DVD Cover Analysis

In my research, I have found that most music DVD covers follow the same conventions.

The front of the cover appears to consist of three main features, on top of a plain background colour. The first is the name of the artist. This tends to be written in the font that is used on the artists CDs. This makes it instantly recognisable to the target audience. The colour of the text, often follows the colour scheme used on the rest of the cover and this is usually in contrast to the background, which like the choice of font, grabs the attention of the target audience.

Secondly, is the title of the DVD. For most covers this uses at least one of the two previously mentioned techniques to gain the interest of the target audience. To me however, it appears that most DVD covers use the title only to differentiate between the artists other DVD releases as it is more often than not the case that this is in a smaller font than the artist’s name.

Both the name of the artist and the title of the DVD nearly always appear on the spine of the DVD box as well as the front.

The final feature is a large image linked to the artist. In most cases, this is a heavily edited action shot. If the artist is a group, it is normally of one main band member, i.e. the singer, with the rest of the band in the background. This may suggest that this particular member of the band plays a larger role in the DVD content or it may be done for commercial reasons.

On the back of the cover, I have noticed that there is nearly always a track or set list for the main content of the DVD, however apart from that, each cover tends to differ greatly.

In the case of Guns N’ Roses’ DVD ‘Use Your Illusion I – World Tour 1992 In Tokyo’, they include images of each band member who played in the performances. Despite the fact that Guns N’ Roses are rock giants, I believe these images are included because for this particular tour, the band underwent severe changes to their line-up. This information is seconded by a list of the band members and their roles at the top.

Another common feature incorporated into the back cover is the collection of DVD and music industry logos. On the Guns N’ Roses cover this includes the band’s independent record label ‘Uzi Suicide’, which they set up before their signed for ‘Geffen’ record company.

On the back cover for Aerosmith’s ‘You Gotta Move’ DVD, there is a synopsis of the band’s career and the DVD content that is included. This replaces the line-up information on the Guns N’ Roses DVD. A detailed list of bonus features is also integrated into the layout, which would be used as a way to entice the target audience to purchase the product. In the bottom third of the cover there is an image of Aerosmith taken from behind the band while they were on stage. This may be used to advocate the idea that this product will bring the audience the elusive backstage experience.

A more simple design for a cover is used for the Girls Aloud DVD, ‘The Greatest Hits Live From Wembley Arena 2006’. Although this does cover most of the conventions for DVD covers, it applies a much more basic style. On the Front cover, the image, unlike the annotated Bob Marley DVD, is a montage of stylised images representing aspects of the group, consisting of; Silhouettes of the band members, five microphones (one for each member of the band) and three dimensional star graphics featuring indication of the band members nationalities using the Irish flag for Nadine and the Union Jack for Cheryl, Sarah, Nicola and Kimberley. The reverse of the cover, is equally basic with the only detail, other than the track and bonus feature lists, being a small image of the silhouettes, used on the front, above the Girls Aloud web address.

Another cover I have looked at which follows this basic style is 50 Cent’s ‘Massacre’ DVD. Again it follows the three main features convention which I discovered earlier. On this particular cover, the main image used shows Mr Cent without a shirt. This is done to appeal to the female contingent of his target audience. On the back, like the rest of the covers I have looked at, ‘Massacre’ has a track list of the content and DVD/music related logos.

In conclusion, it would appear that in order to create a successful cover of my own, I will need to closely follow the conventions for both the front and the back. This will involve using easy to read, familiar fonts, clear images associated with the artist along with logos to represent companies from the DVD and music industries.