Evaluation 1.5

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

USE , DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS

AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

E VA LUAT I O N I PA RT T W O

ANCILLARY TASK: DIGIPAKMuch like music videos, there are several different conventions for digipaks which different genres follow. Through my research, I found that there were two main types of digipaks that focus on two different things. The first one was the typical digipak featuring the artist name, album name and image of the artist. The font was usually associated with the genre itself, with a modern and stylish font either reflecting the artists character or just the genre they belong to. The image of the artist showed them appearing thuggish, dressed in either dark colours or urban clothing with an aggressive facial expression. The other convention of hip-hop digipaks is to feature some abstract artwork on the front (including the artist or not) and to either have only the artist name or just the album title. There are sometimes even examples where there is no words on the front cover and it is just the artwork left there audience interpretation. The other conventions of a digipak included the parental guidance sign which was mostly prominent on hip-hop front covers due to the profanity and obscenity of the lyrics.

First convention type Second convention type

ANCILLARY TASK: DIGIPAKThe back of the album usually features the usual track-list along with its features. With hip-hop artists, there is a lot of collaboration between them, especially those that share the same label. That is why on the track list, there are more features listed next to the tracks than most other genres. The other usual features on a hip hop digipak are the record label logo, barcode and credits to the people involved in the production and distribution of the album. There are some instances where the back will only feature the distribution credits and not the people directly involved in the making of the album.

Difference in hip-hop and pop track list

No individual credit for executive or studio producer on the back of Kanye West’s “Late Registration”

ANCILLARY TASK: DIGIPAK

Normal edition digipak Deluxe edition digipak

For my digipak idea, I started out with three ideas that eventually came out as two ideas joined together for one digipak idea. I decided to create a normal edition digipak, and a deluxe edition digipak. This goes with the convention of hip-hop digipaks as there are numerous examples of albums with deluxe editions. This is a commercial ploy in order to gain wider audiences. With most deluxe covers, it is explicitly shown to be a deluxe cover simply by the addition of the word deluxe. However, there are some examples of the deluxe edition having subtle changes like the altering of the artwork changing of the artwork or the different colour being added to it. Examples of this include Drake’s front covers for “Nothing Was The Same” and Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.a.a.d city” where both have a change of artwork between the normal and deluxe edition covers.For my covers, I chose to incorporate a change in the colour and the a slight alteration in the artwork. Where the halo on top of RICO is on the normal edition, the deluxe edition has no halo and cuts out most of the top as the image is seen behind the album title. The halo represents the album title on the normal while on the more commercial deluxe edition the title is clearly written so that mainstream fans are aware of the title and can relate easier to it. I feel this follows conventions of the mainstream hip-hop genre while also challenging some of the conventions as while the normal edition is more artistic and abstract (although it does follow the convention of not having the album title or artist name feature on it) the deluxe edition is more commercial which is not something most hip-hop artists follow, like the examples shown below where the only real change is the artwork. The difference between the normal and deluxe edition is clear but at the same time a link can be made through the image.


The front covers of the digipaks share a similar image, however the difference between them is clear as both have the mainstream conventions of hip-hop albums while at the same time challenging some conventions and having more niche/hard-core hip-hop image.For the normal edition of the digipak, the black colour of the background fits the convention of hip hop albums as it has reflects the dark themes of hip-hop music. This is a feature in other digipak covers including the one for Big Sean’s “Dark Sky Paradise” and Rick Ross’ “Mastermind”. Another noticeable convention is the absence of the album title and artist name. This is a growing convention of hip-hop albums as of late, with one of the first artists to bring it to mainstream audiences being Kanye West with “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”. Since then, the convention has been further explored in hip-hop by artists such as Kendrick Lamar (To Pimp A Butterfly), Drake (What A Time To Be Alive) and Rick Ross (Hood Billionaire). With my cover, the space is filled the artwork and the background.

ANCILLARY TASK: DIGIPAKThe contrast between the background and the image is what helps to depict the title of the album, with the halo representing RICO’s “blessed” character and the smoke and black background contrasting the “blessed” image. The smoke and the background also represent the hip-hop genre with the colour having those connotations. This convention of the artworks contrasting themes linking to the title is also used in other album titles, for example the artwork for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” has many contradictions, on of them being the more pop related colour of red (representing the “beauty” in the title) contrasting with the “twisted” image of a man having sex with an armless phoenix which also has some nudity.

Most of these conventions follow the conventions of mainstream hip-hop, such as the absence and the album title and artist name and the artwork having connotations to the title, however, I feel my album cover also challenges the conventions and fit into the more hardcore hip-hop conventions. This is filtered through the lighting on the artist in this image. The image is reminiscent of the movie poster for classic mob gangster films such as “Goodfellas”. This kind of lighting was used for Snoop Dogg’s album cover for “The Dogg Father” at a time when he was considered part of the hardcore west coast rap scene. As my album cover reflects this mob type look, it has the convention of a hardcore front cover which goes against the mainstream hip-hop image.

Many inside pages of digipak’s are continuations of the front covers artwork. For hip-hop, this is usually in the from of another image or similar colour scheme. My digipak’s inside page is plain, with the black background continuing from the front cover and no image to keep the theme of plainness intact. This is another example of my digipak following another mainstream convention as the black background links with the front cover, which is something most hip-hop mainstream digipak’s do.


The disk page of a hip-hop album normally contains the main image from the front cover or a similar image, for example, on Notorious B.I.G’s “Ready To Die” album and Drake’s “Nothing Was The Same”. However, with my disk page I went against the convention in order to serve the digipak’s overall theme. The theme of the digipak (as explained in my construction of the digipak) is plainness and simplicity with the image of RICO left for interpretation (although the halo has clear connotations to “blessings”). The disk being plain adds to that effect as there is nothing being made special about the artist, album or the digipak itself, which suggests a contradiction about this. This is something that I feel would draw in hard-core rap audiences as they would be able to identify with the way rappers use art as well as music to create contradictions in their work and draw in other audiences. This can also draw in mainstream audiences as well as the features in the album also suggest that this artist is mainstream so audiences would be able to recognise the artists signature artwork and appreciate as well. With the parental guidance sign, this convention is mainstream and necessary for all music with profanity in it. It was best placed on the bottom of the disk in a small size so that the idea of plainness shown from the background is more clearer.


For the back cover, I wanted to follow the mainstream conventions while also incorporating the plain theme of the rest of the digipak. I chose to keep the plain background of the digipak while also adding the usual conventions of the back cover including the track list, barcode, record label and credits while I also added the website as it is beginning to be a part of mainstream conventions due to the proliferation of new media and the ability to gain audiences through interactivity. This new convention is being taken up by more recent artists such as A$AP Rocky on his album “Long Live A$AP”. For the track list, I centred it. This is a mainstream music convention used by many other mainstream hip-hop artists including Drake. The track list includes many features with only half of the tracks having no features (and 3 of those either the intro, interlude or outro). As mentioned before, this is another mainstream hip-hop convention which many artists follow as the hip-hop community has a sense of togetherness in which they can collaborate. Some of the tracks names that I made up have many connotations to the hip-hop scene, for example “Day 1” is a term used to describe someone who has been a friend for a long time. These hip-hop type track titles also serve the convention of a hip-hop digipak.The placing of the barcode also follows mainstream conventions of a hip-hop digipak. Although the barcode is not the most prominent feature on a back cover, it mostly takes its own space away from any of the small wording. It is mainly found in the top right or top left corner of the digipak back cover, however there are instances where the barcode is found in line with the small wording (i.e. credits). My example follows that of A$AP’s back cover which is another mainstream release.The credits and record label are found on the bottom at each end to fill the space as I wanted it to resemble a more complete and professional looking digipak back cover. This meant using the credits to fill up the space, This convention of using the record label and credits this way is also being followed as the different back covers for the hip hop albums demonstrate.


Lastly, with the font used on the back cover, I went with the mainstream convention of having small but modernised and sharp writing. When constructing the advertisement for this edition of the digipak, I was inspired by the font on PARTYNEXTDOOR’s album “Two” for its simplicity and modern look. I incorporated it onto the advertisement and subsequently decided to add it onto the back of the digipak so that the themes match. This font and its colour fits the convention for hip-hop digipak’s, with the back cover normally featuring small sized modern fonts, an example being Drake’s back cover for “Take Care”.


For the deluxe edition, there was only a difference in a commercial aspect, as the advertisement for the artist and album were more explicit in the form of the name and album title. The font of the album title is similar to the font used in the music video for “Blessings”. It is a bold and sharp font and is common among more mainstream contemporary hip-hop music for example, the G.O.O.D Music label’s cover for their singles “Clique” and “Mercy” while Drake has a similar font fir his single “Take Care”. The white of the background contrasts with the black of the normal edition which is a way fans can easily identify with the artist and his album. There is also a symbolic reference to the colour white as it symbolises purity and innocence, which are themes which link in with the title. This convention, although not used for the same purpose, can be seen on covers such as Rae Sremmurd’s “Sremm Life” and G-Eazy’s “These Things Happen”. The artist logo was also added to the cover as well so that fans easily identify with the artist. The stylisation of the font is appealing to mainstream audiences as it was a carbon copy of the font found on Google after typing in “hip hop fonts”. The convention of artists having a logo was followed by mainstream artists Drake and Snoop who kept the same typography for their covers from “Thank Me Later” to “Take Care” and “Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Boss” to “The Blue Carpet Treatment” respectively. Lastly the same the image that was used on the normal edition has been used again on this cover, minus the halo as it conflicts with the white background. The image has also been manipulated further so that it shimmers more and reflects the white of the background. The image is also manipulated further so that it is seen behind the letters of the album title. This convention is mainstream in other media aside from digipak’s. It is featured in the video for “N*ggas In Paris” by Jay Z and Kanye West.


Just like the normal edition and like many other digipaks, I kept the white going throughout the deluxe edition to keep the theme of the digipak prominent. This inside page was kept plain in the normal edition and much of the conventions from that edition apply to this one, however, the image of the artist taken from the front of the digipak stands out in the middle. This convention of having the image right in the middle of the background is a recent trend. Most digipaks feature this convention on there front cover as part of their artwork, for example on Big Sean’s “Hall Of Fame” and on Puff Daddy’s “MMM”.


For the disk page, I removed the background image of what was visible of RICO on the left of the page and left it white, like the rest of the digipak. On the disk itself, added the artists name on the disk in the same font as the one used on the front cover, “Impact”. I used this instead of the artists main logo as I felt it added to the exclusivity audiences get when buying this specific album. This convention of having the name stylised on the disk like this is common for the digipaks that reflect the same image from their front cover onto the disk. The font used is also seen from behind the disk as well, hence why the font is seen in the middle of the hole.


Lastly, with the back cover for the deluxe edition, the only additional difference to the normal edition aside from the background change to white is the addition of three new tracks, which is what makes the digipak deluxe. These three tracks follow the conventions of a deluxe edition as the minimal number of additional tracks to an album is three. This was based on general knowledge as on two of the albums I have listened to, “Watch The Throne” and “good kid, m.a.a.d city” there are at most 3 additional tracks on their deluxe editions. Another convention followed was the inclusion of more features on all the added tracks. This is part of the commercial side of the album in which the artists would bring in a number of names both from the same record label, and outside the label, depending on their status among the headlines. For example, in the deluxe edition of “Nothing Was The Same”, Drake has two features on one track “All Me” which features 2 Chainz from the same label and “Big Sean” under Def Jam. I followed this convention by having at least three artists on the second bonus track.


ANCILLARY TASK: ADVERTISEMENT As shown through my research on digipak’s and advertisement (see blog post on A2 Media: Ancillary Tasks - Conventions of a Digipak and Advertisement) an advertisements main conventions are:• Album artwork• Artist name• Album title• Release date• Features/Credits• Record Label• Accolades• Single’s advertisementOf the conventions mentioned above, several of them remain a convention for hip-hop advertisements. These however, vary as the two hip-hop advertisements I researched showed that there are no clear conventional styles which there adverts take. What was clear is that their advertisements always included the artwork, the artist name, the album title and release date as well as the record label and a website for information.

I chose to make corresponding adverts for both edition, with the link between them clear for audiences. The advert for the normal edition digipak features the artwork from the digipak minus the halo and features the main hip-hop conventions for adverts including the release date, artist name, record label and website. These features were the ones I chose to include in order to follow the hip-hop conventions as not only do they help replicate a true representation of a hip-hop but they are essential in informing the audience who is the advert referring to and when will the product in question be released. One thing I chose to omit was the album title. This was because I wanted to keep the same abstract art prominent even on advertisement. As this advertisement would be for before the album release, the obscurity towards the album title would be acceptable and would intrigue mainstream audiences into what the artist is advertising (note that the artist logo is the second most prominent feature on the page), mainly the mainstream audience as they would already be interested in the advertisement after seeing the artist logo.The font on the release date was firstly chosen because this was the only font (“Microsoft Yi Baiti”) that matched the font which I mentioned in my construction, inspired by the font from PARTYNEXTDOOR’s “Two”. It had the modern, and sharp element that fitted the black background and the image as well, sharing similarities to the front cover of “Two”. It fits the conventions of hip-hop advertisements and also has links to the digipak as the font was used on the back cover. The placement of the website and record label at the bottom corners of the page are typical conventions for most advertisements, with the website also using the same font as the release date. This was based on the Snoop Dogg advertisement as this had a mainstream theme to it.

ANCILLARY TASK: ADVERTISEMENT

The deluxe advertisement differs from the normal editions advertisement in the same way the normal edition digipak differs from the deluxe edition. The background is white and it features the same font from the deluxe edition, making it easier for audiences to identify with it, while the writing features shots from the video shoot behind it, linking with the disk page. As mentioned before, the stylisation of the name in mainstream hip-hop is common for the digipak’s, and with this advertisement trying to create links between the two for audiences, this convention sits perfectly well with the advertisementI included the artwork of the album in a border, separate from the background so that audiences were aware of what the digipak would look like. This is a convention I followed after looking at the advertisement for Snoop Dogg’s album where it also appeared looking more commercial. It used most of the space for the features and release date while using the top space to advertise the advert. This is something I wanted to replicate when constructing this advertisement as the deluxe digipak was more commercial and so needed to have more explicit content as opposed to subliminal.The rest of the text is written in similar fashion to the Snoop Dogg advertisement, using similar language (e.g. “featuring…”, “Guest production from…”) although, it is written in a different font, the same font used on the deluxe digipak front cover. As mentioned before, some space was made on the page to help accommodate for this part of the advertisement, as it was essential in informing the audience about the artist and his latest album. Both the features and the release date have the same image seen behind it to fit in with the rest of the advertisement, as they would’ve been the only features not to be seen with the image behind it which disrupt the equilibrium of the advert. Both the record label and website are in the same position as the previous advert, sticking to the conventions.

ANCILLARY TASK: ADVERTISEMENT

Social Media

Evaluation 1.5