The text on the album cover is placed underneath and above the main central image of the artist Using this placing is framing the image allowing the images to stand out and be the focus of the front cover. The artsists name and album title are shown on the front of the cover. the cd has the artist name in large text and the album name in a slightly smaller text. The tracking list are shown in a smaller text size around the outside of the disk, this isn't conventional however adds more interesting design to the album.
the main image on the cover of the album is mainly the artist this makes the audience and viewer focus on the artist. For this image they have used high key lighting especially on her face contrasting this they have used bold dramatic makeup which again makes us focus and drawn into looking at the artist. this look also gives jessie a more sophisticated look. her hair is also slick back which again then doesn't draw attention of her face. the whole image gives off a 60's style the black and white helps give tho effect. jessie is trying to convey a classic and sophisticated look through the imagery to suggest that she has carefully considered how she wants to be represented to the audience.
At the back of the cover they have used the same lettering and styles as the front cover. the artist album title are underneath each other and create a box shape. there is a white line underneath the album title and the tracking list this makes the design look simple to read and makes it also look professional. all the text and features on the back cover are yin whit this is makes it stand out in contrast to the black background.the typography on the cd is in the same styles and design as the rest of the album this shows a clear consistency making the digipak all match and look professional.
Rhianna's front cover is definitely eye catching as the colours used are bold and compliment each other well, also they have used colours that are known to the public to be Rihanna and something we consider to link with her in this case is the colour red. Also the use of red links with the idea of passion and seductiveness which then links to the lyrics of her songs. the use of the red lipstick objectifies and portrays Rihanna as a sexual object, which then makes her subject to the male gaze. The image on the front is of Rhinna herself, the image covers the hole cover which makes us focus on her. Rihanna has not included her name on the front cover how ever the large colose up image and her persona allows her to not need to add her name to the cover
The CD follows the floral theme which is first seen when opening the digipak in the backdrop behind the cd. This image is of Rhianna leaning across roses. The pale pink colours contrast with the red of the roses and Rihanna's hair and makeup which again signifies Rihanna as sexual and fierce hoiwever the pale pink shows a softer and gentle side to her and her music. The colours link with the front cover of the album.
The images are sexual and attract the male gaze as Rihanna is dressed in underwear and is showing a lot of skin. however she is dressed in white which connotes innocence and purity so it could demonstrate the difference in the music.
the back over links and uses the same pale pink this complements the theme of the inside cd. the track listing is in the same font as the 'loud' on the front cover this makes the album consistent.
The writing in this part of the digipak is done by rhianna herself, here she is explaining what each song is about and what is means to her and who she has written the song for.
Jess Glynne is known for her deep house songs with gorgon city and clean bandit. Her image is seen to be garage, cool and vintage. This image is then also shown within her album art to create continuity with her and her albums and sales.
Her album cover for 'Hold my Hand'
The main focus of this album cover is her, the main image on the cover of the album is her therefore this is all we focus on when looking at the cover of the album. The picture highlights the style she has and is linked with the music video that is on the album. her makeup and costume shown and used in the album cover also ties and links in with the eye makeup and vibrate colour of both her hair and top in the music videos. The bold central text on the front of the album cover to show both her name and the album cover name.
For her album cover for 'Home', it follows a more of a representation of a dance/house music.
the use of vibrant colours and the inverted colours shows the connection with what we link with house music. . It also has sexual connotations, another aspect of dance album covers. also similar to the home cover she has used simplistic bold font used for the artist and album name.
I will be using this as inspiration for my own album cover. I like the inverted colours and I feel this links well with the genre of house music. I will most likely have an image of the star as the front cover as a main feature showing the artist, I will then also use more photos on the inside pockets of the digipack experimenting with other close up images of my artist.
Andrew Goodwins theory allows us to analyse music videos concentrating on 7 main principles:
Link between lyrics and visuals Links between music and visuals Genre characteristics intertextuality reference voyeurism star image Performance, iconography/artist image- visual style
He says that music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals, lyrics and the music plus the artist. Relationships are built between these in the video, and the close-ups of the artists gives them the representation and publicity they require. Record labels demand artists to create a video which will sell records and Voyeurism is used to increase the video’s attractiveness, particularly to males, whilst intertextuality is often employed in humorous videos. Goodwin also says that a music video is ALWAYS one of the 3, performance, narrative or concept based videos.
‘Chocolate’ is a song by Indie-Rock band ‘The 1975′.
this music video indicates the conventions of an indie pop/rock band, this is recognised by the representation of the band and also from the sound of the instruments in the begging the sound of the guitar and drums signifies to us that it is a band. The video being in black and white and the location of it being underground and around the city at night signifies a rock genre.
In this song, the word ‘Chocolate’ is used an example of colloquialism as it is representing cannabis in a slang form. The artist has complied with Goodwin’s theory on this account as we see the lead singer of the band smoking ‘Chocolate’ as it is sung by him in the backing track, a clear link between lyrics and visuals in this music video. We see this on multiple occasions, showing how the artist has attempted to deliver a message to their audience not only of matty healys character but by combining their lyrics with the visuals of their music video. This is one of Goodwin’s six factors of a music video therefore showing how the artist has here complied with Goodwin’s theory. This can be seen below:
The video doesnt often cut to the beat, especially at the chorus, however we do focus on the lead singer and the rest of the band as it flashes to him and to the car. No solo instruments are played throughout the music video which would usually be done in atypical band music video.
Also, the music video contains many close-ups of both the lead singer, who has the main involvement in the song, but also the other members of the band. At times, as seen below, we see a mid-shot of all four band members at once, which then zooms in onto the lead singer’s face. Most record labels require an artist to include close-ups of themselves in a music video for promotion and publicity reasons. We again here see the artist complying with Goodwin’s theory due to the variety of close-up shots seen in the music video. This links in with the notion of looking as we very rarely see direct address from any of the four band members with the audience, giving a sense of voyeurism whilst still highlighting the band members and therefore aiding publicity.
We see the notion of looking with a sense of voyeurism in this music video, due to the sexualisation of both the male and female body. We get a feeling that we are watching the band members in the narrative of the video also due to the black-and-white effect which has been placed on a video, limiting how much we can see of the band members themselves. The artist here complies with Goodwin’s theory as they include sexualisation of both the male and female body, which is separate to the narrative and close to the camera. This is portrayed to the audience as a private situation, highlighting the sense of voyeurism which this music video replicates. Also, within the main narrative of the music video, we never see any of the band members make eye contact with the camera. We see the four band members sat in a car driving along what seems to be a quiet road and, as shown below, none of the four member make any connection with the camera situated at the front of the car. This again gives the notion of looking and a sense of voyeurism in the music video as it’s almost as if the band members are unaware that they are being watched and we therefore act as observers of the situation. This again complies with Goodwin’s theory as he stated that the notion of looking Is required in order to make a music video realistic and believable.
The music video includes genre characteristics in the form of the black-and-white filter which has been placed over the initial filming of the music video. This highlights their genre of Indie-Rock as this genre includes the idea of differentiation from ‘regular’ music videos, hence the black-and-white filter being different to most other music videos. Goodwin included genre characteristics in his six factors of music videos to allow the audience an insight into the genre of music which the artist primarily plays. Here, the artist has included one of the main characteristics of Indie-Rock in the form of differentiation, showing how they have complied to Goodwin’s theory and therefore stated their genre of music, attempting to attract a niche audience. This can be seen below:
The syncing 0f music and visuals is very limited in this music video, most likely due to the genre of the song and also therefore the genre conventions of the music video. We do see one occasion, where the lead singer and protagonist in this video is nodding his head along to the beat of the song. This complies with Goodwin’s theory as it conforms to his third factor of which a successful music video should contain. Below is a screenshot of the protagonist in mid-motion as he nods along to the beat in this music video:
Finally, Goodwin included in his theory that a music video should have some inter-textual references, whether that be to movies, books or other songs, through visuals or music. This music video includes no inter-textual referencing meaning that the artist is here not complying with Goodwin’s Theory. This could again be due to the genre of music which the artist is playing, but also the narrative of the video as the artist may feel it is intriguing enough for their niche target audience without having to include and intertextuality to aid the video’s success.
Overall, the 1975’s ‘Chocolate’ complies to five out of the six conventions which Goodwin set out in his theory. Goodwin’s theory has here been proved right as the video has over 14,000,000 views on YouTube alone, and the artist has also gone on to make other successful videos, such as ‘Robbers’ and ‘Settle Down’, which also most likely included many of the six factors listed in Goodwin’s theory.
As a group we discussed using a split screen with mirror image and also a rewinding effect of the main star. The music video for Right Here By Jess Glynne influenced us as it has used a split screen and rewinds shots multiple times throughout the video. From seeing these in this video we thought that it would go with our genre and the feeling of our music video, also as Jess Glynne is a solo artist we feel that using the split shots like she has in the video really shows the audience the star which again is perfect for our music video as we have one main artist. From this music video we also felt that it gave off the same vibe and star image we are looking for in our music video. another thing that has inspired us for our music video is the make up. In this video Jess Glynne's make up is natural but is still obvious. we want to add this sort of makeup to our main star when the are in the locations that are not London, this is because we want the make up in London to be big and bold. However when she is not in London we want her to still have make up but not as much as what she would have when in London.
The video for Wrote a song about you last night by MNEK.
This music video is simple within the choice of location and set up however very affective and in the genre of dance and applying the conventions of a dance video. The video uses a range of shots including close up and midshots,the use of this in the video allows the viewer to see the artist, along side this they have used affects to add the different colours onto the video the use of the different neon and pastel colours give the effect of a club and the looks of what we might link with dance music. the colours all contrast with each other which then allows certain things to standout within the video for example they wil have the background a dark colour and the artsist in a bright colour or rise-versa. thw neon colours used match the dance genre of the song and visually excite the audience. it also imitates a club atmosphere which is most likely to be the location of which this song is played. there is a key change in the song toward the end which we can the see the lighting an effects become more vivid and match the climax within the song. Alongside this they have the animations around the artists this is something that is seen quite often in dance music videos. The costume in the music video is what we would expect in a mainstream dance music video, they have reflected the mainstream fashion at the time, the rival of 90s fashion this would therefore reflect the psychographic of the song.
For our own music video we are thinging of going with the theme of the 90s fashion as we feel this plays a big role in the dance genre.
The Music Video for AfterGlow is not a music video that goes directly with the conventions, its not something we would see in a every day music video. This music video has no miming throughout the video, however it has narrative. The video tells a story of what the couple have done over there time together. This is what links the lyrics to the video, because there is no miming they have used varied shots to keep the viewer interested. The main difference in this video in comparison to the other music video is the use of titles throughout the song. in each different shot of the video there is a title this title will be explaining the shot e.g..
these tell the story within the video without having miming in the video. the use of doing this makes the video more relatable as we believe in to be true.The video does not follow the codes and conventions of traditional music video however the video still explored the conations of sex through props ad movement and therefore doesn't follow good wins theory of voyeurism. there are no shots of the star dancing or exploiting themselves to please the male viewers.
This is the Digipak for the Arctic Monkeys first album entitled 'whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not'. The album was released in 2006 and sold over 360,000 copies in the first week.The Arctic Monkeys are an indie band from the Sheffield's suburbs and had a large following before they got signed and started releasing their singles into the charts.
To stay loyal to their existing fans they have used pictures of Sheffield throughout the digipak to represent where they come from and to make their fans feel like they're the same as them. the artwork used on the CD is evidence that they are an indie band, as it gives them a rock n roll image which suggests they are common like everyone else and aren't glamorous and rich like mainstream bands.
The digipak includes a title page with 'Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not' typed on it, a back page including all their acknowledgements and the back cover including another tracklist. This is the only writing included throughout the whole digipak, as 90% of it is just images. This could be further evidence that they are an indie band, as they are only bothered about the music and don't want to try sell themselves to their fans with stories etc. Furthermore there are no pictures of the band throughout suggesting they aren't bothered about individual fame and only want the fans to appreciate their music and not them which is very indie.
The images used inside the digipak include their target audience of young northern people. There is a man in a white shirt used several times in the digipak and is also featured on the front and back cover. He is seen holding a cigarette on a few of these pictures. Cigarettes are a recurring theme throughout the digipak, probably because their target audience can relate to them. The people shown in the pictures look miserable suggesting a gritty lifestyle living in a run down area where music is there only escape.
have targeted their audience by using their image to attract a female admirers. Their digipak includes lots of images of the band - typical of a boy band. In one image,Tom, who is seen as the main singer of the group is placed in the foreground looking forward, whilst the other band memebers are positions further back, looking away in different directions. In this sense, the digipak therefore serves the purpose of giving the audience, (mainly the female audience), something extra to look at, pictures to keep, pin up, etc.
The tracklist appears on an old computer screen, which has connotaions of sci-fi films - linking to the alien images, and the title of the album, Radio-Active. McFly seem to be trying to break away from their manufactured image, becoming more 'indie' by using rural images, scribbles and notebook binding to give a more gritty feel. The mutilated microphone could be seen as their creation of rock iconography. For exmple The Rolling Stones used the lips and tongue, similarly to the tongue of the microphone, and Iron Maiden used Eddie, a Zombie Character. It shows McFly are drifting towards a more 'indie/rock' genre.
The artwork used in Lady Gaga’s album – the fame monster is
very dark and unusual, as is the image she attempts to portray herself in.Her stage name plastered all over the case
and discs in large text, showing she is thirsty for recognition and wants her
name to be well known. The front cover is a large picture of Lady Gaga herself,
making the CD less about the music and more about her and her image. The title
of the album itself ‘the fame monster’ is evidence of her hunger for fame and
fortune. And it appears that the music isn’t the main focus of her album, as
oppose to an indie band that are unlikely to feature on the CD as they appear
to be more about the music.
The digipak is
entirely in black and white this could be an attempt to make it appear more
glamorous, however this contrasts with her whacky art choice. Such as the
inside cover artwork featuring a nude girl with a black bird, perhaps a hawk or
crow either attached to her face or attempting to break of it. The artwork on
the back of the digipak is almost a shot from a horror film, it could relate to
Craig from slipknot’s mask.
The alternative is that this album is Lady Gaga’s insight on
what fame can do to people, does fame turn people into monsters
- A readable font
- Clear artwork or photos
- Front cover will have Artists name/ Albums name
- Colours match genre of music
- Will have industry logos and sometimes has the parental advisory logo
- The outside packaging is usually card with a plastic inside
- Barcode on the back panel
- They will have folds that present photos, lyrics and hold the CD in place
- The front cover will display the album art
The function of a digipak is to appeal to the artist target audience by including more information about them, its purpose is to 'add value' and encourages us to pay for something special and extra. A digi pack consists of between 2-8 panels showcasing a range of photographs of the artist, and text/information about and relating to the album.
Another video that uses intertextual references is Mark Ronson feat Lilly Allen - Oh My God
In this music video Lilly allen's performance is exactly like jessica's,
from the film who framed Roger Rabbit made in 1988 .In this music video
the ideas are from the film, the part where jessica is on stage. The
film who framed Roger Rabbit has animated cartoons in it, including
Betty Boop, but there are also real human beings.
these are shots taken from the video and shots taken from the film who
framed Roger Rabbit. although they are not completely similar. Jessica
and Lily Allen's characters both do a similar kind of performance, and
some shots are borrowed from the film and put into the music video. The
producer of the video has played with it, taking ideas from the other
text and made a amusing video.
clip of Jessica on stage from Who framed Roger Rabbit.
Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can include an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another.
Eminem's music video for 'We Made You' (2009) raised alot of controversy due to the number of intertextual references and the way in which they were portrayed. I chose to use this video because of the various references to celebrities, political figures and films/tv shows.
Female Celebrities The video references many major female stars such as, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and Kim Kardashian. There is alot ofirony in the video because they have chosen to have the girls dressed in outfits seen on the real singers but then have them look completely different in terms of what they truly think the girls look like. For example instead of being slim and toned, they have portrayed Jessica Simpson eating a burger and being overweight while wearing her famous Dukes of Hazzard outfit. They also used a Britney Spears impersonator from America's Got Talent - Derrick Barry, to portray Spears in her 'Gimme More' video outfit. One of the most controversial characters portrayed in the video is Sarah Palin because they refer to her being more of a sexual object than a respected politician.
Films/TV Shows
The narrative of the video acts as a parody of the american reality tv program Rock of Love, where Eminem acts as Bret Michaels (the bachelor in the real show) with all of the girls they are mocking surrounding him and almost worshipping him. They make it look very pathetic by over emphasising their desperation for 'love'. Also featured in the video is references to the films: Star Trek and Rain Man. The star trek narrative adds comedic value as well as conforming to the conventions of Eminem's videos which star Dr. Dre because he is ultimately the one with the power/the most knowledgeable one out of the two.
Guitar Hero Reference
The only scenario where Eminem is miming by himself with no other extras in shot is in front of a Guitar Hero backdrop, which would easily be identified by the majority of the audience watching the video. It acts as if he has been dropped on top of the game itself.
Impact on the Audience?
For the majority of the audience, the video will be viewed as comedic because so much of it seems to be Eminem poking fun at the latest celebrity news and it almost seems as though they didn't attempt to hold back from visually representing that, which is not done very often.
The video would also appeal to the fan base of Eminem because he is known for his comedic videos involving poking fun at other stars at the time of production, therefore by following the successes of the previous videos he has made, for example, 'Just Lose It', it will target his fans.
a good example of voyeurism on music video is Robin Thicke's blurred lines:
In March, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” music video, featuring Pharrell and T.I., was released on YouTube. The song is said to perpetuate rape culture by rejecting the concept of clear sexual consent.
IN THIS VIDEO nudity, sexual objectification is seen.
it was classed and named the hottest song of the summer
The song’s lyrics include “You’re an animal,” and “I hate these ‘Blurred Lines’ / I know you want it.” Rather than viewing women as actual human beings, Thicke portrays women as animals starved of sexual attention ; the “blurred lines” is meaning intercourse.
The video has received even more negative attention from feminists and others, because in it three topless women are seen dancing and posing, while the three men—Thicke, Pharrell, and T.I.—are seen well-dressed, in suits. The video demonstrates a clear power dynamic, in which the men are dominant and the women are treated simply as sex objects.
shots such as this one show close ups on the woman's body parts this is exploring the woman and giving the male satisfaction.
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