DECONSTRUCTING ALBUM COVERS: RATED R [RIHANNA]

This image was taken by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth who stated that "Rihanna was looking to create something a bit new for the look of the album.” Unlike all the other album covers ‘RATED R’ does not feature Rihanna’s name on the album cover, this could possibly due to the fact that the imagery of the album is so powerful anybody would easily notice her although the name of the album helps to understand who she is with the ‘R’. 

The images on all covers of the album include Rihanna dressed in black and white looking at the audience and the colours of the covers are also black and white. 

First thing you notice that the album is black and white and has a dark edge to it. This might suggest that the music is timeless and it has a deep meaning to it. This could link back to rihanna's previous fight with her famous boyfriend chris brown. 
Rihanna's harsh facial expression shows just how rebellious the album cover is. Props in the album in the album cover also shows how rebellious the music in the album probably is as she's wearing various rings, an all black costume, and black make-up both eye and lips. Her boy-is hairstyle shows her defiance and how she is 'kicking back' at the 'norm'. 

ll covers of the album are in black and white this shows that the album is less commercial and reflects the darker sound that Rihanna is trying to create.
It seems like Rihanna was aiming it to an audience of rebellious teenagers going through certain problems which she sang about.
The album shows another side to Rihanna that we have not encountered with yet, by using such forceful and strong imagery it instantly defines her and her work.

The 'R' in Rated R is what you notice initially in this photo. It has been carved very sharply to reveal the edginess of the album.

Rihanna looks more vague in this picture which makes the album seem to be deeper than you think. Her face is turned ad her back is facing us this connotes revenge through her rebellious music, which again links to her problem with her famous ex boyfriend chris brown. 

Rihanna was, "looking to create something a bit new for the look of the album." It however looks like very very reminiscent of the classic look of Grace Jones. This could be also thought as a self referential.

This is an example of an album art of Grace jones in the 1980's. it has the same metallic and dark edge to it. dark eye make up and black lipstick. Grace jones now has the same vengeful facial expression that Rihanna did in rated r album cover

MUSIC VIDEO TREATMENT

Media Treatment of Music Video[1]

Music Video Pitch

Research for 3 initial ideas

First idea; Running up that hill - Placebo
Idea from; 'I FINK U FREEKY' by DIE ANTWOORDLink ----> http://youtu.be/8Uee_mcxvrw
We thought about getting ideas from this i think you freaky video as it goes with our thoughts on surrealism weirdness and freakishness.
The video inspired us with the use of simple shots yet overall being so complex. it had simple mid shots such as this
but yet the background still manages to capture the veiwers eyes. The man is just standing and doing weird facial expressions not necessarily doing anything difficult in particular.
There were close up shots such as thiswith this shot you could see the debth of surrealism just with mere use of contact lenses and just a close up shot of her face. So its nothing too difficult to do, yet so captivating.
Die Antwoord also has some similarities with Placebo as they both make some wierd music and have similarities such as hairstyle choice.


However Die Antwoord is not a band, Placebo are an English alternative rock band from London. They were formed in 1994 by singer-guitarist Brian Molko and guitarist/bassist Stefan Olsdal. The band was soon joined by drummer Robert Schultzberg, who was later replaced by Steve Hewitt after conflicts with Molko. Hewitt left the band in October 2007 and was replaced by Steve Forrest in 2008. They are known for their androgynous image and angst-fueled musical content. To date, they have released six studio albums, all of which have reached the top 20 in the UK, and have sold over ten million records worldwide.The known band that is mostly similar to Placebo would be a band like Guano Apes.
Guano Apes are an alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Göttingen, Germany. The group members are Sandra Nasić (vocals), Henning Rümenapp (guitars, backing vocals), Stefan Ude (bass, backing vocals) and Dennis Poschwatta (drums, backing vocals).Their sound has been described as a fusion of metal, pop and rap. Usually their music is labeled as alternative rock and alternative metal.They have released four studio albums (Proud Like a God in 1997, Don't Give Me Names in 2000, Walking on a Thin Line in 2003, Bel Air in 2011), one live album (Live in 2003), two compilation albums (Planet of the Apes in 2004 and Lost (T)apes in 2006), fifteen singles and five video albums.Theyve made hit songs such as ---> http://youtu.be/SFvCx6w_ptEWith over 12 million veiws, this song is just as 'chill' as the placebo running up the hill and owuld attract just about the same kind of audience.
Second idea; I got a brand new pair of roller skates, you got a key
idea from: happy videos.The artist of the song Safka Melaine is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday", "What Have They Done To My Song Ma" and "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)".
We chose this song because of how ridiculous the song sound and how much ridiculous scenes and shots we thought we could do with the video. We thought of having shots that include roller skating and roller skating is one of the known 'fun' sports out there.  we also thought about making the video in
90's them as roller skating is a very famous sport done in the 90's.
shots that look like the people are having so  much fun will keep the audience interested.We also thought of having skate boards aswell which is also something fun and ridiculously dangerous to do .

Third Idea; Insane in the brain - Cyprus hillCypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Cuban-American/Latino hip hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide. It is one of the most well-known groups inWest Coast rap and Hip Hop in general and was critically acclaimed for their first two groundbreaking albums
Band like Cyprus Hill; Funkidoobiest Funkdoobiest is an American rap group from Los Angeles, California. The original members are Son Doobie (Jason Vasquez), DJ Ralph M (Ralph Medrano), and Tomahawk Funk (Tyrone Pacheco). The latter left after their second album.
Their first two albums were mainly produced by Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs. Their third album, The Troubleshooters, included production by Ralph M and DJ Rectangle. Whereas the other albums were clearly hardcore rap in the vein of Cypress Hill and other Soul Assassins members, The Troubleshooters was more versatile. DJ Muggs was the group's mentor and inspiration.
Funkidoobiest is also a band and have one known song 'bow wow wow'
For this idea we thought of having a brain painted on the forehead of one of the guys in the band and them doing weird facial expressions. 

MUSIC VIDEO: Three Initial Ideas

Due to the fact that our group was going for something more surreal and unusual we decided to go for  something weird in our first idea

So...

Our first idea
We chose the song Running up that hill by Placebo but the song was too plain and dull so we decided to go for a more upbeat version of the song we finally chose a Mokhov electronic remix of that song which was ------> http://youtu.be/bEtqNz1vnhg
We chose this song cause of its rhythm and how it the beat gradually grows in a very intersting way.

This song also goes with our surreal idea behind it as it is a very weird/freaky song, however the lyrics tell a story so this helped us to create this kind of story behind all the visual weirdness that will be going on.

We thought we would base it on a jealous relationship almost as the lyrics consists of words such as

                                     "You don't want to hurt me,                                                                       
                                     But see how deep the bullet lies.                                                                   
                                     Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.                                                         
                                     There is thunder in our hearts, baby."                                                             

We thought of having this disturbed girl (very disturbed girl) that became obsessive, almost like a stalker who was in a bad relationship which explains her situation and how we chose to show the storyline so the video doesn't end up looking like just someone doing strange stuff, we thought about using flashbacks to kind of piece things together and make it almost like a puzzle almost so people's wondering wont take them off the screen or get them bored.

Our second idea

We thought if that was not acceptable we would go for something completely opposite rather than having a dark, strange surreal puzzling video we would go for a completely happy and ridiculous video.

First off we thought of using the song Wintermute by clouds vip ---> http://youtu.be/ZV4VVxstGNk

We thought of using the song ' I got a brand new pair of roller skates, you got a key' ----> http://youtu.be/ROwxGvMVXhI

We liked this song because its a fun song and its quiet ridiculous aswell as the lyrics have no meaning whatsoever to life or anything. So we thought we could make a creative video with this like put lots of shotstogether doing crazy things and montages doing insane things. The down part of it is that its almost impossible to pull of 'insane' 'dangerous' things, hence the reason it was our second choice.

Our third idea

For the final idea we schose a song written by a group of african american guys called cyprus hill. The name of the song is called insane in the brain ----> http://youtu.be/zAlNrtcPCLw

We chose this song because we didnt have any initial ideas including a band and we thought if we should do a video to this song, having a male band would work very well. We also thought of having it in a mixture of fun and freaky at the same time like our first and second idea combined, as we brainstormed about all sorts of creative stuff like having skateboards and also like face painiting a brain on each of their foreheads having them doing weird stuff

 

INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED PORTFOLIO

My name is Siene Nelson-Jaja, and this year i would be doing a music video based on the surrealism, as my group and i believe it would be something 'different and unusual' from the normal videos made. 

My blog would be based on progression from all the things i have been doing and learning in the past week and with that gradually everyone would be able to see the progress i have made from the start to the end.

For our A level Media production
We were asked to produce a music publicity campaign, in groups of four. 
This included:

• the planning and production of a music video
• Producing a CD digipack
• Producing a website for our band

MUSIC VIDEO: progress 1

In out music video we chose themes such as:
Jealousy
weird
surrealism
abnormal
sexual innuendos

THESE PHOTOGRAPHS COULD BE USED TO PORTRAY THE TYPE OF IDEAS OUR GROUP IS GOING FOR.

Music Video: First ideas

Our first song choice was Running up that hill (Mokhov Electronic Remix) by Placebo this song has a freaky edge to it so we thought about making a weird freak-like video.

We listened to the l;yrics of the song and picked up the idea of a bad relationship of a jealous girlfriend like character. we thought about having a dark scene with lamp shades, we also had different ideas of the problematic girl dwelling on the past of her bad relationship being raped in chrstmas lights.