A2 media studies digipak research

1. Digipak and Adverts
Research

2. Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence.
The front cover is a black and white vintage photo
of Lana Del Rey. It is a medium long shot on the
artist dragging our gaze on her. She wears all white
contrasting with the dark background, thus we
indicate the dark themes of the album. The genre
is alternative pop, so the editing of the pick is
simple, also its title is written with big white
letters, quite simple but still stands out from the
dark background. The inside of the digipak is a
medium close up of the artist lying on some
flowers and smocking. Again Lana Del Rey is the
main subject of the digipak. She is smocking and
looking devastated, again indicating dark themes
of the songs. However she is surrounded by
colourful flowers, which highly contrast with the
rest of the images on the digipak and it looks like
she is dreaming, indication of escapism and denial
of reality. The back cover is similar to the front
cover, black and white screen filters, Lana
wearing all white and being the main subj
ect of the image and the song titles on white.

3. All in all, the main symbolism of the
digipak is the following: As the first song
of the album title is “is a cruel world”, so
everything looks grim . However, the
inside image contains the CD with her
music , so its like she is relaxing and
everything becomes more colourful
when she listens to music ( the CD itself
is colourful ), however by the end when
the songs are finished and we see the
back image is like she woke up from her
dream and the lack of music brings her
back to the grim reality. The digipak was
made for an alternative pop artist, so the
editing is quite simple and make uses of
“vintage” filters that fits with the artist’s
style and is also made to look simple,
darker and dream-like, not intense and
edited in order to look glossy or fake, so
it really fits in with the genre.

4. Riahna: Loud.
Riahna is the main subject in her digipak.
The front and the back cover is a close
up on her face. Whereas, the cover in the
middle is a medium long shot of her lying
on roses. The title of the album is in thin
white letters and it doesn’t attract the
eye. What is really dominant is the red
colour signifying passion and it relates
with the red roses in the middle cover,
indicating Riahna is passionate and her
white outfit indicates innocence, creating
an image of a passionate person
growing ( she relates herself with a
growing rose). The fact that she is the
main object in each picture indicates
stardom and is a means to self
promotion and since she is an attractive
woman the photo hasn’t undergone any
major Photoshop or changing in the
colours.

5. The entire cover carries the same colour scheme of red, blue and feminine pinks. The
soft images of flowers and the long flowing dress plays a large contrast with the album
title ‘LOUD’. The inside spread sticks to the conventions of a typical digipak, and gives a
good eye catching effect due to the contrast. The choice of red could connote two
things- one being anger and aggression which would work with the album title but the
seductive images suggest otherwise. Another connotation is likely to be love and
seduction which would also match the images given, as well as working with the red
roses and passion.
The albums main images
catches the viewers eye with
the beauty of a full frontal
close-up of the artists face.
The soft images is made
bolder with the bright red
lipstick and the bold red hair,
which pull together the
colours from the roses.
Again, connotations towards
love and passion are evident.
It promotes a representation
of love which is typical for a
pop genre digipak.
The image on the actual CD is of a light pink rose
which suggest femininity and will appeal to a
younger teen girl audience. The use of a flower is
becoming largely popular with artists, especially
on the CD itself so we can call it an image
convention.
The bold and simple font of the album contrasts with the
title of the album, whilst it also represents it as well. Whilst
the title is bold, it doesn’t scream out6 at the audience,
which is contradicting the title ‘LOUD’ the soft font can
suggest that it will be a softer album. The fact that the
letters are spaced out heavily, could suggest the loud
sounds of the track would fill a room
the layout itself,
sticks to the
conventional
digipak layout.
Album cover at
the front, two
discs, and the
album sleeve is
one large photo
of the artist with
listings of the
songs and credits,
which is very
conventional.

6. This is a poster advertising the album “suddenly I
see” by After Midnight. The band is squashed
together in the poster and are doing grimaces. They
are represented as cool girls, not caring about heir
image and not hesitating making fun of their selves.
Also the fact that they are close to each other
represents the “togetherness” and team spirit of
their band. They are dressed in a simple manner,
indicating that they are simple and laid-back
persons, which is a new fashion in music industry,
neglecting the well established representation of a
starlet persona. Moreover, the fact that the picture
is not heavily photoshoped and there is no special
background, adds a new layer in the pop-alternative
genre.

7. This is the advert for album “Loud” by Riahna, which is a binary
opposite in comparison with the previous advert. There is a close
up on Riahana, reinforcing the stardom archetype. She wears a fur
coat and expensive sunglasses indicating glamour and status.
Unlike the girls in the previous poster she looks less approachable.
Again the red is a dominant colour, attributing to Riahna’s image as
a passionate woman and she also hold a rose as in the digipak.
Last but not least, the lighting is well adjusted so the notions of
voyeurism are applied on the cover ( Riahna is literally all what the
audience can see).