This image is the album cover for American rock band Mae's sophomore release "The Everglow". The theme of the album is a story. The first track is an audio clip called "Prologue" that introduces the viewer to the album, then the songs follow, and finally ends with the "Epilogue" track, just like a book. Using that same theme, the album cover successfully fulfills the overall theme of the album. A young boy stands on a yellow brick road, facing away from the "camera". In his left hand is a small, black bag. He is ready to start his journey. A bag in hand signifies being ready to go, as you have all your things packed with you to help you along your journey. His body language of facing away from the camera is visual language that he is looking towards the future, which is the broad area of the background. He is standing on a yellow brick road which alludes to the yellow brick road in the novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". In the novel, the characters are constantly looking for that specific road in order to progress further to reach their personal goals. Just like in the novel, the little boy is following the road for his journey. We can tell it has just begun for him because the road is cut off behind him, as if it was its beginning. The boy is looking ahead at a looming, dark wooden gate with the words "The Everglow" sprouting from it. The gate symbolizes the start of a new place. It marks the boundary between "here" and "there". The light shines from behind it, as if there was a brighter, larger world beyond it. He looks like has just encountered the gate, and will go through it to start "The Everglow" journey. A green mist clouds around the bottom of the image and blackness surrounds everything. It is symbolic of a chilling atmosphere and mystery. It is telling us that the journey ahead of the boy is unknown, but he will still embark on it. Finally, the entire image has a "stage-like" quality to it. The gate and brick road look like props, and the boy is an actor. Again, going off the "story" theme of the album, the play-like quality of the image represents his story that is about to be told on this "stage".
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Visual Information & Language
This image is the album cover for American rock band Mae's sophomore release "The Everglow". The theme of the album is a story. The first track is an audio clip called "Prologue" that introduces the viewer to the album, then the songs follow, and finally ends with the "Epilogue" track, just like a book. Using that same theme, the album cover successfully fulfills the overall theme of the album. A young boy stands on a yellow brick road, facing away from the "camera". In his left hand is a small, black bag. He is ready to start his journey. A bag in hand signifies being ready to go, as you have all your things packed with you to help you along your journey. His body language of facing away from the camera is visual language that he is looking towards the future, which is the broad area of the background. He is standing on a yellow brick road which alludes to the yellow brick road in the novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". In the novel, the characters are constantly looking for that specific road in order to progress further to reach their personal goals. Just like in the novel, the little boy is following the road for his journey. We can tell it has just begun for him because the road is cut off behind him, as if it was its beginning. The boy is looking ahead at a looming, dark wooden gate with the words "The Everglow" sprouting from it. The gate symbolizes the start of a new place. It marks the boundary between "here" and "there". The light shines from behind it, as if there was a brighter, larger world beyond it. He looks like has just encountered the gate, and will go through it to start "The Everglow" journey. A green mist clouds around the bottom of the image and blackness surrounds everything. It is symbolic of a chilling atmosphere and mystery. It is telling us that the journey ahead of the boy is unknown, but he will still embark on it. Finally, the entire image has a "stage-like" quality to it. The gate and brick road look like props, and the boy is an actor. Again, going off the "story" theme of the album, the play-like quality of the image represents his story that is about to be told on this "stage".
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