This is the revised album cover,after Mr Seal saying that the font was a little bland.
I like this font, its serendipitous and laid back, the previous font seemed too straight and slightly formal, this font goes along with the rough backgroup and casual dress of Brian, it also seems more personal, as the font, due to its handwritten style, suggests that it could be Brians own handwriting, making the album cover appeal to its audience more.
After about an hours work, I managed to come up with the results below.
I like what I have achieved, though I know that it needs to be square, not rectangular, also it does, at the moment, look a bit tacky, so I will aim to improve this cover if I chose to use it, or part of these.
I'm undecided on what cover looks best, red or blue.
Yes, I've now noticed...I've put Brain instead of Brian, always getting those words muddled up.
This song was composed and sang by a American band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania called "Rusted Root" who are known for their unique fusion of acoustic, rock, world and other styles of music, with a strong percussion section that draws from African, Latin American, and Native American influences. This can be seen and heard very strongly in the video.
The song itself was a major hit, it was released in 1994 and reached number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1995and was used in over 13 major films, most notable films are Matilda (1995) and Ice Age (2002).
The music video reflect strongly the bands genre, opting for more of a world music and percussion feel to it rather than rock, it also has folk characteristics, such as the use of the instruments, like the acoustic guitar as well as the flute and the way in which the song is performed, also the costume which looks very "folky" and hippy, reinforcing the world, folk pop genre this band is known for.
The video itself, includes the band performing on mountains in an arid area, dancing and performing the song, this is inter-cut with a short "story" of a boy who sees a door standing alone next to the road, he then opens it, finds a old Indian who is seen praying to his god, the boy takes an interest in this and gains the Indians trust, slowly as the video progresses the boy becomes free from the modern day society, this is seen most profound where the boy is seen wearing wings, clearly suggesting that he is now free to become whatever he likes.
There are many links between the visuals and the lyrics in this song, as well as many interpretations at what the song is about. The lyrics can be found here. For me, the lyrics reinforce the visuals very much, without the lyrics it would be impossible to understand the visuals. The lyrics don't directly illustrate the visuals, they more compliment the visuals, they seem to make the video more understandable, in order to understand the lyrics you would have to read the lyrics on their own without the music.
In the video there are some cult symbols, such as the eye of illumination, this represents the idea of freedom and enlightenment. At the point where he says
"I may see you, I may tell you to run" which links back to the idea visuals, as cults are often small groups of people with their own beliefs, and this can be linked to the lyrics as its, in a way, telling them to spilt off from the normal world and be unique and an individual.
I put down some ideas within class of possible ideas for the album cover, some of these ideas I defiantly want to incorporate, like the classic guitar, which would imply the use of a guitar in the song, which there is, as well as the use of the guitar is often heard in folk songs.
Black and white photos often have many benefits to them, like they often bring a classic "air" about them, which is what I want to be perceived when you see the cover, also with black and white there is no colour to distract me, when I'm taking the photograph, and the audience when they see it, as shadows appear deeper, and highlights pop. Also it forces the audience to look deeper into the photograph, as there is less to distract them. The use of the B&W is a definite possibility.
The use of the newspapers would reveal the "information" behind the song and would really connect the album cover to the song, but I'm unsure of how I would do this, as photographing newspapers in a original way while including other factors like the guitar, would be hard, if this newspaper idea isn't used, I'd hope some else can be included to fully connect the album cover to the song.
Also getting ideas from artists like the Beatles and REM would also benefit me greatly, as I could establish what factors are seen in all folk/pop style of album art work, this would mean I could include various ideas/objects connoting the genre as well as revealing an inter-textual reference to other artists.
One idea that has come into mind, is incorporating Brians folk style, this would be shown by a guitar being in shot, and an urban wall, with his name and song in graffiti.
These two aspects together, would hopefully create the idea of the genre, and what the song entails.
This is an example of what I would try and recreate, with the back ground degraded and urban look to it, with "Brian Korteling" and "Information" in graffiti, like the one below.
The issue with this album cover is that I feel its to modern or mainstream for Brian's song, I think its the graffiti that creates the sense that this song will be more hip-hop and mainstream that it really is.
If I do select this idea, I will use parts of it to create a album cover, I like the use of the guitar and possibly the urban wall background, I've got other ideas which I can intertwine into this album cover.
