Research Analysis Task 1 - Magazine Advert

Here is an album advert for Jessie J's album 'Who You Are'. The reason I have chosen to analyse this magazine advert is because Robbie Williams didn't have one. This advert doesn't specify that it is advertising Jessie J's digipak, however, it is advertising her album.

I also chose to analyse this poster because it has a bit more to it, in terms of colour, text and images.

The large image that takes up three quarters of the page shows the audience exactly who it is promoting as well as catching the audiences eye as it is very large and bold.

The 'Jessie J' text written in gold suggest that the album is is good, as gold represents something good and expensive. The colour and size of the text is also attention grabbing and easy to see.

The bottom quarter of the poster is the section that is a little bit more boring as it in just jet black with little bits of text on with the name of the album. There isn't much that can be done on this section in order to make it eye catching as if anything changed, it wouldn't look right, nor would it be clear as to what the text is as the patterns or other images would crowd over and take the attention off the big, bold picture which is suppose to be seen.

On this magazine advert, there is no date telling us when the album is being released.  This could be because is is an advert that has been released after the album is already out, however, I would still have put a date on it so people knew when it came out or when it comes out depending on when the advert was released.

Th image itself is a close up shot as it shows her full face and slightly shows the top half of her shoulders. This is a good shot to use as it means everything is focused on her, not the outfit or anything else.
The colouring has a theme throughout which is black which the hint of white which suggests that the artist is trying to put out a specific image which also links to the songs that are on her album.
The artist doesn't have a specific 'facial expression', like smiling or laughing. This artist has chosen to have her mouth open, suggesting that she wants to draw peoples attention to her face and maybe lips, which could have something to do with the colour of her lips.
We cannot see what the artists full costume is due to the shot that is given, however, we can see that she is dressed in black with a lace style costume on the top half of her body, We can also see that she has silver jewellery on which again, matches the black and white colour scheme. Lastly, we can see that her makeup is neutral and black, like the nails have been painted black, her lips are black and her eyes show a light black colouring around them.

Magazine ads are adverts that are out into a magazine to promote an artist and their new songs or album. They are used as another way of promoting, like adverts. Magazine ads are used as they are a good way of catching someones attention, for example, if you are reading a magazine, you go through all the pages, even if your flicking through, you would still notice it, however, a TV advert is a little bit different, you could take your eyes of the screen or switch channel to avoid adverts.
Magazine ads work for artists or bands as they are a large scale promotion technique that is big and bold and catches peoples attention. They market the artist by usually, displaying a large image of them on the advert, whether it covers the whole page or half a page, they are big enough for anyone to see and draw them to it to read whatever other information is on the page.

Research Analysis Task 1 - Digipak

 Above is a Prezi online presentation showing my analysis of a digipak. This digipak is from the same artist as I analysed the music video from.

Research Analysis Task 1 - Music Video

Above is my analysis on the Music Video Angels, by Robbie Williams. I chose to analyse this music video as I had a digipak for the the artist and this song was on the digipak and I like the artist so thought it would be a good idea to analyse it. I also like the black and white concept which I am looking at doing for my own music video.

Director Research Task

David Fincher

David Fincher directed Justin Timberlake's music video 'Suit & Tie'. I like how Fincher has directed this video in black and white. The black and white video makes it seem 'posh'. I also like the creativeness of the video, like how it starts in one place and follows as a journey to a stage of some kind and then to Justin himself playing the piano.

There are certain styles withing the video that I find are impressive and look good. I like how the editing starts of quite slow an then gets faster as the song becomes faster. I also like how when Justin is on the stage, the camera work changes from behind and then to the front and so on. The lighting looks good so when the camera is behind the artist, we can still see he is the artist and main focus of the video. This gives off a good affect to the audience.

The black and white video is a good way of making a video in my view as I think it gives a different image to what normal videos give off. The black and white is different from most music videos out there and it doesn't follow what other videos tend to have, like the girl and romance throughout it.

When I make my music video, I will be looking at what Fincher has done with his camera movements and camera angles as there are a variety in this specific video which are good that I could probably use too.

Jake Nava

Jake Nave is a British film and music video director who directed Beyonce's song, 'If I Were A Boy'. I like the way Nava has directed this video in a number of ways, ranging from the colour, lighting and background story.

I like how Nava had directed the video in black and white as I believe it makes the video and story powerful. I like how he displays Beyonce as the 'man' and the man as the 'women', as in the terms, a women can do exactly what a man can do.
Nava shows this video as a women being independent and strong and doing things, like a job that is typically looked at as a mans job.

I also like the camera shots that Nava has used throughout this video, such as the extreme close ups of the both faces. The extreme close ups show the audience the facial expressions and emotions of both the characters in the video which makes us feel connected.

 The editing matches the timing of the song and fits perfectly with every camera shot that is used.

Overall, I like how this video is presented and I like the background story of what Beyonce is trying to tell. When I come to make my music video, I will go back to this and see how everything fits together and how I can get my music video to be like this is the concept of background story and the power that comes from it.

Defining Audiences

At this current time, I haven't got a set idea of what Music Video I would like to create, however, I know that I want to have a target audience of the young, around the ages of 13-18 as this is an age gap I can do multiple things with.

 I would also like to aim my music video to those of the ABC1 which stands for the Upper Middle Class, Middle Class and the Lower Middle Class. The reason as to why I would like this target audience as I think it gives a range of things to what I can do.

Main-streamers are another audience I would like to aim my music video to as they make up 40% of the population who like security and belonging to a group. This audience is a very wide range and will allow me to have a large audience to aim at.

Within the Values, Attitudes and Lifestyle, I would like to aim my music video towards those who are Principle-orientated as they are guided by choice with an abstract idea rather than feelings or by approval from others. The Principle-orientated audience don't mind what the opinions from others are.

I would also like to aim my video at Fulfilleds who are people who mature, comfortable and reflective people. The next group I would like to aim the video at are Actualisers, which are people who are successful with what they do, sophisticated and active. These people have high self-esteem and seek to explore, develop and grow.

Analysis - Steve Archer

Steve Archer is a theorist who talked about 'Music Television 2 - How To Study'.

Archer said that there are five points to judge a music video and to tell whether is is good and works for the target audience or not.

The first point is: Thought Provoking Music. Thought provoking music is about closing your eyes and listening to the music and thinking about what you can hear and what images come into your head as you listen to it.

Archers second point was: Narrative and Performance. He says that songs rarely tell complete narratives and that we are used to studying them with other visual texts. Usually, if we detect a story in a music video, we suspect some sort of drama is going to unfold.

The third point is: Star Image. Archer says that only 1 in 10 acts that are put out by the music industry actually make any money. He says that Image is important as image makes money. Without a good image, artists or bands can struggle to make money as people aren't interested, even if their music is good.

Arches fourth point is: Three ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song. We can identify three ways in which music videos work to support or promote a song. These are Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture. These help generalise the effect of individual music videos.

Archers last point was: Technical Aspect of music videos. This is about analyising the video through camerawork, camera movements, camera angles, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. Camerawork allows us to see how professional and well constructed a video is. The camera movements and angles also help us see how well constructed the video is. Mise-en-scene allows us to see what the video is about and how well it works with location, lighting, props and costumes. Editing allows us to see how well the edits have been put together and whether they match or not and the sound allows us to see how thew lip synching matched the track.

Analysis - Peter Fraser

In the second half of today's lesson, we split into groups each read an article on either Peter Fraser and Steve Archer. We then summarised the articles.

Peter Fraser - Codes and Conventions
Camerawork
Fraser said that when music videos are made, close ups and extreme close ups are good to use as they focus and create a good image.
He also mentioned that lighting is important and it is best to have a good amount of light on the artist or band themselves otherwise they are camouflaged in with other extras and it doesn't bring the attention to them.
Fraser's last point was that camera work is really important when it comes to making a music video and says that the camera shots and angles make the video.

Editing
Edit's have to match the actions of the artist. For example, if the song is slightly on the slower side, the editing has to be slow and if the song is faster or builds up then the editing has to be faster otherwise nothing matches. Editing has to change with the artist or band and the actions that they do.

Star Image
Fraser said that in order to be in a music video, you have to look the part. Without the 'looks', some artists or bands struggle, as now, a lot of the music industry is based around how people look.
He says that looks make the videos look better and makes people want to watch the videos which means that it is more likely to spread and gain more views.

Voyeurism 
Voyeurism is about the level of performance that is given in videos. Performance in music videos make them interesting to a certain group of people. For example, Beyonce has a certain target audience within her 'performance' area. Boyonce put on a performance mostly aimed at men, whereas others put on a performance for women. Fraser said that performance in a video makes everything.

Intertextuality 
Fraser said that Intertextuality is about having references from other media areas such as films. Sometimes, in music videos there are certain moves or animation that has come from somewhere else, this is intertexuality. The reason as to why this sometimes happens is because it is aimed at a certain audience and other media references can sometimes help to build an audience.

Narrative and Performance 
Fraser said that Narrative is about a story. Having a video that tells a 'story' can make it interesting, however, he does not specifically mean tell a story the whole way through the video, in Fraser's context, he means, have something that tells a story without being boring.
He also says that performance is the most important thing when it comes to making a music video as without performance, the video can be very boring and people won't want to watch it.
Stage performance is something that Fraser mentions when it comes to standing in front of a camera and creating a music video.
Shot value is also important in the narrative and performance area as that alone, can make a performance. Narrative and Performance is all about the repeatability factor.

Media - Analysing Music videos

In the beginning of today's lesson we started of with listing things we would look at when analysing a music video.

Here is what we came up with:

• Technical codes
• camera work
• Mise-en-scene
• Locations
• Lighting
• Representations
• Sound
• Editing
• Relationships/Lyrics

Location, Representation and Sound is all about the theory side.

Analysis (Adorno, Hebdige, Negus and Dyer)

In today's lesson, we split into pairs and read through some information on several music articles.

Adorno
Adorno said that the Music Industry was controlled by Capitalists and that all the Music Industry was about was making money and more money.
He argues that Capitalists "fed people with the products of a 'culture industry', the opposite of 'true' art, to keep them passively satisfied and politically apathetic".
Adorno says that people are controlled by the media as to what they watch and don't watch. He also says that the music industry is very much the same, with songs and videos. Adorno says people are brainwashed with media.

Hebdige 
Hebdige was completely against Adorno in everything he said. Hebdige doesn't believe in Capitalists and says that what Capitalists do is wrong. He also says that the media doesn't control the public as to what they watch and that we are free to chose.
Hebdige says that people aren't brainwashed and that we have a voice to express our own opinions.


Negus
Negus says there are two creative ideologies, which are Organic and Synthetic. He says that the Organic ideology of creativity has a more natural approach to artists, they say that the the success is within the artist themselves. They also say that artist is given time to progress through their career rather than being pushed to be something they are not. An example of an Organic ideology are the Arctic Monkeys.
The Synthetic ideology of creativity is attempting to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs at their disposal. As part of the Synthetic ideology, the artist is usually constructed by the record company and the artist will be given a short amount of time to prove that they can be successful.The Synthetic ideology of creativity is usually aimed at a younger audience and a less sophisticated audience.

Dyer
Dyer is all about the image of the artist or band. He says that " A star is an image, not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials such as advertising, magazines and films etc.
Artists rely on thing such as advertisements to construct their image and gain an audience.
Dyer days that artists or bands have to have a good image in order to make a music video, without a good image, it will be hard to create a video that can spread as people won't be interested in it.

Summery
We can see that each one of the theorists have their own ideas as to what makes a good artist/band, what the image should be like and what the media is like with music. Adorno and Hebdige both argue about the media but with differnt opinions on whether they influence our music choices or whether us, as an individual makes the music choices.
Negus tells us about independent labels and major labels. He tells us how each one works with the artist. 
Dyer talks all about the image. He says image is important and you cannot be an artist or a band without the right image for an audience.

Shot Count Analysis

Track: Forever Love                                  Artist: Danna Richards and Avia Butler     

                          

 Director: Shay Butler (Maker Studios, now owned by Disney)  Release Date: 21st June 2014

                  

Length of video: 3 minutes, 56 seconds

Number of shots in entire video: 69

Average length of shot: 3 seconds

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Number of shots in 30 second segment: 12

Within the 30 second segment there are:

Number of CU: 2

Number of ECU: 1

Number of LS: 4

Number of MS: 5

Number of panning shots: 3

Number of tilts: 2

Other shots: 3

Shot number	Shot type	Shot length	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Zoom in	7 seconds	Long shot to close up.	Straight cut
2	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Focused close up on hands.	Straight cut
3	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Side close up view of hands.	Straight cut - tilt up
4	Tilt up - medium close up.	8 seconds	Still close up of two artists	Fade out
5	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up on hand on keyboard.	Straight cut
6	Side close up	2 seconds	Side view of artists lip synching.	Straight cut
7	Close up	2 seconds	Full front shot of both artists.	Straight cut
8	Angled shot	3 seconds	Shot from the side and below slightly.	Fade out
9	Long shot	4 seconds	Long shot of two adults dancing.	Fade out
10	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up showing hands moving on keyboard.	Straight cut
11	Long shot	4 seconds	Full length body shot of both artists.	Straight cut
12	Close up	2 seconds	Close up of only one artist. (younger)	Straight cut
13	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up of foot on keyboard.	Straight cut
14	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Shot showing hand movements on keyboard.	Straight cut
15	Other shot	3 seconds	Pan up and down from one artist to the other.	Fade out
16	Above close up	1 second	Above shot of hands.	Straight cut
17	Close up	3 seconds	Close up of younger artists face.	Straight cut
18	Side close up	3 seconds	Camera stars moving down from side view shot.	Fade out
19	Tilt close up	3 seconds	Tilt up of older artist.	Straight cut
20	Close up	4 seconds	Close up of both artists.	Straight cut
21	Close up	2 seconds	Close up of both sets of hands.	Straight cut
22	Close up	2 seconds	Close up of parents dancing - focused on face expressions.	Straight cut
23	Tilt up - close up	3 seconds	Tilt up of younger artist.	Straight cut
24	Extreme close up to close up	4 seconds	Focused on hand movements again.	Straight cut
25	Medium shot	5 seconds	Medium shot of mother and daughter dancing.	Straight cut
26	Close up	2 seconds	Close up of both artists.	Fade out
27	Close up	3 seconds	Close up of mother, daughter and father together.	Fade out
28	Close up	3 seconds	Showing both artists lip synching together.	Straight cut
29	Pan close up shot	5 seconds	Panning from right to left or both artists.	Fade out
30	Tilt down - close up	4 seconds	Tilting downwards but close up of artists.	Straight cut
31	Close up	4 seconds	Close up to see lip synching and facial expressions.	Straight cut
32	Medium shot	4 seconds	Medium shot of loving moment between mother and daughter.	Straight cut
33	Long shot	4 seconds	Long shot of father and daughter getting ready to dance.	Fade out
34	Long shot	3 seconds	Long shot showing father and daughter dancing - loving moment.	Straight cut
35	Close up	2 seconds	Close up of parents dancing together.	Straight cut
36	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up focused on hand movements again.	Straight cut
37	Long shot	2 seconds	Long full body shot showing both artists singing.	Straight cut
38	Tilt downwards - close up	4 seconds	Tilting down on both artists from above.	Fade out
39	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up showing connecting hands.	Fade out
40	Close up	4 seconds	Close up of top half of body of both artist.	Straight cut
41	Medium shot	3 seconds	Medium shot of mother and daughter dancing.	Straight cut
42	Side focused shot	3 seconds	Side shot in focus of older artist while younger artist is blurred out behind.	Straight cut
43	Above shot	4 seconds	Above shot while panning from right to left over hands.	Fad out
44	Tilt up - close up	6 seconds	Tilt up to close up shot of both artists on the keyboard.	Fade out
45	Long shot	4 seconds	Long shot of father and daughter dancing.	Fade out
46	Extreme close up	5 seconds	Extreme close up of hands playing the keyboard.	Fade out
47	Panning shot - close up	3 seconds	Panning from left to right over both artists.	Fade out
48	Side close up	4 seconds	Side close up of both artists lip synching.	Fade out
49	Close up/ extreme close up	2 seconds	Could be extreme close up or close up of younger artists face.	Straight cut
50	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up of hands moving along keyboard.	Straight cut
51	Close up/extreme close up	3 seconds	Could be either shots. - focused on girls face and emotions.	Fade out
52	Extreme close up	5 seconds	Extreme close up of girls hand with ring on.	Fade out
53	Close up	4 seconds	Close up of older women's face. Showing lip syncing and emotions.	Straight cut
54	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Showing hand movements across keyboard.	Straight cut
55	Close up	3 seconds	Close up of mother and daughter. loving expressions.	Straight cut
56	Long shot	3 seconds	Long shot of father and daughter dancing. laughter and love.	Straight cut
57	Close up	3 seconds	Close up of older women's face.	Fade out
58	Side pan to close up	5 seconds	Side pan from left to right from daughter to mother.	Fade out
59	Close up	2 seconds	Close up of older singer.	Straight cut
60	Long shot	5 seconds	Long shot of parents dancing and sharing a happy, loving moment.	Straight cut
61	Close up	2 seconds	Back to artists singing.	Straight cut
62	Close up	2 seconds	Close up of both artists hands playing the keyboard.	Straight cut
63	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up shoeing hands on the keyboard.	Straight cut
64	Close up - pan up	2 seconds	Pan up slightly to watch movements of hands.	Straight cut
65	Extreme close up - pan	2 seconds	Extreme close up showing younger singer playing the keyboard and to show pink colour. - pan across to other singer.	Straight cut
66	Close up	4 seconds	Close up of younger singer. showing pink colour on head and face.	Straight cut
67	Close up	4 seconds	Close up from front of parents dancing and sharing a loving moment.	Fade out
68	Long shot - zooms out	8 seconds	Long shot to zooming out to a far away long shot before fading out to the end of the video.	Fade out -Fade in
69	Long shot	24 seconds	Long shot showing white background and a keyboard before father comes on screen.	Fade out

 
Analysis - What have I learned?
With this task I have learned that there are lots of shots taken during a music video. I have seen that unless you watch the video in detail, you don't pick up the amount of shots that are used.

I have also learned about the seconds that are used in order to keep the video looking smooth and presented well.

When I create my music video, I should consider what editing should be used between shots, what shots I should use, like angles and I should decide on how long each shot is going to be. This will allow me to create a good video that looks good and entertains people.