Draft of Digi-Pack

Below is a draft and initial attempts at making the digipack.

Panel 1

This panel silhouettes the three band members when they're running which helps to give the image pace and a feeling of immediacy. This helps to stand out since they are an up and coming band with a lot of potential.  This image is actually a blend of two pictures. One of them running down an underpass and another of a derelict building behind thick, steel bars. Those are the vertical lines seen going down the image. From left to right is the drummer Nick Upton, lead singer and front man Solay Elibol and finally on the right is the bassist Sam Sleight

Panel 2 

Again like the first image this Panel is a mixture of two images. The first is a close up of the lead singer/ front man (Solay Elibol) and a low angle shot of an empty car park giving the Panel a vanishing point behind Solay. I edited this image into black and white which creates a dramatic and more serious tone to the album art. This is important since this digi-pack needs to make the band look as if they are fun and fresh yet they are serious about their music and career choice.

Panel 3 

 

In Panel 3, when you take the CD out, will have this image behind it. This features the whole band against a wall with multiple political messages on it such as 'Life Is A Mine Field' to the right of the frame. This makes the bands image seem edgier and contemporary. The music they write, they write with current affairs in mind. The single 'USA' by The Upgrade is a song which has a political message and statement at its core. For example one of the verses within 'USA' is:
"The land of opportunity where every man is rich,
They slaughter all your earnings and they tell you life's a bitch".

The design for the actual CD is posted below. It is The Upgrades logo and its simple, plain and distinctive so when people see it they will immediately think of the band. 

Panel 4 


 The final panel contains several pieces of key information. Starting from the top there is again the upgrades logo which makes the band instantly recognisable to the market and target audience. There is the main image which contains all three band members giving a face to the band name and making it more personal. I have decreased the intensity of the colours on the image like the bricks on the wall which creates a dull and dingy tone to it however kept the artists the same making them stand out slightly. This makes them look important. I have spaced the tracks out evenly with two rows of bricks between them both making the image look more full. At the bottom banner there is the bar code and to the right of this there is the name of the company being 'King of the Camera Productions'. Lastly and perhaps most importantly there is a logo for Facebook. This makes sure that their target audience (being of a younger demographic of roughly 16-25 year olds) can find them on social networking sites to keep up to date with new releases and news on the band.


Below is the magazine advert which I photographed, designed and edited myself. The banner at the top is The Upgrade's logo. This makes them stand out instantly and recognisable to an audience through a symbol. You can also see the faces of all three band members giving a face to the band instead of three enigmatic figures. Solay (the lead singer) is in the middle since he represents the band the most when they play gigs.
At the bottom are reviews by two massively influential music magazines of 'Kerrang!' and 'NME' both rating it highly. In the bottom right-hand corner again there is a link to the bands Facebook page. This allows those who have Facebook to look them up. This gives the band slightly more publicity to the social networking audience. I have increased the level of yellows in the poster giving it a slightly sepia tone. I increased the contrast too which helps to make the white pillars in the background stand out clearer as well as the streetlight in the backdrop.

Typeface Possibilities for Digi-Pack

The website 'dafont.com' allows the download of many different typefaces and being able to put in your own personalised text. I have utilised this resource and have selected several examples which are a major inspiration as to the style which i shall use for my own personal digi-pack. These are posted below:

The reason why this font could work well is because this font stands out and is bold on the page however there is a slight hint of irony in this typeface because the bands name is called 'The Upgrade' and when you upgrade something it becomes newer and more modern however this font looks worn and old. This could suggest the band aren't newcomers and have much experience going into the difficult industry of music.

This font also have the same sense as being worn. I thought this would give the album cover a nice authentic feel. Also this font is recognised as the famous typewriter style of shapes of letter. This relates effectively to the genre because an era when typewriter was popular was during the Second World War when Britain was an incredibly industrial country. The typewriter was invented in 1829 by William Austin Burt however the design was not perfected until 1867 by Christopher Latham Sholes.

Thirdly, this font stands out boldly off the page which can be an important attribute to have on a CD cover because in a popular CD shop it has to be eye catching so people will pick it up and, if they like the look of it, purchase it. An example of a shop like this is the franchise of 'HMV'.

This font has the same theory behind it however it is more subtle than the one above due to it being lower case and slightly thinner letters. Out of the 3rd and 4th font posted (comparing simply due to their similarities) I think that the 3rd font would be more appropriate because it has a stronger and more powerful feel about it which is the message that panel 1 of the CD case is trying to put across.

The font above also has the same worn down look as fonts 1 and 2 however this typeface reminds me of a stone age look. This is due to there being no spaces in the letters and they are just blocks of colour (i.e. there is no gap in the 'loop' of the 'P'). Also the scratches and scars give it an aged and beaten look.

This font follows the pattern of also being in nearly block letters with hardly any spaces however this font has a clean and contemporary look. My only fear however is that this would not fit into the genre of 'metal' because it looks too clean and plain.

This lettering is interesting because this is most famously known and recognised for being used in war propaganda but specifically in propaganda for the Russian Revolution in 1917 and it was also part of the First World War. An artist nowadays who has used this style on an album cover is the band 'Franz Ferdinand', (Franz Ferdinand, 18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914, was also the Archduke of Austria-Este). Below is an image of the cover of their album 'You Can Have It So Much Better ' released in 2004 and has sold 3.6 million of this album in particular.  

This album cover is actually an inter-textual reference to another image. A man named Rodchenko created this image in 1924. It pictures Lilya Brik shouting the word 'books'. The image Franz Ferdinand has taken and utilised is posted below.

Finally this font has a very work and rough look to it. Again I thought this could bring a certain tone of irony since when you upgrade something it becomes newer however this typeface has an incredibly rough look to it.

I am still in the process of designing my digi-pack and may not use these fonts depending on how well they fit with Panel 1 of my pack.

Initial Ideas for Digi-pack.

'Suede' Music Video Analysis

The music video being analysed within this post is 'The Beautiful Ones' by Britpop band 'Suede'. Suede formed in 1989 in Camden Town. Their single 'The Beautiful Ones' was released in 1996. Below is the link to the official YouTube video. Britpop was a reaction against the 1990's grunge movement from America. The songs written in the Britpop style were based on very British subjects and the era of Britpop originated from an area in London known as 'Camden Town'.



This video reflects Goodwin's theory excellently. It uses five out of six of his methods.

The first rule of Goodwin's theory is that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. This music video achieves this by the band all wearing plain black clothes but also the band shots are edited into black and white. Instead of the band doing a dance routine etc which would usually be found in a pop music video they simply perform the track which has been synced up to the song.

The next rule of Goodwin's theory is that there must be some relationship between the lyrics and the visuals on screen. This is where this video comes into its own. The music video is laced with visual images that are either the words being heard in the lyrics or relate to to subject matter of the lyrics being sung. Below are some screen shots from the video where this method is used.

A third method of Goodwin's theory is that the music video should include multiple close ups of the band/artist and that the artist may develop certain motifs/trademarks such as a visual style. This music video uses plenty of close ups and shots of the artist. One style/motif that Suede created for themselves involved their haircuts which are seen clearest on Brett Anderson (lead singer, left) and Neil Coddling (keyboard player, right).

These were typical Britpop haircuts and incredibly stylish at the time.
In the chorus there are no images used and is simply just the band performing. This gives the band a large volume of time to market themselves with interesting camera shots and multiple close ups of each member of the band. The two shots above are close ups of Brett Anderson and Neil Coddling, seen below are the three other members; Richard Oakes on lead guitar (top-left), Simon Gilbert on drums (top-right) and Matt Osman on bass guitar (bottom).

 

The last point of Goodwin's theory which is used within this video is the notion of 'looking' and voyeuristic imagery. This is accomplished through the use of objects like television sets or telescopes etc. Suede also use this method but only once. They have a television set with the bands name on it and then this television proceeds to explode. This can have multiple interpretations to the audience.

 

Another Suede music video which inspired some of our shot is the beginning of the 'Animal Nitrate'. The music video is embedded below. The shot which inspired our sped up shot is seen at 0:15-0:25. This inspired our sped up graffiti wall shot and other sped up shots which are frequently used within our edit since they conform to our music videos genre's style.

This is England

Within this post I will look at the collective identity and how it is achieved in Shane Meadows 'This Is England'.

This is England is set in 1983. On the way home from school the protagonist Shaun meets a group of 'skinheads' after being bullied all day. This group is comprised of Woody, Gadget, Milky, Pukey and Kez along with several other minor characters i.e. Woody's other half 'Lol'. This group take pity on him and accept him into their group. They soon become best of friends until an old friend of Woody's, Combo,  turns up uninvited to a party and tries to convince them to join the National Front. Shaun (who the audience discover has died fighting in the Falklands War) joins them and departs from the gang to join Combo.

The gang have a collective identity however of being 'skinheads'. They achieve this identity through several methods.

The first being the way in which each of them dress (costume). Below is the typical clothing for a skinhead.

Harrington Jacket

Turned Up Jeans

Braces To Go Over The Shirt

Doc Marten Boots

'Pukey' Wears Blue Camouflage Trousers

Each of the gang wears this style of clothing. Through wearing these clothes they create a collective identity because they can be instantly recognised as the social group they belong to.

The second method is their hair. Within the film they all have shaved heads. There is a scene within 'This Is England' where Shaun has his head shaved and it is treated almost as a right of passage by the gang because he is then truly accepted into the group.



Having a shaved head was all about rebellion against the norms of society. This is what skinheads stood for. Anarchy and disruption to the norms of everyday life. 
Notice as well that in This Is England they all smoke and drink. This is a third method of identity.

A character which arises later on in the film is Combo (pictured below)

Combo believes that because there are 3.5 million British people unemployed it is wrong that people from foreign countries should not be allowed into this country and put people out of jobs because it is cheap and easy labour. He convinces Pukey, Gadget and Shaun to stay and join the National Front. This fight is still going on nowadays and was recently being shown in the city where I am currently studying, Norwich, Norfolk, UK. However instead of the National Front it was the English Defence League however they both hold similar views. Below is a link to a local newspaper article on it and one from the BBC.

 http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/gallery_we_are_norwich_march_against_edl_in_norwich_1_1688782

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-20279687

Actors Costume Within Music Video

In our video we are trying to reflect the stereotypical costume of the Metal genre i.e. leather jackets and hoodies. The lead singer Solay is wearing a leather jacket and red trousers. The leather jacket is paying tribute to the old bands who use to use leather such as Steel Panther, Motley Crue. Although these bands are more hair/ glam metal, it is still a sub-genre of Metal. The red trousers are to connote the violence and anger associated with Metal. Metal is an incredibly angry genre (as i have previously explained in my post 'The Origins of Metal').



Below is a picture of Motley Crue displaying the fashion of leather. Wearing leather was seen as to be rebellious and against the norms which were being enforced on society.

The bass player, Sam, is infact a huge fan of the genre. He also is wearing a leather jacket. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of him from the back because on the back of his leather jacket are multiple badges of metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Slipknot and Rancid. These simply help to show his passion about this type of music. This could also influence the bands unique sound of Metal bass lines etc. Accompanying the leather jacket is black skinny jeans which again come from the hair/glam metal era.

Glam metal bands dress outrageously to rebel against society and make a statement. Hair and glam metal bands include bands such Skid Row and Kiss (pictured below).

Nick (the drummer of The Upgrade). Nick is not wearing a leather jacket however his jacket is black connoting the darkness of Metal such as the leather. Underneath that he is wearing a opened checkered shirt and a white t-shirt under that. The red checkered shirt could be influenced by genres such ans country and western.

The combination of their different characteristics influence their music as a band/as a whole. They have songs heavily influenced by funk, jazz, heavy rock, 1980's love ballads etc. This gives them a unique sound as a whole band which is a perfect unique selling point from a commercial point of view.

In Search of Metal Prezi

In Search of Metal on Prezi