The front panel of the album is a reoccurring image which appears not only in a few music promos of theirs, but even in live concert, you often see these lights with anything the 1975 related. They could be seen as a signature image for the band. The black and white theme is not only edgy, but could represent the time of their band title, the year of 1975. Matthew Healy expresses his feeling that his band is not a pop band at the beginning of the music promo for Girls; he explains that everything feels wrong in colour and therefore should be in black and white. “Everything feels totally wrong… We’re not a pop band… It needs to be black-and-white for a start.”
The Inside:
The 1975 - The 1975 - 2013
The inside panel includes important credits and information about the record labels and companies which contributed towards the production of the album. The font which notes the companies and labels which helped make the album is white, which follows the bands theme of black and white. The contrast between the text and the background also allows the content of the text to stand out in a formal, professional way. They have made the text align in the centre, like most credits; this shows the bands formality and professionalism.
The CD:
The 1975 - The 1975 - 2013
The CD itself is a bold plain black design with the bands name subtly placed in a different shade of black at the top. This could've been used to create the sense of mystery as nothing is given away on the CD - it could have also been used to suggest that the music is perhaps dark and depressing.
The Back:
The Back of the CD is used to present the track list The 1975 have cleverly used the image on the front of the panel also on the back, almost has if it is 3D. They have continued the black and white colour scheme which is shown to be a prevalent theme for the band. The back panel contains the conventions of a typical digipack, e.g. a barcode, credits and agai the track list.
For an indie rock band, this artwork could be seen as unusual, however at the same time it could also be seen as fitting as this genre tends to use images instead of portraying the band. Furthermore, this could be why the band have used the polaroid type image, emphasising the vintage feel of their music. 'Vampire Weekend' commonly use quite retro album covers to portray their type of music they produce, as it sounds like it is from many years before. The angle which the photograph has been taken suggests the photographer is at a house party due to the heads at the bottom; this portrays a rebellious vibe which their teenage target audience could relate to. The chandelier would be associated with an upper class household, this also connotes rebellion and typical teenage antics. The bands name has been placed over the image in their recognisable white bold font which they have used before, this gives a sense of familiarity; perhaps the band use this to encapsulate the fan loyalty.
The Inside:
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend - 2008
The panel which is located inside the album packaging contains credits dedicated to the people who contributed to the albums production. They have used small black font against a white background as the importance of this text is not particularly high. To the right you can see that they have re used the image which you can see on the front, however this time there is no text which over lays it. The middle of the contains a leaflet which includes retro photographs and more detailed credits.
These are the photographs captured by Annie Fields which additionally feature inside, the left image is of the band members where the right photo is the original polaroid before being edited for the album cover.
The CD:
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend - 2008
Unlike the majority of CDs, this particular one includes the track list on the front, this might be because in the eyes of the band, the music is the most important part of the CD (instead of the artwork.) The bright yellow background is abrupt and eye catching, it could be said that the blue font clashes with the background. Again, the band have decided to use their signature font for the title, keeping up tradition of the bands image. The track names have been typed in block capitals which gives a sense of boldness and importance.
The Back:
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend - 2008
On the face of the CD, the audience are told the track number next to the song title; however, on the back of the album packaging we are only told the track length and not the number. The colour scheme has changed yet again, the white writing against the black background is quite simple yet effective and aesthetically pleasing for the audience. Like many other digipacks, the typical codes and conventions of the back panel are featured on this one such as the barcode, the tracklist and some credits. The name of the band is in blog capitals down each side of the album, this is rather formal and pleasing to the eye.
The Artist The 1975 are an English rock band originating from Wilmslow, Cheshire. The group consists of Matthew Healy (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Adam Hann (lead guitar), Ross MacDonald (bass), and George Daniel (drums). They have released four EPs and two albums. Their self-titled debut was released on 2 September 2013 through Dirty Hit and Polydor, topping the UK Albums Chart on 8 September. Their sophomore album I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it was released on 26 February 2016, topping both the UK Chart and the US Billboard 200. Record Label
The band have been signed to 4 labels in total, Dirty Hit, Polydor, Vagrant and Interscope. The British indie rock label, Dirty Hit are known to manage indie bands such as The Japanese House and even Wolf Alice.
The Director Adam Powell directed the video in october 2013, he spoke with MTV to talk about the video, “we set out to make a video about a band not wanting to make a video.” He continued: “It’s really funny to me, the impression people have of the music industry and music video directors. It’s fun to play with that image. I had the best of both worlds, being able to make a full-on pop video but [to also] be kind of cheeky, silly, and subversive, you know?”
‘∆’ commonly known as ‘alt-J’ are an English
indie-rock band from Leeds; Gwil Sainsbury (guitar/bass), Joe Newman
(guitar/lead vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals) and Thom Green
(drums) met at Leeds University and created the band in 2007. However, in early
2014, Gwil Sainsbury willingly resigned from partaking in the band.
Fun Fact: The band's symbol is the delta
sign, ∆, which is traditionally used in scientific study to indicate
"change" or "difference". The ∆ symbol can be typed on an
Apple Mac with the key sequence Alt+J.
Record Label
In December 2011, Alt-j decided to sign a
deal with Infectious Records; not too long before this, their self-titled
4-track demo EP, ∆, was recorded and released by Loud and Quiet in October 2011.
Their debut album was released on 28 May 2012 in the UK, Europe, and Australia,
and on 18 September 2012 in North America via Canvasback Music. Korda Marshall’s
Infectious Record also manage bands like Ash, Symposium, My Vitriol, Seafood,
The Paradise Motel and The Subways.
The Director
Ellis Bahl is originally from Upstate New York, Ellis
attended film school at Emerson College in Boston, MA where he obtained a B.A.
in Media Studies. It was his love of improv comedy and music, however, that
brought him to NYC where he studied with the Upright Citizens Brigade and
formed the folk rock band Stamp Collectors. His connections within the indie
folk/rock scene led Ellis to start directing music videos.
His connections within the indie folkrock scene led Ellis to start directing music videos on the side. Eventually, this landed him a full time job at MTV directing, shooting, and editing in house music videos for their online startup, MTV IGGY. There he worked with global indie acts such as Junip, Ladytron, Santigold, JYJ, La Vida Boheme, Blood Red Shoes, and many many more. Some of the artists he worked with soon began asking him to direct their official videos and in 2012 he directed the UKMVA winning, breakout video for Alt-J’s “Breezeblocks”.
Narrative
The music video
displays an action packed visual of an abusive relationship between a man and a
woman, it is edited to be in reverse throughout and also in slow motion to
emphasise the fighting. As we watch the video reveals an extreme conflict
between an extremely dominant, possessive man and a female hostage. The opening
of the video shows a dead woman in the bath who is being kept underwater by a
breezeblock; due to the video being shown in reverse, we eventually discover
the death of the women is actually the end of the scene. Progressively, the camera
then captures them as they fight, aggressively throwing objects such as
glasses, physically fighting and shouting at each other. The connection of the
man and woman remains unknown throughout the video; we are left to guess whether
she is married to him or maybe she is the woman he is having an affair with. The
video eventually comes to an end where we see the beginning of the argument,
where the man places duct tape over her mouth and shuts her in the cupboard.
Mise en Scene
Setting and Location
There is only
one location throughout the whole music video, which is a small flat which we
could possibly interpret the single small location as a way to emphasise the
isolation of the hostage. The shots are mainly focused in the bathroom and the
kitchen, again, showing how she can’t escape.
Costume and
Make-up
Out of the two
characters, the male portrays a more sophisticated look; despite both of their
attires being particularly casual. He is wearing dark jeans with a navy jumper accompanied
by quite smart shoes. This could suggest he is more conscious about his
appearance or maybe because he leaves the house where as she doesn’t get the opportunity.
Lighting and
Colour
Along with the dark tones of the costumes, the lighting in particular is
low key with major hints blue; this gives a cynical, scary feel to accompany
the ‘dull music’. The colour blue in the video has connotations of sadness, which
could reflect the relationship and how the participants are feeling about it. It
could also represent the depressed state in which the female is experiencing
whilst being isolated in the small flat. The lack of colour in the video may
also represent the lack of experience the woman has had in order to grow as a
person; the colour has been drained from her as she has been trapped.
Camera Work
& Editing
The effect of
the slow-motion really helps capture the violence within the video, it emphasises
the aggression and makes sure the audience can keep up with the narrative. One
of the most essential parts of whole narrative videos are the camera shots to
help convey the meaning of the video; I think that this was done perfectly in
the breezeblocks video as the majority of the shots are mid-shot which presents
information clearly. In order to make the music accompany the footage well they
have made sure that the camera is always moving, to make a smooth shot they
might have used a stabilizer. Over all the video is rather slow paced which
works quite well, however when the tempo increases so do the shots of the people
fighting do also.
