Magazine Advert Research

In order to create my own magazine advert I need to look at existing adverts from current magazines.

This advert is advertising The Verve's new album, and instead of using the band themselves as the artwork they have opted for a stunning photograph of a cloudy sky. I think that this imagery alone will draw people's eyes instantly to it, and then the title leaps out at you in a large, block, black font. The fact that the image looks to have been filtered so it is sepia, makes it a lot easier for the designers to have added the text on top of that so it can be seen and read clearly. I would definitely like to use this type of image on my advert, so I can have one stand out image that leaps of the page at you, and then text around it as a secondary thought.

This advert for Basement Jaxx's album is very different from The Verve's, in that it is a lot more colourful, vibrant and 'in your face'. I think that this does work just as effectively as The Verve's advert as Basement Jaxx music is in a different genre to The Verve's music. Fans of Basement Jaxx would expect anything they do to be 'out there' and exciting, whereas The Verve's fans would not.

The whole idea of this advert is futuristic, with the background being a galaxy in space, and the font used is very slanted, block and well... futuristic. The fact that it has a monkey eating a leaf as the main image just shows how quirky the advert is trying to be, and that image in itself will definitely catch people's attention and draw a laugh at least!

I think the main thing that I will take from these two adverts for my own magazine advert is that I definitely need one main image on it that will instantly catch reader's attention when they are flicking through a magazine.

Looking at Digipaks in the Current Market

A more mainstream artist's album cover like Rihanna will generally just have her face as the main image. This image alone will work to sell her album, as her face is so instantly recognizable that people do not need to see anything else when deciding whether or not to buy her album. This is reflected through the fact that Rihanna's name is not even on the front of the album, purely the album name in a simple font. The vivid reds and purples in the photo also help the album jump out at people from the shop shelves.

I think that this album cover is very effective with its use of colours, which helps it stand out on a packed shelf. The background is very neutral and grey coloured, nothing of note is actually taking place there. Your eyes are instantly drawn to the 2 massive red and blue bits of cloth that are flying in the air. It is only once you look closer at the image that you realize they are actually huge capes that are being worn by 2 people. Although this image has absolutely nothing to do with the music it is representing, it helps to attract in potential buyers of the album through the stunning artwork on the digipak cover.

The Mumford & Sons album art is similar to the Biffy Clyro album art, in that it is not clear what relationship the image holds to the actual music of the band. As Mumford & Sons are an alternative band, it is clear that the album art is not going to be mainstream, like Rihanna's album cover image of just her face, as there is no single person that personifies the band for audiences.

I think that this album cover from an album by The XX is the most striking of the 4 that I have looked at, as the designers have been very brave and simply put a huge white X on a plain black background. However simple the cover seems it would actually be very effective at drawing people's eye to it on a packed shop shelf as I have never seen an album cover like it before. The X would almost instantly tell fans of the band who's album it is, and would interest others into picking up the album to find out.

I think that I would like to incorporate aspects from the last 3 albums that I have looked at:

- A striking photo on the front panel that instantly draws your eye to it

- Use only 1 or 2 bold colours in the images so that it does not look messy and cluttered

Digipak Research

A digipak is a style of CD and DVD packaging. They consist of a book-style paper binding, and have plastic trays capable of holding a CD.

Examples of digipak covers in recent times:

Looking at Current Alternative Music Video's

In order make our group's music video as professional looking as possible, we need to have an idea of the rules and conventions of current music videos in that genre: alternative.

I started off by looking at the music video for Caesar: I Blame Coco feat. Robyn.

The first show that I really like in this video is the close up of Coco's eyes with make up streaming down her face. This is the type of shot I would want to use in my group's video as it is an effective way of showing the audience how the character in the video is feeling in a hard hitting way. This would work beautifully in the video that our group has planned, as it could be used to show how our main character feels about her cyber bullying.

I love the use of close ups of objects or certain things to subtly show the audience what you want them to focus on the most. we are planning to use this idea in our video to put focus onto the girl's rose in our story.

I think the iconography in this video is very good, with Coco wearing a leaf metal crown, synonymous with the Romans, tying in with the song's name: Caesar.

This iconography continues through the video with someone holding up a flaming torch to the sky, also reminding me of the old Roman times.

Our group is planning to relate our visuals to the lyrics by having the rose as a symbol of love, and as the love dies throughout the video, so does the rose (petals being picked off, being left by a grave).

Our Target Audience

Band of Horses

Whilst thinking about the band we are using for our music video, we realized they are really hard to pigeonhole into a set group. The band are described by wikipedia as an American rock band, but when listening to them they are not exactly the heavy metal sound you would associate with 'heavy metal'. After searching through uktribes.com, I have chosen 2 social groups which I think our song could fall into. The first are Young Alts:

"Young Alts are after something different, but beyond that, they’re not exactly decided. They’ll read about or listen to a huge variety of bands and try Skater, Emo and even Urban fashions. They also love a lot of mainstream fashion and music. The Young Alts make for a largely safe and non-judgemental Tribe in which to experiment with all of these styles."

:

Looking at the media consumption, it is encouraging that there is a high level of Internet, TV and radio consumption among Young Alts, which of course is where music and music videos are most likely to be heard and seen. The associated brands also shows me that this group is exactly who we are aiming our music video at. Band of Horses have played at many festivals in the UK and in the USA, and live music and reviews are featured in magazines such as NME and Kerrang!, as well as being shown on YouTube. As with pretty much every young person in the country, Young Alts are likely to have a social networking account and regularly use the Internet, which can be used to find out new tour dates and check out live performances bands. As they like to experiment with different styles, it is quite likely that they would stumble across this band.

Tribe icons for Young Alts are people such as Kurt Cobain, Hadouken!, Greenday, Bring The Horizon and You Me At Six. This is the typical looking Young Alt:

The second group I discovered are the Metalheads:

"An enduring tribe consisting of those into metal, heavy rock and a bit of old school punk. Damnation, Download and the Carling (Reading and Leeds) festivals are popular destinations for members of this tribe - as are most opportunities for violent slam dancing in big, sweaty arenas."

As with the Young Alts, metalheads have a heavy consumption level of radio, TV and the Internet. The metalheads are more into classic heavy metal, and are keen on mixing older style music

with the new. They are more than likely to be wearing black, or sporting a band t-shirt.

Tribe icons for Metalheads are people such as Metallica, Dita Von Teese, Lemmy, Dani Filth and Five Finger Death Punch. This a typical looking group of Metalheads:

Where would our finished music video be shown?

NME TV is a the music channel counterpart to the main NME magazine, which was launched in November 2007. The station will be used to show exclusive NME footage from gigs and events, as well as content based heavily on chart music and recent offerings from up and coming artists in the indie and alternative scenes. Paul Cheal, the publishing director, said this of the brand: "Our target audience is promiscuous in the way they consume media, so we want to be able to deliver the brand in whatever format they prefer. Ideally, an NME reader can flick through the magazine during the day, visit the site in the afternoon, come home and watch NME TV, before going to an NME club to see an NME gig." I have chosen NME TV as a potential channel that would show our video because according to uktribes description of a 'young alt', NME is one of the brands that they are associated with.

Another channel that could be used would be Scuzz, a brand associated with 'metalheads', which launched in April 2003. It is described as 'total rock', and the station encourages viewers to "rock hard, only with Scuzz." Scuzz tends to play more underground music videos, and it also shows exclusive music videos. This would be perfect for the music video that we are looking to create.

Foals: Cassius Music Video Analysis

Lyrics

Cassius is over!
Cassius away!
Cassius these daydreams, these daydreams okay!

Cassius an accident!
Cassius an accident!
Accident!
Accident!
Accident!

Cassius its over!
Cassius away!
Cassius these daydreams, these daydreams okay!

Lighthouse (Life) is an accident!
The lighthouse (Love) is an accident!
Accident!
Accident!
Accident!

Wish you've gone-a, wish you've gone away, what you've gone-a
What you've got has always gone away
Cassius! Cassius! at best, it's all that we could do,
All that we could do

The wind is in, the wind is in my heart, the wind is in-
Now what you've got has always gone away
Cassius! Cassius! at best, it's all that we could do,
All that we could do

Cassius, is over! You're second best!
Cassius, it's over! You're second best!
It's over! You're second best!
Second best!
Second best!
Second best!

Background Research

Whilst researching this video I found a quote from the lead singer of the band explaining the meaning of the song: "It's trying to deal with somebody being two-faced or, even to the extreme, someone having a split personality. The reason for why it's called Cassius - Cassius Clay who became Mohammad Ali, it's almost like there's two people in one and Cassius, the conspirator who instigated the assas

sination of Julius Caesar, who is a very literal symbol of being two faced."

Analysis

The first shot we see is of the lead singer jumping in time to the first beat. We immediately know that he is the lead singer because he is shown first, and in every other scene that he is in he is foregrounded and in focus to signify his position in the band. This shot lasts for less than a second and the editing is immediately extremely fast, with quick shots of a heart on a string, the rest of the band singing, the lead singer lying on the floor and dancing. Cassius is a very fast paced song and it is only natural that the editing corresponds with that, so the rest of the video also continues in this way, with many fast cuts.

The whole video has themes of violence and strangeness in it, with hearts dangling on strings, destroying flowers, pills dangling on strings and guns (towards the end). This theme runs strongly with the explanation of the song as of course Cassius Clay (Mohammed Ali) was a very famous boxer, not the friendliness of sports!

As the chorus starts up at 0:26, the band start to play with the hearts dangling on strings. This tallies with the increased pace of the song, and could also mean that they are 'playing with someone's heart', and 'tugging on heartstrings.'

The theme of a 'violent romance' continues at 0:41 with a shot of a member of the band holding up a bunch of flowers, with a very expressionless look on his face. You would expect a bunch of flowers to signify love and happiness, but when we next see this scene at 0:43, the flowers are being hit against the floor, shattering this thought. The expressionless look on the band member's face implies that he feels numb and is in shock. To me it feels as if he has had his heart broken by someone. The sound of the flowers being destroyed is implied by the strong drum beats as they hit the floor.

At 0:53 we see the lead singer being hit in the chest by one of the hearts on strings. He does not seem angry about this and keeps a passive expression on his face, but when it swings towards him again he pushes it away. The third time this happens, he grabs the heart and stares at it for 3 seconds before pushing it away gently, which is actually a long time in comparison to the fast editing used in the rest of the video. In this time we get the impression that although he does not want to be 'punched in the heart', he is still fascinated and interested by it. We can relate these feelings to the idea that he is in love but has been betrayed and is angry, however is still is in love.

At 1:06 we see pills suspended from a member of the band's fingers for the first time. The editing here uses very fast cuts between the pills and the band member laying out the pills.

The pose that the lead singer is striking at 1:21 is synonymous with the actions of a Roman soldier (the name Cassius is Roman, and also is the name of the two-faced Roman who organized the assassination of Julius Caesar).

When the band is singing together framed like below at 1:46, they are all making direct eye contact with the camera so it feels as if they are singing to the viewer. They even go as far as to hold their hands out towards the camera and it is as if they are appealing to you through the screen. It also could be used to be as if they are talking to the person who has caused their heartache.

At 1:57 we see the heart strings are being cut, and this is meant in the literal and figurative sense, by the physical cutting down of them and also the sense of being released from heartache (as if they have cut all ties with the person who caused it). During thus section the music goes through a slower, instrumental section, which I think signifies them letting go of the pain and doing something about it (cutting the hearts).

At 2:14 the lead singer is swinging one of the hearts on its string around his head. I feel that now he has power over the heart (his heart?) after being paralyzed and struck by it earlier in the video.

I think that this close up of one of the hearts is there to show how real it actually is, and therefore showing how important it is to the whole narrative.

As the music picks up pace again at 2:21, so does the pace of the cuts. We see each band member doing something different, one is shredding the bunch of flowers, one is pushing toy aeroplanes around a table, and the other is weighing the hearts that they have cut down.In each of these scenes, the object that they are cutting up, pushing around or weighing is foregrounded and in focus, whilst the band member is backgrounded and not in focus.

The end of the video sees the band take all of the objects we have seen throughout this video (hearts, flowers etc.) to create some sort of mobile. It is as if they ave created something strangely beautiful out of something ugly.

The very end of the video is a montage of all the important scenes we have already seen from the video, it is almost a recap of what has happened. The music during this is very strange (I think it is a trumpet) and randomly played. I think that that sort of music perfectly fits with the visuals that we have got accompanying it as it is all very surreal and weird.

The mise-en-scene in this video is very simplistic; there is not a single costume change in the video, and all the action is set against a white backdrop. The clothing that the band are wearing are t-shirts, shirts and jeans (typically what I would expect artists of this genre to be wearing). This simplicity is important because the focus of the video is not about all about the spectacle but about the deeper meanings that run underneath it. The video has not got an obvious storyline running through it, and it is open to interpretation.

The music makes use of the tempo and drives the editing; as the pace of the music quickens so does the pace of the editing. As we do not see any instruments being played in the video, any dramatic change in the music or any prominent instrument sound is emphasized through something dramatic happening in the video i.e. when the hearts are cut down, there is a loud guitar chord being played.

I think that the whole idea of the video was to show heartache, getting through the heartache and coming out the other side. I also think that the five band members could actually make up this one personality, to fit with the concept of having a multiple personality (Cassius).