One other thing that belongs to our Digi Pack, is to create a poster in order to advertise the release of our CD and Music Video. I have looked at a few posters from artists of the similar genre, to analyze them and get inspiration from.
Avril Lavigne- The Best Damn Thing (2007)
This is a poster advertising the release of Avril Lavigne's 2007 album 'The Best Damn Thing'. The image is the same as the one she has on the album. This poster is very simple, with Avril in a mid-shot with a simple grey background, and her name, and the name of the album printed on the top left hand corner with a very punky pink heart in the background. The overall theme of the artwork is kept the same in terms of fonts.
Maroon 5 -Hands All Over Me (2011)
This advertisement poster by Maroon 5 is pretty easy to create. Its in black and white with slight bits of red in it to make the title stand out a little bit better. It features a simple black and white image of the band itself, that cannot be found on the album itself. It advertises a concert the band will be having in the specific place at the specific time to be able to promote their new album 'Hands All Over Me' with the album artwork and few of the singles that can be found on the album showed on the poster. The plain white font is set on the image which comes across as quite effective with this style of artwork.
P!nk- I'm Not Dead (2006)
I find this poster to be very creative because of the use of the colors and images, and the pose P!nk does.I like the roses in front of the image because it also matches the red-white striped shirt she is wearing and makes the poster stand out. The font below it titling the name of the album, which comes across as quite effective The image that is featured on this poster, can actually be found on the exact album itself. Pink said she titled the album 'I'm Not Dead' because ''its about being alive and feisty and not sitting down and shutting up even though people would like you to'.
In preparation for our ancillary tasks, our next step for this project is to start analyzing CD Covers and Posters of our similar genre. I have decided to analyse three CD Covers from three artists with the similar genre of POP/POP-ROCK music.
Avril Lavigne-Goodbye Lullaby (2011)
This is the album cover for Avril Lavigne's 2011 release for Goodbye Lullaby. I shall start analyzing the mise-en-scene of this album, and as we can see Avril is led on a black piano dressed in a white long dress which signifies innocence and purity, also covered in cream colored flowers around her. Her makeup and hair look messy, (typical pop-rock style) and the back ground of this cover is green, which with the help of a software such as Photoshop looks like a forest covered in green plants. What I really like about this cover is that it’s got a very different style using a background which looks out into a forest, rather than a plain colored background. Another thing I admire about this cover is Avril in her white dress led on the black piano, looking very innocent and upset. The CD cover is looking pretty simple with what looks like a black and white effect, with Avril in white a dress sitting on the floor looking upset. The Back Cover of the album has the similar background to the Front Cover, the only difference is Avril sitting in a different position on the piano with her focus to the camera in a Mid-Shot/Medium Close-Up.
P!nk- Funhouse (2008)
This is the album cover for Pink's 2008 release for Funhouse. I like this imagine because its fun looking and quite punky, it also has Pink in it and she shows that she is having a really good time, as if she doesn't care about anything, which is also quite rebellious. Yet this image is quite child like, as it has a carousel horse which she seems to be riding. Pink's outfit looks like a circus costume which also fits in with the title 'funhouse'. The font in the background is very circus like as well. I think this image is showing her genre style of music is pop, but quite rocky as she doesn't come across as being the typical pop artist. The CD cover is similar alike, with Pink riding a carousel horse wearing a long pink dress with colorful balloons around her. The back cover of the album, has different font style of credits, more circus like in the black colour. Pink is sat on what seems its a sandy beach looking straight at the camera with trumpet next to her.
Florence and The Machine- Lungs (2009)
This is the album cover for Florence and The Machine's 2009 release for Lungs. I choose this cover because I think it stood out, and it represents the band and the album really well. The image on this cover is colorful, but they have used subtle simple colors which made it look quite a cold image. Another thing I also like about this cover is that they used a pair of lungs on her, to fit with the title of the album. I like it how she is posing against the tree covered up with flowers around her. This image sums up the band, because I think they are more of a rock indie genre, and this image really shows that, compared to how a rock band would have they're image presented. The title of the band is presented on the top and even the style font matches the cover as it is white and the writing is flowed and isn't block letters like the album's title written at the bottom. I like the way they have chosen to place the album's title on her body over the lungs because it is focusing on the lungs which the audience will notice and want to look at more, as it would be interesting to see why they have called the album 'Lungs' and actually have lungs shown on the cover.
I am thinking on analyzing a couple of music videos, with an idea of what our music video will look like. I have picked music videos that are similar to our genre and follows the required codes and conventions.
Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera- Moves Like Jagger.
The song is introduced by a whistle melody and light, funky guitar in the key of B minor. Adam Levine tries his best to impress his female interest with dance moves like Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger: "I don't need to try to control you / Look into my eyes and I'll own you / With the moves like Jagger / I got the moves like Jagger / I got the mooooooves like Jagger." Aguilera appears mid-way through the song's bridge, playing her role as a tease: "You want to know how to make me smile / Take control, own me just for the night / But if I share my secret / You gonna have to keep it / Nobody else can see this." The shots in this music video are mostly mid-shots and long shots to show the people dancing around. Since it doesn't really have a complicated story line, everything is only simply set on a stage, where Adam Lavine does his best to impress women by dancing to Mick Jagger's moves. There are many quick shots to be found in this music video, to show the different moves each dancer makes. I have chosen to analyze this music video, since Maroon 5 are a well known pop-rock band, and they're music videos happen to follow all the right codes and conventions a pop-rock music video needs. The costumes in this music video are very much the 80's style.
Avril Lavigne- Girlfriend.
It features two girls: one with glasses and red hair (Lavigne), and one with a rebellious persona and black hair (also Lavigne). The video begins inside the building where the red-haired girl and her boyfriend are walking together. Lavigne sees her and shows her an intimidating disposition. As the couple walk away, Lavigne begins to sing the song and tries her luck on the red-haired girl's boyfriend. Featured in the video are scenes of Lavigne fighting over the man with the red-haired girl and trying to outdo her repeatedly. Between the scenes we see Lavigne, now with pink streaked blonde hair, singing with her band accompanying her at the back. The video also featured Lavigne and her friends dancing in a restroom. After the starting scene, the video shows them at Li'l Indy, where they ride go-carts. Here, Lavigne is seen viciously bumping the car of the red-haired girl, causing her to spin around and lose control. Next, the red-haired girl and her boyfriend get inside a photo booth where Lavigne hears them and grabs the red-haired girl away before they take pictures. Lavigne's friends then block the red-haired girl's way to give her more time.
The next scene shows the couple eating together, where Lavigne sees them, throws the food away and kisses the red-haired girl's boyfriend. It is nighttime when the next scene was shown. This scene takes place in a miniature golf course where the couple are playing, and the red-haired girl cheerfully wins.
Unfortunately for her, Lavigne and her friends are also present at the scene. As soon as she and her friends see them, Lavigne hits her in the head with a golf ball, and the red-haired girl splashes down below and into the water. Her boyfriend tries to grab her hand but misses. Finally, the last scene shows the man waiting for Lavigne. As she comes toward him, they soon hold hands together, and the red-haired girl sees them and tries to seize Lavigne (at the same time trying to get her boyfriend back). But Lavigne ducks down and the man moves sideways as soon as the red-haired girl charges towards Lavigne. She then tumbles all the way down and falls into a Porta Potty ahead, where she gives a look of desperation towards the camera, showing that she has failed to win back her boyfriend. Lavigne then finally wins the youth's affections. The video ends when she takes her new boyfriend into a bathroom stall and slightly opens the door after a moment and pumps her arm in victory. The narrative of this music video works very well with the lyrics of this song, and with the performance shots. The performance shots mainly consist of Avril and a band with guitars and drum kits singing and dancing with her dancers in a pink Punk style studio room. The costumes for this music video are quite Rock style mainly black, pink and white.
Avril Lavigne- My Happy Ending.
This video is about a relationship between Avril and her 'boyfriend' (in the video) that doesn't seem to work out, and the hardest thing about it is saying goodbye to all the memories and every other good thing that happened between them. The performance shots of this video consist of Avril singing at what it looks like to be a very old cinema. The costumes are very simple, teenage casual. In her performance shots she wears a black simple top, with black leggings and a pink tutu-skirt on top of it with big black boots, at the end of the video where she sings with the band she wears the same top, but this time with black knee length trousers, black stripped socks and All Star Converse trainers. The video begins with Lavigne running down a street and entering a cinema, where she finds the film playing is a montage of her memories concerning a specific relationship she had. At first, the memories (shown in full color) are happy, depicting Lavigne at the park with her boyfriend, as he hands her a flower and they laugh together. They are also shown goofing off inside a laundromat. However, as Lavigne sings "so much for my happy ending", the memories start to lose color. Lavigne and her boyfriend lie in bed together, as she looks at him and he (obviously reeling from a disagreement) stares blankly away. The relationship culminates during the song's bridge inside a grocery store, where the boyfriend antagonizes Lavigne, insisting that he talk to her. He grabs her and tries to pull her into his embrace. Fed up, Lavigne turns and pushes him away. She proceeds to run out of the grocery store and down the street (from the beginning of the video), and to a guitar shop where she grabs a guitar and walks to the roof of the building, where she is seen performing with her band. There, she walks past the unapologetic boyfriend without looking at him. The theater film tears and the memories end, leaving the final seconds of the video as a close-up on Lavigne in the theater as she tries to decide if the break-up is happy after all. In the end, three other girls leave with Lavigne who know about the breakup as they watch from the restaurant.
So far my group and I filmed footage of performance and narrative shots, and we have edited everything we did so far. Our next step to achieve, is adding more performance and narrative shots into our music video, to finish this project. In order for us to get the best outcome possible,we shall discuss this as a group, by planning everything through story boarding. After looking at different pop-rock genre music videos, we shall follow the same story line we followed so far and research into the types of shots we used so far to make sure we follow the right conventions of the genre.
Our song 'when you're gone' is about being with someone you love, and you have to say goodbye, and all the little things you happen to miss about them. According to Avril Lavigne, she did not intend the song to be a love song, but she was writing a slow song and the process brought out "all that emotional stuff" in her.
Therefor we have added a story line which turns into arguing. The following story line we thinking on adding into our music video, is about a mother and daughter short brief story line.
After all this is completed, my group and I shall be focusing on creating the ancillary task which consists of a CD Cover and a poster for our music video. In order to do this, we shall research into different CD Covers and posters of our genre and take motivation from the research we have gained. Our CD Cover and poster will symbolize our music company, and the music video we have chosen to create. We will also be setting up Facebook and Twitter pages, to allow our audience to know what 'Anthem Beatz Records' are up to, and working on. With the help of Adobe Photoshop we shall be creating these two tasks (CD Cover & Poster) as this program will help us create and edit and make the work look professional and polished.
Michael Shore
-Michael Shore concludes that music videos are recycled styles that contains an information overload and therefore contains views of adolescent male fantasies. Most videos contain elements of speed, power, girls, and wealth. Andrew Goodwin
- Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form:
- There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating,amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating,amplifying or contradicting the music.
- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist
- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, butalso in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens,cameras, mirrors, etc.- there are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films andTV texts, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.
Here you can see the results of our questionnaire. We have asked 25 people, age around 16-21, what they would like to see in a music video, what they use to watch them and how often they watch them. We created the graphs using Microsoft Excel and uploaded them using SlideShare.
Audience Analysis is an important part, of our research and planning in preparation for our media project. To find out what our audience's opinions towards music video is, we decided to create a questionnaire for them to fill in. In this questionnaire, we will be asking our audience what they would like to see in a Pop-Rock music video. Our target audience for this genre of music is typical teenagers and young adults.
We decided to create a focus group, because we were thinking by having a focus group, we can find out what our target audience is looking for in a music video, and also what it takes to make a successful music video. From this focus group, we have chose people the same age of ours, and we found out that they enjoy different types of pop music.
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