CD Cover Analysis

Planning the CD cover is the best section of the task. The reason being because you can show your creativity and skills on the cover.


I have researched a variety of album covers that will give me ideas for my design planning. I have attached a number of album art that inspired me for my CD cover.


The image below is an album cover called 'Get Born' by Jet. The reason why I have chosen this is because it mixes graphic and reality all in one. When creating the CD cover I want to not only connect it to the song but make it stand out.

The song I am going to create a cover for gives audience the impression that the band are very rough and laid back. So taking that into consideration I would want to create a detailed cover with a lot going on. However it would be predictable if I used bottles of alcohol on the cover because the song is called 'Drink'. I also wouldn't want it to look very neat and polished but I would want to make it look old and creased. The way I would do this is by, printing off the base picture of the cover and then drawing on it and sticking pictures around it. Then i would scan it so it shows the detail in the creases and folds on the paper.




Another cover that would work with the genre and music video is the title introduction for Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I like the idea of the records and CDs with the record cover. If I could use this as influence I would make it more raw, with broken discs and spilt drinks. Almost bringing the quote "Sex, Drugs & Rock 'N' Roll" to life. With ripped paper, cigarettes, ripped clothing, empty bottles, broken glass etc.

The Image to the left is a recent album cover by Joanna Newsom. I have chosen this cover because my CD cover will have a collage and will be detailed. I found this album cover for inspiration and ideas because it has a good use of colours and ideas. It also looks digitally illustrated which is almost what I am aiming to create.















I have also found this album cover which gave me more ideas. This is a basic collage with images of the band. However this will be different to mine because my CD cover will not be of images of the band, and it will not cover the whole area of the cover. However, this gives me the idea of how you can put the images together. I also like the idea of mixing black & white images with coloured images to make it look more random. 

Another album cover I found was of Sgt. Pepper, this is a different type of collage. it is much more organised compared to the covers above. I think a cover in this style would not look very grungey because it is all created to perfection.

I found this album cover by Arctic Monkeys. The reason I have chosen to talk about this is because it is totally the opposite to what I want my album cover to be like. This cover is very simple. The only bit of text that is used is of the band without the name of the album and no pictures of the band. However, what I am trying to create is a more full, detailed cover that is just bursting with images with an element of this cover. One half will be detailed in the shape of the sky scraper, the other half will be simple, which is where I got this idea from. The top half, which will be simple will have just the artist name and song. 

Testing Shots & Recording

I recorded the same shots but in different angles so at the end I could choose which shot works best. I did this with almost all of the shots so it makes it easier to edit if I have a number of different shots in different angles.


The images below show different angles of the same scene. When editing, I will be able to use them all at some point to make it look more professional and gives me more choice to choose from.

                

When recording a music video, I believe it should flow instead of looking like it is starting and stopping then starting again. To do this, I will use repetitive material. For example the shot below shows Sam checking the time. This will stay the same and appear throughout the video but the background will change to wherever the location is.

This scene will be the same but with the different location in the background depending on where the recording is happening. This will be classes as a visual motif throughout the music video.

Storyboards

               These are the storyboards for the untitled promotional music video for The City Lightz. I recorded each part according to the location. I started with the bedroom scene, then the kitchen scene, the outdoors scenes and then the club scene if the recording goes the way as the storyboard. 

                Below are images on each of the storyboards, hopefully the video will follow exactly as the storyboard says. There are certain parts of the storyboard that I am unsure about for recording and if it will work.  The scene of the dog could go wrong, it might be difficult to record the dog chasing Sam into the alley.

                I have tried to record every scene that is written on the storyboard simply because if I do not follow the plan, it could get confusing and use up more of my recording time.