Photography PlanningFor digipak and advertisement

After researching into The Killers previous album artwork we decided the main photography for the advertisement and digipak should be a cityscape. This is as we know it would fit well with The Killers conventions and furthermore connect the audience. The main idea for the photography was to focus the majority of the photograph on the sky. This is as it is a familiar convention that is seen within their albums. Furthermore, by doing this it will allow us to place the text of the album and band name on the sky and allow the audience to see the cityscape underneath. We felt that this would be clever and focus the audiences attention. The shot will most likely be an extreme long shot, this idea of space is very important to us as it will make the audience feel like they’re looking down on a somewhat chaotic city in a peaceful manner. A filter will also be placed onto the photograph, this will be a darker tone to show that this album has more emotional depth and shows that The Killers have become darker over time. This will be the main image therefore, it will have to impact the audience. However, this image will either be cropped or a similar image focusing more on the sky will be used for the back cover of the digipak. This is as by placing just the sky it will create a nice simple background for the audience to focus on and by not making this too complex it will allow the audience to read the text easily. However, the back cover image will have to be similar to the main image so that they connect together and follow the same house style.

Cityscape photographyFor digipak and advertisement

Chosen ImagesCityscape PhotographyWe decided to take images of a cityscape focusing primarily on the sky, this city had lots of high buildings and would allow the photograph to be more dynamic and interesting for the audience. After taking these photographs, we had various images for the main image for the advertisement and digipak, this allowed us to be creative and choose a variation of photographs to work with. We wanted to play around with the idea of a dark edit on a cityscape but focusing on the sky, this could of including adding a filter like purple, blue etc. over the photograph. By playing about with different images and cropping certain aspects of them this would allow us to evolve our ideas. We chose images that had lots of sky and sunset, this would allow the edit to be easier and create some interesting effects in the editing process. We want the main image to interact with the audience and be visually similar to The Killers previous cover images however by adding a darker element this will intrigue the audience allowing them to know that it is a darker album. Furthermore, a variation of images may be used throughout the digipak by doing this will allow for a small variation between the different parts of the digipak and draw the audience in as they will perhaps notice these small details.

We begun editing the main image by using the adjustment settings of levels, brightness and contrast & vibrancy. This led to some interesting effects however, in some ways this was too dark, from this we knew we wanted to link the use of colour like the old Killers albums in a more subtle way. By using the hue setting we played around with several colours till we found one that was interesting. During this editing process we decided we liked the idea of the images being quite misty to the audience, this would link to the album name ‘The Lost.’ From this we decided that we would start using an overlap of images so that the audience were unsure where the location was. This seemed successful and we did several attempts of this until we found one that was intriguing to us. From this we put quite a dark filter over the image with small colours of purple and blues showing. This allowed us to have a dark aspect to the album which we feel that the audience would be intrigued to.

Editing ideasCityscape Photography

After many thought processes we decided to choose one of the wider city scape images which focuses more on the sky rather than the buildings, this was as we felt focusing on the sky could reinforce the album name ‘lost.’ We chose to use an edit that made the image look quite misty. This would allow the photograph look engaging to the audience and also intrigue them as in ways it is similar yet unfamiliar to the audience showing them that it is something new. We used a soft tone of purple, this was used softly as we wanted the darkness to be the most shocking factor to the audience. By using this it clearly shows that the old style of The Killers is still here yet they’re going for a darker tone which matches the whole idea of the productions. On the poster and digipak we decided the image was to be placed against white font text. This was as it would allow the album to stand out to the audience and make them more intrigued to purchase it. As a group we felt that using this image it allowed us to experiment with new and old ideas of The Killers and make something that matched the tone of the digipak, poster and music video.

Final ideasCityscape Photography

We wanted to make something different for the digipak that the audience wouldn’t usually see. We decided that we wanted there to be the appearance of the band members, this would connect the audience as this is something not typically seen in the indie and alternative rock genre. We didn’t want to make the band members the focal of the album so we decided to not use that as the main image on the front of the digipak, we did this as the image of the musician is usually seen on a pop album. By using that it would of hinted to the audience that this is a pop album rather than one they are usually interested in. We decided by placing the band members inside the album would intrigue the audience as they would feel more connected to the album. We wanted the band members to be in separate images, this would allow each band member to get some focal rather than the main singer being the central focal this is as it will show the audience that all members of the band are appreciated. We wanted the band members to show a serious and direct address to the audience, this would allow to show some emotion and would allow them to engage with them which would attract the audience to purchase the digipak more. We decided these images were not necessary for the advertisement as most music advertisements only have one image.

Band Members PhotographyFor digipak & advertisement

Chosen ImagesBand Members PhotographyAfter deciding the types of band member photography we would be using we took a selection of photographs of the band members and chose the ones that we felt best presented the band members in an edgy manner to fit the alternative rock genre. Using the rule of thirds we made sure that the centre focus that the audience would focus on and first see was the band members faces. By using this with the addition of direct address it would allow the audience to feel more connected to the characters. We decided a white background would be a good background to use, this was because in the editing process it would allow ease when cutting characters from their initial background and being able to see the characters clearly would allow effects like brightness and contrast to be used easily and effectively. We decided we wanted all the characters to have an edge to them to match the tone of the digipak. By making the character stare directly into the camera with a stern face this allowed a certain mystery and attitude to come across in the images. All characters were placed in darker clothing of black, this would allow them to the fit the theme of the digipak and would connect the audience as this is a common convention in the alternative and indie rock genre.

Once we had the images of the band members in place, we thought of various ideas to edit the photographs. As the concept of the album is a darker format we decided we wanted to use an edit that conveyed that in the band members also. We first begun by using filters, however these didn’t seem to work well. This was because it added a warm colour to the characters, however we wanted a colder and more emotional tone to the photographs. We then decided to look at more creative editing use and put a posterize edit. Although this looked good we felt as a group this completely contrasted from the whole digipak however, we liked the idea of making the characters darker. From this the idea of converting the images to black and white appealed to us. We liked this idea and was one of the ideas we were open to suggestion on the final digipak. However, we found an interesting aspect was toning down the saturation of colour of the image. This was interesting and made the band members to appear colder and have a darker appearance to the audience. By doing this it matched the rest of the digipak and showed that the band members seemed emotional and darker in this album. This was something we decided to use for all the band members for the digipak. As a group we felt this worked well as it allowed the audience to interpret that this is a more emotional album and they have to purchase the digipak to find out why the band members have been visually represented this way. This was what we used for the final digipak.

Editing ideasBand Members Photography

Our final digipak design included the edit of the band members in a darker tone. As a group we felt that this matched the digipak better and allowed it not to take up all of the audiences attention. For the images of the band members, the background image was cut out, this was so that it would match the digipak and give them a darker and somewhat grungy feel to the digipak. They were then cropped so we were only focusing on the band members faces and it focusing on their direct address to the audience. Each band member had a white frame placed around them, this reinforced this idea that they are all individual band members. This would intrigue all types of audience especially those that connect to the visual aspect of the band. By placing this on one of the digipak panels, it allows the digipak to be different from what the audience may be used to seeing this shows that The Killers go against some of the traditional conventions in this genre and this would intrigue the audience as they want to be a part of the crowd that seems ‘different.’ As a group we were pleased at how this turned out and feel that it gave the digipak a more personal aspect towards the audience.

Final ideasBand Members Photography