-I have been looking atOne Direction's official website to identify all the ways the audience can interact and fully immerse themselves into the brand of One Direction.
-As soon as you click on the website we already faced with the opportunity to click straight through to web stores to buy their single and tour tickets and to follow the boys themselves on Twitter.
-On the main page we are bombarded with advertising, and way in which users can buy into the brand, weather its downloading the single or ordering a personalised signed gift prints.
-You also have many ways to keep intouch with the bands whereabouts thrust upon you, with links to sites like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter where you can interact (watch videos and podcats etc) with and follow the band. We also see a logo for SYCO, their record label promoting the label.
-On the next page labelled 'music' you are allowed to post comments on the single, there is even a toolbar allowing you to tweet about it directly from the site. As well as this there are also links to three different sites where you can buy the single.
-The boys have many videos talking to their fans and this makes them seem like they care about their fans in a more personal way that just, say writing to them. Videos are also easier to promote the boys individual characters rather than pictures and give them a unique image (almost like spice girls with the cheeky one etc.) where fan girls can obsess over the individual feeling like they have full insight into their characters.
-There are also lots of competitions on the site, encouraging the users to actively involve themselves by entering
-Users can also get involved by submitting fan art to the website, however i think this could be utilised more and so far there are only a few images.
-Fans can also sign up for a newsletter so they can get all the latest One Direction news and competitions emailed to them personally and regularly, making fans feel involved and in the know.
-The last and possibly main interactive feature is the shop, eating loads of merchandise which the fans can buy and really feel immersed in the band image and also creta debate with friends as to which member t-shirt they bought etc.
I have chosen to analyse and look at the music video 'Bob Sinclar - Rock This Party' as it is quite an old song but the video has stuck in my memory due to the clever use of intertextual references.
The song itself features and uses the iconic song 'Everybody Dance Now by Jock Jams' which makes it link in quite well with using intertextual references, as the song itself is a mashup of different sorts of music and artists (with the rap verses and more dancey bass chorus). The song is ultimately about dancing so the video is trying to en-capture all iconic and recognised forms of dancing by using clear representations of the artists who started these dance crazes. Bob Sinclar as an artist in the past had always used the same main boy in all his music videos, allowing the audience to recognise that its one of his music videos instantly.
Post-modernism is a period following modernism which representation gets remixed, played around with, through pastiche, parody and intertextual references.
Therefore this music video is clearly post modern as we would expect a young boy to be represented in an innocent way (as Bob Sinclar has done in the past with the same boy), but with this song he remixes the representation of the boy, linking him to many artists through dance, mirroring the song which also has a remix element.
We can clearly see the playing around with representation with the many various intertextual references.
Here we can see the representation of the Nirvana video 'Smells like Teen Spirit' which was well known for portraying riot and anarchy, which put into the video of this song could be almost saying that dance allows you to achieve many things, from pleasure to proving a point, but also as it is very famous gives the audience some viewing pleasure in recognising it.
Next we see the young boy representing Busted, dancing on a bed in his bedroom, a bit like in the video for Year 3000. This would appeal to the younger audience and listeners of Bob Sinclars music, but this could also be suggesting to the older generation that dancing makes you feel like a young rebellious teen again, loosing all inhibitions.
Then twice in the music video the boy is seen to be impersonating the rapper Sean Paul, mainly in the verses where the song is also rapping. This is showing a different form of dancing to the previous 'rebellious rock', a more laid back RnB style dancing which involves just bopping with the female dancers doing more of the 'booty shaking'. This intertextual reference i believe is in the music video to emphasise the mashup of different genres of music in the song, linking to the rap verses and contrasting with the more mainstream chorus.
Other iconic figures who are represented in the music video are Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Justin Timberlake's Cry Me a River video as seen below.
All these intertextual references are well known for their dance influence or unique dancing skills. The effect of having them in the music video i believe is simply to make the audience want to dance and also to portray what i believe the overall message of the video is - that dance is a universal thing, whichever genre it is.
Another reason for iconic artists to be seen, such as the Beatles could be again to portray the message of the video that having an individual identity is important but everybody comes together within dance, even if the style is different etc. as it is their unique representation of the music they are dancing to.
In an artist perspective, i believe the video was made to show a different side to Bob Sinclar, that he doesn't take himself too seriously and could almost be a way of getting people to remember him and his music with a fun quirky video that will be aesthetically pleasing for the audience, and fun to recognise the different intertextual references.
In an institutional point of view, the video has been made with intertextual references to make it as eyecatching and entertaining as possible to make it stick in the audiences minds. As well as this, in every artist the young boy portrays he is clearly showing or wearing some sort of signifier that it is in fact a Bob Sinclar song- subliminal messaging getting the artists name to stick in their minds.
And overall i think from an artist, institute and audience perspective the video does very well in attracting and entertaining (with the intertextual references) potential buyers of the music.
This discussion was really interesting as it allowed us to understand why in the past large groups of us were drawn to the same sorts or different kinds of music. Not only this but we also all saw a natural progression in how our music taste changed and shaped itself to what it is today, with a large part in this based on the technologys now avaliable to us and how much more we utilise them now being older, such as web 2.0.
The main discoveries we found throughout the lesson was that during our early childhood most of the music we listened to was a result of family influences and preferances, as they were the source of our music at the time, as being young we could hardly buy or get any music of our own and so had to almost put up with or bring ourselves to enjoy what we heard around us everyday. Computers and iPods were not created (or very basic) at the time and so this meant people had to actually pay for cd's and records, almost making music taste alot more niche compared to nowadays, where downloading is so easy we generally cross genres. I think its strange and great that some of the songs we heard as children have influenced our music taste today, my dad being a big 80s punk rock fan, and me now, being the same, giving me an emotional connection to most of these sort of songs.
Going into the era where were just able to source our own music, our music taste generally changed to either follow the crowd with mainstream artists (s club 7 for a younger self or rihanna for an older me)or delve into more underground artists. This has become even more evident as the internet has grown because we now have access to YouTube and iTunes to broaden our music tastes. Its interesting that compared to the past, we are able to have much wider tastes than our parent's generation because of these sites and devices allowing us to consume mass music collections rather than focusing on one specific genre, going to gigs and concerts, downloading, just watching youtube videos etc.
I found the lesson was useful as it allowed me to think about why i was influenced and attracted to genres of music and then in our coursework i will be able to try and give our target audience the same effect. Not only this but it has shown me the massive impact technological advances have had on the music industry and music tastes, so i will look to utilise this greatly in the coursework task.
The album cover i have chose to deconstruct is Liberation Transmission by the Lostprophets.
-Black and white except for blood splat- connotes violence and anger which is usually associated with the genre of the band which is rock and 'making a statement'.
- 'Nobis, Pro Lemma, Vobris' - Latin for 'for us, for them, for you' - giving their music a universal appeal, also relating to the theme of the cover with the liberation through war and standing up for something you believe in no mater what the consequences (death- with the blood splat).
- Old fashioned font- patriotic and calligraphic continuing the theme of liberation. Also this font is less bold as the album name is less important to the artist name as trying to create an artist image.
- Eagle or dragon? Welsh dragon- welsh band or eagle- connotes power and again liberation, freedom (spreading of the wings).
- Crest- usually found on old fashioned armour - standing up for something (genre)- theme - war and liberation
-Bold LOSTPROPHETS font - stands out- artist identity- harsh rock.
- Main singer - sex appeal, suit -matching colour scheme to cover (black and white suit with red blood splats)
- Looking away from camera- gives an idea of personality, quite emotional? gives insight into music which could also be emotional.
- Continuting colour scheme from front throughout inlay.
- Images of fingerprints - getting on the wrong side of the law? rebellious? standing up for something you believe in even if it means bad consequences (theme). The fingerprints also create enigma and draw the audience in.
-The same eagle bird linking back to front, scratched out though connoting the band are more powerful than it.
- The main singer wearing a military jacket linking to war theme and liberation.
- The band all in black, helps audience identification, genre - slightly emo, harsh.
-Mostly practical compared to the eyecatching front, including things such as the barcode and track listing.
-Links old with new ( new chair but old fashioned military jacket) maybe connoting or suggesting that the old principles of standing up for what you believe can now be expressed differently to war- through music, specifically THEIR music expressing THEIR views.
1) What are the typical features an album cover has? Make a list of all the elements they have in common
- eye catching imagery
- something unseen before with wow factor
- cool artwork
- if the band is new, their cover generally has images of them on the front to build up an artist identity
- name of artist
- name of album BACK COVER
- track listing
-smaller filler artwork or images
- barcode
- institutional information
2) How would you catagorise the covers in front of you? are there any ways of distinguising between then other than generically?
With the more indie bands their album covers generally feature some cool or quirky imagery, giving them more of an eyecatching wow factor, as these sorts of bands generally focus more on the music than on the image of themselves, as well as this they also mimick the mood/ tone of the music in terms of colour or vibrancy. With the more poppy mainstream, single arists such as adele or britney spears, they feature images of themselves, to help build up an aritst identity or in britney spears's case, use the sex appeal of herself to sell her music. Debut albums usually have alot more thought put into them as they need to attract a new audience and build up the image the artist wants to portray, whilst almost showing the genre of the music as well, these generally have something quite eyecatching on them, such as sexualised imagery (if it being a girl) such as Britney Spears or Ciara or controversial and different, to make a new band stand out from others e.g. Arctic Monkeys 'whatever people say i am thats what im not'. Bigger bands usually do more simplistic covers, such as oasis, just using their iconic name font as the main image.
Sexualised girl album covers
3) Album covers serve many different functions, what do you think these are? (ie. what is their purpose)
The album covers ultimate purpose is to portray the artist and their music to their fans at a glance, encouraging them to buy the album and support the artist. Sometimes however it is used to portray the feel of the music in the album or the inspiration behind the new or debut album. As well as this it needs to be eyecatching to initially draw in potential buyers. If the artist is already built up it must appeal to the fanbase and target audience, with a new artist as well it must also appeal to the desired target audience, encouraging them to buy it further.
My taste in music has changed greatly over the years, but nonetheless the passion and how it makes me feel stays the same, and i think now more than ever music is my way of escaping from the stressful life of school and work.
From my parents being great music fans, i was always listening to music from a young age, this song by new order (my dads favourite band) has been featured in many a home-video with me and my sister simultaneously dancing. From this somehow subliminally later, in life i have become a big new order fan myself. The music doesn't feature many words and just allows you to move to its rhythm which is why it probably appealed to me as a young child, not to mention the encouragement from dad. Listening to it now brings up memories of the old flat where i lived and its a band that definitely shaped my music taste today, probably why i've become such a daddy's girl always sharing cd's and discussing bands with the man who imprinted this sort of music into my memory, my dad.
When i turned around 11 i thought of myself as a bit of a rebel and spent my pocket money on my first ever CD by a band called Good Charlotte. This was when i really discovered my own taste in music, becoming more aware of new bands and the punk rock scene. This song in particular reminds me of so many holidays and days out where me and my best friend would sing out all the words and know every line and think we were so very cool. The song is quite upbeat and is quite jokey and rebellious which mirrors exactly my personality at this point in my life which is probably why i enjoyed the band in general so much. Not to mention the fact that the lead singer was a major crush of mine for a longg time. There is an ongoing pattern in my music taste of not being very mainstream, i think this is generally because i liked being a bit different and quirky and mainly because i am a massive tomboy, so dancing seductively is out of the question and with this music you can just sing along and dance however you want (jokily or not).
Now becoming an adult i start to appreciate music more for how influential it is and how talented the artists are. As well as this i use music as an escapism and a way to relax and wind down. The band i associate with my life now is definitely The Clash, this was another of my dads favourite bands, and rummaging through his cd's i discovered and began to love them. I feel as an band they have shaped many of the music bands we now have today. Not only this but i look up to the lead singer Joe Strummer greatly as a role model for living a carefree life, not caring about the money or fame and one of my favourite quotes from his is 'The Future Is Unwritten' which i plan to have tattooed on myself. I have a big poster of him on my newly refurbished bedroom wall, and it makes me sad that i will never be able to see them live due to Joe Strummer dying of cancer in 2002 but their greatest hits album will continue to live in my cd player continuously on repeat. This song in particular, when i hear it i think of classic british culture and link it to my favourite film Billy Elliot. Its quite an upbeat song and has some ingenious colloquial lyrics which are fun to sing along to.
