Analysis of Digipak Covers

As part of my research into Digipaks and their designs, I conducted different types of analysis from Andrew Goodwin's view. Andrew Goodwin came up with six different techniques used in music videos and they are as follows:

1. Voyeurism
2. Intertextuality
3. Star Image
4. Relationship Between Music and Visuals
5. Relationship Between Lyrics and Visuals
6. Genre Characteristics 

The first Digipak cover I analysed was K Koke's 'Pure Koke Volume 2' and the analysis has been presented on Prezi which can be viewed below.

Intertextual Analysis of Album Covers - K Koke Pure Koke Vol.2 on Prezi

Shooting Schedule

We have produced a schedule for when we will be shooting the scenes for our music video.
It has been produced using Prezi, and can be viewed below:

timeline on Prezi

Biography of Artist

Name of Artist: Ace Copeland

Date Of Birth: 14/01/1987

Origin: Hounslow, West London, England

Genre(s): Indie, Hip Hop, Rap

Occupation: Rapper, Singer

Label: Ice Cold Entertainment







We decided to use the name Ace Copeland as we felt that this name portrayed someone who had their own unique style, someone who sets trends and the name itself is unique. Our track is of the Rap/Indie genre and we had to choose a name that wasn't too much of a rap artist name but also wasn't too much of an indie artist name. After a going through a list of names, we felt that this name was perfect for our artist.

The age of our artist is 25, we felt this as most artists in the genre are of this age and the general appearance of out character makes him look slightly older than he actually is. Therefore we decided to choose an age that is similar to that of other artists in this genre and also an age that suited our character.

Explanation of Decisions

We decided to use the name Ace Copeland as we felt that this name portrayed someone who had their own unique style, someone who sets trends and the name itself is unique. He is a indie/rap artist and indie artists normally don't show much of themselves, Ace is related to the game poker as people don't really show their real faces to win the game.

Research on Record Labels

As part of my research into the music videos, I have conducted research into Record Labels and their input in music videos. For my research, I have decided to research into the Record Label 'Aftermath Records'. 

First and foremost, the function of a Record Label such as Aftermath Music is to sign artists with potential and to develop the artists so that they produce music that accumulates a large target audience. The music is then distributed by either themselves, their parent companies or seperate distribution companies. Record Labels will have good links within the industry to studios, producers, songwriters, directors and production companies. They will also contribute towards the production of the music and music videos through providing finance to artists to which they will use to complete albums and other promotional materials such as music videos. 

Record Labels use music videos as a marketing strategy to promote both the music and the artist, to show off any other talent that the artist may have such as dancing and acting and finally to represent the record label themselves through the talent of the artist. 

For the purpose of my research, I will be using Aftermath's '50 Cent' as an example of how Aftermath promoted its artist 50 Cent through the use of music videos. Below I have uploaded a video of 50 Cent's single 'In Da Club' from the album 'Get Rich Or Die Tryin'.

Aftermath contributed towards the production of this video in order to promote 50 Cent's Album 'Get Rich Or Die Tryin' as well as to promote other ventures such as Aftermath itself and 'G-Unit Records'. This can be seen as artists 'Eminem' and 'Dr Dre' are present throughout the video wearing white coats, this is to portray themselves as doctors and at the start of the video there were credits stating that the location of the video was at 'Shady/Aftermath Artist Development Center'. The synopsis of this video is about artists Dr Dre and Eminem  developing the recording artist 50 Cent and this is done through recording the music video. Therefore, the plot of this video portrays the purpose of music videos in general which is promoting music through recording and releasing a music video of the song itself. 

Video sites such as 'Youtube' allow record labels, artists and production companies as well as individuals to upload their videos to the site. This allows the video to become publicly viewable to the rest of the world which in turn promotes the video and the artist even further.  

Digipak - Drafts

In order to promote our music video, we were assigned to complete a 'Digipak'. The Digipak consists of 4 Panels of artwork. Using Adobe Photoshop, I have produced the first draft of our Digipak.

First Draft of Digipak

This is the first draft of our CD cover, we felt that this CD cover was too basic and had no relation to our artist at all. Therefore we decided not to continue with this album cover and are currently in the process of producing another one which will be uploaded soon.

Cast

This is the cast of our music video, there are three characters, two of which who appear as cameos and the last character who is the main character appearing throughout the whole music video.



Hamzah Jam (Ace Copeland - Artist)

Hamzah Jam - The Main Artist

This is our main character, we felt that Hamzah was perfect to be our artist as in our research we felt that he best matched the description of the artist that they imagined when listening to the music track. His sense of fashion matched that of the feedback we received when we asked our focus group 'What do you imagine when you listen to this track?'

Hamzah will be appearing throughout the whole video lipsyncing the lyrics and walking through the different locations.

Homayon Wardak (Mad Wood - Cameo Appearance)

Homayon Wardak - Cameo

This character is the first cameo who appears in a number of scenes alongside myself. There will be appearances throughout certain intervals of the video, these appearances will occur when the artist starts imagining things in his head and the things this artist imagines will be acted out by myself and Homayon. Therefore myself and Homayon are figures of the artist's imagination.

Maheshvar Ladwa (Ice Rhymes - Cameo Appearance)

Maheshvar Ladwa - Cameo

This character is the second cameo who appears in a number of scenes alongside Homayon. There will be appearances throughout certain intervals of the video, these appearances will occur when the artist starts imagining things in his head and the things this artist imagines will be acted out by myself and Homayon. Therefore myself and Homayon are figures of the artist's imagination.

Storyboard Animation

For the planning process of our music video, I have produced a storyboard of all the scenes in our video. My group member Homayon has produced an animated version of the storyboard which consists of a video with our music track playing in the background. Each scene is shown on the video with a caption of what will occur during that particular scene.

The video can be viewed below:

Music Video Treatment

As part of the planning process for our music video, I have produced a Treatment for the music video. In this Treatment, things such as Props, Lighting, Characters, Location and the Synopsis/Plot of the music video will be included.

Props

Costume
Bench (Location)
Lake (Location)

Location

The Location we have decided to choose for our music video is either Osterley Park or Hounslow Heath. We have decided to pick this as our location as we feel that a park would be perfect for our filming, along with the scenery which can represent the randomness of the lyrics. We thought that the park would be the best location for our filming as on our storyboard, I've included the use of a lake, benches, trees and grass.

Lighting

Due to the location picked for filming, we've decided that all lighting is going to natural lighting. Therefore, we are looking to record this music video on a sunny but cold day, the reason being is that we felt the cold can be represented by the character's costume and the sun can represent the character's mood along with the blue skies.

Character(s)

We have decided to use three characters throughout the filming of our music video, the main character will be filmed throughout most of the music video and will be portrayed as the artist. The main character is yet to be decided and will be uploaded in the 'Cast' section of my blog. The other two characters include myself and my group member Homayon. In certain intervals of the music video, there will be cameos of me and Homayon, the point of this is to create a mix of the random lyrics with random visuals in the song - therefore within the music video, we will be part of the artist's imagination.

Synopsis/Plot

This music video will be based on the artist's feelings for someone very close to him. The scenery used will represent certain parts of the lyrics but will mainly represent the artist's feelings, as a result we've picked to film our music video in a park therefore representing peace. The artist throughout the music video raps about his feeling for someone he likes/loves, he describes her affect on him and others around him.

Moodboard on Digipaks

Part of the preparation for our music video planning is to produce a Digipak to promote our artist and the music video. I have produced a moodboard consisting of other artists' Digipaks/Album covers within the same genre in order to get an idea of how our Digipak will be.

Digipak Moodboard

Research into an Artist of the same Genre - Wiley

Wiley

As part of my research into the genre and artists in the genre, I have decided to produce a case study of an artist similar to ours.

Name: Wiley

Genre: UK Garage, Grime, Hip Hop, UK Rap

Residence: Bow, East London 

Song Titles: 

1. Numbers In Action
2. Wearing My Rolex
3. Can You Hear Me Featuring Skepta, JME and Ms D
4. If I Could Featuring Ed Sheeran
5. Only Human Featuring Cashtastic

Albums And Mixtapes:

1. Evolve Or Be Extinct
2. Chill Out Zone
3. Race Against Time
4. Grime Wave

Awards:

1. No Awards.

Label: 

1) Warner Music

2) Boy Better Know

Audience:

The audience for this artist are young people aged from 15 - 30, I know this as I am a fan of this artist myself and the artist's lyrics relate to the lives of young people therefore targetting a young audience.

Music Videos by Wiley:

Can You Hear Me Featuring Skepta, JME and Ms D:

Numbers In Action:

Wearing My Rolex:

Research into Artists of the same Genre - Wretch 32

As part of my research into the genre and artists in the genre, I have decided to produce a case study of an artist similar to ours.

Name: Wretch 32

Genre: UK Rap, Grime, RnB

Residence: Tottenham, North London

Song Titles: 

1. Don't Go Featuring Josh Kumra
2. Unorthodox Featuring Example
3. Let Yourself Go
4. Wretchercise
5. Drinking In The Sky Featuring Chipmunk

Albums And Mixtapes:

1. Teacher's Training Day
2. Wretchercise
3. Wretchrospective
4. Black and White

Awards:

1. BBC 1Xtra (Best Hip Hop Artist)
2. Urban Music Award (Artist Of The Year)
3. BET Best International Act (Best International Act)
4. NXG Act (Inspiration Act)

Label: Wretch 32 is currently signed to Ministry of Sound and is set to release an album to which the name is currently unknown at this stage.

Audience:

The audience for this artist are young people aged from 15 - 30, I know this as I am a fan of this artist myself and the artist's lyrics relate to the lives of young people therefore targetting a young audience.

Music Videos by Wretch 32:

Don't Go Featuring Josh Kumra:

Unorthodox Featuring Example: