The album cover or digipak along with the magazine advertisement that I have chosen to analyse and deconstruct is 'Siren Song of the Counter Culture' by 'Rise Against' . I chose to analyse this band as they are in the same genre as 'Three Days Grace', which allows me to make comparisons between the two bands as they are both bands with similar views on society.
By using the ideas of semiotics and visual and linguistic signs, we can see that the use of a speaker hanging down on a girder across the middle of the cover connotes an anti-authoritarian attitude which is then amplified by the inclusion of soundwaves. This connotes that the speaker is shown as playing very loud music, which suggests the anti-authoritarian attitude and also brings out the idea of anger and aggression. With the speaker hanging down, it therefore suggests that a concert is taking place or that the band may be performing at a rally. The text used in is a bold font sketchy which would make it more obvious to the reader as an effective method of advertising. The boldness of the text also acts as the beginning of the reading path as it draws the readers eye and then causes them to look down the page at the image of the speaker and then follows on to the text underneath the image. The text at the bottom of the cover with the album title is also a very bold sketchy font with would is used to attract the readers eyes. All the text is also coloured in white as another way of making it stand out more and also potentially makes it look more appealing in the eyes of the reader.
The signs that have been used on the cover and in the advertisement are the speaker hanging down and the soundwaves emitting from it, which duly signifies that a concert may be in progress. In relation to the positioning of this signifier, the text is positioned both above and below the images, which as previously mentioned, does help to create a reading path for the album cover. With the band name being positioned at the top of the cover, it instantly tells the consumer who the artist is and also encourages them to examine the product more. The text at the bottom also helps to anchor the image of the speaker as with the title 'Siren Song of the Counter Culture' connotes that the music is becoming a part of a person's culture and influencing them. With the speakers displayed with on the album cover, it reinforces a cultural myth about men. It suggests that men are aggressive and can often be portrayed as very angry and hostile. This helps to add to the idea of rebellion as 'Rise Against' are an anti-government band and with the title being about going against the status quo, hinting at rebellion. This is associated as a product that can be advertised to members of a society that disagree with actions that an authority may take. As Bignell said, album covers provide indexical signs that allow people to identify with the product and to construct an image for themselves due to the effects of post-modernism in the post-modern social era. With the graphic style displayed on the front of the digipak, there is an obvious example of intertextual reference with the constructivist art and architectural movement of the twentieth century in Communist Russia. This artistic style was used in Communist posters and with the image of the speaker it suggests that it is being used as a mehtod of keeping order and potentially the idea of propaganda throught the band's music.
The advertisement for this album is pretty much the same with the rebellion motifs being shown portrayed at the top of the page. This makes it easier to market the album as a brand as similar messages are being portrayed, such as the ideas of rebellion and aggression. However, there is a difference in the advert as it informs the consumer of hit singles that they may have heard that are on the album. This album cover would be advertised best in a magazine, or on the the bands official website. It would also work well if it was publicly advertised e.g. railways stations, buses.
By using the ideas of semiotics and visual and linguistic signs, we can see that the use of a speaker hanging down on a girder across the middle of the cover connotes an anti-authoritarian attitude which is then amplified by the inclusion of soundwaves. This connotes that the speaker is shown as playing very loud music, which suggests the anti-authoritarian attitude and also brings out the idea of anger and aggression. With the speaker hanging down, it therefore suggests that a concert is taking place or that the band may be performing at a rally. The text used in is a bold font sketchy which would make it more obvious to the reader as an effective method of advertising. The boldness of the text also acts as the beginning of the reading path as it draws the readers eye and then causes them to look down the page at the image of the speaker and then follows on to the text underneath the image. The text at the bottom of the cover with the album title is also a very bold sketchy font with would is used to attract the readers eyes. All the text is also coloured in white as another way of making it stand out more and also potentially makes it look more appealing in the eyes of the reader.
The signs that have been used on the cover and in the advertisement are the speaker hanging down and the soundwaves emitting from it, which duly signifies that a concert may be in progress. In relation to the positioning of this signifier, the text is positioned both above and below the images, which as previously mentioned, does help to create a reading path for the album cover. With the band name being positioned at the top of the cover, it instantly tells the consumer who the artist is and also encourages them to examine the product more. The text at the bottom also helps to anchor the image of the speaker as with the title 'Siren Song of the Counter Culture' connotes that the music is becoming a part of a person's culture and influencing them. With the speakers displayed with on the album cover, it reinforces a cultural myth about men. It suggests that men are aggressive and can often be portrayed as very angry and hostile. This helps to add to the idea of rebellion as 'Rise Against' are an anti-government band and with the title being about going against the status quo, hinting at rebellion. This is associated as a product that can be advertised to members of a society that disagree with actions that an authority may take. As Bignell said, album covers provide indexical signs that allow people to identify with the product and to construct an image for themselves due to the effects of post-modernism in the post-modern social era. With the graphic style displayed on the front of the digipak, there is an obvious example of intertextual reference with the constructivist art and architectural movement of the twentieth century in Communist Russia. This artistic style was used in Communist posters and with the image of the speaker it suggests that it is being used as a mehtod of keeping order and potentially the idea of propaganda throught the band's music.
The advertisement for this album is pretty much the same with the rebellion motifs being shown portrayed at the top of the page. This makes it easier to market the album as a brand as similar messages are being portrayed, such as the ideas of rebellion and aggression. However, there is a difference in the advert as it informs the consumer of hit singles that they may have heard that are on the album. This album cover would be advertised best in a magazine, or on the the bands official website. It would also work well if it was publicly advertised e.g. railways stations, buses.
Well done Scott - some perceptive observations here. You wouldn't probably have known, but there is a definate reference to constructivism - communist poster art here in the graphic style.
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Scott, this is really good and you've got some good points on the semiotics of this piece. Hopefully you can bring some good points to our digipak production.
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