The album ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’
The very title of the sums up the name of the album as the cover features, cartoons writing, items and characters. However there is one none cartoon picture which is that of the artist Mika which unlike the vibrant colours used the cartoon. I believe this is purposeful to divert attention and make him the focal point.
Mise-on- Scene
Colours used:-
The colours used on both albums are diverse and complement each other to reflect Mika’s personality and inspiration. Also there presentational techniques are very effective and act as symbols for example the display is that of sun’s rays which again implies the fun loving and wide spreading influence of Mika’s music.
The colours used are most effective in terms of that masthead ‘Mika’, this from the pink and then green colours used it shows the appeal to both men and women and shows flexibility and fun which greats word of mouth which boosts the popularity of Mika to establish himself by subtle but effective methods.
But overall the colours are used to represent day to day occurrences and a picture of this via symbols ‘blue used as sky with birds’ to create reliability and also to show the realism of Mika’s background and inspiration for his music or his perception of the world.
Symbols Used:-
The symbols used are to show Mika’s perception of the world around him; this is why it consists of day to day symbols such as scenery sky or working etc. This a very clever method as it creates reliability for the audience and to create and association or teaser to what the lyrics and song types or secrets maybe inside.
The immaturity of the type face and linear approach suggests the audience this is the nature of Mika’s personality of immaturity. This is shown cleverly by the handwriting like typeface used to enforce the ‘life’ ideas;’ Life is a cartoon’.
This simplistic linear design of the word ‘MIKA’ has become as you can see by the covers bellow a trade mark for the artist this is a very vital tool for success. The size of the font also shows how powerful the name is to an audience where as the album title is presented small, this shows it has little significance to the target audience, which are the most important factor in sales and success for an artist.
Also the target audience isn’t specified by the appearance of the album cover as the diverse colours and symbols used show it is a very versatile album and shows why his music is in the ‘pop’ industry. This is also a very important quality to have also the diverse use of colour creates an attractive piece of art which makes people intrigued due to human nature of interest, which can expand your target audience, this is the power of CGI.
‘Love Today’ was the first single produced from the album ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’, as you can see there is a strong intertexuality in terms of the presentational techniques used and layout. The trade mark of Mika is used attract the target audience and to create association between the single and album as this is very important as it creates either a reassurance or a influence to buy the single as the audience liked the album or from word of mouth and the media people hear a song is from an album but however just want the single but the inspiration for the one track with be the same as it was for the rest of the album.
This works well with the idea that the text ‘love today ‘in its shell has the same CGI featured as the album of cartoon images of day to life this suggests that these symbols present such as boat, lady, water makes up a scene of romance which is mimicked in the title ‘love today’ again showing that ‘life is a motion picture’. The brown paper like surrounding of the masthead, shows that it has specified he influence for the track and to give an insight into the inspiration for the track but still keeping it ambiguous. This is then due to its stencil like image used to represent a window into Mika’s mind which is a very clever technique.
However for this single the white presence of the name of the artist is more prominent which enables the single name to be large. The reason both are proportionally the same is due to the fact that due to media attention and forms of technology the name of the song or artist is the most valuable information which they will find out to obtain the single, also it is to represent the interest and popularity of the single also to make it easy for the target audience to retrieve and locate for purchasing.
However, a trend that runs throughout is there is no presence of award sticker, review which shows either the un-established artist or the genre and target audience of the music is not conventional.
The intertextuality from the first album continues to the second album, this is the typical ‘safety’ approach due to the artists’ unsecured position in the charts and in the music world. As you can see again the conventional white typeface stating ‘MIKA’ is the identical replica of the first album without the tappers. But it has been made in 3D straight away this implies to the audience a futuristic and space influence this is due to the colours used.
The dark blue gives a metal influence and the colour is strongly associated with the night sky and therefore space. This again shows Mika’s maturity and his childish approach like the previous album with cartoons and a simple outlook on life. This dark blue is used as the base of the cover which enhances the colours and subsequent colours and items added on top which the contrast of the strong colours makes the covers striking and therefore more likely to be identifiable by the target audience and others that are intrigued by its unusual appearance and unconventional cartoon based design. Throughout the design there is a wide spectrum of block colours which unconventionally complement each other and show the fact of that this is so in real life. But all these colours have intertextuality in there bold use of colour which unconventionally has paid off but it was a risk well taken, but on the other hand it could have been unsuccessful for another genre of music eg.Rock. But it is very clever of how the album have increased intensity of colour which shows how the artist got more confident of its potential and success.
Again the design of the album cover revolves around a cartoon which has staged a reoccurring situation but on the other hand with a twist which really replicates Mika’s position in the chart and his music. The album cover is used to set the scene for the single cover which as did the previous album and single does the second. This is a very unique approach but evidently successful. The album sets the scene with a stereotypical ‘boys bedroom’, with the elements of space,planets ,and altered stereotypical items such as poster which have present stereotypical African or Indian tribal art which is also stereotypically bright and coloured with bold colours this again suggests there is a influence which is not first conveyed by the audience and to create interest and attraction to an target audience.
Again as previously on the first album is the presence of a more dominate black and white photograph to suggest he is more successful and established in the music world. The typefaces used again are conventional in terms of the albums and single covers produced by Mika. Even though the typeface is different for the album cover than previously, it fits in with the Mise-on-scene of the cover with the replica 3D blue tappers, however again it has the childlike style which is replicated in past albums and again reflects Mika’s personality.
However the single cover has absolute intertextuality , with the previous single ‘love today’ however the brown paper colour used has been replaced by the strong blue which is enforcing the association with space and night time to add a scene of mystery. Again the African or Indian art has been used in the single cover to create intertextuality and to insinuate the singles message or story in the form of smoke signals or sun set which again gives the same effect as the sun rays in the first album however converted into unusual shapes e.g. Bolt of lightning. This again suggests the music has an influence in everyday life and night life. The silhouette of the people and the regular suburb scene suggests that the music world has not yet had a chance to see ‘we are golden’.
The type face used for both the artists’ name and single name is again with the influence of the Indian/African art which shows it has a dominant influence as before this has never been shown. This is also even inflicted on the artists’ name which throughout has not been altered this demonstrates confidence of the artists’ establishment and how strong the music and how it is not necessary to rely on the reputation of the audience anymore.
Also the size of masthead and single name is unconventional for Mika’s stereotype .The small size of the artists’ name suggests it isn’t necessary to still continue relying on the artists’ reputation.The large size of the singles name suggests it already has allot of following from the album and shows the increasing confidence of the artist that the target audience can associate a number of factors eg. Cartoons block colours, typefaces to an artist.
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