Album Cover Research.

I have decided to explore into CD covers and their historical background. From personal experience I can define how an album is used to attract buyers due to the artwork of the front cover, whether its simple or just effective, as Music, and CD's sell. I also know that they act as a protective sleeve for the CD.

The cover serves three main purposes:

1. The advertise and identify the contents of the music product.
2. To convey the artistic aspirations of the original artists
3. In reproductions of the artwork, to serve as a primary image in the promotional efforts surrounding the product, as an identifiable image associated with it.

Album covers have become increasingly important aspect to the music industry, with artists and producers designing new and better covers coerce with their music product. There are several different kinds of design associated with album covers, e.g portrait and type-based. 

Portrait - Particularly consistent o album covers promoting solo artists. The viewer i forced to look directly at the face on the cover, helping them to focus completely on them with no distraction. This cover from Lil Wayne shows the face of an innocent, cute looking young child (Lil Wayne as a child), however the child is sporting adult attributes such as tattoos. This supposedly entices the viewer into buying the record, as it is advertising something different, something you wouldn't see in real life. 

Type based - Some album cover designs are devoted entirely to writing. Paramore's 'Riot' album cover is a good example. Type based covers often nee no more than a powerful font. The Paramore cover prove this, as it is clearly states what the album is called, however at the same time the black panel showing the name of the band is clearly sufficient as an album cover. 

Justin Timberlake - CHOSEN ARTIST Research.

 

Justin Timberlake, also known as JT, was born to Lynn Harless and Randell Timberlake in Memphis Tennessee on January 31st 1981. He was born with music in his blood, as his father was the choir director for a local Baptist Church, and his Grandfather, Charles L. Timberlake, was a Baptist minister. Justin spent his childhood in Millington, a small town just North of Memphis.

 

Justin showed himself to be a natural performer from a very young age, an by the time he was 10, he was already singing on the stage of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry. The famous Timberlake singing and dancing style are greatly influenced by Michael Jackson, and Justin is often called the new King of Pop. Justin's first official paid "gig" came in 1993, when he was still only 12, when he was on stage with the Disney Mickey Mouse Club. Justin's debut on the Disney stage proved to be a major turning-point in both his professional and personal life, for it was whilst singing here that he met Britney Spears, his future girlfriend; Christina Aguilera, his future touring mate; and also JC Chasez, his future band mate in NSYNC.

 

Going Solo.

 

Going solo gave Justin the chance to break away from his old boy-bad look, and he sought to develop a more mature look - and also more openly sexy - style, both in the way he dressed and the way he sang. After many long, hard months working on his new album, which was eventually called 'Justified', Justin performed at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he launched his first solo single, 'Like I Love You', a catchy dance number produce by the Neptunes. Justin's new musical style was radically different to the kind of numbers he had performed in his NSYNC days, featuring heavy R&B influences thanks to the hip-hop inclinations of his new producers, the Neptunes. Following the release of the single, Justin released his first solo album on 5th November the same year. It entered the Billboard 200 Chart at 2, and sold nearly half of a million copies in the first week alone!

In keeping with his musical background, the album featured several tracks that were originally intended to be released on Michael Jackson's 'Invincible' album, but never quite made it to the final selection. Several further singles from the album were released throughout late 2002 and 2003, including the hit singles 'Rock Your Body' and 'Cry Me A River'. Justin promoted the album by heading up the Justified/Stripped Tour with his old stage buddy from Disney Mickey Mouse Club days, Christina Aguilera throughout the summer of 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADELE 25.

On October 22, 2015, Adele announced that she would release her third album, 25, on November 20. She posted 25's cover on Instagram, and said of her first full-length studio project in several years: "My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. 25 is about getting to know who I've become without realizing. And I'm sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened."

ADELE 21.

Her much anticipated follow-up album, 21, again named for her age at time of recording, did not disappoint upon its release in early 2011. Tapping even deeper into Adele's appreciation for classic American R&B and jazz, the record was a monster hit, selling 352,000 copies within its first week.

Anchored by hits like "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You", 21 placed Adele in play.

In February 2011, she found herself with two Top 5 singles and a pair of Top 5 albums in the same week, becoming the only artist besides The Beatles and 50 Cent to achieve that milestone. With 21 staying at No. 1 for 11 weeks, Adele also broke the solo female artist record previously held by Madonna's Immaculate Collection for consecutive weeks atop the album charts. 21 went on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide.

In 2012, Adele swept the Grsmmy Awards, taking home six wins, including Album of the Year. "This record is inspired by something that is really normal and everyone's been through it - just a rubbish relationship", she said at the ceremony. In 2013, Adele won her seventh Grammy (Best Pop Solo Performance) for her hit single "Set Fire to the Rain". The same year, the singer won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for "Skyfall", the theme song for the 2013 James Bond film of the same name.

Coupled with her success is Adele's maturity and ability to avoid the dame-induced pitfalls that plagued Winehouse. Adele, whose larger, curvier body bucks the trend of most Top 40 female celebs, is also confident in not just her talent, but in her looks. "I've seen people where it rules their lives, you know, who want to be thinner of have bigger boobs, and how it wears them down," she told Vogue magazine in 2011. "And I just don't want that in my life,"

ADELE 19.

Adele's debut album, 19, which is named for the singer's age when she began recording the project, went on sale in early 2008. Led by two popular lead singles, "Hometown glory" and "Chasing Pavements", the record rocketed Adele to fame.

Released in the United States through Columbia Records, 19 resonated with American audiences, much as it had with British music listeners. Adele cemented her commercial success with an appearance in October 2008 on Saturday Night Live. At the taping of the show, the album was ranked No. 1.

At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele took home Best New Artist. In addition, the album earned the singer the distinction of being named the "Sound of 2008" by the BBC. That same year, she earned the Critic's' Choice prize at the BRIT Awards.  

ADELE - Artist Research

Adele was born to single mother Penny Adkins on May 1988 in Tottenham, North London. She is estranged from her Welsh father Mark Evans. She started singing at the age of four years and has stated the Spice Girls heavily influenced her decision to start. 

Early on, Adele developed a passion for music. She gravitate toward the songs of Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Destiny's Child. But her true, eye-opening moment came when she was 15 and she was 15 and she happened upon a collection of Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald at a local shop. "There was no musical heritage our family," Adele told The Telegraph in a 2008 interview. "Chart music was all I ever knew. So when I listened to the Etta's and the Ella's, it sounds so cheesy, but it was like an awakening. I was like, oh, right, some people have proper longevity and are legends. I was so inspired that as a 15-year-old I was listening to music that had been made in the 40s. 

While clearly bright, Adele wasn't oriented towards traditional classroom settings. instead, her mother enrolled her in the BRIT School for Performing Arts & technology, which counts Amy Winehouse as an alum.

While at school, Adele cut a three-track demo for a class project that was eventually posted on her MySpace page. When executives at XL Recordings heard the tracks, they contacted the singer and, in November 2006, just four months after Adele had graduated school, signed her to a record deal.

Justin Bieber SORRY - Lyric Video.

I was casually on Youtube and came across Justin Bieber's sorry Lyric Video. I decided to blog about it because I really like the use of CGI throughout the whole video, the way the video has been edited to make the lyrics appear in so many different places in ways makes it different to any other lyric video I've seen. It's kind of a hybrid between a music and lyric video as there was a woman in it, and everywhere she went/everything she did the lyrics were with her. Te coolest part o the video was when she pulled the lyrics out of the computer and they changed from animation to actually being written on paper. This video, even though almost impossible for me to re-create, has definitely broadened my knowledge and research on music\lyric videos, and has given me ideas for my own work.

Music Timeline.

In class today we were given significant times throughout the music history and had to create a timeline out of them, in order from the oldest to the newest, and with our limited amount of knowledge on the History of the Music Industry we had a go. So here's our first (failed) attempt at the timeline:

After learning about the History Of The Music Industry, me and my peers had another try at creating the timeline, and after a bit of tweaking, we got it right. :)

As this timeline is about significant moments in music history, I decided i'm going to add a couple more things that have influenced music over the past couple of years. There's been the creation of YouTube, made in 2005, which has revolutionised the way music is released and discovered. Youtube Channels like VEVO have allowed Artists to become known, Artists like Justin Bieber, who became a pop sensation overnight through his hit single 'Baby'. There's also been the creation of new social media  platforms such as Twitter, Facebook & Instagram which, just like Youtube, work hand in hand in creating a platform for a new artist through them posting videos, pictures, and posting updates on their lives so people can get to know them, and in return them gaining popularity through 'follows' and 'likes'.

Spike Jonze.

Spike Jonze is an American Director, Screenwriter, Producer and Actor. He came from a qualified background and attended San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) in California. He became active in 1989 and since then has produced amazing commercials, music videos , TV and films. Jonze is known for music collaborations with the likes of Weezer, Beastie Boys and Bjork as well as writer Charlie Kaufman. Jonze's personal factor is making films and music videos that are off-beat in their visual storytelling, particularly their mix of live-action, animation, and puppetry. 

In this video of Beastie Boys there are a number of different camera angles/shots used such as; birds eye view, high and low angle, canted angle, mid shot, wide shot, close-ups, two shot, extreme close-ups and point-of-view shots that are used effectively. The video is set in both an urban and upper classed American town whereby there is low and high buildings, grafitti, high ways and flats.

The Beatles & Elvis.

Elvis was one-of-a-kind in the sense that very few performers were able to incorporate the two musical cultures into an explosive combination. Enter The Beatles. As teenagers, The Beatles, especially John Lennon were strongly infliuenced by Elvis Presley. They started wearing their hair slick back like Elvis. They admired his rebelliousness and his appeal to women, not to mention his musical talent. 

'Nothing affected me until I heard Elvis. Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles' - John Lennon

In the early days of The Beatles live performances, they frequently sang rock and roll songs made famous by Elvis Presley. Several of The Beatles live performances of these songs were recorded live at the BBC for The Beatles special radio series in the 1960s. One of Presley's songs that Paul used to sing was 'That's All Right (Mama).'

Here's Paul McCartney singing Elvis Presley's 'That's All Right (Mama)' for a special tribute with Elvis' original guitar player, Scotty Moore original drummer, DJ Fontana.

The Best Band In Music History.

Who were they?

The Beatles were an English rock band that became arguably the most successful act of the 20th century. They're known to be the pioneers in the concept of recording and writing their own music, and further contributed to music, film, literature, art, and fashion, made a continuous impact on popular culture and the lifestyle of several generations. Their songs and images carrying powerful ideas of love, peace, help, and imagination evoked creativity and liberation that outperformed the rust Soviet propaganda and contributed to breaking walls in the minds of millions, thus making impact on music history.

Their rise to fame..

The Beatles built their reputation playing clubs (particular the Cavern Club) in Liverpool, and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act and producer George Martin enhanced their music potential. 

They gained popularity in the United Kingdom after their first hit 'Love Me Do', in late 1962. They acquired the name 'The Fab Four' as Beatlemania grew in Britain over the following year, and by early 1964 they had become international stars, leading the 'British Invasion' of the United States pop market. From 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced what many consider their finest material, including the innovative and widely influential albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), The Beatles (1968) and many more. 

Their Impact

The cultural impact of the Beatles was, and remains, immense. The effects of Beatlemania and their commercial success spurred many trends - including a shift from US global dominance of rock and roll to UK acts, from soloists to groups, from professional songwriters to self-penned songs, and to changes in fashion such as the 'mop-top' hairstyle became popularised, Beatle-boots (chelsea boots).

Their No.1 Hits

1. Love Me Do
2. From Me To You
3. She Loves You
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand
5. Can't Buy Me Love
6. A Hard Day's Night
7. I Feel Fine
8. Eight Days A Week
9. Ticket To Ride
10. Help!
11. Yesterday
12. Day Tripper
13. We Can Work It Out
14. Paperback Writer
15. Yellow Submarine
16. Eleanor Rigby
17. Penny Lane
18. All You Need is Love
19. Hello, Goodbye
20. Lady Madonna
21. Hey Jude
22. Get Back
23. The Ballad Of John and Yoko
24. Something
25. Come Together
26. Let It Be
27. The Long and Winding Road

Production Diary 5

Michael Gondry.

Michael Gondry is of french descent and was born on 8 May 1963. He is a director, screenwriter and producer, producing pieces from Films to Music videos. His signature style mainly focuses on mise-en-scene and exaggeration, he does this to create effect, and this unique style can be shown through his music videos. One of his most famous works is that of The White Stripes called 'The Hardest Button To Button', in this video Gondry uses a great amount of stop motion animation. 

In his video Gondry focuses heavily on mise-en-scene which emphasises his creativity in portraying his narrative, as well as his good use of stop motion animation and special effects. His techniques prove him to be an esteemed and recognisable auteur, he is an artist who creates his own vision and style with his own artistic flare. Basically a pioneer of animation.

Hype Williams.

Hype Williams is anAuteur who is of African-American descent and is from Queens New York, he has been active since 1991. He has produced films in the past however has not been quite successful in them, the only successful film produced was Belly. He usually works with Hip hop artists such as B.I.G and Busta Rhymes, however has worked with artists from other genres such as Coldplay.
His signature style includes the fish eye lens which he uses frequently; this distorts the image of the scene. He also uses wide angle lenses alot and zooms the camera so enlarging whatever's in the scene, he further tends to have the artist singing directly to the camera with a black backdrop. As time went by Hype's style developed introducing a style called shutter-effect where the screen rapidly switches between shots for example seen in Kanye Wests 'All of the lights'.

Johnathon Glazer - AUTEUR.

Johnathon Glazer was born on 26 March 1965, and is an English film maker, whose directing work includes feature films, music videos and advertisements. He attended Nottingham Trent University to study Theatre Design and has directed popular campaigns for Guinness and Stella Artois and has created award-winning pieces for the working for the BBC. Since the mid-1990s he has directed a number of music videos, and was named MTV Director of the Year in 1997. Having worked with artists such as Massive Attack and the well-known Radiohead, Glazers work in these areas is often noted for its originality. Glazer doesn't usually make music videos, he is more known for his work on adverts, in total Glazer has directed;

• 11 Music Videos
• 2 Films
• 29 adverts (6 of which are beer)

One of his most famous pieces is his the Guiness Advert 'Surfer' (1998). What's distinctive about this video and his other beer adverts is that there is a voice over narrating a story of people going to extreme lengths to get their beer, Glazer usually tends to have a plot running through his adverts. Further, even though there is alot going on in this video, the use of CGI was very minimal and common theme within his theory is the fact that it is in Black & White. The message of this video in particular is that good things come to those who wait, which relates directly to advert length, as the adverts are quite long and the best bit is the end.

Virtual Insanity is a song by British funk band Jamiroquai, being of unusual genre their videos can come across as quite unconventional & innovative, and this is a common theme in Glazers videos. The video was made by having the floor stationary while the four walls move to give the impression that the floor is moving. There is no link between the lyrics and the video apart from the title, so Goodwin's theory cannot be applied here, the only relation to the title is the moving furniture and the random appearance of a cockroach. Frith's element of performance, including lip-syncing and dancing, can also be applied to this and many other of Glazer's music videos. 

                                          

Another famous piece directed by Glazer is of the English trip-hop group Massive Attack with the song Karmacoma. This video is appealing because there is a great amount of intertextuality with the Shining - use of a hotel, long sweeping shots, and ideas from the movie such as the repetitive typing on the typewriter and the twins, there are also a number of face-paced shots which keep the audience occupied and it also links back to various characters. The video is quite eerie, despite the relatively bright lighting the use of voice over makes it strange - 'I want to be free, I am free'. 

KEY FEATURES

• His videos are quite quirky
• Elements of surrealism
• Usually emotional and depressing themes giving him a distinctive style
• Alot of still shots and minimal camera movements
• All videos are conceptual

Both the videos I have shown you have been quite old (from the 90s), so here is n example of a music video he has lately directed:

The serious side to music.

Most of what dominates the music production are the 'major' labels, they consequently have a huge amount of power over the music we all listen to and buy. The majors have money to invest in videos/artists and own shares of smaller labels, and as a result, select the talent, record the music, print the CDs , commission the videos produced and basically distribute it around the world. Without a major label backing a music artist or band, becoming successful is so much harder as they have an influence in other media, such as media, film, magazines and radio.

4 Majors That Currently Dominate

1. Sony Music Entertainment
2. Warner Music Group
3. EMI Group
4. Universal music Group

I have created an infogr.am to show just how much these global companies dominate the music Industry -

Masthead survey
Create your own infographics

5 videos I could re-create

So I've chosen 5 music videos I think I'd be able to re-create, all of them have quite simple concepts and I think with a bit of elbow grease it wouldn't be too tricky to re-create them.

 

1. Example - Whisky Story

 

 

I really like the way the this video has been shot, in this video we see the artist Example holding a selfie stick and recording himself throughout his journey from the tube, to the tube station, and finally to the outside. No editing has been done to this video and it was filmed in one take, so yes, I could very definitely easily re-create this video. All I need now is a selfie stick.

2. Geko - Baba

 

 

This video I thought was quite cool and well-linked to the artist and his songs. There is minimal editing done, a few cuts and the video goes into slow-motion a couple of times. It would be a very easy video to recreate as all I'd have to do is gather a couple of friends and start dancing in the middle of my kitchen. Simples.

 

3. McFly - Love is easy

 

 

Love is easy is so cute. It is set in what looks like a school hall and a lot of props have been used to add to the quirkiness of this video. Also, I really like the fact that such a successful band like Mcfly can create a music video on low budget and still have it be extremely successful, all it takes is a great idea. Compared to the other music videos on my list this would a tiny bit trickier to re-create however with a bit of extra effort it could definitely be done, and if done correctly, would look so cool.

 

4. Bruno Mars - Lazy Song

 

 

 

This song has to be one of my all time favourites simply because Bruno Mars has made it so effortlessly humorous. Similar to Geko's Baba video, it again contains a bunch of people in a room dancing around but this time with a twist, they're wearing monkey masks! So cool.

 

5. Futuristic - Kings Speech

 

 

This video I believe would be the easiest but also the hardest to re-create. Easy in the sense that it would just require a person walking and rapping down the middle of an empty road, in one take. Hard in the sense that to add all those emojis would require lots and lots of precision editing, otherwise it wouldn't even come out half decent.