Features of A CD Cover

Here are the features that may be included on a CD Cover:

Front Cover...

Band name
Album/song name
Promotional stickers

Back Cover...

Track listing
Barcode
Web address
Record company name
Trademarks
Digital technology logos

Factors To Consider When Developing Our Print Advert and Album Cover

Title & Typeface
The title often dominates for obvious reasons. But we should also consider the type/style of the typeface and font, and the colours used for it.

• Title or main font and typeface on the text.
• Size(s) of the text • Positioning of the font and typeface
• Type of font and typeface used
• Colour(s) of the typeface(s)
• Any logos or distinctive graphics used

Copy and Anchorage (Written Language)
Tag-lines often accompany adverts or copywriting for products. They may also have acclaim and reviews on albums or products. There might also be a website address so you can find out more about the product.

• Any prominent tags or slogans and your interpretation of these
• What is the layout/format of the text? • Consider MES: Lighting, props, costume, performance.posture, location.
• Image photography. Consider framing, camera angle, shot size, MS, CU etc
• Any intertextuality in the images(s). Borrowings from other media texts.

Representation
Who is featured in the text? Are they well known stars? Are they a key selling point for the text? We should also consider representation of the people featured in the text. Look for archetypes, stereotypes and generic types, and any attempts at realism. Remember who your target audience are and the representations need to appeal to them. Consider age, gender, class, race, and media forms & language used to create representations and the values that are attached to these representations.

Genre
We must consider whether our advert suggests a genre of music, as this will help us to define the target audience of the industry behind the adverts. Also, we should decide how clear the genre is going to be in the text and what generic elements we will use.

Narrative
Will the text contain a suggested storyline, sometimes known as a narrative image, that will draw the audience's interest to the text? Sometimes the text will tease us with questions creating a mystery or an enigma. This image may be backed or aided by a tagline or some copywriting such as "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water."

Institution
The institution behind the band needs to be considered. Are they on a huge label and trying to sell the artist to the widest possible audience or a tiny independent label where the band will have more control?

Ideology
What is the ideology and the messages and values we want to project? This could be the idea of the hero, good versus evil, capitalism, true love, ideas towards the typical family, youth and vibrancy etc. Audience A very important part of developing our print pieces are who our target audience are, and profile them and give reasons for the decisions we make on our target audience. We must think about demographics, socio-economics, VALS, labels, and also our audience size and how we will appeal to them using media language.

Homosexuality in Music Videos

Jessica researched the subject of homosexuality in music videos:

Our narratives centres around Girl A and Girl B who cross paths and begin a relationship. Although we originally intended for the relationship to form between a girl and boy, the availability of actors has meant we had to consider other alternatives. However, this has gave us the opportunity to venture into raising issues through our music video, i.e the acceptability of homosexuality within the music industry. Although socially homosexuality is now widely accepted, its is still not seen often in music videos. I feel the decision to go ahead with this narrative within our music video is in-line with the progressive thinking that I discovered in my research for electronic music videos.

History

In 1981 after the emergence of MTV the popularity and volume of music videos increased drastically. At this time homosexuality in music videos was few and far between. However a growing number of artists sporting the androgynous image such as Annie Lennox and openly gay artists such as Boy George introduced the issue into their music videos. However this did not represent the average homosexual person as the character were often over dramatized.



One exception was Bruce Springsteen. The video above was for his track Tougher than the Rest. Couples are shown kissing throughout the video, with gay and lesbian couples featured alongside heterosexual couples and this projects the correct image of homosexual relationships- no different from all the rest! Many Rock 'n' Roll artists used lesbianism in a derogatory way in the late 80's/90's. Instead of promoting sexual differences positively they were often glorified and for entertainment purposes. Women often shown stripping, kissing and getting intimate featured strongly and a feminist reading of this is that it is purely for a mans entertainment.



The emergence of t.A.T.u (Russian short hand for this girl loves that girl) glamorised lesbianism in a way that some may criticise as not being beneficial to the cause. The above video is for their no.1 hit All The Things She Said and features the romance of 2 girls and kissing throughout. Some praised the video for putting lesbians into the mainstream, and the cinematography of the video- showing girls behind bars etc- accurately portrayed the struggle of lesbian couples. However the video also received a huge backlash as the girls are in school uniform and the fact that the are both heterosexual in real life means that the video was just to entertain the male population. More recently artists such as Lady GaGa have fought for equal rights for homosexual and transgendered couple as displayed in her video for Telephone.