Final Promotional Product

 Here is the final and finished product of our group which includes our music video, digipak, and social media account

MUSIC VIDEO

YOUTUBE LINK - https://youtu.be/O0L27q0Kumw

DIGIPAK

FRONT COVER

INSIDE LEFT

INSIDE RIGHT

REVERSE COVER AND SPINE (DOTTED LINES FOR REFERENCE OF BORDER ONLY)

INSIDE (MOCK UP BY CARRICK)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Here is our link to the social media account (Instagram) - https://www.instagram.com/official.jmuse/

Audience engagement on this post - https://www.instagram.com/p/DHD30IVpOPn/

Audience engagement on this post - https://www.instagram.com/p/DHD4e6hpjm5/

Critical Reflection

 Here is the critical reflection of the project I completed as a group with my friends.

My team and I were required as per the component three brief given to us on the first day of the project to produce a music video covering an existing song with the purpose of creating and promoting a star and his music career. In order to complete the task at hand, we would first need to take a closer look at some of the conventions of different music videos. It was the decision of the group to utilise the R&B genre of music, which has made a name for itself revolving mostly around relationships, love, as well as challenges one might face in the pursuit of love. One such R&B song that stood out to us the most is Bruno Mars’ “Leave the Door Open” which granted us the opportunity to create a persona around our artist who we called JMUSE.  It was our intention to make JMUSE an approachable and relatable character who is a hopeless romantic, looking for love in his late teenage years. The dominant reading of this project is to ensure audiences can follow along with the idea that JMUSE struggles with his love life as a teenager while on the other hand also maintaining a certain level of refreshing charisma in his persona.

Branding, persona and image in the media assists audiences to identify certain symbols, typefaces, and even colour palettes with a star. Included in our group’s music video was our star’s branding which was portrayed by certain eye catching elements in the storyline which told the story, consistency within the visual department, as well as the meaning behind the acting performed by the star.  Given that our song represents a story of romance, the lighting in the video was warm which conveys a sense of affection and passion. Our star’s persona of being laid back, romantic, as well as down to earth which will ultimately lead to audiences finding it easy to connect and relate to him. Part of our character’s development is ensuring that he faces a problem which is facing a heartbreak. In order to bolster this characteristic, we decided to shoot our footage in natural surroundings such as the beach and sunset settings which portray a sense of reminiscing as well as reflection. The themes that were shown in the music video was a struggle to recover from losing someone he loved and escaping by going to alcohol and reflecting on his life on the beach as a metaphor for self healing.

Conventions of R&B music videos are laid back, slow paced, and relaxing. On the other hand, the stars are portrayed as being smooth and clean. This is something we conformed with as our star was always well dressed but not overly formal. The camera movements that are the conventions of R&B are slow and smooth which tells a story of love and emotion. JMUSE was frequently filmed close up as well as medium shot which shows his feelings and emotions of a heartbreak. We decided to subvert from the conventions by making our star hopeless at love. This subverts conventions because R&B stars tend to be masters of the art of love. Some of the scenes in our music video had dark colours of nature in contrast to a life of luxury in a mansion. 

Digipaks are a form of promotion of an artist’s album in physical form which includes the star’s branding and persona. We researched the conventions of R&B digipaks and we found that the conventions were serif fonts, dark backgrounds, and the face of the star. Facial expressions on these digipaks were very often serious with a face of determination. We featured JMUSE sitting on a beach facing the sunset with a serif font as the album name. This is consistent with our branding of JMUSE as he is a nature loving hopeless romantic. The couch on the inside symbolises a romantic atmosphere where JMUSE wishes to spend quality time. The green of the couch really exemplifies a natural bond between JMUSE and nature. These pictures that we chose for our digipak were very good as they conveyed the message perfectly that JMUSE is a hopeless romantic but is still looking to make himself happy in ways that involve embracing his surroundings and enjoying them.

Our music video represents and reflects the plight of male teenagers and their pursuit of love. Researching conventions for this was particularly difficult as there was not much I could find, but I came to the conclusion that R&B conventions on music videos and representing teens is to empower teens to raise up healthy relationships. Our star, JMUSE, is not necessarily portrayed as a weak or a strong masculine man. Rather, he is portrayed as someone who is seeking ways of forgetting his past failure with women and now he is in pursuit of happiness through spending time alone at the beach, going for a bike ride. This makes him more relatable to his audience and increases his authenticity. Warm tones in the lighting played a role in setting the mood as romantic and happy. Our music video represents teenagers as being able to move forward and still be happy despite the memories. 

Social media was very effective in engaging with JMUSE’s audience. JMUSE often posted personal pictures of himself or with relatives as well as teasers to his new music video. According to Uses and Gratification by Blumler and Katz, audiences may want to consume JMUSE’s social media content to strengthen their social relationships or divert from reality. Tools that we used to develop the social media page were PowerPoint, CapCut, and Instagram and were all converged together to form the JMUSE Instagram page. It also gives fans an opportunity to connect and bond with JMUSE. Conventions of R&B social media accounts are that posts are very regimented and high quality, suggesting they’re run by someone else. On the other hand, we wanted JMUSE to be down to earth and in touch with his base of support, always engaging with his audience. That’s why a lot of the social media posts look amateur.

In conclusion, I learnt that it is not easy to produce this kind of content. It requires a very deep understanding in how branding and persona go hand in hand to create a successful artist. All the visuals and mise-en-scene need to also go hand in hand to match the persona and branding of an artist. Small details such as lighting can really change the mood and have a large effect on the overall product. Attention to detail is a must when completing this project as a lot of hard work must go into research and development. Conventions are important as they serve as the guidelines to how we should develop our products. 

Here is my Critical Reflection document - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_TxH-GOdOEa2KXC0r2c29VxQN70mxlPWEM8CZgulA8I/edit?usp=sharing

Audience Feedback

This post explains how we showed a rough draft of our music video, album cover, and social media page to some members of our target audience in order to receive helpful feedback. We were told to receive 4 responses to our feedback form - completed by Giorgio, Carrick, Kaka, and Jaden

The purpose of a screen test is to gain audience feedback about our work and see if their are any improvements that can be made. We decided to use Microsoft Forms to create a survey to share with our audience because we want to be able to improve our media product for the intended audience Here are our questions: 

SECTION 1: GENERAL FEEDBACK

1. How do you think J MUSE appeals to you? What characteristics does he exhibit which makes him likable or relatable?

2. What can J MUSE do more of to interact and engage with you (the audience) on a personal level?

3. What other genres would you like to see J MUSE to explore?

SECTION 2: SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDBACK

4. What would you like to see frequently on J MUSE's social media page?

5. What content would you like to see occasionally on J MUSE's social media page?

6. How frequently would you like J MUSE to post on his social media page?

7. Who would you like to see J MUSE engage in a collaboration with?

SECTION 3: DIGIPAK AND ALBUM FEEDBACK

8. What are your impressions on the Digipak of J MUSE's latest album?

9. What do you think can be added or removed to ensure a high quality product for you (the audience)?

10. Would you buy the Digipak?

11. Tell us what you think of the other song names in this album?

SECTION 4: MUSIC VIDEO FEEDBACK

12. What aspects of the original music video did you like or dislike?

13. What did you understand regarding the plot or storyline?

14. What kind of feeling/vibe did you feel throughout our music video? In the beginning, at the end, or generally. Did you enjoy it?

15. What kind of ‘feeling’/’vibe’ do you want to feel or be captured by the end of the video? (i.e. Melancholy, funky, upbeat, edgy, etc…)

We chose these questions because we believe they were necessary in order to provide a higher quality media product. We included members of our target demographic in the screen test to ensure that the feedback we receive is appropriate. Finding people for the screen test was easy because we go to school with the same people who match our demographics and psychographics. Here are the drafts that we showed audiences for the screen test: 

VIDEO SCREENSHOTS

DIGIPAK DRAFT

SOCIAL MEDIA SCREENSHOT

Here are the responses:

SECTION 1: GENERAL FEEDBACK

1. How do you think J MUSE appeals to you? What characteristics does he exhibit which makes him likable or relatable?

Respondent 1: He haven't see him personally or in an image. But I do think that he will be extremely good looking as a music artist.

Respondent 2: He’s confidence and charizzma, he is confident in how he feels and looks.

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

2. What can J MUSE do more of to interact and engage with you (the audience) on a personal level?

Respondent 1: Do a livestream on Instagram daily for his fans to engage personally with him.

Respondent 2: Not much tbh 

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

3. What other genres would you like to see J MUSE to explore?

Respondent 1: Jazz

Respondent 2: K-POP jawa metal and koplo

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

SECTION 2: SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDBACK

4. What would you like to see frequently on J MUSE's social media page?

Respondent 1: J Muse flexing his muscles.

Respondent 2: Comedy

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

5. What content would you like to see occasionally on J MUSE's social media page?

Respondent 1: A day in my life as J MUSE.

Respondent 2: Comedy

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

6. How frequently would you like J MUSE to post on his social media page?

Respondent 1: Everyday if possible

Respondent 2: Comedy

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

7. Who would you like to see J MUSE engage in a collaboration with?

Respondent 1: Bruno Mars

Respondent 2: Uncle Roger

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

SECTION 3: DIGIPAK AND ALBUM FEEDBACK

8. What are your impressions on the Digipak of J MUSE's latest album?

Respondent 1:It's very interesting and appealing for young teens especially for those who are into R&B music.

Respondent 2: Very sigma alpha male

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

9. What do you think can be added or removed to ensure a high quality product for you (the audience)?

Respondent 1: Nothing. It's perfect already

Respondent 2: Maybe the outfits could be better

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

10. Would you buy the Digipak?

Respondent 1: No, because I don't know who is J Muse?

Respondent 2: Sure

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

11. Tell us what you think of the other song names in this album?

Respondent 1: I don't know what to say about this.

Respondent 2: Kind of to basic, I mean THERES nothing wrong with it, it’s just not appealing ykwim?

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

SECTION 4: MUSIC VIDEO FEEDBACK

12. What aspects of the original music video did you like or dislike?

Respondent 1: It's gives off an relaxing and chill vibe to the audience. Although, it may seem boring for some audience since the MV is only located in one setting.

Respondent 2: I didn’t watch the music video because Jaden didn’t give any music video link or sum…. But he sent screenshots and in my opinion I guess it’s pretty good for starters like you guys or students like yall. I would give it a 6.7/10

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

13. What did you understand regarding the plot or storyline?

Respondent 1: Nothing. They're just singing in a studio.

Respondent 2: i can’t really say anything on this

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

14. What kind of feeling/vibe did you feel throughout our music video? In the beginning, at the end, or generally. Did you enjoy it?

Respondent 1: Relaxing and chill sensation

Respondent 2: Funny

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

15. What kind of ‘feeling’/’vibe’ do you want to feel or be captured by the end of the video? (i.e. Melancholy, funky, upbeat, edgy, etc…)

Respondent 1: J Muse relaxing on a beach with a stunning sunset.

Respondent 2: Funny and happy

Respondent 3:

Respondent 4:

From the feedback (or lack thereof), we learnt that it is important to promote J MUSE by having him engage with his audience and start to build a base of support. Regarding the digipak, we found that it was well received by the audience, but that nobody would want to purchase it. The audience really want to see more of J MUSE on his social media, posting daily content and even some very interesting and personal images and stories about J MUSE. We also found that the music video feedback is in sync with what we want to portray to the audience, however the storyline is pretty vague and unclear to the audience. This is something we need to work on together and change to ensure that the audience is given the highest possible quality media products. We want to make sure that people will not just like J MUSE's digipak, but also splash out to actually go out and purchase it. 

One other major thing we learnt through seeking feedback is that people are not too keen on providing us with feedback. Our form was sent out to multiple people but only two responded. This tells us that we have not done a very good job at promoting J MUSE to our targeted and intended audience. This is something we must work on and seek advice regarding. One thing we thought of together was to learn from the errors of previous artists and adopt their way of thinking, rather than walking into this blindly. Something we considered was hiring a social media manager to help promote our artist. However, this idea was short lived after we found out how much it would actually cost to hire a social media manager through LinkedIn. So we decided to learn from open source websites that had this information such as the following which had a really simple nine step plan: https://soundcharts.com/blog/how-to-promote-music-social-media.With regard to the digipak, not much information was shared with us so we had to again turn to research to help us get a better idea. One such place we turned to for analysis that would give us the right feedback is this link here, which showcases a R&B digipak and analysis which we learnt that handwritten style of writing is preferable and used. We hope that this would help us get a better understanding in the direction we should be going given the lack of responses to our survey. https://04whitalic.wixsite.com/alicewhitemusicvideo/digipak-analysis

What we intend to do is to take into consideration the feedback we received from our two respondents and apply it to the nine steps. Of course as we mentioned previously, we intend to change details regarding the storyline of the music video, the posts and frequency of posts on our social media page for J MUSE, and create a strategy that would introduce, promote, and energise a base of support for J MUSE and his music. Once we are able to do that, we will be able to come back with even more feedback to ensure that we can produce a high quality media product that will be popular among our target audience. 

Since we didn't have a music video draft, we had to make do with screenshots. This was a useful part of our process because it allowed our audience to have a sneak peek at what is ahead and ensure that we get the feedback we need most to help us with the editing process. So far we are not satisfied with the result of our attempt at getting feedback. However, we have already discussed and implemented some very vital and key steps to get J MUSE's name out there for the world to see. The research we did helped a lot because we weren't able to get many responses from the survey so we had to look elsewhere for information that would steer us on the right track. 

Reflection:

I believe that this helped us immensely to better understand what our audience expects from us and our artist. However, finding responses was not easy because people just didn't want to fill in our feedback form. This was annoying and quite frustrating because it meant we weren't doing enough to promote our artist. We learnt that the hard way unfortunately and had to seek "feedback" from online resources to know what we should have been doing to steer us on the right track. Our prior research and development was also insufficient before we published this form but I am confident that we will be able to get better feedback in the coming weeks as we finalise these things. I found it extremely painful to have to go through this process of begging people for feedback only to get one response. It did not feel worth it al all. All to get to a certain deadline. I hope that when I come back to update this, I will have more to add and more to learn from from our actual audience who we are catering to, and not some online resources we had to turn to to get information. Overall I think this was very tiring work for very minimal response. 3/10 experience, would not recommend if you haven't promoted your artist as well as you should have been able to. My role was basically to just make the forms, my friends helped to write the questions with me. 

Post Production - Editing

Here is the development of the editing stage - completed by Giorgio ("I" refers to Giorgio since I didn't really involve myself in the editing) 

I used Google Drive to store all the footage that was filmed using my Leica smartphone camera. I used movie ratio during filming directly so that I won't have to add an effect or change the ratio later on during editing.

I'm using Capcut to edit the Music Video (MV). Capcut offers many premade effects and editing tools. It's very easy to use, easy to learn, and practical. I have been using CapCut for almost 2 recent years, so I'm fairly good at it and still familiar with it. I have bought CapCut Pro which gives me access to more features and effects that I normally couldn't use with normal CapCut. So, with this membership, I'm hoping I'll finish things much more smoothly and without hindrance like the limitations of normal CapCut. I will be using my computer to edit on CapCut. 

Here is the overall timeline of the project in CapCut computer. 

SIGNIFICANT EDITING CHOICES AND METHODS

The Intro will have an opening title of the song, I used a text element and animated it for the title introduction: 

The title serves to give context to the audience. 

I changed the text's color to match the branding and overall lighting.

I chose a color that compliments the background lighting and scenery. It is important to make it visually appealing so that the audience doesn't feel odd or get distracted by it leading to not being able to focus on the content. 

I use filters to color grade the footage for better quality and make it more cinematic. 

The highlighted elements are the filters:

Color grading is a very important aspect of editing as it creates meaning and stories in the media. I could make the music video seem horror and scary with dark color grading, or enunciate certain colors to create the branding of the video. As for our music video featuring J Muse covering "Leave The Door Open" I go with a filter that matches the persona of J Muse which is laid back, cool, and down-to-earth, which is why I picked a filter that enunciates the warm colors like yellow and orange, as well as ones that compliments the lighting of the footage. 

I used markers to symbolize the beats of the music/audio. It helped me with matching the timing of footage cuts and transitions. 

The audio is at the bottom, the color is blue, and the markers are on top of the audio, the color is light blue:

I use jump cut, decided on that during editing, for this scene.

EXAMPLE 1

EXAMPLE 2

I matched the cuts based on the music's beat so that it looks smooth and not messy which is disturbing for the audience. These jump cuts were placed during a very energetic part of the music, so it suits well and creates a visual appeal or eye candy for the audience. 

MINOR EDITING CHOICES AND METHODS

I used special effects to give a dreamy look on the artist's face during part of the song where the lyrics talk about being clean-shaven.

This makes the visual more impactful and engages the audience more with the song and music video, as it immerses them better with special visual effects. 

I edited the speed of the footage to give a slow-mo effect on J Muse's expression.

I slow down his facial expression to really show and strengthen the emotion. It was right when he was blinking and looking out of the window. Simple, subtle change that really makes a difference on the mood and audience engagement and perception.

Reflection:

I don't really know much about editing nor am I good at it. However, I do recognise its significance in the completion of our project as without it, there is no final product for the audience. My contribution to Giorgio's editing was to provide some feedback to him regarding a few transitions. Other than that I think he did a brilliant job worth being commended. I am a very big fan of what he's achieved in the creation of this music video and I look forward to seeing what he will be capable of in the future. Editing is no easy task for anyone, but Giorgio makes it look so effortless. I feel that writing this blog was easier for him to do compared to editing though.

Production - Behind the Scenes

Here are the behind the scenes of creating our music video project - completed by Jaden ("I" refers to Jaden)

PRE-FILMING

Prior to shooting, we made a schedule and planned out where we'd be going and who'd need to be bringing what. Carrick made it clear that he wanted minimal involvement in the actual filming of the project because he lived very far away in Gianyar. However, he did agree to come if an extra hand was needed. We all agreed on what I should be wearing and what sort of persona I should be giving off. It was also agreed that Kaka would take shots of behind the scenes. 

DAY 1 - HOUSE, COUCH, AND RESTAURANT SCENES (10th DECEMBER 2024)

We started at around 10:00 AM in the morning to get prepare and shoot. On this day we went to my house to shoot the house and couch scenes. Giorgio, Carrick, and Kaka were present. This is where I debuted in my JMUSE outfit, the iconic brown shirt and shorts. We then proceeded to the Soteria Restaurant (Giorgio's restaurant) to film the scenes of me waiting for a girl and drinking at the bar. Unfortunately there are no behind the scenes photos of that so I provided screenshots of the film we took there.

Giorgio brought his phone as a camera, Carrick brought a tripod, and Kaka brought lights. 

We did some shots of me on the couch, looking through my wardrobe, and leaving the house.

Scene of me going through my wardrobe.

Scene of me waiting for a girl at the restaurant

Scene of me drinking at the bar

DAY 2 - BUS SCENE (13th DECEMBER 2024)

We started sometime in the evening at the Central Kuta Bus Terminal. Only Kaka and I went and we didn't have much equipment. Kaka brought his go-pro and Carrick's tripod and I had my clothes. We filmed on the Trans Metro Dewata buses that run regular scheduled services all throughout the day. Carrick had gone to Australia for three weeks by now and Giorgio had family matters to attend to. Unfortunately no pictures were taken on this day. 

When semester two started, we found out that all the footage we took on the bus was all corrupted and we were unable to reshoot the scenes on the buses because they had already ceased all operations as of the First of January 2025. 

DAY 3 - BICYCLE BEACH SCENE (25th JANUARY 2025)

We started sometime in the afternoon at Mertasari beach in Sanur. Giorgio, Kaka, and I were all present there. We rented two bicycles and rode form Mertasari beach to Segara Ayu beach and back, ensuring we had enough footage to work with going both ways. Kaka was riding one bike with Gio on the back filming me. We also strapped a go-pro camera to my bike to film me as I was riding. We also filmed me walking around in a market on the beach. Unfortunately no behind the scenes photos were taken. Here are a few screenshots of that day's shooting.

Go-Pro view

Giorgio cameraman view

Me walking around the market at the beach.

DAY 4 - RESTAURANT AND BAND SCENE (30th JANUARY 2025)

We started in the evening after school at Giorgio's church. Giorgio was present as the cameraman, Kaka was present as an assistant as well as a background band player, and Yuka (a friend we recruited to take Carrick's place as he was not able to be present at the time) to be a background band player as well. Kaka played the keyboard, Yuka played the guitar, I sang into a microphone and Giorgio directed and filmed everything. All this was to film the band scenes of us playing and singing together. Unfortunately no behind the scenes photos were taken. Here are a few screenshots of that day's shooting.

DAY 5 - RELAXING BEACH SCENE (10th MARCH 2025)

We started filming in the evening after school at Double Six beach. Giorgio was present as the director and cameraman, Kaka was present as an assistant to Giorgio and was supposed to take behind the scenes pictures, and I was present as the star. Giorgio made me do some poses on the beach and walk around to really get that beach atmosphere captured in the video. Unfortunately no behind the scenes photos were taken. Here are a few screenshots of that day's shooting.

Me sitting at the beach.

Me walking around the beach.

Reflection:

I really didn't have much to do with the production and filming of the music video. I'm not very creative in that aspect and worried that I would be a nuisance to Giorgio who likes everything to be perfect. I did what I could to contribute to the group by taking a behind the scenes photo at Jaden's house. I wanted to focus my labour on helping to write and refine blog posts which I think I'm good at. I'm very impressed with the work that my team was able to achieve in the filming department. However, it is a shame that there was no proper documentation of what went on behind the scenes. Next time I think I should join just to document the whole thing as it seems that the person we all agreed to have document the filming (Kaka) may have been a bit too busy helping Giorgio in directing each scene. 

Production - File Organisation

 Here are the ways in which we organised our files which made our editing and production process a lot simpler - completed by Giorgio and Carrick

    

Advantages of our system of organisation

• All the footage available in one place
• Accessible to all members of the team

Disadvantages of our system of organisation

• No labels to determine which footage is good or bad
• No thumbnails
• Everything very disorganised

Advantages of using Google Drive

• All our group members were able to access all the video files without having to uploading all the videos to a DVD drive and downloading it from the DVD drive
• Automatically updates when someone deletes, uploads, or renames a file
• Allows for any file type to be uploaded
• Compatible between mobile phones and computers

Disadvantages of using Google Drive

• Must have internet to access the files
• No offline back up
• Can only take up to 15gb of storage compared to DVD drives

This type of file organisation benefits us as we are typically organised when we are disorganised. This means that the style of disorganisation best suits us. Having all the resources compiled in one place is very beneficial to us as it is accessible to us at all times when we have internet. 

Reflection:

I believe that this will help us in our objective of completing the project as it allows us to go through all the footage and contribute feedback to Giorgio (our editor) so he can take it all into consideration. The ease of access to all the resources is imperative in ensuring that all tasks are completed effectively and efficiently. The organisation may look awful and disorganised. However, that's the way we are. That's how we operate. We are able to easily find and organise ourselves when everything is disorganised. I'm very happy with the methodology we decided to use to organise our files. Something I found that I did not like or found difficult was trying to get Google Drive to revert back to showing the image of the file rather than the name. Other than that I'm very happy with how we organised our files. 

Artist's Persona and Brand Identity

Here is what my group and I decided with regard to a persona for our star to be reflected in our products.

Here are some questions provided by my teacher to help us construct an identity for our star.

Here are my groups' ideas

Reflection:

I believe that this task has allowed us to unite as a group and come together to give us something to think about when we're doing our various tasks. I think it's pretty important that we get this done and discuss this so we can ensure that our artist and the branding around him will appeal to our target audience. Things like this will definitely make our jobs a lot easier and hopefully it'll contribute to a higher quality final product once we're done. However, I think I need to do a bit more research as I'm not really on any social media so I'm pretty unaware of what celebrities and artists do and what they post online. I think I can play my part in the implementation of this persona by continuing to advise my team mates to stick to this blue print that we've worked on. This was a pretty challenging task for me as I don't really understand what artists do online or really pay attention to what they do. What I found simple though was putting the pieces of the puzzle together with regard to a certain persona that we as a group have created for our artist. After having looked at our photos, we decided to change JMUSE's brown colouring to dark blue as it fit the most with our photos. 

Digipak Research and Development

Here is our research and development into the Digipak - completed by Carrick and Jaden

Research - Digipak Dimensions

Before researching into digipak covers, we first needed to know the dimensions of the digipak. This was to ensure that we get the dimensions right so that there wouldn't be any awkward gaps or missing areas in the digipak. Below is a diagram I took off the internet that I used to learn this information.

Research - Digipak Cover

Here is the research conducted on behalf of the group with regard to digipak covers of male R&B artists because our artist is a male R&B singer covering the R&B song "Leave the Door Open" by Bruno Mars. The following diagram showcases the digipak covers we found interesting and that may follow and match the mood, vibe, and aesthetic of a teenager who is a hopeless romantic. 

Each digipak cover shows the star's face and the top part of their torsos in one form or another which take up a great portion of the middle of the digipak cover, with Bruno Mars' Doo-wops and Hooligans (middle top row) digipak cover being the only one to subvert that, showing Bruno as a very small silhouette following the path of a rocket. Most of the digipak covers do not have the artist cover the text or vice-versa but rather the text is next to the artist, with The Weeknd's Starboy digipak cover (top right) being the only exception to this rule. Two other digipak covers (bottom right) also subvert the convention by not even using text but rather using the artist (The Weeknd) as a means of describing the album contents through his facial expressions and picture colouring which suggest a sinister motive in the mind of the artist. 

The digipak covers that really stood out to us were the ones featuring Sam Cooke (bottom left) which depict him as a cheerful happy-go-lucky person which really fits the persona of our artist who is a hopeless romantic looking for love. The other digipak covers have a more serious facial expression which make them all look like they're on a mission to complete something or are determined to get their own way by how they're dressed. Dark colouring and also seems to be a theme in these digipak covers as it sets the mood of the album. The text and typeface seem to send a message too as most if not all use a serif font which creates a certain appeal which allows audiences to identify the artist. 

Out of the 15 digipak covers shown here, we decided to research four of them in more in .

Doo-waps and Hooligans - Bruno Mars

Camera angles: an extreme long shot of Bruno at the beginning of the path created by the rocket’s smoke.

Mise-en-scene: Bruno looks to be wearing a fedora hat and from the back vaguely resembles a suit, which suggests that he feels optimistic about this adventure. His walking posture is looking up with the hands being forward implying walking, with his head looking forward to the end of the path, which shows that he is preparing for what seems like a big uphill adventure.

The meaning created is that Bruno Mars has a very fancy yet adventurous personality, that his album will make the audience feel as though it is very adventurous and “high-flying”.

The imagery reflects Bruno Mars’ very smooth, sophisticated, street-like personality with his fedora and suit, free and charismatic personality.

Bruno does have a logo, however it's not very consistent and can vary in font, shape, and color. The album cover has influenced us because of its minimalist art style and the idea/concept of the album. 

Starboy - The Weeknd

Cover

Camera: Medium shot of the guy, with text behind him

Mise-en-scene: He has a very dark blue color which is very monochromatic, in which the contrast is very very low, he is very masculine, does a very mysterious, cool, seemingly defensive and protective pose, and has a cross symbol necklace. He stares directly at the camera.

Insides/CD

Camera: Long/Medium shot of the cross and lightning

Mise-en-scene: A purely red background along with yellow cross and two lightning bolts by the side of both. The whole thing has pure colors, yellow and red, no shading or gradient whatsoever.

The medium camera angle is used to show and focus on the pose of the artist, which is actually a pretty symbolic pose of some for of defense or detachment of some sort, combined with the very dark blue hue adjusted for the singer, suggest some kind of serious or melancholy or emotional reasoning for said defense or detachment. The man is wearing a dark leather jacket that also reflects his masculine physique, which shows masculinity and strength. However, he is also wearing a cross necklace which is commonly used by rappers, singers, and sinners. Those two combined show the meaning that the person and his album is being strong, materialistically and physically. He is also edited to be posing in front of the title. 

This hasn't really inspired us all that much but the facial expression is something to consider because it seems to be consistent with other digipak covers we've looked at on the internet. 

Neyo

Camera: Close-up of his face with slight low angle and tilted, and the background purely focuses on Neyo. The background text is blurred.

Mise-en-scene: The background resembles a black chalkboard with various white writing with hand-written style/font, likely using white chalk. Wears a fedora that’s tilted downward, earrings, blue jacket with a white outer collar. His presentation is that he looks at the audience, but with a chill, looking-down, slanted head. The lighting is soft and spread out, which makes a warm and close atmosphere. On the left side of the album cover, there is an image of binder holes of a piece of paper/note. 

Well-dressed, young male, earrings, tilted hat, white tops under his formal shirt. Head leaning to the other side. 

Meaning(s): The close-up of his face brings focus and attention to his emotions and builds the personal connection with the audience looking at him. The angle of the face too being tilted and low gives a little more dynamic to his expression, as the tilted adds some mystery and deep introspection but the low angle makes him feel a lot more confident and belief in himself. The blurred background with focus on Neyo’s face & and hand-written dialogue.

This hasn't really inspired us all that much but the facial expression is something to consider because it seems to be consistent with other digipak covers we've looked at on the internet. 

Sam Cooke

Technical Elements

Camera: Close-up shot of Sam Cooke’s face, slightly tilted. The angle is straight on, and the framing tries to focus on his warm expression & direct gaze.

Mise-En-Scene: The lighting is soft and natural, which highlights his smooth skin. Background is a soft blue sky with white clouds. He is wearing a button-down shirt, simple and casual. He wears a warm smile, and the “Sam Cooke” is written in bold orange-red letter with a more vintage feel, whilst “The Unforgettable” is in a smaller purple serif font.

Meaning Created by These Elements

The Close-up shot and direct eyesight of Sam Cooke create an intimate feeling that makes it feel as though Sam is trying to connect with the listener on a personal level. The blue sky background has connotations of timelessness and purity. Him wearing casual clothing along with warm lightning to support it makes him more approachable, humble, and seem down-to-earth or real.

How does the Imagery reflect the star’s persona?

The imagery reinforces his symbol of charm & warmth. His positive smile and relaxing posture gives an uplifting one. The natural setting (sky and cloud) suggests his music’s themes and vibe are universal, which cements his status.

Does the artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?

The album features the RCA Victor logo, which is quite consistent with Sam Cooke’s other releases under his label. On the flip side though, he did not have a personal logo (compared to artists of a later time with more unique branding). Simply put, just his image & name alone would serve as his most recognizable way of identifying him. The style of typography still has that classic, elegant feel that other Cooke’s albums have.

How has the album cover influenced you?

The warmth & simplicity of the cover make it so it seems like the person of focus (Sam Cooke) seems to have an aura worth listening to, which fits the chill, down-to-earth vibe of our Bruno-Mars-inspired persona, ‘Jay Muse’. What adds to this is the inviting expressions and smiles provides an impression that his music will lift the audience up, touch their hearts, and soothe them, further reinforcing the persona.

Research - Digipak CompactDisc (CD)

The following diagram showcases the digipak CompactDiscs (CDs) we found interesting and that follow and match the mood, vibe, and aesthetic of a teenager who is a hopeless romantic. 

Each CD design matches the colour schemes and themes of the digipak cover. It includes either a branding symbol and/or font or the artist's name and the song. Pretty dull and simple which we're all a fan of.

Research - Digipak Reverse

The following diagram showcases the digipak reverse covers we found interesting and that follow and match the mood, vibe, and aesthetic of a teenager who is a hopeless romantic. 

The majority of these reverse covers share the same common elements, that is that they all match their front covers, they include a list of songs, all have a barcode, and they all have some sort of copyright and legal jargon on them. The only differences I can see is that some of them have a picture of the artist which we find interesting. 

Development

The following is a rough sketch of our planned digipak which will consist of a cover, tracklist, CD, back cover, and barcode.

Tracklist

Most of these song names we came up with on the fly. Here are a list of suggestions for song names. We will only choose around 5-10 of them that we'll use for our digipak.

• Looking for Love
• Leave the Door Open
• Somebody Save Me From Love
• I'm Lonely
• Love, From J
• No More, I'm in Love
• Why Darling?
• Who's Jack?
• I Will Write
• Call Me
• Losing Hope
• Love Hates Me

Of course, we picked "Leave the Door Open" as it is the main song we are doing the music video for. 

The ones we highlighted in blue are the other song titles that will be included. To our knowledge, there aren't any songs that we know of that have the same titles as these. 

Album Name

Most of these album names we came up with in 5 minutes of thinking. Here are a list of ideas.

• Looking for Love
• Leave the Door Open
• I'm Lonely
• From J
• Why Darling?
• You

We picked "Looking for Love" because it seems to perfectly encapsulate the persona of JMUSE which is a hopeless romantic looking for love as well as how it summarises all the songs into just three words. It also helps that it is the name of one of the songs on the tracklist too. 

Our teacher also gave us feedback regarding our album name and he said it has to be the same song we are making the music video for so that's why we changed it to "Leave the Door Open". We did all the work below this with our original ideas before we got this feedback from our teacher. 

Digipak Cover

Here are some fonts that we looked at for the album name. We used serif fonts because that's the convention of the genre we looked at. Ultimately we couldn't decide on which font to use so we decided to have a look at them on the digipak drafts. Here are a list of designs we came up with. 

Here are some drafts we did on Microsoft Powerpoint. After some long hard thinking and consideration we brought it down to just two typefaces: Sticky Sugary which is the serif font and Dharma Gothic E Heavy for the thicker font. We stuck with the navy coloured font because we believe it goes very well with the rest of the picture as well as the branding and person of JMUSE. In the bottom right you are able to see the logo of JMUSE in both Dharma Gothic E Heavy font which is part of JMUSE's branding. We experimented with the placement of all the text and came to the conclusion that the one with the green circle was the best one. 

Choice:

We chose this design because it fits JMUSE's persona of being a bit of a goofball, hopeless romantic, teenager just looking for love. His facial expression and clothing make it look like he really is trying hard to make an impression on someone he may find special to him. The background also is good as it is easy to integrate it into other parts of the digipak such as the reverse cover and the inside content. 

After having received feedback from our teacher, he said it does not conform with our branding of JMUSE and looks nothing like the music video, especially with the colours. We decided to standardise the font and use Sugary Dreams as the font. Our teacher also gave us the following rough draft to help give us a much better idea of where we should be in our digipak development.

Here are a line up of drafts we made for the new digipak.

Ultimately we made these changes because of how our previous design was not really all that good according to our teacher and did not conform with our genre conventions like we previously thought. We went with the first design as it emphasised the laidback and chill persona of JMUSE. This font is Sugary Dream and conforms with JMUSE's brand identity.

One thing I forgot to include in the drafts was the JMUSE logo which I corrected here. 

Tracklist

We decided to experiment with the typefaces a bit by just having a look at what Times New Roman would look like incorporated into this design. Our genre conventions tell us that there is no picture or illustration of the artist on this part of he digipak but rather it is either blank or has a tracklist which is what ours has. Below are a few drafts we made on PowerPoint.

We experimented with this design with the background of the photo of JMUSE. We decided to stick with the serif fonts for the tracklist after experimenting with a san-serif font and seeing it did not fit the genre conventions. 

Below is what we agreed upon as the tracklist.

We went with this one because it was easier to read.

Upon receiving feedback on our previous design, our teacher (as per stated above) also told us to revise our design because it does not fit with the artist's persona and branding. He gave us ideas such as to include a beach picture here. Another thing he said is that outline on text is bad graphic design.

Here are a line up of some drafts we made.

We picked this photo because it is in line with our teacher's feedback. The mise-en-scene of the couch conveys a sense of laid back and relaxation as well as luxury in that shade of green. 

Below is our final pick.

CD Cover

We made some mock ups of CD Covers that we believe conform to the genre conventions of an R&B digipak. Here are a few of those drafts we made on PowerPoint.

We went with the design encircled because of how the other ones looked. The highlighting of JMUSE's logo in white really stands out on the CD Cover and looks a lot better when the font is on the diametre of the CD rather than at the bottom or top of the CD. The colour fits the branding of JMUSE which is dark blue. 

Upon receiving feedback on our previous design, our teacher (as per stated above) also told us to revise our design because it does not fit with the artist's persona and branding. He gave us ideas such as to include a beach picture here. Another thing he said is that outline on text is bad graphic design.

Here ais what we came up with.

We used this image because it is the other half of the image cut in half used for the tracklist.

Reverse Cover

We didn't do this before getting feedback from our teacher so that's why there isn't a draft for a really poorly designed reverse cover. This time we really did conform to the R&B conventions of a digipak according to our teacher.

The reverse cover is the other half of the front cover. The dotted line is for reference only where the border of the spine and reverse cover is. We decided to go with the third option because it is the only design with the tracklist. 

Here is the final pick

Reflection:

I found this part of the project to be both fun and laborious. The research thankfully was done mostly by Jaden and I did most of the development. I like graphic design so I knew that this would be a fun part which it was. This gave me a better understanding of our genre conventions, what our teacher expects from us, and a smaller scale of what people in the real music industry must do to create high quality media products. What I found challenging in this part of the project was the fact that I had to wrap my head around the conventions and branding of JMUSE. The easy part was putting all that together into a design and writing about it on the blog post. I am grateful for Jaden's help in the research because I'm pretty hopeless at analysing anything with regard to creativity and meaning created from different colours and mise-en-scene.