CD Covers Textual analysis

 An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. It can also be the primary image accompanying a digital download of the album, or of its individual tracks and in tangible discs, serves the purpose of a protective sleeve.

Album covers typically serve 3 main purposes:

• To advertise the product inside (the CD, the band, etc)
• Show artistic expressions and identity of the artist/band
• In some instances, to serve as an identifiable image associated with the artist/band

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     Album covers have long been an important aspect of musical history, along with iconic songs and music videos, there are also many iconic album covers. Not only are artists using album covers to promote their products, but are increasingly utilising album art as a means of creating political and social statements, intertextual references and artistic expressions. 

     

     Front covers of albums conventionally include: 

•      A simplistic colour scheme
•      Allegory (hidden meanings as well as literally ones)
•      Bold and simple fonts for the band name 
•      A similar font for the album title

     Back covers usually include:

•       Copyright and year
•       Name of record company
•       Similar design or same theme as front cover
•       List of song titles, usually centred 

    The insert booklets typically include:

•        The same colour scheme for the rest of the album
•        Lyrics of the songs featured on the album
•        Pictures of the band or their mascot

    Spines usually have:

•      The name of the band
•      The title of the album
•      The record company

    Political album covers

Rage against the machine released this eponymous album in 1992. The front cover is a real photo taken of Buddhist martyr Thich Quang Duc, as he self-immolated in protest against the oppression that Buddhists were facing under Vietnamese rule in 1963. The album cover naturally sparked controversy for its graphic and upsetting content, but was argued to fit the theme of the band's political and socially related songs that featured a lot of angry "Uh!"s.         

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    Sonic Youth released the album 'Goo' in        1990 which became incredibly popular quite  quickly. The album cover used for Goo was an  illustration of a paparazzi photo taken of  Maureen Hindley and her partner David Smith  on their way to the trial of the Moors murders,  for which her sister Moira and her partner Ian    Brady were imprisoned for. 

Using album covers that encourage political discussion or cause controversy concerning protests or injustices, can serve primarily as an eye-catcher to audiences, attracting people to a product out of curiosity, but it can also promote an angle that a band wish to portray. For my album, I want a social message to come across, one concerning media stigma and its effects. I am inspired by political album covers as an influence for my ancillaries.

     
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Importance of marketing

The audience I am aiming for are followers of indie and alternative music, in order to appeal to this demographic I will need to market my product accordingly. Traditionally, music videos serve the purpose of promoting a single or an album, and I will be promoting STOKER's debut album 'moral panic'.

Hypodermic syringe theory- AS Revisit

The hypodermic syringe theory suggests that audiences are 'empty vessels' and vulnerable to impression from what is shown to them through the TV, music videos, books and radio. In AS, I became aware of the hypodermic syringe theory when researching and planning for our thriller opening Incognito I learned that there were many elements of our thriller concept that would be seen as dangerous influencing. For example, the characters in our thriller opening all appeared to be smokers: we wanted smoking to be a consistent element throughout to pay homage and make an intertextual reference to that of the popular 'gangster' crime sub-genre, also suggested by follows of the aforementioned theory to be a bad influence on its audience.  

'Incognito' 2016

Music video theorists

Sven E Carlsson

Carlsson said that music videos fell into two categories:

• Conceptual
• Performance

A conceptual music video is one that follows a story/narrative, such as Fatboy Slim- Weapon of Choice, in which actor Christopher Walken dances and flies around a hotel.

A performance video is one where the band themselves mime the words or play the instruments as a fabricated performance for the video, like Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, in which the band mime the lyrics and their instruments.  



My music video will be heavily conceptual, with a running narrative throughout it. My story will consist of a vampire planning a party to try and overcome their social stigma, brought about by aspects of the media. When no one turns up to the vampire's party, they are very sad, but one person shows up and, due to either self-fulfilling prophecy or perhaps just instinct (it is the former though), they kill their only friend. 

Album final cover

Editing progress-10/03/17

Editing Progress- Friday 10th March

Today i finished my first draft of my music video. I used colour grading to make the dancing scenes near the end of my music video appear dream-like and happy, in contrast to the darker, colder colour grading on the final reveal shot which shows the vampire's kill. 




Here is the first draft of lights out. I am currently editing bits that have been suggested to me by my teacher. I hope to have the final edit on here by the end of the month.

Editing progress- 09/03/17

Editing- Thursday 9th March

Today I managed to reach the end of my music video with footage, meaning I now have a full sequence in place to tweak and edit effects on. It is a basic sequence at the minute but this now means that I can apply effects based on how I know the order of the footage goes in my project. Tomorrow I plan to add a couple of overlays on top of some bits and colour grade the entire music video to make it look more professional (or less amateur). I will also apply more 'Warp stabiliser' and maybe revert the effect off of some footage where I feel necessary. My media teacher watched the completed sequence today so I could see if the concept made sense to others, to which he responded that it did make sense, but I will have to export a copy to show to different audiences, perhaps those who completed the questionnaires for me, to see if the video has the same reception.