Digi-pak Research

"Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco, Inc. resource, which acquired the original trademark holder, IMPAC Group, Inc., in 2000. MeadWestvaco licensed the name and designs to manufacturers around the world".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digipak

For our project we will make a digi-pak to relate to our video. A digi-pak is an album which we will create, designing the front cover, back cover, inside design and the cd design. I decided to research different album and cd covers to get a good idea of what we need to design.

I like the design of Kano's album cover. It is very affective as the background is dark (black and white) with the pattern in coordinating colours. The writing is done so that his name stands out to the audience. The font of the album name and songs on the back is matching but hard to read. This example gives me the idea of the back and front matching and also to include the name and album cover down the spine.

I then went on to look at Plan B's recently released album. I found images of both the album cover and the cd. This album is by the featuring artist of Pieces which means we can relate to the design more. The cover is very dark showing black around the outside and showing the title in an American style theatre lit up which also lights him up in the centre. On the back of the cover the list of songs is also in the same style as the title. The cd has no images just two bold colours; red and cream.

As an idea of what we are aiming for with our digi-pak we created our own using photoshop with the actual artist on it as a rough draft of what pictures we need to get.

We found templates of a digipak which will help as a guidline of shapes and sizes.

After researching these templates we knew what to aim for and decided to create our cd first as we were not going to use images. for the other covers we needed multiple images of our artist so we could choose the right one to put on it.

The album covers above demonstrates the selling point of their album is a close up of the artists face. This is an effective form in targeting their audience as they can easily be recognised. Also the album covers clearly state the name of the artist, catching attention from the audience.

For the front cover of our album we have decided to go for the same idea as Olly Murs' album and have multiple images of our artist in different posing positions. Although we are using ideas from this album the clothing of our artist will not be the same as this but the same as what is worn in our music video. Such as a hoody, jeans and shoes.

Video analysis The Script - Talk You Down

I can feel the color running

As it's fading from my face

Try to speak but nothings coming

Nothing I could say to make you stay

Grabbed your suitcase called a taxi

It's 3 a.m. now where you gonna go?

Gonna stay with friends in London

And that's all I get to know

Just a cigarette gone

No you couldn't' be that far

So I'm driving in my car where I hope you are

Maybe I can talk you down

Maybe I can talk you down

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

And try to open up your eyes

This is relationship suicide

'Cause if you go I go

Taking shortcuts through the alleys

While your racing through my mind

Cops can chase but they wont catch me

Not before I get to speak my mind

If there's still time

Just a cigarette gone

No you couldn't be that far

So I'm driving in my car where I hope you are

Maybe I can talk you down

Maybe I can talk you down

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

And try to open up your eyes

This is relationship suicide

'Cause if you go I go

'Cause if you go I go

'Cause if you go I go

'Cause if you go I go

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

Just a cigarette gone

No you couldn't be that far

So I'm driving in my car where I hope you are

Maybe I can talk you down

Maybe I can turn around

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

And try to open up your eyes

This is relationship suicide

After viewing a number of videos I decided that this music video most resembles the genre of music my group and I were looking at.

The opening scene shows diegetic sound of the first instrument played. The piano is heard and seen being played before there is a close up of the main vocalist as he begins to sing. The audience sees a flash of the last scene which is not understandable until the end.

The first scene of the video is dimmed light while the music is slow showing depression and upset. The video starts to tell a story when there is a women shown in a long shot walking down the street. The scene is over-cranked so that her movement is slower and to the pace of the music. As he sings 'grab your suitcase, call a taxi' she grabs hold of her suitcase in a close up shot and we see the taxi pull up in-front of her which shows the visuals mimicking the lyrics. The scene shows a blued effect to it which gives the feel of melancholy.

The music then speeds up along with the number of cuts so the video moves quicker. The video becomes brighter as the streets light up. We see a close up of the woman sitting in the back of the taxi looking sad before it cuts to the main vocalist bursting out the door and rushing to his car giving us the idea that he is running after her. The whole band is shown in a long shot when the guitar and drums are being played. The pace of the music speeds up again and a number of different shots are shown to understand the story - flashes of the woman in the taxi, to the busy town, to him in his car and to the band singing. He goes through a red light to show the urgency of him trying to get to her, but there is a shot of a police car to show he was spotted. 'Cops can chase but they won't catch me' is shown him singing this line in the car with police lights in the distance.

'Racing through my mind' - the car he is driving races past the camera. He turns around to look and the camera goes into a close up shot of his foot pressing the accelerator right down. There is a close up of a photo of the couple before it cuts to a side on shot of her crying looking out of the window. Throughout the song it says 'cos if you go, I go' which relates to him chasing her. There is a crash between the lead vocalist and the taxi with a third car. We hear the diegetic sound of the tyres screeching and the initial crash. There is then a shot shown which was seen in the beginning of the video.

We then see a shot of both of them coming through the windscreen but heading towards each other with their arms out and glass shattered all around them - they are both lit up like angels from the car headlights. They grab hands and he pulls her down towards him - 'talk you down'.

'Cos if you go I go' is repeated four times as they hold hands looking at each other and the camera pans out. Throughout the video the mise en scene shows the two main characters to be wearing black, grey and other dark colours which mirrors the tone of the song being melancholic. The music ends with a final hit of the drums and keyboard then all the shattered glass drops and we hear the diegetic sound of it hitting the floor with a police siren in the distance the scene fades out as the video finishes.

Video analysis Geri Halliwell - It's Raining Men

In the opening scene you don't see the artist's face and all you can hear is diegetic sound - the footsteps, traffic outside and the record. It creates suspense using fragmented body shots and an enigma to her identity. The record signifies a before cd era with two lots of two shots of the judges in their suits. His mode of address is well spoken and of a higher class to Geri who seems common. It is 51 seconds into the video before you see her face.

A quote from Andrew Goodwin's Dancing in the distraction factory states that there is a number of key features in a music video;

There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals with the visuals either illustrating, amplifying and contradicting. - Stormy weather rolling in. Geri Halliwell is dancing in-front of a screen showing storm clouds, this is known as chromakey footage. As she sings 'its raining men' outside it begins to rain. When the song slows down the visuals mirror this by over-cranking the artists dance moves.

As she sings the 'melody's rising' the camera pans up her body.

Particular music genres have their own music video style and iconography. -Iconography is symbolic an example of this is tumbleweed relates to Western themes. The tumbleweed symbolises a western era. The music video style of this video is dance, the iconography of this is the dance school and the backing dancers.

Demand on the part of the record company for lots of close ups on the main artist. - At the beginning of the sequence it is 51 seconds in before we see her face creating suspense and showing off her body with fragmented body shots. Geri is very much foregrounded in centre frame when the dancers are behind her. She changes outfit several times. In one scene she is above the rest of the dancers to stand out and there are a number of close ups of her singing into the camera. We see cuts of her training and in different classes to give the impression she is in a school of arts and to show hard work which gives the video authenticity. When she dances in-front of a picture of stormy weather singing 'I feel stormyweather moving in' she is dancing seductively. 'It's raining men' and it literally rains. This shows the visuals mirroring the lyrics and she dances seductively in-front of the camera and walks towards the camera until it fades out. Throughout the video the camera pans up and down her body several times which shows the male gaze.

Often there is likely to be reference to the voyeurism - watching people in a sexual situation or notion of looking. - There is a reaction shot of somebody looking through the door as Geri begins to dance. The movement of the camera is to the music and we see an over the shoulder shot of the judges to show what they can see. More students are watching through the door giving her star status.

Often there is likely to be intertextual references either to films, other music videos or tv. - An example of intertextual references in this video is from the film 'Flashdance'. This is seen at the very beginning of the sequence when she auditions, falls over and then starts again.

Another intertextual reference is to the film 'Fame'. She wears a top towards the end of the video in the colours and font of fame logo but the top says 'famous' instead. The whole video is also filmed in an American style dance school like 'Fame'.

A2 Brief

For our A2 course after being given a choice of three my group and I chose to do a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of the digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).