​A2 Media Studies

EVALUATION OF ALBUM COVER

For this task we were required to go out and take a variety of photos that are suitable to represent a music genre of our choice and appeal to our individual demographics which is dependent on the genre chosen; we were then required to edit the images and add appropriate font with careful consideration to the positioning, style, size and colour. Initially I aimed to create an album cover representing an indie/acoustic artist however, during the photo shoot for the album cover, I felt my chosen image was more suitable to reflect an indie/pop artist due to the concept of the cover and the colours used. My target demographic for my genre and my album would primarily be females and my main age range amongst females would be quite varied from roughly 15-30 year olds. This age range is the most popular age range to listen to different music styles and are the most likely to download and buy songs from online sites like iTunes.

 

As can be seen above I went through a process before reaching my final product. I knew I wanted my album cover or at least some aspects in black and white but before I applied a black and white filter I cropped the image to make the shape of the picture a square and present Annabelle as the main focus point by having her in the centre in order to catch consumer’s attention. In addition to grabbing the consumer’s attention I also felt it was appropriate to have Annabelle as the focus of the album showing a 80% image ratio compared to 20% text as it’s Annabelle’s face as the artist that sells the product to her target demographic and established fan base.

 

I used a medium shot capturing her face, outfit and overall composition. Medium shots or close-up are often used in pop artist’s albums to show their facial expression and extravagant outfit but indie artists are also well-known for using mid shots or long shots which capture the artists and a scenic background. I decided to go for a compromise between the two conventions of both genres by using a medium shot which is used by both genres and capturing the artist’s nice but not overly extravagant outfit. Unlike the majority of pop artists, Annabelle has minimal makeup and isn’t making direct contact with the consumer; I also have her sitting on a grassy hill which has flowers on and shows her as an up and coming artist as if the hill is a metaphor for the music journey she is about to endure. I also decided to have the shot at an angle in order to fit the line of vision and to further emphasise the ill raising up behind her. I think the camera work is effective and carried out well as it presents the artist in a positive and peaceful way as she meaningfully looks down upon a daisy, which also happens to be the album title and unlike some current artists doesn’t provide the chance for any critics to create controversy about what she is doing or wearing.

 

At first when I applied the black and white filter I felt this looked effective for how I wanted to construct the album but did find it difficult to find a font and colour that was noticeable in contrast to the black and white background. At first I used a pale yellow font in papyrus which is sans serif and felt the pale yellow reflected well on the title- Daisy and the image; I chose to have the text Daisy in the bottom right hand corner in lower case letters which implies informality but chose to have the name of the artist- Annabelle at the top left in capitalised lettering; however, once learning that capitalised lettering implies formality decided to change the lettering to lower case as I wanted the album cover to appeal to the demographic on a personal level not on a formal level.

 

As I developed I felt that the black and white filter on the entire image made the cover feel dull and mundane so I used the editing software to remove the black and white effect on her nails which were painted blue to add more colour and vibrancy to the image. After this change I decided to change the font colour of her name to blue as well to coincide with the nails and decided to keep Daisy in yellow. However, I experimented with the software to gain further familiarity with it and tried to make the text easier to read by putting grey blocks behind the text to make it appear clearer however, I later decided to get rid of these as it distracted attention from the image of the artist and weren’t great regarding the positioning and integration between the text and image.

 

I then decided to change the font style of Annabelle’s name to brush script and have it in lower case as even though the name of the artist and name of the album now weren’t concise, the brush script writing was a true to life representation of the artist’s handwriting which I felt added a personal and caring touch to the album cover and made the artist’s demographic feel connected to her. I chose to have the name big and bold and in another colour of blue that showed up better against the background and was similar to the colour of the artist’s nails. I also increased the size of the album title but later made it smaller choosing to have the artist’s name larger than the album title as this is the main selling point.

 

Despite, choosing to take the effect off the nails I still felt the album didn’t show enough colour so using the editing software decided to have the artist completely in colour and have only the background in black and white as if she is the vibrancy of her surroundings and is breaking free which represents her as an artist. I then added the name of the artist at the top in a lighter colour blue which shows up a lot clearer and increased the size choosing to make the title of the album a lot smaller. To finalise my album cover I chose to use a sharpening effect to make the artist look a lot sharper in form which emphasised her even more so and presented her dramatically.

 

I ended up being very happy with my final piece and felt it was a good representation for a young indie/pop artist trying to make it within the music industry. I was extremely happy with my camera work and positioning of my artist and the text as I satisfied all focus points and had the name of the artist at the top at the beginning of the line of vision, Annabelle herself as the line of vison goes diagonally and finishing the line of vision with the name of the album at the bottom right. An image of this can be seen below.

 

This task allowed me to broaden my knowledge on camera work and the importance of positioning of both the model and the text when it comes to editing. I also learnt how to use new programmes such as CorelPaint and CorelDraw which benefited me to create my final album cover and will be beneficial for me especially if I familiarise myself even more when it comes to our main task and creating a digipak; the task also allowed me to use other editing software that I have some knowledge of such as PicMonkey. I have also learnt about fulfilling the four focus points and line of vision as well an ensuring text is integrated well and the positioning, style, size and colour is appropriate for the album cover, genre and the artist.

 

If I were to carry out this task again I would perhaps have Annabelle amongst a more scenic setting and have her engaging in direct address with the camera to make the consumer feel involved and engaged; I would still use a mid-shot but would rather have a closer mid-shot that purely captures her head, shoulders and waist to avoid making her feel distant towards the camera and ultimately the consumers. Seeing her face would also emphasise her femininity and sexuality which could be further emphasised by slightly more make-up or lip stick. In addition to engaging in direct address with the camera I would also try to bring elements of her music in to the album cover so if a lot of her music included an acoustic guitar or instrument have this within the shot either in the background or her playing it to enhance her musical abilities.