Album Artwork Mood Board

In order to produce a digipak I will not only need an overall understanding of digipak conventions, but need to also take inspiration from more specific album artwork within the pop genre. Album artwork is the fulcrum upon which the design of the overall product is based; it is the most important part. I've  gathered together some existing album artwork to create a mood board which will hopefully influence the design of my product. I'll briefly try to pull out any apparent conventions that I haven't already noted.

Looking at a variety of digipaks in addition to those above it's apparent that the majority of "rock" artists utilise their name at the top of the artwork and the album title at the bottom, over or aside, between or aside an image of the artist. Some do not show the band or artist, some show logos and other features that are representative of the band. It's shared knowledge when audiences can recognise bands or artists via a logo.

All the digipaks seem to be designed quite neatly, with things positioned centrally in the middle of the frame or in line with other elements. For example, with the band kiss, their title is positioned directly in the middle at the top and they are directly in the middle underneath.  Obviously this contributes to their professional look and appeal, everything has been carefully considered to attract audiences. In many cases a minimalistic is adopted with purely text and a single image. The products are therefore quite striking given the little available space, and would stand out in a point of sale display.

All of the adverts have a distinctive "star image" about them which matches not only the artist, but the album itself. Many factors contribute to said "star image", including colour, any visual effects, the pose of the artist, etc. Using the example of Kiss, we know as a audience they are quite extravagant and abnormal so the way they are all standing shows individuality and their  'star image'. I have noticed that a common colour in most of the album covers is black red and white this just signifies what style of music it is and has different connotations, e.g. the Green Day cover has a red heart with blood pouring down - this could indicate a heartbreak or some sort of emotional difficulties within the songs in the album.

Interestingly, Razorlight have used a continuous theme of black and white which is highly simple but extremely effective, they are all stood in different positions that appear quite natural and not staged which again adds to individuality of each band member. No really impressive editing has been done however in my opinion it's one of the most eye catching album covers i have seen just because of the simplicity and unique assets it has.

All of the adverts have a distinctive "star image" about them which matches not only the artist, but the album itself. Many factors contribute to said "star image", including colour, any visual effects, the pose of the artist, etc. All album artwork, and thus respective digipaks, have a very carefully considered colour schemes in which elements complement and contrast each other to emphasise certain aspects and to create a more cohesive product. The majority of the covers have a lot of black on them which shows conventions of the genre and also looks quite sophisticated and professional in my opinion. Some for example, the Rolling Stones cover juxtaposes and challenges rock conventions by bringing in bright colours and a bit of excitement.

Although Lady Gaga's genre is pop, she portrays quite a rock look throughout her videos. On the album cover shown above it has a motorbike with her head on with a black background which to any normal person would look rather weird and inventive, her album cover is always similar to her actual videos which helps with advertising. This is a very successful and effective means promotion as the themes underlying the promo package are very integrated and cohesive.

Although not artwork as such, I've noticed a growing trend in the back panes in CD cases / digipaks being increasingly simplistic and raw, with plain white backgrounds, minimalistic list and no artwork or imagery. Some don't even present the songs in traditional list - or even with numbers! Slashes are sometimes used to separate the songs out.

Advert Analysis

We need to analyse an example of an album advert taken from a magazine, as I will be required to produce such a print product as part of this project. I will analyse the advert concentrating on its design (i.e. font, typeface, colour etc.), its function, including media theory where relevant.

This advertisement is for The Horrors “Strange House” album. The album predominantly consists of "rock" music and so it is appropriate given that we want to create a media product that is based around the rock genre.

 

By looking at this advertisement, almost instantly we focus on the band, this is because they are placed in the centre of the image. This is done because the band is what us as the audience are purchasing, we are purchasing their music so it seems right that they are the main focus point. The overall appearance of the band, along with black and white colour of the advert, does justifiably give a goth-type look, which is cohesive to the music that they play as it is what us as the audience would stereotypically assume. We can see that all the band are dressed in the same theme, of which gives us a dark, eerie vibe which most rock music is suited to. One of the band members does stand out as he is wearing a white top, whilst the others are wearing black. By giving him this distinctive appearance and making him diverse from the rest of the band members, this could indicate that he is in fact the lead singer, thus making him a bit more unique.

 

The setting of where the image has been taken to us looks like a house, moreover this would be significant given that the name of the album is called "Strange House". First of all the curtains that drape besides the couch of which they are sitting on is peculiar, the curtains have a vintage look due to the patter that is on them, also they look rather 'posh'. In addition to this we can see there is the head of a pig hanging on the wall behind them. We usually see these sort of antiques in posh, old houses hanging above fireplaces and the animal that is portrayed is stereotypically something like a dear of some sort. However in this image it is a pig, and we believe that this emphasises the idea of this "strange" appeal. Combined with the curtains, both of these furniture features give the room a vintage, yet strange look which is cohesive to the album name.

 

Due to this being a magazine advert, it gives the band a chance to advertise specific things such as merchandise, release dates and tour dates etc. As the whole idea of the advert is to advertise and sell the new album to the audience, it has the words "Album Out 5th March" at the bottom of the photo in a big font size. This is because it is purposely standing out so that the audience will read it, taking in the information of the date of which the album is released. Moreover we notice that there is some feedback on the bottom of the advert in small font. It is in small font because it's not important from an aesthetics point of view, however it does play a crucial part in the advert as it is genuine reviews from legitimate sources. By using these positive reviews for the audience to read, they are more likely to buy the album as they are going to believe what has been said.

 

Audience Research Findings/Analysis

Props and Equipment

For our music video we do not need any props apart from a guitar in which our newest actor William will be using for the sequences in the video we can hear a guitarist. Emily, our female actor did not require any props as we thought the narrative is so emotional and heart felt, it didn't need any. All that was required of us to take to film was a camera and a tripod which made it easier to carry.

Audience Profile

Based on my Audience Research, I am now able to produce an audience profile of the average person I will be aiming my music video at. This will be based on both the demographic information that respondents gave, but also their opinions and musical tastes, etc. As such, the Audience Research Survey and corresponding analysis document should be viewed in conjunction with this part of the coursework, however the key relevant findings are summarised as follows;

• More female responses 
• Most responses ranged between 16-20
• Most respondents were students 
• A lot of people favoured both colourful exciting videos and dull emotive videos
• Rock, dance and heavy metal where the most favoured music genre
• People like videos to follow their genre conventions 
• People listen to music to relax and engage with the lyrics 

I have tried to utilise this information, as well as specific responses given, to produce who is, in effect, the average respondent to my survey, and thus my target demographic. 

This is Kate, she is seventeen and has just started her second year at college. She studies Media, English and Photography. She made a lot of friends in first year and thoroughly enjoys college now. She listens to music all the time! When she is at parties all of her friends like different genres so variations of music is played and she personally likes all types of music but favours rock.  Part of the "digital age", Kate has a musical encyclopaedia at her fingertips in the form of the internet and will share her favourite songs and videos with her friends on Facebook and Twitter, who in turn do the same. Her musical taste is ever-evolving and becoming more refined like most educated young adults, and as a result enjoys unusual, creative and "arty" music videos that challenge the conventions of her beloved rock genre. 

Websites like Digital Spy and music forums keep her up to date with the latest showbiz gossip, and the latest music videos. On such forums she has recently discovered the likes of indie pop bands Goldfrapp and The xx, and likes the former's simple iPhone-filmed video for "Yellow Halo", but still has almost paternal love for today's mainstream artists.

Kate has a rather dull pessimistic approach on life so she can really relate and understand the rock genre as aposed to others who think it's boring depressing and irrelevant.  

Kate' scope of the rock genre is expanding. It is becoming much wider and as such, she has recently discovered the likes of The Rolling Stones. Also she said she now uses Spotify which is a music app full of every single song. She often uses the uk top 40 rock charts to see what's new. 

One of Kate's playlists:

1. Welcome to the black parade - My Chemical Romance
2. Hope for the best - You Me at Six
3. Rat Race - Shikari
4. Still into You - Paramore
5. Dont Stop me now - Queen 
6. Bring me to Life - Evanescence 
7. Young Volcanoes - Fall Out Boy
8. Rockstar - Nickleback
9. Back in Black - AC/DC
10. You wanna know - Don Brocco

Music Genre

Digipak Research

Digipak research from chanjam

Magazine Advert Mood Board

Not purchasing music magazines that often, it proved difficult for me in sourcing magazine album adverts that belong to the "rock" genre, and as such I've complied a variety from across the web. 

Following on from the digipaks, these adverts will hopefully inspire the creation of my own through a greater appreciation of their trends and conventions on a wider, collective scale. Alas, there is less to discuss in relation to a compilation of adverts as their designs are largely based upon, and reflective of, the accompanying digipak. I will however give a brief discussion of how this is done, and any general trends which I will need to follow (or deviate from as the case may be).

As already mentioned magazine adverts follow same style, themes, colours and layout as the album they are promoting - often the same images are used also, only larger, If this is not the case, the images that are used tend to be from the same photoshoot.The main difference between the two is obviously the available space and so all elements have  the capacity to be much bigger, particularly the text, for a greater visual impact on the reader. However, the image still remains the biggest selling point.


Almost all magazine adverts that we researched, had either the band name or the band itself in the centre. This draws audiences in immediately and puts dramatic focus on the band member as the page is about them.There are various configurations in which this is done, but almost always the artist's name is bolder and bigger than the album title, again emphasising that a lot of sales purely come through reputation alone. 

9 Frame Analysis (Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag)

Advert Analysis (Green Day)

We needed to analyse an magazine cover advert as we will be required to produce such a print as a part of this project. We will analyse the advert concentrating on it's design (i.e. font, typeface, colour, style, iconography), it's function, including a little media theory where relevant.

This is the advert for GreenDay. We know they are a rock band and they do portray typical rock conventions, I enjoy this advert as it is very aesthetically pleasing. This advert is very colourful with the band being rock, this creates a dramatic contrast between the band and some of their lyrics, this does portray their "star image" extremely well. The connotations that relate to the bands style of music help emphasise what they associate with. The vibrant flashes of green throughout really liven up the cover and make it more interesting! All of the writing on this advert, is bold white, green, black or yellow, this is a busy advert but effective and it looks good, this is a current theme throughout which makes it professional and continuous. The positioning of the members has been arranged in the way that the lead singer is in front and the musicians who don't sing as much opposite each other just a bit behind. The deranged, weird and blunt look they are all showing fits what type of music they create, this shows their rock, grunge look and as they look quite serious; it informs us as the audience they mean business. The whole frame is brightly assembled and is very eye-catching, as apposed to this, the band members are all in black, they bright colours juxtapose rock but add excitement and a sense of wildness in their music but their clothing which includes : leather shirts, studded belts, stripy tie and black trousers which presents them in a more rock way. The green has ironically been added because of the band being named 'Green' day.

The references to other brilliant rock bands and artists on the page insinuate that GreenDay are a good, talented rock band and support them well. This advert is bringing GreenDay back into the limelight with a new album, "return with the album of the year" which is in a red box drawing the readers attention immediately. It is the only red asset on the page which indicates, importance and emphasis. A quote has been included, which I presume is by the band, which states "we are gonna do this band till we die" - this has been added because the band at the time had not been making music and publishing it, they took a kind of gap year to do what they want, this quote is really hyperbole and makes the audience think that GreenDay are back better than ever! Black clothing makes them look more pale, this shows them in a more rock way as they are showing a stereotypical gothic look which suits the band well. 

Mise en scene is fantastic in this frame, the heavy editing of the colours etc. helps maintain design and illustration, it's is kind of made cartoon like which is entertaining and appealing. the resulting effect is easily achievable but has pleasing aesthetic qualities. As everything around the band is rather bright and flamboyant, it draws direct attention to the band members which is what the intention was. The GreenDay name on the page is one of the aspects that stands out the most again reiterating the idea that the band is the main driving force. 

In the top left region, it says "new music first" this would also draw the audience in because the band had not made an appearance in a while so when they see that they are returning with new music, it would make them want to listen and find out more.

Choice Of Editing - Final Cut

Final cut Express will be used to edit my music videos. It's considered one of the most comprehensive and advanced pieces of semi-professional editing software. It is very nearly industry standard and offers a number of features such as: tracks, slicing (jump cuts), and the slug which will make the process of editing much more efficient and quick. These specific features will probably be explained in the Evaluation stages when the project is finished. The software also offers a number of high-quality visual filters, e.g. mirrors, changing the colour etc. which will make the video more interesting and dynamic, visually unique - but again very professional. it also  offers support for my HD-quality videos.

We have also experienced with the programme at AS for coursework and so editing should be ideally efficiently quick.  We are familiar with it's inference furthermore the "Test Editing" process will allow us to get back into using it before i begin any serious work that will actually be used in the best product.

Choice Of Editing - Photoshop

We will be using Photoshop for our editing, it's inference and the abundance of high-quality, professional and flexible features it offers. As such, Photoshop will be used to edit the images for the digipak and advert. It filters, tools and abilities are very create and as such I expect myself to create some very interesting imagery, bearing in mind genre conventions and what I've planned. Unlike Final cut, which is almost industry standard.  

Rough Cut Two

Even though there's still a long way to go, with lots of gaps, and some major issues with the video, We have made some good progress within the editing. 

A large portion of the rest of the video, although synced, is disorganised with clips and short sections of editing jotted around in an incohesive fashion. This is because I have been editing on what I call "staple basis"; I've been using all of the clips that I consider to be the best out of the footage and then the gaps can be filled at a later stage and amendments made to make the narrative flow. However, I do feel I've been using a variety of clips from all the different scenarios. 

A few single shots have been placed randomly for experimental purposes, i.e the shot where 

At the moment narrative has been quite easy to follow, but the sections which have been edited work very well and look relatively professional and cohesive when considered on their own. We are particularly proud of the overal look and style our video is portraying and the darkness within. A few parts do need to be more speedy and/or jumpy to complement the music. This would then match the flash at the beginning of the video. 

My main concerns for the next rough cut, apart from to fill the gaps and to re-sync the beginning the video of course, are to reconnect the offline media and to look at the gaps. We have begun to use this technique to remind me of what I need to fill in or look at. In the case of the overlayed studio shots where there's text, which does look very good, adding an extra visual dimension to the video, I'm unsure if it is synced properly or not. It is difficult to tell with clips overlaid and so I'll have to hide them all and check one by one. This will take time but will be worth it. 

Additionally I feel that so far most of the excitement comes from the editing and camera movement so there needs to be a few more dancing shots also. 

Rough Cut One

In this first rough cut, we managed to do edit one minute fifteen second, because of location difficulties we did not follow the storyboard as such however we made it more creative and safer for Emily. Some of the shots where rather shaky however as a group Jamie and I figured the shaky shots could be metaphorically symbolic of Emily's emotion.  In terms of continuity, I think the clip does flow quite well and there are no major errors. Some shots do appear a little but blurry but again it does make it look rather unique and again represents emotion.

Some parts; Emily does come in a little late in which we will sort and make look perfect. I especially like the part where she is in the garden reaching out of a photo frame , I think it looks creative.

Overall the filming that took place and the editing that was done shows what we wanted to portray and we are quite happy with that, we aim for our next rough cut to be better in terms of editing skills, also maybe include some different lighting techniques to make it look professional and varied

Storyboard

Taking on board the planning we've done so far, we've visually developed our ideas into the storyboard which will provide the basis for the filming process. In addition to this we've written a minor amount of detail of how we will produce each shot, for example shot types, editing techniques etc.

Storyboard Anamatic

Using the storyboard, we've taken pictures of every frame and used these images to create an animatic, which gives us a better understanding of how the music video should look once completed.

Inspirational Music Videos

Welcome to The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

 

Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance is a video I watch often because I thoroughly enjoy the rock genre. The rock conventions used portray the message excellently. The dark colours used throughout create a gothic gloomy tone and make the video look authentic. The use of dark makeup is effective because everyone in the video looks in character, and when watching this you know they are all in the same boat. The costume and art design portrays the narrative well, dark clothing create a star image. The lip syncing is beyond perfect and the video has been a complete success. Even if you didn't know the band you would know from watching the video without sound, what genre it is - this is because of the rock conventions shown, things like: guitarists, drummers, explosions, patriotism and colour. As a result of this, in the editing process of my video I will watch it without sound and make sure I have typical rock conventions, not only will this make the video interesting to watch; it will also attract our target audience because as a producer we like to please and ensure that the audience watches and listens to our videos because it's what they like to see in a video.

 

Complicated - Avril Lavign

This video is excellent in showing pop rock! Our target audience, as well as being rock lovers, is teenagers! The conventions in the video Complicated attract teenagers, the clothing, the lyrics, the style. Avril starts out with a group of boys in which teenagers can associate with because it's what they want, male attention. She has a skateboard which has now become quite a trend with the younger generation so in this video she is classes as a 'skater' - this actually juxtaposes with the 'Sk8ter boy' song. The overall video has a natural look to it and uses low key lighting, it doesn't look to professional and staged, it's more spontaneous yet still very fluent. We see parts when she is singing with the rest of her band; the guitarists and drummers are shown which gives it a rock feeling to it. I would like my video to look quite natural and not to choreographed so I will inform Emily to do what comes naturally with a little direction from us, I think this will make the video more enjoyable to watch and I do want people to 100% enjoy viewing the video and want to watch it again.

 

Jail House Rock - Elvis Presley

 

This song by Elvis Presley has also made it on the list of my inspirational music videos, this is because it has been listed as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In today's rock videos we wouldn't as such see dance moves and choreographed movement, it's more typically to be spontaneously formed and this would create a natural effect. We thought because Emily (main character) has a dance/drama background we could try and make the video effective with movement but again it will not be too choreographed; we will ask Emily to do what she wants and to just feel the music and follow the movement from the lyrics. In this video he does wear black clothing but everyone looks like clones of each other this did work well - look effective and eye catching however  in our video everyone will be wearing all black but different clothing to show variety. Jail House Rock topped the country charts for 1 whole week and also reached top single in the UK for a week! The setting on this video is just simple, in a staged jail, although still looking highly entertaining and effective to the audience. 

 

Basket Case - Green Day

 

 

Basket case is song by American punk rock band Green Day. It is the seventh track and third single from their third album Dookie (1994). The song spent 5 weeks at the to of the Modern Rock Charts chart. Green Day vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong quoted the song was about his struggle with anxiety before he was diagnosed with a panic disorder years afterwards, he thought he was going crazy. Armstrong commented that at the time "The only way I could know what the hell was going on was to write a song about it." I like this video because the bright colours and high key lighting mise en scene aspects juxtapose with original rock, however this is punk rock and it works really well, for our video the colour scheme will mainly be black, but looking at this we thought it would be good to incorporate bright colours somewhere, i.e. in the characters hair, we would use a colour like red or pink because the song is about a broken heart and flashes of pin and red could be ironically symbolic of her heart.

 

Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones

 

The Rolling Stones song  Paint it Black is an old classic rock song, I like this video because it's not completely edited and remodelled in the editing process, in fact it didn't have a editing process, it's a live performance which still portrays rock conventions. We see the hair cuts are all quite similar and now in todays society people now tend to listen to rock typically have long hair which would kind of cover the face to portray a moody kind o depressed look, when we look at Goths/emos we automatically infer they listen to rock music. The irony of the song painting it black could by a metaphor for the world turning to rock. The music video is black and white in which I think although back then they couldn't produce things in colour, overall it looks effective. 

The Calling - Wherever you will go

Wherever you will go by The Calling is a personal favourite, the low sort of relaxed hormonal tone it has really emphasizes the message.  I like the fact it looks like a typical everyday band practice, teenage girls will latch on to this punk rock look and think it's aesthetically pleasing. It's almost the opposite of Male Gaze. The instruments they use are perfectly synced and just give the music video a musical feel. The close ups used when the lead singer sings certain parts are used to dramatize specific aspects of the song. We will use close ups to show emotions within the character. Long shots have also been used, these show everything within the frame, such as: colours, costume, props, instruments and setting. 

Digipak Template

In order to help us produce our digipak to the correct measurements, we decided to download a template from the internet in PDF format, this can be opened in Photoshop and the images for each layer be imported in place within the guidelines given. A blank copy of the template is shown below.

Digipak Research (Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City)

Like the advert, it is vital to analyse the deign of a digipak as i am required to produce a product like this as a part of the brief to create a music promo package. 

Vampire Weekend - Digipak

This is the digipak for indie rock band Vampire Weekend 'Modern Vampires of The City' album. the package continues the theme 'of the city' with a blurred overview of a city. Personally i think that the creators of this have been quite clever, because in my opinion the digipak is simple however there is still a lot going on. The simplicity of the black whites and grey colouring makes this aesthetically to view.  This cover is symbolic of the band, the contemporary, relaxed kind of indie look is a perfect visualisation of the group. When i bought this album i was drawn in to the font used, the italic cursive writing made it look appealing and quite futuristic. Also, their is an additional cover that places on top of this which is a flowery vibrant strip placed on the left. This juxtaposes with the indie rock band, although it looks eye catching and different. The band is the most important aspect of the whole digipak this is why 'Vampire Weekend' is in the centre of the digipak and it creates a sort of star image. The big bold white evenly spread font draws the attention to the band name and specifically focuses on them. 

This is the actual CD inside the packaging. Again we see the typical theme of black and white with an aztec kind of design. All of the bands songs are named around the CD which is unusual but again is symbolic of the band itself. Obviously there wil be no movement on the CD however it has been modified on the internet to move, this looks quite abstract and different. The font again is eye catching and stands out, we can see it's in white and it is the largest aspect of the CD.  The CD looks rather professional and unique. 

The chronological listing on the back enables the audience to specifically select certain songs and helps them memorise the order so soon they will know which song is which number so they can skip to the ones they want to listen to most. The row of songs as aposed to being in a typical column shows individuality within the group and makes the back of the case look exclusive. As the audience, i bought this album and i liked all of the graphology shown, particularly on the back. Modern Vampires of the City in bold, italic and cursive font just concludes the album and i think looks rather  mature. The whole idea of the digipak which is quite individual and contemporary is made omnipresent throughout which creates a continuos theme. 

Recce Shots

This page consists of recce shots, they are images of the location that we will film within. These will help us through the planning process of our music video and will enable us to produce more ideas. Moreover it allows to look, in detail, at what the location has to offer, things we may not have noticed whilst taking the images. As you can see, the location gives off a dark, gloomy vibe and I think it is the perfect match to go with our song, as it too gives off the same vibe; they certainly compromise with each other. Also, this means that it well work well hand in hand with the narrative, making the music video cohesive with the conventions.

This picture shows a damaged part of the house which looks ruined, messy and decayed, this is perfect for our video as the location and every picture represents her emotion in the song, ironically the pictures match the song perfectly.

This is just another shot of a room which again is showing ruin, we will use low key lighting in the editing process to show a dark gothic tone.  Also the emptiness of the room is symbolic of her broken heart.

We took a picture of this long kind of corridor to emphasise her struggle now she is heartbroken and could show how long it will take for her to recover. Everything we see in the frame suits the song and also looks imaginative and different.

This wrecked doorway looks quite old fashioned so we thought if we aded low key lighting and have Emily walk through it, it will create a old gothic look, again everything has been vandalised which finishes the overall look we want for the video.

We thought we would create the video on different locations of the house, this photo is from outside. it does look a little bit more brighter and by looking at it has happy positive connotations although being ruined.

This is more or less the same picture, we though throughout the video we could use the same locations area and switch the angle when the lyrics have a turning point - you could say they change in angle represents a juxtaposition in the lyrics., as we know in the song Amy sings about her heart being broken and how she can't cope but knows her being alone will stop the metaphorical pain.

I liked this picture because i thought that the red walls and red door could metaphorically show her heart, i think it is effective when the location has a hidden meaning.

The graffiti shown on the wall here looks effective, also if it's windy on the day we film, the leaves and other things around this part will move creating a ghostly effect.

As we walked round our locations we found variou rooms, they all loked particularly similar but also quite different, the detail on the wall and the decay on the floor made this room look old  evolving and ruined.

We particularly liked this room as it was more secluded and when we looked inside it made us feel a certain way because of how dark, mysterious and unique it was. Most of the rooms had flashes of red/white in them whereas this room was just blacks and greys.

As a group we decided we liked this balcony and the barricaded window, this could show how she is trapped maybe and emphasise her aloneness.

This establishing shot shoes a side view of the house, in the dark this is a scary locations which will really help tell our narrative and also because it's an old house it portrays typical gothic/horror genres.