Textual AnalysisLauren Kilvington

PurposeThe idea of a music video is to sell the song and promote the artist. It also makes the song more memorable. If the video were to be clever or creative, the song would be even more popular.

Some songs are well known because of their video.

It helps the audience understand the song better by showing a visual narrative. By also creating a narrative, the audience can relate to the song and the artist better.

A not well known band can do a cover of a well known popular song and do a video for it to make themselves popular.

If there were to be an unknown artist featured in the video of a popular artist, they would be noticed and could become popular as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvtNS6hbVy4

Deadmau5 featuring Chris James is an example of this. Chris James wasn’t a well known artist before he became featured in ‘The Veldt’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA

This is the Okay Go video for ‘Here It Goes Again’. The music video is memorable and makes you want to listen to the song because it reminds you of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGwZ7MNtBFU&list=PL1487B0A90D0B66E5&index=2&feature=plpp_video

This music video of Gwen Stefani’s ‘Cool’ tells a story of her meeting her ex boyfriend’s new fiancé and her having parallel editing flashbacks of their time together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSvjoiyT6CQ

This is the band we have chosen for our music video. They have a cover of ‘Someone Like You’ originally by Adele. This is the video for their covered version.

Music Video 1Till We Drop - Someone Like You (Adele Cover)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSvjoiyT6CQ

It starts off with a sped up sunrise over Budapest where the band is originally from. It then fades out to the band playing

their instruments. It goes back forth from a storyline of the lead singer to the whole band playing.

The genre is a mixture of pop, punk and rock because it is a cover of an original soul-pop song.

The style of the music video is live action with no animation or CGI involved. The

video consists of the band playing in front of a crowd with a storyline cutting in between.

The video consists of a band playing to a small crowd with a parallel storyline about the lead singer, Peter. He wakes up in a park and walks around to find the band. It cuts back and forth from the band to the storyline throughout the video until Peter finds his way to the band. He has a Steadicam on while walking around to show a close up of his reactions as he runs around Budapest. It jump cuts to him in a deep fountain with an underwater camera.

Wires are wrapped around him and stopping him from resurfacing. He becomes free and breaks through the water’s surface catching his breath. This scene represents his passion

for music and how it is restrained.

Jump cuts are at the start of the video for every 4 beats to go with the music pace. It then goes to a long shot of

the storyline where the singer is sitting up in a park. They use a Steadicam in this video when the lead singer

is looking for the band. It shows his journey at an up close angle. It has the camera shaking to the beat of the

music as a general rock music convention when the band is together in the break down. It also has a varied amount of shots such as low angle, panning, Steadicam, long shot and many more. It uses a number of editing techniques such as jump cuts, fade in and out, parallel editing and other varied ones. Most of the editing is

done to the beat of the music and to suit the storyline.

This song and video has an appeal to their audience because it is a cover of a well known international song. It is a rock version which appeals to a wider

audience who are interested in rock. It also appeals to Adele fans which gives the band more coverage and makes them become more popular because

they are not a well known band.

In typical rock music videos, there is usually parallel editing between a storyline and the

band; this video follows this convention. Another convention that rock videos have is the camera shaking. During a break down of the song where the beat is heavy, the camera shakes to the rhythm of the double bass. The

video also cuts to the beat in certain parts which is also another well known technique in rock music videos. In rock music, there can be parts of the song where a crowd is singing the lyrics with with just the drums

playing.

Music Video IIChunk! No Captain Chunk! - "In Friends We Trust”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBNSZQvP1PU

It starts with a camera angle outside a street with a foot hanging out of a car window. It cuts to the different band

members sleeping in the car. It cuts to different people passed out on the ground to show that it is after the party. It jump

cuts to a garden full of people jumping to the beat of the music to show a party atmosphere. The band is playing their

instruments with the crowd of young people surrounding them. The whole video consists of the band playing in front of this crowd. It ends with the video fading out into a blur and showing a band member sleeping in a bed. He awakes and is frightened by a man in a spiderman costume watching him

sleep.

The genre of this band is pop-punk and portrays the conventional effects in average rock videos.

The first long shot of the band members foot outside of the car is one of the longest shots in the video. The rest of the song jump cuts to the beat of the music. Even the start, where no music is playing,

the video cuts to different people quickly with a red and yellow colour flair every cut. It then blurs to the band playing in front of a crowd. It then cuts to split screen of different angles and different people jumping around to show that a lot of things are going on. The members of the band change clothes every few jump cuts. A

few jump cuts or so, the red and yellow flair is shown, this could be to make the party seem like a memory. The video also cuts to daytime and night to show the length of the party. There are

different shots to show the perspective of different people such as a long shot showing at the start, the high angle shot showing the

people on the floor and the multiple shots of the band playing.

The appeal of the video is the way the band are having fun and partying with a crowd of people while playing live music. The way the band is

portrayed is fun and wild.

There are conventions in this music video such as a crowd surrounding the band as they play and the video jump cutting to the beat of the song. This band uses a colour change as some parts of a transition to another scene. The screen makes a quick flash of an orangey-yellow colour, which looks

almost like a flare of the camera to transfer from one jump cut to the other. Some other bands do this in other videos.

Magazine Advert IThe colour scheme of the advert is a dark setting to go with the theme of the bands

departure. It goes with the caption ‘Believers Never Die’ to represent the ‘death’ of the band. The white writing is

there to stand out but it could also represent some hope that the band could

get back together.

The band that is advertised is ‘on a break’ and the representation of the two skeletons holding hands could mean that the band will never stop loving the fans. Or it could represent the band and the music never parting even though the band could be ‘dead’. The caption on

the top,‘Believers never Die’, explains the image for the audience. It looks as if the skeletons are in a teenagers bedroom because of the shoes, the open record, the clothes on the floor and the guitar laying on the floor. This relates to the teenage audience the band has been

aiming for.

Fall Out Boy: Greatest Hits

The layout of the advert is simple yet effective because it shows the

information needed but it isn’t covered in writing and displays the image in the right way. The advert would stand out

in a magazine because of the layout and the fact it is a popular band that have fans who want them to get back

together.

The purpose of the magazine advert is to advertise the popular band’s greatest hits.

Fall Out Boy are still popular and the hope that they may get back together is still being held on to by the fans. Which means that all the advert needs to say is

Fall Out Boy and it will be noticed immediately by the fans.

The target audience for the band and for the advert are teenagers and adults who are fans of Fall Out Boy. This advert is most likely to be advertised in

rock music magazines such as ‘Kerrang!’.

The genre of the band is pop-punk and the advert portrays

that.

There are some codes and conventions of this advert such as the dark setting to

represent the music and meaning and the way it is laid out.

Magazine Advert II

This band is classed as rock punk and the advertisement reflects

their music and the stereotypical genre.

The colour scheme represents the music’s meaning and theme. The black and white theme shows the simplicity of the album, how music and community can be as easy as

black and white.

Blink 182: Neighborhood

The image of the buildings spelling ‘Blink 182‘ in a strange font shows the simplicity and

uniqueness of the album as well as the band. It’s different from their other posters and themes because they are usually colourful. This could

also show a contrast in their music.

The layout of the advert is simple and easy to remember. The black outlined

border makes it look as if the main image is coming out of the page. The writing on

the bottom is in a backwards random font to show the quirkiness and ‘random’

nature of the band. It shows all the details it needs to so it can be read

quickly and easily. The writing also stands out from any other poster or album

which makes it even more memorable and unique.

The target audience for the poster and the band are teenagers interested in punk music and who are fans of Blink 182. They already have a worldwide

fanbase so this poster is for them. This advert would be found in music

magazines such as Kerrang!, Q or NME.

There are certain conventions this advert has followed such as the dark contrasting colours to reflect the music and the band. The drawing of the buildings can also be a

convention because drawings are quite common in punk band albums and adverts.

Album Cover Artwork ID.R.U.G.S: Destroy Rebuild Until God ShowsThe colours of the album cover artwork reflects the

band’s name and album title. The drawing and idea of the album cover makes it seem like the album is a

drug user’s imagination. The sunrising or sunsetting sky in the background of the ripped hole makes the

land behind look appealing and enticing. The cobwebbed dress, the spiders, and the eye on the

cloud above gives the artwork a sense of creepiness. The long spider-like fingers coming out of the rip

make it seem as if the ‘creature’ is coming out of the page. This gives a trippy illusion to the viewer and

also adds to the ‘drug’ effect. the white around the hole could represent the innocence of someones mind and the way drugs or insanity is trying to rip

through the innocence which gives the album cover, the songs and the band a deeper meaning and

connection to the audience. The eye on the cloud looks almost scared of the ‘creature’ and it looks as if

it is smiling evilly directly at the viewer.

The colour and font of the title at the top of the album makes the

album seem more sophisticated. This album cover is well thought out

because if the writing was in black, it would take away some of the focus on the image itself so with it being a greyish-green colour it shows that

the writing doesn’t want to take the spotlight as well as being noticeable

and readable.

The image is extremely eye-catching and memorable to anyone in who sees it, even if

they are not interested in rock music. If it was seen in a music shop, it would be something that would intrigue the audience. The image reflects the music so if the album cover is interesting, then the audience makes the

automatic assumption that the music must be interesting.

The band’s music relates to the audience. They aim for a

young audience form teenagers to adults who can relate to some lyrics in the

album.

The genre of music is rock and appeals to the generation

of today.

There are some stereotypical traits the album cover has

supported such as the colours representing the music and the

meaning of the lyrics.

Album Cover Artwork IIThe band’s genre is rock and

appeals it their target audience which are teenagers and young

adults who are interested in rock music and the meaningful

lyrics.

There are some conventions to this artwork such as the darkness representing

the music ad the outstanding title to attract the audience and catch their eye.

A Day To Remember: HomesickThe colours of the album artwork reflects the

band and the genre of music they produce. Blue can represent sadness and purple can

mean strength in some cultures and the way they combine together can represents the band’s meaning. White writing is not only there to stand out but can also represent

innocence and good and the way the silhouetted man is facing towards the light can

show that he is trying to get out of the darkness and into the light. The forest looks almost like a fairytale forest, not an innocent ‘Disney’ forest but the original scary fairytales

which were made to scare children. This is what the forest reminds me of, a creepier, original tale of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The band’s music is about these kind of ‘finding

yourself’ problems and overcoming them. This is why the artwork represents the music of

the band.

The image shows a man standing in a strange forest, he forest could

represent the person’s mind and a way of trying to fight through his

‘forest of fear’. The writing’s innocent colour shows the ‘light’. There are branches on parts of the letters and each end is slightly darkened which could mean that the fear is trying to

take over the innocence which reflects the song lyrics and the band’s

lyrical intentions.

ConclusionFrom this research, I have learnt the variety of options I have for the planning of my own

product. It has made me think of the message I want to give my audience, who my audience are going to be and how they would react to certain videos, scenes and genres. I have researched the different micro elements in my chosen genre’s music videos to see what shot types and editing techniques are conventional. I have looked into the conventions and semiotics of this

genre in videos as well as posters, CD’s and digipaks to get ideas on what my audience would be expecting from this type of video. I also analysed the artwork of my chosen CD front covers to

think about the representation and semiotics of the artwork. This has helped me to think of what my artwork would mean to the audience if they were to analyse it like I am.

As a group, Martin and I have decided to do a song by Till We Drop, which is the band we did an analysis on. We researched other bands

like this one to get a good idea of what our audience wants.

We chose this genre of music because Martin and I are more familiar with this genre. We know some conventions, related bands, this type of audience and we can use our own music knowledge to create what we would want to see, as we

are part of the target audience.

ConclusionFrom this research, I have learnt the variety of options I have for the planning of my own

product. It has made me think of the message I want to give my audience, who my audience are going to be and how they would react to certain videos, scenes and genres. I have researched the different micro elements in my chosen genre’s music videos to see what shot types and editing techniques are conventional. I have looked into the conventions and semiotics of this

genre in videos as well as posters, CD’s and digipaks to get ideas on what my audience would be expecting from this type of video. I also analysed the artwork of my chosen CD front covers to

think about the representation and semiotics of the artwork. This has helped me to think of what my artwork would mean to the audience if they were to analyse it like I am.

As a group, Martin and I have decided to do a song by Till We Drop, which is the band we did an analysis on. We researched other bands

like this one to get a good idea of what our audience wants.

We chose this genre of music because Martin and I are more familiar with this genre. We know some conventions, related bands, this type of audience and we can use our own music knowledge to create what we would want to see, as we

are part of the target audience.