Research on chosen artist & overiew of genre.

Research on chosen artist.

My chosen artist is ‘The Script’ they are a three man Irish band labeled as Alternative Rock.
The Script market themselves by having their own website http://www.thescriptmusic.com/gb/home/ at which they post their tour dates, news, images and much more. All this helps to market them, as it is easy to access and get publicity. They are since touring worldwide to try and make themselves more known after their success in Europe.
Their target audience is a wide range but generally targeted at women. The Scripts music videos have a running theme of romance throughout them, always having love story between the male and female characters this is in their first album song video ‘The man who cant be moved’ and their second album video ‘For the first time’. This is appropriate for the target audience being women.
Here is a print screen on The Scripts website.

Screen shot of The Scripts live tour dates.

Overview Of Genre

The Scripts genre is Alternative Rock at which is a genre developed from rock music that became apparent in the 1980’s its popularity rose in the 1990’s.
Alternate rock goes by many other names including: alt-rock and alternative music.
In the 1980’s subgenres emerged from the independent music scene for example Britpop, indie pop, gothic rock and grunge which alternative rock consists of. Many alternative rock artists in the 1980’s recorded on independent labels at which their only exposure was word-of-mouth and college radio play.
Alternative rock was an underground phenomenon in the 1980’s.
R.E.M and The Cure are example of successful alternative bands.

Schedule

                                           

Here is a print screen of our original production schedule. For the past couple of weeks I have been doing my research into music videos, DVD analysis, CD analysis,history of the music industry and planning between my group.We then came together to form a production schedule to maximise the amount of work we could do.

We have since created a new one with a more detailed account of certain parts of the process for example planning and research will have what we exactly did i.e Planning and research - analyzing DVD covers.

Video Analysis Goodwin's Theory.

Goodwin is an established media theorist. I have looked into Goodwins points and considered them when working on my music video.

The basic concept of Goodwins therories are that music videos demenstrate genre characters for example in a mainstream pop video it is steriotypical that we will see a dance rountine performed whereas in a rock music video it will be a stage performance of the band with their musical instruments.

Goodwin also points out the relationship between the visuals and lyrics. The relationship should be illustrative, contradicting and amplifying if possible, the same goes when looking into the relationship of music and visuals.

The record label have certain demands one of which the amount of close up camera shots have to be taken into consideration. This is particually handy if it is a new artist that needs to be established with the audience in order to be get promoted. Artists develop motifs from this that reoccur throughout their work and products.

Voyeuristic treatment is also a theory from Goodwin, at which there is frequent references to the notion of the treatment of the female body and looking for example telescopes and screens within screens.

There is often intrtexual reference to films, music videos and t.v programmes.

DVD Cover Analysis - Oasis

DVD Cover Analysis - Oasis

The high angle of the camera suggests superiority and power. The bands’ position being higher than the audience also reinforces this suggestion.

The back of the cover is a close up of the crowds showing some expressions of fans simply containing the track list and some product information. Oasis’ well known band names’ style of font is used.

This is the DVD cover of ‘Oasis - …There And Then’. The denotation shows that it is a well-loved music artist by having pictures of the crowds. The connotations of the pictures are that they were live whilst in these images. Being in brown and black its connotations suggest that they are powerful enough without colour.

DVD Cover Analysis - Muse

DVD Cover Analysis  
Muse - Hullabaloo

This is the DVD cover for Muse – Hullabaloo that includes coverage of their live tour footage performed in Paris. I have picked this cover as it fits into my genre of alternative Rock. The layout for the front cover uses dark colours and silhouettes to create a simple yet strong image. The back cover includes track listing and product information. The front cover contains star appeal as the band members of Muse are on the front making it identifiable for fans to purchase. The band logo is the same as on their other products to also help make it identifiable.

DVD Cover Analysis

DVD Cover Analysis - Kings Of Leon

This DVD was released in 2008 of the Kings of Leon performing live at the popular music festival Glastonbury. The denotation of this cover is that each member has a close up image of them on the front cover with the reflection of fire beaming from their faces also having the colours red and orange could be a connotation for passion within their music. On the back cover it has action codes, which shows the band members playing live with their musical instruments, which is a stereotypical sign that this is a rock band DVD.

The design consists of track listings of the music, production information, distribution information and logos of companies connected. Clear selling techniques are that the font style of the artist is recognisable to fans also the popular music festival mention for fans that may purchase this.

Analysis of CD Covers - The Beatles

CD Cover Analysis – The Beatles

This is a remix of the album ‘Love’ from The Beatles released in November 2006 the denotations of the album cover are that there are four silhouettes representing the band members posing with energy and enthusiasm. The bright yellow and red colours and patterns used are very psychedelic to create a 60’s feel. The connotations could be that this matches the music produced by the band. They have a recognisable font type for the artist’ font which draws in the audience.

CD Cover Analysis - The Script

CD Covers Analysis - The Script

This is the second album by The Script ‘Science & Faith’ released on 13^th September 2010. The denotation on this album cover is of a man and women’s hand clenched together, this could be seen as a sign of agreement or power.

The myth/ Ideology is that they have a connection somehow. The colours used are very basic, using a sepia effect. There are no real generic signifiers that suggest what genre this album is. There is no star appearance from the band members, which could mean their name is successful enough to attract audiences by itself. The font style is recognisable and creates the bands identity.

CD Cover Analysis - Feeder

CD Cover Analysis

Below is the greatest hits CD cover by Feeder named 'The Singles' which was released on the 15th of May 2006. It has denotations of a man playing the guitar in black and white its connotation could be that he is lost in music by the actions he is performing. It is also an action code. The identity of the man playing guitar on the front remains unknown. There is low key lighting within this image. The costume and props shows that it is identifiable as a rock music CD. The font style is recognisable as it has been used on the other CD covers and products this artist has made, this creates brand identity.

Analysis of music videos- Black Eyed Peas.

 Black Eyed Peas – Meet Me Halfway

Abstract

I have chosen to analyse Black Eyed Peas – Meet Me Halfway as my abstract video to study. The audience can identify the video by the pop star image of the band as they are featured through out this video.

Each location has a separate character for each being one band member. The mise-en-scene in this video is very creative and highly edited. Each character has a costume for example an astronaut. The denotation within this video is four separate locations being the Desert, Moon, Forest and the Galaxy. Make-up is used to maximise the beauty of the female pop star. The video cuts from one characters story to the next but in a smooth way that is timed with the music.

This video uses artificial lighting, as it is appropriate for the storyline and the effect it creates. The sound in this video plays throughout and is non-diegetic.

The myth/Ideology suggests that they all want to come together but cant because of the distance between them.