JC Music festival poster + evaluation

1.) I feel that my use of photoshop here does not full explore the creative ability which is available within the program however, this is mainly due to the fact that I am not familiar or confident with the software.

2.) In photoshop I used simple text layers, as well as making the title font overlayed, and negative to the background. I also edited the hue of the background to alter the colour.

3.) I think that my poster could have a lot more different effects incorporated into it, however as I use the program more often, my skills will inevitably improve.

4.) Use more visual experimentation e.g.: effects, fonts, colours etc.

JC Goodwin writing frame

When considering the key features of a music video, Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) identified a number of conventions which can be applied to the music video ‘Celestine’ by Spector directed by Jed Cullen in High-5 Collective.

Firstly he stated that music videos demonstrate genre characters. This video could be categorised as being in the indie-rock genre. It is conventional in that the iconography in the video heavily revolves around props, costume and location to reinforce a retrospective theme. For example, sharp suits and slicked back hair connote to the 1950’s fashion style, as well as circular glasses, which represent the ‘nerd’ stereotype.

The cutting rate of the music video is rapid and frequent, upholding the fast tempo of the song. Many different angles of the band are featured in order to keep the audience interested and give them a ‘fresh look’ at the performers. Furthermore, various inter-textual references are used in the form of brief flashes of text. These refer to a handful of concepts, quotes and also other artists, such as: Art Deco, ‘Nothing you haven’t seen before’ and Kid Harpoon.

The narrative of the video is heavily performance-based, which serves to maintain the authenticity of the band’s talent as musicians. This is done by frequent close ups of the band’s instruments and their playing, e.g.: fingers pressing notes on the fretboard of a guitar etc. The lead singer is also frequently given CUs of his face, this is done to help the audience associate the band’s name and track with his face or the more recognisable motif: his glasses. This technique is known as the ‘meat’ of a music video.

Goodwin discussed the relationship between lyrics and visuals. In relation to the lyrics, it is clear that the video is disjunctive however in the narrative sequence it is more performance-based.

He made reference to the notion of looking, and in the video this is clearly shown by the use of a mirror being looked into by the band members and also directly into the camera. This makes it seem as if the artist is directly speaking to the audience, rather than immersing them in a complex narrative- which is difficult to do in a 3-4 minute video. Importantly he talked about the voyeuristic treatment of the body. With reference to this video the faces of the band members are the most frequently shown aspects of the human body, as the video aims to associate the audience with the band’s image and faces.

Music videos are a postmodern form which implies that they often borrow and rework from other texts and forms. ‘Celestine’ uses intertextuality in the form of a pastiche of a retro 1950s feel.

MC: Deconstructing Music Videos (2)

• The video for 'Pyramids' directed by Nabil Elderkin, 2012 is loaded with special effects achieved in post-production, as the video begins with the protagonist, and singer (Frank Ocean) taking four shots of absinthe, (a drink incredibly high in alcohol content) and his intoxicated journey unravels as the rest of the video progresses. 
• The video is strong amplification of the lyrics, and is more freestyle when it comes to the subject matters, relying on visual imagery to connote the drugged/alcohol intoxication.
•  Effects consist of blurring, and ghosting of moving images, demonstrated by the motion of the motorbike and the character laughing hysterically.

• The video makes references to popular culture, and the audience’s current preconceptions about the consistent references to ‘the pyramid’ are eye-opened. Of course there is a clear play on Egyptian history, with reference to the ancient queen, Cleopatra. But the name refers to a character, who works at the Pyramid club, located in the East Village of Manhattan, New York. 
•  It promoted drag and gay scenes during the 80s, and progressed in reputation from then.  The shots in the video that have a glowing neon blue pyramid feature strippers in slow motion, surrounding the protagonist, dancing and indulging in acts of whipping, whilst being lavished in dollar bills. The women’s faces are time stretched through editing and modulate with makeup, embellishing their cheekbones heavily. This makes these characters look mal-nourished and emit a primal ambience.

• The video contributes a lot conventionally to the artist’s current meta-narrative. He is heavily based on retrospective imagery. This is used in the video through the use of neon lighting and a classic old-looking American strip club.

• At the end of the video, John Mayer makes a cameo appearance, in front of a huge neon pyramid, performing a guitar solo. It contributes to the hallucinagenic feel to the whole video, as this famous guitarist is seen as an icon by many. This could even demonstrate intertexuality of the artist, in terms of music. The modern R&B track is a game-changer for its genre.



GROUP: Music video mini-pitch feedback

After showing our peers the track which we will be creating a music video for, then showing them our visual ideas as well as some background information on where the genre of ‘surf rock’ originated from, we received feedback:

·        Firstly, a thought that a number of our peers had was that our ideas are very conventional of music videos shot on location in America, to overcome this, we must ensure continuity within our music video, and possibly use editing tools to make our video appear to be more ‘American’, such as colour correction to make our possible beach scenes more sunnier. We may also use iconic American props such as red drinks cups which are recognisable from the iconic American party from films and TV shows.

·        An idea from one of our peers was to use props and items which are iconic of the initial surf-rock era, such as old fashioned cars like the Volkswagen beetle. After receiving this feedback, we contacted friends who have access to such props which we believe may enhance the plausibility of the era and theme we are going to try to portray.

·        Another peer mentioned the danger involved when we talked of the idea of incorporating skateboarding and longboarding into our music video (as these are often associated with surf culture), to overcome this, we will ensure those partaking in the skateboarding and longboarding are experienced, we will also carry out a risk assessment and take the necessary precautions e.g. cars and other pedestrians. We could do this by having someone to specifically watch the surroundings for dangers.

·        We also received feedback on possible locations for us to shoot at, including old-fashioned American styled diners which we made clear during our pitch we wanted to use to film at, these locations included a diner in Ashford and another in East Sussex, we will decide which one to use after going on a location reccie, and deciding which one is most suitable.

MC: Deconstructing Music Videos (3)

• The video for 'The Keepers' by Santigold was directed by Santi White herself in 2012, and all images are highly symbolic, yet commercially accessible. It is highly quirky and surreal, especially in the dinner scenes.
• The robotic, synced choreographed family (with similar preened 60s style bleached blonde hair), who eat glowing, and green foods provide comedic value. This factor as well footage that can be widely interpreted, help the media product to achieve repeatability.
• Commercial institutions that create music videos aim to achieve ultimate repeatability, and in this electronic singer/songwriter genre, a record label might aim to achieve a stylish, artistic image of their artist.

• This video will be distributed and purchased as a downloadable video on the iTunes store, as well as being predominantly viewed on streaming site YouTube. It currently has over 407,000 views and will also be displayed on TV music chanels such as NME TV, MTV and possibly Kerrang!
• Videos of this type are being produced daily, and so music tv channels only display the newest videos. YouTube is a widely used distribution channel, mostly due to the fact it is free. Music blogs reviewing tracks and albums are a form of promotion for an artist, and they easily (and often) embed these forms of media on their websites.

• The video is a critique on American culture, presented in a dystopic view of the country while highlighting challenging ideas such as gluttony (in terms of food). The family wait for their made while they chant and demand their food by slamming on the table with their silverware.
• Finally, they have a stomach-churning meal of unconventional dishes of jelly and tuna; an over-developed chicken from excessive hormone treatment; as well as a radioactive fish. This could approach a scornful view on genetic alteration of food, criticising and displaying the unnaturalness of it.
• During this particularly, is in an interpretation of the chorus lyrics of the track, being ‘We’re the keepers, while we sleep in America’. The loose interpretation proves the video artistic, as the song meaning is amplified through this particular scene.  

• There is also an ironic criticism of the artificial look in the video, playing on Laura Mulvey and Goffman et al. theories. The mother is instructed to display her body by standing and doing a swivel and posing for her family – while the husband applauds her.
•  The camera lingers on her lower body as she twists, and displays an exaggerated asset of hers. Goffman believes that the female body is promoted as an asset, and different cultures have alternating desired ideologies.
• In many minds, the woman in the Santigold video is the desired shape, which many possibly be many American views, as this is the target nation (White's home country). The significance of this woman performing as herself criticises the media portrayal of the female body, and ridicules the whole dismemberment of bodies.
• White expresses her opposition to this commodification, and it is supported by the strong link to the lyrics of this small clip, being ‘Ask me why, dream that you by, want is a dangerous thing’. This meaning translates that desire (‘want’) of the people has become dangerous as it directly affects the phycology of females that suffer ridiculous/incorrect portrayals of ‘ideal’ women.

MC: Deconstructing Music Videos (1)

 

• The video for ‘Cut the World’ by Anthony and the Johnsons, directed by Nabil Elderkin in 2012, is an artistic film heavily loaded with extreme amplification of lyrical interpretation. The song consists of two short verses and a one line chorus, each line being very powerful, and is translated into visual imagery in the music video.
• The basis of the song is revealed by Anthony in the chorus, with a questioning lyric consisting of ‘But when will I turn, and cut the world?’ In fact, the plot is the story of a woman (Carise), who turns on her boss (Defoe) following their perfectly humanised conversation and slits his throat with a knife, amplifying the essence of turning your back on everything and realising there is no need for reliance on anyone.
• Another conventional illustration is the collocation with the line ‘My eyes are coral, absorbing your dreams’ and the extreme close up of the female actor’s eyes, staring deep into the violent cloud contortions outside (achieved by time compression of footage).
• Static shots featured like this give the character prevalence and contribute to the slow moving feel of the whole extract, and subtle movements are appreciated as entire focus is on one eye only. Slight flickering of her lashes suddenly provides the character’s mood with much more depth, and humanises her.

 

• This video is definitely considered artistic, and it presents the tackling of a large issue of feminism.
• The video is a visionary concept for some women, that represents the female gender in a progressive way.
• The women disregard the need for paternalism within their society by taking down the male preceding them on the corporate ladder and in turn destroy prospects of working within a firm like this again.
• Again, this is amplification, or reflection upon a particular line of song matter. ‘For so long I’ve obeyed that feminine decree’ is sung, with the essence of obeying being exaggerated, simply though her gender.   
• The women group after being drawn sub-consciously together in an emotion-less fashion, each draped in blood. This gives connotations of an uprising, and unity in the strong characters.

• The artist, Anthony is represented through the clip too. The audience realise Carise plays the role of Anthony, and that the artist’s views are expressed through the lyrics.
• The suffering of the ‘feminine degree’, a central theme, seems to be experienced by the vocalist, despite him being male.
• The artist may experience the oppression of women from his point of view, and anger expressed at this is demonstrated through the poignant imagery created by the cataclysmic clip and highly realistic murder scene.

Group: Music Video Pitch

MC: Personal Song Choices

California Daze – Peace

·         This slow paced track is very intimate, a singer could engage with the audience very easily through a mime.

·         A concept of nostalgia, induced by a retrospective mise-en-scene (costume / location).

·         Slow motion effects, perhaps of band members in cars.

·         Comic backing vocal choir.

·         Easily imitate/have footage reflecting heavily on lyrical interpretation – love story

·         Heavy transitions with cymbals could bring cuts on these beats, drawing the music and visuals together.

Something Good – Alt-J

Group performance shots would be easy due to easily definable instrumentation

·        Cuts on different sections (verse/ pre chorus/chorus).

·         Video would have a positive energy and lens flare/lighting effects would be used for transitions.

·         Natural imagery would fit the track, for instance rock sculptures and lake scenes.

·         Performance aspect could be a live version of the track acoustically, without audience

·         The track would work with sporting/energetic imagery too (running/skating/rollerblading)

Crack Rock – Frank Ocean

A strong narrative could follow the story of a crack addict as a conjunct video, reflecting heavily on lyrics – and footage matching few sound effects heard (gunshot).

·         Grim, dull town setting would be perfect to follow the main protagonist 

·         The R&B track has a 90s feel, and so a retrospective feel could be created through costume. Reflection on other videos by this artist could be done, with the idea of VHS transitions between shots possibly being used.

·         Electric piano beginning could involve slow motion piano playing (perhaps playing double speed and slowing footage down).

·         Band version of track could feature band members playing each instrument, with heavy prominence  on singer.

·         Lyrical annotations and text could appear throughout video, perhaps more importantly during the main hook (of the song title).

MC: Goodwin Writing Frame

When considering the key features of a music video, Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) identified a number of conventions which can be applied to the music video ‘Celestine’ by Spector, directed by Jed Cullen in Hi-5 Collective (2011).

Firstly he stated that music videos demonstrate genre characters. This video could be categorised as being in the indie rock genre. It is conventional in that its iconography consists of costume and props that simulate a retrospective feel. The whole concept of slicked back hair and the use of the comb suggests 50s conformity, confirmed by the band members wearing suits.

The cutting rate increases in co-ordination with the climaxes of the song. This is typical of the genre, as the excitement and energy of the soundtrack is visually represented on-screen with the fast-paced cuts. There are occasional burst of images in succession, incredibly fast, where the audience may only notice a few or one image. On closer inspection they can all be summarised with a judgement that they conform to the genre, dwelling particularly on the retro feel, with embedded psychedelic imagery. 

The artists are all wearing particularly individual costumes, such as Hawaiian shirts and suits, which matches the independent association with ‘indie’ bands, who have obtained a reputation of being ‘arty’. Indie rock as a genre has developed to have association of ‘nerdy’ and smart connotations; and this ideal is confirmed with the singer wearing small rounded spectacles. Another prevalent characteristic can be defined in the post-production editing. At the final climax of the video, cutting rate increases along with additional featuring prominent images, such as speeding trucks. Most importantly, in this montage, the sky of the desert is colour corrected and inverted heavily to produce drastic abstract colours, such as pink and green, confirming the psychedelic nature once again.

The video employs an artistic approach to conventions in that shots of the band are displayed, and the illusion of live playing is upheld. However, it is unconventional in that abstract images are displayed parallel to this, such as a dog and other psychedelic images. He made reference to the notion of looking, and ‘Celestine’ practically demonstrates this with the assistance of mirrors. Band members play and sing their instruments towards a mirror; this is an amplifying experience for the audience to see the band in countless new angles.

Goodwin discussed the relationship between lyrics and visuals. In relation to the lyrics, it is clear that the video is unrelated to the lyrics. The link is so tenuous, perhaps only the song-writer is only aware of the link to the video, as the concept of the desert, with multiple random images, is unrelated to the contained lyrics. There are no literal meanings demonstrated in video. He also considered the relationship between, music and visuals to be an important convention. In the indie rock style, featuring the floor to the floor drum beat and fast paced guitars. The on-screen action matches this genre, as the cuts are fast-paced and act in co-ordination with music.  

Music videos are a postmodern form which implies that they often borrow and rework ideas from other texts and forms. 1950s pastiche is recreated with the retrospective styling of the members. Props such as a comb and old-style coca-cola glasses are used to connote this past fashioned era. Furthermore, 1960s psychedelica is implied in the space theme images that are displayed subliminally, through flashing and successive reappearances. 

MC: Auteur Analysis

‘The Golden Path – The Chemical Brothers’ Directed by Chris Milk

Lyrics correlate vaguely with visuals – ‘glowing lava’ with bright lights of photocopier – strong synaethesia

Urban surrounding of working community with oppressive colouring and protagonist’s emotionless face; is contrasted to vibrant colouring of clothes and smiles connoting joy of alternative lifestyle

Slow-motion time expansion effects of the imaginary world exaggerate the dream effect. Erotic imagery of the hippies is used, of kissing to create love and communal, and friendly atmosphere.

‘Heard 'Em Say" (U.S. Version) – Kanye West (2005)’ Directed by Michel Gondry

Monochrome footage blends with black and white drawn cartoon

Intercutting of performance – rapper and vocalist have a sense of unity

Lyrics have heavy connotation and are almost demonstrated by the cartoon illustration – range of interpretations, avoiding classic realist narrative

Close ups, many degrees, and views of artists, exposing flesh and giving prevalence to the characters.

‘Xtatic Truth – Crystal Fighters’ – Directed by James Spencer

Minimal lighting in dark car park, unconventional natural light (green/yellow) that flashes – enigma, abstract narrative fuzz

Tribal theme created through dancing

Band members displayed, lots of ‘meat’, retaining mystery through partial obscuring of faces

Lindesfarne – James Blake

Odd rituals of youth, welcoming a new member to their ‘cult’

Connotes the extent of what people might do to be accepted into new culture/world/people

Bruised faces and limbs of characters is shocking, but victims seems to be laughing – oxymoron

Despite strange/disgusting nature of the members, the have a sense of community/acceptance and sensuality – touching the girl’s stomach

Mister Heavenly - Bronx Sniper

Montage editing throughout

Destruction of house, and gang culture – skateboarding/motorbike/chainsaw props

Clown-themed costumes

Full body tattoos give negative connotations and highlight aggressive nature of antagonists

Swim Good – Frank Ocean (2011) – Directed by Nabil Elderkin

The notion of driving for a long while is created through montage editing, and slow motion. Night precedes daylight during the driving scenes to emulate a long journey that perhaps has stretched over the course of the night. The fourth wall is eliminated when we are placed within the car with the protagonist

The main protagonist and artist arouses enigma surrounding his character by the mise-en-scene. He wears an orange gown and is equipped with a samurai sword, causing a middle-eastern feel, as the surrounding coastal is too set in

VCR-style transitions are used to create a 90s, retrospective feel

‘Moby – Shot in the Back of the Head’ – Directed by David LynchIllustration of the music is interpreted by Lynch’s animation – no clear meaning due to instrumental nature· Incredibly basic animation, highlights narrative of video
· Cuts during video correlate with timing of song, creating a sense of unity between audio and visualsAmplification of song title

                                     Detailed Analysis

                                                          Radiohead – Knives Out

In the video for ‘Knives Out’ by Radiohead, directed by Michel Gondry in 2008, many narrative codes can be identified. The entire video has been treated to time compression, and is a representation of the life of a couple. The sped-up footage simply demonstrates the motions of their life in a summarising way. There are many demonstrative and symbolic scenes of the video, playing the part of a prominent section of the couple’s life. Near the beginning, the woman appears to be undergoing surgery, and this is demonstrated through a life-size ‘operation’ game. Furthermore, a toy train speeds past, on the same track, carrying different items. The whole juvenile theme and assistance of toys, and that it is viewed in some aspects through a television screen, gives the impression of the approach to life as a simplistic, trivial and insignificant.

One of the two main protagonists is the singer of the band; Thom Yorke, and he is portrayed in a caricature way, with the support of a novelty-sized heart as replacement for his head, placing a picture of his partner inside. This displays explicit meanings, and the actual singer of the music helps the audience feel develop a connection between video and music without the correlation of lyrics and visuals.  The artist is fleshed, and positioned in multiple situations throughout the video.

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Trouble – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

In the music video for ‘Trouble’ by TEED, directed by David Lynch in 2011 is a video featuring a large series of seemingly random imagery, putting the classification of illustration in a undeterminable rank. The opening establishing shot of the city features archaic text presenting the title of the song, generating a cowboy western feel. Along with the ringing out of the synths and slow pans of the landscape, followed by static images of buildings, and then their interiors, a solemn, noireistic feel is given to the extract, with a prominent 80s feel from the furnishings within.

As the song picks up, and a beat is added, characters begin to make an appearance. More significantly, the singer of the track, Orlando Higginbottom begins to mime the words. Throughout the song, he is placed in different situations, continually besided by two blond females, caressing and caringly touching him. He is unresponsive and seemingly ignorant to the surrounding affection he is experiencing, which has no obvious typical visualisation, but has implications of a disregard of social ongoing surrounding him. 

The particular artist, Higginbottom is displayed in different views and in varying costumes throughout the video, fleshing the character and ultimately displaying ‘meat’. In many of TEED’s videos, he is wearing extravagant head-gear, in this video for example, he wears an Native Indian headdress and a diamond-themed headpiece, designed by jewellers and sculptists, ‘Yunus and Eliza’. This retains his unique meta-narrative, defining him, despite a seemingly timid personality, as an outlandish character. He stares into the camera during the sofa scenes, almost singing to the audience, entirely ignoring the fourth wall and engaging the listener/watcher directly.

Can music videos be seen as an art form?

Music videos are ultimately a promotional video to sell a new single for a band, to gain popularity through exposing them to new audiences. A video on YouTube can gain thousands of views through repeatability and the right marketing campaign. However, a lot of videos are created for artistic purposes, sometimes by the band, and won’t feature the band in the video itself at all. Many videos are abstract, and can contain beautiful cinematography, of slow motion smoke, and extravagant splashing of colour. In fact, many, many videos do not seem to uphold any form of narrative, and are entirely disjunctive to the lyrics or music heard in the soundtrack. Therefore, the absence of any form of narrative fuzz defines a music video entirely for artistic purposes, and therefore an art form. 

MC: 'Are music videos commercials, porn or art? Discuss'

Music videos can be classified in different ways, most significantly by three main classifications, decided by technical aspects of the video itself. The three consist of the commercial aspect of videos, in the way that they are primarily promotional products for a band/solo artist or their single. This can be understood by the ethos of music television, where adverts seamlessly roll into music videos, all being for commercial use. Secondly, soft porn features heavily in a magnitude of female artist’s videos – where females (be it the artist), are objectified and viewed voyeuristically. Laura Mulvey provides strong belief for this debate, whereas many consider the music video to be entirely for artistic purposes, defined by the absence of any narrative.

In many cases, particularly for popular music, videos are released alongside a single to ultimately promote the band. These videos are not predominantly centred around translating complex meaning of the song through video, but are simply used as commercial material, and to flesh the band to the audience. This can be done literally by displaying multiple shots, including close-ups of the band mining, playing and interacting alongside each other (this is often juxtaposed to a narrative featuring members of the group). In the video for ‘We Found Love’ by Rihanna, directed by Melina Matsoukas in 2011, the artist is portrayed in an escapist way with a ‘bad boy’ stereotype, taking drugs and causing havoc with her love interest, who are abusive to their bodies and physically to each other. The video reinforces the meta-narrative of the controversial artist/character, Rihanna - and overall, it translates the lyrical meaning of love as well as difficulties of a relationship upon the two reckless main protagonists in the video. The track is classified roughly under the R&B, electronic dance genre, and so there are scenes of dancing and crowd-surfing to the sounds of the DJ. The characters in the video are portrayed as city dwellers that aren’t rich, as they indulge in acts of shop lifting and spending time in a run-down fish and chip shop. However, the celebrity lifestyle and values are portrayed perhaps hidden underneath an unwealthy image. Their free spirits seem to be unbound by money, and their consumer needs are easily depicted through the expensive car, an infinite number of pills and designer clothes.

Laura Mulvey, critical theorist, who wrote ‘visual pleasure and narrative cinema’ in 1975 believed that in mainstream, Hollywood films, a woman is sexualised and presented as an object – viewed by the audience in a forced heterosexual male gawk, known as the ‘female gaze’. This theory was written in the 70s, and perfectly relevant to today’s films and music videos. It raises the debate that many artist videos are created to serve purposes of soft pornography in order to sell the product, labels profiting from the exploiting of the artist’s physical assets. A perfect example would be the video for ‘Radar’ by Britney Spears, directed by Dave Meyers. Right from the beginning, she walks seductively towards a man, and his vision is met with a POV shot, forcing the audience onto the receiving end of her seduction. These characters are soon placed together and instantly he is layering her with diamonds, and seemingly as her object. Correlation with the Mulvey theory occurs again here, with the notion that the female becomes the personal sex object of the viewer. Secondly, there are countless shots of skin being caressed by a female hand, made to be believed as the protagonist, and artist; at the beginning a medium close up of the artist’s bare stomach is displayed, stereotypical of a camera lingering around the female body. In an unsubtle scene featuring this character kissing a separate man, the montage features camera lingering. This voyeurism is regarded to be sexist, as the female audience are denied woman agency and thrown without a choice into the scopophilia of a male viewpoint.

Other videos are completely disjunctive from the source music, or down to interpretation from the audience. Imagery may be presented as beautiful cinematography rather than follow a storyline, expose the artist or promote the song. There are many examples of artistic videos, but one for ‘Mojo’ by kidkanevil, directed by Ricky Kershaw features vibrant inks and clouds of paint exploding, contorting and shots cutting to the rhythm of the beats of the song. The song itself is contemporary electronic music featuring sampling of different vocals, in a disjointed way, so we can question the director’s intentions, perhaps to correlate and retain a detached state. We can understand he created those particular visuals from connotations received by his own self. I believe that with the entire absence of narrative comes a video determined for artistic purposes; the function of the video completely changes with the disregard of storyline.

In ‘Reinventing Music Videos’ by Matt Hanson (2006), he opposes the categorisation of music videos completely at times. He states ‘[The music video] inhabits that crucial space between the commercial and the experimental, and acts as the crossover point.’ However, many believe that every music video purposes can be categorised into commercial use, soft porn or artistic only uses. I believe this is true due to the modernised mainstream use and purpose of production of videos, and that is to be released alongside a single that will need sales in order to climb the chart. Meat shots, or close ups of the band are displayed in these types of video so that they are given prevalence, directly leading to exposure. Identification from fan to artist is provided, of course along with heavy use of desirable props and costumes to create lust of possessions, and lifestyle – and in some cases physique, or sexual lust. This is where soft porn comes into play; the use of objectification and sexualising during videos is simply another aesthetic to commodify and commercialise the artist. 

MC: The Music Industry – Contextual Research

Why is a music video so significant?

The music video is highly significant, especially for popular music, as videos are typically released alongside a new single – the purpose to ultimatey promote the band. The videos are often created simply to promote the band, and footage rich in connotation is not the centre of predominance. The target for directors is to obtain ultimate repeatablility, to reach thousands of video views and flesh the band through meat shots and close ups of the band mining, playing and interacting alongside each other. Footage of this kind is often juxtaposed to a narrative featuring member(s) of the group.

What role does the music press play in promoting artists in a digital media age? Are they still relevant? Give specific examples from the UK press.

The music press plays a huge part in promoting artists. Now that artists don’t make as many sales in the purchase of music (due to the significant rise of the illegal download), promotion proves more important for the few cd sales. They approach this promotion by making the physical copies much more desirable and unique. In a way artwork and the featuring digipack plays a larger part in the sale. Another aspect of promotion is for tours of live performances. For example, in the UK music scene, brands are retaining a meta-narrative, present in artwork, music videos and their live show. An example might be the xx, who use their logo throughout everything involved with their band, such as album artworks, music videos, and most recently, they have created a huge X-shaped box, which is lit from behind and filled with smoke, creating dreamy imagery to match the music (and videos) for their powerful live show.

MC: Music Festival Poster + Reflection

2. Reflect on your use of Photoshop.  How does it enable creativity?  What were the challenges?  How did you overcome them?

Photoshop enables creativity as layers can be smoothly added and merged to create a complex, full design. There are many readily-available effects for both text and pictures and so modifications and alterations can be made with ease, adding variety and spice to the source images and text.

I found difficultly with creating shapes within the programme and easily modifying them to keep all of them the same size; as well as finding difficulty over the placing these borders around images. It was also a task to fit plenty of information onto the piece while retaining a clear, readable, poster design.

3. List the techniques used in Photoshop.  To what effect?

The magic wand tool was used to remove the excess from the mask pictures.

The text tool was used for the festival name, date, location and artist names.

Colour editing was used to change the border colours, as well as the pictures to monochrome.

The scale function and crop was used to adjust and resize image sizes.
 

4. Evaluate your finished product in terms of the brief.  How successful were you?

The music festival poster is noticeably bleak, but its simplicity and stock colours draw attention to the striking overall image and vital information is easily accessible due to its clear and large font. There is a nightclub and underground feel from the dark colouring, and a tropical dance feel from the multiple masks featured, as well as the other colours used. The bands featured are similar, and likely of the date, and place, and so in terms of the brief, it is successful in the way that it is a realistic festival (poster).

5. Moving on to print production for the digipak and advert.  What advice would you give yourself?

Always have the brief in your mind. Utilise photoshop and realise its potential – with it you can meet the criteria with a modernised, stylish design. Furthermore, understand simplicity, as well as packing the digipack/advert chock-full with ideas and themes.