Rock music evolved from rock and roll and pop music during the mid and late 1960s. Rock music is a style of music with a heavy focus on guitars, drums and powerful vocals.
Past: One of the earliest performers of the genre of rock was Elvis Presley. He shocked the world with his suggestive dancing and powerful music. He was and still is a well know performer for the rock genre. The 1960s also saw The Beatles become a hugely successful and popular rock band and again this band is still very well known to this day and their music is still very popular.
Present: 'Rock music' is now used to refer to a wide range of musical forms, including anything from soft pop to heavy metal.
I also took to YouTube to actually look at some of the past and present rock music videos. Two of the videos I picked out was The Beatles 'Love me do' and Fall Out Boy 'Irresistible'. What I found from watching and listening to both songs was that as time has passed the actual music videos have become just important as the actual song as it is another selling point. The Beatles video was much more simple as it showed the band performing the song on stage with different camera shots such as close ups. On the other hand the Fall Out Boy's music video was telling a story which included a lot of humour. The actual songs also differed as The Beatles had a lot of instrumental going on and this could be heard through out as a main factor whereas the Fall Out Boy's songs main focus was the vocals although they to had instruments in their song.
From my magazine advert research, I found that the use of colour can portray what type of genre the artist is within. For example, bright, vibrant colours usually conform to the pop/hip-hop genre, whereas darker colours and tones, blacks and greys, usually fit more indie and metal genres. I also found out that key institutional information are key elements when promoting the artist and their music, such as where audiences can purchase the album. As magazine adverts are a form of promotion for the artist, it is important to include key information without overcrowding the advert, to make it simple and easy for audiences to read and take in.
While on location for filming the music video, we also took various stills for our magazine advert.
Even though it is more common for a magazine advert to be portrait, we decided that our would be landscape subvert the usual convention.
This was a group decision as we wanted our advert to be different to other music adverts by subverting the usual convention, as well as keeping key institutional information on the advert, giving easy access to the target audience, and other possible audiences.
From my research into magazine adverts for music CDs i found that the use of colour can change the tone of an album. So bright colours may suggest that it is a pop album, whereas dark heavy colours may suggest that the album could be of a rock genre. Furthermore i found out that more information can be put onto the magazine advert such as the artists personal website and other information such as awards the artist has won. In addition i found the actual image on the magazine advert is just as important as this is what the main focus will be and this is what will catch the audiences attention. From the two adverts i analysed i found that some main images will be sexualised to capture the audiences eyes straight away, whereas others may have a more confusing image which will only catch the eye of a few who are really looking and observing what they see.
Digipak Analysis for Simple Plan's album "Get Your Heart On".
On the back of the CD case also includes a section where the band give credit to who helped produce the album, their band website and the record label website, and a barcode.
This first digipak has the option for 2 CD holders either side of the case, and a holder for a booklet in the middle. The digipak is good as it gives an alternative design and different options and choice, with a second disc holder which could have videos or behind the scenes clips on. However the extra CD holder may be unnecessary, especially if the artist does not have a second disc to offer, and could create the album to be quite fiddly and unorganised.
This digipak includes a CD holder, booklet holder and the first panel for the album artwork. The extra panels could hold extra artwork or features such as a lyric booklet, however because there is so much extra space, this may be hard to fill with just artwork. Also, the CD holder is placed quite awkwardly to the side and should be the main feature of the digipak.
This last digipak has a CD holder and booklet holder. The CD holder is in the middle panel meaning its at centre of attention and the first thing a person sees when they open the digipak. The booklet holder is also placed conveniently at the side. Its good that there is only one CD holder meaning the artist can have all their work easily on one disc, however again the extra panels may be difficult as there is extra space that needs to be filled.
A digipak is packaging for a CD or DVD. It is normally made out of cardboard and is put into a plastic holder. A digipak normally consists of one or more disc and a booklet, poster or lyric sheet depending on what digipak is bought. Digipaks became very popular during the 2000's. A digipak includes the front, back, spine and at least four additional panels.
Through my research on digipaks i found that there are many different kinds of digipaks due to different styles of genre of music. I found that pop albums had much more bright colours on them whereas rock albums used much darker colours on the front. The style of digipak is very important as it gives the buyer some sort of idea of what to expect, so if there are bright colours then the album is probably going to be energetic and fun whereas if the albums front cover is full of dark colours then there could be expected to be more dark and slow music.
Style of digipak.
I went and also did some research on the styles of digipaks and found that this would be one i would create as it includes the CD back and front cover and also has space to slide in a booklet. It is nice and simple and nothing too complicated and also looks very nice and professional.
Summery:
What i really liked about this album was that the front cover was a picture of the whole band all multicoloured. This went well with the title of the album as it was a CD of their best tracks which were probably a mixture of different meanings which is shown through them being in multi colours. Furthermore i liked how they kept to a beige colour overall it set quite a neutral tone and made it looked old fashioned which again could be another reference to "memory lane' the fact the there are song from the past. What i really liked was the back cover of the digipak as again is was very simple and had all the names of the songs that are featured on the CD. Again the style in which the songs have been written are someones actual hand writing which makes the digipak very personalised and special which again links in with the whole theme of the album and its title.
Awards - MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video
The video for this song is quite confusing as it shows a young girl and older man together dancing in a cage. But after doing some research into not only the song but the music video I found that the whole song is about the man and the young girl is one of his inner demons. Furthermore the reason for them dancing in the cage is to represent the man head and how everything is so crazy and how he is dealing with so much.
The actual video consists of a lot of dancing and through this a story is being told. I found this music very moving and different and although the video had a negative response as many people thought it was wrong for such a young girl to be in a cage with an older man and didn't really understand the concept of the video.
However, when Sia saw these comments she came back and made sure she got across the real message of the song and the video and after myself researching into it all i found that i could really understand the song and the video.
Andrew Goodwin's Key features of music videos:
Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
There is a relationship between the music and lyrics.
There must be loads of close ups of the artist.
Reference to the motion of looking.
I feel that all the music videos i have watched and analysed follows Goodwin's conventions and because of this makes each of them very successful. I plan on myself following these conventions as by doing this i will be able to create a successful end product, in addition all of Goodwin's points fit in together so if i do one of them it only makes sense to do the rest such as using a close up of my artist and use this as a motion of the audience looking at her in a sexual way (Male Gaze).
Seminal Video - Britney Spears : Baby One More Time
Released: 23rd September 1998
Genre: Teen Pop/ Dance Pop
Nominations: Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Mise En Scene:
The whole music video is based at a high school, and what they are doing at the end of the day. The costumes are supposed to resemble school uniform except they have definitely been altered e.g the skirts and shorter and the shirts are ripped etc. When watching this, you can definitely tell it conforms to the pop genre. Britney claims that the song is just about a high school girl who has a crush and doesn't necessarily carry any sexual connotations, however this does not conform to the music video as she is seen cutting class to flirt with boys and is wearing slightly provocative clothing.
Sound:
The sound doesn't start until around half a minute in. At the start there is some acting where Britney is tapping her feet and her pencil to show she is getting impatient when waiting for school to end. As soon as the school bell rings the music starts and the song plays.
Editing:
At the beginning of the video, it jump cuts from the clock back to Britney, getting closer each time to show she was waiting for the bell to ring. At the beginning of the second verse there is also another jump cut where the location changes from inside the corridors to outside the school. Throughout the whole video, there are simple cuts from each scene which has a new but similar setting.
Camera Work:
A lot of the time there would be a shot of Britney dancing, and then a close up shot of her, which promotes her as an artist. Towards the last chorus there is an establishing shot to show to whole setting and new location, as well as all the dancers.
Skrillex& Diplo ft Justin Bieber: Where are you now
Released: 27th February 2015, hit mainstream radios 21st April 2015
Genre: EDM
Nominations: Four nominations at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, winning the Best Visual Effects category.
Mise en Scene:
The main artist seen throughout the whole video is just wearing his own casual clothes. The focus of this video is not the costumes and makeup, or even setting, but the animations and effects instead. There is a lot of animation involved which is the main subject of the video. It is very visual and keeps the audiences attention strongly throughout as there is always something happening.
Editing:
The shots cut to and from the artist dancing and singing to the public where they have drawn animations on still images of him for the video, which also shows how the video itself was produced. Then there is the main setting with a plain background, which the animations overlapping the artist continuously.
Sound:
The song fades in at the very beginning of the music video and plays throughout.
Camerawork:
There are jump cuts in the middle of the video which show the public coming into a room and drawing the animations. Then the animations are played all throughout the music video. There are also close up and extreme close up shots, to promote the artist. There is also a high angle shot in the middle, showing the public coming into the room to create drawings for the music video.
Sum 41- In Too Deep
Released: September 2001 in the USA and December 2001 in the UK.
Genre: Pop punk/ Alternative Rock
The highest it ranked in the charts for 2001-2002 was in Canada at number 2.
Mise En Scene:
The music video is based at a swimming pool and the band are apart of a diving contest, matching the lyrics 'In too deep'. Also, the band perform the song throughout the whole video in an empty swimming pool with their ' audience' sitting around it. They are wearing their normal clothes, and when they are diving they're wearing long shorts, whereas the opposing team are wearing small red trunks, which are more revealing.
The whole video is laid back and could even be seen as 'unprofessional', however this conforms to the pop punk genre, of rebellious young men in a rock band, who could be seen as having the 'class clown' character.
Editing:
The main cuts are from the empty swimming pool where the band are performing, to the diving scene where they are competing against another diving team. Sound:
The soundtrack starts around 10 seconds into the music video, as the band are walking into the diving center and plays throughout the whole video. Camera Work:
There are plenty of high and low angle shots throughout the diving scenes, to show the actual diving take place and then the audiences reaction. There is also an establishing shot to show the crowd and how excited they are for the contest.
From analysing these music videos, it relates to Andrew Goodwin when he identified features of music videos these include, there is frwquently reference to th enotion of looking and particularly voyeristic treatment of the female body, this can be seen in all of the music videos above. moreover there is a relationship between music and visuals for eample from Bonkaz 'We Run The Block' it shows him rapping about his estate which is shown in themusic lyrics as well as visuals.
