Inlay Photo Edits

Along with our digipack front, spine and back cover we have to produce a group of inlay of photos. These photos will be those in which we took on our photo shoot and then we show lyrics from the songs the artist has produced. From inspiration from research of 'Jack Johnson's' album 'Better Together' we edited the photos using camera flare editing techniques as well as vintage effects which conform to indie genre conventions.

DigiPack Design Templates

Not only do we have to take photos for our digipack but we must present them accordingly. In preparation for this, I research various design templates my group and I could follow when putting together our finished digipack. Below are some of my personal favourites:

I liked this one as it allowed us have a great number of photos in our inlay as other design templates (which will be shown) limit the photos we can have to a rather minimal amount. In this design, we could have photos on both the back and front on the inlay and have a image on the CD slot. The way the design folds up as well intrigued me as it differs itself from usual designs.


This design template, like the previous one, deals with having to fold and unfold it to reveal the inlay images. However this one is in a zig zag or spring style which gives in, somewhat, of a quirky edge; which is a feature of the indie genre.




This design template is an 8 page flick booklet however it can be made to hold 20 pages in total. As my group and I have a large selection of potential inlay photos we wish to use, this design template will be able to show almost all of them in a unique style; not many digipack designs use a flick booklet style and therefore this will distant itself from the usual which is another indie convention.



Lastly, this is a traditional style digipack design template which majority of artists use as it is simple yet effective. If we decide we are wanting to be in-keeping with usually digipack design templates then this will be a solid choice.

Mirco Element: Simplicity

From research of recent indie videos (2012 era) there has been an increase in music videos which take on the simplicity style. This generally does not include a main narrative presence within the video and focuses souly around the artist performance. Personally, I believe that taking on this 'stripped-down' approach to a music video works exceptionally well and hieghtens the focus of the artist. The style of simplicity is evident in Gabrielle Alpin's music video for her cover of 'The Power Of Love' where the focus is entirely on Gabrielle playing piano and singing. This style is one of which I wish to incorporate into my music video as our chosen genre is indie and to use a simplicity style would make our video 'current' with other established indie artists. Below is Gabrielle Aplin's video 'The Power Of Love':

DigiPack Information and Ideas

Alongside our music video, my group and I have to produce a DigiPack for our artist's CD. In order to do this we have had multiple planning sessions on what we could do to create the most effective DigiPack as well as conforming to the Indie genre's conventions. To do this, we will need to do a photoshoot of the artist. An idea we had was to do the photoshoot on the same day as when we film our music video; as this will correlate and reference our music video as well as keep continuity in a set theme throughout our DigiPack. Such as, if we film our music video in the forest then also do our photoshoot in our DigiPack, then there will be a noticeable fimiliarality within and throughout our DigiPack.

Another idea we had was to have a heavy inclusion of watercolours and art work in our DigiPack; a common Indie convention. We experimented with this in our preliminary Digipack and personally, I felt it went really well as we had half photo of myself and then a watercolour drawing of the other side of my face. The run off, of the water colours  conforms to indie conventions perfectly, as its a unique and independant idea which the indie genre is all about.

Indie Genre Conventions

Location

Indie bands usually perform in outdoor areas; either in a forest scenario or an urban scene. Furthermore the location is usually close to home for the artist, in a familiar location either near their home, spot they use to hang out in or a meaningful place.

Narrative
The videos are usual in an Amplified or Disjuncture style of narrative, ranging from subtle symbolism or links to the lyrics or the video being completely unrelated to the lyrics or meaning of the song. However the artist, usually the singer, is current in the video and mainly plays the 'hero' within the narrative. Also, the narrative is usually shot in a different location to the performance by the band or individual artist.

Camera
Due to indie artist usually lower budget videos, the camera is made to reflect this. Therefore there is a heavy use of hand held cameras to give this personal impression which the indie artist strive for; to have a personal connection with their fans. However, camera techniques genuinely become improved if the band are performing in the video, using various style of shots from: close ups, mid shots, pan shots, low and high angle shots.

Mise-En-Scene

The outfits are usually personal preference of the artist. Generally their own clothes which they feel comfortable in but also highlight their individual personality. So a smart-casual style clothing inspired from vintage or retro styles from previous eras instead of mainstream/ high street clothing.

Editing

Editing generally fits the tempo of the song, varying between fast and slow paced dictated by how the artist or band play their instruments.

Lighting
As mentioned before, locations are usually set outside therefore naturalistic lighting is normally always present in indie videos. There is also a frequent concept in the videos where the video starts in the morning and ends at night therefore showing the change in light from sun rise to night.