Digipak Inspiration

This is the inspiration i used to create the front of my digipak it shows Abd Al Malik a french hip-hop artist sitting on a green bench in Paris. Our picture follows the conventions of this picture as they are both wearing nike shoes and are wearing black jackets and jeans. But in ours we made karl portray a depressed type of look to convey the feel that he is 'out of touch', depressed and sad as the lyrics suggest.

The inside image of my digipak shows a london skyline at night including the London Bridge, i chose this image because it is the location where P Money lives and is a nice filler photograph for the audience to look at while in the middle of the album. My inspiration for the picture came from this photo of Jay Z sitting infront of Brooklyn Bridge at night, which shows the same type of

lighting as the image i used. Jay Z is following the conventions for a rapper as he is wearing a NewYork snapback, a black coat and a huge ring on his finger to show wealth.

The next image i chose to improvise is this picture of Jay Z standing against a white background looking to the side, wearing all black. The picture we used was karl with a white background
looking into the distance, as is Jay Z. This can show that karl (P Money in the song) is going through a lot as the lyrics tell us. The main focus for my digipak is Karl as he is the main focus in
the video.





























The last image i found was a picture of John Lennon walking on a pier with an image of barbed wire placed over the top, i chose to use this image to base mine on as it shows that he is trapped within himself and is upset, he finds it hard to let himself go and be confident.

Digipak planning

In order to improve my experience within Adobe Photoshop CS5.1, before editing the photos I have used for my digipak, I have taken a screenshot out of our music video to practice on. 
These are the photo's i used :- 

I decided to use this close up image as it is quite similar to the photograph I have taken for my ancillary task, and so am able to use this as a first draft version. 

I then cropped the frame to create a 12.49cm x 12.49cm close up image. 

I then chose to use this image for my final digipak -

I then edited the filter to a black and white, altering the contrast, saturation and the hue create a brighter image. I then placed the same image over the first and deleted all of the image except for the bench, leaving it green to stand out in the image. I then copied the colour of the bench for the text. 

After doing this I familiarised myself with the software and was confidently able to move onto editing my other photos for my ancillary tasks, my Digipak and magazine advert.

Magazine research

As part of an added to task in our coursework we have 

to create a magazine advert for the advertising of our digipak. 

There are few magazine adverts to look at for the genre we 

chose. The majority of the CD adverts I have found in 

magazine are mainly from the rock and mainstream pop 

music genre. With little existing resources i had i managed 

to find magazine adverts with similar codes and conventions 

of a grime/rap genre magazine CD advert.

The first magazine advert I have decided to look at is Young Jeezys 'The recession'. This advert has similarities to the grime genre in the fact that the advert has dark colours and the colour schemes are very usual of the grime and rap genres. The text which is also used is bold but fits with the genre of music that p money produces. The image used shows Jeezy in a black snapback cap, you can also see he is wearing a chain which complies to the codes and conventions of a rap genre. This proves an effective market point to design the advert around. I say this because the nice clothing, watch and jewelery connote a fast paced lifestyle which fans can relate to.

 The second magazine advert I am going to analyse is Jay-Z's 'The blueprint 3'. This is a different type of poster the the ones i have already looked at as it does not have a picture of the artists themselves and doesn't really conveys the conventions of rap album posters. The natural blue colour contrasts the red stripes which stand out and convey danger, which is typical in the rap genre. This draws the attention of the audience to the product. In this advert the image is a selection of instruments in the background which have been painted white, this effect really makes the poster original. This creates a feeling of love for the music industry and the instruments that make the music. 

Mood board of P Money & Ed Sheeran

Digipak design

This is my digipak that I have designed and created on photoshop, using photos of karl that were taken by myself, in specific locations, I then edited the photos to make them individually unique, and to a professional level.

These are the photos that I have used on my digipak.


This will be the front cover -

This will be the inside of the digipak where the cd will sit -

This will be the back cover for the digipak -

This is the final version of the digipak showing how it would look when finished.

What is a digipak?

A digipak is essentially a CD album case. A digipak is usually made out of card and is usually 3 layers folded together, then put into the casing.

Digipaks benefit the music artists as they have extra information inside for the fans to read, such as the track lyrics, song inspiration, song writing etc. Digipaks were invented by Meadwestavco.

The average size of a digipak is usually 12.5x12.5mm

Digipak analysis of 50 cent

50 cent - Get rich or die tryin'

The third digipak i have chosen to analyse is 50 cent's Get rich or die tryin'.

The front cover of the album -

On the front cover the first thing that stands out straight away is the image of 50 cent with the effect that he is standing behind glass that has been shot, hence the bullet hole in the center. This effect not only stands out and draws your attention to the middle of the album cover but also gives you the impressions he is involved in violence especially guns as shown by using a bullet hole.
In the cover he is photographed topless with a huge gold chain which is easily visible and shown clearly through the bullet hole. This is a common convention in the rap genre so therefore this is a very conventional album cover. The fact he is topless is a bit narcissistic as if he is showing of his body.
Another point is that the titles are very visible such as the artists name in the top right of the cover with the name of the album in the top left hand corner, a different font is used for each to split your attention and ultimately draws you to the main image of 50 cent in the centre.

The back cover -

On the back cover of this album it clearly names each individual song with the track number, which are easy to read and makes it easy for the audience to locate their required song easily. Also the layout is set out so the picture is on the right and the text doesn't overlap which doesn't make it hard to read. Around the edge is a bold red border which has the name of the album on both the left and right, it also draws your attention to the centre.
At the bottom of the back cover is the executive producers which is clearly stated next to the background and all the other logos and companies are in the bottom left corner. The one major picture is of 50 cent from and over the shoulder angle. Which conveys he always needs to be looking over his shoulder or be on 'a look out'. This also shows of his tattoo's, chain and du-rag, all conventional of rappers. In the background shows a poor ghetto area showing you what type of neighbourhood he could of come from and gives you a slight insight into his background.

The spine -

The spine of the digipak has the same bold red as the back cover on the album. The spine has the artists name and the name of the album 'Get rich or die tryin'' these are clearly stated to make it easy for the audience to read. It will also make this album stand out when on a shelve in the music shops.

The inside booklet -

Within the inside booklet of the digipak the main noticeable thing is the picture of 50 cent wearing a diamond encrusted silver chain and showing off his jewellery. A generic convention of rap videos in that they contain a lot of expensive watches and chains etc.
The chain has a huge christian cross attached which shows that he could be religion. Also there is no text at all and on the inside just the large picture which takes up the majority of the page.
The watch from the front cover can also be seen here connecting the first and second image on the inside booklet. On the interior of the booklet there is another image of 50 cent holding a baseball bat

behind his shoulders, this emphasises his 'gangster' image. The background image is similar to the image shown on the back cover which shows a rundown area which would normally relate to the rap genre.
The first five songs are in the right hand corner with which a little information about each song which include the lyrics and how he came up with the song.

The disc -

There is only one disc included in this digipak which has all the songs included on the album. On the disc is the name of the album in silver on top of a black background. The CD has bullet holes on it, implying it has been shot. This complies with the generic conventions such and guns and violence. The black background of the dic implies power, wealth, mystery as well as making a change from the bright red background which is used throughout and really makes the black stand out.

Digipak Analysis of Eminem

Eminem - Releapse

I have chosen to analyse the digipak of Eminem's Relapse album.

The front of the album/ booklet - 

In the centre covering most of the front page of the booklet is a close up picture of his own face made up from lots of little pills. This straight away this tell us that the album could be to do with drug addiction or drug affiliation. In the close-up it is as if Eminem is directly addressing the audience which could make it feel like you are being watched or look over by him. 
From the big image of him at the front we can straight away recognise it as a slim shady album. The warm bright colours of the pills stand out against the black background. The red could represent danger or to input fear. The black background could represent remorse, evil and sadness. 
At the bottom left of the album is a white rectangular card that seems to be like a medical rehab card, again relating back to the idea of drug addiction. On the top of this card is the title of the album ‘Relapse’ in capitalised bold block writing. It also includes the artists name and the producer ‘Dr Dre’. It also includes other information which is disguised to be about rehab. 
This card stands out well from the background as the white completely contrasts from the black. This draws attention to the title of the album. White could also represent his journey back to innocence and peace. 
In the bottom right corner is a ‘Explicit content’ warning, informing the buyer that it contains bad language and is only appropriate for people above a certian age. This will also make sure the album sells to the correct audience.

The inside booklet - 

The inside of the digipak consists of a booklet of the songs and lyrics. All the sentences and lyrics are compacted into small spaces to make sure this is enough room for all the lyrics of the songs. The background is white in colour and is in the pattern of the official united states prescription form, relevant to the message of drugs. The text is black so easily stands out against its white background. The titles of each song are presented slightly bolder and bigger than the other lettering. Allowing people to quickly glance through and find their song of choice.
Some of the songs have name which relate the the title of the album 'Relapse' such as 'Insane', 'Medicine Ball' and 'Crack a bottle'.
Photographs have been added into the booklet to make it more interesting for people to look at something other than all the lyrics and boring text. It also gives the audience a better understanding of what the album is about. The things and objects in the picture relate to the album. We can see lots of papers, one of them being an 'admission form' for rehab and a 'official state prescription' receipt. There are medical rehab cards and a bottle of pills. Lots of vibrant and different colours are used to make it more eye catching and nicer to look at.
The back cover of the inside booklet is an open bottle of multicoloured pills, again resting of the idea of a relapse and the association of drugs and rehab. Again the black background here is black this is used to create a feeling of fear, danger, sadness and remorse.

The back cover - 

The back cover of the album is a photograph of a prescription information form with a drugs card on top of it. The card shows us many details about the album. For example the title is 'Aftermath Drugs' to represent the Aftermath entertainment record label and we can see the songs which are included on the album. In the bottom left corner of the back cover it has a brief description about the record companies, producers and logos. There is also the artists and album website, allowing people to access more information about Eminem and other artists. In the bottom right corner there is a barcode, above the barcode we are told the executive producer is Dr.Dre.