Inspiration

Many things inspire me, but I have chosen a selection to talk about.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favourite film, and I like the idea that there is a whole different world within ours, where extraordinary things happen. I like to recreate the sense of magic, and something otherworldly when I am creative. 

 

This piece of music is absolutely beautiful, and it totally captures all the sadness that the character evokes. If I were to create something based on this video, I can see the themes and ideas and colours that I would use. It is very inspiring.

 

Vincent Van Gogh – Starry Night. This is by far my favourite painting, because I like the style of the brush strokes, and the colours are so vivid and intense. The blue of the sky and the yellow of the stars and moon counteract perfectly, and the village below looks picturesque and homey.

Jitka Hanzlova – Forest. I like this range of photographs, because although they were taken in Czech Republic, in her hometown, they look as if they are from another world, somewhere that we can’t reach.

Analysing creativity

Creativity is an essential part of this project, and in the next few mosts I will explore creativity and what inspires me.


What is creativity?

Creativity is something that we naturally are. It allows us to express our feelings and emotions with more than just words.

How can we be more creative?

We can be inspired by anything, but usually it is what appeals to us personally, such as a painting or a piece of music.

Where does it come from?

It comes from within our hearts and minds.

What role does it play in creating a media production?

To create something, you must be creative. Making a product without creativity will lead to boring, samey work with no personality or originality.

Do Schools kill creativity?

Creativity depends on…

Being prepared to be wrong.

Creativity is…

The process of having original ideas that have value.

Do you agree?

I agree to some extent, but I think that there is no right or wrong with creativity, but it can be stifled within the education system, as other things are made more important. 

How to be more creative:

Does this make us more creative? 

I think that these things combined do make us more creative, but it has to come from within.

Analysing digipaks

I will be analysing three digipaks, one of which is by an artist similar to the one I am using.

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Front:

The image on the front is a medium close up of the band. The lighting is relatively dark, and the colours in the background suggest that it is sunset. It is relatively uncommon for indie bands to have pictures of themselves on the front, so this challenges the conventions of the genre. The font is in the centre of the cover, and draws the eye in. It is an unconventional font, and creates interest and an image. Unusually, the title of the album is not featured anywhere on the digipak, but only on the CD.

Centre:

Again, inside the image is a close up the band members, in black and white. This is also unconventional for indie bands, as mentioned before. The main focus is on the two band members, rather than the text on the right hand side, which is very small and insignificant. The text is in relation to production, recording, and thank yous, and is in a minute sans-serif font. The font is very average, and conventional.

Back:

The back also features an image of the band members, but this time they are surrounded by other characters. All the people featured in the image are looking away from the camera, and are all dressed in unconventional clothing. The text is again in a minute sans-serif font, and this time is both above and below the image. The text at the top details the tracks on the CD, and the text at the bottom tells the user about bonus content. Some of the text at the bottom is in blue or pink, rather than the rest which is in white. This adds colour to a relatively dark image.

This digipak would appeal to it's target audience, as it is quite unusual and entropic, suiting the style of indie rock fans.


Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions

Front: 

The image on the front is very abstract. It is not of the band, but two people stood in a field with large flags attached to them, flying in the wind, and a table on fire. None of this really makes any sense, and doesn't have any relevence to any of the songs. It is quite entropic to not have a picture of the band members on a CD cover in general, but this happens more frequently in the rock genre. You cannot really see the people in the image, they are a very small part of the picture. The font is sans serif, and is relatively small, with the band name underlinded, and the album title underneath. The contrast between the grey of the sky and and the dark blue of the text helps it to stand out despite it's small size and normal font.

Centre:

Inside are separate images on both panes. On the left side, there is a green flag, and on the right there is a blue flag. The background to these flags is grey, presumably the sky, and this makes the flags stand out even more. This is all that is in the middle, and these images tie together the front and the back of the digipak.

Back:

The back is a continuation of the image on the front. This side has a green flag on the left side, and just a shot of the field in the rest. The font and colour of the text on the back is the same as on the front, and again it stands out against the grey sky. This contains the track listing. The text at the bottom is white, so that it stands out from the grass that it is placed over. The text at the bottom contains information about who produced, recorded and mixed the album, information about the copyright, the record label, and links to the band's website. This is information that I will include in my digipak.

I think that this CD cover will appeal to it's target audience, as it isn't the sort of thing that you see over and over. It's a very original, simple design, and contains all the information that they will need.


Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor

Front:

The front of this CD is an image of the artist herself. A red filter had been put on the image so it blends in with the rest of the front cover. She is facing away from the camera, and towards the text. The text is sans serif, except for the artists first name, Caro. It is a mixture of white and orange, both of which stand out from the red background. In small writing at the top is the name of the record label she is signed to. The front is not a redundant pop album cover.

Centre:

The left hand panel is a plain red panel, which holds
 the booklet for the album, which has the front of the album but with the colours inverted on it. The centre panel is again a plain red panel, as the CD is held on this panel, and that again uses the colours from the front cover, but inverted. The right hand panel has several images on it, and it seems as though negatives from a film camera have been printed onto it like a contact sheet. All the images are of the artist sat on the same chair as on the front. This links all of the digipak together.

Back:

The back of the digipak is red again. It uses white writing, with orange numbers to detail the track number, and how long the song is. The information included on the back is the record label, who produced, mixed and recorded the abum, when it was made and copyright information, just like the previous albums. There are no images on the back, which makes it clean and easy to read.




Overall, i think that this is a relitavely redundant album for a pop artist, and it suits the target audience as there are images of the artist, and the vintage feel of her music is reflected in the way she dresses and the use of negatives.

Analysing magazine adverts

Kings Of Leon – Come Around Sundown

The advert uses colours associated with sunset, which links in with the title. It is bright, and will catch the reader’s attention. The graphics are very similar to the album cover, but it is almost as if the advert is a cropped section of cover. It sticks to the conventions of the genre, as indie bands often use elements of their album cover within adverts for their music, however it is an entropic image of the beach, as it is mostly obscured. This advert is quite relaxing – palm trees and sunsets have connotations of tropical holidays, which is a relaxing and pleasing idea.

            The font is the same as on the album, which is to be expected, and the colours fit in with the sunset theme. The text is located at the top and bottom, so that the centre of the image is clear, and we can see the image properly. This is a very conventional layout for most music adverts, and is not particularly making any star image for the band.

            The advert only has links to Amazon.co.uk, the bands website and the logo of the record company. These are common links, but it is strange that there are no links to iTunes, as many adverts within this genre and outside the genre link to it. It tells us when the band will be released, which is essential for the advert.

            This advert is made for a whole page in a magazine, which means that the band is quite important and prolific. This will also help to grab the attention of the viewers, and it will be easer to identify the smaller details of the image.

            The target demographic is most likely, but not restricted to, young people, between the ages of 16-24, who are interested in indie style rock, and the Kings of Leon’s previous albums. It appeals because of its entropic values, and the sense of freedom and individuality that the image gives.

Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires

The band takes up the majority of the image, which is relatively common for the alternative genre. None of the members of the band are looking directly at the camera, except the one with sunglasses on. The image is brightly coloured, and catches the eye of the viewer. They look like typical rock stars, enjoying life on a tropical beach. This helps to give them a very famous, important image. This image has no relation to the album cover, which is quite entropic for this genre.

            The font is the same as on their album, which is the only link to the album (apart from the band). Also, the text is at the top and the bottom of the image, so that the band is not obscured. This is quite a redundant style of text placing.

            There is one quote at the top from The Observer, which is read by an educated, middle class audience who could potentially be the target audience. Also, the text at the bottom mentions that the album was nominated for the Mercury Prize, which is commonly won by indie/alternative bands. It also makes the band seem successful and very popular, meaning it is probably good. It says that the album is out now, which is essential for advertising.

            This advert is a full-page advert, showing again that the band is successful and popular. This reinforces the fact that they were nominated for a mercury prize. A large advert with bright colours will grab the attention of any readers.

            The target audience for this band are young people, aged between 16-24, who like alternative music, and also due to it being featured in the observer, possibly an older, professional audience. This image is bright, and will appeal to the audience because the main focus is on the band, which have a certain identity that the fans of the band like.

            

Analysing music video - tying together theories

To bring the two themes together, I have analysed two videos from artists that are similar to the artist that I am using, Sally J Johnson. She is a single female folky pop artist. I feel that Florence + The Machine and Slow Moving Millie are both similar to my artist.

Florence + The Machine - You've Got The Love

As is common with many music videos, especially pop videos, there are close-ups throughout of Florence performing the song. This would satisfy the demands of their label, and cements the genre of this song, which is part of goodwins theory.







There is a subtle link to the notion of looking, where we see one person in the crowd repeatedly with a camera. Cameras invite us to look at the artist and other people in the video, and this is one of Goodwins points. This is also a very redundant element of pop videos, and many videos in general.

The link to voyeurism is strenthened by Florence herself. She isn't wearing clothes that cover her up well (she has her legs out!) and she is dancing, which leads to lots of shots of her body. This makes the viewer look at her in particular, and links to one of goodwins points, and is also again redundant.

There is a link between the lyrics and visuals, which is one of Goodwins 6 features.In the screenshot to the right, Florence sings "Sooner or later in life, the things you love you loose", and in the video balloons are released, and lost as the float away. Links between lyrics and visuals are redundant in many videos.

There are also links between music and visuals. At the start of the video, it swaps between different angled shots of Florence, and these shots change with the music of the song. This again proves Goodwin right, and is very redundant.






Overall, this video proves Goodwin correct throughout, and is a very redundant pop video, using elements that many genre of videos use, not just pop videos.

Slow Moving Millie - Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want

 As with the previous video, there are many close ups of the artist throughout the video, which will satisfy the demands of the music label. As stated before, this is one of Goodwins points, and is a very redundant element in music videos, particularly of this genre.






This video is an amplify video, as the visuals amplify the meanings in the song. The match going out is used thoughout, and is a symbol of hope, which is what the song is about, and the match going out is showing that she never gets what she wants. It is redundant to have links between visuals and meanings, but it is done in a entropic, subtle way.




The visuals also match the music. In roughly the middle of the song, the match is shown as three dancers, who are in time with the music. This again is one of goodwins points, and although it is redundant to have the links, they are done in an entropic, unusal way.

There is no really obvious links to voyeurism, or the notion of looking. This disproves Goodwins theory, ande is highly entropic as generally speaking, voyeurism is present in many videos, pop videos especially.







The video doesn't really reflect the characteristics of the genre, which is one of Goodwins points. He states that videos should, and although there are close ups of the artist throughout the video, there isn't really any other characteristics of pop videos, such as big dance routines and scantily clad women, in this video. This again is entropic.




To sum up, I would say that this video is very entropic, and although contains some redundant elements, it is not very typical of a pop video.

Redundancy and Entropy - Analysis

I have analysed the videos of two artists who are similar to the artist I have chosen for their redundant and entropic features.

Kate Nash - Foundations

This video mostly only has redundant aspects. The music and lyrics match the visuals throughout, for example, she sings "intelligent input darlin' why don't you just have another beer then?" and the image shown is of a fridge full of beer. Also, the images change at the start on the beat of the song. This is a redundant feature of music videos, particularly pop videos.


  
Also, meanings are amplified by what we see in the video. The clearest example of this is at the end, where we see a shot of the door that sums up what the song means. This is a common feature of many music videos, but particularly in this genre.

Last of all, Kate is seen singing throughout. The shots are generally close ups of her face, singing,which is a redundant feature of a lot of music videos, particularly those of the pop genre. It is one of Goodwins' 6 features of music videos. 










However, there are also entropic features. Rather than having conventional representation of lyrics, by just showing that object or action, it is represented by something else. For example, in the screenshot to the right, the lyrics are “And every time we fight...” which is unlikely to be a physical fight, but is represented with boxing gloves.

Also, stop animation is used to make household objects interract, amplifying the meanings of the lyrics.This is a very entropic technique, especially in pop videos, but adds to the meaning in an interesting way.

Charlene Soraia - When We Were Five

On the face of it, this video seems very entropic. However, there are many redundant aspects within it. First of all, there are shots of the artist singing throughout the video, which is a common element in many videos, but is particularly redundant in pop videos. 

Also, another redundant elemnent is that there are close ups of the artists face, as there were in the previous video. This is a very common feature in pop videos. 














Similarly to the last video, the visuals change with the music, which, as stated before, happens in a lot of videos, especially pop videos, and is part of Goodwin's theory. 

However, there are also many entropic features. It is not common at all to have the artists face obscured by anything, or in this case a home video playing. Record labels usually want clean shots of the artists face in the video.










It is also entropic to show a shot of something that is totally irrelevent to the song and the music. The video shows a shot of the video that is playing over her, when she is not in the scene. It is entropic in pop videos, but this sometimes happens in indie or rock videos. 

Furthermore, for a pop video, it is very strange to have no links between lyrics and visuals. The majority of the video is of the artist, however when other things are shown, they have no relevence to the lyrics at all. Generally speaking, there will be links to lyrics in pop videos. In the screenshot on the right, the lyrics that go with is are "Don't cry, remember who I am - I broke your heart" which has no relevence to roses.