Magazine Advertisement - The Killers

Above is a magazine advertisement for The Killers "All The Greatest Hits Live From The Royal Albert Hall".  The first thing that attracts the eye to the advertisement is the outstanding title of the band. Not only does the size of the text grab the audiences' attention, but it is the iconic logo for the band and is shown on every advertisement/CD/DVD associated with the band. Secondly, the picture of the Royal Albert Hall in the center stands out against the purple/lilac background. Using such an iconic building on an advertisement could attract other potential customers who would normally not listen to the band.

 Below this, we see more text that says "featuring" and continues to state some well known songs by the band. This technique is used to attract a wider audience, not only fans of the band. A stranger or someone who does not listen to The Killers could recognise the title of the song and therefore spark interest in them to find out more or even buy the album. At the bottom of the advert, a contrasting white text stands out bold against a black background, stating the release date for the CD/DVD. However, the colour scheme of the advertisement is very typical of The Killers. Their previous album, Day and Age, has the exact same mosaic background as the one used in this advertisement. The background alone is very eye capturing and a unique album cover associated with The Killers, therefore it could instantly capture a viewer's attention and they could relate to the advert straight away.

Magazine Analysis - Stereophonics

This is a magazine advertisement for Stereophonics' album Keep Calm and Carry on. This is a very typical advert for an album, as it tells the audience when the album will be out, on what formats the album is available and the official website for the band. The first thing that capture's the audience's eye is the band, Stereophonics, sitting at the table. This certain aspect of the advertisement is central and dominates the full picture. Using the band in their own advertisement supports Andrew Goodwin's theory of 'star image' of using the star e.g. Stereophonics to promote their material and boost profits. I also noticed that Kelly Jones, the front-man of the band, is the only member facing towards the front. This detail could have been added deliberately to attract an audience as they would recognise Kelly Jones and may then be attracted to the advertisement, introducing the potential to buy the album.

The colour palette is quite dull toned, consisting of blacks, blues and white. By using such colours that co-ordinate together easily then using bold black and white text means the advertisement will be attractive to the eye. The black font at the top contrasts against the light sky to make the name of the band stand out and similarly at the bottom, the white font contrasts against the blue sea to make sure the audience can see clearly when the album is available to buy.

The overall construction and colours of the advertisement are typical of an alternative rock band, making it useful for consumers who like that genre to identify the type of music advertised in the poster. "Keep Calm and Carry On" links in directly to the image used within the advertisement. Although the band are sat in the middle of the sea, they are keeping calm and carrying on with what they are doing. 

Initial Ideas - The Stone Roses (I Wanna Be Adored)

Initial Ideas - The Stone Roses (I Wanna Be Adored) on Prezi

Permission Request

Before I could use the track "I Wanna Be Adored" by the Stone Roses, I first had to seek permission from the Stone Roses, or this would be seen as copyright infringement. Firstly, I e-mailed Roses List Request to ask permission to use the Stone Roses' track. The original record label for the band was Silvertone Records however, they went into liquidation and are no longer available to contact. I research the internet and finally found Roses List Request. This turned out to be another e-mail address I could contact and is the main mailing list for The Stone Roses. Below is my evidence to show this. 

After that, I also decided to use Twitter to ask the official Stone Roses for their permission to use their track, I Wanna Be Adored. The evidence for this is below: 

Music Video Analysis - The La's (There She Goes)

The La's were an English alternative rock band from Liverpool and were mainly active around later 1980's, hitting big with a track called "There She Goes". The video for "There She Goes" opens with a creative editing technique, accompanied by a iconic guitar riff. A medium long shot of the guitarist is shown within a low angle shot of another guitarist with a colour palette of pinks and oranges, which is continued throughout the video. Still within the shot of the guitarist, we then see a close up of a female, who the audience then can relate the title of "There She Goes" to and assume this is the female that the singer is singing about.

A lot of close up angled shots of the instruments are used, normally when the instrument dominates that part of the song. Been an alternative rock band, this is a common convention of displaying the band/artist' instrument(s). The overall video use's a lot of varied and creative camera shots such high/low angles, zooming out angled shots, close ups, rotating long shots and zooming pans. The use of such angles makes the video interesting and keeps the attention of the audience on the band and the video. Throughout the video, there are several overlaid images of the female that we first saw at the beginning of the video which may have been used to keep reference to the female and the lyrics of the song directed at her. Laura Mulvey's theory of the "male gaze" can also be applied to this video. Several pans of the females' legs are shown and close ups of her face and eyes are also repeated to attract a male's attention.

Editing techniques have been emphasized greatly within this video. The brightness and contrast of the colours have been changed to allow the colours to stand out and highlight the band, captivating the audiences' eye and keeping them interested. The front man of the band, Lee Mavers, is constantly on screen and in the viewers face more so than any other member of the band. This is simply because he is the front man and the one who the audience wants to see. The song is basically a song about a male who's lost the female he loves however, other people have interpreted the song as a reference to heroin and the female representing the drug. 

Music Video Analysis - Primal Scream (Country Girl)

The main reason I picked "Country Girl" by Primal Scream is because the whole video contradicts the stereotype of a 'country girl'. The song is a very upbeat track and this is shown through the action within the video and the use of vibrant, bright colours. In the actual video, we only see the front man of the group, Bobby Gillespie. This may have been done to draw the attention of the viewers more to the narrative of the video than the band. 

Throughout the video, the audience is given the impression that this female is no ordinary 'country girl' but totally contradicts the stereotype of a sweet, innocent girl. Several references are made to show the contradiction. For example, 0:26, there is a close up shot of the female's hand which seems to be bandaged up with blood on, suggesting she has either been in a fight or cut her hand. Another example is 0:58, we see the female drinking Jack Daniel's from the bottle, acting like more of a rough type than an innocent person. Mise en scene is a huge factor in the target audience for this video. Through the full video,the female is seen in very little clothing. At the beginning, we see her wearing a short, red dress that shows off her chest a lot. We then see her sat on the bedroom floor, taking drugs in only her underwear, which will probably be very appealing to the male eye. 

The country theme is constantly sufficed in the video as well. At 0:51, we see 'Country Girl' scrolled across Bobby in rope, representing a lasso. Mise en scene also shows the country theme through the use of a cowboy hat, cowboy style boots, denim shorts and jacket and line dancing. The lightining towards the end of the video changes to a dark theme which could reflect the females rebellious attitude. Overall, the narrative of the video is all about a country girl who's came to the city to have fun and cause trouble. 

Music Video Analysis - The Killers (When you were young)

 The first few seconds of the video "When you were young" by The Killers has no sound but a single drumbeat, representative of a heartbeat, which then matches the switching shots between a worried looking man and the back of a woman on top of a hill. From this, the audience can tell that the woman has gone missing and the man is trying to find her however, we cannot yet tell why she has gone missing but the narrative of the whole video does tell us. Throughout the entire video, the theme of religion is displayed boldly. Firstly, we see the girl in white kneeling beside a white cross that overlooks the city. The framing of the camera at 1:04 makes the cross look dominant to the rest of the shot, suggesting the power of God and that she's gone there looking for answers. Shortly after that shot, we see the girl again, surrounded by candles and holding prayer beads. From this, the audience can see the video has gone back in time as the location has changed from the hill top. Also, which is very typically expected of alternative rock, the band The Killers are actually playing during the video and the camera makes sure they are still shown a lot in conjunction with the narrative party of the video. The lighting centered around the band is quite low, with dark colours, accompanied by close ups and extreme close ups of the band . This could suggest that something bad has happened or is going to happen. This can further be backed up, as the lyrics describe "you sit there in your, heartache" which the audience than can understand Brandon is relating to the girl.

 There is also a lot of direct links between the lyrics and the camera shots and the action going on within them. For example, when Brandon sings "he doesn't look a thing like Jesus" the male bends down to help the female up, displaying a cross behind him, suggesting the female see's him as her Jesus. Also, at 2:54 the lyrics say "and sometimes you close your eyes" as the female walks out of the door, crying with her eyes closed tightly. However, some use of disjuncture is also displayed in the video, to a certain extent. As the lyrics "on the back of a hurricane, that started turning" the camera shows the female's husband in bed with another woman and the female witnesses this. Although the lyrics do not literally link to the shot, the meaning is still conveyed and put across, describing the situation as a "hurricane".

 Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze also appears in the video, at 2.54. As the lyrics talk about the "devil's water", we see the male's eyes flicker down to the female's legs as she pours "the devils water" onto them. Because we assume the male as a holy man, the devils water could mean corruption and sin for him, hence the gazing at the female's legs.

 Around 4.43, we see more ,medium longshots and an upbeat in the song. The lyrics "when you were young" are repeated, suggesting that everything that happened is in the past and the upbeat of the song now as oppose to the duller beat earlier could be saying the female has moved on and everything is better than what is was.

Music Video Analysis - Ian Brown (Keep What Ya Got)

"Keep What Ya Got" by Ian Brown is a very typical video of the artist himself. Since going solo in his career, a lot of Ian's own material is usually accompanied by a video that's based around a materialistic city setting e.g. Manchester, Liverpool, London etc. and this video is no exception. I particularly like this video due to the build up on the entrance of a another well known artist into the video.

Throughout the video, especially at the beginning, a variety of establishing shots are used to show the city surroundings and buildings. This technique allows the viewer to understand where the video is based and sometimes is crucial where meaning of the song is concerned. The first shot is a continuous medium close up of Ian Brown, probably used to show the viewers the artist and immediately attracting an audience who like Ian Brown. Direct links between the lyrics and the shot onscreen are also made frequently within the video. For example, we see a blocking shot of Ian Brown looking through some black gates to the lyrics "Yesterday when Heaven's gates 
I contemplate, they seem so far" hence the gates and the distance he is stood from them.

There is also the mystery of the other male in the video. We don't see his face at the beginning, just several pan shots of the back of the male's head, keeping the audience in suspense. However, viewers who have payed close attention and are a fan of the male in question, would have realised who it was from the medium close up of the male's hand in which a ring is shown; a ring commonly associated with the male and this branding his own personal identity.

At 2:59 we see Noel Gallagher and Ian Brown greet each other when meeting on a corner. The use of two huge artist' in the same video, who are friends, will be very appealing to their target audience. As seen in his previous videos, the majority of camera shots focus on Ian Brown himself, to show his importance and dominance as a solo artist. The video does not really have a linear narrative but more of a hidden meaning, which I think could be either to do with God or with Ian's reflection on  the Stone Roses splitting e.g. "Keep what ya got, by giving it all away".

Music Video Analysis - Beady Eye (Millionaire)

Throughout the video for "Millionaire" by Beady Eye, there is a unique guitar riff which becomes very significant in the fact that it's very distinct so if the audience were to hear the song on the radio, they would be able to associate the riff straight away with this song. The drum beat is then introduced to a shot of thought beats that fit the sound appropriately. The lighting at the beginning of the video gives a very summery feeling to the video, which when linked in with the sound of the guitar riff, indicates the song as a good summer track. The video also has an overlay effect that represents an old film reel, so the video looks more like a memory than actual present day action.

As soon as Liam Gallagher starts to sing, the camera shows a close up of Liam with Andy in the background. This shot has been deliberately set like this to allow the audience to recognize who the singer is, although the audience would probably be able to recognize Liam anyway due to his distinctive voice. Throughout the entire video, there are direct links between the lyrics and the shots within the video. For example,when Liam sings "You drive it" the camera shows Andy driving a car, followed by the lyrics "And i'll spend it, looking out my window" to which then the camera shows a close up of Liam looking out the car window. Another example of this is as the lyric "the light he saw" is sang, a establishing shot of the sun setting then appears, shortly followed by a long shot of waves sparkling in the sun to link in with the lyrics "like diamonds on the water".

Star image is shown constantly through the video. We see close ups of Liam Gallagher and various shots of Andy Bell and Gem Archer, who the audience will recognize as the former band Oasis, minus Noel Gallagher. This factor alone will attract people who liked Oasis and their music. Although the title of the song is "Millionaire", the video does not give much reference to a millionaire lifestyle. In similarity to many of Oasis's videos, the majority of shots in the video are of Liam Gallagher. The producer may have done this to assert Liam's authority in the band, carrying on his legacy from Oasis to Beady Eye.
The mise en scene used in the video is very typical of the band. Parka Coats, sunglasses and mod hairstyles all portray the band in their own light and establish their own personal identity, a theory more developed by Denis McQuail. 

9 Frame Analysis - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds ( Death of you and me)

Lip Sync Task - Oasis (Wonderwall)

For my preliminary task, I was asked to produce a lip sync to a song associated with my genre of alternative rock. I chose 'Wonderwall' by Oasis for three reasons; The song/band are alternative rock and therefore fit in with my genre, Oasis are one of my favorite bands and I thoroughly enjoy the song and finally, the person lip syncing the song for me knows the song and the band very well and was therefore able to recreate the lip sync to a high standard including appropriate mise en scene and attitude.

The task was filmed in and around my home as I knew there were certain locations at home that would fit in with the theme of the lip sync easily. I filmed the entire song four times, allowing me to adjust camera angles and locations. Timing was crucial for this task, as it needed to be completed quickly so I could move on to further aspects of my blog, in order to finish my portfolio in time. Due to this issue, I had to edit the footage at home using a basic program, windows live movie maker. The program in itself was very limited and I found it quite hard to edit the footage to a high standard. One issue I encountered was trying to match the lip sync up to the song. I managed, finally, to get it all up to speed, apart from the clip where the lip sync starts "Back beat, the word is on the street". This was because of little timing between the lyrics and trying to line up the drum beats, which was very hard to do on such a limited program.

The footage was filmed originally in colour however, I decided to change the clips to black and white to resemble the original video for 'Wonderwall' and it's overall black and white theme. 

Shot Count Task - Blur (Parklife)

Analysis
'Parklife' by the four-piece band,Blur, fits in with the alternative rock genre, which is the genre I will be basing my music video around, hence why I chose to analyse this video specifically. I also chose this video because Blur were, and still are, a very influential band which a lot of people felt they could connect with due to their common background. For this task, I had to watch the video for 'Parklife' very closely, observing every shot that was used within the video. Throughout the video, overall, 155 shots were used, mostly consisting of long shots and medium shots of the band. Creative shots, such as filming a mirror and using the reflection as the main focus of that shot, were also used. A lot of close-up and medium long shots of Damon Albarn were used to show the frontman of the group.

Genre
Blur fall into the category of alternative rock. Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became extremely popular by the 1990s. The genre was limited before the introduction of grunge and Brit Pop in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of sub-genre's such as indie rock,Brit Pop and grunge. Other bands associated with the genre are: Oasis, Nirvana, The Killers, Beady Eye and The Stone Roses.

Narrative
The video, in itself, does not have a distinctive storyline but more of a storyline which has been constructed for the audience to decide upon their own perspective. On the face of it, it's basically about two men trying to make a living as business partners, selling windows/double glazing. However, my interpretation is that the video is based around different classes and ways in the British society, in that we are all different in our own ways but are also the same, which links in with the lyrics "All the people, so many people, and they all go hand in hand, hand in hand through their, parklife!"

Audience
The target audience for this video would mainly be based around working class males, anywhere between eighteen and thirty years old. Although Blur came from a middle class background, the video is purposely constructed to fit a working class background to target that type of audience. I think the reason for this is so Blur could fit in more with the majority of society around that time, and this way gaining more fans and becoming more successful.

Representation
As previously mentioned in the audience section, this video is mainly representative of the working classes. Damon Albarn puts on a quite rowdy front in the video and the attitude of a typical working class male. However, the lyrics "they all go hand in hand" may well have been put in to show that no matter what class you are, we are all the same in the end, this making Blur very popular amongst the working classes who don't want to be treated differently because of their wealth.

Definitely Maybe Digipak Analysis - Oasis

  

Pictured above is the front cover of the album by the Manchester band Oasis titled 'Definitely Maybe'.The album itself was the fastest selling debut album of all time in the UK. This album cover is one of the most recognised album cover's to the public due to the originality and statement given off by the cover. Within the picture, we see all members of the band but particularly placed in different parts of the room. This idea was taken from the back cover to A Collection of Beatles Oldies, a group photograph of the Beatles around a small table in a Japanese hotel room.

Within the photo, many items play reference to the songs on the album. For example, the globe could represent "Up in the Sky" as the world is technically, up in the sky. Secondly, on the left hand side, we can see a glass of wine and cigarettes next to Liam Gallagher. This could be in reference to the song "Cigarettes and Alcohol". The band have also incorporated their own taste into the album art. After doing research, I discovered that the poster on the lower-left side is that of  Burt Bacharach, on of Noel Gallagher's idols.

                           

Above is the inside of the digipak booklet that comes with the album. Normally when such features come with an album, the booklet usually consists of the lyrics to each song on the album. However, this booklet associated with the album 'Definitely Maybe' consists only of pictures of the band.

This picture above shows the middle of the booklet, when the framing of each picture shows each band members position within the band. The left hand side shows the other three band members in their own space all on one page however, the right hand side shows brother's Liam and Noel pictured fully to show their dominance in the band and their equal contribution. Looking at this, we can see that Liam and Noel dominate the band and are the key characters. 

                           

This is the actual CD for the album 'Definitely Maybe'. To compliment it's busy album art, the CD itself is a plain, sky blue which may have been purposely used to not only match the colour scheme of the album art but so that it kept things simple and did not over complicate the album's look itself. To the left, we see the band's logo established boldly and in contrast with the CD's colour, illuminating the band and making the logo stand out from any other text present on the CD. At the bottom, we can see each track listed along with it's coordinating track number. This could be a feature added in case the album cover, which lists the songs on the back cover, were to go missing, the owner could still see which track was associated with each track number.

CD Cover Analysis

Applying Theories on Prezi

Applying key media concepts

Personal Skills Audit

Creative and Interesting Music Videos

 

 

The Beatles - I Am The Walrus

In terms of creativity, I think this video goes up and beyond the imagination. This video comes from the original film The Magical Mystery Tour which in itself it a very weird and creative film. The colours throughout the video are very vivid and bold allowing The Beatles to stand out as individuals. I know from background research that the film is based around when the Beatles were experimenting from drugs and a lot of the ideas in this video and in the original film deviate from their experiences with drugs.

 

 

Oasis - All Around The World

The above is the music video by Oasis for their song All Around The World. The reason that I find this video so interesting is again the creativity and colours. Oasis are very big fans of The Beatles and I believe that this video is very similar in terms of creativity and ideas to that of The Beatles and their video's such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and I Am The Walrus. I also like alot of the camera angles in this video such as the zooming pans which there are a lot of. The animation theme of the video reminds me a lot of Yellow Submarine by The Beatles and I think the animation is a very clever and appealing aspect of the video.

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop

The video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' track "Can't Stop" from their 2002 album "By The Way" displays a very visual and random video. Directed by Mark Romanek, the video consists of  seemingly random and excessively abstract actions that would seem very weird to an audience with no background knowledge on the video itself and the director. Romanek attempted to mirror Wurm's abstract "One Minute Sculptures", by having the band perform random scenes, which seem to fit no purpose. This degree of creativity intruges me and I believe it fits the song nicely and provides and interesting music video.

 

Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks

 

"Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men, an  Icelandic indie folk band, released it's music video on Youtube on Febuary 2nd 2012, when it catapulted the band into nationwide popularity. The reason I like this video is because it's very different to anything I've ever seen. The video shows a group of men walking through fantasy lands and only survive due to the aid of a supernatural force in the form of a woman. Designing the video and the animation would take alot of thought and preperation and I admire the way in which the directors, Mihai Wilson and Marcella Moser, have managed to do this and accomplished such a video that went on to be nominated in the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Art Direction in a video.