Planning individual DigiPak - Miss Georgiou

Planning individual DigiPak

Introduction

There are many purposes of a digipak and 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 artist and musician and the music behind it, to attract a wider audience as well-as the artists own and to finally store additional promotional materials which includes booklets and posters. Digipaks consist of a gatefold paperboard or cardboard outer binding, with one or more plastic trays for the CD, which allows fold dups to be in the plastic trays and see easily by the audience when opened.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. I will be creating a digipak that includes conventional colours to the genre and reoccurring colours that are represented throughout the digipak as well as the actual music video and the colours that the artists will be wearing. This will help the artist see the reoccurring themes running throughout helping the audience to see a clear message of what the artist is feeling, and this also being used in the digipak will help a relationship to be created between the audience and artist. My digipak creation is included in a picture above, which shows 6 different sides, including a front and back cover. I am going to try and make my own digipak to as near as possible as this.
Analysis

The first element i have chosen to analyse is the colours i have used specifically within my digipak. The main colours i have included is the colours, black and red. The reasons for including these colours throughout my whole digipak is because they contrast and reflect the expressions and emotions being sent out by the artist Amy. The red I have included shows on the A of the artists name Amy as well as the 18 in the cover of the album, the red bus on the CD cover and when my artist Amy addresses her audience by writing to 'you' in the colour red so it stands out and addresses her audience clearly and brightly. The red being used as a reoccurring theme shows Amy's emotions of love, passion, power and also anger. The anger represents when Amy is not in her hometown anymore and is angry and sad that she isn't happy in the place that she is living and wants to be around family and friends and be happy like she was in her past. The red buses shows a link with the lyrics of London and how this is where Amy is living and spending her time now. Within the song Hometown Glory, London is mentioned a lot and me including it in my CD cover shows a connection with Goodwin's theory of his point about the lyrics and visuals showing a clear link. This is a good thing, as it now means Amy's audience can relate to the colours red being used and understand the emotions and expressions being sent out to the audience and know what they mean, making them relatable. In addition, the colour black is also included frequently within my digipak. The colour black is used within every one of my 6 slide digipak which shows to the audience its an important colour throughout the music video. The colour black in my digipak represents the connotations of sadness, hidden meanings, elegance, power and grief. This colour also helps to portray Amy's dark thoughts and meanings being sent out to her audience. I have used this colour on the message to the audience, as it stands out and is clear and easy to read, but also shows a hidden meaning in the words she is saying as she is portraying darkness and sadness behind her words. Furthermore, the letters "my" of the name Amy, as is shows a contrast to the colour red that is used on the A and 18, as it separates two different meanings to the audience about the song Hometown Glory is about sadness and love, and these two colours together show this. Amy is also wearing black in the separate picture on her own on the stage. The black dress and black heels in the stage picture shows her as being emotional and expressing bad and sad emotions through the lyrics of this song. Most of the detail on jewel Cd cases is mainly on the front and back whereas in my digipak the detail lays not only on the front and back but inside as well, including pictures, and personal messages.

The conventions of the soul genre I have included within my digipak is the images I have included, which includes a close-up of my artist on the front cover. Close-ups are conventional to the soul genre as it means the artist can connect and portray their emotions easily to the audience through facial expressions and emotions. This is why I have included a close up on my front cover of my digipak as it means my audience can create a relationship with the artist and can understand the way she is feeling and the meanings within each song that has been included on the album. The audience will also be able to see the expression being shown from the artists face, and this will represent her past emotion. Close-ups are used all the time within the soul genre, including male and female artists. Another convention of the genre that I have applied within my digipak is the colours black and red. The colour red shows my artists power and authority within her songs and how she is a strong and independent woman. The colour black in contrast with this shows the darker meanings behind her thoughts and messages being sent out through the lyrics and images she is portraying through the digipak. The performance element to the digipak is shown through the picture of Amy on the stage singing, surrounded by black curtains and features, again the colour black is inflicted on this slide of the digipak. The performance element to my digipak is also a convention to the soul genre as in soul music videos we conventionally see the artist performing in a setting that is related to the song or a stage, just like what we are including in ours. The personal message from the artist to the audience is also very direct and is directed specifically at each reader. Soul songs conventionally are seen to be very personal and direct to the reader to help with the relationship that is going to be created between the two. This personal message helps with the audience grasping the concept of the artists feelings, and how this message means a lot to them and helping with the aid of promotion. Including conventions from the soul genre within my digipak helps the audience to recognise reoccurring themes from the genre, this helping a relationship to be created.

The images I have included within my digipak are all very important and each portray a different message to the audience. The first image I have included is the front cover, which shows my artist Amy to be looking downwards. The picture I have sketched is Amy holding a fur coat and looking downwards away from the camera. I have chosen an image of Amy looking downwards away from the camera as this shows an insecurity of the artist, hiding her emotions from the audience, this creating a relationship between the audience and the artist as they have to dig deeper into what the artist is feeling and the reasons why. This being on the front cover, helps the audience to see this image straight away and get the impression that this CD will portray many emotions about the artist and this will be heard through the tracks included. The image in the 6th slide of the digipak shows my artist Amy playing the piano. This is a picture taken from the music video, where Amy is seen to be playing the piano in the instrumental parts of the song. I have chosen to use this image due to the fact that is shows that this CD involves the piano in most of Amy's songs and shows that the artist is very talented as she plays the piano and sings and performs. The images I have chosen to include on the actual CD of Amy's digipak is the title of the CD and a red London bus. This links to the song of Hometown Glory as this song includes the theme of London and is frequently talked about in the song. The clear link between the two shows that the audience will know what the CD is about and what specific songs are included. This London bus also carries the running theme that I have included of the colour red. I feel that the images I have included within my digipak all hold a meaning that connects to the artist as well as the album, and the song Hometown Glory. All of these images when seen by the audience will help create a relationship from the audience to the artist as they can link to the song Hometown Glory.

The layout and design I have chosen to use for my digipak is including six different sides, and to lay them out in a simplistic way for the audience to understand. Although my first box shows the message to the audience, this is in the wrong place and is to be swopped with the image below of the artist and the album name which is the front cover to the digipak. The layout shows the front cover in the first box, the track list in the second box, the CD front in the third, the personal message to readers in the fourth, and two images I have chosen to include of my artist on the stage and her playing the piano in the fifth and sixth box. This layout is clear and easy to see by the audience, and all of these boxes hold all the necessary and important information to unfold by the audience within this digipak. I feel that my layout of the album name in the front cover is clear and bold and holds the themed colours that I have chosen to use which is black and red. The 'A' of my artist's name Amy is in red, which shows the power she holds and the importance within her name and how it should stand out to the audience brightly. Also the 18 is in red, which shows the importance to how it should stand out from the black, and is different from her other albums. Also carrying the running theme of Adele's albums where she used numbers after name in her last 3 running album's so I took inspiration from her. The layout I have chosen on my CD is simplistic, easy to recognise and easy to understand, which is good for my audience, meaning an easy target audience to catch. I feel I have chosen a simplistic layout not only for my target audience to understand but a wider audience that will enjoy the CD itself, as well as the digipak inside.

The typography I have chosen to include within my digipak is very simple and have included a similar font running throughout. On the front cover of the digipak shows the artists name and the number of the album. The font i have decided to use shows longer edges to the on the top and bottoms of each letter, showing the artist as creative and talented. This bold simplistic font means the audience can read and understand easily, without confusion. The language i have used is also very minimal, and i haven't elaborated on any text i have written. The most amount of text i have included is on the track list, which simply states a different point on each line of what the track is. The track list is underlined in red and written in the colour black. Again these two colours blend together to show different meanings and portray different emotions to the audience from the artist.

Finally, all of these points individually mean i can look closely at conventions for each and all the connotations of my points made. The colours i have used which is mainly black and red. The colour black can have may different connotations but the meanings within my digipak is mysterious, shows Amy's elegance and power over her audience and also fear, showing her fear of not being in her hometown anymore and her sad emotions of how she misses home and wants to be there. The digipak itself is based around the story line of my music video, and the features of the music video connect to the features i have included on my own digipak. My groups individual digipaks are very similar to my own, as we have also included similar features such as red and black. We have used similar images but we were able to use our own and choose what ones we wanted. The typography is very similar as we wanted to show the soul genre brightly through all of our digipaks.

Conclusion
Overall, this post has to help me elaborate on my ideas of what i have included in my digipak and what effect is creates on the audience. My digipak has helped me to prepare for using photoshop and final cut pro. i will be taking pictures when filming my music video to put in my final digipak, so they will have relation to the music video itself. I feel after planning my digipak i am now more aware of what to include in my digipak, and how certain pictures will work better and how some won't. I will use the technique of overlapping in my digipak to include different backgrounds and settings that will link to the music video e.g. London. The pictures that i will include will be taken at the time of the filming process so they are the same as the video. My editing on photoshop will allow me to add effects to my music video and filter to help to the effect and the emotions portrayed towards the audience.