Best Album Cover Article

When researching a number of artists and their albums in an aim to find inspirations for the creation of our Pop Rock album cover, I came across an article posted on the Hotmail homepage. I was intrigued by the title of the article '(Some of the Best) Album covers Ever', and decided to read through the top twenty four most influential covers. Although there were twenty Three covers, I have chosen four of my favourite and listed them below.

Muse- The Resistance

The use of colour in this image is the reason why I have chosen it to be one of my favourites. I admire the clever futuristic approach suggesting that the album is different from Muse's previous albums as it focuses on futuristic aspects, which are also reflected in their contemporary music videos such as 'Undisclosed Desires'.

Elvis Presley
This album cover is one of my favourites as it is simple, yet striking. This is shown through the clever use of contrasting colours, as Elvis Presley's name stand out in bold against the black and which image of him. Furthermore, the lack of objects in the background also make Elvis the centre of this image and also captures the energy and excitement behind the music.

Bjork- Medúlla

Once again this album cover uses a simple technique, which I find most powerful. I am fond of portrait album covers with a twist, in this case I view this album cover more as an art due to the unique title in the form of a necklace, which reads 'Medúlla'. Moreover, this may not be apparent to people who do not know of the artists or album name, hence creating a sense of belonging for Bjork's fans.



The Link to the whole article revealing all twenty four most influential albums is :
http://music.uk.msn.com/photos/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=151624991&page=1

Editing 2

On the 14th of December the production team and I went to City Learning Centre to make use of their equipment. Previously we participated in a work shop at the City Learning Centre which allowed us to understand the software Garage Band, however this session gave the group the opportunity to edit our film with help from someone with years of training using IMovie. As we had begun piecing together our film, our aim was to continue with this and hopefully reach half way through our song, however, this was not possible as we encountered problems whilst editing.

To begin, we were told that out shot transitions were too slow, hence not changing with the beats of the music. Nevertheless, our assistant provided us with a technique that cut each clip to the precise timings of the beat, this was done by adding 'time markers' to our song on each beat.

Secondly, we were unable to apply the Blink 182 influenced transition to our video, as this was not included in the software we were using. It is for this reason that the team and I have decided to apply 'wipe' transitions from right to left, and back from left to right . (This is shown the the storyboard below.)

Famous Album Covers

Nirvana- Nevermind
Kirk Weddle is renowned for the most iconic image in rock music, Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album cover of a four month year old baby swimming towards a dollar note. On the day of the photo shoot, Weddle was working on an idea that was influenced by the bands lead singer Kurt Cobain. However, it is said that "...Cobain had the original concept of wanting to show a mother giving birth under water...but he compromised to have a baby swimming under water instead..." This image has become one of the most iconic images in rock history as it caused so much controversy, and was even banned from being sold in super markets. Nevertheless, due to such high demands Nirvana compromised to place a sticker over the baby's privates.


Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
A number of Pink Floyd albums and single covers were designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie, however they never lacked criticism and controversy. For the 'Dark Side of the Moon' Pink Floyd's record company wanted to create an album cover that was '...smarter, neater and more classy...' Hence the simple but bold prism image, which was influenced by photgraphs that a member had seen while mind mapping ideas. This design was "...perfect for the band..." as it represented three aspects, the band's stage lighting, the album lyrics and the request for the cover art to be simple yet bold.


The Rolling Stones- Let it Bleed
The 'Let it Bleed' cover reveals a surreal sculpture of a phonograph playing a Rolling Stone's vinyl, and the spindle holding several items on a plate. This items include a tape canister, a clack face, a pizza, a tyre and a cake with figurines of each band member. This sculpture by Robert Brownjohn was influenced by a Rolling Stones' single 'Automatic Changer'.

Album Cover ideas and Iconography

Today I began mind mapping my ideas for the production of our album cover. I explored a number of images and produced a collage, which I believe conveyed our genre of pop rock.

Editing 1

During our lesson on the 11th of December, I felt that the team and I made progress editing our clips. Our first task was to crop the scenes as the camera person was not aware that the white background (which was intended to be hidden) was visible behind the red curtains. To crop the images we watched a short clip YouTube which inspired the use of cropping, rotating and the Ken Burns effect.



We then added the music to the I movie programme in order to begin cutting clips, and applying them to the correct time of music. Although this sounds simple it was in fact challenging, since we had to apply specific scenes on the sharp beats of the song. As the song's intro is relatively long and included quick, sudden beats it took a lengthy period of time to construct the film for a short piece of time, however we were able to edit the first 20 seconds of the song.

The History of Album Covers

Roles
Album covers serves extremely important roles in advertising music, these roles are:

• To advertise the content of the music product.
• To convey artistic aspirations of the artists.
• An image of a piece of artwork which is always recognised to be related to the music artist.
• Also, it acts as a protective sleeve.

History
In 1910 the 78rpm records were created as a replacement of the phonograph cylinders.
Phonograph Cylinder

78rpm record and cover

These 78rpm records were approximately 10" to 12" and were packaged in large brown paper sleeves, which were commonly plain but sometimes printed with the names of the producers and retailers. During the early 1930's album collections were beginning to be sold in packages, which included songs of the same genre, or the most recent popular songs. However, album covers and album packages became most appealing in 1938 as Columbia Records hired their first art director who invented the concept of album covers and cover art. Soon after other record labels noticed how beneficial cover art was, and began featuring their own colourful album covers.

The album cover became an important feature in the music culture, as well as acting as a marketing tool, it was also appreciated as just art. Albums became desirable as it began including gate folds with inserts of lyrics and images of the music artist. Soon covers became extremely notable, even the artists gained fame from both inside and out of the music industry. Nevertheless, as technology is evolving the purpose of album covers are changing since the sales of music online is increasing. However, this has given record labels the opportunities to begin using other medias such as websites, artist blogs or social websites such as twitter.

Uploading and Editing

In today's lesson we uploaded our film onto the Mac computers in order to begin editing our promotional music video. Since the software has been updated the team and I did not feel comfortable using the programme. Therefore, we felt that we needed to begin applying different transitions and effects to our clips to help us gain further knowledge about how to use the new version of I Movie in more detail. While applying the various effects to our video clips, we realised that we were unable to apply specific colour effects, for example, we could not tint the clip red to make the setting appear romantic. However, we soon accomplished this by searching for simple I Movie tutorials on YouTube.

Filming 2

Today I was able to finish the last scenes of filming, since the production team and I realised that we did not have enough film to produce our three-minute music video. As our storyboard was altered and some scenes were added and deleted, my aim was to continue filming sections of the storyboard that we added in, however, this also meant thinking about the locations for filming particular scenes.

The first scenes I began filming were the scenes of 'Superman' (played by Krishna Mootoosamy) and the female character (played by me, Reena Chadee), enjoying themselves while being together. As a team, we wanted to make use of domestic areas, such as a bedroom as it gave the audience a sense of comfort. Furthermore, the narrative shows that both the male and female character builds a good, fun relationship before going out together.

The second scene was set in a park, and reveals the couple having fun on various children toys. This then shows that the couple have built a relationship and have changed their perspective about each other, hence the change in setting representing the changes in their relationship. Moreover, a park was used as it emphasises the fun in their relationship and the childish aspects that they both share, this again relates to the idea of using marvel as an inspiration.

Moreover, the attire worn by the couple are similar to what was worn in previous scenes, but some aspects of clothing are intended to be different. Again, this shows the changes in their relationship, nevertheless I understand that this may appear as a non continuity error. However, the outfits only change slightly, such as the change of shoes, as this reveals the slight changes in their relationship, rather than dramatic. Moreover, the female is seen wearing a male cardigan, which in effect belongs to her 'Superman', therefore showing a sense of sharing and an increased relationship.

Re-Thinking Story Boards

After looking through the hours of film that we have produced, the team and I realised that due to the lack of variety in our scenes, the storyboard may have to be changed. Although we planned to film in open areas such as 'Camden Town' we concluded that there was not enough time, due to the filming deadline. Moreover, due to the absence of the younger characters (who was supposed to star at the opening of the music video) we decided to film at a later date, however this also passed the filming deadline, and was therefore not valuable. Finally, we came to the decision of re-thinking our storyboards and changing the structure of our music video.
Although the storyboards show the length of each clip, for example [0.4 sec] these are only estimations and do not equal the end two and a half minutes.

The Final Storyboard is shown below...
(Click on the images in order to enlarge)

Filming

The production team and I began filming on the 5th of December. Our intentions were to film a majority of the scenes in one day, as it would help with the continuity of the filming, furthermore, it meant that the characters looked the same throughout the music video. Although the team and I had decided to film from 10am, there were a number of problems that occurred which prevented the early start for filming. For example, the team had the intentions to set the first scene at April's house as there were large seating rooms, which was perfect for our 'dating scenes'. However, due to difficulty moving furniture the location had to be changed, hence the music video being filmed at a different location. This problem also caused much disorder when changing the setting, Mise en scene and lighting of the room, nevertheless, I overcame this problem by rethinking our storyboards and angles of the room, and by 12pm we were able to begin filming. This gave us sufficient time to film the main scenes in the music video, however once again due to problems involving the time we were not able to finish filming all the necessary scenes. We have now decided that the finishing scenes will be filmed at a later date, given that the cameras do not need to be returned.

We filmed the characters walking from a distance towards the camera, in order to create a jump cut effect between the characters. This revealed that all the characters were walking towards the same place, however it reinforced their diverse style, and even suggested their personality through their actions.

We also filmed our characters using a Medium Long shot, this was to show the protagonist female character comparing the three boys, as she has a chance to choose her love. The Medium Long Shot also allows the audience to choose between the three boys, based on their attire, body language and facial expressions.

We also filmed our dating scenes, however as the set of the filming was changed at the last minute, the lighting was a problem for our new setting, this led to the scenes appearing grainy. Nevertheless, we used Two Shots to emphasise the connection between the two characters.

Extreme Close Ups were filmed in order to highlight the aspects of the character's attire. This technique should influence the audience's ideas about the characters, moreover it indicates the characteristics of the character and suggests the storyline.

Further Analysis of P!nk's Abum Cover

Analysis of Album Covers

As one of the ancillary tasks for the coursework involves creating a record cover for our artist, I thought that it would be appropriate to analyse record covers that belong to Pop Rock artists. This is because their record covers would pose as good example and could motivate the creation of our cover. The artists covers that I analysed were Lily Allen's 'Alright, Still', Pink's 'Funhouse' and finally Avril Lavigne's 'The Best Damn Thing'.

Representation Theories

Music videos are often used as a great source to analyse the processes of representations such as, gender, sexuality, race, nationality, culture, messages and values and even different attitude towards war, politics and environmental concerns. There are a number of theories supporting these representations, and the reason why the subjects are portrayed in specific ways, for example:

Voyeurism
This theory derives from psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud, however it originally refers to the 'erotic pleasure gained by looking as a sexual object (usually when the object is unaware that they are being watched). Nevertheless, as an audience watching a film or a music video, we are all voyeurs. Laura Mulvey proposes that because mass film makers are predominantly male, the presence of women in a film is purely on display for the 'male gaze', rather than having an assertive role in a narrative. Goodwin supports this by arguing that females are frequently portrayed in this fashion through camerawork and editing with body shots emphasising their sexual identity and sexualised treatment. On the other hand, there is also a theory supporting a 'female gaze'. This is the idea of male bodies being on display for women to gaze upon, making the female no longer an object, but instead revealing power.

Exhibitionism
In recent years there has apparently been an increase in independent female artists. Madonna is a prime example as she is known to be a powerful female artists who has added to the complexity of the gender and culture debate. This is because she is represented as sexually provocative and controlling over the sexualised gaze. This is known as the 'Exhibitionism theory' as women are portrayed as inviting yet controlling. Though, it can be said that females on display in music videos are simply used to increase the male profit margins.

Star Construction
The construction of a 'star' is said to inter-relate with theories such as 'Star Image', 'Star Vehicle' and 'Star Power'. Richard Dyer says that "A star is an image constructed from a range of materials".
For pop music, these materials include:

• The songs (lyrical themes and genre)
• The record covers (Singles and albums and the image of the star)
• Media coverage (Interviews about career and private life)
• Live performances (The image portrayed through stage shows)
• Music Videos (This draws upon the image presented in the other materials)
  

Star Image
The Star Image is the study of how the star is perceived by the audience and their characteristics, which may be constructed by the media. The construction of the star is an aspect that can only be controlled by the star and their employers, however music promo videos can also play a role in the constructions as music promo videos have the ability to create an associated iconography.

Star Vehicles
The star vehicle is based on the product that is constructed around the image of the star in order to promote them. An obvious example would be music videos, furthermore music videos aid to either reinforce the star's existing image, or even take their image further. This is particularly useful in the case of lengthy careers, for example Madonna, and often represents the shift from young artist to mature, representable artist.

Star Power
The Power of the star takes several forms, such as:

• Economic Power through sales of products.
• Artistic Power through creative control and their own image.
• Ideological Power though influences on their audience, which can take the form of fashion and opinoins.
  

Filming Problems

Today the team and I were scheduled to begin filming. On the morning of the November 28th the production team and I had gathered all the props necessary for the scene and were ready to meet in Enfield Town to buy the final props. However, we were soon contacted by two of the actors who let us know that they could not attend the shoot days due to emergencies and illnesses. Although it would have been wise to continue filming the scenes without the actors, we realised that there were only a few scenes where the actors were not needed. Therefore, we have rescheduled to film the weekend of December 5th, nonetheless this only gives the film crew and I one weekend to film the music video. It was also proposed for us to film during the week, but we were concerned that it was necessary to film during daylight, this could not have been accomplished as the evening fell at four thirty. This did not give the actors and the crew enough time to meet and begin filming.

Production of Props

Creating Props

During today's lesson the team and I were given a chance to begin making props. The main prop that we needed was the sign post which read 'Saucy Single's Speed Dating'. However, when making the poster we made sure that it depicted the correct representation of our 'Speed Dating Service'. Hence our specific use of colours, symbols, font, this is shown in the diagram below..

Props we need...
Based on the iconography of each character from a previous post, I created a list of items which the groups needed in order to make our characters and setting appear verisimilitude. These items would be classed as the Mise-En-Scene, which plays a large role in the representations portrayed. For example, the use of candles at out speed dating setting suggests a very romantic atmosphere, moreover, it will also add soft lighting to the characters making them look dream-like. Secondly, the black attire worn by the 'Punk' will reinforce his dull personality and ambiguity as his role is very reserved. The use of glasses, and braces worn as the Geek's attire conform to the stereotype of a geek, which emphasise his supposed boring personality. Finally, the mirror and comb that the 'Hunk' character brings with him reveals his self loving, self obsessed personality.

Video Platform

To establish which platform our music video would be categorised as, I decided to perform a simple investigation. The proposal was to watch five music channels that are noted as the most common music channels on Sky television. I then watched the first ten songs which appeared on each channel between the hours of 16:00 in the evening until 17:00. In the end I hoped to be able to obtain enough data to be able to learn more about the genre of music played on each of the channels. The Channels that I analysed were MTV, Kerrang, VH1, Kiss and Magic.

• Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West- Run This Town
• Taylor Swift- White Horse
• Gwen Stafani- Hollaback Girl
• Drake- Best I Ever
• David Guetta- Sexy Chick
• Green Day- 21 Guns
• Jill Scott- Cross my Mind
• Pink- Funhouse
• Michael Jackson- Remember he Time
• Lady Gaga- Bad Romance

• Foo Fighters- Monkey Wrench
• Muse- Plug in Baby
• Ash- Kung Fu
• Therapy?- Screamager
• Feeder- Buck Rogers
• Red Hot Chili Peppers- Give it Away
• Weezer- Buddy Holly
• Queens of the Stone Age- Feel Good Hit of the Summer
• Wild Hearts- Caffeine Bombs
• Manic Street Preachers- A Design for Life

• Owl City- Fireflies
• Rihanna- Russian Roulette
• Leona Lewis- Happy
• Britney Spears- 3
• Nirvana- Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Miley Cyrus- Party in the USA
• Lady Gaga- Paparazzi
• Lady Gaga- Bad Romance
• Kris Allen- Live Like We're Dying
• Jay Sean-Down

• Cherri V- Skool Daze
• N-Dubz- Playin with Fire
• Jay-Z- Young Forever
• Taio Cruz- No Other One
• Cheryl Cole- 3 Words
• Iyaz- Replay
• Wiley- Take That
• Alicia Keys- Doesn't Mean Anything
• Timbaland- Morning After Dark
• Chris Brown- Transform Ya

• Robbie Williams- Angels
• Phil Collins-Separate Lives
• Will Young- Leave Right Now
• Abba- Mamma Mia
• Michael Buble- Home
• Mamas and Papas- California Dreaming
• Madonna- Crazy For You
• Savage Garden- Truly Madly Deeply
• Eurythmics- There Must be an Angel
• James Blunt- You're Beautiful
  

After looking through the play lists that I created I quickly realised that music channels such as Kerrang, Magic were not appropriate as a platform for our song. This was due to the genre and age of the songs. For example, Foo fighter's 'Money Wrench' may be enjoyed by youths similar to our target audience, however the genre is considered as pure Rock, rather than Pop Rock. This is similar to Kiss, as the songs played are common within our target age group, though the songs played are categorised as RnB. In conclusion, the investigation proved that MTV and VH1 are channels which embrace conventions that apply to our Pop Rock song. This is evident though the playlists, as a number of the songs played are Pop Rock. Additionally, both MTV and VH1 play songs that are considered as pure Rock such as Nirvana as well as Pop such as Lady Gaga, unlike the other channels which appear to be devoted to a specific genre.

Finishing the Storyboards

Today was our final lesson to finish storyboarding. As a group we were able to complete the drawings then the annotations for each image. Each frame was annotated with and Camera Angles, Movements, Instructions, Transitions and finally Lighting.

Annotations