Today we spent the day at the i-City learning centre at the Orchard School, Horfield. The purpose of today was to create and finish all of our Ancillary products using their advanced software that they provided for us. Fortunately, we had a good idea of the images that we wanted to create, and were fortunate enough to capture some effective photographs, so the creation process was relatively straightforward.
We began the day with a short tutorial on how to use Photoshop, in order to acquaint those of use who had never used the software before. We were shown how to use specific tools and brushes to create a number of different effects. Whilst this was useful in allowing us to develop our knowledge of the programme and how to use it, this was not particularly relevant to our group, as we had already decided to keep as much of the image raw and natural as possible, as we felt this was best in terms of representation of the genre and the artist herself. As we each took our own digital cameras to the filming days, we had a wide number of shots between the three of us, giving us a lot to choose from. We collated all of our images together, bringing them on USB sticks for ease of use and allowing us to switch images ands files between each of our three computers. We then hand-picked the best of the images we had, and began to fashion them to make the CD packaging.
We began the day with a short tutorial on how to use Photoshop, in order to acquaint those of use who had never used the software before. We were shown how to use specific tools and brushes to create a number of different effects. Whilst this was useful in allowing us to develop our knowledge of the programme and how to use it, this was not particularly relevant to our group, as we had already decided to keep as much of the image raw and natural as possible, as we felt this was best in terms of representation of the genre and the artist herself. As we each took our own digital cameras to the filming days, we had a wide number of shots between the three of us, giving us a lot to choose from. We collated all of our images together, bringing them on USB sticks for ease of use and allowing us to switch images ands files between each of our three computers. We then hand-picked the best of the images we had, and began to fashion them to make the CD packaging.
CD PACKAGING
This was the first booklet sleeve that we made, for use as the CD album cover (right) and the back cover of the booklet (left) that we will later construct to slot into the front of the CD case. As found in typical media products, the CD cover is usually attached to the rest of the booklet, so these two could be produced side by side, meaning we won't have to do a lot of cutting and rearranging when we come to physically create the finished printed products.
CD FRONT COVER:
For the CD cover, we decided to use the shot of her holding the guitar behind her, back lit by the sunlight to create an almost silhouette-like effect. We liked this image as it was highly unconventional for this genre, in fitting with our video thereby creating cohesion between the products. In this genre, typically emphasis is placed upon the face of the artist in order to promote a sense of familiarity and intimacy, establishing a connection with the audience. It is a fairly elusive image, and the narrative behind it is not obvious or immediately determinable. This intrigues the audience, and encourages them to decipher a meaning or back story behind the image of their own accord. The image perhaps connotes a state of escapism, as she looks as is she is going somewhere, or walking towards the sun. This links to the ending shot of our video, with the two characters walking off hand-in-hand into the sunset together, implying a feel or romanticism and reinforcing the typical film-like 'happy ending'. This could be seen as a postmodernistic element, making reference to typical film conventions which is know as hybridity. This idea could also linked to Blumler & Katz's 1974 audience theory, citing one of the needs of the audience in consuming a media product is often a feeling of escapism and being taken away from reality. This image could link with this idea, and indeed with the ideas portrayed in the video, as the character often daydreams about a happier time, implying a want to get away or be 'escape' the everyday worries she has found herself in. Portraying the image in this light could potentially be seen as putting the artist on a level with the audience, implying a shared level of power and respect, implying no more of an authority than the audience themselves.
We kept editing to an absolute minimum, as we did not want to ruin the naturalistic effect or sacrifice the powerful quality of the original image alone. We kept this idea in mind whilst on the photoshoot, making sure we shot for the image as much as possible, and not for the potential edit. We used the brightness and contrast tool in Photoshop to enhance the colouring slightly, bringing out the vibrancy of the cover, thereby satisfying the semiology of the genre. We created two layers of the image, as we did not want to affect the contrast and colouring of the background, as we felt it was best to keep this natural. We wanted to emphasise the colourings on the shirt, so copied the image into a secondary layer, and used the magic tool and the eraser tool to leave only the shirt to work with. We then slightly boosted the colouring and contrast, and decided to leave the rest of the image as it was.
Hannah spent most of the morning Photoshopping the images of the Scrabble tiles together, which we used as the typeface on CD cover and the magazine advert. This works to create cohesion and synergy between all three media products, showing a recurring visual theme or motif. She cut the tiles out separately, and arranged them in a slightly haphazard manner, as we felt was best representative of the more natural, unpreened style of the genre. We decided that the product we were making was going to be an EP, similar to the existing product Gabrielle Aplin had already put out. This served to make our task a lot simpler than having to come up with all of our own track titles and formats etc, whilst also making the product seem more real to life, as if it could actually be a real media product.
We added the title font in a conventional lower case, handwritten style. This is often used throughout genres such as this to create a more personal feeling with the product, almost as if it has been signed by the artist before sending if off into the big wide world. This is also parallel to the smoother, more fluid style that music of this sort of genre is often associated with, thereby strengthening the connection between the visuals and the music. Given more time, however, I believe we would have spent more time on this element in order to ensure it was as high quality as it could be, as it's current state does look a little rushed, perhaps cheapening the effect of the overall cover.
We kept editing to an absolute minimum, as we did not want to ruin the naturalistic effect or sacrifice the powerful quality of the original image alone. We kept this idea in mind whilst on the photoshoot, making sure we shot for the image as much as possible, and not for the potential edit. We used the brightness and contrast tool in Photoshop to enhance the colouring slightly, bringing out the vibrancy of the cover, thereby satisfying the semiology of the genre. We created two layers of the image, as we did not want to affect the contrast and colouring of the background, as we felt it was best to keep this natural. We wanted to emphasise the colourings on the shirt, so copied the image into a secondary layer, and used the magic tool and the eraser tool to leave only the shirt to work with. We then slightly boosted the colouring and contrast, and decided to leave the rest of the image as it was.
Hannah spent most of the morning Photoshopping the images of the Scrabble tiles together, which we used as the typeface on CD cover and the magazine advert. This works to create cohesion and synergy between all three media products, showing a recurring visual theme or motif. She cut the tiles out separately, and arranged them in a slightly haphazard manner, as we felt was best representative of the more natural, unpreened style of the genre. We decided that the product we were making was going to be an EP, similar to the existing product Gabrielle Aplin had already put out. This served to make our task a lot simpler than having to come up with all of our own track titles and formats etc, whilst also making the product seem more real to life, as if it could actually be a real media product.
We added the title font in a conventional lower case, handwritten style. This is often used throughout genres such as this to create a more personal feeling with the product, almost as if it has been signed by the artist before sending if off into the big wide world. This is also parallel to the smoother, more fluid style that music of this sort of genre is often associated with, thereby strengthening the connection between the visuals and the music. Given more time, however, I believe we would have spent more time on this element in order to ensure it was as high quality as it could be, as it's current state does look a little rushed, perhaps cheapening the effect of the overall cover.
BOOKLET BACK COVER:
We decided to use this more conventional close-up shot as the back cover, as it drew a lot of focus on her face and hair in a highly typical style of this sort of genre. Additionally, it created a contrast between many of the other photographs included in the booklet, much in parallel to the unstructured adherence, and alternatively abandonment of typical generic conventions throughout our own video. This shot was edited again to only slightly enhance the colourings, and bring out the rich greens and red of the image. We cropped the original, fitting it to the template structure we were given in order to promote a continuous size throughout the booklet and the typical structure of a real-life media product.
INSIDE BOOKLET 1:
We then went on to create this sheet for use as inserts into the booklet. Again, very little editing was used here in order to keep the running visual theme of an almost rustic like naturalism. We selected these shots as they are close-ups that emphasise certain parts of the females body, but not in a typically sexualised way, in light of the male gaze theory. They instead serve as flattering shots that allow a certain element of connection and familiarity to be established with the artist in a way that defies the usual rules of the straight staring gaze down the lens of a camera. We liked these two images as we felt that the colourings in them accentuated the feel of naturalism we were hoping to portray. The image on the right hand side did not turn out to be a successful as we had hoped - it was originally quite a dark image, so we used various tools in Photoshop in an attempt to amend this, however it still turned out much darker than we had envisioned when printed out. If we had had more time on this day, we would have perhaps devoted a little more attention into editing this image in order for it to create maximum impact and reach it's full potential. We originally planned to combine these images opposite a black lyrics page, however we felt that we wanted to stick to the idea of simplicity we had adhered to throughout the creation of all of our products, and thought it would have more of an impact left to itself, further emphasising the idea of mystery and the story line behind the images.
MIDDLE BOOKLET:
When looking at real media products of a similar style, we found that booklets such as the one we intended to make often included lyrics, allowing the audience to create a sense of familiarity with the songs. We decided it would make more of a statement and add depth to the promotion of the song we were marketing with our video for the only lyrics in the booklet to be that of this song. For the background, we used one image which we enlarged and stretched across the whole template. This provided again an element of realism, and promoted continuity across the two frames of the booklet. No editing was applied to this image, as when we cropped it to fit the template, we thought it's appearance was already fitting with the style we were aiming to create by colour and contrast enhancement etc.
INSIDE BOOKLET 2:
This is the third page for use as an insert into our CD booklet. It is another spread of two images, this time revolving around the theme of playing the guitar. This creates obvious links with the musical style, as an acoustic guitar is the sole instrument used throughout many of Gabrielle Aplin's songs. This obeys the conventional feature of emphasis on the music instead of the artist. Again, the only editing applied to these images was cropping them to fit the booklet template.
CD BACK COVER AND INLAY:
The picture on the right is the one we have chosen to use as the back of our CD cover. It depicts an image of the couple sat on a bench in the park, sourced directly from the narrative as opposed to the other images that were not contained within the narrative itself, but showed a number of visual links. This obvious link between the video and the ancillary text creates a synergy between them, allowing the two products to harmonise each other and increase effect. We looked into common conventions of the information that is included on the back of CD covers, and chose to include:
- Track Listings
- Composer and copyright information
- Produced by
- Links to her websites
- Bar code for ease of purchase
These all serve to make the product seem overall much more real to life, obeying product conventions and improving upon realism. To further emphasise this, we added an additional feature of a CD Spine, which would again serve to make the product seem more realistic and like a real media product overall. We created cohesion with other sections of the CD cover, using the Scrabble lettering style from the front cover as the typographical code for the spine. Additionally, the background for the image on the spine was an extension of the image used on the back cover of the CD sleeve, thereby allowing a certain element of fluidity and harmony in the construction of the packaging.
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