Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Questionnaire write up: Digipak

When asked about what they think makes a good Digipak album cover, the main consensus which came back was because it is bright, colourful and interesting. By doing this the mood of the album is introduced in a visually and stimulating way as well as introducing who is the creator of the song. When it comes to making our own Digipak we intent to have a solid if not slightly chaotic colour scheme, but the colours will not be all bright and colourful because in order to represent the sun setting we need to use some darker colours- but there will be bright elements and sections on individual panes.

In relation to linking the Digipak to something the target audience said it should reflect a direct correlation to the music because it makes it more memorable. It makes it even more memorable if it relates to the theme of the first released single off the album as it allows them to link the music video to the Digipak and therefore the band. In our project we will use elements of the theme of ‘double life’ and our ‘sun goes down’ in order to adhere to the links which professional bands make when constructing an album launch. These elements also allow us to get across the quirky vintage twist of the video by allowing us to be overly creative and artistic. 

When asked directly what they expected to see in an Indie/Alternative Digipak the responses where random and un-concise however more than one person highlighted colourful and unique. Other responses included about the overall look included: cutting edge, simple, edgy and arty. One person highlighted modern and bold as the overall look which is definitely not what we will use for our band because of their heavier sound, however we will try to make the Digipak as a whole look edgy and arty. This will help us built the bands identity but most importantly the public’s perception of the band’s ethos therefore keeping with the codes and conventions of a Indie/Alternative Digipak.

The target audience expect and associate photographic and graphically altered images with a Digipak of a Indie/Alternative band but have also seen drawings and collages associated with the genre to. The drawings and collages link more to the arty and edgy aspect of our band image which will allow the whole concept of the music video tie into the Digipak itself. Therefore in our Digipak we will not use plain panes of colour because it does not reflect the band name ‘the chaosheads’, their music or the overall band image as it makes it bland. Also in my opinion if the majority of the important panes where one colour it wouldn’t make it memorable, therefore making it unsuccessful in the long run.

The majority of our target audience would like to see bright and bold colours used in our colour scheme for our Digipak ‘but not too vibrant’ was a direct response, this is something we will deffinaitly take into consideration. As our original idea of using the sun set as the main theme for the Digipak, because of its direct relation to the first single from the album, will allow us to use a bright and bold selection of colours too convey that colours are being ‘replaced’.  One person said that they would like to see black and white images, which we would like to experiment with in one of our extra picture panes of the Digipak. It will allow us to show a variety of images and styles which adheres directly to the codes and conventions of the genre.

The overriding majority of the target audience like digitally enhanced images when they are used to create an impression, or improve the impact that a photo has the potential has the potential to have. The minority were completely against digitally enhancing images when it used on people because they associate our question with airbrushing, which is something our group is completely against. In our project we will only ‘digitally enhance’ an image by changing the lighting, contrast, hue and saturation; we will not use anything software to digitally change the appearance of any of our models, actors or band members in any way.
According to the target audience the images on the Digipak should relate to the songs and the artist as well as the narrative concept of the singles music video, and the band’s ethos. In our project we intend to reflect as many of the other song on the disc as we can within the album art work but at the same time conveying the alternative but solidly musically devoted band, making the links easier to identify.
For the lighting of the images the overriding majority said use natural light, which we will manage to do for some photos related to the narrative or naturalistic whole band photos because it makes the whole finished photo look more relaxed and realistic. Two people highlighted the low or dim lights should be used which we can use for alternative band photos giving the photography a more of a diverse edge to the finished product.

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