Digipak template

For my Digipak I have chosen to follow a simple double-sided three square template, as I found that many artists from the indie genre use these designs in order to capture their album themes.

Digipac researching - Genre

After researching some digipaks that were produced by artists that fall in the indie/rock genre it became evident that they share many of the same conventions. Below are just a selection of album covers that I found inspiration from.

The most noticeable feature is the simplicity of the visuals and designs. They rarely include the feature of voyeurism that Andrew Goodwin spoke about but instead feature some sort of icon that links to the artists theme of music. For example Bon Iver's music is especially calming and pacifying, hence the mellow colour palette of oranges and browns. Additionally The Arctic monkeys design holds the trademark of cigarettes and smoking, which is closely linked to the nature of their music and music videos.

 I also particularly like AM's digipak as it includes two images that relate to each other. This is a convention I wish to include in my digipak design as I feel it includes the audience in their 'behind scene' banter.

Example Track lists

All of the examples below showcase the typical 'indie' track list. A mixture of single words and deep phrases. I would like to reproduce this theme in our own track list by including single worded songs such as 'Cara' as well as longer phrases such as 'Where we come home.' 

I particular like Kodaline's artwork as the songs are framed over a twilight landscape shot prepping a musky and very indie feel to it. I would defiently want to frame a landscape shot as a background to the track list just because it conforms perfectly to the conventions of an indie album.

Hozier - Hozier. 

Kodaline - coming up for air.

Mumford and sons - I will wait. 

Years and years - communion.

Name inspiration

Currently the group is continuing to brainstorm some names, we did a task of collecting similar bands to our genre and noting down their Band names and Album Titles. From doing this we noted how we found translated words worked well, e.g. Bon Iver and MØ. 

Band names:

The 1975
Bon Iver (French translation of 'good winter')
The Neighbourhood
Amber Run
MØ (Icelandic translation)

Album Titles:
That's The Spirit (Bring Me The Horizon)
+ (Ed Sheeran)
Chaos And the Calm (James Bay)
Songs About Jane (Maroon 5)
Wilder Mind (Mumford and Sons)

'Ready' by Mac 1.

This is Mac 1s lip-syncing task, below is the result of many happy laughs, as well as frustrated cries.
It was extremely fun to make and edit together, and I'm very happy with the finished product.

Overall I found the editing fairly straight forward for this task, (however after it was uploaded the group did notice that a couple scenes were maybe a split second out.) I can imagine how difficult and frustrating it can turn out when you need to re-edit specific parts of the music video, as it would completely readjust the clips to the song, un-syncing the lip syncing altogether.




 

Portrayal of woman.

You don't need to be a feminist to notice the contrast to how women and men are represented in the media, especially in music videos. 

Whether they are acting promiscuous, reckless or even taking on a more instrumental role there is almost always a sexual overtone when a female is framed in a shot.
We aim to challenge these conventions by empowering woman, instead of objectifying them.
With both male and female artists, in their music videos, females are more than often seen to be dominated by males, and the patriarchal theme seems to be accepted as if it is 'natural.' 

Genre Research, Indie Soul.

HOZIER

He released his debut EP, featuring the hit single "Take Me to Church", in 2013 and his second EP, From Eden, in 2014. His debut studio album, Hozier, was released in Ireland in September 2014 and globally in October 2014.

He's labeled by Rubyworks and Island

His music videos typically are narrative with hidden morals and messages.

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Genre Research, Indie rock.

ALT J

Alt-J, named for the delta symbol that appears when pressing "Alt" and "J" on a Mac keyboard (∆) first formed in 2008 in Leeds.

Their genre can be discussed as Indie rock, Indie pop, Art rock or even Folktronica

Their record labels are Loud And Quiet, Infectious, Atlantic and Canvas back.

The band's debut album An Awesome Wave was released in May 2012 in Europe and September 2012 in the United States, and won the 2012 British Mercury Prize. Their second album, This Is All Yours, was released on 22 September 2014 and went straight to UK number one.

Their music videos consist of all strong plots, each video differing in a completely different narrative.

Genre Research, Folk Indie.

MUMFORD AND SONS

Mumford & Sons are a British rock band from London, formed in 2007. With their genre fluctuating between Rock music, Folk rock and Indie rock.

Their record labels consist of Gentlemen of the Road, Island Universal, Universal Australia and Glassnote.

They have released three studio albums: Sigh No More (2009), Babel (2012) and Wilder Mind (2015). Sigh No More peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 in the US, with Babel and Wilder Mind both debuting at number one in the UK and US. Wilder Mind is the third studio album by British rock band Mumford & Sons. It was released on 4 May 2015 through Gentlemen of the Road, Island and Glassnote.

Their music videos usually are performance, both performing on and off set. Their filming locations when off set all seem to be very rural landscapes, the choice of locations directly linking to its genre, being Folk/County.

Genre Research, Indie.

YEARS AND YEARS.

Being one of my favourite bands their style of music videos will be a major influence for me when brainstorming ideas. 

They are a British electronica band founded in London, often described as electropop, mixing R&B and '90s house elements. The band is signed to both Polydor Records and Interscope Records both of whom are owned by Universal Music group.

Out of their 6 singles so far released, the most recent single 'King', made it to number one in the UK chart. Their debut album 'Communion' being released to the UK on 10th July 2015 also made it to number one. 

Years and Years have more of a mass appeal mainly focused on teenagers/ young adults as their music style is easily enjoyed and repeated on major radio and tv shows. 

Their music videos majority consist of narrative, and they mostly use steady shots with objects being framed in the centre.