The document analyzes and summarizes the cover art of Beyoncé's album. It notes that the cover features only Beyoncé's back, showing her body in a provocative and sexually suggestive manner, which is stereotypical of the R&B genre. This enigmatic image leaves the audience questioning its meaning and intention. In contrast, the plain black cover is used to hide this sexual image from the public until the album is purchased. The document discusses how the close-up shot and chains wrapped around her body highlight her wealth and sexuality while concealing her lack of clothing, seen as a promotional tactic to increase sales.

1. Characters- Themain cover has no
characters. Beyoncéis shown on inside
frontcover. You do not see her face justher
body. This is stereotypical of the genre of
R’n’B as a lot of female artist show their
bodies and show a lot of sexuality. The
behaviour is stereotypicalas Beyoncé is
seen as a sexual figure. Itis also
stereotypical for the genreof R’n’B to have
the main star on the cd cover. She is
holding her back which could be seen as
sexual. This is also stereotypicalof a female
R’n’B artist. Narrative events- The picture of Beyoncé is
enigmatic. The image makes the audience
want to find out more about the story behind
it and why she is posing like that. It makes the
audience question, who it is for? If it is for a
loving relationship or to get other people’s
attention, which also has connotations of the
sex industry. In contrast to this the cover over
the picture is very different. The whole black
cover with light pink writing is a contrast
between good and bad. The cover is also made
to look classy and elegant, which is used to
cover a very sexual image. This shows that the
cover has been used to hide this image.
Beyoncé may have done this so that the only
people that see this image of her are the
people that buy her album, her ‘true fans’.
Iconography- The only props that are used on
this cd cover are chains that are wrapped
around Beyoncé’s body. This is stereotypical of
the genre R’n’B as money is heavily associated
with this genre of music and I think this is what
Beyoncé is trying to represent and this also fits
in well with her style of music. The main icon is
Beyoncé and this is made clear by just having
an image of her on the cd cover. This is
stereotypical of this genre.
Setting- In themise en scene of the image
all you can see is the back of Beyoncé’s
back. This is making a statement as that is
all that she wants to be seen. In the mise
en scene we can also see chains which is
iconic of the genre of R’n’B. As well as this
the provocativeimage is iconic of females
in this genre of music
Mise enscene- Thecamera shotused is a
close up of Beyoncé. A close up has been
used to show the detail of the chains
around Beyoncé’s back. They have done
this to highlight that she is not wearing
many clothes but she is wearing jewellery
which may have been done to highlight her
wealth.
Technical/audio codes- As the Cd digi pak has a cover over it shows that the inside image
is deliberately provocative. Thenudity is hidden inside of the cover. This is so that many
more Cd’s may be sold due to being able to see Beyoncé semi naked. This is a promotional
stunt.