Lyric Analysis



 

Conventions of a DigiPak

 

The image below is a basic layout of a Digipak which we will be using for our initial designs and ideas when creating the Digipak for our unsigned band.   

A Digipak is a collection of the bands single or album with added extras such as band information, lyrics, sponsors etc.

the Digipak consists of:

• Six Panels - Front, Back, Inside x4
• 2 outside panels folded inwards
• CD/DVD in a pocket or jewled case
• What information/visuals appear on each side
• Usually a Special/limited edition case

 

 

The collectors edition of Green Day's live "Bullet in a Bible" concert is a mixture of all the albums that have been released and performed in concert. The digipak consists of a DVD of the performance, a lyric book, a song order booklet and a poster of their latest album that was out at the time "American idiot". The front cover is very bold, using only red, black and white representing the more rebellious side of the band.  All of the colours are contrasts of each other and makes each colour stand out implying that the band are unique and stand out in the music industry. The colours are also quite aggressive and are stereotypically associated with violence implying that the band is quite aggressive and cause have a back ground in violence. The retro and rushed song list is very informal which makes the audience understand that the bans is very relaxed and casual appealing to the teenage and young adult target audience because we stereotypically associate these themes with the 16+ audience. The "American Idiot" shows a hand with a grenade which is in the shape of a heart. This could suggest that the theme of the album is about the conflict of love and confrontations and that the heart is a ticking time bomb. It could also suggest that the album is heart felt and could relate to the meanings of the songs.

 

The DVD itself shows the three members of the band in suits and ties however looking very casual and informal suggesting that they are being rebellious and not conforming to the stereotype of the pop punk genre (wearing jeans and a t-shirt) and showing that they are rebellious but still have a style that people can relate too. The band members on the front of the DVD introduces the audience to the band and gives them more of an insight into the overall look of the band and what the status is within the band.

 

The audience is drawn to the back of the case because you can see the large crowd that attended the gig which shows the popularity of the band. Keeping with the colour scheme the back of the case is still red, back and white however we are also drawn to the coloured images of the concert itself, giving the audience an insight into what the concert looks like and what to expect when you buy it. Even on the back of the case the colour of the text is white making it stand it stand out which could suggest that the music they are performing is pure (no tribute bands or music written for them) showing the audience that they are a unique band and one that doesn't get others to write their music for them.

 

the image of the front of the case is showing the lead singer in black and whiter with the crowd around his feet. His stance is very strong and powerful giving him a more dominant look, which is emphasised by the extended arm and fists suggesting that he is acting as a leader. One of the main themes of the album is the deterioration of the American government and this position and framing could suggest that he is acting as a leader in charge of a rebellion as this is a stereotype that is commonly associated with the pop punk genre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Focus Group

Focus Group

Focus Group Analysis

Q1. What style, out of Perfromance, narrative or both, would best suit this music genre? 

The feedback from our target audience shows that for this specific genre of music, a combination of both performance and narrative would be the best style for our music promo. These two styles are the most conventional styles used throught the music promo industry as the audience demographic want to see elements of a story and the band entwined within each other as it allows the audience to connect with the band and ultimately promotes the bands image and style. 

Q2. Do you like our initial concept for our music promo and why? 

Our feedback from the group was very positive and with their positivity they gave us more ideas about things that we could also include in our promo to improve it. The positivity also showed us what elements the audience liked and what ideas they felt were stronger than other elements, allowing us to dispose of the weaker areas of the promo and allowing the stronger areas more room to develop. The positivity of the feedback also showed us that, as a music promo, it would be something that our target audience would watch and enjoy which is one of our main goals as we do not want the audience to feel uncomfortable by the video as we are appealing to a target audience that can relate to the themes that we are applying to our promo. 

Q3. What do you think the mise-en-scene should consist of for this genre of music? 

The feedback from our target audience has shown that the mise-en-scene that they would expect to find within a pop punk genre promo is: 

Dark rooms 

Harsh lighting 

Realistic props 

Contrasting colour schemes for clothing 

Public locations 

Dark atmosphere 

Romantic settings 

Instruments 

All of these mise-en-scene elements are what you would stereotypically expect to appear in a pop punk music promo and we are going to incorporate all of these elements within our music promo as we feel that it would be more appealing for the audience and would make them more inclined to watch the promo. 

Q4. What shot types would you expect to see in this genre of music? 

Throughout the music promo we are going to use a number of shots that would typically be seen in the pop punk genre. We asked our audience what shots they would expect to see when watching the promo. Their response was: 

Close ups 

Long shots 

Extreme close ups 

Over the should shots 

Mid shots 

Tracking 

Panning 

We have looked at a lot of pop punk videos and we have seen all of these shots used throught the promo, however we would like to make our promo original by adding in canted angles etc so that we can use both original and stereotypical shots throught to make it more interesting for our audience. 

Q5. Who would be the best demographic for this genre and video?

From our audience feedback, we have learnt that the appeal for this genre and the ideas that we have delivered to our audience would be female teenagers. This is due to the subject matter that we have decided to focus on because we want the audience to relate to the promo and we felt that relationships and the difficulties in relationships and these are things that we find in everyday life and we wanted to highlight these areas as we feel that this is the main theme of the song. 

Vox Pop

Job Roles Will

To split up the jobs equally we decided to make a list and each person would choose what jobs they desire to do throughout our planning and production process:

• Production Schedule- Courtney
• Target Audience- Sam
• Mise-en-scene- Will
• Budget- Will
• Shot List- Will
• Storyboards- Sam
• Risk Assessment- Sam
• Permission and Artist Contact- Emma  
• Advertising Campaign- Emma
• Auditions- Courtney
•  Location Scouting- Courtney
• Editing- Emma

Genre

What is genre?- codes and convention that enable audiences to sort texts into groups
A french word meaning kind or sort
Hybrid genres- a mixture of different genres



Media Theort
Buckingham (1990) argues that genre is a contant process of negotiation and change


"Genre is no longer a fixed set of elemets"

What are these media theorists arguing?
How far do you agree with their ideas? What evidence can you find to support your views?

Genre impacts conventions- different musicl genres create different music promos

Genre- is a repertoire of elements that an audience expects to see in a media text of a specific genre

History of genre

Punk- 1976 ish when it first became popular

• influenced by american underground bands
• a reaction to the pompous stuff that was around at the time
• Themes were mainly of rebellion, anarchy, rejection of authority
• Target audience- mainly teens/early 20's

Why is the concept of genre attractive/useful to an audience?

• Allows the audience to explore different types of music and different forms
• Gives the audience something to relate too
• It can catagorise people and allows differences within your audience
• Gives audiences differnet bands to listen to
• Fulfills audience expectations
• Predictable
• Create a shorthand means of communicating to the audience
• Allows a quick set up f character/plot
• Yet needs a twist/innovation to avoid chiche/boredom
• Mixes familiar and unfamiliar

Institutions like genres because-

• It is constructed for a known audience with predictable responses (a garanteed hit?)
• Allow for repeated use of stock storylines and characters (easier to produce)
• Reuse of sets,props,actors (saving time and moey)
• Budget and financial reurnes easier t predict
• A clear product and audience segmentation (targeting a specific audience demographic group)

Audiences like genre because-



Verisimilitude- how real something is

• some need to be more realistic than others (a cop show needs to be more realistic than a musical)

Pop genre-
Camera work-

• Close ups
• Pans and tracking shots
• Movement- makes it a more dynamic video
• Zooms, from face to body
• emphasises their more desireable features

Editing

• Cuts to the beat
• Brighntess- filters, contrasts dark and light
• high exposure
• Saturated colours
• Quick paced cuts
• CGI 

Mise-en-scene
Setting

• grand/luxurious
• Elaborate
• Exotic

Costume

• Spectacular
• Over the top
• Elaborate
• Evening dress
• Works of art

Lighting

• Bright
• High key

Props

• Phallic imagery
• Sexualised
• Glamorous

Actors

• Promoting an image of perfection

Performance

• Abstract
• Sining and dancing
• Not to bothered about showing off musical talent
• Over the top and stylised

Narrative

• Disjuncture
• But without artistic meaning