Digipak Tracklist

Continuing work on my digipak, I decided to create an album tracklist. As I could not come up with any track names myself, I decided to use a page of random quotations and chose 12 words or phrases that I thought would coincide well with the vibe that I am trying to create for my album.

Here are the 12 I came up with and they will feature on the back of my digipak.

1. These Three Things
2. 1930
3. These Days
4. Suits
5. Mousetrap
6. Attained
7. Found a Truth
8. Falling
9. End of a Journey
10. When You Wake Up
11. Not Guilty
12. A Compromise

Conventions of a Music Video: The 1975- Girls

I thought this was a really interesting interview with the lead singer Matthew Healy from The 1975. He talks about the expectations and conventions of an indie/ alternative video and how he and his band decided to subvert the stereotypes and create a quirky and bold video. This music video for their latest song 'Girls' is very unlike their previous work such as 'Chocolate and 'Sex' as it uses very bold colouring throughout, whereas they fall into the conventional norms of an indie video with a very simplistic atmosphere and the use of black and white throughout. Healy makes an interesting point about how the audience react to the change and it suggests that we as an audience expect these conventions and it is perhaps more enticing if these conventions are subverted.

"When we released our last video (Sex), people really reacted to the fact that it was in colour. There was a lot of conjecture and talk surrounding it - due to the fact that it was an unexpected stylistic change. It was brought to our attention that certain people thought we were 'conforming to a record companies wishes' along with other expected and unexpected clichés. Obviously this couldn't be further from the truth, we are lucky enough to be surrounded by a group of individuals whose mantra centers on facilitating our creative wishes, we found the whole idea of us being told what to do fascinating. The story of the band who suffer at the hands of a record label shortly after a delirious rise is a tale as old as time. So we kinda wanted to make a tongue in cheek video about it. Twinned with our love of 80's pop, its innocence, grandiosity and conceptual ideas in music videos - we wanted to make a video about a record label’s attempt at enforced conformity. We got our mate Adam down to a studio in Los Angeles at the start of our USA tour, got 4 models and made a video about us not wanting to make a video." Matthew Healy – The 1975

Update Vlog

• Editing and completing filming
• Digipak ideas and planning
• Magazine Advert planning

Digipak Options

Here are three options for the front of my digipak. I have decided to use the kaleidoscope image on all three options as it is seen several times throughout our video and as previously mentioned, a key theme used within our video is nature and as the kaleidoscope was created from footage of trees I thought this was a subtle way of including nature on my digipak.

I edited an image of a kaleidoscope which is seen in our music video on 'picmonkey'. Changing the exposure and colour of the image has made my first option look quite eerie and dark and although this wasn't what I initially had in mind I do like how it has turned out. I later added the name that I created for the band, 'Constant Impression' and also the name of the album 'Falling.

I didn't edit the second option as much as the first, as it is a copy of the kaleidoscope found in the video, which will make it more recognisable for the audience and perhaps for that reason may be a stronger option. I have kept the kaleidoscope as the background as it is a very striking image.

Although I do really like the fact that the kaleidoscope is the prominent part of the digipak on the first and second options, I did want something quite simplistic and the third option is similar to what I initially had in mind. The white background and strip of kaleidoscope I think looks very professional and I like the simplicity of it.

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Magazine Adverts

As I have begun the process of creating my digipak as a part of the ancillary task, I thought it would be appropriate to also begin work on creating my own magazine advert. I first wanted to look at other artists magazine adverts to see the conventions and it may also be able to offer me some inspiration.

Functions of a magazine advert

• to promote the artist
• to sell the song
• to be eye catching

Conventions

• release date
• place of purchase
• artists name- crucial as it helps to promote the artist
• record label
• reviews
• genre of band reflected in text/font/image
• tour info

Magazine Analysis'

1) From Ellie Goulding's advert which promotes her album 'Lights' it appears that it is appealing to a young audience through the use of glitter and also the large photo of the young artist. The gold perhaps suggests the youthfulness of the album and an element of fun with the glitter. The album and artists name is clear as it is in bold lettering in the centre of the advert. The advert also includes reviews of the album and star ratings from well known magazines. This convention of an advert is a way of highlighting the interest in the album and the artist from large and reliable magazines, which perhaps enhances the popularity of the album. The artist herself takes up the majority of the advert which instantly highlights to the audience who and what is being advertised. Rating this advert out of 10 for its overall effectiveness for its target audience I would give it a 7, as the younger audience can relate to the artist as she is seen on the advert in large and the colours and bold writing also give it a youthful feel again targeting a younger audience. From the advert the genre of the artist is some what ambiguous but this perhaps makes it more interesting to the audience.

2) Katy Perry's advert also adheres to the conventions of a magazine advert as it displays the name of the artist and the album name, along with an image of the artist which is quite a focal part of the advert. 'Including the number 1 smash hit "I Kissed a Girl"' also advertises the album to those who are interested in the specific song which could ultimately enhance the popularity and the sales of the album. This advert seemingly appeals to both women and men as the artist is dressed in some what girly clothing, but perhaps also suggestively with an element of desire for the male audience. From the bold colours and props this advert also suggest youthfulness and similarly to Ellie Goulding's advert quite a playful atmosphere. I would rate this advert a 6 out of 10 for its overall effectiveness for its target audience as I think although it can be targeted to both men a women its lacks reviews of the album and star ratings which doesn't give an insight into the album for the audience.

3) This advert for The Black Keys album 'Brothers' doesn't include distinct logos or bright colours to attract a younger audience so it perhaps targets a more mature audience who are aware of their music. This very unusual way of advertising their album I think is very effective and original as they do not use any logos or pictures of the band to be identifiable to the audience, instead they just use words to explain who the band are, what the album is called and where and when it will be available. This advert also coincides with their album cover as it also just uses text on the front. Although this advert follows few of the conventions of a magazine advert I would rate the advert an 8 out of 10 for it's overall effectiveness for it's target audience as I feel it has quite a comedic element which perhaps entices the target audience and, although there are no pictures or recognisable logos it gives you all the necessary information needed and quite literally tells the audience what they want to know.

Digipak Images

Today I began the search for images to use for my digipak. I want the digipak to be closely related to our music video and I believe the best way to do this is to use images from our video. I was inspired by 30 Seconds to Mars' album cover 'Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams', as I found that the art work that is used on the front of the cover is seen multiple times throughout the music video and also appears on the CD itself. This is something which is instantly recognisable for the audience and can then be related to the band which is a vital part of marketing.

For my music video, I think the kaleidoscope predominantly stands out and could be a very strong image to interrelate the music video and digipak. Today I began to look at the kaleidoscope which we created and I took a few screenshots of the interesting shapes and colours which are found in the kaleidoscope. Here are some of the images

Digipak Research and Inspiration

For our ancillary task we have been asked to create a digipak. A digipak is a type of CD packaging which typically consists of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays that can hold CDs that are attached to the inside.The most common type of digipak consists of 4 panels but there are several types of digipaks available which can include 6 or 8 panels. The dimensions for the standard four panel digipak are 139.5mm x 6mm x125.5mm.

For my own digipak I think I am going to create a standard 4 panel digipak as I want to focus on a certain few images rather than using too many, as it may make the digipak look a little messy and limiting the panels makes it far more simplistic which will perhaps make it more appealing to the audience.

As our song falls within the indie/rock genre I am specifically looking at digipaks from indie/rock bands and artists as they may offer inspiration when creating my own digipak.

1) I first decided to look at the band 'HAIM' as we have chosen to use their song 'Falling'. I thought it would be interesting to see how they have decided to portray themselves and their music, to show a comparison between how I decide to present the album. They have taken quite a simplistic approach and the image seems to coincide with the chilled feel to the album. All three members of the band are present on the cover; which I found whilst researching into the conventions of an indie digipak is something that is quite unusual as they often use logos or distinct illustrations. An effect has also been used which is very interesting, as although it is quite subtle it again creates quite a feel good and idealistic atmosphere perhaps suggesting the mood of the album. The text is also very simple and clear on either corner of the album which allows the audience to identify the bands name and the name of the album.

2) 30 Seconds to Mars' album cover for 'Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams' is one which I thought was extremely intriguing. With further research I learned that the artwork for the album is a piece of work by Damien Hirst entitled "Isonicotinic Acid Ethyl Ester". I thought this was really interesting and an unusual idea for the album artwork but it works very well and as it is used multiple times within their music video, it allows the audience to recognise the image and associate it with the band which perhaps enhances their popularity. The bold font but pale colours used for the album name and band name, works really well with the bold colours used for the polka dots as they contrast and it perhaps gives the audience an idea of the variety of music that will appear on the album. The band are not seen on the front of the album cover and although this seems to be conventional within the rock genre, it shocked me as the band are so well known universally I expected for them to be present on the cover but, the audience are still able to associate the image with the band and therefore can identify who the album belongs to.

3) The image used for the album 'Vessel' by Twenty One Pilots, is an endearing photo of two old men. Researching the band I came to find that the two men are in fact the grandfathers of both of the band members. This adds to the meaning of the album and perhaps makes it more relatable to the audience. The use of black and white on the album cover is conventional within the indie/rock genre. The very simplistic colour scheme and minimal text perhaps suggests the content and the meaning of the album and I believe the simplicity of the album cover is very enticing. The name of the band does not appear on the album cover. This is unusual as their is no way of identifying whom the album is by, but this is quite intriguing and perhaps makes the audience more inclined to find out the artist behind the album. The name of the album 'vessel' appears on the album cover in lower case letters and adds to the simplicity of the cover.

Simplicity seems to be a recurring theme within these digipaks and I feel as our band falls into the indie/rock/alternative genre we should adhere to the conventions of an indie/alternative digipak.