Digipak Analysis - Miss Georgiou

Digipak Analysis 

Introduction

There are many purposes of a digipak, these include; to promote an album, to list the content of an album, to make the CD eye-catching, to use art and images to express a message, to tell us something about the musician and the music behind it, to attract a wider audience as well-as the artists own and to finally to store additional promotional materials which includes booklets and posters. Digipak consist of a gatefold paperboard or cardboard outer binding, with one or more plastic trays for the CD, which allows fold ups to be in the plastic trays and seen easily by the audience when opened. This style of packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums, and these became popular among record labels and recording artists in the early 2000s. A normal CD case is called a jewel CD case and this is the original compact disc case that has been used since the compact disc was first released in1982. Within this jewel case consists of a three-piece plastic case, which usually contains a CD along with the liner notes and a back card. These are constructed into four sides, where most of the detail is solely on the front and the back. Within a Jewel CD case there is a plastic case that means the paper inside is protected and will last longer, which is an advantage for the audience as they can keep the CD for a long time and nothing will be damaged. Most of the detail is solely on the front and the back, meaning that it is more likely to grab peoples attention and make them want to buy the album, which is a technique of promotion as what the audience see is what they are going to get. A jewel case will often contain lyrics of the sings which are included, so the people who buy it will be able to learn the songs and relate to the artist more, making it easier for the artist and the audience to create a relationship. Whereas within a Digipak, they contain high quality images and contain a meaning that the audience can understand, also usually containing a letter or note from the artist which is aimed directly at the fans, allowing them to feel like it has been done personally for them, which is an advantage for both he artist and the audience. In comparison to the Jewel case, the digipak may contain bonus tracks, whereas the jewel CD case may not and the digipak has six sides so more opportunity for visible artwork, information or promotions. This way the artist has a better chance of attracting potential buyers as they will see the digipak as more than just a disc of music, it will also be a collectable item as well which means the buyer/fan can keep the digipak for as long as they want without it becoming un dated. In addition, a jewel case is easily ripped which removed or put back into the plastic grips, making it unappealing to remove, whereas this does not happen on a digipak and all the information is easily accessible, making it more long lasting. All of these points put into comparison means that the Digipak is seen to be better than a Jewel CD case, with more benefits and advantages.

For my Digipak I have used a similar artist to my own who is Duffy, also a singer who produces music within the soul genre. The representation of the artist shows her as insecure, down with her emotions and having dark and sad feelings. This is shown through various things within the digipak. Firstly, the connotations of the digipak. The connotations of this digipak is the colour black. The colour black is used throughout the background of the digipak as well as duff's outfit. The front cover, CD and digipak and covers inside the digipak all have the main colour of black which represent depression and sadness being shown throughout, a reoccurring theme. The front cover shows black on her top, her jacket and the background, whereas in comparison to the CD black is used all over apart from the typography which is in white. The white shows her as insecure, which links to the picture of her looking down, which may represent her as feeling down and sorry for herself. The white shows innocence, which also links in with her make-up which is very minimal. There are monotone colours used within the digipak, which is only white and black. Black is the reoccurring colour on the CD and inside every side of the case. The monotone colours add to the effect and emotion that the artist is trying to portray to the audience. This shows a simplistic lifestyle, and there is no colour in her life at this point of the creation of the songs and album. The repetition of dark colours shows that she has involved a strong meaning behind her songs and lyrics and this is the picture she wants to show to her audience about her album. The black and white together reflects a dull atmosphere and negative feelings that the artist is feeling and wants her audience to understand. The design of the digipak is simple, and hasn't got any overwhelming features that stand out to the audience. The picture of Duffy and the background on the front cover of the digipak links all together. in the picture of Duffy we see a background of a train, and then her sitting on the train. The background of this is what we see on the front cover which shows a white misted background of her going past. These linking together shows that she is telling her audience a story throughout her CD and songs, and this digipak is the way of the artist doing this. The design overall is simple, and this relates to how the artist wants her for her audience to see her, in a simple way, living a simple lifestyle just like any other normal person. The choice of images on the digipak is minimal. The artists face is used repeatedly on different slides to the digipak. One picture shows Duffy looking downwards, and the other her looking away. These two images can show her personality as insecure and shy as she doesn't want to show her face to audience, and show her emotions. This is conventional to see in a soul genre digipak as we usually see the artist looking away as they don't want to show their sad emotions to the audience as soul music is conventionally about love and heart-break. From the images shown we can tell that the album is about love, as she is looking away from the camera showing that she has been hurt through heartbreak and almost embarrassed to show her face, linking in with the white features within the digipak about being insecure. Both of the images shown are mid-shots showing the artist from the waist upwards, although the second image is a little closer. The first image shows Duffy sitting down looking away from the camera, in comparison to the second image where she is looking down. These shots are un-conventional for a digipak from the soul genre as close-ups are normally used to show feelings, expressions and emotions from the artists face, although this isn't the case within this digipak. The artist has been represented in a different way so we as the audience have to guess what the message is and how she is feeling. The typography used on all the sides to the digipak are very simplistic and minimal. When Duffy's name is written on every slide to the digipak is shown in fancy curly writing. This is conventional to a woman's soul album as is represents her as fancy and creative, as well as being glamorous. This is also like a signature which could help with promotion of the album, as it is also on both Cd's within the digipak. A signpost is used on a side to the digipak which shows the name of the album. The word rockferry is used on a street name, which shows the artist as ordinary within star and dyer's theory as she is within a town, and not somewhere such as a stage where soul artists are seen to perform. The simplistic features mean that the audience can relate more to the artist, and can understand the meaning behind the album. There is minimal amounts of writing on the digipak, but when there is writing it is all typed in white, connecting with the running theme of insecurity and sadness. The tracks on the back of the cover are listed singularly with examples of songs such as; Warwick avenue, serious and stepping stone. The style of language used within this digipak is straight to the point. There is no persuasive text on the front of the album cover, and simply states the name of the artist and the name of the album. This style of language means that the audience has to turn over and read more about the artist, and this being done as a promotion technique. This also may also mean the audience find this more attractive as they are not bundled with words on the album that will put them off, meaning they can understand the meaning of the album and what it entails. The language that is used is very minimal, although the CD's themselves do include small prints of writing, which state the writers of certain songs and who the album has been produced by and how. This digipak promotes the music genre is many ways. Firstly the digipak is very conventional to the genre, meaning the soul audience can understand meanings being expressed and the way in which the artist is being portrayed. The genre is shown in a good way, and expressed widely through the used of filters, camera angles and colours. The artist is promoted as depressed, and she is expressing this through the features used within the digipak and through the names and lyrics of her songs. The black and white features is the main style used to show the promotion of the artist, although this is a clear way for the audience to understand the meanings being portrayed. The digipak attracts the audience through all the things I have spoken about above. The digipak itself and all the information that is produced means the audience can have a wider insight into the album, which includes a booklet showing lyrics meaning its easier for the audience to get to know and understand individual songs, and getting to see the lyrics means they can look at the deeper meanings. The eye-catching image on the front of the album means the audience are attracted and take a closer look at the digipak.
Conclusion
Overall, from this analysis of digipaks I feel that I have learnt how important it is in what features you include within album covers and inside. The artist I chose was Duffy which is similar to my own artist, which I feel after analysis was a good idea and helped me see what works well and what doesn't. Although I couldn't use my own artist - Adele, I feel that this has still been a positive to me as I have seen what other artists use other than focusing on Adele all the time, it has allowed me to see a bigger picture to the soul genre. I will include many features that I have seen in Duffy's digipak as I feel that they work will with promotion as well as catching a specific audience, and I feel these will hit my target audience of all ages.