Album cover stuff..

So i decided whilst doing some research into album covers to maybe look at a band and all of their album covers to see how they maintain a solid image.

I decided to look

at Oasis as they are a band that have been around for many years and have released several albums.

I Started out by looking at the front of them. The four album covers that i looked at do not have any images of the band members on them.

They are all very 'odd' im

ages looking a bit 'random' if you look at them like they are just photographs that have been taken.

As my band are a new band and this is their first

album i am going to have the images of them on there.

As you can see aswell, the name of the band 'Oasis' is the same font and style/ima

ge on all four of these albums giving the band a 'logo' image.

Looking at the back of the covers they are very different to the front.

Obviously, you have the barcode, and all the copyright ect.

The images on the back reflect the image on the front of the covers. They aren't just black on the back with writing.

The top left hand cover's image is very arty and that is represented throught the writing of the song titles through it's hand written style.

Whereas the rest of the covers song titles look typed.

I would like to use the style of the top left hand cover as i think that style fits in with the image and representation I am trying to create for my band.

The Video Shoot

So our first video shoot did not go as planned. To film we did used on of the schools hand held cameras also using a tripod. We filmed all of the footage of the band using various shots giving us about 20 minutes worth of footage. However, once uploaded on to the Apple Macs, the footage was slightly blurry and the lighting was a lot darker on the computer as to on the camera making out band members look like blacked-out silhouettes.

Therefore, we now have to re-shoot using a different location (as no more light was available at the original). That will be

done sometime this week.

We took some photos of the location ^^^

Progress.

So i made myself an 'Action Plan' for the next couple of weeks.

This Week

• Research and planning for my Digi-Pack
• Photos for my Digi-pack
• Casting shots (done! but need to upload)
• Filming all footage (Half done!)
• Add location shots to blog (Done! but need to upload)
• Add textual analysis of a music video.

Next Week

• Editing (all footage should be shot by then)
• Document process on blog (changes, reshoots etc)

The Following Week

• Finish editing
• Rough cut DEADLINE!
• Continue with Digi-pack

Different Types Of Album Formats

There are a few different album formats. After doing some research this is what i have found:

NME magazine done an album of loads of different artists from the Indie/Rock genre to raise awareness of Racism. They called the album 'Love Music Hate Racism'.

This album was a cardboard album that didnt open up like a normal one but the cd slid out like a vinyl record.

This is a nice idea, however, this being my bands first release the booklet inside the album seems appropriate for the customer/fan to read about the band and understand and connect with them more.

I know you cannot tell through this image but this is a picture of a Vinyl record of 'Florence and the machine - Lungs'.

Being a Vinyl record it is of larger size and is played on a record player.

It gives the record a much more appreciated meaning and is more vintage style.

There isn't a booklet inside of a Vinyl record it just opens up and the pictures are like a page of a book already stuck on.

A vinyl record is the type of album cover i would like to use if it is allowed.

The typical album cover case is the most common one.

I want to be different with this and not use the most typical and expected type of case.

The next type of album type is a 'Digital Booklet'. I can't find an image for this. Basicaly, when you download an album of Itunes for example, you get a digital booklet downloaded aswell which is basically the online version of the album booklet which comes with the download.

Album Art Work - Codes And Conventions

So this is the album art work for 'Oasis -Morning Glory'.
The faces of the artists are not used on the front of the cover as it is not the first album they have done.
However, images of my artists should be shown on the front of the album as the band are not recognised. This is due to the fact that this would be their first release.
As you can see, this picture is of the buildings, which you can tell are not of posh buildings and looks like a normal highstreet, which represent the bands working class background.
The band have been around long enough to have a classic logo, which is the 'Oasis' black and white logo which a customer would immediatley recognise. The name of the album is in plain white font which is very basic which puts more enphasis onto the image. This gives it a very simple but effective feel and fits in well with what the band represent which is thier music is music and their not fame fanatics ect.


This album cover is of 'The kooks- Inside
in Inside out'.
This cover is again very basic with enphasis on the image, it's a mid shot which fits in all the band members and gives the album a very laid back and relaxed feel which gives the impression that their music is very much for themselves and about having fun and enjoying it.
The image looks as though they are practicing their music in a room and significantly not in a recording studio.
The image is in black and white aswell giving more enphasis on the font letting the customer immediatley be drawn to who the artist is.
The font i also very clever again based at the top with the red text being the name of the album and the black being the bands name.
I like the way the font is on this album and this could help influence my ideas of how i am going to have mine.





Moving onto another form of album art which is animation. This image is very bright and colourful giving the feel that the album is going to be very upbeat.
The image is obviouldy inspired by Andy Warhols Maralyn Monroe collage. This also gives the band and album a very artistic vibe.
The writing for the band is down the spine of the album in the a compatable colour scheme.
I don't think i will be suing animation for my album art but to really understand the codes and conventions of my genre i thought i would look at several different formats.



I thought i would look at a single artist instead of a band now. The close up shot is the most common used when selling a solo artist.
The font used is small and basic 'Morrissey- Gratest Hits' the small and basic font is used because Morrissey is an iconic face in the music world and his fans know who he is and not alot of writing is needed.
Also this being a greatest hits album shows the artist has been around a while.
He, like most artist/bands in the indie genre only appeal to a minority.
I thought i would look at a solo artist even though i am looking at a band just to help me understand more the way that album art is used and all the differnet underlying meanings that are conveyed throughout.

Digipack!

So we are starting our 'Digipacks' now. We have the choice to choose whether to produce a magazine advert, advertising the up coming album OR a website, E.G a Myspace page. It is compulsary hat we produce an album cover both front and back and the booklet that goes inside.

I have chosen to create the album and an advert for a magazine promoting the up coming album release.

I will do several posts on my research, planning and stages of production throughout the production of my digipack.

Filming

So we shot a few scenes from our music video. However, once all the footage was uploaded onto the mac, the lighting of our footage was not of good quality. We now have to re-shoot and make sure that the lighting is now better.

Filming...

So we have a little issue with the filming!

To Film the outdoor scenes we have to have a clear, dry day and preferably a little bit of sunshine. However, we are having mental weather so filming has been a bit delayed!

This week, we will be filming the indoor shots, such as the band scenes in the bedroom, and the corridor scenes!

Hopefully a nice day will come along soon when everyone is available to shoot.

Casting

So we have decided our cast!!

The only people that will appear in our video will be the 'band' members.

WE HAVE:

• The lead singer - Jack Lowe
• The drummer - Harry Norris
• The Guitarist - DAVE!!
• The female singer - Chelsea Fullbrook

Locations!

So we have been discussing our locations and we have come up with a couple so far to fit our storyboard shots.

We will be filming in Danson Park.

This will be (obviously) for the scenes from the park. The shots of them sitting on the bench singing will also be shot in the park.

We will also be filming in Bexleyheath using the fountain.

Our school will be used for the 'corridor' scenes where they will be chasing each other.

We will also be using Harry's bedroom for the band scenes!

Pictures of the locations soon...