Digipaks:
What is a digipak?
What is a digipak?
A digipak
is a special unlimited edition CD case usually made of cardboard. Its purpose
is to showcase the band's album.
The
conventions of a digipak:
A
digipaks most important purpose is to hold the CD, this bit of the digipak is
usually made of plastic with the background being of the continuous theme the
digipak is presenting. This is so when the Cd is taken out of the case there is
no blank space.
There is
a continuous theme running through the digipak which is reflective of the
album, the band’s sound and the brand image the band are portraying.
A track
list is important and is most often on the back of the case for customer ease
when viewing in shops. The track list showcases all the songs that are on the
CD.
A barcode
is present so that the digipak can be purchased easily.
The name
of the record label is normally at the bottom corner of the back panel, this is
put on so the audience can see who is distributing and producing the artists
songs.
Often
there will be links to the bands webpages, the record label and other...
Copyright
information is displayed, for example the person who made the cover or the
photographer. This is so people don't steal things for their own.
Images of
the band/ artist are often used so the audience can see whose digipak they are
buying. It's also important for this reason that the name of the band/artist is
on the digipak.
The name
of album is also needed, it is important as the name creates the overall feel
of the album.
Secondary
images on the digipak also are reflective of the album theme.
The spine
always contains the name of the artist and album name for clarity and ease for
when the digipak is displayed in the shops.
Analysing
digipaks similar to the genre of McFly, pop rock:
Jonas
Brothers: Rebekah
The Jonas Brother's Album cover adheres to the conventions, with it having a photograph of the band, the band name and logo and the album name. It's interesting how they have incorporated the names and logos within the image to make them link clearly with the theme. The band are centred allowing them to be the main focus, with there being no other people visible it also makes them stand out more. The theme that I believe will run through will be the bright lights, dark rainy atmosphere the front cover represents. The main colours used are black and red as they seem to be heavily used in this genre of music.The second panel has the same theme running through it, with the bright lights and the dark and rainy atmosphere, if the theme didn't continue the digipak would be confused and it's purpose wouldn't be understood as the album wouldn't be reflecting what the band wants to show. The use of different panels allow there to be a selection of different pictures which are showing the theme the video wants to suggest. There is also some details written in the corner of what special features you can access through either putting the CD into your PC or entering a code. This includes a 30 page booklet with photos of the band etc.
The CD case is simple and brings all the main colours of black and red together with the CD being red and standing out on the black background it sits on. This also links to the theme as the colours have been continuously used throughout to create the image the band wants.
The back panel is simple and shows a tracklist of all the songs the CD holds. The black background has the band's logo watermarked on to give the audience a final reminder of whose CD it is. It also has the rest of the conventions including the barcode, small print, record label and other little details.
Arctic Monkeys Album is called
"Favourite Worst Nightmare" and the colours on the digipak go really
well with the title; the main colours of the digipak being dark to represent
night. The Bands name and the name of the album is in yellow which I believe
represents street lights to show that it is night time. The image used is a
normal photographic picture taken of houses in a street at night with all the
lights off, however they've also used artwork to edit into the windows of one
house. The whole point of making the album looking dark is to represent night
time because that's when people have nightmares. If we look in the windows its
bright and looks like a nightmare, the bottom right window looks like it has
some kind of monster in it which is screaming causing them to have all the
lights in the house to be turned on because they're having a nightmare, this
also makes that house stick out from the rest of the houses which have lights
off because they are sleeping.
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When you open up the first panel
from the front cover the next panel has got a picture of the back of house
which also have all the lights on, this picture is just in focus to the back of
that house and not the street. This is to continue on the theme from the first
cover throughout the rest of the Digipak. The back cover at the bottom they
have the song list in order but they haven't wrote the numbers for the song
list which shows that they are unique. On the spine they have the Artist name
and the album cover in the same style writing as the front cover, they also
have their record company logo on the stem, this is so when its on the shelf it
sticks out to the customer.
Arctic Monkeys
inside cover matches the theme of the outside cover, inside their are 3 photos
which connect to the theme on the outside. Outside the digipak its the outside
of the house but inside the digipak the pictures are stuff in the inside of the
house. I think this is very smart at the digipak is basically a house with the
inside being inside and the outside being the outside in the streets. The
colourful background represents the "favourite" part of the song
title, and the image on the disk looks like a monster and in the pictures there
are some evil things this represents the "Worst Nightmare" part of
the album.
Fall Out Boy: Amy
An example of a pop-rock digipak is Fall Out Boy's
Infinity On High. Released in 2007, this limited edition digipak retailed for
around $20 and came in limited numbers. It is a four panel digipak, and has a
specific dark blue colour scheme. As you can see, it contains a CD, lyric
booklet and 'tarot' cards.
As you can see, the album artwork is quite strange
and different to typical pop-rock albums, where an image of the band or just
their name might be used. This cover features a sheep with wings, a false moon
and a bedroom. This might be related the the album title, 'Infinity On High',
meaning this is what it feels like when you are 'high' on drugs, although the
band do not typically represent this. The band name is at the top and in the
centre, and is in a medium, curly white font. This is actually the bands logo,
and they used this for many years including their live performance DVD, before
updating it in 2013. This means that fall out boy fans can easily recognise the
band because they know the logo and it is iconic. The album title 'Infinity On
High' in written in the same white colour, but smaller and in a different font.
This might be so that it fits in with the scheme and artistic direction, whilst
still linking to the band name. There is a large sticker in the right bottom
corner, stating that this is a 'deluxe limited edition package', telling
consumers that this won't be around forever and could become increasingly rare
and valuable, as well as that it contains the hit song 'This Ain't a Scene,
It's an Arms Race'.
When the digipak is opened there are two panels
seen, one containing a flap where the tarot cards and lyric booklet is kept,
and the other containing the CD. Both panels are black with little white stars
all over it, and these colours means it connects with the white font on the
front of the digipak. Both the tarot cards and lyric booklet contain never
before seen photographs of the band, as well as lyrics and who was responsible
for each job whilst creating the CD. On the right hand side the CD has the same
band name and album title combination from the album artwork. It is dark blue
and again this is a running scheme throughout the digipak, with a pattern on
the left of it in a darker navy blue. This looks like ink running through
water, and gives a dream like effect and could reflect what the songs will be
like. Underneath this, there are two websites, one to www.falloutboyrock.com
and www.mercuryrecords.com. Then, there is the copyright to Def Jam Music
Group, the Fueled By Ramen record label logo and the Decay Dance record label
logo, which one of the band members own. This is all written in the same
font and colour scheme that 'Infinity On High' is.
When the CD is removed, a photograph of the band
looking into a 'mirror' is revealed. It appears that they are in the same
location as where the album artwork was taken, as if it is a special kind of
house that they have stumbled across. The band's reflections are the other band
members, so where Pete should see himself, it's actually Patrick. This was an
exclusive photo shoot and can only be seen by people who have brought the
digipak.
On the back of the digipak another picture of the
band is shown. This means that before the consumer buys the product if they are
unsure who Fall Out Boy are they can turn it over and might recognise their
faces. Unlike typical digipaks, this one doesn't list the tracks. This might
however be in the lyric booklet or on the tarot cards. Typically though, it has
the website links, record label logos, barcode and and FBI Anti-Piracy Warning,
meaning that it's illegal to copy and distribute this CD over the internet. The
logo of this warning is also featured, and once again the font is the same as
the album title itself, and this is a running theme throughout the digipak.
Band Logos:
I have looked at 9 band logos across a variety of genres of music to see what they look like and to see if they are appropriate for the target audience.
Led-Zeppelin were a rock band, their logo again is simple with it being black font. The capital stretched effect make the letters look bigger and in effect make the band name stand out. The capital letters link in with the loud sound of rock as it makes it look like they are shouting.
Queen is a rock band. Their logo is very over the top with colour and design but very patriotic to the queen and her country. The logo is very personal to the band with the images of the lions and fairies being their zodiac signs. The colours used are very much a convention of the genre with the red and yellows looking like fire.
Oasis are a rock band. Their logo is black font which is simple and clean. The logo says little about the music or the band, but it's basic style makes me think they are more focused on the sounds of their music.
Robbie Williams is a pop singer. His logo isn't very linked to the genre with it being dark and not very colourful- I wasn't aware this was his logo. The star makes it look like he thinks he is a star himself and probably says a lot about his character. The shape of the logo is rounded and smooth suggesting he wants to keep his image clean.
The New Inventions are a rock band, their logo is very creative and seems to mess with the conventions. The cream colours of the logo are rarely seen in this genre. The way the logo has been designed might say a lot about the style of the bands music, with the logo being different and eye catching is the music playing with the conventions to?
Recording Studio Research: Amy
Fueled By Ramen
In 1998, Fuelled by Ramen released a self-titled EP from punk-rock band
Jimmy Eat World and was instantly a success for both the band and the record
label. Many of this record labels albums and general discography have become
very popular, including Fall Out Boy's 2003 album Take This To Your
Grave, which was certified gold. Other successes include Panic! at the
Disco's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, which was eventually double
platinum-certified and their debut album. Over the following years, the record
label signed more and more artists and bands, and eventually teamed up with
Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz to co-produce artists from the record label
DecayDance. In 2009, Paramore's third album Brand New Eyes debuted
at number 2 of the US Billboard 200, selling 175,000 copies in it's first week
and becoming Fuelled By Ramen's fastest selling album in the labels history.
DecayDance Records
DecayDance Records was founded by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz in 2005, and
was originally an imprint of record label Fueled By Ramen. It is now an
independent record label and has a large discography of many artists and bands
of various genres, including rock, rap and hip-hop.
Super
Records
Super records is an independent record label operated by English band
McFly. It was formed in 2008 and has signed several artists including McFly,
McBusted, James Bourne and Matt Willis. When the record label is more
successful they hope to sign more artists and bands.
Syco
Music
Syco Music is a record label founded by Simon Cowell in 2002. They have
the exclusive right to sign artists from The X Factor and the Got Talent
series. Current signed artists include One Direction, Little Mix, Olly Murs and
Union J.
Hopeless
Records
Hopeless Records is an independent record label which was founded by
Louis Posen in 1993. There artists are mainly from the alternative-rock or
pop-rock genre, but stem to various genres of metal. Recent artists and bands
include All Time Low, We Are the In Crowd and Yellowcard.
Conclusion
The best choice for our band is
probably Fueled By Ramen because the majority of their artists are pop-rock and
have a lot of contacts with other bands and record labels. This means our band
would fit in with this genre and could play shows or be the opening act to this
record's other more popular acts. Other record labels such as Syco would
be okay for our band to be part of except they aren't very popular in other
countries such as America and focus mainly on English artists, whereas we want
our band to have worldwide success.
Our Band Logo / Conclusion
Research into Band logos of our genre: Amy
This band logo is from pop-rock band Boys Like
Girls. It is very simple and easy to read, with both the words Boys and Girls
being in a bolder font than Like. It can easily be changed colour wise and the
three words can also be stacked on top of each other to fit the merchandise or
album where it needs to.
Panic! At the Disco's logo is quite whimsical and
suits their lyrics which is also quite abstract. Like the Boys Like Girls logo,
it is black and white, but the font is detailed and complicated. I don't think
either of these logos would be suitable for our band because they are quite
boring and as our band is called Scarletta (the Latin version of scarlet) so we
would like to incorporate some sort of colour, specifically red.
This is Fall Out Boy's 2013 logo. As you can
see, they have decided to use a picture with the band's 'initials' FOB instead
of their name. Their design has a crown at the top of their logo, which might
signify that they think that they are the 'Kings of Rock Music', because they
have become increasingly popular after they returned from their hiatus this
year. We preferred the picture style but still would like our logo to have
colours as we find black and white quite boring and think our band's brand image
is fun and young.
This is the logo from pop-rock band My Chemical
Romance. They have many logos but we chose this one because we liked the circle
design. Like the Fall Out Boy logo, they only include the bands initials
because the band are very much known by MCR rather than their full title. The
way they have incorporated the arrows into their design works quite effectively
but has little to do with their band name or brand image. A continuous theme we
have found with the pop-rock genre is that their logo's are mainly black and white,
but as stated before we really wanted that pop of colour.
This band logo is from pop-rock band
Blink-182. This logo is the perfect example of what we wanted to achieve
because it is bright and colourful, not to mention eye catching! This logo
doesn't directly say their band name but any fan can recognize this and instantly
know who it is. We wanted to achieve this with Scarletta because I think this
symbolizes popularity and success. The colours of this logo are opposites (blue
and pink) and could signify the colour stereotypes of males and females. This
could mean that the band write about relationships between a boy and girl and
from listening to their music it is evident that this is correct.
Our Band Logo / Conclusion
For our band logo we wanted it to be similar to the
Blink-182 one, with a picture and brightly coloured. We decided upon a 'world',
where there are red islands that are supposed to be countries joined together
to make a heart on a blue background which is the sea. There are several green
islands on the outside of the heart and this shows how popular they are and
that fans from all over the world join together to enjoy the music. The red
islands also connects to the band's name Scarletta, which is something that we
really wanted to achieve for our logo.
Research
different stockists that could distribute your album – Josh
ITunes is an online software created by apple which
keeps your music which you have recently bought or downloaded in a media
library.
Theres
lots of things that can be done on iTunes by using the iTunes store. on the
iTunes store customers can buy or download music, music video, television
shows, films, iPod games, audiobooks and podcasts.
iTunes
first opened on the 28th April 2003 and has been one of the most popular places
to buy music ever since. iTunes has had the biggest rapid growth of online
downloads and buying music. iTunes offers over 28 million different products
including songs. The iTunes store has made a massive amounts of money since
opening, with it making $1.4 billion since 2011 and by October 2011 it has sold
16 billion songs.
iTunes
would have a lot of benefits for distributing our album, one of those being
that it would be so much easier for the customer to just buy the album on the
software and have it straight away to listen to, rather than waiting for it to
be delivered. Also iTunes has taken majority of the customers from the
competition as it is up to date all the time with the latest technology and
people find it so much easy to use.
HMV sells millions of CD's each year. Last
year (2012) HMV estimated that they made around 40 million transactions worth
around £20 a time.
They were
founded in London, England on the 20th July 1921, but since then it has become
one of the biggest entertainment retail stores in the world. HMV sells a wide
range of things such as; DVD's, Video games, books, magazines, posters and most
importantly CD's.
HMV did
have 273 stores in 8 countries but due to liquidation majority of the stores
have had to shut down and the rest are still in process of shutting down, this
is because of the stores are loosing out on business to shops online as most
people find it easier to just order something from their home than collecting
it from the nearest store. Due to this HMV has now gone online where the
selling still continues.
Due to
HMV's background and history it would still be a good place to distribute our
album because people are aware of HMV and trust the company with their orders
because of how long its been around. It is also still one of the biggest music
stores in the world.
Play.com is a very successful
online retailer for many products, buts its most common one is CD's and MP3
downloads. Play.com specialise in the music business and our album would distribute
well there.
Play.com was founded in 1998, it is one of the first online stores that targets the UK. It also is the second biggest online retailer in the UK according to Hitwise. In November 2006, Play.com got ranked second in the "Hot Shops List" by IMRG and Hitwise.
Play.com has 7 million registered customers and a catalogue of over 8 million products, this shows they get a lot of business that's why they would be good for album.
Play.com is a jersey-based online store which sells a wide range of products, including; DVDs, CDs, video games, books, gadgets and MP3 downloads.
Play.com is a worldwide online shop which is is extremely successful. So i think that our album would sell well there as it can be sold as a CD or downloaded as an MP3. They sell every music genre possible and sell them all around the globe.
Conclusion: We have decided that iTunes would be the best stockist to distribute our album as it is the fastest online selling growth in the world. iTunes is also everywhere you can get it on your Apple phones and other Apple products or on your laptop/computer it is the fastest way to buy music and it is where people first look to buy products. Also the "Top 40 UK charts" are based on the amount of sales done on iTunes so that's another reason for it to distribute our album, it would also advertise it better than the others.
NME Worst Album Art:
Play.com was founded in 1998, it is one of the first online stores that targets the UK. It also is the second biggest online retailer in the UK according to Hitwise. In November 2006, Play.com got ranked second in the "Hot Shops List" by IMRG and Hitwise.
Play.com has 7 million registered customers and a catalogue of over 8 million products, this shows they get a lot of business that's why they would be good for album.
Play.com is a jersey-based online store which sells a wide range of products, including; DVDs, CDs, video games, books, gadgets and MP3 downloads.
Play.com is a worldwide online shop which is is extremely successful. So i think that our album would sell well there as it can be sold as a CD or downloaded as an MP3. They sell every music genre possible and sell them all around the globe.
Conclusion: We have decided that iTunes would be the best stockist to distribute our album as it is the fastest online selling growth in the world. iTunes is also everywhere you can get it on your Apple phones and other Apple products or on your laptop/computer it is the fastest way to buy music and it is where people first look to buy products. Also the "Top 40 UK charts" are based on the amount of sales done on iTunes so that's another reason for it to distribute our album, it would also advertise it better than the others.
NME Worst Album Art:
Queen "The Miracle."
Hard Fi "Once Upon A Time in the West."
Artic Monkeys "Suck It And See."
The Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour."
Music Adverts:
What is a
music advert?
An advert
is a piece of media used by the band or artist to promote their new album/
single or their most recent tour dates.
Where can
you find music adverts?
Music
adverts are found in a range of places such as billboards, buses,
magazines/newspaper and shops which sell music.
What are
the conventions of a music advert?
The
conventions of a music video advert include:
An image
of the artist so the audience can recognise it to be of that specific artist-
from the new album following the same theme as the album is portraying.
The name
of the artist.
The name
of the upcoming album.
Image of
the album so they can know what they are looking for.
Persuasive
language- sells the product. e.g. - smash hit.
The date
of the release of the album.
The
record labels logo.
The name
of the main song of the album (as this song will have been released as a single
previously as another way of advertising.)
Possible
ratings/review from large well-known companies (newspapers like telegram/ daily
mirror)
Website
links to the record label or to the artist in question.
Where it
is available.
Analysing different albums:
Katy Perry: One Of The Boys
Rihanna: Rated R
Rihanna's
advert is very monotone in colours, the red of the well known songs of the advert stand out so the audience can see this clearly and want to buy the album. Her robotic hand might suggest something of the albums sound or to do with the image she wants to portray. Her image takes over a third of the advert so the audience know who's album it is also suggests she wants her image to be the key focus. Everything written is in capitals so that it is easy on the eye to read however the album name isn't too clear and is hidden on the image so could have been more clearly shown. However the use of colour and the style chosen isn't relative to her genre which is R&B/ Pop due to these colours being heavily used in rock genres.
Ellie Goulding: Lights
Ellie Goulding's Advert is very simple, with it just being taken up 90% by a photo of herself allowing the viewer to immediately see who's album it is. The font used is consistent throughout with it being a glowing yellow made to look like it's shining like lights the album title. The shimmering effect on her hair is also put there to make it look like lights again linking to the album name.
Kings of Leon: Only By The Night
This album advert isn't very appealing as the picture is confusing with it being crossed between a bald eagle and all the band members. These birds are known for being powerful, large birds and this maybe says something about Kings Of Leon's aspirations, they want to be big in the musical industry or shows they already are. The colours used are greens and greys, colours which are dull and dark and typical of the rock genre which they fit in. There is synergy with font type and style with most conventions being adhered to.
Plan B: The Defamation of Strickland Banks
Plan B's
advert reflects him as an artist, it's very simple as he seems to be about his
sound. The grey suit and him being in greyscale is very 50's inspired and along
with the microphone it seems this is the look he was going for. The red of his name and the 'persuasive' language stands out over the jet black background. The artist photo takes up a quarter of the page and blends into the background like shadows. the five star ratings and the image of the album encourage people to want to purchase it.
Analysing Adverts of our chosen genre:
Analysing Adverts of our chosen genre:
Panic At The Disco: Pretty Odd- Rebekah
P!ATD album advert is very typical of them, the band themselves are very creative with both music and mise en scene in videos and album art. This album represents there album clearly with the entire image being the front of the album, I like this idea as it means you don't have to insert a picture of the album and there is a clearer link between the album and advert. The logo changes depending on the album. This logo suggests that the music is fun and happy with there being use of pinks, greens and oranges. It also is fairground inspired again making you feel happy, the images of flowers makes you also think of summer spring time when the sun is out and having fun. The advert is clear and shows the important things in a white font at the bottom of the ad.
All Time Low-Don't Panic- Amy
This is the album advert for All Time Low's digipak
'Don't Panic'. As you can see, it features their album artwork which is a giant
monster going to attack all of the people/zombies in the town. This is ironic
to the album title which is 'Don't Panic' because the citizens are clearly
distressed. It is a very colourful advert made up of reds, greens, yellows and
blues, with all of the text such as the band name, album title and when the
release date in which letters so that there is a clear synergy and it stands
out. All Time Low's logo is in the top centre above the monster and it appears
that they have something to with the invasion: either they are here to save the
day or to take over the world. This could be applied to their music because it
might symbolize how their music is here to 'save people', either emotionally or
from listening to other bad music! It could also be interpreted that the band
are here to take over the pop-rock music industry and change the genre
conventions/music the way they once knew it. At the bottom of the poster there
is both where the album is available to be brought (from HMV) and the record
labels logo to the left.
Arctic Monkeys -
Humbug - Josh
The advert is in black and white
which is a stereotypical indie genre convention. The main focus on the advert
is the big picture of the young girl dancing. The picture is quite abstract and
in ballet art form. This is showing us that this is the proper way to dance,
Arctic monkeys are saying that their album is to be taken serious and they are
showing the proper way to write music. This is also why they have written the
number one hit in the picture as they are saying that song is done the
"proper way". They have star ratings from two magazines which are
both Indi magazines, this will be more appealing to the audience as they read
the magazines. They mention their hit single and an unheard track which makes
the album a lot more appealing.
The bad things about the advert is that there isnt a picture of the band so we
cant establish who it is by first look, however they over power this with their
name being in big bold writing at the top which stands out. they also don't say
where the album is available to buy. The advert also miss' out the little
details such as their website and their record label logo.
Conclusion:
Looking at this I think that we have to make sure that we include the majority of the album advert conventions most importantly the name of the artist and the album and the date it is released. We also have to have the band as a main focus as they are our unique selling point.
Brand
Image Research of Bands of our Genre:
I chose to look at All Time Low to see what how they are represented through their image and the media.
Logo:
The band’s
name is taken from the song 'Head On Collisions' by 'New Found Glory.' They
were influenced by the sound of this band. It's a little depressing and could be said to link to the target audience who will be moody teenagers.
Panic! At the Disco- Amy
Panic! At the Disco are a pop rock band originally
from Las Vegas, Nevada. They formed in 2004 and have released 4 albums and 2
live DVDs and CDs. The band was originally made up of four teenage boys,
Brendon Urie (vocals), Ryan Ross (guitar and lyrics), Spencer Smith (drums) and
Jon Walker (bass). The band went though many changes over time, with Ryan and
Jon leaving the band to work on side projects early into the creation of their
third album, Vices & Virtues. When the band formed they had a reputation
for sleeping around with many people, especially fans. This might have
been because the band had suddenly become a success, even though they were only
17/18. Then, when they're second album Pretty.Odd came out it was rumoured that
the band had frequently used Cannabis whilst recording and performing, and even
an instance of cocaine.
The band even wrote a song about cannabis called 'That Green Gentleman', meaning it got a lot of bad press from some critics, especially as a lot of their fans are only teenagers. The band is now made up of Brendon, Spencer as before, with bassist Dallon Weekes joining them. Other bad press include the song of their newest album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die where one of their songs is called Nicotine and encourages the use of cigarettes. Also, band member Spencer Smith has recently been into rehab for the misuse of hard drugs and alcoholism, although it also made a lot of people -especially fans- proud of him for admitting that he needs help.
The band's logo changes depending on which album it is above is their most recent one. They're logos are usually quite whimsical and this fits with their lyrics which are usually very abstract and strange. They are usually brightly coloured, for example he red one from their album Pretty. Odd. This also links to their previous album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out which was a similar deep red colour. The font changes for each letter of the name and this might signify how none of their songs sound the same, especially from album to album. It also reminds me of the circus and the band had circus performers at their Live in Denver DVD. Their actual name seems to have no relevance to their albums or songs, apart from being quite strange, again linking to their lyrics.
The band even wrote a song about cannabis called 'That Green Gentleman', meaning it got a lot of bad press from some critics, especially as a lot of their fans are only teenagers. The band is now made up of Brendon, Spencer as before, with bassist Dallon Weekes joining them. Other bad press include the song of their newest album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die where one of their songs is called Nicotine and encourages the use of cigarettes. Also, band member Spencer Smith has recently been into rehab for the misuse of hard drugs and alcoholism, although it also made a lot of people -especially fans- proud of him for admitting that he needs help.
The band's logo changes depending on which album it is above is their most recent one. They're logos are usually quite whimsical and this fits with their lyrics which are usually very abstract and strange. They are usually brightly coloured, for example he red one from their album Pretty. Odd. This also links to their previous album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out which was a similar deep red colour. The font changes for each letter of the name and this might signify how none of their songs sound the same, especially from album to album. It also reminds me of the circus and the band had circus performers at their Live in Denver DVD. Their actual name seems to have no relevance to their albums or songs, apart from being quite strange, again linking to their lyrics.
Their website usually has the same colour scheme as
their current album, with many pictures of their frontman and singer Brendon,
as well as link to buy their albums. Tabs on the website include News, Tour,
Music, Videos, Photos and Store- in order of importance. Each website has its
own relevant link to other pages and websites, for example on the 'tour' tab
you can be directed to places to buy tickets.
Brainstorming ideas for band names and brand image:
We brainstormed ideas of how we wanted our band to look from the research we had conducted. We also thought up some band names which we found difficult as we didn't know what type of thing we were after, we then decided that we needed to use the colour red in it and thought up some other colours for red and came up with scarlet. We later found that the Latin for scarlet is scarletta and this is where the name was derived from. This also included the type of merchandise we would give the band and how they would be presented through the media.
Feedback:
We asked a handful of people within our target audience to look at our brand image ideas to see what they had to say, this is what they came up with:
"The band names ideas you initially came up with are too rock with them being Skeleton Key and Humanize. Your chosen band genre is rock pop I think you need to have a name which reflects both of these elements."
"I think by using the colour red in your name you are symbolising what the band is about and some of the themes their songs may be based around."
"I
think that the other bands that you are looking at are good and fit with your
genre, and really like the idea of incorporating the color red into your band
name as this is shown continuously throughout your music video. I don't think
your name should be too abstract though."
"I
think that your website needs to be more than just scarletta.co.uk, as you
can't tell that they are a band and if I just saw the link I wouldn't assume
that it is the band, it could be a number of other companies. I think something
like scarlettamusic.com would be much more appropriate."
"I
really like the album title because I think it reflects the pop-rock genre and
works well with the song list you have created."
From this we agreed that our research was correct and our brand image was suitable.
From this we agreed that our research was correct and our brand image was suitable.
1)
Another Rainy Day
2) Love
Will Take Over
3) Mr
Brightside
4) We
Need To Talk
5)
Hummingbird
6) Time
Machine
7)
Missing You
8)
Shooting Stars
9) Can
You Wait For Me?
10)
Georgia (Bonus Track)
Digipak:
We all designed our own version of the digipak looking at our brand image and the conventions of our genre.
My Design:
I chose to go for an autumnal theme as we had scenes in our music video with autumn leaves and trees and the outdoors, it also had the colours we desired within it with the reds and oranges. My design consisted of a front and back panel of the same image where one the front showed the band from the front and the back showed them from behind giving the illusion it went all the way through. I chose to use one panel to put in a slot with the booklet in allowing it to be visible as I felt I had too much empty space with the panels with the single leave and tree as it was. The CD would have a leave design circling it allowing the digipak to keep a continuous theme.
I received feedback on my idea, with everyone liking the front and back panel but agreeing that their was too much empty space in some parts. They saw the continuous theme and agreed it was clear.
Josh's design:
I designed mine like
this because i thought it suited the pop rock genre and the type of music well.
I also made all my panels flow through the whole digipak to continue on the
theme. I used the idea of a love heart as majority of the songs in this genre
are about love, this is how i came to designing the band logo of a love heart
in the world as it is sharing you experience with the world through music.
Josh's Feedback:
Josh had a nice theme running through with the colours he used the colours we wanted to use to represent our band. There wasn't very many band images and the track list was too small. We took the logo from Josh's design with the heart in the world as we thought it was a nice idea and also contained some of the red that we wanted.
Amy's design:
For my design I decided to go with a classic
pop-rock style digipak, with many pictures that had significance or a link to
the track list, as well as a creative design. My front cover was a bench on the
top of a hill at night time, signifying how their 'In The Middle of Nowhere',
which is the album title. The dark blue colour of the artwork ran throughout
the digipak as a form of synergy, appearing on the back cover, CD and the other
panels. I thought that this really tied the album together and made it look
genre appropriate and eye catching. The font is large and simple, and I wanted
this to relate to the songs that I can imagine the band making. My digipak had
two track lists- one on the back of the album so that consumers can see what it
contains before they buy it, and one on the inside of the digipak, next to a
photograph of an anonymous boy and girl walking together through the rain under
an umbrella. This was supposed to allow the buyer to see the tracklist as they
read the 'Thank You' panel to the left of it. The picture of the couple also
links to the first song on the album, 'Another Rainy Day'. In my digipak design
I included photographs of the band and their instruments as if they were
recording the album because I thought this would make the consumer feel very
connected to the band. On the back cover there is also another picture of the
band, and I decided this because the album artwork didn't contain a picture of
them, so people who didn't know the band by name, they could identify them by
face on the back.
Amy's Feedback:
Amy's design had a running theme throughout and this was nice, however we found that the colours we had decided should be important weren't used, for example red (hence the name scarletta.) Another thing we found is that there was two track lists which were unnecessary. However the panel where the band are playing their instruments was nice as it shows the band car about their music.
Draft 1:
After looking at all three Digipaks we collaborated our favourite ideas from each others putting it together to form one idea.
We took the idea of the world forming a heart from Josh's digipak and decided it would make a nice logo, so we put it onto the CD disc thinking it was a nice idea.
The front and back panel takes the idea from my digipak where the image follows through showing the front and back of the scene, it has been changed with the starry sky and hills from Amy's idea.
We also have taken the fan letter from Josh's digipak as we thought it added a nice personal touch.
The final panel has shots of the band playing their instruments with the name of the album and band in the centre. This idea was taken from Amy's digipak.
We got some feedback from this idea and found that we needed to link the theme into themes found in our music video, and our music video has no signs of stars in it. This meant we had to go back to the drawing board and see what themes we have in our video, we used a brick wall throughout with it being consistently used on the stage and through the narrative. We then created our final design based on this.
Final:
Our final design is based on the idea of a brick wall, we kept many of the panels the same from above however just changed the way some of them looked and the design behind it. Whilst still keeping the star theme as important to the logo- the world- we thought the brick wall needed to be more prominent. We decided to have the band standing in front of a brick wall for the front panel and having this image bordered by the starry sky. The back panel has been changed to just a wall with the name of the songs written over. The panel with the images of the band playing their instruments we have made the pictures bigger so they are clearer. The rest of the panels are the same.
Adverts:
Please note that our initial designs were created before our final digipak was completed. However our final advert design was created after the final digipak this is why there is not two designs like above.
Our theme when creating our adverts was the starry autumnal theme, later changed so that the wall was a running theme.
Our theme when creating our adverts was the starry autumnal theme, later changed so that the wall was a running theme.
My design:
Getting feedback on my design allowed me to know where I was going wrong, and this is when we were aware of the theme needing to change. A lot of the feedback was positive saying I had adhered to all the conventions. The image was successfully fun and what I wanted it to be. However some feedback told me that I needed to have larger words and more relevant images.
Josh's Design:
Josh's Feedback:
His advert seemed a little confused as too much was going on at one time, the band weren't a main feature of the digipak and it wasn't adhering to the conventions. On the plus side he did use the band logo and have some nice ideas that we could use for example the pun 'out of this world.'
Amy's Design:
Amy's advert was clearer and linked to the theme, all the conventions were adhered to. However the band were too small, and with them being the main attraction was a problem. Also it seemed some people were confused by some of the elements- the streetlight and bench as they didn't see any links.
Final
Design:
The final advert is basically just the front panel of our digipak with the added conventions with the ratings and persuasive language, the release date and where it is available. Researching album adverts I found that the artist takes up a large proportion of the space, I think this is important so that the viewer knows who the band is. Another important thing is the text should be clear with the important parts such as band name and release dates standing out and larger than the rest of the font. The advert also links to the album design which is why we have chosen to design our advert as we have.
Draft 1: Advert
Draft 2:
Final Products:
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