Theorist - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin wrote and published a book called 'Dancing in the distraction factory'. This booked stated a number of key features in music videos. 

These key features are:

1. Genre has its own style and iconography
2. Relationship between lyrics and visuals (illustrate, amplify and contrast)
3. Relationship between music and visuals (illustrate, amplify and contrast)
4. Demands of record labels (star image)
5. Frequent references to the notion of looking (voyeurism) 
6. Inter-textual references

To see how these features are put into music videos. I have chosen to research 6 music videos to see if I can spot these features in well-known artists work and if certain genres contain more features. 

Iconography:
Boy bands have a certain iconography related to them of well choreographed dance moves. I found this to be true in One Direction's 'Steal my Girl' music video.

Relationships between lyrics and visuals:

Owl City's song illustrates the lyrics within the visuals. There is a robot dancing when the lyrics 'teach me how to dance' and a robots eyes are shown when the lyrics sing 'you might not believe your eyes'.

 

Relationship between music and visuals:

The beginning of this music video has a beat that matches the flashes of lightening. This matches Goodwin theory. 

 

Star Image:

Leona Lewis' song has a large amount of close ups. This meets the demand of the record label she is signed to as it is helping to create a 'star image' for her as her audience are shown a lot of her face.  

Voyeurism:

 When watching Zayn's music video for 'Pillow Talk' I noticed that there were several references to the sexualisation of females, with his girlfriend Gigi Hadid being used to engage in sexual activity and the images of naked ladies. 

Inter-textual References:

Taylor Swift's music video for her song 'Love Story' contains inter-textual references towards the famous Shakespeare play 'Romeo and Juliet'. This music video is a modern twist on the age old love story between the star crossed lovers. 

Magazine Analysis - Taylor Swift

To gain better insight into the different aspects of magazine adverts I am conducting some research into the common features that they hold and how I can use and adapt these into my own magazine advert.

I have chosen to analyse Taylor Swift's advertisement for her album Speak Now.

The first thought of the image in the centre of this advert is a strong female who is in a position of power. The reasons behind this thought is the gold frame has connotations of wealth and a high status. Also, her direct eye contact with the camera gives her a confident powerful Ora. The colours also hold a strong connotation of power. The choices of colours stand out and are eye-catching. The contrast in colours of the background and the writing make it appealing to audiences scanning through a magazine. 

The font used is cursive writing; this same font and the colour choices are the same used on her actual album cover. The colour on her name again represents her as a classy, wealthy female as golds encompass these connotations. The main feature of the writing is the name of the album 'Speak Now'.

One thing that I haven't seen on any other magazine adverts is the QR code in the bottom right hand side which takes anyone who scans it onto the page where the album is purchased. Also there is an advertisement for the shop where the album is sold in America (Target); this isn't something that I haven't seen featured on other adverts I have studied. Usually there are just electronic links to where they can purchase them. 

A list of the tracks featured on the album is written in rather small writing that doesn't jump out at first glance. However, Taylor Swift is a very well-known, successful female artist so doesn't necessarily need a huge amount of advertisement for her songs due to her large fan base. Also, this artist is very prominent on social media and advertises largely this way; this means that she doesn't always need a hard copy to advertise. 

Preliminary Task-Photography

Our preliminary photography task was set to allow us to practice taking pictures using differenet modes on the camera in preperation for creating our ancillary texts. 

After being put into small groups or pairs we were given themes to create our images based upon. Mine and Melissa's theme was aloneness vs togetherness. 

 

Mode Used: AV ISO: 400
This was the first image that we shot and represents 'aloneness'. To create this image we used the mode AV on the camera; this allowed us to set a wide aperture on the camera. This change allowed us to create a shallow focus-Melissa is in focus but her surrondings are out of focus and slightly blurred. 

Mode used: TV 
The  next image that we captured was again on the theme of aloneness. The mode of TV (time value) allowed us to adjust the shutter speed on the camera. This berry shot has an unfocused background and a focused foreground. 

 Mode used: A-Dep
Togetherness was the main focus point of this image. The mode used to create this image ensured that all the important areas in the photograph are in focus and captures a crisp photograph.  

Conventions of a Digipak

Magazine Analysis - Katy Perry

Colourful
Conventional pop artist costume
Large name (focus point)
Album name
Release date
Featured singles (prominent)
Website
Album cover picture
Poweful female
Playful-Ducks in paddling pool, clothing, colours

Magazine Analysis - Drake

The most noticeable part of this advert is the bold sans-serif font stating his name. It takes up a large amount of the advert and is eye-catching as the white writing stands out considerably against the black background; making it clear who the advertisement is trying to promote. 

The images used matches the one displayed on his digipak as the front cover of the album. This image has connotations of wealth as the props used are gold or paintings; both of these things make an audience think that Drake is a wealthy individual. The name of the album is written in gold cursive writing which gives it a fancy edge, again giving connotations of wealth. Using the same image on both magazine advert and digipak is a good marketing idea as consumers of Drake's music will be able to spot his album in shops after they've seen his advert. 

At the bottom of this advert there are logos for the record labels that Drake is signed for. This promotes the label for any future promotions or sales for this artist or others signed and to raise awareness that this label signs well-known and successful artists. 

The list of featured singles and artists that have been collaborated with encourages people to buy this particular album because if they like those songs they are more than likely going to like the rest of the songs on the album and if they like the artists that are featured on some of the songs they will also buy the album. 

During my studies of other magazine adverts I have seen more specific release dates (dates included) whereas this advert has a release date but it is very limited; which Monday?

The main focus points on this magazine advert is Drake's name, his album cover image and the release date. This makes it easy for someone to get the information needed quickly and doesn't contain unneeded information.