Bowie • Writing in big letters, circles around it – makes it look more appealing.
• Use of pictures of the artist so have an idea of who the artist is and makes it look more visually appealing
• Contrasting colours of black white and purple so things stand out a lot more.
Midlake- “The Courage Of Others”
• Black background with white writing to make it stand out
• Big picture in the middle which is also the album cover so it relates well and the people buying the cd know what to look for.
• Date of when it is out so people know when to buy it
• Reviews by well known music magazines so that it could persuade people to buy it
• Dates of gigs are also at the bottom and their own websites are there as well so they are able to advertise these themselves.
The Family Jewels – Marina & the diamonds
• I like this advert because it has the use of a “vintage” background with white scruffy writing over it which I think gives it a unique look.
• It has the main singer as the centre of the advert and the image has been photo-shopped to give her a more “perfect” and “fake” appearance that is involved a lot in music videos.
• It advertises both the single and the album and when they are going to be out.
• Again has reviews at the bottom by well know newspapers and magazines and therefore again this would persuade someone to buy it more if they know other people think it is good.
• The artist’s website is at the bottom to advertise itself.
• This advertisement I feel looks more “chique” and isn’t as “messy” as I find Bowie’s advert where things are all dotted around. I think it looks better if it is more simple.
Quasi
• This advertisement I really do not find appealing as it has too much writing and needs to be more straight to the point.
• It still has the date of when it is out but has no real quotes or recommendations by anyone.
• It shows other albums by Quasi which although I think is quite good it just looks messy and definitely needs to be more simplified.
• The image at the top has no real significance and would leave some people clueless. Sleeping could give off the impression it is boring?
This album cover uses the main artist as the subject of this cover which I think is important to help with the identity of the album. It also has been noticeably airbrushed which I have seen happens on a lot of album covers including that of Lady Gaga and Rhianna and this may be to do with the representation of women and how they should be “perfect”. Therefore if I did decide to have a woman on my front cover of my album design I would have to keep in mind this fact and consider airbushing and “perfecting” the model. Black and white also helps work with the “classy” theme in which the artist is trying to do as we can see from the use of props – in this case the head piece she is using and so I should consider the use of colours and props and how they would relate. This album cover is not entirely related to that of any of her songs and therefore I felt that this would be a useful cover to look at as I could use this idea for my own digpak design. As this is quite a famous album cover it means that I may not need to stick closely to my choice of song.
CHASE AND STATUS - MORE THAN ALOT
Chase and Status’ album “More Than A lot” is a lot different from that of Cheryl Cole’s debut and instead uses vibrant pink and large words to help create emphasis and an impact. It does not go for a “classy” look and instead has more of an “edge” to its design which I think relates to the type of music that it is. Where Chase and Status has more of an underground drum and bass type of music Cheryl Cole is more of a pop icon and so I should consider this when designing my piece. I also like how they have the use of black and pink images in the writing itself which I think is quite clever and it uses a more spray painted, dotted effect to get it a rough edge.
RAZORLIGHT -
Razorlight have a different, very simple approach of just using themselves in the picture upon a white background using black and white. Although not as interesting as perhaps the other two, it is straight to the point, giving the audience an idea of who they are, the type of music they sing due to their perhaps stereotypical clothing in which may indicate they are an indie band and having “Razorlight” in big, bold capital letters to get the point across. With this in mind I feel it would be effective to keep my design perhaps quite simple and sometimes less is more and it would get my point across more easily.
I asked 20 people my questionnaire to get an idea of what is popular in a music video and what people would want to see in it. By using 20 people I would get a variety of different people and a better understanding of what is wanted.
As well as just using the internet for my secondary research I decided to also Media Magazines. What I did find to be very useful were Top 10 Tips for making your own music video as this would be ideal to help me get an idea of what to do and how to do it effectively.
I found this particularly useful as it gave me an insight on what to do and how to do it as I have never made a music video before and this is all very new to me.
Pete Fraser 'Ten tips for making your own music video' in Media Magazine, February 2007 Issue 19, English And Media center
How to analyse a music video... Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)
1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band). 2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). 3.There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). 4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). 5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. 6.There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).
As I am going to have to create my own promotional music video I have decided to look at other videos in order to see how other people have created videos within the industry. I have decided to look at a combination of different genres of music to get a better idea of the criteria for a music video.
The first video is Down - Jay Sean ft. Lil' Wayne
There is a dance routine included in the video as is typical to that of an R’n’B/Pop singer, yet it does not really relate to any of the song and is instead used as a tool to keep the audience interested. The video itself does not really tell a story to go alongside the song and is instead just used to entertain. As well as this, the main male singer Jay Sean shows off his fit physique to the audience to create some sex appeal which is a big thing used in a majority of videos. There is also the use of a female love interest as well as other women throwing themselves over him again to add to the appeal. However the video is quite in the way it uses women’s body which could possibly be to do with the singer who may also want to project himself to a younger audience as well. The video also involves a lot of close up to the main singer but not only this but of the supporting act of Lil’ Wayne who is also a well known artist and so is also key to add to the appeal to the song. However what is different from some other videos is the use of special effects by using glowing lights to create a sense of “magic” within the room or could be related to the sky or something which could then relate to the song with the lyrics “even if the sky is falling down”. It has no particular use of subcultures in which it is directed to in anyway and its projected toward a very wide audience, yet within the video itself it is very upper class focused with how it is at a ball and everyone is nicely dressed, the men in suits and the women in flattering dresses all of which is fashionable which is key. It gives the video a professional look and something in which people would perhaps aspire to be but has no particular stereotypical references in the visual things we see.
Secondly, Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy
The beginning is particularly related that of the lyrics in this song “Invaders Must Die” by using trespasser signs, army figurines and death within the video. Also it uses the Prodigy logo with the ant throughout it to help point out who is actually singing the song as they are not actually in the video as the main characters but only have a supporting role, instead using the actor Noel Clarke who is quite well known and so again this would attract the audience to watch it. However, what is key to this video is the fact that it does not use women as sex objects and instead concentrates on the song itself and ways to relate this to the video. This video goes against stereotypes and is shown as very subversive with the use of the lone man who seems to go against any one "type" of person. He seems to be what we would consider a "loner" because he is different and we later realise he suffers from a disorder which therefore could make him fall into that category of stereotypes.
Artic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down
This video is very different from the majority of videos we see today which are all highly over the top in the way they are edited and made to be seen as perfect which is why I like how this video is so very different from the rest. I feel that it shows a high sense of realism in both plot and visual effects as it seems far more "real" than most other videos which show a more fake and "perfect" unreality where women are airbrushed to perfection and their are many different dance routines and everyone being the height of happiness. This video however, shows a more hard hitting reality with a dark grunge effect video with the use of dark colours and real setting. The story line itself is a lot different to normal videos also with an average woman who has not been airbrushed in anyway like someone like Lady Gaga is in her videos, and links in with the song lyrics and "roaming the streets." It also shows fights and disrespects women by treating them badly, which although could be said for the videos of women being scantily clad in other videos yet this video targets it in a different way. It could also be a representation of the working class. The main women is said to be roaming the streets which could make us question whether she is homeless and this could then be a representation of women who find it very hard to live within todays society having so little money. She is also dressed in a very particular way which some of us today would consider very "chav" or common and in social terms is very beneath a lot of people. The male character seems to take advantage of this which some people could say is quite stereotypical, particularly as the man is quite horrible in the way he treats both the woman and other people around him. He could be seen as the typical "gangster" type character which we see happens a lot in films such as "This Is England" and "London To Brighton" in particular and so it has this film aspect of reality within its storyline. With these things in mind I would like to consider a few of these ideas in my video as I think that this video is different in the way that it sees things and shows thing in a more realistic way which I would like to incorporate that in my own work.
With these things in mind we need to consider the locations of where we will shoot our video aswell as whether we will conform to stereotypes in order to get our message across in our video. We need to decide whether we want to surbverse against stereotypes or whether to go along with it to find common ground with our audience. Not only this but do we go with the perfection aspect of the video or sway towards realism to help create a more hard hitting storyline.
Research: 28th January 2010 Planning: 26th February 2010 Main Task Production: 26th March Ancillary Tasks Production: 9th April 2010 Individual Evaluation: 30th April 2010
For my coursework I will be producing promotional packaging for the release of a music album which will include a promotional music video, an album cover, and magazine advertisement.
I will be researching into how music videos are made, the key features used within a music video and other important factors in which to make an effective video. I will be using both primary and secondary research in order to carry out my research.
Once this is complete I will pull together a range of ideas in order to help with my production of my coursework, using what I have learned from my research in order to do so. I will also create a schedule of what is to be done in order to help time manage my work and use my time as effectively as possible.
I will also follow these ideas through with the other two aspects of the coursework with both the cover and advertisement.
