2. The genre for the band Queen was mainly rock (with some pop
elements in there later albums). The album ‘News of the World’ was
there 6th studio album. This can be seen in the thickness of the name
Queen and in the deep blood red of the font name, showing an
outrageous font to promote the rock genre of Queen.
The album cover shows a striking image of a robot holding what appears
to be the dead queen members in his hand, while blood comes off his
middle finger in his left hand. The image was adapted to include the band
members into the cover, from the previous painting by American science-
fiction artist Frank Kelly Freas. The image of the robot has a look away
from the band members as he carries them in his right hand. The robot
demonstrates the future as it has a shiny silver appearance, this image
looks more like a painting or drawing, we can see from the way the lines
and more textured look of the album. To a photo that would probably
look more clear than the painted picture. The red blood on his left hand
stands out as it is a loud colour in comparison to the colours of the band
members. The position of the band members looks as if they are dead
from the way there bodies hang in the had, also at the bottom of the
image is a member falling. The member in the centre of the hand
(Freddie Mercury shows a more extravagant pose) just like the band
member would do in real life or on tour.
The font shows a futuristic text style of the 3D effect such as the Queen sort of
comes out of the page with part of a letter being slightly in front of another part.
To involve the futuristic side of the album and the robot. The size of the Queen is
the biggest text on the album, to help people recognise the band name before the
see anything else on the album. The Queen stands out as it is large on the cover
yet not so big that it distracts the audiences attention away from the robot or any
other part of that image. Letters for News of the World are further apart than the
Queen lettering, this is to show the title of the album and helps it to stand out as
the main focus of the cover. The font is the same as the Queen font yet smaller
underneath showing us how important the Artist of Queen are compared to the
title of the album. Both are in the blood red text colour standing out to the green
background and also spotlights the blood on the robots hand.
The language of the album cover is very outwards as ‘News of thee
world’ seems like a highly important topic to call an album, as if the band
queen are the most important theme. The ‘world seems to suggest that
they are world wide known and that they are highly significant. ‘News’
also suggest something important such as the bands high statutes. The
band name ‘Queen’ seems something very regal and royal suggesting
someone with a high status.
The sense of the audience is mainly rock fans and fans of queens work, as the bold
statement of red seems very daring at that time. The giant robot suggest something less
pop and lyrical and more audacious and rock themes shining through. Such as the
statement of something futuristic like the robot may represent something big such as
Queen the band is seen as some big worldwide and ultimately important. The Queen band
member in the hand of the robot allow Queen enthusiasts to recognise the artist as if they
were part of a clique group of Queen. The audience would be able to recognise the album b
the name of Queen being in such a large font size and the some of main members of Queen
being on the album as well, not like there previous albums. The rock aspect comes through
the statement of having something alternative such as a robot on the cover giving it a si-fi
feel, and the members being so well known that thee faces don’t even need to be that
clear to know as a queen fan who is who.
3.
4. Abbey Road by the Beatles was there
eleventh album realised in the UK. The
Beatles were known back in the 60’s to
70’s for there pop to rock mix genre. Ideal
at the time for the younger generation,
there music sound changed with there
albums, I believe that abbey road takes
them back to the genre of when they
started, such as the song ‘here comes the
sun’, relates more to the lyrical pop genre.
This can be seen in the calm simplicity of
the band crossing the road.
The layout of the image shows the band members as the main focus of the group,
being at the front of the image with a full body portrait. Suggesting them being the
centre of the theme and helping to promote the band. With the Beatles members at
the front of the image any Beatles fans would recognise who they are instantly making
you feel part of a clique. The layout then moves towards the road behind giving the
album a casual setting and a relaxed feel to the cover. But also helps to establish to the
listeners where Abbey Road is and what it looks like. Later giving the street crossing a
famous landmark in London. The way that they are crossing the road in sync gives the
impression that they are a united band and also gives a relaxed approach to the way
that the members and the street is laid out. The cars on the pavement suggest it is a
busy street and shows the time of the photo being during the day as more towards the
70’s time with the style of cars giving it the lyrical pop genre.
The colour pallet for the album cover shows the band member having a
unique outfit each giving a personal feel to the cover but the white of Johns
outfit seems to then blend in with the white of the crossing. To me Ringo
and George stand out the most as they wear colours that stand out against
the background of the image. Such as the black contrast the white while the
denim outfit stands out against the darker shadow of the background
behind. The filter of the album shows a lighter filter as you can see by the
lighter colouring of the cars in the background and the lighter colour of the
road. This helps to extended colours such as the white and the greens of the
trees, may be symbolising the song on the album of ‘Here come the sun’
with the sunlight in the background.
The sense of audience for the Abbey Road Album would be
the target audience of teenage girls of the era. As the band
members on the front of the cover would indicate to them
there role models on the front. Also the font style of the
Beatles would help them to realise the band and the album
itself making them feel part of the fan base for the Beatles.
The audience would know the band by the style and
positioning of the band members. the audience to me would
mainly be girls as there style and genre of music of pop
would benefit more to women an the lyrics in there songs,
rather than men during this era.
I chose this album cover as I found the style of the music very interesting as
the Beatles changed there style through the years. This album cover was one
of my favourites as it shows all the band members in there own ways, unlike
there first albums covers. The album cover to me shows peace and equality
and there is nothing rebellious on it and it is a relaxed still shot that shows the
movement of unison of the Beatles.
5. The history behind the image includes the idea of where the Beatles
studios were. Which was down Abbey Road giving a more personal
feature to the album cover. This later became an iconic area to visit
in London due to the popularity of the Beatles and the positioning of
the band. The image shows the band members crossing Abbey Road,
with John at the front; symbolising his leadership of the band. As any
Beatles fan would know John was like the leader of the group. He is
dressed in all white symbolising peace movement as John Lennon
was known for his ‘hippy’ out look. A theory is that Paul was dead so
Johns outfit may also symbolise colour of mourning in some Eastern
religions. While Ringo (behind John) goes for an all black outfit
symbolising the undertaker. Then Paul wears a sophisticated outfit
but doesn’t wear any shoes indicating a spirt or ghost look.
While George wears a demine outfit indicating the look of mourning
in Canada. The reason behind there position and clothing plays a
part in the joke and rumours of the time that Paul was dead making
it a more fascinating cover to complete the album. The other reason
is it shows the bands unique style in clothing and I there ways, unlike
there earlier outfits which made them look almost identical. Almost
a breaking out point for the band to come into there own ways of
life. The background of the image shows a normal street but with a
filter effect over the image this may be done to give a clearer and
brighter look to the cover as a whole. The layout of the members
gets them all walking onto either there right or left leg, depending
on where they were in the line. None of them are looking at the
camera, giving the suggestion that they don’t realise the photo is
being taken and that gives a relaxed feel to the image almost as it
was normal to walk like that across the road.
The text styles are at the top left corner of the page with the classic Beatles
font giving the idea of being part of a group as Beatles fans would recognise
this font that has been used on all there albums. The title of the album Abbey
Road is then underneath the title of the band The Beatles. The text is all in
white and is clear from the darker background of the trees behind it. The
smallest word is ‘The’ which is the highest at the top of the page this is the
smallest because it is the least important word of the Album cover, then
underneath is the title of the band ‘Beatles’ which is the biggest word on the
album cover about 3 times as big as the word ‘the ‘ above it. This is because
the Beatles is the most important aspect of the cover, the stylish layout has
the lettering close together and has the ‘T’ in the name more extended than
the rest of the lettering. The iconic symbol of the longer ‘T’ makes fans of the
‘Beatles feel more part of the band franchise as they could easily recognise
the layout of the lettering. Then underneath in a smaller font is the album
name of ‘Abbey Road’ this is in a smaller font and a smaller size of the font
style. With the left side of the font being in a smaller line than the right side,
this is a classic font, just like the band themselves who are regarded as
classics. The ‘Abbey Road is just bigger than the ‘the’ above the Beatles
making the bold white ‘Beatles’ stand out even more making it the main
focus of the text.
6. The sixth studio album by Barbadian recording artist
Rihanna. This cover shows the genre of R&B and pop
elements involving artist such as Jay-Z in the album giving
it the feel of R&B. The genre of the album can be seen in
the cover as it has a rude and bold outlook to it giving it
the modern pop feel. For the younger generations as the
album shows a younger artist on the front. Including pop
songs such as ‘we found love’ and drunk on love giving it a
pop and rebellious genre.
The imagery shows the picture of the artist Rihanna as the main
focus point of the album cover as the image is larger than anything
else on the cover. Then in the top left hand corner is the logo used
for Rihanna to be recognisable. The image shows the artist with her
head slightly down while her left are pushes her hair out of the way
of her face. On her left arm is a clear tattoo reading the title of the
album ‘Talk that talk’. Her left arm has a variety of large ring on her
hand. She has dark make up around her eyes suggesting a seductive
look that is modern to the make applied by people today, her eyes
are hardly seen behind her hair hanging down suggesting she wants
to be hidden and a rude outlook that it’s a devious look. By her
looking at the camera we feel as she is looking directly at us. Making
the observer like they are being watched by the artist and gives the
rude approach of being watched by someone. Having her image as
the largest image on the screen it gives the impression that she
wants to be the main focus and centre of attention on her album and
show the world who she is and what she looks like. It also shows her
development from her previous albums covers. The lighting of the
images shows a bright light directly onto Rihanna, showing a sense of
spotlight on her reiterating the centre of attention theme. With only
a short shadow to the left of the image behind her face. Her face
shows her tongue pointing out, this demonstrates a rude but
rebellious facial expression. Showing the genre of the album and
making the viewer feel intimidated by the artist expression. As to
some it is seen as discourteous but almost playfully sexual. As if she is
teasing the viewer. Her rings on her hand may indicate the wealth of
the artist as there are lots on her hand that shows shapes and
diamonds shapes, suggesting she earns a lot of money and is showing
the variety of Jewry that the artist portrays .
Then we see artist with a clear tattoo on her arm, tattoo’s
can represent rebellion and the idea
7. Areas to ensure you cover in your analysis:
• Genre
• Imagery (photos, illustrations)
• Layout
• Text styles, sizes, colours
• Language
• Colour palette
• Sense of audience
• Use of symbolism
• Representation (gender/nationality/class as well
the actual star/band)
