1. Digipack analysis
I have chosen two different CD digipacks to analysis within the genre of our
song. I have chosen to look at the differences between representations of
gender within the CD. I will be looking at Evanescence ‘Fallen’ and Five Finger
Death Punch ‘American Capitalist’ I have chosen these because I find they both
have interesting digipacks due to lots of hidden meanings, use of colour and
composition. I will look at these to help identify what needs to be in a digipack
and how they apply to their audiences.

2. EVANESCENE- FALLEN
This is the front cover of the CD I chose to
look at for the representation of females,
although the band is actually made up of one
girl and the rest men, it is clear that Amy Lee
(lead singer) is the main focus point in the
band. We can see this even by the main cover,
as its a focus on just her, and the other band
members are nowhere in sight. The colours
almost suggests a sombre looking tone, as
there is light blues in the background, and her
dark hair and features contrasts against her
very pale looking skin. These images connote
death and recall the Gothic genre. The fact
the picture is a close up could draw people in,
as they feel they have a relationship with her
as she becomes more recognizable to her
audience.

3. Front cover continued...
We can see the band is more likely to attract
more females due to the font of the title, as
we see swirls which almost seem personal as
well, like they were drawn on.
But could there be a hidden meaning?
The title has links to the story Adam and Eve,
and succumbing to temptation in the garden
of Eden and falling from Grace, hence the
name 'Fallen.' This represents women as sinful
and associates them with temptation.
This is backed up by them starting off as a
Christian Rock band.

4. The first two pages
The first two pages of the
Digipack contain a black
background, which suggests
the genre of the music as it
being rock as the colour black
is conventional for rock music
artwork, for example
Metallica's 'The Black' Album,
or ACDC's 'Backin Black'
We can see that lyrics are placed on these pages so fans can become more familiar with the bands music.
In the middle of the page there is Evanescence's logo. This would also mean that the audience can follow
the band easier as they will know what the logo is as a logo creates a band identity. I think that this page
makes it more clear that the target audience would be a mixed gender as it doesn’t have the typical gender
colours or patterns like you would expect to find.
On these pages we are also unaware of who is actually in the band, as there is nothing to show
that the other male members are actually part of it. This is why the logo is important in creating band
identity.

5. These are the next pages in the book. In this one we see the male members in
the band, however there is still the sense of importance around Amy Lee, as she
is the foreground, and therefore the biggest, and she is doing a more eye
catching pose as we see her almost reaching towards the camera. We can also
see that the man next to her has more importance than the rest because the
other two are more in the background, and through the rule of thirds we see that
her and the man next to her focus the audiences attention more than the other
two. This is then further shown by use shallow focus, which makes them seem
less important than the two closer to the audience.

6. These two pages of the
Digipack contain a white
background, so it is the
opposite of the lyric pages, we
can also see that the white
logo on the first pages has
been swapped for a black one
so that the colours still
contrast well. I think that this
is due to the song choices on
each one, as the one with the
black background had songs
such as ‘haunted’ and ‘Going
Under’ which seems more dark and bitter, whereas the songs on these pages are much
more lighter, for example ‘whisper’ and ‘imaginary’ which makes everything seem more
dream like and made up, so the colour white fits in much better than the harsh black on
the previous page.

7. This is the actual CD of the Album, as you can see they have carried on with the black
and white kind of theme, so its more clearly in the rock genre. Once again they have
put the logo of their band on it so its recognizable and shows their identity as a band.

8. This is the back panel of the CD, unlike the rest of the Digipack this section focuses on
just the male members of the band. You can see that the one in the foreground is seen
as more important than the other two as they are in shallow focus whereas he is not,
however the fact he is looking down suggests a more impersonal approach, as its
almost pushing the camera away.

9. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH- AMERICAN
CAPITALIST
This is the front cover of the male band that I am
going to be looking at. The band consists of five
males, and this is quite noticeable when looking
at the front cover as straight away we are able to
see the typical ‘male dream’ as there is one man,
surrounded by two women in short dresses, next
to a sports car. This represents men as esteem
seekers as they want to be at the top of the social
ladder. Straight away it shows its mostly aimed at
males, as its showing
this life which will attract them to the CD. I think
that the front cover is quite action packed, almost
like a comic, as the fonts are bold and they use
yellows and reds, which are the kind of colours
that you would expect to see in comic strips. The warning in the left corner warns the
audience of explicit lyrics, which also shows who its mostly aimed at as its the kind of music
teenage boys would listen to between the ages of 16-19. Which is also the main age that the
boy would want this kind of rock and roll life style with girls and fast cars. So this would help
the band have the kind of ‘bad boy’ appearance to them.

10. These are the fold out middle pages of the Digipack. Each page shows each member from the
group all in their own fantasy life, which consists of the girls and cars outside large, expensive
houses. The layout seems like it is out of a Hollywood film, as they have credits saying ‘Staring’
for each member of the band which suggests glamour, fame and money. This would then
mean that their male fans would almost idolize the band as they would want to look up to them
to then want their lifestyle that’s being painted throughout the covers so they aspire to be like
them. I think the way they dress also makes males seem like this life is reachable, as the band
members look like casual everyday people but in a high class environment, so teenagers would
feel like this could be them. This creates the idea of an aspirational dream that the fans can buy
into.

11. This is the back cover of the CD; compared to the Evanescence Album
this one is quite plain, however it also has a hint of professionalism and
taste. It has the list of songs on the CD in a font that almost looks like
the Hollywood film cast listings, this continues the aspirational theme.
The stamp adds to this, as it almost seems more official, and means
that the audience will see it and be able to associate that logo with the
band.