Album cover research

I researched into album covers for artists/bands of a similar genre to the Three O' Sevens.

Sex Pistols-Nevermind the bollocks:
On this album cover there are three main colours; yellow, flourescent pink and black making it very striking and recognisable. The fact that there is no photo of the band shows that they are well known enough to not need one, or that they are more about the music and their lyrics than becoming famous and rich. On the back, the track titles have no order to them and it looks as though the text has been formed out of newspaper rippings, this shows the punk image as it looks messy and rebellious.

The Smiths-The best of:
This album cover is quite simple, with neutral colours, a photo of one of their favourite actors and the title in a contrasting but still neutral colour. This is the more dominant colour on the back, which is also simple with Times new roman font and an ordered, boxed layout. There is a black and white photo of the band standing outside the Salford lad's club in Manchester, their hometown, with a slight smile on their faces. This shows that they want to be recognised however they still want to be known for where they are from and that they have not forgotton.

Madness-The Dangermen Sessions:
This cover also has three main colours; red, yellow and black with the band's silhouttes in the foreground which contrasts to the title which looks as though it has been written in lights. On the back, the main colour is yellow with constrasting track names in red. There are also 6 abstract photos of a couple dancing which adds detail to the simple background.

Alexisonfire-Crisis:
These are a more modern punk rock band, however they use similar conventions. They have a black and white abstract photo on the front which relates to a few of the songs and a contrasting album title in red. This is another cover which uses three main colours; red, black and white. They are a well known band within the teenage music scene which suggests the reason for having no photo of them, instead another abstract photo on the back of a landscape with contrasting and alternating coloured track titles.

The Jam-The master series:
This cover also has three main colours of black white and red, and uses a simple design. There are black and white headshots of the band members and a white title which stands out against the black background. The back of the cover has a similar format, with a black and white picture of the band and track names.


Overall I can see that album covers of this genre go for simple colours such as red, white and black or they have striking bright colours such as red, yellow and pink. Most of them either have only a small photo of the band or none at all as this genre tends to be more about the lyrics in the song and the attitude of punk rather than getting famous and well recognised.

Audience research-Youtube

I looked at two types of punk videos on YouTube, one from when punk was first popular, and another which is popular at present. I wanted to see who listens to this genre and what they think of the band and their videos. This is what i found:

Gallows-Staring at the rudebois.


These are comments that were left about the video, the person who left the comment 11 hours ago related the band to an original punk band, showing that people who listen to new punk are likely to listen to the older bands also. This means that we possibly have a very large audience. The other viewer spoke more about this genre becoming more modern and mixing with other genres, suggesting that we may have to do something with our video so that it appeals to people who expect something different from what has been done many times before.

This chart shows that both males and females listen to the genre of music, however as it is a more modern version of punk music there is a younger audience for it than there is for original punk of ages 13 to 24 years. It is also most popular in the UK where the band are from and where punk originates from. This is very similar to our target audience showing that our video should include similar aspects in order to appeal to our audience.



The Clash-Complete Control:

The comment which was left 2 weeks ago by guwest69 shows that they were and still are a fan of the band when it was first released, he says that he came back a changed person after listening to it as it was different to the usual chart music which was most likely due to lyrics as punk music is known for meaningful lyrics. These comments show that The Clash have many fans who think very highly of the members, calling Joe Strummer a 'lyrics god' showing that lyrics are important to the fans.


This chart shows that both males and females watch and listen to this genre and they are of a wide age range. It also shows that it is most popular in and close to the country in which it was made; the UK. This audience is quite similar to ours.

Punk Genre video research

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZBPu7jJbJU

-The video is mainly performance based, it also includes some other shots of the band when they are not performing.
-It looks quite low budget and simple
-There are long shots of the band, as well as close ups on the singers face, and medium shots including the members and their instruments.
-Quite cuts, mostly in time to the music.
-It includes the audience, like a real concert.

Punk Genre video research

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZBPu7jJbJU

Star Image

An example of the star image of an existing band is The Clash:

• Their lyrics were mainly about current political issues meaning that they created a relationship with their audience as they could agree with their points and become involved. They also sang about other experiences in which the audience could relate to, for example love and future.
• All the band members wore similar clothing of similar colours; red, white and black. They usually wore black or white skinny jeans with black shoes and coloured socks, zips and rips were put into jackets and jeans to create the rebel look.
• During their live performances they were very serious and more about getting the point of their lyrics across and not about being famous or making a lot of money.
  

History of Punk

Punk rock is a genre of rock music which started between 1974 and 1976 in the US, UK and Austrailia. They created the fast, typically short songs and their lyrics often focused on political and currents affairs, for example The Clash's song 'Career Opportunities' which dealt with the unemployment. They also had a DIY ethic with many bands producing and distributing their own recordings. By late 1976, bands such as The Ramones (New York City) and The Clash and Sex Pistols (London) had formed and were becoming more well known and nowadays when people think of punk rock, these bands come to mind. By the 1980's, faster and more aggressve styles such as hardcore and Oi! had become the more popular style of punk. There were then many more variations such as post-punk and alternative rock, and by the 1990's pop punk had become mainstream with bands such as Green Day and The Offspring. Recently there are new bands such as the Gallows and Alexisonfire which come under the genre of screamo/punk, however people are starting to listen to the original versions of punk, this is the kind of audience we aim for.

The Clash- Album cover and advertising research

The picture above is of The Clash's most famous album, London Calling. On the front it shows a picture of Joe Strummer about to smash a guitar, it was taken during a gig which the band then decided to use it on their album. The contrasting colours of a light pink and green for the font on a black and white picture makes the title stand out, it also contrasts to the punk image as a light pink and green are not usually associated with this image. The back cover, with track titles and photos of the band is more fitting with the image as simple but striking monotone colours have been used.

Above is a picture of their poster for the album. It is the same photo but a different size and therefore the album, photo and band are more easily recognisable.

Research into music videos of a similar genre

I researched into music videos of a similar genre to ours; punk rock, these were videos from when the music was first popular. This helps me to understand what needs to go into our video and the conventions of this genre.


The Clash, London Calling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqO1b-5RsAs (Embed was disabled)
In this video we can see that there is a blue tint and only a few lights which look like flood lights therefore the main focus is on the band. The close ups are of Joe Strummer singing and the band playing instruments, however there are many long shots which show all of the band.

The Ramones, I wanna be sedated:

This video of The Ramones has a red tint over the top, the band are in the foreground, however they are not doing much. In the background we see people dressed in the punk fashion, dancing and being reckless, keeping up the image of punk.


The Jam, Town called malice:

This video is more of the 'mod' fashion, it was produced in the same era as punk. The main colours in this are black and white, with the background being black and the band members having what looks like a white aura around them. The video is only of them playing the song and the main focus is on their instruments and the singer shown with many close ups.

Sex Pistols, God save the queen:

This video has a tint of red and yellow and there are many long shots where we can see all of the band playing instead of having the main focus on the singer. In the background there is a british flag with the queen on and the title of their song, this is now iconic and most people would recognise it. When there are close ups they are of faces where they have an angry expression, this along with the ripped, messy clothes shows the punk attitude.

The Damned, New Rose:

This video is quite dark, with not a lot of lighting and there is a tint of red and blue. The camera moves quite fast, building adrenaline and there are a lot of close ups, however they are not on anything specific. The writing on the wall and the lack of any planning or pattern to the video shows the punk image.


Overall I can see that most of these videos are of the band playing with mainly long shots and close ups and therefore there is no narrative to them. All of them have a tint to them, the most popular colours being red or blue.

The Punk Rock Genre

Punk rock got its name from the slang word punk meaning rotten and worthless. It was originally used to describe simple guitar based rock of bands like The Seeds, and later on Detroit bands like The Stooges and MC5. The anti-establishment ethic of punk hit a fevered pitch in 1976 through 1980, started partially as a backlash to the hippie movement of the late 60's. Many of these bands also intended to shock mainstream society, rejecting the "peace and love" image of the prior musical rebellion of the 1960s which had degenerated, punks thought, into mellow disco culture. The fashion of the time included mohawks, body piercing with safety pins and conversion of unusual items into clothing and was very shocking to outsiders at the time. Punk rock embodied the ideals that anyone could start a punk rock band.

Examples of bands producing Punk Rock music are:
The Sex Pistols
The Ramones
The Clash
Black Flag


For more research i will look at different album ocvers and music videos from these bands.