Digipak analyses

28/09/15

A digipak is a type of packaging for CD's, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more disc formats. Their purpose is to aesthetically appeal to the audience, represent the artist themselves with the design, contain the disc in where he or she's track list is in, and inform the buyer about what songs are on the disc, copyright information, production information and any other legal info that is required on a digipak.

Sam Smith

David Bowie

Camera Work

Midshot = vulneability and sad NVC = theme of songs on album = iconography & USP of sad songs.

Mise en scene

Smith wear black clothing = morbid = iconographic song genre. Casual clothing also shows how normal Smith is = Dyer's ordinary paradox.
High key lighting = highlights singer = Dyer's star theory.

Typography

Sans serif on the front, back and disc = conventional & serious = reflects his music.
All capitals = stands out = draws attention to the star's image = Goodwin. Capitals are also conventional = Neale's instance of repetition.

Layout

Viewers are forced to view information - Smith in centre + Tracklist in centre = importance.
Large name = Goodwin's promotional theory.

29/09/15

Robbie Williams & Michael Buble Comparison

30/09/15

The prominent colours within Robbie Williams' album are orange, black and the disc is an odd sand colour that is distant from the front and back, possibly referencing to the music and how it is different to how it is shown on the front. This is different from Buble's album as his does have a consistant colour scheme of orange, white and black/grey, suggesting that what you see is what you get with him. Both singers show their iconography through their photographs as Williams proves to be dangerous by hanging above a skyscraper via a long shot whereas Buble is classy by undoing his tie (Dyer's Star Theory) vi a mid shot. Both album covers also feature sans serif font in order to show professionalism and aesthetically please the viewer.As they both appear on the back of their albums and possess 50 % of the albums, it shows how they are consistant and wish to embed our minds with their image, they wish to be present (Dyer's second paradox). Williams' continues to emit his rebellious behaviour that is so often seen in modern male artists by having his tracklist on its side, which is unconventional and different (Neale's 'unique' theory). The discs are very different in the sense that they represent very different things. Williams' disc is sandy and bare with thin text while Buble's repeats the diagonal design and consistant colours of orange and white as it is bright and represents a fresh start for his album. The main conventions that are shown are the repetition of iconography and rebellious nature of males, an aspect that we will have to incorporate within our digipak design.

Ed Sheeran & Pharrell Williams Comparison

Both digipak fronts feature the colour orange which is unisex and appeals to a larger audience and, subsequently, more money. Sheeran's orange colour represents his ginger hair, which is a feature of his iconography.
Sheeran's closeup force the viewer to acknowledge the artist's image as a promotional technique (Goodwin).
Williams uses girls on his front to create his opinion of equality and the mid shot of the him and the females creates a male gaze (Mulvey), it is often featured on male artist albums. His costume also implies relaxation and mystery as he wears a spa robe and sunglasses.
Lack of text makes us focus on Sheeran's image (Star Theory) and capital sans serif is eye catching and illustrative to the image (Goodwin).
Sheeran's chosen font resembles that of a typewriter and relates to a common audience whom are familiar with them, making Sheeran normal (Dyer's ordinary theory).
Long shot of Pharrell yet again reminds us of his image and his attractiveness to girls (Mulvey's male gaze).
Both texts are centralised in order to create symmetry and become aesthetically pleasing towards the viewers as we naturally expect symmetry. It is also very conventional to centralise text within digipaks.
Sheeran's black disc is original and leaves the viewer to sight the only piece of colour on the disc, which is the orange plus sign on the rim, reminding us of the title of the albums name.
Pharrell's disc is orange with white text and it simply states the title 'GIRL' in capitals once more. This, like Sheeran's, reminds us of the albums name, almost like a promotional technique (Goodwin).
This reminds me to include iconography within my groups draft digipak as it involves a larger audience range.

01/10/15

Justin Timberlake & Olly Murs Comparison

02/10/15

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

Conclusion

03/10/15

All digipaks share similar conventions in order to please the audience. The points which are repeated throughout the many digipak designs are:

The artist's image is always featured on the front of the digipak at a large scale to make the viewer acknowledge theri image, almost as a promotional technique.
Their is a variety of outfits featured on the different digipaks in order to attract a larger audience. Some artists wear casual attire, while most others sport smarter clothing.
Common colours featured on the digipaks are black and white as they are percieved as classy and original. It is conventional because the colours stand out and they are also unisex.
Another typical convention when analysing the digipaks was the fact that the artist's name always appears at the top so that we automatically sight whos advert it is first.

When it comes to making our digipak draft, I hope that we will incorporate most of these conventional features in order to appeal to our target audience. We plan to feature our image on the front of the digipak in order to make our audience memorise our image as a promotional technique. We also plan for the main colour to feature on the digipak to be white because it represents purity and a 'fresh' start to the music industry as a group. In order to also appeal to a varied audience, we have chosen to feature a variety of outfits to different types of audience members.