MAGAZINE AD- Procession

Here are the chosen magazine ads for our fictitious band The Project and the release of the album Days Out in Sepia. There are more than one example, where different changes will progressively be made. 

After the sketches, I looked again through the images we took, and eventually I came across the edited version of the Kes-sequel image of one of the band mates, Josh Hobson. The symmetry of the image attracted me greatly and it was further emphasised with the connection to the album cover; eyeless band mates, with the intention to declare music as a feast for the ears, not for the eyes. Also, Josh's eyeless face is an attempt to attract the consumer as well as express the message intended for it.

     The Braggadocio font was applied to the main title on the magazine, linking to the same font of the album, and using the large 72 size font to attract consumers. 

     The reviews used here are of course fake, but I wrote one review as though it's from NME, and one that was from a made up magazine. The inclusion of NME was intended to express the popularity of the album,bit being positively reviewed by a well-known music magazine.

I inserted a screenshot of the album cover on the advert, with a release date (my birthday) and suggested options of how to buy the album: technologically (MP3) or physically (actual album). The intention of this was to show how similar in tone to the magazine the album is so that consumers can identify with the advert when they come across the album.

Here, the added features are the social networking links with the intention of following the technological conventions of advertisements; sharing through prestigious social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Here, like the album screenshot; I've formatted the social networking icons with borders the same colour as the majority of the advert; orange. I've also included a QR code (fake) that, if I had enough time, i could use a code that takes you to the actual music video we made. It was intended to cover the empty space beside Josh's face, but also to adhere to the technological conventions of the modern day, like the social networking icons do.

Here, like the 'Pre-Order Album' notice below the album screenshot, I changed the colour of the words in the reviews to make them stand out more. Also, I decided to avoid changing the colour of the reviewers (NME & Listen Up) so that they could also stand out below the different, more peachy colour of the quotes. 

This being the final example, and the one I intend to really use as an advertisement, I added a fictional website address. It's titled 'http://www.projectsepia.co.uk' in a light green font to stand out with its colour among the advertisement, despite its small size. The use of the words 'Project' and 'Sepia' in the address were derived from the album title 'Days Out in Sepia' and the band title 'The Project.' 

           Like the QR code, I may consider turning the address into an actual link that takes you to my blog, if possible. 

Thanks for reading!

5 Alternative/Indie Album Covers Research

For help with producing album artwork for our music video of 'Human' by The Killers, I've searched for 5 various albums (of which the artists I've listened to before) that match The Killers' genre: Indie/Alternative. I'm going to be comparing album artwork and attempting to find a common ground between the majority of them. Here they are:

                               Of Monsters and Men- 'My Head is an Animal'

The front cover of the album has an abundance of a bluish grey tone, with a man walking on a beach whilst the central image takes the normality of the scene away and brings in a surreal, artistic element in the form of the small wooden house being flooded by the tide. It raises some questions: is the house owned by the man on the beach? If so, is he escaping the tide, despite him not being in the running posture? Is the central framing of the house intended, so that it's the first thing we see upon viewing the cover? Are these surrealist tones supposed to mirror the album content? The only other different tone is the pink of the artist name, which forms an acronym. This cover design could also be simply derived from a song lyric in their work.

The inner cover of the album is much more multicoloured (For each of the three sides of artwork in the album, there's two portraits). We notice the black and white/possibly sepia torsos below the multicoloured drawings. It is obviously a take on the album title 'My Head is an Animal,' which was a line from their song 'Dirty Paws;' connotations of animals. The division between the monotonous torsos and the rainbow-scheme of the animal drawings could imply the alternative genre of the band as their songs range from indie pop and rock like 'Mountain Sound' or 'Six Weeks' to slow-runners like 'Slow & Steady' or 'Your Bones.' The animal drawings seem beast-like because of the tusks and horns accompanying most, which could refer to possible Icelandic folklore concerning mythical beasts, so as to introduce their culture. Also, the colours used in these drawings are very organised into the appropriate areas of the animal faces, which could maybe remain in a surreal fashion without mixing colours like most mainstream pop albums do. It could simply be interpreted that the animal drawings, the colours used in these drawings, and the division between monotone and 'multi-'tone could just be the personalities of each band member, as there are six of them. 

The back cover is the same location as the front cover, but without the man, the house and the slight roughness of the sea. Could the front cover, because it is the front, signify the introduction of the album and how it will be like, then the inside album artwork of the animal heads mirrors the artistic, alternative nature of each song (as we're listening to it), and then the back cover signifying the end of the album, with the surreal-ness (house in the sea) of the album gone and now it's all calmed down, as pictured with the sea. 

Arctic Monkeys- 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'

Again, with this album cover, we're given an image of something normal, which is (possibly) Sheffield's terraced council houses. There is the abundance of a dark greyish tone, yet it's put out of focus because of the bright 70's style groove of the wallpaper designs in the three lit rooms, where it attracts you first before you turn your attention to the mustard-yellow title of the album, which gives the band title as well as the oxymoronic subtitle 'Favourite Worst Nightmare.' These terraced houses could be the band's original housing either before or during their fame, as it seems to have at least some significance with the lit rooms which could be where the music (or the band living/performing) is coming from.

In comparison to the front cover where the lit rooms are shot from a diagonal long-ish shot, the flipside (inner) of the case shows the rooms dead on, multicoloured and very attractive designs. It seems,  like the first album, to suggest that you're listening to the music as implied by the colours and the dynamic designs, as though to further suggest the album content. The central disc artwork has only three colours: black, white and green, which could be just a convention of the designs of indie album artwork; simple yet effective.

Only dual colours black and yellow used here, probably to indicate the end of the album, with no terraced council house, light or position of the title. Just a list of the songs for information and company labels etc.

Gabrielle Aplin- 'English Rain'

Again, there's an abundance of the grey tone to give the album title it's meaning; bad weather or (English) rain. The title is in a handwritten font, maybe to emphasise that Aplin wrote her own songs, as most indie artists do. Her presence in center frame wearing a creamy yellow dress and running in the rain with a rainbow umbrella as though she's trying to gain momentum and fly, attracts the most attention. She's the good in the midst of the bad (weather). The emphasis on one coloured image alone attracts us and raises our curiosity on the content of the album.

The flipside (despite it not being divided into three separate images) is very artistic. There's the same image of Gabrielle Aplin with the umbrella (on the left) yet this time she is pointing the umbrella towards us, presenting a wheel of colours to attract. The other side consists of Aplin attempting to fly with multicoloured balloons in an otherwise monotone background, which mirrors my suggestion of her trying to fly with the umbrella on the front cover. Also, the idea of her being in a wide open field, as the front cover also is, it could be allegorical, maybe symbolizing the openness that allows her space to fly, or just basically giving a view of the English countryside to visually correspond with the title 'English Rain.' The booklet is just the umbrella itself in center frame, more close up and topped with Gabrielle's name along with a kiss as though to thank us, the audience (or spectators) for listening to her music. The colour is the same as the front cover to maintain its indie look without overusing colours in a different image.

The trackless on the back page is in a handwritten font to possibly further the suggestion that Gabrielle wrote her own tracks. The position of the tracklist replaces Gabrielle with the umbrella, resulting in a dull 'English Weather/Rain' background, as though to, like the other albums, signify the end of the album.

Mika- 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much'

This album cover is very different to other indie albums. The colour scheme is very vast and the imagery is very imaginative. The colours could indicate the colourfulness of the album content and it's variety. The title 'Mika' is presented in a white stencil font with a blue 3D pop-out which resembles the childlike nature of the album cover, with connotations of fun and imagination. The image of the boy on the floor reading the book is very interesting, as the surrounding environment of colour,  space, planets and stars derive from the book he is reading, his imagination. He's 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much,' which is a reference to Hitchcocks's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much.' Alfred Hitchcock directed independent films like the iconic 'Psycho.' This independent factor is a possible reason why Mika's album is indie: an indie artist referencing an indie film/director; the wild yet controlled colours of his imagination; introducing us to the colourful album, using a childlike design like he did with 'Life in Cartoon Motion' to attract us straight away, and also having that surreal element of the Birdseye angle that establishes the imagination, as though suggesting that when we listen to his music, we imagine the songs visually, like the boy imagines the book visually. The colour does, however, seem to break the convention of indie albums being mostly dim toned and fixed on just a few light colours, instead creating a multicoloured and imaginative design.

The flipside mirrors some of the songs. The blue background emphasises the white symbols, such as the female symbol, which could relate to the song 'Blame it on the Girls,' or the article that mentions the song 'Dr John,' or the sewn up rag doll that relates to the song 'Toy Boy.' These images are not disjuncture or amplification, but illustration of the lyrics in the songs on the album. The idea that the images illustrating the lyrics being on the flipside, where the disc is, could imply the songs playing as the images are seen in this section. The colour scheme again is very imaginative and instantly attractive, yet not too childish as some images, in particular the devil using a sewing pin on the rag doll, seemingly reference dark fairytales because of the rag doll; a child's toy, is being attacked by the child demon. Yet the bright colours take the seriousness out of it and remain attractive to the eye.

The back cover is very imaginative in comparison to the other albums. The tracklist is golden in colour, surrounded by an artsy depiction of the universe that continues to attract. It resembles Mika's style of music and videos; indie pop, electronic, partly ballad (Relax, Take it Easy) and alternative. The back cover still remains imaginative and appealing, yet without 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' in the frame, it's the end (possibly).

Wolf Gang- 'Suego Faults'

Wolf Gang's 'Suego Faults' has a very interesting front cover. The overall tone is a very light blue/turqouise colour, which is very conventional of indie albums because there's not an abundance of colour, where only turqouise, black and maroon/brown are the main colours. The surrealism of this cover emanates from the central framing of the person wearing an Indian War Bonnet in the middle of the woods. It could emphasise the alternative and indie nature of the album, mostly consisting of indie alternative and indie ballads and rock. The image of the fallen tree seems possibly symbolic, but I can't exactly put a finger on it. The positioning of the title and the subtitle in the top-left corner is possibly intended to be small because the artwork attracts us first because of its interesting imagery, before we take a look at the title. In comparison to mainstream albums, such as Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' album, which doesn't reveal any title at all because we already know who she is, indie albums rely on a variety of low key and interesting imagery to capture the eye of anybody who would consider listening to new, unknown artists.  

The back of 'Suego Faults' is very reminiscent of Paloma Faith's 'Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful' album. Faith's album consists of her in center frame, donning a very classy hairstyle and holding what look like doves. 

The back of the 'Suego a faults' album is dark in tone, with the only real flare of colour being a woman's fiery hair. The tracklist is very formal and in a low-key golden colour. The imagery is, like most indie albums, simple but effective. 

So from the look of these five (six if you count Paloma Faith's) indie albums, to successfully produce our own five-sided Album artwork, we would need to consider: tone,mostly dim, yet with certain colours that attract ('English Rain,' the rainy background with the colourful Gabrielle Aplin in the center); simple (and occasionally surreal) imagery, such as the man from 'Suego Faults' in a War Bonnet in the middle of the woods, which is overall effective; central framing to attract (as well as attractive colours in a single image); the title being positioned marginally or in corners to allow for full view of the image; possibly an image of the band. These are factors that I will mostly consider for the creation of our album artwork.

Thanks for reading :-)

Treatment of my Music Video

     For my own interpretation of the song 'Human' by The Killers, I have constructed a trio of narratives on my storyboard. This is where I have created two separate settings for the two main characters to start in, then a third is included to show the band performing the song in certain sections throughout my storyboard. The two separate storyboard narratives will follow a man and a woman, who both live separate but very average lives. The woman is introduced sleeping in bed with dishevelled hair and wearing all of her clothes instead of clothes like pyjamas etc, to insinuate that her life is out of order in some ways. She wakes up with a depressed look on her face, then walks towards her phone (which is ringing) and then, just as she picks it up, the shot of the singer is shown with the microphone. The woman then suddenly drops her phone, as though she has just heard the singing, then begins to peel off a fake upturned smile imprinted on a sticker over her mouth, which when she removes, she is smiling, then leaves her apartment/room and starts walking to an unknown  destination that is revealed later on.

   The man in the other narrative is introduced just as the other narrative finishes until later on. The man is in hospital, being pushed on a gurney down the white corridors, until they stop at a set of double doors. Around this time, the singer is shown again in the third narrative, as the man sits up, gets off the gurney, and walks through the hospital (signs of 'sadness' and 'devotion' direct towards the place where the man has just come from, and a 'dancer' sign that points in the direction he is going). The hospital is sort of a metaphor for the mans ruined life. The man then leaves the double doors and starts walking to an unknown destination. As this is happening, the woman is shown walking down a street, feeling at her frowning eyebrows and noticing that they are peeling off. She pulls these stickers off, now revealing a much happier face as she walks towards the unknown destination. The stickers represent sort of a manufactured sadness that becomes automatic when people live the same life day after day. Now she has given her 'regards to soul and romance,' she can set off to become the 'dancer.' With the bands performance and singing lasting, the woman finally reaches the outside of a forest, in which she begins to pass through. Around this time, the man from the other narrative enters the same place, just metres across from the unsuspecting woman (the man also doesn't realise that the woman is nearby). The music becoming louder to both people, they quicken through the forest, both eventually reaching a clearing at the same time, but still not noticing each other. It's at this point where the story briefly cuts to   a deserted street, as though to question the disappearance of everybody. Cutting back to the man and the woman in the forest clearing, a large crowd of people are shown surrounding the band. Upon noticing the man and the woman, and upon the man and the woman noticing each other for the first time, the crowd rushes towards both people. The video ends with the two people being brought through the crowd and everybody becoming much more joyous. 

   

Audience Profile for the Indie/Alternative Type of Music

        With my main chosen genre, the indie/alternative style, I realise that the audience profile for this could be extremely varied, depending on if a certain indie song possibly goes viral and becomes more famous, such as Marina & the Diamonds with her singles 'I Am Not A Robot.'
         So, the audiences that would be normally attracted to this kind of genre would probably be a group aged 14-35, as independent bands and artists have reputations for writing the majority of their own songs, so certain elements such as emotions and the tune of the song can reflect the listeners feelings. Compared to Pop, the lyrics are not reputed to be repeated throughout the song just to try and encourage singing almost the same line over and over again, even though some pop songs don't follow this 'rule.' This would then connect to mainstream music, as the charts that play the same songs on the TV and Radio would become tedious with the same rap, pop and R'n B songs. Only a few independent artists become famous on the charts, such as Gotye with 'Somebody that I used to Know.' In my opinion, listeners may tend to switch over until a more diverse song is played, one which provokes thought and encourages singing along to almost unrepeated lyrics. With the world of technology making listening to music available on multiple platforms, people may take to YouTube to listen to the independent songs. This would then pave the way for discovery of less known and much more diverse artists on the internet, giving the chance to listen to new music through the magic that is the recommendations tab.
         So, to sum up, this demographic of audiences is quite a wide variety of people, even though most listeners of indie/alternative music would need encouragement via viral 'marketing' on social networking sites, which then begin the discovery of songs that are buried deep within the undergrowth of mainstream pop/rap/R'n B culture.
         Below this paragraph is the links to the referenced indie/alternative artists I have used as examples. Please take a look, and enjoy. Or not :-)

Marina & the Diamonds- I Am Not A Robot-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_oMD6-6q5Y

Gotye- Somebody That I Used To Know-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY

     

Music Video Analysis 104

Name of Song- New Soul

Artist- Yael Naïm 

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

            The dress sense in this video is sustained to each person; it doesn't change throughout. This is evident as Yael Naïm wears the same blue striped dress from beginning to end. It's the same with the 'strange' characters who wear odd things and hold odd items, maybe to imply the imagination of the singer? The tune of the song has a very happy but melancholic tone, it has an upbeat piano rhythm with new instruments being introduced through the course of the song. This is evident when a character is shown walking through a field with what looks like a trombone/trumpet, this instrument is then introduced into the song. The cinematography presents a very positive and child-like atmosphere. This is obvious as we are given a bright sunny day and a nice lake with a fancy floating room in the middle, which counts for the child-like factor as the rooms walls fall down and reveal a surrounding lake, which implies the fun imagination of the artist as she then encounters the strange characters and an upbeat, positive ending. The location basically speaks for itself as it much resembles the typical indie genre; a nice wide open space that is empty and seemingly imaginary characters begin to appear. The location is quite easy to tie in with the lyrics, especially here, as the room is floating on a lake. Could that mean something?

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS?

              'Im a new soul, I came to this strange world, hoping I could learn a bit 'bout how to give and take.' These lyrics do coincide with the visuals, as the events in the video are certainly odd, with what looks like imaginary characters and the imaginary demolition of a room floating on a lake. This straight away gives us the idea that she has certainly come to a 'strange world.' Apparently the lyrics are about Yael Naïm moving from Isreal to America, so the big cities and the people is like a whole new world to her, hence the song title 'New Soul.'

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS?

               The only relationship between the music and the visuals is that both are upbeat and represented very positively, such as the bright sunny day and the colourful clothes worn by the strange characters. 

ARE THERE CLOSE-UPS OF THE ARTIST AND STAR IMAGE MOTIFS?

               The camera does close in on the artists face on occasion, but there isn't a strong sense of relation of thematic elements between this video and the artists other works, so her work doesn't exactly harbour a known artists trademark. There is, however, a similarity in the sound of the music, as her other single 'Toxic' is very slow and melancholic, much like a few parts in 'New Soul.' Her other video 'Go To The River' has little to no relation in thematic elements with this video. The location, costume, cinematography and the tune are almost completely different compared to the cheerful video.

IS THERE REFERENCE TO THE NOTION OF LOOKING?

ARE THERE INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES?

                As long as I know, there isn't any intertextual references in this video, as the lyrics just reflect a new world to the artist, and the video embodies that with imaginary characters and falling walls and floating rooms. There isn't any reference to other texts or other works in general. Maybe there will be, but if so, it's certainly subtle.

IS THE VIDEO CATEGORY ILLUSTRATION, DISJUNCTURE OR AMPLIFICATION? HOW MUCH?

               This video is probably 30% Disjuncture and 70% Amplification. Disjuncture because we already know that this world is 'new' to the artist, so strange and odd things occur in a positive and happy sense because it's a whole new world and she doesn't know what it would hold for her. This leads to the amplification side, as the odd occurrences, such as the room dismantling into a floating wooden raft on the lake and the strange characters are just subtle metaphors for her own impression on moving to a different and bigger place: the people she'll meet and being able to keep afloat in this world etc.

THE VIDEO- http://youtu.be/XgEfYGzojcA

My Five Potential Songs for my Music Video

Because I prefer the Indie genre of music, here are the five songs I would like to make into a video:

Florence & the Machine- Cosmic Love

The amazing beat of the drums in Florence's colourful, imaginative and allegorical song is enough to make me want to make a video of it, despite it being already a music video. The song builds up many times to the chorus, which bursts into a set of completely booming and exciting drum rhythms. The song is fantastic and fantastical.

Florence & the Machine- Howl

The perfect oppurtunity to film a video of this dark and haunting song in the woods, as it would perfectly reflect the animalistic symbolism in the song. This would be an amazing song to do a video for, and luckily it's not been made into one. So, hurrah.

Kate Bush- Them Heavy People

'Rolling the ball!' From the weird and the wonderful Kate Bush, this song is absolutely excellent. And making the video would create a strong accessible point for me: express the weirdness. Catchy, weird, symbolic and just plain fun, this song is a classic and should be listened to by everyone. If I made a video for this, then hopefully encouragement would follow.

Noah & The Whale- L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

An instantly likeable song that raises the spirit if you're feeling down. So making a video surrounding this song would require the implication of a negative atmosphere being overthrown and replaced with a positive atmosphere everytime the chorus plays. A truly remarkable song.


Of Monsters & Men- Mountain Sound

A great, merry indie song. The video for this would require a lot of nature and open spaces to be able to express the song and its harmonic and upbeat tune. This is probably the least depressing video I have considered to make haha.

   A possible, but limited option, could be 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' by Edvard Grieg. The complete lack of lyrics would be what would make the video limited in perspective, but it would certainly have an element of mischief and a sneaky, sly atmosphere.

One of My Originally Chosen Music Video Songs

And the chosen song is...

'THEM HEAVY PEOPLE' BY KATE BUSH

My reason for this song to be chosen for my music video is because, like I've mentioned, I can express my weird'ry' on film. The idea of somebody attempting to stay inside their head and avoid the world's indifferences with the person who is the central subject in the video is a strong point for me. The song is weird, so the video will be. The song has allegory (symbolism/meanings), so I would try to put as much of it in the video as possible so that it could reflect the song. Who are 'them heavy people'? Why was she 'hiding in a room in my mind'? It'd be the most fun song to video, but nevertheless it would also be quite challenging in terms of location and also trying to crack as much of the meanings as possible so the video would fit the song. I will start planning for my music video very soon. Here is the link for the video for 'Them Heavy People', http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfNtPbHkp0U 

 

"They arrived at an inconvenient time. I was hiding in a room in my mind."

Common Features of Music Videos from Independent Artists

Most Indie bands/artists seem to follow a certain common feature in their videos from several different aspects, or sub-categories. I created a one-page slide on 'Photovisi', where I included these features. They were:

Subliminal Messages
The hidden meanings, euphemisms and semantics in the video. Can be quite hard to notice.


Costume & Make-up
Alternative costumes, that seem to have a sort of 70's, hippy vibe, but not all Indie videos have this.

Hairstyles
More diverse than normal if presented as a ratio. These normally detach the Indie genre from all the other glamorous, tiring hairstyles of the mainstream music artists. This is what defines Independent music as its own style.

Locations
Regularly fields, forests, villages, locales, or anything that is either outside in the country (or a countryside feel), or in a local place.

Regionality (of the artists)
Instead of being just one nationality, Independent artists are very widespread in terms of their regionality. Wales, Iceland etc.


Imagery
Regularly surreal imagery to help with the allegorical aspects of the music videos.