Genre
How is the genre of the track/artist evident?
The genre is not clearly evident in this digipak, however it can be seen through the mise-en-scene of the front album cover. The rap/garage genre is seen through the norm of the location in the picture. Thus maximising the conventions of the genre as it shows a convention of the audience (usuallly of the age bracket 16-24) and artists of the rap genre in which they are stereotyped to 'hanging' about urban areas during the night times.
Media Language
What visual techniques are used? How is meaning generated through these techniques?
The most evident technique used comes under the picture and mise-en-scene. The picture creates a dull tone due to the colours shown. The night shot with the light shining through the shelter creates a sense of loneliness and emptiness within the artist. Furthermore the rule of thirds had be purposefully adapted to place Mike Skinner in the right hand side of the shot. This gives the audience something to relate to as he is made ordinary this way, instead of a sole focus on the artist.
What Linguistic devices have been used?
The mise-en-scene of the digipak shows an ironic symbol of the location in which Mike Skinner is situated in an urban area on the streets, which is also the name of the band. It conveys The Streets in a unique way allowing the audience to develop their understanding in a particular type of music genre.
Representation
How is the artist represented?
In terms of Dyer, Mike Skinner (lead singer of The Streets) is shown as ordinary, as he is shown in a bus shelter steroetyping himself towards other rap conventions and also to the streets of an urban area. Showing an subtle indexixal sign through the irony of this image. This irony emphasises how The Streets are a unique band and create different music converging the genres of rap and garage. However this album cover also shows Mike Skinner also in an extrodinary way, understanding the meat of the shot as he is the only member of the band shown, maximising the importance of the grain of voice.
Institution and Audience
How might this print text be consumed?
This media text will most likely be consumed through web 2.0 including online music stores such as 'Apple iTunes' and websites such as 'youtube'. Many people will purchase the album of iTunes as the star image of the album is cleary representative of the music and genre. This way the audience will be able to directly search for the album and artist which are usually of the core audience of (16-24 age bracket). Also the application on iTunes called 'genius' generates music which you may like by understanding your previous songs and artists. Therefore gaining similar music in the same genre. This feature will help the album to reach it's target audience and fan-base. Furthermore the website 'youtube' will again enabale the audience to directly search for the artist. Social networking sites such as 'Facebook' will enhance a 'word-of-mouth' recommendation between friends which is a mush more personal way of media text consumption.
some good comments Calum, although I don't understand the section on linguistic devices. More needs to be added to the represention section in terms of cultural codes and developing analysis to a level 4 standard
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