Exploring fonts

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The title of my album is ‘Underground’ so using a website that provides copyright fonts, I explored the fonts to find one that I thought was most appropriate to suit to the theme the genre of the song. The genre of the song is underground/house so I wanted the font to have a rural, urban, handwriting look to it.

 

This is the final font that I decided to use for the title of my  album cover. The font I chose I found, I think is most appropriate because I feel that it best represents and demonstrates the look I am going for. This font will be consistent through out the digipak.

Analysis of Music Video

Robbie Williams-
Candy

Dyer – Utopian Pleasures

Dyers utopian pleasure theory is the idea that entertainment such as music videos provides escapism, providing the ‘ideal ‘ life and expresses the life could be lived and organised. Candy music video demonstrates an utopian world within the real, chaotic world. The female character is living the utopian world because the male character, the star, experiences the disturbances and inconvenience that occur in day-to-day life such as coming across two people conversing in the middle of a path way, walking into puddles or running into things such as lamp posts. A life where a person did not have to experience these would be the ideal world. By doing this, the audience gains gratification by not only watching the ‘perfect’ world, but by watching the perfect world directly against the real world. It also highlights other circumstances that a person would consider as minor and therefore does not realise that there is a utopian version of the situation.

 

Laura Mulvey – The Male Gaze

The male gaze is the concept of how the audience views the people presented. For females, it can be thought of in two ways including

•How men look at women

•How women look at themselves

Mulvey stated that in music videos, the audience is put into the perspective of a man therefore, females in music are sexualised and objectified. The Candy music video supports the concept of the male gaze as through out the video, the female character is repeatedly sexualised and objectified. The female is sexualised when the camera focuses on the curves of the female as she walks. This conforms to the stereotypical expectations of what males focus on when looking at a women. When the female eats the ice lolly, the pase of the close up shot, focusing on the motion and movement she makes as she puts the ice lolly in her mouth is slowed down dramatically which directly draws the audience attention to the motion of her mouth which, again, sexualises the female.

 

 

 

Conventions of Music Webiste

Music websites are usually easy to use, very basic and logical. There isn’t much information on the home page, just picture, name of the artist and previews of other images and information that are on other pages on the webiste. There is usually a grid system  which is used to separate sections of the website and presents the information in small, easy to access segments. Many sites provide an image or small audio content such as a music player with tracks to listen to. Music websites are used as a promotional tool therefore, the site should not be to jam packed with information because this could give  to much away, permitting the audience from going to check out the actual products. Using websites is a way to capture the audience attention to get them to view the actual product. However, very few artists have music websites. Mainstream artists such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jay Z and Kanye West use social sites such as twitter, Facebook and Instagram to promote their upcoming products such as new albums, music videos. Social media sites are more popular and frequently use than music websites therefore, artist manage to reach out to a mass audience fast and effectively. 

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This is the home page of Beyoncé official music website. Her webiste conforms to the codes and conventions of music websites as it is simple, includes a image of her which takes up majority of the screen. It has her name across the top in a font that is associated with her because this is the font she uses across her labels, products and on album covers. The home page only includes likes to other pages within the website and Facebook, twitter and Instagram logos which enables users visiting the site to have accesses to social media sites that promote and advertise Beyoncé's products. By including hyperlinks to social media sites which are very popular and are used by a very wide population, Beyoncé manages to reach out to a wider audience who may not access her webiste. Beyoncé not only uses her webiste to promote her music, she also uses it to provide information about tours she will be doing and as an advertising tool for her other products such as her fragrance. Her website also allows her audience to feel like they have a more intimate relationship with Beyoncé as it includes personal, non related pictures of her professional life, a blog and charity work that Beyoncé does.
 

 

Treatment for music video

Treatment for Music Video

Nadine: On a Mission

Concept

The narrative behind my music video illustrates the story of Nadine, the main character, in search of her romantic lover throughout the day, as she walks through the streets of Brixton. She constantly comes across him throughout the video but is unaware that he is the guy she is looking for. As it gets later on into the day, Nadine and male character eventually meet and embark on a short journey together through the same journey they came across each other previously. The video will be shot in a way in which that allows for the audience to watch the video as Nadine is experiencing it. The tempo of the song is very fast and upbeat. I will represent the pace of the song using jump shots when changing to a different scene s which will be short and fast moving. In the parts of the song where there are no lyrics, just a fast pace instrumental playing, I will include shots of architecture and natural things that are going on in the locations the video is set in. My music video also consists of conceptual typologies.

Lyrics

The narrative of the video opposes to the original meaning to the lyrics of the song whilst some parts of the video are in synchrony with the lyrics. The lyrics to the song are about a females experience in a night club but in my music video, I have managed to manipulate the lyrics to fit a completely different, love story narrative. Some of the most frequently repeated lyrics in the song include “keep up with me as I lose control” which suggests that the female in the song is refereeing to the male in the song to keep up with her on the dance floor as they dance but In my music video, these lyrics refer to Nadine indirectly speaking to the male character, telling him to keep up with her so she eventually meets him and finds out who he is before she loses ‘control’ and gives up. The lyrics ‘when we erupt into the room’ will be Nadine and the male character bumping into each other in a shop causing Nadine to drop her shopping on to the floor but Nadine does not see the Male characters face, neither will the audience. “But he doesn’t he blocks my way, I try to push past” these lyrics will be in synchrony to the narrative of the video. Nadine will be shot in the Market in Brixton, trying to push past people as the male character repeatedly blocks her way. 

Representation of Gender

My music subverts from the female representations of music videos. Laura Mulvey suggested that the purpose of females in music videos is to be passive and objectified for a male gaze. The presences of women in music videos only serve the purpose of display rather than for a narrative functions. In my music video, the female has not been sexualised through her image and she serves the purpose of the narrative rather than just an object for the male gaze.

Locations

The video will be shot in Brixton SW9, using different locations within the Brixton such as the market and Brixton station. The skate park in Stockwell will also be used to film sections of the music video. Both main locations are ideal as they are strong, reliable representations of south London whilst portraying an urban, rural, underground atmosphere and theme which is what I want to achieve in my music video.