Album cover research - Miss Fisher

Album cover research

TASK 1 - Analysis of artwork and how it has changed...

Artwork can help the artist to portray his/her image how they want to be seen, for example; a rap artist would probably wear a lot jewellery (chains, rings etc) and clothes which are baggy (big jeans/tops etc). This would automatically lead the audience to putting the artist into the rap genre which would then be confirmed by their music. An artist would use album artwork to sell themselves as a product, by showing the public their image, which would lead audiences buying themselves into the image and aspire to achieve the artists look and lifestyle.

Society has become more digital. The use of websites mean that the demand of artwork has decreased, more artwork is seen on websites such as Twitter and Facebook and music channels and lastly downloading sites for example iTunes, which also means that artwork is used to a greater extent.

TASK 2 – Research into album cover artwork using Goodwin’s theory

The genre which I have chosen to look at is; indie/rock/heavy metal. The bands artwork which I have chosen to analyse are; Bullet for my valentine and Paramore.

Bullet for my valentine

Album cover 1 - Hand of blood

Album cover 2 - Fever

Album cover 3 - Scream aim fire

Goodwin’s theory:

1- The genre characteristics of metal band- are that usually the album cover gives off the rock/rebellious image. The album covers of a metal band/indie rock band are; typically, they have dark colours and off pictures used of them. Very rarely do they have pictures of themselves on it. When they do, they show each band member, along with their instrument, whether it being a guitar, drum set, piano etc. These album covers conform to the generic conventions of a indie rock/metal bands, this is because the use they use dark colours and show themselves as rebellious.

2- I cannot judge the relationship with the music and visuals from looking at the album covers.

3- The relationship between the visual and the lyrics: From looking at the album cover the picture links well with the names of the songs at the back on the cover. The album cover has to link to the genre of music in which the song is. In this case, an Indie/rock/metal song would need to be edgy and have elements of something different and in some cases odd.

4- These three Bullet for my valentine album covers (Hand of Blood, Scream aim fire and lastly, Fever) have no close ups of the artists as they do not show the artists on their album cover, instead one has a castle on, one has two people back to back with guns and the last has a cartooned woman with weird crab-like hands. All of these album covers have been made to look animated.

5- There is a voyeuristic shot of the woman’s body on the ‘Fever’ album cover which suggests that the band are trying to make their album cover appeal to a certain audience.

6- No intertextual reference.

From the album covers I can see that the band is appealing well to their target audience which are both male and female, mostly from the ages of 16+. They are appealing to their audience as they are showing that the songs on this album are what they are looking for. I can also see that they have used other people/places/props to animate their album covers and the shots do not show a narrative. They also show different locations which shows the versatility of the artists. The characters/places are positioned in the centre of the album cover.

Paramore

Album cover 1 - all we know is falling

Album cover 2 - Brand new eyes

Album cover 3 - Misery Business

Goodwin’s theory:

1- The genre characteristics of metal band- are that usually the album cover gives off the rock/rebellious image. The album covers of a metal band/indie rock band are; typically, they have dark colours and off pictures used of them. Very rarely do they have pictures of themselves on it. When they do, they show each band member, along with their instrument, whether it being a guitar, drum set, piano etc. These Paramore album covers don’t conform to all the generic conventions of rock/indie/metal album covers, this is because the band is shown on the covers however the clothes which they are wearing suggests that they are a band and also shows that they are rebellious also.

2- From an album cover, you cannot hear the lyrics, which means you cannot define a relationship with the lyrics and visuals.

3- From an album cover, you cannot hear the music, which means you cannot define a relationship with the music and visuals.

4- There are no close up shots of the band.

5- There are no voyeuristic shots.

6- No intertextual references.

From looking at these album covers I can see that they have used themselves (the artists) on the album covers. The narratives of each shot are random which means that the band conform to the generic conventions of their genre. The pictures have been taken in weird and random locations. The pictures/characters are positioned in the middle.

For my album cover:

· Actors for artists

· Narrative of shot

· Location

· Costume

· Positioning of characters

As I have decided to create a video for the hit song 'dangerously in love' I understand that the artist cannot conform to the generic conventions of a rock/indie/metal artist. Therefore I will dress her serenely which would make her look like she has class, I may also dress her some-what rebellious looking. I will have her facing head on to the person looking at the album cover. My album cover picture will be taken at the London Embankment where there is graffiti which would show her as rebellious however her song will clash with her image. This will ensure that she leaves her audience wanting to know more and also waiting to see what she does next. This also shows that as an artist; she is versatile.