Analysis of Magazine Advertisements

Questionnaire Results

After giving my questionnaire to 14 people  I calculated the results and decided that it would be best to turn the answers into pie charts so that I could easily analyse the results. For the open questions, I decided to just analyse the most popular answers in a short paragraph.

This pie chart shows that 50% of the people that I asked to do my questionnaire were aged 15-19 years old and only 14% were aged25-30. Therefore the primary demographic is 15-19 year olds and I should gear my music video more towards that audience. I can do this by including references to current culture and using some bright colours to keep them engaged in my music video. However I should still make sure that my music video is appropriate for a range of age groups so that I can reach a wider audience. 

This pie chart shows that out of the people I asked in my target audience 43% of them were females. This could be reflective of the whole audience, therefore I should think about aiming my music video mostly at a female demographic. This could involve using a male actor through the majority of the music video. I am somewhat surprised by these results as generally makes listen to the indie rock genre more than females because the genre is do dominated by male artists and bands. 

This pie chart shows that my target audience tend to prefer hybrid music videos and that they don't enjoy concept based music videos. This therefore suggests that I should do a hybrid music video in order to make my product appeal to my target audience. However I think that I actually want to do a performance based music video because I think that it would suit my song choice the best. Whilst this goes against what the majority of my target audience said, I think that a performance based music video will still be popular with my audience. 

From this pie chart I have been able to find out that most of my target audience like to watch music videos weekly. This is good because it means that my audience are likely to watch my music video. 29% of people watch music videos everyday, there it is likely that these people will tell their friends or relatives about my music video and might encourage them to watch it. 

This pie charts shows that my target audience watches music videos on a variety of different platforms; the most people one being websites such as YouTube and Vevo. This suggests that I should make sure my music video will be available across all of these platforms in order to make it easy for my target audience to find and watch my music video and potentially discuss and share it with their friends or family. 

From this piechart, I have learnt that the majority of my target audience are influenced to watch a music video if it includes their favourite artist of band. Because of this I think that it will be important to include the artist in my music video in order to make it appeal to the bands fanbase as well as others. Word of mouth is also a thing that influences my target audience to watch music videos. Therefore I should make sure that my music video is well spoken about within my audience both in physically and online so that more people become aware of the video. 

How important are they? 

As this was a two part question, these responses were written explaining how important music videos are. 11 out of the 14 people that I asked believed that music video were important to them. Some of they explanations included; 'they provide me with entertainment', 'they let me connect with my favourite artists/bands', 'they give context to the song' as well as 'they allow the song to be expressed visually which is interesting to watch'.Whilst the majority of my target audience said that music videos were important to them, 3 out of the 14 said that they were not. The explanations for this were; 'the focus should be more on the music' and 'they are often quite rubbish and therefore I don't want to watch them'. These results show that music videos are generally important to my target audience, this is reassuring for me because I know that my target audience will actually want to watch my music video. 

What features and conventions would you expect to see in an indie rock music video? 

For this question I gained a range of results; these results should help me when making my own music video as I will be able to follow some of the conventions that my audience thinks reflects my genre. The general feedback for this question was: 'casual clothing', 'messy hair', 'dark locations and lighting', 'heavy makeup', 'dark colours such as navy blue, black and grey', 'colour filters' and 'instruments'. The conventions that my target audience can up with happen to be very similar to the original ideas that I had for my music video on my 'song ideas brainstorm'. This suggests that me and my target audience have very similar ideas for indie rock music videos. This hopefully means that my music video will be appealing to them. 

Questionnaire

I have decided to create a questionnaire so that I can find out more information about my target audience and what they think about music videos. I will then analyse the results from the questionnaire to help me with my final ideas and outcome. I plan to give the questionnaire to at least 10-15 different people, who vary in age and gender so that I have a variety of answers that reflects the whole range of my target audience.

Target Audience Moodboard

Feedback: Class Focus Group

As everyone in my media class comes under my target audience I decided that I should find what ideas that had for a music video when they first heard the song. To do this I played the class the song without showing them the music video; this was to make sure that the official music video for the song didn't influence their own ideas. Whilst the song was playing the class wrote down what ideas came to mind when they first heard the song. These were the results:

From reading the ideas that my class came up with I noticed that many of them were similar to my own. The most popular ideas which my class came up with were; a performance based video, close up shots, indie/rock outfits, bright lights, instruments and head banging. The fact that me and my target audience have similar ideas for the music video suggests that they should like and enjoy the final outcome.

Target Audience

Lyric Analysis

Permission

In order to use the song ‘Bad Habits’ for my music video I need to gain permission from Domino Recording Company. I went on their official website, to find the contact information. The record label doesn’t share their email address on the website but instead has a queries form which automatically sends to the label once sent has been pressed. Here is a print screen of the form that I filled out. 

Chosen Song

The song that I have chosen for my music video is ‘Bad Habits’ by The Last Shadow Puppets. The Last Shadow Puppets are a alternative/rock/baroque pop, supergroup consisting of Alex Turner (from the Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (from The Rascals and as a solo artist). The song was released on January 10th 2016 as the lead single from the bands second studio album ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’ via Domino Recording Company. Brennan Carley from Spin magazine wrote that the song has got ‘a loud, insistent, urgent sound to it, with a prominent string section underscoring the chaos with a sense of unease. When the album was released, later on April 1st it went straight to Number One in the UK Album Charts. The album showcased more of the duo's orchestral-steeped sound. As the album and single are released under the record label, Domino Recording Company I will need to gain permission to use the song due to copyright reasons. 

The music video for the song was released the same day as the singles release. The Video shows both Turner and Kane performing in a studio with shots of them performing in other locations as well as shots and overlays of a women. There are a variety of different shot types including extreme close ups, mid shots and long shots. The video has both blue and red filters placed over certain clips which is a convention of alternative music videos. The music video was directed by Ben Chappell. 

I have chosen ‘Bad Habits’ because I feel that I can create a strong performance based video for it. I have decided not to create a narrative based music video for this song because the lyrics are quite random and appear to be unrelated, other than the repetition of ‘Bad Habits’. Despite this the song is very catching due to its fast pace and interesting use of orchestra instruments such as violins. Throughout the song there a quite a few scream like sounds, I think that this will be fun to lip-sync to in the video because I can experiment with editing a shot types. I like that the song is quite strange and different because it makes it stand out. I now need to come up with a more detailed plan for what I want to do in my music video and decided what actors, locations and shot types to use. But firstly I want to do some research into my target audience, following this I will then begin to plan and present my ideas to my chosen target audience. 

Feedback: Music Video Song Ideas

I decided that I wanted to gain some feedback on my ideas and find out what song my peers thought that I should use for my music video. I showed them my brainstorm and played them each song that I was considering and then discussed my ideas with them. After doing this I asked them to write down their thoughts and opinions on the information I had told them and then what song they thought that I should use. These were the results:

From conducting this research I have found out that the majority of the people I asked think that I have the best ideas for either Bad Habits or Ain't it Fun. As mentioned in my brainstorm post, these are the songs that happen to be my favourite ideas. However reading other peoples opinions, I agree that filming for Ain't it Fun might be quite difficult to due to weather and actors. Therefore because of these reasons I think that I am going to choose Bad Habits by The Last Shadow Puppets for my music video. 

Music Video Song Ideas

I decided to create a brainstorm for the songs that I am considering using for my music video. For each song I have listed some different ideas that I have, including shot types and locations. The four songs are; Run Away - Sundara Karma, The 1975 - The 1975, Ain't it Fun - Paramore and Bad Habits - The Last Shadow Puppets. I am going to show this brainstorm to some of my peers after playing them the songs and ask for feedback on my ideas. This is because teenagers and young adults are the ones to tend to watch music videos the most and therefore their feedback will be useful for helping me decide on my final idea. So far from doing my brainstorm, I like my ideas for Ain't it Fun and Bad Habits the most; I think that it is likely that I am going to use one of these songs for my music video despite what my peers say because I like the ideas that I have and think that I create a good final product when I go more in-depth with my ideas.

The 1975, The 1975 - Digipak Analysis

The 1975 is the debut, self-titled album by the Indie rock/Alternative band The 1975. The album was released on September 2nd 2013 through Dirty Hit and Polydor. It went straight to number one on the UK Albums Chart on September 8th and as of March 2016 has sold 410,981 copies in the UK. Matty Healy the lead singer of the band described the albums style as"pretty experimental, and goes from glitchy R&B to big 80's power-pop to mid 90's soul, but it's done in our way obviously.” Before the realise of the debut album, the band released 4 EPs: each featured a single from the album as well as 3 exclusive songs. This was to help with promotion and get the band a following before the realise of their debut album. When it came to the release the band, release both a standard and deluxe version of the album. The only difference being that the deluxe version also featured the exclusive songs from the 4 EPs on a separate disk. 

The front cover of this digipak is very simplistic and basic; the band themselves do not feature on the front cover, instead it shows artwork which features the bands name on it. This is a common feature of indie rock/alternative artists because they don't work so hard on having a star image and therefore don't need to put their faces on their album covers. The colour scheme used on this front cover is very dark, following the grayscale with the main colours being black and white. This connotes the idea of mystery and makes the band have edge. The dark colours can also be seen as reflective of the indie rock genre as it reflects the moody theme which is sometimes associated with indie bands. The basic colours helps to reflect the bands simple image. The illuminated rectangle is the most eye-catching part of the front cover due to the contrasting lighting and its positioning on the cover. The rectangular lighting has become some what of an iconic image for the band; they use it on their merchandise, in their music videos as well as in their live performances. This is very recognisable and will allow their audience to be able to easily associate things with them, which will make them feel like a dedicated member of the fanbase. The band and album name is positioned in the middle of the frame which helps to put emphasis on it. The emphasis is increased by the contrast between the white font and the black background. The name is short and therefore easily recognisable. The font that the band has used has made some of the letters backwards and not complete, whilst this makes it slighter difficult to read it makes the band appear edgy and unique because it goes against the conventions of a digipak front cover. This font also is rather representative of their music genre due to the fact that it is edgy and distinctive yet very simple. Therefore the use of this font will attract an audience who likes indie rock/alternative music because they will like the fact that the cover is different to others. This font will then start to be associated with the band by their fanbase. The simplistic layout and colour scheme of this digipak suggests that the band has a great importance for the music on the album rather than the visual aesthetics of the digipak; this is something that is generally associated with the indie rock/alternative music genres. The simplicity of the cover is essential in establishing the bands identity as it suggests that they are not over the top and like to keep things easy and simple. 

The back cover is almost parallel to the front cover which means that the digipak follows a consistent style. This is a common convention amongst digipaks because the consistent style is aesthetically pleasing.  The back has followed the same greyscale, black and white theme which makes the covers consistent which the audience are used to. The back cover shows the same illuminated rectangle however the band/album name has been replaced by the titles of the 16 tracks on the album. The font that has been used for the song titles is different and more readable however is still simplistic. The font has been centred so that the songs appear in the middle of the back cover which is the first place the audience would look when studying the digipak back cover. The text is all in block capitals which is something that the band tends to use a lot on their social media sites as well as their merchandise; this will therefore allow their audience to easily identify their album and notice the similar style. The song titles on the back cover will generally appeal to a wide audience due to the fact that they are neither aimed at men or women, however when first looking at some songs such as ‘Girls’ the audience might be positioned to think that the song is aimed at men. On the back cover, on the right hand side there is a barcode, logos of the record label the band are signed to and the publisher of the album. Underneath these logos there is some information about the copyright of the album, however this has been written in smaller font because it generally isn't important to the audience. There is also the bands website written in a bolder font than the copyright information so that it is more obvious to the audience. 

The CD for this digipak follows the same theme as both the front cover and back cover; this follows the typical conventions of a digipak. The band don't appear on the disk however the same font that displayed the band and album name on the front cover has appeared on the disk in shiny black font. The CD is matt black therefore the font being shiny gives the disk texture and makes the font stand out. The style is consistent on the CD because it has the same colour scheme as the rest of the digipak, although this time there is no white included. Whilst this can not be seen on the image, around the edge of the CD, the copyright information has been embossed. The text is in the same colour as the CD and can therefore not easily be seen unless you look very closely at the physically copy of the CD This suggests that the band didn't want the copyright information to be particularly noticeable and didn't want it to ruin the aesthetic of their digipak. This information also isn't generally interesting for the audience so they didn't need to make it obvious on the CD. 

Inside of the digipak there is a booklet which contains all of the lyrics for the 16 songs on the album. The song names are presented in all capitals which is consistent with the song titles of the back cover. The lyrics are written in white font and are presented on top of different images. Each of the images show a different thing such as a graffiti wall, a bed, a tunnel, a tree and a lock. These images probably somehow relate to the song and are a vague visual representation of it. The images in the booklet all appear in black and white which is consistent with the greyscale colour scheme used throughout of the booklet. The last page of the booklet contains acknowledgements and thank you's which is a common conventions used in booklets within a digipak.

In recent years there has been an increase in the popularity of records/vinyl. This means that more and more bands and artists have been realising their albums on vinyl in order to help reach a wider audience. The 1975 is an example of a band who has released their albums and EPs on vinyl. The record for their debut self titled album is very similar in style to their CD, with only a couple of differences. This is to show to the audience how the products are the same used in different formats. 

The front and back cover of the vinyl remains the exact same as the CD covers. This continues to show the bands simplistic style. Unlike most records, these vinyls are clear plastic instead of black plastic. This shows how the band are unique and avoid mainstream trends. The clear plastic still suits their greyscale colour scheme which makes the record digipak and the CD digipak consistent. The only main difference between the digipaks is the inside. The CD digipak has the black disk on the right hand side and then the booklet with pictures and lyrics on the left hand side. However due to the difference in size, the inside of the record digipak shows a picture of the band which is actually in the middle of the booklet available in the CD, once again in black and white to create consistency. The acknowledgements then appear in the top left hand corner. Because there is no booklet within this record, the images used within the booklet have been collaged together in to make up the sleeves which the records sit in. One these sleeves the lyrics have been written in white font in the bottom left hand corner of the image, which once again is similar to the booklet. 

Whilst the formats for the digipaks are different they are still very similar and use all of the same images, font, colour schemes and information. This is because the band are still trying to create the same opinion of them but they just want to reach a wider audience with their music. By using the same style and ideas the band create consistency within their products which makes them more identifiable to their audience. 

Taylor Swift, 1989 - Digipak Analysis

1989 is Taylor Swift’s fifth studio album and it was released on October 27th 2014 through big machine records. The album is named after Taylor’s year of birth as well as the pop scene throughout the 1980s. 1989 sold 1.287 million copies during the first week of release and it eventually became the best-selling album in the US for 2014. In both Germany and the UK, the album was released to wide retail and digital download. Both the standard 13-track edition and the deluxe edition was released on the same day. Big Machine Records decided to include 13 of 65 collectible printed polaroids with every physical copy of 1989.

The front cover on the digipak shows a polaroid photograph which features half of Taylor herself as well as some writing on top of the edge of the polaroid which has her initials and the album title. This is different to her previous albums which show her full face, this could suggest that she is trying a new approach as she moves from Country to Pop music. Taylor doesn't need to appear in her album covers due to the fact she already has an established fan base who would be able to identify if an album is hers or not. The fact that she doesn't fully feature on the album cover is not a typical convention of the pop genre and is more a convention of the indie genre. The polaroid photo is relatively old fashioned; this could be done to represent Swift’s time in the music industry. The album title has been hand written in what appears to be a black marker. The fact that the title has been hand written gives the album a personal feel and makes Taylor seem like an authentic person which positions the audience to like her. The title of the album ‘1989’ was chosen because it was her year of birth; this also makes the album feel more personal because the date is specific to the artist. The title of the album is also very short which helps to make is easy to remember so that people can spread the word about it. The colours of the front cover are quite warm and soft which has connotations of positivity; this could be to reflect the general mood of the songs on her album. In the image, Swift is shown wearing red lipstick. This is one of her signature looks which she has become well known for amongst her fan base and society; she even refers to her iconic look in some of her song lyrics. By featuring this in her album cover it shows that she is still remaining the same despite the fact her music is changing. This is to make her fans feel less nervous about her sudden music change from country to pop. Also in this image Taylor is shown wearing a jumper which has birds flying on it. This could potentially be symbolic of how she now feels that she is creatively free in terms of her music and no longer feels trapped to one specific genre. Although you can only see a small amount of Taylor in the image, enough can be seen to tell that her hair is relatively messy and that she is wearing a jumper. This creates a relaxed and laid back mood within the image and also represents her as a down to earth kind of girl which makes the audience feel calm and at ease when they look at it. The way she has been styled for the image is very relatable for her audience because they often follow a similar style when they have a ‘lazy day’ and don't want to be made up all of the time. The colour of Swift’s jumper and the background of the image are very similar, which means that they sort of blend together. This could be to represent how the album is personal and important to her. 

The polaroid photo has again been used on the back of the album digipak. On this part of the digipak, Taylor’s head/face can be seen this therefore links to the front cover; as the front cover shows Taylor from the mouth down. The back cover shows the tracks on the album, the bonus tracks, Swift’s song writing memos as well as the barcode and record label information. Once again handwriting has been used, this creates continuity between the covers. The handwriting has been used on the track numbers, sub-headings and for the logo of Big Machine Records. The logo has been changed from the original logo and has instead been made into almost a doodle; this ties into the use of the hand writing which ones again creates continuity on the cover. The font that has been used for the song titles as well as the record label information is reminiscent of the font that a type writer uses. This and the fact the image is a polaroid photo links to the idea of old technology which gives the album a vintage vibe. This is smart due to the sudden increase in popularity for old and vintage technology such as record players and polaroid cameras. The song titles on the back cover will appeal to a wide audience due to the fact that they are neither aimed at men or women. The image on the back cover is a continuation of the image on the front cover, it shows the rest of Swift’s face. This shows her makeup, which is relatively natural apart from the eyeliner; this is also part of Taylor’s signature look of red lipstick and eyeliner. This once again shows her audience that whilst her music is changing she will remain the same. 

The CD for this digipak follows the same theme as both the front cover and back cover; this follows the typical conventions of a digipak. Taylor Swift does not appear on the CD itself, instead the CD has the same design on it as the jumper that she is wearing on the front cover of the digipak. It shows flying birds which reinforces the idea of her creative freedom with this album. The same front and handwriting has been used on the CD as the front cover and the back cover; this continues to give the album a personal feel because it’s as if she wrote on the CD herself. The style is consistent on the CD because it has the same colour scheme as the rest of the digipak and therefore portrays the same vintage vibe. Around the edge of the CD is some information about the copy right of the album; this is a common convention of digipak. 

Inside of the 1989 digipak there are 13 collectable polaroid photographs. Taylor features in all of the polaroid images and some of the happen to be very similar to the picture on the digipak front cover. This suggests that these photographs were all taken as part of the digipak photoshoot and these were the ones that didn't make the cover. Along the bottom of the polaroid, there are handwritten lyrics from the songs on the album. The fact they are hand written continues to make the album feel more personal. These images create a sense of continuity throughout the whole of the digipak because they are similar in style and tone to the images used on the front and back covers. The fact that this was an advertised free gift, only available in the physical copies of the album makes the audience more likely to want to buy this copy because they get an exclusive, collectable gift. 

Inside the digipak there is also a book which has more of the song lyrics within it. It also features more polaroid photographs which are printed onto every other page of the booklet . Once again they continue to all feature Taylor in them by herself as well as having some lyrics from the songs written on the bottom of them. In this booklet there are also acknowledgements and thank you's towards the end. 

Lower Than Atlantis, Lower Than Atlantis - Digipak Analysis

Lower Than Atlantis is the fourth studio album from the rock band Lower Than Atlantis. The album Lower Than Atlantis was released on October 6th 2014 through Sony Music Entertainment. The album charted at number 16 in the UK and has sold around 50,000 copies worldwide. 2 versions of the album were originally released; a standard version with 12 songs and a deluxe edition which contained those 12 songs with an additional 3 exclusive bonus tracks. In 2015 the band repackaged the album and rereleased it as ‘Lower Than Atlantis. The Black Edition’ which featured two brand-new tracks, three songs originally featured on the limited physical deluxe, two BBC Radio One Live Lounge covers, four brand-new covers and four alternate versions of the original album tracks.

The front cover of the digipak show an image of the band against a pastel pink background. This is different to their other front cover because they usually just have some sort of artwork; this suggests that the band is going against their usual conventions to portray how this album is going to be different to their other albums. The pastel pink background is an unusual feature for a band that makes rock music. Darker colours such as black and red tend to be more reflection of the rock genre because they have connotations of danger. However pink is usually associated more with the  pop genre, which could suggest that this album will have more elements of pop. In the image, the band are portrayed wearing all black which creates a contrast between them and the background. This could to be show that whilst there are going to be pop elements to this album there will also still be elements of their usual rock sounds. It also could suggest that while their sound is changing they are remaining the same. The bottom of the front cover has a slight fading to it, this makes the image seem more rough and worn. This makes it seem more rugged which is more reflective of the rock genre than it is of the pop genre, which tends to be more polished. In the image the band members are shown looking directly into the camera; this makes direct contact with the audience and makes it appear as if the members are looking at them personally which might make them more likely to buy the album. The members are shown with their mouths closed, this makes the look quite stern and grumpy. These emotions are generally associated with rock music and therefore shows that the album will be combing both rock and pop elements within it. Above the image of the band their is the name of both the album and the band, ‘Lower Than Atlantis’. This has been written in white font which stands out against the pink background. This again is quite quite a bright colour for a rock album but it was a common colour that the band used on their previous albums. Two different font styles and sizes have been used on this album; the ‘Lower Than’ appears in a smaller and straight font that the ‘Atlantis’ which appears in a large, wavy font. This therefore puts emphasis on the second half of their name. The wavy lines creates the idea of water and could be a reference the mythical underwater world of Atlantis.

The back cover of the digipak follows the same style as the front cover which creates consistency. The same paste pink background is used on the back as the front, as well as on the album spine. The font is once again written in white which stands out against the pink background. On the deluxe edition, the 3 bonus tracks that came with the album were written in a darker pink so highlight the difference between them and to indicate that they were exclusive. On the back cover there are a list of the songs which are on the album. There are no number next the songs, which means the audience aren't sure what order the tracks are in on the album, but just guess that they are in the order presented on the back. This isn't something that most albums do however it is becoming more of a convention amongst certain genres. All of the song titles are presented in line with one another in the centerof the cover, in order to achieve this the spacing between the letters and words is different for each song. This can make the song titles quite difficult to read because they are some big spaces between some the letters. However this does make the back cover slightly more interesting and unique which could attract a wider audience. Underneath the song titles there is a barcode which is an essential on a CD. And to the right of the barcode there are some logos of companies who helped publish and record the album and the below that is the copyright information. This information is the smallest text on the cover because it is the least interesting information however it is a require convention.

The CD for this digipak follows the same theme as both the front cover and back cover; this creates consistency throughout the digipak which is a common convention. The colour of the disk is once again pink, however this time is a slightly lighter shade of pastel pink. The band and album name appears to be in the same location as where it is on the album cover which makes it almost parallel to the front cover. The font for the band and album name is in the exact same style as the front cover which creates consistency and reinforces it as the bands logo. Once again the logos of the companies who helped record and publish the album appear on the CD; this almost acts like promotion for those companies. Along the bottom curve of the CD is the copyright information, this is written in small white font. The fact the font is small suggests that the information isn't very important and can be overlooked.

Inside of the digipak there is a booklet which contains the lyrics to all of the 12 tracks on the album. The booklet continues to use of the pink background and the white font which creates consistency across the whole of the digipak. The white font that has been used throughout the booklet, is the same font as font used on the front cover where is say ‘Lower Than’ which once again creates consistency Towards the end of the booklet there is a montage of photographs which are all different. The images show the band in photoshoots, filming music videos and recording the album. This allows their audience to see what some of the recording and filming process is like for them and gives the audience a personal view into the bands schedule.  On the last page of the booklet there is information about the band, this includes information about the members, the producers and managers. There are no thank you’s within this booklet which shows how the band are not following conventions.