Digipak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I designed this digipak with the genre of our artist and theme in mind. I tried to keep it simple and not over complicate things by having a large image in the background and simple text as I feel the target audience will find this effective. I've gone with a darker coloured design because 'goodbye my lover' is quite a depressing song. I've included our groups logo in the bottom right for promotional reasons so our target audience know the company that has formed this specific digipak and music video.

What is a digipack?

 A digipak is a form of packaging that holds some sort of disc, whether it be a CD or DVD. It is commonly made up of anything between 4 to 8 pannels (counting each side). They can be made from card or from and fold together to contain the disc. The purpose of a digipak is to hold a disc as well as to promote the disc. A digipak promotes the disk it contains by having images and text on the panels to present relevant information as well as appealing attributes in order to gain audience attention. Although music is more commonly downloaded in modern times, the digipak can be a form of memorabilia/merchandise for fans to posses. Digipaks are important because they help promote both the artist and the song/album if done correctly can help increase sales and popularity of artist and record label.

Here is an example of a digipak: 

 

 

 

Intertextuality within Music Videos

Many artists have incorporated intertextuality in their music videos to make specific references to significant events, people or pictures. The word intertextuality means to merge two text and merge them together, many artists do this for reasons such as popularity as making a reference to a popular book will boost the amount viewing the music video. Intertextuality is often quite hard to incorporate into a music video as usually the thing that is being incorporated has to be well known, easy to create and has to have a meaning for the music video to work. 

However here is an example of intertextuality being used to good effect in a music video. 'Walks Like Rihanna' by The Wanted contains multiple references to other boy bands such as 'Take That' and 'Backstreet Boys'
 

 





Here below I have picked out a specific example of where the video of  'Walks Like Rihanna' uses references to 'I Want It That Way', they are both in an airport wearing white attire.













My second example is from the Take That video of 'Back For Good'  The Wanted copy the black and white style as well as showing shots of the band in-front of a classic car just like in Take That's video.

Lyric analysis and their importance

It is common for music videos to include a narrative. The narrative tends to be based on the lyrics, sometimes the video can be a very literal interpretation and in other cases the interpretation can be a bit more open. Having a relation between the lyrics and the visuals helps to enhance and reflect emotions and themes within the song.

When creating a music video, analysing the lyrics is an important thing to do. The lyrics are the foundations to build a narrative upon. If the visuals clash with the lyrics then the audience may be left feeling confused and the effectiveness of the song and video can be lost.

Andrew Goodwin believes that there should be a distinct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This could be to illustrate, enhance meaning or even contradict.

This is evident in Rihanna's music video for her song 'Diamonds'. The song title is called 'Diamonds' and the word diamonds is mentioned in the lyrics. Within the first second of the video we see a shot which has a pile of diamonds therefore creating clear lyric to visual connections.

Andrew Goodwin - codes and conventions of music videos

Andrew Goodwin was a music video theorist and he identified seven main conventions which a good music video should have. 


1. All music videos must generate certain genre characteristics. For example, girl/boy bands should feature a dance routine within the music video, rap/R&B music videos should have a number of women and the artists should be wearing jewellery such as expensive watches and chains ('bling') and heavy metal/ rock videos should have performance shots. 

Screen shot taken from Jay Zs song 99 problems.

2. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. Themes, mise-en-scene and events match the lyrics of the song to help portray the message of the song.  For example 'Alfie' by Lilly Allen the lyrics match what we see.





3. A relationship between the music and the visuals. This means that the cuts/edits and the movements in the video are in sync with the rhythm and beat of the song. For example, Bruno Mars flicks an drawing of a drum in sync to the beat at a point during his song 'Just The Way You Are'.





4. Due to the demands of the record label, there should be many close ups of the artist/artists'. This is because the record label will want their artist to gain maximum recognition, boosting their popularity and therefore their sales. 

Image from Jay Z 99 problems video, he includes many close up shots to ensure to the audience he is the centre of attention.
5. Reference to the 'notion of looking', in-particular the voyeuristic treatment, and objectification of the female body. The 'male gaze' is often used in music videos to attract male audiences. The 'notion of looking' can also include the artist looking directly into the camera, breaking down the 'third wall' to help the audience to connect with the artist. For example destination unknown by Alex Gaudino.





6. Inter-textual references can be used. Music videos reference other forms of media, most commonly film, but can also be television and other music videos. For example, Linkin Park's music video for the song 'Iridescent' has inter-textual references to the film 'Transformers Dark of the Moon' because the song is used in the film and both media products promote each other. 










7. Iconography or motifs from the artist should be included in the video. This is all about the artist's 'star image'. If the artist has their own iconic style which they have developed in their career or in their other videos, then it should be repeated in the rest of their work to help their recognition. 

 

 

Jay Z uses the same clothing and body styles throughout most of his videos he keeps a continuous theme going.

Music Magazine Advertisements

Music magazines are magazines dedicated to music, music artists and music culture. This is a great place for music artists to advertise their upcoming songs and albums as it is a direct advertising link to their audience. Dedicated music fans buy these magazines and what better audience could an artist hope to get their upcoming singles/albums advertised to. Another benefit of music magazine advertisement is that it's cheaper than some other forms of advertising in the media such as TV adverts.

However a flaw of advertising in music magazines is that only people that buy music magazines will see the advertisement and therefore their audience wont grow as well. This is a huge disadvantage as artists want their popularity and recognition to grow. 
It's noticeable that the things generally found on a music poster are also found in music magazine advertisements. An image of the artist, the song title/album name and the artist's name seem to be the crucial things to be included, which makes sense.

Before actually looking at music magazine advertisements I assumed they would contain more information than posters and billboards as the audience would supposedly have more time to read and look at it. However as it turns out I was wrong, the same amount of information appears to be in both, and they still tend to keep the information as short and snappy as possible which I thought was unexpected.

Something that I have seen on all music magazine advertisements is that they include the artist's website and their record label logo. This is definitely something we will take into consideration for our own products.


Here are some examples below that I have picked out as effective magazine advertisements.





 

Tzvetan Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov proposed that all narratives contain the following 5 fundamental stages in this order:


1. A state of equilibrium ( all is as it should be)
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.




Todorov's theory is used across a variety of music videos in order to aid a good narrative. However all 5 stages do not need to be covered in order to do this. My example here to use is Plan B's song Writings on the wall.

Equilibrium is present. Strickland Banks is out performing, something he does to earn money for him and his wife who is at home cooking dinner for the two of them to have a nice evening in.

A disruption occurs when Strickland banks decides to go out with friends after the gig instead of going home to his wife. He then has a one night stand with another girl which betrays his wife further.

A recognition of the disorder occurred when Strickland Banks phoned his wife and told her he was not coming home for dinner he was staying out with friends.
However this is where it ends there is not attempt of repair on the damage that is caused.