This is our first idea of the digipack, the two main characters are seen together but are facing away which indicates to the audience who the main characters are so they can identify with them and follow their story but also because they're faces away, it not only connotes that the love story is a sort of mystery which intrigues the audience but also emphasizes the attitude of the typical teenager within the indie genre, mysterious and moody in a way. It is a key piece of iconography and with the two characters walking together and their faces next to each other, it shows the connection between the two main characters even though their is enough mystery that the narrative is a guessing game to the audience.
With the inside of the digipack, the two faces of next to each other positioned in a way that the male character is facing towards the female, showing romantic interest and a slight weakness in the male which challenges patriarchy and gender stereotypes and usually women are supposed to be emotional . The front of the digiback also includes the title of the album, which informs the consumer of the song we used for our video, and the song that may be the most successful on the album. The font we used was quite formal and fancy to show the importance and significance of the song to the band and the consumer. However we kept it quite simple to portray that the indie music genre is quite simple music and it is conventional of this genre to be about the music and nothing else including money and fame.
The main characters of the boy and girl are a prominent feature throughout the digipack, it portrays the characters are an important feature to the marketing of the band and their music, reinforcing the idea that the two main characters narrative is an important plot to the song, maybe suggesting that the lyrics unfold a story and tell the audience how the band felt whilst writing these lyrics, emphasising the personalisation of songs from the indie genre, songs that any other teenager in the target audience can relate to. This is because young love is an imporant theme to teenagers and therefore they can feel as if the song is a gift to fans because it is personalised for them to relate to personally. The main theme for this song in particular is love, with is very common in the indie genre, we have connoted the theme of love by using typical relative conventions such as the boy and girl characters showing interest in eachother of emphasising a close bond but still leaving mystery to let the consumer want to find out what the song is about and leaving them eager to listen. We have positioned the characters in a way in particular to portray this romantic bond and theme, for example, on the inside cover, we have inserted an image of the girl facing away from the boy to show how the music video doesn't follow the ideas of patriarchy, connoting that the male is more weak than the female and portrays him as longing for the attention and love of the female therefore linking with the plot and narrative structure of the song and lyrics. On the back of the figipack, there is an image of the boy and girl characters, however there is a gap between them which connotes that the girl doesn't feel the same as the boy. which challenges stereotypes and indie genre conventions, as love is not emphasised on the design.
The clothes that the characters wear in this music video and the album cover portray the stereotypical fashion statements of indie people/characters, connoting uniqueness in clothing choice and also maybe individuality in the song choice as well, keep audience intrigued with listening to the music and longing to be different to others. For example we chose to use Doc Martens as shoe wear to feature throughout our video to again, show the importance of clothing to this genre. We also used in on the CD because it gives an idea of what the video will be based on but also it links with the iconography of the genre, being unique and vintage/retro, it also shows the grittyness of the song as Doc Martins used to be linked with violence and a certain group of people and not romance at all.
This is our second idea for the digipack, we used the same titles as before to show the importance of the title but also because we wanted to make a certain brand to identify with, so that fans and consumers can find it easy to relate to the band and identify them from their designs used on merchandise and cd albums. We saw this as a recurring piece of iconography and decided this certain design should be used in all designs as a piece of advertisement.
This album cover designs differs from the other designs as it is mainly focussed on the settings in the video rather than the idea of love and romance, and not focussing on the main characters, implying mystery and making the consumer entrigued in what the music will be about, not giving away any clues and connoting this band as different/unique which links with the indie genre. it does not include the seterotypical image of the band or a gritty lifestyle, as the images connote a clean and buzzing city, implying that the band is buzzing and different to others. Using settings such as big cities and foundtains help the person buying this relate to the setting and let them feel personal towards to band because they probably have experienced this lifestyle and these settings. Although there is not a clear couple upon the album cover design, the fountain that we captured in the video showed two people looking at eachother which we thought would be effective for our video and cd cover as it would secretly link to romance and love but not directly, matching our main plans of using a key theme of love and romance but also diffrenciating from the norm and making it look a lot different from other indie genre digipacks or album covers.
The cd design we used in this one was different to the first idea as it is more plain for connotes a lot. The first cd design was focussed on the indie style and indicating the link to the music and the fashion. However the second design is a simple blue back ground and the bands name along with the album's title. The background is the same colour used in the fountain, blue. Blue emphasises calm and peace, which connotes that the indie genre is chilled music and simple, as well as stylish.
This is our third idea for the digipack, we have used again the same titles as because to use as a marketing technique and to help fans relate to the band as well as connoting the significance of the title, making a brand name to identify with. Not only have we used the bands name and title on the front cover but we have also duplicated the amount of titles and faded them in the background in bright colours. We thought this approach would be effective because it is eyecatching and connotes a buzzing and exciting theme to the video and song and the general music from the band. The bright colours also emphaise the style and fashion of the genre, as it is bright and positive, however this challenges the main conventions of the song/songs lyrics and the narrative, as the song is based on not being able to have the girl and often portrays a depressive mood, negative throughout which our audience can relate to and it also relates to the genre, as indie music is often heard in a deep/unique voice with connotes a negative attitude and a laid back style, almost gritty and depressed.
On the back of the front cover, we have used 4 images of the two main characters to connote the importance of emotion in the music and the video narrative. It shows the two main characters with opposite emotions, in one series of photographs, it shows the female being sad and the male happy and then the complete opposite. This may be used to portray the difference in feeling of the two characters, telling the plot of the video, how the boy wants the girl but she is happy without him and doesnt see him more than friends.
On the inside of the cover there are images of people walking in town which shows a demo of what the video will be of, as in the video there are lots of scenes of a sped up city and loads of people walking in town, connoting that the main character is just a single number among the population and making the theme of lonliness seem must bigger.
This is our fourth and final idea for the digipack/album cover, the front cover is a mix between two images, the first is an image of the main characters face, the boy who is said to be in love with the girl in the video, his eyes connect with the audience and it is also a scene we picked from the video and put on the digipack in order to relate the video and advertising together. The title and band name are also on the front cover to use as an identifier for the band, so that consumers and fans instantly recognise the bands record on the shelves in shops or online, mechandise can also be produced with this same logo on, which increases popularity of the band. The colours are quite plain on the front cover, mainly to emphasise the intensity of the main characters eyes, connecting with fans and making the digipack seem more personalised to the audience.
The back cover is an image of doc martin boots, which are featured throughout the video and fans can indentify with, not only because they are a huge focus with the video but also because they are a great part of the indie culture and fashion sense. indie fashion is mainly all about uniqueness and often involves vintage and retro clothes, clothing that has brought back from the past and styled in a modern way, making people with the indie look, look more unique and stand out, for example. we wanted our characters to stand out and match the indie genre, so we dressed them in an indie way. looking unique among the rest of the people out in the setting we filmed in. Therefore putting doc martins on the cover of the digipack creates a unique feel and also makes the album/digipack stand out among other possible competetors in the stores.
The inside cover of this digipack, we have designed to look like loads of people passing by, people walking, to emphasise the idea that the main character feels lonely and feels like just a number among the population. the image of the feet are something taken from the music video, certain clips that we used quite a lot to emphasise the idea of lonliness and to set the scene of what kind of place the video is set in and to emphasise the buzzing city and gritty lifestyle, something repeated alot throughout the indie genre, as the indie music videos i had studied often showed a city and a gritty setting, somewhere with a lot of people but somehwere the main characters stood out.
Finally, the cd cover is quite messy and confusing, representing the youth of today, unexplained, bright and a whirlwind. the colours are bright and exciting, making the album and songs look exciting, and something to look forward to. i think the cd contrasts alot with the album cover designs because the look quite simple and plain, something the indie genre does alot, so therefore i don't think the cd itself matches the genre at all.
After developing our poster we decided to take another approach to our design of our digipak, we wanted our products to all look related and the audience to relate to the band and the main artist in particular, also emphasizing the importance on instruments and music in general in the indie genre, as the main focus in this genre in terms of conventions is the music and not the flash cars or style if we were researching RnB genre's.
As you can see we had kept the indie style on our design in which we established in design number one, using the doc martins as a design for one section of our digipak as it was an effective establishing shot for the beginning of our video. we also wanted to establish what sort of genre this music was to consumers who had not listened to the band before, therefore by demonstrating the sort of the style the band communicate with their music and fans, the audience will not only know that the band are indie but their music will also increase sales on clothing that is regarded as indie. We again used the artists face as the main focus in order to attract female gaze and let the audience identify with the band and artist in particular, it also outlines that the 1st song Allegro, clearly stated on the back page is about the main artist and his story in love.
As you can see there is a clear link between all of our overall products, in terms of text, font, colour and layout, also the repetition of the artists image. We've linked them together for a clear finish and to make the products seem higher quality. We've included all essential elements of a digipak, such as song lists, record label logo to make the band look real and higher quality, giving the consumer the reassurance that the music is of great talent. Overall our digipak is very simple like our poster but this is conventional to the genre conventions, as indie music is all about selling music and not the image of the artist alone, we have conformed to conventions by using simple colours and layout and including musical instruments to demonstrate real talent. We have also included scenes featured in the music video to give consumers an idea of hat they're buying.
