Digipack template ideas

 This allows minimal inlays but allows a different and slightly indie design.

 this is an even more individual design. it allows lots of inlays, and a card design, which would fit with he indie genre.

 This is a booklet style template. it allows for many inlays and could be linked include some intertextuality with the way it could link with a book.

this is the traditional CD/digipack design. we have decided to put our own individual pin on this traditional design to give it an indie feel to match the genre and style of the artist. we decided to include a small booklet with the front cover on one side and filled with inlays.

magazine advert anaylsis

Jake Bugg single advert analysis
although this is the advert for a single we can still apply conventions and ideas to our advert as the artist is from the same genre.
We can clearly see links to his website. this links to the fact indie artists want to make a connection to their audience, and so give extra things to them.
it includes very low key lighting, and possibly a black and white effect.  it creates a vintage feel which links to his vintage style music.
The layout is very simple and not too fancy. this links to his indie genre,  of simple and not overly manufactured.
the links to radio 1 is a very prominent feature of the video. it will enable the audience to know he is a legitimate artist and maybe think they will enjoy his music due to the fact they like other radio 1 music.

Vampire Weekend
This, like the Jake Bugg advert, is very simplistic. like a lot of indie artists, they have included the bare minimum, allowing the artist name and album title to be the most prominent feature of the image.

Digipack ideas 2

We are considering including the use of techniques such as metaphors, connotations, denotations, symbols, content signs and font. 
metaphors/connotations/symbols- The title of the album is tearing back the wallpaper, our front cover is going to be a shot of torn wallpaper with brick wall behind it with the lyrics to Hazel Eyes on it. the metaphor that he is tearing back the wallpaper to reveal what's underneath. the connotations/symbols that he has been hiding behind this wallpaper and he is tearing it back to show his true feelings.
Content signs- we are going to include a guitar in the shot of the front cover to represent the fact he is a genuine real artist who creates his own music. 
Font- we have found a font to use on our album cover. 

Digipack micro-elements analysis 2

Colour difference between the front cover, back cover, spine and inlays. 

Newton Faulkner is another indie artist I have researched, and i have decided to analyse his album 'Hand Built By Robots'. 

As you can see the has a background theme of a cloudy sky. On the album this them can be seen across the entire Digipack. the theme is continued on the back cover and both inlays.

However, this theme is not featured on the spine or on the CD cover. Sometimes spines are made a more bright noticeable colour so they can be better seen when on their side. We as a group are planning on using this technique when producing our own digipack.

Digipack micro-elements analysis

Colour difference between the front cover, back cover and spine. 

This is the spine for the album 'Tourist History' by Two Door Cinema Club. The colours used on the spine match those used on the back image. this is a very common concept for album covers. However The front cover is a dark image,  contrasting to the back and spine colours, this allows the album to be shown as breaking conventions and allowing the album to stand out. the inlays on both sides however, both match the back cover as well. 

Another indie artist of whose digipack i have analysed is Ed sheerans album +. this is in a different style to the of the Two Door Cinema Club album. it has the same back cover and spine and front cover design. But it does however have a dark inlay which allows  the orange + on the CD to stick out more. 

i have analysed 5 digpacks produced by indie artists, all of which had a difference in colour or theme between the either the front cover and the back cover, or the front cover and the back cover and spine. We are most likely going to conform to this convention when producing our digipack. however the indie genre is all about being individual and different and we have considered  having all three aspects of the outer digipack (front cover, back cover and spine) different themes/colours as to break these conventions further. or we could challenge this convention by having the front cover and spine different colour to the back cover. 

Mumford and Sons digipack analysis

Mumford and sons digipack analysis on Prezi

Digipack analysis- 3

This is the album cover for 'Last smoke before the snow storm' by Benjamin Francis Leftwich. Like many other indie albums covers it includes and aspect of hand drawn/painted effect on the main image. another convention of indie albums covers represented here is the lack of images of the artist. many recent indie album covers don't include images of the artist, this relates to the rebellious aspect of the indie genre, as most other genres include artist images as the main focus point. 

the CD artwork matches the front cover in terms of colour. they also include the same style of font. the font used is a very old fashioned one. it is elegant also relates to the hand drawn effect of the images used in the cove and others like it. 

this cover of Ben Howard's 'Every Kingdom' also uses this effect/technique and is also of the indie genre. 

it is actually an image taken by a camera but has been edited to create a vintage look, possibly using a sepia filter. The use of large, white, centred  font allows his name to stick out and be the first thing the audience notice. the front image also relates to a personal thing in the artists life, he was raised in devon and surfing has always been a big part of his life. It is common in indie music to relate things to personal issues. 

The indie genre is also very linked to rebellion, and breaking trends. in album covers the front and back covers have the same colour of similar colours, however this album breaks this and the colours are very different. As our artist is of the indie genre we may break normal conventions of digipack style and technique to follow the conventions of indie. 

digipack ideas

For our digipack we have had some thoughts on album title and shot ideas.

For album title we have, tearing back the wallpaper, new beginnings, higher heights, and a fresh start.

We have an idea for our front cover, a mid shot of our artist looking up to a wall with torn back wallpaper, this mainly relates to our first album title idea, but can also relate to new beginnings. 
We are planning to have another group meeting to finalize decisions and to decide on inlay and back cover ideas.

digipack analysis

This is an analysis of the digipack for the album "love is a four letter word" by Jason Mraz

Digipack research 2

this is an album cover of famous country and western group Rascal Flatts.
one of the key conventions of the genre is being in touch with the land. i believe they took this into account when deciding a location for this photo to be taken. it clearly shows they are in the country. this relates directly to their target audience, the majority of which live in rural locations as opposed to say hip hop artist Flo Rida's target audience is more big city based.
there target audience is also mainly female, mainly due to the nature and lyrics of the songs, mostly surrounding the area's of lost love, love, dealing with and the search of love to name a few. these things could be said are more relatable from a woman's perspective. it could also be said they target this with an using aspect of sex appeal. the photo is also taken so all focus is drawn to the three members, all looking directly at the camera, to connect with the audience. this is accentuated by the high key lighting in the back ground and shining on their faces.
their expressions all appear insightful, as if they are thinking about something. this creates curiosity in the audience members. the writing used is quite soft and mellow, and i believe it represents/matches the style of the music on the album.
the choice of clothing is very typical of their genre, i believe they wanted to make their genre very clear on the album cover, so its one of the first things you notice.

Country and Western Digipack

Digipack research

Kelly Clarkson is a famous pop country artist.
the picture is in black and white which allows connotations of an old fashioned picture. i believe this relates to the routes of here genre which are very old. country and western styles have been key in american music for centuries.
the writing is used to show the pop side of her. her name is written in gold to emphasise and draw immediate attention to her. the title of the album 'stronger', denotes that she is a powerful person and has become more so. this is emphasised by the fact it is written in bold letters.
the angle at which she is standing allows her to look directly into the camera, which gives the picture a very personal feel, like she is looking directly at her audience.
there is also some sex appeal in the photo, the way her lips are so central and accentuated in the photo and it appears she is kissing her bracelet which gives the photo a sexual/romantic aspect.
the photo is also quite simple, its just the artist. a lot of female artists in modern times are described as pop princesses and use lots of make up and glamorous clothes. this allows her to be represented as a real genuine artist whose voice and appearance is all natural and not fake.
we tried to use some of these aspects of the genre and incorporate them into our digipack photos.