Magazine Advert Research and Analysis Task

Chase and Status - 'No More Idols'

Digipaks Research and Analysis Task

What is a Digipak?

A digipack is one of the many types of packaging which is used for CD's and DVD's, they are normally not expensive to produce as they tend to be made out of card or other cardboard materiel's  Normally digipacks aren't a big size at all and normally are able to be held in one hand. One attraction points to digipack's is that they tend to be able to open like a book and sometimes some digipack's can bend in different directions which is one key attraction for customers to purchase them.

Arctic Monkeys - 'Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not'

The first Digipak I have chosen to analyse is displayed on the left. The album was the debut album by Arctic Monkeys and was recorded in 2005 but then released in 2006. The album includes ‘I bet you look good on the dance floor’ and ‘when the sun goes down’, which were both UK number ones.
The front cover is the first thing the buyer would see when they went to purchase a cd so that in my opinion the front cover is the most important feature of a front cover so that a distinctive image would have to used, this is clearly been thought about within Arctic monkeys digipak as it’s a close up image of an individual which instantly draws you into it. I realised after research that the man with this digipak demonstrates an individual in his 20’s after a heavy night out in Sheffield. This was done to demonstrate the stereotypical northern mess. One feature which helps to reveal the stereotypical man is the only prop which is used within this shot which is a cigarette. This prop helps to signify and illustrate the typical grunge character.
Another feature within this digipak is the theme of black and white throughout the whole of the product which is quite a unique outlook. The white personalised text which is enforced on the front cover is very distinctive to the band Arctic Monkeys as it is typically used and it easily represents the mood of the individual as the writing is slightly unsettled.
Moving onto the back cover of the digipak where again the same individual as the front is uses in the same composition as the front. Similarly to the front of the digipak the background colour is black with white writing which represents that the reader can easily read the writing. I also find that the font used and the colours are another way to represent the genre and reflect that there music isn’t difficult and there a straight forward band to follow.

The inside panel of this product isn’t exactly amazing or visually thrilling but it simply involves a piece of text thanking individuals. When I read the small piece of text I thought that the message “If we sell any we will give you that amp back” helps to emphasise the fact that the Monkeys are relaxed thinkers towards their music and target audience.

Eminem - 'Recovery'

The second Digipak I have chosen to analyse is Eminem's album 'Recovery'. The album was recorded in 2009 and later released in 2010; the album is 77:04 minutes long and includes tracks such as 'Not Afraid', 'Love the Way You Lie' and 'No Love'.
Eminem’s digipak clearly shows that it’s all revolving around his road to recovery after rehab which helps to reflect his front cover image as he is walking along a road alone. In comparison to his other images he normally uses as his front cover images he isn’t represented to be a gangster who could help to show the change he has made. Another way this is shown is through his clothing although he still included ‘parental advisory’ sticker on the front which still hints to his audience he is still a hard-core rapper and hard image.   

Within the whole of his digipak he enforces two significances of the front album for example the ‘E’ which is mid through his name is turned the wrong way round which is well known for his name. Another is the ‘O’ within recovery which links well into the medical symbol enforcing the idea of his recovery process, this is also represented on the CD itself.

After analysing the front of the digipak I realised that the back is completely opposite in the way he represents himself. The back image reflects more of the slim shady side of Eminem by the way he’s looking down the camera lens although I realised that the setting which he has set himself up within is the same dynamic of setting which is shown on the side of the panel creating another link with this digipak which is quite conventional for digipaks.

As slightly mentioned above the inside panel within the digipak is the same setting as the back cover. The setting is him within an enclosed glass box which hints that he locked himself away from other distractions whilst he was in recovery. We can also identify that he isn’t in fact watching the TV but instead reading a book which helps to reflect a different individual who has in fact made a change giving himself an intelligent image. The camera shot is of a long image and the composition in the middle enabling all the attention of the audience to be focused on him.