Thursday, 29 September 2011

Planning: Semiotic Analysis of Stenchman Album Cover



As we are steering towards the Dubstep genre, it would be appropriate to analyse CD cases from similar genres. This free online album by Stenchman conveys an urban yet creepy feel.

Denotation: The main photograph depicts a character in a mask which hides his/her identity standing in an abandoned, dirty warehouse. The font colour is white and stands out against the gritty colouring of the warehouse. The typography is simple yet the words utilised link to the photograph in an effective way. In the background, there is a bright beam of light shining towards the lens which lights up the unknown character whilst also creating a red tint across the opposite side of the single cover.

Connotation:The theme of horror is established through the unknown character masked in the center of the photograph. The fact that he is wearing a mask connotes a sense of the unknown and alludes to iconic Horror films where the psycho-killer wears a mask (for example Halloween). This removes identity and creates fear which is a key theme for our music video. The abandoned dirty warehouse gives connotations of isolation and decay (as does the character’s mask). This creates a theme of death and gives associations of murder which leads to fear. The gritty colours of the album cover connote a dark, niche genre of music which may typically aim for an “underground” audience. These grimy colours contrast with the white typography which connotes innocence and purity. However, the text reads “Stenchman” which, in itself, connotes decay and stink. The lighting of the photograph removes the binary opposition of light vs dark as the fearful character is in the light which would seem to indicate hope and life. This is an interesting reversal which also could create fear as it suggests that nowhere is safe. Seeing as our music video aims to have a disturbed, creepy theme we could gain inspiration from this album cover for our ancillary text to make links between our video and our single cover.

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