A2 Media Studies
Lois Nash - 8314
Conventions
The front of the cover usually includes a main image of the artist which is central of the digipak, with text stating the name of the artist and the name of the single or album positioned along the top or bottom of the cover. The name of the artist is usually in a larger sized font than the name of the album, as the artist wants to be publicised more than the actual album. The most common digipaks are produced by female artists of the Pop genre, such as Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce.
The interior of the digipak will usually consist of a booklet which can sometimes feature lyrics, images and information about the artist or album as well as legal information, and the actual CD itself.
The back of the digipak usually has the tracklist for the album/single listed in the middle of a background image, small print stating the record label's company, logo and information along the bottom or in the corners, a barcode in a corner, the artist's website and social networks and an extra photo.
Digipak Analysis
30 Seconds To Mars
This digipak has been created to promote and sell an album by the alternative rock band, 30 Seconds To Mars. The conventions of this digipak consist of a recognisable colour theme of black, red, white and grey, which also corresponds with the similar colour scheme that was used within the band's music video 'From Yesterday' that was released very close to the date of the album release. This therefore makes the colour scheme more recognisable to the audience, as they can associate these colours with the band, and with their music video. The whole digipak consists of a 4 panelled card case that features the CD, special images of the band, and large, serif, capitalised grey text stating the words 'Mars Army', which is being aimed at the fan base for 30 Seconds To Mars as the fans are referred to as part of the 'Mars Army'. The CD's design features a large black cross that intersects the middle of the CD on top of a plain white background, and also features red coloured symbols in between the lines of the cross that represent the name of the band, 30 Seconds To Mars. The use of symbolism portrays to the audience that this band are unique and have an individual approach to their own style, which can therefore make the audience expect that their music will also reflect their original style. The images of the two flags on the lower panel also refer to the band's music video for 'From Yesterday', to symbolise the flag bearers who are part of the 'army' in the music video, thus again relating to the 'Mars Army' and the fans of 30 Seconds To Mars.
Florence & The Machine
Florence & The Machine's album Lungs has been promoted through a digipak version as well as an original CD version, with the main image on the cover of the digipak as the same image on the CD. A mid shot of Florence has been used, showing her in a delicate thin dress, her hair very natural along with her natural makeup, and a pair of lungs hanging from her neck that hang in the place to where the lungs sit in the human body, thus corresponding with the title of the album, Lungs. A cool colour palette has been used to make the image look cold, which may help to represent the sound of the music that is featured on the album, with song names such as 'My Boy Builds Coffins' and 'Girl With One Eye'. The name of the group is positioned above the main image of Florence, in the signature font that it used to help the audience relate the font with this artist. The font is in a white colour, which contrasts with the black border around the imageThe whole look about the cover is very organic with flowers and a tree surrounding her, which helps the audience assume what the music style of the artist will be like, and therefore will represent the band's attitude and personalities that will be reflected in the lyrics on the album. Within the digipak, the CD, booklet insert and the back have also been designed to correspond nicely with the cover. The CD itself has an image of a pair of hands with what looks like a fruit being held tightly in its grasp, and the title of the album in an italic, capitalised white font which is angled slightly upwards over the image. The colour scheme for this image is a warm palette which contrasts with the cool colour palette of the front cover, which could portray that the lyrics of the songs featured on the album could have more meaning, and are speaking of positive thoughts and emotions, as a warm colour palette is associated with positivity and happiness. The insert of the digipak includes one black and white mid-close up image of Florence, who is looking to the right of the camera, which makes the audience think that there may be something important that she is looking at. Ironically, the image that it next to the insert is the back cover, which features the tracklist of the album which is a very important feature of the digipak. The imagery on the back of the digipak shows a white outlined image of a pair of lungs, again referring back to the title of the album, with lines and numbers pointing to different sections of the lungs. Below the image is a numbered list of the tracks that are featured on the album, which correspond with the labeled sections of the lungs image.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry's album Teenage Dream has also been made into a digipak version along with a normal CD version to hopefully encourage sales due to its higher quality presentation, packaging and extra features. This digipak includes a main image that is featured on the front of the digipak, two CD disks, an insert that features images and lyrics to her music on the CD's, and a back cover consisting of the track list. The front cover image is very eye catching, as it features a long shot of Katy laying down on a pink cloud with no clothes on. By being naked, she is portraying to the audience that her music is raw and shows that Katy has nothing to hide in her music and lyrics. Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory on women being viewed as an erotic object can be supported through the images on this digipak. She is pictured surrounding by pink fluffy clouds and is laying naked on them, and is therefore being seen as a sexual object as she is attractive through the eyes of a 'heterosexual male'. There is no text on the front cover of the digipak though, which is not typical for a Pop genre artist as there is usually text stating the name of the artist and album on the main image. The two CD's designs help to correspond with one of the tracks that is featured on the album, 'California Gurls', where the music video for that song features lots of candy and sweet treats. The CD's have therefore been designed to look like the sweets that were used in the video, to help promote Katy's music even more. The insert that comes with the digipak includes another image that follows a similar theme to the main image on the front of the digipak, with Katy in a pink dress surrounded by cakes, again showing her feminine side with the pink connotations, and the sweet foods. The back of the digiapk then follows the same image of the pink clouds as the front cover does, but has text stating the titles of the tracks and other details and information on the record companies and websites.
02/10/14
Digipak Research & Analysis
A digipak is a package that is typically used to promote and sell CD's and DVD's that are of special edition or limited edition, and are commonly known for their high quality presentation, packaging and extra features such as images and lyrics. The digipak consists of a gatefolded style card outer packaging which has the main image and text of the CD or DVD printed on the cover, along with the back image and text on the back panel. There will also be a consistant theme running through the digipak which makes it more appealing to the audience and gives the audience an insight to what the CD or DVD is about.