What is a digipak?
this voki talks about what a digipak is including a bit of history such as where it all started and who created it. It also includes information about how it is used and why. This will be useful when creating my own digipak as from this, I am able to know what it is used for and how the layout of it should look like including its content.
How does a digipak benefit the artist?
this voki explains the advantages that a digipak has to the artist. It talks about how the digipak should appear to have a representation of the artist for promotional purposes. This will help me when it comes to creating my own digipak as I will be aware of the idea that I should think about how audiences will remember the artist through the appearance and content of the digipak. It can also be used when it comes to the evaluation stage of my coursework, where I might be talking about promotion as I can mention how the digipak can be used as part of promotion through its appearance that represents the artist along with their genre.
I have created a semiotic analysis of different digipaks that are similar products to what I will be creating. In order to do this, I looked for existing digipaks that I believe are eye-catching and ones that I will want to take inspiration from when it comes to creating my own. I have chosen to analyse digipaks of artists who are successful in the music industry as I believe that their promotion tactics involving the layout and appearance of their digipak is effective which I want my own to be like. Therefore I have chosen to analyse the digipaks of the three artists: Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey and Beyonce. To analyse these digipaks effectively, I seperated each codes and conventions of digipaks in seperate boxes such as colour scheme, masthead and main image and analysed each individual aspect and talked about how effective they are. This will help me with creating my own digipak so I will have an idea on what to include and its typical codes and conventions.
Here I have completed another semiotic analysis but this time of band or artist magazine advertisements promoting their album. Similarly to my analysis of digipaks, I have chosen to analyse three poster advertisements that I believe are effective and of famous well-known artists as I know that they are successful and probably because of their way of promoting their albums. Like I have done for the analyse of digipaks, I have analysed the magazine advertisements by analysing each of the codes and conventions seperately so that I am able to be more aware of what I should include in my own magazine advertisement when it comes to creating my own one. From this research I have found similar patterns and that is that the name and image of the artist is on the front cover. I will consider this when creating my own one as I believe that is it effective is the artist is well-known as it will be easily recognisable to the audience. I have also noticed that some of the posters have included the title to some of their most popular songs on the poster so that people who are unaware of the artist but have heard their song, will have an idea on what the album will be like enticing them to purchase it.
I have done some research on the genre of indie pop and indie rock music as that is the genre of music that I will be using for my music video. This will help me when it comes to the production stage of creating the video as I will already have an idea of what to include as from this research, I have gained knowledge on the different codes and conventions that are used in typical indie music videos which I hope to achieve with my own. I will have an idea on the settings, narrative, mise-en-scene, sound, camera and editing and also the audience of those who listen to indie music. The audience will be an important aspect to acknowldge so that I will have an idea of what the audience will be like and therefore include appropriate aspects in the video that will want that particular audience to enjoy it.
I have researched into Goodwin's music video theory. From this, I have learnt that there are 5 key aspects to a music video that I should consider when creating my own music video. These 5 aspects include: thought through beat, relation between music and visuals, narrative and performance of the song, star image and technical aspect of the video. This research will be helpful when creating my own music video as it provides factors that I should consider in order for my video to be successful.
Birdy Carrying out research on the artist of the song that I will be using for my music video, will help me with creating my music video as I can look more into her music and the genre of her songs. From discovering Birdy's music type, it will enable me to use different conventions that are appropriate to the genre of music. Also, looking at the artist's background and career will help me when it comes to talking about what music labels to use for my music video that is most appropriate. Also, this research will provide me with information about the artist and to look at all of her other videos to get more ideas for my own.
Biography
Born on the 15th of May 1996
Her real name is Jasmine van den Bogaerde but is better known or her stage name Birdy
She is an English singer-songwriter
Her stage name comes from the nickname her parents gave to her as a baby
Career
Won the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008 at the age of 12
Her debut single, a version of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" was her breakthrough, charting all across Europe and earning platinum certification six times in Australia.
Her self-titled debut album, Birdy, was released on 7th of November 2011
Got similar success, peaking at number 1 in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands
Her second studio album, Fire Within, was released 23rd of September 2013 in the UK and other surrounding countries.
Music
Her genre is of Folk, indie folk, indie pop and indie rock
She also plays the piano and guitar
Her record label that she is signed to is Lady of the Lake, Warner Bros
Birdy contributed three songs to the soundtrack for the movie The Fault in Our Stars: "Tee Shirt", "Best Shot" and "Not about Angels". Videos for both have been officially released.
In March 2012, Birdy was one of the artists who contributed to The Hunger Games film soundtrack with her single "Just a Game".
In June 2012, Birdy contributed the song "Learn Me Right" with Mumford and Sons to the Pixar film Brave for which she recieved her first Grammy Award nomination.
These are just a few examples of music videos that I admire. I admire all three of these videos for different reasons such as the message that the video conveys, the aesthetic look to the video or just the overall editing. As I am still unsure about ideas for my own music video, hopefully watching these other existing music videos will help me think of some ideas and how I would want my video to achieve the same standard of being admired by others. Through this research, it has helped me to see what makes music videos have that factor and therefore can take in ideas for my own video.
LET GO FOR TONIGHT - FOXES
This music video is one that I
really admire because of the use of its aesthetic display. The video uses a
range of different bright colours to depict a happy and energetic vibe which I
really like about video along with its contrast from the beginning of the video
which was all white. It’s use of mis-en-scene is also what had enticed me to
watch the music video because I like the slow motion effects on the coloured
food being thrown as it makes a great effect in the way that the video looks. I also admire the idea that her
music video is relevant to the genre of pop which is what her song is. This
also helps to make it audience appropriate as from looking at the video, people
can easily tell the her target audience is of a young population. The way that
the video is set out is effective as it entices this particular audience. Her
video is also very postmodern as its use of colour can be tied in with Andy
Worrall's artwork.
BLUE JEANS - LANA DEL REY
This is another music video that I
also really admire because of its aesthetic display. However this video
contrasts from ‘let it go for tonight’ as it uses a grayscale instead of the
use of colour. This is effective as it reflects the mood of the music video as
the song is quite slow pace and expresses a great deal of emotion. The use of the water’s reflection
also makes a good shot for the music video as again it depicts the emotion of
the video very well as the water could be a significance for the representation
of cleansing of sins or of a sad nature. It’s wide use of shots as well to
emphasize the dramatic effect is also what I really like about the music video
as it helps to demonstrate the narrative of the video very well. Lana Del Rey is a very unique
artist in the music industry as she likes to use a lot of postmodern aspects to
her music videos that are full of Intertextual factors. However it appears as
this one differs from all of her other ones as this video includes less
Intertextual factors and is more on the simplicity side. This is another reason
why I admire this video because it goes away from Lana’s stereotypical artist
persona and helps the audience to discover other sides of the artist.
PRETTY HURTS - BEYONCE
Beyoncé
is a very popular and well-known artist who is very powerful in the music
industry today. Her
music video for the song ‘Pretty Hurts’ is one which I admire due to its
message and how it is portrayed well to the audience. The music video and the song both
received positive reviews by critics who generally praised Beyoncé's acting,
the cohesion between the video and its lyrical content as well as the
meaningful message behind it. In the video, Beyoncé describes the
sickness behind perfection and the damaging effects to the body it usually has,
something that occurs mostly with eating disorders. The song sends a message
about increasing a person’s self-esteem and self-love as well as respecting a
person’s character instead of the physical looks. This is why I admire the video as its
message through the video’s narrative is very inspirational to her audience and
it matches the lyrics of the song perfectly.
This is an analysis of a typical music video which is set out similar to my conventions of a music video post. However this post talks more about the narrative and what the audience is able to see from it including shots as well. I thought I would make it a bit more different from the conventions post as I have already talked about the different conventions. This time, I wanted to analyse the music video more into the audience's perspective and what they can see from it. This will help me with the production of my own music video because it has enabled me to think more of the asthetic aspect of the music video and how I would want the audience to understand it through its narrative and also the different shots that I will be using for my own video and how particular ones I will choose will be effective.
I have done research on what has influenced the different genres of music in the music industry. I have looked at only 4 different genres out of many which include: pop, rock, alternative and R&B because I believe are the most known and popular genres that I may want my music video to use. Using this research, it will be helpful when it comes to creating my own music video. This is because I can have an idea on what music style I will use for my video and the content that I may want to include in my video that will link in to the music style that I have chosen. Also, when it comes to the evaluation stage of my video, I will be able to talk about what has influenced me to have chosen the genre for the song on my video.
I have done some research on a famous music director - Jonas Akerlund who has directed music videos for popular well-known artists such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Maroon 5. I have looked at what makes him unique as a director and why he stands out from other typical music video directors. What makes him special is that he has a signiture style that pushes the boundaries of the status quo and he also takes inspiration and produces music videos that are parodies of short films and also trailers of movies. This will help me when it comes to producing and planning for my music video because it has made me aware of what my signiture style will be as a music video director for my own music video. What will make my music video stand out from others and will it be unique. Also, Jonas Akerlund's ideas for music videos that are based on short films or trailers is a good idea because it will make the process of producing my music video easier if I had a base to start with as I can replicate it. I also really like his idea of pushing boundaries of the status quo because I can include aspects of my music video that has never been seen before to make it more unique.
Research into existing record labels is important for the evaluation stage of my coursework. Here I have done some research on the big four record companies in the music industry today. I have looked into each one individually looking out for differences and which ones are most successful. Research on this topic included looking at the different platforms from which the record labels have started from e.g. Universal Music Group was an unimportant extension of the Universal Pictures Group which is one of the most successful movie studios in Hollywood. I have also learned that there are subsidiary labels among these central labels. This research will help me with the evaluation stage of my coursework as it will be easy for me to choose which record label to choose for my own music video and see which one is most appropriate in order for the music video to be more successful. Discovering the different artists that are signed to each label is useful as I will then choose the label which most artists or bands that are similar in genre to my own and are successful in their area as I know that the label that they are signed to are reliable for my own music video.
This piece of research evidence is focused on the conventions of a music video. I looked at what specific factors are typically included in music videos in order to make it look professional. These aspects include different camera shots/movements, the importance of mis-en-scene, the way it is edited, the use of lighting, sound, props, costumes and colour. For my research I had used a typical music video to show how these conventions are presented. This will help me when it comes to making my own music video as this research will enable me to be aware of the different conventions that I should include in my video in order for it to look professional.
This is my first piece of research evidence for my A2 coursework. This piece of research is focused on the history of the music video. I have researched on how the music video has developed over time, how it all started, how significant of a role it has played on the music industry, and other interesting facts such as the most expensive music video ever produced. My research includes information about how the music video all started which dates back to the 19th century starting off with the creation of the 'illustrated song'. All of the information included is set out in a timeline structure to allow readers to see how the music video has developed successfully over the years. This will help me with my coursework as I will be able to get an inside look into how the music video has developed differently over the years and where the future may hold for music videos. Included in my research are the different platforms where the audience is able to get hold of looking at music videos such as through the use of the internet including popular websites such as YouTube and other platforms such as iTunes. This will help me with completing my evaluation process of my coursework where I will be talking about how I will promote my music video as I will be able to talk about the different ways people are able to see the music video therefore use those particular platforms as part of the promotion for my music video.
