Draft 4 Digipak

Here is the 4th draft of the digipak. This was going to be the final design but we tweaked it to incorporate performance footage.

Revised Digipak Design

Summary Of Magazine Ad Conventions (AK)

Artists Logo

The artists logo is one of the most important informational aspects of a magazine ad. It usually comes near the top third of the advert and will either take up most of the width of the page, or take up roughly half of the page and be placed at the left side.

Album Name

The album name is an important piece of information for buyers to know. This is usually shown just below the artist logo in a smaller font. I was surprised to see that some adverts, such as one from The Offspring and one from Machine Head, completely omitted this information and even on adverts that did have the album name printed, it wasn't as prominent as I would have suspected. I presume this is for a few reasons. Firstly, due to technology, just by searching for the artists name on Amazon, iTunes or other similar stores, or by visiting the artists website, the album name would be very easy to find. Secondly, the album will often be recognised by the artwork (which I will mention in the next sub-category) so mentioning the name isn't completely necessary. Finally, today artists make most of their money by tours and so it is the artist that is predominantly being promoted and not the album.

Artwork of Advert and Digipak Linked

The artwork of a magazine advert will very often be an expanded version of the digipak artwork, or will at least have an element in both that is the same. This makes the album/digipak easily recognisable to people who have seen the advert.


Digipak Covers on Magazine Ads
If the artwork of the magazine ad and digipak cover aren't connected, it is likely that the digipak will be shown in the ad. This will either be just the cover or, less frequently, a full product shot with the digipak opened and the disks shown.

Reviews

Reviews may be shown for the album, although this isn't too common. These reviews will usually come from magazines, newspapers or other media forms in which the primary audience is similar to that of the audience for the artist being promoted.

Website Address

A web address for the band is usually located towards the bottom of an advert and will be small and discrete but still easy to read. While this used to include the full address, including 'www.' at the start, nowadays it is more likely to just seen the domain and not have 'www.' included.

Release Date

A release date is quite important information and is given on approximately half of the magazine ads that I have looked at. It will either give the date or say 'Out Now'. I presume that those that don't give the date have already been released, but I'm not completely sure of this.

Tour Information

This is only occasionally included on an advert for a digipak. Obviously an artist has to have an upcoming tour for the information to be given, but even those that do rarely include it. Generally, as already mentioned, acts make most of their money through tours rather than album/single sales, which is a trend that has only come abouts in recent years due to the shift in buying habbits and the introduction and increase in illegal file sharing. Perhaps in the future including tour information will be more common to accommodate for this change in the industry.

Record Label Logo

The record label's logo will be shown on almost all magazine ads. It will usually only take a very small space and be located at the bottom of the page, either directly in the centre or in one of the corners.

Product Information

This is most likely to be found on adverts for albums that aren't just standard CDs. There will usually be a special promotional aspect to them: '20th Anniversary Edition' or 'Includes Live Tour DVD' etc. are commonly mentioned. Occasionally though some songs from the album might be listed. This will usually be a song previously released as a single or a couple of the 'best' songs from the album.

Magazine Ad Drafts (AK)







Teaser Ad



Evidence Of Directing

This footage gives a look behind the scenes on a shoot and how we organise the cast and cameras.

The Viral Competition

We are currently running a competition which binds the digipak poster and video. The competition asks for fans to photograph the poster in any location they choose for a chance for it to be featured in the music video ending sequence and in a 'Remix' version of the digipak to be released at a later date. The poster used viraly spreads and gains internet and world coverage through the fans themselves. The QR code on the posters are links to the competition post on Quack Cuts Blog explaining the competition and how to enter.

Challenges Of Organisation (TC)

When organising our shoots and company we naturally encountered difficulties in organising each other and our tasks. We decided to divide up the tasks equally between us but still give each other feedback and of course there were group tasks and cross over. Andy Mainly focused on the Poster, Will on the digipak and Myself on the Music video (editing). We each provided input for the creation of each product.

We had difficulty in organising the group as we all had extra curricular and out of school commitments. This meant on some occasions filming would be done without one group member and this would change meaning everyone filmed at one time pr another. We had some difficulty organising this which was resolved by contacting each other over the internet using Skype or Facebook group chat.

We also had some difficulty managing props and equipment. We tried to have at least 2 cameras at each shoot to speed things up and cover more in the time we had but this also meant organising who was to bring the cameras and tripod as well as the costume and posters needed for each scene. We overcame this by dividing up the equipment between us. Subsequently if one of us were not able to film one day a camera or worse, a costume item would be missing this lead us to thoroughly plan each shoot and what was needed in advance so that the best filming was possible.

Video Audience Feedback

This is some feedback on the one of our rough cuts for Around the world.

More Brand Recognition (TC)

As daft punk has been active in the music scene since 1993 they have made many appearances in pop culture across all forms of media. They are instantly recognisable due to their helmets which are donned whenever they perform live or appear in public. This signifier is a great way of attracting attention and also a non text based way of advertising themselves. Along side a unique font and punchy name they have a global and fan base. Daft Punk is a strong brand because of all the above.


Their most recent appearance was in the film Tron in which they played themselves (un-named but as DJ's). As they created the soundtrack for the film they publicised their new album Tron as well as the film. an example of horizontal integration between two industries.

They have also made appearances in the Simpsons and in many TV adverts such as Adidas originals, Sony Ericson and Gap. They have even had limited edition coca cola bottles 'inspired by them' sold exclusively called Daft Cola which is now being sold for £50 + a bottle.

Target Audience (TC)

Our target audience is male and female aged 15 to 24. This is because the genre of music we have found appeals to this age range the most. The music is likely to be played in clubs and at festivals and 18 to 24 year olds are the average age range at these locations. The genre of music is also listened to by those aspiring to go clubbing or are interested in the dance music scene and we have found this age range to be 15 +. The act itself has a very broad following due to the fact that Daft Punk have been around since 1993. We are aiming to appeal to audience which where of the ages 15 to 24 when they first became famous and a current audience of this age range.


We are also targeting a secondary tween audience. Many younger teens 12+ listen to music often associated with an older group as they aspire to be like them therefore we have included them in our target audience. We have not focused our project on appealing to them directly but we have considered them. For example excluding any references to sex, drug taking or drinking directly meaning our music video would be able to be played before the watershed hour.

Fan Forums And Twitter (TC)

In order to gain feedback from our target audience we have posted on DaftPunk fan forum web sites. Here we can receive comments from audience members who are interested in our act and provide relevent feedback which can influence the production of our music video in.

We have set up a company twitter account. Here we have 'tweeted' daft punk directly as well as daft punk fans through fan accounts. We have regularly provided updates on the production of our video in order to gain feedback. We have also shared rough cuts and ideas and taken responses into consideration which have informed the creation of our 3 products.

Viral Campaign Pictures (WL/AK)

Here are the pictures with our magazine ad projected onto them from various locations around the world. This will be used in the digipak and as the closer for our final cut. 

Boston

Newcastle 

Hong Kong

New York

Canada

Egypt 

Rome