We started our A2 year by researching within the music industies, leading up to out final music video.
In order to be prepared for our final music video we were given a preliminary task. This included reseaching similar artists, such as rock/punk bands to gain ideas of the appropriate shots we should use. The band we were given are called 'Aches of Life'. They are a small unsigned band, including 4 male teenagers.
In terms of shots, we reserched similar bands and compared the similar aspects, such as positioning of band members and who to focus on.
Acres of life:
We compared them with different artists such as Green Day, Guns 'N' Roses, You Me At 6 and Funeral Party's music video 'Finale', which we analysed in terms of Mise-En-Scene, camerawork and editing.
We thought this was simple to do yet effective. The background/location went well with the style of the song and the artists.
The four band members were the drummer, the lead singer, the base guitarist and the main guitarist who were both BV's as well.
1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
-a website homepage for the band;
-a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
-a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).
From the three individual options I have chosen to design and create a cover for their release of an album or single. I am going to be researching into their star image focusing on their genre and target audience. I will analyse the different elements of their music video and marketing materials.
In this essay I will be discussing how Rihanna sells herself as an artist in her music video ‘Only Girl in the World’.
The first thing I noticed about Rihanna’s video was the colour scheme. Throughout both the background and the props are either red or pink. This attracts her targeted audience of females ages from between 10-25 years. Red and pink also symbolise feminism, love and lust, therefore Rihanna is sexualised.
Another thing I noticed was that, throughout the whole music video Rihanna is wearing and/or surrounded by flowers such as roses which are also pink and red which symbolises love, sex, virginity and desire, which links back to her target audience as this appeals to them and interests them.
Her image is shown as girly, however very sexy. She wears many different outfits which is what her target audience want to see and are fascinated by what she wears and fans feel inspired by her appearance and her music.
Her locations are very nature based , such as felids, flowers, desserts and a lake, which may symbolise purity and vulnerability.
At one stage she is shown on a ladder in a peaceful lake, with balloons around her, once again reinforcing virginity as a sexual innuendo.
She is shown on a giant swing in the middle of a field, with nobody in sight, implying she is independent or vulnerable.
Towards the end of the video she is shown with fireworks in the background in slow motion followed by Rihanna in front of a tree with candles on suggesting her loss of virginity, which swallows any innocence or purity.
The video starts with a medium wide shot to show Rihanna and her location, which starts off as a field. There is then a close up of her face to draw attention to her as an artist and her passion and beauty. There is then a medium close up which focuses on her feminism and the sexual side in her, which develops stronger in each of her videos.
Editing plays a large role on the music video. Its starts with several long shots of Rihanna in a field, although there are fast cuts within the long shots. There are several unusual edits, such as, reverse shots, repeated shots and a lot of slow motion to draw the audience’s attention but also to create something different and unusual to it to encourage the viewers to watch it again. The unusual aspect, such as Lady Gaga’s videos encouraging word-and-mouth, influencing more and more people to watch it, which is ultimately what artists want. The editing is well composed and it goes wellwith the theme and the beat of the music. Throughout the video there are many flash cuts to previous scenes and different locations to give her video variety and to interest and fascinate her target audience, which I think she succeeds. The video is shown from her perspective, as supprisingly she is the only person throughout the entire video which allows any focus only on her, which is what she wants. Her backgrounds are very simple, therefore does not take any possible attention away from herself. To not have any other people in a music video is very rare although it seems to work in this case. It also makes it seem like she is lonely but may be strong enough to live on her own.
Rihanna is a huge idol and role model to thousands of people. Her music and her videos have high influences on people. I find it very fascinating how the song is call ‘Only Girl’ in the world and she has chosen to be the only person in her video. This also shows her dominance in the video and how she is in control. Unlike a lot of music videos nowadays, she had relevance from her lyrics to the music video. I think Rihanna managed to sell her video to her audience in a different but clever way, using modern interests to attract her audience.
