JC: Digipak ideas

Here's a few digipaks I found whilst looking through the internet. The first one from Oasis is quite a simple design, but once again is something that we're looking for as it has more panes than a normal digipak. The secon one I found is again a simple design, but the use of artwork instead of photography is to be considered, and the final one is an example of students work for a rock album cover - this one is something we may choose to look at a bit closer. If we were to replicate this, the shots of band members could simply be taken from footage stills and then manipulated in Photoshop. Anyway, enjoy!



Oasis



Simple design



Student work



JC: More ideas...

Last night, after trawling through a number of Radiohead albums, I rediscovered the video for Street Spirit (Fade Out). The video is interesting throughout, but the part I find most fascinating is the manipulation of time that is used in the video - a shot which includes Yorke in slow motion and a young boy who is sped up, for example. Whilst our shots need some purpose and should not just be chucked in at will, having a couple of shots with this contrast will show excellence in some technical areas provided the shot is stable throughout and cropped effectively.

Group: Pitch and response

Media Group 8 Pitch

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I've been trying endlessly this weekend to upload our pitch to Slideboom, and finally it's worked!

In general, I feel our pitch went very well - we showed that we had clearly researched our shot ideas, and the fact that we had put a number of them into practice also helped in our presentation, as it allowed us to show how the shots would look. The Digipak idea from the Radiohead (In Rainbows) advert also scored well, and was therefore a great last minute addition to our pitch. After positive feedback from Miss Fernandez on this piece, we are likely to adopt a similar digipak design.

The main thing that I feel we need to work out is what substance we will have to our shots - what movement is there going to be, and when the track luls in speed (during the verses), how will we encapsulate our audience? I believe that the vast array of shots that we have discussed in our pitch and on our blog should ensure us a level four for construction, provided that we carry out the shots as we have intended to. If we were to use a similar idea to the video for 'Move Along', I think we could get away with not having too much movement in shot, as changing exterior locations will keep the audience interested.

Digipak Analysis: The Gaslight Anthem "59th Sound"

Genre:

How is the genre of the track/artist evident?

• The costumes worn by the artist are indie
• The label supporting them are one that signs indie/rock bands
• Dark colours connotes urban environment
• Typography is bold and the 59^th Sound bold signifies Rock genre, is unique

Media Language:

What visual techniques are used?

• Dominant reading path as the text is off towards the left, this means that the people underneath are The Gaslight anthem.
• The man who is furthest forward connotes that he is the lead singer.
• There is an extra-diaject gaze and breaking of the fourth wall which connotes as connection with the audience
• Dyer paradox 1, ordinary clothes but name is large and famous so extra-ordinary
• They are individual because there is no coherence in how they are dressed, this signifies the indie genre further as is individual.

What linguistic devices have been used?

• The 59^th Sound, connotes Americanism and patriotism with the description 59^th sounds like a street name.
• Intertexuality similar to Bruce Springsteens E-street band greatest hits, is simple and shows band name.

Representation:

How are the band/artist represented?

·        Indexical sign if you own a leather jacket you connote that you are strong and masculine.

·        The band appear to be ordinary people with their costumes being available to all. This supports Dyer's theory of the two Paradoxes, the band being present and absent, and also being extra-ordinary and ordinary.

·        Cultural myth is they are four guys just singing to earn some money, not pop stars.

·        Due to it being a simple design, connotes authentic low fi, which signifies regular guys.

Institution and audience:

How might this print text be consumed?

• Preferred reading is that this is the bands first album due to the fact that they are being introduced by their title being the same size as their picture.
• In music video magazines such as NME, as is a magazine for Indie/rock bands. Therefore will be advertised directly to the target audience

Group: Focus Group Findings

On the 10th of October we undertook 2 focus groups.

In both we decided to play the track first and use of synthesisa, in order to get them to write down ideas they would have for the track, found this exercise was very helpful as not only did we first share with what we got it ment they were easier to open up with there ideas. After that we asked them what they thought about the ideas we had and if theres anything we should change. The focus group lasted for about 15 minutes and it was valuable research as we got to hear in person ideas that they had and get there face value reaction of our ideas and questions.

Group: Progress Report

As a group today we made great progress in deciding upon our treatment, and have decided it will be conceptual rather than narrative based.


Here are our ideas so far.

AT: Deconstructing Album Cover

Chase and Status - No more Idols

Genre

How is the genre of the track/artist evident?
The genre is evident due to the typography used and the imagery. It is evident that the text used is a way of showing its individuality as a genre with the text in the middle breaking the dominant reading path making it appeal to their audience.

Richard Dyer has written extensively about the role of stars in music. The star image is incoherant, that is complete and open. Dyer says that this is because it is based upon two key paradoxes. The first paradox suggests that the star is extraordinary whilst simultaneously ordinary, this however is not fully evident in the album cover however items such as the britch bulldog with bearing teath and the yellow font suggest the low fi feel and the authenticity creating the ordinary feel. The secound paradox suggests that the band is present and simultaneously absent, this is evident as the band is present through the band name is listed and they are absent as you do not see the members themselves.

Media Language

What visual techniques are used ?

Everything is placed central and therefore it breaks the rule of thirds and makes it more interesting, however this also draws attention in on the CD with the name of the band being in bold and in yellow to stand out from the black and white background. The british bulldog represents aggression, this is further reinforced with its teath bearing, this fits in with the drum and bass genre and also with use of the cultural code the cultural reading from Britain identifying that the background is a British Bulldog and therefore as further connotations rather than other readings about it being an agrresive dog. The indexical sign created is that you who buys the album whish to represent yourself as patriotic or show interest in other cultures if you are from another country. Social myth that British people are middle to upper class as percieved by foreigners , however this myth is challenged by the lower class representation of the black and white effect background.

What linguistic devices have been used here?

The album title is 'no more idols' this connotes that they dont base themselves on any other music or band they are unique which further conforms to their genre. The 'no more idols' is the way in which they have seen to of grown and established there band and are informing their audience there inderpendent now.

Representation

How are the band/artist represented?

Their meta- narative is added to through the use of the 'no more idols' as they have established themselves and are gaining attention. The British Bulldog reinforces this is as it helps to draw in the attention of the viewer and leads to an easy relation of the comprehension of the British patrism. This helps to sell their product as it helps to build the relationship between them and the consumer. This leads to more trust and brand loyalty. Futhermore this gives the consumer a furhter insight and confidence in the brand due to the 'no more idols' as the album they buy they want to label themselves as being recognised that way.

Institution and audience

How might this print text be consumed?

It is evident in the print text that the dominant reading path of right to left has been broken by the centralisation of the text juxtaposed with the background image. It has been constucted so you identify the band name and read there statement of the 'no more idols' and then you see what they visualy pair themselves with of which is the dog to connote the patriotic britain reinforcing it is a british band and the type of music it is with its simplicity in design however the complex structure of stereotypes in order to construct the meta - narative.

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.



Inside packaging





Outside packaging

 


Booklet cover




Booklet middle




Stickers, CD case and CD instructions (see advertisment analysis)



JC: Carpark North - Human

Despite my previous post, this is still a fantastic video - one which I would love to replicate in some way, I just don't know if the style would fit our song!

JC: New ideas?

After our lesson on thursday, a number of issues with our proposal have arisen that we need to sort out. An idea that we are now considering is to have a concept based narrative, with band performance interspersed with this. The main problems with this are that we currently don't have enough band members, and that we don't have a concept which we could represent.

Whilst the examples of Martin de Thurrah's work - notably 'Human' by Carpark North - have been mentioned, I for one am struggling to see how that would fit the mood, and genre of this song.

One thing that I have looked at is to have a close up of just the strings of the guitar(s) and my hands. Similarly, when it comes to playing the drums, if we have a close-up then nobody will be able to tell who is playing them - meaning if Cameron were to learn a section of the song that we could then record, we might be able to carry this out?

JC: Advertising research

So far, this is the only advertising campaign that I have been able to find that is linked to 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead. The video is promoting the fact that the CD cover can actually be made by the consumer - a unique way of selling the product.



Following our pitch, where we exhibited this idea, Miss Fernandez suggested that this idea (with a number of additional pieces inside the CD) would be excellent, and so we may choose to design a digipak similar to this, where a number of collectible pieces would be attatched instead of having an eight-pane pack.

Group: Digipak brief

Guys we need to decide where to put our advertisement, I think maybe a music magazine such as NME?
Also we need to decide whether to do a 8 pane digipak and one poster or a 4 pane digipak and two posters, we all need to contribute to them. I feel that we should do the 8 pane digipak and the single poster? I would be happy to work on the poster if you two work together on the digipak?

Audience Research

Our finding of the audience research (questionnaire and two focus groups) were that the majority of people had agreed with us. Our ideal scenario was that the genre was recognised as Indie, and the idea for our music video would be conceptual. Furthermore, the atmosphere was in our mind overcast and filled with anger and rebellion. Also we believed the best suited location for our music production would be Brighton, and our costumes
would be chinos and individual t-shirts, and maybe jeans. The audience feedback has been very positive as has fully agreed with our beliefs.

Findings:1) Indie/Rock genre

2) Conceptual based
3) Overcast/anger

4) Brigton
5) Striped T-shirts/Chinos

Group: Thursday Pitch ideas needed

Hey guys we need to all look at the vle powerpoint for pitch ideas and then if we all take a section and focus heavily on it we can have a deeper understanding of our concept etc.

Group: Audience research plan

Guys, what are we going to do for this piece? I'm pretty sure we'll be using a questionnaire, but aside from this are we going to use a focus group? I think this would be particularly useful because if we got together a group of like-minded people who can associate with the genre of the track, and they gave us positive feedback on our track ideas then we would have much better, more qualitative and more personal support for ideas than simply asking a random group of people who potentially know little about what the genre represents.

GROUP: Thursday 29th September 2011

In today's lesson we took out a camera and decided to get some ideas to include in our pitch, we focused mainly on the movement of the camera as we had already got some good framming shots from our Brighton recce. The use of the excercise was to try out some ideas that we had and then to put it into Premiere to put the effects on it to test it. We found this really useful as it gives us more things to explore with when we go out shooting in Brighton for our real thing and gives us more ideas.