Album Cover Primary Research

Questionnaire FRONT COVER

Questionnaire (Album Cover)

       What name do you think best suits an R&B/Soul female solo artist?

      La’La Songz

      Jesse Keyz

     Asia Cruz

     Lola Cruz

What colours would you associate with R&B/ Soul Female Solo artists’ album cover? (tick two)

      Black

     White

     Blue

     Yellow/ Gold

     Grey / Silver

     Other (state)

       What facial expressions would you expect a Female Solo R&B/Soul artist to be showing? 

       Happy e.g. Smiling

       Serious face e.g.

<    No expression (straight face)

       Seductive

What font and lettering would you expect to see in an R&B/Soul album cover?

      Big and Bold 

      Elegant swirls - 

      Simple italics –

      Groovy and fancy – 

     What background would you prefer to see an R&B/Soul artist to be within?

      White Background

      Any other coloured Background

     In a Location

      What type of shot would you expect an R&B/Soul solo artist to be shown in?

      Close up

      Medium Shot

      Long Shot

                                         Reasons Why…?

Question 1:

I have asked my target audience ‘what name do you think best suits an R&B/Soul female solo artist’? Because I wanted to gain an insight, I was quite indecisive about what name best suited an R&B/Soul Solo artist. However due to the completion of my music magazine, I did have a brief idea about R&B solo artists names, in relation to my music magazine my artist was called ‘Lola Cruz’ I have also decided to include this in my questionnaire as one of the options available to vote for in question 1. I gathered the idea of ‘La’La Songz’ from famous R&B singer- song writer, and record producer Trey ‘Songz’ who sold over 14million albums and singles worldwide. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Songz). ‘Jesse Keyz’ was brought about from another well known famous R&B (Female) singer – song writer and actress Alicia ‘Keyz’, selling over 12 million records worldwide. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_keys). Lastly Asia Cruz; is a real name of a famous R&B mainstream singer (Asia Cruise). I have chosen these selections in the hope that my target audience will sense the origins of the name and therefore then select in their best opinion the most suitable stage name for my artist.

Question 2:

I asked my target audience ‘what colours would you associate with R&B/ Soul Female Solo artists’ album cover? I asked this question because I wanted to gain an insight into what colours my target audience would associate with my chosen genre, and moreover, I asked this question because I wanted to understand the codes/conventions they may associate with the R&B/Soul genre, which additionally ma prevents confusion in identifying the genre of my album cover, if they were to see it in a retail store like HMV (thinking in context)

Question 3:

For question three I asked my target audience ‘what facial expressions would you expect a Female Solo R&B/Soul artist to be showing? I asked this question because I wanted to expand my knowledge into what my target audience would normally associate with an R&B/Soul album cover, in relation to a female artist. I gathered my options from my secondary research which where I analyzed album covers by R&B female artists. These were the most common facial expressions that I observed.

Question 4:

I asked my target audience ‘What font and lettering would you expect to see in an R&B/Soul album cover?’ I asked this question to understand which font and lettering my target audience best believe suits my chosen genre R&B/Soul. In addition I will be informing them the chosen name of my album cover which is ‘STRANGER’.

Question 5:

I asked my target audience ‘What background would you prefer to see an R&B/Soul artist to be within?’  It is important that I acquire more knowledge about what background my artist should be positioned upon, as this will increase the realism of my album cover. Most of my secondary research has presented artists in an artificial background, rarely in a location.

Question 6:

I asked my target audience ‘what type of shot would you expect an R&B/Soul solo artist to be shown in?’ I only included a selection of three shots (close, medium and long ) because these shots are often more present in most portrait based albums covers and portrait based album covers are arguably often used in R&B/Soul. Moreover I only involved three shot types, because I am not that sure whether non - media students will fully understand the differentiation between the other shots types for example the canted shot. By doing this, this can improve the reliability of my feedback/data as my target audience are more likely to answer my questionnaire truthfully.

Questionnaire BACK COVER

What font and lettering would you expect to see the song titles in an R&B/Soul album back cover?

 Big and Bold e.g. Example One

Elegant swirls - Example One

Simple italics – Example One

Groovy and fancy – Example One

What background would you prefer to see an R&B/Soul artist to be within?

White Background

Any other coloured Background

In a Location

What type of shot would you expect an R&B/Soul solo artist to be shown in?

Close up

Medium Shot

Long Shot

How many song titles would you expect to see on the back cover?

1-3

3-5

5+

Reasons Why…?

I asked my target audience ‘What font and lettering would you expect the song titles in an R&B/Soul album cover?’ I asked this question to understand which font and lettering my target audience best believe suits my chosen genre R&B/Soul.

I asked my target audience ‘What background would you prefer to see an R&B/Soul artist to be within on the back cover? It is important that I acquire more knowledge about what background my artist should be positioned upon, as this will increase the realism of my album cover. Most of my secondary research has presented artists in an artificial white background, rarely in a location.

I asked my target audience ‘what type of shot would you expect an R&B/Soul solo artist to be shown in?’ I only included a selection of three shots (close, medium and long ) because these shots are often more present in most portrait based albums covers and portrait based album covers are arguably often used in R&B/Soul. Moreover I only involved three shot types, because I am not that sure whether non - media students will fully understand the differentiation between the other shots types for example the canted shot. By doing this, this can improve the reliability of my feedback/data as my target audience are more likely to answer my questionnaire truthfully.

I asked my target audience 'how many song titles would you expect to see on the back cover?' I asked this question because it is beneficial for me to know how many song/titles, my target audience usually see on the back of album covers. I am fully aware that there are often 5+ song titles on album covers, so therefore I am hoping that the majority of my target audience vote for this.

RESULTS

FRONT COVER

For question one I asked my target audience what name best suited an R&B/Soul Female solo artist. Evidently from my questionnaire results it presents that 5/10 people prefer the stage name 'Lola Cruz' I am happy  with this result because, it was also most voted for when I was constructing my music magazine for the R&B music magazine. So therefore my artist must now be called 'Lola Cruz'

For question two I asked my target audience what colours they would prefer to see on an R&B/Soul album cover. Evidently it shows that the most voted for colours were White, and Grey/Silver. I am happy with the colour white, because white connotes innocence; this relates to the narrative of my music video, and silver especially connotes wealth which heavily relates to the R&B genre. I intend for 'Lola' to wear a white attire, for my album cover. And moreover, I intend her to wear silver jewellery. 

 For question three I asked my target audience what facial expressions they would expect a female solo R&B/Soul artist to be showing.  Evidently from my research it shows that my target audience prefer ‘Lola Cruz’ to be showing a combination of a ‘serious face’ and ‘seductive face.’ receiving 4 votes each. This supports the usual conventions of a female artist where Laura Mulvey suggests that women connote to-be-looked-at-ness and are the object of the male gaze, as my female artist is expected to be presenting a ‘seductive’ facial expression.

To make use of my results I will be directing ‘Lola Cruz’ to apply a combination of a seductive and serious face, to satisfy my target viewers and the ‘male gaze’.

For question four I asked my target audience what font and lettering would you expect to see in an R&B/Soul album cover?’ It is evident and clear from my graph that my target audience prefer the ‘Simple italic’ font/lettering as it received 5 /10 votes. Therefore to apply this to my album cover I will be featuring the artists name ‘Lola Cruz’ and the album name ‘Stranger’ in a simple italic font, throughout, as I will be implementing the portrait based theme and therefore the image should be the most important feature.

For question five I asked my target audience what background would you prefer to see an R&B/Soul artist to be within?’ It is evident from my graph that the majority voted for a white background as it received 7/10 votes in total. I am extremely pleased with my results because from my research especially it most of the R&B/Soul artists were positioned in front of a white background. This is heavily beneficial for my portrait based concept, as it will make the artist ‘Lola Cruz’ stand out, which meets the audiences demand. According to Richard Dyers theory, by doing this ‘the star is a commodity’

 Lastly for question six, I asked my target audience what type of shot you would expect an R&B/Soul solo artist to be shown in.’ Evidently from my results presented on my graph it shows that the majority of my target audience voted for the ‘close up’ as it received 7/10 votes. I am extremely pleased with my results because from my secondary research over fifty percent of the album covers that I analysed featured close ups of the artists face, which moreover heavily benefits the portrait based idea, which I hoped to be implementing on my album cover. By applying a close up shot on my album cover, ‘Lola Cruz’s ‘ facial expressions, are now valuable  and it is important that I direct her well enough to capture an attention grabbing shot.

BACK COVER

First I asked my target audience what font and lettering would you expect to see in an R&B/Soul album back cover? It is clear from my bar graph that the majority of my target audience voted for ‘elegant swirls’ I am happy with my results, because this font endorse femininity, which is beneficial as my artist is a female.

Secondly, I asked my target audience would you prefer to see an R&B/Soul artist to be within. It is clear that from my results in the bar graph, it presents to me that the majority (8/10) of my target chose that ‘Lola Cruz’ should be placed behind a white background, which is similar to the front cover. am extremely pleased with my results because from my research especially it most of the R&B/Soul artists were positioned in front of a white background.  This is beneficial as it will make the artist ‘Lola Cruz’ stands out, which meets the audiences demand. According to Richard Dyers theory, by doing this ‘the star is a commodity’

Thirdly for question three, I asked my target audience what type of shot you would expect an R&B/Soul solo artist to be shown in.’ Evidently from my results presented on my graph it shows that the majority of my target audience voted for the ‘close up’ as it received 6/10 votes. I am extremely pleased with my results because from my secondary research over fifty per cent of the album covers that I analysed featured close ups of the artists face, By applying a close up shot on my album cover, ‘Lola Cruz’s ‘ facial expressions, are now valuable and it is important that I direct her well enough to capture an attention grabbing shot

Lastly I asked my target audience ‘how many song titles would you expect to see on the back cover.’ Evidently from my bar graph it is obvious to me that 10/10 of my target audience would prefer to see at least 5+ song titles. I am extremely pleased with my results, as it is ideal for any genre album to have 5+ songs (evidently from my secondary research). Therefore, I will be coming up with at least 5 and more song titles to include on the back cover of my album.

 INSIDE COVERS  - LEFT AND RIGHT

I have decided to use continuity editing from the results from my results from the front cover and back cover.
Firstly the font I will be using, must be similar or even the same as what I have used in th front and/or back cover. This is because I want  to ...
The background I will be using in te inside of my album cover, will be symetical to the background I have used on the opposite side. For example If the back cover uses a white background, I will also be using a white background, on the inner right hand cover. To elaborate on  this I noticed that when I researched 'digipaks' often the images were similar throughout, the entire cases, this presented to me continuity, which I will be applying in my own cover.