Digipak/ Album Cover Analysis- The Drums.

The Drums artwork for their two albums, “The Drums” released on 7^th June 2010, and “Portamento”, released on 2^nd September 2011 are both mainly photographed image. The debut album, self titled, is of cut out letters of the band name stood alone on a dusty, wooden floored stage, lit from back left, producing a large shadow onto the shiny floor. In the background are velvet blue stage curtains; the overall effect that the debut album is a large, attention seeking stage performance.

                       

The second album artwork is again a photograph, however containing two people. There is a young boy stood alongside his mother or grandmother perhaps, whose eyes have been edited through computer graphics; his eyes filled in a deep red to symbolise possession and the Devil. This connotation is also given through props in the background, a wooden Cross is hung directly above the boy’s head onto the wall. The picture is again of an 80s style, like in the “Best Friend” music video; it could possibly have been taken by a Polaroid or film camera, rather than digital image.
The album title appears to the top right of the cover, typed in large black, bold font inside a white box. The box also contains directly underneath, in smaller font, the band name and a track list. This isn’t very common in typical albums, as the cover usually focuses mainly on the image, rather than font.

The band gave reason when releasing the newer album, that its title “Portamento” symbolising going from one point to another, also revealing a near-split in June 2011 due to “stylistic disagreements.”

All of The Drums EP cover art is also covered by photographic image, rather than illustration as seen with the two previous bands Foals, and Bombay Bicycle Club.

Digipak/ Album Cover Analysis- Bombay Bicycle Club.

This is the album cover artwork for the 2007 EP “How We Are” by indie band Bombay Bicycle Club.
It uses a simplistic colour scheme of an off-white yellow wash, with black detailed lines. It has a look of being hand drawn, with quirky illustrations in each corner. The composition of the artwork is diagonal, creating a symmetry to look at; the girl is being pushed out of the frame by the words “Bombay Bicycle Club”, which are in a thicker, darker font. The EP title “How We Are” is laid along the bottom edge, as if written on freehand as the words fall down the illustration in an organic manner, rather than presented neatly.

There is no use of photographic image or anything to represent the band, other than the band name. This suggests the alternative and mysterious nature of the music style; the use of hand drawn images are stereotypical of the type of audience to pick this album up in a record store- a quirky, creative individual, reflecting with the artwork.
This cover is reminiscent of a later 2008 Foals album cover, “Antidote”. The two are very similar in style and colour palette, Foals using a slightly stronger creamy- yellow, and using one main illustration for their cover art. However here, there is slightly more detail on the image through the use of shading and thick outline, as well as using coloured collage to cover the mouth. The use of illustration in this hand drawn manner appeared to be becoming increasingly popular as both Bombay Bicycle Club and Foals have later released illustrative album cover art.

Digipak/ Album Cover Analysis- Foals.

This is the album artwork for Foals’ 2008 B-Side EP, “Gold Gold Gold”, however there has been alternative cover art made with the EP also. The colour scheme is fairly varied, using colours from deep mustard yellow as the background, to shades of blues, reds and greens in the illustrations. The band name and album title is in thick black font, looking hand drawn.

There is no specific composition of the artwork, other than the drawings appear very linear, rather than free flowing and organic. It contains a lot of geometric shapes like triangles and rectangles, although looking like they have been drawn with a highlighter or marker pen. This suggests the band wants to keep their art personal, rather than replying on computers and other graphic designers to create the cover art. Later reading from Foals, notes that the band’s friend “Tinhead” has currently done all of their artwork, with the exception of Total Life Forever.

The B-Side was released on 9th September 2008, almost 6 months after "Antidotes", their first album was released. The illustrative style of art from the first album (the vinyl cover) and “Gold Gold Gold” is very similar, due to that the same person has been creating all of the covers; it also connotes the typical audience profile, a young adult or teenager, interested in art or media. This style is typical of the band, the lack of photograph of computer image, represented instead by illustration and hand drawn icons.

Music Video Analysis- The Drums

The second video analysed in comparison with “Cassius”, is “Best Friend” by 4- piece indie – post punk band The Drums. Taken from the 2010 debut album “The Drums”, the video has received nearly 2 million hits on YouTube.

The extensive difference of viewing hits between The Drums, Bombay Bicycle Club and Foals is over 1 million; this suggests The Drums are more popular or better known; all three bands have been in the music industry circulation since approximately 2005, and all releasing debut albums as well as track EPs around 2009. The difference could also be impacted by record labels and coverage; The Drums are the only band of the three from America, in which the music industry dominates approximately 33% of the market, the UK following behind in third place behind Japan with approximately 9% (in the last 10 years).

 



As the song starts, the set is introduced instantly. The band begin without lead singer Johnathan Pierce as the instrumental kicks in. The shot is long; the audience is able to see the entire band from head to foot, including their surroundings.

            

Approximately 20 seconds in, as the singing commences, Johnathan climbs through a small window to the right of the set. As he joins the others, he collects a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses; the dress style from the band is casual (also commented when analysing that it was vintage), they are wearing dark coloured cardigans and fitted shirts, slim fitting trousers that are an 80s style- typically too short on the leg, with dark trainers or brogue shoes. The style, is quintessentially 80s American prep; the props also are themed in the same manner. An old fashioned recording system is placed alongside the band to the left against the wall, and opposite are two 80s style hard suitcases. These both add to the mise-en-scene of the video; dim natural lighting along with the props give a feel that the band could be practising in somebody’s house, rather than on a set.
The location is non- specific and continuous; the video is one long cut of the band playing. This is fairly unusual of a music video of any genre, as there are typically different cuts, edits and camerawork involved. However, this style is how a live performance of the band would be seen from being stood in the crowd. There is no real element of storyline within the video, although at 2:16 Jacob Graham (guitar/ keyboards), Myles Matheny (bass guitar) and drummer Connor Hanwick begin to pack up their instruments and depart, leaving Johnathan with a pre-recording track to sing and dance alone.

          

The earlier mentioned style of a continuous cut, would be very difficult if not impossible to create within our own music video; this video is possibly an exception to the general indie music video, however has been beneficial into the insight of props and location featured in a video.

Music Video Analysis- Bombay Bicycle Club

To get a real grasp upon the indie and style culture through music videos, the group looked at http://www.last.fm/ , a website that allows the public to listen, interact and learn about new music. We searched the band Foals, and viewed "Similar Artists" of which 4- piece band Bombay Bicycle Club plus many more were listed. As a group, we decided to analyse these other bands similar in genre and style to Foals in order to increase our understanding of what goes into making an indie- alternative music video.


The one of the songs chosen to analyse, by BBC (Bombay Bicycle Club) is "Magnet". Taken from their 2009 album "I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose", the video was released onto YouTube by their record label, Island Records on 12th August 2009 less than a month after the album was released. Up to date, the video has over 442, 500 hits.


Within the first 10 seconds as the drum solo starts into the introduction, there is a sense of style from the ban already. The use of projected lighting, and moving image over the band;the psychadelic imagery connotes their eccentric style as they are first shown together with their instruments, wearing similar, casual 'everyday' clothing.

The set as shown, is based in a studio similar to Foals' "Cassius", however here, the colour is compensated for through afrorementioned use of moving image and text; this allows the band to reflect the style of their music and genre through visual aids, as well as through the sounds. It also allows a slight change of scenery with moving location, as well as repeating similar images to provide a unity throughout, rather than haphazard images placed one after the other.

The lighting because of this is kept mainly natural and soft, the band members being lit by the light from projections. However in the latter parts of the video, Jack Steadman (lead singer) and the other members are lit by a stronger, white overhead lighting. 

As the pace of the song is steady, with no real climatic points, the camerawork and editing echoes this continuous pace as there are no real quick cuts or jumps. Instead, there are longer shots of the entire band, or medium shots of single, or two members. These shots of the band as a whole with their instruments, show a side of almost live performance, something regularly seen as a staple within music videos.
When Jack's voice is edited at 2:14, the camerawork changes to quicker cuts and close ups of him; the overhead lighting flickers with his quirky and jerky movements.
Although they are a four piece band, the video features the lead singer more so than the other three boys; he is the only singer paired with strong vocals therefore  more close ups are seen of him.

As mentioned previously, the projections over the band features psychadelic images using bright colours, geometric pattern icons and coloured landscape. However, it also features girls skipping, looking forwards and walking into the camera; this suggests- along with the lyrics- that the song is written about a girl, a lover "dreaming of you rushing up to me... we almost fell in love".

This could possibly be BBC's way of using a sub plot or storyline within the video; it is something seen more commonly now with newer music.

The below YouTube comment almost reaffirms the analysis and research covered into the indie genre of music videos so far:



Music Video Analysis- Foals

The song chosen by the group for our music video is "Cassius", by the band Foals. They are an indie- dance punk 5 piece band, formed in early 2004 and have since 2 albums and multiple EP tracks.


The official video for the song was released on 6th April 2010, by Subpop Records, one of the labels the band is signed by. Up to date it has received over 737,400 hits on YouTube, with numerous comments from viewers about the band, the music, and the video itself. From looking through a few pages of the comments below, Foals have a varied fan base, from local areas in the UK, all the way to Europe, North and South America.

Due to the style of the song itself, there is no introduction to the video "Cassius" and launches straight into the vocals; Yannis Phillippakis (lead singer) is seen jumping into the air and dancing. The location of the video is in a whitewashed studio, giving the band room to play with colour and props to fill the set and intrigue the viewer. This leaps into a quick cut of meat dangling through the shot by thick string; this is then led to a medium shot of the band as a whole singing. There is repetition of the cuts between each other, similar to the repetition of lyrics and melody within the song.

The mise-en-scene of the band is important to the creation of the video, as it is not on a specific location it is likely that it would fail to capture and impress the audience. There are numerous props seen, inclusive of aforementioned dangling meat, and flowers, pills and toy aeroplanes. The boys interact with the props; all of them swinging the meat towards him, other members like Jack Bevan (drums) smashing flowers- perhaps as he would with a drumstick; guitarist Jimmy Smith toying with a small plastic aeroplane; bass player Walter Gervers and Edwin Congreave playing with pills. As mentioned, the band play instruments, however in this video they aren't seen to be playing them; a keyboard is seen at 1:16 as a prop, rather than being played.

The band are seen to be wearing casual clothing, everyday dress that they would likely to be wearing. Their scruffy, casual style reflects the video and music itself; the genre it is contained in.

                        

The lighting is natural; there are no strobe lights or effects used by Dave Ma (who, up to date has created and produced all of Foals' videos) as they has noted to be "self sufficient". This suggests the reasoning behind the band's decision for lower key, lower cost videos rather than including big effects.

The quick editing and fast paced music again connotes the quirkiness of the band itself, using shot- reverse- shots and quick cut aways, as it suits the rapid movement of lyrics and tempo.

The use of pull- focus within the camerawork as well shows their creative use of minimal props and set, to keep the audience interested through use of different camera movements, as well as showing equal attention to each of the band members- there is also a synchronisation within the group shots of choreographed moves. As well as this, stop motion is also used variably throughout the video to again relate back to the eccentric style, similar to quick cuts in that it keeps the camerawork different from one cut to another. The change of level also communicates this; the band is seen one minute to be stood up, the next laid on the floor, in between kneeling and jumping about.

 

Overall, the video for "Cassius" is very random, the use of props strongly confirms this as there is no real explanation given either through storyline or lyrical content. However due to the nature of this band, it fits well. Viewer comment from YouTube is mixed, however mostly commenting on Yannis' introvert dancing and the uniqueness displaying through the video.

Magazine Album Advert Conventions.

When a band releases a new album or single, it is advertised widely through media such as magazines and newspapers, as well as on billboards and even now onto internet sites. This use of advertising through different platforms can increase promotion and fan basis, as well as sale release from hard copies or internet downloads.
The typical nature of an album advert is to keep the information to a minimum and the style basic; over the different platforms, the imagery/style, colour scheme, font face and layout will be kept similar to make it more recognisable and distinguished. The details are kept simple; band/artist name, title of the album, release date, where to purchase and sometimes an online website are all that is shown on the advert.


Usually, an advert for an album will be the exact same image, however some bands/artists choose to slightly differentiate the two. An example of this is from the band You Me At Six; the online advert differs from the album artwork however the idea of the police and being arrested is the same; the style and colour schemes are identical here, so the audience can still link between the two.

Music Video Conventions.

The use of a music video by a band or artist is to mainly promote and advertise an album or single. The videos are used to create a fan base and spread the "word" of their music, response from other record labels and to increase downloads, therefore increasing revenue made.
The typical conventions of a music video is that the band/artist is filmed either within live performances, or a storyline is created in which they appear. However music videos vary heavily due to style and genre of a certain artist or band.  Below are screenshots of music video styles stereotypical to a certain genre of music.


HEAVY METAL
Bring Me The Horizon

 1. Dark set/ background
 2. Long Shot of whole band
 3. Live performance
 4. Close Up of lead singer/ band member
 5. Dark clothes/ props

 

POP
The Saturdays

1. Close up shot of the band

2. Well dressed/ high street costume and makeup

3. Long/ Extreme long shot of group dancing

4. Bright and large location/set

INDIE

The Kooks

1. Shot of band with instruments in either a live or studio/location based performance.

2. Separate storyline within the video

3. Band becoming introduced within the storyline

4. Casual/ scruffy costume

ACOUSTIC/ FOLK

Jack  Johnson

1. Close up of artist/band

2. Black and white/ Sepia tones often used

3. Live perfomances with band/ accompanyment

4. Montage of clips

5. Casual costume in a natural location/ setting.

Digipaks.

The definition of a Digipak is:
"Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside."

It is a relatively new design in packaging for CDs, as it can contain extras from the band/ artist such as posters, DVD footage, and added band information. Digipak is a registered trademark of AGI, who developed the design.
They are usually made out of strong cardboard, which is both economical and more efficient than plastic CD cases; it is easier and cheaper to create a Digipack, and plastic jewel cases tend to crack and can ruin the CD inside.

 

Statement of Intent.

I'm Charlotte Wright, currently in my second year at York College studying A Levels.
This blog will be an online portfolio into my A2 Media Studies coursework; as part of group and individual study, I shall be planning, producing and evaluating media package inclusive of a digipack, advertisement and music video for a particular song and genre.
In my first year of Media Studies, the coursework was centred around creating a music magazine which included focussing into a current genre of music. My magazine was aimed at an Indie audience called AMP, a play-on-words title on an amplifier used in live music. The tasks involved creating an online survey to collect audience research, which helped to refine my planning. The production included the use of SLR cameras, Photoshop and the process of journalistic writing.
Throughout this new Media project, I aim to increase my knowledge and understanding of the Media industry, as well as improving personal skills through production processes.
The key diffference to this year's work is that it is based further into the media industry rather than primarily on print based media. The use of video within this project will be a new experience; something I aim to refine my understanding and knowledge of use, rather than focussing on still images.
This coursework for the promotional package of a new music album will consist of:
- A Digipak
- A Music Video
- Advertising via music magazine/posters.


After A Levels, I aim to study Fine Art as an Undergraduate; this Media course will enable and further skills such as Photoshop, video editing software and creative design to increase techniques and experience within the media field.