Looking At Album Covers

Looking At Album Covers...

As I prepare to start my coursework, I thought it would help to look into album cover designs and see if there are any prominent conventions within genres.


Here is an album cover by female artist Amy MacDonald. I have no idea what the actual genre is for this album, however a lot can be worked out by simply looking closer at this cover. For starters its likely that this is her debut album, as her name is in a huge bold font. You can also tell that this is quite a personal album, and not very commercial, due to the way she looks away from the camera and down at the ground. The music is almost certainly acoustic, I would guess either country or soul due to the fact that the guitar is deliberately placed in the photo. The torn edges emphasise this acoustic feel by giving the album a homemade comfortable look.

The album cover for the electronic duo The Celestics is very different. It looks very clean, with bright funky colours contrasting a single colour background. This convention is classic throughout electric dance music, and it is incredibly recognisable by its fans. Not only is the artwork cool looking, but it also establishes the artist too, which may indicate this is The Celestics first album also.

Madonna - Like a Prayer

Madonna, Like A Prayer. Music Video Analysis

In 1989 Madonna released a music video with Warner Bros Records for her song Like a Prayer.
The video portrayed two linked but very different narratives. The first of these is a story about institutional racism, and the other, about a statue of a saint coming alive in the chapel.


Madonna points at the issue of unfair discrimination towards black people when it comes to crime suspects. To do this she uses a very unrealistic but obvious scene showing a stabbing, followed by an innocent black witness being taken to prison by all white police officers.

To follow this up is a genuinely very controversial set, depicting Madonna singing in front of burning crosses - a symbol associated strongly with the KKK group. All of this together creates a sense that Madonna really has got something to say, and wants to make a point of it. This creates a sense that Madonna is an intelligent person, who has her own views on tough political issues.




The church scene is undoubtably very odd. Kissing a living statue of potential black Jesus and dancing with your cleavage on full show is not necessarily going to please all audiences.
This part of the video in my opinion likely comments on Madonna's feelings towards sexual openness being oppressed by religion, as she herself was brought up a Catholic.

The final scene shows the cast bowing in the chapel, having finished the song. This in my eyes tells the audience that the video was just a show, and the points put forward shouldn't be taken with complete sincerity. Instead it enforces the idea that there was a message behind the video that Madonna wanted to express to her listeners.

Creating a Website Using Wix

Creating a Website Using Wix  - THE SITE


Having looked at other sites, I now have to try to make my own using an established artist. I'm not going to look at their website just so I can compare mine with theirs when it's finished. I want to make a website for Tom Misch, a well known collaborative artist who makes jazzy, electronic instrumentals. I started with the main background. I decided I wanted to go for a clean look, and so I created a black background using the album artwork much like Kaytranada's website.

I then added the main title in a cartoonish looking font to give a 'homemade' feel, much like Kaytranada's layout. I also changed the menu to contain all the usual technological conventions





Following this I added social networking links with easy to see, logos. I also added the song that I was aiming my focus towards
However the more I looked at it the less jazzy and instrumental it looked. I therefore decided to completely change up the colour scheme

To do this I chose a much warmer set of colours, with a dark wooden background and simple white text. This in my opinion worked a lot better and really helped to portray the genre of music.

Website Research

Website Research...

Knowing that I will have to make a website this year for my made up artist, It seems to be a good idea to look at some other well established artist sites, in order to see the technical and symbolic conventions.

I started by looking at the Red Hot Chili Peppers website. It definitely was not the website I expected from the British rock band. On opening the site you see a video of bees working within a hive. However around this video there are bold advertisements for new music videos, new album releases and tour dates. Only when you scroll to the very bottom do you finally see the band themselves.

In general the website has everything you'd expect to see, just laid out in an artistic fashion. Whether it looks like a rock band website is debatable, but from the rural photos you gain a sense that the site isn't promoting an electric, or rap group.

Next I looked at Kaytranada's website, a lone music producer who makes electronic beats for a younger audience. The site is easily recognisable to a Kaytranada fan, with the same artwork as seen on his album cover for '99.9%' The website is clean, simple and contains everything you'd expect from an artists site. However one thing interests me. There is a mini-game you can play on the site using all the same art style which, if you complete it, you earn yourself a bonus track not released on the original album list. This is a very simple and clever way in my opinion to include some participatory culture within the album and build some interest around it.

Homepage

The mini-game loading screen

Overall both sites contain the same content, just displayed in different ways. The Red Hot Chili Pepper's site is more in your face, with lots of visuals that catch your eye and keep you interested. Kaytranada's site is cleaner, with bright 'doodles' on a plain black background. This almost childish design gives the album a homemade style. In my opinion this makes it the more successful website, as internet users nowadays have a much lower attention span when it comes to taking on board information. The game helps keep the audience on the page longer, gets them interested in the album, and then they're more likely to look at tour dates and new songs.

Robbie Williams Star Image and Bio

Robbie Williams Star Image and Bio...

My Favourite Music

My Favourite Music...

The Start of the New Course

The Start of the New Course...

Today we began the start of the A2 course by a small introduction of what to expect over the next year. The music video is the main piece, for which I'm very much looking forward to making a very stylistic short. Currently I want to make either a dance video or a punk rock video, as they both appeal to me quite a lot.

Making a digipak also interests me, as I have always wanted to try my hand at some graphic design work.

We will see how the course turns out, but as before I am looking forward to working on set in a team, and also learning a lot more within editing.