Production - USING A FACEBOOK PAGE AS A FEEDBACK TOOL

The image above is a screenshot from the Venturay Productions Facebook page, which I am using to try and receive feedback on the first draft of my magazine advertisement.

Research - MORE MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Below: further examples of magazine advertisements

Research - MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Using Kerrang's website to browse for examples of magazine advertisements for new albums 

Using Google to skim through and find examples of magazine advertisements similar to my genre

Above: A double page spread on Muse, however this example is not an album advertisement

A single page magazine advertisement for a new album by Green Day

Having conducted research, I compiled a list of common factors that regularly crop up in these advertisements:

- Mid shots or close ups of the singer of the band, and possibly the rest of the band too

- An image of the album cover

- Release date of the album

- The name of the album and the artist

- Logos for shops or websites that will sell the album

Production - BEGINNING WORK ON MAGAZINE ADVERT

A screenshot of Blender beginning to render out a still frame for the magazine advertisement's background

Production - BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE DIGIPACK CUBE

Above: The finished scene in Blender

Below: The emitter cube sending out 4000 particles

Some of the Settings for the particles

Above: The emitter cube, sending out particles, with a second model cube in the distance

Below: The emitter cube, now replicating the shape of the second cube and emitting the shape 4000 times over

Below: Some basic compositing nodes to add extra visual interest to the final render

The album artwork cube was designed in Blender. One main cube was created, which would emit many smaller cubes, giving the impression that many small cubes had come together to form the shape of one, giant cube. The screenshots above illustrate this process. Three light-emission panels were also used to light the scene, and a basic metallic texture was applied to the cube to induce interesting shading patterns. 

Above: The final render

Production - NEW DIRECTION IN DIGIPACK DESIGN

After radical feedback on the digipack artwork, I have decided to completely change the digipack design. Abandoning the idea of creating something in the style of the Casino Royale opening, I have decided instead to create a much more simplistic, less 'busy' cover with one simple yet complex central image.

The cubes in the music video worked due to the camera movement and lens distortions - however in a still image, they are essentially vague cubes with no perspective and flat colour. However, as I wanted to use one of the cubes as the simplistic central image, I had to go back into Blender and make some changes.

The result was a metallic cube, made of cubes, which are arranged in such an uneven way that the shape has an curious distortion, as well as allowing for interesting lighting and shadows on the surface.

Production - FURTHER DIGIPACK DESIGNS

Above, the fourth draft of the design, and below, the second. 

After feeling as though something was simply missing from the design, I looked closely at the artwork on many albums. There appears to be a central image, often occupying the central third of the rule of thirds rule. After some deliberation I decided to insert an image of Louis, who acted as Chris Cornell in the video.

Initially I was going to use a greenscreened clip, however I figured this would feel too much like a screenshot from the video as opposed to designed artwork. After searching online, I discovered images of Casino Royale in which images of James Bond are shown as rigid silhouettes. Following up on this design, I created an image of Louis in After Effects in the same style. However where Louis occupies the frame, and where the text (which has an undecided font) sits in relation to the central image.

Production - VENTURAY FACEBOOK PAGE

Recently, for my own purposes, I created a Venturay Productions Facebook page for my own purposes - the name 'Venturay' is what I brand all my videos with. 

This can become useful later when I need to ask an audience for feedback and comments on the digipack design

Production - FIRST DIGIPACK DESIGN IDEA

Above is my first design for the digipack design. I used Blender to render a custom made image with a 1:1 aspect ratio for the digipack's front cover. In After Effects, I added compositing to the edges of the image - artificial blur, lowered brightness and increased contrast - to make the image appear more cinematic. Finally, I experimenting with the text font and layout after looking at several artist's logos, most notably Muse's, to create the text layout on the image above.