Last post!

So the project's over now and overall I think it went pretty well... Emma and I worked and communicated well as a group. I also got to improve my technical skills. At the beginning of the project, I didn't know how to use Photoshop at all, but now at the end of the project, I know how to use Photoshop relatively well. I also got to develop my camera work and editing skills, which I was quite pleased with.
But it's over now [the music of the night... (Phantom of the Opera reference, in case you didn't get that)] =(
xxx

Editing/Finished Music Video/Album Cover Reflections

Overall, I think that the editing process went quite well. We started off by having Emma editing a performance bed and me editing the narrative. We put in loads of time and effort, and I think this paid off since in the end we created a fairly high quality music video.I'm fairly pleased with our finished music video, the performance room and performance itself comes across really well on camera. I think the comic book effect worked quite well too. However, I think that maybe we should have done some more performance takes in order to have some more shot variation. I think our finished album cover looks really good too - especially the back cover with the glitter stars and the glittery background.

Applying theory to our music video

Carol Vernallis (The Kindest Cut)

• Music videos place shots with one motion against another
  For example at 1:50-1:53 when an MCU circular track is placed against a medium shot
  
• Music videos don't always have the narrative structure as the predominant feature
  Since our music video is for Ava's debut single we had more performance than narrative in our music video, as it was more important to create Ava's star image.
  
• Music videos don't have any particular shot order (like that in film)
  We didn't have a particular shot order really... e.g. at 0:36 when a medium shot is placed after a BCU

Andrew Goodwin (Dancing in the Distraction Factory)

• Genre characteristics
  Our music video adheres to this theory since we have a performance based video, which is conventional for the indie pop genre.
• Relationship between lyrics and visuals
  Our music video contradicts the lyrics, since they talk about a male hero, but we used a female hero. The lyrics also have romantic connotations which we contradicted by showing Wonder Woman helping Ava to improve her self confidence.
• Relationship between music and visuals
  We created an illustrative relationship between the music and visuals since the performance shots are mostly cut to the beat.
• Visual hooks
  We used BCU visual hooks quite often in our music video
• Voyeurism
  We didn't really have any voyeurism/scopophilia in our music video
• Intertextuality
  Wonder Woman played a very important part in our music video, which was an example of intertextuality.

Finished Music Video, Album Cover and MySpace

Album Cover
Front cover:

Back cover:


MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/AvaAlexisOfficial

Last day of shooting!

Yesterday we had our last day of shooting, and I think it went pretty well. We did about 10 or 11 full run-throughs of the song and got loads of close-ups. So I think, there should be quite a lot of footage to choose from. We also got a few cut aways that would be part of the performance, but where Jazmin's not actually miming the words.

We also took some shots of Jazmin reading a self help book, to get across the idea that she doesn't have much confidence.

I think on the whole, the footage we got was quite good. Although, I'll admit that a couple of my takes with lots of movement are a bit too shaky! Oops.

More narrative shooting and other reflections...

Today Emma and I had a discussion with Jake Wynne about what stage we're at with our project, where we're going etc etc. We discussed how Jazmin's character Ava didn't really seem lacking in confidence and instead just seemed indecisive. I think this was a fair point really, and I think as shooting had been going on, we'd unintentionally forgot about the unconfident aspect.
We also sorted out some problems that we'd been having with the ending of the narrative. Basically, last Friday we shot the ending with Jazmin and James, but then we didn't have time to shoot Melissa's part. So, we had intended to shoot the rest today, but the weather conditions were really different, so we were unsure as to how much that would matter. We had some disagreements about whether or not we could just use what we had or if we really did have to reshoot. Eventually, it was decided that we should reshoot. I think this was the best idea since the shots we already had wouldn't have communicated the meaning we wanted, and we could try to match up the lighting in post-production.

After school we shot Melissa's part in Enfield Chase station. We got some good shots (even though we did attract a bit of attention... but then I suppose that's to be expected when you have Wonder Woman walking around in a public place) and I'm generally pleased with how the shooting went :)

Narrative shoot

We started shooting our narrative on Friday and then did some more of it today. Both good days (even if a drunk man tried to offer Melissa/Wonder Woman flowers at the train station =/) and I think the things we shot were quite good. So overall, I think it went pretty well!

Oh and, Wonder Woman has magical powers now =)

Our second day of shooting...

...went quite well I think! As I said on the group blog, Jazmin takes direction really well, so we got quite a bit of footage of her being more exaggerated with the performance. We also shot loads in medium close-up, close-up, big close-up etc... I think we worked really efficiently since we had a limited amount of time for shooting, and we managed to run through the whole song 5 or 6 times, so there should be lots of footage to choose from!

Reflections on today's shoot

I think today's shoot went really well, especially considering we had to make-do with 4 paglights, one studio light and a normal camera as opposed to 3 studio lights and a HD camera! It wasn't really a big deal though, and I don't think it's really had much of an effect on the quality of our footage - it's still quite good I think. But yeah, I'm pleased with how things went today... the quality of our shots was good and I was really impressed with Jazmin's performance too. She's really got the subtle nuances of her performance down, so now (like Ms Blackborow advised) we just have to get some footage of Jazmin being a bit more exaggerated with her performance... I think Jazmin should be great at that too, so I'm quite looking forward to shooting some more tomorrow :)

Things learnt from theory

I found the theory lessons we had last week (where we looked at Carol Vernallis' essay/article (?) 'The Kindest Cut') to be very interesting and I learnt a few things about shooting and editing for music videos which will be very helpful when we're creating our own music video. The most important things I learnt were:

• Continuity techniques aren't used in the same way in music video as they are in film
  In films, a lot of importance is placed on continuity since it ensures that the audience can understand what's going on in the narrative of the film. In music video, the continuity techniques used in film could make the narrative too prominent. Since one of the main aims of a music video is to spark interest in the song, if the narrative is too prominent, it could take over the song. This will be something to bear in mind when editing together our sequences with Ava and Wonder Woman. We will have to break up these narrative sections with performance in order to make sure that the narrative doesn't take over from the song.
• Music videos can use graphic matches more often than in films
  Due to the non-realist nature of music videos, graphic matches can be used more often. This is because music videos can draw attention to its production methods. So, we could try and think of some possible graphic matches we could use in our music video.
• Music videos often use disjunctive edits
  Music videos use disjunctive editing techniques (such as jump cuts) in order to make the viewer focus on the musical and visual cues. We could do this during the part where the lyrics of the song are spoken rather than sung, since it would draw the viewer's attention to this change in the song.
• Music videos don't always have the narrative structure as the predominant feature
  Although many music videos do have a narrative running through them, those are often not placed in the foreground. This is because it is often more important to foreground the star and build up/maintain a particular image for them. This would be particularly important in our music video since it's meant to be Ava's debut single. So, we will probably have to have more performance than narrative in our music video, since it'll be more important to create Ava's star image.
• Music videos typically present segments of 6-9 shots
  These segments often last roughly the length of a musical phrase. Carol Vernallis has said that these segments are recognizable since they "contain internal repetition and often possess a kind of symmetry". This will be something to bear in mind when editing together our narrative scenarios and our performance shots.
  

Reflections on today

Today Emma and I decorated the performance room and also tested out some performance shots (with Emma standing in for Jazmin). Even though we started a bit later than planned, since it somehow took 1 and a half hours for me to get to Emma's house (the joys of public transport : ), I think we were quite successful today. Although it took AGES to set up properly, I'm quite pleased with the way the performance room looks, especially on camera. We also tested out some different possibilities for performance shots. So yeah, I think we did well! :)

Performance room wall coverings

My mum has one bright pink saree, and one white one. Both of those are 5 metres long, so they should be enough to cover the wall. So tomorrow, I'm taking those over to Emma's house and we'll put them up and see if they're the sort of thing we want for the performance room. If they're not, then on Monday we'll go out and buy some better material. I'll copy these pictures over to the group blog to, like Mrs Thrasher suggested I do in her feedback post a couple of posts ago :)

Pictures of the sarees/other material:

Ideas for shooting/editing

At the beginning of our music video (during the comic strip section) we were planning on introducing Ava's character. I think that if it's possible, it would be really good to to this with thought bubbles like 5ive did in their video for 'Let's Dance'. It would look something like this:

You can also see it on the actual video at about 0:25 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRTO3_kjX_8 (I couldn't find an embeddable video, so had to just put a link instead).

In Christina Aguilera's video for 'Hurt', there's a really good shot at 2:10-2:14... it's kind of a circular track but it looks like the background is moving (if you know what I mean). I imagine that this would be really really hard to recreate, but it might be worth trying.



I also really like some of the editing in Chris Brown's video for 'With You'. The way they've taken out frames to make people moving seem more jumpy looks really good. So that might be an idea for our music video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqumjziPTzk
Also, the shot at 3:06-3:14 is WELL cool. Of course, it would be near impossible for us to do that, but still, it's cool.

Responses to teacher feedback

Mrs Thrasher suggested in her feedback post that I make my reflections on teacher feedback more evident, so that's what I'm going to do in this post!

I'm quite pleased that what I've done so far has been good since I wasn't always sure that I was going about my research/reflections in the right way.

I'll admit that I kind of forgot about putting external web links on my blog, so I'll have to make sure I do that! I think I used to sometimes have links between my individual blog and my posts on the group blog, but that was fairly rare and hasn't happened recently really, so I'll have to start doing that more often!

THR Feedback - Individual Blog Progress

Hi Angelie
Your blog is coming along nicely and there are many things you're doing really well - your diary types of entry are interesting and informative and you have developed a sense of progress and clear reflection over the weeks by consistently posting. Having said that, I'll focus on the things you need to work on but bear in mind this is one of the best blogs so far.

You need to do some general housekeeping such as working on your layout to produce a list of links to sites and resources you have found inspirational. This has been done well be MIKE C. You need to make your responses and reflections on teacher feedback more evident. You need to link where you are posting on the grp blog with your indiv blog - so if you post on grp or if there is a post on grp, make sure you have a corresponding or related post in your individual blog and vice versa.
Also, make sure everything you post is clear in it's purpose - WHY is a particular item on your blog eg. posting youtube videos - labelled? What For? Response? Reflection? Learning?
Otherwise, well done

MRS T

Reflections on the past couple of days

Yesterday, Emma and I had a Media filled day and I'm really pleased with the amount of work that we got done. We've decided to shoot the performance shots in a room in Emma's house, which we're going to decorate with fairy lights, large pieces of floaty material etc. I think this is a good plan, since shooting in central London (as we had originally planned) would have been far too complicated to do with just 2 people in the group.
We also sorted out our superhero actor problem and have chosen Melissa to act as Wonder Woman. This is a good idea since we know Melissa would be confident enough to play the part and she also doesn't have any commitments on the scheduled shooting weekends.
Yesterday we also storyboarded all of our Ava + Wonder Woman scenarios... badly drawn stick people, but it gets our ideas across.

So yeah, I'm really pleased with all the things we managed to get done yesterday!

Address photo thingy

Hello! Hope you had fun in India =]
I just read your comment about going to take a photo of that place's address. I'm only free on Sunday but idk what time yet because I have to see family at some point. I was gonna go tomorrow but stuff came up and I'm in Durham /working for the rest of the week. So yeah, if you want to come with me on Sunday I'll probably be going about midday-ish/early afternoon but I'll let you know when I know what's actually happening!
Emma
x
P.S. I figured you're more likly to see a new post than a comment on a post =]

Paul Hunter Research

Biographical information
Paul Hunter is an American music video director who has directed over 100 music videos since 1996. He has directed videos for a diverse range of artists, whose genres range from rock to hip hop. Paul Hunter has also done adverts for Nike, Burger King and Coca Cola. He was nominated for an Emmy for his Nike Freestyle advert. Paul Hunter has also been involved in the making of a few feature films. For example, he directed 'Bulletproof Monk'.

Paul Hunter's Work
Paul Hunter has directed lots of music videos over the years. He has directed music videos for bands/artists ranging from Enrique Iglesias to Christina Aguilera to Snoop Dogg. Paul Hunter directed the multiple award winning 'Divas' (Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya and Lil Kim) video for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. He has also won a Music Video Production Association award for Best Direction of a Male Artist for 'My Love' by Justin Timberlake in 2007. He also one another MVPA for Best R&B video for 'What the Fuss' by Stevie Wonder in 2006.

Examples of Paul Hunter's work

TLC - Unpretty


Jennifer Lopez - Love Don't Cost A Thing



Christina Aguilera - Come On Over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMoQm_TZ2DE

Britney Spears & Madonna - Me Against The Music

Aaliyah - One in a million

Justin Timberlake - My Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtU3KmxJGg8

Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mya and Pink - Lady Marmalade

Similarities within Paul Hunter's work

• Quite a bit of sexualised display/scopophilia
• A lot of performance
• Quite often there is more performance than narrative
• Lots of choreographed dances - this is also linked to the genres of music he directs videos for
• When there is a narrative, band members/artists act within the narrative as well as the performance
• Videos appear to be quite high budget - also linked to the artists/bands he directs videos for

BLK FEEDBACK

super progress evidenced on this blog; high quality research, planning and reflections so far. well done.

Holiday time...

Well, I'm in India from tomorrow until the 25th of August. So, there might not be too much posting from me on here or on the group blog. Over the next week I'm doing tourist-y stuff in Delhi, so I won't be posting at all I don't think. Then after that I'll be staying with family... so I should be able to either use the computer at my uncle's house or pop to internet cafes every now and then (since it's going to be relatively dull over there really...), depending on where I'm staying...

If there aren't any new posts from me for a little while, chances are I went back to complete previous incomplete posts. I'll probably post a bit of new stuff while I'm away though :)

Bye bye for now!

Kate Nash's MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic

According to her MySpace, Kate Nash considers her music to be "Alternative/Indie/Other". So I thought it might be useful to analyse her MySpace as her music is of a similar genre to that of Imogen Heap/Frou Frou.

The headline for Kate Nash's MySpace is: "it's all a bit homegrown". This is linked to her identity as an indie artist who writes her own songs (hence the 'homegrown').
On her MySpace, Kate Nash has 6 tracks - Baby Love, Model Behaviour, Foundations, Pumpkin Soup, Merry Happy and We Get On. None of these can be downloaded from MySpace can't be downloaded, which means that Kate is trying to encourage her fans to download or buy her tracks the legal way (although obviously there are less legal ways other than MySpace).

Kate Nash has used the Upcoming shows function to give details on all of herupcoming gigs - with date, location and time details being given. This enables her fans to quickly look up upcoming tour dates and check the details for them.

She also has a blog in which the blog posts are written (or seem to be written) by the artist herself. This gives the impression that Kate Nash is an artist who wants to try and connect with her friends through use of a blog.

In the photos section, Kate Nash only has one photo album: 'My Photos'. This album contains images that appear to be fairly exclusive and they seem more like personal photos rather that promotional photos. This would appeal to Kate Nash's fans, since they would really enjoy the privilege of being able to view these exclusive photos. Also, it may give the impression that there is a more personal connection between Kate Nash and her fans, since she's sharing personal photos with them.

Kate has a YouTube video by the 'Trachtenburg family slideshow players' embedded in her 'About Me' section. this shows her connections other bands.

In the influences section, where most artists put their musical influences, Kate Nash also puts things like "Beans on Toast, Cheese on Toast, Anything really that you can put on toast, Spaghetti bolonese". This adds to her quirky image and the incorrect spelling of 'bolognese' could make the MySpace seem more personal, as if she writes things on her MySpace herself, as opposed to her management writing things.

In the 'About Me' section, there is also details on how to pre-order Merry Happy on CD/7 inch. There are different versions of cover art for the CDs/7 inch. The cover art is hand drawn, which links to the artist's image and the headline's use of the word 'homegrown'.

Kate Nash also provides her fans with links to her Facebook, music videos on YouTube and online interview. She also has a video from the Camden Crawl embedded into her About Me section.

In the About me section she also states "i love harrow and garageband.". This makes her MySpace seem more personal.

NME Cover Research

Brief History

In 1961, New Musical Express (as it was known before the magazine title was abbreviated) was released every Friday and cost 6d (approximately 2.5 pence today). Nowadays NME is very much known for being an ‘indie’/‘alternative’ music magazine often featuring very niche artists, but during the 1990s the bands and artists featured in NME were much more mainstream and of a wider genre range (such as Robbie Williams, Korn and Cypress Hill). One of the main reasons for this change was the progression of the different music genres, and the increasing popularity of genres, like indie, with the magazine’s target audience. In the earlier years of NME’s existence, most of the artists featured were males, it was only in the early ’90s that NME began to feature more female artists. For example Madonna was the main cover image on a 1995 issue of NME, in the same issue Courtney Love and Nicolette were some of the main features.

Conventions

• Masthead
• Gig info - "x Gigs Listed"
• Institutional information - bar code, issue number, price etc
• Banner at top near masthead
• Small images to go with coverlines
• Website name
• Quotes from interviews
• Coverlines about recent news
• Lots of band names mentioned on the cover
• Some competitions
• Central image - often quirky poses, direct address
• Colour scheme - red, white, black and yellow

Differences

• Bands/artists on the front - some indie pop, some more indie rock
• 'Studio reports' on Pete Doherty cover
• Scarlett Johansson cover has a lot more empty spaces

Reflections on the past couple of days

I think that overall, the past couple of days of work that we did as a group, have been quite successful. Emma and I found some good locations on Sunday, so I was quite pleased about that - even though our feet were aching after all that walking! I especially liked the fountain with the London Eye in the background... if we could get permission to shoot there it'd be amazing! I also liked the fountains near City Hall - those have such a great background too.

Today was also quite successful, we took a lot of pictures. Some of which are going to be used to practice turning Jennifer into Wonder Woman using that Photoshop tutorial I posted on the group blog. Other photos we took were possible storyboard images. It was a pretty funny couple of hours, with Jennifer jumping around and whatnot.... but yeah, overall I think the past couple of days have been really good and I'm really pleased with the work we've done :)

Sophie Muller Research

Biographical Info

Sophie Muller is a British music video director who has worked on over 170 music videos since 1983. Sophie was born in London on January 31st 1962. She gained a Foundation Diploma in Art, a B.A. in Graphic Design and then a Masters in Film and TV. She started as 3rd assistant on 'Company of Wolves' , then went to work for International Film and Video and then Oil Factory, after a chance meeting John Stewart and Billy Poveda.

Sophie Muller's work

Sophie Muller has directed many many music videos over the years, for bands/artists ranging from Mika to Gary Barlow to The Cardigans. She received MTV Video Music Awards for 'Why' by Annie Lennox and 'Don't Speak' by No Doubt. She also won a Grammy for her work on Annie Lennox's 'Diva' video album and was nominated for her work on the Eurythmics 'Savage' video album. Sophie also directed the critically acclaimed 'Not Ready to Make Nice' by the Dixie Chicks. As well as directing them, Sophie Muller also edited Lily Allen's 'Smile', No Doubt's 'Don't Speak' and Nelly Furtado's'Turn off the light'.

Examples of Sophie Muller's work:

No Doubt - Sunday Morning (1996)

Blur - On Your Own (1997)

Sophie Ellis Bextor - Murder on the Dancefloor (2001)

More recently...

• Leona Lewis - Better in time (2008)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrNoDUblAtE
• Beyonce - Deja Vu (2006)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qABg_tKVYsA
• Shakira - Hips Don't Lie (2006)
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygctbqBijFk
• Lily Allen - Smile (2006)

...and many, many, many more

Similarities within her work

• Lots of performance
• Sometimes performance within the narrative of the video
• Often look relatively high budget - but this can obviously depend on who the star is
• Often more performance than narrative... rarely more narrative than performance
• Band/artist often acts within the narrative as well as in the performance
• Videos often don't present a voyeuristic view of women, although this varies depending on who the artist is
  

'Don't Speak' Analysis

• 'Don't Speak' by No Doubt... Directed by Sophie Muller again
• 'Third Wave Ska' and 'Ska Punk' illustrated by the performance-based video
• Lyrics sort of contradicted by visuals- lyrics talk about a break up, visuals show problems in a band rather than between a couple
• Sometimes lyrics are illustrated - "our memories, well, they can be inviting" - transition to memory shown by the greyish tone to visuals.
• Cut to the beat
• Instrumental illustrated by narrative
• Long takes for slow verses, shorter takes for chorus
• Close ups of all band members at some point. Lots of CUs of Gwen Stefani with microphone.
• Gwen Stefani presented as sensitive whereas band members seem indifferent
• Both this video and video for 'Just A Girl' are predominantly performance based
• Quite a few shots of Gwen Stefani and bass player Tony Kanal since the song is based around their relationship
• No real sexual display of Gwen in performance. The dress she's wearing doesn't really make her seem sexualised.
• Gwen's wearing less clothing for live show footage, but it's still not really shot in sexualised way
• Some sexual display when Gwen's taking pictures with the orange - pouting etc.
• Notion of looking: camera taking pictures of Gwen, band members looking at her (ECUs on eyes)
• Intertextual references to band's image - media focus on Gwen and not band. Live footage.
• Mostly performance based - in a garage
• Some narrative - Gwen Stefani being focused on by the media, other band members being ignored... some archive footage
• A bit of concept at the beginning and end - orange from tree - garden of Eden-esque

Lee Mead Album Cover

Front:
- MCU of Lee Mead, directly addressing the camera
- Name: Lee Mead
- Self titled album
- No particular artist logo

Back:
- 10 tracks
- Bonus track (Any Dream Will Do)
- Black background - no background image

Institutional information:
- Barcode
- Record label: Polydor
- Year: 2007
- No reference no.
- Lee Mead is the only performer

Spine:
- Artist name: Lee Mead
- Album title: Lee Mead
- Record label : Polydor
- No reference no.

Inserts:
- Fold our insert
- Institutional info for 2 tracks per page
- No song lyrics
- One image of Lee over a few pages
- Small 'Thank You' section

Reflections on Sunday's meeting

I'm really pleased with the progress we made during the meeting on Sunday. I'm glad that we managed to sort out any issues with actors that we previously had. Plus, we reached an agreement really quickly, which was great. I think the way we've now casted our actors, was the best way to go really (as I've mentioned in a previous post) - it works with the actresses personalities and it also fits with our target audience.
I think that going out as a group to look for locations is also a really good idea, especially for locations in central London.
At Sunday's meeting we also discussed the possibility of changing our superheroine from Supergirl to Wonder Woman. I think that this could be a good idea, since we'd probably have a lot more material to draw intertextual references from, and Wonder Woman is still a really great representation of women and female empowerment etc.

Here's your group work on Marketing!

BLK feedback

interesting reflections here angelie

Wednesday's Feedback...

Firstly, sorry for the slight delay in doing this! I had planned on doing it yesterday, but then I had some crazy food poisoning type illness so when I got back from the Economics conference I just went to sleep... Anyway...

I was quite pleased that on the whole, people liked our comic book/superhero themed idea. I'm also glad that people brought up some ideas and thoughts that we may not have otherwise thought of.
The points raised about having a black indie artist were very interesting I thought, especially as I'd not really thought about that aspect of things before.
In some ways, I think it could be really interesting and different to have a black indie singer. It plays on the conventions and could be something to make our music video a bit different. However, if we were to do this, other issues could be raised. For example, which actress would play Supergirl... originally, we had proposed to have either a black or asian girl play Supergirl. But I now realise that this wouldn't make sense if we are targeting a predominantly white audience. I feel that essentially, the best way would be to have some sort of equality with the casting of the actors. But if we were to have a white hero helping out a black victim, there would be political correctness implications for that too. In which case, I think it would make the most sense to have Jennifer playing Supergirl (since that character really suits her personality) and Jazmin playing Ava.

Tomorrow we're having a group meeting. There we intend to discuss actors, style, location etc. I'm hoping it'll be a success! :D

New Idea

I thought I should post something about my thoughts on our new possible idea, just like Ms. Blackborow suggested in her feedback post below...

So today, Emma and I had a meeting with Ms. Blackborow and Ms. Thrasher about a potential different take we could have on the superhero idea... as you will soon be able to see on the group blog, we've started to consider the possibility of making a video about a girl being saved by Superman. Basically, she starts off in a complete state because her boyfriend dumped her, and then Superman is sent to save her from her depression... and the video would consist of lots of Superman references, film clips and some comic strip style images to set up the narrative.
... that was terribly explained, but you can read a better explanation on the group blog soooooon!

But yeah, I love this new idea. I think that it should work really well and I love the opportunities we'll get for some intertextuality. We'd sort of realised that intertextuality with female superheroes could be quite difficult, since many of the superheroines don't really have their own identities but are rather just female counterparts... if that makes sense...
My only concern about this new idea would be that it could be a bit too dark and serious. But we'll see I guess!

BLK feedback

I know you're posting mainly to the group blog at the moment Angelie, but make sure you include some running commentary on this blog about the group project, your own thoughts about the idea etc.

analysis of some music videos using the framework we've done in class would be useful too when you get the chance

'Mr Brightside' Analysis

Because it's 'Moulin Rouge' style and I adore that film... :D



[just pretend that the lyrics aren't there... ]

This video is the 2nd music video to be released for 'Mr Brightside' by The Killers. It is the US video and was directed by Sophie Muller. The music belongs to the alternative rock or 'post-punk revival' genre. This is demonstrated in the video through the use of master shots of the whole band performing together.

The lyrics are amplified through the narrative of the music video. The main narrative for the video follows that of the narrative for Baz Luhrmann's 'Moulin Rouge' - prostitute and male character fall in love, but she still has to sleep with other random men (including a slightly older man - who appears to be the main 'client', so to speak) and he gets jealous.
There is also a somewhat illustrative relationship between the visuals-lyrics. This is seen in the main vocalist's gestures when singing. For example, for the line "He's having a smoke, and she's taking a drag", he imitates smoking a cigarette. This sort of illustrative relationship is also shown in the second chorus, during the line "Choking on your alibis" when the main singer puts his hand to his neck as if choking himself.

The video is cut to the beat. The instrumental part after the second chorus is accompanied by a part of the narrative in which the main vocalist (the prostitute's secret lover) and the older client man are playing against each other at draughts. It creates a sense of anticipation which goes with the build-up (crescendo? sort of...) in the music.

There are quite a lot of close-ups of the main singer while he's performing, and also in the narrative. The main singer is presented as quite sensitive and somewhat frustrated, which is seen through the concept of the song and also some of his acting in the video.
This video is very different to the UK video for this song and also the video for 'Somebody Told Me'. Both of those videos were completely performance based and didn't have any narrative to them at all. The video is somewhat similar to those for 'When You Were Young' and 'Smile Like You Mean It', since both videos were performance and narrative/concept (respectively) based.

The main singer, and the rest of the band, aren't really on sexual display. The prostitutes/dancers are though. This is shown through the dances they do, with all the skirt lifting and such. The camerawork however, often doesn't imply sexual display as much as you might expect, since the dance sequences are often shot in long shot. There are some not-so subtle references to looking, for example when the older male character is watching the main singer and the prostitute from behind a curtain. Such references to looking were probably chosen since they illustrate the narrative very well and also link in with the themes of jealousy.

This music video has very clear Moulin Rouge references and influences. The whole narrative for the video is very similar to that of Moulin Rouge (except the way it ends is quite different). When the main singer and the prostitute are standing on a rooftop, with a very blue-y back drop, it is very reminiscent of the scene in Moulin Rouge in which Ewan McGregor's character is singing 'Your Song' to Nicole Kidman's character (as shown in the screencap on the left). The dancing prostitutes are also very similar to those in Moulin Rouge. Also, when the prostitute character is dancing with man-with-waistcoat and the main singer, some of the dance moves are in a very similar style to that in the 'El Tango de Roxanne' number from Moulin Rouge. When the prostitute character appears to pass out and fall into the main singer's arms on the roof, it could also be a reference to Nicole Kidman's character's illness in Moulin Rouge, which causes her to faint a fair bit.

The video is both performance and narrative based, and there is a lot of crossover between the two. For example, when the performance is taking place, the narrative seems to be doing so too, since the main singer seems to be glancing at his prostitute lover and her clients in the audience. The video is roughly half performance and half narrative.

'Goodnight and Go' Analysis

Since our group has decided to use a Frou Frou song for our music video, I thought it might be useful to analyse the video for an Imogen Heap song (since she's the lead singer of Frou Frou and her solo songs are the same style as her Frou Frou songs)

'Goodnight and Go', along with Imogen Heap/Frou Frou's other works, is an indie pop/ambient song. This is shown through the quirky nature of the video, which is very much linked to the 'indie' genre.

The music video somewhat contradicts the message being put across in the lyrics. The lyrics are about a girl who likes a guy and her daydreams about him. She also sort of stalks him a bit by following him home and watching him through the window. The video is more or less unrelated to these themes, since Imogen Heap is a wind-up toy who is being watched on TV. Since the visuals are more or less unrelated to the lyrics, the song seems a lot more innocent and quirky. Whereas, if the video were to illustrate the lyrics (e.g. show her watching the guy through a window), then the song wouldn't seem as light-hearted and what would once appear to be quirky, could instead seem a bit scary.

The video is cut to the beat. There isn't really an instrumental section in the song, but there are some visual representations on some of the sound effects on the track. For example, at about 2:50, there is a kind of 'boing' type noise, and this is accompanied by a jack in the box popping out of it's box, which acts to amplify that sound.

There are quite a few close-ups and some medium close-ups of Imogen Heap in this video. Her image seems to be quite quirky and different to that of some mainstream artists. This is reflected in the concept of the video. Since the main setting is a room with lots of children's toys and a dolls house, she seems to be quite innocent. However, when you look at some of those dolls and figures, they're actually quite scary looking. This suggests that maybe she's not as innocent as it would first appear. This idea is reflected in the style of the song. It's quite upbeat and has a relatively catchy tune, but when you listen to the lyrics in the verses, it's actually not as innocent as it seems. Like some of Heap's other videos (for example, 'Hide and Seek'), this video is almost all performance based.

In the video there is some reference to looking since Imogen Heap is being watched by some man on a TV. So, some of the shots (e.g. a show of Heap on the TV) have a voyeuristic quality to them. Heap is not really on sexual display at all. She is dressed as a child's wind-up toy which makes her seem more innocent. The little dances that she does during chorus are definitely not presented in a sexualised way. The style of dance is a little bit strange and seems quirky rather than sexy.

The video is mostly performance based, since most of the video takes place in one location where Imogen Heap is singing. The video is also concept based, which is shown through the location and also Imogen Heap's costume.

Elektrobank (Chemical Brothers) Analysis

Editing

• Straight cuts

Lighting

• Ambient lighting – realism

Camera Framing and Movement

• POV shot when Sofia Coppola’s character is watching other gymnast
• Long/extreme long shots – makes stunt double less recognisable
• Tracks as jumping – emphasises distance travelled
• Opponent’s reaction shots
• CU of Sofia Coppola’s character’s face after she falls – see her mouthing ‘Mum!’
• CU of her feet – creates anticipation about whether she’ll manage to continue performing

Costume

• Blue and white gymnastic costume

SFX

• Slow motion on some gymnastic moves – emphasises how impressive they are, also linked to change in pace of the music
  

NARRATIVE

• First minute sets up the narrative
• Narrative and performance based – gymnastics competition. Gymnastic performance as opposed to vocal performance

GENRE

• Techno
• Electronic dance
  
  

No lyrics

• no relationship between lyrics and visuals
• no visual hooks/ ‘money shots’ - therefore, no proper image for the band is created

Relationship between music and visuals

• Cut to the beat
• Visuals amplify the music – fast paced gymnastics during fast tempo parts of track, slow motion during slow parts of the track
  
  
• No scopophilia or sexualised display really… emphasis more on the gymnastics than the girl doing them
• Video not really used to directly promote band since they don't actually appear. The fact that they do not appear in the video suggests that people would already be familiar with their music.

'Stan' (Eminem) Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahZgsNvVA4I

Editing

• Straight cuts during introductory sequence
• Fades to and from black as scene goes between Eminem and Stan’s girlfriend – reflects changes in location
• Cross cutting between Stan writing letters and Eminem reading them – shows Eminem’s reactions
• Lots of quick fades to and from black

Lighting

• Ambient - realism
• Low lit – dark lyrics and themes of song

Colour

• Green-ish bathroom - unclean, grimy
• Green-ish tint on shots in apartment – lower class/poorer surroundings

Mise-en-scene

• Bathroom (mould and peeling paint) – grimy
• Thunder, lightning and rain – horror movie-esque, linked to dark nature of the song
• Basement (pictures of Eminem everywhere) – depicts Stan’s obsession, linked to lyrics when he says “I got a room full of your posters and your pictures, man”
• Night – linking to dark themes in the song
• Cheap looking wallpaper in kitchen of apartment – lower class

Camera Framing and Movement

• Lots of MCUs of Stan as he’s writing
• Horizontal tracks (almost in a circular type movement)
• Vertical tracks from bedroom down to basement
• BCU of Stan’s girlfriend’s face – shows concern/worry
• Frame within a frame when Stan’s in the car – voyeuristic appearance
• Shots of Stan in car mirror – emphasises emotion in eyes

Costume

• Stan (trying to look more like Eminem):
  o Bleached blonde hair
  o White vest
  o White T-Shirt
• Stan’s girlfriend:
  o Blue robe
  o Blue vest
  o Shorts/Stan’s boxers?
• Eminem:
  o White T-Shirt – same as the one Stan was wearing earlier

SFX

• Car falling into river
• Rain
• Lightning flash at the end and image of Stan appears in Eminem’s window

REPRESENTATION

• Stan:
  o Obsessive - pictures of Eminem in basement, dyes hair to look like Eminem
  o Aggressive - shouting at girlfriend
  o Mentally unstable - obsessive traits, self harming
  o Bisexual/homosexual – pregnant girlfriend but says that him and Eminem should “Be together”
• Stan’s girlfriend
  o Helpless – can’t stop Stan, gets put in the trunk of a car
  o Worried/scared – looks around Stan’s basement filled with Eminem pictures
• Eminem
  o Concerned – replies to Stan’s letters (even though they’re a bit weird and scary)

NARRATIVE

• Lyrics telling a story
• Deranged Eminem fan writing letters to Eminem – “Dear Slim”, writing sound effects
• Narrative told through 4 verses:
  1st verse – Stan’s 3rd letter to Eminem, explains how big a fan he is
  2nd verse – Stan’s letter to Eminem, he’s becoming annoyed that Eminem hasn’t replied to his letters (shown through tone of voice when rapping and also the actor in the video’s facial expressions)
  3rd verse – Stan’s voice recorded ‘letter’ to Eminem. Stan appears to have lost his mind by this point, and he’s about to drive off a bridge with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk of the car.
  4th verse – Eminem’s late reply to Stan. Apologises for taking so long to write, then suggests that Stan gets some counselling etc, realises that Stan is the person he’s just seen a news report about
• Video is narrative and performance based. The narrative is often put across through the performance.
• Pause in lyrics to show Stan’s car falling into the river – emphasises how drastic Stan’s actions are
• Illustrative relationship between lyrics and visuals

Intertextual references: (found with the help of Wikipedia)
Many references within the lyrics to other Eminem tracks. Examples include:

• “underground shit that you did with Skam” – ‘Old World Disorder’
• Stan saying he’s going to name his daughter Bonnie – reference to ‘'97 Bonnie and Clyde’
• “I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare me to drive?" - quoting ‘My Name Is’

References to Eminem’s life:

• “I never knew my father neither/He used to always cheat on my mom and beat her” [in longer version of the song] – Stan explaining similarities between himself and Eminem
• “I read about your Uncle Ronnie too, I'm sorry”
  

GENRE

• Hip hop
• Rap

AUDIENCE

• Hip hop fans
• Eminem/Dido fans
• Male (most likely)
• Teenagers/early 20s

Street teams

Street teams act as a form of below the line marketing. Street teams are groups of people who go out to promote their favourite band or artist. Street teams are seen to provide a bridge between the record companies and the fans, through the use of word-of-mouth advertising. Street teaming is especially popular for genres with a teenage/younger audience.

For teenage street teamers, promotion is often done in school. There is normally a ‘school chairman’, who is responsible for promoting their favourite band or artist in their school. They do this through the use of flyers, posters and generally talking to people about the band/artist. The school chairman would then send evidential photographs to the band’s record company. If the record company is impressed with the school chairman’s work, they may be sent free merchandise, concert tickets or they may even be given the opportunity to meet the band.

Boy bands Busted, McFly and V all had/have street teams. On their street team websites, there would be leaders who inform other street teamers of different missions. For example, Busted's street team once had the mission of trying to get Busted to the top of the public polls. Obviously, this particular mission was done quite some time ago. But even now, bands like McFly, The Kooks, Razorlight and Dirty Pretty Things have street teams. Street teaming is a good way of building up a fan base and it's also really cheap to do. Lisa Paulon (head of 'Traffic', a company who recruits and co-ordinates street teams) explained how an audience can be built up in the 2nd Guardian article below: "If those four or five people have the best time of their lives and have photos taken with the band, they go and say to their mates, 'This is the best thing that ever happened. Those mates tell more mates, who tell more mates - it's a word-of-mouth pyramid scheme. A month after the Kooks began playing smallish venues, their audience had quadrupled - and they went on to sell 1.1m copies of their debut album in the UK alone."

There has been some controversy about the so called exploitation of street teamers, but most of them claim that it's not really exploitive since they join street teams out of choice and wanting to help out their favourite band.

Resources:
Wikipedia
Guardian Article
Another Guardian article

McFly's MySpace Page

Link: http://www.myspace.com/mcfly


At the top of McFly's Myspace, there is a Video message from the band. In this video they thank their fans for buying their album and they inform their fans of the 'One For The Radio' text offer.

Underneath the video message, there's a set of links:
- Website: a link to McFly's official website
- Sign Up: link to sign up to receive updates on
McFly, their new singles, videos etc.
- Add: add McFly as a friend
- Buy: a link to Amazon.co.uk, with 'McFly' used as a search item
- Merch: a link to McFly's merchandise website (I assume, but the link's broken at the moment :S)
- Street Team: McFly's street team forum

McFly have used the Upcoming shows function to give details on all their upcoming gigs - with date, location and time details being given. This enables their fans to quickly look up upcoming tour dates and check the details for them.

McFly also have a blog section, with blogs dating as far back as February 2006. The blog posts appear to be written by various band members about a number of different subjects. Whether or not these blog posts have genuinely been written by band members is debatable, but the posts all seem to have a particular style which is unique to the different band members. So whether it's the band's managers or the real McFly writing the posts, they've done a good job to attempt to connect with the fans. Sometimes blog posts appear to be written (by the record company or something) specifically to promote an event - e.g. a HMV album signing.

In the 'About Me' section of McFly's MySpace, there are many, many videos including live at Olympic videos, an exclusive interview, free ringtone offer, The Heart Never Lies video and Umbrella video. All of these videos appear to be relatively exclusive, or at least videos that were posted on the MySpace first.
Also in the 'About Me' section, there is a slideshow of photos taken on the set of the 'Star Girl' video. These pictures also appear to be exclusive. McFly have also written something about themselves and their history in the 'About Me' section.

On the left side of their MySpace, McFly have a selection of advertising banner and flyer images. These advertise various tours and also McFly's MySpace in general. Also, underneath each advertisement is some HTML code for fans to use on their own MySpaces to advertise for the band.

McFly list their influences as Beatles, Green Day, The Killers, My Chemical Romance, The Who, Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, The Beachboys. This is an indication of McFly's genre as well as the bannds who McFly aspire to be similar to.

McFly now have their own record label: Super Records. So McFly are now effectively managing themselves. The fact that McFly actually have their own record label shows just how successful they are to have been able to do this.

Their music player has 5 tracks: 'One For The Radio', 'Umbrella live', 'The Heart Never Lies', '5 Colours in her hair' and 'Star Girl'. None of these can be downloaded through MySpace. This is an attempt to ensure that McFly's fans or other people visiting the MySpace, only download the tracks the legal way.

In the photos section, McFly have a number of photo albums: 'My Photos', 'McFly Live', 'One For the Radio video - Toronto' and 'New McFly shoot - July 2008'. A few of these albums contain images that appear to be fairly exclusive. This would appeal to McFly's fans, since they would really enjoy the privilege of being able to view such exclusive photos.

Previous years' music videos

2007 - Group 1C

I think that this music video was one of the best videos from last year for a number of reasons...

• The performance by all the actors in the video was very convincing. They looked like a real band and generally performed really well. As a result, the music video looked a lot more professional and believable


• The video was also very well shot, especially on all the tracks as the banana/gorilla are running. It was also very well edited.


• The location where the band is performing is really edgy and different, and so it looks amazing!
  
• The whole gorilla chasing a banana concept is so random and entertaining and just brilliant, really.
  

2006 - Group 2

Personally, I feel that this music video was one of the less successful ones from previous years. This is because:

• The actors aren't really that convincing... especially in the performance part in the garage. The main singer lip synchs strangely which makes it look more obvious that he's miming.
  
• The locations aren't all that great. Maybe I'd feel differently if it wasn't our school they'd shot in. But I don't know, it just made the video seem so much more obviously student-made.
  

So based on this, I've learnt that...

• Shooting in Central London can look SO effective and wonderful
• Shooting in school doesn't look so good
• It's essential to have convincing actors
• Sometimes random concepts are the best (and most entertaining) kind... though there can be a lot of room for the idea to fall flat.

BLK feedback

super work so far angelie, great ideas!

love your background too but you seem to have lost some navigational ability - can you sort it??

Marketing Strategies Evaluation

1) What did you miss out?

• Album signings in HMV
• 'Featured Artist' section on MySpace
• Potential event promotion through Facebook events
• Local advertising - e.g. the local newspaper, radio station etc.
• The possibilities for handing out flyers advertising gigs, new CDs etc.

2) What have you learnt?

• Although looking for USPs can be important for some products, with band and artists, this is often not vital.
• When creating a marketing mix, it is important to consider your competition and the timing of a band/artist's first appearance in the music industry
• Appealing to different audiences is important - so if manufacturing a band, it can be a good idea to have members who represent different audiences
• Making and selling merchandise can be a lot simpler than it seems
• Cheaper marketing strategies are also vital when creating the marketing mix - you don't always have to think about strategies that work on a national scale.
• When marketing a band/artist sometimes the conventions can be broken. For example, cover art on albums and singles doesn't necessarily have to be directly related to the content of the CD. But if breaking conventions, it definitely needs to be striking enough to attract interest.

Track ideas

You and Me - Lee Mead
A basic idea for this would be for a music video about the relationship between two people. So most likely, something about a guy and girl who are friends, and the guy's secretly in love with this girl, but he can't really tell her how he feels. You know, the usual romantic-comedy stuff. I'm not sure this song is allowed though... it's a cover version but the original version did have a music video recently (though I've not actually watched it all the way through). But, I adore this song.

So Close - Jon McLaughlin
Since this song is all about happy endings and came from a Disney film, it would work very well with a fairy tale themed music video. So probably something to do with princes and princesses and castles. But obviously, we don't really have any castles at our disposal, so that part would be tricky... and a princes/princesses could end up being a bit cheesy and silly. However, this song is probably a bit too slow... which means it doesn't really lend itself to a fast paced, exciting music video... I do love it lots though.

Holding Out For A Hero - Jennifer Saunders
This is the version that featured in Shrek 2. It's shorter than the Bonnie Tyler version, and Jennifer Saunders voice is a bit less raspy than Bonnie Tyler's, I think. The idea for this would be the same superhero idea that I blogged earlier.

Possible idea

The other day I watched this short film about a superhero by the name of 'Crabman'. It was the most ridiculous but hilarious thing I've seen in a while.

(<--- This is Crabman. He's not a very good superhero.)

So, I was walking home, thinking about Crabman (as you do) and then starting thinking about how it might be fun to have superheroes in our music video. And that, is where my idea came from...

The basic gist of it, is that there are 3 superheroes who are all fighting over this one girl. So they all take her out on dates around various places in central London, and there's lots of stealing her away when the other superhero isn't looking and all that. At first, this girl seems to be enjoying herself but as time goes on, she grows to become a bit sick of the attention. So in the end, she goes off with a girl superhero (superheroine?? :S) and leaves the superheroes completely baffled about what's just happened.


As for the track to go with this... well, the only one that came to mind at first was 'Holding Out For A Hero' by Bonnie Tyler. But, I'm not really sure I'm keen on that song, and Bonnie Tyler's voice kind of annoys me. So... maybe a cover of that? Alternatively, there's this other song called 'Hero' by some Eurodance band/artist (I'm not quite sure which) called Papaya. The song would fit quite well, but it's quite an annoying song, and I get the impression that after working with it for too long, it would drive us all mad. Or maybe we could use some other song to do with heroes, I don't mind really!

Album Covers Research

Part A

1) Christina Aguilera - Christina Aguilera




2) Backstreet Boys - Backstreet Boys


3) Justified - Justin Timberlake



4) In Through The Out Door - Led Zeppelin



5) Because of You - Ne-Yo



6) Little Ol' Cowgirl - Dixie Chicks



7) Serenade - Katherine Jenkins

8) This is Alphabeat - Alphabeat

9) Lee Mead - Lee Mead

10) Myths Of The Near Future - Klaxons

Typical features

• Artist/band name
  All of the album covers except for the 'In Through The Out Door' cover have the name of the artist/band on the cover. But, there are also some versions of 'In Through The Out Door' cover which do have Led Zeppelin written on the front
  
• Album name
  The Lee Mead, Christina Aguilera and Led Zeppelin albums are the only ones which do not specifically have the album name on the cover. For the Lee Mead and Christina Aguilera covers, the reason behind the lack of album name is that the albums are self-titled. So instead of putting their names twice on the album cover (like on the Backstreet Boys cover), they just put the names once. The Led Zeppelin cover just has no text on it whatsoever, and relies on fans being familiar enough with the band to recognise what the album looks like.
  
  
• Main image
  All of the album covers except for the Alphabeat and the Klaxons covers have a central image. Instead, the Alphabeat cover has a word-search like set of letters, and the Klaxons cover has a collage of different images.
  
• Colour scheme
  All of the album covers except the Alphabeat and the Klaxons covers have a specific colour scheme.

Ways of categorising the covers

• Albums with the band/artist as the main image
  The Lee Mead, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo, Katherine Jenkins and Backstreet Boys albums all use a picture of the band/artist as the main image for the album cover.
  
  
• Albums with other imagery
  The Led Zeppelin cover has an image of what appears to be a bar scene, the Dixie Chicks album has a picture of a young girl dressed as a cowgirl and the Klaxons album has a collage of different images.
  
  
• Self-titled albums
  The Lee Mead, Christina Aguilera and Backstreet Boys albums are all self titled.
  
• Albums where the text is predominant
  The Alphabeat album is the only one where text is really predominant. But it could also be argued that the text on the Alphabeat is really imagery... On the Lee Mead album though, the text is relatively large.
  
• Albums where the image(s) /are predominant
  On all of the albums except the Alphabeat (unless you consider the text to really be imagery) the image(s) is/are predominant.

Album cover functions

• Attract attention
  
• Represent the band/artist
  
• Be recognisable to fans of the genre and/or band/artist
  
• Sell the album


• Advertise the album

Part B

Klaxons album (Myths of the Near Future)

Images

• Front cover - Collage of images:

1. Multicoloured crossword with 'Myths of the Near Future' spelt out in some of the squares



2. 3 different eyes



3. Yellow hands



4. Mountain & sky



5. Lips



6. Random 'cuttings' of different colours/patterns



7. Waterfall/sea



8. Window of a building - flower shape with 'Klaxons' in one petal shape, and other images (another building and some kind of electronic device thing) in two other petals.

• Back cover - outer space image
  


• Back of inside sleeve - another collage of images

Collage of seemingly random images linked to style of music - lots of different techniques used in their songs.
Colours linked to 'Nu Rave' genre of music.
Collage maybe also linked to album title.... near future - unfamiliar? - collage of familiar images used to create something unfamiliar and a bit weird. [anchorage]

Text

• Handwriting style (actually seems to be handwritten in the inside cover)
• All upper case letters - more masculine looking handwriting?
• Small on front cover - band and album names not really used to attract attention
• Fairly large on back cover for track listing - stands out and is the most important thing on the back cover
• Track listing in inside sleeve also relatively large
• Small text for lyrics
• Gold text on back cover and in inside sleeve to stand out against the black background
  

Functions of the front, back and inside sleeve
The front cover is used to attract attention and try and sell the album to potential audience members.
The back cover is used to give a track listing for the album and also give institutional information about the CD (such as copyright, record company and where the CD was made)
The inside sleeve is used to give the audience a set of lyrics for all the songs on the album. Also, the inside sleeve is where the band issues thank yous to their friends, family, colleagues etc.


Iconography

• Nu Rave/Psychedelic genre- reflected in the imagery and colours used on the front cover
• Logo: triangle (pyramid maybe?), eye, lots of lines. - exclusive to the bamd
• Diagonal line through the O's in the band name and title - signifier of the band?
  
  

Institutional context

• Polydor Records - quite mainstream. But not a particularly mainstream style of music. Niche genre produced by a mainstream/important record company.
• Not really mainstream genre - unconventional cover (style of imagery on front cover), inside sleeve (half way through the booklet, the text turns upside down)
• First album - not really reflected in cover since the text is relatively small, which would normally suggest that the imagery is of more importance. However, the imagery used doesn't really gives much information about the band itself.

Potential/Target Audience

• Quite niche but the band had mainstream succes... so maybe somewhere in between?
• Some familiarity with band to recognise cover even though the text is small
• Either gender
• Teenagers, students and maybe people in their early 20s