Chosen Genre: Pop

I enjoy the idea of creating a music video for an alternative rock song. However I really want to produce a fun, artist focussed video, especially since my audience research clearly showed that pop music was the general favourite. Therefore I have decided to produce a music video for a pop song, and will create an artist with a target audience of young girls. I will refer to all of my research in order to create something which they will love.

Hip Hop Magazine Advert Analysis- Kanye West: Yeezus

This advert is very simplistic, a far cry from the Nicki Minaj advert. The simplicity in itself makes the advert stand out due to its uniqueness. It is also unexpected, suggesting that the music is also. The colour scheme is mostly black and white, making the red tape on the digipak really stand out. The whole effect of this advert suggests that very little effort has been put into the appearance. This implies that the music is so good, and West is so successful, that it doesn’t need to be overly extravagant. This presents West as very confident and somewhat arrogant. The text looks as though someone has written it out in a black marker pen, and the small smudges gives the page a rushed appearance. The album name and release date are the largest pieces of text, highlighting their importance. West’s name is the next largest; this attracts his fans and is also self-promotional. The use of capital letters gives the appearance that the advert is ‘shouting’ at the reader, and implies that it is important. This reflects West’s public image, which has been shaped by many controversies, including anti-Semitic comments, disrespecting Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards and attacking paparazzi.

Rock Magazine Advert Analysis- Green Day: Wake Me Up When September Ends

This album advert’s distressed look gives it a dark, ‘emo’ appearance. This suggests that the album focusses on dark emotions like sorrow and anger. Green Day’s target audience will likely be drawn in by the gothic themes of the design. The grungy text conveys a worn, nonchalant vibe, suggesting that the band aren’t trying to be successful. This will appeal to their target audience of rock fans, who want natural talent. The colour scheme reflects that of the album digipak, linking the two visually. The red and white stands out against the black background, and the red is effective due to connotations of gore, anger and love; suggesting themes explored in the album. The most prominent colour used is black, which is seen as a gothic colour. The image shows the band’s ‘emo’ brand. This will especially appeal to similar people, as they will feel like they can relate to the artists.

Pop Magazine Advert Analysis- Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday

The bright colours of this advert draw the readers’ attention. The bubble-gum pink and electric blue contrast greatly and stand out against the black background. This reflects Minaj’s style of music- its pop genre and uniqueness. By using five images of herself, Minaj shows that her public image is very important to her brand. She uses her sexuality to make the advert stand out by wearing a dress which greatly reveals her breasts. In the top image, Minaj is bending over and looking down, seemingly at the text. This draws the viewer’s eyes down to read the information. The pink colour links with the album title and Minaj’s ‘provocative barbie’ style. Minaj also includes a link to the website.

Magazine Adverts

When releasing an album or single, artists will usually advertise using magazine adverts, often in conjunction with television and/or online ads. The advert will be put in certain magazines in order to reach the artist’s target audience; magazines targeted at the same audience will be bought by readers likely to enjoy the artist’s music. For example you wouldn’t see this Taylor Swift advert in Kerrang!, but are more likely to see 30 Seconds To Mars or Bring Me The Horizon.

Magazine adverts often include the same conventions. They will have the name of the album or single, and the name of the artist or band. There will usually be an image of artist or album cover. Many adverts use the album cover, like Gwen Stefani has for her Love. Angel. Music. Baby. advert. Alternatively, like Swift, they may use an image in the same style and colour scheme to the album. There may also be reviews- these may be quotes or just stars, and links to the artist’s website and possible their social media.

Dance Digipak Analysis- Calvin Harris: 18 Months

This digipak for Calvin Harris' 18 Months, along with most other dance digipaks, vary greatly from pop and rock digipaks. While there is a picture of Harris, he takes up a very small proportion of the album cover and is turning his face away. Therefore we cannot see him clearly. This shows that the artist's appearance is not important to his brand; his music is. The way his arms are held, Harris points up to the album title as if to say 'Don't look at me, listen to my music'. The overall colour scheme and mise-en-scene are not very bright, but in fact mostly brown, grey and slightly dull. The lack of extravagance attracts the target audience, as they feel they can relate to him more. This is very different to Nicki Minaj with her Pink Friday digipak, as her target audience is younger and therefore are looking more for a role model to aspire to be like.

Harris uses the same font as the cover in his singles. This works as a logo; even from far away the viewer may recognise the layout of text and therefor recognise the album as Harris'. Furthermore the text fits the band at is fairly basic, however the capital letters make it stand out. The way the words are laid out on a brick background, the title almost looks like graffiti, giving the digipak a slightly rebellious, blasé look.

The text on the disk remains the same to that on the cover, keeping the digipak consistent. While the pop, rock and dance digipaks are very different and follow different conventions, it is obvious that most artist keep their digipaks very consistent. When I make my own digipak I will keep the colour scheme, font and costumes constant throughout as it makes the album look well thought out and professional.

The use of black and white keeps the CD looking very simplistic. This flows with the lack of extravagance in the digipak. Like with Green Day's American Idiot digipak there is no image of the artist, showing Harris' modesty. However unlike American Idiot, there is no image at all; this album is targeted at more mature listeners.

 

The back cover is very similar to the front, with Harris sitting in the same place. This time his arms are down and he is looking at the camera. To me this suggests that while he has been modest, it is now his chance to be proud of what he's produced.

The houses behind the wall are fairly small and unattractive. This shows that while he is now successful and wealthy, he still goes back to his roots.

Furthermore Harris uses the track list to appeal to a larger target audience. On 18 Months he has collaborated with 11 other artists. By clearly stating this on the back cover, fans of other artists like Rihanna will be more inclined to by the album.

Rock Digipak Analysis- Green Day: American Idiot

The conventions of the rock genre are very different to pop. This is shown on the Green Day album, which does not feature an image of the band on the album cover. The font used looks distressed, reflecting the nonchalant, rebellious attitude of the band. This appeals to their male primary target audience.
Initial inspiration for the image came from propaganda for the Communist Party of China, and then later the film poster for the Man with the Golden Arm. The image explores the line between love and hate. In the image the heart is being squeezed and shattered by the hand, causing it to bleed. The heart is also a grenade. This mixes two antithetic symbols- one of love and one of hate, suggesting that the two are very close; one leads to the other. The image suggests that love is destructive and quickly conveys the tone of the music to the audience. Furthermore red is a prominent colour on the cover. It is often used to represent passion or hate, however here it can be used for both. While the grenade and the blood immediately appeal to the target audience, women are attracted to the heart and the powerful message as a whole. Therefore the album appeals to a wide range of people.

The colour scheme of red, black and white is used throughout the digipak. The black background reflects the punk rock genre of music, and so will appeal to people whom are likely to enjoy the music. Furthermore black generally has rather negative connotations of death, loss and despair. It also highlights the bright red and white. On the back cover the track list is white. This discretely looks quite rebellious- text is usually black on a white background. By simply switching this around Green Day are showing that they don't play by the rules and are possibly more exciting than other bands. The magnifying glass suggests that they are looking for something, further implying that they are lost; perhaps they are trying to find themselves. Magnifying glasses can also reflect crime as they are used to search for clues. This reflects the band's rebellious brand.



The American Idiot disk is consistent with the cover as it depicts an image of the hand dripping with blood. This makes me think of the phrase 'caught red handed'; perhaps the crime hinted at on the back cover is in fact a crime of love. As a cartoon, while the image appeals to men who stereotypically like blood and gore, it is not actually gruesome. This stops the album from scaring away female and younger listeners. Again the CD is mostly black, reflecting the convention of rock music as quite dark. The track listing on the disk shows that the music is the most important part of the album. This contrasts to Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday- she instead has an image of herself, showing that her image is very important to her success and career.


Green Day's booklet involves the lyrics of each song on their album. Alternatively they have opted to hand write the lyrics, making it appear very messy and chaotic. This works well for their brand, as this is how they aim to come across to fans. Furthermore the little doodles and emphasised words are quite fun, and the handwriting male the booklet feel very personal and intimate. The band show that they are not trying to polish themselves up to be something they aren't.