Magazine advert analysis

Magazine album covers have many purposes and are mainly used to market the artist themselves and their product, which is usually an upcoming album. Promoting the artists album reaches out to the public and raises awareness around it, as if it is in a popular magazine more people are likely to see it, meaning potentially more customers of the product if they are attracted by the album poster. As well as raise awareness to gain more fans, it also simultaneously reaches out to a wider audience of people who read magazines as well as listen to music. The magazine advert serves as a constant reminder to many about an upcoming album, unlike a television advert which just comes and goes. The album may be advertised elsewhere other than magazines, such as on television or on bus stops or in train stations where many may see it therefore leading to a wider exposure and potentially more fans, having a magazine advert assists mass marketing and the further the advertising goes, the further support the advertising may get from other companies who will be keen to sponsor that will help push the album sales even further. Advertising the album inside the magazines helps link in with any articles inside the magazine about the artist and if a reader was interested by an article they read about Jake Bugg for instance, they may be even further intrigued by him with an advertisement of his upcoming album, which makes the reader even more curious and may make them want to purchase the album, therefore leading to increased sales for the artist.

The magazine advert I have analysed from our chosen artist is of Jake Bugg's album "Shangri La". The advertisment is well presented and clearly laid out, it shows the artist name, album title, release date and also a well known song featured on the album, all of which you would expect to find in a magazine advert as it is critical information. Using a popular song name shows potential buyers of the album that the chosen popular song will feature on it, this is a marketing tool used to attract a wide audience, if people see that a popular song they like is featured on the album, then they will be more interested in the album and the artist if they know he created the song. 

The chosen image is of the artist himself, Jake Bugg leaning back against a wall with his guitar. As the artist is present, it shows he is trying to market himself, as he also shows a direct mode of address towards the camera, giving the advert a personal feel and allowing the audience to connect with him. The image shows a shadow behind the artist on the wall he is leaning on. This could be a hidden connotation and show what the album is about, as shadows are associated with reflecting on the past, which is further evident as we see that Jake Bugg is closer to the camera than the shadow is which could show he is getting away from his past through music. 

The advert is conventional the indie genre in a number of ways. first of being that the artist is a character who appears as ordinary and down to earth that the audience can relate to. Jake Bugg does this not only by his mode of address which is directed at the viewer, but also his hidden connotation of previously having some personal troubles, that many of his fans feel they can relate to as they may have been in his situation once in a time in their lives. Further conventions of the indie genre are shown with Jake Bugg holding his guitar, as indie artists are almost always seen carrying or playing their instrument, with the guitar being the most commonly associated instrument of this genre.

The artist himself is represented as a relatable and down to earth character but also one who is emotionally down and troubled, shown by the shadow reflection and also the costume he is wearing, which is all black, a colour associated with sadness and misery. Using this image allows the audience to connect with him as they may feel they have been through the same struggles and can not only relate with him, but also the songs he sings about these troubles, which may tempt them to buy the advertised album, therefore increasing sales. 

The next magazine advert I have analysed is of the indie band The Stone Roses. The artists are represented in a number of ways. One representation of the artists can be that they are very patriotic and proud of where they come from, as red, white and blue words are seen throughout the advert, which are the colours of the British flag and as are the font colour of the words, which links in with the colours used in the advert too. It also supports a review that they have purposely positioned at the top which says "The greatest British album of all time", to further highlight the theme of Britishness and patriotism.

The advert itself is laid out very well, with the artist name, album name centred, with reviews laid out either side, with the best review from NME centred at the top. This is used to attract an audience, as reputable well known critics have either said very promising things about the album, or rated it 10/10 or 5 stars. If a potential customer sees how well the album is rated, he will be more tempted to buy it, meaning that more money can be made by the artists and their label. The fact that the album is rated so highly also gives the artist a good reputation and the more good reviews the album receives, the better the general opinion of an artist or band will become, all artists are keen to get a good reputation in order to get more recognition and to maximise their success as much as they can. 

The image centered is the album title and band name, but also features a lemon which replaces the "0" in 20. The lemon animation is commonly associated with the stone roses and has been used on previous album covers by them, the colour of this advert is both bright and dark, bright with red, blue and white, but also dark with a black background. Also supported by the lemon, which is brightly coloured, but bitter, could connote that their album is bittersweet, featuring songs that are both up and down and about both happy and sad times. It also shows that the artists have variety and can create different content and not just the same thing over and over, as the colours and choice of image used can connote that they are able to provide different narratives in their songs about both happy and sad times.

In regards to typography, like you would expect from a magazine advert about an album, it includes mentions of songs which will feature on the album, which is vital information for someone who may be interested in buying the album. The band mainly let the strong worded reviews speak for themselves and don't rely on their own words to advertise their album, only describing it as "groundbreaking" and then just giving further information about what the album includes. 

Overall, analysing magazine adverts for albums from my own genre that I will create to advertise my own artists album for has helped me in a number of ways. I can understand what is appealing to not just indie fans in particular, but all music fans in general, they like to know what they are putting their money into and what favourite songs of theirs they will hear, and want to be attracted by it by either interesting art work, shown by the example from The Stone Roses, or the artist on show themselves, which is what Jake Bugg offers to his audience and potential buyers of his album. I have decided in my magazine advert it will include a photo of me with my guitar, the main instrument of the music genre and a main convention as many people associate it with the genre, and also very positive reviews placed on the advert and easily viewable, as I want potential buyers to be attracted by the positive views and think that if professional critics rate me highly, then I must be good and make interesting music. Also other vital information must be included, such as the artists name, their album name and also tracks included, as I don't want to leave my potential customers with un-answered questions and feeling like they have been mislead or confused by my magazine advert.

Applying for music copyright

Copyright is one of the main types of intellectual property others include designs, patents and trademarks. Intellectual property allows a person to own things they create in the same way as something physical can be owned. It is the right to prevent others copying or reproducing someone's work. Copyright is used in the music industries to stop lyrics and songs from being copied without the artists permission. Also beats cannot be taken without artists permission, as over the years, artists such as Mac Miller and Pharrell Williams have been in legal battles over copyright issues, for example, Mac Miller was once sued for $10 million over a song "Kool aid and pizza" that supposedly sampled a beat from Lord Finesse without consent.

Seeing the troubles and consequences other artists have had of copyright infringement, our group had to apply for copyright as we are using a song by Jake Bugg signed to mercury record label that we did not create nor do we own, so we need permission to publish content that doesn't belong to us to avoid any legal trouble. We therefore have emailed mercury record label, detailing what we intended to do with the content and are requesting permission to go ahead with using their song for our project. After one direct email, we are still awaiting a response, a copy of the email can be seen below.

As of November 16th 2015, we are still awaiting a reply from mercury records. 

Lyric analysis

Questionnaire

Questionnaires are very important to produce and carry out, it gives us a big insight into what fans prefer from a test audience. Our group specifically tailored our own questions

From question 1, I can see that the majoirty of the people we questioned were early teens to adults, showing the indie genre is more popular with older individuals, which means our video can be aimed at possibly this age range which means some darker themes may be able to be included due to the older audience. This allows us to include themes such as violence, as an older audience are allowed to see this and may understand it more and also the fact that violence is not appropriate for a young audience.

In Pie chart 2, it's showed that we interviewed predominantely males, but nonetheless recieved very positive results when asking if they were a fan of the indie genre, showing it's popularity. A higher male audience means we can use a male artist to relate with male fans and create a story that they can either relate to or be inspired by, for example an idea for our storyline is that my artist prevails in the struggle of homelessness, some people, male or female may have gone through that before and be inspired by my artist.

   Question 3 showed that many people we picked were actually fans of the indie genre, which could show how popular the genre is, meaning that it will give us a higher chance of success as there are many people familiar with this music. 

From question 4's pie chart I did note that many more people prefer a group performing act rather than a solo artist, which may affect us as my song is from a solo artist, however the song from Jake Bugg, who appeared to be the most popular artist amongst those we gave the questionnaire to, shown in question 5, which could prove advantageous to us in making our music video as it could be popular even solely based on how liked he is.

This question shows Jake Bugg's popularity, he appears to be easily the most favoured artist out of those we interviewed, which is positive for my group as many people clearly know who he is, but not only that, they clearly like his music and choose him above other well respected big artists such as Oasis and Coldplay. This could provide success for the group as it is something many are familiar with and enjoy, however we won't limit the video just to fans of Jake Bugg we want all of the 40 we interviewed and far beyond to enjoy it. 

From this question we asked, Jump cuts appear to be the most popular editing style, which means it is essential for our group to include this a lot in our production due to it's liking and the fact because it's what the majoirty would like to see, this could lead to more views and we want our production to be successful as possible and visual effects are one of many ways that we can achieve this. We thought of using jump cuts to help develop our narrative, the artist will travel many places in order to try and reach out to many people for money and jump cuts can be used to switch to the different locations he goes to.

From this pie chart, I noted that more people than not had seen indie acts live and generally enjoyed the performance they saw and a mock live performance is something we could possibly include in our music video as it may make our the majority of our audience remember a good time they once had at a live performance. It is also conventional to the genre as artists such as Ed Sheeran have included live performances in their videos and instruments are always present as it is live, another convention of the genre as an indie artist is usually always seen playing it in their video.

From question 8, it was seen that many prefer to have a relatable character in a music video that they feel they can connect with, which is definitely something I plan to add in my music video, with me being the artist wearing ordinary clothes, fitting in with the public and seeming like your every day type of person. This is perfect for my group as this is definitely something which is conventional to the indie genre, indie artists are always seen wearing casual clothes in their videos, not extravagant flashy suits or high end that you may see in a hip-hop video, this is because they want to seem down to earth, they wear clothes just like you and also go through the same things as you and the indie genre strives on having musicians who are relatable characters that connect with their fans.

From question 9, we can see that a concept/narrative vote is equal. A concept and narrative are similar and this is helpful as indie music videos are mainly narrative based and have meanings and various messages, which is something my group already set out to include in our video, so it's helpful knowing that a narrative based video seems more popular than a performance based one. This means me and my group will have to come up with a relevant and attractive storyline to put behind our music video to make it interesting for the viewers to watch and we also must use a storyline that will appeal to our intended audience as we will base it towards them and if their age range cannot relate to the story we have given, then our music video won't be a success. We are thinking of having a narrative of a struggling artist who deals with other issues such as homelessness and neglect, but plays music to prevail through it, many can relate to this as many see listening to or even playing music as a way to escape relate and get away in their own head.

Looking at question 10, the majority of those we questioned had heard of Jake Bugg and had a positive opinion of him, meaning basing our work on him can attract viewers as not only is he popular, those who do know of him generally have good things to say about him. More people thought he was "amazing" instead of just a "good" artist, which shows in fact just how much they do think of him. We chose his song "Two fingers" as the best fit for us to create around, as we think the lyrics are good, relatable and it's mainly narrative based, which all fits in with our questionnaires most popular wants of a music video. It is also a good song in my opinion and our group are confident we can create a music video our intended audience will enjoy.

     Our target audience research was essential to our group in finding what our potentential audience prefers to see in an indie video and what common popular opinions were. We asked a total of 40 people to answer our questions on the indie genre itself to see the sort of answers they come up with and provide data such as pie charts to organise our results.

The theory that I would apply to our questionnaire and music video is McCracken's theory which states that the post modern world is full of diversity as well as creativity, and that if we examined all the values of every subculture then we cannot say that all subcultures come from one culture, which essentially means that you cannot say there is one dominant culture above all the rest, as all cultures in the music industry are so widely varied that every subculture contains over cultures in them, all subcultures are diverse which is what we were able to see with our own questionnaire results in this post. It also means that our video needs to be diverse and creative and there are many ways we have thought of attempting to do this, one being including a time lapse in a packed location, something not seen too often in music video's and also a storyline that follows two characters instead of just one, adding some diversity and contrast between two artists, who seem the polar opposite of each other. Every result was varied from the questionnaire of the 40 people we all asked and they were all associated or associated themselves with cultures before we asked them the questions which further shows how varied cultures are in the music industry.

Vox pops were used to give examples for opinions we received in interviews and also to back up our data and represent the general opinion of our potential target audience. They were also helpful in further finding out what our intended audience would prefer to see in a music video, so that we could implement popular interests into our own production. They also provide a more in depth and detailed answer compared to pie charts, and allows people to elaborate freely with their answers, meaning we can gather more information. Within our groups, each individual had to film 5 vox pops.

Once again, the majority of people are shown here to like Jake Bugg, one person even saying she "really really really" likes him. All of the people I interviewed also told me that they were fans of the indie genre, which is very helpful to know that the genre we are basing our project around is so popular. Many seemed to like performance based videos, which is helpful as this is an idea that me and my group have thought of, that the artist can travel to places with his guitar and also play it, which is also conventional to the indie genre as many artists of the genre are seen playing it in their videos. A popular editing style amongst the vox pops was black and white, which is something we could include in our video as not only is it conventional, it shows the characters emotion, which fits well within our video as the artist is going through dark times.

Overall, gathering opinions from various people helped us find what possibly our target audience would prefer to see when it comes to our production and how we could possibly appeal to them. This research gave us a better insight into popular interests and putting our results into pie charts made it easier for us to navigate our results and read them. As we can see from the pie charts that Jump Cuts, relatable characters and hard hitting messages are definitely popular amongst indie fans, this is something we will add into our own music video. If we were to carry out this research again, I would recommend asking more about the videos, rather than live performances as that from the start would have been hard to include in our own music video.

Research into chosen artist

Jake Bugg, our chosen artist falls under the "indie genre", the genre our group decided we would base our project around. We thought Jake Bugg fitted best, because he is a solo artist and is around our age, our production will only have one artist and we feel the music is most relevant and the most fitting to create a video around. He is signed under mercury records and his music and music videos nearly always feature a concept or narrative, that me and my group look to create one of our own when producing our own video of a Jake Bugg song.

Jake Bugg was born in Clifton, Nottingham, to musical parents who separated when he was young. His father, whose last name was Bugg, was a nurse, and his mother worked in sales, both having previously made recordings. He grew up in the Clifton council estate of Nottingham and started playing guitar at the age of 12 after being introduced to the instrument by his uncle Mark. At a very young age, he has been highly successful, being approached by the BBC at just age 17 to be the opening act of the 2011 glastonbury festival. This lead to widespread recognition and eventually lead to his record deal with mercury, which also saw more of his songs such as "Lightning Bolt" and "Two fingers" being played on radio stations. His debut album "Jake Bugg" charted number 1 in the UK charts and to date has sold over 600,000 copies, also making it the 57th best-selling album of the 2010 decade.

Bugg, 21 has already at his early age gone through many experiences in his life and expresses some through his own music, "two fingers" being one example. Another example is the song "Seen it all", which could be a personal experience he has had, singing about his friend. Dyer's star theory is used throughout this post in a numer of instances. The theory states that the artist must be present, but also absent for their audience at the same time, which is seen in the video when Jake Bugg is playing ping pong with the main character and then all of a sudden dissapears. This theory is further shown in this video, as part of this theory is that the artist must be ordinary but also extraordinary at the same time. This is present as the song first appears to just be any other normal night that an ordinary person would have, however we then learn the main character infact died and was a ghost in the video, which I will further explain. 








Goodwins theory is also present in a number of instances in this video. The video itself demonstrates genre characteristics, as the film appears low budget like many in the indie genre, as expensive locations are not featured not extravagent special effects, only a fade effect which shows the character dissapearing, however this is necessesary because it links in with the story of the song and video. 

The video also features a narrative, since it is not performance based is the artist is only very briefly seen in the vdieo. The narrative is of a man who went out for a night on the town and went missing and died and the video shows him as a ghost, until the very end where he sees himself on TV reported missing. The music also has a relationship with the visuals, for example at the end of the video when the character drops the cup, at the same time it hits the floor, the last guitar string of the song plays. Lyrics also link with the visuals at the end of the video, when Jake Bugg sings "I've seen the light, but not the kind I would of liked", which is talking about the characters death, as the character begins to dissapear when this lyric is heard and also seeing a light is associated with death as it means someone is passing into the afterlife. Although the artist is not present in this video, judging by the visuals and the story in the lyrics of the song, the audience understand that even at the age of 22, Jake Bugg has been through more than a few traumatic experiences, which makes the viewers feel sympathy towards him, which therefore connects them to the artist. The target audience for this could be young males between 15-25, the reason for this being is that it's a story that involves violence with young males and may also raise awareness to a younger audience and shock them in a good way, making them think before getting into such dangerous situations themselves.

There are many instances of Mis-en-scene in this video which explain the whole concept behind it. The first is a taxi, which drives straight past the character when he is running and shouting for a lift. This is because the character is a ghost, the driver cannot actually see the character running and calling for the cab since he isnt alive, which is why he doesn't pick him up. This is further shown with a mid-shot of him outside a cafe and also the mis-en-scene of a window. Ghosts are known to leave trails or marks where                                                        
they have been present, which is why the handprint appears on the window, however when he is trying to grab the womans attention inside by dancing and peering through the window, she does not see him, hence further proving the man isn't actually visible. This is followed by reverse editing and a shot reverse shot between a ping pong game going on with the character and Jake Bugg, where Jake dissapears and the character is suddenly left on his own playing. Another instance of cinematography is a wide shot of a social club, where the character walks in on people playing snooker. He is stood over and around the tables, but no one acknowledges him or recognizes that he is even there, further emphasizing his invisiblity and that he is a ghost. The video ends with another use of cinematography with a high angle shot of the character, which shows him as vulnerable. He is watching the news report of him missing, followed by one final close-up of the character to show his emotions, then ending with a fade effect to show the ghost dissapearing.










"What doesn't kill you" is the second Jake Bugg song I have analysed, which is conventional to the indie genre in a number of ways. This video follows goodwins theory as it has a narrative, saying the experiences jake has been through and that he is only stronger from them, these are personal anecdotes used to connect the audience with the artist. Goodwins theory is further present through linking the lyrics with the visuals, as the title is "What doesn't kill you", and Jake Bugg wears all black clothing and a black and white editing effect is used to show the character as emotionally drained. Throughout this music video, the artist is presented in a number of different ways. From the very beginning of the video to the end of it, the video features just Jake Bugg performing the song, which also shows this video is mainly performance based too, he is also present and absent at the same time which links in with dyers theory, we see him the whole time, but at the start his back is turnt, showing his absence.

Limited cinematography is used in this video, the first instance of cinematography is a long shot of the scene, with the artist facing away from the camera and a voice shouting at him. This could connote that he is a loner or was bullied, or maybe that he is unhappy or depressed, supported by the mis-en-scene use with costumes, which is all black clothing. Also, the lighting on the artist himself is much darker than any other parts of the video, which could also show that he is a dark person, or shows very little emotion towards things, which is backed up by his dull and lifeless facial expressions which are seen throughout the video, his back to the camera and keeping himself alone in the corner could also show he is reflecting on something. This all allows the audience to symphasize and connect with the artist, as well as further into the video when cinematography is further used with very close-ups of his face, allowing the audience to see his emotions and further connect with him. The target audience would be preferably for males 15+, first backed up by the parental advisory logo shown right at the start, eliminating any idea for this video to be for anyone below 15. I believe it appeals towards maybe older males, as a black and white effect is used sometimes to make things feel old and classical, something older men may enjoy. It may remind them of previous similar artists such as Bob Dylan, who were more privalent in their time and also wore similar clothing.

The style of this music video is basically what an indie fan would expect to see in an ordinary indie genre video, as this is primarily performance based and also in black white, like many other indie music videos. The whole video is of Jake Bugg performing to the audience, whilst showing a direct mode of address throughout the video, which allows him to connect with the audience as he is facing them and the audience feel he is looking right at them, almost as if he is there. An example of mis-en-scene in this video is an electric guitar Jake Bugg is holding, this is conventional as artists are commonly seen in their video carrying or playing an instrument. This gives the audience what they want, as they usually expect to see this in an indie genre video. The setting is only a dark room, which means there isn't really anything to focus on but the artist, he is the centre of attention and all for the audience to really look at, which draws viewers in to him, attracting more attention which is also an example of the artist selling himself. Overall, the artist appears as someone who has been emotionally torn and been through and been through a lot of personal traumas, but has came out in the other side and lived through it even at such a young age. He is a relatable character that the audience can symphasize with and have some form of a connection to.


Overall, the research I have gathered looking at Jake Bugg and his videos has been very helpful and also is essential in order for me to gather ideas when making my own production.

Research into chosen genre

Intro: The genre I have chosen to do for my media coursework production is indie. We have chosen Jake Bugg as our artist and his song two fingers. The indie genre mainly consists of bands that are funded by and release off of independent labels. Although the indie group is made of predominately bands, the artist we are basing our work on is Jake Bugg and our group decided that a solo male artist from the genre is best as we only require one person as an artist, which will be me. The artists I have analysed as example indie artists are Hozier and Bob Dylan.

Hozier's song "Take me to church", a 2013 release has accumulated over 250 million youtube views and was a number 1 hit in 12 countries. The target audience for this video is for both genders, aged between 15-25. It is aimed at slightly older teenagers due to content that may be harmful for younger ages. The whole video is shot in black and white, showing that this video features a dark theme. This music video is not performance based, as we never see the artist, it is instead a narrative and concept themed video, that revolves around homosexuality. This is unconventional, as although indie artists may sing about personal situations or issues in society that their listeners can relate to, homosexuality is not a common theme or topic when it comes to the Indie genre. The video shows a story of two men in love, who's homosexuality is discovered by a gang, their homosexuality is condemned and the gang are hunting them down. This is significant, as it is known that Hozier is from Ireland, a very strict catholic religious country that has only very recently finally accepted the idea of homosexuality as a country. This video about violence against homosexuals is used by the artist to spread awareness, Hozier himself has expressed his frustration with the Catholic Church's traditional teachings, as quoted in a rolling stone magazine "Growing up, I always saw the hypocrisy of the Catholic church, the history speaks for itself and I grew incredibly frustrated and angry. I essentially just put that into my words." The artist is clearly trying to spread a message, and get his listeners in support of homosexuality and feels that the old attitudes are outdated and ignorant. Although it's not common for homosexuality to be talked about in the indie genre, it is conventional for artists to sing about issues in society or situations that listeners can relate to, which Hozier has in this song.

An example of mis-en-scene in this video is costumes, with the hoods and scarves the antagonists are wearing. They are wearing these to hide their identity in case cameras catch them hunting down the male or trashing the house and also to appear intimidating so they scare who they're after, which relates to the concept of the video. The chained box is also another instance of mis-en-scene in this video, as it resembles something they are locking away to try and hide, and the two things they are trying to hi

de are their homosexuality and also their love for eachother, when the box is found by the gang, it is destroyed and also thrown in the fire, which shows not only has their love and homosexuality been uncovered, but also destroyed, as they relationship is going up in flames. Another example of mis-en-scene is the log fire which is shown

numerous times throughout the music video. The fire could resemble the couples passion for each other, or also the "burning" hatred of the pair from the gang members and could also connote violence and a fiery atmosphere. Cinematography is used in a number of instances in this video, it's shown with a close-up when the couple are kissing, which shows to the audience the characters love for each other and also their emotions, which connects the audience to the story as they feel maybe they can relate, even i

f they aren't homosexual as the emotion of love is shown, which also therefore makes the characters relatable to the audience. The second instance of cinematography is at the end of the video, which is a long shot of all the characters in the music video. It gives the audience a clear view of everything that is happening in the shot, the gay man being violently beaten by the gang, the fire and then his lover arriving to the scene to discover him being beaten. This is conventional as like many indie songs, it tells a story and involves the viewer into the story. The long shot itself is an establishing shot to set the scene of the narrative in the video. An example of editing used is a black and white effect, which is present for the whole music video as it shot entirely in black and white. Editing is essential to make a music video visually interesting, and most indie genre videos will tend to use special effects to run things smoothly or make the audience feel that they are in the video. The shots in this video are cut generally slow to link in with the tempo of the song, which relates with goodwins theory. Black and white editing is popular because it gives a sad feeling and can help tell a sad story better and make the audience feel the emotion more, also it can connote that something is old, in this instance it may be that the violent and nasty attitude towards gays is old and that this video is the past and shows how gays were treated before and conveys to the audience that treating gays like this is a past thing and shouldn't happen in the present, where gays are far more openly accepted, welcomed and talked about. Another example of editing is also that there are many straight cuts, which is used to switch the different parts of the story as there are always two simultaneous events happening, for example, the couple together throwing rocks across a lake and kissing, whilst the gang at the same time are together and after them. Using straight cuts helps tell the story to the audience and switch to different parts of the narrative and what is happening in the story. 

The target audience for this video is both genders, aged 15-25. I'd say this because it cannot be aimed for anyone younger than 15 as there are upsetting themes and harmful content, such as violence and also that today there are more gays "coming out" that fall into that age range. Although there isn't one female in this video, lesbians can relate to this too as it is not just male homosexuals that have been condemned and suppressed over the years. The characters all look like they are either late teens or early adults, the same age range as the intended target audience, meaning viewers can relate as the characters are around the same age and also the emotion and feeling of love is present, another theme many can relate to, not just homosexuals. The artist is not seen once in the video, but he is shown to be a relatable character that stands for more modern viewers by many in society, accepting homosexuality. He speaks for young people that may have been condemned when they expressed their sexuality and also people that in general feel angry about how gays are treated and the ignorant attitudes some may have towards them. It is a dark themed narrative and concept video, a story is going on inside the video and the meaning is that gays should not be condemned and it tells and shows a sad story of just an example of how someone was, which may even be a true story that the artists wants to share with his audience. This music video links in and relates to goodwins theory as there are genre characteristics shown, as the video is shot in black and white like many other indie videos, The Courteeners' "Are you in love with a notion?" is one example. It is also tells a story about a personal experience or society that the audience can relate to, just like many other indie songs too, which also further shows the presence of goodwins theory. 

"Blood In My Eyes" is a song by indie artist Bob Dylan. He is one of the earliest artists of the "indie" genre, with his rise to popularity occurring in the late 1960's into the early 70's. He has been very successful over the course of his career, selling over 100 million records. His song "blood in my eyes" is conventional to the indie genre in a number of ways. Just like Hozier's, Bob Dylan's video here is shot entirely in black and white, further showing the popularity of black and white videos in the indie genre and that it is conventional to the genre. Although Bob Dylan is an old artist, this song was released in 1993 when colour was widely available, showing the artist purposely chose using black and white as he wanted to be effective and set the tone for a sad story to tell his audience. Like a lot of indie songs and just like Hoziers, the main theme of this song is love, a relatable theme and emotion that many listeners can relate to. An example of mis-en-scene in this video is a pen seen numerous times, it is used to sign fans that appear in the videos autographs. This is a way of connecting with fans, which indie artists often do with their relatble lyrics and themes, showing this is conventional. An example of cinematography in the video is when Bob Dylan is shown very close-up singing to the camera, which is used to show his emotions and further connect with the audience. It also shows his facial expression as blank and that he is hurting and that he desperately wants the girl he is singing about. Another use of cinematography is a mid-shot of the artist as he walks through a city street. This again relates to the audience, as he fits right in with the public, showing he is just like one of them. An example of editing is fast paced editing, shown when the artist is walking across a bridge with people behind him. This makes things run smoothly and is an effect that keeps the viewers interested and also ties in with goodwins theory as the music links with the visuals, as the people move suddenly closer due to editing every time Bob Dylan changes a string. The second instance of editing is a black and white effect, since the whole video is in black and white from start to finish. This is used to show his emotions and that it is a sad story, hence him singing about a girl he wants but can't get. It may also show that with the colours used that his life is boring and dull and if he had the girl, maybe his life would be colourful and he would be happy. The target audience of this video is males aged 18-55. It is a man singing a love song about his feelings for a girl and also how in love with her he is, that any male from young adult to around Bob Dylan's age can relate to, as people don't really experience "true love" until they are adult.  The age range goes up to 55 as the artist is of a similar age in this video (Bob Dylan being 53 at the time of this songs release). Bob Dylan similarly to Hozier is represented as a person who the audience can relate to and is pretty much just like them, but in a different way, as in his video Bob Dylan blends in with the public and shows himself as just another ordinary person. Unlike "take me to church", "Blood in my eyes" features the artist himself throughout the entire video, making it primiarly performance based and also linking it in with goodwins theory. Another example of goodwins theory being present is that the video shows genre characteristics, with it being a theme that many listeners can relate to and also the artist making himself a relatable character.

Overall, many similarites span across both videos and both videos also showcase genre characteristics and conventions. Both are shot in black and white, which shows this a popular thing done across indie music videos and they also have a relatable theme of love, something that listeners feel conncecting to a song by, that it's an issue that may be in their lives or they were once affected by it and they can relate to an indie artist who appears just like another human being to their fans. Typically indie genre music videos are low budget, very rarely do they have inticing visual effects nor do they feature expensive locations, the reason being for this is that it makes it easier for many to relate to if there is a relatable story and not many extravagent or unordinary items or settings in the video. My video may contain similar settings to my examples and it is also a low budget video like the two above. These videos have inspired me to make myself a relatable character that the audience see as I want my audience to feel they can relate to my production and that I appear as just another person like them, however at this point I have decided it is unlikely I will use a black and white effect in my music video, as I believe that it is becoming overused in this genre and can become dull and boring and I want my audience interested and drawn into my music video. This has inspired me to use a point of view shot in my own production, as it establishes a connection between the audience and the artist, the audience can see things through the artists eyes and it involves them in the story and situation that the artist is in, which therefore creates a relationship between the two and shows conventions, as the audience and artist here are showing a clear connection and an indie convention is an artist connecting with his fans.

Analysis of star and dyer theory

Celebrities seem to want to reinvent themselves in the eyes of the public and the media, particularly in the music industry. The artist may have a few reasons for such a diverse and sudden change in their direction and type of music and also the person they are as a whole, sometimes even creating an alter ego of themselves, e.g Beyonce as "sasha fierce". Artists may change themselves or their music in order to appeal to a new target audience, reinvent themselves as a fresh new person if they feel their music is becoming boring and isn't selling as well anymore. By reaching out to a new audience, it can gain them more popularity and the artist themselves may be having more fun producing a different kind of music. In some cases, artists do this for publicity and sometimes even controversy, creating more buzz around them and get people talking about them.

Examples of artists who have done this are Justin Bieber and Madonna. Madonna experienced success in the late 80's and early 90's with hits such as "Papa don't preach" and "Material girl". Her record sales however took a dive since then, and she has been beaten out over the years by various artists of her pop genre, for example, Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Gwen Stefani just to name a few. She has attempted a few times to stay relevant to her intended audience and try to tower over competition, for example, changing her "pop girl" image and creating a darker character in the video for her song "frozen", to possibly reach out to a new group of fans and extend the reach for her content. More recently, madonna tried to make her music more modern, and also perform with current popular artist Nikki Minaj, in order to stay relevant and bring fresh new content, with the song "give me all your luvin". Her attempts have not been considered successful however, as madonnas music is far less popular than it was, and female artist of this genre such as Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift continue to thrive.

Justin Bieber has showed changes in his music throughout the course of his career to the present day. He was orginally knowing for first starting his music with pop, with the record breaking song "baby", which has accumulated over 1 billion views on youtube. Bieber had a mop top hair style and his music style appealed mainly to teenage girls, who he gained a massive cult following from. In 2012, Justin Bieber changed his style of music and wanted to appeal to a new, older target audience and possibly more towards boys, with the song "boyfriend" which although is still mainly targeted girls, includes a hip-hop beat, therefore changing the style of music from pop. He acts more of a cool character, rather than a prepubescent heart throb and also raps, compared to baby which is just singing and ludacris does the rapping role. His 3rd stage of change came with the song "Where r u now" which appeals to a very wide range of audiences, this time not specifically female, equally both genres and also we see the genre of music change to dance from hip-hop.

The artist that I have chose to analyse for this post is Miley Cyrus. Known for being the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, when she first gained popularity as a musician, she based her music around the rockpop genre. Her first stage as an artist can be shown with the song "best of both worlds" under the act of "Hannah Montana". She released her music from disney, a show mainly viewed by young children, and marketed her music during the Hannah Montana phase at mainly girls, aged specifically around 4-12. She was seen as an idol for many young girls, a girl who had her own show who was seen as a tad wild, but a relatable character and also sensible in the end, one that girls everywhere can look up to. The element of goodwins theory here is present as she is meeting the demands of the record label, she suits poprock characteristics and is performing for her fans, which builds hype around the artist and makes the record label money. Further elements from goodwins theory are supported as we can see it is performance based, she is singing on stage to all of her fans.  From the best of both worlds video, we can see her performing on stage fully clothed and not revealing anything, in southern american clothing too, such as boots and ranch jeans. We can also see that looking at the crowd cheering for her, not only are they all female, but they look to be from the ages of 4-12, who her music was targeted at during this phase. Dyer's theory is present in this video, as the artist appears as both ordinary and extraordinary, she seems just a normal teenage girl no different from anyone else, but is also extraordinary, as so many young girls want to be like her and have her unique fame. From her lyrics, we can see there is no offence to be taken, as she does not curse once, and her lyrics are mainly inspiring and the purpose of them is mainly to make young girls believe in themselves, and that maybe that can achieve something great, the lyrics "Whoever thought that a girl like me would double as a superstar", shows that if she can do it, anyone can. This song and video is conventional, as in the rock pop genre there isn't typically much swearing and the artists show a pinky side but are usually good characters, this song features no curse words and "Hannah Montana" is designed to be a role model and an idol, therefore being a good character. Overall, this gimmick was meant to be a role model for young girls and an inspirational character that her target audience could admire and aspire to be like. 

Her first change was seen when she released "Can't be tamed". We see her here ditch the "Hannah Montana" character, and reinvent herself as "Miley Cyrus", appealing more towards female teenagers, and also possibly young adults in a number of ways, being a more relatable character for older ages but also controversial, can't be tamed may be disturbing for a young child and the lyrics may be hard to understand, so her target audience here may have changed to possibly a teenage girl audience. The video shows an element of goodwins theory with a voyueristric look and treatment of the female body, as a lot more of her body is exposed compared to best of both worlds and her stances in this video are provactive, e.g prowling and lying on her back. Another element of goodwins theory is present as the song has a deeper meaning and a concept behind it. This song is about Miley wanting to show she can be someone else other than Hannah Montana, the gimmick she created that everyone looked up to and all young girls wanted to be like, and that she can be a darker character, not just one of your conventional pop artists, she further states this with her choice of lyrics, one example being "I wanna be a part of something I don't know", showing this is new for her and she wants to experiment. She is also seen here revealing herself more, such as being seen in the video with a black revealing costume showing off her arms and legs and also some of her cleavage, different to her Hannah Montana gimmick where she would usually be seen in brightly coloured clothing with sequins and tacky necklaces, or relating to her best of both worlds performance where she wore boots and ranch jeans. Although a change is present here, Miley still follows the main conventions of pop, and doesn't do anything too controversial or even use foul language and also includes dance routines and costumes, all typically present in pop music videos, so miley here wants her fans for hegenomy in her own music video.

Her second change and current character is still under the act of Miley Cyrus, but considering her first change was pretty extravagant. she found a way to make herself even more of a diverse character from 2010 in the early stages of when she reinvented herself as Miley Cyrus. In the current era, she presents herself as someone who has little care at all about what people think of her, by the lyrics in her songs and the way she dresses in her music videos and also in public. not forgetting her behaviour, for example twerking on Robin Thicke at the 2013 VMA's. A music video that shows her current character, is her recent release "dooo it". This video relates to goodwins as it is primarily performance based, she is seen in video for the whole 4 minutes and 26 seconds, the focus is always on her and she is always seen either gurgling glitter or sprinkles or smoking marijuana. Her lyrics in this song feature far more explicit language than any of the previous examples I have given, some examples being "yeah I smoke pot, yeah I love peace, but I don't give a f*ck" As this character has developed, we can see just from those lyrics the dramatic change. She uses foul language for the first time in my examples and also mentions drug use for the first time, more commonly seen in rockstars music videos rather than Mileys music. We see her here move away from the pop genre and into the electronica genre, showing not only her change in persona, but also her music too, the song features three major changes in the tempo, and ends with miley repeatedly singing the lyrics "peace motherfucker" over and over. As odd as it seems, this video ironically supports the genre conventions, as electronica is known to be a genre with creative and unique music. This video definitely places fans against hegenomy, the freakish and extravagent behaviour aswell as vulgar lyrics are not considered the norm, and Miley herself is rebelling against the norms of society, saying loud and clear she doesn't care what others think by saying "I don't give a f*ck". Due to most of this content being grossly offensive, its fair to say this could only appeal to an adult audience, specifically female, which again shows mileys change as now she is producing music that may not even be appropriate for teens to listen to, as also parents may worry about Miley giving bad influences. Overall, from the start of her music career (2006) to the present day (2015), her change has been signifficant, not only with the change in her musical content and genre, but also her overall attitude and persona. Many may blame this on her age, that as she grew older and through puberty she would understandably change and also the fact she was born into the limelight having an already musically famous father and that she wanted to differ from that type of music and be her own person, however many would also agree that she has been near extreme about being a different artist to her father and also in general from herself when she first started. She started off as a role model for young girls that they could aspire to be like when they were older and transformed today into the miley we know that mainly aims her music at young adults and speaks for people who love partying, and people who don't care what others think of them, which is shown in her lyrics that freely commercialise drug use and also her flamboyant behaviour in her videos and in person, for example, various instances of twerking. All in all, Miley's change from the start of her music career only 9 years ago has been dramatic and with her being only 22 years old, she has plenty of time for more change and it will be interesting to see the direction miley cyrus takes her music in  and also how much her persona will further change over the course of her career.

This research will aid me in finding an artist to base my project on, as chosing a controversial artist may be a risky move and viewers of my project may be disturbed or not enjoy it, although typically Indie, the genre my project is based around is not controversial, so finding a relevant song for my preferences should not be too hard, and something extragavent or unordinary shouldn't be expected with my project.

Analysis of music videos

Drake-Over

Music videos appeal to audiences in a number of ways, through iconography, editing and also showing the audience more about the artists themselves or in some cases, even building controversy to get people talking about the music video. Song lyrics may not be enough to enforce feelings and emotions, so a music video may clear it up better and emphasise the points. A music video doesn't have to cause controversy to be abstract, and Drake's "over" is an example of that, being a diverse music video with it's special effects, visuals and editing.

Drake "over" is a diverse music video that is also both conventional unconventional to the rap genre, but sways more towards being abstract. The instance in which it shows conventionality is with the use of mis en scene, in the iconography present. Drake is wearing a gold chain, commonly seen worn by other rap artists such as 2 chainz and 50 cent, this is commonly seen on artists to show they can afford expensive jewellery. ' An edting effect used in this video is called a mirror effect, where at one point we see two drakes instead of one, which could connote this is himself looking back on his actions, supported by his lyrics "I did it overnight it couldn't happen any quicker." Another example of editing used commonly here is also when drakes face and what he sees e.g the females in the background is faded numerous times in the video using a blur effect, which is efficent as this means drake cannot put a face to people, supported by his lyrics "I know way too many people here right now that I didn't know last year, who the f*ck are y'all?" Cinematography is present and used through close-up camera shots in order to engage the audience, as there are close-ups of drakes face throughout the entire video, this is used to engage drake with the audience and that he has their attention, also that he himself is the center of attention. This is conventional, as artists want to see more of him and his songs and will buy it if they like it, they see a lot of drake in this video, if his face is constantly put out to the public, he becomes more recognisable and this helps him as he will sell more records. There is also a mid shot of him sitting on the end of the bed, which is used to show the special effects and images that appear on the wall behind him. Another meaning could be that since he is on a bed, it could all just be a dream and this is what is inside of his head.

Lil Wayne- Lolipop- Hip Hop Genre

Lil Wayne "lolipop" is a hip-hop song which is conventional to the genre in a number of ways. It's first use of cinematogrpahy is shown with a mid shot of lil wayne in the car with girls that appear promiscuious and are all wearing revealing clothing. It is typical for this to be present in hip-hop videos, as these artists want to show their viewers that they are "cool", in this case lil wayne wants to demonstrate that by showing he has a lot of women. The second use of cinematography is shown with tracking shots that occur twice in the video. The first is when the camera tracks from space to across the city and to lil waynes hotel room, immediately focusing on him, the main intention of this type of cinematography being that they want to show lil wayne is the main focus and do so by zooming straight on him at the beginning. The next example is of a black limo driven in the video, which features lil wayne and his women in. Black limos are expensive and are a luxury item and lil wayne is acting like this is his every day life, partying with women in the vehicle. Again, he wants to show to his audience the "cool guy" gimmick and also make his fans possibly want to have his life. Editing is shown right at the beginning of the video, with special effects showing golden lights, which symbolise las vegas, where the limo is seen driving through throughout the video and also there is a visual effect that follows that shows blue colours with black circles inside, which could symbolise a dancefloor. These effects then continue to be used continuously throughout the video and to show not only with bright glamorous colours that lil wayne lives the "high life", but also that him and those with him on the evening are after a good time and are partying. Fast paced editing is present in this video and is shown throughout, as they introduce the viewer to lil waynes life, showing the limo, women, a pool and lil wayne himself rapping in a number of quick shots, mainly since because it is hip hop, hip-hop songs are generally fast paced, hence the fast editing. An example of mis en scene is the clothes he is wearing, a smart suit and tie, expensive clothing again, showing these are luxerys lil wayne can afford and this again shows conventionality as hip hop artisrs like to brag about what they have and flaunt themselves often.

Guns n Roses- Welcome to the jungle- rock and roll
The video "welcome to the jungle" is conventional to the rock genre in a number of ways. An example of editing is constant jump cuts near the beginning of the video between all the artists from the band. It shows the members of the band playing instruments you'd expect to see in a rock and roll video and also what you'd expect to hear, for example electric guitars and drums. This satisfys the audience, as they are seeing and heaing what they expect, meaning this could help sell the song more successfully.  Another example of editing is during montage shots, a shot of a soldier can be seen running and also police brutality, which link in with the genres main theme of violence and also aggression which is very common in this type of music, making it conventional. An example of mis en scene is the costumes the band members are wearing and also other aspects of their appearance, such as tattoos and wacky hairstyles, and also steel bracelets and black leather jeans, all what a typical rock and roll audience would picutre their favourite artist or who they're viewing to look like, as rock stars also care little what people think of them, which is further shown in this video by the characters unordinary image and outfits. Cinematography is used in this video to show the band up close and personal, with various closeups of them playing the song. This interracts the audience with the band and attracts them to their performance, giving the audience what they're after and also trying to sell themselves as artists. There are also panning shots of the band playing on stage, showing the viewers their performance and allowing them to see all of the artists playing personally, further drawing viewers into the video, as they are getting what they want, in seeing the band they like and want to listen to.

Conclusion:
Overall technical elements vary in different ways accross these music videos. It's important to consider the technology changes and how music videos has become ever more different as years have passed, evidenlty comparing over with welcome to the jungle, the rock and roll music videos quality is lower, and special effects like the ones seen in over wouldn't have been able to be implemented into a video during Guns N' Roses' era. The music videos appeal to the audience mainly by sticking to and showing conventions of the genre and also showing the artists/artists up close and personal to their fans, allowing the artist/artists to buld a relationship with them. For my music video, I think it is important I am shown a lot and close to the camera, as I am the artist in our group, and conventions to our indie genre such as the use of guitars and casual clothing can be presnt to further reach out to our intended audience.