Music Director- Jonas Akerlund:
Jonas Akerlund a Swedish film and music video director was born in Sweden on the 10th of November in 1965. He was in a Swedish music band called Bathory which played black metal music. Jonas began his career when he first became a music video director for a Swedish pop band called Roxette. From there he worked alongside of Madonna and director the music video for her song “Ray of Light”. Since then he has worked with a number of other artists and bands such as; Lady Gaga, Blink- 182, U2, Christina Aguilera and Pink. Jonas is known most for his music videos in which have been know as being stylish, and he has director videos such as “Paparazzi, Wake up Call, Jump, Hot ‘n’ Fun and Telephone which features Beyonce. Not only has Jonas director music videos but he has been know for directing adverts for Swedish clothing retailers, designing and taken he photographs for the album Room Services by the band Roxette.
Music DVD Covers:
B.o.B Airplanes Feat Hayley Williams of Paramore
The front cover for BOB airplanes which feats Hayley Williams of Paramore, is quite basic a simple, with very little colour, and one picture. However this is quite effective and helps to draw in the viewers as the picture represent and reflects BOB song which is called Airplane. Using a close up shot of an airplane, with BOB looking out the window helps to show and let the viewers know which artist the album is from which song they sing. By choosing this as their front cover it allows viewers to have a visual image and be able to hear the artist song in their head. The picture forms the background Cd cover, making it quite simple but effective as if BOB is really in a airplane and is looking out.
There are only two colours used for the front on the front cover, these are red and black. The red writing shows the artists of the single and music video, while the black writing shows the name of the single and music video. As the main artist is BOB is name is written in big bold chunky letters written in red along the middle of the page. Underneath this is the name of the music video and single which is Airplanes, this is written in the same type of writing but in grey. Writing in red below that is artist that feat BOB, Haley Williams. The writing from top to bottom starts of big getting smaller.
I would say that target audience for this music video is teegnaers who like this type of music, also people who like romance soppy songs that have a meaning and people can relate to.
Katy Perry California Girls
The front cover of Katy Perry Album for California girls, is very colour and bright which gives of a loud message about the video and the song. On the front is a picture of Katy Perry which is a medium close up picture of her sitting slightly sideways. The background of the cover is different coloured stripped lines which add effective and helps to give of a 3d effect to the cover. As the picture looks like it has been stuck on sideways to the background. The text writing on cover is written in a number of different fronts. Katy Perry is written in a red colour along the top right hand side of the page, by the way the text has been layed on to the picture it looks as if it’s coming out of Katy’s mouth as if she is saying it. At the bottom in the middle of the colour is a 3d block written which says the name of the song written in pink, blue and yellow. Then next to that is blue font which looks like hand writing saying the rest of the song name.
I would say the target audience for this music CD Cover is teenage to early 20s both males and females. However I feel it is mostly attracted to males by the way edits, mise en scence and the camera angles.
Usher OMG
The front cover of Usher’s single OMG which features Will.i.am is quite plain and simple however rather effective.
There are no bright colours on the CD cover instead it using two basic colours which are black and white. By shading the fillings of these colours in the text and picture it helps to add a 3d effect to the words and the picture to make it look like it is popping out the CD cover. This is also reinforced by the lays that have been used on the magazine and the contrast colours. As the back ground of the CD cover is white with black writing on it, and then the picture is laid on top which is quite dark with white writing written over the top.
The picture on the front of the CD cover is of Usher himself this is also in black and white. The picture shows a medium close up of Usher who twisted slightly looking forward. By having this image on the front cover helps to give the CD attitude and style in order to help encourage and attract Usher target audience to his music and his Single.
I would say that the target audiences for this music CD Cover is young teenagers towards late 20s who are interested in pop and rap music. I would say that the major of the target audiences would be women as Usher songs are about relationships and love however I feel that it is target towards both. By his CD cover he leaves his target audience open to both males and females as I feel that it is not directed towards any gender in particular.
Lady GAGA- The Fame
The front cover of Lady GAGA album The Fame has a picture on of Lady GAGA herself which makes a bold statement to target audience. The picture portraits Lady GAGA split personality through the use of the sun glass and arm covering one side of her face compared to the other side of her face. One side of her face shows her as a normally person where as the other side of her face shows crazy imaginative side which normally portrayed through her dress style and music videos. By having this picture on the front cover of her CD cover it helps to attract her target audience in to buying her CD, as it shows her music on the album is wacky and upbeat but also quite personal and toned down. I would say that the target audience for this music CD cover is anyone who is a fan of Lady GAGA, ages from teenagers to people in their early 30s.
Unlike most CD covers which display the name of the artist or band and the name of the album underneath one another. Lady GAGA name is written in bold along the bottom of the CD and the name of the album is writing in the corner of the sunglasses she is wearing. This helps to add effect to the CD cover as it tells the consumer what the name of the CD is called but it’s not in their face.
Music DVD Adverts:
Usher
The headline of the advert is big and bold which stands out from the rest of advert in order to draw attention to the name. The headline is positioned at the top of the page and is centred aligned. At the very bottom of the page is the strap line of the advert which states the names of the DVD advert and when the DVD is in the store. Both the headline and the strap line on the advert is written in white writing which helps to make it stand out from the dark background.
Usher’s DVD advert helps to reflect his images and style along with the type of music that he sings. The colour schemes which are used with this advert are red’s and black which represent his lyrics and music which are about love and romance. By choosing these colours it helps to attract Usher’s target audience as the colour help to draw their attention to his music. By using contrasting colours for the DVD advert it allows the advert to catch the target audience eye, but by using the different colours allows everything to stand out but in different ways. Such as the white for the text and the red and black for the pictures and background.
The DVD advert has a strong central image of Usher himself with his strong central image as although the image is not very colourful or fancy it stands out and reflects Usher as a person. The clothes that Usher and co-star are wearing link in with the mise - en scene of the advert and the colour that they have used as Usher is dressed in a black suit along with the man behind him where as the women to the right is dressed in red.
Katy Perry:
The DVD advert for California Girls by Katy Perry has the same back ground and image as her album cover, by using the same image this allows the audience to make links between the two in order for them to be more likely to remember her and want to buy her CD and listen to her music. The colours used on this advert are bright and bubbly colours which help to reflect Katy Perry herself as an artist and allow the type of music she sings. The picture used on the advert is of Katy Perry sitting side wise with very little clothes on, which reflects her personality. As Katy Perry attracts a range of different target audience from young children to young adults the choice in different stripped colours for the background helps to draw their attention to the advert and to her Music DVD. The advert is made up of the different colours which is Katy Motif as all of her Music Videos, DVDs and Albums are all colourful and in the audience face. The colour scheme for this advert is made up of the colours yellow, red, pink, green, purple and blue. The advert has a 3d effect to it which helps to make it stand out; this is done by the bold central image of Katy being rotated slightly to make it on an angle.
Arctic Monkeys:
The main picture which is used for the back ground is a sketching of the four members of the band, this choice of image effect helps to reflect the band as people and also their genre of music. By using this effect it helps to make the band look rough and ready to go, which relates to the indie/ rock music that they sing. The headline of this DVD advert by the Arctic Monkey’s is writing in bold white writing underneath the main picture centred at the bottom of the page. For this advert the headline is not big and bold in the middle of the advert so that it is the first thing the reader sees instead it is there to reinforce the picture of the band and their name. The colour scheme for this DVD advert contains five different colour these colours are black, white, green blue and cream. The colours blue, green and cream are used to help making up the pictures of the band by using these colours in the way they have done help to show the band crazy wild side which is reflected within their music. There are to strap lines on this DVD advert one is along the top of the advert and the second is writing in wrapped text in the bottom right hand corner.
Music Videos:
Viva Forever-Spice Girls
This music video is different to most of the other videos, instead of band or artist music video that contains them in it or the artists/ band dancing in it, the Spice Girls music shows them as being cartoon characters. The video helps to show the journey in which this band has been through, from the being which is represented thought the opening of the book and then the characters coming out of the end. The target audience for the spice girls are young teenager girls who like pop music. Within the music videos and songs the Spice Girls target their audience by structuring their music videos as a story using different characters and motifs within which catch the attention of the audience. For example in this music video there spice girls appear in this video not as themselves as people but as fairies or pixies, which help to attract there young target audience who are girls between the ages of 6 to 12 years old.
Tik Tok –
The video Tik Tok as it uses a range of different shots in order to make the story, to go along with the crazy story line which is quite funky and crazy. As the song is quite upbeat and fast the music video is made up of jump cuts and fast edits in order to fast back and forth to tell the story. The uses of medium closes up through out the video allow the watcher to see the rebellious side of the character in the video and get an insight into the narrative of the story. I think the video is aimed at a target audience of teenagers in which they can relate to the video and the music, when it takes about parties and staying up all night. Showing a rebellious side to them and highlight the kind of things that teenagers do these days.
Plan B- She Said:
This music video She Said by Plan B has a story behind it which links along to the lyrics of the song, giving the video a narrative. The plot is used of the story is pictured in flashes back, using a range of different jumps from the past to the present helping to express the music. The music is very catchy in this song and with the help of the video it helps the viewer to remember the song along with the images that are shown. At the being of the song and through certain the parts the song is quite serious shown through the paces of the music and the facial expresses of the character in the video, however it can be quite cheesy and fun when it comes to the chores. The characters on the screen help to bring the music to life on the screen, for example when all the juror are clicking their fingers from left to right sound of the music goes along with these actions. Throughout the course of the music video and narrative the camera angles change from high angle shot to low angle in order to set the scene of the narrative such as the court and everyone in it in order to make it look relates. The use of close ups and medium shots help to express body langue and facial expressions in order to get insight into the story with the help of the music and lyrics. In order to show the passing of time to the future of the narrative the music video contains a number of different jump cuts to different scenes from the court room such as to the police station in order to suggest flashbacks.The structure of the music video is all narrative and concept based as it is based around the lyrics and the narrative that goes with it. The target audiences for Plan B music and this music video I feel are younger teens up to young adults who are from both genders who like gritty R&B music. The target audience are targeted by the gritty in-depth lyrics and music he sings which relate to issues with in real life and long with the narratives of the music videos.
Katie:
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