analysis of album cover

Beyonce cover

The front image is of the artist herself. She is dark skinned and so the colouring of the background is soft blue which compliments but also emphasizes the beautiful bronze of her skin. The background gets darker when it is closer to the bottom which creates depth to the album and makes her figure stand out. The diamond shirt is a signifier of wealth and also of strength and beauty as they sparkle and light up the front cover. The shirt covers the artist chest however does not leave much to the buyers imagination, this is good when selling the artist as she looks inviting and sensual. The artist is in a position which curls around the title or text and emphasizes it, this is also the artist signifier because she is known for being able to move her hips in strange yet promiscuous ways and this helps to set up artist identity. The title is also in white with a small glow around it to imitate the diamonds, this sets up a nice link between the text and the picture.



The back cover has the artist facing slightly towards us but it is predominantly her back. The background is the same blue which becomes darker closer to the bottom of the album. She is in the same outfit of diamonds which links in with the front cover; it also has the same signifier of the artist curling into a sexual position with her hands on her hips around the text. The text is of the song titles and information on the songs e.g who wrote it and the date it was released (in single form). You can just see her pouting lips before the top of her head is cut off the album, this is sexually provocative and often sells albums.

the front is used to grab the viewer and be asthetically pleasing, it is also to promote the artist especially when the artist is the most noticable thing on the page. it also tells people the name of the album and who teh artist is, this is good for people who see an advert for it and wish to buy it at a later date.
the back tells people the tracks and shows intresting information sucyh as who wrote and performed in it. the back is for information to give to the people who already have bought the cd, and the front is to promote and hook viewers.

The covers shows wealth because of the diamonds and usually indicates a mainstream artist or label, also a beautiful girl on the front of an album usually indicates R&B or pop and this is exactly what the album intales, a mixture of the two.

The taget audience is not specific for this album because a male will find this artist sexy, however her music may not appeal to them. whereas a female may like the music and the front because they aspire to be as sexy as the arist. the audiences are young not just because of the style of music, but also beacsue of the sexual connetations of the artists dress and position, which older generations may find garish or digusting.

Album cover analysis

1) What are the typical features that an album cover had? Make a list of all the elements they have in common.

• Album covers do have elements that are in common, however different album signifiers belong to different genre. Pop, R&B, and people in groups usually have a group picture or close up of the artists face. They are usually dressed in very glamorous clothes, the women in sexy short skirts or low cut tops to promote not just their singing but also themselves. The men often wear expensive designer tracksuits which are colourful and new and they also wear lots of garish jewellery to signify wealth.
• The more rock-ish bands such as dream theatre or green day often have the band playing instruments or even a subject that has no relevance to the album. They often have se-real landscapes with floating objects and other strange things. The bands would often be in dark clothes mostly black and wear hooded jackets and bands on their wrists. A completely different feel from the brighter (richer) feeling of the pop and R&B covers.
• The cover will always have the band or singers name clearly visible and if they have a logo it will be seen on the front. The album name will also be on the front or sides of the CD, so that it can be identified.
• On the back of the cover, there should be a list of all the songs on the album; the back is usually plain so that people pay more attention to the front of the cover.
• There will be additional information such as explicit content or who wrote what song.

2)how would you categorise the covers in front of you? Are there any other ways or distinguishing between them other than gebnerically?

Year the album was released
Artist
Designer
Mainstream or independent artist.
Animated or photo
Group or single singer
Country of origin

3)Album covers serve Many Different Functions. What Do You Think These Are?

Information for audiences
Copyright the record or albumTo promote the record or artist or bands and create a positive image for themselves.
Receive money and sell the band.
For people to have an aesthetically pleasing album in their collection.

Distinguish the artist at successful

inspirational album covers

snoop dogs album and the one below both use close ups of the artist faces, they also indicate wealth and money because they wear glamerous jewelery and appear very clean cut in the pictures. i like them because both of the poeople are good looking in their own ways and the covers are simplistic (which i like more than the complicated covers).

iron maiden always have a painted (animated) covers which i do like but only because i want to be an artist. it has so much detail in it that sometimes it looks too crowded and the name doesn't stand out clear enough. they always have dead people or zombies on their covers because they consider themsleves a heavey metal band which often talks about death or hardships (if you understand the lyrics).

this cover is disgusting. it is as if the artist wanted to create the appearance of a super hero with the muscles defines with black ink, but because the ink is sketchy and blotchy it actually looks like his muscles are bursting. it is very promotional however because it is completly centred on him.

this is interesting cover because there is no picture of the band, therefore the emphasis is placed on the bands name. i like the colouring because it is eye catching and bright with a redish orange theme.

this is a simplistic cover which centres on the girls in the band and not the title. they are extremely pretty and have very good bodies and this is emphasized by their skimpy matching outfits, and they are told apart by their differtent colours for each characters. i like the simple white background mixed with the white outfits, which goes to show we don't need to have complicated covers to garb peoples attention.

analysing music video

Leona Lewis ‘bleeding in love

• This video is about people going through relationships and finding out that everything isn’t always as it seems at first and that eventually things go wrong. We follow five stories of couples and their hardships. The setting is in one building and they all intertwine with each other.
• 1 women waits for her husband to get back to tell him she’s found someone else’s panties in the house and she knows he’s cheating. The husband gets kicked out and we see him walk upstairs to another room where we see the girl he was cheating with let him in. the boyfriend comes back to see them together. Another girl is about to commit suicide because she hasn’t been called by the person she loves, however he comes to her risqué just as she drowns. Another girl is looking at photos of her past love and starts to burn them. The bed catches on fire and then the sprinkler system comes on in the building, all the couples look up.
• There is performance shots as well throughout the video of Leona in different gowns (which are beautiful and signify wealth) she is crying out her heart which illustrates the type of music which is soul/pop.
• Every room is in a different colour so we can easily distinguish between different stories.
• The video both illustrates and amplifies the lyrics because it shows the heart ache that is 'bleeding in love'

potential songs

i still don't get how we are meant to find a song without a music video, but i know i can edit this passage later and i can take out any of the songs that have music videos. (which is like all of them

1. vengaboys-superfly slick
2. bananarama-cruel summer
3. bananarama-i heard a rumourVanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
4. blackbox-ride on time (joke but my old group will understand)
5. Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?
1. Freaky Friday" (Norreen, Rasted) – 3:45
2. An Apple a Day" (Norreen, Rasted) – 3:38
3. Halloween" (Norreen, Rasted, René Dif) – 3:51
4. d&d 'in your eyes.'
5. 'dead disco' Metric

i'll add more, but i can't find any indie bands that don't sound rockish!"!

These are the lyrics to a potential song and i thought i would put them up here because it could be a song we could do. the lyrics are corny because aqua usually took the micky out of sensble songs, therefore when making a music video the lyrics have to be taken into account.

Halloween

Hello? Remember me?Who's there? I've got your number Oh no, no I'm back to haunt you No, stay away Ha ha ha ha haIt's Friday night So creepy outside It's is thundering and lightning There's nobody home Cause I'm all alone It's scary and it's frightening The sound of shoes A shadow that moves Something odd is tic tac ticking Someone's in here I'm so full of fear The telephone is ringing Now I can see you Oh no, please no Now I can touch you Oh god, please go I am right here now Oh please, tell me where Ha ha ha ha I'm in a nightmare You better run I'm back to haunt you down Halloween, in the death of the night, hear me scream I'm coming, I'm coming Halloween, is the fear that I fight, in my dream Keep running, keep running Just keep running - oh, keep on running,yeah Just keep running Just keep running - oh, keep on running, yeah Just keep running Hell broke out On this Friday night Zombies passing deadlyMy Candyman, from BountylandIs coming here to get me Now I can see you Oh no, please no Now I can touch you Oh god, please go I am right here now Oh please tell me where Ha ha ha ha I'm in a nightmareYou better run I'm back to haunt you down Halloween, in the death of the night, hear me scream I'm coming, I'm coming Halloween, is the fear that I fight, in my dream Keep running, keep running Just keep running - oh keep on running, yeah Just keep running Just keep running - oh keep on running, yeah Just keep running It's squeaking and creaking I move silent in the night, hahahahaha Could be the boy from next-door You'll never guess my disguise Hahahahaha! Kids and children fight and candlelight You might be the fearsome one at Junior High Tonight! Halloween, in the death of the night, hear me scream I'm coming, I'm coming Halloween, is the fear that I fight, in my dream Keep running, keep running Halloween... Just keep running - oh, keep on running, yeah Just keep running Just keep running - oh, keep on running, yeah Just keep running Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

The change in christina aguilera and Avril Lavigne

chritina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera was originally a lot like Britney spears. Innocent, pop-ish and used her dancing skills in a teenage fashion. Her hair was straight and blond and she didn’t wear a lot of make up, basically she looked young. She also wore clothes that looked a little plain (but covering more flesh than later on in her life). She was just starting her singing career and like most stars, she became corrupt and brazen. In the video above she is singing ‘genie in a bottle’.

Then her most well known video was released, ‘dirty’ and certainly her image changed to just that! She suddenly gets a nose and chin piercing, dreadlocks and wears nothing but a thong, a short skirt (aka a belt) and a skin clad bikini suit!! The video was banned in many countries because of its blatant sexual implications and open violence and from then on Christina’s name was slandered. After this she tried to bring out a song ‘you are beautiful’ where she wears nothing sexual and focuses on the characters in her story. This was to bring peoples attention back to her as a singer and not her as a sexually obsessed exhibitionist.


After many attempts of bringing herself out of the sexual gutter, Christina re-invented herself and her image to one which is classy and bold. She lost the piercing and the dreadlocks and became a ‘women’. She now prizes herself for the bleach blond golden locks and her ruby red lips and she even wears sexy yet sensible clothes (apart from a few revealing but fashionable outfits). In her two newest singles ‘candyman and ‘aint no other man’ she has shown herself to be an amazing singer and an entertaining performer. In candy man which is above she sets the video in olden war time and the most revealing outfit is of a sailor type suit made into hot pants and a top. This is not as brazen as she was and is in fact ‘sexy’ rather than ‘boorish’.
Over all she has changed in image so much but the outcome has certainly shown she has truly ‘grown up’.

Avril Lavigne


Avril lavegn started out doing simple rock and had the perfect girl next door feel. It was refreshing to see a young girl not trying to be extremely girly wearing pink and bright makeup. In her first video ‘complicated’ she was small, innocent looking and secretly mischievous. She was plain, but it was within that she found her own identity that everyone recognised, this is where she was remembered.



As avril grew in popularity she started to create more elaborate videos and her innocents and individuality started to diminish and her videos started to resemble all the other rock takes. ‘skater boy’ which is one of her most famous songs, lost popularity in the video, this was because there was no humour or individualism which had appeared previously. She tried to continue her punk rock look, however she went over the top and over emphasized her clothing in this video. She looked so strange on these clothes rather than comfortable and cool in ‘compliacted’,


Her latest release ‘girlfriend’ is amazing to watch, however it doesn’t scream ‘avril laygne’ in fact, it just screams pop, of which she never originally intended to explore. She tries to mix pop with rock but unfortunately has lost her innocent tomboyish look that was her own design and worked for he, and instead wears a tiny skirt, too much makeup and no longer plays her guitar which was impressive whenever she did so. Everything is colourised pink in this video including avril’s hair and I think that her individuality is lost.

List of things i have to do:

1. independent record label
2. ideas for tracks
3. videos than bring inspiration
4. how indie artists promote themselves. e.g myspace
5. what makes a music video-iconography, patterns
6. analyse music video with interesting colour
7. analyse music video with interesting special affects
8. analyse music video with interesting dance moves

inspiration (music video)

Rihanna "Don't Stop The Music" video

snakes on a plane-



JoJo - Too Little Too Late



madonna-