Conventions of Digi PaksBy Bethany Stephenson

What is a Digipak?• A DigiPak is a patented style of CD or DVD packaging, and is a

registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco, etc.• They normally have a gatefold like a book • The outer packaging is made of card/paper and the inner packaging is

made of plastic • They are normally used on special editions and albums • More vulnerable and likely to wear than average cases • They became popular with artists and record labels in the early 2000s

Folds:• DigiPaks are designed to fold into a square CD case. They can fold

many different ways and can have different amount of panels. • The front and back panels are the main ‘promoters’ of the CD and are

very much used to draw in the customers.• The inside of the DigiPak is used more for information and extra bits

to do with the artist/song/album. • The theme of the inside packaging normally is more subtle compared

to the outside packaging. • The cardboard/paper folds around the plastic case which secures the

disc in place.

Front• The front of DigiPaks tend to have a large eye-catching picture on

them• The picture illustrated on the front panels tend to have some relation

to the songs or artist.• The song/album title is also found on the front panel

Inside:• Inside a DigiPak you can find the

plastic holder for the actual CD itself. A lot of plastic holders nowadays are see-through with another piece of album artwork behind which goes with the rest of the packaging.

You can also find inside the pack itself more information and possibly more artwork to do with the disc. Extra information provided within the packaging would include song lyrics, artist information and personal messages.

Different Styles• DigiPaks come in all different styles and

designs. They vary in artwork, number of panels and types of fold.

• These are a few examples which demonstrate this as such:

Analysing Digipaks 1

Analysing Digipaks 2CharactersKaty Perry is the only character on the CD Digi pack. She's portrayed in a slight provocative manor in the way in which she is posing, she also has no clothes on, however the way in which the pink clouds are around her make it seem more subtle and acceptable, Katy Perry is a female sex symbol, which is reflected in the image of her, amongst her hair and makeup being made to make her look like a pin up girl, she has bright lips in the image and styled hair which clash together. They immediately strike the audience and the way she is posing leads us to believe she’s experiencing love, the colours suggest innocence, due to the pale pink and the candyfloss colours, On the back of the digi pack is more pink clouds with the songs wrote on the top of them in bright pink, which is another feminm colour The CD digi pak appeals to the teenage audience, her nudity can be seen as broadening her audience to males as she's making herself a sex symbol

Setting The back of the cd digi pack is a carry on from the front cover, the image looks stretched across the wrong and the back as the theme of pink clouds is carried on, however Katy is only on the front of the cd digi pack, the mise en scene is extremely unique, she has large cakes and sweets surrounding her. The costume and makeup within mise en scene is very feminim, she has bright red lips and contoured makeup, she looks spotless. The way in which the theme of sweets is tied together creates an idea of sweet and innocence. The 2 CDs included in the digi pack have sweet patterns on them, one is meant to look like a donut due to it being a disc, and the other disc is the same candy pattern, from my own knowledge I know that sweets are also included on her bra top in one of her music video. Sweets are also seen as a guilty pleasure for young adults and teenagers

IconographyOn the front cover of the album, Katy Perry has no clothes on, the way in which she is nude and lying in clouds Is iconic of cupid, showing that she's in love and that love is what the album will be about The design does reflect katy perry as her pop genre is quite feminim, the colours and the way she is posing is iconic of the genre pop and the font and design is cheerful and reflects the whole candy land theme. The use of pink clouds and sweets give the album a girly theme and this is primarily due to the connotations that the sweets and the colours hold. The leaflet in the digipak shows carries on the theme of candy floss, pink and sweets as does the album

Narrative The narrative event on the cd digi pack shows Katy Perry to be lay in pink clouds within the sky and in love, its not clear whether or not this is positive or negative however due to the pink candy floss-like clouds, it looks positive. The album name ‘teenage dream’ suggests she could be in love for the first time, the album name also connected with the image inside of the digi pack which shows katy dressed up as if she were a prom queen of fantasy fairy as she is wearing a crown, The reason for using prom as a source of imagery is to link with the title of the album as teenage girls dream of become the prom queen, this amongst the sweet theme adds a sense of narrative and may give clues away regarding what her songs will be about on the album

Style The font is serif and girly, it creates an informal sense and this is primarily due to swirls and the colours The close up shot on the album allows the audience to have a clear view of Katy Perry and adds more volume to the cover The style of the artist and her music is shown through the colours and general feel of the digipak, the two CDs in the pack have been made to look like two sweets making the idea fun and interesting and makes it appeal to the younger target audience, The front of the leaflet inside the digipak is printed in candy red and white spiralling text which again represents the artists younger target audience and shows that it is targeted more towards females, it portrays an image of the artist making her appear sweet person relating to her star personality

Analysing Digipaks 3Setting