Media CD sleeve analysis

Media Analysis: CD cover
Artist: Green Day
Album: American Idiot

Camera Work
- Close up of an arm and a hand, makes it the main focus
- Eye level/ neutral shot, no angles

Editing
- Animation: the image used is a drawing, less realism
- Words/text: ‘Green Day’ is in capitals and in white, its size and the fact that it is in capitals suggests the importance of this particular name, i.e. it is the name of the band.
- Underneath the word ‘presents’ is significantly smaller but in the same case and color as ‘Green Day’. This could link to the theatre e.g. shadow theatre presents… when opening a theatre curtain. Also links to pride, being proud to introduce something, to ‘present’ it.
- The illustration is made to look unrealistic, it resembles comic book animation, which was known for its cartoon gore and violence
- There is no setting; the image is just placed against a plain black background, giving a creepy or horror-like feel to it.

Mise en scene
- The colors used are red, white and black. The connotations of these three colors are war, blood, racism, fear and anger to name a few.
- The name of the album ‘American Idiot’ is in red, which connotes a powerful message, as it is the same color as the object the hand is holding.
- The text contains flecks of black, which resemble paint; this could link to graffiti, and the way some people get messages across through this.
- The arm and hand shown is white, which contrasts with the red object which it is holding, the object is in the shape of a heart, however a closer look determines that it is a hand grenade, the top is white and the rest is red, once again linking the object to a heart. Blood runs down the arm
- A feeling of tension is created through the blood, if the grenade is leaking, how long until it explodes?
- Connotations of this image: the power gained when obtaining a heart and the pain and damage its destruction can cause.

This CD sleeve also contains a parental advisory sticker, which appeals to a younger audience because they feel older when they buy it.

This CD cover did not particularly influence our cover, even though it in of the same genre as our band. This is because this picture is all animation, whereas our main focus is on a photograph, using animation as features on our cover but not as the main focus.