A2 Media Studies Coursework Digipak and Magazine Advert Task 1 - Existing Digipak Analysis

A2 Media Studies Coursework Digipak and Magazine Advert Task 1 - Existing Digipak Analysis

What is a Digipak?
A digipak is the design of CD album case. It consists of a gatefold (book-like) paperboard, which is a piece of A4 or A5 paper folded into 6 sides for each side of the case, or 3 pieces of card strung together with binding. One or more of the trays of the case is used to carry a CD disk. Digipaks are meant to keep CDs in a flip-out case rather than a stiff plastic-hinged case (4 sides and 2 trays).

Digipaks are commonly used for CD single albums, as well as Special Edition CD albums and DVDigipaks, which are the packages used for DVDs and DVD sets.

What is included in a Digipak?

• Photographs and/or Pictures - at least one of them should include the artist(s) themselves - another could include a scene that reflects the mood or genre of the album
• Tracklist - should include songwriting credits
• One tray (at least) with a disk impression for the CD - the background could have a circular design where the disk goes or the design for the disk itself
• Information about the band or artist - names, instruments, additional musicians, copyright, year of release, etc.
• Barcode, QR and Logo of record company
• Possibly reference other albums by the same artist/band
• Digipaks sometimes include Membership postcards or fliers for a fan club and/or a free poster/image.

Examples:-

Tsuki Amano - "Sora no Ki"/"Ten no Ki" (Sky Tree/Tree of Heaven)

Full playlist here.

English and Japanese lyrics here (click "Continue Reading" for Japanese lyrics).

Album and song reviews here (top post).

Album details here.

Denotation

The entire space is filled by a picture of a large, green-leaved tree (hence the album title) with Tsuki Amano in the middle, looking up at the sky or Heaven (again, hence the title), wearing a green and black dress.

The name of the album is just above the Tsuki Amano's head, at the top of the image of the tree, written in japanese (天の樹). It is written in white and made to look somewhat like a constellation (again, hence the title). The artist's name is not included here.

Connotation

The colours in this design are mainly green and black/dark brown, as well as small amounts of white.

The themes in the design are mainly nature, spirituality and peace.

This digipak perfectly links the design with the title and logo of the album. It also links with the kind of lyrics Tsuki Amano's music tends to have, which are meaningful and emotional.


Evanescence - "The Open Door"

Full Playlist here.

Denotation
True to the style of the band, the imagery in this digipak is very gothic. The front cover has a picture of a woman in a long white dress (who I am assuming is the lead female singer, Amy Lee) looking back from an open doorway (hence the album title). Outside the door is a bright light and bright clouds. The back cover shows a clearer look of the outside of the door; a bright light shining through dark clouds. The inside of the front cover has the title of the album in big, gothic lettering and a small black moth. The disc has a picture with a light navy blue sun in the center of a dark navy blue night sky background with small stars scattered across it. Around the rim of the disc is the band, album and song titles. On the final page of the booklet is a picture of Red Riding Hood staring into the eyes of a wolf/dog.

The name of the album and the band is found on the left of the open door image on the front cover. It is written in golden gothic writing and surrounded by what looks like golden thorns. The band name written on the inside of the front cover is also written in a similar way and also surrounded by the thorns, but it is written in a bigger size, taking up the space of page. In the booklet, the page that includes the band and crew details are written in a generic white (but fancy) font, while the song lyrics for "Sweet Sacrifice" and "Call Me When You're Sober" are written in a similar gothic writing, though slightly less "spiky" (the song titles are slightly more spiky than the lyrics themselves). This pattern of gold gothic writing and thorns is also on the back cover and the fancy font is also on the rim of the CD.

Connotation
The colours in this design are mainly black, dark blue and gold.

The themes in this designs are darkness, cold, fear and foreboding, but overall, gothic.

The design of the digipak perfectly fits with the genre of the band, which is gothic metal/rock.

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop (Videos)

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop (Videos)

Michael Jackson started his music career as part of the Jackson 5:-

Jackson 5 - "Rockin' Robin"

Made in 1971
Basic music video style - only for promoting the song
Limited complexity
Features only lip-synching



He then went solo:-

Michael Jackson - "Rock With You"

Made in 1979
Start of his solo career
Emphasis on costume and lighting



Michael Jackson - "Billie Jean"

Made in 1982
Emphasis on storytelling and uses other elements other than just lip-synching



Michael Jackson - "Beat It"

Made in 1983
Emphasis on storytelling (gang war)
Detailed choreography near the end of video



Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

Made in 1983
Considered the most famous music video of all time (according to the Library of Congress, who added the video to its National Film Registry in 2009, making it the first music video in their registry)

Cultural Milestone - Featured elaborate choreography, costumes and "said" dialogue, emphasis on storytelling and, in a way, invented the concept of a long-running music video (13, nearly 14, minutes) (the video had also a shorter, edited version of about 5 minutes)

100 million views on Youtube
MTV usually showed the short version, which only showed about 1 minute of the "said" dialogue
The music video won Best Performance Video, Best Choreography and Viewer's Choice at the very 1st MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.

The video started a trend of group dance routines in future music videos, inspired by the famous graveyard dance.
The video is an homage to Alice Cooper, who created a stage show, for his "Welcome to My Nightmare" tour, in 1975.

By 1983, most homes already owned Video Cassette Recorders and the sales of videos (on VHS) were a big business at the time. You were able to buy a VHS or Beta copy of "Michael Jackson's Thriller", which included the full music video and the "Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" behind-the-scenes documentary.

The VHS tape became the best-selling music video of all time and, later certified by Guinness World Records, top-selling music video of all time (over 9 million units).
The video was also released with good timing (a few weeks before Christmas).



Finance for the "Thriller" music video
Cost $500,000 to make - at the time, the most expensive music video ever made
Michael Jackson's record company did not intend to pay for it, so, according to the director of the video John Landis, Michael Jackson offered to pay for it himself (as a way to turn himself into a real monster). John Landis himself said he took up the job as director because he wanted to revive the short film genre.

In the end, MTV and Showtime covered the costs for the video. Showtime aired a 1 hour documentary on the making of the video, as well as the video itself, before it got broadcast everywhere else.

MTV executive, Bob Pittman, competed with Showtime and payed $250,000 for the exclusive rights to the video once Showtime was finished with their end of the deal. Part of MTV's policy was that they don't have to pay for videos so Bob Pittman pretended payed for the documentary, but actually payed for the video.

The Making of "Michael Jackson's Thriller"





Michael Jackson - "Bad"

Made in 1987
After his milestone that was "Thriller", Michael Jackson was the biggest popstar in the world. His videos made the news.
It also made the news that Michael Jackson was changing his appearance.
His new video "Bad" was a major event and premiered at midnight on the BBC.
People stayed up to watch this event because they wanted to see Michael Jackson looked like now, as well as his dance routine for this song.



Michael Jackson - "Black or White"

Made in 1991
Very expensive ($4 million to make) and inventive video
Created to resurrect Michael Jackson's career after allegations of him being "strange" and losing most of his black fan base after his change of appearance in "Bad".
It has a serious message, directed to both his black and white fans, saying that colour of skin doesn't matter, you're all human beings (racial harmony).

The ending of the video, when numerous different celebrities, all of different ethnicities, morph into each other as "singing heads", is a reference to one of Peter Gabriel's best music videos, "Sledgehammer". (Here is the original 1986 and the 2012 remastered versions of the song.)



Michael Jackson - "Earth Song"

Made in 1995
Like "Black or White", this song also has a serious message; this time, about all kinds of issues like war and endangered animals.
Michael Jackson is portrayed as a somewhat "Christ-like" figure in this video, as he pleads to God about these issues in the world.



Michael Jackson - "Heal the World"

Made in 1991
Like "Black or White" and "Earth Song", this song has a serious message, primarily about the seriousness and negative impacts of war (anti-war song) and how they affect the children in those countries.
According to an internet chat with fans in 2001, this is the song Michael Jackson is most proud to have created.
Uses archive footage of children in actual war situations, showing the terrible consequences of war on them.
The video is one of his few that do not feature Michael Jackson himself beside his voice.



Michael Jackson - "Scream"

Made in 1995
Featured his sister, Janet Jackson
His first song to include profanity in the lyrics
Was made when Michael Jackson was having a difficult relationship with the press, who were constantly publishing insulting or incriminating stories about his health, appearance and the accusations about child sex abuse in 1993. The song was made in response to this.



Michael Jackson - "The Way You Make Me Feel"

Made in 1987
The full version is 9 minutes and 30 seconds long. The short version is 7 minutes and 54 seconds long.
The video is about a man (played by Michael Jackson) trying to win over a woman's (playing by model/singer Tatiana Thumbtzen) heart.
Arguably an example of Laura Mulvey's theory

Sexism in Pop Videos

Sexism in Pop Videos

In 2013, the music videos for Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" caused major controversy. Lily Allen's "Hard Out There" also caused controversy due to its parodying of several black music videos that depicted black women as "lurid props".

Are Pop Videos sexist? Do they depict women as objects of desire for the viewer?

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory suggests that said gaze denies women human identity, reducing them to simple objects that are admired for their appearance alone. It also suggests that women often have to view their own gender in a film from the perspective of a man rather than their own gender. In addition, only 16% of the media creators themselves are female.

However, the actual presence of women is crucial to a mainstream film (just not in a good way). Rather than actual characters of importance, they are depicted with little to no importance and only important for making the male characters feel or act. The existence of female characters is only important when concerning the male characters in the narrative.

The Male Gaze leads on to Hegemonic ideas (stereotypical ideas about who is dominant and who is subordinate) in a society. Furthermore, Laura Mulvey believes that if women keep being subjected to media portrayed in the perspective of men, they themselves will start to see other women in their own Male Gaze and will start to see themselves as forever subordinate like other men (who are seen as dominant in society) seem to do.

As stated before, Laura Mulvey believes that female characters in a narrative are only used for two roles:-

• An erotic object for the characters to view
• An erotic object for the audience to view

The characters in a narrative that look at others are seen as "active" (mainly male characters). The characters that are looked at are "passive" (mainly female characters). Passive characters are under the control of a male's gaze and are used as visual pleasure. Female characters are portrayed as though they slow down the narrative and act as the male characters motivation to move the narrative forward again. Male characters, as "active" characters, move the narrative forward and make things happen,

Laura Mulvey also discusses the word "Scopophilia", which means the "love of watching". She states that the making and viewing of a movie are scopophilic activities, as we sit in the cinema, watching these characters, who are oblivious to the fact they are being watched. This term was derived from Sigmund Freud's ideas about the psyche.

Objectification is the result of the Male Gaze. People who are gazed at like this are objectified and and treated as solely an erotic object to be viewed by a voyeur (someone who enjoys looking at anything erotic). These people have their importance diminshed and their humanity removed/denied.

Laura Mulvey states that we live in a patriarchal (ruled by males) society, where men create and control the rules and represent the ideals for society that men are dominant over women. She worries that passive citizens will be influenced by these patriarchal views on life and will start to copy them, though, in some cases, this may have already happened.

To summarise Laura Mulvey's theory, in popular media, women:-

• Are seen as objects of erotic desire for male characters and the audience.
• Are portrayed as passive, while men are active.
• Don't have Agency; they can't move the plot forward.
• Are always seen with the male gaze because the audience is forced to do so.
• Reflect our patriarchal society through their erotic portrayal.
• Links together patriarchy and phallocentrism ("phallus" means penis, which is seen as symbol of power) through their erotic portrayal.

Contraversial Music Videos

Miley Cyrus - "Wrecking Ball"

This video is widely controversial due to Miley Cyrus' provocative image throughout the video. The Guardian journalist, Michael Hann, criticised it as her attempt at distancing herself from her childhood success as the innocent Hannah Montana and "exploring the iconography of porn".

Miley Cyrus herself, however, defended her video by saying that she was meant to look broken not provocative by being nude and that fans have to look past that image and use their imagination to see the true meaning of the song and video. She also points out that she was actually acting more broken than the song or the video put across to us, but it was hard to actually record that brokenness in the studio, and she says that fans have to look her in the eyes in order to properly see this.

"The message you keep sending is that it's somehow cool to be prostituted.. it's so not cool Miley.. it's dangerous. Women are to be valued for so much more than their sexuality. We aren't merely objects of desire. I would be encouraging you to send healthier messages to your peers.. that they and you are worth more than what is currently going on in your career." - Sinead O'Connor warns in an open letter on her website addressed to Miley Cyrus concerning her image in "Wrecking Ball" and others.

There is also controversy about whether Miley Cyrus was exploiting or being exploited herself. According to Miley Cyrus' above defence, she wasn't being exploited, nor was she exploiting, at all, while others think otherwise.


Lily Allen - "Hard Out Here"

This was advertised as a feminist music video, but, despite it being in the title and some parts of the lyrics, the video doesn't seem to be portrayed in that way. Some think that this video was meant to be a parody of videos that do exploit women, while others think that the video does exactly that.

Lily Allen stated that the message of the song was about "body image pressures and misogyny in the entertainment industry", but some say that the video completely defeats this message.

There was also controversy about this video concerning the races of the backing dancers. Lily Allen responded to this with "The video is meant to be a lighthearted satirical video that deals with objectification of women within modern pop culture, It has nothing to do with race, at all."


Robin Thicke - "Blurred Lines" (Censored Version)

This song had to be banned by 20 University Student Unions because of it's controversial lyrics and probably more controversial music video. The video above is the censored version of the music video.

The lyrics seem to imply that women want to exploit themselves and that Robin Thicke was encouraging them. The music video backs it up (particularly in the uncensored version) with Robin Thicke (along with T.I. and Pharrell Williams) flirting with topless models.

Two versions of this video were made due to the controversy. The censored version featured the models with clothes on, while the original, uncensored version featured the models topless.

The women in this video are portrayed dancing with the three singers (with or without their clothes, depending on the version), which some have interpreted that the video and song are saying that women are asking to be raped. However, there were several defences of the song and video, saying that the message of the song is that women should be liberated of men and should be in control for once, i.e. "That man is not your maker", with the said liberation being portrayed in the video with the women dancing.


Jennifer Lopez - "Booty" ft. Iggy Izalea

The video is literally only Jennifer Lopez and Iggy Izalea showing off their butts to the camera. However, there is a 25-26 second long warning at the beginning of the video about the content following it.


Rihanna - "Pour It Up"

The video is about Rihanna in a strip club, turning a strip club anthem into a declaration of independence, while in amongst the chaos of said strip club.

The video matches the lyrics concerning its strip club references, e.g. it is set in a strip club filled with water (probably to reference the title). The song was praised for Rihanna trying to "trash talk", for being "moody and murky" and for using "a strip club as hallucinatory metaphor for an identity crisis about sex and materialism." but was also criticised for "killing the mood" with her "trash talk" and for being "obnoxious" compared to the sense to emotional trauma in the rest of its respective album, "Unapologetic". The video was criticised for "going too far" with the strip club theme. The former director of the video, Vincent Haycock, left the project because of "creative differences" with Rihanna.

A2 Media Studies Coursework Production Diary: Day 4 - Starting our Digipak

A2 Media Studies Coursework Production Diary: Day 4 - Starting our Digipak

We started making our digipak on Adobe Photoshop. We are going to make our digipak in a kind of grid format, similar to our Music Video and a chessboard. We are currently editing photos of the singer, Jamie Martin.