Artist: the bronx

album name: the bronx

genre: punk rock

generic conventions: band name clearly printed, not a picture of the band but a somewhat random picture that may interest the buyer. also alike allot of other punk CD covers the image in fantasy, made up.

font style/lettering: the font an lettering of their band name is very peculiar as it is made up of blood that is coming from the persons mouth. i think this tells you something about the band as the image may shock people and make them unlikely to buy it but it would seem that they don't care as the image is very suited to the wacky and darkish sound of their music and therefor their fans/buyers. the lettering is not a trade mark of the band and so a buyer would have to look closer to find their CD.

sound: The sound of this band is very brash and aims to make a statement much like many other bands in a similar genre. The sound is reflected on the album cover because it is not an image that would be used for a mainstream artist.

colour:the colours are quite dark this is due to the image being quite a dark concept and although the image is real the colours seem to be adapted the blood is made clearer also the persons skin colour seems unrealistic, i think this is done to add to the effect of the image and make you question it as the view might not be able to tell if its real or not and so take a closer look.

image and mise-en-scene: whole cover is an image of a bottom half of a women's face, the image has deep dark shadowing which almost make you unable to see the band name. the women's mouth is open and her teeth are shown with blood over them she also has fangs and so its safe to presume the women is supposed to be a vampire due the the blood in the mouth and the fangs, from the blood the band name is made written across the chin. also the women is wearing red lipstick which draws you in which fits with the vampire concept.

representation: The representation coincide with the genre and sound of the band very well. An image of horror and agression is common to the genre it represents their idea a rebrliousness and enjoyment of the weird and wacky. However there are sexual references which are used to represent the horror. I feel that this is a bit different from other bands because punk bands are very male orientated and there is hardly any focus on feminism as a main theme this may represent how they feel their music is forr all and anyone who is interested. The image of vampire teeth is very recognisable and this is more representative of the genre. I think there is always some sexuality associated with vampires and this is why i think a female was used because it gives a bit of fantasy to the image. The image shows something that is outcast from normality and also humanity and it therefore relates to the generic conventions because punk music is not accepted so easily into society much like many other genres of music; for example the official top 40 chart is mostly compiled from pop and R'n'B music because it is generally accepted by a wider audience in society. I asked one person to give a one worded verdict of what they thought of the cover and they said "scary". This backs up the convention that it does not follow the same ideology and themes of what most other genres portray

CD cover analysis

artist: NOFX

album name: Never Trust a Hippy

generic conventions: the band name clearly printed for easy recognition , not a set up photo but instead a cartoon which is very common in the the punk genre. The picture also portrays a belief or the idea they wanted to portray which is also common with punk.

genre: punk rock/ska

font style/lettering: trade mark lettering for the name of the band, always found on their album covers, green spray paint effect this is very clever because potential buyers will easily recognise the album just by there name fount of which is used on all there merchandise eg posters, t-shirts. For the album title miss match lettering is used maybe to give a scrappy effect to make it seem like the band don't really care about the way it looks as its more about the music

sound: fast paced, upbeat music that has the image of not caring and just having a laugh and making fun but they do actually talk about allot of political problems and put allot of emphasis in their certain view points. you can see this in the CD cover as although they seem to be having a joke the image is actually quite iconic in showing there views.

colour: the colour green is used allot, this is because it is a colour that the band has kept using for most of their career so in a way they are sticking to their own conventions to make potential buyers lives easier as they can relate the colour to the band. also the band name colour is very bright and so easy to see. due to the nature of the cover being cartoon the colours are very bold and clear unlike a photograph where the colour are realistic and so not as bright.

image: the image is a cartoon man wearing robes and holding a beer bottle making the peace sigh with his fingers. the image is quite obviously an image of Jesus but portrayed in the way the band see him as, the image links in with the album title in making a joke out of the man Jesus and so in general the concept of religion and god.

mise-en-scene: pro dominantly black background, image of man wearing robes, holding a beer bottle and doing the peace sign. behind the man the band name is written in block capitals in a green spray paint fount, parts of the name cant been seen as the head of the man. there also seems to be light coming from behind the mans head but in a cartoon manor. the album name is under to torso of the man and is a connotation of the image as well as the name.

representation: There is quite allot of representation in their CD cover, most obviously the use of a picture of Jesus (a man who looks like or representing him). This image tells allot about the band and how they feel about the concept of religion/ Jesus and this is actually a punk convention as punk music is a genre where it tries to be free from control and are free to feel what they like about different things almost like there trying to deify society. the image portrays this idea by the way the person (Jesus) is represented, they have taken the stereotypical image off Jesus and altered it, the clothing of the man is as man off that time would wear also the hair style. there is also a cartooned light coming from behind the mans head to show Holiness as if sent by heaven as Christian's believe but by telling you just that there is nothing showing how the band have expressed the view point. they have done it quite cleverly by linking the image with the album title. the title is Never Trust a Hippy, so now there feelings become clear, i think they did it to show how they don't really care about past or future and that they just live in the present and stay away from superstition which they believe to untrue, but they have not done it in an obvious and blunt way they have added humor to make the audience see that they don't take themselves to seriously but still want to express themselves. they have altered the typical picture of a Jesus character they have done this by putting a beer bottle in his hand, they have also made is so he is doing the peace sign with his other hand these two things link in with the album title as they are trying to show how they think Jesus was a hippy how may have had be trying to do good, bring peace but in actual fact there was nothing special about him he was a slightly mad hippy. also to show the diffiance of the band to go into geralised groups there is the use of the graffity effect of the band name font it also shows how they don't care that there cover will offend anyone by almost adding insult to injury by graffity behind the image of Jesus. also buy not having a picture of the band is shows how they don't care about image of fame its more about the music and the ideas.

Question 9 feedback: This chart shows us that out of the ten people we asked to take our questionnaire, only 1 person would be deterred from buying an album with a parental advisory sticker on it. This is useful for our group because the genre that Splutter is a part of generally would contain conventions that would require a parental advisory sticker to be on the album cover. An example of a punk band with a parental advisory sticker on their album would be Greenday's American Idiot. It also tells us that alot of people wouldn't mind listening to the use of slang and expletives in music as long as it is good humour or taste.

Question 6 feedback: The results for this question were fairly spread out which makes it more difficult for us to decide what the best elements are to please our target audience. However, it seems like alot of people would want a music video to sell the song to them and this tells us that it would be a good idea to incorporate the concepts and issues from the lyrics into the video so that the audience would know what they were buying. It also seems wise to use aspects of excitement and positivity in to the video (which may include humour that is related to day-to-day life) so that the audience can relate their desires to the enjoyment of the video. Aggression is the least voted for effect that people would like to see in music videos; this tells us that it would be wiser to go with the majority of what people want, rather than aim for the niche market with a target audience who enjoys to watch aggressive videos.

Question 8 feedback: This pie chart is interesting because 3 of the results are quite equal in whether they were people's favourite, yet one of the CD covers wasn't picked as a favourite at all. It so happens that the CD cover that wasn't chosen as anyone's favourite was Michael Jackson's "Bad". This tells us that the conventional pop CD cover which has the star as the main focus is unpopular among alot of people. This is good for our group because the more unconventional CD cover proved to be more liked because they raise conversation and are thought provoking.

Question 3 feedback: From these results we can see that most people watch music videos from home. This tells us that if music videos are being watched on the television, the music videos would have to be quite mainstream and follow the conventions of the other music videos on the scene. This means that it would be difficult to make a video which is suitable for what is normally shown on typical music channels. However by saying that they watch videos from home doesn't rule out the internet and the internet is a very influential tool for promotion of new videos that are different and make people talk about the content and the band.

Question 5 feedback: This set of results shows us that the majority of people would prefer to see a narrative story/ images of the band or artist performing their song. This is very helpful information for our group because our initial idea for our video was to have all members of the band following some kind of story and have some clips of the band performing as well. Our storyboard ties in very well with this information and we wouldn't have to change that any aspects in order to please our audience.

Question 1 feedback: This pie chart tells us that at least half of our target audience is in the age range of 16-19. This is very useful to know because all of the people in our group and in the band our in this age range and therefore we can relate what aspects of music videos we enjoy and tie them in with the video.

Question 2 feedback: This graph tells us that most of the people we asked do like punk and ska bands. This lets us know that the genre we have chosen isn't aimed a just a few people. This information also tells us that the age range which took the majority in our questionnaire (16-19) like the genre and therefore are more likely to enjoy a video based around the generic conventions of punk/ska bands.

our questionair

1) Please circle your age group below:

12-15, 16-19, 20-23, 30+

2) Do you like Punk Ska bands?

3) Where do you watch music videos?

Gym, home, bus/train, during school lunchtime, other.

4) If so, how often?

Never, Occasionally during commercials, When nothing else is on, Often, Exclusively.

5) What aspects of music videos do you like to see?

Images, lip synching, narrative story, Animation, Special effects.

6) What effects do you like music videos to have on you?

Excitement, A desire to buy the song, Aggression, To portray the point of the song, Positive.

7)What do you use to find out about songs?

TV, Radio, Internet, Friends, Billboards.

8) Number the following album covers 1-4. 1 being the highest.

9) Are you deterred from buying albums with a parental advisory logo on it?

10) If so, why?

11) Watch these music videos and write what you like about each:

A- Mustard Plug- 'Mr Smiley'

B- Random Hand- 'Anger Managment'

C- H20- 'What Happened?'