When beginning to create my ancillary texts, I began researching album covers for inspiration. This also helped a lot as it allowed me to analyse common album cover conventions and choose which would be the most effective to incorporate into my own product.

When researching, I looked strictly at Indie Rock artists as this is my chosen genre. I chose to do this as this allowed me to find common conventions strictly to this genre which would be engaging to the Indie Rock audience as it specifically targets them.

I chose to look at three band’s album artworks (The 1975, Arctic Monkeys and Feeder) who are all male. I also chose to look at two single artists’ album artwork, one male (Beck) and one female (Sia).

I did this as it allowed me to further my research and choose which conventions to incorporate into my own work.

IV & Settle Down by The 1975

I am inspired by these two album artworks as I appreciate the use of black and white, photography and editing. As I have chosen for my music video to be in black and white, having my album artwork in black and white too would be very conventional. It is also a common theme in the indie rock genre for the artist to not feature on the front cover.

Humbug & Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – Artic Monkeys

These two album covers have influenced me as I like the use of editing. For the album cover of Humbug, they have used an effect which influences the appearance of the image, called a filter. I would like to experiment with filters when creating my album cover. For the album cover of WPSIATWIN, they have used black and white which I would also like to use.

Golden Feelings & Sea Change - Beck

For the album cover of Golden Feelings, they have used a filter which makes the image appear to be older than it actually is. The mise-en-scene of the image is also used effectively to place the photo in an earlier period (such as the rag doll (arguably the Annabelle doll) which are usually associated with a much earlier period). For the album cover of Sea Change, I am inspired by the use of filters and editing to give the image a pink hue. I am also influenced as they have chosen to feature the artist’s face.

Polythene and Yesterday Went Too Soon - Feeder

The album cover for Polythene uses various editing techniques and filters to create a very unique cover. This can be viewed as unconventional as it is hard to understand what is happening in the image (which is probably a stylistic choice). I am influenced by this as I appreciate the uniqueness and the fact that it goes against common album cover conventions. It has also influenced me to be more experimental when editing my ancillary texts. I appreciate the second cover as it is simple and to the point.

Colour The Small One & 1000 Forms Of Fear - Sia

The album cover for Colour The Small One uses simple typography and flowers. I am influenced by this as it is very simply yet engaging for my audience. It is easy to read and will not confuse audiences. The album cover for 1000 Forms Of Fear uses a simple wig against a black background and the album title/artist name in a font similar to hand writing. I am inspired by this as I am considering not using my artist’s face on the cover and this is a unique way of avoiding doing this.

IV

Settle Down

WPSIA

TWIN

Humbug

Golden Feelin

gs

Sea C

hange

Polythene

YWTS

CTSO

1000 FOF

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Album Position

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