MC: Analysis of Promotional Campaign

I Need Your Love - Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding

Music Video:

Institution and Audience:

• This music video is more for focused viewing. This is because a lot is going on within it. It has a narrative fuzz with lots of multiple scenarios happening, meaning the audience will need to be continuously watching it in order to see all the scenes and understand why they have been put together.
• It has repeatability as the audience will want to keep watching the different scenes again to understand their relationship. Voyeurism is a key feature of this music video as it is constantly focused on the two artists to present their meta-narrative and so the audience can understand them as artists.
• The role the record label might play in creating these promotional texts for these artists is to establish their meta-narrative. It shows them as laid back, fun characters so their audience will see them as being more relatable as it shows they don't take themselves too seriously.
• Although this is made by an industrial company, it looks as if it could be independent due to the low production values and the camera techniques that make it seem as if they are filming parts of it themselves. This further emphasizes them to be relatable to their audience and not high budget super stars.

Glitterball - Sigma ft. Ella Henderson:

Music Video:



Media Language:

• The purpose of this video is to show young people having fun. It constructs Ella Henderson's star image to be quite fun and easy going.
• The visual techniques used to do this are the editing, camera techniques and the mise-en-scene. The location of the music video is mostly at a beach. This connotes a relaxation and fun which is a theme running through this music video. Slow motion is a common editing technique used within this music video as it slows down time, which could show that this is a time in their life they don't want to go fast so are enjoying every minute, for example when they are all on the beach and are laughing and having fun. The camera work in this music video is constantly moving. Lots of handicam and steadicam shots are used to give the music video and authentic look, as if they had filmed it themselves.

Representation:

• Only one artist is shown, which is Ella Henderson, so she is shown to be a laid back artist who wants to have fun. This adds to her meta-narrative and helps to sell her product because it makes her relatable to her audience so they will be interested in it.
• Using the first paradox stated in Dyer's theory, the artist is simultaneously present yet absent. She isn't always shown within the music video which causes the audience to want to continue watching so they can try to work out her star image.
• The social group of youths are represented within this music video. The ideological discourse of this represents them quite positively as it shows them wanting to have fun and be quite laid back. It represents them as risk takers, but in a positive way by showing their non-verbal language to be smiling and happy.

Advert:

Genre:

• The genre of the track is evident in this advert because of the colour palette used. The blues, pinks and oranges mixed together create an effect that looks like club lighting but the fact they are pastel colours makes it slightly more relaxed, connoting a sunset which is a feeling this track gives off. This song is of the summer house/drum and base genre.

Media Language:

• A visual technique used in this magazine advert is the use of editing to create silhouettes with an overlay of the colours faded over them. This gives an enigmatic effect to the advert.
• Meaning is generated through these techniques as there are visual signifiers to young audiences of a stereotypical house/drum and base track. The silhouettes used and bright lights over them give it a slight club feeling even though it is located outside so it adds to the summer feeling of it.
• 'The UK's leading drum 'n' base duo return with "Glitterball" ' is a piece of text used on the advert. This emotive language helps to sell the band and make them seem very popular which makes more people want to listen to the track.

Representation:

• These artists are represented as being quite youthful due to the bright colour contrast and the use of social media at the bottom of the advert.
• Sigma is represented as the more important artist due to the text being in a bigger font and more bold.

Institution and audience:

• This print text might be consumed through an ambient viewing. This is because it has quite a simplistic design as the features of the people are not shown; it is mainly focused on the colours and the text.
• The purpose of this advert is to attract the audience into listening to the song by having quite bright colours to catch their eye, and by emphasising the name of the artists to attract fans of them. The text on this advert also gives information to try and sell the song as well as giving links to social media. This would attract young audiences to look into the artists if they have never heard of them before.
• The colour pallet relates to the music because it is bright and gives the advert a fun look which reflects the music video, as well as the light hearted song.

Bastille:

Music Video:



Genre and Narrative:

• Goodwin's theory states that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, and music and visuals. It is either illustrative, amplified or disjunctive. The relationship between lyrics and visuals in this music video is amplified within this music video, however depending on how you interpret it, it could be seen as illustrative. There are links to the lyrics within some parts of the video, however not all of them do. For example,
• The relationship between music and visuals is illustrative as when the tempo increases, the action and cutting rate increases also, and vice versa. This makes this style of video effective for this song.
• This video could be considered as art because of the many different interpretations that can be taken from it. It requires a focused viewing to be able to understand the multiple narratives and the meanings behind them. There are also many artistic shots used to give this music video the look of high production values.

Digipak:

Genre:

• The genre of this band is alternative/indie. This is evident in the digipak because it doesn't use conventional close ups of the artists that the pop genre do. This shows that they are different to other artists and bands so represents their alternative/indie genre.

Media Language:

• Colour grading is a visual technique used within this album cover as mostly yellow and blacks are used to create a slight sepia effect. This makes the white text stand out to show that they are the main parts. The yellow is used as a visual signifier to be a cars headlights shining onto the man which is what makes him stand out and be the main focus of the image. The simplicity of this album means your understanding of it does not have to be culturally derived due to the fact most cultures will be able to understand the image is showing a man running away from what appears to be a car.
• The connotations of the album title 'Bad Blood' are mostly negative. It could connote the main feelings of the songs within the album. It could be representing that the majority of songs in the album are about someone who has impacted your live in negative way or someone who has 'bad blood'.
• Intertextuality is shown within this album cover and the advert as gives off the feel of a scene from a horror film. It looks as if this man is being chased which could be a pastiche of particular horror film.

Representation:

• The band are represented here as a simple band and their music could be used as a bit of an escape. The image of the man running away could represent that their type of music is a good way to escape from everything. It adds to their metanarrative by showing them to be a bit different with a simplistic digipak which is mostly showing off the name of the band and the album name. Due to the fact they aren't all shown on this cover could represent that they aren't focused about their star image and for them it is all about the music.

Institution and audience:

• This print will have an ambient viewing because it is quite simplistic. This means that the audience will not have to have a focused viewing of it to understand what is happening in the shot. This is evident in the way it is constructed by the fact it is of an empty road with a man running away. This means all types of audience are able to easily work out what is being shown.
• The purpose of this album cover is to construct the metanarrative of the band. Although only one band member is shown, this album cover is unusual in comparison to other album covers due to the fact of how simple it is so it shows that they are a band offering an alternative style of music.
• The colour pallet also sets the tone and style of their type of music as black and yellow are the main colours used. This gives it quite a relaxed yet interesting feel to it. The back of the digipak also fits in with the theme of the front on the digipak. The same colours are used, however this side is looking at the car and it's headlights, rather than the cars headlights looking at a man. This makes the whole digipak fit together as well as having the main purpose of showing the tracks which are on the album.