Individual Digipak Analysis - Miss Georgiou

Individual Digipak Analysis

The purpose of the production of my individual Digipak analysis was to further promote my artist and her music video. A digipak is a more personal method of giving back to the audience and helping them to relate and build a relationship with the artist. It makes them feel closer to the artist as the Digipak gives them extra features such as a letter to the fans and also extra images of themselves which other fans who bought the regular album won't be able to see. By making the audience feel this way they are more likely to want to follow the artist and listen to the material as they feel as though they mean something to the artist and this is what the artist would want them to do. This is further helping the promotion of the artist and their material.

Colours

The colours that I have chosen to use for my digipak are similar to the colours I have used in my magazine advert as I wanted to create familiarity for my audience and I wanted there to be a strong connection between my music video and ancillary texts. 

One of the main colours I have used in my digipak is the colour green. This is evident through my setting and location of a field. I wanted the colour green to be contrasted in my digipak as it instantly gives the digipak a more calming and natural aura. This is because the colour green has many connotations including balance and growth and this is some of the characterises I wanted to present for my artist. I wanted the colour to help the audience recognise that through the journey of the music video my artist has learnt to grow and realise she can survive on her own in difficult times and also that she has learnt to balance her emotions and stay strong through her heartbreak. This will make her more relatable as the audience will feel sympathy for her and her situation. This will help encourage the audience to build a relationship with the artist as they may have also experienced similar situations and can understand the emotions that she may be feeling.

Another colour that I have chosen to include within my digipak is the colour red which is evident through my artists lipstick. I decided to use the colour red as it represents emotions such as love, passion and power. These are all charactertics that represent my artist and therefore help the audience to immediately understand the narrative and what the audience may be feeling. The red colour symbolises the love and passion that the artist has towards her lover and the power insinuates how she as an artist and a person can get over her heartbreak and be strong enough to move on. This is a situation that a target audience could relate to as they are mainly females between 15-21 and this is a common age to go through heartbreak and broken relationships. Therefore it will encourage the audience to build a relationship with the artist as they can understand how she would be feeling as the majority of them may have experienced a similar situation in their own personal lives.

Conventions

In my digipak I believe that I have conformed to the indie genre conventions. I believe one way I have supported the conventions would be due to the setting and location. I planned to use a field setting and location as it is conventional of indie artists to use low cost and easily accessible locations to give a sense of realism and help to make themselves more relatable to the target audience. Indie artists also make use of simplistic locations as they usually focus more on the artists performance and talent. This is because the target audience are more likely to be able to imagine themselves in the same situations as the artist as they can imagine themselves being in this common location. This will help the audience to build a relationship with the artist as they feel closer to them and feel as though the situations are more realistic much like the artist who is also being portrayed as an ordinary girl like the majority of the target audience.
Another convention that I have supported in my digipak is the use of hair and makeup and costume from the micro-element of mise-en-scene. The hair and makeup I decided to use for my artist in the digipak was quite heavy and dramatic with dark eye shadow and winged eyeliner paired with red lipstick. I decided to use this as indie artist usually express themselves through their creativity and personal style. They are usually unique and are not phased by other people's opinions which further represents them as being strong minded and also having a sense of freedom. This is motivational for the target audience which makes them look at the artist in an idolistic way and makes them want to behave more like them which is ultimately further promoting the artist and gaining attention. Her costume focuses mainly on layers including two jean jackets with a grey dress, black tights, boots and a choker. I decided to dress her in this way as it shows that she has her own sense of style and uniqueness and it also states her as someone who is extraordinary and unlike anyone else. This makes the audience see her as someone who has the will to dress the way she likes and sees her as someone who can accomplish many things in her life which further promotes her as someone to look up to as an artist.

Images Used

When it came to the different images used for my digipak I had to have a total number of 6 images to include for each slide of the digipak. I decided that I wanted there to be a strong link between all the images in my digipak and I realised that the easiest way to create this was to have the same location and background in each photo. I decided to include a green grassy background with the sunset sky in the background to give each photo a environmental and peaceful feel as these are the instant characteristics associated with the wide open space of the field which I have used in my digipak. Once I had included all of the same backgrounds I planned to have a variety of different camera angles and shots in my digipak to create a sense of diversity in the digipak. I decided to use a range of shots from long shots to show the setting and location, to close up shots to show the artists facial expressions and body language. I decided to use a long shot and a close up shot for the two images used in my digipak images section. I decided to have two completely different shots to portray my artist in different ways. The long shot I chose showed my artist from behind walking through the field and my close up shot showed her laying in the grass looking up to the sky with no eye contact to the camera.

Layout/ Design

The layout and design that I have chosen to use for my individual digipak is quite simplistic and clean cut to ensure it is easily focused on by my target audience. I have decided that by having the layout of my digipak very simple and clean cut it will create an enigma for the audience as they can't gather much information from the digipak which will intrigue them and make them want to find out more about the artist and the new album. I have used the field location as my background for each slide which is an open and mysterious place which doesn't give much away. It portrays the theme of isolation which the audience could relate to being a negative narrative and this may help them to relate to a similar situation that they may be experiencing. This is conventional to the indie genre as the artists are usually very unique and are people who express their true and honest feelings about common experiences in young adults life. For example, heartbreak, love and broken relationships. This is in order to connect with their target audience and make them feel as though they can find closure and comfort by listening to her music as she is someone who is in the limelight but proves that she can also go through the same situations as those of her target audience.

Typography and Language

The typography that I decided to use for my individual digipak is quite limited for the purpose of creating an enigma and making the audience want to see more or the artist and her material. The pieces of typography that I have decided to include within my individual digipak is the artists name, the name of the album, the track list and a message to fans. I have decided to include this limited amount of information for my digipak to make it more personal to the artist and make it more relatable for the target audience. I decided to use the artists name and name of album on my first slide as this will ensure that the main focus is on the artist and her material from the immediate reaction of the digipak. I decided that this will also give them the correct information to research further into the artist and the album as this is all they would need to type into a search engine to find out more information about it. This is also the most key and important pieces of information so it would only be conventional to include this on my front cover of the digipak. I have decided to have a message to fan slide as this is conventional to digipak and also to indie artists as they usually write songs about personal experiences that they have been through in hope that they will relate to their target audience. By having a personal message to fans it is bringing the artist and their target audience closer as the audience feel as though the artist is confiding in them and this almost brings the artist down to their own level making them feel as though she is an ordinary girl much like them. 


Strengths and Weakness with Photoshop


I found that when working on photoshop I had many strengths and weaknesses with the different elements of the programme. It was a programme that I wasn't confident or familiar with and therefore this counteracted to some of the weaknesses that I came across. My main weakness in Photoshop was trying to figure out how to add filters on just particular parts of the image. To do this you had to duplicate the layer with the image you wanted to blur and then add a mask effect and then add the filter to then erase the parts you didn't want blurred. I found this the most challenging part but however found it really effective when I did apply it correctly. So therefore I practised it until it worked out and looked professional and clean cut.

When working with photoshop I also had strengths with the programme which I didn't realise I had. I found applying and downloading different fonts and adding different layers of fonts was my main strength. I found that looking and downloading fonts that looked conventional to my indie genre was extremely fun and then adding them and positioning them on my image to make it look like a professional digipak was really effective. I also worked out how to space out the letters of words, add outer and inside glows to it and also making the words change shape. For example, I made my writing into an arch shape to position round the edge of the cd to make it look professional to my target audience.


Overall, I feel as though my digipak conforms to my chosen indue genre's conventions. i feel as though through the colours, conventions, images used, layout and design, typography and language I have included generic conventions of the indie genre to make my digipak look professional and realistic for my target audience. I feel as though the images I have used along with my artists makeup, costume and body language she looks like a realistic indie artist. For example, in my spare images used for the digipak it shows my artist is laying in the grass in a mid shot and also a long shot showing her from behind walking through the field alone. Her body language shows that she has a sense of freedom and tranquility which is conventional characteristics of indie artists.
I feel as though my digipak appeals to my target audience as it portrays emotions of the artist that are common for the majority of the target audience going through similar situations. for example, loneliness, depression and sadness from situations such as heartbreak and rejection.