Similarities Between a Similar Artist's Digipaks and My Print Productions

One of the digipaks from similar artists which I examined when researching and planning my print productions was #3 by The Script. I am going to examine the similarities between my print productions is their current state and this digipak from a similar artist (a boy band, with songs that fit into the pop genre).

Both my digipak and the digipak for #3 by The Script use black and white images to make the digipak stand out from the standard pop genre digipak, while still conforming to pop genre conventions that enable it to be identified as pop music. The focus on the band and their image is perhaps the most significant pop genre convention used, as the artist and their image is a massive part of how popular, loved, and successful an artist becomes.

The front panel of my digipak

The front panel of the digipak for #3 by The Script

Every part of my print productions uses the main performer - the boy - as the main focus as he is the human symbol associated with the brand. Similarly, the digipak uses the artist as the main focus by blending the three members of the boy band, The Script, into a human shape that is the sole focus - excluding the logos or the artist and album name - of the front panel of the digipak.

The artistic look of both digipaks is also a way in which they are related. The paintbrush-like effect I have used on the image, and its integration with the graffiti in the background, emphasises the unique nature of it. The front panel of the digipak for #3 by The Script uses the way it integrates the images of the three band members together as its way of attracting its target audience - teenagers, mainly female, who will likely enjoy some forms of art - using creativity. The coat of the band member on the far right (Mark Sheehan) is faded into that of the largest - and most famous - band member (Danny O'Donoghue) to create an interesting effect that resembles scales on O'Donoghue's neck.

So, both of these digipaks use creative techniques, such as black and white and other artistic effects, such as the way text and image integrate together, to make them stand out from the competition in their genre while still conforming to genre conventions, such as the focus on the artist, to make them immediately identifiable with the pop genre.

How the Music Video for Hall of Fame Featuring will.i.am Relates

to the Respective Digipak

The image shown below is the front panel of the digipak for the single Hall of Fame featuring will.i.am. This song is part of the album #3, mentioned above.

Once again, you can see the stylish, creative design. The aspect I would like to focus on is how this digipak is connected to the respective music video, shown underneath the image of the front panel of the digipak.

Both of these products focus heavily on the artist, with the artist being the primary focus of the front panel of the digipak and there being many performance shots of the band members (including will.i.am). This shows both of the products conforming to the pop genre conventions I mentioned previously in this post. The pop genre conventions shared by all of these products link them together and allow them to work more effectively as a whole.

Both products also emphasise the message of being dedicated to your aspirations in life - the confetti-like effect on the front panel of the digipak is a strong link to the confetti shown for the ballerina who has achieved her dream at the end of the music video. The band members (including will.i.am) are always shown in a strong, positive way too. For example, when they sing in the performance shots, they are regularly shown in close-up shots, and the focus of the front panel of the digipak is Danny O'Donoghue's face. The fact that O'Donoghue is the most famous member of The Script, partly due to his role as a judge on the TV show the Voice UK, is not a coincidence - by focusing on the most recognisable member of the band, they emphasise the generic pop convention of focusing on the artist, who is often the biggest part of marketing the product(s). Once again, using the same techniques in more than one product concerning the track itself - in this case, the music video and the digipak - emphasises these techniques and makes them work more effectively. This is a technique used for my own range of products concerning my chosen track, Tonight I Let You Go by The Colours.