Update To Merchandise

Here is an updated version on my artists website. We decided that having 2 lots of phone cases and 2 mugs were boring. We also got rid of the cushion as we didn't think people would buy this and also it was very over priced. We thought about items that our specific target audience would be interested in. As being two girls, this was quite easy. Our favourite things are clothes and make-up, so we assumed that the majority of girls similar to our age would feel the same. We added new items for example Fake Eyelashes and Red lipstick. Our artist wears red lipstick in the digipak, music video and website therefore we hope people will recognise this and become more tempted to buy it. We also added in some plain black knickers with 'PY' on it which is our artists initials. We thought this was a good idea as this item is essential to have therefore it would sell a lot. 

Finished Digipak Design

This is the final product of our DigiPak. We have taken and edited all of the photos ourselves and are very please with the outcome. All of the images have been taken in different locations and I will explain all below:

This image would be the back panel of the Digipak. We took this photo ourselves in our school Drama Hall using a green screen. When it came to editing, we cut out the background of the green screen and placed the image of the artist on a plain white background. Originally it was to be used for the website, however when it came to editing, we were playing around with the effects tools and discovered how to place the black smoke over the top of the image to create a black and white/colour effect. We were amazed with this effect as we had never seen it used before therefore we felt that this was very creative and decided to use it on our digipak. We found a font that we both really liked called 'Creatif' and we used this on our website to connect them both together and keep it consistent. We both together made up the song names and this was very easy. We included a bar code and some copy right regulations to make it look more professional and believable. 

I really like this image mainly because it defines our artist exactly how she is. The seductive bright red lipstick mixed with the mysterious black smoke creates a really dark and edgy look. The background is in fact black ink being dropped into water but we thought that it looks like smothering black smoke, symbolising that she is being suffocated in the relationship.  The bright red lips are a running theme throughout our music video and website therefore to keep it consistent, we chose to use it in our digipak. By wearing bright red lipstick, it shows that although our artist is gloomy and deep, she is still very confident. We had to cut out the face so that we were left with just the lips. This was quite tricky as we wanted to ensure that we kept the plump shape of the lips. We grouped the two photos together on Fireworks to create one whole image. This was very easy to do as we had already learnt this skill in the first year of our Media course.


I really like the edit on this image because it is unique and symbolises our artist as being two people - one when she is with her boyfriend, the other when she is on her own. The finger on her lips shows a secretive and mysterious side to her. We used a free app on my phone called 'Cam Wow' to create the mirror effect. We then edited the photo on Fotor, using beauty effects such as brighter red lipstick and airbrushing. We added a funky effect called 'Aurora' which added light beams over the photo. I really liked this effect but I felt that it would look better if they were more red than pink or even black so that it followed our theme. Unfortunately this could not be changed. The font used is different to the font on the back of the digipak, this is because we wanted to mix it up a bit. The font on the back cover is also used on our website therefore we felt that by using the same font on the front cover it was too repetitive and took away the 'limelight' from the front cover.

I think that this photo is really effective as it defines our artist really well. Poppy took this photo herself on her iPhone 5 using the front camera. In the original photo, Poppy did have a flower in her mouth but it was pink. We was unsure on using this flower as the stereotypes of the colour pink is very girly. This is something that we did not want to portray about our artist. Therefore we edited a rose onto the photo, overlapping the original flower. We chose this rose because the two colours are following the theme in our productions - red and black. On the outside of the rose the petals are turning black and the inside of the rose is still a bright red. This symbolises that on the outside she is hurt and scared of everything but on the inside she still has hope and is confident within herself to do the right thing for example get out of the relationship. We added a black and white filter to photo before adding the flower so that the rose would stand out more. 

This is the CD panel for our digipak. We were please with the outcome of this as we felt that it portrays our artist in a way that we aimed for. We placed a picture we had of Poppy from a photo shoot as the background. We added a black and white filter to the image on Fotor. We then found a CD template on the internet and opened it up in Fireworks. We played around with different styles as you can see in my post 'CD Digipak Plans'. When we finally came to a decision, we we grouped the two photos together. Our artist's face is hidden and she remains in the background which symbolises her life. The smoke on the CD is a running theme throughout our music video, website and another photo on the digipak.

This is my favourite photo from the digipak and our most recent one. Due to some feedback, we had to change a photo from our digipak meaning that we needed to go out and re-take photos again! We used our school Drama Hall, against a plain black wall to shoot. It was a spontaneous shoot and was not planned therefore Poppy did not have an outfit with her - other than her sixth form clothes. Fortunately I was wearing a leather jacket and we decided that as long as you couldn't see the bottom half of Poppy, it would be fine. We thought that it worked well with a dark jacket and a dark top in contrast to a light skin/light hair and bright lips. Lana Del Ray took a similar photo in the same pose and with a leather jacket. We edited it on Fotor, adding beauty effects such as smoothing and adding bright red lipstick. After that we added a funky smoke effect which added whispers on smoke on the photo. We thought that this looked good as it is only on one side of her, again symbolising the two sides to her.

Before And After Pictures

The first photo is the original photo that we took from a photo shoot we did of Poppy in the School Drama Hall. We used a green screen so that we could cut the background out and choose a new one. First of all we edited the picture on Fotor so that we could add beauty effects for example 'smoothing' and a brighter red lipstick. We then added a filter so that it turned to black and white. The reason for this is because we decided that we really liked this photo as it looked very professional and elegant therefore we wanted this on our homepage of our website to promote our artist. 

More Before And After Photos

                      

The first photo is the original photo that we took of Poppy in our school Drama Hall. We used a green screen as the background so that we could cut out the background and change it. We edited the photo on Fotor and used tools such as 'airbrush', lip tint, eye tint and other various beauty effects.  We then used a prop which was a hat as we wanted to use this photo for our 'News' page on our website to show that Piper Young (our artist) had been travelling.

Before And After Photos

Number 1. is the original photo that we took of Poppy in our school Drama Hall with a green screen backdrop. We had inspiration for Lana Del Ray's photo shoot and as our artist is from America in fitted well. We edited the picture on an online editing website called Fotor. This allows you to add make-up, effects, filters and lots of other creative features.  We used tools such as a 'smoothing' effect which was very similar to airbrushing the artist. We also edited the colour of her eyes, teeth, eyebrows, eyelashes and added eyeshadow. Lana Del Ray's picture has a vintage effect to it so to achieve this we added a 'Photo Scratch' effect which made the image look slightly old and tattered. We decided to use this for the website in the gallery as we felt that although it portrays our artists background, it doesn't quite fit the theme in our digipak.

                           

These 3 photos went through the same procedure as the the ones above. Again, we was inspired by Lana Del Ray. This photo was a lot harder to edit as Poppy's hair is messier therefore it was a struggle to cut around her hair and remove all the green screen. To blend this out we put a filter on the photo and attempted to blur it  but you can still see it slightly.

Updated Digipak Photos

Today we went out and took some photos of our artist. We wanted to keep the relevance of the 'dark' and 'depressed' look running throughout as this is what most of our artists songs are about.
We edited the pictures on Fotor to make them look more professional and to fit the mood. We used tools such as a 'smoothing' tool which allowed us to airbrush Poppy's skin. The reason that we decided to do this is because all famous artists and models are airbrushed therefore we are following the conventions of a singer's look. We also added bright red lipstick as this is a running theme throughout our website, digipak and video. The reasoning for the smoke added on is also a consistent thing as we have used black smoke on our website. We feel that this gives our artist a mysterious look.
Here is our before and after:

Link To Our Website

Here is the link to our website! We hope you enjoy it :)

http://massey1.wix.com/piperyoung