Album Covers Activity

For the lesson, we each brought in a selection of album covers that we found interesting, and we also chose one specific cover to talk about. I brought in the covers for All Time Low's Don't Panic, Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing and Ben Howard's Every Kingdom. I specifically decided to talk about Don't Panic, as I really like the album and I felt as though I had a lot to say about it.

A) Analyse a Selection of Album Covers

Typical Features

- Name of artist/album                                        - Barcode

- Acknowledgements                                          - Promos/stickers

- Typeface                                                          - Track list

- Record label                                                     - Product Codes

- Producers                                                         - Place of manufacture

- Copyright                                                         - Booklets

- QR Codes                                                        - Sleeves

- Year of Release                                                - Consistent Colour Scheme

- Synergy with other parts of campaign

Categories for the Covers

- Genre                                                      - Colour scheme

- Format                                                    - Release date

- Concept; abstract or realism                    - Busy mise-en-scene

- Debut                                                     - Record label

- Audience                                                - Media used

- Compilation vs one artist                         - Gender

- Link to music                                         - Accessibility; niche or pop. culture

- Artist shots;band;artist;photo or representation

Function

- to attract new fans or old fans - increasing fan base

- set up album feeling

- establish genre

- connote artist identity

- recognition/repetition

- cover + music video give artist ability to change identity

- physical product for fans to own

- end result; shows completion of album

- image represents era of music

- visual interpretation of music

- audience selects the song

- another platform to sell the brand

- to inform audience

- make money

- collectible

- inside parts extend the cover

B) Deconstruction of Cover

- There is a lot happening, quite cacophanic like the band

- The font used for the name of the artist is the typical All Time Low iconography used across all platforms

- Popular culture; the whole album is a nod to the 2012 Apocalypse - signified by the meteors, zombies, aliens and general chaos happening on the cover

- Front cover sets up feeling for the band, inside sleeves show the band's reactions to their surroundings and the back cover shows a track list of all the songs

- The action genre being satirised on the front cover is often associated with punk/rock music

- Has the name of the record label on the back, Hopeless Records which is an indie label associated with pop-punk bands

- The target audience is both boys and girls - the cover is more boyish, but the band also has female fans who appreciate the band's quirky sense of humour

- They released a stream of the whole album with animated versions of the inside sleeves; very synergistic

- Also synergy with their lyrics - "Why can't Thursday last forever?" Thursday was thought to be the last day on Earth

Creating an Ideal Artist

In the "Billie Kaden" group were me, Anna and Sam, with Emily G creatively leading us. She decided to have a sporty, athletic artist who was very pop-y, as she had strong influences from Icona Pop and Iggy Azalea, but who was also often casually dressed, even when going to awards shows. I think that the originality and self-awareness of this artist would make her stand out from the typical top 40s music stars, as she doesn't sexualise herself in order to gain popularity. Instead, she is an ambassador for a charity which helps less able kids get into sport, and also her music reflects the tough childhood that she had, making her a flawed individual, and consequently more relatable. Billie Kaden is also an Olympic decathlete, with a very strong message of never giving up on your dreams, which is something that both children and adults can relate to. Overall, I think our artist was a good role model for children and older generations, as she symbolises not just love of music, but also love of her herself and other hobbies.

What Music Means To Me

Childhood 

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad - Meatloaf

This seems like a really strange choice for a childhood song but I distinctly remember having a CD called "Hits of the 70s" or something like that and I remember that this was one of my favourite songs on the album. I just really liked the way that the song started and ended on the same lyric "Baby we can talk all night", as I thought it was really nice and cyclical (I was a philosophical toddler) and I also really liked the chorus and tried to memorise all the words. I used to listen to the CD on my Disc/Walkman and my parents always got annoyed because I sang along really loudly. I remember losing the CD and completely forgetting about the song until a few years ago when I Shazam-ed the song and rediscovered it. Since then it has been one of my favourites and it's also influenced me to listen to a wider range of music genres, as I quite like the Bat Out Of Hell album (the album this song features on).

Early Teens

Defying Gravity - Wicked

The first time I heard this song was in 2007 in the Ugly Betty episode "Something Wicked This Way Comes" where Betty goes to see Wicked on Broadway. Despite the fact that they only showed a small snippet of the performance, I was hooked straight away. For months I begged my parents to let me go and see the musical and in December of 2008 (I think), one of my Christmas presents was a pair of tickets to the show. After seeing it I fell in love with the entire soundtrack and my (albeit short-lived) lifelong dream became to play Elphaba on the big stage. I listened to the songs on my Nokia brick phone all day long and I even choreographed routines to some of the songs. In about 3 months I had memorised all the songs and even some of the dialogue, and it distracted me from (what I thought was) the stress of school and friendships. To this day, I still have the soundtrack on my iTunes library and I listen to it when I feel like losing myself in that fantasy world.

Today

Weightless - All Time Low

I don't remember when I first heard this song, but I remember it was on a music channel and they were doing an "Alternative/Rock Music Top 100 Countdown". I was flicking through the channels when this song had just started playing and I was intrigued (I thought the lead singer was cute) so I listened to the whole song. Not only was the music video quirky and different to all the other Top 20 music I usually listened to, it was also quite techy and I loved the use of graphics to make it seem contemporary but also to mock and satirise some aspects of society. Through this song I discovered the band All Time Low which rapidly became my favourite band, and then they led me to a lot of my other favourite artists; Hey Monday, We Are The In Crowd and The Summer Set had all previously toured with ATL and when I checked those bands out, I immediately found that I was drawn to pop-punky music. I still listen to their songs often, despite being a fan for well over two years and having heard those songs quite a few times already. I just really like their sound because it's fun, their lyrics are witty and all four guys are really talented and just great personalities overall. Sadly I haven't been to an ATL concert yet, as they sell out really fast and/or no-one wants to go with me :(

CONTINUITY ANALYSIS OF "SHE'S THE MAN" - BLK H/W 4

CONTINUITY TECHNIQUES USED

• Master shot - Shots 1, 3, 14 & 16 are all the same set up
• Establishing Shot - When Sebastian/Viola walks in and the shot is of the room, setting the scene in the dorm room
• Shot Reverse Shot - When Duke is standing and talking to S/V
• 180 degree rule used the whole time when D and S/V are talking for the first 40 seconds, the camera is always to S/V's right and D's left
• Match on Action - When S/V first walks in and the shot cuts away to D but then back to S/V and we see S/V putting her bag down and starting to sit down and in the next shot (which is an OTS over her shoulder) we see her sitting down
• Reverse shot - When the phone rings the shot is from the "POV" of the phone and we see D and S/V looking shocked, but then the shot reverses so we are behind them and the phone is infront of us
• Cutaway - shots of the spider
• Eyeline match - Duke looks down and then the next shot is of the spider (what he sees)
• Diegetic sound - When the door closes at the beginning there is a slamming sound effect but the shot is on Duke

Accident Evaluation - BLK H/W 3

Continuity Principles Used

• Didn't jump from extreme shots (eg LS to CU)
• Tried to use the 30 degree rule
• Match on Action shots used from shots 1-2
• Panning with Jeremy in shot 1
• Used a cutaway in shot 5

If We Had To Reshoot

• Try and have a bigger camera angle move from shot 2-3
• There's a delay when the lunchcard hits the ground, so we should make it more realistic
• Shots 3 and 4 have bad cutting
• There's no shot of the person that shouts in shot 5
• Could make the framing tighter

"MEAN GIRLS" FILM CLIP ANALYSIS - BLK H/W 2

TECHNICAL CODES

• OTS
• SHOT REVERSE SHOT
• LS
• MCU
• MS
• CU
• 2S-LS

GENRE CODES

• HIGH SCHOOL
• CAFETERIA
• LUNCH TRAYS
• LOTS OF KIDS TALKING IN BACKGROUND
• "NEW GIRL IN SCHOOL"
• "POPULAR" GIRLS
• "BURNOUTS"

CULTURAL CODES

• PUSHY, WHITE, BLONDE LEADER WEARING PINK & BLACK - FASHIONABLE
• STUPID BLONDE WEARING BLUE & BLACK TIGHT SHIRT
• NEEDY BEST FRIEND WEARING CARDIGAN (LOOKING LIKE SHE'S TRYING TOO HARD)
• ALL POPULAR GIRLS ARE PRETTY
• GINGER, SOCIALLY AWKWARD NEW GIRL WEARING CASUAL CLOTHES, NOT TRYING HARD AT ALL
• EMO, BLACK HAIRED ENEMY (OF POPULAR GIRLS) WEARING LONG BLACK CLOTHES
• CHUBBY, HOMOSEXUAL BEST FRIEND OF EMO GIRL, LOOKING FASHIONABLE WITH BAGGY CLOTHING

Reflections on Shots - BLK H/W

Conventions of the Horror Genre

Before we started shooting, we decided that our chosen genre would be Horror, because everyone in the group knew the stereotypical conventions for the Horror genre; there should be a young, innocent, female victim and a broody (although not always supernatural) murderer with a grudge. The horror genre also uses low key lighting, particularly on the face of the murderer, to make he/she look much more ominous and spooky, and also to create a sense of foreboding.

My Chosen Shot

I decided to choose this shot, because I thought that the framing and use of space here was quite effective; the girl in the locker, looking terrified, looks so small and compacted, and the audience feels sympathy towards her for having to take such measures to escape from the murderer's wrath. Also, the medium long two-shot shows the necessary details without missing out or adding any unnecessary information; we see the girl, victimised, her face terrified and listening closely against the locker for the footsteps of her attacker; we also see the attacker full on, looking deranged and maniacal, his hands tense with rage; we can also work out the setting of the still- it is clearly in a school because of the use of motif via the lockers. 

If We Had To Reshoot

One of the key problems with this Horror shoot was the lighting- it was midday and the Sun was very bright, causing our shots to look far brighter than we had planned them to. I think that the lighting on the girl looks good, because she is in a very dark shadow, but maybe next time, we should choose for the attacker to be in a much darker light, in order to make him look far more threatening. I would also not have the left edge of the frame, where the lockers are appearing midway from the frame and curving up, because it looks messy and uncomfortable to look at. I would also have the attacker come forward more, because there is a lot of empty space above his head and it looks unnecessary.