Thursday 20 December 2012

Taylor Swift's Change in Genre and Style

As I am using one of Taylor Swift's songs for my music video, I wanted to see what style of album covers she has and what I could take inspiration from. However, as you can see from the images below, her genre and style has changed as she has become more mainstream and to appeal for a mass audience. This is because she wants to become more popular and undoubtedly wants to make more money, spurred on by her record label. 















These album covers show her change in genre by her change in appearance and style. From her curly hair to show innocence and childlike qualities to her red lips to pursue passion and her lustrous loose waves of her hair on the album cover on the right.

For my album cover, as this song was written and performed before she changed her genre to become a mainstream and chart artist, I am going to focus my attention on the album cover on the left and use this as inspiration for my own album cover, using the curly hair and the natural, flawless pose and creating a simple, innocent look. 

Ancillary Texts: Examples of Album Covers


This is the layout for the Digipak which will include the front cover, back cover, and various inside panels which will include images of the artist who's album it is. 

These are some front covers from existing album covers that I may use for inspiration fro my album front cover:



Taylor Swift: I like the idea of the swinging of the hair in motion to create a simple but effective image

Norah Jones: The almost camera angel makes her seem innocent and vulnerable and her dress goes with the colour scheme of the album cover

Celine Dion: I like the closeness of the face with only part of it in view

Alicia Keys: The straight on look captures the audience like she is looking at them and the simple writing above it makes the album quite really effective

Carrie Underwood: The use of the filed in the background gives a country feel to it, and as my song is country, this might be a good idea to use

Along with the front cover, you will need to have a back cover with the artists songs on it. The following back covers will act as inspiration fro my own back cover:


Back Cover number 1: The image looking out to the audience gives it a personal feel to it and creates a connection with the audience  

Back Cover number 2: The blurred lights shows a simple but really effective back cover to an album

Back Cover number 3: The rustic nature of this back cover could correlate with the 'country' feel I am looking to recreate

Back Cover number 4: The uneven stripes across this back cover makes it stand out from the rest and creates a 'quirky' style

Back Cover number 5: This back cover creates a childlike image with the hand-drawn stars and handwritten songs




Tuesday 18 December 2012

January Filming

In the first week of January I will be filming more shots for my music video and be re shooting some shots that I feel do not work with the song as I would have hoped they would. These shots include:
  • Shots in the bedroom are now being shot outside
  • Extreme close up of lips is being re shot as was blurry before

This will then improve what I have already


Partial first draft of my music video



This is my first draft for my music video with gaps as I haven't finished filming as yet. I plan to change some things as it doesn't quite work with the music. These include:

  • re-shooting the scenes in the bedroom to a different location
  • re-shooting the extreme close up of the lips as they are blurry
Along with this I now need to shoot the rest of my footage and edit it to create a second draft before completing my final draft. This will have to be shot in January. If it snows then I could use this weather change to film some shots outside.