Song lyrics - Bombay Bicycle Club -Jewel

Old dust, old dirt, they're mine and only mine
I'm just some mortal, you are so divine
You control the game without playing it right

Raise high in me what once did sink below
All dark within now radiantly glows
Come on take me back all that time ago

Our love was just one of your discarded jewels
You think back to it's price and oh you feel a fool
But in that certain light, it looked so beautiful.


The words highlighted in bold will be sung on the video and edited into the video. 

Post 19 - Institutions

Which institution would make it in real life and why?
Even though the genre is indie we think that the major institutions would be more likely to create our product because there is quite a large market out there for indie pop music which would be too much of an opportunity to miss out on.

Post 18 - Reflection on branding.

After looking into branding and researching the effects of different styles of branding we have found out that it is a very important way of marketing an artist. Artists such as Florence Welch are recognized simply because of her style (brand) and her fans would be disappointed if she were to change.

This has taught us that brand image is extremely important and creating an image for our artist is essential. We will work hard to create an interesting brand image for our artist and use it to promote our product.

Post 17 - Analysis of branding

We each analysed an artist's brand image to help us in our planning for our own artist...Brand Image - Kirsty Fletcher

View more presentations from smcmediastudies

Brand Image - Charlie Hitchen

View more presentations from smcmediastudies

Brand Image - Josie Bury

View more presentations from smcmediastudies

Brand Image - Joe McHugh

View more presentations from smcmediastudies

Post 16 - Branding

"A Brand is as a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."

Branding a product or service is separating it from its competitors in the market by making it look different to the others and also making it easily recognisable. Branding can build expectation about a companies product and also helps companies to create a good reputation for themselves. 


Branding will apply to our product as we will need to market our product in a different way to other videos in the same genre. If we didn't do this then all videos in the same genre would be similar and we would not be able to distinguish between them. 


For our project we will be branding a Digipack, Poster and a Music Video. When we brand these products, they will all have to be similar, for example must have the same logo on all three products so the audience know they belong to the same artist. They must also all follow the same codes and conventions, for example it would not look right to have a very bring colourful picture on the front of the Digipack and then to have a very bleak, boring picture on the poster, as they would not look like they belong together.


It matters to us to brand our products to make them different to the other music videos in the same genre and to hopefully be recognised, and to be seen to be doing something different.


To the audience it matters that we brand our products, as by us following the codes and conventions of the certain genre, will help us target the products towards them. This helps us as they will be more interested about something they have heard and seen before rather than something that they are unfamiliar with. 

Post 15 - Audience response

What does this teach us?

By collating a response from an audience questionnaire we have learnt that most people prefer the Indie, acoustic and pop genre. This response works in our favor as our music genre we are focusing on is indie rock. Also we have learnt that a music video with narrative is more appealing than just a performance of the artist which fans see a lot of at gigs, festivals and performances. A narrative performance creates a more intimate connection between the audience and the artist. Our audience response also showed that our focused genre is is alternative to popular culture, their music videos and other promotions aren't taken too seriously. We can learn from this is the way we create our product and in the way we promote it.

Post 14 - What do we know about our audience?

This is a copy of our questionnaire which we asked 40 people of different ages and interests, to gain results which will help us with the planning of our product. 

The results of our questionnaire concluded that the majority of people preferred...

- Buying music online and often.

- buying albums rather than singles.

- Watching music videos online

- Genres Indie, Acoustic and pop.

- That the indie genre is alternative to popular culture and music and that most bands don't take themselves too seriously in videos.

- Preferred music videos with narrative with the artist in.

Post 13 - Commercial audience?

In this post we will be investigating into the current music charts to find out wether there is a market out there for our product and see if we have chosen correctly. To help us we have included a copy of the current top 40 singles in the UK, October 2011.                        

On this chart there are some artists that are similar to the genre of music were going to be producing a video for. This is a very positive start as we already know that there is a market out there for this type of music, even though it is not the biggest (e.g. mainstreamers take up 40% of the market alone).

 Whilst looking for this top 40 chart we also found a top 30 chart specially dedicated to the indie genre. This is also very positive as it also tells us that there is definitely a market out there for us and our product is indeed a viable commercial audience, even though we are trying to create a video for a genre that is not the norm.

Post 12 - Target audience

We have decided that our target audience is going to be both males and females around the ages of 15-35 years old.

Demographic profiling.

We think that in terms of demographic profiling that our audience will be between C1-E bands.

Phsycographic profiling.

hoping to reach self actualization (maslows hierarchy of needs) as it provides many of the things on the pyramid such as morality and acceptance of facts.

For the phsycographic part of profiling we have decided that our audience will be Aspirers even though they will be in the C1-E bands. This is because the image and style we are producing is that of an alternative genre and so he direct opposite of mainstreamers. Our video will be appealing to people who are mostly working class.

Post 11: Ancillary Task - Album Adverts

A Good Example:
This is a good example of a music album advert because usually the advert is very plain and boring with not much going on.0

A Bad Example:

Post 10B: Digipack CD Cover Research

Snow Patrol - Eyes Open

This is a good example to use as relevant research as the band are from the same genre as our artist. It is evident that artists in the indie genre keep their print products minimalist and this is relevant to their simple styling of their music videos and performances. The product is a regular plastic CD case, this is the format that most products are released as 'Eyes Open' .

Post 10: Digipak analysis task

Digipak Analysis.
For our first ancillary task we will designing and producing a digipak for our artist. Because of this we have researched into different artists from different genres digipaks to see the similarities and differences between them all. We have finally picked two digipaks to fully analyse and give us ideas for our own
work, both of these are from bands in the same genre as our artist.
Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws. 
This is a recent digipak/album cover for one of Bombay Bicycle Club's albums. Analysing one of their digipaks is a good idea as it will give us a direct insight into how the genre we are looking at, design their CD covers etc. This will give us some idea on how to design our products appropriately according to the genre and target audience.  First of all the product itself is not presented in a plastic CD case but made our of a more flexible card material, including pockets inside for the CD and booklets to safely be kept inside. There is a very basic colour scheme to the digipak which consists of neutral, earthy shades, black and white. Aswell as there being a basic colour scheme, the font isnt too fancy either, in contrasting colours (black and white for the titles and black and beige for the track listing) and capital letters making  the words easy to read and understand. The single picture of a woman on the front of the digipak again supports the simplicity of the whole album as this is the cover for an acoustic track listing, everything about the album is very basic and simple.

Florence and the Machine - Lungs.

This album cover is again from an artist classed in the same genre as our artist. This digipak was produced in two different ways, presented in a plastic case and a more flexible cardboard material for the deluxe edition. There is again a basic idea to the artwork on the from cover, being a close up shot of a woman looking away from the camera yet although the idea is basic the composition is very detailed in the image and the background. This fdoesnt take the attention away from the rest of the CD cover however, because there is a border around the image and the artists name in contrasting colours and a handwritten font at the top of the front cover. The writing on both the front and the back of the digipak is all white on a black background although the fonts do differ from each side they are both a handwritten style. The back of the digipak is much more simple than the front as there is just the tracklisting and a plack and white diagram of a pair of lungs, relating to the album title "Lungs".

Post 9 - Reflection on Music Genre

By analysing images and videos we have learnt alot about how we would like to style our own artist and what connotations we want to be given off by his appearance. We have realised that our artists appearance is an important aspect of out project to make sure it succeeds. Another thing these activities have taught us is that to appeal to our certain target audience we will need to research into what attracts them which will help is determine the settings and costumes for our video and artist.

Post 8D - Analysing Videos in our Music Genre

This is the video of White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes. This is a song of similar genre to the song we have chosen.
The video to this song is completely unconventional and defies all the conventions of traditional music videos. The first of these conventions that it defies is the fact that the band are not featured at all in the video. The video is completely made up of stop motion scenes of strange figures and plants merging out of the ground. This is a very unusual way of making a music video and is unusual aswell for the indie genre.
There is also no particular narrative except the plastercine figures in the video appear to be controlling nature. They are shown to be turning big wheels and as they turn, plants spring up out of the ground and water trickles out of the hills as these little men are hard at work.
Overall i think the video is trying to have a psychedelic, interesting effect on the viewer and the choice to be unconventional works in favour with the music i feel.

Post 8C - Analysing Music Videos in our Music Genre

Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent


This music video is set on what looks to be like an un used piece of land, near a block of flats or an industrial estate. There is a lot of voyeurism contained in this music video, because we can see the main band members dressed up in clown outfits and running round. Viewers of this video will be able to know it is from the indie rock genre because they follow the same conventions of other videos and images of the same genre. These include the dull, dirty bland look of the videos as there are no bright, happy colours. Also the urban setting of the video add to the conventions of a indie rock video. 


There is no relationship between the lyrics and the video in this video. The video that is played doesn't contain any shots of a band member singing along to the lyrics or playing any instrument. The visuals create a performance.

Post 8B - Analysing Videos in our Music Genre

The Vaccines - Wetsuit

This music video is a montage instagram sequence. The band tour music festivals every summer and it showcases the feel and atmosphere of their sets at the festivals. This is a big contrast to normal music videos as the visual isn't created by a rolling camera, it is a montage of images but cleverly put together to still create the movement of a film sequence.

At the chorus more pictures are taken to show the lead singer singing to the words and it creates a juttery film movement but really it is series of pictures. I believe they have done this so their audience are still communicated and engaged in their performance. 

The indie rock band adhere to some of Goodwill's characteristics such like the connection of visuals and lyrics. There is a cardboard sign stating 'put a wetsuit on' as the lyrics say "put a wetsuit on".

The visuals compliment the overall lyrics portraying a nice atmosphere and feeling. There's a lot of merchandise worn by the audience, The Vaccines set, posters and signage is shown throughout the video which is also a clever promotion for them.

Post 8A - Analysing videos in our Music Genre

In this post i will be analysing videos from bands that are linked to the indie acoustic/alternative genre. I previously analysed a band image for Foals for my research and as i feel that they link with the same genre very well i have decided to analyse one of their videos too.


FOALS - OLYMPIC AIRWAYS.

The video is set in summer time on a field, after a party on the field the previous night. The band feature throughout the video with their friends and there are many close up shots of the lead singer. There is a lot of voyeurism going on in the video as we would not usually be invited to a party like this and so we wouldn't be able to experience something like this with the band if it wasn't for this video.

Even though the band are from an alternative/indie acoustic genre, most of Goodwin's theories are still applied to the video. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals as not only do the cuts in the music fit with the medium pace of the music but whenever you hear a certain instrument play louder than any others you usually see the instrument being played close up on the video.

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is not as strong as it is between the visuals and the music but there are still some instances when the music does relate to the lyrics. An example of this is when the singer repeatedly says "disappear, disappear, disappear" we see the people in the video letting off balloons into the sky where they disappear.

Post 7D - Analysing images of our Music Genre

For this post i will be analysing images of other bands with a similar genre to indie rock and similar to the band we are basing our music video on, Bombay Bicycle Club.


The Killers

This photograph looks like it has been taken in a public park on a bench but there is not much else to the picture, there are no props etc. The way they are sat, for example very laid back and relaxed rather than up straight and formal would appeal to their audience as they can relate to the band. Unlike many band pictures, you can usually tell who the main/lead singer of the band is as it is made obvious by making them stand out more than the rest of the band or something similar. Here the lead singer is the man in the brown shirt. They have tried to make him look slightly different than the others as his shirt is a darker browner colour and the rest of the band are in light, white and stripy shirts. The band are all in clothes that their audience would also wear. they have also customised their look by wearing more casual trainers instead of black leather shoes that are normally associated with smart suit like outfits.

Arctic Monkeys


This photo also looks like it has been taken in a public place, such as a public road or a park. In this photo there are also not many props, and the only focus in the picture is the four members of the band. Many of the bands audience will also dress like favourite artists, with jeans and a hooded jacket of some sort. In this picture, we can tell which member of the band is the lead singer, as he is stood a bit further forward than the rest of the band. 




The Kooks

This picture has obviously been taken in a studio. There are a few props in this image, more than in the others above. First there are the two guitars, these symbolise that they are a band incase somebody who saw the picture did not recognise them or know who they were.

Also they have a union jack flag resting over them, this shows the audience that they are an english band and proud. The clothes they are wearing also relate to what their audience would wear, jeans and casual tops, nothing too extravagant or expensive.

Post 7C - Analysing images of our Music Genre

in this post i will be analysing images of artists that are linked with the same genre of indie pop.
The artist i am going to look at is the Maccabees, they are a band of similar style to Bombay Bicycle Club and of similar genre.
This image has a vintage look to it, this is something that is commonly used in indie music and is likely to be done as a throwback to the retro roots of the genre.
Like bands of most genres the lead singer is positioned to the middle of the photograph. This is because he will be the most recognised of the band and for commercial purposes the photo will need to be recogniseable to the public.
the clothes that the band are wearing also fit in with the indie genre. Polo shirts and harrington jackets are all iconic styles within the genre.

The next picture is the band Friendly Fires. In many ways the photograph is very similar to the maccabees photo. One of these similarities is the vintage feel of the photograph. The colours are over saturated and mimic the colours of old, film cameras. The mise en scene also gives off a vintage retro feel  , the dancers costumes are very 1950's and the video camera that the third member of the band is holding is that of an old technology. Another similarity is that the lead singer of the band is in the middle of the photo to put emphasis on him. Also the lead singer is looking straight into the camera. This is likely to draw your eye into the photograph.

Post 7B - Analysing images of our Music Genre

In this post i will be analysing images of artists that are linked with the same genre of indie/acoustic. These are all bands very similar to Bombay Bicycle Club and so many of their videos and images are based around the same ideas. 

FOALS.

This photograph seems to have been taken in a park with the band sat on and around a park bench with different props. As the band are sat in quote a serious/normal pose the props make the image seem less boring and appeal to its teenage and young adult target audience. 

Like many images of bands from any genre the lead singer will usually feature in the middle of the picture, with the rest of the band surrounding. 

This helps the image look instantly recognisable because the viewers eyes will usually be directed to the center of the image, where the most familiar face of the band will be. 

The clothes that the band wear are also seen as individual and alternative which links with the genre that they are labelled as. Many of the bands fans will most likely wear a similar style clothing. The ideology of alternative and indie rock bands is that they will not take themselves, their videos or images too seriously and try to show this through their images and videos.

MYSTERY JETS.

Again relating to the common ideology for the settings of images within the indie/acoustic genre, these images have been taken in a very normal and everyday place. 

Like the previous picture, Mystery Jets have also used unusual objects in the image e.g. bicycles, but have also used their instruments in the image which also seems common in images from the indie/acoustic genre. 

Again the clothes that he band are wearing are of an alternative style and the lead singer in the band is included in the centre of the image with the rest of the band around him, again helping the viewer to recognise the band quickly.

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB.

This image has also been taken outdoors in a park, on a picnic table. The band are dressed in a comfortable style with their lead singer in the forefront of the image. 

The setting and their clothes are very casual and i think this also represents the genre well as they are not too over the top about how they present themselves within an alternative and indie/acoustic genres.

Post 7A - Analysing Images of our Music Genre

In this post I am going to analyse an artists image to see how they are represented and if it appeals to their audience.

Friendly Fires

The composition reflects the bands characteristics and style of music. As the Friendly Fires they make razor sharp, stripped back post-punk music which is fun and eccentric and this is portrayed in the quirky image.

The headphone illustrations on the background create clear visuals with the theme of music and sound. I believe this appeals to their audience, it shows they are fun and it also allows their fans to interact with the other band members other who are normally hid behind the lead singer and their instruments.

The styling of the artists is very contemporary within indie fashion. Over the top patterned 'christmas jumpers' have come back in to fashion and their fans will be influence by their trend setting. One band member is wearing a zipped hoodie which has been worn not just by indie artists but mainly pop artists such like Justin Beiber and JLS. This is influencing sometimes that different genres do have similar styling and there isn't a cliche style.

Bombay Bicycle Club

Their new album 'A Different Type Of Fix' has reintroduced an electronic feel and I believe the lighting and high contrast editing has put a futuristic touch to this band image.

The costuming of the artists is very laid back and clothes that we (the audience) wear on a general occasion. The styling portrays the band to be like their audience , laid back, chilled out and just there to make music not have all the over the top staging, props and costumes.

The mise en scene appears to be very urban. They are sat on a pavement in front of a traditional style building that has graffiti on it, this  makes it very relevant in to todays society. 

Post 6 - Our chosen genre

Our music video will be based on the indie/acoustic genre. There are sub genres of alternative and acoustic music too.

Post 5 - Reflection

After researching into and analyzing the music videos it helped us to realise that different genres have different specific characteristics that are related to the genre which will help us decide what things will go with the genre we are working with (indie/acoustic).
By looking into Goodwin's theory we have realised what we need to include to make our video successful. Through analyzing the video we have decided that we will be having our artist present throughout the video because we think that out of all the videos we analyzed, the ones that did this were the most successful.
We are going to be shooting the video outside so to make the video more interesting we will be using more challenging editing just as the Death Cab For Cutie video does.

Post 4D: Analysis of music videos

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - HOME IS A FIRE.
The genre of this song is labelled as an indie rock  and alternative genre type and most of the videos in these genres are well known for having unconventional videos.

There is a main theme flowing through out this video which does link with some of the lyrics to the song so there are occasions where the lyrics ans visuals match. One of the examples of when it does link is when the lyrics say "there's too many windows" the video shows a skyscraping building with lots of windows. Because the song is at a medium pace, the editing matches this speed. Another way in which the music and visuals have a link is that whenever a new line is sung, the images on the video change usually to something that links with a line in the song.
The band do not appear in this video at all but there is intertextuality involved. The video is about a famous street artist and himself and his work is apparent throughout the video which could attract more people to listen to their music if they are fans of the street artist, so i dont think it is a particularly bad thing for the band not to appear in the video.
There is vouyerism within the video even though the band do not appear in it because we watch the street artist in his process of  creating his work and going out, which we would otherwise not get to see.

STEPS - TRADGEDY

The genre of this song is classed as pop. Most videos of this genre have conventional videos which follow the traditional methods.

There is a main theme within this video and the lyrics fit perfectly with the screenplay. The lyrics are lip-synced  pretty much all the way through the video and the codes and conventions fit seamlessly with the song.  For example the songs main lyric is "Tragedy when the feelings gone and you can't go on its tragedy" and the video shows a member of the band at a wedding which she doesn't want to be at. The editing of this video is done with continuity so much so that we can barely tell when a scene changes.

All members of the band are fully featured in this video as each of them play a part and a character in the narrative. The ban have chosen to use themselves rather than actors. this is likely to be because of commercial value and voyeurism.

There is certain voyeurism in this video as we get to see some members of the band half dressed. The audience also gets a chance to see the artist in a situation in which they are rarely seen.

Post 4C Analysis of music videos

The music video i have chosen to analyze is Glad You Came by The Wanted. I will be using Goodwin's theory for narrative as well as the media language and ideologies.

The first pointer in Goodwins theory is the connection between the visuals and the lyrics. The name of the song is "Glad You Came" and the similarity to this in the music video is that the group members of the band are at are party on holiday and they make it obvious that they are glad that the girls have joined their party. Another example of the visuals and lyrics is when a band member sings "Now i'll take you by the hand" and in the video a band member takes a girl by the hand at the party. Also at the beginning of the song a band member sings "The sun goes down, the stars come out" and at this moment the video is a shot of a sunset.

The second theory of Goodwin's is the relationship between the visuals and the music. In the video i am analyzing there are a couple of sequences that link the visual and the musical aspects. Most of the way through the video, when the same part of the song is sung again, there is a shot of each band member having fun and doing similar things to each other. Also the editing of the video matches the music. Every-time the song changes verse, there is new shot so it is not like the video is cut too fast for the music in the background or vice-versa.

Another one of Goodwin's ideas is the need to sell the artist.  The Wanted do this well as in their video, they are all involved and are seen all the way through, with lots of close ups. The fact that most of them are topless at some point throughout the video will also gab audiences attention and make them want to watch/listen to their music and hopefully purchase it.

Intertextuality is also a theory by Goodwin. He believed that music videos often related to other films but i don't believe there is a lot of intertextuality in this video, as there are no films that i can think of that have been set on a beach with lots of partying. Goodwin also believed that there should be voyeurism in a music video. In The Wanted's video, we can see their behaviours as we wouldn't usually see them. We see them relaxing, having a good time, and partying, not how we would usually picture them, and this allows us to see them behave in a way which is usually hidden from us.

We all know that the story of the video is made up for the consumers sake, but there are many intertextual references that the audience, who watch the video can relate to. These include going on holiday abroad with friends, partying, drinking and generally having a laugh and relaxing.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Another music video, which is much different to The Wanted's which i will analyse is called 'All of the Lights' by Kanye West.

The genre of this music video is Hip Hop. The beginning of this video reminds me of Ed Sheeran's 'A Team'. This is because the filming is shot in black and white and the girl that is being filmed looks lonely and lost, and in a dark, cold place. When the main part of the song starts, the words 'All Of The Lights' are shown on screen in lots of different fonts, sizes and colours and the words change as they are sung.
All the members are included in the music video, mainly when they are singing their own verses, this allows the audience to see their favourite artists how they wouldn't normally see them.

Post 4B - Anaylsis of music videos

Jealousy by Will Young is the first music mainstream video that I have chosen to analyze using Goodwin's theory, identifying narrative, media language, representation and ideology.

The visuals and music compliment the video and most of all the artist. Close up shots of Will Young are used so his audience are engaged, also they can relate to him and his style. Music artists are forever setting styles and trends within fashion and hair styles. I believe Will Young's signature hairstyle would be the quiff in his fringe, audiences and his fans get influenced by these trends.

Will Young raised to fame when he won the singing competition Pop Idol. Over the past 10 years he has expanded his projects in to acting and I believe he has brought his acting skills to this music video. He isn't just singing the song he makes a connection with the lyrics and the visuals, he plays a character. The song jealousy is portrayed with the visuals as he is always in the background, in the dark and the star attraction is the male and woman acrobatic dancers. There are clear connections with the visuals and lyrics as throughout most of the video he is singing and performing engaging with his audience.

He is viewed as an aspirational role model to some as he is very open and comfortable with his sexuality and this is very comforting to his audience who want to do the same. In today's society representations of gay citizens are a lot more relaxed and alomst viewed as normal compared to it being absolutely fround upon 40 years ago.An artist 'coming out' can be a controversial and a make-or-break situation but it has helped Will Young create the loyal fan base that he has today.

Voyeurism plays a big part in this music video, it portrays that even the biggest stars have weaknesses. It shows Will Young in a vulnerable emotional position compared to most music videos where artists flash their cash and gadgets, living the life.

Intertexuality references link to the Black Swan (2010) where a dance performance is fought far with jealousy and hunger for the lead role. Also a montage edit has been used in a mirror scene where his reflection is different to his actions this reminded me of the split personality in Black Swan.

Natural lighting has been emphasised slightly in the day scenes compared to the night performance where spotlighing is heavily used. The contrast of black and white within mise en scene is used aswel as it being the main form of lighting creating spotlights, silhouettes and shadows.

Post 4A: Analysis of music videos

ED SHEERAN - A TEAM

The first music video i have chosen to analyse is "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran. I will be analysing this video by using Goodwin's theory for narrative, along with comments on media language, representation and ideology.

There is relationship between the visuals and lyrics in this video in many parts but an example of this tis when Ed sings "Angels can fly" at the same time there is an image of the young girl in the sky. Another example of this is when he sings "Crumbling like pastry" it shows a shot of the young girl breaking down and crying, linking back to the lyrics. There is also relationship between the music and visuals as at every new line of the song the images on the screen change to something new, also as the pace of the music is at a medium speed, the editing matches to this speed all the way through.

According to Goodwins theory, he states that certain music genres may have their own style and iconography. However, Ed Sheeran's music is labelled as many genres including folk rock, hip hop, grime and acoustic. For this video i believe the genre that applys most is acoustic, as he is using an acoustic guitar and singing throughout. The styles and iconography associated with this genre would be a simple video paced at a normal speed, with acoustic music and vocals, this adheres to the style and i would agree with Goodwins theory.

Another part of Goodwins theory states that there should be lots of close ups of the main artist or band, however there are nto in this video as Ed only appears in the video once to talk to the girl and is gone again very soon after he appears. Even though music videos aim to promote an artist i do not believe Ed only appearing once is a bad idea as it is almost a trademark style of his not to appear in his videos and so the viewer would be used to this by now. Also the slight glimpse of him in the video would help viewers recognise him if they were new to his music.

Goodwin's theory suggests that there will be voyerism in a music video. In this video we see the young girl breaking down in her emotional state and selling her body so that she can pay for drugs. Also when she is getting dressed up to go out and sell her self there are close up shots of her chest area. This allows us to experience a life that is normally closed away from us.

Even though this story is made up by the director, there are almost intertextual references to charity adverts which can show that this is a serious situation that does go on in real life and promote awareness.

NEW ORDER - BLUE MONDAY
The second video i have chosen to analyse is "Blue Monday" by New Order. I chose this video because it has a very unconventional and unusual video, made in the 1980's.

There are not many cases in this video where the lyrics match up to the visuals but one of the few examples of this is when they sing "I see a ship in the harbour" and we see a handwritten message saying i see and a toy ship on a table immediately afterwards.
The relationship between the music and the visuals is very usual, the music is fast paced and so the editing matches and is cut to the same speed as the music.

This song is labelled in the genres of New Wave and Alternative, this is an immediate clue that the video was going to be more unconventional than some of the more mainstream videos of the 80s. Therefore the style and iconography is not anything specific, just anything out of the ordinary that will not make much sense or link to the song very clearly for example the main focus of this video is a weimaraner breed of dog doing balancing acts, which is not what the lyrics are about at all.

The band appear in the video quite a few times but there are not too many close ups of the lead singer as Goodwins theory suggests. In reference to the vouyerism part of Goodwins theory, we do see the band contributing in different activities through out the video, which we would not usually experience.
Because this video is so strange and unusual, i cannot think of any intertextuality throughout the video that has been used.

MGMT - ELECTRIC FEEL

The final video i have decided to analyse is "Electric Feel" by MGMT.

This video is of an alternative and electronic genre and so the iconography and genre style is that the instruments are played in the video and the band are present throughout, also there is alot of CGI which is usual for the electronic genre.

We see the band and their friends having a party in a forest with many compyuter generated fantasy characters, this links with vouyerism because we would not be able to experience a scene like this with the band if it wasnt for this video.

There is again not much of a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics because the genre is alternative, but one example of the lyrics and visuals linking together is when they sing "This is what the world is for, making electricity". When that lyric is sung, we see a computer generated glowing planet earth fall from the sky which is then cut open and we see a pixilated liquid which is supposed to be electicity. Because the music is medium paced, the editing matches up with this and changes at the same speed throughout the video.

I cannot seem to see many intertextual references within the video because it is so alternative but there are many CGI characters involved in the video which some could think relate to other animation or fantasy films.

Post 3: What is a music video?

What is a music video?
Music videos are created for both artistic and promotional purposes which promote the artist and help create a bigger fan base. These short films help to express the mood and feeling of the genre that the artist or band want to purvey. It is hard to compare one music video to another because they are all very different in the way they are put together in regards to the codes and conventions used. Because of this, we use Goodwin's theory as it suggests to us the similarities that will be in most videos.



Goodwin's theory:
- Genre  characteristics
- Visuals/lyrics
- Visuals/music
- Need to sell artist
- Intertextuality
- Voyeurism


1. Genre characteristics
This part of the theory suggests that music genres may have their own style and iconography, e.g. rock music - dark clothing, instruments, fast paced editing.
2. Visuals and lyrics
In music videos the lyrics can convey certain emotions and moods, these can be shown in the video and to the viewer in multiple ways. Goodwin's theory suggests that one of these ways is by making a relationship between the visuals and lyrics, e.g. in Keane's video for "Somewhere only we know" the lyrics say "i came across a fallen tree" and at the same time we see an image of the band walking past a fallen tree.
3. Visuals and music
The other way in which these moods can be conveyed is by the relationship between the visuals and music e.g when a songs tempo changes the editing may change to match this speed.
4. Need to sell artist
Goodwin's theory suggests that most music videos will aim to sell and promote their artist to their target audience and potential fans watching their video, this is done by having the artist in the video for most of the way through and many close up shots of them.
5. Intertextuality
This is when the producer of the music video will relate part of the video to an idea taken from another media text that is well known and familiar to the target audience.
6. Voyeurism
Goodwin's theory suggests that in music videos there is likely to be reference to voyeurism allowing the audience to see the artist (particularly women) in their own personal space e.g. in the bedroom which would otherwise be prohibited.

Post 2: Outline initial ideas

We decided to choose a song which didn't already have a popular music video so that we could put our own twist on the song without being compared to a high budget video. There were many artists that we thought of to create a music video for but we all decided on Bombay Bicycle Club's song "Jewel" in the end. We chose a copyright song which mean we had to ask permission from the record company to use the record. We have tried to contact Island Records but not yet had a response, we have left messages and will continue trying. 

Before we begin to design our product we need to research into target audiences, other videos of the same genre and the genre itself. We have found two videos that are in the same indie rock genre by Friendly Fires and Two Door Cinema Club.

Post 1: Introduction

We are Charlie, Kirsty, Joe and Josie. For our A2 Media Studies coursework we have chosen the Music Promotion brief and we will create a music video, album advert and a digipack.

Last year in our AS Media Studies we developed skills with Photoshop, InDesign, iMovie and Final Cut. We will develop and progress these skills in training workshops and this will benefit us in our practical projects.