Digipak analysis for A2 media coursework

1. Digipaks for Alternative Rock

2. Green Day- American Idiot
Looking at the front cover of the album, we see a hand clenching a heart shaped
grenade that appears to be bleeding. This image can be seen as symbolic to the Iraq
war and all the blood that had been spilled. The image shown on the front cover is
also indexical as without knowing that it was based on the bands political stance on
the Iraq war it wouldn't mean anything.
The Album ‘ American Idiot’ was released by Green Day in 2004 and is one of their most popular albums.
Previous to ‘American Idiot’, Green Day had little success in promoting their albums. What was different about
‘American Idiot’ was how it touched on political matters such as the Iraq war.
The colours used
for this album
make it extremely
bold due to the red
black and white
colour scheme.
This has been done
to appeal to a
younger audience
that follow a
rebellious attitude.
The red also
represents blood
which relates back
to the Iraq war.
The album immediately tells
us the bands target
audience as it has a parental
advisory. It also tells us that
the songs used in the album
follows a dark theme that
isn't suitable for children

3. Gorillaz- Demon Days
Demon Days is the second album of British virtual band Gorillaz. The album did significantly well, reaching number 1 in Uk
charts and number 6 in U.S. The album also did exceedingly well in sales, estimating around 8 million copies being sold
worldwide.
The front cover of this album follows an intertextual reference to the popular
Beatles album ‘Let it be’ which has the four band members in separate profile
shots on a black background. This reference allows the audience to better
associate with the band as they would have previously recognised the classic
album of the Beatles which allows them to expand their target audience
The band are also represented on the Cd,
showing their silhouettes on a white background.
The bands name is also presented on the cd
which emphasises on the band.
On the back of the album we see that most of the
band members are at the seen at the back in the
shadow. However wee see that there is a main
focus on one of the members. This could suggest
that this particular band member influences this
album most due to her primary focus on the
back cover.

4. Viva la Vida or death and all his friends-
Coldplay
The front cover of the album is a intertextual reference to a
famous painting by Eugene Delacroix known as ‘Liberty
Leading the People’. This painting was made to
commemorate the French revolution of 1830. This painting
links with the album do to it’s theme of war and liberation,
mainly from their song ‘ Viva La Vida’ which follows the
downfall of a king and his kingdom.
The Name of the album ‘Viva la Vida’ translates to Live the life
which could suggest the use of the famous painting and the link
between the title and artwork. However the album also features
themes of love, life and death which could be another reason for
the title of the album.
The back cover is a little less chaotic,
using only a black and gold background
which consists throughout the digipak.
The title of the album has been presented as
being painted on, constantly overlapping the
words. This has been done to make the front
cover seem chaotic to link it to the painting in the
background .