Evaluation

Our Music video in terms of Andrew Goodwin.

I mentioned Goodwin's theories in a much earlier post and now i am going to apply his theories into our music video to see just how right he was.

"The creation of character identities for stars provides a point of identification for the audience/spectator which is especially important when lyrics often lack depth."

Right from the start we instantly produce an identity, clearly displayed on the drum kit pan shot. At this very early stage the audience doesn't know who t

his identity is yet but they are aware of the name.

We then produce a character related to the name at around 10 seconds when t

he lead singer starts. The audience now knows a little bit more; they know the name of the band and the picture of a face related to it. We haven't put a full band shot in front of the name on the drum kit at the start because that is far too much information for the audience to take in at the start, we wanted it to be fed them gradually. They have quite a lot of information at this point despite not even hearing any of the lyrics yet.

Then we finally reveal the whole band with the name clearly displayed at the back in the centre of the screen and the audience can now see who everyone is, what everyone plays and what they look like. It is at this stage that they start to gain some sense of personality which they can be identified by. This is exactly what Goodwin is trying to say; that identity has to be established for the video to have any effect on the audience, they need to know who they are listening to. Also the long shot is very simple, the screen is split up into 3 sections and there isn't a lot to distract them as shown in the picture below.

Also their costumes are very casual which makes them seem more like ordinary people rather than hip hop rock stars which a lot of bands do today to make them easier to relate to and in the action of trying to deter away from an image, they have in fact created one. They tried to deter away from likes of Lady GaGa's extravagant costumes because they don't want that sort of identity.

He also says that: The construction of stars is central to the economics of the music industry – only stars guarantee sales and long careers

This is the point that creates some confusion. The video has clearly created a star image as shown, but what makes them a "star" is how the audience perceives them. So if they are perceived well then they can guarantee sales because people like them, but to say that they will have long careers is a sweeping statement. There are hundreds of artists who have been what's known as a "one hit wonder" where the artists makes one massive hot or album and then we never hear of them again.

Kings Of Leon- Use Somebody Music Video Analysis

This song was the fourth song on the album "Only By The Night" by Kings of Leon and according to the writer 'Caleb', it is about being lonely while travelling wanting someone to cuddle. In which case this song is one that many people can relate to because even though they are living the high life, earning lots of money and travelling round the world, they still get lonely at times just like any other person.

At the start we see a combination of aerial shots and swoops over a busy illuminated city which reflects on their life styles; how they are always busy and always on the go. It reflects their life style by connoting fun and excitement with an extraordinary night life. This is the part in which the audience can't relate to because the majority of them won't be able to say that they live like that. To further highlight their stardom, we then see them stepping out of a car in glasses about to go on stage as if it was an every day thing to be playing in front of thousands of people.

The live performance is inter cut with sped up scenes of the city, the roads and cars which mirrors their busy life style, but then at the same time we simultaneously see very slow shots of them sitting in a very expensive hotel room where they are doing nothing other than sitting around looking sorry for themselves. This is literally displaying how they feel at times amongst their amazing hi profile life style. They are just like anyone else who want someone to hug when they are lonely.

The main contrast is when the singing first kicks in and the two themes physically overlap in on shot; the busy city fades out while the singer looking fed up and alone in a room begins to sing fading in. Also there are very quick visions of the main singer holding a girl; it is done quickly so that we don't get mixed up with reality. It is also important to note that the vision is done in colour yet the shots of them performing life on stage and warming up, hugging, before they go on are in black and white. This is probably the opposite to what most music videos would have if they were using visions. But in the context of this song I believe they are trying to say that in actually fact, these visions are more important and give them more of a thrill than being in a band because that's all they ever do now, every day, play for fans, but that one moment of colour and passion means the world to them. This makes them appear to be very humble which is how they always like to make them selves appear. They want audiences to be able to relate to them rather than being arrogant rock stars who think the world revolves around them despite the fact they are very wealthy.

Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before The Light Come On Video analysis

Leave Before The lights Come On, is a narrative video telling us the story of a women who thrives off of attention and affection, who gets this by convincing men she is going to commit suicide. The main man seen in the video is her target and when he finally realises that killing herself isn't her only intention he sees sense and tells her to go away, after which she returns to the same spot we see her at the start in a fit of rage as if she is going to kill herself as she looks for her next victim, and the cycle starts again.

Arctic Monkeys often create videos which have nothing to do with the song which is in fact quite common of the Indie genre however the subject matter is quite peculiar. In this video none of the band appears in the video at any time which isn't un-heard of but it is fairly unconventional. In most narrative videos one of the band members normally

appears even if it is just for a short while.

They make no delays in introducing our main characters as they both appear in the first 10 seconds; we see the main man walking casually down a high-street in dark clothing and under dark lighting, yet we see the "suicidal" girl dressed in bright col

ours above him which is quite ironic seeing as she is the one who is a

t rock bottom and about to jump of a building.

Next we see a mid shot of a shoe falling from the sky in front of the man and as he grabs it and looks up he sees the young girl about to jump from the roof and he runs in desperation to save her so at this stage we think that we have one suicidal girl and o

ne man who is about to save her.

Once she has been saved by the hero (or as it later appears, the

victim) we are taken to a much less depressing scene, we are in a cafe with bright colours to represent how the girl now feels. She begins to flirt and her

facial expressions tell us that she is much happier and starting to fall for this man, however she also think that he likes her even though he is a married man and is just trying to cheer her up because she was upset. This is statement on an issue that many teenage boys may have actually been through with unstable teenage girls which isn't normally commented on in music because it is quite a delicate subject but the band feels that this issue has to be addressed to the public becau

se it is actually very common and can be very stressful for both parties. One can only assume that a similar kind of story has happened to one of the band members.

It feels more like a short story as opposed to a mus

ic video because there is very little variation in shot types and the narrative is in real time (almost) instead of jumping about all over the place like alot of videos which is actually typical of this genre. It is making sure that the main focus is the narrative and not the song itself. Its is also shown to be a story because there is no "on the beat" cutting, it looks more as if it may have been edited without even having the track there.

Then the atmosphere starts turn into something darker as the man realises that the girl is mental and has issues with obsession. He gives her plenty of warning

to go away until he has to forcefully tell her to go away. The cutting rate speeds up as the action builds however this change doesn't occur in the music which once again implies that this is more of a drama with a soundtrack. After the fact that he didn't want anything to do with gi

rl kicked in, she hits another state of depression and we see her running on the roof of the same building we first saw her. It looks as if she is about to jump b

ut then stops, looks down, and the story has gone back on itself as we see her how she started off in the video. It is now apparent that this girl is just an attention seeker and probably won't kill herself because she knows that there will always be fresh victims for her to suck affection from.

This video uses very little conventions seen in most music videos but uses alot of the conventions that Arctic Monkeys use in their videos. "Fake Tales Of Sanfransico"

is a very good example of another video of theirs which is in a very similar style. The only difference being the story line itself. Personally if I was making a music video for this song it wouldn

t be anything like that as think that seeing the band is quite important in a music video. However it does strongly demonstrate a common issue which isn't brought up enough in society which is partly what indie music is all about.

Album advert. update

I have now added "Out Now" to the right hand side to one, fill up the gap, and two, it lets the audience know that it is actually out and they don't have to wait for it. I have also added a band website to the bottom so the audience knows where to find them. I think this pretty much close to my final idea now.

Our video in terms of Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis has her own theories about what a music video should be. She says that videos should be "quick cutting or editing on the beat ". This is one of the first things we considered when making any edit when producing our music video as I and the rest of the group agreed that this was a solid theory to stick to.

She also says that ". . . the editing in a music video works hard to ensure that no single element (the narrative, the setting, the performance, the star, the lyrics, the song) gains the upper hand" She is essentially saying that everything should be in balance and moderation to make sure that no part takes over the video and overpowers the rest. However this is quite a generic statement because some videos actually like to go for the opposite effect. In our case we have actually followed this theory and put everything in balance and moderation.

In reference to Graphic Match she says "Such an edit joins two shots through shared compositional elements such as colour and shape, irrespective of context . . . Music video can be can use graphic matches so freely because the genre has reason to draw attention to its materials and production methods: the viewer can reveal in an interesting edit, in a nice shape shared by two images, and in the cleverness of the direction and the editors work, any of which might draw us away from the narrative of a Hollywood movie. The graphic match can highlight elements of a popular song".

We have used this when cutting together our performance base however when we cut to the narrative all of the colour and shape changes which is the effect we were aiming for when making the video.

Dolly Shot

"Most music videos make such extensive use of the dolly that a static shot seems anomalous. The dolly shot keeps the video moving, it starts almost invariably as soon as the video begins, and only ceases towards the end. It provides a simple way for a music video to catch and sustain a song's momentum".

This is something that we struggled with making our video although we didn't realise while filming it at the time. When we was editing we realised that still steady shots look overly still in a real film. They just look so dead so we had to add artificial camera movement to liven it up.

Camera Shot

Music videos do not follow the usual conventions of films, "not only is the relation between the figure and space not frequently off kilter, but the camera bisects the figure in places that would be unacceptable for the classic Hollywood film".

"The framing of music video makes us aware of the edge of the frame and of what we cannot see".

This is basically saying that music videos have much more freedom with the camera and they can break the rules of films. We have used this on several occasions in our video just to make some of the shots more interesting by requiring more audience attention.

Artist website.

http://www.myspace.com/weakendarrowsband

I decided to use myspace to create the website as its very simple to use and it has a template specifically for artists. I also have decided to keep the bands standard text to keep some sort of theme. Below is just a quick screen shot of what the main homepage looks like.

Album advert.

This is my first draft for my advert design. It contains all the vital information; name of band, name of album and reviews. I could however also put on a release date. I tried to utilize the spaces between the band members however I now realise that there are four spaces to fill and i only have 3 words/ellipsis to use to put in the gaps so maybe the release date could go on the right hand side gap.

Music Video COMPLETE!... (first draft)

It is done! All the edits in place and everything running smoothly. Now we have to see what people say about it and then make final adjusts.

Album Back cover update

This is my next attempt at the back cover and i think i've made good progress. I've put more arrows in and think i have them n suitable places which is the key to making this artwork successful. Now i think it's time to get some more feedback and see what people say.

Editing Update

It is done! ... Sort of. We have completed it all and everything is in place but obviously this is just a first draft. Next I think we should get feedback from other people and see what they say about it and we find anything that keeps coming up or someone comes up with a better idea then we will have another crack at it, but as it stands we are quite happy with it despite the song driving us insane after countless times of hearing it! Also we will need to look at a mark scheme to see how it will be marked and we can make sure we have everything in there that we can to achieve the top grade.

Editing

So we've started our editing now and we are making good prgoress. We have some intersting shots coupled with intersting transisitions between them. We just have to make sure we get the right ratio between band shots and shots of the rabbits.

Conventions of my album art.

This is the analysis for my album artwork in terms of conventions seen in album covers in general and of our genre. My album cover looks like this.

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Much like most album covers seen today, I have included the band name and the album title clearly displayed on the front. The only factor that varies throughout album artworks is that some have the alubm title bigger than the band name, and others have the sizes the other way around. Also i have bent the text around the curves on the page which i think is quite unique and quite unconventional.

My artwork is similar to to that of Arctic Monkeys "Favourite Worst Nightmare"...

They have included the Artist name and album name with the artists name bigger. They have also warped the text which is what i have done. Not only this but the text itself is quite unusual. Also i have used the effect of having a very dark background with a burst of colour for the audience to be drawn to. I have chosen to compare my artowork to this one because Acrtic Monkeys are in the same music genre as my band.

The Libertines - Album Cover analysis

This is the album cover for "The Libertines" album released by The Libertines (strangly). The album was released in 2004 as the second and last album from the band. This album cover pretty much demonstrates them as purely as possible; that was what they was all about.

At first glance we can see 2 men looking pretty wasted showing off their tatoos. The tatoos do actually say "Libertines" and this shot was taking after a drunken night out. The 2 men shown are the two front men of the group; Pete Doherty and Carl Barat. The album is actually based on the relationship that they had which was very much a rollercoaster ride. They were clearly close enough friends to start a band, tour, nd release two albums however after a dispute, Pete broke into Carl's house while on drugs and was charged shortly after pleading guilting in court. Yet here in this album cover they are looking quite friendly. They were renound for the drink and drugs use and here in this image we can see dialated eyes, a ciggerette in one of their hands and a plastic cup (probably full of beer) in the oter hand. This connotes everyting that the band is about, they enjoy the partying, having a good time no matter how dangerous; it really reflects their ruthlessness.

It may have actually been this image that they were putting forward that made them as popular as they are; they weren't following what the industry was controlling everyone else to do, they did their own thing and didn't care about the rest.

However this album cover has been in he firing line of several music critics saying that it is a bad influence on younger generations and not a true portrayal of what rockstars should be like. You would expect that like most bands they would change their cover to please critics, but being The Libertines, they kept it and didn't care about the critics which actually earned them alot of respect from a lot of people but at the same time made them lose the respect of others.

Also the colours are a bit uneasy and it is probably not a natural picture and has more than likel undergone some hue and saturation changes and i believe that this has been done to maybe create the effect of being under the influence of something that effects your perception of colour or vision.

Filming update

It is done! We had a stroke of luck with the weather and we managed to get all of our inteneded footage plus extra to go with the rest it. Now we have to take a lot of time editing it thoroughly and making it look professional. We may have looked stupid dancing around a city dressed as rabbits but sacrifices have to be made!

Conventions of music videos

I have decided to analyse 30 Seconds To Mars' "From Yesterday" music video; specifically focussing on the conventions that are seen in music videos as a whole. This is rumoured to be the most expensive music video ever made.

From the off there is what's known an "establishing" shot. This sets the scene so that the audience knows where the rest of the video is taking place. Most music videos will have this type of shot if the place of which is set is important. In this case it is set in ancient China and this is obvious from the very first shot.

Next, we see a wide shot of all the band walking. This allows the audience to know who the are watching, they now know what the band looks like. In this image they re all dressed in uniform black with heavy eye makeup making them look quite mysterious.

Soon after we see a high angle shot looking down a long road bordered by ancient chinese martial artists. They are pulling the audiences eye into the centre of the screen; this is an artistic technique called vanishing point. Music videos will use techniques like this is they want to draw attention tom something specific or give a vision of perspective or depth.

Then we get a mid range shot which is a combination of the 2 previously mentioned shots. The shot of the band are now within the path which was in the perspective shot. This now draws maximum attention to the band which is obviously the main source behind any music video so it makes sense to make them the centre of attention.

When the singing finally kicks in the singer turns to the camera to make the audience feel like they are being sung to personally. This also gives the artists a personality which is a convention most music videos of this genre use. Also he has red tip in his hair which connotes danger.

The next convention used in the music video is the first full band long shot which shows everything in full action. We can see all of the members, what they play and how they perform; this gives the band a very strong personality, they are full of energy and passion which is a huge selling point and music videos are all about selling yourself.

Another feature seen in a lot of music videos takes places when the song hits a "double time" point; this is where the main solid beats come in twice as quick and it feels as if the tempo has doubled. In this case it is done with close ups of various people in chinese costumes. The face changes every beat and then when the beats double the cutting rates double to match the music and there is a great sense of intensity.

Then we see something that is only typical of music videos with the genre of this music because it only works with what could be called an "epic" chorus where the audience needs to feel a sense of power and uprising. Here we see a huge long shot of the band performing in front of an impressive Chinese pyramid with fireworks exploding over their heads and various pyrotechnics around them. This gives off the impression that the band are powerful and can make something spectacular happen. It is a very effective way of selling themselves, giving the audience something that is typical eye candy.

Overall the band has use many codes and conventions of music videos in its genre however they have also tried to create some new ones because they were trying to create a short film as opposed to a traditional music video. I think they have pulled this very well and they have clearly gone to a lot of effort to achieve their desired affect.

Album Cover process

I have been asking my class mates for feedback on my album covers and multiple times i have been asked how i created those arrows so below is a picture of the Adobe Illustrator file that i used to create that pattern,

Album cover update

This is my second draft for my back cover design. I have added some more arrows, slanted the text across the page to take up more room and generally filled out more of the empty spaces i had before. I definitely think this is an improvement on my first design but i think i can still add to it yet.

Genre, Context & Audience

Everyone has their own tastes in music and there is a genre of music for everyone, all of which originate from different backgrounds and have evolved into something new caused by music fusions. These fusions and genres have mainly come about from ancient times across all four corners of the globe; Africa, India, America and Europe. Their music styles have been crossed and coupled with technology to create thousands of music genres and it's now got to the stage where music can barely even be put into a genre.

Bands have realised this and are now taking pride in breaking music genres pointless boundaries. However this does mean that there is something for everyone out there.

However in spite of this, bands still target a specific audience with their music, without an audience, there is no one to listen to their work and therefore no reason to do it. They will create their music to please their audience but unfortunately there is such thing as main stream. This means a style of music which can be listened to by literally anyone which is good for the artist as they have a huge fan base, and it brings different audiences together, however these artists normally get ahead of themselves and abuse their power and then create what main stream actually is; music becomes what they want it to be. Also to people who care about the music industry, they judge them as being "sell-outs" which in many cases is true; some artists are just in it for the money and the life style that comes with it.

I personally think that the best artists are the ones that stay true to themselves, they produce music they care about, they please their audience and they don't do literally anything just to get famous or to make money. For example Mumford And Sons. They are to true to their own music and have some form of morals and self respect and they gain my respect; I just wish there were more bands around like them and maybe this would save the tragic state of the music industry which I have mentioned in another post (Changes in the music industry)

Why I chose this artwork design...

The whole wild arrow design has just been a design the band have been using in as an icon to themselves; not a logo as such but an iconic design symbolising their name. Therefore i tried to incorporate that into the artwork for the album. I also felt the design was more important than the words which is why i kept that relatively small, but clear enough to read; I have seen alot of covers like this before so there is some logic behind it. The bright, vibrant colours will make it stand out on a shelf and catch consumers eyes.

The back cover i have just made much more simple, but carrying on the same theme. A few of the arrows are scattered about the border over the same colour background. The track list is set at a slant so it fills out more of the back; without it, an annoyingly big gap is left in the middle. I have included the legal statements and barcode which is needed and a small rabbit in the corner which is actually the bands logo.

Overall i think it includes much of what represents the band, and its style mirrors that of the bands music. At this stage I am pleased with it.

Star Image - Slash

Star Image - Slash

Album Back Cover - First idea

This is my first idea for the back cover. I don't think I'm as happy with it as the front cover but it is definitely a good place to start. I think a few more arrows around the outside would look cool. I have everything that is required on the back of an album such as the bar code, the legal statement and the track listings and from what i have seen, most album back covers are fairly bland, probably because thats not what is seen on the shelf in a shop. I think I shall get some feedback from friends and teachers and see what they say about it and then make the adjustments.

Album Cover - first design

This is my first finished design for my album cover. I am generally quite pleased with it all in all. I really like the wacky arrow design which i created in Adobe Illustrator. However I'm not too sure whether or not I like the font or the font colour; with so many colours going on in the background it is hard to find a colour which stands out. But with a few more attempts I'm sure I'll find something I like.

Changes In The Music Industry.

Music has come a long way over the years and like most things in today's society, it is because of technology. Once upon a time, music was created by monks, or by African slaves whilst working. Now it's evolved into a business opportunity for big corporate businesses enabling them to create an idol for people like to look up to. How has this happened?

Well jumping forward a few years, the invention of the radio had a massive impact on the music industry and still does today. Some people actually say that the radio can make or breaks an artists career. With thousands of people tuned in to one radio station at once, one play of a track to these listeners can set the artist up for life. Venues, clubs, bars and opera houses still continued to make music but the sheer power of the radio meant that the most obscure bands could make a name for themselves; thus the radio should be credited for the massive array of genres we have today.

At the same time "record labels" started to appear; businesses offering artists money for their music, it was every musicians dream. Before long, the industry was dominated by "the big 6" EMI, CBS, BMG, PolyGram, WEA and MCA. After a few more years of merges and takeovers, it finally became "the big 4". At the same time, artist were setting up their own labels known as "indie" labels so that they could keep all of the royalties and their rights, despite the financial support from a major label.

Come the 21st century, sales of music in every format fell greatly. This was due to the invention of the internet. The internet allowed pirates to leak music and allow other people to download it for free. This meant the artist was getting nothing out of it and the record labels were losing money. However some artists realised that they could actually use this to their advantage. If people could easily download some of their tracks for free off of their website then their popularity would increase. For example "Arctic Monkeys" started by just giving the first few tracks away for free in order to build up a fan base for the release of the album which turned out to be the fastest selling début album of all time. Now days a lot of artists rely on money from live shows and merchandise the majority of the time.

Also now there is even relatively cheap recording hardware and software, allowing artists to release fairy decent sounding tracks from their own bedroom; this means big trouble for recording studios, record producers and audio engineers.

These constant changes in the music industry now allow consumers to find music of any genre and obtain it for next to nothing, or most of the time, nothing at all. However the producers of audio hardware and software are doing very well and this could open up new opportunities in the future.

Music videos analysis

This is the music video for Enter Shikari's "No Sleep Tonight" released in August 2010. The song is about how big business men are using oil companies to make money when actually the world has sufficient technology to carry on without it. Therefor they are just using them to make money when they causing a ridiculous amount of pollution. The band is questioning how these business men can sleep at night; hence the title "No Sleep Tonight". This is just my opinion but it is widely shared when the song uses lyrics such as "The sun and see could power us, no longer cowled in oil lust."

The video shows mostly the narrative of a big important oil baron who is being followed by the lead singer. By the end of the video, the whole band plus a lot of extras are outside the business mans house and keeping awake by shouting the chorus at him.

At the start we see the lead singer walking past the business man and he barges past to display his importance and lack of respect for other people. This sets up the characteristics of this character for the audience; the probably have taken a disliking to him already. It is this man that is going to be the main source of attraction through out the video.

A little while later during the first chorus, amongst the band playing live, there is a scene where the business man pushes his wife away because he is on the phone making "an important call". This shows he's extreme selfishness and his ignorance to what really matters. He would rather make an extra pound than have the love of his wife. Another example of his self centered ego is when he is working out in front of the mirror and smiles at himself.

The next message given through the video is when the man is walking down the corridor in his house. He has various canvas photos on his wall of disasters over the world caused by his actions. He looks at at them and smiles as if to say he is proud of what he has done; but the song is asking him how on earth can you sleep at night? He then turns round to see hundreds of people outside his house asking him the same question. It gradually turns him insane as he realises that he in fact isn't getting any sleep. The band are definitely having a go at big oil companies who only think about short term profit, and how they are basically paying scientists to speak out and say that climate change and global warming isn't really and it isn't happening and that we should just carry on as we are. Thus they wonder how these people sleep at night. Personally i agree with the band; it is behavior like that that has caused the current state of our planet.

Weather!!!

Yes it's a typical English trate to moan about the weather but in this case it is a genuine issue. We want to film the scenes involving the rabbits on a sunny day because it suits the mood alot more, however its January and sunny days are hard to come by. It doesn't have to be a hot summers day, just a day where the sun is out.

Fingers crossed to have it done within the next week or so.

Storyboards Part 1

Rabbits storyboard

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Above are the storyboard ideas for our music video, we will try to stick to them as much as possible but obviously in the editing process and along the way, new ideas pop up and we may want to change some of the ideas. Also just to add, this is only the first half of the song, the second half is still yet to come.

Importing issues with Final Cut

Having filmed all of the footage in HD makes everything look a lot clearer and makes a much better final product. However the files are in MPEG4 format which Final Cut can't work with, so we had to convert it. This was actually alot harder than we thought; we tried to convert it within Final Cut itself and with other built in software but we ended up resulting to other downloaded software to convert our HD MPEG4 footage into HD MOV files so we can then work with them smoothly in Final Cut.

A long process!

Filming!

It's been a long and strenuous task, but after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, we have done most of the filming for the "live performance" part of the video. To do this we had to arrange a day in which we could all make, get all of our equipment from our houses to our shooting location, get 2 HD cameras with tripods then get all the necessary shots that our story boards suggested (which i will post shortly) we needed, all of which had to be n time with the track so we had to use a PA system to play the track from and get it to go louder than the drum kit which is the only instrument which is meant to be heard when filming; all guitars and such can be mimed.

This sounds like a lot to do and makes it seem like it would be a tough task, and that is exactly right. It was very stressful and a lot of hard work!

Now we just have to film the shots which involve rabbit costumes and such... and then we begin editing!

Album Cover analysis - Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd

This is the album cover for Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" which is the 3rd best selling album of all time. At first glance it doesn't look like much at all. There is no sense of normality or convention.

First of all there is no album name, nor is there the artists name. Why? Somehow or another this has been one of the most effective artworks ever created nd yet they have managed to achieve this without the audience even knowing what band has created it, or the name of the album. It could be argued that in fact the lack or identification on the front would confuse the audience and bring out their curiosity, forcing them to look at the album closer. But surely it would make more sense to say that most people wouldn't be that bothered by it and would walk straight past it if it was on the shelf of a record store. This may have been the case since it didn't actually sell that well in the UK originally, it was much bigger in the US.

But lets look at what actually is there. The symbol in the middle is something recognised by scientist and is to do with the refraction of light through a prism. This denotes that the band are actually quite well educated if they know scientific symbols but then at the same time connotes what the album is actual about; conflict, greed, ageing, and mental illness. A lot of issues in the society they lived in. So I would say that they symbol is actually a metaphor for life itself. The first years are great, all they way on the go, nothing to stop you, and then suddenly, everything changes, and you have all these problems in your own little world. I also get the impression that this idea is followed through by the black background; as if to say that is literally it, life is just there, in the middle of nothing with no apparent meaning. It is very hard to depict from something so simple and plain.

Other people have come up with all sorts of ideas. That it is a symbol of love or relationships, some say that it is about war and government empowerment. Who is to say which is right but it does bring up a valid point, that is it very abstract and left down to audience interpretation which is normally done with post modern art. Doing with artwork for an album cover is quite risky in my opinion because I believe that an album cover should have all the vital information on it first before metaphorical pictures come anywhere near the design. But that's the great thing about music, everyone has their own way of displaying it and interpreting it.