Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Christina Aguilera - The Voice Within
This was one of the music videos we were going to perform for our final piece but there weren't much going on in the video it was just quite a boring video. It is called 'The Voice Within' by Christina Aguilera, and was released in 2003. This single is known for how simple it is, and the fact that it was filmed in black and white as a continuous camera shot. The genre characteristics of this music video is the stage performance of a continuous close up camera shot of christina's face and she doesn't dance at all it is a whole video of walking around lip syncing. Walking around and not running around madly and by wearing the dress she has on and not wearing baggy jeans shows that this video is of a 'pop' genre and not a 'rock' or 'emo' genre. This song shows a storyline in the lyrics 'To trust the voice within'. A young girl feels she has nobody to turn to so christina is singing her feelings and advice to this young girl. There isn't really much of a relationahip between the lyrics and visuals of this music video apart from the story of the song is about a 'Young girl being alone' and the visuals relates to this by Christina being alone on the video giving advice to others. The relationship between the music and the visuals of this music video are that this song is of a 'pop' genre and this is easily recognised by the performance of the singer and the brigt background although its recorded in black and white it still isn't terribly dark like a 'rock' video would be. There is nothing but close-up camera shots of Christina in the beginning part of the music video but as the video goes on the camera shots change from being close-up to medium close ups to distant camera shots. This is very effective because she puts more aggression into her singing as the song progress further and the camera shots change as the song progress and then ends with a close up. There is no reference to the notion of looking such as screens within screens or telescopes, this music video is very simple. There are intertextual references with the song 'Beautiful' also sang by Christina Aguilera as both music videos have the same close up camera views to begin with and both have the same genre and speed of music. Both music videos are very simple and not much to them to begin with but the song 'Beautiful' has more of a recording contrast of footage in it. This music video is very much narrative based as it tells a story of being alone which is shown in the video of Christina Aguilera being alone. Overall i think this video is very simple and wasn't a very good choice for us to perform as our final piece as there wouldn't have been much to record. It would have been me alone all the way through the video lip syncing and walking around which wouldn't have been as fun as the video we did which included lip syncing, dancing, change of backgrounds and was much more enjoyable.
Project 4 Music video analysis, Lady Gaga 'Just Dance.
This music video is the final one i chose to perform. Lady Gaga 'Just Dance' is in the 'dance-pop' genre, it features Colby O'Donis, and had vocals by Akon and was produced by RedOne. This was released as the lead single in 2008, it has influences of R'n'B and in the lyrics it shows a storyline of being intoxicated at a house party. Lady Gaga says"Everyone is looking for a song that really speaks to the joy in our souls and in our hearts and having a good time. It's just one of those records. It feels really good, and when you listen to it, it makes you feel good inside." The genre characteristics of the dance routines, lip syncing and the overall stage performance makes this music video get easily catergorised into a particular genre (dance-pop). This is shown by the camera shot of Lady Gaga on each chorus of the song, it shows a close up of her face lip syncing with a bright white, simple background which singles this genre of the song out easily to be pop and not metal or others genres like that. In the chorus of the song when it says 'Just Dance', a clip of the dance routine is shown this also shows the relationship between the lyric and the visuals because when the lyrics says 'Just Dance it shows a dance routine. The relationship between the music and the visuals are amplifying, Lady Gaga ahows it is in the pop genre by the beat of the music also the costumes, routines and camera shots. There are close ups of the artist and star image motifs in each chorus. There are many performers in this music video but the camera shots only show main close ups on Lady Gaga when she is lip sycing or dancing. There is no references to the notion of looking such as screens within screens but there is reflected views in mirrors of the performers and camera shots of a camera. There are no intertextual references in this music video to any other tv programmes or films but there is intertextual references to her other music videos. They are all similar, with this 'Just Dance' music video and the 'Poker Face' video also by Lady Gaga both have similar dance routines and the same sort of camera shots showing the lip syncing. Overall this music video is performance based mainly on the dance routines and lip syncing and it is also narrative based by narrating its story throughout the music video of a house party and to 'Just Dance' and enjoy yourself. It shows other people house partying in the background which follows the narration of the video. I think this video is great and has a simple storyline that is the reason i chose this video to perform my own version of and i really enjoyed it.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Our Music Video
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Research of the ABC Wesite.
I did some research on the ABC website and I have found out that Q Magazine has the highest net circulation, selling 81,240 issues every month in the UK and R.O.I and 103,017 in total around the world, this is because of how long they have been around and how they have such a reputable magazine, although it’s Mojo that is selling the most magazines to other countries around the world, selling 44,897 copies of its issue every month, these two magazines are definitely one of the most popular magazines for people who seriously appreciate all genres of music.The magazine Rocksound is selling the least copies of its issues, selling 12,734 copies In the UK and R.O.I every month and 7,277 copies everywhere else in the world, though this is probably because it’s not as well known as Q and Mojo are, and they usually stick to only one genre of music which is rock.NME and Kerrang! Magazines are selling the least copies to other countries, NME only selling 3,562 and Kerrang! selling only 2,144 copies, probably because again they’re not aswell known, and have not been around as long as the other big magazines, also its featuring more specific genres of music, for example NME only represents one genre of music which is 'emo' or 'rock'.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
MixMag music magazine.
This ‘mixmag’ music magazine has a very simple and easy to spot masthead which is placed on the top centre of the page in a bright white, large font. It is the largest font on the page which makes it even more eye catching also the background colour is bright sky blue which makes the bright white masthead stand out so it is the first thing people see when they look at it. The slogo of the magazine is 'The battle for the islands soul'. The background to this page is the colour of the nice blur sky on a hot summers day, this goes well with the picture of the main model on the page which is wearing a bikini with sunglasses and nice jewellery; in other words she is on the beach in the sun. This all connects well with the main sell of the magazine front cover which is ‘Ibiza 08’ all the images and surrounding text are all connected with the theme of the summer sun. Also other main sells are the list of content of the magazine down the right hand side of the page. In this magazine issue it represents ‘Herve’s Party bombs’ as a taster of what is inside the magazine such as; information and gossip of many different bands. The masthead font on each ‘mixmag’ issue always has identical font size, font genre and just varies on the colour of the title. The most popular colours of the masthead on each issue of ‘mixmag’ are white, orange and bright pink all depending on the connection between the colour and the main theme. By the font being the same on each issue and the position of the masthead is always the same, this makes it easier for the reader’s to spot the magazine on the shelf in the shops. The model of the magazine is very pretty, with flawless skin and a perfect figure. This makes young readers want to look like them which may cause the young teens to go anorexic. The picture of the model may also advertise the clothes bag and basically her fashion to make the target audience want to get the same. By the magazine having a plain and simple background this makes the image of the main leading model stand out to the readers. The structure of the magazine is layed out very clearly showing quite obviously that it is of a dance genre. This is shown by the clothes that the model is wearing and the layout of the front cover of the ‘mixmag’ magazine is smooth, bright and simple rather than dull and fully detailed. It seems to have a target audience of older teenagers to middle twenties. The image of the main model is only slightly overlapping the masthead which still makes this title very clear. The brightness of colour of the models lipstick which is in red makes her lips stand out showing that she is smiling this looks very effective.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Kerrang music magazine
On this front cover of the music magazine ‘Kerrang’ the masthead is brightly coloured which is unusual for a ‘Kerrang’ magazine as the masthead is normally in dull black or white. It is always in a large font with lines going through the font to break it up a bit to give it an appearance that looks similar to broken glass. This masthead is a little difficult to read because of the way it is placed on the page with the images over lapping the main heading. This could make it hard for the target audience to recognise the magazine whilst browsing through them all in a shop. Also readers may find it harder to spot this issue because of the brightly coloured font. The slogo is ‘Life is Loud’ on every ‘Kerrang’ magazine but because it is always placed at the top right hand corner of the page, it is covered completely up by the main images of the cover. The lead article and images are ‘starring Ozzy, Him, Velvet Revolver, The Used and My Chemical Romance’. This makes the readers want to open the magazine and read on about the bands/singers this magazine is starring. The main images shows that the magazine is of a ‘rock’ genre, this is represented by the clothes they are wearing, the make-up and accessories they have got on and the appearance of the magazine cover as a whole. The main sells are the band/singers I mentioned earlier on and it says in bold white writing ‘DOWNLOAD The Ultimate Guide!’ This is an eye catcher as this is placed in bold writing on the centre left side of the page; people will see this straight away after seeing the leading images. The background is not dull; it is simple and plain shaded in bright blue that looks like a nice blue sky on a summer’s day. This is a good contrast with the yellow masthead; it makes the leading images stand out more because the models are all wearing black. The main sell stands out very much by being in a bright red star shape with white writing saying ‘Win a signed slipknot guitar!’ in a big font size and in the colour white. This draws the attention from the readers straight to it because of both the colour and the font, also because they word ‘win’ is on the page. Ozzy is wearing several hard silver necklaces which give away the ‘rock’ genre even more, also the ring he has on and the pose he is standing in. The photographer has made sure all three main models of the page are all facing towards the camera with eyes looking in the camera lenses and all wearing clothes to meet the ‘rock’ genre of the magazine. I personally think that by placing the images behind the masthead this will make it clearer to recognise and read that is my opinion but every ‘Kerrang’ magazine cover has the same layout.
Bands Image and Genre
Representation
Sugar magazine- Hilary Duff.

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Music Magazine.
For this project, we were asked to study 3 different magazine covers and be able to spot out the stylistic features of each one such as; the masthead, slogo, and main sells etc. I am going to pick three different magazine front covers and analyse each one of them picking out the individual stylistic features. I was also asked to make my own magazine cover and i did so by using photoshop. This was quite simple as i just planned my cover out in draft labelling each stylistic feature and and then created it on the computer using that photoshop program. The image on the left is how my final music magazine turned out to be.Research of different genre cd covers.
Shayne Ward cd cover has a pop genre. This is shown by the basic and bright background that looks so simple. Also the font is shown as bold and clear which just gives an overall appearance of a pop genre cd cover.
Ne-Yo is a hip hop genre cd cover. This is shown by the 'rap-up' at the left bottom corner and the photo on the front of Ne-Yo facing away from a girl. Hip hop is mainly sang/rapped about a man losing his wife/girlfriend then wanting her back.
This is a metal genre cd cover. It is easily pointed out by the way it is layed out. It shows the picture as being night time which connects to the metal band of being 'dark' and 'scary'. The name of the band shows font that you would see on a horror film, and the picture is of a dark and scary forest.
Girls Aloud is another pop cd cover. This is also shown as having a simple, bright background with a basic font which is bold. Having a basic background makes the performers stand out more especially when they wear bright colours like they are.
This shows an emo genre cd cover. You can tell its an emo cd cover straight away by the picture of the girl laying backwards on the stairs and the boy sitting at thetop. Usually emo bands are shown being in love with a boyfriend and splitting up so the girl walks away and hurts herself or the male hurts the female. The colour is dull which is not exciting so it shows to be quite depressing. Project 2, part 2
Girls Aloud stay in contact with their fans by accepting fans as friends on a friends list. Their page also allows fans to leave comments that Girls Aloud reply to. The fun things to explore on the page are, ‘Home, Browse, Find people, Forums, Music, Video, More and Girls Aloud.’ Each main option has a drop down list of further options to browse through. Myspace is a good internet page for famous Bands/ Musicians to promote themselves.
Brief for project two,
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
New Music Technology.
· IPods
· Mp3 players
· Internet: YouTube, Limewire, MySpace.
· Home Recording- Reason, Audacity, Fruit Loops.
Without any of these people would still have to buy cd's and singles from shops but now we can save money by downloading free music online, or buy cheap individual songs from Itunes. New Music Technology has also encouraged people to build cheap home recording studios.
Audience
· Buy music online
· Internet singles on iTunes are cheaper 79p versus £1.99 physical single. This encourages ‘Criminal activity’ Peer to Peer file sharing e.g. LimeWire.
· MP3’s are portable- especially compared to CD walkmans.
· Loads of tracks can be downloaded on to mp3s
· IPod: you can download Photos Videos Films TV.
Industry.
· Apple are the world leaders in digital downloads: iTunes, iPhones, iPod
· Rupert Murdoch owns MySpace; His company News International own Fox, Sky, The Sun and many global media company: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdock
· Google bought YouTube
· Radiohead gave there album away on-line.
Report one: Digital Music Industry.
- Music is one of the most accsessed thing going. Digital music sales are averaged at 15%. Itunes is one of the biggest sellers for digital music, Itunes gets 75% of online sales, most of which are singles, whilst other sellers of online music include Napster, HMV digital, Ministry of sound and 7 digital and not all music downloads are legal.
- Illegal downloading of music is mostly done by teenagers. It is averaged that only one in twenty downloads is legal. The reason younger teenagers are more likely to download illegally is because they are cash sensitive which means that they do not have the money to pay for the song downloads as they download more than any other age group.
- You can also access music by online providers such as YouTube, they provide the music videos for free, you can also upload your own videos that you have created. MySpace is also an online site where bands can publish themselves or reach out to teenagers. They make a band profile, and get all their fans to comment them and talk to them, whereas internet providers are trying to crack down on illegal downloaders. If they catch you they will send you a formal warning but if it continues they will cut your internet.
Adbusters.
This is an adbusters spoof taken from the blockbusters advert. This advert makes out Blockbusters will empty out your wallet and makes it “an overpriced night”.The shape of the blue ticket is to represent a torn cinema ticket from the original advert. The bold yellow writing stands out and draws people into read what the advert is about.Here is a link to the adbusters advert: http://www.adbusters.org/ on here you will find: news on what is going on, dates about buy nothing days. You can buy stuff from their shop, such as a television jammer, meaning you can turn off televisions to stop adverts from being shown. The adbusters get a lot of bad press shown about them and how them advertising their organisation is destroying america. Critics of Adbusters say that the organisation is anti- American as America was made rich because of capitalism.
This is my cd cover I designed by using the Photoshop project.We started off by getting the picture of Hendrix from Google images and use a magnetic lasso to cut this image out. I learnt how to use this project and make this picture by using the magnetic croping tool on the original picture, put it on a new document 120mm by 120mm coloured the background black and grey, i then chose a font, made the font red, inner glow effect white and outer glow effect purple. I then changed the font and lowered the size to put 'number 1 bestselling album'.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
David Hasselhoff pepsi advert.

- Denotations: The makers of pepsi are using david hasselhoff as their model due to that they believe that people will see him and beleive that its is 'cool' because david hasselhoff is. Also he is using the top of the pepsi as a stand for his mike.
Connatations: The makers of pepsi are using hassel hoff for many reasons. The main reasons of being that he has fans who will buy the product because he is on it, also it is made to almost look "sexual" because he is astride it, maybe trying to make people think they will be too if they buy this product. Also the makers are making this advert look almost like a pop video, which will attract the attention of people who enjoy the genre.
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Project 1; part one.
Advertising is how companies communicate to the public to try and persuade them to buy their products or services. They can advertise through different types of media such as: TV,Radio and Internet. The companies can also advertise through Billboards, magazines/newspapers and Buses, this is a good way to advertise to consumers as it persuades them to purchase the products/services. Advertising can also be used by organisations for example: political parties and military recruiters.
Messages and Values.
Advertising works by trying to create something where the consumers feel that if they consume the advertised product they will be improved in a certain way. An example of this is make-up adverts or body lotions such as, fake tanning lotions. In make-up adverts the advertising companies always use a really good looking, slim model who looks so 'perfect'. The model will look gorgeous and their skin will always be flawless making the advert persuade consumers to buy the product as people think if they purchase the product their skin will look like that too. This could cause anerexia in youngsters as they will try making themselves look like the airbrushed model in the advert. Kate Moss is a great example of the make-up advert who looks perfect. 
Another similar example is clothing adverts. Adverts for big clothing brands for female clothing will almost always have a tall, skinny, very attractive model. For males clothing adverts the model will always be a nice looking, muscly male around 20-30 years old and the clothing will always look very good on them so again consumers will believe it will be the same for them and even aftershave adverts. They think it will look as good on them as it does the model but some how it never looks as good on the consumers. These companies always use skinny models again it makes consumers feel that they need to be extra skinny to look good-especially younger consumers, but it doesnt always work like that.

Today companies spend over £17 million pound on advertising each year. Celebrity Endorsement.
Celebrity endorsement is when companies or organisations employ celebrities to advertise their product or service. They use celebrities because then the public is more easy to influence if the person advertising is someone they admire or look up to. A good example of celebrity is David Beckham, not only is he a role model for hundreds of young children he is also admired by both women who want him and men who want to be him, he has done advertising campaigns for Adidas and Armani…
David Beckham embodies many values and aspirations such as success, fitness, skill and celebrity. Brands like Adidas and Amarni want to be associated with these values which is why they pay Beckham lots of money to appear in their adverts.
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Wayne Rooney Nike Advert Analysis
ConnotationsThis advert shows:
• Nike could want you to associate the advert with success.
• The red cross symbolises the English flag, which makes the advert cultural.
• The advert is political because it could be seen as offensive because the red cross looks like blood.
Denotations
This advert also shows:
• Wayne Rooney looking like he has scored a goal.
• He is showing him being patriotic – with the red cross across his body.
• When his arms are stretched out it makes him look like the flag.
• His fists are clenched and he looks like he is shouting.
• The red cross looks like blood.
• His skin is made to look really pale and it makes the red look really vibrant and stands out.
