Media Progressions A2: 2012

Case Studies

Research and planning the CD / DVD cover and advert

I will be researching CD covers which I believe are effective and relate towards my genre of music. My genre is RNB and hip hop, therefore, the covers which I aim to aspire to have to be similar to my finishing product. The first CD cover that caught my attention was ‘face off’ sang by Omarion and Bow wow. The shot types which are used are very captivating. Next to the album title, there is a back to back two person medium shot. The fact that both these artists are back to back could indicate that they may be against each other or working together. In this particular shot, they are faded out, this could connote that they are very powerful as they are at the same level as the sky. Underneath these particular shots, there is a two person long shot of Bow wow and Omarion. They are facing each other; this shot is powerful as this shot shows their figure, whereas the medium shot shows their facial expression. The body language of both these artists seems very aggressive; the name of the album also reinforces this. Judging by the fact that the medium shot shows both artists facial expressions as frustrated and the main colours used on the album is dark colours indicates that a fight may begin and suits the genre. The lighting is very professional; both the artists appear to have been shot in the studio. Their faces look air brushed as both the artists stand out. The effects used on this cover, was the backing shot is of a dark night with clouds and the canary wolf of buildings, underneath both these artists appears to be an erupting volcano, this could be related to the artists body language and facial expressions. The artists are represented as powerful, as they are able to stand on a volcano and be of the same level as the sky. The words are laid out interestingly; the name of the album is assigned in the middle of both the artists, to indicate that there may be trouble between them both. Underneath both the artists is their name, this allows the buyer of the product to know the names of both these artists. The disc has the same affects as the front and back cover and there is an inside image inside the cover. This image is effective as it shows Bow Wow and Omarian’s face combined. The ideas I would take from this CD cover is to have the artists name put on the CD cover as it is very initiative and unique. I will also try to use affects as this reinforces the mood of the album and makes the finishing product look eye catching. The lettering is bold (grey) this is to make sure the album name is appealing to the audience. The fact that bow wow is wearing a bandana (front cover) reinforces that the genre of this album is RnB and hip hop.

The second CD cover I will be analysing is NDUBZ album ‘Uncle B’. The reason that I chose to research this cover, is that there is a female present on the cover. My music video has two main girl and two boys. Therefore, it is interesting to see how other artists with females structure their covers. The front image is a three person medium shot of all three artists. This shot is important; this is because it shows that all three artists are equal as all three artists are placed in the same shot. The body language of this artist is fulfilled with attitude. The male artist Dappy, (left) is a medium side shot, he has a stern face as he does a hand gesture. This could be argued to be a gang related. The next artist, Fazer (middle) has a serious face and is also following the same gesture as Dappy. The female artist on the right looks rather feminine and her body language is filled with attitude. The lighting is excellent; the images of the artists appear to have been taken in a studio. The effects used, is a background image of flats and a spot light used on all the artist. The colours used are yellow and black. The album is very youthful and looks gang related, this is emphasised inside the album of where the artists are with their friends and this can be seen as negative. The spotlight is emphasised inside the album as the friends are placed in black and white, whereas the artists are placed in colour. The colour scheme is continuous throughout, as outside and inside the cover is the colour scheme of black and yellow. The artists represent where they may be from, as flats are displayed throughout the cover and their friends are placed inside the album. The artists are represented as being serious with attitude. Both the male artists in the cover are dressed casual in a jacket and hat. Whereas, the woman on the cover is dressed in a black dress, with her nails done and hair curled, this emphasises how feminine she is. The texts used on the cover, is the band name of ‘N- Dubz’ and album name of ‘Uncle B’. The band promotes their album by placing a label on the cover, stating that there are new tracks involved in the album. The band produced a unique picture of themselves with their friends. This cover has helped me realise how I should represent the male and females in my cover. In this cover, the men are seen as casual and stern, whereas the lady is represented as feminine and has more of a sexual appeal. The lettering appears to look like graffiti to reinforce the fact that the genre is hip hop.

The third cover I will be analysing is Usher- caught up. The shot type used is a medium shot of usher

and of the female dancers. The body language of Usher is that he knows that all the girls find him irresistible. This shown is shown as Usher opens his arms, and looks into another direction, rather than at the girls. The lighting used is as though the picture has been taken in the studio, usher and the dancers appear to look air brushed. This is shown as the dancer and usher both have a glow to their faces and bodies. The representation of the cover makes me believe that the dancers look at Usher as attractive and they all want him. This is because all the dancers have their arms out, grabbing him. Although, usher already has his arms out, he is looking in another direction; he also has the mic in front of him. This is so the audience know that he is the artist of this song. Usher is costumed in a suite with a top hat, this shows that he is sophisticated and has expensive taste. The dancers are revealing more flesh, this is to emphasise that this is for sexual appeal. This brings the attention on Usher as the dancers are all surrounding him, which connotes that he could be the main sexual attention. The text used is of ‘usher’ and of the song name ‘caught up’. The name of the song reinforced how the singer and dancers are placed and represented. There is no colour scheme used on this colour, as the colours are bright and bold to grab the audience’s attention. The colour scheme is white, yellow and black. From this cover, I have realised that I may need to bring into practice on mine that in the music industry women are used as sex appeals and are dressed more feminine. The male is more desired, I have also learned from this that you don’t need to follow a particular colour scheme in order to have a successful cover. The lettering is placed in bold to make sure that it grabs the attention of the audience.

Finally, I have also analysed one more covers. This is because my cover will have two males and two females; I wanted to see how females are shown in CD covers. The cover which I analysed was ‘Maroon 5 ft. Rihanna’. There is a medium shot of both the artists. The body language of both these artists is romantic; this is because of close contact between both the artists. The lighting is excellent; therefore it is obvious that these images of the artists were taken in the studio. The representation of the female artist is that she is very feminine as she is wearing earrings, make up and her hair is done. The male artist is seen as sophisticated and of a ‘new man’ character. This is because he is wearing a suite and he appears to look rather groomed. The text placement is assigned on top of the artists, stating the song name and artists singing. The fact that the background colour of this music cover is red connotes romance and lust.

The next research I carried out was on a music advert placed in magazine covers. The shot type of these three artists is a medium shot. The body language of these three artists is fulfilled with attitude and confidence. This is shown as all three of the artists look directly at the camera, posing. The lighting of this advert is phenomenally professional; therefore, it is obvious that the images of these artists were taken in the studio. There is a wind effect used, this meaning that it contrasts with the artists position. The female artists (Tulisa) hair is firm and is not moving, this could connote that she is more powerful than wind. This reinforces that all three artists are dominant and supreme. The artist are represented as being rich. This is shown as on the left (Dappy) is holding a chain with his hand of where is his ring is shown, this is to connote that financially he is doing well. He has a tattoo on his neck to reinforce his attitude. The female artist, Tulisa, is dressed rather feminine in a blue dress which fits into the colour scheme of the advertisement. Her body language is fulfilled with confidence, as she looks directly into the camera with both hands on her waist. She looks rather groomed as her hair is curled and her make- up is done immaculately. On the right, (Fazer) looks just as confident as Tulisa, this is because he looks directly into the camera. He looks rather groomed, as he is wearing a suit. All three artists are represented in a different way, as Dappy is dressed hood, Tulisa is dressed glamorous and Fazer is dressed Trendy. The text used is very sufficient, it’s worded with the band name and the songs which are concluded into their ‘greatest hits’. The colour of the words fits into the three colour scheme of blue, white and black. There is a further fade away above the fan to bring the colour scheme of black into the frame. There is a promotional method used as there is a ‘special N-Dubz version of No Regrets’.

The second music advert I analysed was Beyoncé. I do understand that my official product is not based on a female. However, as females will be placed on my advertisement I thought it would be interesting to see how women are placed into advertisements in the music industry. The shot type if Beyoncé is of a medium shot. This may be to reinforce the sexual appeal of her belly top being shown. The body language of Beyoncé is confident, as she looks directly into the camera this could be to indicate that she is fearless. The lighting of Beyoncé appears to have been of a golden effect; therefore, it seems fairly obvious that the image of Beyoncé has been shot a studio. The effects used are of the sky being placed behind this artist, this could connote that she is higher than the sky and is of a dominant and powerful character. The representation of this artist is of a sexual appeal, this is because she is costumed in a see- through belly top. The theme of what she is wearing is of diamonds to indicate that she is expensive and high maintenance. Beyoncé is wearing diamond earrings, her hair is curled and thrown back (using the wind effect) and she has make up on to emphasise her femininity. The texts used are very important, underneath the artist is her name and underneath the picture is when the product will be available in stores. The colour scheme of this advertisement is white, black and blue. There is a promotional method used of Beyoncé’s website underneath her name. The website is promotional as it has her gadgets and her concert release dates. This will allow the consumer to buy more of her products.

Finally, the third advertisement I will be analysing is by Chipmunk. This particular advert caught my attention as it was very simple but powerful. Powerful, meaning that it was obvious what the advertisement was about but did not need much affects to do so. The shot type is of a medium shot of Chipmunk. His body language is fulfilled with attitude; he looks directly at the camera whilst doing a hand posture. The lighting has a particular glow effect which makes it obvious that this image was shot at a studio. The representation of this artist seems youthful; this is because the artist is dressed in casual clothes of a leather jacket and white top. This is very simplistic, matching up to the advertisement. The text and image placement is the best I’ve seen. This is because this advertisement also shows what the album looks like. There are different fonts used, and the colour of the words used match up to the colour scheme. The words used are of Chipmunks name, the album name and the date the album is out on stores. There is a promotional method used to indicate that one of his songs is featured with N-Dubz. Therefore, the fans of N-Dubz may be interested in buying his album. The colour scheme of this album is black, white and yellow and this is shown in the texts and images used. I chose this album, as my advertisement is going to be youthful; therefore I wanted to have an idea of how this type of advertisement is used in the media industry.

These three products have showed me that a professional advertisement consists of a medium shot. That the pictures used must be appealing and look professional, therefore the images taken for my finishing product must be shot at a studio. That in order for the advertisement to be obvious that it is an advertisement for an album/ CD it must involve the name of the song/ the artist or band name and the date the product will be out on stores. It is important to involve a promotional method, this is because, and as it is possible to illegally download there must be a catch to make the consumer want to buy my product. As my advertisement will involve females I have found out that women in the industry are now used as sexual appeals and also seen as powerful. I have also gathered from this research that it is important to use effects as it grabs the audience’s attention. The third image of (N-Dubz) is the most eye-catching as the product involves the most effects.