Digipak analyzed 3

Dommin:

All that I could find of Dommin’s album ‘Love is gone’ is the front cover, but that’s fine because the cover of a digipack is the most important part of the whole digipack, this is due to the fact that the first thing that is seen of the digipack is the cover, so it has to get the interest of the audience from the first glance. I also wanted to analyse this digipack because the cover of it tell a story of the songs that are on the dice.

The title is big and a striking white against the deep blue background. The deep blue of the background and the old styled writing of the title tie’s the digipack in with the Gothic genre. Also the bold letters used for the name of the album, relates to how Goths don’t care about what people think of them as they be themselves all the time.

The background image is of an old, warren, faded piece of paper that has been folded and slightly crumpled with time; this also works with the Gothic genre as they like to use old fashioned parchments. The tears in the paper could visualise the rough time that they spent in love, and how they themselves were slowly torn apart to the point where they no longer love each other. The paper is most faded around the stem of the white rose; this creates contrast between the background and the rose so that the rose stands out as the top image. The black stem of the rose is a visual represents the dying love that we have been told about through the name of to album; which is shown through the white petals of the rose too.

Red roses symbolise love and passion, roses on their own could also be seen as symbolising love and passion but white roses symbolises purity. So one might think that the white rose is showing their pure love, but with everything else that the cover has told us, the white rose is more likely to be visualising their lives being purified from the love that they once had.

Digipak analyzed 2

Evanescence - the open door:

The front cover uses the image of a girl walking through a door, which links back to the name of the digipak, but this also links to the artist, as most of her songs have a common theme of escape. The lettering of the band’s name and the digipak title are both written in shape letter which is one of the writing styles that Goths like to use, this helps get the attention of their audience, and keep their interest. The patterning around the words is just simple added detail to keep the digipak interesting for the audience. The model in the picture is wearing a white Victorian styled dress; this fits in with the Gothic style as they like the older Victorian styles of clothes. Ever though they like a lot of black, they also like white as it is a plain colour that also has much meaning, for example, it could be this colour to visually refer to the title, the open door; as this could mean a fresh start.

The top inside page is split down the middle by the to images that they have used for the two pages. This doesn’t really mean anything but I like their choice of images because on the left they have used old faded paper, to show the Goths link in liking the older times. And they have given it a light border to link it to the disk’s sleeve. The text is linked to the other inside pages of the digipak, as it is the same font and the centre line of the text curves in the same way.

But I find the image on the right hand page more interesting as this is referring the fairy tale ‘little red riding hood’. The model is wearing the symbolic red hood of the story, but it has Gothic lance designs around the hood, and over the shoulders, making it more interesting for the audience. Goths are referred to as having personalities that are like wolves, so this digipak has taken this and shown it in the way of the Goths getting alone with the wolves; this is first seen by the model greeting the wolf but continues to be seen through out the picture. The digipak has also put a twist on the fairy tale because in the story the wolf eats the girl, but here they seem to be good friends. Also I like how they have used the colours of the page, the background and the wolf are both browns that link to the faded paper, so that they fit together well. But the model is in the bright red hood, which creates contrast against the brown. This also creates interest and draws attention to the model.

The second inside page of the digipak uses one picture that stretches across both pages. The image suits the Gothic genre as it’s taken in the hall of an old Victorian building. And the model is in the middle of the page showing the focus of the digipak is the Goths that listen to it, this is supported by the model as she isn’t facing the camera therefore she could be anyone. Again the model is opening a door, which links it to the title of the digipak, and she is wearing a white dress to the same style as one the front cover of the digipak. The text on the right side of her has a centre line that curves to fit in with the stricter of the building that the picture was taken in, but also it helps funnels the audience’s attention to the centre to look at the girl as well. The text on the left of the girl hasn’t got a centre line, so it curves at the right side of the text.

The disk sleeve has the same sort of border design as on the first inside page of the digipak. In the middle is the title of the digipak in the same text as on the front, also the design around it is the same too. And there is a little bird this shows the promise of hat will be on the other side of the door, this would encourage the audience to listen to it and find out what they are missing.

The disk itself is a simpler design, that helps to stop the disk trying to compete with the rest of the digipak.

Digipak analyzed 1

Aeon Sable:

The background of the digipack is black which reflects the darkness of the songs that it holds on the CD, and helps it fit into the gothic genre. The image on the front fades in from the black background, they have done this to show the isolation that gothic’s feel that they are in. Plus the way that they have make the image gray and sketchy, makes the image look like it’s not even meant to be there as it is being engulfed into the darkness, which is how some Goth’s can feel about life; the image being in the middle of the front cover and being in a circle, could represent the small groups that some Goths hang in so that they don’t feel some much alone.

The title of the front cover ‘Aeon Sable’ consists of three colours, red, white, and yellow; the colours and the mixes of the colour make it stand out from the page,

to make the digipack easily recognisable to the fans of their music. The text at the bottom of the digipack uses the same colours in a different style to show that it is related to the title but it doesn’t compete with it.

On the back of the digipack the text is white on the black, and is located in the middle, this visualises how the Goths distance themselves from most people. In between the list of the song that is on this dice and the copyright terms, there is a symbol of a seven pointed star. I believe this to be the band’s logo as I can’t find any other relevance between this symbol and Goths.

The dice has a bigger version of the seven pointed star, this make it to see that the dice and the digipack are part of the same. The name of the band is written around the edge of the dice, plus the name of the album and year that the dice belongs to is also written around the edge, this also helps the tell the owner what the dice is if it has been separated from the digipack.

Music video analyzed 5

Bring Me To Life - Evanescence:

The video starts by setting the scene, and showing the audience futuristic buildings and signs. As the camera approaches Amy lee, we go there an open window with the curtains hanging out of it, they give the scene movement to make it more believable.

The audience sees that Amy is sleeping, and then the scene jumps to Amy falling; the audience believe this to be her dreaming. The scene then jumps back to her in her bed confirming the audiences’ idea.

After some time the camera leaves Amy’s room and goes to the one above, which is were the rest of the band is performing. When the camera goes back to Amy, see wake’s up and starts to more around the room. This fits with the song lyrics, as she looks spaced out and almost confused.

She climbs out of the window and starts to move round the outside of the building. She walks pat window after widow and no one notices her, she then starts to climb to the next level of the building.

The scene keeps jumping from Amy walking past other windows, to the band. This shows a time frame and reminds the audience that both these things are happening at the same time. Amy climbs another level so that she is outside the window of the band’s room.

One of the band members opens the window and Amy falls off the ledge, the audience think that her nightmare will come true but her caches the ledge, saving herself. The band member struggles for some time to help her back onto the ledge, and the audience isn’t sure whether he’ll be able to achieve it. But she slips out of his hands and she fall.

But the camera cut to her still sleeping in her bed, and video finishes in the revers way that it started.

Music video analyzed 4

Going Under - Evanescence:

At the being of the video Amy Lee is looking at the ground, but as she begins to sing, she raises her head and glares at something off screen; the audience would think this to be how she is talking to. The way in which she does this shows the audience that she has been quiet and patient before, but now she has had enough, and she is going to do something about it.

It then jumps between Amy having her makeup put on and Amy under water. The makeup scene shows the audience that Amy has moved on and become a strong woman. The water scene confirms this as she isn’t panicking or struggling in any way; they used this scene to help visualise her change in character and to visualise the song lyrics, for the audience. You may disagree with me when I said that she doesn’t struggle when under water because she screams a few times, but I think that they are to be seen more as screams of frustration and not a cry for help.

We then see a man being interviewed by the press, and he doesn’t seem happy about it; the reason for using this scene isn’t very clear yet, so the audience would assume that he is who Amy is singing about. The shots jump between him and a big group of fans with their hands in the air. Then shots of Amy walking down a corridor are added to the mix, the audience make the connection of the fans being hers.

Coming back to the guy, after a little time he can’t see straight and they use some effects on the people that he is looking at to make it seem that he is losing his mind. This visualises him losing his mind, some would think it is down to ‘losing’ Amy, but I think it might be down him regretting what he’s down.

Then Amy walks out on the stage and it is confirmed that the fans there to hear her, but she has a small hallucination, which shows that this is effecting her almost as much as it’s effecting the guy. But she still doesn’t miss a lyric.

Amy is seen as really getting into the song, this is seen as her comfort being her fans and audiences.

She dives onto the audience, which catch her and the scene changes to her jumping under water, this again visualises the lyrics. But it is when she surfaces from the water (a bite later in the video), and comes up out of the crowd that confirms her comfort is being with her fans.

Music video analyzed 3

Bones - Young Guns:

They use many close up shots to show introduce the band, and add some dramatics to the video by watching some of their feet walk around on the sand. The band is in a closed off room with some lights that keep changing intensity.

In the next scene there is a shot of the sun through a girl hair, this could be done to show that the girl feels as trapped as the band despite being outside in the open air. Her facial expression confirms this for the viewer. The camera goes back to the band, and they keep singing as if nothing else is happening which adds to the girls entrapment as the audience sees this as her always being ignored.

There is then a short shot of her in an abandoned building, and then after a shot of the band there is then an extreme close up of one of her eyes.  Next time we see the girl see is sitting at one of the tables in the building, her expression shows her to be bored, the audience see her as being sick of her loneliness. There are some more shots of this in between shots of the band; this refocuses the idea of her being very lonely.

Then there is a shot of her screaming, also showing her frustration. Each time we see her, see is looking around a little more then after the lyrics of ‘I will never let go again’ the girl appear to collapse. This could show how tried she is of being bored and alone.

After this we see a more visual representation of her frustration as she starts to through object round the room, for example the chair. In the next shot of the band, and one of them kicks some stand, which could be seen as them feeling her frustration, but to a lesser degree.

When she is next shown in the building, she looks tiered and as if she can barley stand up. Then as the music starts to build up again she starts to dance. This could be seen as the girl not caring about an-one else anymore, and just breaking out in the way that she can enjoy herself.

Near the end the girl jumps in the air, the film is the slowed down. This is used to make it look like she has managed to break free and is now up lifted. At the end of the video the band jump up and the camera show one pair of shoes jumping in the same slow motions as what the girl does, so the audience believe that they are up lifted as well.

Music video analyzed 2

My Heart, Your Hands - by Dommin:

The camera zooms in on the house and then zooms into a room as if we are being invited in to watch the scenes that then unfold. And even then the doors open as the camera zooms into the next room, showing the band that have already been playing.

The camera keeps moving from the wide shot of the band, to close ups of either what they are doing, or a close up on their face; this was done to introduce us to the members of the band and it fit with the invitation like behaviour that was shown earlier.

The girl pulls the boy into the room and they look around, before they sit down, and he never takes his eyes off of her; this fits the lyrics very well as he say ‘how can I trust you’ twice.

The girl pulls a scarf from the boy’s chest, which is used to represent the boy’s heart. The girl runs off with his heart, after a little time he follows her. In the next room the boy pulls the dustsheets off the black bodies in search of the girl. The black bodies could represent other people that she has taken the hearts of and left cold. This idea is reinforced when in her next scene as she messes around with the scarf, and she treats it as a trophy.

As he continues looking for her, he is accompanied by some of the black bodies from before. We also see the girl looking around when many black shadows play across the wall, this concerns the girl, which is shown by her facial expression.

The next time that we see the girl, the black bodies are chasing her, but she still messes around with the scarf. The boy causally walks up the stairs after all of the black bodies have gone, but more follow up behind him.

The girl finishes a locked door and by this point she looks frantic that she can’t get past it, so the audience is lead to believe that she will soon be in big trouble. Next the black bodies get hold of the girl, and they take the scarf (heart) back.

Then for the end shot, there is a black body that is wearing the same red choker as the girl was, this makes the audience believe that the black bodies do not represent the people that the girl had left cold, but the girls that haven’t played fair with the boy’s heart.