research: ancillary tasks

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ANCILLARY TASKS Music Video Brief – Holly Riley Candidate Number: 8396 Centre Number: 22321

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Page 1: RESEARCH: Ancillary Tasks

ANCILLARY TASKSMusic Video Brief – Holly Riley

Candidate Number: 8396Centre Number: 22321

Page 2: RESEARCH: Ancillary Tasks

Analysing (Indie/Alternative) Digipaks A Digipak is a patented casing made from cardboard,

and is typically created from a gatefold (book-like) outer binding. This packaging is used for CD, DVD and BD products. They are often used for special edition CD albums or singles by a music artist. Manufacturers claim to have 100% recycled materials for their Digipaks, showing they do not damage the environmnet as much as a ‘jewel case’.

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DigipaksOn the left is a standard 6 fold digipak template used for CD albums. One panel will be used for the CD itself, with plastic packaging, and a front and back panel will be used for images and text, whereas the other folded panels will often feature shots of the artist so the consumer can familiarise themselves with the artist. The digipak is used to case a CD because the artist can utilize the card medium in order to create a package with unique images, a specific house style and to represent what their music is like. In alternative genres, the digipaks are often distinctive and alter the common conventions. Below are some physical displays of what the varying folding styles are for a four fold digipak, with the latter few being more frequent among alternative music genres.

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St Vincent – Self Titled

Annie Clarke (aka St.Vincent) is a singular American indie artist who is known for changing her appearances for each album release. Her latest album “St Vincent” boasts a very minimalistic, clean and contemporary look to portray the albums contextual understanding of the new digital age. This is a 6 fold digipak, and features the same hexagonal, tessellated background in an off-white and pastel pink. These colours infer a femininity about the artist, but the tessellated background represents a controlled and calculated persona. These aspects alone hint at the modern concept behind the music, as the artist clearly aims to exploit the controlled routines we face due to technology taking over. The main image for the front cover of the digipak is a long shot of the artist sitting on a plain moulded pink chair. Her sitting position is reminiscent of a royal person, as she appears to look down on the viewer, with her hands on either arm rest, implying her dominance and self control. The colours of her multi-tonal and shiny dress also imply the regal theme, as strong blues and purples are highlighted by the high-key lighting on the artist, to represent her as a figure of authority. St.Vincent’s hair and make-up styling appears intimidating and somewhat alien-like with a modern edge because of the bleach blonde hair styled to surround the artists face. This wild hairstyle seems like it would be from another age, which makes the album seem it would include new sounds that are unconventional, which is a strong selling point for alternative genre listeners. The font style on the front cover hints that of an ‘art deco’ feel, with clean straight lines in a rosy pink to match the house style. The ‘S’ is on the left of the artist in the image, the ‘T’ is in the centre of her dress, which is relatively obscured by the colours, and the ‘V’ is on the right of the chair in the image. This simple layout with the title covering the main image shows the lack of conventions because it makes the text difficult to understand because of the unusual serif font. This shows that the album relies heavily on the art house approach, as opposed to the standard easy reading convention.

On the back cover is the text seen in a simple, deep purple sans serif font, aligned to create a triangular shape. The triangular emblem is conventional amongst indie art because of its clean and unusual shape. The text on the triangle lists the track numbers and titles. Below this shape is the institutional information, including a large barcode, record label logo’s and security/resale information in a small serif font in black. This rectangle stands out from the rest of the album because of the black and white strong contrast, to show the importance of this information.

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St Vincent – Self Titled

This is the inner part of the digipak, with three folds, the far right compartment holds the CD, and the left holds a booklet. The left fold is an image of a blank white wall, with contemporary marbled flooring of a room, with a large chalk white rock in the centre of the image. The image is a long shot, and appears to be a panorama, as it links with the other two images on the right of this one. These images all contain the same high-key lighting and similar sized rocks. These images lead into one another to show cohesiveness across this section of the digipak, and it can be deconstructed to represent the contrast of nature and modern technologies. St.Vincent is stood in the central panel holding a mirror ball prop. This seems like an ornament used to juxtapose the matte white natural chalk, because of its mirrored surface. The convex surface of the object reflects the res of the room, and would have been edited in post production as it shows no camera or team taking the photo. This is to give an art house effect, as it shows an empty space in the chrome ball prop. The artist is represented as ominous in this long shot, as she stands rigid, holding the object before herself, obscuring most of her costume. Her hair and make-up is the same style as that seen on the front cover of the digipak. Her hair practically blends in with the stark white background, and it makes the artist seem at one with her contemporary surroundings, giving the viewer an understanding of the artsy house style. The costume St.Vincent wears consists of a black high neck cape, black bottoms and boots, with a sheer black maxi netting falling to the floor. A nude scoop neck top can be seen beneath the black cape, and this brings out the contoured make-up she wears, making her seem harsh and statuesque.On the right panel of the digipak, rule of thirds is used with the image because the chalk prop subjects are seen in the centre and far right of the image, implying the vastness of the room, and gives the effect of the picture being ongoing.

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St Vincent – Self Titled

This is the front cover of the lyrics booklet from inside the digipak. It follows the consistent house colours and hexagonal tessellated background, but has the triangular shapes portrayed through a prism/pyramid style. This metaphor for Egyptian pyramids brings to mind the fact that the Egyptians were said to have created pyramids to contact aliens, which appears to be a theme with the artistry on this digipak. The peach pyramid features one side which displays a contemporary field-like landscape, implying the artistic quality of the album. The same image of the pyramid Is duplicated on the back of the booklet, and mirrors the image seen on the front cover. The text along the masthead of the booklet reads ‘st vincent’ in the same sans serif font on the front cover, showing a consistent use of fonts and house styles throughout the construction of this digipak.

Above and below are images of the inside of the booklet. The pages are stark white, to match the inner panels of the digipak, and feature song lyrics shown in a conventional poetry style, with separated stanzas for the verses and chorus/hook of each song. The song lyrics are in a black sans serif plain font, and are small enough to fit a whole song on a singular A5 page. The titles of the songs are displayed in a black, rectangular text box in capitalised sans serif font. Along the bottom of each page in a smaller font is information regarding the instrumentation, who played the instruments, who produced the track, and who helped to co-write any lyrics with St.Vincent. This information is conventional to have in a lyric booklet, as it pays homage to those who helped in production of the album, and is respectful. The consumer would appreciate these mentions because of the indie consumer’s loyal nature to a label/artist. On the last pages of the

booklet (left) are special mentions directly from the artist, to give a personal touch to the album itself. This text is small, and in a sans serif black font, on the right page is more institutional information, with printed logos for the record labels and print information.

On the right is an image of the CD, which is plain white, with the same ‘STV’ art deco font seen on the front cover of the digipak, but in black. On the bottom of the CD are the record label logos, and on the perimeter of the CD is copyright and institutional information regarding the album and artist.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers- Stadium Arcadium

This is a digipak for ‘Stadium Arcadium’ by alternative funk rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It has a conventional 6 fold digipak style, and appears to have a visual motif of a space theme. The front cover of the digipak has a space theme, with the title embossed and bevelled in a futuristic-looking yellow serif font style. This appears to be protruding from the centre of the background, which is blue and black, to highlight the theme. There are digital symbols of planets in orbit of the bold title text, and attract the viewer to read the title of the album. The space theme of the album suggests that the sounds are unusual and ‘out of this world’. A sticker with a strapline promoting popular singles on the album is on the bottom third of the front cover, and the text is in a black, bold sans serif font style so it is easy to read. On the far left panel is the inner folding disc case, which appears completely disconnected from the rest of the front of the digipak due to its contrasting house colours. This panel holds the ‘Jupiter’ disc, as this album was split into two CD’s to accommodate the unusually conflicting styles of the music on each CD. The ‘Jupiter’ case is based from Greek mythology, as Jupiter was the God of the Skies. The image is a wide frame cityscape surrounded by smoke/pollution, with a large proportion taken up by the sky in the image. Along the top of the image is a digitally edited fire explosion in replacement of clouds to imply the skies have been taken over by an almighty being, in this case, Jupiter. The reds and yellows in the flames attract our attention as it contrasts greatly against the blue hues below in the sky above the city. This image depicts a world of violence and disruption, which are common themes of corruption in alternative genre music, making this a conceptual album image.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers- Stadium Arcadium

The strips of cardboard between the folds of each panel have also been labelled with the title of the album and name of the band, in a digitalised white serif font. This stands out from the blue gradient fill of light and darker tones, suggesting the skies seen in the images on the digipak, showing cohesiveness of style.

A closed frame, extreme low angle shot of the band is the focal point of the back cover. It represents them as playful and unique, as the band members are relaxed about the photo. However, the black backdrop and use of chiaroscuro lighting gives a dramatic effect. Red feather props are falling down, implying the viewer is literally below the band, as they take the position of authority, much like the Greek Gods they reference in the digipak theme.

Institutional information, crediting the producers and mixers can be seen in the lowest third of the back cover, as a strip of black takes up this space so the text in white and red can be easily read. The record label logos can also be clearly distinguished amongst the sans serif text, and the barcode is placed on the left third, obscured by nothing.

Sub headings have been used in track listings to separate the two album CD’s, named ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Mars’. The title fonts are larger than the track list fonts, and are slightly different from one another, but are both in a white sans serif style to make them easier to read on the black background of the main image.

The two CD’s track listings are side by side, but have been aligned so they appear back-to-back. This suggests to the viewer that although they are contrasting albums, they are one of the same creation, and this hints that they are supposed to be played back-to-back for the ultimate listening experience.

The costume is generally dark amongst the band members, however, the styles are conflicting as the male on the far right wears a top hat, suggesting a quirky, serious vibe. The other band members are more conventional with costume and hair, with dark striped t-shirts spattered in blood and shoulder-length hair. Their hairstyles have been accentuated by the low angle of the camera, as the hair surrounds their faces, making the band appear unapproachable.

The use of red feathers connotes the danger and fear that should be faced with the Greek Gods of war and skies, again showing the cohesiveness of theme amongst the digipak. The fact the feathers are falling from above also implies the Godly presence.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers- Stadium Arcadium

This is the inner part of the digipak, which carries on the theme of corruption and space. These images depict the literal war between the Gods Jupiter and Mars when they went to battle, which is a reference to the title ‘Stadium Arcadium’. The far right image of a planet shows the space theme, and has a digitally edited art style, with house colours of red and blue. The planet in the centre of the image has a blue gradient of colours , with the lighter colours on the left which darken on the right. There is a smoke effect on these colours so it appears mysterious and realistic. There is light surrounding the planet which is red on the right and on the left it is white. This is used to highlight the differences between Mars and Jupiter, and therefore the differences between the two sides of the album. The red background can be seen on the right of the image, with a clear line separating the blue night background on the left. The central panel shows an image of a war from the sky, with bombs and helicopters in the sky falling onto an infrastructure on water. It appears there are pylons and buildings in the sea, with the building on the left third of the image set on fire. The sky takes up most of the image, to accentuate the blue hue and suggests the pity and destruction people would see from the war between the Gods. The use of industrial and modern places in the natural water suggests conflict between spirituality and humanities technological processes, much like the conflicts between the opposing Greek Gods. The CD panel on the far left has a dark background, with the left third taken up by flames/an explosion. This could have been edited in post production using software such as Photoshop. The digital art in this image is unified with the front of the digipak, and with the image on the left because of the fiery images.

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Arcade Fire – The FuneralThis digipak is anti-stereotypical because it is a 4 fold digipak. This makes it most like the jewel cased CD albums/singles. Therefore this makes the overall layout simpler for the artwork, as more detail can be put into a smaller amount of space. Below is a general template with print specifications for a digipak like this one, with a figure diagram. This digipak was possibly chosen to have a four fold design because of environmental/costly reasons, which have to be considered with alternative bands who rely on a loyal fan base to buy their music.

Overall, the first impression this digipak gives an audience is that the band are very creative, with an unusual use of illustration of hands, and light neutral tones, which we would contrast with the album title, “The Funeral”. The use of the same background across these inner panels immediately gives a sense of unity throughout the album artwork, resulting in a professional and well-thought out final product.

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Arcade Fire – The FuneralThe neutral tones of brown suggest an aged and authentic style to the music, and add a sense of vintage style, which can be seen across the digipak as a general house style. The border around the front panel image hints at the vintage feel as it has a double black band which appears printed by hand. This effect of digital art makes a product feel as if it has been crafted individually, giving the digipak a personal touch.

The main image on this album cover is an illustration. This illustration has neutral tones, which makes it seem as if the original drawing was water coloured, which makes the album have a personalised feel due to the effort of the artwork. The hand (protruding from the sleeve of a shirt and blazer) is holding an old-fashioned quill, hinting at a vintage theme for the digipak’s aesthetic s. A quill signifies that the subject was writing a long time ago, suggesting that the songs are written in retrospect, and are possibly more relatable to the audience. The quill was used for writing and signing for personal as well as serious documentation, having this image paired with the album title makes the audience believe that perhaps a funeral contract was being signed.

The band’s name is displayed in a ‘steam punk’ Victorian serif font in a deep brown. This colour compliments the other tones in the album cover, showing a strong palette of house colours for the digipak, making it very coordinated in production.

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Arcade Fire – The FuneralThe same neutral brown background tone has been used to keep the whole digipak cohesive in its house colours of black, white, grey and browns. These natural tones suggest a vintage and characterised art style to represent the band as unique and alternative. The use of the printed double black border also creates a similar layout and shows a repetitive style for the digipak to make it look professional.

The “ink” art style creates a quirky vibe about the album art because it looks as though most people could remake it. Therefore, the use of normal art mediums makes the album seem more personalised. This is because it links in with the hand on the front cover holding a quill, implying the art for the digipak has been drawn with this.

The font for the title of the album is seen at the masthead of the back of the digipak. This is unusual and uncoventional for layout because this is the first time we are informed of the album title, as the band name, “Arcade Fire” is seen on the front cover. This font reminds me of vintage poster advertisements, as it has a similar serif style to attract the viewer. The font is easy to read and the black and white drop shadow effect makes it stand out.Track listings on this digipak back cover are conventional. The numbers read from the top and down the left hand side; in a similar font style to the title. The text or subheading of each track is in brackets, in a handwritten black serif font which adds character to the text. The numbers are also seen in the same handwritten font style to keep the use of fonts to a set few.

Institutional information such as copyright, record labels and logo’s are all in a small white sans serif font in the bottom left third. This is also where the barcode is, which is conventional for an album.

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Arcade Fire – The FuneralThis is the leaflet-style lyrics and information insert for the digipak. The front cover shows a black and white image of the band together, surrounding a black sofa, with ornate wallpaper on the wall behind them. The band are represented as mysterious because of the dark colours they wear, and the fact that they are not all breaking the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera lens, showing no direct mode of address to their audience.“The Arcade Fire”

can be seen above the main image in an intrciate, ink style handwritten serif font, with “Funeral” below the image in the same handwritten font seen on the digipak back cover. The album is even dated “September 14 2004” in a simplistic black font below the album title. The minimalistic style to this front cover is eye catching and appears like a vintage poster to attract their target market.

The first page of the booklet is for ‘Special thanks and mentions’ regarding the production process of the album, as they credit the producers. The signatures are from each band member to add a personal touch and keepsake quality to the booklet for a fan. The booklet has the same sans serif black font throughout, with small black illustrations separating each paragraph of text, which are song lyrics for each track on the album. This leaflet is an unconventional way of expressing information, but it is creative and represents the band’s flare for keeping things personal and unique.

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Alt-J – An Awesome WaveThe front cover for the album is unconventional as the main image takes up the entirety of the front cover. There is no text, which shows that the band intended for the album to be recognisable by visuals alone.

The image has a range of psychedelic colours, and appears to have them travelling through a rocky grey surface, much like magma on a volcano. This could be a visual metaphor for the band’s unique sound taking over the grey area, which could represent the rest of the music industry.

The way the colours merge in the cracks makes it look like lava for an artistic effect.

The back cover contrasts the front because it has a plain white background, which is unconventional as most digipak's feature the same/similar background throughout to show cohesiveness of style. The text is in a

plain sans serif, bold font, yet the colours of the font are merged like those on the front cover. The white background acts almost as a stencil over the top of an image of a range of colours.

The text on the back cover is the track list, with no numbers to separate and order the track names. Instead of numbers, there are small heart designs in between the text, which seem out of place, but perhaps hint at a theme of love for the album.

Institutional information and the barcode can be seen on the bottom of the digipak back cover which is conventional for the layout because it separates the information the viewer will be less interested in from the album information itself. Record label logos are inbetween the black sans serif text and the barcode, showing an order for the layout.

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Alt-J – An Awesome WaveThis is the inner panel layout of the digipak. It appears to have a conventional 4 fold digipak style, however the use of origami changes this to an unconventional digipak style. The digipak itself is white on the inside, with the left panel relating directly to the front cover with a insert of the main image. This left panel has a white panel shaped with a curve, which looks contemporary, to hold the booklet of lyrics. The white curved panel has text in a plain, futuristic-looking black sans serif font on the bottom left corner. The text states the album title, “AN AWESOME WAVE” to attract our eye to the title. The unconventional placement of text makes us appreciate the layout and unusual method of drawing our eye all over the digipak, making us realise the digipak has been used to its full visual advantage.

The CD holder for this digipak is uncoventionally made from white card, which opposes the usual plastic casing. The use of complicated and artistic folds of origami shows how this album has been constructed carefully, and makes the viewer want to buy it because of the amount of thought gone into its construction. Despite this digipak’s lack of convention, it remains memorable because of its craftsmanship and mass appeal.

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Alt-J – An Awesome WaveInside the booklet, which is found on the inner left panel of the digipak, there are printed song lyrics covering every page wholly. The formal layout of the text makes it seem very contemporary, as it has a modern edge because of its unusual way of reading. The text goes from left to right, and it seems never-ending due to the lack of paragraphing. The songs and song titles are all one after another to give an unconventional approach to page displaying.

The text on these pages is in a conventionally plain black font on the white background, so it is easy to read for the viewer. The small font makes the text seem very uniform, and modern. The track titles are highlighted amongst each page in a bolder version of the same font, so they are easier for the reader to locate. The text-heavy pages may make the viewer uninterested because of the amount of reading, however, this also could have been used to save paper for the production process of the booklet, therefore saving money.

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Analysis of Magazine Adverts The research conducted into

magazine adverts for the alternative genre can be accessed using the link below or the link in the comments section.

The link to look for is for prezi: https

://prezi.com/lqjo90hh2saf/alternative-album-magazine-adverts/