Album Artwork

Album Artwork is a key indication to what genre the music is from. Album Artwork normally follows elements of the style of music videos from the album so that people recognise the work of the artist. Also any other merchandise from that artist will be designed in a similar style, like a magazine advert for example. 

My chosen song is from the artist Ellie Goulding. She works in the genre of pop. I used the search engine Google and typed in the phrase 'Pop Albums' to see what the general conventions are of a pop album cover. Below shows some examples from both Male and Female artists ....





  



































As a general rule Pop album covers are normally close up photographs of the artist with their name on it and the name of the album. This is normally as the artist is easily recognisable and to promote them more as an artist. Colour schemes of the album covers are normally dependant on the sex of the artist and the style of their music. For example Adele's album cover for '21' shown above uses dark colours and she looks unhappy in her photograph. She also doesn't make eye contact with the camera which is quite signifiant to add to the sombre mood of the album cover. This fits well to her style of music as she writes emotional ballads about her negative experiences within love.


However Rihanna's 'Loud' album shown in the top right hand cover of my set of album covers above is the opposite of this. Rihanna writes up beat, dance music that is fun so this is reflected in her album cover with its bright, vibrant colours and    connotations of love and affection are created with the use of red colours. 

Ellie Goulding follows this pattern of photographs of herself as the main image on her past album covers, below shows some examples of this.

For my chosen song, Ellie's cover of the Elton John original 'Your Song' there is already an album cover present. Below shows the front and back cover of this album. 

When I come to making my own album cover for this song I am going to keep with the idea of having a photograph of the profile of the artist as the main image. This is because it is a very well used convention in the majority of female pop artists album covers as show in other album covers at the top of this post. I am going to change it slightly however by using a photography studio to photograph my artist on a plain background rather than one with Autumn colours like in Ellie Goulding's album,

The use of lights/spots in this album cover is successful as it adds to the dreamy, wonderland feel of the song. I don't want to copy this so I am going to experiment with other sources of light like candles or fairy lights  possibly to create a similar effect. 

Filming Experimentation

To make a start with preparations for my music video I decided to do some more practise filming to try out some techniques. Above shows my results.

 

For my real music video I thought about doing something relating to time and going back in time to see someone at a younger age. So, for my experimentation I filmed a clip of a friend walking backwards and throwing a water bottle on the floor and two other people walking backwards past her. I then put this into Final Cut Pro and used a reversing tool to make the clip go in the opposite direction. I think this technique worked really well, it gives a surreal effect and you can’t tell automatically when it starts that it is in reverse, this is one of the things I like about it. For next time though I just need to remember that if I record anyone speaking this will also be in reverse on the video so obviously you won’t be able to understand what they are saying.

 

For the second part of the video I used the same technique. The people in the video walked backwards and then I reversed the clip. I like the way everyone is walking at different speeds. The video has a strange surreal look too it which I think could really successful with the right location and props in a music video. When storyboarding and planning my ideas more exactly I think I will defiantly include this editing technique.

Video Conventions- Experimentation

Above shows a video filming task I did. This was to test out different conventions of a pop music video. It is for the Katy Perry song 'Hot N Cold.' The video doesn't include the music because it was just to focus on practising the different filming techniques that are normally used in a pop music video.

Pop videos normally include lots of close up shots of the performers face. To put the focus of the video on them as an artist and to promote their work further. Like I did in my video shown in the screen shot to the right.

Another common thing seen in a pop video is for the artist and/or dancers to act in a provocative way. This is normally done by doing close up shots of sexual areas of their body. For example things or bum on a woman. This encourages the viewer to look at the artist in a provocative way. Another way this can be done is by the artist performing to the camera in a sexual way through dance and actions. I did this in my video by getting the artist to sit in a provocative way and stroke her leg, this is shown in the screen shot above.

Another convention that I used heavily in my video is the element of a performance. Pop videos most of the time are mainly performance based focusing on the artist and then momentarily on their backing dancers. Camera angles are focused most of the time on the artist to remind the viewer who is the artist and to promote them. Above shows a screen shot of my video where I focus the camera on my artist.


Locations are key in a pop music video. They reflect the theme of the song and sometimes the lyrics of the song. In the screen shot to the left it shows part of the video where I included people from around the college. I asked them to look shocked when they saw my actor (Katy Perry) to show what a big star she is.

Firth/Karlsson

Music videos can be characterised by 3 very broad typologies, written by 'Firth' in 1988. These typologies like I said are quite broad and don't apply to all music videos.

The first of these would be a 'Performance' based video. These videos are mainly to convey a sense of an in-concert experience. Being all performance based encourages the viewers that the music is the most important element to the video.

A performance based video is normally from the Pop genre, setting out to promote it's artist. For example Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Usher, etc.

Above shows the link to a Nicki Minaj video called 'Super Bass' this is a classic example of a performance based video. It doesn't have a story line, it is mainly built up from shots of different locations where Nicki Minaj along with her backing dancers and other characters perform. There are lots of costume changes, bright colours and things to look at.. like a concert or a show you might go to watch.


The next type of music video you may see is a 'Narrative.' This is a video that holds some kind of story for you to follow. The story will normally be a love story of some kind, these are normally the most common as that is what most songs are actually about.

'Action is the story and is dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen' - Shcwichtenberg 1992.

These videos are most commonly produced by female artists who are either criticising love and expressing their hate towards males or telling their own love story. The most well known artist for always producing narrative videos in my opinion is American star Taylor Swift.

 

Above shows an example of one of Taylor Swifts music videos 'Love story.' It tells a mainly positive love story, the lyrics of the song also sometimes coincide with the actions in the video.

 

However another view taken is from Steve Archer in 2004. He said that often music videos will be cut between both a narrative and a performance based video. Also additionally a choreographed dance routine may also be included in the artists performance time. Sometimes the artist will also take two roles, acting as a narrator to the story and then again being a participant in the video at the same time.

 

The video to the right called 'Troublemaker' by Olly Murs feat Flo Rida is a good example of a performance video and a narrative video. It tells the story of Olly's relationship with the girl and he is also the narrative and performing through out most of the video.

 

 

The final type of video is a 'Conceptual' this is the least common of the 3 I would say. It uses metaphors to create a mood and the video seems to offer multiple meanings. The videos can be seen to be quite strange and sometimes even abstract. Sometimes they don't even include and people in the video but can just be a mash of bright colours and shapes. This style would be more common with your Drum and Bass/ House music (the ones without song lyrics but just a beat.)

 

To the right shows an example of a music video that fits the 'Conceptual' bill. It is called 'Somebody that I used to know' and it is by 'Gotye'. It could be seen as slightly performance based as the artists are actually in the video but it is very strange and abstract with it's earthy colours and triangular shapes.

 

 

 

According also to Firth and Karlsson artist's themselves are categorised into three different types of performer.

 

Firstly, there is a 'Commercial Exhibitionist,' an artist who is very famous and well known. They make mainly performance based videos to show off who they are and their talents. Also to promote themselves as an artist. The music genre that this will normally apply to is pop. The artists are normally very good looking, perfected people only. Their music is normally in most cases written for them by somebody else and they just take part in the performing. An example of this would be Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce.

 

 

 

Secondly there is an 'Electronic Shanan' artist. This is an artist or band that create video without a narrative storyline or performance. The video will just consist of visuals, bright colours, patterns, sound waves etc but no people. This style of video is best suited to music that sometimes doesn't have song lyrics or drum and bass/ dubstep music because they have a lack of storyline to the song so there is less to create visuals on. Music like this seems to be mainly written by the artist themselves but sometimes it can be written by another professional. An example of artists that this theory can relate to is Skrillex, DJ Fresh and Raw Theory.

 

Finally the last style of artist is a 'Televised Bord,' this is an artist who isn't necessarily the most glamorous, rich and visually appealing person but 99% of the time writes their own music and is very passionate. They probably had to work very hard to get into the music business and it wasn't all just handed to them on a plate. This type of aritst normally relates to singer songwriters in the indie and accoustic music genre. For example Ed Sheeran, Newton Faulkner, Damien Rice etc.

Michel Maffesoli's theory

Michel Maffesoli is a French Sociologist who discovered the theory about 'Urban Tribes.' According to Maffesoli urban tribes are micro groups of people who share common interests in urban areas. These small groups of people tend to have similar views on the world, dress sense and behaviour patterns. They also share a common interest in urban areas. 

An example of a urban tribe would be the 'Punks.' Shown below, famous for their bright mow hawk hair styles, extravagant make up styles and leather clothes. They all seem to share similar ideas about music taste, listening to rock and punk music together. Drugs, drinking and sex can also be seen as an important part of their life styles.

Myself i think i would belong to the 'Rahs' tribe. Males and Females who follow high street fashion within shops like Topshop/Topman and New Look. Sometimes they follow more expensive clothing lines such as Jack Wills. People from this Urban tribe are normally from a more Upper Class background although this has probably been downplayed since birth. This group is very apparent within society and people who follow this tribe are either loved or loathed by people outside of the group.



Different groups with consume music in their own way. For the 'Rahs' we consume music by listening to the radio while doing our make up in the morning. Through our Iphones while on the move and maybe using music channels on TV in the evenings. Music is quite key and an interest but isn't necessary. It is more apparent on weekend nights when socialising and partying is involved.




Different music genres are linked to Urban Tribes and this is normally recognised within society. For example the 'Chavs' - Council house and violent are known for wearing tracksuits, fake Burberry and consuming lots of alcohol. They would listen to rap/grime music. You will normally see them consuming this media by playing the music out loud on their mobile phones or loud while driving around in their cars. An example of a song a 'Chav' might listen to is shown above. It is called 'Who's Dat,' and it is sung by DJ Cameo and Paperbwoy feat The Grime Wave. The artist's in the video represent the same Urban Tribe by wearing tracksuits and heavy chains.

An example of another Urban Tribe is the Metal Heads. Similar to Punks but a lot darker and more Gothic influence. They are known for dressing mainly in black leather and Doc Martin boots and wearing lots of silver metal on their bodies and clothes.They would listen to heavy metal rock bands like Slipknot or My Chemical Romance.Consuming their favourite music would probably be through using their headphones and Ipod or at a Rock or Metal Concert. To the right shows a video from the Heavy Rock band 'Slipknot' called 'Psychosocial,' the video reflects the Urban Tribe well as the video is very dark and gothic. The costumes and fire in the background add an element of danger and fear as they are quite creepy to look at. The singers also scream some parts of the song in a husky scary voice which adds to the effect.

Frame by Frame

Before doing my full music video I did a preliminary task to gain a bit more experience in filming a music video and editing it. Above shows the finished edit of Miley Cyrus's song '7 Things.' 

What went well ?

-All of the props and costumes we needed to copy from the original video were things we already had from home.
-The background of the video (grey screen) was easy to find, we used a photography studio we found in our college.
-From an editing point of view the continuity is quite sharp, the clips all seem to run smoothly one after the other to give it a professional look.
-In the original video it was all shot in the same location, so we managed to do all our filming quite quickly in the same place.
-I think the soft lighting works well as it doesn't look too harsh and is more airbrushed and clean like how the lighting in a music video looks.

What would I improve for next time?

-The lip syncing is a little bit off time in some parts of my video. To improve this next time I think it would have been better to actually sing the part of the song and then mute the clip in editing to make sure the movements of the mouth are in time and they look more realistic.
-Include either clips from the original video of the band playing or film my own so that it is even more like the original video and gives the audience something else to look at.

 
 
Below shows screen shots comparing the original Miley Cyrus video and my re-make.

The lighting used in the Miley Cyrus video is quite simple, it looks like it was filmed in a studio with soft lighting to highlight areas of people's faces. The lighting is quite flattering and plain. As you can see in the screen shots below we tried to copy this grey background with soft lighting in our studio. It did work well but I think we should have used more soft lighting around the face of the person singing to highlight their face and almost airbrush it, like in the Miley Cyrus video.


We also tried using similar props to the original video to match the look in the Miley Cyrus one. This include a rose, teddies, a mobile phone and a snow globe.

 

Narrative Theory

Todorov, the Bulgarian Philosopher developed his own ideas about Narrative structures of media texts. He came up with a theory which was the norm to him and what he believed to be correct. We can apply this to music videos.

His theory starts off with an Equilibrium- this is where everything is normal and as it should be. There is then a disruption to the Equilibrium- this upsets the normal balance of life. Then something effects the hero- this is the recognition of the disruption. There is then an attempt to repair the disruption and the hero continues on with his quest. Equilibrium is then restored, not exactly the way it was before but the hero defeats the villain.  

An example of a music video that agrees with this theory is from the band Blur for their song Coffee and TV.

Click here to watch the full music video.

The Narrative begins with the family being happy and all together this is the Equilibrium. However then the Son goes missing, this is a disruption to their normal equilibrium and upsets the family. Pictures are posted on milk cartons to help to track him down. As shown in the screen shot above.

The milk carton then tries to cheer the family up with his dancing as he sees how upset they are. This is where the milk carton or the 'Hero' recognises something is wrong with the families equilibrium. He becomes upset because he sees how upset they are so he goes off on his mission to find the missing person.

The milk carton then attempts to repair the disruption, he goes on a quest to find the missing man. He speaks to different people- shown in the screen shots to the right to see if they have any information for him to help find the missing man.

The milk carton then discovers the missing man playing in a band. He brings him back to his family and they are over joyed. 

This is the part where the
Equilibrium is restored. However it isn't exactly as it was before because the milk carton then dies.




An example of a music video that disagrees with Todorov's theory is Coldplay's song 'The Scientist.' It tells the story of a couple that are in a car crash. However it goes back in time. Chris Martin, the lead singer walks backwards through out the whole video. Back in time until he reaches just before the crash happened. It doesn't go in chronological order like Todorov's theory states is correct.

Other Narrative features that music videos use could be:
Multi-stranded... where different of different narratives are woven together.
Fragmented... where different parts of narratives that may not be woven together are put in any order.
Flashbacks... a part of the narrative that portrays something that has happened in the past.