Music Artist Website

After much research and planning of other artists websites who are in my artists genre, here is the outcome of my own.

http://caasi-619.wix.com/theslag101

The Art of Album Covers

How will looking at other album covers help make my own Digipak design?
From doing this I will get:

• Inspirations.
• How to convey genre.
• How to convey values of an artist.
• Convey experience of the music - pre-digital browsing in record shops - albums were chosen on basis of cover art. 

When analysing album art the key things you should look at for are:

• Images.
• Fonts (and language used in album title).
• Colour scheme.
• Portrayal of artists (if featured).

The artwork can convey many different messages such as:

• Emotional response to the music (mood, atmosphere).
• Genre.
• Star image (values/beliefs).
• Intended audience.
• Uses and Gratifications the music/artist offers.
• Messages about Social groups.
• Ambiguous or intriguing imagery - could be interpreted a number of ways (so always make it interesting to look at). 
• Shocking - deliberately controversial to grab attention.
• Visually dense (lots of images, lots to look at).
• Minimalist - unusually sparse or empty. 

From learning all of this I shall take all into account when making my own.

Alicia Keys - Digipak

Alicia Keys is a R&B artist.

Here are quotes from Alicia showing her values and beliefs:

Alicia Keys a very spiritual person, though any connection with a traditional, mainstream religion is absent. When asked in a interview she answered:

'I would call it spirituality because I think religion gets very sticky. I think it’s beautiful to have a belief in something and that’s where religion comes in… But for me it’s definitely spirituality in the sense of having integrity and certain morals I stand by.^' 

Many of her political objectives and activity focus around women’s issues. She’s a big supporter of the Democratic Party, and therefore, a big supporter of Barak Obama. And who would blame her?

As a result, Keys campaigned for Obama in both 2008 and 2012 catering her message to women. She said:

'I think as women we have specific issues that we care about more because we are the nurtures and caretakers of our families. I believe healthcare, education and equal pay are all important issues for women.^'

(Click here to read more)

 Alicia Keys theme of lyrics are mostly personal as she talks about issues in her life. One example is 'speechless' in which she writes about her son

  [Verse 1: Alicia Keys]

When I wake up in the morning babe
Can't believe my eyes
Sweetest little part of destiny
Oh yeah
Cause you are now in my life
There ain't no man or prize
Oh noo
Can compare to you
Ain't no words to describe the way that I'm feeling
When I look at you

[Chorus: Alicia Keys]
I'm just speechless baby
Don't know what to say
I'm just speechless baby
The poet in me has gone away
I'm speechless baby
Don't know what to say
I'm just speechless baby
The poet in me has gone away

Now I want to talk about her platinum collection album.

The Platinum Collection contains 3 CD albums...
Disc 1: Songs in A Minor
Disc 2: The Diary of Alicia Keys
Disc 3: As I am

The front cover is silver with her name and title also showing 3 small photos of her previous albums which are in this album. there is also a photo of Alicia wearing a silver hat and lace top standing by a white background. The front cover conveys the smooth soulful sounds as of in the 70's style of R&B which is in her music in this album, her photo shows she is being seductive bringing in the edgier street sound of todays R&B.

The image and design conveys sonic texture in a relaxing and feel good mood. mostly showing as seducing men to buy her album by showing Alicia seductivly looking out at the audience.

The album cover is eye catching as it is minimal but showing Alicia as the main focus as the photo of her is big. The silver background matches her hat and stands out from the white background Alicia is standing in front of.

The back cover is also silver with her name and titles of the albums and songs on this album put into sections of the discs. The CD opens firstly showing a piano which will then open into 4 sections to show the  previous 3 albums and the CD's are inserted into each section. The last section is of a photo of Alicia and inserted behind is a booklet showing photos of Alicia and song titles, written and produced - credits.

The CD's are in different designs for example one of the CD's from the section 'The diary of Alicia Keys' has keys on the front of it which symbolises her name. In my opinion is that this could also be another way of saying 'unlocking the music' as keys open locks.

By analysing this Digipak it will help with my own as it is a very effective Digipak. For mine I will have to make sure that it looks interesting at first sight to attract target audience. Also, have to make sure that I have the same affect throughout my whole Digipak.

Genre

In class we worked on genre. Here is what I learnt and how I shall use it on the music video that I shall be making.

What is Genre?

The type / style / catergory / streotypes / story / conventions of a product.

Why do we feel we should place texts into genres?
This helps give an artist guidelines depending on their video / music.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
This would be the artist / companies (producer / manager) / creative media producers (these people would be influenced by other artists) / marketing.

Are 'genres' objective catergories that are out there in the world?
NO! They're created by people.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
Creators / producers - This then leads on to the question why would they want to create a 'genre' text? This would be because it makes it easier to create a product; in other words they would have guidelines to follow to attract target audience.

Crictis + analysts - This gives them a guideline of what a music genre should contain.

Audiences - They use text for different ideas which leads on to the audiences expectation. By this they know what there getting and also where to get it from.

So - why do people like them?

Some theorists say that:

Deborah Knight - Satisfaction of having expectations fulfilled.

Steve Neale - "repetition and difference", enjoyment from the subtle deviations and innovations of what is expected.

David Chandler - Interpretive comunity - using tastes to create collective identity.

Steve Neale, John Fiske, Tom Ryall (and others) - Oraganises texts and meanings (Johnathan Culler said genre is a "contract between creator and viewer to make meanings operative").

How institutions use genre?

• They use them as roles for successful films, band, magazines etc. This speeds up creative process.
• It is a good way to market new texts to audiences.
• It is a reliable structure within which innovation can 'safely occur' without risking profits.

Here is a video of different music genres.

 

For my main music video I shall take genre into great consideration as if I can notice which genre I use then I can follow the guidelines for the genre.

Formal Conventions of a Music Video

Here are formal conventions of a music video:

Depends on the Genre
Many conventions of a music video vary depending on genre of music. However, the majority of music videos apply to general conventions. For example in a R&B music video the men would usually be topless as they usually want to target young teenage girls. However, in a Heavy Metal they are lots of quick camera movement to give the video lots of energy.

Artists Performance
Most music videos have an artist performing in them whether acting or on stage. One of the purposes of a music video is to raise awareness of the artist. It is beneficial and also helps the artist to provide the audience with real and believable performance.

Lip Syncing
This is very important as it links the images to the sound. If there is singing it is vital in these types of music videos.

Visualizing the Lyrics
What is shown in the video should relate to the lyrics. For example Pink - So What is about her ex-husband and how she is better off without him. The lyrics in this song are related to what is happening in the video.

Pace of Editing

Depending on the tempo, the editing will be seen to be either long or short. For example Italobrothers - Stamp on the Ground has a fast and upbeat tempo. This means that shots are short and there are quick cuts.

Italo Brothers - Stamp On The Ground on MUZU.TV.

 

Mise-en-scene

This is very important as it should match the mood of the song. For example, if a song was sad and depressing, the music video would not have lots of bright colours, bright lights, smiling faces and other joyful features.

 

A example of mise-en-scene used in a sad music video would be Bone Thugs N Harmony - Crossroads. This is because during the video they are in a funeral and also there is a death.



 

A example of mise-en-scene used in a upbeat music video would be Girls' Generation (SNSD) - Gee. This is the total opposite of the video before as in this video it has bright colour backgrounds, mixture of colour clothes and happy faces.

 

How will this affect the descions when planning the music video?
When I do the music video I would need to make sure that the formal conventions are followed. This would be making sure that the music video is properly made. Also by following these conventions it makes it easier as it can be seen as a guide to be followed.