Album Magazine Adverts compared to their Digipaks

Ellie Goulding - Lights
As you can see from the image to the right both products look very similar, mostly because the same picture is used for both. The advert promotes the album very effectively because the target audience can easily identify who the artist is from a distance and gain an idea to what the album is going to look like. The font used is exactly the same, it's the biggest piece of text on the advert and therefore the reader is going to know who the advert is in relation to immediately. Otherwise they could just turn the page before they read it properly. In smaller text below 'Ellie Goulding - Lights' there are quotes from album reviews and this in a way is the artist's evidence that the album is worth buying. The positive reviews are going to attract more buyers (click to enlarge the image).

Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History
Again both products look very similar with the same picture and fonts used for both. Across the top of the advert the artist name is clearly displayed in the artist's own trademark font. Beneath this and the album title it states that the album is out now and it makes it clear that it is their 'debut album' so it could appeal to anyone. It also lists a number of their hit tracks which feature on the album allowing the public to link the songs to the band/album. One song in that list could be the difference between someone buying it or not. A very clever piece of marketing shown on the advert is how they've listed all the gigs that they are playing at along the bottom and then over the top wrote 'SOLD OUT' in bold font. This shows the public that they are a successful band and that they are popular, so it's worth buying the album.





Florence and the Machine - Lungs

 As you can see on the right the advert promotes the album perfectly with the same image being used on both products. The picture is of Florence herself and so the customer will be able to identify the artist very swiftly. Like we've seen before the fonts are also the same between advert and album showing a direct comparison between the two. The writing on the advert is white on a black background so therefore the text is very clear for the public to see. The most important piece of information is along the top, being the artists name and this is in the font which Florence and the Machine always use, appealing to the target audience. Below the album name is the release date informing the target audience how long they have got to wait before they can purchase it. In smaller text it then states a few of her more popular songs which feature on the album, letting the public know what they can expect when they get their hands on the album. Lastly, in a slightly bigger font it says what forms you can buy the album in, like 'vinyl' or 'CD' for example. This informs the public that the album is aimed at a wide range of people.

Album Magazine Advert

The magazine advert needs to promote the artist's music and create excitement for the target audience. It must showcase the release date for the album because then the public know how long they have to wait until they can rush down to the nearest store to buy a copy. It also needs to display quotes from album reviews and album ratings, like ' **** - A Phenomenal Piece of Work' for example! Most importantly it should highlight the artist's name and the album title, so the public know what they are looking out for. To make the advert stand out in a magazine it needs to have an eye-catching picture, typically a picture of the artist. We need to decide whether we are going to have a photoshoot for the magazine advert or use one which we've used for the album cover. Most commonly magazine adverts show the picture found on the album cover and this is what we're most likely to do.

Digipak - Existing Products

I went through the CD rack at home and searched for a few CDs I could analyse of a similar genre to our music. I took a picture of both the inside panels and the outside. Here's what I found....

Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

Admittedly the consistent house style isn't immediately evident in this digipak, but then you look closer and aspects of the design reoccur through different panels. The cat which we see on the front cover is very abstract and has know relevance to Two Door Cinema Club's music at all. However, weird and wonderful ideas are used in Indie music and that's why the fans love the music. The cat's eyes reoccur on the actual disc in the digipak showing some consistency in house style. In terms of colour scheme, two of the panels are white and the other two consist of dark colours and have a slightly fuzzy effect to them. Again this shows some consistency in house style. The font used for the cover is the font Two Door Cinema Club always use and this is a quick way to identify the band. The font reappears on the disc as well. On the back cover of the album like we see on the majority of albums there is a list of tracks which feature on the album. The font is Two Door Cinema Club's very own again and the text is centred.

Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto

The name of the album, 'Mylo Xyloto', has an unknown meaning, even Coldplay themselves haven't really made up a true meaning for it. Therefore this has given them the freedom to create wild and wonderful ideas for their album, there's no barriers as to what it can be about. Here the bright fluorescent colour scheme clearly boasts a consistent house style throughout. The use of bright colours is going to catch the customer's eye and also it's something the CD is going to be remembered for. The front cover has the album's name illustrated in a big bold font across the middle of it. The actual font design is distinctive and it occurs throughout the album, showing just the outlining of the letters. In the top left hand corner there is a sticker which informs the customer of a couple of the hit tracks it has on the album. This could make the difference in a customer wanting to buy it or not. The back cover lists the tracks from the album where the text is centred and in the font we see on he front cover. The inside cover show's the initials of the album name which again reminds the public of it's identity.

 Kasabian - Velociraptor
This album clearly has a consistent black and white colour scheme running through it. The album name is 'Velociraptor', the name of a dinosaur, this idea of dinosaurs is shown on most panels of the digipak. The front cover shows four cavemen screaming. This links to the dinosaur age theme, where cavemen would have been terrified of the dinosaurs. The idea that there is four of them makes me think that each one represents each band member as there are four people in Kasabian. The name of the album is presented just below the band name on the front cover but upside down, as in a mirror effect. This is used on the back cover aswell, below the list of tracks is an upside down picture of the band. I think this picture of the band is important because it reminds the customer of who's actually produced the music. The inside panel shows what appears to be another caveman like character walking a dinosaur on reigns, supposedly the Velociraptor? When I first looked at the disc to the digipak I just thought it had a pattern on it but if you look closely there are four faces screaming on it in the same positions as the cavemen are on the front cover.

Digipak - Research

So what is the importance of the Digipak?
The cover of the Digipak is the first thing the customers are going to see when they walk into the music store and so it must be able to catch the eye of any potential buyers. The cover must represent the artist and also give the public an idea of the genre of music they'll find when they buy the music. The picture on the front of the album isn't just going to be on the CD, it will be seen in magazines, on t-shirts, on the internet and on television. This means that it's vital to get the cover right first time and make sure that it represents everything about the band and the music. The colour scheme and house style must be consistent through all four panels of the digipak. For our media products we''ll be looking to use dark colours because the majority of our music video is filmed at night time.


What design do we put on the cover?

Looking at existing products from our genre of music it seems that half have computer animated images/cartoons on the cover and half have photos. Something they all have in common is that they're all abstract and slightly edgy, this reflects the music genre. We are thinking of taking a screenshot out of our music video and editing it using photoshop. This way there will be clear coherence between all of our media products, this is essential.


Are the other three panels even important?
When I first heard about this part of the project this question came to mind, but now I've realised that this is a silly question. If the other three panels didn't matter then you would have a lot of disappointed customers when they buy and open the CD. The back cover and both inside panels must share the same house style and themes as the front cover so the audience have a way of identifying the album (eg. the fluorescent CD or the desaturated CD). The inside panels is where the audience are going to actually find the CD so they will pay attention to the designs as they pluck the CD from the "teeth" of the hub which secures the disc in place.

Digipak - Research

I've looked on the internet for Fenech Soler album covers and single covers for inspiration when we come to making our digipak. From the collage you can see that they all share similar characteristics, they all seem to have triangular shapes on them and the font is the same for most. We'll have to consider this when we make our digipak although these look hard to recreate.

We were thinking of using a photo but these all look like computer animated images. However, if this is what pleases the target audience then this is the route we'll have to consider taking. To produce our digipak we'll be using Photoshop.

Klaxons - Golden Skans

This song is called 'Golden Skans' by the band 'Klaxons' and it was released on 22 January 2007. The music video is directed by Saam Faramand and is heavily influenced by "Can You Feel It" by The Jacksons. It features a message at the beginning very similar to the words spoken by the narrator in the "Can You Feel It" video. It also features other elements from the Jacksons' video including an inventive and contemporary use of light and dark with all three band members wearing different coloured ribbons, and moving dramatically to the music. 

The music belongs to the Indie genre, a similar genre to our song choice, and the colour scheme and abstract happenings in the video reflect this music type. The video is in a dark setting and the singers seem to be getting wrapped in brightly coloured ribbons, not something we see in your typical music video. 

The lyrics don't seem to correspond with the visuals in this video because the meaning to the lyrics is unclear. The only thing you could say matches the lyrics is that they seem to be throwing gold around in one stage of the video perhaps linking to the song title and chorus words 'golden skans'.


Although the lyrics don't correspond with the video a great deal, there are similarities between the music and the video. The pace of the song is reflected by the pace of the cutting in the video. During the slow verses the cuts are very slow and less exciting but when the chorus drops the visuals become more dramatic and the tempo increases. Also throughout the song we can hear sounds of explosions and these are shown in the video, they are perfectly placed at the beginning of choruses and at drops in the beat for emphasis.


This was the Klaxons first song and so they had to make a big impression. That they did. They illustrated themselves in a very dramatic and extravagant way connecting to their Indie target audience. There are plenty of close up shots of the band so they audience know who they are listening to. The record company are going to want to sell this track by it being recognised by its weird and different video. When people hear the song played on the radio the image of the singers getting wrapped in ribbons will come to their minds. This video represents their image as a band because it is their first step into the music scene.

The video can be perceived as a bit sexual because the artists aren't wearing any clothes however I think that they are just trying to look natural. Plus as I mentioned above the video is quite abstract and so the naked effect adds to it. The artists are very animated in the video, they are smashing and throwing things. The actions are emphasised with the use of over-cranking, this slows them down so we can see the impact of what they are doing.

There are no clear intertextual references other than the obvious 'Can You Feel It' by the Jacksons.At the opening of the video we see a message across the scene, and this is also featured in the 'Can You Feel It' video. Other elements from the Jacksons' video include an inventive and contemporary use of light and dark with all three band members wearing different coloured ribbons, and moving dramatically to the music.

This music video definitely isn't performance-based, it is narrative-based with maybe a hint of concept. The artists aren't singing on stage but are singing along in their video, at the same time their video doesn't have a story to it either. Again making it quite abstract. I'm beginning to think the video is concept-based because it seems to revolve around ideas rather than have any sort of storyline to it.

Conventions of Music Videos

Different types of shots used in music videos are used to create an emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Close ups are used to get a sense of how the artist is feeling whilst singing the lyrics whereas long shots gives the viewer a sense as to where him/her or the band are at.

Camera movement is used to trace the performer(s) and follow their movement, the pace and timing of this helps to make the viewer feel involved and primarily makes the video more exciting.

Mise en scene can tell us as a viewer a lot about a song, this helps us to gain an understanding of the music. This includes things like clothing, lighting, colouring, props and settings. For example an artist could be dressed in black clothing, sitting in a room on his/her own and filmed in black and white. The dull colours would reflect the artists down mood in the song, this can also be supported by the type of lighting. It could also suggest that the artist is lonely or isolated because of being in an room without any company. Colour schemes tell us a lot in music videos, they can set the mood of the song and thus create a type of atmosphere. Typically indie/rock videos have dark colours and pop/hip-hop videos have more bright colours.

HipHop/Rap/RnB

In this genre of music we seem to get a reoccurring theme of women and money. Most of these music videos are set at parties or nightclubs and it shows the artist having a good time surrounded by women. Expensive items are also flaunted showing the wealth of the artist and this is also reflected in the lyrics of these songs, lines like 'money over bitches' are used. A lot of over-cranking is used in these music videos to create emphasis of the emotion and the location they are at. Again to show off the wealth and location long shots seem to be used often in this genre type. Bright colours in these videos are used to reflect then cheerful mood. The video below shows most of these aspects especially the idea of the video being set at a party.

Pop

Pop music is mostly associated with happiness, this is shown in the music videos through the mise en scene. Bright colours are often used and the artist is normally dancing around expressing their emotion. The lighting is nearly always high-key to reflect the upbeat music and mood. The editing is normally of a fast pace to create excitement and to please the target audience which tends to be the younger generation. The artist is normally singing in the video and there are lots of close-ups on his/her face to emphasise their joyous mood. Costumes can vary a little bit, sometimes the artist can be wearing quite extravagant clothing to make a statement like Katy Perry in 'California Girls'. Sometimes the artist can just be wearing clothing of the latest fashion and trends. Below is a current music video which has the bright colour scheme and which therefore suggests a happiness about it. The performer has a modern and up to date look about her as shown by her costume, hair and make-up.

Rock/Metal

This genre of music often has a depressing manner about it and this is reflected in the music videos with the low key lighting and dark colours. The bands often wear black clothing and sometimes even dark eye make up to show a sense of evil. Often the artists have dark clothes an black hair but a very pale face to show their lack of emotion. A band known to have a scary nature about them is Slipknot, they wear masks which put the viewer on edge. The pace of editing in this music genre is normally fast to go with the fast pace music and close-ups are used to show the instruments being played. The majority of these music videos are performance. Below is a music video by The Rasmus, the lead singer has the stereotypical rock look as I described above with the dark clothing and hair but white face. The video has consistent low-key lighting.

Eminem - Stan (Short Version) ft. Dido

This video is called 'Stan' by Eminem and it is from the genre of Hip Hop. The dark colour scheme with murky greens and grays is a typical characteristic of a Hip Hop music video, reflecting the serious meaning behind the music.

In the video we see 'Stan' writing a letter and we see and hear him rap it at the same time, thus matching the lyrics. Through the song Stan's words become more harsh and he becomes frustrated, this is also shown in the visuals as we see his face screw up.

Also more specifically there is a line where we see Stan with his little brother standing outsidein the snow waiting for Eminem to come out from his concert and we hear the lyrics, 'That's my little brother man, he's only six years old, We waited in the blistering cold for you, four hours and you just said, "No."' Another example is when we hear the line, 'I seen this one shit on the news a couple weeks ago that made me sick' and the visuals match these lyrics by showing a cut off the news.

There is no obvious relationship between the music and the visuals, like the cuts aren't necessarily on the beat and the pace of the editing doesn't change much. Arguably some would say that the pace of the editing picks up in the last scenes as Stan is driving his car, the pace of the music in this section is still the same pace as the rest however. To add drama to these violent scenes strobe lighting is put in, making it appear even more edgy.


Although what is noticeable is that we see Eminem when it's his part in the song and Dido when its the chorus and she sings. As the viewer we are encouraged to sympathise with Dido because she is the one who has to suffer with Stan's obsession with Eminem. To support this the colour schemes surrounding Dido in the video are all dominated by warm colours like yellow and orange. On the other hand Stan is often under low key lighting surrounded by grey and black colours, suggesting that he is the unfavourable character in the relationship.

Although Eminem doesn't feature in the video much himself the whole song is about a fan who is obsessed by him. This is how the record company are looking to sell the track, all listeners of the track are going to remember it for the video with the obsessed fan in. Eminem isn't actually filmed in the video until the end but his face features in it throughout, with posters of him on walls and clips of him playing at concerts.
I believe that the artist in this video is trying to send out a message to his fans, that he cares about his fans but that he doesn't support obsessive fans like Stan. This is expressed through the line, 'And what's this shit about us meant to be together? That type of shit'll make me not want us to meet each other'. I feel that he's trying to portray himself in a positive light as a star who has such a busy life but still makes time to contact his fans.

Coldplay - The Scientist

I haven't just chose this video because it's one of my favorite songs, the time and effort put into the video is incredible. The idea for the video revolves around the line in the song 'I'm going back to the start'. In the video we see Chris Martin (the lead vocalist in Coldplay) have a car crash and the aftermath of it, however the twist is is that it is all done backwards. But there is another twist still, although his actions are all in reverse, he sings the correct way. It took him months to learn how to lip sync his song backwards.

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Some say that Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' from 1982 was more of a film than a music video, it was directed by the film director John Landis. It's duration is more than double the usual durations of other music videos and it seems to have more of a story line to it compared to other music videos.

This is one of my favorite music videos because I believe it changed music videos forever. Other artists became inspired by this video to make their videos more dramatic and film-like.

History of MTV

MTV

MTV's launch date was on August 1st 1981 and it played a range of songs such as:

'Video Killed The Radiostar - The Buggles'

'In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins'

'Fashion - David Bowie'

'She Won't Dance With Me - Rod Stewart'

On August 1st 1981 launched with the words 'Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll' from John Lack and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia and of the launch of Apollo 11, this happened earlier in the year and was therefore massive then. Then in come he MTV theme music with footage of Apollo 11 landing on the moon, MTV used this as conceit to portray it as the most famous moment in television history. The first video was 'Video Killed The Radiostar' by the Buggles and then in between each video the viewers would see a blank black screen while an employee at MTV would insert the next video.

The impact of MTV was almost immediate. This was shown after a couple of months when records stores were selling tracks which weren't being played on radio stations.

Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" in the eighties became embedded in public thought and so MTV grew in popularity. MTV has been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and television programmes, films, and books.

Today however MTV is more popular for it's reality TV shows like 'Jersey Shore' and '16 and Pregnant'. MTV has smaller sister channels today to promote music videos like MTV Base, MTV Dance, MTV Rocks and MTV Classic.