This is the link to theevaluation section of my blog. Alternatively, individual links to my final responses to my evaluation questions can be found below:
How did you use media technologies in the evaluation, construction, planning and research stages of your coursework?
Throughout the entirety of my coursework revolving around the creation of my multimedia music productions, I have used a variety of different forms of media to help me in numerous ways. This has allowed me to create high quality media products, with technology allowing consumers to become prosumers, aiding the demand for more professional goods to appear on the market. Construction During the construction stage of my coursework the main program I made use of was Final Cut Pro. Unlike my preliminary tasks in my foundation portfolio, Final Cut was used instead of imovie due to the precision of my editing, which would have not been possible with a more basic editing program. My music video was very complex to edit due to the fast pace of music and the transition from colour, to a monochromatic colour scheme. For the beginning of my sequence, delicate editing was carried out ensuring that the shot changed on every beat of the music. This meant that a single shot had to be cut into flowing fragments, allowing a narrative video structure to be carried through. Having identically replicated some of the initial cuts also allows the theme of addiction to be represented, showing that the young girl has been in this situation before.
Around the one minute mark, a transition marks the movement of a monochromatic colour scheme into one of full colour. To do this, a black and white colour filter had to be laid, overlaying a cross-dissolve transition between the clips in which I wanted to fade from monochrome to colour so I could delicately reduce the opacity of each clip to create a smooth transition between the two.
Final Cut also allowed me to experiment with a range of different effects and transitions. I found this to be helpful at the very beginning and end of my music production as this allowed me to slow down my clip, making it almost mechanical in order to represent the effect that drugs have on the human body, giving the individual an almost spaced-out feeling. Additionally, this allowed more emphasis to be placed on the clip in order for the audience to take greater acknowledgement of the movement of the lava, coinciding with and symbolising the movement of blood around the body.
The advanced nature of Final Cut Pro further allowed me to download my unsigned bands song into iTunes via their Youtube Channel, so that a high quality song could be transferred across without any adaptations to the original song. The programme additionally let me lock the song in place so that when cutting and editing my footage, the song stayed in one piece rather than having it cut identically alongside my filming. This in turn enabled me to work with my music whilst editing, insuring I was able to cut my footage accurately on specific music beats.
The equipment I used also helped with the construction of my music video. Having used a small hand-held portable video camera, this allowed me to included both steady and unstable camera shots in order to portray different perspectives to the audience. For instance, the sequence of shots featured outside looking towards the characters face were filmed by the girl herself. With the camera being hand-held this made the shots unsteady, allowing the audience to witness a perceptive shot and feel like they were in the shoes of the young girl. The use of up to date technology also allowed me to capture a large capacity of footage so that I was able to get a variety of different angled shots of the same subject.
The majority of my shots however, were fairly steady due to the use of a tripod within the production. This allowed me to track shots steadily, keeping them on one consistent level or enabling me to adjust the position of the camera, slowing moving the shot up and down delicately. This allows the audience to witness the music video from another perspective, relating to Laura Mulvey and her theory 'The Male Gaze' as a notion of looking is presented, suggesting that the young girl is being watched from a males perspective as the camera is following her.
My print productions task of my digipak and magazine advert also made use of new and up to date technologies. For this task, the predominant technologies I used were photo editing software's, the main being Photoshop.
The first technology I made use of however, was that of a digital camera. This allowed me to capture the image I wanted, experimenting with different angles until I found one suitable. I was then able to transfer my images onto my desktop, ready for editing. For the digipak, I used photoshop for the early stages of preparation, editing the photos to give a greater contrast between the subject and the background colour by altering the saturation of the image, so that more emphasis and focus would be placed on the dolls damaged appearance and the insertion of the needle into the face. Photoshop also allowed me to create the textured appearance within the inside of my digipak. By adding a bubbled affect and a change in colour to the original injection image this enabled me to replicate that of blood. Apart from this, the majority of the work done on photoshop consisted of layering the images with text in order to create a realistic end product. The software enabled me to choose from a wide selection of fonts, allowing me to find a suitable text for my media product and keep it consistent through the whole production, manipulating the position of the text where I felt it was necessary. One area solely created on photoshop was the spine of the digipak, as the software easily allowed me to rotated the text to a vertical alignment, and position it within a narrow space. Another program used was the photo editor, Befunky. This allowed me to super impose the light trail effect onto my image, used to represent the visual scaring left on the girl by her relationship with alcohol and drugs - the main overall theme behind my productions. Using this program I also changed the background colour of my image, making it more vibrant in colour in order to attract the eye of my audience more easily. I felt this was an effective decision as I feel it reflects the loud personality of my target audience to a greater extent after my audience research revealed they enjoy going out and partying in their spare time. Finally, Microsoft word was also used in the construction process of production, acting as the base in measuring each digipak panel identically to 12.5x12.5cm and putting all of the panels together so that a digipak composition could be formed, for me to print and later fold into a three dimensional product. This technology was useful as it allowed me to rotate my page horozontally and print off on A3 paper.
For the magazine advert, photoshop enabled me to transform my digipak front cover image to become the main image for my magazine advert. To do this I used photoshop to remove the text from my front cover design. This involved selecting the text, feathering it and cloning the surrounding background colour in order to provide consistency with the background colour scheme. This was done as after analysing real world media products, the digipak or album cover is commonly featured as the central image on the magazine cover, with the album and artists name featured in a larger text, above and/or below the image,something that I wanted to feature on my own print production. Apart from this change, theprocess was the same as I used for my digipak, by adding appropriate text to the magazine ad.Here I established consistency by using the same typography for the band and album name. However, the main construction of my ad was done using photoshop as I was only constructing a design upon a single page layout. I did also change the colour scheme slightly by adding a small area of monochrome where the injection needle is seen entering the dolls face. This was done via the program Befunky in response to my audience research revealing that a mixed colour scheme would be in preference for my target audience. This was used to portray the negative effect of the drugs being injected into the girls bodywith a lack of colour suggesting illness or disease therefore projecting a predominant theme of addiction.
Planning
During the planning stage of production I didn't use a wide variety of technologies compared to that in my construction process. The first thing I did in the planning process was to trial some original ideas. Using technologies including a hand-held camera and the programme imovie, stop motion was tested. This consisted of me filming my friend running at different paces, tracking her movement as she ran towards the camera. Once transferred onto the computer I was able to experiment with a range of effects including colour and speed to produce an end result, After this, I found that using stop-motion throughout the entirety of my music production would be fairly difficult and time consuming, aiding me not to use it in my production. Planning therefore was an important aspect in my production as it enabled me to change my initial ideas at the beginning of my construction process. My quick experiment with stop motion can be seen above.
An important aspect of my planning was hand drawing a storyboard so that I had a plot to follow for my music production. This established the shots I was going to use along with the the location and props involved at such stages of production. I found this very useful as this allowed me to up together a planning schedule so that I was using my time most productively and catering me external shots for when the weather was best. In the planning process, imovie was also used in attempt to trail stop motion filming. After this attempt, I decided not to include stop motion within the music video as I felt this would be a difficult and time consuming process to carry out across the whole production. Throughout my advanced portfolio I also recorded my progress via Blogger, so that I could keep up to date with my production deadlines and receive any necessary feedback from my teacher. This was definitely the most useful technology I used within the planning process of my productions as this additionally allowed me to build upon my initial ideas, forming them into what would later become my final productions. Blogger also enabled me to insert images, embed videos and present information in a variety of creative ways via platforms such as Prezi and Slideshare, organising all of my text in chronological order so that it was easy for me and others to follow.
One of the most important things I did in the planning stage was to create a planning schedule. For this I used Mircosoft Word, creating a table so that I was able to have a clear image of what was needed in every shot. To present this on my blog I uploaded it to Slideshare. This allowed me to frame and embed my documents in a more interesting way, rather than simply typing them up on a blog post.
Research
One of the very first things I used was the media platform of Youtube. This allowed me to analyse music videos of a similar genre to my unsigned band, therefore making me knowledgeable on the common codes and conventions used in real world media products. Along with an analysis, Youtube allowed me to embed music videos onto my blog so that I could go back and revisit each video and my findings.
When I did my initial audience research into what my target audience would most like to see in my music production, I used an online survey engine called Survey Monkey. This allowed me not only to create a questionnaire, but also enabled me to create graphs from my results. Being online this helped me to publish my survey, using the Facebook app to distribute my questionnaire to people of my own age, thus targeting my intended audience.
Of course, throughout my coursework I made us of search engines, mainly google to help me with my research. This was heavily used when designing my digipak, having searched numerous digipaks of a similar genre to not only to analyse their design, but also to see how the majority of digipaks were composed so that I could make my own print design relevant to real world products. Below is a link to some of my digipak reasearch: http://nicoleeddy.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/G324%3A%20Research%20into%20digipaks
Another programme which heavily features in my research is that of Prezi. Prezi is an online platform allowing you to create presentations in a semi animated way. I feel this is a more creative process than the use of any other media platform when presenting my work, an example of this can be found below:
Finally, during the evaluation of my coursework I used a range of different technologies. This included the use of a video for question 1, followed by the use of prezi, slideshare and blogger as these form the combination of the most used technologies overall in my advanced portfolio.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Firstly, when discussing the question; 'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?' I will be evaluating it mainly to the significant points referred to be the theorist Andrew Goodwin but also in comparison to typical conventions of my social-realist genre.
When looking at my music video it is seen to be narrative based, so my video tells a story of how a young girl has a strong relationship with drugs and alcohol, what you would say to be an unhealthy addiction. I chose to create a narrative based music video as most music videos in the real world only contain a single relationship between the music and visuals, whether this be narrative, concept or performance based. An example of a solely narrative-based music video is 'A Team' by the artist Ed Sheeran. (screen shot) This gave me inspiration for my own production as a narrative based music video allows a single idea or message to be projected to the audience when their may be several interpretations to the lyrics being put across. For example when the lyrics say, 'Its too cold outside for angels to fly and angels die' in the 'A Team' ,this could have various connotations. My initial thoughts would include that of the theme of death, someone having passed away, but the narrated theme of the music video allows the audience to instead realise that with the character being in relative poverty she has to turn to the illegal practise of prostitution to create a livelihood for herself. With angels denoting good, saying they die narrates how the character having turned to prostitution is seen as bad. Having my video narrative based I feel also suits my teenage audience as this allows them to relate to the also teenage character present in my music video allowing connections between my media product and audience to be established. This is done though the use of mise en scene, camera angles, editing and sound. An example of this may be through the use of a perspective shot so that the screen is not only being seen through the characters eyes whom is experiencing the event, but also the audiences (screen shot)
Andrew Goodwin also states that a defining aspect of music videos is the close relationship between the music and visuals. I feel that my music video challenges this, changing the tone of the music beat. I would say the music is fairly upbeat, having a light touch on the guitar throughout the song however, the visuals of the video change this, making it negative with the isolation and entrapment of the character due to their dependency on alcohol and drug abuse. (video clip) An example of this in the music industry however, is 'Time' by Chase&Status, having music which is fast in pace and fairly upbeat although showing the visuals of physical abuse in a relationship. (video clip) By the same artist though, Goodwin's point is support in the music video for 'Flashing Lights'. This sounds music of both a slower pace and lower beat, resulting in a less fortunate ending with one of the two main characters deceasing. (video clip)
Next, the mise en scene used to shows a relationship gathered from the analysis of the lyrics. For example the lyrics describe a relationship; 'I miss your laugh and your eyes, when you look deep into mine, it will rain when we kiss' From this I thought about more subtle relationships that could be had, such as an addiction, with alcohol and drug addictions being most prominent in society. The theme however was greatly influenced by Ed Sheeran and his song 'A Team'. This is also seen to influence the special effects used, especially that of a black and white colour filter. (screen shot) As the whole of Ed Sheeran's music video is filmed in the past tense, I decided to place a monochromatic colour filter over the film on the chorus of the song. I did this because the lyrics read, 'I took your love last night was it wrong or right, all I want is for your love diamonds'. Saying 'I took your love last night' shows that the lyrics are in the past tense therefore creating connections between the tense of the lyrics and the colour scheme in the two videos. Black and white is usually associated with the past also, as one would think of black and white photos or televisions. There is also a relationship between the music and the editing in my music video. This was influenced by 'Tidal Wave' by Sub Focus (video clip) where there is very fast paced editing at the start of the song to go with the quick beat of the music.
Going back to the theorist Andrew Goodwin, he defines the common aspect of the notion of looking. My music video supports this as the notion of looking can be seen though perspective shots. (screen shot) This allows the audience to follow the female character, assuming this to be from a males perspective.
However, the aspect of star power is contradicted due to the band not being seen throughout my music video. As this is my bands first music video, the audience would expect to see them featured so that an image and opinion of the band can be formed however, my video is narrative in opposition to performed based. An example of this may be 'Time' by Chase&status where characters are shown whom are not in relation to the band in order for a story to be told (screen shot)
The genre of my music video is mainly seen to be social-realist. It fits the common conventions such as reference to alcohol and drug abuse, teenage characters and settings in everyday environments. The location for my music video was chosen very carefully, eventually being set internally and externally around my house. This was established through the use of a wide shot enabling the scene to be established (screen shot) I chose this as it fits the common conventions of social-realist films being set in estates and also the music video, 'Time' by Chase&Status parallels that of the internal filming within my house. (screen shot) Other conventions of social realism have been carried through into my music video including the use of low key lighting to suggest a dingy atmosphere as well as close up shots, allowing the expressions and feelings of the character to be taken in by the audience. (screen shot)
When considering my digipak in relationship to my music video, I followed the general conventions by creating a link between the two. Although this may not be obvious at first, I have attempted to created links between the deeper meaning of the lyrics and visuals, the girls relationship with drugs and alcohol.However, my digipak also challenges conventions as the band are not featured on the cover. This would usually be expected for a first album so that the audience can identify with the band however, a stronger link would be had not to feature the band, as my video is narrative and not performance based.My magazine ad also links to both my other media products, as the same image has been used.This follows common conventions as from analysing a range of magazine advertisements, the digipak or album cover is usually featured.The colour filter placed over my magazine ad is slightly different to that of my digipak having both a mixture of colour and monochrome. This however follows the colour scheme within my music video having both colour and a black and white filter.
Having edited my first draft of my magazine advert, I received further feedback on a range of newly edited adverts. From this I collected responses from a set survey asking questions about preferences on certain areas of my magazine advert such as; colour and different font types. Thus, my audience research helped me decide on a final print text. My decision was also made by receiving initial feedback on my digipak draft, enabling the artwork of my digipak to be reflected in the magazine ad in order to promote the image of my digipak to my intended audience, implementing the digipak artwork in their head. I feel having changed the colour scheme, adding in an area of monochrome, has helped add to the effectiveness of the injection within the dolls face by making it stand out and visually show the negative effect it has on the girl, being represented by a lack of colour. The area of light trails on the left hand side moreover represents that visually of a scar. This has therefore been included to show the damaging effect of the girls alcohol and drug addiction, harming her both mentally and physically. Finally, having added logos relating to the same genre as my Indie Pop band, increases the realism of my magazine ad, along with relevant quotes and purchasing platforms, connotations of which are seen on magazine advertisements in the music industry.
Althausser Althusser used the term interpellation to describe the process by which ideology, embodied in major social and political institutions, constitutes the nature of individual subjects' identities through the very process of institutions and discourses of 'hailing' them in social interactions. Barthes (Death Of The Author) "The Death of the Author" is a 1967 essay by the French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes. Believed that the audience create their own meanings so texts are always unstable and open to question - depending on the impressions of the reader Barthes (images reinforcing cultural myths) This is the way that media representations relate to the broader cultural myths and belief systems. For Example, does the way you've represented males/race/class/age reinforce or challenge any cultural myths? Mulvey The gaze is a Feminist theory developed to highlight the power imbalance between men and women analysing the way men see women, the way women view themselves and other women. The theory suggests that an audience are forced to view the text from the perspective a heterosexual male, films constantly focus on women’s curves and events that happen to them are portrayed at a male angle. Winship The notion
of complicity is about us being prepared for the reward of gratification, to
recognise the ideal version of ourselves despite the anxiety this may cause.
For my magazine ad, I have taken my digipak cover and aligned it central on the advertisement. This allows the audience to identify the imagery of the album, becoming familiar, and therefore being able to recognise it. However, this has been slightly altered so that the band and album name have been removed for the digipak and instead been enlarged at the top of the magazine ad. This has been done to indicate the significance and importance of the text, as the eye typically reads down a page. When editing, I tried out a variety of different colour filters, monochromatic, saturated, along with a mixture of different textures. This allowed me to experiment, seeing what I felt worked and didn't so well. Within my different drafts, all included the typography 'new album - out now'. The inclusion of the word now indicates the urgency of purchasing the digipak along with the feeling of missing out if not. Apart from this I tried out a range of different settings, including logos, dates and ruled lines to add a professional touch to my basic layout. Hence, for my first draft I have decided to go with the bottom left image as the striking colours make it eye catching to the audience, along with the colours representing the modernity and beat of the Indie Pop genre. I further feel that bright colours appeal more to a younger, youth audience, in opposition to the elderly who are associated with less vibrant colours.
Having explained my initial ideas for the front of my digipak in the below post, I have gone and experimented with photography, also using IT software to edit my images.
For my digipak production my initial idea goes as followed;
The front of my digipak will have an image of a doll whom, is flawed and impaired. This will act as a representation of the young girl, a doll further being used to represent the 'perfect' role model to society. Having the doll bashed will show the realistic imperfections of the young girl and additionally the negative stages of which she has gone through growing up, now having both an alcohol and drug addiction. Moreover this could symbolise a 'broken Britain' as youths are becoming increasingly alienated from society. I would ideally prefer this image to be in colour, as the majority of digipaks I have analysed have been in colour rather than having a monochromatic filter overlaid. This image may further flow through onto the back and the following panel of my digipak, showing an on-going image across the horizontal layout.
For the inside panels of my digipak I may use a key prop used within our music video therefore, creating noticeable intertextual references between both my digipak and the already produced music video. For this, I feel that the injection would be a effective choice, photography the projected fluid across the space of the three panels. Again, this would be in colour as I would like to create consistency across the colour scheme, possibly darkening the saturation to represent the negative emotions behind the main song, 'Love Diamonds'.
For my typography I will be using a Sans-serif font as this is the most commonly used typeface from the digipaks I have analysed. In opposition to a Serif typeface the Sans-serif font represents something more modern, generally being used in less formal forms of media. Additionally, the colour of this will probably be either black or white as these are the most commonly used colours due to their contrasting attributes, depending on the colour of the backing image.
When considering the artwork upon the physical CD, there are many different ways in which the artwork has been applied. In some cases the design may be simplistic and in other ways, sometimes highly complicated, mimicing the artwork of the digipak cover. Looking at the CD for the Indie Pop band, Bastille and their album 'Bad Blood', this is seen to only compose both the band and album name. Like I have noted before, the bands name is commonly situated above that of the album title due to the importance of recognition of the band. Likewise to the digipak cover and other relatable media platforms , the typography stays consistent, acting as a logo for the band. Giving the 'A' an appearance of a triangle this further interlinks with the genre of music, as triangles are typically associated with the 'Indie' youth subculture group. The dark, dull colour of the disc additionally interlinks with both the album artwork and the song. Firstly, the colour scheme of the album cover is seen to be sluggish, using dark, uninspirational colours such as browns and blacks therefore, the disc follows through this colour scheme creating coherence across all inputs. Secondly, the colour of the disc also fits the unappetizing emotion behind the song. Lyrics such as; 'As the friendship goes, resentment grows', suggests negative feelings between two individuals, whom were once much closer.
Having analysed the album cover for Scouting For Girls 'Greatest Hits', this is seen to have intertexual references with the album cover. Even though the artwork upon the disc is relatively elementary, showing a landscaped scene, this is also seen as the backing set for the album cover. Hence, coherence is seen across the digipak design, interlinking media products to make the band distinguishable. Having the artwork show a mountainous range could indicate the peace and relaxation emitted by the music of the band. This could further be suggested from the pale blue colour scheme therefore indicating a sense of serenity. Likewise to the album covers by the band, the typography has stayed constant, using a large, unique,sans serif font to act as a logo for the band. Moreover, the texture upon the disc interlinks with that used on the figurative images on the album cover giving a sense of hand-craft and therefore, personalisation for the audience.
Looking at the back of Digipak's, this is the common situation of the track listing. Songs often appear starting with the most recent release first, working down, due to the popularity of the tracks at the current time of the albums announcement. Other songs to be included on my band's track listing include:
When considering a template for my own digipak, I feel a 6 paneled digipak would be preferred as this allows more imagery and text to be presented thus, increasingly personal connections with the bands targetted audience and therefore, fan loyalty.
When looking at Digipak's, there are usually typical conventions followed. Pressume we look at the below level of the template. The front of the digipak oftern presents an intertexual image. For instance the above album by Jack Johnson portrays a simplistic image of the artist, reflecting the raw flare from acoustic music. The focus on the males silhouette playing his guitar from behind additionally indicates that the predominant focus is on the artists music rather than his well-known image. The framing of the artist with his guitar is moreover typical of the acoustic genre, making his music recognisble to a range of audiences, whom may not be familiar with the artists music. From
looking at my bands genre, Indie pop/rock, it is often seen for the main image to be either a shot from the bands music video or an image associated with the deeper meaning of the song. These therefore, creates intertexual references between the album and individual tracks included within the album. This album along with a selection of others I have analysed, all include typography using a san-serif font. For this album in particular this helps connotate the straightforward image of the artist. However, in most album artwork this is used to represent the music as being modern and an informal source of media, in contrast to a serif font used in media platforms such as newspapers. It has furthermore been noticed that the name of the artist or band is situated before that of the albums name, suggesting the importance of the text being shifted towards the artist, rather than the individual, specific release. Looking above, the sticker on the front of the album shows that this is a 'special addition' digipak. This may appeal heavily to the loyal fans of the artist, as it is a collectors addition and therefore, represents a significant personal connection with the artist in opposition to a cheaper internet download.
On the central, back panel, traditionally this is where the track listings will be placed. This allows easy access for the audience, so they know what they are purchasing. When looking at this digipak in particular, a 'uk bonus track' is included. This therefore gives the audience a feeling of exclusivity, as the additional content is not widely avaliable to other audiences. This is much like the exclusive 'hidden' track at the end of some albums, which only a range of selected fans will discover. The back panel is additonally where the barcode and certificates of the digipak are usually found, suggesting the authenticity of the CD.
Moreover, on the first fold of the digipak, this usually includes either additional information on the artist/band or inclusive track lyrics. This allows the audience to create more in depth relationships with the artist and their music, therefore benefiting the musician by creating fan loyality. In contrast, spines of digipaks stay consistant, presenting the same typography as composed upon the front cover.
The inside of digipaks are composed in different ways. When looking at the inside of thus, there is an absense of text within the album. In this case and commonly, this is instead presented within a seperate booklet with slides into a sleeve of a fold. With the imagery within the inside being that of the sea and water in general, this reflects the easy-listening element of the acoustic genre as the sea is usually associated with calm emotions and tranquillity. The seemingly endless expansion of water futhermore interlinks with the title of the album 'On and On' as water is a never-ending natural resource in the world. The pale shades of blues moreover suggests the natural production of the artists music, in contrast to that of genres such as electronic. Furthermore, associations such as serentity and infinity are created which thus, interlink again with the title and the calm, melodic style of acoustic music. Finally, the image of the sea has connotations to the artist, being raised on the coast of Hawaii with a passion for surfing. This allows a personal connection with the fans of Jack Johnson, giving them a sense of subtle devotion.
In this case the tray of the CD is postioned in the middle of the 3 panels however, this can be placed anywhere, depending on what is presented on the other panels.
When looking at the magazine advertisment for the above digipak, this is seen to be incredibly similiar to the front of the digipak. The same image is presented and the typography remains constant however, with a change in colour and position. This shows that the artist has used intertexuality to create his identity, making adverts and merchandise instantly recognisable, acting almost as a symbol or logo for the artist. This moreover attracts the artists appealing audiences as being familiar with the magazine advert allows audiences to become mundane with the digipak, ready for its upcoming release. Having analysed a range of both digipaks and magazine adverts, it has become clear that musicians generally use their digipak cover as their A4 magazine advertisement, influencing the production of both my meida texts.
Main image
There is always a main image used to represent or distinguish an artists unique style. This may either be a photograph, for example on the album cover for Bastille, 'Bad Blood' or an illustration such as on the cover; 'Scouting For Girls'. Having analysed selected digipaks, the main image is usually displayed in order to portray a particular song or even the in depth meanings behind. This contrasts with that typically of the Pop genre, usually having the artists face or appearance upon the cover.
Artists name and album title
After my analysis it has become clear that the artists or bands name is usually situated before the name of the album, with the natural eye working down the album cover. This is probably due to the significance of importance of the artists name over the name of the album. For instance, with the recognition of the artists name, this allows the audience to research and purchase further media from an individual artist in the future.
Track listing
Basic background information on the band/artist
Record Label
Barcode - showing authenity
Inside Panels
The CD and maybe a booklet. This would often include images of the artist or band with something symbolic printed inside, behind the placement of the discs. Furthermore, there may also be information about the album, lyrics to the songs and quotes by the artist.
Here I will be analysing the digipak, 'Sigh No More' by the band Mumford & Sons. When looking at the front cover, this is seen to see the composition of the band standing in the window of a shop. This may represent the band as being down-to-earth, as the high street would be associated with the middle class person instead of the rich and famous, of which the band are. The colour scheme of these shots, shows that these were captured in high key lighting, suggesting that these were taken during the day. Overall, the digipak projects a sense of purity as the majority of the album is white in colour. The other colours such as browns and greens are usually associated with nature, suggesting that the music produced by the band is natural rather than artificial, unlike that of genres such as electronic. The typography on the cover additionally sees this album to appeal to the elder youth to a greater extent. The use of a serif font, gives the album a more formal appearance as this font is more commonly associated with writings in letters. Furthermore, with the font being aligned central and in capital letters this would suggest that the band perceive this information as important, giving both the band and the album an identity. This is so due to band using the same font as a consistency throughout their albums, acting as a symbol or logo to recognise the band by. Having the band within the composition further allows the audience to connect with the genre of the music, associating with and creating links between the fashion of the band, influencing youth subcultures.
The same theme is carried onto the back of the digipack, seeing a window composed central. One would say that this is a close up shot of the original long shot image on the front cover. Likewise, the typography is identical, being aligned central and having vertical lines in between each of the songs, interlinking with the underlining of the text on the front cover. The bar code and mediated logos also follow this formatting.
When looking at the inside of the digipack, the middle face of the pack is seen to hold the image. This sees the composition of four windows, each with a band member sitting within. Again, this allows the audience to get familiar with the artists, placing an image of the bands name and possibly even the indie pop genre. When looking at the dress of the band, this fits into the typical Indie Pop look with the band members wearing shirts, those of the quintessential denim or tartan style. This can therefore interlink with other bands that I have studied such as Scouting For Girls and Bastille.
To the left of this, a plain white background is seen with a small intricate image. This is furthermore seen on the artwork upon the disc, suggesting this image is acting as a logo for the band. Analysing the disc, this compliments the colour scheme using two contrasting colours of black and white. Again, identical typography is presented on the disc, aligned central in the same font and size as that on the front of the album cover. The artwork on the disc is kept minimal, representing the typically slow and calm pasted music of the band. This opposes a busy and colourful piece of artwork, that which I would associate with a more upbeat genre.
Looking at the the magazine ad for the promotion of the Mumford & Sons album, this is seen to mirror the trend and appearance of the digipak. Correspondingly, white is used as the predominant background colour, having constant capitalised typography with the digipak. Having the text composed at the top of the advertisement in a large font further grabs the audiences attention, with the natural instinct to read from top to bottom. The advertisement has limited text upon it, rather choosing to promote the artwork of the album, to familiarise the audience with the appearance of the digipack. Additionally this has been sized to realistic dimensions, enabling the audience to establish themselves with the proportions of the artwork. Looking in the bottom left hand corner, the album was awarded the Mercury Prize for An Album of the Year. This may therefore act as an incentive or influence for audiences to buy the album due to recommendations from within the music industry, a non-bias source. For more information on the Mercury Prize see below: Mercury Prize Information
Opposite, in the bottom right hand corner the typography displays; 'Gentlemen Of The Road'. This refers to the bands concert, being geographically situated in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. Hence, this is featured upon the album in hope to advocate their concert, both for their audiences and own benefit.
This Is England is British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows in 2006. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983, meaning that the time between the events taking place and the film being made fits into the 13-25 year boundaries.The film illustrates how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indian culture, especially ska, soul, and reggae music, became adopted by white nationalists, which led to divisions within the skinhead scene. Combo, an older skin head whom has recently returned after a prison sentence, expresses English nationalist and racist views, and attempts to enforce his leadership over the other skinheads. This leads to the splitting of the group, resulting in the gang engaging in racist antagonism. Notes from 'This Is England'
The main character Shaun, is initially not in mainstream society due to the young boy being bullied. He then decides to join the 'Skinheads' however, neither is this group in mainstream society unknown to his acknowledgement.
At different stages, Shaun saw both Woody and Combo as a father figure - Shaun's dad died in Falklands War hence, why Shaun agreed with Combo's racist viewpoint.
This Is England sees a similar ending to that of the youth culture film Quadrophenia with the ending of both subculture groups - Shaun throwing away the British flag parallels jimmy driving his scooter off the cliff.
The Skinhead subculture group revolves around fashion, music and beliefs. Like that of the Mods and Rockers in Quadrophenia.
This Is England was made exactly 25 years after the event.
After finishing our initial final editing for our music video for the song 'Love Diamonds' by You Are The Empire, we had a class screening. This involved inviting people in from around the college, both students and teachers to view are music video and give as feedback. For this we designed a survey asking both qualitative and quantitative questions.
When analysing our results, certain things appeared dominant for us to change. We asked the question; 'If you could make one suggestion for improvement on our editing, what would it be?' To this question our main response was to shorten the editing on our drug dealing sequence. This was an opinion given by multiple people hence, in acknowledgement we did just this, cutting out the repetitive clips and instead having fewer clips which were longer in length so that our editing continued to match the length of our recorded song. Furthermore, most of our questionnaires suggested changes or additions of colour filters. Due to the vast amount of suggestions, we could only change our music video to suit some of these, using a trial experiment to see which of these were most effective. As a result to the questions, 'Do you feel any other colour filter should be used?' and 'Can you make any suggestions to improve the video?' we took the response to add more of the black and white filter, and applied this our video. Having a black and white colour filter already on a single chorus of our song, we agreed to repeat this on every chorus so that our music shows consistency with our effect choices. In addition, this also countered our feedback to make our music video less colourful at the end by placing this filter over our end sequence. To other replies such as to use a blue or red colour filter, having experimented we found these options to be less effective, in some cases distorting our footage hence, we decided to not alter our final editing in these ways.
Here I have been experimenting with fonts for our album artwork. When analysing other 'Indie Pop' artwork, the majority of the typography has been presented in a sans-serif typeface. However, here I decided to experiment with both typefaces against one another to see which projected itself as most effective. For this, I feel that the sans-serif font appears more modern hence, fitting with our adolescant audience to a greater extent. Having decided this, I went onto looking at more artistic sans-serif fonts.
The first font I decided to look at places the name of the band in captial letters. This initially promotes the name of the band as being important. Further, this could present connotations of the band being loud and therefore, proud of their music suggesting strong characteristics. The modernity of this font also immediately stands out, fitting the audience for our band, 'You Are The Empire'
The next font I chose to look at differs quite greatly from the appearance of the first. Using individual square blocks to made up each letter, suggests that the letters are breakable. This therefore indicates the delicate nature of our female character in our music video, 'Love Diamonds' . This could additionally depict our 'Broken' society, with a widening gap between the behaviour of youths today and the morals and beliefs of the elder generation.
The next font shows a patterned sans-serif typeface. Having compared this to the above, I feel that this would not be the best typeface to represent our band as I feel this font would appeal better to a younger audience.
This font appears to be more simplistic than the others I have looked at however, connotations give that the band is natural. By this I refer to the solo production by the band, singing, producing their own backing music and writing their own songs. This font additonally matches that of the album; 'Greatest Hits' by Scouting For Girls, creating links between to bands of the Indie Pop genre.
After analysing the album cover for Bat For Lashes, 'Two Suns' and their extended play, 'Daniel', it is conspicuous that their are interrelationships between songs and their artwork. Having realised this, I have applied this to our own song, 'Love Diamonds', finding images off the internet as an initial influence.
The first image I found was this. This comes from a more abstract perspective, showing the evolution of humans along with their characteristics. Hence, a likewise image could be photographed with our starring female actress in order to show the evolution of the girls addiction, starting from the one off drink to a relationship being formed with both alcohol and drugs. Furthermore, this would establish a relationship with our music video and the album artwork, likewise to that of the extended play, 'Daniel' by Bat For Lashes.
The next image I came across was that of a young girl being tied, and pulled by some rope. I think this would be a good visual description of our young girls addiction. Addiction, promoting words such as; control, weakness and enslavement. This would therefore act as a more subtle approach, visually displaying the consequences of the girls alcohol and drug abuse. Although, this would be effective imagery, I feel trying to photograph something similar may be quite difficult. However, we may take the rope as an active prop in the role of portraying entrapment or jurisdiction.
Here, a doll is seen to be flawed and impaired in a monochromatic colour scheme. A doll could be used as a representation of our young girl, acting as a symbol of a broken society through the consumption of alcohol and drugs. Furthermore, this could depict, the negative changes from our girls childhood through to the present. The monochromatic colour scheme of this, could moreover create channels with our music video, as a black and white filter has been placed onto a number of our shots. Photographing this image I feel would be the most feasible therefore, this may act as a base idea for our album artwork, incorporating elements from other sources to explore the themes present in 'Love Diamonds'
Finally, this image could be used as an interpretation to our song. Having the glass in front of the characters face demonstrates the girl being trapped and corned. Not only this, but this could suggest the character being captured in her own world, this relating to her alcohol and drug addiction which is overwhelming her life. In addition, this could interlink with the key theme of reflections in our music video, an image acting as if the young women is looking at herself. In addition this could be something we could photograph with our main character hence, this may be an idea which we could develop on, possibly incorporating an alcohol bottle or something with likewise connections to our music video.
When looking at the Indie Pop group, Bat For Lashes album cover, this is seen to be different in comparison to the artwork which I have already studied.
Once again, the album is composed using the rule of thirds. Splitting the album into three vertically, the alignment of the girl is in the middle third. Likewise, if you were to do this from a horizontal perspective, the head of the girl is also central on the album cover. This therefore structures the girl as the most important image on the cover.
Unlike the other albums already analysed in the Indie Pop genre, the album and artist names are only small in comparison to the visual elements. This is especially so for 'Two Suns', the name of the album, being positioned in the outset of the landscaped background. Although with small typography, the typography of the bands name stays consists across all of their albums, acting as a symbol of recognition for the artist.
Furthermore, the artwork acts as an illustration for the songs on the album. The song 'Two Suns' is a record of modern-day fables, exploring dualities on a number of levels. Hence, the two planets in which the girl is holding in either palm. The starred halo around the girls head also delineates the philosophy and metaphysical ideas concerning the connections between all existence explored within the song, interlinking with religious images of Jesus. Additionally, this would clarify the use of candles, having traditional connotations with churches due to their symbolic meaning of light.
Everything upon the cover is seen to be natural, rather than man-made. This sees connotations with the songs on the album such as; 'Moon and Moon' and 'Siren Song'. This may further explain the pure and native colours being used, that of green, blue and brown.
When looking at the Extended play, 'Daniel', some themes are likewise present in the album artwork. Anew, the album is composed in the rule of thirds having the artist in the central third when dividing the album vertically. As on the album above, the typography for 'Bat For Lashes' is identical when looking at both size, font and the position in which it has been placed, acting as a symbolic logo for the band. Furthermore, the artwork fits into the naturalistic theme, having only a plain, landscaped background. This could additionally add to the philosophical perspective, portraying what was created when the earth was brought into existence.
The single's cover additionally features a young girl with an image of the character Daniel LaRusso painted on her back, from the film Karate Kid. This interlinks with the music video for the song, 'Daniel', having a character much like LaRusso displayed at the end of the music video.
By analysing the artwork for, Bat For Lashes, this may be used to help influence our own artwork. Connections would be consolidated by creating relations between our own music video for the song, 'Love Diamonds' and our album artwork through the establishment of in depth meanings. For us, themes may include; entrapment, fixations and relationships.
