Digipak Evolution

Digipak's are utilised to help establish and promote the brand of which an artist uses to gain revenue. The digipak will consist of a front cover, back cover, where the CD sits, the inside centre and left. Each of these panels have certain roles to play.

The front cover is the main part of the pack. The main image of the pack will be on the front cover, along with the album name and artist's. This aids the brand of the artist. Whoever listens to said artist will immediately identify with the brand on the front cover, whether its a picture of the artist or a logo affiliated with said artist. 

The back cover is where the tracking list is usually placed. The design, colour scheme and text found on the front cover often remains there on the back, this continuity again aids to advertise the brand of the artist and album. The text has to jump of the page so that the customer feels intrigued to read it and buy it.

The extra panel is the third part which is seen, it should show an image in the background and maybe a little bit of writing from either one of the producers or artist's as to how the album was brought together or what the meaning is.

The inside left and right cover could consist of multiple different things. Usually, the centre panel has a pocket for the lyric book. A lyric book helps the consumer familiarise themselves with the tracks which in turn, grows the fan base for said artist as the song then becomes more widely known.

The inside right cover is where the disk will sit. This part doesn't require much editing at all. A few digipak's print an image underneath where the CD sits. More often than not, they'll avoid doing this and choose to place a picture onto the CD.

Our main goal with our digipak will be to ultimately sell the brand of our music video/artists. This will be done through the colour schemes, font and the design of the cover which will look appropriate to the funk genre.

Magazine Covers for Music

The magazine cover shows Michael Jackson, who was at the time an active member of the band 'The Jackson 5'. The band had taken the global charts by storm, this explains the lack of an explanation as to who Michael is on the cover.

The page is taken almost completely up by Michael, with small text in the bottom left. Several titles on the side and a large 'Record Mirror' as the header. Having Michael as the cover, along with the lack of text implies that particular issue is solely focusing on Michael. The red background helps Michael's colourless photo stand out, an effective tool utilised to help garner the consumers attention.

The title 'Rolling Stone' is red, similar to the text on the magazine. The red is bright and bold, grabbing the viewers attention. The magazine being cluttered and full of information is a design choice, which, as a result, makes customers want to purchase the magazine as they believe there will be a rich variety of content. The focus is on Prince, however, as the title on the left further enhances this. Having the only image as prince with 'Faith! Funk! Sex!' and 'Prince On Fire!' aids to perpetuate Prince's band by labeling him with valued traits. Prince breaking the fourth wall and staring right into the camera adds a certain intimacy with the piece, it suddenly seems so much more personal than the average magazine.

This cover has more going on than the last two. Daft Punk are clearly centered, with big yellow text advertising their name. The font and other images such as the stars are incorporated on the cover to reflect the enjoyment one would have reading it as bright colours and stars have connotations of joy and fun. The headlines placed at the side show that, whilst the magazine sole focus is upon Daft Punk, it is not limited to the stories revolving around them. Rather, it shows that the magazine has a varied amount of content, even though it primarily focuses on Daft Punk. This helps to reach a wider audience than being constrained by the sales of only Daft Punk fans. A wider range of content will aid the newspapers' sales as it'll more likely attract far more people.

The blend of colours, the font and the animation of the figure are all quite urban and appeal to a specific demographic of those who are fans of this type of branding. Along with the bold and wide font, the image portrayed is almost psychedelic in its' style. The main image shows an artist, the central point of the issue, in animated form. By veering away from the norm and incorporating this animation, the magazine company are implying that there is a lot more to expect from this issue than normal music magazines. Next to him are various other sub-headers telling you about different acts. This is relatively simplistic compared to a gossip magazine, for example 'Ok!' magazine.The large pink title reinforces themes of Sex, Lust and Soul, Jazz and funk are often affiliated with these labels and so, the magazine is subconsciously categories by the consumer who stumbles upon it. 

'SONIK' magazine has a black and white picture of Marvin Gaye with blue text surrounding him. This is a very plain and simple colour scheme, emphasising the laid-back vibe that the magazine has set out to portray. So, although there are a lot of things to read, the colour scheme presents an almost minimalist cover. The large title of 'Marvin Gaye' is to catch the consumer's eye. Having him look at the sky suggests a journey that he's gone through/is going through. Fans of Gaye would instantly be aroused by such a cover. 

Annotated Funk Music Videos

Research and Planning

Audience mood board

Our genre of music video is funk so this mood board is made for and directed at a funk music audience.

What is funk?

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid- to late 1960s when African American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B).

Our audience for the music video are people who enjoy to listen to funk music and enjoy watching a very visual music video. I say visuals to mean that our video will have many things going on; dialogue, motion and a story or narrative also. 
Such as in the music video for "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton.

This leaves me feeling that the audience of our music video will be active people who enjoy to dance in and out of clubs or just whenever listening to music they enjoy, such as funk. This is why we will try to create a lively, energetic atmosphere while shooting and recording our video.

Target Audience + Questionnaire

Our target audience is males, aged 17-20 who dislike pop music. As a group, we believe that a questionnaire/survey would be an effective way of gather information. We will create the survey with the purpose to learn listening habits and to better understand how to create our video effectively.

With questionnaires, we can start to see patterns which we can then apply to our music video. Having as much information about our chosen genre means we can fully understand the creation process.

Our questions are:
How often do you listen to funk music?

[ ] All the time
[ ] Sometimes
[ ] I don't listen to it, but i like it
[ ] Not at all

What type of video do you like to watch?

[ ] Story-driven
[ ] Song irrelevant to video
[ ] Centered on band members/singer
[ ] Location shot typed video
[ ] Other, list below
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________

What genre do you like the most?  (Add genre on the bottom if ticked 'Other')

[ ] Pop
[ ] Hip-Hop
[ ] R&B
[ ] Funk
[ ] Rock
[ ] Indie
[ ] Other
___________________________

How old are you?

_____

Male/Female?

[ ] Male
[ ] Female
[ ] Other


These range of questions give the survey more flexibility as the people doing them are not being asked closed questions. Open questions, such as ones saying "Other" and fill the blanks below, mean that honest answers can be given, whereas closed questions like "Yes" or "No" may not cover all basis as well as adding "Maybe" for example, or "On certain occasions". Open questions gather information more effectively, although harder to compile, as expectedly there will be more qualitative and quantitative information to sort through.

Audience Analysis

The song 'Adrienne and Adrianne' does not contain lyrics and may not appeal to some audiences. Teenage boys and girls, age 16-18 tend to be big fans of pop and indie music. These genres have a typical theme to the videos, such as love. Our video will follow a story, but not entirely clear. Some parts will be abstract which ties in with indie music videos, but contrasts with pop, as pop music tends to have a linear path of storytelling.

The video will more or less be aimed at male and female aged 17-19, whom enjoy indie music, funk and subtle storytelling and interpreting a video based on your own analysis.

People aged 25+ tend to enjoy older music, such as music the liked when they were growing up. Typically, they shy away from modern music as they have missed the integration of different and a more modern blend of music genres into chart music. Funk music was deemed 'pop' music 20-30 years ago. So our video, which is a sub-genre of funk may be effective in attracting listeners who may feel nostalgic from the style.

An effective way of analysing listening habits is by conducting a survey. Surveys are an excellent way to collect data on, for example, how long someone listens to music a day, or what genre/artists. A downside to surveys/questionnaires is that the data may not be correct as a small minority of people do not speak for that gender,age or ethnicity. A survey may gather sufficient qualitative and also quantitive to understand what audience our video and Vulfpeck's song will appeal to.
Understanding our audience is key to creating a succesful video that not only appeals to the correct target audience, but also causes people who wouldn't normally involve themselves with funk, possibly because pop is so huge, to widen their variety of genre listening habits. 

Codes and conventions of funk music videos

Codes and conventions of funk music videos using Michael Jackson's ''Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough'' as an example.

The objective of funk music videos are to encourage the audience to dance along with the music, they attempt to accomplish this using many varied methods. More often than not, the video will feature either a long dance sequence or a montage of clips featuring dance sequences. In the case of Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough, the entire video is of Michael dancing without cuts. Michael attempts to captivate viewers by incorporating a stylised type of dance which is now an iconic dance routine. Special effects are also utilised in many funk videos. The objective with their addition is to provoke a sense of wonder and enjoyment from its audience. Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough features a moment in which 3 versions of Michael Jackson are dancing in sync. Another similarity between funk videos are the outlandish locations and settings they take place in. This, again, is aimed to create an overwhelming sensation, provoking one to dance along or at the very least, respond to the music video in some positive way. Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough is a prime of example of this. The ridiculous and rather psychedelic settings are totally of the time and turn the music video into an experience of its own.