The Beatles - Abbey Road Album Cover

First issued on 26th September, 1969 Abbey Road was the final Beatles album to be recorded but not their last to be released.
This album cover is probably considered to be the most iconic album covers of all time.
The picture was taken on Abbey Road, London, closely outside to where they were recording their music, in Abbey Road Studios.

The album cover is the primary reason for the conspiracy theory of Paul McCartney being dead and replaced by an imposter.
John Lennon is dressed all in white to represent an angelic symbol, like a clergyman.
Ringo Starr is dressed in a black suit, mimicking that of perhaps an undertaker.
Paul McCartney is also wearing a suit, but without shoes. It was traditional for people to be buried bare foot and because he is not wearing any footwear enforces the conspiracy that McCartney is dead or a ghost. He is also walking out of beat with the rest of the band, further singling him out from the others. However, being the only left-handed player of the band, I belive that their positioning in the photo was not structured and therefore happened by chance.
George Harrison is dressed in casual denim wear, to perhaps portray the grave digger.
Because The Beatles were already a massive sensation in this time period, everybody recognised their image straight away. Like many album covers the actual singers are the main focus of the picture. Likewise, in this image The Beatles are the central focus.
At an initial glance of the cover, the image looks average as to what a normal every-day photograph would look like. It is only until you look deeper into the picture that people start to get carried away with the hidden messages relating to McCartney being dead. The props used further enforced this idea, as there is a hurse in the background linking to the subject of a funeral.
In my opinion, being a dedicated Beatles fan means that when you see the image and observe it intently you can notice the hidden messages linked to the conspiracy. However, in terms of attracting new fans, a problem would arise, as they most likely won't know enough background information of the story in order to be able to relate to the album cover's contraversial meaning.

Chris Brown - F.A.M.E album cover

F.A.M.E stands for Forgive All My Enemies. This album was released after a while, after battling with personal problems. During this time, he made enemies and this album cover refers to his life and how he is willing to forgive everyone and try forget everything that has happened, in the hope to move on. A large picture of Chris Brown is used and many small images behind are behind it, indicating this album is primarily about him. Also there are small words stating 'enemies' and 'forgiven' which again refers to his album name. The bright colours makes the album stand out and creates attention to the viewers, in the hope that they will buy it.




The back cover can be considered quite simple. The tracks are located on the right hand side of the CD. A bar cose is used and information of music record this album was produced in. The back colour is completely different as it isn't as bright. Also there is a picture of Chris brown wearing a helmet, this could indicate that he is trying to cover his identity from his enemies.




The inside CD cover is just a picture of the artist with a helmet falling down, and seeming as he has hurt himself. This picture can be combined with the album cover name. As this picture can tell us that during his personal problems, how hurt he felt, and how much pain and trouble he had to go through.

Original Story Board

Research Into Different Music Genres

A music genre is the process of music being categorized and identified into different musical categories. This is usually done through the instruments, vocals and lyrics. Here are a few examples of different genres and what distinguishes them from the other genres.

Pop Music

Pop Music is perhaps the most well known music genre with most of the popular music stars of today being categorized with them such as Beyonce, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber. It is the music most known by the public as it is played on a variety of different music video channels and radio stations.

Dance Music-

Dance music is composed specifically to facilitate or accompany different forms of dancing. It can either be a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. Some examples of Dance Music artists are Aphex Twins, Chris Clark and B12.

RnB-

RnB can be associated with Pop Music as it is similar and also a very well known musical genre. It uses a strong vocal line over a strong musical beat with rhythm, repetition of them and a range of notes in the voice. Some examples of RnB artists are Jason Derulo, Bruno Mars and Dappy.

Rock Music-

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during after the 1960’s particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States, mainly inspired from The Beatles at their peak in their musical career. Today, Rock has centered on the electric guitar usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums. Examples of Rock Artists are part of the rock music genre are Elvis Presley, Gomez, Green on Red and Air Traffic

Shot List

1. Medium, Low angle shot of picture in Michaels hand.

2. Shot/ reverse/ shot close up of Michael and picture.

3. Medium shot as Michael sits up on bench.

4. Medium shot of Performer of Michael with the guitar.

5. Long shot of Michael in the street.

6. Medium Shot of Michael getting on the bus.

7. P.o.v of Michael looking out on the bus.

8. Shot/ Reverse/ Shot of the P.o.v and medium shot of Michael on the bus.

9. Medium shot of Michael in car park.

10. Long shot of Michael in crowded street.

11. P.o.v shot of Michael looking at couple in street.

12. Pan shot of Michael running through town centre.

13. Medium shot of Michael with guitar on park bench.

14. Medium shot of Michael looking onto river.

15. Establishing Shot of train station.

16. Medium shot of Michael running past camera in station.

17. Close up of Michael running to train.

18. Extra long shot of Michael and train leaving.

19. Close up of photo.

20. Out of focus long shot of woman.

21. Shot/ reverse / shot medium shot of Michael and woman.

22. There is then a long shot of them walking up to one another.

23. Shot/ Reverse/ Shot of Michael and girl.

24. Medium shot of girl with Michael with hands in his head in background.

25. Long shot of Michael on balcony Lip syncing

26. Close up of picture on the floor shot goes out of focus.

Locations

Park – This is where the first location will start. The performer is drinking and depressed sitting on the bench due to his girlfriend leaving him. Hopefully the weather will match the performer's emotions of being sad through pathetic fallacy.

Quite street in town – The performer will be singing whilst walking down this street.

Castle Field Canal/Park – The performer goes to his and is girlfriends favourite place to rememeber how happy they were together. This enforces the memory shots that we are going to include along with this shot.

Bus station – A scene will be shown where the performer is singing and his head is against the bus window. He looks out and sees other happy couples. The bus scene will also help demonstrate the theme of the 'journey' to find his girlfriend.

Piccadilly Gardens- He goes running towards the Train station thinking he can still convince her to stay. This location is busy, so it is ideal in representing the chaotic atmosphere matching the performer's rushing state of mind.

Train Station- The performer looks for his girlfriend here. As a train is leaving, he would just miss it, and give the impression by the audience that he has not only missed the train but his girlfriend also.

Café – These casual shots would portray memories of the normal stuff that couples would normally be doing together.

Pre Planning

Props:

In todays lesson we have discussed what props we will be using in the scenes within the music video.

We need the following props:

- 4 empty beer cans

- A guitar

- A suitcase

- A digital camera to take pictures of the location with a tripod.

Costumes:

Michael is going to play the boy in the music video and his costumes consists of a casual TShirt, jeans and trainers.

Bethan is going to play the girl in the music video and her costumes consists of a green coat with scarf and leggings.

Roles:

Within our group, all four of us have different skills thta we can combine in order to create a successful music video.

Michael- Male star performer - the boyfriend

Bethan- Female performer - ex girlfriend.

Saba- Director/ Taking pictures of the locations

Abdul- Filming the scenes for the music video

Primarily Michael has the most experience with editing, so he would essentially be in charge of the editing.
Abdul understands photoshop, so his key job of this course will be to create the CD cover and poster promoting our music video.
Bethan is a keen English literature student and therefore will mainly be in charge of the blog and the formality of the posts and questions published.
Saba is going to help with the blog also, but input a lot of creative ideas into the music video and CD cover.

Locations:

1- Park bench where Michael will be drinking

2- Victoria train station

3- Streets in Manchester town centre

4- Market Street

5- Piccadilly Gardens