JS: Digipak research

I feel that a strong concept at this stage is a digipak in this style. This would be particularly good dependent on our location - it could be a single panoramic shot across the four tiles, with our performer(s) on the final tile and the earlier three could perhaps be them looking out into their urban location.

Moreover we have to think about what magazine our advertisement would appear in, and so - being familiar with this magazine - we decided it would be one like 'CLASH'. In doing some research to confirm that this is the correct audience demographic for us to be targeting, I looked in some editions of the magazine that I own. Coincidentally there was an article on our artist Hawk House, and whilst not being an advert and an actual artist this confirms that the readers of the magazine are appropriate.


A digipak I chose to analyse as part of our research is for 'Doris' by Earl Sweatshirt - an artist of a particularly similar style of music to Hawk House and so the hallmarks should be the same or at least very alike. Moreover, the actual style of the digipak contains a similar fold shape to the one shown above, although a very different concept is used. In our initial idea, we are thinking of making tiles all part of the same bigger image, whereas in this digipak each tile - while clearly related and coherent - are all separate images.

 

The overall feel of this digipak is very dark. This is due to the extreme lack of colour other than yellow sections - though this colouration is purely for writing and so is to make it legible and understandable. Typography is done is a style that looks like hand crafted graffiti - in the sense it looks as though someone has actually done it and it isn't a computer font. It is because of this that the genre is evident - giving implications of  an urban style from the streets and also sharing similar values as the Hip Hop genre of delinquent behaviour and an artist expressing themselves in a somewhat unorthodox manner.

The rule of thirds is considered in the artist's placement on the cover - with him being placed slightly on the right side of the centre. Earl Sweatshirt is displayed as a particularly sad and glum character - not only through the overly dark image but through NVC. His general body language looks slumped which connotes a disheartened nature and his facial expression is one that suggests an almost depressed or deflated character - his eyes are shut and the face as a whole looks like one that has been let down or is fed up.

Nothing is too prominent about his clothing in the sense it doesn't promote any particular fashion choices or connote any other ideas - other than it fundamentally being black which reinforces the ideas of dark themes being touched upon or having been experienced by the artist.

There is a quite bleak setting used - it is a room in which we can't see anything other than a corner and two crucifixes on the wall. The block coloured wall suggests a lack of excitement in his life and the religious references could perhaps to suggest Sweatshirt has been reborn on his second album; with his first being playful, unserious, and controversial for the point of being controversial - yet in this album he uses more deep and meaningful lyrics in the sense he explores his emotions further and touches on more real issues.

This change is evident when you actually look at his lyrics, for example in 2010 he litters songs with expletives and promoting socially unacceptable topics like rape, drug use, and extreme violence - targeting one critic of his work with the lyrics "Try talkin' on a blog with your fuckin' arms cut off." However when you look at his lyrics off of this album, he explores issues like being raised without a male figure to look up to, "It's probably been twelve years since my father left, left me fatherless//And I just used to say I hate him in dishonest jest." This transformation from a young joker seeking controversy into a maturing adolescent exploring his life issues is what is being portrayed on the front and back I believe.

 

 

The back tile is very similar, with only the artist present again with a crucifix. This time Earl Sweatshirt is seen awake and in a phase of deep thinking, suggesting he has been reawakened - with a metaphorical meaning of changing his ways. I feel this is also what the religious references are insinuating - that he has become conscious of his mistakes and so is changing his life, and not as some would argue that he is being shown as a 'God of Hip Hop'.

The tracklisting is done in a similar style to the artist and album name is on the front - with a formal font being replaced by a calligraphic graffiti aesthetic. There are also areas that have been blacked out - which goes back to Earl's metanarrative as an artist: of being aware he has made mistakes in the past and is correcting them.

 

 

 

 

 

When you open the first fold of the digipak we see these two panes - one which is black with some darker squiggles on it: which upon closer inspection are title names of the songs on this album, and one which is an image of a derelict house and a mirror that has been spray painted on with the question and answer "HOW ARE YOU FEELING? LiKE SHiT" (the lower case i's are present in the image). This image maintains the black and white filter of the whole digipak and the idea that it is in a derelict house suggests Sweatshirt's poor life and living conditions or general situation, this could be justified as both a metaphoric and literal meaning and representation - with the artist experiencing a fairly unprivileged and difficult upbringing. The actual content of the writing is important too, not only as it enhances our understanding of the very honest and quite emotionally down artist, but because it is important in constructing a star image as Dyer identifies. The swearing presents him as a rebellious and anti-authoritative figure - ideas which Dyer establishes as popular traits within young audiences. Moreover the generally open characterisation means we feel we have a deeper relationship with the artist, although we only get some information;  we know his father left now but this leaves us wanting to know more, like why he left, and so we will continue to consume his products in a bid to find out his full story.
The Digipak when fully opened is the same as the initial first pane - with the CD itself remaining consistent with this graffiti style of title names scrawled with no particular order. This could perhaps be a metaphor for the artist's situation in life, with aspects of it overlapping and seeming incoherent, with no particular organised path for him to follow and being a generally dark place for him at the time of the album (2013).