magazine advert anaylsis

Jake Bugg single advert analysis
although this is the advert for a single we can still apply conventions and ideas to our advert as the artist is from the same genre.
We can clearly see links to his website. this links to the fact indie artists want to make a connection to their audience, and so give extra things to them.
it includes very low key lighting, and possibly a black and white effect.  it creates a vintage feel which links to his vintage style music.
The layout is very simple and not too fancy. this links to his indie genre,  of simple and not overly manufactured.
the links to radio 1 is a very prominent feature of the video. it will enable the audience to know he is a legitimate artist and maybe think they will enjoy his music due to the fact they like other radio 1 music.

Vampire Weekend
This, like the Jake Bugg advert, is very simplistic. like a lot of indie artists, they have included the bare minimum, allowing the artist name and album title to be the most prominent feature of the image.

Digipack ideas 2

We are considering including the use of techniques such as metaphors, connotations, denotations, symbols, content signs and font. 
metaphors/connotations/symbols- The title of the album is tearing back the wallpaper, our front cover is going to be a shot of torn wallpaper with brick wall behind it with the lyrics to Hazel Eyes on it. the metaphor that he is tearing back the wallpaper to reveal what's underneath. the connotations/symbols that he has been hiding behind this wallpaper and he is tearing it back to show his true feelings.
Content signs- we are going to include a guitar in the shot of the front cover to represent the fact he is a genuine real artist who creates his own music. 
Font- we have found a font to use on our album cover. 

Digipack micro-elements analysis 2

Colour difference between the front cover, back cover, spine and inlays. 

Newton Faulkner is another indie artist I have researched, and i have decided to analyse his album 'Hand Built By Robots'. 

As you can see the has a background theme of a cloudy sky. On the album this them can be seen across the entire Digipack. the theme is continued on the back cover and both inlays.

However, this theme is not featured on the spine or on the CD cover. Sometimes spines are made a more bright noticeable colour so they can be better seen when on their side. We as a group are planning on using this technique when producing our own digipack.

Digipack micro-elements analysis

Colour difference between the front cover, back cover and spine. 

This is the spine for the album 'Tourist History' by Two Door Cinema Club. The colours used on the spine match those used on the back image. this is a very common concept for album covers. However The front cover is a dark image,  contrasting to the back and spine colours, this allows the album to be shown as breaking conventions and allowing the album to stand out. the inlays on both sides however, both match the back cover as well. 

Another indie artist of whose digipack i have analysed is Ed sheerans album +. this is in a different style to the of the Two Door Cinema Club album. it has the same back cover and spine and front cover design. But it does however have a dark inlay which allows  the orange + on the CD to stick out more. 

i have analysed 5 digpacks produced by indie artists, all of which had a difference in colour or theme between the either the front cover and the back cover, or the front cover and the back cover and spine. We are most likely going to conform to this convention when producing our digipack. however the indie genre is all about being individual and different and we have considered  having all three aspects of the outer digipack (front cover, back cover and spine) different themes/colours as to break these conventions further. or we could challenge this convention by having the front cover and spine different colour to the back cover. 

Mumford and Sons digipack analysis

Mumford and sons digipack analysis on Prezi

Digipack analysis- 3

This is the album cover for 'Last smoke before the snow storm' by Benjamin Francis Leftwich. Like many other indie albums covers it includes and aspect of hand drawn/painted effect on the main image. another convention of indie albums covers represented here is the lack of images of the artist. many recent indie album covers don't include images of the artist, this relates to the rebellious aspect of the indie genre, as most other genres include artist images as the main focus point. 

the CD artwork matches the front cover in terms of colour. they also include the same style of font. the font used is a very old fashioned one. it is elegant also relates to the hand drawn effect of the images used in the cove and others like it. 

this cover of Ben Howard's 'Every Kingdom' also uses this effect/technique and is also of the indie genre. 

it is actually an image taken by a camera but has been edited to create a vintage look, possibly using a sepia filter. The use of large, white, centred  font allows his name to stick out and be the first thing the audience notice. the front image also relates to a personal thing in the artists life, he was raised in devon and surfing has always been a big part of his life. It is common in indie music to relate things to personal issues. 

The indie genre is also very linked to rebellion, and breaking trends. in album covers the front and back covers have the same colour of similar colours, however this album breaks this and the colours are very different. As our artist is of the indie genre we may break normal conventions of digipack style and technique to follow the conventions of indie. 

Benjamin Francis Leftwich- Atlas Hands beach shots analysis

Micro element analysis of Benjamin Francis Leftwich's Atlas hands. i am mainly analysing the camera use and the way the location is used and represented in the video.

Throughout the video a large range of shots are used. An establishing shot is used first to set the scene, in the first few seconds it allows the audience to know that the video is being shot at the beach. 
They use low angle and high angles shots to show things like the characters tying each others hair, the characters are also mainly children. This holds connotations of the beach being a place for children and a place to be immature. we are also following this with the use of shots showing our characters eating ice cream, laughing, joking and flying a kite, all associated with immaturity. 
In terms of editing, the cuts made are not made to the beat of the song, this is a convention of the indie genre and relates to rebellion. 

prolgue analysis

We are planning to use a prologue at the beginning of our video, I have found some music videos that use this technique to see what they are trying to show/represent.


This is the music video for Rihanna's California king bed. this has a 32 second long prologue. in this video it is used to set the scene, with close up and medium shots of both the narrative and performance scenes. it shows a direction and a general story line to the video. it allows the audience to gain an insight into the story behind the video and the lyrics and to connect to the artist without music.

digipack analysis

This is an analysis of the digipack for the album "love is a four letter word" by Jason Mraz

similar artist research

We have identified Air Traffic as a similar artist as they share a similar sound to our artist. WE are going to take into account the use of camera angles, such as establishing shots, close ups, and tracking shots and try to integrate them into our video. We will also take note of things like props, costume, location and editing. In almost all of the videos we have viewed from similar artists and artists of the same genres, we have noticed the use of cross cutting between a narrative and a performance. we have used this to plan our video. 

similar artist research

As a group we have identified The Fray as a similar artist. we are going to use there videos to influence the way in which we film ours. From other videos produced by The Fray, we have noticed a large use of establishing shots, close up shots and panning shots. We have also noticed cross cuts between narrative and performance, a technique we have weaved into our video. as well as this we have also been able see the way in cutting rates change between chorus and verse and the way in which a lot of cuts are on the beat of the song. however we are most likely going to break this common convention of music videos and are going to have the cuts of beat, this breaking of conventions relates to the indie genre our artist is from. 

Ed Sheeran research - Task 2

Ed Sheeran  is an English singer, songwriter, and producer. Born in Halifax, before moving to Framingham, he learned to play guitar and started writing songs at a young age. He began recording in 2005 and moved to London in 2008 to pursue a music career. In 2009, inspired by James Morrison, he played 312 gigs. In early 2011, he released his eighth independent extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project; with it, Sheeran gained mainstream attention. Three months later, Sheeran was signed to Asylum/ Atlantic Records.

Ed Sheeran can be described as an indie rock/acoustic artist. he potrays an image that he is no different to the people who listen to his music. he wears very basic clothing, typically jeans and a t-shirt. in his video's he is represented as a normal person with normal problems. he has also been shown to be a good and charitable person in the video for 'A Team'. 
his concerts are always very basic, he only ever has him playing his guitar and making music on a loop pedal. they are usually very intimate gigs where he interacts and connects a lot with his audience. 

these are two examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ

The music video for Ed Sheeran’s The A Team follows the story of a young prostitute living in London. The fact the video creates a story is very attracting for an audience. it builds anticipation, and curiosity as to what is going to happen to the character created. It has the same effect as a trailer of a movie.

Ed Sheeran can be described as an indie rock/acoustic artist. This song is more of an acoustic song and features just his voice and just his guitar. This allows him to portray an image of reality, and that all the music he makes is from him, and not produced on a computer.  He also shows this by barely featuring in the video. By doing this he makes the video all about the music and the story it creates.

The lyrics relate to the struggles of a young prostitute, this may not be something many viewers can relate to personally but the general struggle of life with little money, drugs, poverty and trying to put food on the table are all things viewers can relate too. The target audience of the audience is a young one, from around 16-25. This is mainly because his songs and videos relate to issues of young people, young love, heart break, loss, unemployment to name a few.

The artist himself is only in the video for about 10 seconds, and he is seen giving money to the homeless girl and giving her some company. This allows him to come across as very charitable and to be shown as a good person.

The rest of the video follows the girl’s story to the end. I think the way in which the girl’s story pulls the audience in is the reason it is a successful video. 

Digipack research 2

this is an album cover of famous country and western group Rascal Flatts.
one of the key conventions of the genre is being in touch with the land. i believe they took this into account when deciding a location for this photo to be taken. it clearly shows they are in the country. this relates directly to their target audience, the majority of which live in rural locations as opposed to say hip hop artist Flo Rida's target audience is more big city based.
there target audience is also mainly female, mainly due to the nature and lyrics of the songs, mostly surrounding the area's of lost love, love, dealing with and the search of love to name a few. these things could be said are more relatable from a woman's perspective. it could also be said they target this with an using aspect of sex appeal. the photo is also taken so all focus is drawn to the three members, all looking directly at the camera, to connect with the audience. this is accentuated by the high key lighting in the back ground and shining on their faces.
their expressions all appear insightful, as if they are thinking about something. this creates curiosity in the audience members. the writing used is quite soft and mellow, and i believe it represents/matches the style of the music on the album.
the choice of clothing is very typical of their genre, i believe they wanted to make their genre very clear on the album cover, so its one of the first things you notice.

Digipack research

Kelly Clarkson is a famous pop country artist.
the picture is in black and white which allows connotations of an old fashioned picture. i believe this relates to the routes of here genre which are very old. country and western styles have been key in american music for centuries.
the writing is used to show the pop side of her. her name is written in gold to emphasise and draw immediate attention to her. the title of the album 'stronger', denotes that she is a powerful person and has become more so. this is emphasised by the fact it is written in bold letters.
the angle at which she is standing allows her to look directly into the camera, which gives the picture a very personal feel, like she is looking directly at her audience.
there is also some sex appeal in the photo, the way her lips are so central and accentuated in the photo and it appears she is kissing her bracelet which gives the photo a sexual/romantic aspect.
the photo is also quite simple, its just the artist. a lot of female artists in modern times are described as pop princesses and use lots of make up and glamorous clothes. this allows her to be represented as a real genuine artist whose voice and appearance is all natural and not fake.
we tried to use some of these aspects of the genre and incorporate them into our digipack photos.

album cover analysis

this is an album cover produced and sold by glen Campbell in 1971. This album cover is very typical of the country and western genre his music fell into. it clearly shows the guitar, one of the most commonly used instruments used in his genre. it also shows his music is very real and all from him, not generated or tampered with.
the background is very homely. is shows the Christmas tree, the fireplace and some decorations.  like he has very american and normal values.
the colours allow the artist to be the main attraction, but home connotations of happiness and joy. the Christmas tree and the title show it is a Christmas CD, the colours and the expression on his face represent a good holiday spirit.
his clothing is very casual, possibly to make the audience feel more connected to him.
the placement of the artist allows most attention to be drawn to him, but to also raw attention to the Christmas tree so the audience know for sure it is a Christmas CD.

Country and Western Genre Conventions

Country music is a musical genre, which originated in the southern rural states of USA. it originates from American folk and southern cowboy music, and is a product of the two. Country music generally consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies.
they use mostly string instruments such as banjoes, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddles, and harmonicas.
the images represented are generally cowboy related, with stenson hats and chaps. the lyrics have a few areas mainly covered. freedom and patriotism are key. some of the most popular songs of this genre are love songs. there are also religious aspects to a lot of the lryics as well. this is because of the roots of the southern sates, who hold religion very closely in their culture.
main instruments
banjo.                                                     guitar                       fiddle


harmonica                                            acoustic bass guitars                       drums



typical clothing
       Stetson hats                                              jeans                                                 waistcoats




              cheque shirts                         Bolo ties                     cowboy boots                       neckerchiefs