Digipack research & progression

Digipak Progression Tracker Comp 3 Media Music Video Project

Intro:

So our group consists of about four people with me and Jason being in charge of anything Digipak related starting from the research to the actual final product/ design while Jo and Angelo handle the film production and story board along with some research.

Cover Research(Jason, Jonathan, Abizer):

As for the cover page Jason has found some interesting pictures and concepts to use for it. He suggested using a depressing looking beach in black and white for the background with a guy in the frame and having the advisory sign and later Jo also suggested putting a proscription on the Digipak to make it look like a Digipak for a drug music video.

Reference Image(Jason):

The Template(Abizer & Jason):

Jason found both of the digipak templates for us to use in the production of the digipak

Disk Layout(Jason):

The disc layout is a very standar DVD disc layout as it is much easier to design a DVD disc layout for the digipak as opposed to a VHS tape layout.

The Plan(Jonathan):

So the initial plan for the cover page was again to have a black and beach background with the main character in the center of the Digipak, with the name of our band in the upper middle part of the Digipak.

The plan for the backside was to have a background of an empty black and white beach scenery and just that with a few Kanye songs posted on the left side of the cover with a barcode on the bottom right along with some text at the bottom for copyright reasons.

As for the inside we wanted to go with something simple so we can fit in a line from the song lyrics into it or a quote that relates to the topic of the music video, along with a black and white background of the sky.

Jonathan’s (Research and Development):

I decided to add the QR code on our digipak in order that it allows a way for our audience to enjoy another product of ours that they can benefit from, the QR code should allow them to access BetterHelp’s online therapy services on a discount which is a product i chose due to the psychographic of our audience where our theme of depression is likely to attract depressive people who need the product, additionally suicide hotlines for the UK & the US as i kept in mind that our audience is in no way local but global.

Meanwhile i took example of Cao Dong Mei You Pai Dui’s eponymous album cover in order to set the dark theme for our digipak where the dominating colors should be mostly black and white but i thought it looked to plain and adding illustration like the album would not be possible due to none of our team members possessing the skill or programs to digitally draw. We instead plan to have the artist on the album to keep it consistent with my social media’s worldbuilding where the artist is the face of the brand. The black white color is consistent with our theme of showing depression and the struggle to returning to being mentally sound, people can interpret it as Ying and Yang , the fight between good and bad as our media product tackles depression vs mentally sound as Binary opposites.

I gave Jason and Abizer the idea to make something resembling Eminem’s “Revival” album cover where we see 2 different layers merged to show the artist’s sentiments about something in this context Eminem showed his disappointment with 2017 American politics by having a picture of him in dismay layered with an American flag, our idea is to have a similar expression which should denote negative emotions like depression while another layer showing something like pills to represent the drug abuse.

In case they did want that idea I proposed the digipak cover like Sido’s “Keine Party: promotional art but instead of having multiple people we could just have one person, the artist, posing in front of a table with things such as as pills and other accessories like a flower vase, the picture should be darkened in order to keep it consistent with our social media’s aesthetic.

Development

As Abizer made the digipak i asked him to keep it consistent with our branding where his first drafts despite having the dark color theme i wanted did not use fonts shown in our social media & music video which are Libre Franklin & Horizon, we also received input from Mr.nIck who said the glitter around the words “Help Me” looked tacky & cheap bringing us to remove it.

We liked the idea of having the artist on the digipak for branding but Jason & Abizer settled on the idea for a photo collage which i did not agree with since they did not have research to back up their inspiration for the photo collage, i said that they should go with one of their album covers that features the artist as the sole subject of the album cover, so far they only have pictures of Abizer despite Jason being the artist which should be changed but i like the digipak for having shown the medical tag with the QR code while featuring the black hoodie which is a brand image we picked as the hoodie in society is associated with loners, depression & criminality (fitting with the drug abuse).

Research(Abizer & Jason):

Billie Eilish:

Abizer’s opinion:

First Billie Eilish picture( Happier than ever album) (left): I like this because it looks like she is yearning for something or someone who looks lonely and might provide some ideas for upcoming concepts or even the final product. I would like to integrate the pose into our social media or digipak as it looks good

Second Billie Eilish picture (When we fell asleep , where do we go? )(right): Firstly Ah!, secondly she looks like a deranged lunatic, which is a perfect example to symbolize that feeling of the MC going mentally insane, which can provide some useful insight on our digipak covers as our MC will start to lose it somewhere in the middle of the music video. I would like to integrate some of the insane asylum vibes in the digipak, the dark background and somewhat uncanny tone.

Kanye West: (sword and the crown cover)

Abizer’s opinion: It looks like it was made in ms.powerpoint, It’s very lazy, though Jason insisted it to be used as the inspiration for the 3rd front cover of our digipak which turned out alright (6/10) but nor great as it feels too empty. Although it’s a bit empty I think we can still use the layout of the digipak to make something better out of it.

Jason’s Thoughts: I like how it looks, as the album looks like it is from an art gallery. The red background of the digipack symbolizes a visible spectrum of light as red is a bright color and I believe that this is why Kanye used the background for this reason. The sword and the crown might symbolize king Arthur and can also mean fallen king as the crown and the sword are on the grow. So far I like the meaning behind this digipak. I might make an inspiration of the digipak of this, in the future as we are doing kanye’s song so might as well make the inspiration digipack

Eminem:

Abizer and Jason’s opinion:

First Eminem digipak (Stan) (Left): The digipak is made for the hit Eminem single called Stan which talks about the toxic relationship between an artist and his fans, but mostly about toxic relationship, I like the digipak because it’s black and white, depressing and makes Eminem look lonely and traumatized. The background is a great example of what we are booking for and is something that we will definitely use, the pose is also great for future digipak ideas and social media posts.
Second Eminem digipak (Marshall Mathers LP) (Middle): The digipak for the Marshall Mathers LP, I like this digipak as it makes him out to be a “crooky”, it makes him out to be a person that has been through drugs and abuse which feeds into the MC for our music video. The only thing we can use here is the facial expressions as we’re not making a typical gangster style rap video.
Third Eminem digipak (Revelation) (Right): This digipak was for the hit Eminem album Revelation and I like this digipak as it makes him look dead (his old personality) which again feeds into our MC’s change of character after the break-up. The text in the background of this digipak really inspired us to do the exact same thing later. We can use the symbols on his eyes just to make the digipak or to censor some faces in the actual music video.

Lady gaga:

Abizer’s opinion: It looks unintelligent, I don’t like it, looks a bit stereotypical, will probably not use it. The 18+ is an ok asset to use as out music video does somewhat contain substances, although only prop substances.

Jason’s Thoughts: this is one of the digipack albums i have researched. And thoughts are that, this digipack is good as i like the color for the background as black and white conveys. The japanese title gives it simplicity it also reminds me of 1980s Japan and since the song is pop it fits well with the 1980s black themes. The color might be used in the future

Springtime depression:

Abizer’s opinions:

This digipak was made by the Springtime Depression band for their song called Forgotten tomb, this digipak can convey a lot of horror meaning but also some depressing ones for example, the background of the digipak is in a dark and crooked forest which not only defines loneliness but also being in a bad neighborhood, their is also the black and white background which further defines sadness and depression but also matches our themes for the digipak. Again usable background, uncanny feeling and broken home in the background might inspire something in the future.

Jason’s Thoughts:

This is the digipak from the Forgotten Tomb. This digipak conveys depression and mental health. I like the background for the digipack as the picture of the digipak conveys depression and loneliness as it looks like a run down building and this can be good for the depression theme. Not only that the color is black and white which I think is cool as it fits really well with the depressing theme. So far I like this but it is highly unlikely I will be using this in the future.

Yoasobi:

Jason’s thought:

This is one of the new digipak made by the Japanese artist Yoasobi, my thoughts about it are that these digipak, is artistic as in the art we can see that it conveys sadness from the person crying in the art cover, but not only that there is a little bit of shattering pattern in the digipak and this can mean that the singer (yoasobi) is broken from sadness. This idea might be used but i'm not confident in drawing this for the digipak

Nirvana:

Abizer’s opinion: This digipak is digipak by Nirvana for the Incesticide music video. It looks very postmodern and depressing as the white figure not only looks like my sleep paralysis demon (which gives me anxiety) but also looks malnourished, sad, and refuses to get help even from the little guy pulling on his arm. This matches too well with the music video as it not only shows social anxiety of the MC but also his loneliness, depression and him constantly starving himself in his reel and real life.

Xtra notes: It looks very uncanny.

Vinland saga:

Abizer’s opinion: This is a panel from the Vinland saga manga, I like this because it gave us an idea of when it comes to do poses for the digipak or social media, it also gave us a clear idea of a background we can use to get pictures from, along with that the already default black and white panel serves to match our style and meaning.

The Back Side Development (Abizer):

Pictures provided by Jason

Description: The first and second digipak back cover produced by Jason, which contained a background of some sort of scenery, the first one having a ruined skyscraper and the second having a black and white beach, with both containing another 10 songs from Kanye West.

Some words: The first one was a complete practice round but even so it manages to tell some sort of meaning which is the meaning of being broken as being shown by the broken and ruined city as its background. I like the inclusion of several texts in the bottom filled with barcodes, publishers, etc.

The second one fits the context much better than the first one as it’s actually in black and white which fits the theme of our music video and social media it still included the barcode and songs but it loses the other things such as the publisher company that was clustering the first one, the background of this one has also been changed to a black and white empty beach with a single chair in it which symbolizes loneliness and self distancing from loved ones.

Criticism: Nothing too much to say here, it's just a building for the background which Jo suggested should be a church or an alleyway with a bunch of song names and a barcode in front of it to make it look more legitimate. But ultimately it looks bland and empty just like my soul while at the same time very clustered and filled to the brim with information.

Description: This is Jason’s third attempt to make a decent looking back cover, and I gotta say this is a big improvement compared to the last 2 as it had a change of background, a copyright logo and the EGO logo on the right side, along with a new actually working barcode (I think) and a publishing detail right under the copyright logo. Along with the song names.

Some words: This again is a huge improvement from the last 2 and we could’ve stopped here but Jason thought it wasn’t good enough, so again the background is a quiet and empty body of water which symbolizes loneliness to a much better degree compared to the second digipak, as there are pictures of boats that have partners in the distance symbolizing return, while the boat closest to us has no one in it which symbolizes loneliness.

Criticism: I do not have much criticism on this digipak except for one small nitpick which is that it’s a bit too empty on the top left side of the digipak but that's just me. Move the text for the song names to align with the horizon line. Remove the “” from the Ghost Town. Make the black line less black, Align the barcode and text and copyright symbol better. Use only on Ego.

Front Cover Development (Abizer):

Pictures provided by Jason

Description: The first digipak front cover ever produced by Jason, it's dark, depressing and fits the context of the music video.

Some words: So it has the word EGO everywhere at the back left side of it as well as the words Help Me on the right side which really conveys the emotions the MC is going through in the music video which is depression and how he wants to get out of it so badly, this digipak also includes a medication proscription on the bottom left corner of the digipak which also includes the name of the artist and a name of a psychiatrist to further amplify the meaning the digipak is already giving out.

Criticism: To put it lightly it looks super scuffed and choppy, it’s very unprofessional looking due to the fact that my head and torso are cut out in a weird angle, another thing to add is how badly I blend together with the background it just looks so unnatural.

Description: This is the second digipak from cover that Jason made which further improves on the first one, as this one looks more professional, and it doesn’t have any choppy or weird cut angles.

Some words: This is thus far the best of Jason’s work, for starters I blend with the background better, there are no choppy cuts and it's just overall is better to look at, while still having the same background and proscription, although this one conveys the meaning much better than the first one as it shows my torso as well as my hands being in my pockets which not only adds more depression but also introduces social anxiety.

Criticism: It could try to convey at least a bit more meaning than the first one. Make the Ego text more consistent with the one Jonathan designed and get rid of the glitter from the help me sign it looks cheap.

Description:

This is Jason’s third front cover but unlike the past two front covers, this one doesn't have a person on it but instead a gray background followed by a black picture frame with a black and white sky as a background with an addition of some text under it and the Parental advisory warning. This cover is an inspiration Kanye’s album

Some words: The front cover seems empty which conveys the sense of loneliness,there is also the song lyrics at the bottom of the sky background that reads “Someday I’ll, I wanna wear a starry crown” which can convey the meaning of getting better, or recovery from the darkness that is depression and drug abuse.

Criticism: It’s as empty as my soul, very basic, very bland, does not have as much flare as the first two front covers.

Description: This is Jason’s fourth attempt of making the front cover but this time he took a much more unique approach compared to the other three digipaks, instead of the usual one background + person + extras, this guy made a gallery which shows me being depressed in many different angles and scenarios. NOW THIS IS FIRE BETTER THAN THE 2nd and 3rd one. Make the black square more matching with the lines that separate the image, make the proscription larger.

Some Words: These scenarios aren’t just there for the aesthetic but it’s also conveys much more meaning than the first or second one as it has multiple pictures and scenarios, well first of all the black an white coloring symbolizes depression, the pictures of him on the stairs connotes the struggle of fighting or maybe the picture of him being in the corner of the room which might symbolize insanity or social anxiety, honestly this one singular can convey so much negative meaning that writing it here would take too much space.

Criticism: The only criticism here is the lack of consistency. One of the pictures has me in a white hoodie but that's about all the criticism I got for this art piece.

Inside Layouts Development (Abizer):

Pictures provided by Jason

Description: This is Jason’s first take on the inside of the digipak, it has a black and white background containing the sky and 2 small text that read “Pull me deeper into the sky” and “ego don’t fail me now”

Some words: It’s simple yet poetic as the sky symbolizes freedom and going up in life this can be further proved by reading the text “Pull me deeper into the sky” which practically means that he wants to get out of the hole of darkness he’s in (depression, drugs, self harm) and by lifted into the sky( and having his burden lifted and cured), and the phrase :Ego don’t fail me now” means that ego is a great thing to have when countering depression.

Criticism: The text is too small, I can hardly read it, also it's emptier than my soul.

Description: Jason’s second attempt at the inside of the digipak… It’s just the first one but with bigger text

Some words: no comment

Criticism: It’s emptier than my soul

Description: It’s the same as the previous two but instead of having quotes they have chunks of the song lyrics. It still pertains to its black and white sky background albeit with better resolution and coloring.

Some words: By using song lyrics not only does it fill up the empty space but it also bring more meaning to the table and helps further explain the context of the digipak, it’s also a great way to get consumers to first read the song lyrics so that they can learn a bit about the context of the song that they are about to listen to.

Criticism: Maybe it is still a bit too empty but overall it’s not too bad, though a bit more space could be filled it with something of not then at least make the text bigger and much more easier to read for me which ultimately also fixes the problem of having to fill up the space in the inside of the digipak.

Final Product: