Rocksound adverts

I love this advert. The simple colours, text and image make it very bold and edgy.


I do not think this advertisement works very well, this may be due to my own personal taste in music does not correspond with this, but still the colours and layout do no appeal to me. It is too busy and there is no excitement in the advert.


These ones interest me. I like the black and white simplicity on the first one, and the vintage look on the other. They both work well in my opinion, and can draw in the audience by their image.

I think that these adverts are awful. They look as if they are created by amateur editors. There is no sense of style of personality in them; the colours don't work and the layout of the text and images is disgraceful.

Here are some adverts that i collected from Rocksound magazine. They are all adverts for the release of a new album or digipak. The magazine did also include some adverts for concert dates, but they did not have entire relevance to my project.
Having adverts promotes a band and their music to their audience, for instance rock bands are promoted in Rocksound. This is a form of branding through the media, and is a visually based technique that can allow a reader to glance at an advert whilst reading the magazine for entertainment. Some readers will buy the magazine to see who is new and who the magazine recommend they buy. Rocksound for instance gives out a free CD with new bands/songs to promote them.
Rocksound is published by SonicPublishing, they produce 'exciting, entertaining digital publications using cutting edge technology, as well as helping traditional magazine publishers bring their titles to the internet'.
They also offer advanced services to independent websites wishing to join the group, giving them access to ad sales, web design and development and other tools that would otherwise be out of reach, increasing traffic and profitability.

The audience for this magazine is for listeners of rock music. Rocksound has a collection of mainstream and also newcoming bands. This is what makes the magazine so interesting; there is always something new to read about and listen to.

Music video research

Bring Me The Horizon


This music video is of the metal genre, and so is very busy and eccentric; it is very dark in the style that the video actually is. The video consists of a 'party' and the band playing. This is a good mixture within a music video, it promotes and attitude and also gives a story to the video. The singer sings at the camera a few times, which involves the audience into the video. The editing is at a fast pace, with shot flashbacks.


Mumford and Sons


This video is quite the opposite to the Bring me the horizon one. The pace is slow and, and there is also aspects of slow motion. This video promotes the band the same way, but with a different attitude. Music videos work well in this advertisement process as you instantly get a feel for a band when you see a music video of theirs. This Mumford and sons video is very natural based, with the outdoors and fields, whereas with the BMTH one it is enclosed to a loud messy party.

Kings of Leon


This video in my opinion works very well. It has live and narrative footage, combined together to create an atmospheric video. Fade/dissolve is used a lot through within the video, which I think works really well. When the chorus kicks in, it goes to a live set, and then back to a narrative setting. There is also aspects of both black and white and colour, which contrast well to create these different moods. I like this video and I shall consider it when thinking of my own music video.

Lykke Li


Lykke Li is one of my favourite alternative artists. This video is very original yet simple. The main aspect of the video is a pair of feet moving in a dance motion, and this action is repeated by editing. Slow motion is used to create this relaxed feel to the video. I really like this video and will definately consider it for my own video. The location is basic and public, and this makes it different to the usual studio based videos such as popstars would do.

Friendly Fires


This video is again very chilled, and the slow motion allows this to be portrayed. I really like this video as it is very interesting in the storyline (Caribbean dancing), which doesn't entirely match the genre of music (indie rock). These days you can do almost anything as it will be called independent, which in a way it is. This video switches shots between this dancing and the frontman singing in a studio at the camera. This works well in my opinion, though on the other hand the video is quite boring and a viewer may get uninterested, therefore becoming uninterested in the band.

T Pain


This video is exactly what I do not want for my music video. It is very commercial based, and quite sexually orientated, as do many RnB stars do today.

Album covers

This album cover is quite surreal, the band members are manipulated to appear plastic. This is quite a neat piece of editing, with quite a simple idea. There is quite a solid texture to the image, the shine on the plastic look shows this. The colours are very bright and alluring, and seem to be the focus of the image. This image was taken in a studio so there is artificial lighting used. I think as a cover it works well with the simplicity, and yet the colours can catch a viewers eye. The main focus of the image is very well seperated; the text and image are not mixed.

I find this cover very interesting. I like the lighting in the image; it is natural, but most probably with the added use of a flashgun and other photography equipment. It is quite an ironic image, with the model taking a photograph of the photographer taking a photograph of the model. It is a simple layout, the bold text makes it stand out and work well. The colours are slightly desaturated to create a soft texture to the image. I would definately use an image such as this one for my own project.

This cover is completely graphics based. I don't believe much or any photography has taken place to create this cover. On the other hand I do think it works well for its audience and genre of music (rock). The colours are simple yet powerful, and I think that this was a good decision to allow the cover to appear busy yet plain.

This image is very beautiful and digitally manipulated. I think it is very simple, which works well for an album cover. The cover is just the artists face, which is advertisement at its best. The viewer can see who the artist is just from the cover, and there is no question on who this is. There is simple text at the top of the image of the artist name, which is in bright white bold lettering.

This cover is from a pschobilly punk band, so the album cover is slightly different to those I have already shown. The image is a photograph of the main band member, and has been manipulated into the digital imaging aspects of the cover. The composition of this cover is great; the colours are simple and the white background allows anything and everything to stand out.

This cover appeals to me as it is alike to The Auteur's one. The photograph is of the artist, and is taken on location. The lighting is natural, and the image has a very nature inspired feel to it. The text is simple and bold.

This cover is quite surreal and disturbing, but for the genre of music it is promoting (metal) it works quite well. The text is quite different to the others covers shown, it is the main body of the cover, but has been decreased in opacity so that an image can sit and be the main aspect of the cover. This works really well in my opinion as you can appreciate the entire cover without missing anything.

This cover has quite a vintage look to it in my opinion, I really like the colours used. I personally think it is a photograph of an object, which has been digitally manipulated to be a part of this cover. I like this idea as it has a sense of authenticity.

This cover is taken from a very famous and well known band, but in my opinion this cover is shameful. There is no recognition to the band genre or who the band are. The image is simple and quite ordinary in my opinion, and the editing in three of the many windows does not match the rest of the cover. I don't think the cover works at all, and if I saw this in a shop I wouldn't look twice at it. On the other hand, others would say it is original and independent.

BARB weekly channels

I took some information from BARB(Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) and i collected some data on their daily/ weekly viewings on their channels. I have highlighted the music channels to show their viewings.
It so happens that 4music, with over six thousand weekly views, Smash Hits, with over fifteen hundred and selected MTV channels with over fifteen hundred views have the most weekly viewings from what I have collected.
From this I can assume that viewers watch these channels for the pop videos that are included, or just listen to the music that is played, using the channel as a form of music player (same as you would for radio).
Each of these channels fall under the 'popular music' category. This could either be dance, pop, RnB, indie or even some forms of rock music. However these musicians are portrayed to the public depends on how they are percieved and how popular they become.

Music institutions - EMI

EMI is a very successful music company, that is home to some of the worlds greatest music recording artists, songwriters, and music catalogues. There is EMI Music and EMI Music Publishing.
There over over 1.3 million songs in the music catalogue, and hjas for 12 years running been approved as the best Billboard Publisher of the year.

They manage successful bands such as YouMeAtSix, Hadouken!, 30 Seconds to Mars, Babyshambles, Coldplay, Does it offend you, yeah?, Goldfrapp, Iron Maiden, Jamie T, Polar Bear Club, Underoath, and also artists such as Robbie Williams, Lily Allen, and David Guetta.

This is the new video for YouMeAtSix's new song, The Consequence. It has been recently released this year.
The objective for this video is to promote the band and how exciting and fun they are. The live footage allows the band to seem very busy and popular. The added personalised snippets that follow through make the video appear personal to the band. EMI have artists that can provoke an opinion and create a fanbase. For example YMAS seem to have gathered a very varied audience. From young boys who aspire to be the band, and young girls who aspire to be with the band, YMAS has picked up as a popular culture band. They also appeal to teens, and elders who attend music events such as Reading and Leeds festival.

Observation: Itunes top ten

This information was taken from the Itunes webstore. I have highlighted the UK top ten, and I have also included the US, France, Germany and Australia to demonstrate corresponding countries top ten.

From this I have concluded that Lady Gaga's video for Bad Romance (directed by Francis Lawrence) is somewhere in the top ten for each of these places.

All of these videos are of the Dance and RnB genre, and i shall look into these videos on YouTube to see why they are the top ten and how I could maybe incorporate their style into my own work.

Chris Cunnigham Music video director

London-based Chris Cunningham has created some of the most provocative and visually disturbing subject matter in the history of the music video or film. His unnerving, award-winning works have included Aphex Twin’s “Come To Daddy” (an elderly woman is chased through an English council housing complex by pint-sized Richard James mutants); Björk’s “All is Full of Love”

Music video director Michel Gondry

His career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, in which he also served as a drummer. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, who asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour". The collaboration proved long-lasting, with Gondry directing a total of seven music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck. Gondry has also created numerous television commercials. He pioneered the "bullet time" technique later adapted in The Matrix,[citation needed] in a 1998 commercial for Smirnoff vodka, as well as directing a trio of inventive holiday-themed advertisements for clothing retailer Gap, Incorporated.

Observation: MTV top music videos

These names were taken from the MTV site about the top music videos of 2009. It is clear from this research that dance/RnB/House music is the most popular, and this is probably due to popular culture within Britain. This is not what i entirely expected from MTV, as they broadcast more than just Dance/RnB music, but as the research shows this genre of music has won over Indie or Rock. On the other hand, if I was to research top music videos on Kerrang, the results would be entirely different.

Bestseller albums from HMV website

I took these albums from the HMV website as research into bestselling albums. I shall look into the graphology of the covers, the price, the genre of music and the popularity of the album.

Depending on the genre of music determines the look of the album cover. It seems to be that solo artists have a highly manipulated photograph of themselves to promote themselves. Colour and artwork plays a major part within digi paks; what catches the eye for its purpose and audience is how the album will sell.
For example the Peter Kay album is very colourful and jokey, whereas Florence and te Machine is very pretty, elegant and arty. This appeals to its particular audience.
Simplicity is a good way to make a powerful image. It is not too busy and you can advertise just as well.

Questionnaire - continued research

Top albums from NME magazine

http://www.nme.com/list/the-top-100-greatest-albums-of-the-decade/158049/page/10

This is a link from the NME website, stating the top 100 albums of the decade. It is in the form of a video blog, with the music video itself and a little statement of opinion about it from the NME editors.
The top ten are Radiohead, The Streets, Interpol, Arcade Fire, Pj Harvey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, The Libertines and The Strokes.
In my opinion these bands are all very individual in the way that they are presented, and their music genre. They are all of the same indie type of genre, whether that is mainstream or independent indie rock.

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&p=7644&more=1&c=1

This is a link from the same website, stating the top 10 singles of the noughties. The artists that have been stated are those that are were once a part of the pop culture. They had pop hits that hit number ones etc. This research is not entirely relevant to my project so i shall not take it into great consideration.

Sharks

SHARKS - The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is Hell (April - August 2009 Tour Footage)


This video is taken from the NME website. It is one of my friends bands, and i was told by him that i could find this video on the NME website. I really liked the video and the content of it. When my group and I decided on a music video this was the first one that came to mind when we decided on a recorded/live/walking about video.

LostProphets Where we belong

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This is a new video released in early 2010. I really like the content of this music video; the aspects of live and staged works really well. I like how it goes from black and white to colour in different shots, and the speed of film used.

Questionnaire

This is my and my peers questionnaire that we have constructed.
We will ask a selected number of people to fill in this questionnaire for us and gather some results to help us plan our own music video.

Beyone Single Ladies

Beyonce's video for Single Ladies is not my favourite genre of music or video, but for the choreography, lighting, angles etc it is pretty good. I don't think i want to bring any of these ideas into my own work though.

Green Day Wake me up when September ends

This video was produced under quite an emotional story. It has depth and i like this. I like how there is a story to the video; the aspects of the band actually singing 'live' make it a differentiated video. It skips from the story to the band playing.
A video like this could work very well in my opinion, maybe better than the Bury Tomorrow one that i published. It is a lot more staged and would need a lot more preparation, but it could work well.
Still ar early stages in research as i need to look into music magazines, and maybe create a questionnaire.

Research - Bury Tomorrow Casting Shapes

This video was my first choice of music video to look at as it was an initial idea that i had come up for my own project.
The black and white colour allows the video to seem slightly more mysterious and dark, and i like the old school simplicity that you can get from it.
A simple setting with lots of camera angles makes the video interesting to watch. The excited movement of the band also makes the video seem like it's moving and constantly on its toes. This music genre is quite popular for readers of Kerrang and Rocksound. The heavy metal aspects of the song itself, and the aggression that is put forward in the video, would be acceptable to its target audience.
I myself really like this music video idea and will put it forward to my group as an idea. We have briefly discussed doing a 'mish mash' music video of all types of film of a band. For example following them around on a day to day basis, filming them at a live gig, filming them on a tour, etc. Mixing snippets from each film and placing them together with a song to match can work really well. There is another music video that i know of that has done this, the question is if i can find it because the band themselves are not very big. I shall research this.

Intro

My chosen subject area for my A2 project is the music video project. The brief states that my group and I produce:
1. A music promo video.
2. A cover for the album's release on DVD (Digi Pak).
3. A magazine advertisement for the DVD.

I will begin by starting my research and planning. I shall look into music genres, magazines, videos etc for this primary and secondary research. After gaining a better perspective on what my group and I plan on achieving in this project, we will then move on to planning our own video etc.