This is the album cover for Alesha Dixon's album 'The alesha show'. The overall theme of the album cover reflects the name of the alubm. 'The alesha show' refers to a show; a westend theatrical show in particular and the colours and costume used in the cover portrays this theme of theatre well. The image of her is set in front of a gold backdrop with red curtains. This is typical of the beginning of a show, the glitz being represented through the gold backdrop and the deep red of the curtain. A spot light is shown lighting up the artist making this the focal point of the cover, the first place we look when we see it. It also helps to represent the show theme that is being portrayed in this album cover. The name of the artist is placed at the top of the cover in white capitals, which contrast against the red and gold background making it stand out and be read easily. The text is plain and simple so it can be clearly seen and read. The title of the album is written at the bottom, again in white as it contrasts against the background but it written in italic and is underlined. Although this makes it stand out as the text is different, it is also smaller so the text doesn't distract the viewer from the main image.
This is the album cover for Britney Spear's new album; 'circus'. The background of the cover is a gold curtain to portray the circus theme of her album. It's outlined in red, green and gold lines, again these colours are typical of the circus and help to reflect the theme. These colours contrast against the light gold curtain and make the overall album cover stand out. The main image is of Britney Spears herself and is a medium close up in the middle of the cover making it the main focus. Her face and overall appearance is happy and innocent to create a sellable image and to attract the audience to the album. Light blue stars also outline the cover which represents the glitzy image of the circus which is matched by the powerful colours of red and gold. Her name is written in bold to make it stand out and is in red which contrasts against the gold making it 'pop' out. It is placed across the cover, again making it eye catching for the viewer. The album name is written in gold capitals at the bottom of the cover in between two fancy symbols which are in red. Both the gold and red contrast against the white background it is set in front of making it stand out so it can be easily seen. It is of reasonable size as to not distract the viewer from the main image which sets the overall theme of the album.
This is the album cover for Pixie Lott's new album 'turn it up'. The cover layout is very basic, a medium close up of the artist in the middle of the cover with her name written beneath her. There is no theme or real background to the cover yet it is still affective and eye catching. The photograph of the artist takes up the majority of the cover and is centred for it to be the focal point, drawing the fans attention immediately to the cover. The artists name is placed below her in a fun, bold font in white which contrasts against the background. The contrast of the colours makes it stand out and the quirkiness of the font also helps reinforce this. The blending of the colours behind the artist creates a light behind her making the photo stand out as it is in contrast to the background. The blend from dark to light draws the eye to the centre where the lighter colour ends behind the image.
From looking at these typical, female pop artists i have gained ideas and inspiration, using their music videos to get a better understanding of what a conventional pop video is. These are all album covers of successful female artists and I will use these when producing my own album cover. I aim to use certain themes and techniques that are displayed in these covers for my own creation (intertextuality).
In order to choose a song and artist for our video we had to decide first on a genre. To help us with this I created a poll on my blog with the options of various genres and asked the public which genre they prefered. The majority of the public's favourite was pop and as it is also mine and Jemma's prefered music genre when considering music videos we decided to start looking at pop artists.
We looked closely at various artists and picked out the usual conceptions and typical behaviour shown in the pop videos. We couldn't however decide on a song as we wanted a strong story line to go with the song.
We then decided to look closely at Jilted Johns- Gordon is a moron as the lyrics of the song can be taken so literally it would produce a funny and interesting video. Although the genre of music isn't pop, the genre we originally decided to focus on, we could include typical pop concepts that are seen predominantly in these videos to link to the pop genre. Below are the lyrics of the song to show how simple they are and how they can be taken so literally but can be exaggerated in a humerous way.
After listening to various songs by different pop artists and from the results of our 'who is your favourite female pop artist at the moment' poll we have decided to create a music video for Britney Spears 'womanizer'. We thought that the lyrics and overall up beat tempo of the song would make for an exciting and interesting music video. After considering the Jilted Johns video we decided against using it due to its punk genre and the fact it is such an old song. Although we had some good ideas for this video, the overall idea for the womanizer video was stronger and fitted in with the pop genre. We have decided to take the meaning of the song literally, using typical concepts of pop videos and exagerating them to create a humerous music video. We shall try to include some of the context seen predominantly in similar videos, for example; in Pink's stupid girls video the characters are taken to the extreme; extreme make up, hair etc.
I've decided to use this song to analyse the characters that are represented in this video. It begins with the intorduction of a 'geeky' girl wearing her glasses and reading in her room, predictable costume and prop to make it clear to the viewer what the character is like. The guy she's admiring is again typical to the pop genre and the high school scene- the preppy 'heart throb'. Already there's a distinction between the characters and from previously watching chick flicks and similar videos, the viewer understands the natural barrier between the two characters which is displayed through the walls and space between their houses. As the story progresses along with the song another character is added- Taylor Swift acting as the boys girlfriend. The two girls are portrayed with the way they dress, the 'geeky' girl in sensible clothes and light colours; white and cream to reflect her innocence and the girlfriend in more revealing, darker colours for example red to portray the enemy, the devil. From the costume and their appearence there is a clear competition/rivalry between the two which is shown through their differences. The obvious way each character dresses, the different colours they wear and even their hair colour contrast against each other. This contrast symbolises their rivalry. The characters are used predominantly in this video to tell the sotry of the song. Without the characters and what they represent there would be no storyline, the characters help us to make sense of the video.
I decided to look at Pixie Lotts- boys and girls music video to focus my analysis on camera angles and editing. Her video hasn't really got a story line and the narrative is quite basic. The camera angles and editing therefore need to entice the viewer and make the video interesting to watch. The video is made up of a variety of shots, establishing shots at the beginning to set the scene, long distance shots so the viewer can see her dancing, panning shots to follow her actions, close ups, medium close ups and extreme close ups to focus and emphasis certain expressions, objects and costumes. There are quite a few long shots shown throughout the video, each one pausing for longer than usual to show the viewer the artist dancing. The video follows a pattern and for the majority of the video, once a long shot has been used, a close up will follow of the artist to emphasis this is her music video. The extreme close ups and close ups are used to show her singing the song, again this reinforces the artist so it is clear to the viewer who the artist is. Around 0.32 seconds, the director uses a cut away shot to the beat of the music; another way to make the video more interesting. Just before and during the chorus the tempo of the music speeds up and this is matched by the editing; for example 2.05 and 2.28 of the video. The editing is smooth throughout the video and although it pauses for the long shots, the rest of the editing is relatively fast to make the video more interesting and exciting to watch.
Song- Stupid girls Artist- Pink Director- Dave Meyers
Target Audience The core audience of the music video would be fans of the artist, specifically teenage girls with an interest in pop music. As the video tells a great deal about the artists opinions and views on the new generation it has become subject of many debates attracting larger audiences that might not have necessarily seen the video previously. Narrative Structure The negatively portrayed characters in the video are parodies of young female celebrities today. The video reflects the lyrics in which it deplores the lack of good role models for girls whilst encouraging them to cultivate their own independence and individuality. The video highlights the culture's unrealistic pursuit of thinness and drive for physical beauty. The video shows the artist, Pink, as an angel and demon trying to influence the future of a young girl. The angel and demon demonstrate two different directions the young girl can take and will be looked at further in the 'characters' section below. The narrative for this music video fits under one of Roland Barthes 5 action codes, which enable an audience to make sense of a narrative. It meets his 3rd action code; cuttral (prior social knowledge) for example it reflects our attitudes to gender- the scene of pink dancing in a 50 cent video and the stereotypes of "the stupid girl". Setting There are numerous locations in this video, each one representing a point that the song is trying to make. For example one of the settings is the artist, pink, dancing in a 50 cent video. Most people are familiar with the female extras in rap videos and this particular setting is a portrayal of women as a sexual object which is seen predominantly in rap videos. The video uses the setting to emphasis the views of the artist and the point that is being put across. The different situations and dramas shown through the setting are displayed as humorous and making fun of certain celebrities. For example; the scene in the tanning salon is over the top and is humorous to the audience as it has taken a normal situation and exaggerated it. The basic spray tan basis is popular for teenage girls, which happen to be the main audience of this video. The viewers can therefore relate and understand the video and the points that are trying to be made. The producer focuses on the situations being slightly unrealistic and exaggerated as it's more entertaining for the audience and reinforces the point of the video. Characters The artist plays various characters in this video, all of the characters representing one of two groups; characters that represent the "stupid girls" and the characters that are the opposite of this. She is shown in numerous roles some of which include; a dancer in a 50 cent video, a girl at a tanning salon, a girl attempting to attract the attention of an instructor at the gym and a girl getting plastic surgery. All of these characters fit the "stupid girl" title and are portrayed negatively and are parodies of young female celebrities. The characters playing the opposite of the "stupid girl" are; a finishing school teacher, a female president and a girl winning a game of football. These are displayed as positive characters and the end of the video shows the young girl picking a football over make up and dolls. The demon is defeated. Costume The outfits worn are typical costumes of young girls and celebrities. A lot of pink, glitter and fluffy items are used to reflect the girly impression of the "stupid girl". Handbags, sunglasses and statement jewellery is seen predominantly on the characters representing the "stupid girls" and suits, glasses and neat and tidy hair is seen on the characters playing the opposite. All of the costumes are typical of the characters being portrayed. This is known as intertextuality as it's recreating the look and scene's that are typical of each character. Lyrics The lyrics are powerful and strong and tell the points that are being put across by the video, the lyrics reflect the video. The video follows the songs lyrics to emphasis and reinforce the points that the lyrics are talking about. The lyrics make the point and the video merely shows the point visually, the lyrics are mirrored by the video. The lyrics where inspired by the lack of good role models for girls while encouraging them to be independent and individual. The song lyrics help to highlight points such as,' the culture's relentless and unrealistic pursuit of thinness and unattainable drive for physical beauty'. Special effects There aren't many special effects used in this video. The main effect used is the floating demon and angel which represent the two directions the young girl can take. These are made to float in the air, with just there heads shown as demons and angels don't exist. They're fantasy characters taken from inside the girls head and the special effects help to portray this. Camera angles and editing The video displays a number of shots varying from establishing shots to set the setting for each scene, close ups to emphasis certain points, medium close ups, extreme close ups, high and low angles to demonstrate the more powerful and the weak and panning and tracking shots to follow the action of the video. The editing is of a reasonable pace and the camera shots are long enough for the viewer to understand what the image is representing. It isn't however too slow so keeps the viewer interested and compelled to carry on watching. There are sections of faster editing that match the pace of the song, for example 1.08-1.10. In the space of these 2/3 seconds there are 5 different shots which match the tempo of this certain section. As the video is based around telling the viewer a story and is reinforcing a point with each scene, the shots are relatively slow compared to the up tempo music. This is so the story can be clearly seen and understood and the humour of the video can be recognised.
Song- Sabotage Artist- Beastie Boys Director- Spike Jones
Target Audience - The core audience of the music video would be fans of the band and they would be similar ages to the band members. The majority of the fans of the band would be males Narrative Structure Pastiche of a typical American show; Starsky & Hutch, Dukes of Hazard etc. Its portrayed as a cops v robbers crime show with no constant story lines but short, sharp different plot parts which are broken up. It doesn't follow a classic narrative which was dictated by "Propp". Setting There are dozens of locations which results in a numerous amount of spoofs that can be shown. This makes the video more entertaining and exciting for the viewer. The different situations and dramas shown through the setting are displayed as unrealistic and humerous. The audience can therefore relate and understand the humour and plott of the music video. The producer focuses on the situations being unrealistic as it's more entertaining for the target audience to see the band act out the situations drastically. Characters The characters are made up from the band members which is what the audience are expecting and want. Its meeting viewers expectations, this is a clear convention of this type of genre. Costume Moustaches are worn, big side burns are see combined with big hair, smart suits and sunglasses- all of these things relating to the 70's and are typical of police officers in this era and type of genre. This is known as intertextuality as its recreating scene's of a crime show genre. Lyrics The lyrics are powerful and strong which reflects the action theme and overall genre of the video. The video doesn't follow the songs lyrics word for word but is portrayed through the feel of the song and the way it's sung. The strong lyrics are mirrored in the strong action related video. Special effects The special effects are poor but are done this way purposely to again, reflect the american crime shows that were present in the 70's. The random explosions fits in with the cop show theme and the man falling off the bridge is a dummy witch re-enacts the spoof. Camera angles and editing The pace of the video matches the tempo of the song which matches the spoof american crime shows. For example; the tacky captions that are used throughout the video. There are a variety of shots, distances including crash zooms and fast editing. This keeps the audience interested and excited. The music follows the action, as the music slows down the shots slow down too. This reinforces the match of editing to the tempo
For my A2 coursework I had the choice between creating a promotion package for the release of a new album or a promotion package for a new film. The package for the new album includes a music promo video, a cover for it's release as part of a digipak (CD cover) and a magazine advertisement for the digipak. The package for the new film includes a teaser trailer, a film magazine front cover featuring the film and a poster for the film. For this particular project I was told that we had to work in groups to produce all of the aspects of the coursework and i have therefore decided to work with one of my close friends. We have similar taste in music, the genres and artists and can talk well to each other making comprimising and communicating easy so hopefully both our ideas can be incorporated into one project. Together we have decided to produce a music video. I enjoy listening to music and to see how a director interprets the song and the lyrics that go with it. I would therefore like to show others how i have interpreted a piece of music by creating my own music video using other similar genre videos to influence me. My blog is designed to follow the progress of my media coursework, posting videos and images that have helped me to progress whilst producing my music video. I will talk about these videos and images that have influenced me and the ideas i have gained from them.
Hi my names Jade and i am currently a student at Goffs School studying Media, Textiles and Pe for A level. This is my blog where I'll be showing and updating my coursework. Enjoy :)
