I have chosen to deconstruct the Scouting For Girls self ttitled first album, as the up and coming indie music style is similar to that of the Two Door Cinema Club song that we are basing our music video on.
Genre :
The genre of the music is made obvious through the use of the illusion of a textured cover, with what looks like rough paper, with printing of it. This gives the cover a low-fi feel, which connotes the concept of a new band which doesn't have much money and has a basic, 'stripped down' first album. The song title list on the back of the album maintains the font to keep a sense of brand continuity, and the text looks faded, again connoting a low-fi feel.
Media Language :
On the front of the album, rule of thirds is obvious, with an image of two people in a boat placed on the bottom right of the album cover. The style of the cover is designed to look like the album has a rough texture, with simple, faded colours used. The image appears fairly irrelevant to the album, perhaps chosen because of the associations with the band name 'Scouting For Girls', and the idea of outdoor activity.
The inside of the booklet which comes with the album is designed to look like a scrap book, with song lyrics written and typed as if they are the original scraps of paper that the song writers used to pen the song on. There are cut out images, again continuing with the theme of a scrap book, the theme of childhood and outdoors is prominent. There are hand drawn images, as well as traditional childhood images like the boys school pictures and images of the boys on scout camps.
These visual techniques generate meaning, with themes such as innocence and a future band being created. The media theorist Barthes wrote about media codes, and the digi-pak draws on the cultural code, with images of stretchy men and scout uniforms known to us through British culture. These images are used to start creating (it is the bands first album) a band meta-narrative, which is of orginal, indie British music which is not manufactured.
The main use of linguistics in the digi-pak are the song lyrics and titles, which are obviously full of emotive language which constructs the brand identity as an emotional, but good humoured band. Other words are used to fit in with the scrap book theme of a boy scout, such as a list of personal kit and notes about star formations and secret codes.
The only refernence to popular culture is the reference to Elvis Presley in the newspaper article and the song title 'Elvis Ain't Dead'. Humour is used, as the scrap book isn't real, and it is so idyllic that it is almost funny, with embarrassing pictures of the band members when they young used. This gives the digi-pak a post-modern theme, that the band are laughing at themselves to an extent, and although they take their music seriously, they also have good fun.
Institution and Audience :
The print text is likely to be consumed by a casual fan of the band, who has already bought the album. The album cover does not feature bright colours, so it would not particularly stand out in a shop, although the album was released in the digital age so it is likely to have had a large online promotion and marketing.
The back of the album contains the song list, and continues the theme of a natural album with natural colour and feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment