Labelled Diagram, Back Cover Conventions

These are the conventions of the back of a Cd cover. I thought it was important to look at these, aswell as the front of cd covers to complete a digipak, so I annotated a specific cover which I found interesing before I deeply analysis some more Cd Covers.

Conventions of CD Covers in Depth

For the accilary task, I've decided to make a digipak for my song. This involves a cd cover, back and middle, so to help with my own, I've decided to analyse some Cd covers and find out their general conventions. When analysing the conventions of cd covers, you have to take in concideration certain points and these are the catorgories I have been focusing on:

GENRE
IMAGES
LETTERING AND FONT
AUDIENCE STYLING/ICONOGRAPHY

GENRE: Considering the genre of music that the CD belongs to, you must also consider the generic conventions of the CD cover itself:. You have to think about what conventions typically go on a cover in much detail. Aswell as looking at the front, you also have to consider how the front and the back are different and contain different sorts of information and why. On a shelf in a shop, people are attracted to the cover first, so that is the main attraction and focus, then turn it over to read the back. On the front cover, CD covers will typically have the artist or name of the band, the name of the album, an image and stickers (such as parental advisory, or announcing a particular well-known track), depending on the genre.

LETTERING/FONT SIZES AND STYLING: When thinking about lettering, you have to consider whether the lettering fits with the genre of music or design. For example, Marilyn Manson’s greatest hits CD uses gothic font to complement his style.

CHOSEN IMAGES: Here are what you have to consider when looking at imagery. What picture is on the cover? Is it a design or artwork? Is it a photograph of the artist? You have to look closely at the mise-en-scene. This includes colours, props, lighting, make-up and clothing, how the star is posed (eye contact, facial expressions etc). With chosing the colouring, youu have to consider the connotations along with these colours, and if they fit the mood you want. You also have to think about how the audience will react to the CD, and whether different people consider different meanings.

ICONOGRAPHY: When thinking about the iconography you want to interpret through your cd cover, you have to think about if the image of the artist is one you’d expect to see? For instance, Beyonce always has an image constructed on glamour and sex appeal whilst a punk band like My Chemical Romance tend to focus more on social issues to sell CDs. Do bands or artists have particular props, costumes, dress, fashions that are instantly recognisable? For instance, Eminem’s hair colour when it was blonde and outrageous. Some stars constantly go against their audience’s expectations, like Madonna. She changes the way she looks constantly to keep the audience interested and to keep herself fresh for the industry.

REPRESENTATION: When thinking about representation, you have to look at how bands or artists and the genre are represented and how the audience will react to that. For instance, hip-hop stars have been known for portraying guns, cars and gangsta images. Critics say this presents a negative image for young people to follow and also sets up stereotypes of black culture. This type of music has been criticised in portraying women as sexual stereotypes, and they are used as objects.

AUDIENCE: Audience is important, as you have to think about who exactly will buy this CD. Questions that could be considered are: Is it because they want escapism and pleasure, or to gain a sense of their own identity or feeling of belonging? Or are they buying it because they have been influenced by someone else?

Detailed Analysis of a CD Cover

I believe there are a few types of album covers when looking in detail. I believe you can have an abstract album cover, with bright colours and random images, but also simple album covers with less of a theme to make them more minimilistic for the consumer. This may be because they just want to strip themselves bare as artists and not try to be different, making them, ironically stand out from others.

Here is an album cover by the artist Lily Allen, with the album title of 'Its me its you. This already catches the consumers eye as the usual term is 'its not you its me'. This is already breaking conventions, and as we know Lily is quite controversial in her lyrics anyway. Most aritsts of the same genre are. Even the song names of the album are quite different and intriguing, as they are all explicit and outspoken, just like Lily herself, even though the typical convetion of women artists are that of elegance.

1. Everyone’s At It [Explicit]
2. The Fear [Explicit]
3. Not Fair [Explicit]
4. 22 [Explicit]
5. I Could Say [Explicit]
6. Back To The Start [Explicit]
7. Never Gonna Happen [Explicit]
8. F___ You [Explicit]
9. Who’d Have Known [Explicit]
10. Chinese [Explicit]
11. Him [Explicit]
12. He Wasn’t There

This album cover may be shocking to audiences who are usual fans of Lily. As the analysis of the last album cover shows, she is quite boyish, and this album cover goes down the more feminine root. Here is some anaylsis in much more detail, looking at each sub category in detail:

GENRE:
The front cover of this cd cover breaks the typical convention of the genre of music Lily Allen, and the rest of her artists who fit under the same genre are known for. She is known for British Pop, and after analysing videos from her music, they seem abstract and controversial, which isnt what this album cover represents. This may cause more attraction to the cover, as Lily Allen isnt known to be related with pinks and feminine colours, so to see this as her next route could intrigue her old fans aswell as her new ones.

LETTERING/FONT SIZES AND STYLING:

The lettering and font goes against the genre and music/design of what Lily Allen is about. Her old album, which I have analysed, shows how she is an individual, almost toy boyish artist, not known to prance around in dresses, and when she does she wears the trainers or something to go against conventions. This is like her album text and lettering used. She has the usual black and white 'Lily Allen' tag which is obviously used for the artists name, but instead of it being a funky styled font, it is instead a block/straight forward font that goes with the elegant theme. Also, instead of having a white outline, the outline is pink, following this theme of feminimity. Another point is the font underneath which is used. It is directly underneath the name of the artist, making the album cover look neater and more organised, not like her other album cover. Its again pink, and is in quite an elegant font style to match the image Lily is trying to give off. The text underneath the first image shows the difference in image that Lily is giving out to her fans. She obviously had to be more controversial and out there to stand out when she was first establishing herself as an artist.

CHOSEN IMAGES:
The image chosen for Lily Allen's 2nd album is photography of the artist. It has less outrageous theme compared to the other, as Lily has less of a statement to make as an independant artist. When looking at the mis-en-scene, we can see the colour scheme as being mainly pinks and blacks, which again runs with this constant theme of feminimity. She is dressed in a girly pink dress, which makes a statement as girliness is something Lily Allen would not usually be asscociated with. The lighting is quite bright to make the colour scheme stand out more, and Lily is placed quite significantly. Her eyes are closed and she is layed peacefully on a huge L. This represents how Lily may feel she has nothing to prove as an artist, so not making eye contact and being calm and collected shows her disregard to prove anything.

ICONOGRAPHY:
When thinking about the iconography of this album cover, as I have said throughout you do not expect to see Lily how she is represented. Lily is usually associated with controversy and attitude, and her album cover here does not represent this. This album shows maturity of Lily Allen growing as a person and an aritst, hence the less dramatic but more sophisticated album cover. Lily doesn't have any signiture looks likem artists such as Eminem with his blonde peroxide hair. She does however, be expected to be seen in dresses with twists such as trainers on her feet, but in this she is taking a step back.

Lyrical Analysis/Specific Analysis of Words

You're chatting to me, like we connect
But I don't even know if we're still friends
It's so confusing,
Understanding you is making me not want to do

And think things like:
'I know I should do'
But I trip up and then I lose
I hate looking like a fool

I just want your kiss boy, kiss boy, kiss boy
I just want your kiss
I just want your kiss boy, kiss boy, kiss boy
I just want your kiss

The lights are on
And someone's home
I'm not sure if they're alone
There's someone else inside my head
Living there too fills me with dread

This paranoia is distressing
But I spend most of my night guessing
Are we not, are we together
Will this make our lives much better

I'm not in love
I just wanna be touched

Here, when analysing lyrics of my song to interpret into my visual mis en scene and representation, I would have to look at specific words, figure out the connotations and meanings, then think how I could visually show these lyrics on screen.
The one lyrical use which stood out for me would be the repition of the abstract noun 'kiss' in the chorus, obviously will stay the same and be repeated in parrellelism as it is the chorus and main part of the song. This was definatley the focus when thinking about the theme of my song, and I began to make connotations from just this one word. i thought about scenes I could use for the chorus, such as close ups of red lips mimiking the lyrics, which connotates love and intamacy as we are getting a zoomed view of the females lips.

Props (Mis En Scene)

The props used in the original music video of my song has helped me when thinking about the mis-en-scene for my video. The props are crucial not only because they set the scene onscreen, but they also could symbolise certain things, and connotate things for the audience. The theme of the song I have chosen is love/affection, with a modern twist. Having already discussed the colour scheme and what they connotate, I decided to look thoroughly at the props used in the video.Here is a medium long shot of Kate Nash holding a giant daisy. This prop has been increased in size to stand out and has been emphasised delibratley. I think the daisy has been used to create the idea of the 'i love him, i love him not' scenario, as Kate starts picking off the petals of the daisy whilst singing the lyric 'Its so confusing understanding you, it's making me not want to do' The daisy could represent how the idea behind the song of not wanting to like someone, and confusion.

Throughout most of the video, Kate is carrying giant objects, emphasising the subject of love. One of the main props used are huge sweets, which ironically are giant love hearts with text saying 'Be Mine' and 'Kiss Me' These again are the main attraction of the shot, making the audience pay major attention to them I would like to think about this when shooting my video, as I want my props to stand out in shots and not just blend into the background.

Styling for My Video

CLOTHINGThe artist who originally sang the song I have chosen is Kate Nash. For inspiration for my own video, I've decided to look at the many different styles she inhabits to see what kind of style should be adapted in my video. Being under the spotlight, means fashion is important in the public eye. Other artists under the same genre of musical background like Kate Nash, seem to break out of the conventions of typical fashion clothing, as seen in this picture above. They seem to take the artistic approach when styling, aswell as in their music videos. Their styles seem to express their personalities, and I want to get this across in my music video with my artist. To some up the style in 3 words, I'd say funky, weird, and individual. I want these sorts of words to be connotated when it comes to styling and looking at the mis en scene of my music video.

My music video is quite abstract in general, along with the mis en scene. Here is a freeze from the original music video of my song. This medium long shot represents Kate's style quite well. She wears a blue vintage dress with red tights, which shows her versitility and individuality, but also how she dares to be different and not fit with the typical style of matching the same sort of colours. I want my model in my video to also be like this, by putting her own twist on certain outfits, to show her personality through every aspect, not just by the lyrics/meaning from my video. I think I'll do this by thinking deeply when picking my colour scheme for the mis en scene. The shot above has random colours splashed on screen, but altogether they seem to look in sync with eachother. Nothing looks random, even though really they are.

HAIR
I've decided to concentrate deeply on my model's appearance in my music video, even down to her hair and make-up, as all these elements are important when thinking about mis-en-scene. Looking at the artists around now, hair and make-up can be used to create dramatic effects, and also to show their persona through their appearance as well as through their music. A prime example of this is Lady Gaga. I chose to look at the artist La Roux, however, as she along with the artist Kate Nash have ginger hair. This is significant because my artist also has red hair, which was a delibrate choice by me, as ginger can be quite a controversial colour, being somewhat frowned upon to have that colour hair.

Kate has a signiture look when it comes to hair and make-up.
She has a 1950's sort style bob, and like I said, a gingery auburn colour. The cut in this picture seems to be quite messy and left to it's own devices, which could represent her personality. I think image really is important when expressing who you are, and that's why I'm thinking deeply about what I want my artist to look like. A bold statement in this picture against the neautral background is the red lipstick. I'm definatley having red lipstick when it comes to styling, as it stands out no matter what, and connotates feminimity and sexuality.

Genre Conventions of My Music Video

The genre of my music video is British/Indie pop, and Kate Nash is known to be proud to be born British. I think this is a good genre to chose for my audience as it will appeal to the age range, but will also promote the English artist, which encourages the listening of British music. Other artists that are influencial and British, that fit the same genre like Kate Nash, is Lily Allen. Her and Kate Nash's music are seen as very similar, and both women have the same backgrounds, which could be a reason why, as both grew up in London. This shows that genre could be affected by the artists own background, as it would influence them into what music they enjoy, which like I said above could be seen as a relection of their own persona.



The video itself does fit the general conventions of music videos, but in it’s own way. British Pop music is seen as quite upbeat, even if the lyrics and theme are quite negative. The videos by artists of this genre, mixing with indie represent this. The mis en scene matches the mood of the songs, and ‘Pumpkin Soup’ is quite an upbeat, tempo song about love. We associate with love, reds/pinks/flowers/love hearts, and all these sorts of connotations are represented in the video. The main colours used are reds, yellows, and pinks. This is similar to other videos of the same genre. For example, Lily Allen’s ‘Smile’ sees many different abstract colours such as red and green clashing together. These are used to create a positive outlook, even though the song is quite negative, with lyrics such as ‘at first when I see you cry, it makes me smile.’ This shows how artists of this genre don’t categories themselves and break the conventions of what is expected in a music video from listening to their songs, as typically a pop song about heartbreak or topics of depression would be matched by a much more depressing video.

The lyrics are used to also effect what is on screen. A current occurrence of music videos, is the lyrics matching what decides to be shown on screen, and this is also shown in the music videos of British Pop/Indie music, but in a different way. The artists seem to go more extreme. An example of this is seen in the Kate’s video. ‘You chat to me, like we connect.’ As the shot cuts from Kate, we then see a medium long shot of her sat on a huge red telephone as she sings this lyric. This makes the mis en scene match with what she is saying, but on a bigger scale. The video is seen more as a cartoon, making it less serious and more enjoyable for the viewer, which is different to the usual Pop music videos, as they are seen as a chance for the artist to show off, whereas these artists do not care. An example of this is Kate and her friend in the video covered in red lipstick. This goes well with the lyric ‘I just want your kiss boy’ and has been done deliberately to create humour. This again matches the main convention of the lyrics influencing what is shown in the video. Another video which is seen as quite abstract is by Lily Allen, called ‘Alfie’. She goes along with the same conventions as seen in Kate Nash’s song. Abstract colours are used, such as greens and blues together, which represents how they break the conventions of what you’d typically see from female artists. This makes their videos more visually entertaining, and also shows how they may not be created for a narrative purpose as they dare to be different.

The artists of this genre also break the general conventions of what would be expected from female artists if you listen to the lyrics. Kate Nash is singing about wanting the sexual sides of relationships in her song which I have chosen, with lyrics such as ‘Whoops I think I’ve got too close, co snows he telling me that im the girl that he likes most.’ and could be seen as shocking to a listener, as usually the males would be seen as wanting more physical contact then women. Another example is from lily Allen, who wrote a song named Alfie. It is based around her little brother, and has controversial lyrics such as ‘Oh deary me, my little brothers in his bedroom smoking weed.’ This shows how the artists from this genre are not scared to express whatever feelings they have through their music, good or bad, compared to pop music.

Another convention I have noticed from music videos of this genre is the use of editing. At the start of ‘Pumpkin Soup’ we see a sequence that is very abstract, and like I said earlier cartoon like. Cuts are used here to match the beat of the song, as at the start an instrumental is before the artist begins to sing. This makes the video flow more visually, and gives the audience much more to look at. Another use of editing which is common, is medium shots of the artist. This is common in most videos, and gives the audience a chance to see the artist performing.

After analysing various videos from my chosen genre, I can see deliberate twists on general conventions. The artists of this genre usually break the mould on what is typically meant to be seen, and create much more artistic and abstract videos to create a positive visual treat for viewers, even if the songs are depressing. Other conventions such as the lyrics influencing what is shown on screen are used, but are created more for visual pleasure than for anything and props are used on a much bigger scale. I have also realised how the pace of editing is used to keep the songs upbeat and positive throughout, which is the aim from the artists.