Individual Digipak - Miss Miller

I have created an individual digipak so I was able to explore my artists genre in more depth and to also promote my artist in a  way that would conform her indie genre whilst promoting her in a positive light. By researching other indie artists digipaks I was able to see all of the different codes and conventions they use within their digipak in order to promote their artist effectively. It allows the target niche audience to be able to connect with the artist in a better way as they are able to see personal additions such as 'messages to the fans' from the artist and added images that they wouldn't typically see within a normal jewel CD case. This gives a more personal and connected relationship between the artist and the audience as the audience will feel that the album was made for them. The six slides allowed me to show the artists personality and her music through a series of different elements such as;

• Colours
• Codes and Conventions of the genre
• Images
• Layout/Design
• Typography
• Language

By considering all of theses micro-elements they have led me to my final digipak product.

I have used many different microelements to promote my artist effectively within this digipak. One being colour. When researching different indie genre digipaks I came across the colours being very natural and bright. 
The colours were typically greens, yellows and whites. I wanted to both conform and subvert the genres colours scheme as I have used some yellows within the digipak which was to promote the artists name being 'Lola Starr'; this allowed me to use the stereotype of the artist being as bright as a star and you would stereotypically associate a star as being bright and yellow. I have used this for the typography on the front of the digipak as I believe this would create a efficient well known trade mark for the artist as the brightness of her name stands out and this would be easily eye catching and well known for the audience in order to recognise the artist.
One of the main colour schemes was natural colouring. The colouring is fairly dark and this shows the natural lighting of the scenery. This also subverts the stereotypes of the indie genre, although they use many bright natural colours like green and yellow, the dark scenery and background has made the artiest stand out and somebody who still conforms the genre but also subverts it to make her our image and create her own individuality. The high key lighting on the artist does intact highlight her features and the generic conventional colours on her mis en scene clothing, and this makes her stand out from the dark natural colours in the background. This could also make her recognisable from the other music artists as she isn't following the stereotypical colour scheme. This would create a better relationship between the artist and the audience as she has tried to show her own individuality by subverting her generic colours and showing off her own personal identity.

I have used many different conventions of the indie genre. One being mise-en-scene clothing and body language. On the front of the digipak i have used close up of the artist's face so that the audience can connect with her better as she is specifically looking at the camera and making eye contact with the audience. This is conventional to the music genre as she is able to show off her features in a subtle way giving off eye contact in order to connect better with her audience and making her eyes the main feature of the front cover. The use of the conventional clothing throughout for example the baggy denim jacket, red bandana and tight leather leggings with use of iconography such as the guitar  gives off a stereotypical indie music artist. This is because you would stereotypically see the artist as somebody who wants to show off their sexuality through the bottom half and being more covered up rather than too revealing. This is clothing you would generally see within indie artists as they want their clothing to look more realistic, and this is why i has used this convention to the genre as i wanted the audience to feel a more personal and realistic relationship with the artist than one that doesn't really exist.
Another convention i have used is the use of mise-en-scene iconography. I have used the iconography the guitar to show that the artist is somebody who is multitalented. This would promote the artist effectively as it shows she is a good musician, somebody who can play a range of interments to show off her musical talent. This is also conventional to an indie music genre, as they stereotypically use instruments such as guitars and pianos which emphasise their ability as music artists and shows that they can pal different instruments. This would help create a better relationship with the audience as they may possibly be inspired with the fact their artist plays interment, and by showing this is many of the images within her digipak it give them more of an inspiration to take up an instrument. This would make the audience feel more personally connected with the artist as they too may feel that they have a connection with her.
The main colour schemes was natural colouring. The colouring is fairly dark and is a stereotype of the genre as this shows the natural lighting of the scenery. This also subverts the stereotypes of the indie genre, although they use many bright natural colours like green and yellow, the dark scenery and background has made the artiest stand out and somebody who still conforms the genre but also subverts it to make her our image and create her own individuality. The high key lighting on the artist does intact highlight her features and the generic conventional colours on her mis en scene clothing, and this makes her stand out from the dark natural colours in the background. This could also make her recognisable from the other music artists as she isn't following the stereotypical colour scheme. This would create a better relationship between the artist and the audience as she has tried to show her own individuality by subverting her generic colours and showing off her own personal identity.

The images i have used within my digipak promote the artist efficiently and effectively, and as somebody who would conform to the genres stereotypes. One image on the front cover specifically i have used as it is a close up of the artist and shows the peace sign over her eyes. The use of the high key lighting on her face makes her big blue eyes stand out more and shows better eye contact with the camera/audience. The image is specifically used so the audience feel a connection with the artist and see more of her up close than they would usually. This image shows the conventions of the natural eye make up that indie artists stereotypically use. This also gives a better relationship between the artist and the audience as it shows the naturalness of the artist and also how she isn't superficial, and this makes the audience believe that she is somebody who is true to herself and also to reality, and this will be something again that the audience could possibly copy. It promotes the artist effectively as it again makes her look like someone who is relatable to her target audience and easier for them to connect to also.
Another image I included was the artist on the floor in the natural ground/earth and surrounded with her guitar. I used this image specifically as the back cover with the song titles as I wanted it to look as if the artist was completely obsessed with her music and the genre of her music. The specific use of mis-en-scene body language of her looking towards her guitar makes her look like she loves playing music, and this would connect with the audience and promote her effectively as it would make her look as someone who is completely besotted with musicnd wanted to show it to her fan. This I believe would make a better relationship with her audience as it would show that she is true to her music and also to her individuality as an artist.

The layout is just like your stereotypical layout for a digipak. It included six sections, that in which were to make the artist look more appealing to her audience and in order to give better information to the audience so they have a close and more personal insight to the artist that what they usually would in a jewel CD case. I had included a personal message from the artist to her audience so that it gave a more personal feel to the digipak. This would create a much better relationship between the artist and the audience as they believe that he has personally taken the time to think of her fans and this will make her seem like her genre stereotype of her being kind an thoughtful. I also made the layout very simple so that it is easier for the audience, this also is a stereotype for the genre as it wouldn't be conventional to the genre if it was too flashy and bright, I wanted to create a more mellow feel to the genre and the digipak.

The typography  colours were typically greens, yellows and whites. I wanted to both conform and subvert the genres colours scheme as I have used some yellows within the digipak which was to promote the artists name being 'Lola Starr'; this allowed me to use the stereotype of the artist being as bright as a star and you would stereotypically associate a star as being bright and yellow. I have used this for the typography on the front of the digipak as I believe this would create a efficient well known trade mark for the artist as the brightness of her name stands out and this would be easily eye catching and well known for the audience in order to recognise the artist. The language within my digipak is also very simple as this would make it easier for the audience to understand and also mak eit more real to the audience too. It gives the digipak a more relatable feel for the audience and therefore could possibly promote the artists personality as being simple aswell.

I did struggle with using Photoshop as I had trouble with the resizing of my image. When I tried to resize my image to make it smaller, it didn't respond with the computer so the system crashed, this happen many times and after getting some guidance by creating new labels I was fortunately able to resolve this issue and caught up efficiently. Another weakness using photo shop was the labels. I kept creating new labels without realising I could possibly duplicate them to make everything easier for me to do and also save me some time. I was able to do this by clicking the right button on the mouse over the layer and therefore duplicate the layer. I then as able to rename it and save myself some more time.
One of my strengths was using the lassio magnetic tool. This enabled me to fully use the entire image but crop out what I didn't want. I found this a rather handy tool to use as it let me enhance one image whilst a did the background separately. This helped create a successful advert as I was able to edit the main image of the artist separately make her mainly on high key lighting whilst the background remained in low key lighting. This was excellent as it made the artist look centre of attention as the main focus was there.
Another strength of mine was the use of the effects that I could put over the image. I used the artist filter and colour filters to give the image more effect. This worked well as it made the artist look centre of attention and the main focus was there. It created a successful advert as it was focussed on the artist and gave a more indie look due to the filter colours used which were, orange, greys and greens which are all conventional to an indie genre.

I believe that my digipak conforms the genres conventions genre generally as it uses elements such as mis-en-scene clothing, body language and eye contact/makeup; this allowed me to promote the indie genre and the artist effectively as it was more relatable and I made sure that the artist was the centre of attention.  I believe this will appeal to my target audience as it does follow the conventions of an indie genre mainly but alo subverts them too. This is due to elements such as the colouring being darker and more grungy rather than uplifting and bright. It will also appeal to the audience more as it has a personal message within it as it will make it more personal t the fans and also makes the artist the centre of attention whilst also promoting her as somebody who is very subtle and simple. It will also appeal to the audience as it will make them see the artist in her true element.
I believe that creating an individual digipak will help ensure that our group produces a successful final digipak as it show many different conventions of the indie genre and how to promote my artist effectively and my group would be able to take many different ideas from mine in order to create a effective group digipak.

You have provided a good analysis of your individual digipak, explaining all of the elements used on each of the slides and what you hope they create; as well as an analysis of Photoshop and tools used.

You need to:
1) Make sure you state specifically where different elements are used (front/back cover, cd etc.)
2) Reconsider you paragraph on photoshop

3) Include a pic of your completed digipak