dvd cover, analysis

At the very top of the cd cover we see the name Beyonce, this instantly tells the audience who that artist this album is made by. The name Beyonce is at the very top as it shows that this person is the most important, they are the star of the album. However we also see that the central cover image, off the artist themselves, slightly covers the name of the artist suggesting that this person is a really big star, they are iconic. The fact she is slightly over the name suggests that people know who she is and don't need to see her full name to know who the album is by, it gives the album star appeal. We also see that all the letters are in capitals something we usually see on all of her albums. This adds to the iconography is the album.

On the central cover image we see a mid shot of Beyonce with a low camera angle. The image of Beyonce represents her as being very confident in herself. This is suggested by the way she had her arms up, her body language is open, again conveying to the audience that she is confident. In the central image we also see the camera has a low angle therefore we are looking up at Beyonce, that represents her as being powerful, this suggests to the audience that she is in control and that we should look up to her. This appeals to the target audience of young females as they want to be empowered. This also fits into the Bulmer and Katz Uses and Gratifications theory as the audience gains a sense of personal identity. They identify with a strong, powerful female or they want to identity as this. However Beyonce is also represented as being sexualised as we see her clothes are tight and seem to show a lot of herself. She looks as though she is objectified due to the mise-en-scne of her costume, therefore is fits with the secondary audience of males who will consume this particular piece of media because of the fact she is represented as being sexualised. The central cover image also has high key lighting which gives detail of Beyonce herself.

In the mies-en-scene we see Beyonce's clothing is all purple therefore it represents her as having power, this again fits in with her body language and the angle of the camera putting her in a position of power and having control. The colour purple helps her break stereotypes as she is given power. The colour purple also helps the audience decode her as having sense of pride due to her body language and mystery. The mystery is also added due to the fact she isn't using a direct mode of address therefore they audience are anchored in as they want to know why. The producers have encoded this to suggest to the audience that she is the one in charge.

On the back cover of the cd the central cover image we see Beyonce on top if a building presumably looking down. This then represents her as having power, she is higher than everyone else and looking down on them. He has the power and she is in control, Beyonce is on top. We also see the name of the distributor on the back of 'Sony music', this is a well known company therefore we trust them more meaning that we are more likely to by this album as we trust them.

On Adele's '25' album we see her name and the album name at the bottom of the screen. The title of the album uses iconography as Adele always has a number as her album title therefore the audience can tell without her name being there that this is an Adele cd, she is the artist. The title and name of the artist is also in very large writing which can suggest to the audience that all of the album is about Adele, no one else therefore she is the star.

Instantly we see the central cover image of Adele being a close up which helps us gain feeling with her as we understand how she feels. We see that she isn't particularly happy as she int smiling, she has a very neutral to sad facial expression which helps the audience consuming this album gain empathy for her, it also anchors the audience to by the cd as they will want to know why she isn't happy. Her facial expression makes us want to know whats the matter with her. We also see that Adele is using a direct mode of address therefore it anchors the audience in. It means that the audience want to know why she is looking at us. Her direct mode of address is very serious that could suggest to the audience that this album isn't up-beat or happy, it suggests that this album is sad or quite emotional.

While looking at the front and back cover of Adele's 25 cd we see the colour scheme of black, white, grey and red. This can mean that the audience can decode the colour scheme in many different ways linking to the reception theory as the audience decode the messages given in different ways. The use of the colour grey could suggest to the audience dullness however grey has been encoded to suggest loss in Adele's life. The colour grey also links to some of the song titles like 'i miss you' and 'send my love to your new lover' which suggest her as being sad as she has lost someone in her life and cannot have them back. The colour black could also suggest mystery to the audience, this is also shown through the lighting of low key lighting with many shadows. The mystery in this case could be why is she sad or who did she lose, we want to find out what happened, whats the mystery behind this album. The colour red could represent Adele as being passionate or powerful. She is passionate about what happened to her but also powerful as she has over come this.

From the album we can tell that Adele's main target audience is of females from early/late 20s to their early 30s. This is suggested due to the fact we see her has having a loss, people in their early teens probably won't have experience a loss like she has where as people of their 20s to 30s may have. This may also fit into the Bulmer and Katz uses and gratifications theory as the audiene gain a sense of personal identity with Adele herself.