COMP 3: Digipak Research & Development

 A Level Media Studies

Here includes all my research and development of the digipak. This blog post is written by me (Sharon).

Research

Digipak Cover

I have done individual research on the digipak cover on female pop artists since our star herself is covering a pop song, 'Feather' by Sabrina Carpenter. The following shows my research on digipak covers that I find interesting and that I believe match the overall vibe of our bright and calming theme.

I admire these portrait shots of the artists that feature a medium close-up shot. I believe that these shots are significantly attractive to the audience's eyes. I like how Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' cover (2nd picture from the first row) and IU's 'LILAC' cover (3rd picture from the last row) depict a sense of freedom, which is the message we are going for.

Below are the pictures Nayana found on Pinterest that she believed would match our concept best. We considered that these pictures would illustrate the star's personality of being soft-spoken, calm, and free. A simple, elegant shot is what we are going for, such as wind-blown hair, hands in the air to display a sense of 'freedom', and either looking directly into the camera or looking away with simple, nature-like colour tones.

The pictures below are compiled by me (Sharon).

The pictures above of Korean artists and singers include a feature that I believe would be a great addition to our digipak, that being along the lines of "The 1st Mini Album" text. This could allow the audience to check our star out and her skills as Kiara establishes an identity in the music industry. I suppose the text may deliver the message of that our star is ambitious in growing her career as the text "The 1st" suggest that she will be releasing more albums in the future.

CD Cover

Below, I (Sharon) have compiled all the CD covers that I think to suit the theme of our music promotion package best. All these CD covers show a calming feeling to them, such as through the white birds spreading their wings to suggest 'freedom' and purity of new beginnings, which is the message we aim to deliver upon the star's break-up with her ex-lover. I would like to experiment with photographing the feathers instead of the white birds, although I believe it would be too difficult to have them stay up in the air. I like all their simplicity without doing too much over the top. As for Lana Del Rey's CD cover (the last picture), I would try using a picture of the sea or the sky.

Back Cover

My research on the digipak's back cover includes artists and bands from the 1960s. Despite the fact that the following example was albums from years ago, we would like to add elements of retro albums, and I like the idea of having an anecdote on the back cover, especially for new artists and singers releasing their first album, which is the same as Kiara (our star). This could provide the audience with a general overview of the artist, such as any past achievements in the star's career.

Development

Layout Planning

Nayana has planned the 4-page layout for the digipak:

1. Cover
2. Tracklist
3. CD
4. Small anecdote on the back cover
5. Hand signature
6. Social media information
7. QR Code
8. Barcode

Below is the sketch/draft Nayana created for the layout

Anecdote

Nayana requested Maxi for a small anecdote regarding the star, KIARA. Below is what he wrote:

"After rising into the limelight of public attention at the age of just 13, 17-year-old Indonesian singer-songwriter KIARA continues to push the boundaries of what the music industry considers feasible. Feather - her newest album - debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 32 different countries. Hailed by both the public and the industry alike as one of the most creative and inspirational talents of her generation, the end of KIARA's rise to stardom is seemingly nowhere in sight."

Tracklist

Below is the tracklist Nayana made, in which she combined the actual artist's, Sabrina Carpenter's, songs as well!

1. Feather
2. Just Say Yes
3. Nonsense
4. Actin'
5. Boy(friend)
6. Nowhere Near
7. Idyllic
   
   

Digipak Cover

Here, I (Sharon) have compiled all the mock-ups we (Sharon, Nayana, and Timo) made in Canva. We trialled with a variety of fonts, designs, and placement, all with the same picture. After many revisions and feedback, we have decided on the first picture (circled in green) as our digipak font. It seems elegant and lightweight through the cursive font, as we wanted, which I believe could provide a radiant and eye-catching effect to the audience.

However, as we had more photoshoots in all the filming locations, we did more mock-ups with these photos. We experimented on the placement, ratio, and pictures.

On the first three (3) rows of mock-ups, we kept the pictures and the placement of the title in the same exact position, where we only trialled on the writing at the top of the cover, some stating "The 1st Mini Album" and some simply stating her name "KIARA". We also experimented with different colours, such as light blue, navy, and green. This is due to we wanted the writing to stand out, where navy shows a darker shade of blue from the ocean in the background, but we also experimented with green that matches with our inside cover of the digipak - illustrating the green park. All the fonts that we chose were still following our theme, keeping it soft, elegant, and simple. We experimented with solely writing "KIARA" on the top of the page to prevent overwhelming the audience with too much writing and/or information since we aim for simplicity and elegance.

Feedback: Our media teacher did not like how "The 1st Mini Album" and the writings underneath looked - they make it seem so full. He also mentioned how the "1st" was misread as "Ist", which we have modified through the fonts. So he suggested solely writing "KIARA" on the top to keep it simple.

On the fourth (4th) row, we experimented with the positioning of the title and the sizes of the star's figure to illustrate the best proportions. The first and third mock-ups seemed too crowded since the title and the writing of "The 1st Mini Album" were too close to one another, which I believe is less eye-catching due to the lack of organization.

Conclusion: 

Above is what we finalized. Although our media teacher suggested changing the typeface for the writings at the top, we, as a group believe that it suits the overall illustration best. We also decided to use the green to show the relation to the following pages (inside-left and inside-right - the CD cover) which we will be using the pictures at the park (green). The pose, as well, depicts the feeling of 'freedom' best through the hand gesture and the low-angle shot overlooking the bright blue sky paired with a lightweight, cursive typeface for the title in pure white.

Tracklist

We have experimented with different designs for the tracklist page with the pictures we have taken at the beach and the park. Our first attempt was the first picture without the solid light blue background, however, we believe that it would be too difficult for the audience to read the information. So, we tried adding the solid background partly along with trying out different pictures which eased us in reading the tracklist. Due to the lack of pictures by that time, I experimented with simply using the photograph of the sea and the sky, but yet again, it was difficult to read out the information and it didn't seem to match our 'calming' aesthetic. As we photographed her at the park, I acknowledged that her wind-blown hair side profile overlooking the tracklist seemed perfect. The green background of the park contrasting with the star's brown hair appears more fresh than the pictures by the sea. So, I put that into a design which we finalized on using, that being the second (2nd) picture on the third (3rd) column.

Feedback: Our media teacher suggested either removing or changing the typeface for the "Tracklist" writing as the 'L' seemed too over the top.

Conclusion: 

Above is what we, as a group, finalized. We changed the typeface for the "Tracklist" to a simpler one that I believe reciprocates with the star's windblown hair to further depict the pacifying effect of freedom.

CD Cover

Here, I have compiled all the mock-ups for the CD cover that I (Sharon) experimented on. With the pictures of the sea we took at the beach, I did not like the colour tone and it did not give much detail of the clouds and the vibrance of the colours.

Conclusion: 

Above is what we, as a group, finalized. With this photograph we took at the park of the bubbles floating around, I believe that it gave much deeper meaning to our 'freedom' theme that presents vibrant colours and in order to follow the colour scheme from the tracklist page (also from the park). What I like about the bubbles is that they show simplicity while suggesting much more meaning to freedom according to the star's life. I purposely did not position the bubbles in the middle of the page so that it seemed natural.

Back Cover

We experimented on the back cover by first adding a barcode, then adding the star's stage name "KIARA", and lastly, to give the audience a gist of who the artist is, Maxi wrote an anecdote, which he did by looking at the "about" section for multiple artists on Spotify. The following paragraph is as follows:

"After rising into the limelight of public attention at the age of just 13, 17-year-old Indonesian singer-songwriter KIARA continues to push the boundaries of what the music industry considers feasible. Feather - her newest album - debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 32 different countries. Hailed by both the public and the industry alike as one of the most creative and inspirational talents of her generation, the end of KIARA's rise to stardom is seemingly nowhere in sight."

Conclusion: 

Above is what we, as a group, finalized. The anecdote, I believe, would give audiences and fans a better insight into who KIARA is. A medium shot of the star gives a significant ending to the digipak on the back cover, overlooking the ocean.

Self Reflection: Starting off this digipak research and development, I felt lost and did not know where to start. But, as the research went on and with the help of my teammates giving feedback and insight back and forth, I was able to continue to improve these designs. The use of Canva was really effective since we could collaborate with other people, that being my group, where they could also edit the designs and create their own in the same document. I enjoyed experimenting and assembling a variety of mock-ups that I could expand my creativity on. However, sometimes it was quite challenging for me to experiment with more designs, so what I could do at that time was give feedback on existing designs. The next time a project comes up, I acknowledge that I could always ask my teammates and our teacher for further insight on improvement.

COMP 3: Production & Development (Behind-the-Scenes)

 A Level Media Studies

This includes the production and development process and the behind-the-scenes pictures on our 4-day shoot including lighting checks and practice shots. This blog is written by me (Sharon).

Pre-Filming

Before all the shoots, Nayana bought props that we needed for day 3 (at the park), such as picnic baskets, and blankets for the park and the beach (day 1). Below are the pictures Nayana took and compiled.

My role in this would be replying to Nayana as she sent us the pictures (as seen above) to our group's group chat on which type of basket would suit the 'picnic' vibe best.

Day 1 - 27th January 2024

On this day, as scheduled, we filmed at Gunung Payung beach. The crew arrived at 13:00-13:00 which was quite later than planned, and we started filming the car scenes at around 13:45.

Gunung Payung Beach

Timo and Nayana were seen directing the car scene as I (Sharon) took behind-the-scene pictures.

Me (Sharon) and Timo gave feedback on the tilt shot of the star coming out of the car.

NOTE: As we finished the car scenes at Gunung Payung Beach, we went down the parking lot to go down the stairs that led us to the beach. However, the staff warned us that it is prohibited to film professionally in this area and we must pay a nominal of IDR 750,000 to proceed with filming at the beach. Moreover, due to the vast number of stairs and with heavy equipment, they provided a buggy but we must also buy a ticket for that individually. We were also worried that we could get scammed with that as there is no signal at beaches that are far down from the parking spaces normally - meaning that we might not be able to contact the staff to pick us up and bring us back up. With that, our solution was to find a beach near us, that being Pandawa Beach, which was a 5-10 minutes drive from Gunung Payung Beach.

Pandawa Beach

Timo (on the left) helping with the reflector with our friends as well. This is to check for the lighting as well to achieve the bright look on camera.

Timo filmed the performers on a low-angle shot of their feet as they run towards the ocean.

The star lipsyncing to Feather's chorus as the other performers were doing their own thing surrounding her.

Gladly, our first day was a success as we were able to film all the scenes despite the circumstances we faced. All our performers did a great job in portraying the overall mood of the music video - a bright, and lively manner.

Day 2 - 3rd February 2024

As the crew and performers were scheduled to gather at the villa by 11:00, our friend (the owner of the villa) stated that the villa would only be available at 12:00. Hence, this delayed our shoot. We ended up gathering everyone at 13:00 and started filming at approximately 13:30-14:00. The location was quite secluded and it was a long way to get up there, plus the insanely narrow roads.

However, we had forgotten to order the bouquet of flowers (for the star's ex to give her), so I urgently looked for florists near my house to ease delivery and/or pick-up. Below are the options for the bouquet that was ready by that instant (dried and fake flowers). We ended up choosing the one circled in green since that was the only one that seemed simple and nothing too over the top (those with too many colours and lack of simplicity). Also, I believe that red roses symbolize devotion, love, and passion, meaning that the ex still isn't over her (KIARA).

Additionally, the seller asked me (Sharon) whether I would like to add a simple note. So I asked my media group chat and Maxi suggested a note stating "I'm sorry :(" which further suggests that the star's ex hasn't moved on from her and wants her back. Below is the picture that I (Sharon) took of the delivered bouquet.

Hillstone Villas & Resorts

The crew (featuring me (Sharon), Nayana, and Timo) preparing to film the first scene.

Our performers in action for the first scene, featuring Timo and Maxi directing the camera and the performers.

An improvised scene where the performers were split into 2 groups (4-2-1 (the star alone as she lipsyncs)) playing around in the villa's backyard.

Timo directs the camera towards all 7 performers.

We went back to the bedroom after completing all the shots in the backyard and untied all the feathers which did not take long as everyone helped. It turned out that we bought too many packs of feathers.

We then moved to another villa with a pool to film the feather scenes in the bedroom, the jumpcuts of the performers getting ready, more lipsyncing shots, the ex's scene in the driveway as well as all 7 performers in the driveway. Here, the lighting ran out of battery, but the shoot must go on and the lighting problem will be fixed in later production (post-production by adjusting the brightness for these scenes).

Filming their eating scene which the pizza became the crew's late-lunch as well due to that it was the closest restaurant we could get to in such an isolated place.

A little photo shoot of the performers before filming the scenes on the bed.

Starting off with the pillow fights featuring Timo.

This was all thanks to the help of our crew to get the feathers to fall from above (seen by the sides of the bed).

Our star lipsyncing to the chorus as the performers do their makeup in the background.

Individual close-up scenes of our star lipsyncing.

A camera was put right in front of the star (a close-up shot) as she does her make-up while lipsyncing.

Kiara's ex walking down the driveway with the bouquet on his hand.

Kiara's ex knocks on the villa door as Kiara opens the door rejecting him.

Filming the jumpcut scene as the performers enter the bedroom with pajamas and coming out with their summer outfits.

All 7 performers lipsyncing to the chorus in the driveway.

The star ignores the messages sent by her ex (the messages that came up on her phone were sent from Maxi's phone). This was a practice shot to ensure the angles are shot from the right place and able to deliver the message of annoyance.

We weren't able to film all the planned shots as firstly, filming got delayed by 2 hours and we had too many breaks in between, such as our late lunch. Sadly, we couldn't film the sunset scene in the villa's backyard as we finished filming the driveway scene quite late (it got dark already). So, we aimed to film the sunset scene on our next day of shooting. All in all, the performers and our crew did a satisfactory job in helping today's shoot, and we wouldn't have been able to get them done without their help, for instance, the feathers scene on the bed.

Day 3 - 8th February 2024

We planned to film at 2 locations (Griya Alam Pecatu and Peninsula Island) so time must be used effectively and efficiently since the drive from one place to the other will take approximately 30 minutes. Everyone gathered 30 minutes late and we started filming at around 12:00 due to confusion in the location. However, as one arrived at the correct location, they sent their live location to the group chat and everyone followed.

Griya Alam Pecatu

Starting off, Timo filmed a close-up side shot of the star driving the car along Griya Alam Pecatu. Lots of practice shots took place here as it was difficult to divide the star's attention with driving the car.

Our friend (Rassel) and Timo on a motorbike to film a side shot of the star driving as the car overtakes the motorbike. This was significantly difficult as they couldn't keep up with each other's pace (lots and lots of practice shots and driving), so then they experimented by simply walking beside the car. Using a car didn't work since the road was too small to fit 2 cars.

Me (Sharon) directing and giving insights to the star regarding how the following shots must be.

Our friend (Rassel) filming (inside a car) the star driving the car on our way back to the entrance at Griya Alam Pecatu as the car then overtakes our car.

Peninsula Island

Our crew on the way to the park at Peninsula Island.

Me (Sharon) and Nayana preparing the props needed for the park scenes (the picnic blanket and basket, as well as the snacks, such as bread).

NOTE: Security came up to us as we entered the park at Peninsula Island saying that it is prohibited to take pictures and videos with professional cameras. So, on our way back to the car park, 5 of us (our star, me (Sharon), Nayana, Timo, and our friend) stopped by the beach to take photographs of the digipak cover. To solve this problem, we will be adding another day to our shoot (13th February 2024) to film at another park (Lapangan Puputan Renon) to conclude our scenes.

All in all, I believe that we spent too much time working on the car scenes at Griya Alam Pecatu which left us with very little time to film/photograph at Peninsula Island. Nonetheless, filming was cancelled at Peninsula Island (as stated in my previous paragraph) and it would be too late to go to another park at that hour (it was quite late already, approximately 17:30). To make use of the location, we decided to film the '10 Qs with Kiara' video at the car park as I asked the questions in the background, whereas Nayana recorded.

Day 4 - 13th February 2024

Right after school, we went to Lapangan Puputan Renon and arrived at 16:30 along with our crew and performers. All we needed to do was film the park scenes.

Timo filming from an angle overlooking straight to the top as 2 of our performers lay down the picnic blanket.

Filming the performers walking towards their spot at the park.

Filming a tilt transition as the star throws the apple upwards.

The star and 2 of our performers.

The star and 2 of our performers filming the TikTok dance challenge on 'Feather' as Timo recorded on his phone.

Today was a success despite having to add an extra day of filming. Although, we weren't able to shoot the sunset scene as there wasn't any sunset in this area. Yet, we could improvise and come up with a better ending scene. We were satisfied with today's shoot as the performers were able to show a cheerful manner on camera that further depicted the music video's lively mood. All in all, we were glad that we could finally wrap up the production stage of the music video!

Self Reflection: Starting with the production stage of our music video, I felt that maybe I wouldn't be able to help much in directing. But, as the production went on, I was comfortable in giving further feedback, as well as assisting the crew in improvising the scenes and coming up with solutions whenever a problem occurred. I was also in charge of taking behind-the-scenes pictures for later purposes. Miscommunication and misunderstanding were sometimes a problem in this production, so I helped clear things up in between to prevent any further harm in production, for example, delaying production which could make the day ineffective, inefficient, and time-consuming. Moreover, this was such an experience for me with a greater amount of crews which felt like a more professional-like production. Next time, to avoid location problems, we should research the location first regarding prohibitions of filming and photography or simply ask permission beforehand to prevent further delay in production.