3. The main theme seen running through this digipak
is the photographic style of the pak. All the pictures
are black and white with the only colour being the
album name in red. This contrasts well with the
black and white background, making the Album
title stand out. The name of the band and he title of
the album is in the center of the front cover, this
draws your attention straight away to it. this is
conventional for indie bands, as they like to focus on
the band and the talent of the band. Putting the
band name in the center of the cover also makes it
memorable. This digipak appears to have a very
masculine theme, this is shown by having the high
contrast grey scale images. The image of the
attractive woman also helps the album to look more
masculine, this is then reinforced by having the
image of the 4 male band members, costumed in
black manly clothing.
4. The font on the front cover is conventional to indie
music Digipaks. The text on an indie Digipaks is
conventional a strange and unusual font. It is also
conventional to use different fonts and a mixture
of serif and sans serif fonts. The use of different
fonts helps the album to stand out by drawing
attention to it and making it look eye catching to
the fans of the music. On the front cover they
have used three different fonts. ‘the’ is in a serif
soft font as well as ‘Sam’s Town’. In contrast to
this ‘killers’ is in a bold sans serif font. This makes
it the main feature of the front of the Digipaks.
5. Another convention of indie music is that it is seen as
alternative and different, this is replicated in the killers Sam's
Town digipak. A image of a Ram is shown 3 times on the
digipak. The same image of the Ram is repeated twice, one 0on
the digipak itself, and the second time on the CD. Using the
same image more than once helps to create fluency and by
using the repeated image it will help the audience to identify
the band. This is conventional to indie music as the Ram is
strange and not really fitting with the music, but it helps the
killers to build their brand as being alternative.
7. The front of this digipak is very simple with one image of a man on
the front featuring the band name in the top left hand corner. The
shot is possibly of the lead singer as conventionally with indie
music the band will use the most popular member on albums and
in music videos to generate more hype. The shit is a medium close
up, this image shows some typical indie conventions such as
smoking, the age groups mid-twenties and the fact it looks very
masculine. Like the killers album cover it is also in black and
white, this seems to be a running theme through indie digipaks.
The man on the front seems to be engaging in eye contact, this will
make the audience feel as if they are engaging with the artist. The
title of the album is not displayed on the front cover meaning it is
not the main focus of the digipak. The digipak wants the audience
to be focussed on the artist himself rather than visuals, this is a
typical indie convention. This also gives the digipak a minimalistic
feel, making it seem home-made, another indie convention.
8. The CD is also very simple fitting with the house style
of the rest of the digipak. Keeping the visuals simple
also makes it feel like the artist didn’t really care about
the visuals, linking to the name of the album
‘Whatever people say I am’. In pop and rock music the
CD and digipak would have the name and artist
plasters over the digipak but as I can see in both the
digipaks I have looked at neither of then feature any
writing on the CD, just one plain simple image. In this
case it is a bunch of cigarettes. This also helps to keep
the theme as the CD is covered in cigarettes and the
man on front is smoking, this creates a house style.
9. The simplistic visuals are carried on to the back f
the digipak. This helps to create a brand. The
entirety of the back cover is taken up by the image
with little background space behind him. A track list
can be located in the top left hand corner in a small
font. This again makes it feel like it is not the main
focus of the digipak. The picture on the back links to
the picture on the front. In this shot the artist isn’t
looking directly at the camera, this connotes a sense
of rebellion which again is a convention of ‘indie
rock’. Again the image is in black and white
continuing the theme of the digipak. This helps the
band to create an image and brand for themselves.
The body langue of the person own connotes sadness
and depression, this is supported by the black and
white filter. Creating this sense of sadness could
also help them to link to the theme of their songs.
This album gives off a lazy, ‘ I don’t care’ theme
which again links back to the tile of the album.
