Research Into Target Audience - Initial Research

Revised: Digipak Research

To begin planning my Digipak i researched other artists albums who had a similar genre to that of The Wild Wolves. Initially i mainly looked to the front covers of the albums (as they are usually the first impression, and the back-cover/inside relates to the front) and found some pictures that i have posted below. I thought that by looking at a group of front covers by similar artists, I could establish and utilise any generic conventions seen in their album pictures.

This first CD cover belongs to James Morrison's first album, Undiscovered. James Morrison's music is little like The Wild Wolves, as it is more Indie-Pop than Indie-Folk, however he supports the Indie-Folk/Pop image with his soulful Indie music. This album cover is a simple image of him, the artist, marketing him to his new audience. The space in the picture includes his name and the album name, and there is a lighting effect/lens flare from the top right corner behind the artists head.

This next album cover belongs to Florence & The Machine - a relatively new "big" Indie band that has risen quickly in popularity. This album cover prominently focuses on the image of the lead singer (Florence) and the title of the album, "Lungs", with the text and the added imagery of a paid of lungs hanging from her neck like a necklace. This shows the bands Indie genre by developing a unique and interesting album cover whilst still focusing on the band - a marketing requirement.

The above 2 pictures (Jamie Cullum, Bob Marley) sport the artists face taking up the majority (and nearly the whole) of the mise-en-scene. This clearly shows the marketing aspect to the album, and also how important the image (and style) of the artist is. Each album cover has it's own unique feel to it, with Cullum's being cast purple and Marley's emphasising the warm colours (representative of Folk music).

Paolo Nutini's work is more colourful than the other productions (with Cullum's being just one flow of purple). Nutini also displays the animation side in his productions, which relate to his one animated music video and his genre (with animation and Indie becoming more strongly linked). These album covers above show his sense of his own music (colourful) and focus on how he is portrayed to the audience - animated, friendly, holding a guitar...

An image of the artist is shown in all of the above album covers - telling me that for a successfully Indie album cover, I must focus the mise-en-scene directly upon the artist, whether this is a large shot of the artists face, or a recurring image of the artist as seen in Nutini's "these streets" album cover.

Another recurring idea throughout the productions is the unique addition to the digipak - and the relation it has with a music video produced by the artist. This tells me that to make the digipak as attractive as possible, I should make a connection between the imagery on my digipak, and the imagery in my music video, to encode a personal flare of the artist into the print productions. This has given me a wide variety of ideas regarding the animation in our music video, which can be a strong link between productions, and a strong unique factor to my digipak.

Disney President: Simba

Simba (The Lion King)

Simba, the King, son of the late King Mufasa, is a perfect candidate for the President of Disney. Simba already knows and holds great responsibility; leading his tribe, being a father, and having to look after his multiple friends from hunters, bigger animals, or power-hungry relatives (such as his Uncle, Scar).
A Disney President needs to have these qualities. Leadership, compassion and bravery are a must have. The elected Disney President needs to be able to progress with new ideas to promote the company and keep it successful. They also need to be a quick thinker, and develop fair and effective solution. Simba is able to provide all of these, as his experience as a Prince cub and his experience as a King and a loving Father has allowed him to utilise these skills.
Simba's life has not always been smooth, but he is consistent throughout his life of his passion, love and success. Simba is able to make friends with just about anyone (including a Warthog and a Meerkat) and this, combined with his fatherly skills, allows him to lead in a fair and just way.
However, as Simba is a King, this provides him with the opposite skills, of leading the way of survival, and doing what is best for everyone in the long run. This is an exeptional skill for a Disney President, as he will be able to lead a just and long running company, increasing and supporting its popularity.

The Disney President will probably need to be comfortable in the spotlight. Simba is used to this! He has appeared in multiple films and has given special appearances on TV shows (through which he has shown what a good animator he is), showing his connection and passion to the film/TV industry - a good factor for a competitor of a media industry president.
If all of this wasn't enough, Simba is a lion. Lions are known to be brave and logical, two important skills of leadership. He won't be afraid to take risks to keep the company successful, and he will be able to think logically and clearly to develop a solution for any problem.

By the end of this extremely strong campaign for Simba, you should be prepared to vote for Simba, as this would be a vote for success. If that hasn't convinced you, just think, Simba is a talking lion! That would certainly promote Disney to the world - having a brave, strong lion with the gift of human speech!

Goodwin's Music Video Analysis

Andrew Goodwin developed a useful way to analyse music videos, which has proved to be a useful reference point for our own music video analyses. (while writing in "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" - Routledge 1992)


Genre Characteristics
The video should demonstrate genre characteristics, so visual aspects that are suitable to what sort of music that is going with it. For example, a stage performance for a rock video, but then a dance routine with singing for a boy/girl band.

Lyric & Visual Relationship
There is usually a relationship between the two, either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting, to strengthen the song and the music video (so maybe audiences remember/like it more).

Music & Visual Relationship
Similar to the genre characteristics, as visuals connect with the music, and also similar to above, as they can be illustrative (guitar with a guitar solo), amplifying or again, contradicting (for example, Blink 182 is a rock band but made a music video that looked like a boy band, for contradicting humor).

Visual styles
For example, bands and their record labels will need close ups of the artist to sell the artist, or the artist may develop motifs which can recur across their other music videos and other work.

Notion of Looking
Reference to this notion of looking, for example, screens within screens/telescopes, etc.

Voyeuristic Treatment of the Female Body
Nowadays this is obvious in R'n'B music videos or rapping music videos, to demonstrate their wealth/luck and how women want them because of their musical skills.

Intertextual Reference
These references could be to films or even TV programmes with which the music is associated, for example music videos showing film clips are usually in the soundtrack to the film, so the two medias can advertise each other simultaneously.