final album covers

video compriaon

12 album cover feedback

Album Cover Evaluation

Album Evaluation

Research:

First for my album evaluation research part of the course, we researched how gender is represented in hip hop album covers. The albums were usually in a dark background with occasionally in suburban areas, the artists were wearing clothing in association with gangs. For example, hoodies and dark coloured casual clothing. Also the male artists were mostly looking down at the camera as this represents male dominance in the music industry. Also some album covers would have an half naked women on the front cover, this also shows gender representation as this could possibly be sexist to women as they are only used for eye candy to attract men's eyes and draw them in to buy the album. Also we researched different music videos and how they show gender representation, for example, Robin Thicke's  blurred lines was a prime example as there were half naked women parading around the artists used only to attract men to watch the music video. After that, we watched a documentary called hip hop honeys which showed the effects of young women on being in one of these music videos and how they pay lots of money to change there body.

Planning:
When we were planning our album covers, we made a album cover for a artist in our genre using our photo shop skills. This would test our presentational skills, construction of representation, understanding of codes and convection's and creativity and target appeal to target audience. Next we drew the template for our album covers which would be a base and a helpful understanding of what my album cover was going to look like. After that we analysed these drawings giving our self's grades to show what we think we done. My drawing consisted of the artist on a stage looking down at the audience showing his dominance as an artist in the hip hop genre. I would later use this picture and the grades and feedback I have been given to create my personalised album cover.

Production:
After researching the hip hop genre and the effects it has on gender and how males and females can be used as eye candy, we created our template for our overall album cover which we drew gaining feedback and grades to help us create an perfect album cover for our course. Furthermore, after all that was done i progressed onto photo shop to create my overall album cover. First of all i made the background of my album cover and inserted a template picture so i can later take a picture of my artist in front of a green screen. Once i took a picture of my artist in front of the green screen, i used that image to go over my template so i used a real picture in front of my chosen background with the album finally being called 'thug life'. On photo shop I used the magic wand tool to crop out the background of the artist which was the green screen so i can put the picture in to fit to the background.

Moodboard

hip hop honeys powerpoint

album back cover photoshop

album front cover photoshop

album analysis X5

Music Video stereotypes

Why does the media produces stereotypes?

to appeal to a wide audience [e.g Christina Agulara appealing to men.. not the primary audience] to make more money which will make more people buy the album

so the audience can identify with the artist from their social group they are displaying

so audience can link appearance of artist to stereotypical personality traits. this means the audience can identify with the artist

Artist or their status can be seen as aspiration/role model which cant be a positive thing

Video Analysis

Are the pop music videos reinforcing stereotypes?

Beyoncé run the world

1.What are the men/women doing?

Some men were charging in riot gear and the girls and squring up to them, the girls however stood ground standing on scraped cars with lions beside them. They're are some scenes were it took place in a desert

2.How are the men/women dressed?

The men are dressed in primarily black clothing and leather jackets, meanwhile the girls were half naked in short dresses 

3.Describe the body language of the men/women: are they sitting, standing?

The body language of the men started Looking intimidating but later in the video they started looking scared and worried, however the women looked confident and strong. 

4.Where is the video taking place?

The video is taking place either in a desert or underneath a highway or a bridge

5.What is the message of the song?

 The message of the song is that girls are as dominant in the world as men are and showing everyone is equal whatever gender

6.What is the story of the video?
the story of the video is that the girls are showing the men that they rule the world by dancing in minimal clothing in-front of them

7.What objects are shown in the video? (cars, jewellery)

At the begining of the video the men arrived in cars going towards the women who we're standing on scrap cars. Riot gear was used to look intimidating

8.What is the general atmosphere?

The atmosphere is very intimidating and building up to maybe something violant 

Summarise: do videos help to establish a stereotype of a pop star?

Yes, because there not wearing much clothing and all dancing in unison which may affect to a range of audiences primarily men get sucked into watching the video because of the reduced clothing of the women and the violant atmosphere which may help them release albums in the future where it affects all types of audiances to make more money and get a better reputation of a pop star 

front cover

back cover

back cover analysis 2

back cover analysis

album analysis 2

album analysis

5 album analysis

back cover analysis 2

back cover analysis

california girls

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