Planning - Location, Shooting Schedule and Casting

In my music video Treatment post, after the original planned shot list, I referenced the cast of my video, the different locations and a shooting schedule. I have since posted "Update" posts, which note the changes I have made to the shot list, added shoots and changes to the cast. This post will explain the final choices I made with regards to my music video planning.

Casting
My video features 5 main characters, all young people that would form part of my target audience. This makes my video more accessible to the people that I am gearing it towards. I also do this by selecting ordinary people and presenting ordinary issues that young people face. My characters are:

• Elliott Doyle - Elliott played one of the Shades in my AS piece, where he wasn't really seen, but is an ideal choice for one of the main characters of the video. He is dressed in a smart, oxford shirt, with skinny jeans and converse shoes and a lightweight coat - he appears very trendy and as a typical young male. He was chosen as I cannot get a professional actor for my video, and I would not want to, as my audience would be able to relate more to someone like them. His character is in a turbulent relationship, and he struggles to express how he feels. He begins to question his faith when he cannot seem to make things work.
• Tom Seago - for similar reasons, I chose Tom as the other lead character as he is a young male that most people would be able to identify with, and it was practical for me to film with him. He is dressed in a plain top, a coat, skinny jeans and vans trainers - less smart than Elliott's character, but just as relatable. Tom's character deals with the issue of friendship, an interesting twist on the more obvious meaning of the lyrics that would be commonly associated with a relationship. Tom's character feels alone and as if he doesn't belong with his friends, but is shown otherwise in the end of the video.

The rest of the cast includes:

• Ben Winter and Lee Johnson - Ben and Lee were chosen for practical reasons, as friends of me and Tom, and it would be natural for them to act how they would usually around Tom to suggest friendship in the video. They are also dressed in normal clothing, making them relatable and accessible. They are portrayed to be caring and funny.
• Ria Hopwood - Ria's character plays Elliott's girlfriend in the video. This was practical for me as Ria is my girlfriend and therefore is easier to film with on a shorter notice. 

Locations
In my video, I use several different locations, to keep up with the fast-paced narrative of the piece. The locations I use include:

• Thorpe Marriott Green and Marriott's Way - this location is used for the introduction to the video as it allows for some aesthetic shots that introduce the ideas in the video and is briefly seen at the end of the video.
• Bawdeswell Heath - this location is used for all of Tom's section, as it represents the place he goes to be alone with himself. He gets lost in the forest, representing him feeling lost and without direction, and alone, as he feels alone without his friends. Also, the location is interesting as it references the religious idea of Dante's Divine Comedy, in the line "midway upon the journey of our life I found  myself within a forest dark for the straightforeward pathway had been lost" which is shown in Tom not knowing where to go, until he stumbles out of the forest and onto a beach- which could also be interpreted as him coming out of "Hell", in the context of the Divine Comedy. 
• Cromer/Overstrand Forest and Cromer Beach - this location allows for the transition in Tom's section from forest to beach. The forest comes out onto an isolated segment of Cromer's beach, further towards Overstrand, where Tom's character is again completely alone on the bleak landscape. This represents how Tom's character has come to the end of what he can physically take and needs to make a change.
• Taverham Streets - I used the streets of Taverham to film certain sections pertinent to Tom's section of the narrative. In one section, Ben and Lee, Tom's friends, are out looking for him, and they then proceed to get into the car. At another section, they are shown to be waiting outside an area of woodland (the forest) for when Tom's character finally emerges. These locations are more practical as they are nearby to where all characters lived.
• Norwich City Centre - for the final section of the video for Tom's section, the three men are shown having a good time together. For this I decided the busy city centre of Norwich would be most appropriate. This also links to the time-lapse of the different locations at the start of the video. 
• Room #1 - Elliott's Room - for Elliott's characters section of the narrative, where the video begins, Elliott's character is shown in his room. His room is fitted with many intertextual items such as posters, CDs, drinks etc. to make his character more relatable to the audience. The room is quite messy and unorderly, stereotypical of young males rooms, again making the character more accessible from the offset. 
• Room #2 - Ria's Room - again for Elliott's section of the narrative, he is in a turbulent period in his relationship with his girlfriend in the video. For this, I used my girlfriend Ria's room, again fitted with intertextual references in the form of posters of bands and other artworks, including a Lord of the Rings map. The room also has a lot of sixth form work and the shots also make reference to the stress that the education system places on young people, a very relatable idea to my target audience. The room also allows for a link for the story later where Elliott's character meets up with Ria's character in the finale of the video.
• Taverham Church - In the middle section, Elliott's character goes to the local Church where he is shown to be questioning his faith, pertinent to the lyrics of the song and the religious themes of the artist and video. For this section, I obtained permission from the Reverend, and filmed on a weekday when the Church was empty, again to emphasise the emotion of feeling alone.

Shooting Schedule
Filming began in the October half term, and has progressed since, with the filming concluding at the end of February. Since the original shooting schedule, a lot has changed regarding the shot list, naturally as I go along I realised some ideas would work better than others, and hence locations and cast changed.

Elliott's Room - 27/10 - Cast needed: Elliott
Bawdeswell Heath Scenes - 29/10 - Cast needed: Tom
Beach Scenes - 1/11 - Cast needed: Tom
Norwich City Centre - 4/12 - Cast needed: Tom, Ben and Lee
Taverham Church - 2/1 - Cast needed: Elliott
Taverham Streets - 18/1, 27/2 - Cast needed: Tom, Ben and Lee
Ria's Room - 19/2, 28/2  - Cast needed: Ria, Elliott

No props were needed for any of the locations, except the Rooms where posters, CDs and such were put up and around the room, and then the work/textbooks and flowers in Ria's Room. Most other extra shots were filmed at random points - for instance, when shooting for the digipak and advertisement, I filmed some of the time-lapses for the start.

Half Term Homework - G325 Questions

1) Notes on two media theories:
Cohen, 1987

According to Stanley Cohen, author of a sociological study about youth culture and media called "Folk Devils and Moral Panics" (1972) a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests". Those who start the panic when they fear a threat to prevailing social or cultural values are known by researchers as moral entrepreneurs, while people who supposedly threaten the social order have been described as "folk devils". Cohen put forward the theory that the media exaggerates news stories in a manner that portrays people of particular social groups negatively, when in reality the extent is much lesser. Here's what I defined a "Moral Panic" as in an earlier post:

What is a Moral Panic?

"Simply, a Moral Panic is an intense feeling, emotion or notion expressed in a population about an issue that threatens social order. They often involve social tension and arguments and disagreement as often the crux of the argument is a taboo subject. The media often instigate a moral panic by reporting facts that generate concern, anxiety, or panic itself. Major moral panics of recent times include AIDS, drugs, knife and gun crime, paedophilia and Satanism.
The government sometimes intervenes to prevent moral panics through censorships- during the World Wars, letters were censored to prevent harsh realities of war from reaching the people, and nowadays in China many websites are blocked and things regulated to prevent the people from seeing things that are anti-governmental, for instance "Tienanmen Square" is strictly policed. Famously in the 1950s, Elvis Presley's live performances were censored from the waist down. But censorship itself creates the moral panic of freedom of speech, creating further debate,"

Eldridge, 1997

John Eldridge is a British sociologist known for his writings on Industrial Sociology and on Max Weber as well as for being a founder member of the media analysis research group the Glasgow Media Group. Regarding Media, Eldridge came up with the theory that media reproduce the definitions that are put forward by the powerful members in society. In, "News, Truth and Power", Eldridge suggested that "the media occupy space which is constantly being contested, which is subject to organisational and technological restructuring, to economic, cultural and poitical constraints, to commercial pressures and to changing professional practices."

As times change, Eldridge states that the patterns of the ownership, genres, types and range of opinions represented change in pattern, to accommodate the change in authority and power figures.

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2) Read the attached article and answer the following questions:

(( https://atlara.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/rage-of-the-girl-rioters-britains-students-take-to-the-streets-again-and-this-time-women-are-leading-the-charge/ ))

How are students and women represented?
The students are portrayed, on the whole, infinitely negatively, through superlative language and lexis choices, to portray an image of terror- the women are especially emphasised, with the article focusing on how the female students were also taking part in the rioting, an area not typically covered by the media, as it was described as "disturbing", and also "new", suggesting it is not expected. The students are represented negatively and are demonised, for example, the phrase "a masked yob".
Is this a moral panic?
This would be classed as a moral panic as, according to Cohen's theory, a group of people, the protesters, have become a "threat" to societal values - with the degradation and vandalism of the police equipment/vehicles and large protests as highlighted by the media. However, also referencing Eldridge's theory, the media articles covering these stories do not give the other side of the story, that the government are planning to strongly affect a large amount of student's lives by increasing fees, and that it is not the government's fault- despite the clear anger at them for going back on their previous promises- hence, the article reflects the views of those with power, perhaps to prevent anarchy.
Are expectations being challenged or demonised?
The article demonises young people- clearly, they are committing crimes, but the language used such as "yobs" "yelling obscenities", etc portrays them very negatively. However, the offering of a more positive outlook at the end of the article focusing on the girl who stood up to the riots provides the view point that not all young people are like this and it is instead moral panics that group together societal groups and associate them all with the rioting, when in fact not all of them are.

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3) How does this challenge/reinforce the representation of Youth Culture in Human Traffic and Quadrophenia? 
This reinforces the representation of youth cultures in the two case study films, as generally negative. The films, like the article, highlight the negative actions of youths to the general public and demonise the youths. In Quadrophenia, for example, the scene at the beach, could be likened to the riots described in the article, in that a state of anarchy unfolded due to the actions of the young people, the mods and rockers in the case of the film. The influential language of the article and derogatory terms, such as "masked yob", are reflected in the attitudes towards young people in the two films - the public, generally, has a negative view on young people for the view that cause the trouble, that is highlighted in these films, causing a moral panic - the riot scene in Quadrophenia, when occurring in reality, was over-reported by the media to seem far worse than it actually was, demonising the youths. In Human Traffic, the attitudes of authority figures to the young people, particularly Moff's parents, when he comes into his room to interrogate him as to why he doesn't have a job- these views, that young people do not work or contribute to society only through instilling fear and challenging the authority figures and the safety of the public, are often focused on by the media. On the other hand, there are positive representations- like in the article, how one student stood up to the rioters, passively and without violence, not all young people are portrayed to wreak havoc on society. In the films, Jimmy is also shown to have a job, as do all the characters in Human Traffic bar Moff- albeit they do not enjoy their jobs, but they are not a menace as Cohen's theory of moral panics would suggest. However, to conclude, I feel that all in all, the article reinforces the portrayal of youth culture as negative and threatening to the rest of society- this, arguably a direct impact of Eldridge's theory of news truth and power in that young people are condoned by the media because they are a scapegoat for blame, and often their actions are as a response to the negative, pre-set attitudes of older generations and the social situation that young people have been placed in as a direct consequence of older people's actions. Youth cultures are portrayed negatively because it is easier to condone young people as a whole through the media than recognize the significant action of the majority of young people to avoid situations that the media reports.

Abandoning Sunday - Real Talk - First Draft Cut

Here is the First Draft cut for my music video for unsigned artist Abandoning Sunday's song "Real Talk", taken from his new record "Struggle".

NB: Shots still to film are indicated in the video with a text note.

Shots will be moved around once the final few shots are filmed, which will form the Rough Cut. Some shots will not feature in the Rough Cut as they will be replaced. Aspect Ratio and Quality will be higher for the Final Cuts.

This is the First Draft Cut, with a few shots left to be added to form the Final Cut.

Magazine Advertisement - Abandoning Sunday // "Struggle"

Above is the design for my Magazine Advertisement for Abandoning Sunday, created in Adobe CS6 Photoshop.

For analysis and explanation of the image of the front cover, see here.

The magazine advertisement's purpose is to support the digipak itself, to achieve more sales. Hence, the front cover of the digipak, that the audience will be able to identify with, takes up a prominent position, centre aligned in the top third and centre. Regarding composition, this is where the image is most noticeable. I help the digipak to stand out by juxtaposing it with a slightly darkened background- the image, of Marriott's Way (taken about 1 mile further down from where the rear cover was taken, on an Autumn/Winter morning), provides a clear but detailed backdrop that still allows for the text to be read clearly. It is in keeping with the autumnal theme and is also aesthetically pleasing, and creates a partial link to the back cover of my digipak. There are regions of colour contrasted with the browning leaves, helping these colours to stand out, such as the yellow leaves to the right and the leaves that are not yet brown in the foreground. The bare trees and dying leaves are perhaps indicative of some of the issues the album deals with, such as themes of sadness (winter or seasonal depression could be dealt with here), but more so gives a sense of tranquility. 

Regarding the advertisement, the text contains several features of persuasive writing that are typical of advertisements and also includes many other features that are conventional to this text genre. As expected, the name of the artist and album takes a prominent position at the top of the page in a large font so that it is recognisable to the audience once they have seen the eye-catching front cover, which also stands out due to the drop shadow effect placed on it and angled to 45 degrees. The persuasive features come from the form of the reviews that are below the album cover- of course fictional, but for this purpose, contain superlatives, to help sell the album to the audience- "the best", for example. The source it comes from also matters too- for the quote review, I chose Alternative Press, an esteemed American based magazine whose counterpart in the UK would be Kerrang!- although Kerrang! tends to focus towards more typically "rock" and metal acts, which doesn't share interests and musical tastes of my audience (see audience research). Alternative Press have a broader audience and the magazine can also be obtained in the UK. One of the other reviewers, AbsolutePunk.net, is an online news and forum site that focuses on reviews in the alternative and punk genre as well as there more mainstream genres. Putting 5 stars for this review will mean fans of various different genres will recognise that this is a very good all round album that everyone can enjoy, similarly using esteemed newspaper The Guardian for the other review will allow a lot of the British public to access the advertisement, and see that the album is well recognised. The text is all in white and in the same font, "Please write me a song", that I have used across my products, creating a link. The text below the reviews picks out the two previously released singles, typical of advertisements, so that people who are familiar with the artist will know what songs feature on the release. "Out now" is in an increased font size to help it stand out at the bottom of the page.

Regarding other effects I have used in Photoshop here, I have inserted logos for each of the social networking sites my band uses, Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud, and placed these logos in the bottom right hand corner, so that the audience will recognise that this artist is on each of these services and that they can search for them. I did this by importing a png version of the logo into a blank photoshop, ensuring it was on a transparent background with no white area, and then copying it across to my design before adding a colour overlay to change it to white, making it fit in with the house style of my advertisement and look aesthetic. The website however is typed across the bottom, which also makes the general design more accessible as it is in an easy to view area and does not disturb the layout of the other icons. To the left, there are png images stating that the album is available on iTunes, and the increasingly popular Google Play store. These buttons have been adjusted to be the same size on the page so that the design is still smooth and ordered and not disrupted by large variations in the image. The record label image, for Remedy Records (see digipak post) also features in the advertisement- although it is fake, the purpose of this is to create a recognisable logo that can be identified with by audiences so they recognise the style of music this artist falls under, and also gives a mark of authority.

I would place my advertisement in British magazine(s) Kerrang! and/or Rocksound.

Kerrang! was first published in 1981 and was named after the distinguished sound a guitar made when playing a power chord. Originally devoted to the new wave of British Heavy Metal acts and hard rock acts, it is now the most devoted rock music magazine in the country and since 2000 is the best-selling music magazine in Britain. 

I would place my advertisement in this weekly magazine because Kerrang! is an esteemed magazine in the UK for it's association with the musical genre of rock as a whole, and all of the sub genres it incorporates. It plays a vital role in bringing bands to the forefront, for example, scottish rockers Biffy Clyro once headlined the Kerrang! tour in 2007, and now they are one of the largest rock bands of current times. On the left, the image of a recent Kerrang! cover (at the time of writing), with the main focus being on the Kerrang! Tour 2015. This tour is sponsored by and ran by the magazine, and features British rock band Don Broco as the headliner. The magazine cover also makes reference to You Me At Six, who, in my audience research, I found as a band my target audience enjoys listening to, as well as pop punk bands like Blink-182 and We are the In Crowd, popular/well known acts like Muse and Young Guns and post-hardcore bands like Bury Tomorrow and Slipknot. The magazine is the most apt for my artist as it reaches a wide target audience, who are dedicated through subscriptions to the magazine, who are interested in various musical genres and are open to new music and new bands. The magazine features reviews, where the album could also be featured, and posters. The target audience is typically younger audiences, from teenage to young adult, who are interested in music. Kerrang! also has a TV channel, where it plays music videos, and has the esteemed Kerrang! Top 100 bands every year, a platform on which my artist could develop- my artist is American, as stated from the start of my coursework, due to logistical difficulties, and hence building a UK fan base is very important, which could be made possible by being placed alongside such esteemed acts in a popular UK magazine.

Alternatively, I could place my advertisement in Rocksound. Increasingly in popularity and championing rock music along with popular sub genres pop punk, post hardcore, punk and emo, Rock sound is a UK magazine that offers a contrast to the popular and more recognisable Kerrang! and has more of a focus on lesser known acts, and aims at being "more underground and less commercial" - an ideal starting point for my unsigned artist. 

Similarly to on the Kerrang! cover, popular bands are featured and are recognised, such as Fall Out Boy, and We are the In crowd and Don Broco, possibly due to the UK tour the bands were on in the Kerrang! Tour recently. In the bottom left, lesser known bands such as Alkaline Trio, Thy Art is Murder and The Story So Far feature, most of which are lesser known, meaning my band could have more of a chance of successfully reaching a dedicated fan base in the rock genre's audience. 

Each year, the magazine comes up with it's album of the year, which is yet to be announced for 2014- the last winner was post-hardcore band Letlive. with The Blackest Beautiful in 2013. Previous winners include Biffy Clyro (Puzzle, 2007) and Bring Me The Horizon (There Is a Hell... 2010), and also has a Hall of Fame where esteemed albums are recognised. Weezer, Queens of the Stone Age and the Offspring feature, showing that this magazine has more of a potential to reach an older fan base who are more familiar with these bands, as well as british bands Bring Me The Horizon and Enter Shikari, whose albums were coined as genre defining. 

As my artist is American, it should also be considered that for an American magazine, Alternative Press would be the most ideal medium, as the monthly magazine incorporates a large variation of music and distributes in reviews, interviews and features to the localised American audience and worldwide, and would also be a good platform for my artist to gain recognition.

Digipak - Abandoning Sunday // "Struggle"

This is the design for my Digipak. In this post, I will proceed to explain why I have chosen each of these images and explain how I produced them.

Above is the Design for my Front Cover of my Digipak. I opted for a simplistic image that in it's composition presents many different meanings. The design lends itself to the Reception Theory, in that I, the author of the text, have encoded it with a desired, preferred meaning through taking the image, and my audience may agree with this or see it differently. Alternatively, the Uses and Gratifications model could be considered, as the image is relatively simplistic and the audience can make of it what they will, to fit their needs and what they are looking for in a digipak. 

The image itself was taken on the same day as all other images in the digipak, at Thorpe Marriott Green, a public park. To take this photo, I positioned myself crouched at the bottom of a slight slope in the field, and framed the shot so that the sun was in the top right of the image and the field posed as a backdrop. I then called my dog, the West highland Terrier in the photo, who started at the far end of the field, and ran towards me. 

I decided this was an apt image for my digipak by playing off of the album's name, which I knew to be "Struggle". The term struggle, relating to a time of endearment through a difficult period, due to whatever circumstances, is negative, but many believe that to have struggled shows strength. I decided I wanted to contrast the negativity of the album title, which would have a prominent position in the image, by juxtaposing it with a positive, uplifting image, which I could get from this shoot. The dog running connotes a sense of freedom- it is off it's lead, and is free to go wherever it chooses. By using a dog, I make it universally relatable, as it is so different to a person- no social bias is percieved, reaching a wider audience. The dog running through the field also  suggests that the "struggle" can be beaten, or that it in fact, isn't real. The design is inspired by the digipak I analysed, Deaf Havana's "Old Souls". This "preferred" reading is the one I have encoded, however as it is a simple image, the audience may see it how they choose, meaning it could be decoded in different ways.

In the post-production part, in Photoshop I edited the photo by cropping it to the desired size but keeping the original ratio. I then proceeded to edit the Levels to bring the colour out more, before adding a Warming Filter at 20% to make the image seem more like summer. This filter also accentuated the band of sunlight seen in the top of the image in the sky and enhances the lens flare at the top right and bottom right corners. 

This is the back cover for my Digipak. This was shot down Marriott's Way, where it passes through Thorpe Marriott Green and is near to where the front cover was shot. On a different day, I ensured the weather was similar before taking this shot, as I knew I wanted to have continuity between the covers of my digipak. Again this image lends itself to Reception theory and I have chosen it for a reason that relates to the album title and message of the album's lyrics. 

I took this image by crouching just before a slightly raised area of the former railway line where the path crosses into the more suburban area- I did this in order to capture a more symmetrical image. This shot was also intended to have a vanishing point, visible before the track list was added, as this section of the track is long and straight. I chose this section over a more open area as the trees give a symmetrical feel to the image and this helps to create meanings- the encoded meaning in this image is that the audience/viewer, is on a path (metaphorically and literally). This path may seem monotonous and endless, but ultimately there is an end- the brightness of the image contrasts the literal meaning of the word "struggle" like in the front cover. The shaded areas could be seen as representative of these struggles along the path, and the brighter areas offering the positives- a simple Light vs. Dark analogy that gives clear connotations that relate back to "the struggle". The image, as a whole, was partially inspired in the initial process by the opening line to Dante's "Divine Comedy", in "Inferno, Canto I" which famously states:

"Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself with a forest dark, for the straight foreward pathway had been lost"

This is also in keeping with the scenes in my Music Video, where my character finds himself lost in the forest, looking for his way out, which he finds via a Beach, and then his friends. This too aligns with my artists religious undertones, as Dante's epic poem is one the most prestigious pieces of religious literature of human history.

In Photoshop, I first edited the image by bringing out the colours by adjusting the levels. The image was taken on my iPhone camera and so quality was high. I then applied the same filter as I did with the front cover to give continuity. I then used the same type face, "Please Write Me A Song", that I used in the video for "Real Talk", as well as the Magazine Advertisement and the front cover, to type out the track listing for the album, and centre aligned it using rulers. I also created a barcode using an online generator as this a common feature of digipaks and is of course necessary, and keeping it in this position avoids the confusion of the audience and seller. Also required is a Record Label and copyright information, i.e on Deaf Havana's digipak there was copyright information relating to BMG Entertainment and in Real Friends', the Fearless Records logo was in a prominent position. As my artist is unsigned, a needed to create a record label and logo, to demonstrate where it would go on my design. 

My record label, "Remedy Records", takes it's name from a popular pop punk song by State Champs (Remedy) and along with the jagged font, the design may have connotations amongst part of my target audience. The two "R"'s also enable for a smooth design to be created. I made the sides of the shape with a gradient rectangle and then a colour overlay to change it to white when I inserted it into the digipak. The image will be found in my digipak and on my advertisement.

Putting the front and rear covers together, along with an extra panel, allowed me to construct the full outer of my digipak, shown above. The front and back covers have been re-sized from the square shape to fit the dimensions of a digipak, without affecting the aspect ratio (the barcode is now at the bottom of the rear cover). The notable differences here are the spines and the extra panel.

I wanted to use an extra panel in order to create continuity and to display an image that the audience would see upon opening the digipak. The image is taken from the same shoot as the front cover, making it look as though the image has slightly changed and the dog has moved. Similarly to why I used the image on the front, the picture connotes happiness and has an uplifting feel due to how the dog appears to be smiling. The lens flare remains and there is a similar filter used to the previous images that also helps to enhance the white-ness of the dog- perhaps symbolising hope, due to the connotations of the colour white in regards to Light Vs. Dark ideas and connotations. There is also a lens flare in the top right corner of the image, suggesting brightness and the associated attributes to this, combined with hope, to, effectively, bring an end to the struggle.

To construct the main spine (between front and back cover), I used Photoshop, and copied a 1cm length of the front cover, and then adjusted the size to make it look as though the image carried on- the grass and trees continue as does the shadow of the dog and trees. This also gives a sense of continuity to the digipak making it more aesthetic. I then added a shape and made it slightly transparent to darken the image to a required level which would allow the text to be clearly read. In the full version, I have the text "RR-001" at the base, a convention of spines, which has the Record Label, often as an initialism, followed by the number of the release on that label- which in my instance is of course 1. For the other spine, I extended the image out, this time using part of the original image, by keeping it an extra cm wider, and then applied the shape to make it darker. Again in the full digipak, the same text is duplicated here, in case it is placed this way around.  

Lastly, this is the design for the interior of the digipak. Following my analysis of Deaf Havana's "Old Souls", I wanted a single image to take up all 3 panels of the interior of the digipak. This allows my product to be related to the reception theory and uses and gratifications models, which focus on what the audience does with media, and the way in which they interpret the image/media- I have left a lot open to the imagination with this image. However, I feel it fits in with the theme and style of my digipak and presents a great wide image to look at. Taken on the same day as the rest of the shoot at the Thorpe Marriott Green, this is also a shot I use in the music video to "Real Talk", linking my texts together.

In Photoshop, I first brought out the colour in the image by adjusting the Levels, before adding a similar Warming Filter to make it appear brighter and enhance the light from the sun on this clear day. I added darker rectangle shapes in line with where the spines are using rulers and then added circles where the CDs would be placed, showing my digipak is capable of holding two compact discs (12x12cm) or a CD and DVD. On the left panel, I have added the text of the artist and album name, before adding details about the artist. At the base, the record label logo is centred below a horizontal line, which could be used a slot for any booklet to go alongside the digipak.

Regarding the composition of the image, I moved the photo so that it was divided into three bands- the base, which is the grass, the trees, and the sky- which, technically, makes it more aesthetic, and leaves a lot open to the audience to determine- in light of the reception theory, the audience could interpret it in many ways- similarly to "Old Souls", it creates a blank canvas, indicating there are no secrets with this artist and the lyrics are honest. It could, in keeping with my previous reference, be interpreted in a religious context, in that the Divine Comedy was split into three parts, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The clear skies are also symbolic of hope, and that the struggles of day to day life will clear, and the beauties of the world will become apparent- as one of my favourite musical artists Rou Reynolds [Enter Shikari] stated, "Sometimes it's beneficial to take a step back from everything and appreciate the honour it is to simply be alive. We're able to inhale air, to witness the beauty of our planet and to hear the wonders of rhythm and harmony. What a privilege it is to experience so much in such a relatively small pocket of time."  It is the essence that I wanted to capture with the digipak as a whole, in direct juxtaposition with the album title of "Struggle", that there is always hope and beauty amongst the struggles that we face in life. The digipak deals with the issues that the band deal with in their lyrics, such as self-depreciation and depression, by offering a bright symbol of hope for those who enjoy the artist to find solace in. 

This concludes my write-up on my Digipak production.