Plans for digipak

These are the digipak designs I created based overall on my research into other digipaks, our song's genre and our music video.

My First design features the bands instrument (the guitar), a scientific flask to reflect the chemical theme of cyanide, an apple (where cyanide comes from) and a pint glass of beer like the one featured in the music video. The front cover includes the album name in a classic punk-like font and a group of hands which are shaped to form the letters TFI in between them.

My second design incorporates a more rebellious style to emphasise the idea of anarchy. I used a graffiti cartoon of an apple which a skull looking face reflecting how cyanide comes from apples and is featured in the video. Other references to the video are the beer pint glass with a skull over it and the smashed pint glass after being drunk in the video. The spray paint can has been used to symbolise anarchy by its use for creating graffiti. The band members are also seen on one of the panels in a line as silhouettes facing a crowd of generic looking people who look towards the viewer. This is meant to symbolise the idea of being an individual and not following the system, as punk is associated with.

Analysis of digipak of our chosen genre

Because our band didn't have a digipak I decided to analyse one from a band of the same genre. I chose to analyse the one for Green Day's Greatest Hits 2 digipak. This will help me when it comes to designing our digipak to make it look more appropriate for the genre.
The front cover contains the three band members stencilled onto a wall which connotes a gritty urban setting, which is strongly associated with that genre. Their faces are coloured in white to highlight them more to emphasise their importance. The band's name is clearly displayed in a large bright font which contrasts with the dark background. on the bottom of the front the album's name is displayed over a banner held by an eagle. This signifies their American origin and connotes patriotism which contrasts the way punk is generally very anti-patriotic.

The back cover uses a background of a stencil of the back of a man carrying rucksacks. There is little significance for the use of this background however it follows the urban graffiti style theme the album uses overall. The font of the track list uses a stencil looking font as well. Also it has been placed at an angle to mirror the generic gritty style of punk.
The rest of the album contains mostly photos of the band, emphasising their importance and that it is their album.

The digipak is made up of 3 panels and 6 sides and folds into thirds. Two of the inner sides are used to hold two CD's and the third is used to display what would be on the booklet.

Pitch idea based on lyrics

Once we had decided on TFI (The fake imposters) as our artist, we read through the lyrics for their song Cyanide, which is the song we chose to create a music video for, and discussed ideas for the video's narrative based on them. We each analysed the lyrics individually so we could think up more unique ideas then exchanged ideas together. Here is the analysis I made myself:

I came up with the idea of a couple who end up in an argument because the male has cheated on the girl with her friend and he leaves. The girl working at an inn has to serve the man who is now dating her friend and decides to put cyanide in his drink to kill him. The links between the lyrics and narrative portray mostly literal representations of them, including the inn, the cyanide pill in the drink, walking out the door and the couple having dinner.

Lyric analysis and importance

The lyrics in the song being used for the music video have a very large effect on what happens visually throughout the music video. The lyrics will help get across a message to the audience and engage them with the video. They can also aid the narrative and set the scene of the video by explaining what is happening or why. The video can follow the lyrics meaning literally or use them to create a hidden meaning within the video and in some cases the video can have nothing to do with the lyrics at all, but this is uncommon.

In order to understand how this would work I analysed the lyrics for Leave Right Now by Will Young which I hadn't seen the music video for before and planned my own music video based around the lyrics then compared it to the actual thing. This would help me by allowing me to test how the lyrics can be adapted to create an effective music video so I can apply these skills to my own chosen song and music video.

I ended up creating a very symbolic literal representation of the lyrics which involved the artist falling into a pool and sinking. Then the heart shaped pool cracks in half and they fall downwards before landing in a giant hand and is wet and trembling, a girl then walks over to him and he stands for her.
This turned out to be a much more exaggerated portrayal of the song's lyrics to how it did in the official music video which features a POV view throughout the video facing the artist who sings towards the camera.

Foreverly magazine advertisement analysis

I analysed two magazine advertisements for albums based on their aesthetic look. From this I mainly found text varies in font size and colour depending on its informative importance. I will use this knowledge so my own advertisement  shows the key information clearly to its viewer.
Text and font
The advertisement has used the big and bold font from the original album cover to highlight clearly the names of the album's artists and the album title 'Foreverly' in a white and yellow coloured font which contrasts well with its background so it stands out from the rest of the advertisement. Other text included is what the album is about, its release date and the artist's website. The most useful information is highlighted in yellow font instead of white to draw the audience's attention to it specifically and so it follows the style of the album cover.

Colour
The advertisement has an orange and black filter which uses the strong contrast between the two colours to make the image of Billie Joe and Norah much bolder and sharper so its more eye-catching. The colours are also much brighter where the album title, the artists and their names are, compared to the rest of the picture which attracts most of the attention to that section of the advertisement.

Images
The image shows both the artists recording at a studio together which highlights who the artists are to the viewer. Also the original image used for the album cover has been used, without the cropping,  as the advertisement's background. then the section which has been used as the album cover has been highlighted with the white border used in the cover and the outside section darkened to draw more attention to the cover itself.

Euphoria magazine advertisement analysis

This is my second magazine advertisement analysis from which I found the colours particularly are very important for highlighting information as well as allowing the viewer to point out the themes and genres of the album. This will come in useful for choosing the colours and positioning of images to my advertisements advantage, particularly when designing.
Text and font
The font size varies across the advertisement to help draw the viewers attention to the most important parts such as the artist's name and the album name which both use the largest font followed by the release date in a smaller font and finally the songs included, downloadable content and websites to visit for further information about the album and artist. The artist and album names have been highlighted using a white colour which contrasts with the dark background better than the yellow used in other text in the advertisement in order to draw the viewers eye towards them more as well. In the smaller text there is a variation between the yellow and white text to point out the most important information of that text for example the song names in the text which says what songs the album includes.
Colour
The dark brown background not only contrasts with the brighter colours in the foreground but also has connotations of casualness, warmth and comfort which combined with the slight red and pink colours in the deep background (which have connotations of love, passion and warmth as well) inform the viewer that the album's music is of a romantic theme. Also the album's name, Euphoria, adds to this.
Images
A whole half of the page is covered by the artist alone which emphasises his importance and showing he is the main artist of the album as well as attracting the attention of fans towards the advertisement. There is also an image of the album to inform the viewer of what it looks like and record company logos in the corner so they know who produced it. These would be useful because if it is a large company, like in this case Universal Music Group, it would be more likely to include good quality mainstream music which commonly people find more appealing.

Analysis of Pure Dylan Digipak

This is my second digipak analysis.
Imagery and colours
The overall colours of the cover have a gritty, sepia look to them which connotes an old western style. This reflects both the generic western style of the country genre as well as the greyscale style Dylan uses often for his images. It also links with the use of imagery from different stages of his life by reflecting the idea of old-time photos. in each image he looks older which is highlighted by each being larger the older he becomes. These images suggest the album contains a compilation of songs from throughout his years.The two iconic instruments associated with the artist, the guitar and harmonica, are presented on sections of the album to help highlight how this is his "pure" and original style. The wavy and splash looking patterns behind the artist pictures mirror his music's creative and artistic concept.   
Text
The text uses a western style font associating with the country genre that is his music. It has been sized based on importance with the album name being largest to focus the audience's attention on mostly the name to know who's the album is and then smaller information such as track listings and company information. They are coloured in black to contrast with the background and follow the black colours used in the rest of the cover. Also some of the text is a slight brown colour so the darker text is more emphasised, again to draw the viewers eye to the important information. On the album title, this is done to show Dylan's name is more important as he is the album artist. The rest of the pack uses no text so the audience can focus on the imagery on each section.
Function
Unlike the previous digipak this one contains 6 panels (3 on the inside and 3 on the outside). It opens up in the same way however using two doors which sit on top of each other when closed. This provides more thickness and therefore better protection for the digipak as well as  looking stylish for the user.  

Analysis of The Heist digipak

 To help me understand how a digipak can be created to aid with the design of my own one I analysed through on myself based on its aesthetics and functionality.
Imagery and colours
The entire cover of the package uses an image resembling a faux reptile skin, relating to one of the album's hit singles "Thrift Shop" which is about buying cheap or fake made objects and clothing from a thrift shop. The dark background helps highlight the lighter images in the foreground.
Text
The font used has a gritty and nostalgic look to it which suggests the album will include songs with a link to the artist personally. It also varies in font based on the main facts from additional information, for example the album's name is in the largest font and stretches over a lot of the front cover to help draw the user's attention to the digipak, whereas the artists' names are in a smaller font just above because they aren't as important as the album title. its golden colour not only contrasts with the dark background to highlight it further but also as a colour, gold connotes richness and power, making the artist and album appear to be more important. No logos are visible over the digipak however the artist name(s), album name, record label, included songs and company credits are displayed on either the front, back or inside covers.
Function
The digipak itself opens simply in a book-like way, with nothing connecting the two sides when closed and made up of one long strip of card which holds the two halves of the case together. The album leaflet slides out the side as it would with a regular plastic CD case.