Analysing Existing Album Covers and Posters This is one of the album covers of our band. It is in black and white, similarly to some of their music videos, which conforms to the indie rock genre. The picture shows two young boys smoking, emphasising the reckless look they want to create about themselves. There is no writing on the album cover other than the band's logo. Overall it is a very simple design, but it conforms greatly to the indie rock genre, as well as giving us hints to what the band's style is like. When coming to make our digi pack, we plan to use the same level of simplicity in our design, possibly using black and white, depending on whether or not we chose to put our music video in black and white. As they have used children for their album cover, we thought that it would then work well if we used one of our concept ideas- to use children to represent the band- as they have associated themselves with children before.
Our chosen artist, The Jacques, have, in the past, produced music videos which conform to the stereotypes of their genre- indie rock. The band themselves are typically seen wearing dark, baggy clothing with a slightly grungy vibe. Their hair is often messy, giving them a rougher, carefree appearance, conforming to one of the conventions of indie rock bands. As the band only started up fairly recently, they do not yet have many music videos. However, from the few music videos which they do have, it is easy to see that their videos have a certain style. The videos are almost always in urban settings, and lots of shots are used to show this, e.g. shots of road signs and built up areas. As well as this, the camera moves around a lot, creating a rough feel to the video, which is a common feature of indie rock music videos that I've seen when researching other indie rock bands. Some of their videos are in black and white and they have used boarders around the screen, which is similar to the techniques used in 'Debaser' by the Pixies, where they overlaid lots of shots, which I looked at earlier.
Use of a low quality camera and a boarder in The Jacques' music video 'Weekends'.
Use of a low quality camera and overlaid shots in the Pixies' music video 'Debaser'.
Pixies The Pixies are an American band formed in 1986 in Boston. They are associated with the genres indie rock and alternative rock. Their style has been described as a mixture of surf music and punk rock. They have said that they try to be dynamic, but their music is usually either loud and intense or quiet and relaxed. Debaser is an example of one of their songs. The music video features shots of a live performance, overlaid with letters and effects which make the video look as if it is malfunctioning. The video itself is very dark in colour and it is very hard to tell what is going on, as the video seems to have been shot using a lower quality camera, making the video seem more unfinished and different. This conforms to the indie rock genre, where videos are typically performance based. Indie rock videos are also often of a lower quality, to reiterate their 'alternative' feel which they have about them.
The Strokes The Strokes are an American rock band formed in 1998 in New York City. The band is associated with the genres indie rock and garage rock. An example of one of their songs is Reptilia. The video for it is entirely performance based, a typical association with indie rock bands, however, all of the shots used are close ups. As I found out through earlier research, the stereotypical music video has an average of 60-70% mid shots and close ups, compared to this music video which is entirely made up of close up shots. In doing this, they have managed to create an interesting music video using only one shot type. This could be viewed as a technique that the band chose to employ, in order to stand out and seem different from other bands, which is something which most indie rock bands try to do in their music videos.
As our chosen band, The Jacques, is an indie rock band, we decided to study other similar bands who incorporate similar ideas/concepts into their videos so that we could represent the band's genre as best as possible. The Libertines The Libertines are an indie rock band formed in London in 1997. Their music videos typically had quite a low sound quality making the video come across as more raw and unpolished. Conforming to stereotypes of indie rock bands, a vast majority of the band's music videos are performance based and the band has often been compared to many classic British rock bands. An example of one of their songs is 'Don't Look Back Into The Sun'. The video opens with the band walking around somewhere in Britain (which we can tell from the British flags) with some of the band members wearing the uniforms which the grenadier guards wear- a uniform typically associated with Britain. Throughout the video, we see a live performance from the band, as well as seeing the band walking around wearing their uniforms. The camera quality is low, and the shots look as though the brightness has been slightly decreased, giving the video a very amateurish look which is also often associated with indie/alternative bands. As well as this, the shots are often shaky, as if filmed on a low quality/home video camera. This technique is also often used in indie rock videos, to give the video a more rough look.
Mark Romanek Mark Romanek is an American film maker who also directs music videos and commercials. He has been directing music videos since 1985 and has worked with a variety of artists throughout his time directing including Madonna and Michael Jackson. He was awarded his first grammy award for his video for 'Scream' by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson which is one of the most expensive videos made costing around seven million dollars to make. In his more recent videos, he has worked with Taylor Swift in making her video for 'Shake it off' and Jay-Z's '99 Problems'.
Director X Director X (Julien Christian Lutz) is a Canadian music video director. Some of his most successful videos include 'Fancy' by Iggy Azalea, 'Yeah' by Usher and 'Black Magic' by Little Mix. He has also worked with artists such as Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber and The Wanted.
He has been directing music videos since 1998, and since then has always worked with very popular and well known artists. In his music videos, he often uses the black 'letterbox' bars on the top and bottom of the video, which would open and close at the beginning and end of his music videos. This can be seen in Usher's 'Yeah'.
Hype Williams Harold 'Hype' Williams is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and music video director. Throughout his time directing, he has won many awards for his music videos. For example in 1996 he won the Billboard Music Video Award for Best Director of the Year. As well as this he has also been recognised for his work in making Will Smith's video 'Gettin' Jiggy wit it' as well as TLC's 'No Scrubs' and Kanye West's 'Gold Digger'. He has worked a lot with Kanye West creating a total of twenty music videos for him.
Hype Williams is known for his use of the fish eye lens, which contorts the central focus of his videos. This technique is used in his video 'Gimme Some More' by Busta Rhymes. Another style which several of his videos employs is splitting a shot and putting the two parts of the shot above and below the main video. He has used this technique on many of his videos, including 'So Sick' by Ne-Yo and 'Check on it' by Beyonce.
Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She released the song You Belong With Me on April 18, 2009 as the third single on her album, Fearless. She usually produces country, pop and pop rock music and is well known for her love themed songs. Taylor’s record labels at the time that she released You Belong With Me were Big Machine and Universal Republic. Big Machine Records is an American independent record label which specialises in country music artists whereas Universal Republic Records is an American record label which has produced various different genres of music video. The music video itself was produced by Taylor Swift herself and Nathan Chapman. Nathan mainly works with in producing country music and is most famous for his work with Taylor Swift, producing her albums Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989.
The video itself is entirely narrative based. It follows a nerdy teenage girl (Taylor Swift) who lives next door to a guy who she is in love with, however he has a girlfriend. In this video, Taylor plays the nerdy girl as well as playing the guys girlfriend. The guy starts to frequently argue with his girlfriend and ends up falling in love with Taylor instead. At the end of the video, they go to prom together and kiss. There are several different locations used: inside the boy’s bedroom, inside Taylor’s bedroom, outside on a bench, at a football game and at prom. From these settings, we can assume that they are at school. The performer wears several different outfits. When in her bedroom she wears a simple t-shirt, glasses and jeans or her pyjamas, when she is on the bench reading as the nerdy girl she wears a brown jumper, glasses and jeans. When she pulls up in a car she is playing the part of the girlfriend and wears glasses and a pink top, emphasising her feminine personality in this role. When her two characters are at the football game, she is wearing a band costume as the nerdy girl and a tight cheerleaders outfit as the girlfriend. At prom, as the nerdier girl, she is seen wearing a white dress, the connotations of which are purity and innocence, however, as the cheerleader, she wears a tight red dress; the colour red connoting here evil and danger.
This video makes significant use of the pen and paper which Taylor and the boy write to each other on. As they can see into each others rooms, they write and hold up messages to each other. Taylor ends up writing ‘I love you’ to him but he does not see it until the end of the video at prom when she shows him. He then also pulls out a piece of paper for her with the same message written back. Lighting is used to communicate some information. This is evident in the prom scene. As Taylor walks in, she seems to be in better lit up than those around her, as they all stare at her and admire her. This emphasises that she is the centre of attention and, after cutting back to the boy, suggests that his attention is solely on her.
The opening of the video shows a wide, establishing shot of the pair’s houses. This type of shot is more reminiscent of a film opening, as the wide shot is used to show where the next scene will take place. This suggests, that the video will be more narrative based, like a film. Shot reverse shots are also used, when showing the pair conversing between their bedroom windows, making them appear trapped away from each other behind their windows. As well as this, a panning shot is used during the ‘prom’ scene. The camera zooms into the boy’s face, emphasising his shocked expression when Taylor walks out. The pace of the video, is quite slow, due to the fact that the video shows a story; fast cuts would make it harder to understand the concept of the video.
Characteristics usually associated with this genre are love, which is clearly evident between the boy and Taylor. However it is usually also associated with the outdoors/countryside. However, none of these are shown. The title of the song ‘You Belong With Me’ is strongly linked to the visuals shown. This is because, the lyrics describe a girl (Taylor) who is competing for the attention of the guy who she wants to be with. Throughout the video, a number of close-ups of Taylor Swift in both of her characters are used. She is also shown alone, dressing up and dancing around her room. The large number of shots of Taylor are used to promote her as an artist in her video. Also, in the ‘prom’ scene, the idea of the male gaze is incorporated. As Taylor enters, the camera seems to be from the point of view of the boy who Taylor likes.
Last Friday Night by Katy Perry was released on June 6, 2011 and comes under the pop and dance-pop genres. The song is a single from her album Teenage Dream.
Katy Perry or Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She makes mostly pop and rock music with some of her songs having more of a disco-like style. Katy Perry’s record label at the time that she released Last Friday Night was Capitol Records, an American record label who have signed artists like Sam Smith and 5 Seconds of Summer. The record label are not associated with any particular style of music as they are described to work with various different styles. Katy Perry’s song Last Friday Night was produced by Dr Luke and Max Martin. Dr Luke is a musician, songwriter and record producer who has worked with acts such as Kesha and Jessie J, and is usually associated with pop music. Max Martin is a Swedish music producer and songwriter usually associated with pop and R&B music. He has worked alongside acts such as Taylor Swift and Britney Spears.
The video for Last Friday Night is both narrative and performance based, however the video is mainly based on a narrative. It follows a nerdy looking girl (Kathy) who wakes up with her house destroyed after a massive party, we then rewind and see the party which begins at her neighbour’s house and ends up at her house after her friend Rebecca gives her a makeover. At the end of the video, the girl’s parents come home and she speaks with them about the party. Following on from this, credits are shown for all the characters who were in the video, this makes the video seem more like a short film.
There are several different settings used: Kathy’s room, inside Rebecca’s house and Rebecca’s back garden. The street that Kathy and Rebecca live on is also shown very briefly at the beginning of the video. This is used to tell the audience where the video is taking place- a quiet and welcoming looking street. Throughout the video, the character Kathy is shown wearing two different costumes. Her first outfit is a dungarees, a turtleneck jumper, big glasses and a head brace. Whilst in this outfit, she sits at home alone doing sudoku, making the character appear ‘nerdy’. In contrast to this, her second outfit consists of tight neon coloured clothing with heels. She has also lost her head brace and glasses. When wearing this outfit, she is perceived as more attractive to the male characters at the party, compared to in her other outfit where they ignored her.
Significant props like plastic party cups are used throughout the video, a prop used in most american parties. Other props like streamers and balloons are also used as these props also have connotations of parties. Throughout the video, lighting is used to distinguish between the scenes showing the party and the scenes showing the morning after the party. The party takes place during the evening/night, so we can tell that it is dark outside but the party itself is well lit, to try and create a lively atmosphere. During the day we can see light coming in through Kathy’s window, and her bedroom is well lit from the day light. Throughout the video, Kathy is always seen wearing the colour pink and her room is also pink. Connotations of the colour pink include, innocence as well as childishness. The colour pink is often also associated with girls or girly people. This could suggest that the character Kathy is still quite childish with her pink, toy filled bedroom as well as also having a girly side. Iconography in dance pop music videos tends to be vibrant colours, bright lighting and party like atmosphere/clothing. All of these things are shown during the party scenes of the video Last Friday Night.
Diegetic sound is used quite frequently throughout this music video. At the very beginning of the music video, we see a boy cycling down a street whilst the track starts playing, we can also hear outdoor noises like birds tweeting. Before Katy Perry starts singing, we can also hear conversation between two characters as well as noises such as doors slamming. Also, at one point during the song, the song Last Friday Night fades out and we can hear a different song, which we assume the people at the party are listening to.
Some of the more prominent shots throughout the video include the close up shots of Katy Perry, and the wider shots used in the party scenes to show all the people there. Wider shots are less common in music videos, however as this music video is made to resemble a short film, the wider shots are appropriate. A majority of the other camera shots used are mid shots. Also, throughout the party scenes, tracking shots are often used. This enables the viewer to see all of the different things happening in the busy party which is created. Although the song is a fast paced dance track, a story is being told, this means that the usual fast cuts are not always used and a few ripple like effects are used to transition between reality and imagination. This slows down the pace of the video, however, the pace of the video still seems fast due to the bright colours and high amounts of people creating a busy atmosphere.
Associations with the dance-pop genre include, a fast pace, bright colours and clubs/parties. This video has incorporated a party with lots of people. This has lead to a faster paced video as the people make the video appear busy, despite the fact that the cuts are not as fast as we would expect from a typical dance-pop video. The party itself is brightly coloured and well lit, conforming to the other expectations of a dance-pop video.
The music video itself shows a party that the character Kathy previously went to, as well as this the lyrics describe a party that happened previously. This shows that there is a link between the lyrics and the visuals. As well as this, the upbeat dance track, is similar to that which would be expected to be played at a teenage party, which is shown in the video. This means that the lyrics and the sounds both link strongly to the visuals.
Throughout this music video, Katy Perry is clearly favoured in a majority of the shots that she is shown in. For example, at the party she is often shown away from the crowds of people and closer to the camera, making her stand out more. She is also shown dancing on the table a lot, showing her above everyone else at the party. There are also several close ups of Katy Perry’s face used while she just smiles at the camera and laughs etc. These shots are all used in order to promote Katy Perry.
Ed Sheeran is known for his slower acoustic songs like Thinking Out Loud, Lego House and The A Team. He produces mostly pop music, which appeals to a wide audience because of his meaningful lyrics. He is associated with his guitar which has a paw print on it. It is usually incorporated into most of his videos. His record labels at the time were Atlantic Records and Asylum Records. Atlantic Records, founded in 1947, is an American record label known for producing rhythm and blues, rock and roll, jazz and hip hop. Similarly, Asylum Records is also known for its hip hop and rock but also for its alternative metal.
The song itself was produced by Jake Gosling, who is best known for his work with Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Christina Perri and Paloma Faith. He usually produces music in the genres pop, acoustic, hip hop, grime and dance. Before producing Thinking Out Loud, he also worked with Ed in producing some of his earlier songs like Drunk and The A Team. Thinking Out Loud was written by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge, a singer songwriter who usually produces rock and folk music.
The music video shows Ed Sheeran dancing with a girl (Brittany Cherry). Only one setting is used and the couple dance throughout the whole video. The room the dancers are in is quite big and looks very grand with its mostly blue and gold walls and decorations. This type of setting is usually associated with wealth and romance, which could suggest that the couple are rich and in love. Their dancing, together with the slow romantic music, also indicates a strong connection between the two dancers. Brittany’s costume is a white flowy dress, the connotations of which are purity and beauty. The dress also makes her look slightly sexualised as parts of the dress are see-through and parts of the dress look similar to lingerie. This along with Ed Sheeran’s smart attire further reinforces the wealthy connotations associated with the room they are in. There are no props used in the music video. This means that the video is completely focussed on the love between the two people dancing together. The lighting is very dark with only spotlights on the dancers and some fairy lights in the background. This is used to ensure that the audiences focus is only on the dancers and their connection. The dim lighting could also be used to create a more intimate feel between the characters.
A majority of the shots used in this music video are tracking shots and wide shots. This enables the audience to see the dancers’ whole bodies from a variety of angles, so you can see the closeness between them. As well as this, a few mid shots are also used to perhaps further illustrate the closeness of the two characters. Ed Sheeran and Brittany Cherry are empowered by the frequent use of low angle shots, suggesting that as a couple they are strong. The video begins and ends with a dissolve transition. The remaining shots are transitioned with a straight cut, ensuring that the dance flows as the shot changes. The dissolves at the beginning and end of the video, correspond with the fading in and fading out of the music.
The genres of Thinking Out Loud are soft rock and blue-eyed soul. Soft rock songs typically incorporate a guitar, drums, piano or synthesiser. The themes of soft rock tend to be love, everyday life and relationships. Blue-eyed soul refers to R&B music performed by white people, originally established in the 1960s. In Ed Sheeran’s music video for Thinking Out Loud, the themes of love and relationships are prominent, as the video focusses on a man and a woman dancing together. As well as this, the main instruments that we can hear are drums, a guitar and a piano, all of which are instruments associated with soft rock.
The lyrics are written from the point of view from one of the lovers talking to the other about their love, which is the main theme shown in the music video. A few sections of the lyrics do correspond with the visuals shown. For example, as we hear the line ‘maybe just a touch of the hand’, the dancers hold hands. However, the lyrics are not always linked to each dance move. The music is slow, which matches the slow and lyrical dance moves shown. Also at points where the music picks up, the complexity and speed of the dance moves used increases.
The whole video, is focussed on the two characters, one of them being the artist of the song. However, the characters screen time is roughly equal, so as to make sure that the focus is on the two characters together and not mainly on one character. Despite this, a few close up shots of the artist are used in order to promote him in his video.
Performance Based Music Videos Performance based music videos are music videos which are focused completely on the artist. In these types of music video, we would see the artist performing from a variety of angles either alone or live in concert. This can be used to promote the artist, when the whole video is focused completely on them. An example of this is the music video for 'One' by Ed Sheeran. In this video he is shown alone in an arena, performing with his guitar. Although this idea is quite simple, it is typical of this artist as he is often associated with his guitar.
Concept Based Music Videos Concept based music videos are videos which usually employ a particular idea or concept. This is usually quite abstract but can still be used to represent the artist when they are not able to be in the video. For example by using other people to represent the band. An example of this is Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This music video is in the form of an animated video game, representing each band member as a different character in the game.
Narrative Based Music Videos Narrative based music videos follow a story throughout the video. This narrative could feature the band or other people representing the band/artist telling a story. A narrative in a music video is often paired with a live performance by the band/artist, with the video switching between the two. An example of a narrative based music video is 'I Got U' by Duke Dumont featuring Jax Jones. Throughout this music video we follow a man who is using a helmet which makes it seem as though he is on holiday, when he is actually sat alone in his living room. Artists often use narrative based music videos to help explain a meaning behind the lyrics. This is particularly evident in Nathan Sykes's music video for 'Over and Over Again' which is a performance and narrative based video. In this video, he is shown playing the piano and singing, as well as showing a love story between him and a girl. In doing this, we think that the song is written about the girl shown as the lyrics are linked to how he appears to feel about her.
This is one of the album covers of our band. It is in black and white, similarly to some of their music videos, which conforms to the indie rock genre. The picture shows two young boys smoking, emphasising the reckless look they want to create about themselves. There is no writing on the album cover other than the band's logo. Overall it is a very simple design, but it conforms greatly to the indie rock genre, as well as giving us hints to what the band's style is like. 
