Deep analysis into an album cover

Florence and the machine, Lungs, 2009.
The main focus on this album cover is Florence herself. She is centered in the image and fills most of it. Her red hair allows her to be naturally eye catching as most of the colours around her are white and green. This is a more unusual album cover because she is wearing a necklace with large lungs on the end of it. This is because her album is called lungs and the originality and boldness of this idea, represents her music and her persona. Her pose is gentle and lady like to reinforce her elegant voice and music.This can also be reinforced by the pretty flowers and the floral backdrop behind her. However, because she is so striking and fills the whole cover it represents her power of music and the power of her voice. The over all image created by the album cover works well because it allows the buyer to imagine what the music will sound like and what genre it is.

The name of the group is at the very top of the image. It is white against black allowing it to contrast and stand out. This reinforces that even though Florence is the 'front woman' of the group and the more eye catching of members, her band are still important in the music. The title of the album 'lungs' is harder to see. It is written in white across the lungs which is under a white tasseled top she is wearing. However the blood red lungs are eye catching enough to reinforce what the album title is.

I'd like to create an album cover which has as much thought as this. I would like it to have a deeper meaning than what is on the surface. Also, one that depicts its genre so well and creatively.

Lighting experimentation

In this video I have experimented with some lighting to create a flashing/strobe lighting effect. I got this idea when browsing through music videos on youtube. I came across a Bloc Party video called Talons and featured throughout the video was strobe lighting. I really liked this effect changed the video from a regular chase to a more intense and engaging chase, just by the flashing lights. Here is the video, I like the effects most in the first minute:

Rhys Cooper

Rhys Cooper is an up and coming artists, there is not so much about himself on the internet, however there are hundreds of people suggesting his work. I came across Rhys Cooper whilst research the Kings of Leon artwork. I came to discover Rhys Cooper draws many advertising drawings and generally amazing cartoon style paintings representing bands and film characters such as; Kings of Leon, Heath Ledger as the joker, the sesame street character, Bob Dylan and Eagles of Death Metal.

Here is some of his work that I find inspirational and generally interesting:

Inspiration

I'm not sure if this is an actually album artwork image, however I came accross this whilst browsing on google and I really like the technique. The band Kings of Leon have been drawn into the king cards of every house. I think this is really clever and I like that it is not clear whether the cards have been drawn or just amazingly filtered and adjusted on Photoshop.
Interpreting drawings is definately an aspect that I would like to think about when creating the album artwork and the artwork for my digi-pack.

Album cover research

For the advertisement I need to create the art work for the CD cover. This will also contribute to the digi-pack preparation.
Some of my favourite CD art works is:

















This is canterbury's actaul album cover for their album 'thank you'. It features the band behind colourful text and only on the left hand side. This is unlike the normal album covers which feature bands centralised and large if their picture is on it. I think this represents the album which was a free download for the fans as a thank you. This is a sort of metaphor for how it's not all about the band.

















I really like this album cover. I like how it gives off a 3D affect because it's a photo of real life objects sitting on some shelves. These quirky items represents the bands indie style. The font used has been used on previous albums and singles creating a sense of familiarity with the fans.


















I really like the idea of a drawn album cover, I think this is a bit more different than just a photograph with some text. I like the attention to detail in this album cover however it mixes well with the central negative space. I would like to incorporate some drawings in my album cover.


















I really like the lighting on this CD cover. The light is behind her head and splits across the whole of the image. I also like how the crowd of fans are interpreted into the artwork. The colour of the image looks like it has been a developed film rather than the original image. I like this effect as it looks for authentic rather than a performed image pose. The kind of old style look seems to be an occurance in the indie genre of music.

Research for magazine ad

For the other half of my coursework I need to produce a magazine advert and a digi-pack for my band and their song. For the magazine advert I will research thoroughly into music magazines and the key elements of what is usually featured in an advert. I will use my previous knowledge from GCSE media studies to produce a successful magazine advertisement representing the band and their song.

Here is an example of a magazine advertisement for an album:


















I like this advertisement because it's quite contemporary in terms of photography. The style of the image represents old style western almost like a wanted poster. I like how the top image is split in half and reflects each other, however the left side is white and the right side is black. I also like that you can only see half of his face and shoulders. I think there is a lot of negative space in this image, however I think it works nicely with the vintage style sepia tones.

Anamatic Feedback

As a class we watched our peers anamatics and gave others feedback. To conclude my feedback I need to include more shots. This is because my song is a fast paced song and there aren't enough variety of shots. I realised this also when watching it back and some shots were held for quite a long time when listening to the beat of the music there needed to be a shot. Also, there isn't much variety and majority of the shots were quite similar. This means that I will have to go back to the storyboard and begin to draw in some more shots and try to find a bit more variety. For example, I need some moving shots because all my shots are still and as my music is fast paced and fun there should be some movement with the band, not just the band moving but the camera.

First Draft Anamatic

This is my first draft anamatic for my music video, Canterbury Lost in the Basement: