Deconstructing a Digipak: ‘Backstreet’s Back- Backstreet Boys’
‘Backstreet’s back’ by Backstreet boys was an album of theirs that was initially released in 1997, as a follow up to their successful debut album ‘Backstreet Boys’. Backstreet boys are a boy band that’s style would fit the conventions of what we would try to convey in our own digipak. The genre of the band is clearly evident through the digipak’s front cover through the meat shot of the boy Band. Straight away we can tell that they are a boy band, and this is apparent through the dominant reading path of the cover. The title of the artists, ‘Backstreet Boys’ is the first thing the audience look at when glancing at the album. From the style of their name, it is fairly understandable that we are dealing with the pop genre boy band music. Also the genre is shown through the conventions and characteristics of their outfits. They are clearly wearing matching styled clothes, in which we can tell they are trying to be portrayed as a vocal band. Whereas in a rock band or instrumental band the clothing of the individual artists may not match, in a vocal boy band, especially pop, they would tend to wear similar clothes or colours. The genre is also shown through the style of the members themselves, for example their hair styles such as dyed blonde hair.
Whilst looking at the artwork cover, the producers have used certain visual techniques in creating it. As previously mentioned, there is a dominant reading path, starting from the artists name, to the album title and then finally to the photograph of the band. Additionally the rule of thirds has been utilised as the bands heads are all situated on the top horizontal line of the thirds, as well as having them all standing evenly spread across the horizontal divisions. The initial part of the cover, the title, has been created much larger than the rest, and actually appears very bold, against the grainy, lo-fi texture they have used. The font type used creates a modern star persona about the artists, as it is quite, ‘new millennium’ styled with the silver, metallic design. Furthermore the tone and mood of the picture appear to be quite ‘mellow’ with the use of colour tint and the weather in the photo is actually rather chilling. The overall consumption of all these different products is in fact making the artists look very laid back, and cool. Mise-en-scene is also playing a part in producing this look for the artists, for example the wall that they are standing against. This corresponds to the title of their band ‘Backstreet Boys’ because they are standing in a street. The wall appears a very dingy, every day, worn down wall. This lets the consumer see them as normal everyday people. Along with other parts of the mise-en-scene such as the member of the band second from the right appears to be looking at a mobile phone. This is an example of intertextuality, and a reference to popular culture of the time. For the time that this album was released (1997), mobile phones were at their prime of becoming this modern day technology that everyone can have. In this sense that is what makes this cover post modern. It is selling the product of the phone along with advertising the band. This was around the same time that all the new Nokia phones were getting increasingly popular, and this therefore plays a large part in how the band are to be perceived., making them appear slightly avant-garde. Certain parts of their accessories let the fans, and audience know more about their star personas. For example one member is wearing a cross around his neck, showing he is religion. This could be simply a fashion statement, or just one of his own star motifs; however it could be telling the fans that religion plays a large part in his life. This is an example of how meaning is generated through the techniques used. The cross, signifies religion, and connotes many other parts of that member of the bands personality, also adding to their meta-narrative. The semiotics seems to play a large part in this album cover. Another example is that just the member on the far left is in black. The other three are all wearing lighter coloured shirts/jackets, whereas just one of the members has chosen to wear black. This brings connotations to mind, for example it could signify to the audience he likes to go against norms and values. He chooses to rebel against what is expected of him in a way. In a macro sense, this emphasises this ideological discourse of rebellion in society. Perhaps the band is trying to represent good and bad, with the white and black. With white, come connotations of heaven and angels, purity, innocence, whereas in contrast black has connotations with darkness and rebellion. Also this emphasises the cult of youth and rebellion. Moreover, there are also some examples of how linguistic devices have been used, mainly through the emotive language such as ‘Backstreets Back’. This brings connotations of stating a fact. To say that they’re ‘Back’ is a bold statement, perhaps signifying a comeback or return after their successful debut album. This is also anchored by the font, which gives this ‘edgy’ effect to the bands star persona.
This all adds up to how the band is represented and perceived. For example Richard Dyer said that the term ‘Star’ was a set of semi mythological meanings, containing values of stardom, such as ones that Backstreet Boys possess, e.g. youth, rebellion, sexual magnetism and success. Dyer also talks about what roles the stars play, and he says that they are commodities of the business, and stars depend on subsidiary media. He mentions ‘The star image is incoherent’ based upon two key paradoxes. The first being a star must be both ordinary and extra-ordinary and the second being the star must be both present and absent to its audience. Backstreet Boys are a great example of this, because they come across as just four ordinary boys that are present to the audience. Through their artwork on the album cover this is what they suggest, but in actual fact they are absent from their audience, and this is an example of hegemony.
This product would be sold in all major music stores and in actual fact all over the country. Certain boy bands are actually a lot more popular in other places than their home country, for example this Backstreet Boys album has proved to be very popular in Europe, Canada, and Japan. The type of institution it would be sold in would be a major chained music store because of the genre and the star persona that the band offers. Places such as HMV would be the place it would be consumed and this is evident in the way the print text is constructed, which clearly emphasises the genre, of popular music.
1,170
Words.
‘Backstreet’s back’ by Backstreet boys was an album of theirs that was initially released in 1997, as a follow up to their successful debut album ‘Backstreet Boys’. Backstreet boys are a boy band that’s style would fit the conventions of what we would try to convey in our own digipak. The genre of the band is clearly evident through the digipak’s front cover through the meat shot of the boy Band. Straight away we can tell that they are a boy band, and this is apparent through the dominant reading path of the cover. The title of the artists, ‘Backstreet Boys’ is the first thing the audience look at when glancing at the album. From the style of their name, it is fairly understandable that we are dealing with the pop genre boy band music. Also the genre is shown through the conventions and characteristics of their outfits. They are clearly wearing matching styled clothes, in which we can tell they are trying to be portrayed as a vocal band. Whereas in a rock band or instrumental band the clothing of the individual artists may not match, in a vocal boy band, especially pop, they would tend to wear similar clothes or colours. The genre is also shown through the style of the members themselves, for example their hair styles such as dyed blonde hair.
Whilst looking at the artwork cover, the producers have used certain visual techniques in creating it. As previously mentioned, there is a dominant reading path, starting from the artists name, to the album title and then finally to the photograph of the band. Additionally the rule of thirds has been utilised as the bands heads are all situated on the top horizontal line of the thirds, as well as having them all standing evenly spread across the horizontal divisions. The initial part of the cover, the title, has been created much larger than the rest, and actually appears very bold, against the grainy, lo-fi texture they have used. The font type used creates a modern star persona about the artists, as it is quite, ‘new millennium’ styled with the silver, metallic design. Furthermore the tone and mood of the picture appear to be quite ‘mellow’ with the use of colour tint and the weather in the photo is actually rather chilling. The overall consumption of all these different products is in fact making the artists look very laid back, and cool. Mise-en-scene is also playing a part in producing this look for the artists, for example the wall that they are standing against. This corresponds to the title of their band ‘Backstreet Boys’ because they are standing in a street. The wall appears a very dingy, every day, worn down wall. This lets the consumer see them as normal everyday people. Along with other parts of the mise-en-scene such as the member of the band second from the right appears to be looking at a mobile phone. This is an example of intertextuality, and a reference to popular culture of the time. For the time that this album was released (1997), mobile phones were at their prime of becoming this modern day technology that everyone can have. In this sense that is what makes this cover post modern. It is selling the product of the phone along with advertising the band. This was around the same time that all the new Nokia phones were getting increasingly popular, and this therefore plays a large part in how the band are to be perceived., making them appear slightly avant-garde. Certain parts of their accessories let the fans, and audience know more about their star personas. For example one member is wearing a cross around his neck, showing he is religion. This could be simply a fashion statement, or just one of his own star motifs; however it could be telling the fans that religion plays a large part in his life. This is an example of how meaning is generated through the techniques used. The cross, signifies religion, and connotes many other parts of that member of the bands personality, also adding to their meta-narrative. The semiotics seems to play a large part in this album cover. Another example is that just the member on the far left is in black. The other three are all wearing lighter coloured shirts/jackets, whereas just one of the members has chosen to wear black. This brings connotations to mind, for example it could signify to the audience he likes to go against norms and values. He chooses to rebel against what is expected of him in a way. In a macro sense, this emphasises this ideological discourse of rebellion in society. Perhaps the band is trying to represent good and bad, with the white and black. With white, come connotations of heaven and angels, purity, innocence, whereas in contrast black has connotations with darkness and rebellion. Also this emphasises the cult of youth and rebellion. Moreover, there are also some examples of how linguistic devices have been used, mainly through the emotive language such as ‘Backstreets Back’. This brings connotations of stating a fact. To say that they’re ‘Back’ is a bold statement, perhaps signifying a comeback or return after their successful debut album. This is also anchored by the font, which gives this ‘edgy’ effect to the bands star persona.
This all adds up to how the band is represented and perceived. For example Richard Dyer said that the term ‘Star’ was a set of semi mythological meanings, containing values of stardom, such as ones that Backstreet Boys possess, e.g. youth, rebellion, sexual magnetism and success. Dyer also talks about what roles the stars play, and he says that they are commodities of the business, and stars depend on subsidiary media. He mentions ‘The star image is incoherent’ based upon two key paradoxes. The first being a star must be both ordinary and extra-ordinary and the second being the star must be both present and absent to its audience. Backstreet Boys are a great example of this, because they come across as just four ordinary boys that are present to the audience. Through their artwork on the album cover this is what they suggest, but in actual fact they are absent from their audience, and this is an example of hegemony.
This product would be sold in all major music stores and in actual fact all over the country. Certain boy bands are actually a lot more popular in other places than their home country, for example this Backstreet Boys album has proved to be very popular in Europe, Canada, and Japan. The type of institution it would be sold in would be a major chained music store because of the genre and the star persona that the band offers. Places such as HMV would be the place it would be consumed and this is evident in the way the print text is constructed, which clearly emphasises the genre, of popular music.
1,170
Words.
Excellent analysis - very thorough and well observed.
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