Sunday, 29 November 2009

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Digipak Analysis

(Wikipedia)
Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI media, a MeadWestvaco, Inc. resource, which acquired the original trademark holder, IMPAC Group, Inc. in 2000. MeadWestvaco licensed the name and designs to manufacturers around the world.

I found out that a digipak differs from a CD because it combines a DVD and CD together.


Cheryl Wheelers digipak, pointing at the sun, marks her joining the rise of Indie musicians. The whole digipak is very neutral and plain, except for the front cover which draws in the eye because of the use of the black and white. The black and white contrast with each other making the cover stand out and catch the consumers eye. The main image on the front cover is a low, mid-long shot looking through trees; this links to the name of the digipak, pointing at the sun, as the sun is shining through the trees. The artist name is not featured on the front cover making it hard for the audience to distinguish which artist it is. This may sway them into not buying the digipak because the artist name would not catch their eye. The inside cover of the digipak includes an insert making it more appealing to the audience as they would feel that they are getting more for the price. The inside cover includes no pictures or photos of the artist; as there are no photos or name of the artist shown it is very hard for the audience to distinguish who's digipak it is. The inside cover is plain, and carries on the neutral theme from the front cover. This does not make the digipak stand out when it has been opened and may sway the audience into not buying it because it isn't very appealing with the use of bright colours.

Ex Models are a rock/indie band based in Brooklyn, New York. Their second album, Zoo Psychology, was released in 2003. The digipak uses a constant colour scheme throughout; the colours used being browns and other subtle colours. The front cover does not use bright colours to make it stand out and only includes the artists name in small font. The song titles on the back cover of the digipak are in very small font, making them almost impossible to read. This does not make the digipak stand out and catch the consumers eye because song names will not grab them as they look at the back cover. The inside covers carry on the same theme and also use very small font. The cd panel uses a red on the actual cd which makes it stand out from the background, but other than that the panel is very plain. The other inside panel includes information about the digipak and band, i think that this is a good idea because it gives the consumer some background information about what they are buying. Overall i think that this digipak is very plain and that the font is almost too small to read. When i come to make my own digipak i will try and make it stand out by using bright colours and large font.

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Music Video Analysis

Andrew Goodwin, in Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992, Routledge) has identified the features of music videos as:
- Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
- There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
- There is a relationship between music and visuals
- The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist
- There is frequently reference to the notion of looking
- There is often intertextual reference

The Killers - Human


- Demonstrate genre characteristics
The Killers video is performance based with the band performing as if on stage. The video is set in the desert with the equipment set up as if the band is performing to an audience. The equipment includes a microphone, guitar and drums portraying that the band plays all their own music without having other instruments brought in. All the band members are present in the video which is not typical of many genres and seen in many videos. For example, in a pop video you would see the lead singer but not necessarily all of the band playing the instruments. The spotlights over the band also emphasises that they are the main focus of the video and that it is very much performance based, although some narrative elements are brought in.

- Relationship between lyrics and visuals
Close ups of animals link to the lyrics 'are we human?' showing a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The lead singers costume also conveys a link to the lyrics because the detail on the shoulders of his jacket could signify an animal, such as an eagle or another type of bird. A high angle long shot shows the lead singer on his knees, linking to the lyrics 'I'm on my knees looking for the answer..' conveying that the relationship between the lyrics and visuals in this video is amplifying as the visuals are used to emphasise the lyrics.

- The demand of the record label
A close up of the lead singer is the first shot of the band, portraying that he is the main member of the group and that he is the main focus. This is reinforced when mid shots and close ups are shown of the other members of the band, but only for a short time. The focus is then drawn back to the lead singer by another close up and for a longer period of time.

A smoke effect reveals a long shot of a picture of The Killers album. This long shot is used to promote the album in a subtle way without making it the main focus of the video. The end of the video is used to promote The Killers album because the last image that the viewer is left with links to the front cover of the album. The colour schemes and images subtly makes the viewer remember the video when buying the album; encouraging them to purchase it.

The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way


- Demonstrate genre characteristics
Although the video is not a stage performance it is very much performance based as the band play their instruments throughout the whole video. Linking with The Killers video this emphasises that the band play their own music and all the members are present in the video. The main focus is on the band, helping to promote them as well as the song and video.

- Relationship between lyrics and visual
The setting of the video is on the bands tour bus as they tour around the country/ world. This links with the lyrics as the first line of the song is 'So at my show on Monday..' which in the next verse follows 'So at my show on Tuesday..'. This shows an illustrative relationship between the lyrics and visual because the story of the video is that the band is on tour when they meet a girl. If the lyrics weren't there and the video was shown by itself you would not know that this was the story, making the relationship also amplifying.

- The demand of the record label
Many of the shots in the video are close-ups of the lead singer and the band. The mid shots and close-ups are mainly of the lead singer portraying that he is the main focus of the video and the main icon of the band. Close-ups of the other members of the band are shown for a shorter period of time showing they are less significant than the lead singer. Long shots and extreme long shots of the whole band are used frequently to convey the closeness of the group and to reinforce that the band play their own music, and also to emphasise the performance element of the video.

Other music video I looked at include:
Scouting for girls - She's so lovely
Kasabian - Empire

Target Audience Research - Indie

As we changed the genre that we will be researching I have written up another target audience research plan for the indie genre. The target audience we have chosen is 14-18 year old boys and girls. I would send questionnaires to 8 boys and 8 girls, 2 of each gender from each year and ask them to fill it out and send it back, I would also send out a couple more in case some people didn’t reply. The questionnaire would include questions about magazine advertisements, music video promos and digipaks, such as: ‘How often do you buy magazines?’ and ‘Does a music advertisement sway you into buying the CD?’ Following this I would ask 1 boy and 1 girl from each year group to do a more in depth interview which I would film. This could include examples and options in which they can choose what they prefer and would buy. This would show the differences between the boys and girls tastes.

What is Indie?

(Wikipedia)
Independent music is often abbreviated as 'indie'. The term is used to describe the 'Do-It-Yourself' approach to recording and publishing. Artists represented by independent labels have been known to be focused more on producing music than becoming wealthy. The artists use more off beat styles to create music since they are not hindered by the record label.
Well known artists of the indie genre include: -

- Scouting for girls
A London based band formed in 2005
Record labels: Epic (American)

- The Killers
An American band formed in 2002
Record labels: Island Records (UK, but is now operated in the US)
Vertigo (UK)
Marrakesh Records (UK)

- Kasabian
British band formed in 1999
Record labels: RCA records (American)
Columbia records (American)

- The Kooks
English band formed in 2004
Record labels: Virgin (British)

Monday, 16 November 2009

Target Audience Research - Pop

The genre that we have chosen to research is pop with the target audience of 14-18 year old girls, meaning years 10 to 13. I would send questionnaires to 20 girls, 5 from each year and ask them to fill it out and send it back, I would also send out a couple more in case some people didn’t reply. The questionnaire would include questions about magazine advertisements, music video promos and digipaks, such as: ‘How often do you buy magazines?’ and ‘Does a music advertisement sway you into buying the CD?’ Following this I would ask 1 girl from each year group to do a more in depth interview which I would film. This could include examples and options in which they can choose what they prefer and would buy.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Genre Research

(Wikipedia)

We chose the genre of pop with the target audience of 14-18 year old girls, as in our genre research we found that the pop genre is targeted mainly at the youth audience. Also from asking a selection of our peers we found that girls were the gener most interested in pop music. We then decided what we would need to include in the target audience research.
I wrote up the target audience research plan for the genre of pop and then wrote up the questionnaire for our target audience. After doing this, we decided that pop was not the genre that we wanted to do as we felt that it was predictable and the choice of song would be very hard because of the huge range of artists and audience. Pop also combines with many other genres such as rock, meaning that it is hard to specify what the actual genre is. The genre we are now researching is indie, which we feel will be better suited to us because we are more passionate about it and feel we can really get into it. It also has a smaller range of artists so it is easier to choose a specific song. Our target audience will now be boys and girls aged 14-18. From asking a selection of our peers we found that both genders were interested in the indie genre and that our age range musn't be too low because indie is not targeted at a young audience.

Introduction to the task

I was introduced to the task; following this i chose who i would be working with and then we decided to do the music promo, digipak and magazine advertisement. i will be working with rebecca dudley and we decided to work together because we are both interested in the same type of music so there will be no conflict within the group. We then got to work on deciding our genre and began our genre research.