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Final DIGIPAK

DIGIPAK research

This is a good example of a Digipak from the genre of Hip-hop.

This is 2Pac's album entitled 'All eyez on me'

 

The front cover has several features that all album covers should have:

• Parental Advisory logo
• The artist's name
• The album title
• An indication on the number of CDs
• Artwork with reference to the artist (i.e. photograph)

 

The inner CD of the digipak features:

• A clear edited photograph of the artist
• A decorated CD artwork
• Red and black colour scheme (behind the CD)



Within the second opening of the CD we can see:

• The record label's logo
• The second CD

 

On the back of the album we can see:

• The track list
• A bar code
• The record label logos
• A list of the credited people (i.e. executive producers)
• Name of the artist and album

Making DIGIPAK (front cover)

 

To begin with, I created a new blank canvas with an area of 21cm by 21cm. Then I pasted 2 copies of a secondary source image of a city skyline. I changed the Hue & Saturation on the top layer picure to make it dark and using the soft rubber tool to create the light to dark gradient from top to bottom.  

 

 

 

I pasted an image from the artist's photoshoot

 

I then used the polygon lasso tool to colour fill shapes that take up the artist's main features in order to create a cartoon effect on the artist

 

 

 

 

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Each feature has its own layer

 

 

After tracing the photo of the artist, merged together the shape of the artist's jacket with a coloured version of the city background

 

 

 

 

Lastly I got a picture of the parential advisory logo due to the explicit content of the album, I got a picture of the artist's recordlabel's logo. I also wrote the name of the album on the top of the cover and included the artist's name just under it. I put a coloued copy of the background and merged it with the title of the cover.

Research 8 (Observations Music video #2)

The Diplomats - Dipset Anthem

I chose to analyse this video because its a critically acclaimed song in the Hip-Hop. However, this example is more of a historical example of how the genre used to be represented (2003).

What elements enable us to recognise genre?
There is a large source of elements which enable us recognise the genre. To begin with, there is significant reference to gang activity (colour of clothing(red), lyrics and proximity of people, the significant reference of  drugs, the flashy vehicles, the flashy jewelry, the large amounts of money in the video, the police, the inner city setting and the objectifying of women.

Why is it important that the video shows genre from a distribution point of view?
Its important for this video to show genre from a distribution point of view because it makes it easier for the target market to identify with the elements easier.

How many locations are used?
Office
Street corner
Middle of road
Stage set rooms
Living room
(5 locations)

How is the artist used in the video?

The artist was used in an empowering way due to their glorifying illegal activity (selling drugs and gang activity). They boast about the amount of money they making from selling drugs and rapping ans well as talking about violence. The video shines a negative light because of promoting negative activity towards people who don't listen to rap music, however to people who are used to the content of rap, it's the norm to see scenes of this nature therefore its a positive light for fans.

How does the film's language appeal to its target market?
The film's language appeals to its target market because the lyrics have a lot of slang that only the target market would identify with and understand, as well as cultural reference.

Research 7 (Observations Music Video #1)

Isaiah Rashad - Ronnie Drake (2013)

I chose to analyse this music video because I believe its a good example of the current climate of Hip-Hop in the modern day.
This is however a low budget video.
I also chose this video in particular because it uses a car in a similar fashion to the way I want to use a car in my music video.

What elements enable us to recognise genre?
This music video enables us to see genre through the dresscode of the participants and the main character (Wearing hoodies, trainers, jeans and jewelry). Also, Hip-hop is dominantly a black culture, therefore, there is a heavy presence of black people. Another thing that enables us to see the genre of hip-hop is the fact that the participants in the video are drinking and smoking.

Why is it important that the video shows genre from a distribution point of view?
Its important that the this video shows genre from a distribution point of view because in terms of marketing, the audience should immediately identify the genre and it should be a clear representation.

How many locations are used?
Car Exterior
Kitchen
Car Interior
Middle of a road
House Exterior
Train track
Driving through the streets
(7 Locations)

How is the artist used in the video?
This artist is used in a variety of ways. Firstly the artist is portrayed as a family man due to the way hes interacting with his son, his mother, father and siblings. Also, the artist is portrayed to be a part of a community due to the way hes rapping with his friends around him. The artist is portrayed altogether as an artist with integrity and as someone who takes care of his people and this consequently shines a positive light on him.

How does the film's language appeal to its target market?
The language appeals to its target market of hip-hop heads because the lyrics are more down to earth and meaningful, as opposed to mainstream music (see audience profile blog)

Website research

 To begin with, in order to get an accurate template of what an artist's website looks like, it is necessary to look at other artist websites within the same genre.

After having a look at a variety of websites, I can see that they all have a mutual format. Most of the websites I looked at have pages dedicated to MUSIC, NEWS, ABOUT, VIDEOS, TOUR and STORE. Some other websites have even have sections for the fan community. Another thing I noticed is that social network site links for the artist are usually on the home screen. On the home page, the artist's current album is always being promoted and merchandise is usually being promoted. Lastly, there is always an option to buy the artist's music.

After doing this research I can use all of the information to construct a model website for my artist.

Photoshoot

In order to create a Digipak and a website for my artist, I took primary source pictures of my artist. I consciously paid no attention to the background of these photographs because I was aware of the fact that I was going to use Photoshop to manipulate colour, background, tone, shade and pattern. My main focus in taking these pictures was to have a good quality focus of the artist's face. Therefore, it was necessary to take close ups and medium close ups. Alternatively, I also took pictures from a side angle and pictures against the wall to implicate genre. 

I made the artist do a variety of poses which connote the artist's personal character (the prayer pose suggest religion, the phone to the face suggests he has a busy lifestyle. Hip-hop is seen to be a genre with attitude and sassiness therefore it was important to capture some of these aspects.

I tried to limit the superficial element of Hip-Hop (Jewelry) because the nature of the artist doesn't match that persona.