MUSIC VIDEOS: MUSIC LANGUAGE

 

MUSIC VIDEOS: MUSIC LANGUAGE

PREP Explain how music videos use media language to promote their artists. Refer to the pair of music videos you have studied from the list below in your answer.

Our music videos are Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag Avril Lavigne Sk8ter Boi

HOW TO ANSWER: Media language points to consider:

the prioritising of the star / the group; the privileging of the star / the groups in the frame

authenticating the star's performance / the band's performance to show their skills

the use of close ups; lip syncing to camera; eye contact with the audience

Teenage Dirt bag prioritises the main character as they are privileged in the frame. Facial expressions are so key because they indicate how this main actor is feeling and it tells the story. All the cast is shown in the frame. They prioritise the artist because the camera zooms in on the artists which further draws the viewers attention to the artist. The group authenticates the star's performance because they are shown physically playing the guitar and singing the song which makes it seem realistic and original. Their performance is very true-to-form because we can see the band showing their skills when they are drumming and playing the guitar. The use of close ups indicates that we want to see the artists expression and emotions. In this music video, they make a lot of eye contact with the camera which gives us a sense that this is a personal story that they might have experienced (bullying). It also indicates that the artist may relate with the theme of the music video themselves and may have had a crush on someone like Noel and loved iron maiden as well when they were younger. The video may be narratable. We see the high school world the teenage dirt bag is trying to fit in with. The middle class environment in which the music video is set where the boy is bullied for being odd and atypical shows how authentic this music video truly is.

Avril Lavigne is also the main star in the central splash of the music video. This is because she is the only artist who sings the song 'skater boy'. She is privileged in the frame. Avril kind of lives with the story and enacts it. She inhabits the world and we are led to believe that the boy could be skater boy. Public and private Avril meet together when the audience comes together to enjoy the performance. The location fits with the punk/grunge genre. The artist isn't a stereotypical girl, she is actually a-stereotypical because she is a tomboy who is edgy and boyish and a punk not like pretty face who does ballet and has long, voluptuous blond hair and wears pink clothes and makeup. She is the opposite of normal girls because she is an emo and wears dark, heavy eye makeup. Avril Lavigne is the very antithesis of the pretty and pink, stereotypical girl so that proves striking for the audience. Our attention is drawn in and begs questions such as: why is she so different? how does she not get bullied? etc. She is not afraid of the audience as she stares at the camera and makes eye contact a lot. This indicates that she is a strong and powerful girl who isn't afraid of what people think of her. She is also shown playing the guitar and singing (or lip syncing) which authenticates her performance and makes the music video seem more pragmatic and genuine and representational. There are a lot of close ups embedded into the music video to show her true passion and emotion portraying her true love of music. 

 

MUSIC MAGAZINES:MEDIA LANGUAGE

 Look carefully at the front covers of MOJO and RNR magazines. 

QUESTION: How far do MOJO and RNR use different media language to create different connotations? (CONNOTATION meaning: an idea or quality that a word makes you think about in addition to its meaning.)

Answer on your blog. This is a high-value question and should take all lesson to answer. You can use the class blog search engine for more examples of how to analyse music magazines.

In your answer you should have 2 paragraphs:

• analyse the media language in MOJO and RNR magazine. 'Media language' includes the placement of the main image, the type of photography, lighting, colours, fonts, how busy or restrained the cover is, the layout (such as alignment to the margins), how serious or playful 
• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the media language is used differently in both extracts to create different connotations. Are there similarities in both covers? What sorts of audiences are they targeting? You could think about MOJO's rock aesthetic of living loud and dangerously compared to RNR's folk, rock, blues vibe. 

Question 1

In the mojo magazine, the main image of 'foo fighters' is placed in the central splash so our attention is drawn to it because it is the key theme of the magazine. The font is in a white and red colour which is striking because red is bold and out there, suggesting that the band 'foo fighters' is very powerful and crazy too. It is in italics as well which are slanted and obscured which could demonstrate that the band is unique and unusual. Dave Grohl is presented as a insane man who would die for his art- music. His teeth are gritted showing he is in pain and feel strongly about his music. One of his eyebrows is raised which could imply he is slightly confused or does not fit in with the world. He is not your stereotypical smiling man on the front cover like Christy Moore is. Additionally, his eyes are wide open, which could connote to him being shocked or surprised about how incredible his music is or could be frightened by his style of music-pop. Dave is wearing very bold colours (blue, red and white) which could infer that his music is also very daring and intrepid. His hair does not follow the normal stereotypes because it is long which also could imply that he is fearless and valiant. The background is very swirly and dystopian which suggests that the style of music Dave adopts is audacious and undaunted. The lighting in the mojo magazine is very strong and harsh, almost washing him out. It makes Dave appear as striking and vivid because there is so much attention drawn to him as a result of the lighting. The magazine is very overwrought and busy because there is so much information in your face. "We've been to funerals, we've been to jail..." this quote represents how atypical and crazy this band is if they are so out there that they have committed crimes for their art and have been to jail, it shows that they are die-hard artists. The cover mount on this poster is also very out of the ordinary as it consists of bright neon green colours and a uncommon skeleton playing the acoustic guitar. There is a very daring speech bubble saying 'this is a call!' which draws in your attention due to it being so unwonted and odd.

In the RnR magazine, the main image is of Christy Moore and his face. He is smiling subtly and the lighting is front lit with natural light, indicating that he is a very simple man with very habitual music that is certainly not as strange and unusual as Dave Grohl's rock music. His eyes look very kind, so sweet that you could almost give him a hug. His smile is very small with little expression so he is neither happy nor sad, just content with life. The lighting shines on his wrinkles, indicating he is certainly not a youth, he is reaching the 'old man' title. He also has very little hair showing he is balding seen as he is old. The colours used in this magazine are a dull brown which may exhibit how bland and tasteless his music is or how it is just boring because it lacks light, happiness and joy that Dave Grohl's bold blue consists of. The font portraying 'Christy Moore' is a boring and plain white colour which demonstrates that Christy is also quite bland and tasteless like his font. It may also indicate how his music is common and some may find it boring or uninteresting. The quote "These days it's yoga, camomile tea and three Our fathers". He is a very simple and stereotypical man as he does everyday hobbies such as yoga. Although you could argue he is a-stereotypical because yoga could be argued a predominantly male sport. Many men are obsessed with tea and it is just part of their daily routine to drink it so that is another ritual or rule that Christy obeys and follows. He is also religious (Christian) like the minority of Irish or British citizens. That further expresses how normal this man truly is. The cover mount incorporates a pun un-herd which is comedic as it is similar to the wear unheard. This may be relatable to readers at home because they find this humorous and identify with it. This magazine is much more serious than the mojo one because it lacks creativity, colour and funkiness which are all themes that the mojo magazine adopt. 

Question 2

The similarities of these two covers is that they both have a man on the front cover. You can connote from this that these magazines are very typical of Mojo and RnR and are highly stereotypical. You can identify that the magazine companies are stereotypical because women rarely feature on the front cover of music magazines. Occasionally, you may see Amy Winehouse for example but most commonly you see men. Both of these very different men are smiling, this may indicate that they enjoy their work and seek pleasure in singing and performing their music. One difference between these 2 magazines is that in the RnR magazine some of the writing obscures Christy's face but on the Mojo magazine the writing is all off-centre and out of Dave's way. From this we can summarise that Dave may have more importance or respect in the music industry than Christy does. Both of the magazines have barcodes on the bottom right of the magazine. This demonstrates that they are both professional and typical magazines. Additionally, the magazine writing 'RnR' and 'Mojo' superimpose the image over the type in both magazines which we can conclude that both of these singers have some level of authority and significance. Mojo's target audience in their magazine is lovers of rock and roll and foo fighters fanatics. People who know Simon & Garfunkel and John Entwistle and Jarvis Cocker and Margo Price would also seek interest in the magazine and be a key target audience. On the other hand, the target audience for the RnR magazine would be Christy Moore fans, folk lovers and those familiar with some of the following people: Neil Innes, Peter Knight, Andy White etc. The type of fans may be seen to be quite simplistic people who enjoy the little things in life such as 'camomile tea' and 'yoga'. Christy Moore is portrayed as more boring and uninteresting than Dave Grohl is. To conclude, if Christy is this dull and tedious then his fans must be too. The vibe I can summarise from the mojo magazine is that the aesthetic is very much funky, extraordinary, living life on the edge, dangerous, cool and edgy. Whereas the real aesthetic of RnR magazine is quite conventional, monotonous, plain and unadorned .

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CUFFS: REAL LIFE

 How far does the extract try to create a sense that it is portraying real life?

The new police officer, Jake, makes several mistakes showing that he is a realistic police officer who isn't perfect; it is also his first day. The biggest mistake that he makes is leading Donna and Lino to the wrong place to put the stingers on the road which demonstrates that Jake isn't that good despite his father- Chief Superintendent Vicars- being very high up in the police system.

The police officers are in costumes so we can recognise them to be realistic officers because in real, modern day life, police officers all wear uniform so that we can recognise them. When Jake, Ryan, Donna and Lino are all having lunch together they all wear the same matching uniform representing how real being a police officer is. Also, they drive police cars with sirens which is very stereotypical of police officers because that is a key part of the job. The whole outfit and mise-en-scene is very authentic and helps the viewer understand whose role is whose (e.g. we can clearly see that Donna is an average police officer but Jo is much higher up as she is not wearing the standard uniform).

Additionally, they are depicted in naturalistic locations and in natural lighting emphasising that they are very much real and present. The lighting is not too dramatic, it is always very natural and realistic further expressing how real these people are. Their location (In Brighton) shows that it is very real and modern day place and we see everyday people living their lives such as in the digger scene the civilians are running away. This is realistic because in that situation people would normally flee from  a crime scene with thieves and weapons such as a crow bar.

All of the police officers are always in pursuit of criminals who have committed crime. That is very common for police officers, they are always busy and Jake cannot even eat his lunch because they are so busy catching criminals. In every day lives, it is usual and the norm for the police to try and catch those who are breaking the law. It is reflecting reality because this is authentic and pragmatic of these officers to catch thieves and criminals.

 Editing and the use of shot and reverse shot and continuing editing suggests real life and does not draw attention to its artificiality. The camera pans around the cast as if a real, genuine person was standing there, panning and gazing their eyes to what is occurring. The lack of attention drawn to the artificiality of the camera shots is good as it makes the scenes not feel unfeasible, instead we achieve the sense that we are in the moment there and very present.

The use of the handheld camera gives the extract a documentary feel as if it is recording real life, draws us into the action and helps us suspend our disbelief. Because the camera is handheld, we are almost stepping into the shoes of someone who was genuinely there. For example, when the police are running to catch the criminals, the cameraman runs too so we feel as if we were there. It is useful because we can imagine the situation as if it were real and empathise with the characters as we understand and comprehend their struggle. It further expresses how original and legitimate this extract is.

The use of recognisable stereotypes such as the male criminal helps to make the extract appear more realistic as this is a stereotype that is played out in other areas of the media and exists to an extent in real life. If the thief were a black woman, it would be less cliché seen as the majority of criminals are white, middle-aged men and the very small minority are women. In media, criminals are nearly always portrayed as in Cuffs so it seems to be more legitimate and we can sympathise with the police as we have seen situations like this shown in the media before. For example, Al Capone who was a white, male, Italian/American gangster- very stereotypical for the majority of criminals.

The use of a strong female police officer could challenge the sense of real depending on an audience's interpretation. This is because strong characters are nearly always portrayed by man. Donna being fitter and braver and on the whole better than Lino is less sterling and attested than if Lino was the main person in that relationship. So, Donna could make the extract seem less appealing because it doesn't obey the current stereotypes for alpha males being superior and women being overall inferior.

The extract could appear more real to those who identify with the camaraderie of the police officers together sharing lunch who could imagine themselves involved in similar conversations. They are friendly and chatty like most normal police officers would do. Donna teases Lino about him having double lunch on Wednesdays and that he has 'Nona's lasagne stuck in your teeth' picking harmless jokes about his Italian heritage. This is relatable for watchers at home who can identify with these funny jabs and banter. It further implies how realistic and unadulterated the extract truly is.

Those who enjoy the visual spectacle of the car chase may find enjoyment in the diversion that this offers them from real life. Although, this entertainment draws them away from real life as it is unrealistic for normal people so the extract appears to be less unfeigned. But then again it is a normal day for the police so you could argue that despite the car chase not being the most common occurrence, it is for police officers so therefore it is realistic.

POPCORN PREP

 Name 3 different camera angles; explain how they may be used

1) extreme close up to identify the persons expression and emotion

2) extreme long shot to show the person from a distance, or the area in which the scene is taking place.

3) medium shot to draw attention to both the character and their surroundings by giving them equal space in the frame.

THE OBSERVER TWITTER

 5 IMAGES OF THE OBSERVER TWITTER:

MOJO: MEDIA LANGUAGE

LEGO INDUSTRY TERMS

 

• franchise: A collection of media products (like films, TV programmes, video games) all base on one original work. For example Star wars is one of the most successful and famous franchises of all time and for Lego movie there is also a video game based off of the film and there is also Lego movie 2018.
• synergy: Refers to the way that media works together to promote the same product e.g. Lego movie uses miniature figures that are Lego-movie related
• tent-pole production: a big-budget movie whose earnings are expected to help and compensate for the studio for its smaller and  less profitable movie/movies. For example the Lego movie company is so huge that it can help support other less wide scale movies. 
• ensemble cast: An ensemble cast is one which is composed of multiple actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time. In the Lego movie the ensemble cast is Wyld Style, Emmet, Vitruvius, Lord Business, Uni-kitty, Shakespeare, Batman etc
• conglomerate: A media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. For example Lego land is linked to the Lego movie and is owned by the same company.
• vertical integration: When a Media Company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution. For example, the Lego movie company owns the movie and the video game too which is in the same chain of production and distribution as the film.