Investigating how a artsts markets itself - JLS

 JLS are a English boyband who rose to stardom through the talent show The X Factor. Despite finishing runners up to Alexandra Burke, they have become the most succesful artist to come out of a talent show. They have had 4 UK number ones, one more then Leona Lewis.

JLS had already developed a massive fan base whilst they were competting on the X Factor. This was before anybody had even won it or they were signed up by a record label. One way in which they were being promoted was that they had JLS teddy bears made. Since they had risen to fame they also  had made branded lunchboxes and water bottles made for them. They have been marketing themselves by targetting their name and music to young girls. This was probably done to make sure that JLS got themselves off the ground and had a following.

   

As their name got larger, they now had to think of ways they could expand their audience, perhaps to teenagers aged 14-19. One of the ways in which they did this was that they incredibly had JLS Condoms made. This was a large news story and while they probably recieved criticism for it, their name was being spoken off. They also had a pretty awful pun written on the packet, JLS - Just Love Safe.

JLS - Proud

 They are now trying to market themselves on a global scale. They were chosen to record the song for the 2012 London Olympics. The song is called Proud, with the hope that with the whole world watching the Olympics and hearing the song, their name will be heard on a global scale.

Album Cover Analysis

Example - Playing in The Shadows

Example here has really illustrated the name of the album with his cover, with his face being covered up by black with a white background, and vise versa. This could signify that he is playing along with darker forces which he shouldn't really risk doing. The white side shows that he is still on the good side. This could give a idea of the content of the whole album, some songs may have a gloomy mood whilst the other half could be really happy and ideal for a party (for example). He has perhaps had to come out of his shell a little bit in order to do well in the charts. He has been around a little while now and maybe had to add something new to his songs in order for him to carry on being successful, which could be the reason why he called the album "Playing in the Shadows".

His name is shown in a yellow box, which contradicts the rest of the album. This can be seen as a label or a brand name and can show that despite the differences or looks of him album cover, it is still a Example album cover.

Analysis of a previous Media Studies student music video

I reckon the first thing to say about this video is that the performance isn't great. It just seems to me that the lip synching isn't up to scratch, and in all honesty the girl needs a few dance lessons. That might not be the girls fault though, she has had the decency to do this video for either herself or her friend, but you need a confident performer.

I think the camera angles are good. I think some of the moving shots are really well done and i think the narrative of the song is well illustrated. For example i think the bit where the camera zooms in on the diamonds works well.

On another down point though i think the edits are a little bit jaded. I think its a quickish song and some of the shots are around 6 seconds long, and they need to be so much quicker if they want the audience to remain interested.

Analysis of Album Cover

Newton Faulkner - Hand Built By Robots.

Newton Faulkner is a singer\songwriter from Reigate, Surrey. He rose onto the mainstream scene with this album along with lead single "Dream Catch Me" in 2007.

The album cover shows a hand of a robot holding a load of people which which are the symbols different ages of times or era's. You have:

Pirate
Knight
Cowboy
Modern army Soldier
Chinese Warrior
Astronaut
Two Typically English Dancers

As they are all in the robots hand, this could signify that everything has been built or created all as one massive system. They perhaps have no way out of it and have to agree and go along with how the system wants them to be. The fact that the hand is in the clouds could signify that the Robot is meant to be God, and this is all of his creations.

The astronaut which is flying away from the hand, could suggest that as technology has advance, people are able come away from the fixed system and are able to express themselves a lot more. This can be linked to real life, for example social networking sites, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, along with all the other access that is availible to us, means that we are able to express ourselves more and let us give our own opinions.  

Goodwins Theory of Music Video

  

Eminem - When I'm Gone

This is a good example of how Goodwin's theory can be used to analyze music videos. He says that a lyrics and music can either illustrate, amplify or contradict the music video. 

The first example of illustration is a 1:18, the line is "Literally give a arm for" then Eminem shows his arm which has a tattoo of his daughter Hayley, which signifies how much he would give for his daughter.

From 1.33 the relationship between the daughter and protagonist which is described in the lyrics, is shown in the narrative of the video. It shows how their bond has become stretched due to Hayley's mum being gone (possibly due to rehab) and Eminem having to go on planes to perform to his fans. 

1.46 "This song ain't gonna write itself" where there is a close up of the paper where the lyrics literally write themselves, in other words the video contradicts the lyrics. This could signify that he could give up more time to his daughter.

2.49, "She's piling boxes in front of the door trying to block it" the video illustrates the lyrics again where Hayley puts boxes in front of the door, where you can see bright lights coming through the holes and cracks in the box wall that Hayley's made. This shows that the way to the door leads Eminem to his stardom and success but Hayley can't understand why he has to leave.

3.15, "Just as I walk out my bedroom door it turns to stage, they're gone, the spotlight is on", the video once again does exactly what the lyrics says, this signifies that he is on stage pretty much whenever he steps outside the sanctuary of his own house. 

4.52, Eminem has just seen his daughter in the crowd and has realized that he is in the wrong. Hayley lip sings along to the lyrics Eminem is rapping to, illustrating that it is Hayley speaking. The line "They're throwing roses at my feet", is shown in the video, which signifies how literal the lyrics are showing his life. Eminem is now wearing just a cap and a jacket, he looks into a mirror and see's himself wearing the suit in the reflection. He punches mirror, shattering it, whilst you hear a gunshot, illustrating that he is leaving the rapping part of his life behind him.

The way that the video here can be analyzed by Goodwin's theory is that the video illustrates pretty much all of the lyrics of the song. It shows how difficult it has become for him to equally share time with his family along with his rapping career.  

Album Cover - London Calling

 


This is the album cover for "London Calling", by The Clash. It is regarded as one of the greatest album covers of all time.

The band got there inspiration from Elvis Presley's debut, self titled
album. The Elvis cover has a classic 60's font showing his name. It is 
a classic rock and roll picture as he is passionately playing his guitar.
Elvis was all about being a sex symbol for the younger generation
during the 50's and was the classic rock and roll artist, which is all 
bring portrayed in this album cover.


The Clash's album cover uses the same font and the same black and white colors, but shows the band member smashing up his guitar in what is described as the classic rock and roll shot, completely losing control of himself. They used the same style of album cover as it shows how much music and genre has changed from each of their times, from Elvis's rock 'n' roll to The Clash bringing in more punk, pop and reggae to the generation. There is more evidence of this within the lyrics of "London Calling". The line "Phony Beatlemania, has bitten the dust" suggests that the good boy days of the Beatles has died out and now new genres have taken over.

Change of Plan!

After looking at our footage for our donkeyboy song, we decided to change our song and idea as our original one we felt didn't have enough narrative to it. We chose Professor Green, "Today I Cried". It was a risk doing a rap song but we have picked some brilliant locations in London and have a great idea for a narrative so hopefully it will be a risk worth taking.