Reseach and Planning the CD cover and Advert

This is the cover of jay Sean’s album the mistress. It has a medium establishing shot which shows Jay Sean sitting down with his arm on the chair rest and his hand on his face, this connotes he is thinking, with a whisky glass in his hand. It may be drinking for stress relieve as he’s not really smiling but also could be just for the sake of it to chill out. Behind there’s a silhouette of a women standing, you can’t see her face so aren’t sure if it’s his mistress or just a random lady like he has in his video sex 101 from the album the mistress. The colour red symbolises love and the affairs that all the songs in this album are about. This is why ‘the mistress’ is in a gloomy font and the only words in colour where as the hole cover is black and white even the name ‘Jay Sean’. It shows the importance and emphasis put on the phrase and shows that that’s what the whole cover maybe about. The whisky glass also supports the mise-en-scene as the location looks classy with carpet and the room has a wood railing with a chair and in the background it shows a bed with lamps so shows Jay Sean maybe waiting for the lady to enter into his bedroom. But the cover leaves you to question whether the lady in the back is his mistress or not. The black and white effect to it gives an olden style feel, this may show that jay is experienced in his field of being a ‘player’ and it may have been time to him cheating on his actual girlfriend who he calls the mistress. The ‘olden style’ effect to the room is also added due to the railing. The black and white can also mean that he may be tired of lieing to his mistress, which is why the title and cover is all in black and white but ‘the mistress’ is the only text in red. The text in red also allows creates tension for its audience and allows them to think what the story behind it is as it creates suspense.

This is the outside case to the album the mistress. Because the album is all about Jay Sean and him not staying loyal to his girlfriend and having several affairs there’s a women laying down on the carpet in her lingerie with a eye mask on, in order to hide her identity, as this makes it harder to recognize her, but she has her hair flared out and a finger in her mouth with another hand upon her chest, this shows she is ‘playful’ which comes across as sexual and it supports the fact of jay Sean not being loyal to HIS mistress.

It then has all 15 songs displayed in the album along the side of her in a fancy font which supports the image and the song names for example ‘Rouge a Lavres’ as it sounds more French and France is known for romance and love, but the actual meaning of rouge a lavres is red lipstick, so although we can’t see it as the covers in black and white it may be out to his mistress that was in the colour red on the front cover. On the bottom in a smaller font it has a paragraph on the producers of the CD cover and the artist of the actual album. This is the back of the CD cover it’s not consistent at all with the front cover other then the medium shot of the lady and the black and white font. The medium shot as the front cover consisted of a medium shot of Jay Sean but by putting the lady on the back its like it’s the close up of the lady who was standing at a distance totally blacked out in the background of the front cover, so behind Jay Sean at the door. However the font of the text is even different as its more sophisticated and elegant however the carpet is consistent as the from cover also has the same, but its only noticeable if you pay good attention but it shows that the mise en scene is the same and so this shot is taken in the same room as Jay Sean was in.

This is the cover to Drake and Rihanna’s album Take Care. There’s a medium close up of an establishing shot of Drake sitting alone on the table. He has a lot of gold chains and gold candle holder but is sitting alone drinking out of a gold cup and is looking down at it, this may be because he looks depressed and no matter how much money you have this shows it can’t buy you happiness. The bird statue symbolises his freedom as it can connote that his trapped and wants to be free like a bird but for some reason is trapped. This album is also about love but the fight for love which is why drake is shown lonely and depressed sitting in a rich surrounding, you can tell this by the painting in the back ground on the walls as well. The writing in gold says ‘Take Care’ shows that he is talking about taking care of Rihanna although she’s not in the image but is in the video to the song itself, but by not keeping her in the image it shows him being love sick. The text looks hand written more like a signature, showing its personalised by drake himself, it is the title of the song but because its personalised in such a way it could come across as a message. The colours throughout the cover have been of a consistent gold, this could also connote money, and that drake must be pouring in gold so is really rich, and usually people who have money intend to pay their way out of things so the text being handwritten shows that he still makes the effort to do things himself, but not just that as it also shows that his money is unable to take care of his love so he no longer has her either which is why he’s having to pass the message down for her to take care in gold, so not giving away he loves her but in gold which could show how much he meant to her and that he thinks her to be good as gold.

This is the back cover to take cares album. Once again there’s not much consistency in the cover but the colour gold is enhanced once again in the text. So the drop list of songs is done in gold, which works well as it stands out on the back background but the colour black makes it quite dull and gloomy which reflects the emotions shown through Drakes facial expression in the front cover. The colour gold on top of black also makes it look strong on top of black not just due to the consistency but it comes across as powerful since it’s consistent. The background also looks like black puddles of water so black representing it’s not really clean but it has a grainy effect so it gives a gloomy feel of, but this may connote Drakes feelings and say that how he feels. The front cover was more detailed as there were quite a few props to attract your attention where as the back is more simple. This may be the reason to why the drop listing for songs are in the centre. Below there is also the use of record labels which is shown on the bottom of the cover which allows the audience to see who helped to release the album and what record company the artist is signed to. In this case it is Cash Money Records and Universal Republic. Below are more production details, which are like saying a thank you to the people involved with the cover but also there for adding detail to the cover.

 

This is the advert for the album Take care.

The advert is actually constructed of the CD cover itself as the main image. It has the artist name ‘Drake’ written as the main title of the magazine advert. It then has details of when the album is to be released, with the featuring artists below. This is a main factor that attracts the audience as it’s the main information a consumer looks for when looked at an advert. The likes and dislikes as if the album has songs by their favourite artists then their more willing to wait for the album to release and go and buy it.

Below this are details of the record labels Drake is assigned with, in this case cash money records and universal republic. This is a feature that has been kept consistent throughout as it’s then followed through with in the back cover of the album cover.

A feature I will be adapting from this is that I will be keeping the house style consistent but I will not have the logo on the front cover as I feel it needs more focus to the simple detail on there and by putting a logo it diverts the consumer’s attention away a little. Another thing is that it is straight to the point. It has what a consumer would mainly look for and that is the main artist featuring within the cover and who the main artist is which is made clear at the top as the main logo is ‘DRAKE’. There for when a consumer goes to buy what it’s looking for they know what they want as the front cover of the album is the same as the magazine advert itself.

This is the magazine advert for Rihanna’s album ‘Rated R’. The house style is completing different to a normal R&B magazine advert for e.g. in comparison to drakes as he has a medium close up where as rihannas is more extreme.  However her work is usually different to others, but this looks a little spookier and alien due to the heavy makeup and the way one of her hand is covering her eye, this connotes mysteriousness, showing she is perhaps trying to hide or hiding something. The ‘R’ in the background standing for Russian roulette is carved, this could reflect pain as although its in black the only colour visible on the page other than black and white is red, and not only is that a representation of love but also death and pain, so perhaps she’s trying to get the message across on the cover that the album could be about love and sorrows and love hurts which is why ‘Russian roulette’ and ‘hard’ is in red.

The house style of using the artist name as the main logo in followed once again, it’s the text that has the largest font but as she is the artist and she uses her name for the album to sell so shows she is a very well known artist, but keeping her name in the largest font helps attract it as the first thing you look at as a consumer, after the background image is the largest text on the page and then follow on to read the rest starting from what stands out the most.

This is a key feature definitely worth subverting as not is Jay Sean just known by face; although we won’t have his face on the cover but definitely known by his name, therefore the product is most likely to get a word out by the magazine advert to penetrate the market.