MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS - SUM 41 - (FAT LIP)

HOW WE WOULD COMBAT MUSIC INDUSTRY ISSUES WITHIN TEK RECORDS

NARRATIVE THEORY IN RELATION TO MY PRODUCT

In 1969 Todorov produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any media text with a narrative. He believed that they all follow the same narrative pattern.

There are five stages of the narrative:

1. A state of equilibrium (All is well)

2. A disruption of that by an event

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium

You can apply this theory to some music videos, however, some genres tend to not have a narrative at all as it is not needed to express music alone. Sum 41's song In Too Deep does not follow a narrative of such it is just a scene. We are including narrative in our video.

1. A state of equilibrium - The band being shown as happy at the start and seeing the main boy gives a feel that everything is as it should be

2. A disruption of that order by an event - This is not as clear as stated in the theory. Our video features a feeling that the main boy and girl and not truly happy with their lives as the girl is seen to be different from her friends, like the boy. The girl is different as she does not share her friends 'bully' image. The boy is different as he is not happy, he is hurting as he has feelings for the girl and she does not know

3.  A recognition that the disorder has occurred - The boy recognises this subtly as he is shown to be sad. The girl is also shown to not want to follow her friends and act like them

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption - This is shown by the boy finally attempting to talk to the girl when he finds her in a classroom. Although, this is not shown on camera. It is implied by them entering the common room together

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium - This is shown by the two ending up seemingly as a couple at the end of the video, looking happy and smiling

QUESTIONNAIRE FEEDBACK ANALYSIS - HOW WE WOULD USE IT WITHIN TEK RECORDS AND OUR MUSIC VIDEO

DIGI PACK ANALYSIS

This is the digi pack for the album by Greenday - American Idiot. The bands theme is continued onto the CD, the insert and back cover for continuity. 

Colour

The colours link to the bands punk rock genre very well. The black symbolises the darkness of the genre with the hidden themes of corruption and the deviance within society. The black connotes this. The red show the strong punk side to the genre. It gives ideas of how bold the band is. It also connotes blood on the album cover. The white contrasts with this. It is pure, giving the idea that the bands message is pure and that they should be believed and listened to. It also makes the text easy to read and makes the band name stand out to an audience who can clearly gain information about the genre and attitude of the band just with a glance at the colours that are used.

Font

The font inside is quite quirky and suitable for an older teenage audience, however, it is still bold. The names of the band members particularly stand out to immediately give ideas about the members nature, determining whether or not a person might take a liking to the band. The band name still keeps the same font as the rest of their albums, being different to the other text so that it is easily noticeable to new fans and allowing old fans to recognise the bands work. 

Image

The image of a cartoon hand holding a grenade pin on the CD may seem very shocking to a person viewing it. This gives the idea that the band may not follow societies normal conventions and be rebels- this is common in the pop punk genre and allow an audience to immediately identify this. The image of a heart depicted as a grenade tells an audience that the band focus on hardship within love as a main aspect of their music. s the image is cartoon is is not as stark as a metal genre image for example and further the punk within the bands genre. 

Layout

The simple layout makes it easy for an audience to immediately identify the type of genre the band follows.  It clearly shows the slightly anti-society attitude of the genre with the quirky punk side. It gives easy clear messages to an audience as to the themes that lie within the album- in this case heartbreak. 

The insert includes the lyrics to the songs on the album. The hand-written scruffy nature connotes that the band have a relaxed attitude to things and are not always serious. This furthers the idea of the punk within the genre as it is quirky. The font varies and seems to emphasise some words. This is personal to the band and gives the audience a feel of intimacy with them- drawing them in to be a fan. The layout is simple yet readable. This ensures that the audience knows that they are serious about their music, whilst falling outside the norms of society and being rebellious. 

MUSIC PIRACY

Definition- The illegal downloading and sharing of music without copyright permissions  from the artists/record companies- infringing copyright laws.

The Digital Economy Act

Made in April 2009, the act states that internet service providers (ISPs) must carry out the following when investigating piracy:

-issue letter warnings

-slow down or suspend offenders internet access

-use a graduated response system (3 strikes and you're out)

-disclose identities to the police

-issue fines of up to £50000

-block illegal websites

Criticisms

There are many criticisms and inconsistencies within the act:

-Will public wi-fi users be affected? If someone downloads from public wi-fi could the whole thing be shut down? This is not fair on legitimate users

-It is not stated as to when a person should be fined and if it amounts to a criminal record

-As it is hard to pinpoint one offender, who will be prosecuted?

-Can piracy truly be proven? People may use someone elses wi-fi to carry it out or pretend to be somebody else

-Do the public agree with the act? (BBC found that 87% of people in their survey think uncensored internet access should be a fundamental right. Talk Talk found that 80% of young people will continue to illegally download and did a 'Do not disconnect us' campaign in 2009)

-The issue is too hard to police- is it really worth police time?

-Who should take the responsibility of policing it? Just ISPs or the public?

Limewire

The company was founded in 2000 by a former Wall Street trader- Mark Gorton. In 2010 they were forced to pay money to EMI, Sony and Universal for copyright infringement. They were finally shut down after the 4 year legal battle when a federal court in New York issued a permanent injunction against them. According to the RIAA, this caused US music sales to fall from 14.5 billion in 1999 to 7.7 billion in 2009. The NDP group also found that 58% of people who illegally downloaded music in 2009, from May, used the site.

The Pirate Bay

RIAA seek $13 million for 34 cases of copyright infringement from the founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg. Him and the co-founders had their one year jail sentence reduced to between 4 and 10 months on appeal. They were order to pay only $7 million. Warg still continues to commit illegal hacking and will be deported next week to Denmark to face charges of stealing confidential data. He is being deported from Sweden where he is serving a one year jail sentence for a separate offence. Police want to talk to him about a hack on computers holding police files.

Napster

The company has been sued by 18 record companies for it's illegal sharing of music- including the metal band Metallica. The complaint filed against them was 'the vicarious and contributory copyright infringement on behalf of a putative class of similarity situated music publishers.' They were prosecuted under the California Civil Code 980a)2). According to Napster they gave their users the unprecedented ability to locate music by their favourite artist in MP3 format- gaining 75 million users by 2000. The company grew at 200% per month from then on and forsaw that they would make money from email, advertising and commissions from links to other sites. It was estimated that the company was worth 60-80 million dollars with 87% of it's files being copyrighted. Nowadays, Napster has become a legitimate site with copyright permissions, a free trial and users that pay to use it. 

ISLAND RECORDS

Island Records is a label founded by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in Jamaica. Based in the UK for many years, it has been owned by Universal Music Group (since 1988). The label is a subsidiary of The Island Def Jam Music Group in the US. Since 2007, there has been another label in Australia known as Island Records Australia, run by Universal Music Australia.  It remains as one of UMG's top record labels.

Trouble for the label

Island was once the largest indie record label in history and had a major influence on the progressive music scene of the UK in the early 70s. Island operated its own record pressing plant but had sometimes problems with quality control with many records being defective. It struggled as a business in the late and Bob Marley's death was disastrous to the companys popularity. Blackwell had also used the label to finance a new film production and distribution company, Island Alive. In 1987, the company was not able to pay $5 million it owed to U2 in royalties for 'The Joshua Tree' album which it had used to finance several unsuccessful films.
A deal was struck whereby U2 invested the unpaid $5 million into the company in exchange for a stake in the company-around 10%. In 1989 Blackwell sold Island Records and Island Music to PolyGram for £272 million. Island is no longer an independent company. Then in 1998 Polygram was purchased by Seagrams which is now within Universal Music Company

Success

In the UK, Island and Mercury merged to become divisions of Island Mercury Group. In the US Island and Mercury were merged into Island Mercury Group but decided to build on the strength of the success of the Def Jam Recordings so was renamed The Island Def Jam Music Group (which it is today). Under Universal, in the US it became a mostly pop/rock label and set up their own teen label- signing successes such as Justin Bieber. In 2001 Universal chose an Island Records single release to be the basis for Europe's first mobile marketing trial. Island Records Australia was launched in 2007 by Universal Music Australia.

Current Artists
-Drake
-Avicii
-Black Veil Brides
-Fall Out Boy
-Lower Than Atlantis
-The Vamps
-Snow Patrol
-Sam Sparro
-Tinchy Stryder
-Patrick Stump
-Skepta

Former artists
-Andrew W.K
-Busted
-Bob Dylan
-Fightstar
-Hanson
-Hoobastank
-N-Dubz
-U2

KERRANG MAGAZINE

Kerrang! is a weekly magazine devoted to rock music made by Bauer Media Group. It  published in June 1981 for the first time as a one-off piece in the Sounds newspaper. It is named after the word that sounds like a power chord on a distorted electric guitar. In the early 2000's it became the best-selling British music newspaper. The original owner was United Newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991.

In the early 1990's the magazine placed many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover such as Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Metallica and Poison. They later discarded them when grunge acts such as Nirvana rose to fame- keeping up with popular demand. This was criticised by some fans that followed the magazines from the start as they seemed to just run whatever was popular.

Popularity rose again with the hiring or editor Paul Rees in 2000 with the introduction of nu metal- bands such as Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. Rees went on to edit Q magazine and Ashley Bird took over in 2003. They also coined the phrase "Thrash Metal" while making a reference to the Anthrax song "Metal Thrashing Mad" in issue number 62- making them stand out as a confident, successful publication. In 2008, EMAP sold its consumer magazine to current owner Bauer Media Group.

The website is dedicated to finding out more information on the current bands and upcoming events. It features an online shop, podcasts, message board, TV and radio ensuring even more opportunities to sell merchandise.  It also launched it's own online forum with the rants and raves section.

This is an extract from the Bauer Media Company website. It tells potential advertisers what, how and why to advertise in their magazine. They have to sell their product to these people to create extra revenue, whilst ensuring that the adverts are current and relate to their target audience of late teenagers and adults that they give on the site. This is the kind of magazine our company would advertise in as they often feature pop punk bands and news.

They also hold an annual awards ceremony to mark the most successful bands in the interests of their readers. The awards became one of Britain's most recognised award events. It is always presented by major music celebrities, with many others outside the industry attending the event. EMAP launched Kerrang! as a digital radio station across the UK which began as a 'jukebox' station, playing a back-to-back sequence of music. In June 2004, Kerrang! 105.2 was launched as a regional radio station. It has specialist programmes devoted to various genres and artists. It includes interviews with stars. Then , in 2001 EMAP launched Kerrang! TV. It covers the more mainstream side of rock like the radio station as well as classic rock. Kerrang TV is now a joint venture between Bauer Media Group and Channel 4. It holds it own tour throughout January a tour of rock music concerts around the UK. The tour has featured bands such as Bullet for My Valentine, Good Charlotte and Sum 41 (our chosen band). In 2012 Kerrang announced a new rock chart for the UK which is based upon airplay across Kerrang Radio, Kerrang TV and sales figures from the Official Charts Company. It is announced on Saturday mornings and feature twenty tracks. The latest chart can be viewed on Kerrang every Saturday at midday.

ANCILLARY QUESTIONNAIRE AND FEEDBACK

We have devised a questionnaire to see whether my target audience will enjoy and want to watch my music video. It includes questions concerning when and where they watch music videos so I would know where to distribute it. We also made one for the ancillary tasks to see when and where my target audience view CD covers and posters. From the feedback I will know what to include on the cover and the kind of things they like to see. If the feedback does not fit with what we plan to create, it allows for changes to be made. This ensures the products will be successful. 

We asked 25 people from the target audience of teenagers (13-20). It is only a small scale survey that was limited in scope and number of responses, however, we were able to gain a small insight into our target audience.

These are screen shots of each questionnaire. They are one choice answers to make our results clear.



1. Do you tend to take notice of album release posters and CD cover images?

2. Do you buy CD's?

3. Do you buy magazines?

  4. If so, what type of magazines do you buy?

5. Where do you notice adverts the most? (You can choose more than one)

  6. What type of genre of adverts do you prefer?

  7. Do you prefer to see the artists or images on CD covers?

8. Do you prefer bright colours/images or darker colours/images?

MUSIC VIDEO QUESTIONNAIRE AND FEEDBACK

We have devised a questionnaire to see whether my target audience will enjoy and want to watch my music video. It includes questions concerning when and where they watch music videos so I would know where to distribute it. We also made one for the ancillary tasks to see when and where the target audience view CD covers and posters. From the feedback I will know what to include on the cover and the kind of things they like to see. If the feedback does not fit with what we plan to create, it allows for changes to be made. This ensures the products will be successful. 

We asked 25 people from the target audience of teenagers (13-20).

These are screen shots of each questionnaire. They are one choice answers to make our results clear.  It is only a small scale survey that was limited in scope and number of responses, however, we were able to gain a small insight into our target audience.

1. Do you watch music videos often? (more than once a week)

2. Where do you watch them?

3. If on Tv- where?

4. If online-where?

5. What do you watch them on the most?

6. Which music genre is your favourite?

7. Do you prefer music videos that include a narrative or purely performance based?

8. Do you like to see the artists or actors in a music video?

9. What kind of narrative do you most like to see in a music video?



CLOTHING

My product features stereotypical characters that belong to certain groups within their school- based on music taste in this case with the boys. This needs to be clear in the product, therefore the boys that are featured need to look like they like the pop punk genre and the girls do not dress in a particular way. This is because they need to come across as 'popular' rather than having a specific taste in music. However, it can be assumed that their generic teenage girly clothing can be related to the pop genre. Clothing is the easiest way to do this. There are examples in society of fans of artists dressing like and looking like who they look up to. Researching what each group tend to dress like will help in deciding on wardrobe choices for the cast. As we do not have a massive budget, we cannot buy clothes for them to wear. Therefore, we have chosen people who dress like people who may like the pop punk genre anyway (dark clothes and band t-shirts as I have found).

                                                    

The Beatles haircut, also known as the mop-top (because of its resemblance to a mop) is a mid-length hairstyle named after and popularised by the band. It is straight, collar-length and over the ears at the sides, with a straight fringe. It was widely imitated worldwide and led toy manufacturers to begin producing real-hair and plastic "Beatle Wigs". 

In 1967, on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, all four of The Beatles sported moustaches, sparking a trend for facial hair towards the end of the 60s and through the 1970s. Harrison also began to sport long hair and Lennon began to wear his signature round glasses which signaled a mature image for the fans.

Some punks wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, plaid/tartan trousers, kilts or skirts, T-shirts, leather jackets (which are often decorated with painted band logos, pins and buttons, and metal studs or spikes), and footwear such as Converse sneakers, creepers, or Dr. Martens boots.However, people who enjoy the genre and aren't 'hardcore' punks are anti-fashion, arguing that punk should be defined by music or ideology. This is the kind of look we want to show as in a school, the fashion cant be too extreme. Also, our budget wouldn't allow us to purchase the extreme clothing. It may be seen as too stereotypical and offensive. After the 1980's fashion became more relaxed. Members of the subculture often dressed in plain t-shirts and jeans, rather than the more elaborate outfits. Many adopt a street look with working class outfits. Some fans adopted a dressed-down style of T-shirts, jeans, combat boots or sneakers and crew cuts.

Bands can also influence dress sense by releasing merchandise such as t-shirt. Fans may purchase them to wear. The style will be different depending on the band. Pop shirts seem to be bright and feature the artist, whereas pop punk feature the band logo and in some cases tour dates. 

The pop punk band Blink 182 have inspired many fans to have tattoos copying their own and the logo. Fans also wear their band t-shirts and copy their laid back fashion. This is a subtle way to show which genre the characters in my product enjoy. I will copy their laid-back style as we feature the boys in the video as the band. They need to reflect a pop punk band. The band that we have taken the song from also adopt this style.

The casual style will suit the video better as more radical styles such as the Sex Pistols (above) are outdated. As the music video needs to be new and current to satisfy fans, the characters need to be realistic and not too stereotypical. Students do not tend to dress like this in schools nowadays. It will give the audience a sense of verisimilitude and make it easier for them to relate to the characters and plot.

RECEPTION THEORY IN RELATION TO MY PRODUCT

Reception theory focuses on the role of the audience in interpreting the text instead of the text itself. It suggests that audiences play an active role in reading texts and interpret them differently to one another. A text by itself without a viewer has no specific meaning. 

 Hall, the founder of the theory, states that texts are polysemic depending on their cultural knowledge, identity and opinions.He suggests that the change in reception creates:
-Dominant or preferred reading which is how the director wants the audience to view the media text
-Opposition Reading which is when the audience rejects the preferred meaning and creates their own meanings
-Negotiated Reading which is a compromise between the first two readings. The audience accepts part of the directors views but has their own views on certain parts

The dominant reading of our plot would be that there is a stereotypical group of 'popular' girls who aren't very friendly and a 'mosher' (listens to pop punk and dresses accordingly- and t-shirts, dark clothes etc.) group of boys that are not very popular. One of the boys likes one of the girls in the group. They are opposites in the social hierarchy. He tries to muster up the courage to talk to her. Throughout, she is seen as different to the other girls, quiet and not taking a liking to their bolshy ways- especially one girl in particular we see leading her away. It turns out that she likes the same music as the boy and when he comes to talk to her he realises this as she is listening to it. They end up together and facing the group of girls and we presume they become an item. This is all done in an exaggerated way to make the plot obvious.

However, an opposion reading may be that the girls are bullies and that the video shows that the two groups shouldn't mix. We realise this but challenge it as best we can by giving the video a happy ending and do not make the girls seem like extreme bullies. The scenes we show subtly show the girls seeming slightly nasty. We do not include any content they may disturb or upset the audience.

I believe that most people will have an opposition reading on our story and everyone will interpret the relationships in different ways. For example, someone who has been bullied may see the girls in a different light and view their actions and attitudes as more threatening than a very confident person would.  A person who likes a different genre of music may not identify with the characters as well as a person who likes the pop punk genre. They may not relate to the boys as they may see themselves as from a different social group even though they as not be as obvious as the stereotypical ones that we show.

USES AND GRATIFIATIONS THEORY IN RELATION TO MY PRODUCT

  

This theory helps me to understand why people consume music videos so that I can incorporate the ideas into my music video. This will ensure that an audience will consume my product and that is will be successful with the target audience. 

Education 

People may consume my product to educate themselves on the genre. New fans of the genre may want to explore other bands. Therefore, my product needs to include the main conventions of the genre to clearly fit into it. It will include the own quirks of the band to compete with others, however, will keep the main ideas of the pop-punk genre. This will then give the audience a confident knowledge of the genre and security to express their opinions-giving them the ability to discuss music tastes and videos.

Social Interaction

The knowledge then allows the audience to interact with one another. This means that my product needs to relate to them and be attention grabbing. This is why the theme is relevant to teenagers- my target audience- as they can relate to the romance and the stereotypical cliques of a high school even if they are not from America. The characters are therefore easily identifiable with. They needed to be stereotypical as they then are familiar to more people. The social conversations may make the audience feel as if they belong in a special club maybe for pop punk fans. This may be on an online forum or groups on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. This may help them carry out their social roles in their own unique way.

Information

As the music video would be released as a new one, it gives the audience a sense of being current if they listen to it. As the band are Canadian, fans from other countries may feel connected to other cultures. The video needs to satisfy curiosity of people that may not already be fans of the band or the genre. This is another reason for the video holding the main conventions of the pop punk genre, it needs to be easily identifiable.

Entertainment

The video needs to offer emotional release and cultural pleasure. It features slight humour with the stereotypical storyline and characters, therefore may entertain an audience. I have ensured that the plot is entertaining along with the visuals as to keep people entertained. The use of the lip singing and lyrics being created on screen mix the video up to do this. The story may allow a viewer to escape from their daily problems and see a visual story that they can lose themselves in. This gives aesthetic pleasure which may also be given to people viewing the video just because it is just on a channel that they watch. It needs to be interesting enough to satisfy the people that do not know the band and that may just be 'filling time' by watching it.

Personal Identity

Just watching the video itself may reassure a persons identity. Keeping the main conventions of the pop punk genre ensures that the video will fit within a persons identity whilst entertaining them. The person may relate to the characters and see models of behaviour that they may follow. For example, our story involves a boy becoming confident enough to talk to the girl he likes and learns that they have common interest. A person watching the video may be inspired to do this themselves. More than likely in more of a subtle way rather than copying the actions completely. They may reflect on the characters actions and change their own behaviour- gaining an insight into themselves.

USES AND GRATIFIATIONS THEORY RELATED TO MY PRODUCT

  

This theory helps me to understand why people consume music videos so that I can incorporate the ideas into my music video. This will ensure that an audience will consume my product and that is will be successful with the target audience. 

Education 

People may consume my product to educate themselves on the genre. New fans of the genre may want to explore other bands. Therefore, my product needs to include the main conventions of the genre to clearly fit into it. It will include the own quirks of the band to compete with others, however, will keep the main ideas of the pop-punk genre. This will then give the audience a confident knowledge of the genre and security to express their opinions-giving them the ability to discuss music tastes and videos.

Social Interaction

The knowledge then allows the audience to interact with one another. This means that my product needs to relate to them and be attention grabbing. This is why the theme is relevant to teenagers- my target audience- as they can relate to the romance and the stereotypical cliques of a high school even if they are not from America. The characters are therefore easily identifiable with. They needed to be stereotypical as they then are familiar to more people. The social conversations may make the audience feel as if they belong in a special club maybe for pop punk fans. This may be on an online forum or groups on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. This may help them carry out their social roles in their own unique way.

Information

As the music video would be released as a new one, it gives the audience a sense of being current if they listen to it. As the band are Canadian, fans from other countries may feel connected to other cultures. The video needs to satisfy curiosity of people that may not already be fans of the band or the genre. This is another reason for the video holding the main conventions of the pop punk genre, it needs to be easily identifiable.

Entertainment

The video needs to offer emotional release and cultural pleasure. It features slight humour with the stereotypical storyline and characters, therefore may entertain an audience. I have ensured that the plot is entertaining along with the visuals as to keep people entertained. The use of the lip singing and lyrics being created on screen mix the video up to do this. The story may allow a viewer to escape from their daily problems and see a visual story that they can lose themselves in. This gives aesthetic pleasure which may also be given to people viewing the video just because it is just on a channel that they watch. It needs to be interesting enough to satisfy the people that do not know the band and that may just be 'filling time' by watching it.

Personal Identity

Just watching the video itself may reassure a persons identity. Keeping the main conventions of the pop punk genre ensures that the video will fit within a persons identity whilst entertaining them. The person may relate to the characters and see models of behaviour that they may follow. For example, our story involves a boy becoming confident enough to talk to the girl he likes and learns that they have common interest. A person watching the video may be inspired to do this themselves. More than likely in more of a subtle way rather than copying the actions completely. They may reflect on the characters actions and change their own behaviour- gaining an insight into themselves.

SPIKE JONZE

Spike Jonze (1989-present) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor. HIs work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. Jonze is well known also for his music video collaborations with Weezer, Beastie Boys, and Björk. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV's Jackass. He is currently the creative director of VBS TV.

Jonze has many alter egos, including Richard Koufey who is the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group. It appeared when Jonze filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Praise You". He showed the video to Slim, who appears briefly in the video then assembled a group of dancers to perform it outside Westwood movie theater, taping the performance. It was a huge success and he and his troupe were invited to New York City to perform the song for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. It received awards for Best Direction, Breakthrough, and Choreography. He then made a mockumentary about the experience called Torrance Rises.

Jonze also directed the music video for "Otis" from the album Watch The Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West and documented Lady Gaga's performance of "Dope" for the YouTube Music Awards.

His music video style seems to be slightly comedic, light and upbeat. This follows the theme for our music video. We are going to slightly follow his style as our video contains elements of comedy.