Digipak Analysis

                  
Text:
The Artists name is shown clearly and is a basic font which keeps the emphasis on the photos of the artist. The album name is shown on her glasses.This is easy to notice as it is the only other text on the front panel. The track list clearly shows all the songs and is in white font so it shows up clearly and again keeps main emphasis on the image. There is no price shown which shows that it can be sold at a price the distributor wants. There is a web address shown on the 2nd panel. Each track has a section about who the composers where, who wrote it and other recording information. It also has the record company logo on the second panel.

Pictorial:
There are several photos of Lady Gaga showing this is her album. She wears outfits that show it is of her style as the clothes are close fitting and of an unusual style. Vibrant but dark colours are used and this relates to her genre and style. The colours put emphasis on the artist and draws the eye. There is no bar code shown on this section of the digipak, but it is on the back of it in the right corner which is a typical position. The website is written in small print on the second panel showing it isn't as important as the actual contents of the pak. The logo is 'Lady Gaga' and is in the font typically used to advertise this artist. It is associated with her so the audience can easily recognise it.

Design:
The colours are vibrant but dark and this fits Lady Gagas style and genre. It is eye catching and emphasises the artist and her style. It is clear to see that this is a Lady Gaga album. This digipak contains just a CD as it only has music content and not video. It is packaged in a normal CD case, which keeps manufacturing costs low and still protects the contents. There is a booklet which opens out and has the lyrics and information printed about each song. This is simple and again easy to manufacture as it can be folded and fits into the CD case.

 

 

Pop Genre Magazine Conventions

1. Band/ Artist Name: With the bigger artists the name is often written in plain text and not emphasised so much as the artist is easily recognised. The name is usually placed around the image of the artist or slightly overlapping so more emphasis is put on the picture. 
2. Colour: The colours tend to be associated with the artist and is often with female artists, pink girly colours or bold colours that emphasis power. There are often not a wide range of colour and is usually subtle. Although some artists have a bold colour theme that stands out.
3. Font: The text tends to be a simple font and not striking so it doesn't take away attention of the image.
4. Photos/ Images: There are usually photos of the artist/ artists in the center of the page and with women, they are usually shown looking sexy in revealing clothes to act on 'male gaze'.
5. Record company: The record company is not normally mentioned unless it is a new act.
6. Critical quotes/ ratings: The bigger artists usually don't have ratings as they are already well known. Newer artists trying to break into the industry tend to have critical quotes/ ratings to try and promote them.
7. Target Audience: The advert/ magazine page tends to be directed at men with the idea of the 'male gaze', but will also be directed at women as they will aspire to be like the artist. It will also appeal to fans of the artist or to those that enjoy the genre of music.

Katy Perry- Initial Ideas & Presentation..

From the tracks we were given, as a group, we chose Katy Perry- Time's Up which is of the pop/ rock genre.
For our initial research we decided to look at several of Katy Perry's music videos that have already been released. We did this to see whether Katy had her own style, and what her videos had in common and if we wanted to include any elements in our video. 

Firstly we looked at the video for 'Hot N Cold'. We noticed that it had a linear narrative based around the theme of a wedding. This video shows a fun interpretation of what it is like for a man to commit to such a big responsibility. Katy Perry creates a vibe of the 'crazy bride', chasing the groom around and 'freaking him out' as such. This adds to the surreal experience of the video on the whole.  

The performance and dancing links into the narrative and the lyrics. This dancing is energetic like the tempo of the song.

There were costume changes throughout the video that links well to the lyrics; for example 'you change your mind like a girl changes clothes'. Another element that changes throughout the video is the dominating colours- ranging from white to red and towards the end of the video the colours are bright & vibrant.

The camera shots tend to be wide and close up shots, with the dancing more mid shot/ wide shot- to show the full effect of the dance routines. The direct address in the video tends to be close ups- putting emphasis on the fact she is singing to someone.

We also noticed the comical element, such as when the vicar starts dancing near the start of the song. With humour in her video, this makes it more enjoyable for the audience making them intrigued to watch more. The video also has a surreal moment near the end- with Katy walking towards the man with a zebra. To an audience it would make them wonder what it meant and definitely make them remember the music video and perhaps recommend to others. 

The next video we looked at was Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. The link below:

Straight away with this video you see it is a linear narrative. The idea based around teenagers and their lifestyle. The storyline of a teenage romance with Katy Perry's American way of portraying it- meaning the overall mis-en-scene of costume, location etc. The notions of looking lies with both the male and female gaze- as both genders have attractive cast. There are many sexual undertones to her video- as she sings about love, romance with some lyrics suggesting 'Let's go all the way tonight. no regrets, just love'. There is also a lot of kissing and actions suggesting they are a couple.

The setting varies throughout the video with different locations such as in a car driving down a country lane, to inside a gym, a bedroom, the sea and then in a swimming pool. The time goes from day to night, so supports the idea of it being linear.
As for the costume, there is hardly any change of clothes throughout the video. One particular change you suggest it's a flashback as she has a very different hair style and plain make-up, from that small clip, you get the impression it was the day they met.

This video has a variety of different shots, some moving shots near the start (in the car), many mid/ wide shots and also some close ups. The close up shots put emphasis on mainly her face as she is singing, but also with the couple in the bed- zooming in on them getting undressed.

The song itself has a mid/ fast tempo with a strong bass.. this gave the video an opportunity to include some dance and watch the teenagers having a good time to the upbeat pop song.

These videos would appeal to fans of the artist and to those who like the pop genre, which would mostly be teenagers through to adults in their 20's or older. We would need to think of ideas that people of this age group could relate to and understand.

From looking at both videos we did not find a 'motif' or main element symbolising Katy Perry's music videos, or anything we found recurred in each video. Our song track follows along the lines of a relationship. The lyrics suggest she is singing to a man in her life about a break up- as many of her videos have this in common, you could say her 'motif' is all the videos link to love & relationships.
Some elements of her videos we considered fitting in our music video. Some examples below:

• We find the theme of relationships works well with our chosen song track- with the lyrics being along the lines of a break up between two people.
• We chose for the video to be narrative, as this then links to Katy Perry's other videos, but also because a narrative can be much more interesting to watch with telling a story.
• The narrative then will be fragmented, so the story makes sense, but not necessarily in the right, linear order. 
• The surreal spin she puts on her videos (for example, the zebra in 'Hot N Cold')  is very odd yet interesting and we would consider using something equally as eye-catching as that.
• Her videos are all 'more than meets the eye', with meanings behind them all. We would consider this when thinking about what we want to do and how we can also include hidden meanings in our video.

 

Digipak analysis..

Pop Digipak: Mcfly- Wonderland Album

 Text:
The band's name is prominantly shown on the top left hand side in bold capitals, which also happens to be their logo. Having it on the left works best to emphasize it as you read from left to right.

The album title is in the top centre of the cover in a smaller, different font to the band name. This makes it clear us that the smaller text is the album title and not the name of the band.

The track list is on the back of the album. This is written in a small but readable black font with a clear indication to which track number it is.

There is no price label visable- which means it can be sold at the discression of the shop/ company.
There are no bonus tracks or material.

No website is stated on either side of the album, but there is mention of the record companies involved and also the band's management staff. This is marked in a small black font on the bottom right side on the back cover.


Pictorial:
On the front cover there is a large picture of the band members which is intergrated into a surreal 'Alice in Wonderland' themed drawing (hence the album title- Wonderland). The band members are shown in their highly posed, air brushed guises wearing predominantly blue clothes. Showing them in blue with the neutral pose emphasizes them against the red surreal images. The back cover doesnt include an image of the band, but it does continue the theme of the illustrations.

The barcode is on the back cover on the bottom right corner- which is the common place for bar codes to be positioned. The bar codes postioning is almost psychologically placed so that the purchaser thinks about it last with the sense that it is always placed on the lowest right hand cornor of usually the back of the album.

As for the logo, the bands name (written in its specific font) has become a logo and thus has doubled up as showing the bands name and putting the logo on the cd cover. This is quite clever and saves space but it does truly depend on what the artists logo is.

The website is written in the smallest print of all on the back of the album. The significance of this is that it shows that the website is not that important to the band, they are more concerned with the aesthetic appeal of the logo, and the selling power of the list of songs. At the end of the day the band are trying to sell the cd and not their website.


Design:
Because of the bands little fame and the fact that they have very few released songs compared to some bands (aka ACDC/ Greenday) they have only included one cd of their best songs to the date. There is therefore no pull out function to the album but instead a simple open and close plastic cover to the single cd.

There is no cardboard sleeve to the album which is probably something to do with the fame of the artist. The more famous they are the more people are willing to pay on a fancy sleeve covered, pull out album. Mcfly meanwhile as a boy band with their highest percentage of fans being teenage girls under sixteen dont have the clientle who can afford to pay more than ten pounds for an album. The important thing about the cd therefore becomes that it has a low manufacturing cost, with the price of even a sleave being too much.

As for the colours involved they are all bright the whole way through with the comparison between the blue and the red being used the whole way through the makeup of the album. The bright colours being used are again to do with the genre being simply pop which is to do with lots of bright exiting colours that "pop" out at you.

Choice of Song...

Having been given our 8 music tracks, as a group we decided to go for a pop track from the well known singer Katy Perry- as we all liked the song and found it had the most potential. The song is 'Times Up'- the link below shows the song & lyrics. It has the potential to fulfill several of Goodwin's points- and already we have started to come up with ideas.

Comparison of music videos...

We looked at two different music videos from different genres, rock and pop.

Pop video Lady Gaga- Paparazzi vs. Rock Video Green Day- American Idiot

Using Goodwin's theory Lady Gaga's video combines a linear narrative with a concept based dance sequence that has intertextual references. It almost spoofs the french films of the 1930s and 40s which is shown through the title sequence and the subjects speaking in French. The narrative fits with the song, as it is about the way the paparazzi portay the artist involved: Lady Gaga. The narrative shadows this by showing a comic book farce of Gaga being pushed off of a balcony and becoming paralysed while being persued by the paparazzi then her learning to walk again. Everything is extremely over exagerated and surreal. 

On the other hand, in Green Day's video it is strictly performance based. The three band members are shown literally just playing their instruments. Although they are just playing their instruments meanwhile it does include intertextual reference as they have included shots of the camera actually filming the performance. There are also a couple of shots of a television screen which shows the performance as if being played on the TV.

There is connection in the Greenday video between the lyrics and the music through, the american flag taking up the background (green to be different and fit in with the green of the bands Greenday)

and the fact that the song repeats the line "American Idiot" a lot.

In Gaga's video the setting is in a mansion. Shots of a mansion take up the majority of the video, with different rooms assumingly of the mansion being shown at different intervals dependent on wether they are following the narrative or showing the shots of concept based material.

Greendays video meanwhile is purely based in what has been set up as a empty warehouse. This creates a sparseness that really shows off the band as they play, and gives a much more grungy look that is so unlike the highly polished and contrived setting of the Paparazzi video.

Lady Gagas video is full of notions of looking with for example indicative outfits being worn and suggestive dance moves being shown. 

In the Greenday meanwhile there is no sign of notions of looking which is something that is almost a convention of rock music videos where there is very little use of the notion of looking.

Characteristics of the actual artists are also involved heavily in both videos, as both being well established artists they bring they create and emphasise their own personas in the videos. Lady Gaga is personified with the introduction with shocking and outrages scenes, which are shown in this video. She is also known for her outrages outfits.

Greenday meanwhile are personfied by the colours that they use in their videos, which is due to the name a lot of green, plus due to their genre red and black.

  

Rock genre magazine conventions..

1. Band/ Artist Name: The name is the most prominant thing on the page. Usually in bold, clear text or they might just use their logo if it says the name.
2. Colour: A lot of black, white and red which have become the stereotypical colours of rock with its gothic foundations.
3. Font: The band name/ album name are usually in a much more surreal font, whereas the bulk of the actual information is in plain, readable font.
4. Photos/ Images: It really depends on what kind of rock e.g. indie often uses surreal images not necessarily linked to the band or even the songs. Most rock bands would use photos of themselves with their instruments.
5. Record company: The fame of the artist almost dictates wheither or not the record company have a smaller or larger mention (logo). For example the band 'Kiss' is prolific enough not to need the fame of a record company label taking up their advertising space.
6. Critical quotes/ ratings: Like the record company logo, the more legendary the artist/ band is, the less likely they require ratings and quotes to sell it. Unsigned bands may use as many ratings and quotes as they can to get public attention.
7. Target Audience: Rock genreally is aimed at an older audience, with many of the themes centred on violence, sex and anti- social behaviour. Therefore the conventions are almost scarily designed so it is clear to whom they appeal.

Music Album Advertisment

Codes Of A Magazine Advert Analysis 2

Name of band/ artist and album - 'Mika' is written in large, trademark font to state that he is the artist and the font is associated with him, the name of the album is 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' which is written underneath Mika.

Date of album release - 'OUT 21.09.09' in the bottom right hand corner underneath the words 'THE NEW ALBUM'

Band/artist image/ style - Cartoon surrealistic images and space/ solar system images with stars and planets as the background to the surrealistic pictures. There is an image of the artist Mika which is in black and white.

Featured songs - 'We are Golden' and 'Blue Eyes' 

Form of Release (CD, download) Says it is available as Deluxe CD and download.

Either photograph or artwork as main image - The main image is the artwork as it fills the page and there is only a small picture of the artist.

Record company - Universal music

Bands website- myspace/ official page - Mikasounds.com

Critical quotes, ratings - There are no ratings or critical quotes on this advert.

Set colour scheme - Bold, vibrant colours and black and white background images and photograph.

Auteur Theory

Hype Williams
Hype Williams has produced music videos of mostly RnB and Hip Hop genres and started in 1991.

Hypes first signiture style was the use of the 'Fisheye lens'. However he dropped this style by 2003 when he experienced a low level of production since he began his career as a music video director. Examples of this techniques is used in  'Gimme Some More' by Busta Rhymes, 'The Rain (supa Dupa Fly) by Missy Elliot and Gettin' Jiggy Wit it' by Will Smith

He then adopted the style of placing shots in regular widescreen ratio, whilst a second shot is split and shown in the upper and lower bars.  This style was used in music videos such as 'Check on it' by Beyonce, 'Control Myself' by LL Cool J ft Jennifer Lopez and in'So Sick' by Ne-Yo.

Another signiture style that Williams has adopted is combining a center camera focus on the artist/ actor's body from torso up with a solid background colour and a soft different coloured light is shown in the center background. This gives a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject. This is used in 'Gold Digger' by Kanye West,  and 'Video Phone ft Lady Gaga' by Beyonce.

Magazine Advert Analysis.

Codes of a magazine advert analysis 1

1. Name of Band/ Artist and Album: Phil Collins' name is prominantly shown on the top left hand side of the advert. It's the largest text on the page- making it most noticable. Underneath, in a slightly smaller text, is the name of his album 'Going back'. The chosen font looks like a hand written scrawl which we prosume is his writing, almost as if it's an autograph. 

2. Date of Album release: It's almost the smallest text on the advert, and unlike number one is in simple generic block capital font. As well as the release date it also informs you that you can pre-order it.

3. Band. Artist image/ style: The image used is of himself as a young boy playing on the drums (which is what he's best known for). They've chosen to present it in black and white which fits in with the idea of it being an old photograph. The photo links in with the album title as it's called 'going back' and the photo is him from the past.

4. Featuring songs: It doesnt list any songs but it does state how many songs there are and the genre.

5. Form of release (Cd, Download): It doesnt tell you the form of release. There is an assumption that it will be of CD form because it states you can 'pre-order' it.

6. Either photograph or artowrk as main image: Yes, it is the photo that is the main image.

7. Record company: Two very small logos for the record companies are portrayed underneath the website bottom left of the advert. Unlike the other text in the advert the logos and website are in white.

 8. Band's Website: As mentioned it is above the two logos of the record company, but it is right at the bottom in very small text.

9. Critical quotes/ ratings: There are no quotes or ratings. As Phil Collins is well known and well loved, it seems unnecessary to include further critique of his work.

10. Set Colour Theme: It is in black and white, which fits in well with his idea of 'going back'.

Music Video History

The first major event in music video history was the experimental film movement, which started in the 1920s. At this point in time, few people were involved or interested in this genre of film making. The conventions of this movement went against the ordinary linear narrative, which was popular at the time. Instead they popularised the use of conventions such as abstract imagery, rapid editing and the out of focus shots. Although unappreciated at the time, it has now become its own genre of music video. Example below shows one of Andy Warhol's attempts at experimental music video making.




The next important event on our music video timeline is the invention of the Soundies. These were a type of coin-operated jukebox that combined sound and film, that were produced in New York, Chicago and Hollywood at the start of the 1940s. The three minute long black and white musical films, which covered a wide range of genres, became popular viewing in bars, clubs, restaurants and amusement centres. They were designed to attract wartime military personal on leave and often had patriotic messages such as 'We're all Americans' and 'When Hitler Kicks the Bucket'. Eventually in 1946 they had become less popular and unfashionable and production halted.

With the disappearance of the Soundies in popular culture, a gap in the market brought about the invention of the Le poinconneur des Lila (scopitone) by the French inventor Serge Gainsbourg in 1958. Like the soundies, it was a type of jukebox that played music videos, this time in colour. They became widely popular in Europe in the 1960s where they were coined as the Scopitone. By 1964, they were being installed in American bars and Diners. Like the Soundies they too became outdated, and by the 1970s they were no longer majorly used.

Goodwin analysis... Aha- Take on Me music video

Aha- Take On Me

This video is mainly narrative with elements of performance.
The lyrics and the visuals slightly match up- but it's not obvious. For example, his hand comes out of the comic book when the say 'Take me on'- this has slight meaning.
The genre of the song is traditional pop- it's a very surreal video which fits in with this genre.
The comic book world created along with the fashion attributed to the band members relives the 1950's american pop culture and makes the video almost retro.
The notions of looking are of both male and female but mostly the male icon. As the man in the video is shown to be stronger than the woman by charming her into coming into his comic book world. As for looks, they are both equally attractive, but the male attraction is slightly more obvious due to his stylish get-up and allover look based in the retro era.

Goodwin's Theory..

Music videos are assicoiated with:

• Links between lyrics and music
• Links between music and visuals
• Genre characteristics
• Intertextual reference
• Notions of looking
• Performance, Narrative, and concept based music videos
• Demands of music label

Links between lyrics and music:
When there is a connection between the lyrics and the visuals on screen.
Genre characterisitics:
Different genres use different characteristics.
Intertextual reference:
They use reference to other media, for example Maroon 5's 'Moves Like Jagger' with many references to Mick Jagger's performances. Link below.



Notions of Looking:
The gaze theory comes into play with the idea of objectifiying men and women.

Performance: Generally shown in rock videos where the artists are simply shown giving their performance. Link below:



Narrative: Telling a story relative to the song. Example below of Take That's- How deep is your love. A story of a lady who has lost her mind and captures the Take That members.  



Concept based: Not telling a story and not just performing. This could include dancing or other forms of expression. An example of this would be Beyonce's music video 'Single Ladies'.

Demands on music labelling:
The record label has a certain control over the artist they sign. Artists may therefore develop a motif which resonates throughout their work.

Goodwin Theory Music Video Analysis Rihanna's Cheers (Drink To That)

Looking at Rihanna's Cheers (Drink To That) music video:
Fragmented Performance. Shots change between a live performance and clips behind the scenes whilst Rihanna is getting ready to perform. There are other clips of her in situations such as spending time with friends, driving and on the beach. There are several clips of Avril Lavigne who performs on the chorus.

Links between the lyrics and visuals with drinking. The lyrics say 'with my raybans on' and she points to her glasses. The music fazes in and out when it is on a deck and Rihanna does the motions of scratching.

There is intertextual reference when she uses a camera. Some of the footage she uses is used within the video.

She's a girl and is sexualised and the idea of gaze is played on as she wears revealing clothing. This also conforms to her style. Many shots show how her style has changed, such as clips of her with long brown hair but then other shots of her with her current red look.

The shots of Avril Lavigne feature a skateboard, which is a feature of her style and genre of Pop Rock. This is a contrast to Rihannas style of R&B and Hip Hop. Carribean style in the way she sings, the colours and the locations in the video.