Creating the Digi-Pak...

As part of the practice for next years work, we created a small digi-pak for the lip sync video, as a way of learning how to use the tools we need for next year. We did a dvd cover – the front, back and insides.
Editing the pictures was something I something I was excited about because I’d never used Photoshop before and I was looking forward to learning how to use it. I spent a while getting to grips with what to do, which buttons did what etc, and then started to edit my images. It took me a fairly long time because (even though they weren’t being marked) I wanted to get them exactly right to the image in my head about how they should look.


For the front cover as experimented with different colours and whether it should be in black and white or not, but in the end I decided to have a black and white background with the girl and the writing in colour. This was a tedious job because I had to make the background black and white on a separate layer – selected each part to make it change. In the end I was pleased with the outcome. I like how the dark background makes the colours stand out more and I think it works really well.
I planned to do the background in colour because I wanted to vary the cover, but when I edited the balance and contrast etc and out it in black and white, I much preferred it and it kept in with the theme of the front. I changed the colour balance so all of the clothes look black on the back cover, when in fact the cardigan I was wearing was purple.

 

For example, this was the original image for the back cover, but I first edited all the balance and exposure, contrast and brightness so it was still in colour. Next I decided to see what it would look like in black and white, so I made it very over-exposed and I really like the final outcome. 

I decided to do the writing in red over the top of the images because it really stood out the most and I thought it was fitting with the band being called The Pretty Reckless, and red symbolizing danger. The front is also quite ‘grunge-y’ I think.

Something else I did for all of the pictures I edited was make the eye make-up heavier by using the brush tool and adding extra black around the eyes and then blurring it so it wasn’t as obvious. Also, I used the colour-replacement tool to change the colour of the lips and I think both of these changes were subtle but very effective. (In the picture to the right, my eye make up wasn't actually as black as it looks because I added black using the brush and blur tool, I didn't end up using this picture in the end).

For the inside cover, I wanted it to greatly contrast from the exterior. I used very bright colours and I wanted the pictures to be very over-exposed. I edited the brightness and contrast, and then the exposure, offset and gamma. I used the same pictures on both sides, but one side has very bright exposed colours, almost cartoon like, and the other uses the same picture, but with the offset and gamma changed, so its much more dull – I did this on purpose because it sets in the theme of grunge. I flipped the picture round on the right side so the pictures are almost mirror image but different versions of the same picture I think this worked well.

I’ve loved learning to use all the different tools on Photoshop and I’m pleased with the outcome of my digi-pak.