Album Cover Conventions

What are the typical features that an album cover has?

- Band name and album title
- A distinctive often illustrative image
- Track listing on the back
- Record company
- Release year
- Copywrite infomation
- Lyrics booklet - infomation on the band members, lyrics, band webstie/contact details, thank you's and recording infomation.

How would you categorise the covers in front of you?

 Categorise by:

- Photos of artist
- Drawn/painted/computer generated conceputal image
- Photographic art
- Decade it was released
- Whether its a vinyl or CD
- Band or single artist
- Style of packaging - Digipak, CD case, Vinyl, extra sleeve.

Album Covers have many different functions. What do you think these are?

- Promote the artist
- Give infomation and details on the band
- Put across a message whther it be mundane or serious such as a political message
- Brands the artist giving them something the audience can relate to and identify with that person and nobody else.
- Interests the audience - they want to hear more music from the artist that they like, therefore an album has a purpose of pleasing and satisfying the audience.

Album Cover Analysis

LOSTPROPHETS - THE FAKE SOUND OF PROGRESS

Front Cover
- Artistic photo of them recording the album; immediately says that this is a band about the music not the image.
- Black and white which gives it an arty look.
- Electronic equipment; at first your not sure what your looking at.
- The album title is very small and doesn't stand out; located at the bottom of the image.
- A random action figure located at the top-right; this is almost a logo a lot of their dedicated fans will recognise.
- Even the title of the band name is small; you have to look for it as it doesnt jump out.

This is a very unconventional album cover as it is the bands first aswell. You would think that a bands first album would be about them and getting them recognised - building up a fanbase. Instead you have an album cover which isn't really giving any particular message. To me, what this does is put absolutely all the emphasis on the music and nothing on the image of the band. It is almost like this album cover was made only for the fans they already had has it doesnt really attract any new ones.

Myspace Research

Dredg - www.myspace.com/dredg

The Dredg myspace opens at the top of the page with a picture of their album cover, blended in to become apart of the layout and look of the overall myspace. The branding they have given to their album has become the overall theme for their myspace as this promotes the branding they have created for their album. The release date of the album is clearly shown at the top of the page which is inportant for the reason of letting fans know exactly when they can purchase their album.

If you scroll down the page to the next part of the myspace you can see the traditional layout of having a picture of the band on the left and a playlist of songs on the right. This part of the myspace acts as a portal to a lot of the content, it gives links to more photos, videos, commenting the myspace, adding as a friends and so on. The playlist on the right is something that most if not all band myspaces have on their page and this is due to the fact that people need to listen to their music. If someone who hasn't heard their songs stumbles across their myspace the aim of the page needs to be to make them a fan before they leave. This is done through visually attractive artwork but also giving the person a chance to hear the music they create.

As we scroll down even further we come across the bands releases and tour dates. The band releases section features all albums the band has released aswell as band merchandise such as t-shirts. The tour dates are also important for letting fans know when they can see them live. Amongst other conventional things such as a comments section and a top friends list it is important to have something different on your myspace, maybe something to offer the fans. Dredg has thus allowed fans to get the chance to win a signed guitar in promotion of their new album. This is something our group should take note of as in  our genre of music giving something back to the fans is very important.

Mastodon - www.myspace.com/mastodon

The Mastodon website like the Dredg one immediately opens with the cover and album artwork of their latest release. The artwork is interesting and unusual and straight away I want to know more about it. Connected on to this image is all the traditional parts of a myspace; pictures, video, store, add to friends, and a link to the artists site. One thing that seems common with most band websites are adverts for special offers and chances to win a prize. With Mastodon this is no different as almost straight away we are offered free shipping on orders over $50 until the end of December - perfect for the upcoming Christmas. Mastodon just like the Dredg myspace have a playlist, picture of the band, merchandise and upcoming tour dates. These seem to be some of the essentials on a band myspace as most artists follow convention and have it in. A decision to be made in the group will be: do we want to challenge or conform to this convention? In my opinion I think it would be best to stick with this convention as it makes life easy for the viewers of the myspace as everything is so simply layed out.

Another thing common with both of the myspaces I have looked at so far is that they both have links to the videos of their released songs - something which are group will almost certainly have. The Mastodon also has videos of live performances which is a treat for fans to watch. The Mastodon myspace also has a biography which details when the band was formed and the journey they have had up until now. With our myspace, I think it is important to have this as we are a new band just broken on to the scene and need to let people know something about us so we can build a fanbase and have a real connection to the fans.

Between The Buried And Me - www.myspace.com/betweentheburiedandme

The Between The Buried And Me myspace immediatley follows the conventions of myspace and opens with the image of their new album. It tells us the name of the album and also shows in large the artwork with is the background for the myspace, so it is hard to miss it. Another thing unlike the other two, it opens with a teaser video which promotes their now album and gives fans a chance to hear some of the riffs from it.

When we scroll down just a little bit we come to an advert, just like the other two, offering deals on the new album and merchandise. Once you get down to the main bulk of the myspace you come across the typical things you would expect to find. That being the view pictures/videos, post a comment, add as a friend, online store and a link to itunes to obviously buy their music and support them. It is important to make it easy for the fans to find their music and support them with their money in an age where illegal downloading is a massive issue for the music industry. The band for their picture have a pan/slideshow of images that don't show them as a band but rather the equipment they use. This really brings home the message that its about the music and not the artist. I have been on their myspace a while now and unless I click on the bands pictures links I can't see what they look like. This is in great contrast to other pop band images such as The Saturdays and Beyonce which as soon as you visit their page you are surrounded with images of them as it is all about the image.

The myspace also follows the traditional conventions with a tour guide, playlist of songs, top friends and comments section. It is also common on bands myspace to come across their equipment sponsors.

Costume and Band Image

Myself and Nick had a meeting this lunch to discuss our thoughts on costume. We thought we'd post it on our individual blog to show the rest of the group at a later date.

Band Image:
The group is pretty unanimous on the fact that the band should be made up of young people (18-25). It's not pretentious just a bunch of young people with a passion for making music, this is what they want to do. We want to reflect this in our band image but also create a style wear the band are wearing similar things but it's clear they all have a form of individuality.

The Vocalist:
We want the vocalist to stand out from the crowd as he is the central member of the band. Instead of focusing on him through giving him more screen time than the other members we will film it in a way where he is usually in shot.
Costume (Simon): Straightened hair, bold red t-shirt, zip-up black jacket, black jeans, trainers.

Guitarists:
Costume (Nick): Hair messy at the back/straightened fringe, black skinny jeans, white V-neck, black and red checkered shirt, black and white canvas trainers.

Costume (Matt): Hair extreme spikey, black jeans straight fit, green checkered shirt, plain white shoes.

Bass:
Costume (David): Hair left neat and tidy, black jeans, tight fit t-shirt, grey t-shirt.

Drums:
Usually the second main focus of attention because of the constant movement and multiple things taking place.
Costume: Messy ,Black jeans, supra purple/black trainers, and black t-shirt

BLK/Class Treatment Pitch Feedback

After a very successful treatment and pitch to the class not much was said to improve upon. We had called our music video performance/concept based using Goodwins key music video theory and the class were a bit puzzled as to where the conept came in to it. We explained that the concept was about doing something, reaching for what you want in life. We explained that this is shown through performance as the energetic performance matches with the lyric 'Start Something'. We have also used feedback to make the decision to swap our vocalist actor. Nick who was originally on vocals in now on guitar and Simon is now lead vocals. It was also mentioned that we needed a clearer structure for the music video. Which is something we need to discuss in our next group meeting.

Lostprophets - Start Something

Lyrics

Start today, now show us how you feel
Make your way, it's time to choose
Have my say, I know, I know what I see
Have my say, they think you'll lose
For all this to mean so much to me
For all this, you make a move
Pass you by, it's all in this life you have
Pass you by, goodbye to you

[Chorus:]
1, 2, 3, 4 Move
If you don't stop there, you'll make it through.
Stop dreaming, start something
When it's in your hand just start anew

It's ok to use your ability
You must know, it's hard to choose
Time will tell, it's hard that the way you feel
means you always seem to lose
Seize the day, the one that you left behind
It seems so strange that you don't move
Frozen still in front of your own lights
Win or lose, its time to choose

[Chorus]
1, 2, 3, 4 Move
If you don't stop there, you'll make it through.
Stop dreaming, start something
When it's in your hand just start anew

A Closer Look

The location we visited on Tuesday injected a healthy dose of morale in to the group, and in this post I will look in to just what was so special about it, apart from the lovely management, flexibility, props, lighting extras and of course as Nick rightly pointed out in one of his posts the microwave.


To start off, here is a picture of most of the main warehouse space. If your looking at this and thinking - it's a mess, there's no space, this is exactly what we thought when we first walked in. Then we learnt that we can move whatever we want, so all the stuff against the far wall with the window is going to be moved out the way to make space. We thought if we shoot during the evening when it starts to get dark we could create some cool lighting effects - especially if we use a fair portion of our budget to get strobes. One idea which I think struck a nice chord with the group was putting up a white sheet to cover the window. A possible problem maybe finding the time to move all of the clutter at the back of the room.


This is a shot in the same place as the first one but is more deeper in to the room. The ladder to the far right of the picture shows a step ladder which we intend to use for high angle shots to add general variety to our camerawork. This is a technique we plan to test during our test shoot.


The next photo while showing more of the space also shows a number of carts which are basically dollies (see red arrow). They fold out and while being able to take amazing amounts of weight, are so so so so so smooth and will therefore give us a chance to do cool arcs and tracks.


The cool little contrapment in Ben's hands is a floor light the owner showed us. They are powered by double AA batteries and they have 8 of them which we can use. The picture was taken in full daytime light so you can see just how powerful they are. They should be a great edition to our lighting rig. Another picture in the dark:


It's pretty hard to top the light in terms of coolness but something which comes close is the lift which we were thinking of putting a band member in, possibly the guitarist.

Location Reccy

On a cold and rainy Tuesday after school, the group decided to take an uncomfortable W8 bus journey to a warehouse which was potentially a promising location for our music video. After a while of wondering the streets of Edmonton trying to find the place we decided to call our contact for help. Once inside the warehouse I was skeptical of the place as it was nothing like I had imagined and it was to put it bluntly a mess. After a while of chatting to the owner, who was really welcoming and kind, we found out that we could move anything we wanted and create whatever we envision within the space. This was great as it gave lots of options and importantly flexibility. As time went on she mentioned that we can use the drum kit they have, the sound system, the amps, and anything inside the warehouse itself! (theres a lot of cool art). In fact, the answer to all of my questions were, 'Yes, of course'. Things were going really well and the group was on a massive high and for once it wasn't the ganja.

The next thing we learnt was that there was another space above the one we were in which was exactly the same, and due to no one using the room it would be completely empty. Although she didn't have the key to it, and instead offered to make arrangements so we could see it another time. The next place she took us was in another section of her warehouse which featured a long corridor with an old fashioned and albeit creepy lift at the end. There were around 6 small rooms which would be perfect to shoot individual band member shots and with a bit of work we could use the idea of making it seem really claustrophobic - this could be a nice effect. At this point in the tour she left us so we could have a look around and discuss what we had seen so far. I took a few photos and Nick switched on his video camera and recorded the reactions of the group so far. Little did we know with our return to her main warehouse the location was about to get even better.

As we skipped through the rain merrily we entered the main warehouse where we met back up with the owner and she offered to let us have a more detailed look around the place. When we asked about the availability of the place the owner said that it would be free most evenings and practically deserted at the weekend; she even offered to leave us a key if we wanted to do overnight filming! In my next post I will put up pictures and show you all the treasures we found in this heavenly location. Lets just hope it lives up to all the expection we have.