DIGIPAK: Research

I looked at three different digipaks, two from the indie genre and one from a pop genre to see the contrast and tried to notice common conventions and distinctive features on each.



Front Cover
...

Kasabian Empire (Indie)

Pixies Indie Cindy (Indie) 

Sam Smith In The Lonely Hour (Pop)

The three front covers I looked at, these are the common conventions:

• Front Cover image/design 
• Band name + Album title
• Parental Advisory Sticker (if needed) 
• Stickers to highlight special edition or limited edition explaing whats in it

Not much different rather than a striking image on all of them which the audience will recognise. Also increases chances of being noticed in a CD store or another retailer such as US number 1 retailer Walmart.

Possible Influences
Sticker with limited edition
Striking cover

Back Cover
...

Ariana Grande Yours Truly (Pop)

Arctic Monkeys AM (Indie) 

Oasis Stop The Clocks (Indie/Pop)

These are the three back covers I looked at. Common Conventions are:

• Track list
• Barcode
• Copyright statement
• Copyright logos
• All these will be on our digipak

The recipe is seems very similar just with different art styles, Indie being a bit more subtle sans serif bold font whereas Ariana Grande has a serif bold font and has colour coded where someone is featured. The font is also pink rather than white. Arctic Monkeys and Oasis have also gone for a design as a back cover rather than an image of the band or lead singer etc.

Possible Influences
Track list + copyright statement + barcode and copyright logos + record lable logos

Inside Cover
...

Coldplay Ghost Stories (Soft Rock/Pop)

Depeche Mode Violator (Dance/Indie) 

Metallica, Metallica (Heavy Metal)

 There are a few common conventions I can spot here but each seems to have a small difference.

• Copyright logos
• Compact disc logo
• Band name on CD + Album Name
• Tracklist on CD
• Blank or minimal inside cover

I also noticed that Metallica has the track list on the inside as well as on the CD where Coldplay has the copyright statement on the CD and Depeche mode has both the copyright statement and tracklist. Depeche Mode inside cover on the left has the record company name and a P.O box for fans "Depeche Mode fanclub".

Possible influences
I think we might go for a minimalist design, maybe with the band being part of the both sides.

Spine
...

Queen Greatest Hits ll (Classic Rock)
David Bowie Changesbowie (Dance/Pop)
AQUA Aquarium (Electro/Dance)

Common conventions:

• Band name/logo
• Album Title
• Serial Number (with letters) 
• Mainly formatted album title in middle with band name a bit to the left

There is also a universal logo for aqua album 

Possible  Influences

We will have both band name + album title and serial number, maybe even the band logo

GENRE CONVENTIONS: Genre Specifics

Possible Influences:

• Black and white in some of the shots
• Low key lighting/ naturalistic lighting
• Follow the typical Indie costume for the band 
• Have the performance reflect the Indie attitude with some members
• The narrative to be non linear/ abstract 

Performance

Playlist we put together with Indie/Alt Rock
...

...
The performance of a music video in the Indie genre is quite unique. Above is a playlist with all the music videos we have analysed. The most common is to have performance with the whole band and sometimes split up the band. 

Black and White
This was a widely used convention when Indie was an emerging genre. As Indie is seen as quite sinister and dark at times black and white or monochrome footage would fit perfectly with the theme these bands where trying to create for the audience to interpret. Below are a few examples:
...

Joy Division - Atmosphere 

Oasis - Wonderwall

The Cranberries -  Zombie

...

The black and white footage is also an easy trick with low key lighting. Low key lighting is also commonly used as it brings out a more naturalistic look to the performers and doesn't glamorize the band in any way. This is the opposite of high key lighting used to glamorize in pop music videos.  The music videos aren't always black and white as seen with a couple of examples below:

...

BUZZCOCKS - Ever Fallen in Love

PIXIES - Bagboy

...

It could also be argued that the monochrome footage is to reflect upon the silent cinema era of the early 20's where it was only black and white. Indie stands for independent and this means there can be quite a lot of abstract meanings and reflecting on what once used to be modern. This is also seen with the record player in Oasis - Wonderwall. The record player was out of date and seen as old fashioned when this music video was made in 1995. This could link into the Stuart Hall's Preferred Reading where everyone has their own readings of a text and some will understand the intertextuality or the themes being produced whereas someone else will understand the text in another way. Nowadays, the record player seems to be the new 'hip' way to listen to music as it has made a huge comeback!

Oasis - Wonderwall (Record Player) 

Costume

...

Moodboard made by JC

...
As seen with this moodboard created by James, the Indie costume is quite distinctive.

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony

 Here the costume is quite clearly:

• Dark
• Conservative
• Messy Hair 
• Leather Jacket
• Black trousers
• Dark Blue shirt (connotes seriousness)
• Black heavy boots

Another example of this is:

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey

 The costume here is:

• Dark
• Conservative
• All of the band members have messy hair
• Black t - shirt on lead singer
• Leather jacket on bass guitarist 
• All have black trousers/jeans 
• Black boots/ black sneakers

There is a noticeable trend in the costume for Indie. Generally quite dark clothing and more conservative than other genres such as Pop. The lead singer is also predominately a tall white skinny male.

Attitude:
There is an emphasis on the performance and how the instruments are played in Indie music videos. This is due to the audience wanting to see if the band can actually play these instruments as that is what can separate the good from the greats.
...

The Jesus and the Mary Chain - April Skies

...

• Shoegazing common for the guitarist
• where he looks at the floor
• Singer and guitarist are the more energetic part of the band 
• Show their meaning and emotion through expressing the lyrics
• Drummer also expresses beats 
• Generally the attitude used to be more moody and gothic/punk
• Has moved more towards a pop like attitude in recent years with band members showing more enthusiasm and emotion. 

Narrative
Even though most of the music videos contain most performance footage there is still some narrative in Indie/ Alt Rock music videos. 
...

Clothing: 

The clothing is similar to the performance but can be a bit more quirky. There is not much focus on glamour as this genre comes from punk and the lyrics have quite deep meanings. One of  Goodwin's theories of the lyrics and narrative linking also have an aspect in this. As seen with the example of Pixies - Bagboy the proppian archetype of the central protagonist is a teenage boy who has no glamour with a messy haircut and is wearing generally dull/dark clothes. 

Location/Setting:

Same as performance. In a rundown area or an area that is seen as more gloomy than others so and abandoned house, graveyard, underground carpark etc. It is also important that there is low key lighting as this helped generating the sinister mood as well as avoids glamorizing the characters. 

This is Arctic Monkeys When The Sun Goes Down. Notice how the area looks quite run down and again just in general not a very glamorous setting. Note how the costume is also quite conservative and dark in general. 

Props:

There are no specific props which are used in narrative as a common theme throughout the genre. However it can be a quirky item such as a mask or a colourful aspect of some sort but again in a quirky and sometimes sinister/moody way.

Nothing But Thieves - Sorry

PIXIES - Bagboy

Makeup: 

As with the other aspects of the narrative, the genre is not about glamour. Makeup can be quite limiting and in some cases there is none. However some females can have makeup such as purple lipstick and dark eyeliner to refuse and block out the stereotyping and male gaze of red lipstick and glamorous make up. There are some cases where there is makeup which glamorizes the female however this is rarely the case with the Indie/ Alt rock genre. 

Conservative, Not much make up, no glamour

Male gaze, glamorous, red lipstick 

INDIE: Archetypes

Some of the archetypes we looked at:
...

...

Beggars Group:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_Group

Pixies:
The godfathers of Indie

Joy division:
...

...

• Sinister, deep, dark, serious, somber 
• Black and white 
• Auteur Anton Corbijn
• Quirky  video 
• Perhaps longer takes than pop or dance
• Colour correction (post apocalyptic) 
• Abandoned building/ warehouse (JoyDiv)
• Performance footage gives credibility for the band members (musical ability from performance footage) 
• This trend is dying down to budgets in music videos falling 
• Just makes everything quicker and cheaper
• John McMuria's research highlights the big 3 conglomerates still dominate media outlets like YouTube 
• Anita Enlberse found the same

Jesus and Mary Chain:

...

...

• Colour correction
• Run down area
• Performance (shoegaze very common performance act (looking down at feet)) 
• Over exposed shots every now and then
• Low key lighting
• Layering 

Layering

...

...

Overexposure 

...

...
Shoegazing
...

...


The Cure (Goth + Indie)
...

...

• Over exposure 
• Black and white 
• Layering
• Run down area 
• Dark sinister
• Low key lighting

Sisters of Mercy 

...

...

• Dark, sinister
• Run down area
• Layering 
• Low key lighting

Glamour and male gaze with lips, the deconstruction of glamour with the yellow eyeshadow 

The Smiths 

• Indie has always been seen as accepting and open

...

...

BUZZCOCKS - Ever Fallen In Love

• Considered first ever Indie track 
• John Peel played on Radio One 
• Helped invent concept of Indie
• Not reliant on record label

Artic Monkeys 

• Skinny white males 
•  Hair is a bit short but messy
• Low key lighting
• Dark clothing
• Grim mise- en - scene
• Social realist like 

...

 ...

Bobby Gillespie has a very Indie look in Jesus and Mary Chain swell as Primal scream 

also:

...

...

Very Indie look 

• Dark sinister
• Messy hair
• Skinny Male
• Downwards looking
• Leather jacket/dark clothing

Oasis

...

...

• Black and white
• Run down area
• shoe-gazing
• emphasis on performance
• dark clothing
• sinister look 
• messy hair 
• serious tone
• skinny white male