Front panel edits

I have shortlisted three different edits of my front panel in order to gain feedback and decide which one works best in displaying genre and characteristics of both my band and the music they produce.

I spoke to both my teachers and fellow students in order to receive numerous comments on each and ultimately, make a decision for the front cover of my digipak.

Black and White

I received a mix of both positive and negative feedback for this draft. The black an white effect gives the image a 'gritty' feel which I could argue is the path my band could take. The lack of colour can also be referenced to the various black and white shots in my music video when flashbacks occur.

On the other hand, this effect cancels out any link to happiness which is a connotation of love. Perhaps I would be hugely contradicting myself by printing this panel in black and white because the album surrounds the topic of love.

Enhanced Colour

With this image I have enhanced colour and lighting to attempt to make the photo more eye-catching. Although teachers have responded to this positively, fellow students, whom I could argue play role of target audience for my video, have mentioned that the image now looks unnatural and the effects are unnecessary.

I decided to listent to my class mates on this one and decide to strike a balance between an enhanced image and a more natural one. The primary purpose for a music video is to reach out to it's target audience and I felt that by listening to the collective voice of my class (target audience) this purpose would be fulfilled.

Original

In the end I decided to go with an image much similar to this one because it is a plain and simple image and I felt this fits well with the theme of my album altogether. Although I have used some editing and enhancing tools on this image, I have not gone over the top because I did not want the image to gain an unnatural or abstract feel. Successful bands such as Coldplay have used album artwork much similar to this and I feel that a simple photograph can sometimes show and say much more than complex artwork.