A Movie Album: Armageddon
At first this album cover seems a tad bit simplistic, but if you look closer there are a few elements at work. First there is the obvious circle of fire that represents the asteroid that is headed to the earth in the movie, but the less obvious element is that there is an asteroid within an asteroid right behind the title of the album. The big red circular asteroid seems to give the effect of “Oh crap we are all going to die” which is further exemplified by the fact a big red ring of fire like material, which looks like magma shooting out of a volcano. This “ring of fire” also gives the impression that the earth has exploded and with saying that the premise of the movie is pretty much a big asteroid is on course to blow up the earth. The other element is of the title with a piece of the flaming asteroid behind, and that seems to suggest that the earth is about to be hit by the asteroid. So we have the theme of “hey the earth is going to be hit by the asteroid” or “hey it has already been hit by the asteroid.” So the album seems to explain the movie, but does it really explain the music within it?
My personal opinion is mainly yes because most of the songs within the album have to do with scenes in the movie and since this album is mainly geared toward people who have seen the movie, they will possibly feel the emotions they felt during the movie when they listen to the songs. If someone is looking at this album having never heard of the movie, they may look at the artists and the song associated with the artists. This album cover does a decent job of displaying the artist names. There is good placement of well known artists with Aerosmith in the top left corner and Jon Bon Jovi and Journey in the top right corner. So overall this cover is more effective towards people who know of or have seen the movie Armageddon, but it may also draw other people into giving it a second look with its bright red color and black contrast.
Also the insert for the album contains pictures of scenes from the movie which may or may not go with each song. If they don’t go with a specific song they were put there in order to allow the viewer to reminisce about the movie going experience.
http://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Album-Various-Artists/dp/B000007SR8/ref...
I would agree that it does a good job of representing the music simply by displaying the artists around the CD cover. But at first look I was amazed at some of the artists that were on the album (having never seen the movie). However I disagree that it does a good job representing the better known artists and the artists that might better represent the movie. Shawn Colvin and Chantal Kreviazuk and displayed on the top and bottom but are more "easy listening" artists than "omg we're going to die" kind of music. These are the artists that threw me off the most, but like I said, I have never seen the movie.
Submitted by physicschic on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 19:42.Do you think you have to see the movie to fully appreciate the album design?
I believe that it seeing the movie allows the listener to more fully appreciate the album design, but someone who hasn't seen the movie would probably be intrigued by the large circle of fire and the picture of little earth in the middle. In my opinion since I liked science and space and such, I believe that the album cover would be intriguing to people with similar interests. Also in order to appreciate the insert,(pictures from the movie) yes I believe you have to have seen the movie and I believe that this CD was mainly targeted at people who had seen the movie.
Submitted by matt33172 on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 23:14.I guess the CD cover is designed like so because the album adds the experience to the movie. This CD is obviously targeted to the people who are interested in the movie and want to listen more to the soundtracks of the movie.
Submitted by aalbert on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 22:03.I have watch the movie and I also own the CD. I like the soundtrack in the movie. It gives me the experience of being in the movie again whenever I listen to the songs.
Because the album is directly connects to the movie, the CD cover is appropriate to filter out to people who are only interested in the soundtracks only.
Alright....here's what I'm thinking. As for all of the art of the cover, I'm going to say that it is the way it is simply because its the same as one of the movie posters. Check it out at http://www.movieposter.com/poster/A70-581/Armageddon.html
Submitted by zmcnulty on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 12:42.As for the artists all around the sides, it lists all of the artists, not just the big name artists. So in a way, its kind of like the movie poster. It lists the stars of the movie. On the album, it lists the stars of the album.