Interview For Advanced Portfolio and Conclusion

3. Look at the two album covers provided. Which one appeals more towards you and explain why.

Natalie Imbruglia cover- Close camera angle- draws you in- attractive female.

Linkin Park album- simple, good colour scheme which is very basic- attention is drawn towards the name of the band instead of the image- signifies realism.

Natalie Imbruglia- close up image draws in attention, able to recognise whose album it is rather than the image hiding their identity.

From this question, the audience found the album cover which used a close up shot most attracting in comparison to the opposing album cover. The main reason for this was because the artist was an attractive female, and drew the attention of two males who were interviewed. They seemed to ignore the other features, such as the mise-en-scene and colour scheme, only focusing on her face. However, the female who I also interviewed, found the ‘Linkin Park’ cover more appealing due to the reasons of the dark colour scheme and mysterious atmosphere portrayed.

10. Has gender been represented in a particular way? If yes please state how.

Natalie Imbruglia cover- Been represented as emotive could be indicating that females are sensitive- make up which could be shown to cover up her identity/ or vanity.

Linkin Park cover- Mysterious as their faces aren’t shown in the image- they are shown to be silhouettes- hiding emotions.

Natalie Imbruglia cover- She comes across as very emotive as she glares into the camera, instantly creating a link between her and the audience. This could represent females to be emotive wanting to feel a type of connection with the audience, possibly with her songs which could relate to situations that the female audience have experienced.

The audience on this question found that the female artists has been signified as quite sensitive as her facial expression comes across as if she is hiding a lot of deep emotions from the audience possibly to show that the album consists of ‘emotional’ songs. The artist could also represent females as vain as she is wearing make-up to hide her true personality. On the other hand, the audience assume that males represent themselves as mysterious, as you are unable to identify who they are due to being displayed as silhouette figures.

3. From experience, can you state any album covers that you particularly like? If yes, why did you like them?

Paolo Nutini- Colourful- the image is in drawings rather than a realistic image- unusual and different from typical images- can be easily remembered.

Beyonce’s album- Realistic- Close up shot of artist in black and white is very natural and symbolises innocence. Not afraid to show her true self without hiding her identity through makeup.

B.o.B’s album- Surreal- the tecnology used appeals to me most as its interesting and not simple. It’s a very ‘busy’ mise-en-scene as the artist is almost portrayed as a ‘hero’ kneeling in front of an explosion. What makes this even more appealing is also the bright colours such as blues, yellows and orange.

The audience seem to have remembered the album covers due to the use of colour schemes and image shots. A brightly coloured image, added to the surrealism, bringing the audience away from reality. This made it easier to remember as it lacked in realism making the album ‘unique’ and ‘stand out’ from following artists. On the other hand, the black and white colour scheme that was used for Beyonce’s album cover was also easily remembered as it was very natural and portrayed realism throughout.

4. Are then any specific genres that you prefer? If yes please state. What would you expect to see featured on the album cover of this genre?

Hip Hop/ R’n’b/Soul- Young, attractive females, cars, males, objects which signify money

Indie/ alternative- Black and white colour scheme, simple and basic image

R’n’b/ Soul- Artist surrounded with objects that symbolise money.

The audience seemed to orientate the genre of r’n’b around the object of money, attractive females and males. Males may find a woman featured on an album cover more appealing as they feel physically attracted towards them rather than the artist themseleves. They may also share a common interest with the artist as cars signify money which can attract females. On the other hand, the genre of indie lacks in these props and usually conclude of album covers with just the artist featured. This is very simplistic, as the audience have mentionned and the basic image, adds to the basic colours (black and white) and [possibly basic font.

Studying Image Shots- I was unsure still on the type of shot I was going to use for the album cover so have decided to anaylse the different types of shots. Using my questionnaire results, the audience, ranked theses album covers from the most voted to the least voted, most appealing:

I also found that, while interviewing, the audience preffered the close up shot followed by the long/wide shot and the long shot. The reasons for this included the amount of attention this type of image received as it drew the audience in, creating the main focal point to be on the artist.

I have now come to the conclusion that I would like to do a close up image, possibly with quite

simplistic colours to add to the theme of realism.

Simple colours-Unisex-Black/white/red.

Artists featured- no added extras such as technology used.

A simple layout- well structured and not ‘busy’.