Escape the fate is fairly similar to the band we are doing a music video for. The initial design of the digipak is in the form of a booklet. The booklet comes inside the cd case, the front cover of the booklet acts as the front cover for the cd case as well. The front page / cover is quite creepy and dark as you would expect in metal. It shows heads on the floor with bandages wrapped around them along with various deformed or abnormal features, like the sharp teeth and pure white and black eyes. They heads still have their hair sticking out of the bandages, this is because the bands hair is a very high part of their image and identity and also iconography for them as a band. It also features what appears to be a woman wrapped in bandages in the middle above the heads standing over them with her bone like fingers curled above them, almost as if she owns them or its her doing. The only facial feature of hers that is evident is the bright red lipstick/lips. The cover also features two snakes that look ready to attack/bite. Snakes are symbolic of metal music, as is the concept of creepiness and death and darkness. The bands name on the album is done in such a way as though it looks “metal” and like many metal bands the name is not that easy to read all of it. The name is wrapped in the snakes and placed above the women with the heads. The whole general vibe of the front page/ cover is that of creepiness, darkness and surrealism these are all key conventions of the “metal” genre. It to me also seems as though they have taken inspiration from other metal artist. One in particular I think they could of took a lot of inspiration from is Metallica. I think this as the women with bandages hovering her hands above the heads, is similar to Metallica’s master of puppets album cover which features hand with strings attached to crosses. I also feel the snake could be similar to Metallica’s self titled album where they use a snake prominently. Once you open the booklet up you have lyrics one song per page, and in the middle of the page is what looks like grey pencil drawings of the heads wrapped in bandages. The lyrics are also written in grey and the background is black. This gives a creepy, dark gloomy effect that keeps with the conventions of metal. There is also a red line going down the side that separates the lyrics from the song title. The song titles are written sideways and in a white colour that appears faded, so you can see elements of the black through it. The red line could be used to resemble blood which is also a prominent aspect of metal as a genre. The use of faded words/colours could resemble the disturbance and possible unnatural creepy element. Because of the bold white with fading it really stands out and underlies it as the song title. This along with the red lines and pictures really help to separate the lyrics and make it a lot easier to read. In the centre of the booklet is a 2 page colour picture. It shows the band members who are wrapped in bandages standing together with what looks like a kind of sunset in the background. Again there hair stands out along with each member having one prominent facial feature stand out. 2 of them have their mouths and teeth stand out, then the other 2 have their eyes that stand out. Having a double page picture in the middle of a booklet is a convention of not only metal but of nearly every digipak or booklet. It normally relates to the front cover, using similar images or characters but just in a different situation or setting, but one that still fits in with the theme of the digipak and ultimately the band. This one is no exception. It still fits in with whole image of the band and the theme of the digipak. It does so by still keeping with the dark and gloomy and creepy feel it has going, it also does this through the way the bands most iconic feature, their hair,, is still prominent and a main feature. Further on in the booklet there is a double page that just has one song’s lyrics on it along with a picture. This is for the song, this war is ours. This war is ours is the title track and also the bands most iconic track. They put the title of the song in the centre of the pages as well to draw attention to it. They wanted it to be most prominent and easy to find as it would the main song people would want to look for. The last few pages of the booklet show the bands thanks. This is where each band member has half a page each to say who they would like to thank and why. This is a convention that runs through all digipak’s. The bands names are made to stand out by being written in red. This red could also signify blood a common characteristic of metal as a genre. The writing of the thank you’s are done in grey and on a black background, in keeping with how the lyrics where done and also the general gloomy creepy elements. After the thank you’s there is a page that says the band member and who does what, this helps identify with the band and who’s who. On this page it also has acknowledgements to people who either helped write the songs lyrics or music or just helped out in general and also who published what, along with management, legal, booking and who did the art. This is to give credit to the rightful people and also in case people would like something similar done themselves, they know who to contact. The acknowledgements are a generic convention that is used through out nearly every digipak. The final page is a picture of the 4 band members wrapped in bandages, but just showing their heads. This is done in grey on black in keeping with the themes. A lot of digipak’s finish with a picture that is similar to the front one in keeping with the theme of the digipak and the band itself.
