Research into Digipacks and Album Covers

Beyonce’s ‘B-Day’ Digipack and Album Covers

The mise en scene and camera are the main aspects which are consistent through the promotional products. Throughout all of these products, it is clear that the main overall impression is nature, she is based in natural environments around fields and trees, this gives the portrayal of natural beauty, peace and freedom. All of her songs in this album are moving and emotional, it interlinks with this environment to show

how the song lyrics are genuinely from her herself. The font of ‘Beyonce’ and ‘B-Day’ (the title of the album) is the same on all of the products and stands out, it appears

hand written in a very fancy font giving the impression of scripture implying how each song is very personal to her, it also makes clear that she is a solo singer. From the fancy font we can also gather that she is generally classy and this builds on the

image she portrays.

The dominating camera shot is the close up, it shows her face which is very famous through other albums and magazine shoots and therefore the target audience can

recognise her immediately and associations can be made between all of these products together linking back to the ‘B-Day’ album due to the characteristics which convey intertextuality. Beyonce’s makeup and hair is often shown in the same style of being slightly curly and the same colour; in areas it also appears backcombed to

make it look voluminous and full linking back to the theme of nature. Her eye makeup is very dark creating a mysterious atmosphere which is for the audience,

prompting them to actually listen to the music. She is dressed in a dark colour, black and is posing in a way which makes her look very dominant which opposes the rest

of the imagery and themes based around the album. Thus giving the impression that she has two sides to her, maybe this is was the link between the next album

she would release, ‘I am Sasha Fierce’ in which she described her alter ego.

Rihanna’s ‘LOUD’ Digipack and Album

Covers

The front cover of the digipack is very enticing as

only a few colours are used, her skin tone is very subtle compared to the rest of the

colours used, this is done deliberately to make the

other colours and features stand out. The bright red

lipstick, make her lips particularly stand out, which

draw the audiences attention to them, thus

portraying a seductive look. Her hair is also a fiery red

matching her lipstick, giving the impression that the

choice of hair colour reflects her personality as very

confident and out going.

Overall, the cover is of an extreme close up of Rihanna showing just her face and a little bit of her shoulder. We can assume that she is wearing no clothing and therefore

this ties in with her seductive image. Her pose shows her looking down from the camera, in the sense that she is ‘refusing’ direct address with the camera portraying her in a way of innocence and shyness. This however contrasts with the title of the album, ‘LOUD’ which is shown in capital letters on the album cover. This has been done deliberately. The products show a floral theme throughout, again showing a connection between the artist and nature, portraying freedom. The floral theme

throughout connotes a contrast to Rihanna’s personality through her seductive red lipstick and red hair, it may show an innocent side to her but the other provocative

pictures on the rest of the digipack suggest otherwise.

Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream’ Digipack and Album Covers

The background for this digipack is that of clouds, this could signify that Katy is an "angel“, the clouds also link in with the idea of a dream, hence why her album may be

called ‘Teenage Dream’. She is seen to be wearing no clothes and her bottom is covered by merely a cloud, this portrays a sex appeal. Although Katy's primary target audience is young teenage girls, she also appeals to a male audience as well because

of this. Her red lipstick also adds more seductiveness, however it also gives the impression that she may be a princess something she likes to portray herself as to

appeal to her target audience of young teenage girls who may look up to her as a role model.

The text used on the front cover of the album is made to look like sweets or candy with cartoonist designs again appealing to her target audience, she has also made the clouds look like candy floss and the CD’s are designed to look like doughnuts or sweets and throughout the products a ‘sweets’ theme is shown. ‘Teenage Dream’ the name of

the album is located underneath Katy and portrays that of a lollipop design grabbing the audiences attention with the colours used. Katy is giving direct address making the album seem more personal, her facial expression could be seen as both seductive and

also happy, again appealing to both her male and female audience members.