to him at the moment. It also contributes to
our Dream concept.
Picking a font was extremely challenging as photoshop doesn’t come with many great fonts,
so I download the font ‘Snake.’ I felt it’s simplicity suited an album cover, it is similar to many
other recent album covers such as ‘4 Your Eyez Only’ by J Cole, which an aesthetically
pleasing album cover.
The reason David is in bed is due to the fact that this is how our video starts and ends, with
David asleep and the final scene where he wakes up and questions if it was all a dream. I
thought this picture would be good to include as it references our story.
3. Back Cover
Choosing a back cover proved just as difficult as the front cover due
to the font. However I chose to stick with the continuity of the front
cover and use the same font. Despite it being a very bland back
cover, I think that there are certain aspects to it which improve it.
Firstly, I chose all of the songs by the Disciples Production Team, being
a small house music group it is unlikely that they have released many
songs, in fact they only have to albums, both of which are EP’s called
‘The Remedy EP’ (2013) and ’The Following EP’ (2015.)
Secondly, I used our logo in the top right hand corner as I felt the
cover was very bland without it and there wasn’t much on there.
Thirdly I choose to use official licensing with the barcode, the parental
advisory and a copyright message at the bottom, all of which are
components that the audience would expect to find on a Digipak or
physical album.
4. Left Inside Cover
I choose to use Sam’s character of the puppet master for the left inside
cover. I felt it was essential that I choose Sam’s character for this image
as he is the sub character who ’turns’ David into one of his puppets.
The aim of this photo was for him to look intimidating to the audience
and question what his intentions are, which are seen in the video.
Also the fact David is on the right inside cover it made sense to have
Sam on the left as the clash sides, almost representing a two sided
story.
Again I used the blurred effect on Sam to connote his importance to
our music video not just as a character but as a producer.
There is a dreamy styled filter on this image, simply because our video
is meant to take place in some form of dream world or alternate reality.
There is also significant focus on the colour of Sam’s eyes, which the
camera caught really well and signified the fact that Sam is watching
David throughout the video when he continuously appears throughout.
5. Centre Inside Cover
The aim of the centre inside cover was to highlight David being turned
by Sam’s character. As stated Sam’s character is a puppet master styled
character who controls people. As seen in our video, Sam turns David,
which we represent through the use of the mask. Again I used the blur
effect for continuity from the other images (to make it flow better and
link) and also to show that they share the same blurred view on Society.
Again it also contributes to our concept of a dream.
I have taken the idea of this inside cover from that of J Cole’s new
album which I mentioned earlier ‘4 Your Eyez Only.’ The front cover to
that features a black and white image, and torn paper in the corners.
Mainly because J Cole’s album is aesthetically pleasing but also
because his songs tells a story, just like what we aim to do with ours.
I choose to use a black and white filter again to show their narrow
minded view on Society which is combined with the linear blur.
6. Right Inside Cover
The Right Inside Cover only made sense to have David on there. I feel
the filter contrasts very well with the other images inside the Digipak as
it offers it reminiscent of David’s dream which I keep mentioning.
Again I choose to use the linear blur as it really does show narrow
mindedness.
I felt this image had to be consistent with the other two so I choose to
keep it very simplistic. Originally I aimed for this picture to be a half
and half shot (half of David with his mask off and the other with it on)
however when it came to editing it proved very difficult as despite
taking the same picture in the same position except one with a mask
on, there were minimal movements from David which changed the
image massively and I felt it didn’t look right and not what I had
envisioned for our digipak. Whilst the idea was good and would’ve
definitely related more that this image, the editing to it proved too
tricky and overall did not look as good as this image.
7. Disk
The disk was possibly the hardest to design simply because disks are
so simplistic but there are certain features which make them stand
out to the audience.
Upon our first draft, the original green flames I felt that it didn’t fit
the purpose of our video or song so I changed it to a more
simplisitiic black disk.
I have chosen to use four images, one for each quarter of the disk. I
choose to use official Parental Advisory as it is a sticker featured on
many disks.
I choose to use both of the main characters but had to erase their
backgrounds and also tint their images to make them a bit darker so
they didn’t overrule the simplicity of the CD.
Again I choose to use our logo simply because it makes sense to
have it on the disk and its colour scheme follows that of the disk.