A2 Group 8 music video: JC: Digipak Deconstruction

As an avid CD collector, I fortunately had a number of digipaks to look at for this piece of research. The four that struck me most were 'Viva la Vida' by Coldplay, 'The Bends' and 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead and '20th Anniversary of the Stone Roses' by The Stone Roses.Whislt I have decided to look at 'In Rainbows' (see picture below), I will also consider the artwork of the others, and draw upon 'The Bends' in particular as it is a six-pane piece, the closest to what we are looking to do (an eight-pane piece).

Genre

As with most of Radiohead's album covers, there is a strong element of individuality within this piece, for in this example the band have chosen to focus their attention on creating a visual extravaganza. The fact that - unlike a number of other rock/indie rock covers - the band do not feature in the front cover, and therefore do not break the fourth wall of cinema, shows that they are more abstract and mysterious, creating their own unique band image.

Media Language

A dominant reading path is taken with this album cover, as the text reads from right to left. Further to this, although the band are absent, and the fact that the album title appears four times on the front cover, the band name is the last thing that the consumer will read on the front cover ie. the thing that will be freshest in their mind. There is also a vast array of colour used in the piece, both in the background and the font.

The album is therfore in line with Richard Dyer's star paradox theory. Dyer suggests in this that the star or band must be simultaneously present and absent, and ordinary and extraordinary. In this piece, as I have already mentioned the band themselves are absent as there is no image of them in the piece, yet at the same time they are present as their name appears and it is their product which we are consuming. In addition, the album is ordinary as it is something that can be purchased, but also extraordinary because it features some fantastic images which are unique and eye-catching.

These techniques have been used to underpin the title 'In Rainbows'. This idea of rainbows is created before reading the title, as the colours used hold connotations of the subject as they can often be found in a rainbow. Furthermore, the album artwork shows an explosion of colours - which took inspiration from NASA photographs - and the manipulation of some images to create stunning visual results, which also links in with ideas of rainbows as they are often considered to be beautiful. This connotes that the album is a beautiful and special (rainbows are nto common occurances) work of art.

Representation

Because the band do not feature, there is no primary representation of the band. This does however add to their meta-narrative, because they are absent in most of their previous and subsequent album covers. The band also issues 'pull-out pieces with this digipak, which allows the consumers to turn a blank CD case into a conventional version of this packaging. These two features suggest a mysteriousness surrounding the band which entices the consumer to purchase their product, whilst the inginuity of their additional material also encourages the consumer to buy into this 'collectable', as they strive to complete the band.