Digipak analysis- Miss Miller

 you will analyse and discuss all the areas of the digipak, explaining how they represent the artist in order to appeal to an audience and represent/subvert their genre

Intro – Explain what the purpose of a digipak is (refer back to bullet points and comparison with CD case). State what digipak you have chosen to analyse and why.

The purpose of a digipak is to carry the CD of an artists album, they are generally made out of cardboard and have six sides that show artwork chosen by the artist, this allows for some artists to be creative with the artwork, some include personal messages to the fans of the artist and some contain lyrics to some of the popular songs. These special features from digipaks make the more personal to the fans of the artist, creating a bond between the artist and the audience, which can get the artist loyal fans. 
Compared to CD cases made of plastic the digipak isn't as durable and this can lead to damage of the CD if the case is breaks. For CD collectors they would prefer plastic cases for albums as they are easier to store in stacks and more durable offering bette protection for the CD.

In this post I will be analysing the digpak made by Tame Impala for their second album 'Lonerism', this is relevant to my group as we have chosen to make a music video for Tame Impala and will also make a digipak for the song we have chosen from them. This will allow us to get a good understanding of conventions that are carried in the phsycedelic rock genre digpaks.

 Representation of the artist
The representation of the artist on this digipak is vague it shows what the audience perceive to be a band member on the floor laying down playing guitar in two different places, in both pictures he has instruments around him and appears to inside. From this the artist are shown to be musical, this is seen by the instruments he is with, this creates a relationship between then artist and the audience as the audience see that the band are passionate about the music they make, this helps the band to get fans as they are known to be talented and good at making music. From the photos of the artists relaxing for their digipak the audience can also see that they are relaxed, this can be used to describe their music as well as it is relaxing to listen to this is a clear message that the artists are trying to put forward with their digipak.
The front cover of the digipak shows the artist to be very unique, as it is completely different to any conventions, it also shows a message from the front cover as the image is of a protest, this shows the audience that the artist is rebellious, and is opinionated, this could gain him fans as people like artists who spread messages through their work and believe in thing which is what this artist does.
 Connotations of digipak.
The digipak for this album has a few connotations that the artist can see, for example the front cover is an image of a park where the point of view is behind gates, this could suggest to the audience that the pint of view of the band is behind a barrier when they made this album or digipak, this could also relate to the album name of lonerism which also suggests that the artists have written an album about being alone, this makes sense to the audience after listening to the album as the album is about a break in a relationship.

Colours.
This digpak has used lots of different colours the main colour filter used is an orange filter, this is conventional to the phsycedelic rock genre as many bands use bright colour filters in their music videos and on their posters, magazine adverts and albums. The point of including the colour filter is to make the audience recognise the digipak as a physcedelic rock digipak, this could attract audiences that like the genre but don't know of the band, so when they see the digipak they would see that they might be like other bands from the same genre.

Design and Layout.
The digipak has a basic layout, it uses artwork as the background with either track listings, lyrics or the album name over the top. There are two sides of the digipak that are just artwork, with the filters that show the genre conventions. The point of having a basic digipak layout is to let the audience see the content on the digpak rather than focus on the image of the artist or artwork, the digipak can still be appreciated for its artwork, but the band clearly wanted the audience to focus on the content such as the lyrics and song names.

Choice of image.
The choice of images for this digipak are clearly chosen for the audience to enjoy, they also carry on the story told by the songs in album such as the pictures of the band member alone with his instruments, the point of view picture of the park with the gates in front and the forest picture without anyone else in the picture. The images are not very detailed, but this is conventional for the genre and they would rather the audience concentrate on the artwork of the digipak or the music in the album. This creates a more personal experience for the people who have the digipak as they can see the creativity behind the artwork and how it relates to the songs and the album.

Typography.
There isn't a lot of writing on this digipak, but the two main places where there is writing the font is basic and isn't very creative, it is there more to tell the audience the name of the album and the band name, not to give any for of connection to the band or build the relationship between the band and the artist. the typography is in a colour so that is contrasting to the background making it clear to read.

Style of language.
There isn't a range of style of language in this digipak, this isn't conventional to the genre as some other digpiaks from the same genre have lots of writing on them or a personal message to their fans, this digipak doesn't have this it only has the name of the album, band, lyrics and names of the songs. This may be disappointing for the audience as they might have expected a more personal message from the band to them as that is not unusual on dgipaks, so for fans of the band they may feel a bit disappointed with the band.

Summary.
I will use this research to better plan my own digipakk, I have seen that the artwork on this digipak is clever as it links the theme of the album to the artwork, this is something that I could consider for my own digipak. Also as the digipak isn't very personal to the fans of the band, I would consider making my own digipak more personal by using different styles of language and typography to make the digpak more personal to the fans. The digipak successfully promotes the artists image, as it shows he belives in thing and his music is meaningful as well as his artwork, it also makes sure to highlight that he is talented through the pictures of his instruments. Overall the digipak will be successful in gaining the artist fans and selling the album.
This research was beneficial as it showed how diverse the genre we have chosen is, this shows me that we can have more freedom when producing our digipak and can also use the digipak to show the audience the artist is passionate about his art and music which a digipak is a good platform to show.