Group 2 A2 2015/16: 2016

LOCATIONS: Streets (urban settings) often busy, demonstrating realism and authenticity as the main character walks through the streets of London which are often busy.

Locations:
Locations of videos within the House genre are as varied as those of the pop genre, it is usually down to the type of song and on some occasions the lyrics. We decided to take a more urban approach with city locations, mainly in central London.

Twickenham (Riverside, High Street)

Trafalgar Square

Piccadilly Circus

These were suitable locations as they were very urban and relatable locations, a majority of our target audience would be familiar with city locations like central London.

Richmond (Richmond hill)

Our original shooting location was Richmond but ultimately the shots taken here were better suited for the digipak and magazine advert because of the brighter colour and backgrounds in the portraits of the artist.

Genre: According to the theorist, Williams: “Genre is the formats and formulas used by media producers to provide comfortable molds to create meaning for the audience”
The development of all three of our products was mainly centered on the ‘Melodic house’, genre as this was the genre of our selected song: ‘All to you’ by Ashaft.
House music is a style of electronic dance music usually in an upbeat style, although in contrast to the original 80s style, modern dance/house music tends to be mid-tempo whereas the tempo for house music was often slower in the early years of house. The type of house in Ashaft’s ‘All to you’ (My chosen song) however, is melodic, it doesn’t entirely conform to the typical conventions of house music, for example although the tempo is quit upbeat, it doesn’t display the usual fast bass beats often associated with house music. Instead this song exchanges the bass beats of stereotypical house for high pitched tones, therefore a song like this would be less likely to be used in things like nightclubs and is less likely to be danced to, opposing the usual stereotypes of the house genre.

However, the music videos for House music tend to convey messages about dancing, love, sexuality, and drugs in a repetitive structure and a steady bass beat (usually with a drum or electronic beats).

Another common convention of a house music video which we have subverted is that sometimes has a group of people doing dance moves in a circle and people watching because the theme of the songs are usually about dance of the beat of the song is supposed to motivate a person to dance.

Similarly another convention of a house music is that it will have a shot where a lot of people are dancing in a club, and the DJ is performing this is usually a reference to the home of dance/house music, Ibiza. This is evident in ‘My love’ by Route 94 which displays another convention of a House music video whereby they tend to have women doing sexy and seductive dance moves and also, they are usually dressed in clothes that expose their bodies and clothes that will attract a male audience.

Also, the DJ who produced the song usually doesn't appear and the vocals of they song are always sung by a female artist and they usually appear in the music video

What conventions do music videos have in general?

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

Similarities/Differences the video 'My Love' by Route 94
They are both similar in their simple melodic lyrical structure (i.e. not a vast range of lyrics as seen in conventional pop songs which is effective in allowing the audience to focus more on the music and enjoy the beats and the melody of the music.

The lyrics of ‘My love’ are “My love and my touch, up above, made with the warmth of my…” and “Love, stay close to me”. These are repeated at regular intervals throughout the song before returning to the low, catchy bass beats. Everything about the both the song and the music video are unique and memorable, from the lyrics and beats of the song, to the heat signature patterns of characters in a night club, making the song easily identifiable whether you listen to the song for a few seconds or simply see an image from the video.

This music lyric structure is similar to the style of our chosen song: Ashaft’s ‘All to you’, following a simplistic lyrical structure, repeating “I will give you love, give it all to you elongating the words ‘Love’ and ‘All’ emphasizing his obvious undying love for a girl. The structure of the song is also similar with repeated lyrics followed by a drop and an upbeat house-beat.

Structurally both the songs and their lyrics conform to the conventions of the house music genre in their style, conforming to conventions of music videos presented in Goodwin’s ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’.

Goodwin States that music videos displays:

1) ‘A relationship between lyrics and the visuals’

Therefore the music video for ‘My Love’ conforms to this convention of music videos. (See image 3).

My music video: There is a subtle relationship with the lyrics and visuals, with the friend behind the camera being willing to 'Give you love...Give it all' to his friend, demonstrating that he is willing to do anything for him (The artist).

2) 'There's a relationship between the music and the visuals, the lyrics’

This is evident in the ‘My love' video as the video displays people in a nightclub with references to dancing, drinking (alcoholism) and drug abuse (See image 2). This relates to the upbeat, dance style of music.

My music video: The pace of 'All to you' is moderately fast and upbeat, rather than the slow speed of a sad song, therefore it matches the happy, upbeat visuals on screen. e.g. The artist laughing and smiling as well as frequent changes to new locations.

3) ‘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)’

My love video conforms to this, displaying sexual notions of looking as the female draws in the male with her body movements and how she watches him. (See image 3)

My music video: Shown subtly in our music video as the character behind the camera looks on at his friend in admiration throughout the video.

ANCILLARY TEXTS

Magazine Advert

We wanted to maintain a link between the magazine advert and the digipak therefore we used a shot of our main character (main artist) by clearly showing his face and body in the shot whilst displaying his costume of a simple black bomber jacket which suggest a modernity to the character: he is young and dresses as current young people do, making him relatable to a modern young audience with an appealing image. The image has been edited to bring out his most attractive facial features for example his cheekbones and jaw, defining them more and making the artist appear even more attractive and appealing mainly towards a young female audience.

In addition to this we use a faded urban background with buildings in the background. The use of the buildings is to maintain this urban setting that we use throughout the music video conveying a synergistic link between the magazine advert, digipak and music video.

Basic features of a magazine advert:

Website
Social networks
Release
Where it can be purchased
Song title

Purpose

Basic objectives of a magazine advert:

-Promote an artist

-Promote a song

-Be eye catching and memorable

-Be recognizable

Conventions

Album/Song title

One of the most important features as it enables an audience to know the name of the single, for example if they wanted to go and purchase the single then they already know the title of the song to do so.

My Product: My advert conforms to this as it clearly displays the album title at the top, whilst also referencing to the single title ‘All to you’ in a bold black text used in both the digipak and the magazine advert.

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: This has the title printed more to the lower half of the advert but there is a clear separation between the band name and the album title. Both use identical fonts, customized and used on all products related to the band.

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: Uses a customized wave-like text to display the album name and the band’s name together. This are printed in a white font to increase visibility in front of the dark background.

Artist’s name

Important as it gives the audience an indication of who the artist/band is but and also as it promotes the artists themselves.

My Product: The artists name ‘Ashaft’ displayed in a customized font with white text and a black outline to make it more visible and stand out more. This is displayed right beneath the album title: All to you’ so the audience notice the artists name straight after they see the album title. The font of the two is different to provide a distinction between the two titles.

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: Prints the band’s name at the top of the advert and uses the synergistic triangle as the ‘A’ in ‘Bastille’. This symbol is instantly recognizable as a visual representation of the band.

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: The band name ‘Gorrilaz’ is printed right above the name of the album making it instantly noticeable and recognizable, especially to a current fan base.

Record label logo

Lets the audience know what record label the artist is signed to, in most cases this gives you an indication of what type of music will be featured as a result of the music produced by other artists on the same label.

My Product: My product does display the name of a record label

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: Displays the record label ‘Virgin’ in the bottom left corner. It is printed very small as this is not a major component of the advert that the audience look out for.

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: This product does display the name of a record label

Image of the album cover

This can be used as the main image for the entire magazine advert or if the advert refers to a single, then the image of the cover may be positioned in a corner of the magazine advert. This is important as it allows the audience to identify the album image so that they may refer to it later if they want to purchase the album. If it features an eye catching image then the viewer is more likely to take an interest in the image and research the album and the artist further.

My Product: My product does not display the album cover on the magazine advert as the advert itself works better as an advert for the album, and the advert appears better without the album cover featured on it.

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: The image on the magazine advert itself is identical to the album cover so that the audience can identify easily with the album image for future reference e.g. if they wish to purchase the album.

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: An image of a beach that has been bombarded by bombs as a reference to the title ‘Plastic beach’. This is evidently the image used on the album cover, relating the album cover tot the magazine advert, making the image recognizable to an audience if they and memorable for future reference (e.g. to purchase the album)

Image of artist

This is not essential in every magazine advert as many of them feature artwork or simply a symbol that links to the album/single. If it features the artist then they will be recognizable by an audience, relating them to the song. This would mostly appeal to current fans of the artist or band but can be useful in attracting a new audience

My Product: My magazine advert is dominated by the image of the main artist, relating him to the song/album and appealing to current fans and attracting new audiences.

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: An image of the main vocalist (Dan Smith) is shown as he is running in a dark road. The image of the main artist would probably only be recognizable to a current fan base who recognize the look of the main vocalist from his denim jacket.

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: No image is used of the artist, it therefore uses an image of a beach that has been bombarded by bombs as a reference to the title ‘Plastic beach’. This is evidently the image used on the album cover, relating the album cover tot the magazine advert, making the image recognizable to an audience if they and memorable for future reference (e.g. to purchase the album)

Synergistic elements

This involves using things like symbols, text styles, an image of the artist or images that links the advert to the artist/album. This establishes a link between products so that hey are recognizable and identifiable to audience whenever they see any product linking to the artist.

My Product: Our synergistic elements are the use of the main artist in all products. His costume and identical text in all products.

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: Uses a triangular symbol, instantly recognizable as the band’s symbol. Synergistic customized text used on all Bastille related products e.g. merchandise, album covers, music videos.

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: Customized wave-like font, mirroring the water beneath.

Release date

This is one of the most important features of a magazine as it tells the audience when the song/album is available for them to purchase or download and be able to listen to. If they have already been anticipating the product or the advert has been successful in generating interest, then this will provide them with an indication of how long they will have to wait for the product.

My Product: ‘Out Now’ is clearly displayed on my magazine advert, it is the second largest text on the advert so it is one of the first things you notice after the album title, making it easy to spot and quickly provides the audience with the information that the album is available for them to purchase

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: No release date is printed on this product

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: ‘Out Now’ boldly printed on the magazine advert, allowing the audience to know the album is available for purchase.

Information about the album

This can include things like songs featured on the album (if it is an album advertisement), if anyone else features on the song/album, ratings and quotes received form critics, or an official website for more information. This is important as it provides the audience with more information about the album if the initial image has caught their attention and generated interest.

My Product: My product provides a Soundcloud link where anyone can listen to the single ‘All to you’, as this will generate more interest and anticipation to listen to the rest of the album. It also provides symbols of the social networks: twitter and Facebook allowing the audience to know that they can look at these social networks for more information about the artist/album. ‘Available on iTunes’ is also displayed on my magazine advert to allow the audience to know where they can purchase the single/album.

Bastille’s ‘Bad Blood’: Includes names of all the band members, names of producer and the name of the record label.

Gorrilaz Plastic Beach: Website for more information, critic’s comments and star ratings are provided, suggesting it is a popular album.

Digipak

What I wanted to achieve:

Common conventions of all music genres, not common in house genres, usually uses a symbol, reference to DJ, music creator (For example Duke Dumont’s single cover for 'I got U'). We intended to center all our products on them artist therefore using him as a central image on the digipak. We subverted this common use of images/symbols/text on stereotypical house album covers and instead conformed to the conventions of pop and other genres like Rap, as their album covers tend to use the artist as the main image.

For example in the creation of the digipak we were inspired by that of J. Cole’s ‘2014 Forrest

Hills Drive’ and Logic’s ‘Under Pressure’ album covers as the rapper is used as the central image

and they are instantly recognizable as the main artist to a current fan base and it is easy to

relate the image to the artists themselves their music.

Duke Dumont; I Got U

J Cole: 2014 Forrest Hills Drive

Logic: Under Pressure

One of our main inspirations however, was Drakes ‘Nothing was the Same’ album cover as it displays young and present images of Drake (the artist) on both the back and front covers facing each other, so essentially the artist is used across both covers. The same basis is used for my digipak cover, with the artist being displayed over the front, back and inside covers.

Drake: Nothing Was the Same (Front Cover)

Drake: Nothing Was the Same (Back Cover)

The font

We used identical fonts on the digipak. Magazine advert for the artists name ‘Ashaft’ in a unique italic style and white font that stands out in front of any background. The text is used across all three products, linking them and relating all of them to the artist.

Conforms to conventions of digipaks: