Research - Analysing CD Album Covers

What is the purpose for album covers?


An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially-released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers, or the front-facing panel of a CD package, and, increasingly, the primary image accompanying a digital download of the album, or of its individual tracks.

The cover serves three main purposes:

1. To advertise and identify the contents of the music product.
2. To convey the artistic aspirations of the original artists
3. In reproductions of the artwork, to serve as a primary image in the promotional efforts surrounding the product, as an identifiable image associated with it’  

EXAMPLES:

From looking at these particular examples of album covers it highlighted the different essence of how the artist is selling the actual CD. For example by looking at the artist Jay-z' Blueprint 3 captured a different approach, as the actual images sells the artist in a different way - the image itself is very capturing and artistic, which breaks the conventions of the genre of rap. This indicated by Jay-z being such a successful artist he did not need to have a image of his actual face for it to sell, as he is well established and has a high range of target audience which would regardless purchase the album.

This differs from the actual image which is on the cover of Kelly Rowland Here I AM  as this picture is a close up of the artist. I believe this was due not having a high volume of success which is why they need to sell the artist. This is what I took on board as my artist although very successful, she is still a fairly new artist which is why I have to sell the artist meaning use an image my actual actress in order to sell the artist.

Updated Final Cut of Music Video

Updated Final Cut of Music Video 'Serial Killer' by Lana Del Rey from SMC on Vimeo.


Here is my updated final music video, I have made the changes which my media teacher felt were necessary such as adding more lip-syncing and taking out the clips of the ducks (which he felt looked out of place).

I believe this is now a more successful video, yet still screams out LANA DEL REY and is up for the audience discussion of how they interoperate the video which I aimed to do. I am very pleased with my video, as it has been both enjoyable and stressful to say the least, but I feel all that stress made me work even harder this year and that is why my video editing skills have developed and just the overall concept is extremely strong.

I am glad that my target audience are also happy with the end result of my music video, as they are the people which I find have the most important say as it is them that I am selling the product to, this is why I felt it was essential to take on board any comments they felt I should do in order to create an effective video.

I gained many positive feedback which indicated my aims and intentions were shown through my music video. 

Comments from Target audience:

Final Cut of Music Video 'Serial Killer'

Untitled from SMC on Vimeo.

Here is my Final Cut of my music video, which has received high volumes of positive feedback which I am currently still gaining.

I chose to upload it on Vimeo due to the quality of how it shows my video was shot with a high quality camera which in full screen it plays it in HD.

I am very happy with the outcome of my final cut as I took all the comments on board from my rough cut, which then created an effective end result which I find is extremely good, and I am proud of my progress which has been developed upon my AS to A2 as I find I've used much more technical aspects within the programme premiere pro and capturing different shots which is illustrated through my music video. 

Rough Cut of Music Video with Feedback

This is my Rough Cut of my music video 'Serial Killer'

Music Video Serial Killer from SMC on Vimeo.

Here below is some feedback I have received:

Twitter

Vimeo

Changes made after feedback

After posting my Rough Cut for my Music Video, I received a lot of positive feedback, for example comments such as "This is a really excellent vintage style of the video epitomise the style of Lana Del Rey". illustrated that I achieve one of my initial aims of making the video vintage, which will keep it conventional to the artist.

Also another member said "I like that fact that the video is shot in the same but you still made it interesting by using various camera shots and filters". This to me indicates how I effectively achieved another aim of mine, as using the same location was a risk for the audience potentially not being captivated by the video, this highlights that I was still able to draw in a audience.

Overall doing my music video allowed me to enhance my technical skills such as using different video effects e.g three-wheel colour corrector, and video transitions e.g cross dissolve. I also believe whilst shooting the video, I made sure I used a range of shoots such as mid-shots, panning shots, long shots and mainly close up shots which is a great way to sell the artist.

By putting up a Rough Cut was very beneficial although I gained positive feedback I also gained constructive feedback which i find very useful. For example a member said "My only concern is that the lip-syncing is not accurate in most scenes" "I noticed you edited most of your footage....some are left out., especially at 3:11-3:14. Comments such as these allowed me to then go back and make further changes, such as to make the lip-syncing more accurate I changed the speed duration which then allowed it to match up accordingly. I also made sure all the clips had filters on it which I changed on video effects.

As those were the only comments regarding to make changes I watched my rough cut for a long period of time and analysed it in depth. This then allowed me to make some critical changes which I felt was needed, for example from 0:26-0:30 where there is a panning shot which captures the mise en scene, I wanted it to flow better and look more daunting. This was done by speeding up the speed durations and changing the filter of the red. I also wanted another panning shots of the trees, as I felt I had too much shots of my actress walking, this was changed at 0:59-1:02 where it was a mid shot of my actress walking, I then chose another shot of the trees with a reddish filter. I noticed from the dancing clip at 1:51-1:59 the framing of the arms and head come out of the actual frame, due to my actress putting her arms up and the close up shot. I then used another clip of the dancing scene which was in the correct framing which came out effectively.

How To Match Lip-sycing

To match up lip-syncing was a vital process as it is a key thing which is demonstrated from many music videos which present good lip-sycing which makes the video more believable, when a performance based video.

Here's examples:

These are a few music video I find the lip-syncing is very accurate, also the reason why I looked at these particular songs is because of the pace of the songs ate much like ballads likewise my song has a slow face. The videos are also not performance based throughout as my video will only have slight performances.


From watching this I also looked at an example of someone matching up lip-syncing on which was benefical as it helped to understand what I may have to do in order it matches well.

Heres the link:

In order to match up my lip-syncing I had to be use some formats on premiere pro in order to do so.

Such as the speed duration, some clips my actress sang it faster than the actual song, so I had to make the speed duration slower.

Here's an example:

                                       
























Changing the duration enabled the clips to match the music.

First 10 secs of Music Video

Music Video 1 from SMC on Vimeo.

Feedback from Twitter

Feedback from Vimeo

Feedback from Whatsapp

Editing Process

During my filming process, i captured several different ranges of shots, which were all based predominately in the woods. I took a risk by just using this as only my location and by having one central character. By taking an actual risk was very conventional to my artist as all her videos are very individual and risk taking.

Without this being said, by the simplicity of the video during the editing process I used different filters to create a vintage look. This is very conventional to the artist and the genre of indie music.

The images below I was inspired by which were a few stills from Lana Del Rey's music videos:

This image is from the song Video Game as you can see these images are both the same, but with slight change in colour, as the image at the top is slightly discoloured. I really liked how in the song the colour gradually changed and I have tried this out in my video to see if it fits in with my concept.

The image from the top and bottom and pretty much the same positioning and same location of being in a blank room. As you can see the filer colours differ, which is captivating, I really like how the bottom image is a shade or light pink, within my video I want to use different shades of reds which will corrolate with the theme of the song.

As you can see from this image I was exploring, different filters within Premiere Pro, to get this instagram thrill of filter. To create this effect I went on video effects and used 'three way colour corrector' which allowed me to create different colours which created a 'sutro' filter look. 

This image I used on video effects a colour balance, which allowed me to change the colour of the background I really liked how the colour of this particular mid-shot is a redish pink which fits well with my video concept.

Throughout my editing process I wanted to make sure I kept key conventional aspects within my video which Lana Del Rey has.

The image below is a still shot from the video 'Video Games'

I found this particular shot very vintage, as it creates such an old look about it, this also went with the whole indie concept of the vintage look of it.

I created a similar effect, as I downloaded a filter called 'dust scratches' which allowed the vintage old film effect to happen. Also to change the colour I went on video effects and used 'RGB colour corrector' which allowed me to select different colours which could create a vintage look.







Here is an example of me creating a vintage for one of my clips:

Emily and The Woods - 'More Like Me' Another inspiration for my music video

Emily And The Woods - More Like Me

This particular music video allowed me to explore different filters during my editing process whilst using Premiere Pro. I already knew I wanted to create a vintage look, which is very conventional to my artist Lana Del Rey, this video allowed me to visualise how potentially my video could turn out if I use the filters effectively.

The use of red created the vintage indie look which is what I ultimately want to do, however I only wish to use the red filter in some parts of the video.





My interpretation 

Here are screen shots of some of the clips I have decided to use the reddish filter which I was inspired by from the video More Like Me.

The way I created this effect was I went on 'video effects' and then picked 'colour correction' and dragged on a filter called 'three way colour corrector' this then allowed me to pick colours which I then chose red, and chose the mid tone of 50 etc to create this look.

I felt the red filters fits nicely with the song and overall the theme of my music video, I believe it creates that unknown aspect of what is going to happen.

Also words associated with red such as danger, love, blood, anger etc already will create an      
atmosphere and build up tension when the   audience are watching the video.

I believe the red will also enhance the visual aspect of the video, and by having the video conceptual and performance base rather than narrative, I believe the colour will echo the lyrics of the song. 

Such as:

"sweet serial killer I love you just a little too much" 

"baby I'm a sociopath" 

These lines from the song collectively go with the colour red with will then create the mystery aspect  which I hope to achieve from my video.