Digipak research

I have chosen to research didgipak's that have the same genre as the band we have created, because these are therefore more relevant, and will inspire me more in terms of creating my own digipak that fits genre conventions. The genre ranges from rock to metal, meaning the image of the digipak's is a more darker and mysterious than for example mainstream chart music, because the digipak is made to fit with the band style and genre of music.

My Chemical Romance are an alternative rock band similar to the genre of our band, which is reflected in their digipak for 'The Black Parade Is Dead' - a live album. The whole thing is in black and white, which represents the darker genre and star image of the band and the darker messages portrayed in the songs on the album, such as 'Dead!' and 'Cancer'. This aesthetically is a major colour contrast, to show the contrast that the band are to the norm and mainstream. Black and White is also a big symbolism in funerals, where the black represents death and the white represents moving on to the heavens, which is really exactly what The Black Parade is Dead album is about, and so the digipak colour scheme parallel's the purpose of the album. The imagery also directly relates to the album, where it involves pictures of crowds and the stage, as the album is a live album. The back cover with the tracklisting on has an unusual layout compared to other albums. The tracks are all in different fonts of different sizes, to represent how each song means something different and represent different circumstances of death. It is also in the style of old-style newspapers, representing headlines, emphasising that the songs represent issues and tragedy  a typical convention involved in this genre of music. The disc itself contains a skull pattern to further connote death (the theme of the album and also a typical theme of the genre of music). The disc also contains a lot more white, to stand out from the rest of the digipak and so the black logo of the band is clearly seen, where on the dark front cover, the logo is white for the same reason. The band logo here is important to promote the band image and so the audience can associate certain imagery and fonts with the band, making the album and band memorable, which is therefore a promotion technique.

Time will Tell by Vendetta uses very typical genre conventions for the genre of music that the band are. A lot of blacks and greys are used for the main background to represent the dark metal genre of the band and dark representation of the songs and star image. The mise-en-scene of the image includes an egg-timer, which directly relates to the name of the album (Time Will Tell) so that audience can associate the album cover with the album easily, making it more memorable, which also relates to one of the songs on the album, their most popular song 'in time' which is a stereotypical convention of digipaks - the album name relating to a released single. There are also skulls in the egg-timer, which connote death and danger, which are two stereotypical conventions of this genre of music, and still fit with the concept of time in the digipak and the album; the concept that everybody dies in time. The other colour used within the theme is a pale yellowish brown - the colour of the skulls, so that all of the digipak matches but also again to keep the idea of death and mystery running through the digipak to promote the band's genre conventions. Also, a lot of the text is in this pale colour, and so contrasts against the dark backgrounds, which makes the text clear and readable to the audience and therefore more professional. The band name is the largest and boldest text on the digipak which makes it stand out to the audience as a promotion technique, and make it clear that the digipak belongs to that particular band. The disc is black, to keep with the dark conventions and contrast against the pale section that the disc is in. It is simple, with the same fonts as the front cover for the band name and album name, so that the theme is occurring and almost acts like a logo for the audience to associate with. The disc also features the eggtimer, to keep with the theme and make the disc fit in with the rest of the digipak.

In Legend - Pandemonium is quite a busy digipak that is also similar to the genre of our band. The clear running theme in this digipak is the use of a crooked piano, which has been edited to look old and a bit creepy, which is a typical convention of dark rock or metal bands. The piano itself represents dramatic or melodic music, which is music associated a lot with this genre. The image is then therefore an item that the audience can associate the album with, like a brand logo, which therefore promotes the album. This is used on the disc also, to make the disc more associated with the album, but is used in a circular manner to fit the shape of the disc. The inside uses pictures of the band, so that the audience can associate the band with the album and imagery and recognise them. There are also pictures of crowds pictures of concerts to suggest that the band are popular and liked, which is a promotion technique. The whole colour scheme involves blacks and greys to fit with the dark genre of the band and to help the audience recognise the genre of music. The band name is clearly shown in the middle of the front cover in the form of the band logo to promote the band by getting the audience to recognise and associate with the logo. This is shown in a bright pale blue, to stand out against the background so it is clear to the audience, which therefore makes the layout more professional. One of the inside pages features a QR code, which allows the owner of the digipak to access further information or extras to do with the band or album, which acts as a reward to the audience who actually bought the album. This acts as a marketing technique, which is something I can consider in my digipak.

This digipak uses conventional themes of the genre of music it is made for (a darker, more metal band), by the running use of blood, grotty and old settings created by a filter over the image, and a girl alone in the corner of a room, where typical conventions of this genre of music are death and loneliness. It is a lot brighter than the other digipak's which would normally subvert the stereotype of the genre, however this works as a way of making the things important in the imagery, stand out, such as the blood, the girl or the editing filters. Lyrics and lines are used throughout the digipak as a way for the audience to associate the imagery of his album with the songs that are on the album. The tracklist on the back is set out in quite a disjointed manner, which adds to the mysterious and almost aesthetically disturbing theme of the digipak. All of the font used is clear and simple, so it is easy for the audience to read and therefore professional, but the font is also unusual in shape, to fit with the idea of the style of music being alternative. 

Genre conventions are extremely important within a selling point of a band such as an album cover, because if they weren't adhered to (unless to create an ironic effect) then it wouldn't look professional in the industry or promote particular genres of music.