Digipak Ideas

To begin with, the main idea of a digipak is to promote the band/artist. Therefore, on the front cover of my digipak I have decided to have Tamas on the front since he is going to promote our band "The New York Fund." Also, if audiences have watched the music video, then they will recognise Tamas on the front, therefore they shall buy the album.

Many digipak covers have the band on the album, unless they happen to be really well known where featuring them on the front isn't necessary. An example of this would be "The White Album" by The Beatles. However, all new artists would have to feature on the front, in order to be the most successful it can. Inside my digipak, I have decided to feature the use of concert and tour dates, in order to increase the promotion of ticket sales. This is also a key feature which many albums have inside. Furthermore, on the back of the digipak I will have a list of all the songs which will be played on CD. As a result, this is a common feature that is often on the back of album covers. For example, Florence + the Machine album "Lungs," and the albums such as "Now 47" which has a wide range of featuring items. Furthermore, by featuring Tamas on the front cover of the album, this will help the audience recognise the artist and could potentially build up a fan base.

Ideally, I would like some sort of unusual mise en scene in the background of Tamas, to make the album cover stand out. I've also decided that perhaps the mise en scene will be gray scale, while Tamas is bright, colourful ans bold. The typograhpy of "The New York Fund" will also be bright to contrast against the gray scale, so the name of the band stands out to a passing audience. I haven't decided yet if the entire digipak will be gray scale, but it would be nice to have a continuing colour theme throughout the whole album, with the typography for tour dates inside and the name of the songs on the back to be the same colour as the name "The New York Fund." Therefore, the digipak will look co-ordinated and look good visually.

The mise en scene of what the front cover of my digipak will be is undecided, but I defiantly intend to include a quirky background in order for the digipak to stand out amongst other albums in the record shops.

Influences for my Digi pak

The reason that this is a good example for a digi pak, is because at the time this CD was released, Leona Lewis was a new artist; therefore this was the first digi pak released. As a result, because I and my group have the task of prommoting a new band/artist, this is a good example of how to successfully promote a new artist.

To begin with, you straight away notice the mise en scene of the close up shot of Leona Lewis's face. This allows fans to walk past in shops, and notice her CD straight away because it stands out. By using the close up, this promotes Leonas image, therefore her fans will gain familiarity with her and her image. However, Leona Lewis is made to look very seductive on the front of the album;hardly a pure image. To begin with, her lips are emphasized making them appear sexy, thereby appealing to perhaps males. Alongside her hair and make up being heavily made up, consequently making Leona look like she should be either appearing in a glossy magazine cover or perhaps even a shampoo advert. However, the glossiness of the image is a reflection of the producers targeting a mainstream audience who are likely to read glossy magazines, such as "Cosmopolitan."

The white typography of Leona Lewis's name stands out against the mise en scene, so it is therefore noticeable to an audience, alongside the yellow typography of the word "spirit," obviously indicating the name of the album. The main attraction of this album cover though is that it is simple, and not overly detailed with a complicated mise en scene or something happening in the background. As a result, it makes the album cover look simplistic, yet attractive and appeals to an audience. Especially the feature of Leonas hair, as it fans out across the album cover, catching the eye of a passing crowd in a record shop.

Digipak Covers - Ideas

Recently, I have been researching digipak covers, and have been playing particular attention to The Kooks because they are the same genre as New York Fund; the band which we have been promoting. The Kooks are also a British band. However, because me and my group don't know our band we are promoting "The New York Fund," we have to use either myself or our male protagonist Tamas to be on the front cover of our digipak.

With the first digipak cover, what stands out above all is the chiraoscuro lighting. For example, the mise en scene is obviously The Kooks standing outside a club, with the lighting standing out strongly and contrasting against the band, so they stand out to a passing audience in a shop. The way around the outside of the digipak cover is dark, connotes mystery and night time, therefore the white typography of the bands name contrasts strongly against the dark mise en scene; again making the bands name stand out to there fans. The camera angle used is simply a mid-shot, however, this is effective because the mid shot enables the audience to view all band members and there choice of costumes.

The second digipak cover differs from the first in terms of camera angle and choice of lighting used. To begin with, the mise en scene is simply a plain white setting, perhaps in order to make the band stand out against the white. Furthermore, the band members themselves are edited in black and white, which connotes a sense of darkness in there music. Also, what particularly stands out is the fact a close up shot is used of a couple band members playing their guitar, which enables their fans to see them actually in action of producing their music; which appeals greatly. Furthermore, what you notice is the drummer being filmed with a long shot, which could be interpreted the guitar players being perhaps more important, or that on stage the drummer is always positioned at the back, connoting a hierarchy of importance. Traditionally, the drummer is always positioned at the back of the stage when performing, which suggests an order of importance.

Simba and his campaign for Presidency!

Simba is a character from the Lion King and son of Mufassa. Simba would be a great president because of his morals and beliefs. For example, Simba is an angelic, lively and ambitious Disney character, who always stands up for their friends. Furthermore, Simba deserves to be king of Disney because he is innocent and doesn't resemble a character from Disney who is perhaps racist, or resembles social class issues, because being a lion, these issues associated with Disney don't apply.
For example, there are many arguments associated with the issue of racism from Walt Disney. However, this could just be a result of the context and era in which Walt Disney was alive and creating Disney films. For instance, segregation was still apparent in the 1960's, thereby this would have influenced Walt Disney. As a result however, certain Disney films such as Jungle Book has been criticised for portraying racist views. Therefore, Simba would be a perfect character as king of Disney because racism and social class issues aren't an issue in the film.
Simba is also innocent and doesn't intend to hurt any other character throughout the film Lion King; and thus is very popular with young children as they will look up to Simba. He is also a young lion, therefore he has a eager mind to learn new things and has the energy and ability to become president of Disney! Also, Simba would be a better candidate for becoming president of Disney than characters such as Hercules, because Hercles is a typical strong male "hero," who is full of himself. Where-as Simba isn't over confident, yet he is un-aware of his abilities. Furthermore, females wouldn't be able to identify with a character such as Hercules because he would only relate to males who would aspire to be like Hercules. On the other hand, Simba would appeal strongly to both genders of all ages, so there is no chance of gender bias.
The type of morals Simba has is that he believes in friendship helping you get by, and most importantly he looks up to family which will portray a positive message across to young children, influencing children to realise the importance of having family and friends around you in order to succeed.
However, although audiences may suggest that there is representation of a class system in the Lion King because Simba and his father Mufussa are king, this isn't represented in a negative way. For example, the characters of Mufussa and Simba are kind and wise, therefore they treat other characters in the Lion King as equals. There isn't a character in the film that is looked down upon as lower class or judged for being "beneath them," therefore the class system is represented as negatively to an audience. Perhaps this is because Disney films are aimed at young children, therefore producers of Disney wouldn't want to influence young children into believing there is a social hierarchy.

How are contemporary media issues changing the "music video?"

Audience Profiles