Analysis of digipak
I have chosen to analyse the digipak for Lana Del Rey as she is a similar artist to Paloma Faith both categorised under the soul genre.
Representations of artist
Colours
The use of colours within the digipack reflect the chosen theme for the album as a whole choosing to use natural and neutral shades such as cream, red, blue and white. For instance the colours cream and white connote ideas of purity and a fresh start showing that the music is a true reflections of Lana showing herself however the ideas of showing a fresh start suggests that she talks about hard times stereotypical to the soul genre but also takes it one step further in choosing to suggest ideas of how to move on with life. To add to this the colour red signifys both danger and love both popular themes that often contradictarily juxtapose against eachother within soul songs playing that there is a fine line between love and hate. As well as this this also allows the artist to portray the ideas of being a scorned lover and showing the dangers of love. To add to this the blue tones suggesting ideas of seranity and show a calming effect to the audience telling the audience that despite the emotions and strong themes about which the songs are written they are infact contained and presented to music and in a manner that is calming allowing the lyrics to suggests the deep emotional tromour behind each song.
Style of language
The use of an oxymoron 'born to die' shows how Lana has both a synical yet realistic view of the world. Her approach to realism portrays the idea that her music will too follow this approach and give accurate accounts and details of life.
Design and layout
With the list of songs the writing and songs are continuous with two songs on each line. This is unusual as songs are usually spaced out giving each one heightened importance and allowing popular songs to be easily indentified on the back. By showing all the songs together suggest that there is a common theme used within all the songs joining them together suggesting they all relate and creating the idea that the album is a personal story as opposed to songs written purely with the intent of relating to different audience memebers.
Typography
The use of typography within the digipack is bold, clear and in capital letters drawing attention to key words and showing how the whole message and word is important. This is shown through the use of Lana's name as it is all capital letters showing how she is important and a big deal promoting her work as an artist and through your eye being drawn to her name it too helps promote the artist.
Use of images
I have chosen to analyse the digipak for Lana Del Rey as she is a similar artist to Paloma Faith both categorised under the soul genre.
Representations of artist
Lana is shown alone yet central suggesting she likes attention and maybe has a strong independent personality however through being alone and her glum expression calls into question the reasons behind her being alone suggesting that she was left or abandoned by the ones she loved forcing her into the strong character she is shown to be. The choice of clothing for Lana shows her as covered up and well presented in a professional style and manner with the buttons being done up to the top and the long sleeves ensuring no flesh is shown. This therefore could be seen as a representation of the music within the album as it indicates Lana has taken her time to present and polish her music taking a professional manner over the music she creates in order to deliver the best album she could for her fans. This however is contraictorary to the typical style within a soul genre album as they usually focus on raw emotions and as both an artist and a person laying themselves bare to their listeners and showing the real them so her covered up choice of clothing subverts this stereotype.
Colours
The use of colours within the digipack reflect the chosen theme for the album as a whole choosing to use natural and neutral shades such as cream, red, blue and white. For instance the colours cream and white connote ideas of purity and a fresh start showing that the music is a true reflections of Lana showing herself however the ideas of showing a fresh start suggests that she talks about hard times stereotypical to the soul genre but also takes it one step further in choosing to suggest ideas of how to move on with life. To add to this the colour red signifys both danger and love both popular themes that often contradictarily juxtapose against eachother within soul songs playing that there is a fine line between love and hate. As well as this this also allows the artist to portray the ideas of being a scorned lover and showing the dangers of love. To add to this the blue tones suggesting ideas of seranity and show a calming effect to the audience telling the audience that despite the emotions and strong themes about which the songs are written they are infact contained and presented to music and in a manner that is calming allowing the lyrics to suggests the deep emotional tromour behind each song.
Style of language
The use of an oxymoron 'born to die' shows how Lana has both a synical yet realistic view of the world. Her approach to realism portrays the idea that her music will too follow this approach and give accurate accounts and details of life.
Design and layout
With the list of songs the writing and songs are continuous with two songs on each line. This is unusual as songs are usually spaced out giving each one heightened importance and allowing popular songs to be easily indentified on the back. By showing all the songs together suggest that there is a common theme used within all the songs joining them together suggesting they all relate and creating the idea that the album is a personal story as opposed to songs written purely with the intent of relating to different audience memebers.
Typography
The use of typography within the digipack is bold, clear and in capital letters drawing attention to key words and showing how the whole message and word is important. This is shown through the use of Lana's name as it is all capital letters showing how she is important and a big deal promoting her work as an artist and through your eye being drawn to her name it too helps promote the artist.
Use of images
The use of images such as a rose connote the ideas of beauty yet a deep hurting and pain. As well as this the rose suggesting the ideas of something which is natural, honest, pure and not artificial which could be a foreshadowment of the artist and her music which is stereotypical of the soul genre as the music tends to be personal and directly connected to the artist, their life and emotions. This is reinforced by the choice of location and backdrop used on the cd front cover which presents a cloudy sky. This speaks alot as despite reinforcing the ideas and themes of nature and purity the use of clouds in the sky as opposed to a clear blue sky interpret the emotions and clouded emotions that cast over the lyrics portraying the music theme and therefore stereotypically representing the connotations of the soul genre.
You have provided a minimal analysis of the digipak, briefly explaining what some of the connotations are of the elements used.
ReplyDeleteYou need to:
1) Explain fully what each element used creates and WHY
2) Cover ALL bullet points for the digipak (typography, design and layout, language etc,)
3) Explain how the digipak is successful (or not) in terms of promoting the album and artist and building a relationship with the audience
4) Include a summary explaining how and why this research was beneficial, as well as mentioning any inspirations you will take on board and include within your own digipak (give examples)
5) Include an intro explaining what the purpose of a digipak is and how it is different and more successful than a jewel cd case (refer back to bullet points listed in lesson)