WS - Looking at a Muse Digipak

"The Resistance" Digipak by Muse

This week we have started work on the first ancillary task and this is expected to be finished by the end of the week. The first ancillary task is a Digipak that we need to create for our finished product that will accompany it. The first part of this task as with any task we do is to carry out research into similar professional products. We need to look at common codes and conventions of Digipaks in general (we have already done this as a task earlier in the course, this can be seen as a blogpost here), as well as looking at more specifically our own genre and, as the title suggests, a digipak that was created by the band we are working on, Muse.  


From looking at the DigiPak one thing that is immediately apparent is the difference in colour between the front panel and all the other panels which are black and white pictures of the band. The pictures being in black and white changes the mood and feel of the digipak, something that we are considering ourselves due to the mood of our own video. The back panel for this particular product matches the inside in that it is black and white with a picture of the band, as well as including the contents of the disc. Other digipaks that we have looked at tend to have a similar front and back panel with the inside being different. This digipak therefore is going against that common convention, yet is still a successful selling, professional product showing that a product doesn't have to stick to strict "rules" and breaking these can work effectively.

Back Cover for "Resistance" by Muse

So far as a group we have considered using black and white shots for the inside of our digipak as we feel it reflects the mood of our video. This is not a certain idea yet, but it is something we are thinking about. We are also looking at using picture of the protagonist for the inside panels. One idea is to have pictures of different locations that we are using in our video including the protagonist. Again this is just an early idea but a quick decision is required. We also think this could look effective as it would be similar to this digipak, apart from we would be using our protagonist rather than band members.


If you would like to see pictures of each individual part of this digipak, then there is a link below that takes you to a website with a number of pictures on.

"Origin Of Symmetry" front cover

Pictures of "The Resistance" by Muse digipak.


Another Muse product that we have looked at is the artwork for the album "Origin Of Symmetry". This is actually the album which "Bliss", the song we are using is from. We have been looking at this for inspiration from our front cover and the idea came about to use a similar colour scheme for our own front panel. We are currently unsure of what to do for a front cover, though we are quite certain that we want it to be colourful so it is the opposite of the black and white inside. As a group we quite like the idea of a similar colour scheme to this, but a firm idea of what else we want is still needed. Current ideas include more pictures of the protagonist or a made up piece of art.


A further blog post will be added when our ideas develop or our digipak is created.