Maroon 5's Album cover

Maroon 5

"Overexposed" is the fourth album from the band Maroon 5 and has widely successful. The band have decided on an extremeley abstract route for the cover of the album; the album cover was designed by an LA artist called 'Young & Sick'. The cover seems to be inspired by artist such as Picasso and other modern cartoonists. The cover had mixed reviews from critics some describing it as "The bright colors and cartoon images are representative of the album’s themes" whilst others described it as "it is what an episode of The Simpsons looks like if you’re on acid." In my opinion the use of color is effective in grabbing the audiences attention as you would definitely take a second look at it so it shows that the use of color is important when designing an album cover. However there seems to be too much going on and might be a little overwhelming for some people. 

Magazine advert planning

After researching what makes an effective magazine article I have decided to go down a more non- conventional route and do a landscape magazine advert as I believe this will be successful in the marketing of my band.

I am planning on having the photo as the predominate image but I am not going to have it as the back cover as I don't think that will follow the look I am trying to follow. I am going to include the bands name, album name as well as logo buttons such as the available on Itunes button.

I am going to use the software's Picasa 3, PowerPoint and Word when creating my final magazine advert.  

Rancid's Album Cover

Rancid

The album cover for Rancid's album third album "... And out come the wolves" has followed a more abstract route. The centeral image is not of the band but this works for them as it is their third album; they have already gain status through their first two that they can try and use alternative album covers.

The bands name is in a graffiti style text and this works well with the genre their music falls into. As well using the colour red connotes danger and rebelling which again is common in the lyrics of a lot of punk bands, it is also eye catching. I am hoping to incorporate to graffiti element in my digi pack however I am going to try and find a less harsh graffiti style as although the bands genre is punk they follow the characteristics of an indie band. 

Magazine Advert Research

After looking at a range of magazine advertisements it became obvious that they are mainly either a single or a double page spread and consist of an image, the bands name, any relevant information such as an album release date, record/producers logo. Some also include icons such as 'download from Itunes' All of these conventions create an effective magazine advert without becoming overwhelming.  

Shot list

Here is a shot list for my music video, these are a basic and rough idea of what I am going to include in my video.

Close up of lead singer and guitarist playing the guitar in time with music, when the music kicks in a mid shot of the band performing outside? mix of different angle shots- individual and group
cut to shots of the band relaxing playing games? cards? messing about. in between each shots of the band performing
when lyrics start close up of lead singer lip syncing lyrics.
fade to past shot- him and girlfriend- not talking? arguing? fighting? unhappy
Animatic of bus- link with lyrics
change back to past shot- girlfriend leaves- inside door and front door
fades into birds eye view shot of phone- girlfriend calling- link with lyrics
close up of guitarist singing back up- "ahhh"
back to birds eye view shot of a note from girlfriend- he screws it up, throws it away
another close up- drummer singing back up "ahhh"
some more performance scenes
close up of guitarist again- back up singing
birds eye view- declining the call
close up of drummer- back up singing
mid shot of bin full of notes- fades to over head shot

Instrumental bit- lead singer walking in to his room, heads over to notice board, over the shoulder shot of picture of him and girlfriend. Takes photo off of the notice board
back to performance scenes for the remainder of the instrumental

Mid shot of lead singer- back garden? looking at the photos
birds eye view of him throwing match into box- flame catches
Him throwing the photos in to the box one by one
photos dissolves in the flames
Mid shot of him staring at the box and burning photos
gets up and leaves
fades to him walking up a path
looks around
Animatic- broke my heart- link with lyrics
cuts to guitarist and drummer standing on a pathway- laughing and joking
fade to white- girlfriend standing on a pathway as well, looks around.
mid shot of lead singer walking up to band mates
tracking over the shoulder shot- walking up to band mates, greeting them
quick cuts of the band pulling faces- messing about

back to performance scene
band play in time with the final music
fade to black.

Loveable Rouge's Album Cover

Loveable Rouges

This is the album cover for the Loveable Rouges first album 'What a Night". They have a followed the typical route of using the band as the main image; as it is their first album they need to make a brand for the band. I like that in the image of the band they are just "messing about" which is what I want to reflect when producing my album cover. I also like the use of the graffiti for the band name as this is iconic to them, its bright, colorful and loud and immediately draws the audiences eyes to it; this will help them massively when the album is on the shelve amongst others. The cover also reflects the bands video for the song 'What a Night' as the confetti links to the partying in the video this keeps the bands branding running through all their work.

Still from the video 'What a Night' 

Filming Schedule

I started filming on the 14th March as it a convenient day for both me and my cast. I planned to film my outdoor scenes as the weather was compliant to the scenes I was trying to create.

After much re-schduling I filmed my second and third pieces of film on the 21st and 22rd March again it was easy for all my cast. After all of these filming days I had collected enough footage to edit for my rough and final cut.

Digipack Planning

After doing my research on magazine adverts and album covers I have a rough idea of what I am going approach I am going to take when making my digipack.

I want the photos I use to be very relaxed and casual to try and reflect the atmosphere of the video. I think I am going to go down the stereotypical route of having the band on the album cover as it is their debut album. Other than that I don't have any other concrete ideas for the photos themselves, I think it will be better if I just try and capture the lads unaware so that they don't look to posed.

I am going to use the software's Picasa 3, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, I am well versed in how they work so I will be able to navigate them.  

Album Cover Research

When researching album covers it is easy to spot the key features that are usually presented, these include:

• An image of either the band or the artist, this is especially true for new artist or bands as they need to make them selves known to their audience
• The name of the artist or the band is made clear, this helps when they are on display as their audience can easily recognize that is them
• The album name
• Branding, this helps the audience to associate the album with the artist or band.

However not all album covers follow the stereotypical features and as time goes along and popularity increases bands and artist can forego features such as having an image of them on the front and go for something different.

Sophie Muller- Music Video Director

Sophie Muller is a British music video director, who has directed over a 100 music videos. She is known especially for her collaborations with artists such as No Doubt, Eurythmics and Blur. She has won awards such as a Grammy for her work on Annie Lennox's 'Diva' as well as winning a MTV Video Music Awards for Annie Lennox's 'Why'.

Annie Lennox- Why 

No Doubt- Don't Speak

Maroon 5- This Love 

Birdy- Skinny Love 

Alicia Keys- Girl On Fire

In Maroon 5's This Love video I particulary liked the use of the shots of the band during the chorus, they focused on the band as a whole and as individuals. I have decided to use these shots in my own music video as my song has two main instrumental parts to the song and this will work well with the rest of the video.