Arctic Monkeys- Favourite worst nightmare digipakBy Chlöe Burrows

The band ‘Arctic Monkeys’ are not photographed on any of the sections of

the digipak, suggesting a sense of mystery as we cannot see what they look like and there is no eye contact therefore no bond between the artist and audience.

The genre of the band is alternative rock/indie rock, and the target audience

for this album will be teenagers and young adults possibly between 14-30

years.

The imagery on the digipak is simple, yet effective as the cover is a long shot of

terraced houses which have got animated images edited into the windows. The

lighting on the digipak is generally dark and dull which suits the title of the album ‘favourite worst nightmare’ as it suggests

it is night time and nightmares are usually spooky. The graphic design added into the windows are vibrant in contrast to the rest of the images, however they

are unusual shapes and drawings suggesting how unusual nightmares can

be.

The artist and title name are located on the front cover on the left top corner. They are written in an unusual font in

a grungy yellow which represent the mysteriousness of nightmares as the font is

eerie and the colour is unpleasant. This is the only

text on the front of the digipak so the attention is focused on the band and

their album name, making the audience look further into the digipak for more information on the music.

The first inside page of the digipak consists of an image of one of the terraced houses, which has been edited through

animation to make the house seem alive with people nightmares, as unusual and scary images are shown in all of

the rooms of the house, representing the theme of the album well.

Another page of the digipak also only consists of images, showing a different house on the street, however the animated

images are only shown through the small windows of the building instead of the whole house like the previous page, suggesting differences in peoples nightmares, and shows

variety in the imagery making the digipak more interesting.

The other page on the inside apart from the centre, is similar to the imagery before as the whole house is shown through

the unusual and creative animations, allowing the audiences imagination to run wild.

This digipak is different to others as one of the inside pages has an inserted booklet which contains spooky and

mysterious images with small pieces of information on the music, giving the audience something extra to look at and

interact with the artists work.

The centre inside page of the digipak is the page that contains the CD, and the background is black, making the

disc stand out as it is green with an unusual design of a face which appears to be bleeding or melting, creating an eerie

image and the theme of nightmares is apparent.

The track list is located on the back of the digipak, so it is easy to find for the audience, and they can quickly browse the tracks in a store. The layout of the text is unusual as it is not in vertical columns, and instead is at the bottom third of the page, leaving a large black page which represents the night and being asleep. The tracks names are printed in a small font in the same shade of yellow as the title on the front, and they are not very clear to read as there appears to be no structure or numbers for the tracks.

There is a barcode underneath, and a small logo of the record label which is ‘Domino records’ a small independent

company.

The three inside pages of the digipak

The three outer pages of the digipak

TheoristsThis digipak shows elements of Dick Hebdige’s theory as the

band is alternative to other bands that aren’t part of an independent record label like Domino records, creating a subculture for this audience. This is shown through the lack of text throughout the digipak unlike larger record labels artists, and the track list in particular is unusual

making the artists seem unusual.

Negus’s theory suggests that artists are either organic or synthetic. I believe the band are organic with little input

from the record company as the digipak reflects them as a band, instead of being produced to what the majority of

the public would like, therefore being more suited to their fans and target audience.