Response to Brief

Response to Brief on Prezi

Digipak - Paramore Riot

The front of the album is indicative of the genre. It features a picture of the entire band, not just the lead singer as many pop covers do, and it appears to have a sketchbook appearance, like doodles. However looking closer at it you can tell it is just the name of the album over and over again. Added to this it also has the names of who wrote the songs as well as the year it was made. The name of the album is Riot, which is written in the scribble font largely over the sketchbook appearance of the band. The "photo" of the band is high-angle, making the importance less on the image than the name of the album, the music itself. Added to this the colours used are black and white with orange. Orange is usually the colour of the lead singer's hair and fans of the music will know this and will link this colour to the band itself. The front of the album also features a sticker stating the singles of the album and a link to the band's website, a use of convergence.

The back of the album continues the theme of sketchbook font and the use of contrasting. It also again has an image of the band in black and white. The names of the songs are in the orange font, however instead of being set out in a list they are in the scribble font giving the appearance that someone just wrote the thoughts in their own head with out thought of structure. This fits the genre of the music of the album as it is not part of the mainstream music and can then therefore be more experimental with it's cover. The font also follows the shape of the image of the band's heads.

The fact that the image is just of their heads shows that they want their image to be shown more clearly to their fans. It contrasts however with someone like Pixie Lotts cover as despite the headshots the focus is meant to be on the names of the songs.

The lyric book continues the theme of the band images, the black and white and the sketch-like image of the writing. This is reinforced with the fact there have been words "crossed-out" as well as doodles "drawn", similarly in the way people will actually make notes. It is most likely indicative of the lead singer's own songwriting notebook, as she is the songwriter of the songs, and is meant to look to the audience as if it is more personal and more about the music and a band than just a singer that is often presented in a mainstream artist's digipak.

The final part of the digipak is still along the lines of contrasting colours and sketchbook. It is a thank you page with an individual message from each member of the band as well as a smaller note stating the producers and the like involved. This was most likely put here to make it feel more personal to the fans and to demonstrate that the band themselves are real people, as the image of celebrity seems to disconnect the person from the image.

Digi Pack:Pixie Lott 'Turn it up Louder' and Beyonce '4'

Pixie Lott’s follow up to her debut album Turn it Up, was her reloaded album Turn It Up Louder. The iconography on the front seems simple but conflicting. The typography is pink, therefore giving a feminine air of innocence, while Pixie is shown holding onto a chain/necklace.

Her hair is dishevelled, but the chain that she is holding and her eye make-up suggests that she is deliberately rebelling against something, as opposed to being the ‘odd one out’.
This is an example of Dyer's Star Theory. Dyer states that a a star is constructed to meet the audience's demands.Pixie's target audience being primarily teenage girls, would mean that her image has to be something that they can identify with. Conforming to the stereotypes of teens being rebellious, the star is also potrayed in this light, creating the gratification of belonging.

The back page of the digi pack is in colour and is studio shot. Her dress suggests that she is outgoing young person, which immediately creates identification between her and her target audience. Every star has an ideaology according to Dyer, and in this case it centers on being young and free. This theme is carried on in her recent album 'Young Foolish Happy'.

The inner page shows her resting on a disco ball wearing school-girl styled knee high tights. This may again be an attempt to strike up identification between Pixie and her target audience. The disco ball also conforms to the conventions of the genre as people generally relate Pop music with a deliberately formatted image, where the singer is using direct address in the picture, giving the audience the feeling that they are connecting with her. This also conforms to the male gaze in some ways as she is minimally dressed and preened for male onlooker’s satisfaction.

Byonce's digi pack for her most recent album '4' also has elements of the Male Gaze. The front of the album shows Beyonce's star ideaology  as 'girl power' as her album features songs such as 'Run the World' and 'The best you Had'.
She has pulled herself upto her full height and is in effect looking down at her audience, encouraging her audience to be independent and confident as she is.
The inside pictures also show her scantily dressed, which is part of Dyer's 'star construction' as this is one of her signature 'moves', suggesting that she is confident and secure in herself.
This also fulfills the gratification of esteem and aspiration as her younger target audience may aspire to be as succesful as her.

 

DigiPak - Coco

This album is from the Artists Justice. They are an Electro clash, French house (which was made famous by the legendary Daft Punk), Electronic Rock.

Cover

The cover is very simple, minimalistic and black keeping in theme with their logo which is black and yellow. This could be to keep up with their image of being a solely about the music group much like the genres they make music in which do not include words but only music which could also be the reason for the lack of words. Only having the logo as the cover picture could imply this is the only recognisable symbol of J.U.S.T.I.C.E and only fans could recognise this and know who the logo belongs to making the fans an exclusive club that conforms to the audience theory of Maslow hierarchy (the audience receiving gratification from “Belonging” in a group) Also it is in trend with the minimalistic fashion showing them to be a trendy making appeal to a certain audience interested in trends etc. Also the black backdrop contrasts with the bright yellow outline making the logo stand out when placed against other.

Layout

The layout out of the album is a replica of the cross on the logo. It gives the album a distinct layout that is unique to the artist. It remains consistent to the theme of the logo that gives the audience a familiar feel. It is a simple paper outfit that allows the album to be easily transferable.

Inside

Inside the album it has another logo across the paper. This time the logo is in more detailed with more illustration (more detail on the cross and “stars” on the other flaps, the reason they have drawn this illustration could be to keep in theme with their sound which sounds “interglacial” and “space” influence ) giving the album a more creative look and more visually pleasing to the audience.

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