album project write up

Culminating project artist statement/written report

            The concept of the band was for it to be a type of metal, glam rock, and/or visual kei, which have been considered music that can be angry. The adjectives for my band are: angry, angst-filled, emotional, energetic, and in-your-face.  The songs are mainly songs you can listen to, to process difficult information, if you feel angry, if you just feel upset in general, or everyday listening. The band’s personality would be lively and fun in concert but their music would be dark and full of emotion.

            The original idea is almost the same as the final product but with a few minor changes. Like the text for the band’s name is smaller then I first imagined but the size it is now makes the balance of the album’s cover better. I found at the beginning that it would’ve looked bad if I put everything in the center but when I zoomed the shot to make it a portrait shot it fit the frame pretty well compared to the medium shot. The photo I decided on is the best for the album because it creates emphasis on not only the text but his silhouette/dark person on dark background. The way the photos that are laid out makes your eyes start at the model then read the larger font at the bottom then the smaller font at the top. The colours create an aesthetic of darkness, while the text gives it a messy look and applies a type of purposeful un-organization. Not to mention that the shadows on the edges create a type of edginess or mysteriousness to the photo.  The reason most of the text is either red or white is because a majority of the background is dark blue tint with black shows, so the colours contrast nicely.

            I used Photoshop to put the photos together nicely, and I used a D3200 Nikon, with an 18-55mm lens for the photos. The photos I used were minimally edited, using only the edit options in the “adjustments” section.

            In some aspects I was happy with the end result but some aspects I find I could’ve done better. Like the way some of the text unintentionally runs off the page (on the back cover), and how the face is barely visible (on the front cover), but there was some aspects that I did like about it, for example: the way the text (album name, front cover) looks like its running off the page slightly, and the way the unmarked grave is giving off a darker aesthetic. So overall I’m pretty happy about everything and the way it ended up.