The front panel is 'PANEL 1' and will be the front cover of the Digipak, therefore the image needs to stand out.
Upon opening the CD case, inside 'PANEL 2' and 'PANEL 5' will be seen, these two images can be linked in some way or have a similar theme, but will be moved when PANEL 5 is opened to reveal the CD.
Fully opening the CD case will show 'PANEL 3' and 'PANEL 4', in which the CD will be held in PANEL 3. In this case it images can link as one large panoramic style image or can be 3 separate images, representing 3 separate ideas.
The back of the Digipak will be 'PANEL 6' where the track list, barcode, institutional information, etc. will be shown, but at the same time PANEL 1 and PANEL 5 will also be seen if the case is fully open.
IDEAS:
I would like the panels to all represent different ideas and therefore be different images, but I would to use the idea of connecting images, so I thought about using an image across PANEL 2 and PANEL 5 so that it can be together and also separate when the Digipak is fully opened.
I also would like a distinct theme around the 'main' 3 panels; PANEL 1, PANEL 3 and PANEL 6. I feel these are the main panels because they are the front, back and CD tray of the Digipak and therefore I would like a theme or connection running throughout these panels.
I decided to go with this image for PANEL 1 because the song we used in our music video is called 'Rivers' and I have decided to name the album 'Rivers' also, therefore it complies to Goodwin's theory of linking Images to Lyrics. I got this idea from the song and also how Denuo used a similar technique on the panel of their album 'Wolf River' where the 'River' is clearly a prominent aspect as it is used as the background image.
Although the image of the river is a stunning and beautiful image I wanted to do something creatively different to it to add to the appeal of it to the audience that I would be targeting. After looking at the way James Owen Fender changed the colour cast on the album 'The Cloud' I thought I would use a similar technique to evoke the same feeling of dream-like fantasy in my own music video.
By turning the green leaves to purple it adds a depth of interest to the image and the colour cast also turns to the water slightly green, making it even more fantastical. Overall, the colours are much more simple, which applies to the genre conventions, but it also has much more interest because it is out of ordinary, which also seems to be something used in the Indie/Pop/Electro genres to make the audience question the images.
'There is frequently the notion of looking (screens with screens, telescopes, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.' - Andrew Goodwin in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (Routledge 1992)
This voyeuristic treatment of women is clearly evident in 'Pop' and 'Hip-hop' genres, shown by Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj's videos (below). In both of the videos the women are pictured in tight and revealing costume to emphasise their feminine bodies. However, the shots are voyeuristic and almost predatory, such as the shots of 'Nicki' on the beach in the 'Starships' where it almost looks as if somebody is watching her as she puts on this 'show'. This type of treatment of women is reflective on patriarchal society system, as women are not respected equally to men, meaning that they have to become a sex object in order to be noticed. This also means that a lot of female artists rely heavily on being hyper-sexualised female performers to appeal to a demographic within the music industry, which therefore has an effect on younger and impressionable generations that this is the correct way in which women should represent themselves.
Beyoncé
Nicki Minaj
However, a contemporary Electro-pop artist, Marina and the Diamonds, states in the lyrics of her song 'Sex Yeah'
Nothing is provocative anymore Even for kids No room for imagining 'Cause everyone's seen everything Question what the TV tells you Question what a pop star sells you Question mom and question dad Question good and question bad Which evokes the idea that as a result of the hyper-sexualised female icons within society that the sexual imagery is no longer 'provocative' or shocking to audiences, even children. This shows that, sadly, most audiences see this kind of behaviour detailed in Beyoncé's video to be normal and the way in which women present themselves. However, it is a form of oppression within the industry of music due to men never having to reveal themselves in which a way to get attention or sell records.
Another lyric in the same song is:
If women were religiously Recognized sexually We wouldn't have to feel the need to show our ass, It's to feel free Been there, done that Got the t-shirt Sold my soul And yeah the truth hurts Tired image of a star Acting naughtier than we really are
Which shows Marina's distaste for the way in which women are represented within the music industry, as she does not present herself in the same way. Such as in her video for 'Power & Control' she is represented as the dominant or 'powerful' character and the shots of both characters are voyeuristic, including the male, however the shots of Marina are not sexualised and her dignity is remained in tact. In fact, within the video it is the male whose costume is more revealing than the female's. As Marina's costume is classy and sophisticated, by using the 'little-black-dress', but the male is wearing a tight 'wife-beater' vest top and angrily throwing a ball, representing a hyper-sexualised male by using aggression and the male body as a sexual object and therefore contrasting the generic treatment of women - adding to the feminist edge of the video and Marina's own personal viewpoint on the treatment of women.
Power & Control - Male Character
Power & Control - Female Character
The lyrics of 'We wouldn't have to feel the need to show our ass, it's to feel free' show that she believes that the only reason that women represent themselves in this way is to have some form of freedom and power because it is the only way in which the media will pay them any attention. Also the line 'Acting naughtier than we really are' show the hyper-sexualised nature of women within the pop music industry and that the sexualised nature of their videos and representation of part of the appeal to certain demographics.
Due to the amount of photographs that were taken at the time of filming, over 500 still images, I decided that it would be best to create a 6-panel Digipak to reflect the atmosphere of the piece as well as utilise the most of our still images. Also due to my knowledge of Photography and Photoshop I am able to know how to edit the images to portray the ideas that I have within the panels.
I want to include images of both of the actors within our video, due to us being unable to get photographs of our artist themselves. Therefore, I want to create the dream-like atmosphere and fantasy feel that is within our video, also into the Digipak.
The use of this style of Digipak also means that I can include a booklet inside the left panels to add further information about the video, band and also lyrics etc. Although a booklet can be added to a 4-panel digipak, I think that the extra information and fold out style of the Digipak represent our modern band much more than a standard layout.
After looking through the vast amount of still images that I had taken throughout the filming of the video I came to the decision to use a select few to use on the Digipak:
Simplistic style with monotone sepia colour cast. Grainy and vintage looking, keeps the interest on the bright white text of the band and album name. Band name is above the album name to differ between the two, but the same size - could distract from which is which.
Muted colours, but vivid lights held in the people's hands, creates points of interest for the audience. Artists name is much larger than the album name - makes it clear. The image itself is quite dark, but possibly purposefully dark to contrast the bright lights.
Simple colours, but different colours to the original. Purple/pink colour cast over the water. Artist name in bold and the album name clear, but smaller and in less bold text to show the difference.
Focus on the four pictures rather than the text. However, artist's name is still larger than the album name to show a difference. The repeated, but not completely identical pictures create much interest.
Simple block colours with a vintage camera, typical of the genre. No face in the image, possibly to not have a personal identity linked with the album. Name is unclear as to the artist name or the album name, but contrasts the background image perfectly to be able to read it.
Dark image with a single light and as the light is under the text it immediately draws the audience's attention to the name of the band and the name of the album. Not much colour, but water used as a motif in front with a cityscape in the background - possible connotation of a suburban band.
Album name is larger and more bold than the artist name, but artist name is still on top. 'Wolf River' and the picture is of a river - Goodwin's theory of Images linking to Lyrics. Simple colours, but very strong image.
Name of artist is clear against the background. Grainy and vintage feel to the picture - typical of the genre. Muted colours to make the image softer and more appealing, and also calmer.
Epilepsy Is Dancing was released on 13 November 2009.
Antony and the Johnsons are a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.
Antony Hegarty (born 1971), often referred to simply as Antony, is an English singer, composer, and visual artist, best known as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons and for his work with the musical collective Hercules and Love Affair.
Antony grew up in England until 1977 when his family moved to Amsterdam for a year, then moved to California where he lived for most of his childhood. As a teenager, he was influenced by Kate Bush as well as British synth pop – in particular singers such as Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Boy George, and was also strongly influenced by underground stars Diamanda Galás, Rozz Williams, Divine and Klaus Nomi and American singers including Nina Simone, Otis Redding, and Donny Hathaway. In 1990, Antony moved to Manhattan to attend the Experimental Theatre Wing of New York University, and founded the performance collective Blacklips with creative partner Johanna Constantine.
The genre of his music is considered Chamber Pop:
Chamber pop, also known as chamber rock, originated in the United Kingdom in the 1990s as a "reaction" against much of the alternative rock and grunge-based music of the time.Chamber pop grew out of growing distaste in the popular music trends of the period, especially the low fidelity and raw aesthetic of the alternative rock-based genres, which had achieved a widespread following at the time.It desired to return to the elegance and classically based style of 1960s baroque pop. By refusing any form of coarseness, aggressiveness or kitschtendencies, chamber pop refuted the styles associated with alternative rock and electronic music.
Lana Del Rey
A more mainstream, or more recogniseable Chamber pop artist is Lana Del Rey.
MUSIC VIDEO:
The video itself represents the genre extremely well due to the alternative nature of the song and video. The title of the song being 'Epilepsy Is Dancing' initially tells the audience that the track is going to be dealing with a representational issue of mental and physical illness or disability. However, the representation of this is not negative and almost romanticises the idea of a serious disability, which is used to make the audience feel comfortable with the issue, but also to not offend any audience members who may suffer with the condition.
'Ooh now I'm dancing'
There is a strong link to Goodwin's theory of 'There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals' as the track title uses the word 'Dancing' and for the majority of the video the performers are dancing so therefore there is a strong link in the music video to the track. Also at 2:18 in the video the line 'Ooh now I'm dancing' is sung as the visuals are of the protagonist female dancing with other performers. This is used as a concept to link the illness of 'Epilepsy' to be like 'dancing' - almost a euphemism for the illness, but in a non-derogatory way. It is used to represent the illness in a positive light, that it shouldn't be viewed as a disadvantage, but that it is beautiful dancing and gives the audience a completely different perspective on the matter.
The narrative as a whole is a conceptual narrative, dealing with the issue of the illness and trying to remove the stigma. However, the mise-en-scene is shown to be dream-like to aid the representation and the use of the characters as symbols enables the audience to decode for themselves what they symbolise.
Such as the use of the goat character, the 'goat' in the conceptual, dream-like land helps her to dance and stay happy, but then the goat is shown in the reality sense and shows the audience the concept of hallucination. This is used to immerse the audience inside the mind and world of an epileptic person as they do tend to hallucinate when they have epileptic fits. Also the use of flicking back and forth between reality and the dream-like place shows the audience the transition for a person with the illness from hallucination back into the real world and that the figments of their imagination can sometimes be carried across into the reality for a short period, such as the goat appearing beside the protagonist as she reaches for the man, then we she is fully awake the goat is no longer there. Showing to the audience that the epilepsy can transport the person with the illness into a different world which is sometimes difficult to let go of, therefore showing to the audience what it would be like to experience that.
Hallucination
The bright and vivid colours within the video are used to represent this idea of hallucination, therefore adding to the idea of a concept-based narrative structure.
The use of costume and make-up is very similar to Chinese Theatre where the extravagance is usually used to represent an idea or concept, so perhaps Antony and the director wanted to use this same motif to reflect the concept within the video. Also with Antony being openly interested in Eastern Spirituality the use of this reference could be used to show the audience a different perspective on the illness, against what is believed in Western society and the stigma attached to it.
Chinese Theatre
The representation of place is also surreal and other-worldly. The mise-en-scene and the use of animals is very much like the dream-like mise-en-scene within novels and films such as 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'The Chronicals of Narnia' where animals are used to personify different emotions or personality traits. Therefore the audience viewing the video will feel as if they are immersed within a fantasy world, and that fantasy world is the mind and imagination of an epileptic person. All of these Theatre, literary and film intertextual references are probably intentional to evoke the idea of fantasy and conceptuality within the audience's mind. It also applies to Goodwin's theory of 'There are often intertextual references; films, TV programmes, other music videos' meaning these references are used to evoke the hallucinatory type emotion within the audience to relate to the illness.
Alice In Wonderland
Narnia
The representation of the artist, Antony, is used to strengthen the video as it gives the audience a visual representation of the lyrics as he is singing them, linking to Goodwin's theory of 'The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist'.
From 0:49 to 0:55 Antony sings the lyrics 'I cry "glitter is love!"' as flowers flow out of his mouth. This could also link further to the idea in Goodwin's theory explored previously that 'there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals' as the flowers are almost like glitter, covering everything and flowers can also be a symbol of love - as people buy flowers as gifts.
The use of special effects here is to add to the audience's immersion in the fantasy world that is created through the mise-en-scene. It also adds to the idea of Eastern Spirituality in relation to herbal remedies and Spiritual healing, possibly expressed also through the connotations of Chinese Theatre by the costume.
Also the female-like representation of Antony is accurate due to him openly identifying as 'trans-gender' therefore the audience can not only identify with the representation of illness, but also the representation of gender identity. The costume is almost androgynous, but the elements of pink add a feminine touch, which is typical of an alternative genre and can also be referred to as 'gender f**k', where an individual plays with the conventions of gender roles and representation of gender, outlining the fact that 'Chamber pop grew out of growing distaste in the popular music trends of the period' therefore the addition of the change of gender representation and Spirituality conforms to the idea that Chamber pop artists like to play around with conventionality within society and show audience's a different perspective.
