Notes on digipack and magazine advertisement

Researching into digipaks and posters will inform me of the basics I need to know when creating the ones for our own artist so I can produce a good quality product.
Digipak
Typically a digipak consists of a book-like style made of a paper or card outer binding and contains one or more CD trays within it. They are important because they encase the CD and protect it from damage and inform the user of who the artist and album are for the CD. Digipaks in particular have become a recent popularity among music artists due to their resistance to cracking as unlike the classic jewel case style CD case they are not made of a brittle material, except for the inner CD tray.
Magazine advertisement (Album)
Album magazine advertisements are used as a promotional tool to entice people to buy the album of a specific artist. They usually contain text informing the viewer of information such as the album and artist names, the release date, songs included, record companies and websites to visit and the advertisement will include an image of at least the album cover. Their style will also vary depending on the artist's style and genre, for example a metal artist would use much darker lighting and less colours compared to an electronic artist. Artists need these in order to help sell their albums in larger quantities as creating advertisements makes it more likely people will take interest in the album and purchase it.

Notes on the cultural effects model

I made some research on this theory is it would be beneficial for understanding how music videos use it to their advantage and how I can use it to help make my own video more effective.

The cultural effects model is a theory which states audiences views are affected largely by the media, however unlike the Hypodermic Needle theory, they are influenced gradually over a long period of time through a 'drip drip' effect. This relates closely to Neo-Marxist views which suggest people have been exposed over a long period of time to media content brought forward by capitalist ideology.
Music videos are linked with this because of the various stereotypes featured within their generic conventions which would have been influenced by other media text and would contribute to the influence of the audiences perception of those stereotypes. An example would be a generic convention of rap being gang culture and more commonly featuring black people, emphasising the stereotypical idea that black people are more involved in gang culture.

This theory can be used in our music video through following the conventions seen in our genre as it will feature particular stereotypes, such as teenagers being stereotypically rebellious and associated with anarchy. This would then contribute to the 'drip drip' effect as well as being influenced by it.

Lip syncing

This involves merging together voices with a video (when they have been recorded separately) so the sound matches the actor's mouth movements in the video. This is used particularly in music videos so the original studio recorded song can be played over the film. It is very important that this is done as perfectly as possible, especially for music videos, for the mouth movements must match what is being said so the person looks like they are actually saying it. if the sound and video are just a second out of sync the whole effect is lost. This is something we will have to consider carefully during our film's editing process.

This video of Lindsay Lohan performing live on TV is good example of bad lip syncing. From 0:40 to 0:50 she can be seen appearing to forget the lyrics which caused some controversy as most of the fans believed she was singing live.

A good example of lip syncing can be seen clearly in Miley Cyrus' music video for 'Wrecking Ball' in which doing it correctly was very important for the close up shot means any mistakes would be easily noticed.

Textual analysis from chosen genre (My Chemical Romance-Desolation Row)

I created a second analysis for a music video for our genre to help gain much wider knowledge of the conventions included in that genre. This video really emphasised the classic style of punk using various elements to represent anarchy. such as attacking police and causing mayhem.
Visual codes
There is a large amount of typography and iconography at the start of the video as it shows a classic punk concert played at a venue called the 'Pale Horse' which bears reference to one featured in the novel for Watchmen, for which this song was made. The sign at the concert says 'My Chemical Romance' and this is followed by a sign saying 'sold out' highlighting how the band are a very popular mainstream artist. The audience is made aware the video is set in New York by its generic police uniforms worn by the police featured at the start. This introduction also suggests there is about to be trouble, which is what punk is generally about causing. The background of the artists' stage displays the face mask of one of the Watchmen characters, again, showing reference to the film the song was made for. There are various shots reflecting the generic convention of anarchy in punk music videos such as people punching police men, riot police pushing through the crowd and objects being thrown and broken. The lighting of the video is fairly low key which mirrors the bad mischievous nature of the band who are causing havoc.
Technical codes
Throughout the video the editing is fast paced to follow the tempo of the music so it is more highlighted from the video and not transitions are used so the cuts are fast and snappy. The re are slow motion effects used a lot to help emphasise the speed of movements and actions being taken, for example the bottle being broken on the riot policeman's helmet. There are a large amount of shots focusing on the lead singer and band as it shows them as important characters which follows the conventional style of music videos. There are also many shots of the audience highlighting that the band is playing live. Most of the shots are placed matching the band's eye level to show how they are levelled above the audience also reflecting their importance.
Genre
With the band being a punk band, many of punk's generic conventions are followed in this video. This is shown through elements such as shots of the artists playing, a sense of chaos and anarchy and the overall visual style of the setting.
Narrative
There is a clear narrative shown in the video which shows the artists performing at a concert which is sold out. The enraged fans who haven't got tickets begin causing havoc and as the police arrive it worsens. Eventually riot police arrive to solve the problem and a riot breaks out inside the concert as the band is playing. it concludes with the band being arrested. Various intertextual references are included in the video from the film 'Watchmen' including the location and editing style.
Organisations
The video was made to not only promote the band but also the film 'Watchmen' both of which are distributed by Warner Bros. Both were also directed by the same man resulting in similar styles to both which helped with promotion of the film. By featuring their film in one of their artist's music videos Warner were able to promote the film at a lower cost than using someone else's.
Audience
The audience aimed at with this video would mostly be teenagers or young adults who are not only generally the audience most targeted by punk music but are also stereotyped as being rebellious and causing chaos like the crowd in the video. The video would also target a lower class audience who are stereotypically seen as more likely to get into trouble and also be rebellious. other than them My Chemical Romance and Watchmen fans would be targeted in the video by what is featured in it.
Representation
Age and class are mostly represented in this video by the way the young lower class audience and band follow their stereotypes of causing problems and being the negative compared with the older looking police who are there to solve the problem. There is also a vague representation of gender by the stereotypical aggression seen in the male characters throughout the video. The band have been represented to follow the traditional punk style of dressing and acting like delinquents by continuing with the concert despite the chaos going on and one of the members even has a British flag badge on their shoulder symbolising the origin of a lot of popular Punk music.

Textual analysis from chosen genre (Green Day-Boulevard of Broken Dreams)

I analysed a music video off the same genre as my chosen artist. This would help me understand the style and key conventions associated with that genre so that I may apply them to my own video. From it I found mostly the editing was effective in portraying the genre, particularly the lighting and effects.
Visual codes
In this video a variety of imagery is used as iconography to display the location where the video is based. The American style convertible in the desert with the classic western style tumble weed rolling past help the audience depict the video's North American setting. This is later backed up by the use of a US flag in a background shop window. In terms of typography, the band's name can be seen at the start of the video on the front of the car in silver letters and above it is the fist and grenade featured in the song's album cover to relate the two to each other. For me the shot in which the three band members are seen walking down the street one behind the other in front of the discount store is the most interesting composition, as the other characters in the background are much larger than them, giving them a sense of insignificance which mirrors the lyrics' theme of being alone. The lighting is fairly low key despite the time of day which connotes the negative mood of the song.
Technical codes
At the start, the close up on the fist and grenade makes for an effective shot by the way it is focused on by the camera to highlight its significance to the audience. Many of the shots throughout the video are of the artists, especially close ups of the lead singer which reflects the generic conventions of music videos. Also some low angle shots are used to reflect their importance. The editing uses no transitions and varying pace to reflect the song's tempo. Many of the shots have been edited with special effects to make them look gritty and nostalgic. This has connotations of being old and dirty which mirrors the band's punk genre convention of roughness and improvisation.
Genre

The band's genre is punk which is presented clearly through many of its conventions in this video. For example the rough and gritty look which gives the sense of it being hand made as punk is more associated with the lower class inferior members of society. There are many shots of the band performing and close ups of the artist's which are conventions of both punk and music videos in general.
Narrative
The narrative of the video depicts the band members' car breaking down in a desert and them going on a walk to find help. Though it isn't clear in this video, the video follows on from the end of the narrative for band's other song, 'Holiday', as they are recovering from their hangover, using the car in both videos as an intertextual reference. As well as this there is the reference to both song's album cover with the fist and grenade on the car's bonnet. The band are also seen performing inside an abandoned looking building which follows the rough and gritty convention of their genre.
Organisations
The video received very high praise, including many music awards which shows the record company Warner Music must have put a lot into creating an effective video for the band to help promote their song through YouTube and TV music channels such as MTV.
Audience
The audience this video targets is overall punk music lovers which based on the audiences associated with that genre means they would be aged between around 15 and 30 and of a low to lower-medium class. This is shown by the use of a gritty urban setting and energetic style of the video. Also their fans would be highly targeted by the various references featured in the video such as the car.
Representation
Little representations of issues are shown other than class by the presentation of a lower class run down location. Also age can be seen by the way the characters reflect the stereotypical idea of young adults and teenagers getting into problems due to activities such as drinking and also being lost in society, shown by the band walking down the streets with a hangover. The artists have been represented to dress quite casually to reflect the conventional style of punk and using a mostly dark colour scheme as most punk bands wear. The costumes include pieces of clothing such as shirts and ties which give the band a sense of importance and follow their common dress-style.