Front cover planning:

I have stumbled upon an album cover, by Franz Ferdinand; a band which are iconic of the indie rock genre. From the above album cover, I have taken inspiration, as I aim to achieve a replication of sorts, just like The Clash's London Calling album which pays homage to Elvis Presley's debut. This idea will fit as the album name for my band is going to be 'Call Out', which is a song taken from the album in real life. I will also be taking note at the lack of an album name on the front cover, which is unconventional, perhaps in this case on purpose. Furthermore, the institution is displayed clearly at the bottom right of the cover - again this is unconventional as the institutions are usually displayed on the back and/or in the booklet (if any). The band also don't appear on the front cover, which isn't conventional of a mainstream front cover (the band aren't completely mainstream as they are categorised in the indie genre, an unpopular genre among the masses). The same goes for mine; it won't feature an image of the artist on the front cover, differentiating my media product from mainstream products. Unlike the above cover, which doesn't feature the album name, mine will. My original plan was to not put the album title on the cover, to make it even more unconventional, but in order to fill the 'speech bubble' coming from my model, I will be needing the album title to fill the bottom line, as "Renegades" simply won't fill up the two lines for obvious reasons.

The above picture is an example of Russian Constructivism. This particular style influenced Franz Ferdinand's front cover, as it will with my overall style. I will go in to more detail later about Russian Constructivism, as I will be researching it more, as it will be a lage part of my ancillary texts.

The above image is the aforementioned panel of the digipak album 'The Best In Town' in which the band say their thanks, in a humorous way, behind the CD and the plastic covering. This is something I will be aiming to achieve on my digipak.

Taken from the same digipak album, the above image is one of the inside panels, situated next to the panel holding the CD in place. I will be influenced by this in the sense that it will have hand-written qualities, similar to my back cover, and will have lyrics taken from the songs on the album (to make up for the lack of lyrics in a booklet, which my digipak won't have (although some do in a slipcase)).

This changing of my ideas of my digipak has lead me to re-do my designs. I will be scanning in the images and uploading them on here when we come back from the holidays.

On a different note, I have decided that I will be using the idea of doing the lyric boards, in my music video, backwards, and so when they are played in reverse, they will be flying toward the lead singer, who is holding the boards, and will be in the correct order also. Furthermore, my CD design will be of a simple Vinyl record, shown below.

Conventionally, the album name and artist name are written on the CD. Because my CD will be in the style of a Vinyl record, I will place some stickers on it, hand-written (and scanned on to the computer to be edited on) which will state the aforementioned vital information, allowing me to abide by the conventions in a 'scruffy' way, giving my CD homemade qualities, as though the disc is like a 'mixtape' were people wrote the name of the album/artist on the tape, usually messily, on a sticker; attaching it to the tape, or in this case CD.

First Draft Edit - Whole Music Video:

Above is my original music video, before I decided to re-shoot and re-edit my music video in the style of Russian Constructivism.

The main reasons why I have decided to re-shoot this, aside from the new visual idea of Russian Constructivism, are as follows:

•  It looked unprofessional
• The flashing colours used are unconventional of a rock/indie music video
• the beginning wasn't catchy enough - the beginning needs to catch the audience's attention straight away, or they may end up turning the channel over, or (if consuming the product on YouTube, for example) they may end up clicking off the URL.
• The beginning also looked awful, in general, such as the camera shake, which was intended, but turned out to look awful.
• The contrast between the lead singer and the backgrounds is too great, and it's too obvious that a green screen has been used, which detaches the audience from focussing and getting fully involved in the video, because it is too obvious that it's a music video - badly done, however.
• Background where irrelevant/had no meaning. I used college grounds for some backgrounds, which meant that not much  effort was put in to my music video, and even the front of a Tesco shop, which was meant to highlight the music video as being intentionally care-free, by using stupid backgrounds, but it seemed more like a 'product placement' of sorts, by advertising Tesco.
• At 01:14 I made an attempt to make the background have a meaning, by having other 'band members' (fictional) act out the 'light tickle' lyric board. However, because of the angles used in the two shots (drastically different), it looked odd, unreal and needed to be cut, if I was to use this version at all.
• At 01:30 I decided to have the lead singer walk in to shot, in the background, even though he's in the foreground doing the lyric boards. I liked the concept of this, but I could have expanded on the idea. However, it seemed irrelevant to the music video (except for self-reflexivity) as it only happens the once, which is why this scene also wouldn't be in my final cut, no matter how good the concept is, the final idea wasn't developed enough.
• For an entire minute of the music video, the lead singer eats a bag of Skittles. This was done on purpose, to denote a 'music video gone wrong' (production team had messed up by not doing enough lyric boards). However, the final product looked as though I had just ran out of ideas, and got Billy to eat some sweets, which wasn't the case.

I will be re-doing my music video from scratch, perhaps re-shooting the lyric board sequence, also.

Rushes 1:

I will be re-shooting my music video today. Some shots that I have already taken will be used again, or re-shot as well.

Rough Shooting Script:

Also, whilst I was snowed in to my home, I came up with a rough shooting script. This allowed me to gather my thoughts and ideas, and put them in the context of my song and music video. This is shown Below. Furthermore, a storyboard is now in production, which will make my ideas even more clearer to me, as well as you.




Click Here to Enlarge

 



Click Here to Enlarge

 

Mind Map/Update:

For the past five days, it has snowed heavily, forcing college to shut. This may seem like it would be a hindrence to my work, but it did give me time to evaluate my music video, and think of ideas, as it became clear that it simply wasn't that good. After watching 'The Morgana Show', I came up with the idea of the same thing, except using cuts, instead of one continuous shot. My ideas are below in a mind map form.



Click Here to Enlarge



First Edit Sample:

Music Magazine Advert Plan:

Which magazine?
NME Magazine - The NME audience is roughly the same as mine, and deals with the same genre as my fictional album release

Cost:
Full Colour - Run of Paper - Whole Page - £6,920
Colour Special Positions - 1st RH - £7,910
Total - £14,830

Page Trim:
300x242mm

Page Bleed:
306x248mm

Page Type:
280x222mm

File Type:
PDF - Photoshop File - This means it must be designed using photoshop, which bodes well for me as this was the technology I was going to use anyway.

Codes and Conventions of a CD/DVD Digipak cover:

• Artist's name and title of the album often displayed together at the top
• Band's sometimes appear on their album covers
• Central main image - usually the band or a band logo (or something which relates to the album content)
• Colour scheme to reflect the mood and content of the album, as well as the band's own iconography - a rock icon wont have a pink and yellow colour scheme.
• The spine of the Digipak will have the artist name and album title on it
• Institution's logo will be on the front cover or back cover and/or on the album spine
• Digipak's are often made out of cardboard
• Front cover is conventionally a part of the booklet within the CD case - plastic. This is not the case for Digipaks.
• Feature CD and bonus content such as an extra CD or a DVD
• The back will have the complete track listing on it.
• The back will have an image on it, also, with the artist or the artist's logo usually serving the space were the image goes. This would be next to the track listing
• The track listing is clear, and usually to the left. Althought they are sometimes centred, and I have never seen one that is situated on the right of the back cover.
• The track listing is also, sometimes, found on the CD itself.
• The CD is simplistic and doesn't usually have a picture of the band/artist on it.
• Colour scheme would be the same throughout.
• Stickers can sometimes be seen on album covers, and is the case with Digipaks, which are protected by a thin layer of plastic packaging. The sticker would be on this plastic. The stickers usually have album ratings from professional reviewers and/or a short list of singles featured on the album, and any bonus content that would be on it.

Codes and Conventions of a magazine advertisement (of a CD release):

• Band/artist/lead singer will appear on the advert.
• The artist's name will be used over and over again
• The name will be placed at the top, as this is were the audience first looks - This will draw the audience in
• The CD cover will also be displayed somewhere on the advert. Usually in the middle-bottom section.
• It will have a catchy tag line, such as stating that it's a new album (catchy because it catches the audience's attention - they want new albums)
• Quotes will be used from positive reviews. These will be situated towards the middle-bottom sections and will be quite large.
• The album name will also be accompanying the Artist's name
• It will feature the band's/artist's logo - allowing long-term fans to quickly engage with the product - instantly know what the advert is promoting
• Colour schemes don't reflect the magazine's own colour scheme, but the band's or the product's being sold.
• The lead singer will be represented in a way that the audience can engage with.
• Institutions' logos will be on the text, with the record label and distributor usually on the advert. Play.com can be seen on many, because it is a popular source for music distribution. This would be situated at the extreme bottom of the page.
• A release date will be situated, also at the bottom (although above the institutions), in large lettering.

Details:

ARTIST NAME: RENEGADES
- The original artist of my song, White Lines, which I'm doing a music video for, is Feeder. For a while they were working under the guise of 'Renegades', performing small gigs, as opposed to large stadium gigs which they would have been doing under the name 'Feeder'. This name was relatively short-lived as it was just a side-project designed to test out their new material, and after they'd promoted it, relatively secretly, with a small tour, they released their Renegade's material as Feeder, with the album being entitled Renegades. I have chosen this as the album name because I couldn't use Feeder, and I couldn't really play on the name, only coming up with rubbish names such as 'Eater' and other names along that line.
ALBUM NAME: CALL OUT
- I came up with this album name as I didn't want to use the original name 'Renegades', as I wanted to use that as the name of the artist. 'Call Out' comes from a track on the album, which was the lead single in real life, making it the conventional choice for it to be the title track. It also suited my front cover ideas, which I have been working on, involving a person shouting, paying homage to a Franz Ferdinand album. This will be explained in more detail in a later post, when I have expanded on my ideas.

REVISED: ALBUM ART HAND-DRAWN DRAFTS:

2 Inside panels. Left is under CD, with the band giving thanks
To the left, there is lyrics

My CD and DVD design. Left - Vinyl style CD
Right - VHS Cassette tape style DVD

Two more panels. Left is the institution info, situated under the DVD
To the right is the outside panel, situated in the middle (between the back and front covers

Above is the design for my back cover. This version is different from the last.
Below are my two spines holding the different panels together and allowing flexibility.
It has, conventionally, the album and artist name on it.

6-panel Digipak Design:

Album CD Design:

This version is less-neater than the other,
but shows that the CD will be white

This version is neater, but the grey of the CD will be
replaced with white, like the one above

The album title has also since changed from 'Silhouettes' to 'Call Out', and will feature a drastically different design from this.

Bonus DVD Design:

The above two videos, the top being 'Move Along' by The All American Rejects, and the bottom being 'It Never Ends' by Bring Me The Horizon, will influence my own music video, with the usage of different backgrounds. Move Along, especially at 0.53 seconds in to 1.07 will influence my media text as the background constantly changes. However, it goes very fast, which looks good, but because my actor wont change costume, like in the first text above, it would look odd. My music video will therefore change background on every four beats, creating a slower pace. Such backgrounds will include an alleyway, like in Bob Dylan's 'Subterrenean Homesick Blues', but also irrelevent settings such as outside a tesco, on a field, and even in a toilet. The second media text, above, will influence my text greatly, also. 22 seconds in to the video, the lead singer is 'on a road', where he has been green screened in. This makes him be stood still, were the background is moving and creates an eery kind of atmosphere. I will try and use this in my own music video, filming corridors in college, and walking around college, were it will be sped-up during editing. This will go well with the care-free mood of my music video, as it has connotations of the actor on-screen taking life not too seriously, taking it slow and calmly and generally not caring.

Update:

I have filmed the majority of my music video, using the college green room. I have also begun editing, although I still need to film 3 minutes of an alleyway, so I can super-impose my already filmed clip on to it.

This music video will be similar to my own, in the fact that mine, too, will parody Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. The above video is by Weird Al Yankovich, an American singer-songwriter and comedian who often parodies well-known established songs. The above video features intertextual references to Bob Dylan, with the actor on-screen, who i'm not sure whether it's Weird Al or not. The two men in the background represent the two people in the background of Bob Dylan's video, and the costume within the mise en scene is almost identical to the Bob Dylan video. The elements of parody can be seen with the lyric boards, however, most of them are correct as the song itself makes no sense and is just random words put together. My text will be influenced in the sense that at the end of this video, the actor almost gives up. In my video, Billy, who will be my fictional lead singer, will give up after getting confused and start eating Skittles. I chose Skittles because it's irrelevant to the song, and the slow process of chewing them contrasts the heavy guitar-based music, which towards the end gets faster and heavier, further emphasising the contrast.

POSTMODERNISM:
Similar to my idea, Weird Al has created a postmodern music video, parodying Bob Dylan's song. It is extremely intertextual as it features the same costumes found in the original, as well as look-alikes in the background. Again, this creates ironic playfulness as the active audience will be aware of the parody and intertextuality, whereas the passive audience will see it, simply, as a good original music video, not knowing of the original.

Ancillary Textual Analysis 2: CD Cover

Language:

The shot is a close-up of two hands, grasping blue fire. The band is iconic of the 'art rock' genre, and so the front cover takes note of this, and is represented as a piece of art. The use of black and white, also, in the modern age is conventional of indie rock (the band are also known to be indie rock) as most music videos, for example, are done in black and white either due to budget restrictions (black and white is notably cheaper than colour) or to create an old feel, giving of a sense of vintage, which I would say the above text does so. Additionally, the lack of colour in the background emphasises the colour of the fire, being held in the hands. This is because the fire is the focal point of the album cover, with the album being titled 'Fire Like This'. However, the fire has been given a sense of artistic talent on it, as the fire is unconventionally blue. Everybody knows that fire is red and/or yellow and orange. However, the artrockers have given their own take on it, and it is represented as a painting due to the paint strokes, which were either edited on through manipulating the image, or the album cover is actually a painting. At first glance it would appear that the text features a hand holding fire, with reference to the album title 'Fire Like This'. However, at a closer look it can be clearly seen to also be water, as though someone is scooping up water with their hands in order to drink from it, with the water also about to seep of the side of the hands. This contrast between the two theories of what it is makes it artistic, as people can interpret what it actually means. I have a theory, as it could connotate that something which is considered life-saving, such as water, can actually be quite dangerous, such as fire, and vice versa.

Institution:
The indie rock music genre is iconic of artists being self-representative, and having complete creative freedom, as well as sometimes the artists being independent of a record label, whether the label is part of a larger conglomerate or not. The above text is owned by V2 Records, a subsidiary of The Universal Music Group, which again is a subsidiary of Vivendi, the conglomerate company which also owns Canal+, for example, which is a French TV channel. Because this Indie band aren't independent, and are part of a large record label, the Institution needs to convey that they are independent, in order to entice their target audience. The above text looks very 'independent', as it is very art-influenced. This appears to have been influenced by the institution, who wants the album to appear indie, and not mainstream, so the use of art-based cover art as well as unconventional features, such as the lack of album title, and a large black border, was essential for them to achieve this. Of course, I could be completely wrong. The cover could be a part of a self-representation by the band, who are bound to a contract which they don't want to be bound to, and because they are against it, possibly, they may want to hide the institution, which normally would sell records with the artist on the cover. This would mean that the institution had no influence on the above text, except the budget which the institution always controls, whether it is a major record label or the band itself, who, if independent, would be their own institution.

Ideology:

There doesn't appear to be much ideology going on in this text. I could find one, however. The CD cover is stating that art is cool, and art is a part of rock and roll. This is unconventional, the idea of art and rock mixed together, and hasn't been seen much except for 'The Velvet Underground'. The band were very popular, and were the first manufactured band, put together by Andy Warhol, a famous artist. The band were also art rock, and one of their album covers was painting done by Andy Warhol. They had the same ideology that art and rock can mix, and that art, like rock, is cool. This similarity between the two bands can be seen, with the two covers, the other shown to the right.

Audience:
The target audience is teenagers, aged 13 to 19. They would be both male and female, and would most likely study in higher education, as well as read NME magazine and watch NME TV. This is because the band are frequently featured on the magazine and music channel. Furthermore, the audience will most likely attend higher education, whether it's sixth form college or university. This is because the product/text is aimed at intellectuals, revealed through representations (I will go in to further detail in the next paragraph), and intellectual teenagers will attend higher education. They will be interested in, not pop music, but proper indie music, such as bands that are still unsigned and therefore don't have corporate influence, which may make the product more 'poppy'. Also, the audience will no doubt attend gigs and live events, including Leeds Fest', and will be largely based in the indie social group. This is because 'chav' social groups won't enjoy the music which the above text is holding, and therefore won't be targeted.

Representation:
If one of my theories is correct, of self representation, the band may be stating that they are more intellectual than their mainstream counterparts, such as The Kooks, for example. This is because art has connotations of intellect and only intellectuals can truly appreciate them. This representation can be seen to be attracting the audience which the band wants to attract, not wanting people who don't appreciate music as an art, but as pop (something to sing along to) to buy their products. However, this representation could just as easily be due to the Institution, as they may want 'Blood Red Shoes', the artist, to be represented as intellectuals for the same reason. It also creates the sense of the band having more relevance in the music industry. Most pop artists come and go, as do mainstream indie artists. However, the bands that break through the mainstream conventions and do their own thing sell less records, but are around for longer, so in the long run, they will most likely earn the record label more money than Jedward will, for example, as they wont be around for nearly half as much as Blood Red Shoes will be. This is because they are breaking boundaries, whereas many artists these days aren't.

Digipak Plan:

This plan is how my CD/DVD digipak will look like. It will be a 6-panel digipak.

My First Draft of my Magazine Advert:

My First Draft

I haven't come up with a band name yet and so have just put the words 'band name.' I also put an original Feeder Album Cover for 'The Singles', as they are the artist behid the song I am making a music video for. However, I will be changing the image to my own CD/DVD Digipak cover, of my own design, afterwards in my final draft. I have not added it yet because I haven't yet created it, and it is next on my list of things to do.

Update:

I will be filming my music video tomorrow, using the college green room. I have decided that in order to enhance to parody of Subterranean Homesick Blues, my actor will quickly do the lyric boards, and not to the time of the music. This will leave lots of time behind, roughly a minute(?) and so I will have my actor eating Skittles sweets, for the simple fact that it's irrelevant to the song, and is unexpected.

Ancillary Textual Analysis 3: CD Cover



Media Representations:

The entire band, My Chemical Romance, is being represented by the above text. The text is an album cover for their fourth studio album, entitled 'Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys'. The album art doesn't show the band, which isn't unconventional as it is not usual for the band to appear on their album art. However, some representation can be seen in the above text, such as the large logo of the band situated in the middle. The logo represents a spider, a large deadly one, who's name escapes me. It is a form of tarantula, however. This logo represents danger and deadliness, which references the title of the album with the title including the words "kill" and "Danger". The lightning strike, seen in the spider's body, also connotes danger due to the dangerous elements of lightning strikes, and its general connotations of danger. Furthermore, the use of mise en scene is peculiar, as the use of an extreme wide long shot is unconventional. The scenery is beautiful, but appears to have nothing to do with the album. However, the shot is an intertextual reference to their music video 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)' which is set in the desert, which also features on the album. The logo is also an intertextual reference as it serves as the logo for 'The Fabulous Killjoys', as the album is a concept album; it tells a story, the protagonists of which are the aforementioned Killjoys. There is no real sense of self-representation as the band or lead singer don't feature on the album. In contrast to the unconventional elements of the text, the situation of text on the cover is, in fact, conventional. The album title and band name is clearly shown at the top of the cover, with no price tagshown because that is done independently by the distributors, such as HMV and even Tesco as well as other supermarkets, who are moving in to the music distribution market. However, the above text doesn't convey the actual product correctly. The image, taken from wikipedia is only a representation of what the album will look like, as the name of the band and the album title will not be printed on to the cover, with a sticker being used in its place. Many artists are doing this same thing, and it appears to be a choice by the institution, maybe to save costs? Or maybe it allows the audience to view the album art on its own, without the text over the top. This is because the lead singer of the band, Gerard Way, is an artist and designed the album cover, and so the decision to include the title could have been down to him. The setting, a desert, also has certain connotations, as it is seen as a harsh environment where not much life can prosper and where humans certainly can't live. This, perhaps, represents the musical content of the album as being harsh and brutal, and dangerous, even. This is an element seen in punk music, which further enhances the sense of punk sub-culture as the pink is iconic of the style and music genre.

Narrative:

The only feature of narrative on the above text is the reference to the album's narrative, highlighting the setting only. We can see that it's futuristic due to the desert setting within the mise en scene and the use of bright, vibrant colours such as pink, for example. The setting and colours used together have futuristic connotations due to old 1980's movies which often mixed the two. The album art also helps to create a heroes and villains narrative, as it reveals the 'Killjoys' to be the protagonists due to the use of a white spider, which in binary opposition connotes good, and the fact that the band play the killjoys in the concept album, revealing them to be the protagonists' due to the conventional use of a star being the good person.

Genre:

The text belongs to the alternative rock genre of an album cover. It will package the CD album and allow the audience to instantly recognise the album and buy it. The major generic conventions are shown on this text, with all text being situated at the top, as it is the first place the audience looks, and the centred image, in this case, of a spider with a desert background. The unconventional elements, as previously stated, is the use of no text on the cover whatsoever, as the text will be placed on top of the plastic casing on a sticker. In my opinion, the audience's expectations are cheated as with the band's identification, as they are icons of the 'emo' subculture, is shattered with the use of vibrant colours such as pink, which is also associated with punk-rock music, due to the iconography of it. This therefore treats the conventions of the band playfully, as we'd expect the album art to be black and gothic, like the previous albums shown here, here and here, which feature 'bone soldiers', which are evidently dead, as well as blood and obscure writing. This CD cover, on the other hand, features none of the above, with no use of gothic black, but instead the use of bright, beautiful colours. The text doesn't feature a star, like some CD covers would. However, none of the previous album covers of My Chemical Romance don't feature a star, but a drawing of the lyrical content of the album, which have mostly been concept albums. This text, however, features no drawing of the Killjoys, but there logo, so in a way the audience expectations are cheated, but not completely.

Media Institutions:

The text's institution is Reprise Records, which is perhaps best known for its signing of rock artists, and in no way has the institution influenced the text, from what I can see. This element of production, it is not irregular for the institution to stay out of the production process, as rock artists' are notable for having complete creative freedom. Reprise Records is owned by Warner Bros. Records which only matters in the sense that the text would have had more funding to create, seen as though Warner is a conglomerate and has lots of money to pump in to their subsidiaries and products because it is a global company, earning lots of profits.

 Media Audiences:

The text is aiming at a teenage audience of 13-19 as well as a mainstream audience of 15-24. However, it is more specifically aimed at the 'emo' subculture, although not as much as their previous albums. Emo is notorious for its suicidal stereotypes and the previous albums highlight this as they feature a boy and girl kissing, with blood splattered on the cover, also. In addition to this, the albums all feature extensive use of black which is iconic of emo. However, this album attempts self-representation, a transformation, as the band have changed from dark, sad music to fast-paced punky music, which can be seen to be true in their music video for Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na), which, like I said, features on the above album. However, the audience don't know this until they listen to the album, and for them to listen, they will have to consume the product anyway. The audience are likely to recieve the product in digital format, although it is available in CD format. I, being a fan of the artist and in the targeted audience criteria, evaluated the product as poor. This is because it was hard for me to recognise it to be my chemical romance, as they completely changed their style and it is unusual for them to use colours. However, when deconstructing the CD cover, I begun to understand the text and its meanings.

Draft: Ancillary Text 2:

Magazine Advert  for CD release - Written Draft

Magazine advert for release of CD - Computer Draft

Draft: Ancillary Text 1:

My Draft of my CD/DVD front cover



My computer-generated draft of my CD/DVD front cover



PHOTOS

"A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)"

These are two photos that I will be using in my magazine advertisement and/or my CD/DVD digipack front cover. I took many pictures but due to the camera not being a great quality, and me having an unsteady hand, which lead to most of the photos being a poor quality. The below photos are of satisfactory quality.



Low angled medium close up of my 'lead singer'.




A straight-angled mid-shot of my 'lead singer'

 Because this model is representing the lead singer of my fictionalband, he will also be the actor starring in my music video.



Ancillary Textual Analysis 1

Media Representations:

Jimi Hendrix is the artist being represented. He is being represented by Uncut Magazine, a british music magazine which specialises inold album rveiews, such as Jimi Hendrix albums, one of which is advertised above, as well as interviews with film directors. Jimi Hendrix is represented by this institution in a way which makes him look like a rocker, from his own time period. The photograph is either edited or actually low-quality, reflecting the time it was taken perhaps, and the use of a guitar for a prop connotes him to be a guitarist. This is an important use of mise en scene, as the prop is the only thing to stand out. Guitaring is what Jimi Hendrix is best known for, as well as his lively performances during live concerts. This seems to have been captured by Uncut magazine as he appears to be in the middle of a live performance. In addition to this, he is wearing a flamboyant top and black jeans, the latter of which is iconic of rock 'n' roll due to the connotations of rockers being poor, and the working class wearing them because denim is hard-wearing, etc. However, the top he is wearing is clearly an element of self-representation by Jimi Hendrix, and is possibly something he's normally wear for casual wear during performances. He is being represented this way for two reasons.One reason is that he wants to be represented this way, but also to convey his most popular attribute, which is guitaring as a rock artist. Even though he sings, he is better known as a guitarist and therefore the audience is shown him playing the guitar, and not singing in front of a microphone. This representation, in my opinion, is fair and accurate, however other spectator's may have a different opinion. This is because he is mainly a singer, and that isn't represented in the above advertisement. The element of mise en scene, however, cannot be argued as unfair and inaccurate as he is self-representing himself. Furthermore, the institution, mostly the photographer, is representing Jimi as dominant and skillfull, through the use of a low-angled shot. This conveys a sense of power to the audience, as he is a "master" of guitar playing.

Genre:

The above text belongs to the music magazine advertisement genre, which is advertising a rock album release. The generic conventions of the type of text is seen in this text, with a large, dominating photo of the artist, if it was a band, the lead singer would be the most likely to appear rather than the entire band, but in this instance it is Jimi Hnedrix who is a solo artist. Like most other magazine advertisements, the title of the album is situated at the top of the page, as well as a tagline underneath it. This is conventional as it is the first place where the audience will set there eyes upon, and if they recognise it to be Jimi Hendrix, and they are a fan, then they will be instantly drawn in. Furthermore, the large photograph of Jimi Hendrix, and the emboldening of his name (which is also situated at the top of the page) will attract the audience, drawing them in. Less-important information is given, in paragraph-style, on the right hand side of the page, which explains the contents of the CD collection. Underneath, representing that it is a modern advertisement in a modern magazine, the formats of the release is clearly visible underneath the majority of the text, allowing the audience to know where they can get it from, such as their local HMV store or supermarket (CD format) or whether they can download it online (MP3 format), the latter of which can be seen to be not availabledue to it being a large CD collection with a bonus DVD. Another conventional feature is the lack of a price tag on the advertisement. This has always confused me as to me the price is one of the most important aspects of a CD/DVD digipack. However, after some research I have concluded that it is due to the prices not always being consistent everywhere. For example, in a HMV store in London the price could be the standard £12.99, but a Tesco store in Hull may have it on offer and it may cost £7.99, a large difference to London. Also, London's CD prices, as well as housing prices and general cost of living, is a lot higher than they are in Hull because London is a capital city. The generic conventions are, therefore,fulfilled and the audience wont feel cheated looking at the text because it gives all the right information in the right place. Another convention which I see a lot in music magazine advertisements is the addition of a photograph of the front cover of the CD it is aiming to sell. The release date is also clearly shown, as well as an exampleof where the audience can buy the product, in this instance, Amazon.co.uk, and also shows the logos of the institutions in which the text belongs to. Another convention used on the advert is the use of a star. The forboding image of Jimi Hendrix, playing his guitar, is expected in a music magazine advert selling his items, as he is the star, and therefore will attract and draw in the audience. He is also iconic of the rock genre, making the text fit nicely in with the Uncut magazine.

Media Institutions:

The institutional source of the text is Jimi's record label, which owns his music, which was Legacy Recordings. This label is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, a large conglomerate company. The text has been influenced by the institutionin very minor ways, such as the release date, cover art of the album shown in the advert, and the distribution method. For example, the audience wouldn't see the text shown in Uncut magazine, if the institution didn't wish it.

Media Audiences:

The text is aimed at a middle-aged older audience, aged 25-45 years. This is because the magazine tagets this audience criteria and therefore the advertisement does so, also. The audience will be older males, who used to listen to rock music in their youth, such as the above Jimi Hendrix as well as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. The audience is assumed to be highly interested in Jimi Hendrix and the compilation album which is advertised, as it issituated at the beginning of the magazine, with only one article and the usual contents page before it. The audience will also be a large size, although not bigger than the mainstream audience, rock music played a large role in the popular culture of the 1960s/70s and 80s, and therefore most 25-45 year olds will be acquanted to rock music. As an audience member myself, although i'm not in the targeted audence, I evaluate the product as uninteresting and irrelevent to my musical taste. However, out of the context of coursework, I would be reading Kerrang! magazine and NME magazine, which is aimed at me, and not Uncut magazine. This evaluation, on my part, is largely influenced by my age and background, as I was largely influenced by modern pop-culture and not older icons, unlike people who were teenagers during the success and popularity of Jimi Hnedrix.

Adverts for album release: Analysis

Ideas 2:

I am considering filming my music video backwards (the lyric boards will be done in the wrong order, so when it is played in the right order, it will look as though the lyric boards are flying to the actor on-screen) as It is a conceptual clip, it would be conventional to be unconventional. It should add the added touch of looking good, a main focus of conceptual music videos. It should look humorous. The only problem I may have is the lyric timing, however it may be possible to get around this as my music video is meant to be imperfect and completely wrong, featuring the wrong lyrics. I'm just wondering if this will ruin the effect which the lyric boards will have on the audience.

My music video, like Bob Dylan's, will draw attention to the lyrics of the song, but unlike Dylan's, it wont be in an analytical way, but a mocking way. Aimed towards the video for Subtarranean Homesick Blues.

Ancillary Textual Analysis 2: CD Cover

A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);

Language:

The similarities between the
two texts can be clearly seen

The use of a straight-angled long shot shows the lead guitarist Paul Simonon smashing his guitar. The photograph is taken from a live performance and no editing appears to have been done, with the black and white photography being a feature of the camera, and the quality being, also, due to the camera. The poor quality renders the image as 'poor', and wouldn't feature on a mainstream CD cover, as they are conventionally colourful and 'neat', in the sense that the artist is represented as being perfect. This, however, has a moody tone to it, and the poor quality refelcts the energy of The Clash's live performances, with them being energetic and lively. The use of mise en scene is all unintentional as the shot was taken at a live performance. However, the use of a spot-light lighting creates a dark atmosphere, but leaves the band members clearly visible, something which is essential for a live performance and an album cover. The spot light also connotes a prison break, as they are iconic of prisons. This resemblence can be seen as The Clash were a punk-rock band, which, at the time, was frowned upon (it was a teenage phenomenom). The main theme is the energetic performance of The Clash, as previously said, and so the use of a 'prop' (I say prop, it's actually an instrument used in their live performance, but I have used this terminology as I am talking about mise en scene) guitar. This is iconic of rock/punk music as it is the main instrument, and the act of smashing it, depicted on the above front cover, is iconic of punk rock, who are against mainstream, and what's more anti-mainstream than smashing a guitar? The 'costume' is the band's own clothing, that they like to wear. The main model on the front cover is wearing white 'skinny jeans', which are thought to be a modern style, but in fact started with Elvis and his 'drainpipes'. These type of jeans, once associated with the working class because of their widespread use with that social class, due to the hard-waring qualities of denim and cheapness of it, has become iconic of the rock genre, and its many sub-genres, including punk-rock. Speaking of Elvis, the above CD cover has intertextual references to Elvis' first album, which is self-titled. The intertextual references can be clearly seen, between the two texts, with the use of a black and white photo capturing the essence of their live performances, as well as the situation of the album title, and the colour scheme of pink and green. This may seem completely random, but it is important to remember that Elvis Presley was the punk-rocker of his day, with mainstream people disliking his 'dancing style' and his jeans being worn high up his waiste as well as the genre of music which was primarilly 'rock 'n' roll'. Aforementioned, Elvis wore drainpipes. This can be seen to influence The Clash's style, with the cover for London Calling', the band member can be seen wearing skinny jeans, which were adopted from drainpipes.

Institution:

The album was released in the UK through CBS Records, which is now Columbia Records. It was also released in the US through Epic Records, and both labels are now owned by Sony Music Entertainment, making them subsidiary labels. At the time, both subsidiaries were independent labels, free from conglomerate corporations, and so the production of the album was not affected by the labels, except perhaps only the amount of funding given to make the album and the cover. There also seems to be no mentioning of the institutions on the cover, but I imagine that on the actual hard-copy, the labels will be mentioned, or at the back if not the front.

Ideology:
The CD has certain ideologies that it is trying to convey. It doesn't appear to be parodying Elvis' self-titled album, and so it is saying that Elvis is cool and someone to look up to, like The Clash did. In addition to this, the ideology that rock music and especially punk, is gritty, nasty, in your face and unconventional, which is shown in the image above with the poor-quality image, showing the flounting of the mainstream conventions, aforementioned, and the use of bold, bright colours, especially pink which is iconic of punk music due to The Sex Pistols, who used it frequently on their albums and clothing etc. which all stand out from the background photo, making the album easily seen, recognisable and in the audiences face. Also, the act of smashing the guitar is only seen by bands that are deemed 'cool', and so the text is creatiung the ideology that they are cool, un-mainstream and also have a lot of money, due to the high price of guitars, especially at the time of the album's release.
Audience:
The target audience for the above text is teenagers, aged 13-19. This is because punk-rock was mainly seen to attract the youth, during the 1970's and 1980's, with the album above being released in the UK in 1979 and in the US in 1980. They will be interested primarilly in music and socialising, as are all teenagers of all eras, and at the time of release, the audience would have bought their music from their local record store, with the lack of online downloading and/or streaming, on web 2.0 sites such as YouTube and Myspace Music. There would also have been a lack of supermarkets, such as Tesco, who have recently moved in to the music industry, distributing music at lower prices than Record Stores. I never usually set a gender for a target audience, but in this instance I would say the target audience was males. This is because females usually like the band for a good looking lead singer, but the above text featured no lead singer on it, and The Clash and many other punk bands weren't stereotypically attractive, as they wore piercings and ragged clothing amongst others. One specific social group that I can definitely say it targeted is Punks. This sub-culture gained their image from punk-rock bands such as The Clash, and people like 'Mods' would not have listened to Punk music, for a certainty. The above text caters for their target audience in showing a band member, which would have been expected by the audience, and the use of the colour pink, which is iconic of Punk music, fulfills the audience expectations, as does the pose of the band member featured on the cover, who is smashing a guitar.

Representation:
The artist is represented as a frustrated punk rocker, who is angry and political, something which The Clash are iconic of. The fact that he is smashing a guitar connotes that he's rock and roll; he's angry, as the act shows anger and the rock and roll element comes from the Elvis intertextuality. In addition to this, the pose of the guitarist is iconic of The Who, a huge iconic rock band, and all the features of the above text, featuring references to the King of rock and roll, as well as one of the most iconic rock bands ever to have existed, which represents The Clash as the most rock and roll, as it is adding the two elements of rock together. It doesn't get more rock and roll than this, is what they are basically saying, and of course, Punk music is a sub-genre of the larger, more broader rock genre. The Clash were politically active, being against the government at the time. They wanted to smash everything down and replace it with a better something. This is shown in the smashing of the guitar, representing them as bringing down the establishment, and the fact that you can't see Paul Simonon's face is a key point. He is faceless. This is because he isn't a singlular person, he represents the youth of the UK, and at the time, the youth were up in arms against the norm; the conventional, the mainstream and the government, which at the time was Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party, an infamous political party even to this day. This representation is iconic of The Clash because they 'fought' for the people, perticularly their audience.

Update:

Actor found:
I have found a person to hold up the lyric boards in my music video. His name is Billy Minns and he meets the criteria of 'young' and 'cool', as well as having a stylish alternative style. I used him in my music magazine in the foundation portfolio for the same reason, so I know he will be a good actor; all I need him to do is pull a care-free, bored face.

Spoof:
I have decided that my music video will parody 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' by Bob Dylan, but not in a 'vicious' way, as I believe it is clever. However, parodying it will simply expand on the music video's idea, allowing more things to be happening, such as none of the cards having the right lyrics on them (they may be done backwards or simply be the lyrics of a completely different song) and featuring messages such as "HEY MOM!".

Storyboard Animatic:

Influence: CD/DVD Digipak

My CD cover will have my actor, playing the fictional lead singer of the fictional band, stood holding up a lyric board, with the title of the album on it. This has been influenced from my music video, Bob Dylan's music video for 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' and the above text. This is because the above text, like my own, features an intertextual reference to the music video for the song 'Cousins', which the above text holds.

Schedule:

When crossed out, the point has been completed
November:
Week beginning -

01 -                                               Animatic
08 -                                               Video Shoot (and upload video)
15 -                                               Video Shoot (and upload video)
22 -                                               Editing (plus re-shoots and work on 2 ancillary texts)
29 -                                               Editing (plus re-shoots and work on 2 ancillary texts)

December:
Week beginning -

06 -                                               Editing (plus re-shoots and work on 2 ancillary texts
13 -                                               Evaluation (upload finished product + all videos)
20-22 -                                          Feedback from teacher (and last minute 'tweaks')

Genre Conventions:

Genre Conventions:

The song I am making a music video for is ‘White Lines’ by Feeder. This song falls under the alternative rock and indie genres, two very similar styles of music, and both sub-genres of the wider rock genre. Conventions of the alternative rock genre music video, as the song fits nicely in to that genre but only has certain features of the indie genre, include the type of promo being a mix of narrative and performance, but more centrally focussed on a narrative, as seen in wake me up when September ends, by Green Day, a popular alternative rock band. Some videos however are all performance clips, such as the music video for ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ by Kids in Glass Houses, another alternative rock band. These performance clips see the whole band perform, usually seen through wide shots, but, however, the lead singer and front man is always the central focus and is on the screen, and therefore shown to the audience, more often than the other members. Despite the wide shots of the entire band, conventionally the lead singer is shown alone, often in a close-up. A shot which is trending at the moment is a close-up of half of the lead singer’s face, the other half being off-shot, and the rest of the space being taken up by another band member who is out of focus due to the shallow depth of field. This depth of field often alternates between shallow and deep, taking it in turns to show the lead singer and the band member in the background. This shot can be seen in the above music video by Kids in Glass Houses, and I have seen it lots of times in recent music videos. I also believe it has post-modern qualities, as The Beatles achieved a similar thing in one of their videos, where the camera shows a close-up of John Lennon, and the depth of field changes to reveal the drummer in the background. It is also unconventional for a music video, of the alternative rock/indie genres to be conceptual, and there are many reasons for this, which will be mentioned in due course.

The colour used, as well as the brightness, contrast and placement of lighting equipment, all reflect a different mood of a music video, depending on the variables. For example, an up-tempo song will feature a bright colour-scheme with three-point lighting. Contrasting this, a down-tempo, slower song, will have a dull colour scheme with extensive use of black and other dark colours. Sometimes the text will be edited to be black and white, not to convey a different time period, but to create a moody feel to the music video. FX is also used sparingly, not because of budget restrictions, but because of the need to use it, or lack thereof. Depending on the speed of the song, the music video will also cut to the beat of the song, with fast paced drum beat sections accompanying montage sequences. The setting is also conventionally dark. This creates a sense of mystery, a convention of rock and roll, and often the setting will reflect the background of the singer. Rock music is stereotypically has a middle/lower class audience, with some exceptions. This is reflected in many music videos, were the setting is a housing estate, council house, bus stop and even an alleyway, the latter seen in Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, and the former seen in Arctic Monkeys’ ‘When The Sun Goes Down’.

As aforementioned, conventionally alternative rock/indie music videos are not conceptual clips. This is because a major convention of this genre of music video is that the lead singers create their own image. This gives him/her the chance to engage with the audience and make judgements upon the text, as the audience not only makes critical responses on the song, but also the band’s style and image, more particularly the lead singer. The emphasis is placed on the lead singer as this is the person that leads the band, writes the music and sings the song, in most instances. The audience decides whether or not to buy the music if the singer is acceptable to them. This is said in terms of looks, style, taste in clothing etc. It is arguably more important than the song itself. The audience tend to idolise him/her or fancy him/her. The former point of idolisation is the spectator (active audiences have different opinions and views and therefore can’t be referred to as a collective) actively project themselves on to the singer; seeing themselves in their shoes. This is usually because they are cool, young, rich and successful and ‘get all the girls/boys’, all of which, at some point, everyone will aspire to achieve. This is an example of voyeurism and fetishism, also, as the spectator’s gain pleasure through watching the lead singer, whilst fetishism places emphasis on material possessions which the audience wishes to have, which the lead singer has. Narcissism also plays a large role in this, as the audience aspires to be the lead singer. This is why it is important for the lead singer to establish themselves in their music videos, something easier to achieve in narrative and performance clips than in conceptual clips. Basically, the music video helps to create an image. A non-convention of the genre is the establishment of an anti-image. This can be seen in Blink 182’s ‘All the Small Things’ were they establish themselves as a boy band. Although this is openly mocking the boy band formula, it is a convention of pop-punk, a genre which Blink 182 comfortably fall under, and not a convention of alternative rock and indie. Alternative rock is a sub-genre because it can’t be categorised as mainstream rock. This is because mainstream rock features clean guitar riffs and clean vocals, whereas alternative rock features distorted guitar riffs with gritty vocals, often unintelligible.

These are the conventions of the alternative rock and indie genres, as opposed to, for example, hip-hop music video conventions, which conventionally feature strippers, half-naked females dancing around the artist, who is usually performing, and wearing ‘bling’ (lots of jewellery). A convention which completely contrasts the indie and alternative rock music videos is the setting, where in hip-hop music videos, the setting is often a large, well-lit mansion, surrounded by numerous fast sports cars, showing off the artists’ power and wealth whereas the alternative rock music videos, as aforementioned, are set in back alleys and council housing estates.

Word Count: 1,087

Lyric Board plan:

Each lyric that has been highlighted will feature on a lyric board. There is usually one to two boards for each line, with the exception of one 'pre-chorus' part which is fully highlighted. This part of the song will feature only one lyric board along the lines of "what's he even singing?"


I've been waiting
Waiting for someone to call
My body's aching
'Cause someone came and stole my soul

Everyday's like yesterday
And yesterday's like every day
And everyday's like yesterday
And yesterday's like every day

And I'm still waiting
Waiting for my love to call

All the things I wanna say
Are in my head there's no mistake
This is not the right time
This is not the right time
Waiting for the light to come
I sit and watch the candle burn
Following the white lines
Following the white lines

I've been searching
Searching every place I know
Trying to work out
If Jesus came and stole my soul

Everyday's like yesterday
And yesterday's like every day
And everyday's like yesterday
And yesterday's like everyday
 
'Cause I'm still waiting
Waiting for my love to call

All the t  hings I wanna say
Are in my head there's no mistake
This is not the right time
This is not the right time
Waiting for the light to come
I sit and watch the candle burn
Following the white lines
Following the white lines

Everyday's like yesterday
And yesterday's like everyday
I'm waiting for my love to call
And Jesus come and take her soul

All the things I wanna say
Are in my head there's no mistake
This is not the right time
This is not the right time
Waiting for the light to come
I sit and watch the candle burn
Following the white lines
Following the white lines

All the things I wanna say
Are in my head there's no mistake
This is not the right time
This is not the right time