Intertextuality

For my digipak, I decided to take inspiration from classic films such as the Godfather and Scarface. Although the movies are based on American Italian Mobsters the advertisements and promotion of the films show a level of class and sophistication. Godfather released in 1972 undoubtable one of the greatest films of all time and Scarface released in 1983 another classic film featuring Al Pacino. What attracted me to the idea is the blend of natural colours from the pictures that have been take and fused into the background of the. This produced a memorable brand image which I would wish to replicate in order for the audience to recognised it instantly and be interested in the product.

The Godfather poster shows Vito Corleone mid shot, wearing black tuxedo, white shirt, black bow tie and a read rose. I believe the contrast of the black tuxedo is brought down to make it pure black so that it blends into the back ground. However the contrasting colour of the white shirt is bright up to contrast the black, this effect would show that he is wearing a tuxedo. With black of the bow tie also blending with the background colour you are able to see the separation between the shirt and collar of the shirt which mounts in with the head of Vito Corleone. The darker areas where the shadow is created with the light that’s is being shone on the character Vito Corleone is emphasised into darker shade and the natural skin tone and where the light is hitting the most on his face is made lighter to a shade of cartoon-like image, the darker shade of his hair is also made to merge in with the background.  The flower is the only part of the image that is outstanding from the rest of the wallpaper.

What I am to do is get the simplicity of the digipak that is recognised in the R&B and Soul genre. The aim is to sell the artist as a brand, give the audience something to attract them to him. And the influence of the godfather could be a key element of that part. I aim to replicate this poster and use it for my digipak taking away the black of the suit that my artist would be taken in and allowing it to blend with the background. Rather than using tuxedo, I worked with a similar style as Chris Brown’s Album Fortune of a slim fit suit although getting the reference of classic and set in the 1940s, I want to bring a modern feature to the product, with slim fit suit, rather than using a bow tie, as skinny tie is more preferable for the current trend. The artist has a darker complexion than the reference poster of Vito Corleone, leaving the complexion as it in order to see the artist and recognised him as a new artist in the market. The title of the album would be running down the sleeve of the model, not follow the exact final product of the Godfather poster.

For the Magazine advert it took my inspiration from the Scarface poster. As Al Pacino is wearing a white suite and with a gun in his hand. This also has similar effect to the godfather. The background colour is a separation of black and white. Then it shows a picture of long shot Al Pacino standing in white suit which blends with white and contrast with the black, the outer layer of the white suit is formed onto the black background. The darker areas of the original photo are emphasised also in the white area of the poster: The black shirt, the pocket square, the sleeve of the shirt underneath the suite. With the face of Al Pacino the saturation was brought down in order to get the dark black and white shade. The text on the left of the poster is written in white using a font style of Century, the text discusses character of ‘’Tony Montana’’ and the right of the poster the text is written in black using the same font, and it shows the people who were a major contribution of the film. The main headline shows the title of the film and the main actor’s name Al Pacino. With is done in Charlemagne standard font with red fill and yellow outer line.