cd cover/ inserts

artist: splutter
album name: drunken times and gang signs
genre: a hybrid of punk and ska music, but still wish to portray meaning full messages.

generic conventions:band name clearly written across the top in the band fount/logo, information wished to be shown clearly written in a easy read fount, the info written is the album title, also an image which relates to the bands music and desired audience. abstract colours used to give the image a unreal look. A way that this CD cover does not follow punk conventions is that there is a photograph of the band, which is quite rare because animations of images that represent the band are used as i have analysed previously. However, this band is a hybrid genre which incorporates elements of various other genres and therefore a progressive, new approach to album campaigning brings something different to this leg of punk music

font style/lettering: trade mark lettering/logo for the name of the band of which was made out of paper and tape and then scanned in, which will always be found on the band present and future merchandise,Therefore, the fans may have seen this band name somewhere before and therefore they would remember who they saw and continue to follow them because the name will be on future material and merchandise we have decided to do this because potential buyers will easily recognise the album just by there name font this gives a nice cohesion to our products. we have used the same font for both the album title and our listed tracks on the back, we did this to add cohesion to our products. we also used a different font for the writing in our inserts, due the our images being in a Polaroid picture style we used a font that resembled hand writing so as to make the pictures feel more personal as if they are real and in a photo album. We used actual lyrics on the inserts underneath the images so the hand-written effect gives it more edge and it is more personal to the audience.

sound: musical inspiration is taken from many genres of rap, rock and jazz. they are fun young bad with no worries and a up beat fast pace sound mixed with a bit a raw aggressive punk.

colour: With cohesion in mind, we used black and white images for the CD covers, like the advert, giving it a darker and edgier look which represents the band's sound. For the background colour we wanted it to be plain but not completely white because it wouldn't seem professional, therefore we made it just off-white so that it is tinged slightly with grey. This gives a softer effect to the whole album because a white background would be in stark contrast to the black typography and black and white image. For the inserts the white Polaroid-effect images have white backgrounds and this is a good effect against the off-white background because they are meant to look like separate images stuck onto the inserts like a scrapbook. We also decided to keep the insert images as full colour because they are telling the story of the songs and the album and each image represents something different. Also they are smaller images so in black and white they would look like a blur, especially as some of them overlap each other. for the colour in the inserts we used a gray shade for the background, we used real photographs and used their natural colours so as to make it realistic and fun.

image: the picture was taken with a fish eye lens to add affect and draw onto the facial expression of the the lead singer, the use of the fish eye adds cohesion to our products as all the images in our products but one(CD cover, inserts, poster) also use fish eye photographs. The image is mainly of me (tom turell) the main singer intensely staring at the camera in a slight dark and demonic way, along with another two members of the band i am standing on a trampoline. the other two band members are playing/ playing with their instruments. in the back ground you can see the sky and houses. within the inserts there are individual pictures of the band member striking posses mid air on the trampoline with their instruments. the images show the fun side of the band and capture the poses really well. a fish eye lens was also used to make the images seem abstract and also to add cohesion to our products. there is another image of the band at a bus stop this is to link our CD to our music video as the song our music video was done with is called buss, and for it we filmed at bus stops. this adds more cohesion and links our products together. another image was used from the bands practise room, a basement this image shows how the band aren't trying to be a big time mainstream band how practice in music studios but instead somewhere they can be themselves. the inserts also include writing underneath which are lines from the band songs. the image used on the back cover is agian a fish eye and also from the bands basement, the image was used to show the other two members of the band that were not on the front cover, it was also made black and white.

mise-en-scene: front cover- a just off white background, the band name across the top in customise lettering, a chosen image of which designed to send a message across the middle of the the front page, under neath the album title, drunken times and gang signs.
back cover- same off white background as the front, another black and white image of band members including the ones who were not on the front cover. numbed track listings, listed down the middle, with reference to a bonus track. the back cover also includes a parental advisory lable.
insert 1- 2 slanted images of the band, one at a bus stop where the band look to be waiting for a bus and looking frustrated,the image is the only one of where a fish eye was not used this was due the the fact that that image wanted to be linked to our music video, the image is linked to our music video. the second picture is of the band working on a new song in their basement, where the singer is writing lyrics (it happened to be the lyrics for bus) and the other band members on their musical parts. both pictures are in a Polaroid background with shadowing behind
insert 2- 5 angled and over lapping individual pictures of the different band members posing on a trampoline, the pictures are taken for low angles so as to have the sky in the photo to give the scenes of flying, the pictures include the members instruments. the pictures are in a Polaroid background with shadowing behind.

representation: front cover- the top section of the cover has a of white background the use of a light colour matches the rest of the cover as the images being black and white, the colour can also be seen as nice and calming this concept represents the type of band splutter are in regards of brash, dark and mysterious from the image but play full and light from the background. The band name at the top of the ad was made out of paper and tape and scanned onto a computer, this means that their font and lettering style is original. originality was a aspect we wanted to represent as we want to show splutter aren't just another band but instead a new original one who are different and want to be, this is related to how the band are more of a hybrid genre which increase the bands originality. also the hand made nature of the logo represents how the band care about their audience as they have put in the time and effort to make it by hand. the image has allot of representation, The image relates the band to the music and the issues they represent, so the picture is not particularly happy, because the band don't want to be seen as happy, but there are elements of humour, therefore they are not just being represented as moody. the image represents the concept of moodiness and unhappy emotions due to the facial expression of the singer, the image show the singer to be angry, moody, scary and maybe a little demonic. The concept and representation of humour comes from the fact that the image of this dark sidictive image of a band band member is taken on a trampoline, a thing commonly related with fun and happiness also the other band members are seem to be having fum by playing and jumping on the trampoline. this picture is a picture example of an oxymoron( example, love hate relationship) as the two aspects of the image are not things that would normally be put together and in fact the appose each other. We changed the main image to black and white because it represents the sound of some of their music which can sometimes be pretty dark, the issues raised in their music are also quite negative views on socio-political issues and this can be portrayed to the audience through this effect. The original colour version was very bright and just seemed to be portraying something they aren't about. The band members in the image are having fun though, so this also represents that the issues that they do choose to write about are being made fun of in a light hearted way. The image also represents the sound of their music through the black and white effect, so the audience would get the idea that the music is dark and edgy and sheds light on issues that are rarely addressed by mainstream music. the album name also represents the band and the type of image they with to portray, drunken times and gang signs, represents the way the band just want to have fun, drunken times, it show the liberal views on alcohol and so show their youth. it also represent a typical rock star image that the band wanted to show. at the same time though the second half of the name, gang signs, has the same representation as the image as it links something fun to something serious. gang crime is a serious problem so again through the album title the band are representing how the are a fun upbeat band, but they also like to bring up issues they a re passionate about.
back cover- the images used represent s how the band wish to be seen, due to the setting of the picture being a normal old basement it make the band seem more ratable as people could easily find themselves in the same situation unlike, for example, are large main stage. We chose to put the conventional Parental advisory logo on the back cover so that the focus of the representation of the band is focused on completely on the front cover. The front cover is very raw and stripped back, and therefore the parental advisory sign would clog it up, drawing the attention away from the band itself.
insert 1- the image of the band at the bus stop also has the effect of making the band seem down to earth, as even though they are a band they still have to catch the bus and in fact they don't drive everywhere in a a stretched Limousin. the picture also enforces the representation wished to be portrayed for our music video, the unreliability of public transport. the image from the basement shows the bands work ethic in that they try hard to make good music.
insert 2- the individual images of the band members on the trampoline represent the fun and childish side of the band, it shows how the band don't compile to the serious nature of the music industry today, in being adult and serious. it also makes the band more rateable as buyers can have more of a fell of the personality and appearance of the band members.