Seminal video using Goodwin's theory

Goodwin’s Theory

In his book ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ Andrew Goodwin identifies the following features of music videos:

• There's a relationship between lyrics and the visuals
• There's a relationship between the music and the visuals, the lyrics  (e.g. sad song with sad lyrics and vice versa)
• Some music genres may have their own music videos style and iconography (e.g. hip-hop with girls, cars and gold jewelry)
• There is often a demand for a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist from the record company to establish the artist on screen and identify them with the music
• Likely to be a reference to voyeurism (notion of looking) usually for females but also in the methods of actually looking (e.g. screens within screens or cameras
• Likely to be intertextual references either to other music videos (usually to seminal videos) or to films and TV texts

Overall, I feel that when constructing my music video, I didn’t want a stereotypical video that showed teens going out to explore the world, I wanted to represent youth in an opposing way to which they may be represented at this moment in time, a perception of youth now days is connected to drink and drugs, which may be fun for them at the time, but from outside their perspective, others may see this as bad. This may fit with the house genre life, as the people who enjoy this music may live happy and energetic life. I did include Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘male gaze’, describing it as characters being ‘bearers of the look’ which is usually aimed at ‘physically desirable’, sexually submissive female characters. I challenged this through using a ‘physically desirable’ male protagonist. Although I did not show off the man’s body, he was given a ‘voyeuristic look’, so was still exposed to the camera, so the audience could gaze at him. I did this through several close up shots, showing off his attractive male features, enjoying himself which may be attractive to people.

MAGAZINE ADVERT - PART II

MAGAZINE ADVERT - PART I

DIGIPAK RESEARCH

DIGIPAKS

Essentially a digipak offers the audience a lot more in terms of content than a disk with a regular CD cover. It is a marketing tool intended to offer the buyer an incentive for purchasing the hard copy from a high street or online retailer rather than downloading/streaming the music.

It is particularly important as sales of albums have dwindled as buyers often prefer to download their favourite track(s) rather than pay out for the full album.

The incentive is basically extras added to the CD/DVD in addition to the actual disk and its case with front and back covers.

It will include:

Front, Back, Spine, and at least four additional panels.

The additional panels will comprise some or all of the following:

Membership postcard / flier

Lyric section

Disk impression

Band info section / booklet

Free image / poster / set of postcards

Examples:

'Oasis'

A 6-panel right-tray clear gloss UV digipak. This digipak is for an ‘Oasis’ CD. It has been folded from a ‘net’ to form a 6 piece digipak, with the cd encased.

The three exterior covers include the main cover, the back cover with song titles and their duration, and other institutional information (record label etc)

'Led Zeppelin'

I thought that this front cover was very striking due to the bold use of colours. You can tell that the genre is rock because of the lightning bolts at the top of the album. This is one of the conventions of rock music and this symbol is widely recognised.

The bold use of colours - You can tell that the genre is rock because of the lightning bolts at the top of the album. This is one of the conventions of rock music and this symbol is widely recognised.

I liked how the layout was simple on this digipak as many digipaks have unique layouts. Personally, I prefer this layout as it is more practical. Moreover the CD ties in with the theme of black and red adding continuity. In addition, it seems that this digipak is very similar to the layout and appearance of a regular cd cover. 

The insert is similar to the front cover. This is so the audience is familiar with the style they are trying to achieve. Moreover the symbol of the plane is very iconic for 'Led Zeppelin' which adds to that brand image.

Own Example - 'Leitrim Equation 3' CD

This digipak is for a traditional Irish music cd, entitled ‘Leitrim Equation 3’. It is unique for a music genre of this type to utilise the latest technology to produce a digipak. In fact, it is the first traditional Irish music CD to come in the form of a digipak.

This cd was produced in 2013, by trad musicians Donal Lunny, John Carty and Seamus Begley. Although not known to a global audience necessarily, they are famous within the tradition. This angle shows the front cover, with the interior aspects of the disc and notes on musicians and the recording team (sound engineers etc)

This shows 3 of the 6 sides from the original flat design. It features a message from the artists, the tunes/songs which were recorded, and the album cover. 

The back cover features tunes/songs. Also included are the barcode, and the logos of sponsors/funds which have supported the production of the CD (institutional info) , namely Leitrim County Council and the Irish Traditional Arts Council.

Music Video Advert Analysis- Stacio

Green day from Stacio Fernandes

Music Video Advert Analysis- Stacio

A dvert from Stacio Fernandes

Magazine advert analysis- Jack

Jimi Hendrix- Velleys of Neptune
The font used is very mythical looking and so links with the theme of Neptune- who is the God of the sea.
The font is very ancient looking, possibly a used in ancient Greece.

The title of the album is 'Valley of Neptune'- Neptune the mythical God of the sea and so the blue background and theme of the advert links to this.
The coral seen to the left could also link to this them of the sea.

The colours used, a blue and purple looking theme, could be a possible space theme, linking to the planet Neptune.

The spots of white could be interpreted as stars and so would follow the theme of space.

The largest text size used is the title of the artist 'Jimi Hendrix' which makes his name stand out.
The white writing on the top and bottom of the advert is on top of a darker colour of blue in the background, possibly symbolising the deeper parts of the sea.

The sexual thinking look on Jimi's face making eye contact with us is catching the audiences attention, and could possibly stereo typically linked with the artist who is linked with drugs, sex and alcohol.

The rule of thirds is used through the image of Jimi Hendrix being a prominent image to establish who he is.

Green day- American idiot
Three predominant colours are used: Black, white and red.

The band name stands out the most in the colour white, on the black background, its opposing colour. This may have been done to make it stand out, to make the audience remember and associate the album name with the band.
The name of the band is also highlighted in capital letters, to make them stand out even more.

The name of the album is in another colour, red, which makes it stand out, not as much as the name of the band, but is clearly visible and does still stand out.
The colour of the album name, is also associating with red heart grenade, which shows blood on a hand, therefore, the name of the album name may be associated with blood.

The grenade in the shape of the heart is a symbol of the album, which can be seen on the CD and the album digipak. The colour of the heart grenade stands out and is very memorable and will have some relevance to the band and the name of the album.

Music Video Analysis- Stacio

Video analysis- Jack

Digipack- Stacio

Digipack from Stacio Fernandes

Digipak- Jack

Initial research:

A Digipak is a digital typically consist of a folded paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. They usually contain: the CD, a booklet, a poster and in some cases a DVD! They are usually released as a special edition to an album and were massively popular in the early 2000’s.

After looking at a range of digipak's i found that generally they do vary depending on the genre of music, although individual artists tended to have an image of themselves or their name on the front of the digipak. The genre of the music did usually correspond to the digipak theme, which would make it stand out and was easily identifiable.

Different styles of Digipak nets.
6 panel on left and 4 panel on right.





I am most likely to use the first digipak shown, the single tray in the centre is commonly used and because we are developing on CD it would be useless including a second space for a second tray. The CD will cover 1 of the 6 panels, 2 panels for the front and back cover, 1 panel for a booklet, the last 2 panels can be left for creative ideas like a lyrics or custom designs panel. I would use the 6 panel net over the 4 panel net because it gives our group space to work with, rather than being short of panels, we have more.


Digipak analysis:

Media digipak eminem album from Jack Gilbert

RESEARCH: Music advertisement (Seth Tumwa)

RESEARCH: Music Promo analysis (Seth Tumwa)

Music promo video research 1 from sethtumwa

RESEARCH: Digipak Analysis of Frank Ocean 'Channel Orange' (Seth Tumwa)

SEMINAL MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

Analysis of A2 Music Video - 'Crystal Whites' - 'To Anyone'

Technical Aspects:

Mise en Scene - Casual - jackets, t-shirts, hoodies, jeans. This is reflective of the rock genre, adopting a 'cool' look. The intial setting is at night beside the River Thames, and this is frequently interspersed throughout the video, with the band playing in a park.

Editing - This has enabled the rough original cut to be arranged into a final cut. In addition, it has enabled each of the shots to follow a sequence, interspersed shots of the main singer and the band in two different locations and time periods.

Representation:

The gender of the video is male, potentially with a female target audience. They are all young male 'musicians'. They are represented through the technical codes as typically suiting their age, their interests and the way they dress.

Audience:

Because of the way they are represented, the obvious audience for this film would be female. They are a 'boy band', and have the potential to generate great commercial success, as well as creating a huge fan base.

Goodwin's Theory:

Andrew Goodwin, in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' has identified the following features of music videos:

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics - Male/Rock Band

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.

There is a relationship between music and visuals.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)

There is frequently reference to the notion of looking.

There is often intertextual reference.

Conventions of Music Video

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