Flume Case Study

1. ‘Flume’ Case Study

2. Album Covers
It is not unusual for an artists debut album to be self-titled, the significance of
this is that the album does not need a title in order to define the album as a
whole. Using the artists name as the album title is a statement in itself, it shows
that no other aspect in terms of typography is necessary in order to make an
impression on whoever is considering buying the album.
The way ‘Flume’ is written above is how it is consistently written for all
promotional activities that is done for this album, the same font and layout. The
dots before and after the name of the album is how it is continuously written in
all promotional pieces, this again symbolise that this album is all about the artist,
nothing before or after but just Flume – this also explains why Flume is the
biggest sized font on the whole cover. What contradicts the all the evidence
pointing towards the artist being the most important is that he is not physically
present on the cover of his album. The colour however is not always the same in
all promotional activities, the colour of the typography is changed according to
the colour of the background. That being said the colours that are used all follow
the colour scheme of black, pink and white. Black being the main colour used in
the front cover of the album may represent mystery, evil and sadness. Black can
also represent the absence of colour, the primordial void, emptiness. The fact
that this black has been paired up with a light shade of pink seems unusual
because pink and black are not compatible colours, in this case white has been
used to bridge the two colours together. The object visible in the front cover is
referred to as an ‘Infinity Prism’ (the concept of the Infinity Prism is further
analysed in the music video analysis) and it seems to have a glow behind it. This
glow seems to be being emitted from the Infinity Prism, this observation implies
that the glow is generated from the machines sheer power and heat.

3. Flume – More Than You Thought
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3fdE2hca8Y&list=UUXAhoI7XO2kafT
Mjocm0jCg&safe=active
In the first three seconds of the music video the artists name is shown in the same
layout and typography as it is on the album cover, this shows consistency across all the
different platforms the album is being released across. This enables the audience to
easily associate the artist to all of their promotional activities. Colour plays a
important role in this music video because there are very few of them used and those
that are used are used for a reason. The colour scheme of black, white and pink/purple
is carried on from the album cover. The music video starts off in mainly black and
white where the music is seems to built up and dropped but then at around one
minute into the song the colour starts to seep into the shot via the unusual hexagon
shape that the subject is starring into. Not only is the video shared on Flumes official
YouTube channel but also on a channel called ‘Pitchfork’, Pitchfork is an internet
publication devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist
interview. The music videos on both the channels are identical, however it could be
noted that the video posted by Pitchfork describes it as being about ‘A mysterious
hexagon and a cloaked woman.’ in the description box. On this music video Flume had
enlisted the help of ‘Toby and Pete’ who are creative directors with roots in photo-illustration
and, CGI imagery and typography. They were asked to create something
that when seen instantly people associated to Flume and so they created what is
referred to as the ‘Infinity Prism’, it is a light installation that is controlled by the
musicians performance. It is made out of six LED screens and two mirrors which is
what gives any onlookers the impression that the prism travels deeper infinitely. The
significance of the Infinity Prism is that the artists music is so powerful that it controls
how the prism works, also that fact that it is meant to go on infinitely gives the
impression that there is always more than you thought there is, hence the song title.
The music video overall is classed as an conceptual video, granted it has a vague
narrative of a girl in all black being mesmerised and then later levitated by this
mysterious hexagon it is never explain why this happens or who this girl is. Toby and
Pete as the directors of this music video have clearly taken more of an artistic
approach to it rather than just a music video to represent the music, making a
statement seems more like what they aspired to achieve as the end product.

4. Tour Posters
Poster 1 features dates for Flumes ‘The Infinity Prism Tour’ from 2013 all in
Australia – this is where he is from. The first aspect of poster 1 that catches
peoples attentions is the name ‘Flume’, note that it is that largest font on the
whole poster as its purpose is to attract the attention of people walking past
it. The placement of his name is centred in the dark depths of the
kaleidoscope styled Infinity Prism used as the background. This may be
implying that out of all of the confusing mess of the kaleidoscope Flume
breaks through all of this and is the only thing that makes sense. It also gives
the impression that his name is coming out from inside of the infinity prism,
this has connotations of him coming from the future or his music sounding
like it has come from the future. Additionally it may also imply that he is not
like any other current artist as his has a very futuristic approach to his music.
The special guest is an artist called Chet Faker, his birth name is Nicholas
James Murphy . He started off preforming under the name Nick Murphy but
then decided he needed to play under a stage name because people were
coming to his shows thinking he was another well established musician also
called Nick Murphy. He settled on Chet Faker as a tribute to Chet Baker who
was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and vocalist. Chet Faker works
in a number of genres i.e. electronica, downtempo, soul, trip-hop. The way
the dates and venues for each gig has been laid out is very much coherent
with the symmetrical theme that is being displayed on the whole poster.
Poster 1 Poster 2
North American and
European tour – 2014
National Australian
'Infinity Prism' Tour.
Poster 2 is a 2014 poster promoting all of Flume’s summer gigs for his North American and European Tour. When looking at the dates he sees to be traveling
throughout North America from mid-July to the beginning of August and then from mid-August all the way until the end of August in and around Europe. What
can be identified from this is that he his working nearly every night non-stop for a month and a half. This demonstrates how hard working he is but also that he
loves what he does because he is not opposed to working so many nights in a row. All the typography is consistent throughout the whole of the poster i.e. the
colour and font, this gives whoever is viewing the poster a sense of familiarity as it does not look like an intimidating poser to approach. The colour of the
typography used is beneficial to the poster because the black stands out very well against the pale pink of the background.

5. Consistencies
1. Colour Scheme – Throughout all of the analysed media
forms there is a consistent use of pinks, white and black.
The possible connotations that can be pulled of black
being the main colour used in the album cover, music
video and tour posters may represent mystery, evil and
sadness. Black can also represent the absence of colour,
the primordial void, emptiness. It could be said that at a
first glance the pinks used are an unusual colour to pick
because traditionally pink has connotations of
unconditional love, compassion, nurture and hope but it
could be argued that in a dark and twisted way some
aspects of pinks meaning is being incorporated as it gives
a false view of the message the artist it really trying to
convey. The reasons for Flume choosing a colour scheme
could be that it creates a sense of familiarity and makes it
easier for fans and onlookers to associate the colours and
patterns used to Flume; he is essentially creating a brand
that fans of his music can identify with.
3. Typography of ‘Flume’ – The typography throughout the album cover, music video and tour posters are all
similar. The way ‘Flume’ is written is how it is consistently written for all promotional activities that are done
for this album, the same font and layout. The dots before and after the name of the album is how it is
continuously written in all promotional pieces, this symbolises that this album is all about the artist, nothing
before or after but just Flume – this also explains why Flume is the biggest sized font on the album cover and
tour posters. When creating the album cover and tour posters the designers would have made the conscious
decision to make sure the format, font, font size and positioning of the artists name ‘Flume’ to be the same
and if not similar. Again, this decision would have been made in order for Flume to create a brand so people
can identify with him. Also having the typography for the artist name all the same or similar for all the
promotional activities allows the people who listen to his genre of music to differentiate between him and
other artists. This makes Flume stand out against more ordinary looking branding from other artists because
by creating his own brand he creates a persona for himself that people want to know about.
2. Infinity Prism – The Infinity Prism is not only present in
the music video but is consistently present in all of the
media forms that were analysed. The Infinity Prism is the
only subject present on the album cover, the
connotations of this is that the mysterious object has
some sort of significance to the album and the artist. It
therefore urges the listeners to make up their own minds
as to what they think it represents, this is typically the
way artists like to share their work in that they like
people to make their own minds up about the meaning
behind their artwork. The Infinity Prism is also present on
one of the tour posters, out of the three media forms
analysed the tour posters are usually the last to be
released. So after seeing the Infinity Prism on the album
cover and music video fans may be intrigued by it and
hope to earn some answers by going to one of the shows.
The placement of Flume’s name on the 2013 ‘Infinity
Prism Tour’ poster is centred in the dark depths of the
kaleidoscope styled Infinity Prism used as the
background. This may be implying that out of all of the
confusing mess of the kaleidoscope Flume breaks
through all of this and is the only thing that makes sense.
4. Artists Absence – He is not physically present in any of his promotional outlets. He was
not featured on his album cover, on his tour posters and not even in his music video, the
significance of this is that Flume is again trying to create a persona from himself which
entails him coming across as being mysterious, unknown and mystifying. This makes men
want to be him as the character he has built up for himself is very edgy and desirable
because women want to be with him due to the mysterious aspect, this overall makes
people more curious to know more about him. It is this tactic that will help him become
more successful because the more mystery Flume adds to his persona the more
onlookers will want to know more about what they are not shown. The conscious effort
made to not physically include him on any of the media forms may insinuate that more of
an artistic approach is taken to represent the music, rather than making a statement
seems more like what Flume and his team aspire to achieve.