CD Sleeve Research and analysis

To begin the actual process of my Media A2 Coursework, I will be

researching and analysising various popular CD covers from a selection of random musicians. This research will help me identify what makes a good album cover and how the construction of my music video will be dependant on the knowledge of advertising with the music business. Also I will need to consider in order the different aspects to ensure a successful project is made. The cover I have decided to analyse is from is Lil Wayne “The Crather II“. The genre is R&B/Hip Hop.

As you can see, on this cover, there are various aspects of this album cover that can be analysed in detail.

Low angle, to make the artist look powerful and godlike. Also the car in the back the Rolls Royce ensures that he has money, as it is known to be the car for the riches

This Cd Sleeve represents this album being R&b /hip hop as you can see on the way the artist is dressed. The stereotypical gangster look, the low jeans, topless and the big metal chains.

The colour of the Cd Sleeve very plain/dull, keeping it simple. However the name of the album is in Red to make it stand out.

Overall I think that by analysing this particular CD cover, I have been able to look beyond the photo and determine the actually true meaning to the album. As well as opening my knowledge to help me later on with the construction of my own album cover.

Furthermore I have also picked one of Ludacris’s albums, his cover is clearly more for a fun and joke factor than a sensual, or sexual factor. This can be clearly seen with the humorous chicken and beer label and the fact that Ludacris behaves as if the female's leg is a chicken's bone. Also, this CD cover is supposed to be promiscuous and provocative, and rather controversial, because as well as humour it could count as hidden pornography, since the beer hides the woman's privates. In the background, you can see that there is a bar or a take-away environment, which could imply that the CD or the message being sent is rather social, to do with either having fun with people or socialising with friends.

The colours used are rather stark, dark but somehow luminated, which increases the chance that this CD is sexual and immoral, but also, since the luminating colours are warm shades of red, white or yellow, it is inviting and appealing.

For my third and final analysis I decided to do a total opposite to the previous genres that I have been looking at, this will help to identify if they all have the same techniques and how the different genres are too each other, when making their album covers. In relation to the colours used on the CD cover, the mise-en-scene, in other words; the clothing that they are wearing are bright and compliment each other, this makes the group members the most noticeable feature of the album cover.

The dresses that they are wearing are sexual and are flirtatious which appeals to both male and female audiences – a male audience may become a lot more interested in the music that they sing due to an interest in the members of the group, and a female audience would feel inspired by the members from the way they appear and look, however they can even feel threatened by the members as they are the “perfect” girl group that the male audience will want to date and the female audience will want to be like.

The background in contrast to the girl band is very girly, dark and red, which creates the mood of a warm atmosphere as it also shows they all getting together and celebrating Christmas. Also every girl is doing something in the picture which also shows each and one’s characters. The colours used in this picture are Christmas colours however they added more red and pink to it to make it fit the girl group, also very stereotypical.