Analysation of CD covers

As a class, we started by analysing the Gorillaz 'Demon Days' album as it is a very good example of genre and concept-based work. There is a clear recurring theme throughout this album, in their inserts and adverts, which is their unique and specific cartoon styled art work. The genre for this album is alternative pop.

  

The front cover of this album is noticeably simple, yet still conforms to typical pop  branding as all the members of the band feature on it. Because they are shown as cartoons, not only is it a unique idea, but follows the alternative part of the genre they follow. This cartoon monkey style is repeated throughout their videos, posters and CD artwork. This makes the artist very recognisable to the audience, and the repetition, according to Steve Neale, is what makes a music video so successful. It also fulfils the trait of expectation, another feature which makes an artist or brand successful.

This is the first pull out image in the CD case, which follows the style that is on the cover, an example of them following the system of expectation. 

Unlike the cover, this has more publicity as the group name and one of their songs features obviously on picture. It's cleverly done as the band name is written like it's graffiti, again following a theme of rebellion which features throughout the album.

Again, a system of expectation is fulfilled as there is the expected band member clearly in centre of this image. The name of the song 'noodle' is featured in foreign language, which may to attract a wider audience or, more likely, this is to make them seem cool or original, as this is a style no other british or american band has.

This is the poster that comes in the CD, which is slightly different from the others yet still conforms to the theme the band have. It shows their 'demon' side, linking to the name of the album. 

This is also shown by the image on the front which is a demon monkey, which links as well to the writing on the bottom. 'Fire coming out of the monkey's head' is represented through the smoke coming from a cigarette the monkey is smoking, which continues the theme of rebellion seen throughout the images in the album. It is a very original idea and makes the band recognisable and makes them stand out. 

 

Genre Theorists

Genre is a term that can be split up into different categories based on characteristics that they share. For Example; settings, storyline's, narratives, characters and themes. I will be investigating genre in reference to music videos.

Steve Neale

Steve Neale states that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference' and 'genres are not systems, they are processes of systemisation'. He believes that there was a system of expectation and that by using own knowledge and applying conventions of the genre, the audience should be able to infer the narrative and storyline of the music video. He also declares that difference is essential to the economy of genre, mere repetition would not attract the audience.

The band Kodaline are a key example of the music genre that we want to create. They have a very individual style and genre to their videos, which matches the indie-pop genre they are part of. I am going to analyse the video 'High Hopes', which, like many of their videos, is story based in which the artists do not feature in themselves. I will analyse this video using the concept of difference and repetition. 

Rick Altman

Genres have characteristic features that are known to and recognised by audiences. Audiences develop an understanding that certain expectations will be fulfilled and they may find pleasure in predicting what will happen next. Producers of generic videos depend on immediate communication with the audience. Easily recognisable features are particularly effective in connecting with an audience. This can prove problematic as audiences need to know what to expect from a generic video but some variation is required as you don't want the audience to be bored or dissatisfied.
Altman suggests a semantic/syntactic approach:
Semantic means considering the conventions of the genre that an audience can relate to such as character or performers, locations, props and camera shots/movements.
Syntactic means the type of narrative an audience would expect from the genre.

Altman talks of a contract existing between the genre producers and their audience, with the audience having certain expectations from this genre and the producers needing to meet their expectations.

Preliminary Research

We did some preliminary research as it's incredibly useful to give us a brief indication of what our typical audience would want. We decided on the following questions as they weren't too specific so it would give the participants a broad answer and help us to specify it to help our project. 

Overall we think that they were a good range of questions as they covered everything we needed to know and this then allows us to go on and plan out our own project.

Do you like watching music videos for entertainment?

Would you watch the music video if you haven't heard the song before?

Would you watch the music video for the artist or the music?

Music video analysis

For some extra research, I analysed a video by the Arctic Monkeys using a theory by Carol Vernallis. She believes that camera angles, shots, and editing all contribute to the story within the video, the diegesis, and I tried to analyse the video using these categories.

To get a fuller understanding of this theory and how we can incorporate it into our video, I have also analysed a song by Marina and the Diamonds. We may also choose to defy this theory, and go against the stereotypes once we have analysed some more theorists and get a wider understanding of the typical way music videos work.