Front CD covers- similarities

As you can see, I have found some Cd covers from different artists; where has been used the similar style of fonts, as well as the costumes for the artists, but the cover still looks unlike, and original. This is something I will be doing, in producing the CD cover. This means that if I will decided to use the same or similar fonts just like you can see on Britney Spears ''Circus'' album, I can be still original by changing the colour, size, of the fonts, or place it on unconventional place which also make it look different. This doesn't mean that my product is not original, as it will be when I will make these changes. I really like these cover's, as there are conventional features, which are associated with the female gender- bright colours, bow's, flower's, costume's, hairstyle's- messy  long hair etc.  It is interesting that each from these artists are producing different type of music. For example: Eliza Doolittle- indie pop, Cher Lloyd-hip-hop/r&b, and Nicola Roberts- pop. But their fonts,still match with their music gender, therefore, this means that I could apply some feature's from other music genre's into my CD cover, but then try to make match with my music genre. This can be achieved throughout changing the size, colour and design (put some effects on) on the font. 

Music Videos- similarities

Sinead O'Connor- Nothing Compare to you 90's song

 Janelle Monae- Cold War- the close-up of the artists- showing emotions- ''tears''


Both music video's represent two female artists, singing a song with a very powerful lyrics, therefore they both showed off their emotions and feeling to the audience. This gives to the song and music video a ''soul'' that the song isn't just made up with the words, but there are more than that, a story, a memory. Within those music video's, there is a close-up of both artists, first one from ''Nothing compare to you'' music video, the female is wearing a black top, which helps to better recognise the artists face and her face expression. In the second one, we can see the artists, looking ''naked'', which again, helps keep the focus on her face, and her face expression. The both, video and the song are sad, depressive, therefore this mise-en-scene, match perfectly and allowed the artists to represent themselves in the different way. 

 Beyonce featuring Sean Paul- Baby Boy- the part in which the artist dance with the other female dancers.




Rihanna- If It's Lovin' That You- the part when the artist dance with the other female dancers 


Both music video's are ''summer songs'' with the stereotypical, simple mise-en-scene, and which still popular even nowadays. Within the both video's, the female artist's are on the stage, build on the beach, with a beautiful background of the sea= creates a clear message/image of summer, as well as match perfectly with the lyrics of the both songs. This leads us to dancing scene, which is happening on that stage, where both artist dance with the another female professional dancers; wearing a similar dress costumes. In this scene, the director used a camera long shot of all of them dancing in both video's, a close-up of the singer singing the song, as well as the pan shot when the camera is ''following them''. The ''Baby boy song'' has also been in Billboard 100 song. 

Shakira- Did it again- dance scene


Pink- Try again - dance scene
Within the both music video, ''dance'' has been used as the main feature in filming. Both video's show the female artists, dancing with their dance partner's to represent the love, relationship not just by the lyrics of the song but also by the dance, as throughout the dance you also can show the emotions such as: the love, anger, depression. Both female artist's are wearing a simple dress costume, which allowed them to do this type of the dance with same gymnastic features. 

The history of music videos.

What is a music video?

•  a short film integrating a song and imagery
• produced for promotional or artistic purposes
• made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings
• 1980's - important date, as it's the year when the origins of music videos date came. As well as the  80's were described by various terms, including: ''illustrated song'', ''filmed insert, ''promotional film'', '' promotional clip'' or ''film clip''. 

70's Music Explosion 

This was decade of music explosion; the idea of creating happy, optimistic, relaxing songs that were characteristic of the 80's. Following the counterculture of the 60's, 70's music trend was to create dance and relaxing music. This helped  people to find and create pop music culture- known as movement of Disco, which is from the french word of ''discotheque''- in order to bring the fun, enjoyment that disco music provided. The 70's wasn't a unique decade in the terms of creating innovations in musical styles and genres, but it was unique decade of perfect musical bridge connecting to hippie lifestyle of the 60's, with the characteristic of middle-class ''yuppie'' lifestyle. Within the music video's, the choreography was minimal, therefore performance was simple. Interesting is that European radio stations played less rock music than American stations, which made television a prime source for listening music.

Popular Music Genres of the 70's 

Disco/Club

• O'Jays - ''Love Train''
• Gloria Gaynor's- ''Never Can Say Goodbye'' 
• James Brown- ''Sex machine'' ( the track that ran 10 min)

Progressive Rock

• Pink Floyd- ''Wish You Were Here''
• Genesis- ''Squonk'' 
•  Rush
•  Supertramp- ''The Logical Song''

Punk Rock/ New Wave

• The Ramones- ''I Wanna Be Sedated'' 
•  Blondie- ''Dreaming''
•  David Bowie- ''Ziggy Stardust''

Funk & Soul

• The Osmonds-''Crazy Horses''
•  Kool & the Gang-'' Hangin Out''
•  Earth, Wind & Fire- ''Fantasy''

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/70smusic.html

From the 70's, I like Queen's music video, which called ''Bohemian Rhapsody''. I have found out that this music video has caused a sensation. This leads us to the improvements within the music industry, of creating  video's with stories,  because it was one of few videos, where people been telling the story, as well as being able to see different special effects, which gave to a whole music video a nice look and new fresh air within production of  music video's in 70's. 

   


Trends & Influence

• It was an era of Micro, Mini or Maxi skirt lengths
• Caftan or Kaftan fashion clothes- the Hippies from the 60's brought clothes from other ethic groups, and that's why in 70's people was wearing caftans. 
• Style and Fashion created by hip-hop culture. The trends of functional clothes, created by Break-dancers, such as: loose fitting jeans, or tracksuits, over-sized jewelry.
• Tommy Hilfiger has brought hip-hop fashion to the masses/ population.

http://www.fashion-era.com/1970s.htm

http://www.ehow.com/about_6635022_influence-hip-hop-music-society.html

80's Fever

This was decade of revolutionary changes within the music scene. There were two major developments; MTV music channel- started to play music videos, and the Compact Disc-  which were expensive to buy, therefore,  it didn't sell very well at first. In the early of 80's it was disco, and the rest of the 80's was dominated by the new wave of heavy metal, rap, techno pop, alternative rock and the ''new'' country sounds. At this stage, the music became a huge marketing tool as filmmakers, TV producers and manufactures of everything.

Popular Music Genre's of the 80's 

Pop music 

• Aerosmith-''Young Lust''
• Deff Lepard- ''Let It Go''
•  Aretha Franklin-''Freeway Of Love''
• Madonna-''Like A Prayer''

Metal, Rock Music

•  Rainbow-''Stargaze''
•  Van Halen- ''Why Can't This Be Love''
• Quiet Riot-''Come On Feel the Noize''
•  The Smiths- ''This Charming Man''

Dance Music

• Michael Jackson- ''Beat It''
• Whitney Houston- ''Saving All My Love For You''
• Jody Watley-''Looking For A New Love''

Hip- Hop Music

• Sugarhill Gang- ''Rapper's Delight''- the first rap song ever made
• Kurtis Blow-''Party Time''
•  LL Cool J-''I'm Bad''

Teen Pop Music 

• New Kids on the Block- ''Please Don't Go Girl''
•  Tiffany-'' Feeling Of Forever''
• Debbie Gibson-''Only In My Dreams''

New Wave

• The Vapours- ''Turning Japanese'' 
• Naked eyes- ''Always Something There To Remind Me''
• Devo-''Whip It''

http://www.thegreat80s.com/80s-Music.html

From the 80's, I really like music video by Madonna,''Like A Prayer'' as well as the song as you can hear there elements of gospel, and funk. The video contains a story of two mixed-race couple, the most of shots are from the church, which links to the name of the song ''Like A Prayer''. The audience can view the video as provocative with religious connotations, according to the singer's '' She wanted to address racism by having the video depict a mixed-race couple''. My favourite scene is when Madonna dancing in front of the burning crosses, as I find it very unconventional, even in 21st century, but at the same time original, and provocative. 

Trends & Influence 

• A decade of ''New Romantic'' style's, created by Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Adam Ant and Human League. They have set a new romantic trends, of wearing ''sister's make-up'' and ''pouting'' while walking in the streets. 

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/music-in-wales/2010/05/16/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-the-80s-91466-26454087/

• Madonna's fashion sense of clothed in leather, and accessorized with bows, lace, fishnet stocking and religious effigies draped her neck- which leads us to rebellion and  provocation, in order to fascinate people and her fans. She changed the way young girls dressed forever.

http://www.articlesbase.com/fashion-articles/madonna-fashion-trends-255453.html

• Rap star LL Cool J- sported Kangol's hat as trademark; and has became big fashion statement, even nowadays. This trend of wearing  '' Kangol's hat'' gave him an original, cool look. http://www.clothingandsociety.com/music-and-fashion

90's Forever

This was decade of music go digital as well as there was continuation of popular teen pop of the 80's as well as hip hop's genre. The Glam metal replaced alternative rock in pop culture.The beginning midway in 90's, country music, has became as a major genre, which has started in the 80's.

Popular Music Genre's of the 90's

Grunge

• Nirvana-''Smells Like Teen Spirit''

Indie

• Pavement-''Cut Your Hair''
• The Magnetic Fields-''100,000 Fireflies''
• Slint -''Good Morning, Captain'' 

Country Pop

• Alan Jackson-'' I'll try''
• Shania Twain-''What Made You Say That''

Pop 

• The Spice Girls-''Wannabe''
• The Backstreet Boys-''We've Got It Goin'' their very first single
• NSYNC- ''I Want You Back'' their first American single 

Solo female pop artists- Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears

R&B

• Boyz ll Men- ''End Of The Road''
•  Mary J. Blige-''Leave a Message''
•  Toni Braxton-''Un-Break My heart''

BritPop/ British Invasion

• Oasis (originally known as ''Rain''- ''Shakermaker''
• The Verve- ''Bitter Sweet Symphony'' - became  worldwide hit 
•  Blur-''For Tomorrow'' 

http://music.lovetoknow.com/Popular_Music_of_the_90s

From the 90's, I love the music video by The Verve, ''Bitter Sweet Symphony''. Throughout the video, the audience can see the singer's lip-synching the song, while walking down in busy London. The audience get a feels of simple music video, especially from the beginning, as the singer standing in a sidewalk. I found out that this video was noted as one of the most recognisable videos in the 90's. 

 

Trends & Influence 

•  One of the famous song of 90's decade was ''Ice, Ice Baby'' by Vanilla Ice- a white rapper. This song has influenced a lot of young people and have set the new trend of strange tramlines cut into people's hair, just like the singer. This song contained possibly the silliest lyrics of the decade ''Cooking MCs like a pud of bacon''. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1990/music1.shtml

• Madonna  still permeated the airwaves and the fashion world.  Also, because of her chameleon  ways, she has been inspiration of many young starts, such as: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and even males like,  Justin Timberlake and Kanye West- they have mimicked and idiolized her. 

• In 90's the singer, Mary J. Blige- brought the new fashion within R&B, Soul music genre. From her fashion style to her soul, she was completely different from most female artists, by wearing baseball caps, combat boots, and baggy clothes constituted her signature style.

Forceful 2000's 

This was decade of 'First World'', pop, hip-hop, contemporary R&B, new wave, country and alternative rock music which has dominated and defined the 2000's music.  By the end of this decade, hip-hop music genre,  began to mix with electro-pop, synthpop, and dance music, as well as some other artists began to revive the genre. 

Popular Music Genre's of the 2000's

R&B

• Mariah Carey- ''We Belong Together''
• Usher-''Yeah'' featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris
• Mario- ''Let Me Love You''

Pop

• Alicia Key's- ''No one''
• Ashanti- ''Foolish''
• Lady Gaga-''Poker Face''

Hip-Hop

• Kanye West -''Gold Digger'' featuring Jamie Foxx 
• Flo Rida- ''Low'' featuring T-Pain
• OutKast- ''Hey Ya''

Rock

• Nickelback- ''How You Remind Me''
• Paramore- ''Decode'' ( ''Twilight'' soundtrack)
• Muse- ''Supermassive Black Hole''

Latin Rock

• Carlos Santana-''Maria Maria''featuring The Product & GB 
• El Tri-''Felicidades''
• Mana- '' Baila Morena''

Country

• Faith Hill ''Breathe''
• Toby Keith- ''Country Comes To Town''
• Taylor Swift- ''Love Story''

http://www.billboard.com/charts-decade-end/hot-100-songs?year=2009#/charts-decade-end/hot-100-songs?year=2009&begin=31&order=position

From the 2000's, I like music video by Lady Gaga, ''Poker Face''. My favourite scene is when at the beginning, the singer, Gaga emerging from a pool in a black costume; with interesting mise-en-scene where we can see two big dogs, that matches the singer's costume. I love her fashion design, when she wearing a mirrored masquerade mask in the music video. 

 


 Events & Influence

• The new arrival of ''Hispanic-Americans'' as a significant demographic opened the genre up to latin influences. 
• The popularity of ''Reggae'' style and ''Reggaeton'' in jamainca led to those genres gaining renewed attention from longtime favourites, such as: Heavy D- who unfortunatelly, have died at the age of 44.  

http://www.ehow.com/about_5044494_hip-hop-rap-music-history.html

Brief for A2 media coursework.

Within this coursework unit, candidates engage with contemporary media technologies to produce a media portfolio through a combination of two or more media and then present their research, planning and evaluation in digital format. This is a development of the skills from Unit G321 and is also internally assessed.

The following briefs are offered and in this portfolio a combination of two or more media is required:

• Video
• Print
• Web-Based
• Audio
• Games Software

For A2 coursework, I decided to do 'Video' , which means that I need to produce a music video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a digipak for the album's release;
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

Because, I only need to do two of three options, I choose to do a digipak for the album's release and magazine advertisement for the digipak. 

I'm really looking forward to it, as I will produce my first music video ever on one interesting song, mainly on R&B soul genre, which I will choose. This will be a big challenge for me, as I have only a small experience with producing video, and have to say, it isn't easy at all. However, I'm ready with the base knowledge of filming, and facing all the problems that hopefully I will be able to sort them out, and will learn from them as well.  

First of all, I need to pay most attention to the pace of my video, it must be dynamic and feature lots of cuts, without any complicated narrative, easy for audience to convey the meanings of the music video. 

 I want to achieve/ create a music video containing conventional features, easy for the audience to understand. However, to make my music video different, original, as well as show my creativity,  I am thinking to create some elements, which will be slightly unconventional, to attract the audience. This will be another challenge for me, however, I believe that the research and planning will help me with my coursework, of producing music video, magazine advertisement, and digipak for album release.