Digipack - My Explanation

1. How I wanted to present the band and how I did it

When spending time with The Upgrade, it doesn't take long for anyone to realise that these three boys make up a rather charismatic band. Individually each of them are already a character of their own and put together they have a certain exciting chemistry, which makes their band very fun and entertaining. Any journalist could interview them and come out with a funny and interesting article which many teenagers, and mainly the target audience, would enjoy reading. They are the sort of bands who the consumers would love to have as mates and this was what I wanted to sell about the band - its character. 

Shooting the video proved rather easy since you can put these three in any street anywhere and they will just be entertaining without trying. Whatever the location they always found some way of running around and messing about jokingly kicking each other and fighting that makes them very easy to watch. They don't need a big show around them to be interesting. This is why in the video, I used a lot of outtakes.

2. How I responded to what I think male and female consumers are drawn to.

When buying CDs and music by a band, male consumers are drawn to different aspects than female consumers. The male demographic of the target audience looks for the style of the band and also the music-  upbeat, energetic and angry.

I responded to the style aspect by asking the band to wear dark clothing, jeans (possibly ripped), visibly used trainers and leather jackets, which would conform to a grungy, rock style of clothing. 

The angry and authentic music was reflected through the locations and atmosphere of the shoot - in the dark, in slightly dirty urban locations.

These aspects also help the consumers to relate to the band members, which is a very important point in the marketing.

Girls however respond to the meaning of lyrics, wanting to relate to the emotions, they like to have a connection with the band members as people rather than musicians. 

The digipack provides this sense of closeness and connection through the close up shots of the band members on panel 3,4, and 6. 

The end product: 

The digipack was a way for me to introduce the band in a simple, straightforward and authentic manner, as they are as band members and as their music is.  This is why I didn't feel the need to make a lot of fuss around them. The locations for the photoshoot were urban, in the city centre of their hometown Norwich. I used buildings and stairs that could be found in any other British city as a background rather than famous Norwich-specific locations, because I wanted to show the band as typical (common) british teenagers which the target audience can relate to. Also the urban locations are a generic convention of alternative rock music, reflecting the poverty of its roots: music made by working class unemployed young men who didn't have anywhere else to "hang out" than their inner city.

For the cover, I told the band members to stand in row in the middle of a bandstand situated in a park and look straight at the camera - no big fuss around them, no big dramatic scenery.

I kept up the simplicity and authenticity whilst editing the pictures on photoshop by only making small changes to the picture, like lowering the saturation and making parts black and white.

Panel 5 holds the CD. I chose to make this all black, so it didn't distract the eye from the other panels and also once again to keep things simple. 

The same idea was used for the track list on Panel 2 which I gave a complete black background and listed the tracks in simple white writing.

For panels 3,4 and 6 I used three close ups of each of the boys' faces as a panel each and again the only edit I made to the pictures was to lower the saturation to nearly black and white. 

The close up shots establish a closeness between the consumer and the band members promoting their characters and selling the idea of them as normal people rather than big untouchable divas or rockstars.

The 7th panel is a picture of the band members sitting on stairs. These could be stairs in any urban location in any city in Britain - where any teenagers of the target audience would sit as well.

For the back panel I took a picture of the band in the same position as on the cover just taken from behind. This was useful to give the consumers a sense that the digi-pack provides a view of the band in its entirety: front and back, close ups and casual so as to emphasise the established connection between the consumer and the band and to give the consumers a sense that they can relate to the band.