Thursday 18 November 2010

Thursday 18th November 2010

MAGAZINE ADVERTS FOR ALBUMS

Louise Aubrie - her name and the album name are shown twice as she wants to be recognised by people. Once she has been recognised she may not feel the need to show her name twice. The use of sans serif font stands out as it is also bold showing again that she wants to be noticed. The picture looks as if she is about to perform on stage, however, she is in a hallway so it doesn't really make any sense why she is set up for a performance when she is standing in a hallway so it loses creative points there for me. Also her eyes are focused on the right hand side with a nervous facial expression; is she looking out towards the audience and is nervous? The colours are pink and black so it looks girly, maybe linking back to her music? The advert has her producers name on it however not a label company, and also has her myspace, so it still shows that she is new to the music industry.



The Verve - The name of the band catches your eye with the black/boldness which contrasts with the gold looking sky/sepia tones in the background - the light shining through the clouds looks like Gods love is shining through for the people. Also the central placing of it looks like a film poster or a book so does not really look like an advert for an album. The font is quite strange, they seem like they are in italics and the album name is in capital letters, suggesting that the album is more important than the band itself. 'The Single' is not in the spotlight so people may think it is an advert for a film because it isn't stated on what it is, although because they know who the band is they may not even think that.

Gwen Stefani - This is a painting of her as a Queen looking serious even though she is slouching in the chair. It has the picture of her album in the right hand bottom corner and this shows her messing around and maybe misusing her royal status? The colours in this advert connote royalty such as the gold and red and also the font. She uses features such as songs, websites, company label etc.

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Thursday 18th November 2010

ALBUM COVERS!

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Here you can see that the album cover has no font, so you could interpret that they believe they're so famous that everyone will know who it is. The idea of the colour scheme of the prism spectrum suggests that the band are intellectual and their music is very smart - the prism reflects the bands intellect on how well written the music is. I believe that the album cover is a piece of art in its own right, due to the fact it would be recognisable in the shops and it would catch your eye.


Nirvana - Nevermind

On this album cover, I don't think the font relates to the music at all - just the image of the baby underwater, the album name seems to look as if it is in the water and the bands name is old fashioned in a serif font which doesn't relate to the music they play. They may be suggesting that their bands music of an old fashioned quality, although I don't think they have achieved this as their music doesn't suggest old fashioned morals. The colour scheme suggests melancholy mood and the graduated colour may connote good and evil? The image on the front is shocking in itself as the thought of a baby losing it's innocence to try and grab the filthy ideal of money - money is the one thing in this world that anyone would do for and lives ruin because of this factor. So the idea of the baby actually diving in to grab it, is shocking and makes us think - are we really deprived from luxuries at such a young age? The band haven't used a picture of themselves as the picture of the baby is shocking enough to show that it is the band anyway and because of this the album cover is a piece of art in its own right as it is symbolic and memorable.



Coldplay - X & Y

Again this cover has no font maybe suggesting that because they have had 9 albums before it, their fans will already know who's album it is, so they don't have to write the bands name on it, that could also be said about the band not being pictured also. The picture on the front is obscure, you can't really describe what it is but the use of primary colours makes it stand out which catches your eyes, however the picture is meaningless, it doesn't tell you a story that you can really relate to and doesn't say anything about the music in any sense. We could interpret that this cover is too clever for its own good; even though its simple, it is still intriguing to look at; your left looking at it thinking what the hell is this??


The Killers - Sam's Town
The neon sign looking name of the band has been their iconic font since they started and gives the album cover a modern feel. The calligraphy of 'Sam's Town' shows a major contrast of the two and makes it seem like The Killers is more modern and hyped up than Sam's town which seems old and run down. The black and white colour scheme suggests memories, reliving what's past, so maybe the Beauty Queen used to live in Sam's town and now she is famous and has moved away? Also the beauty queen and the goat symbolise feminism, Beauty Queen = Pageants and the Goat = sacrifice and because of these pictures representing feminism, it gives off a mysterious feel. Again the band aren't pictured, but because of the huge The Killers on the cover, fans can see who they are. I wouldn't say that this is a piece of art however it is creative in a sense. We just have to keep wondering why there is a Beauty Queen and a goat on the front cover :/


Queen

The use of the word Queen in a royal style font suits the band as they are indeed royalty to the music industry - most creative men we have ever seen hit our screens, so the medieval font suits the high standards of their music. The band are focused in the middle of the album cover surrounded by darkness with a strong light focused on them and the faces are looking down on us - the fans - which suggest they believe they are royalty, in a sense they are looking down on us like snobs. There is a suggestion of religion with Freddie Mercury crossing his arms over his chest - making the sign of peace? And the men are placed as if in a cross? The bands picture also seems to be like a still from the video 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and this is because it was an iconic video for the band, so they could have incorporated this as the album cover as it was so iconic. The cover isn't a piece of art however Freddie's eyes are the only one's being shown suggesting he is the king?



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Monday 15 November 2010

Monday 15th November 2010

More research into Ancillary Products......

So far, we have been learning about the conventions of an album cover and how we should apply this to our own cover for our own album. I wanted to have the seasons and the singer incorporated in it, so I firstly thought; how about putting the different seasons on the 4 pages - front cover, left inside, right inside and the back cover. Then I had the idea of having the hummingbird as the main focus for the album, with Imogen the singer on the front and then maybe the Hummingbird on the back with the track listing going down the feathers. Inside I will have the eye of the bird where the CD is with Imogen either lying in the eye or just the eye itself, I don't want it to be creepy, as the songs are more beautiful then horrific...if you get me?! And to show off my lexical talent, I would pefer to have acknowledgements and dedications to show how Imogen (the singer) has got that far to make a single.


Here's a picture of the planning of the album cover, which are the ideas above :)
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