Digipak Research

Digipaks are a type of CD case usually made from cardboard which differs from normal CD cases which are usually made from plastic. Digipaks are usually only used for special editions of CD’s such as Linkin Park’s Reanimtion and Red Hot Chilli Peppers Stadium Arcadium. Digipaks started in the 1980’s with artists such as Prince and U2 releasing albums in the forms of digipaks. Digipaks are generally much more durable than their jewel case counterparts. Mainly because if they are dropped they are less likely to break and they are also much less likely to get scratched from normal wear and tear. Despite being much more durable on the outside compared to jewel cases, they are still just as vulnerable on the inside as the CD tray is still made out of plastic meaning that it is much more likely to break compared to the outside. The teeth in the middle of the CD tray that hold the CD in place are especially fragile because there isn’t much structure or support keeping them intact. This type of CD cover is more environmentally friendly but despite this they still remain less common. This is because they cost more to manufacture in bulk and are much more likely to become damaged in a shop being made out of cardboard. Digipaks started to become very popular in the early 2000’s. When digipaks are opened they usually fold out into three sections. One section should contain the CD, another should contain the leaflet and the other should be a piece of artwork from the artist. Nowadays digipak makers are trying to find ways to make digipaks even more environmentally friendly. For example digipak makers are now making the plastic tray out of recycled bottles which means that there won’t be problems with the teeth being brittle. Another manufacturer has decided get rid of the whole plastic tray and replace it with a paper one made out of sugarcane and egg cartons.

- Lewis Gollop

How Linkin Park have changed thorugh the years

How Linkin Park have changed through the years

Linkin Park have changed their visual appearance throughout the years and have changed their genres of music through the years as well. In their early years of Hybrid Theory and Meteora they represented themselves has a very heavy metal band. For example in Papercut the lead singer Chester Bennington wore baggy trousers with a chain and a vest. His hair was spiked up and had a red dyed part. The co-vocalist Mike Shinoda also had spiked hair and baggy trousers. Mike Shinoda had multiple piercings. Their early music represented themselves as their early music was heavy metal and rap metal. Their next album Minutes to Midnight, Chester and Mike made themselves look much more presentable compared to their previous albums. For example in the song What I’ve Done Chester no longer had the spiked hair of old and wore jeans and a jacket. Mike Shinoda also no longer had spiked hair he had more of bald head and he also wore a shirt and jeans. In their next three albums A Thousand Suns, Living Things and The Hunting Party they look much more casual and more like an average person. They mainly wear clothing items such as jackets, t-shirts and jeans. In my mind Linkin Park have changed their visual appearance in time with their genres because when they changed their genres, they changed what they look like. Their genres have changed much through the years. The first two albums, Hybrid Theory and Meteora were of a heavy metal genre and rap metal. The next album Minutes to Midnight, Linkin Park changed their genre to more of an alternative rock. Linkin Park’s next two albums A Thousand Suns and Living Things took more of an electronic rock approach. Their final album so far came away from the electronic rock and went back to their original type of music which was much heavier. Over the years Linkin Park have matured, this can be seen in the way that have changed their appearance and their genres of music. When they change their music genres they try to keep their audience with them whilst trying to reach out to a new audience. Linkin Park change their genres hoping that their listeners have matured so that the viewers will enjoy their new music style as well as their old music style.

Lewis Gollop

Star Analysis - Linkin Park

Star Analysis- Linkin Park

Linkin Park began in 1996 under the name Xero with three high school friends: Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and Brad Delson. Once the three graduated high school they then recruited Joe Hahn, Dave Farrell and Mark Wakefield. The band then released a demo tape called Xero. This demo tape failed to land a record deal and tension in the band grew. The vocalist Mark Wakefield decided to leave the band and Farrell left to tour with another band. After trying to find a replacement vocalist they recruited the current vocalist Chester Bennington.  Chester was in a grunge band before joining Linkin Park. The band released an EP called Hybrid Theory after changing their name from Xero to Hybrid Theory. Once again the band wanted to change their name. They initially wanted to have Lincoln Park but changed it Linkin Park to secure a website domain. In 1999 the vice president of Warner Bros. Records managed to get Linkin Park a record deal. In 2000 the band released their first album called Hybrid Theory. The genres for this album are nu metal, rap metal and alternative metal. Hybrid Theory was a massive success for Linkin Park and is known as their breakthrough album. The album was so popular it have four singles. Crawling, Papercut, In the End and One Step Closer. Hybrid Theory was one of the best-selling albums in 2001 selling 4.8 million copies. The album also managed to earn the band a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.  During this time Linkin Park released a remix album with songs remixed from the Hybrid Theory album. The album features 20 songs with most of the songs Linkin Park songs. This album only has one single, Pts. Of. Athrty. A remix of Points of Authority. In 2002 the band released their next album, Meteora. This album uses the same type of genres as the last album with the addition of alternative rock. This album has sold over 20 million copies and stands as the successful album in the history of Alternative Songs chart.  It has also been certified platinum six times by the RIAA. This album was very popular releasing five singles in just over a year. The singles are: Somewhere I Belong, Faint, Numb, From the Inside and Breaking the Habit. In its first week Meteora sold over 800,000 copies. The album went to No.1 in both the UK and the US and reached No.2 in Australia. At the time the album was the best-selling album in the billboard charts. In 2006 the band released their third album titled Minutes to Midnight. This project moved away from the rap metal and took an alternative rock approach. This album became No.1 in Canada, US and UK. In the US the album was the biggest selling album selling 623,000 copies in the first week. Overall the album has sold over 15 million copies. The album had 5 singles. What I’ve Done, Bleed It Out, Shadow of the Day, Given Up and Leave Out All the Rest. This song What I’ve Done was a big single being used as the main theme song for the 2007 film Transformers. At the release of the Minutes to Midnight Linkin Park decided to change their logo. In 2010 Linkin Park released their fourth studio album, A Thousand Suns. Linkin Park stayed away from the metal side of their previous albums and went to a more electronic and alternative style of rock. The album was a success having got number one on over ten charts around the world. This album seemed less popular than previous as the album only sold 241,000 copies in the US. The album had mixed receptions as different countries reacting differently having got gold in America and getting platinum in Canada. Overall the album has sold around 3.5 million copies worldwide. The album had four singles released with one being released before the album released. The singles are: The Catalyst, Waiting for the End, Burning in the Skies and Iridescent. The Catalyst was used in a wide variety of video games such as Medal of Honor. Five of the songs from A Thousand Suns were used in the game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. In 2012 the band released their fifth album called Living Things. At this point Linkin Park began to sway back into the rap rock genre of music. This album has sold 2.5 million copies around the world. This album received a large variety of mixed reviews as some reviews gave the album a high score while other scored it lower. This album is based on traumatic experiences the members of the band have had. The album has four singles. Burn It Down, Lost in the Echo, Powerless and Castle of Glass. This album was called livings things because of the amount of topics that have been covered on the album. This album is called Living Things because is more about personal interactions and people and that this film is more personal than any of the other albums. During this time Linkin Park released their second remix album called Recharged.  This is their second remix album for 11 years after the release of Reanimation. Mike Shinoda never thought that he would make another remix album however he heard a variety of remix of songs from Living Things and then decided that he would make a second remix album featuring 14 songs. This CD debuted at No. 10 in America’s Billboard 200 chart with sales reaching 33,000 in the first week. Overall the CD has sold around 111,000 copies in the U.S.  This album received a lot of mixed reviews from critics such as Voodoo gave the album 4 out of 5 stars whilst NME gave it 5/10. Linkin then released their most recent album called The Hunting Party. This album leaves the electronic rock style the band previously performed in the 3 previous CD’s and goes back to the heavy metal side from their older CD’s such as Hybrid Theory. Critics praised Linkin Park for returning to their older type of music. The name for this CD represents Linkin Park as the hunting party and they are hunting to put the soul and energy back into rock music. This album features a few other artists that they have collaborated with on this album. The album received a fair amount of positive reviews, some higher than others. The album sold 110,000 copies in its first week in the U.S placing it third on the Billboard 200. In its second week the album only sold 29,000 copies and it its third week it only 16,000 copies. Overall the album has sold 1,174,000 worldwide.

 

 

Lewis Gollop 

Music Genres Research

MUSIC GENRES

POP

In a ‘pop’ music video, the Artists are often portrayed as being happy. The Artists are usually dressed in very fashionable, ‘up-to-date’ clothing. The props and locations, as well as the clothing, are also usually very bright and sometimes mad and/or colourful. This could be because the target audience for this genre are mainly teenagers.

Some Artists that fit this genre are;

·        Rita Ora

·        Katy Perry

·        Nicky Minaj

·        Lady Gaga

Although these artists could also be put in the ‘dance’ genre.

The music videos that the genre ‘pop’ produces are mainly performance based through a choreographed dance or through a narrative storyline. The storyline relates to the lyrics from the song.                                                      

ROCK

In a ‘rock’ music video, the Artists are often portrayed as having quite ‘dark’ personalities. The Artists are usually dressed in very dark clothing, mainly black. In almost every rock music video there is someone playing a guitar. Most artists from the rock genre are bands.

Some Artists that fit this genre are;

·        Metallica

·        Black Sabbath

·        Guns ‘N’ Roses

·        Kiss

The music videos that the genre ‘rock’ produces often have a story or meaning to behind them. In the music video, as well as the narrative storyline/meaning there is often a scene of the band playing together, whether it’s in a certain location, or a concert.

COUNTRY

In a ‘country’ music video, the song and video tend to be much simpler than other music genres. The song and video often relates to the problems of ‘country living’. In a music video for the country genre, the Mise-en-scene used often creates a stereotype of people who live in the country. This is shown by the locations they use (i.e. country side), and props and costumes they use (i.e. Guitars, ‘cowboy’ hats, leather boots etc.) The artist, who sings the song, is usually in the actual video and is normally cast as the main character.

Some Artists that fit this genre are;

·        Taylor Swift

·        Dolly Parton

·        Carrie Underwood

·        Kelly Clarkson

The music videos that the genre ‘country’ produces often have a country theme towards them. This country theme usually is narrative based, and tells a story. So mainly all scenes in the music videos are in order.

INDIE

An ‘indie’ music video tends to be quite low budget. The locations used are normally places that can be accessed to easily. This effect is probably so that the music video can focus more on the artist and performance. Some artists have a ‘retro’ look about them in the video through their use of costume and make-up.

Some Artists that fit this genre are;

·        Arctic Monkeys

·        Ed Sheeran

·        Green Day

·        Nirvana

The music videos that the genre ‘indie’ produce are most commonly based on the artist in a live performance. This creates a focus on just the music itself and the artist. Although, saying this, recently some indie artists put a bit of a narrative in their music videos to break it up, and give some sort of story to the viewer.

 Katie Tancred

Star Analysis - Taylor Swift

Katie's Star Analysis on Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift started off as focusing on the ‘country’ genre of music with her singing. In 2006 she released her first album ‘Taylor Swift’ with 11 songs on it. It was all country based. She was nominated for ‘The Academy of Country Music Award for Album of the Year’ for this album.

Analysing the music video for ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’- Just a few shots

The establishing shot shows that it is set in a school atmosphere, and so possibly is about a teen romance? The next shot change shows Taylor, who instantly shows that she is most probably the main character. This is an aspect of the music genre ‘country’. It starts off with a narrative. There is a small conversation between Taylor and a boy.

At the end of this narrative, the music begins and a new scene appears. It’s of Taylor in what seems like a dark themed bedroom. Then there is an extreme close-up shot of Taylor. She is miming to the lyrics in this part, although this part of the video seems like she is singing there and then. In other words, it’s like she is not miming, she is just singing to the camera sort of thing. In this next shot she seems to be lying on her bed holding her guitar. Giving the sense that this music that she has created has in fact got a ‘country’ theme to it.

  After a few scenes of her in her room singing with the guitar. It goes back to a bit of the story that she is explaining in her lyrics. It is a scene of her and the guy.

  It then goes back to her singing with the guitar, and then goes back to this library scene, telling the story. It transfers between these scenes a lot (Between the story/narrative scene and her actually ‘singing’ to the camera). The story is that the guy only sees Taylor as a friend, and likes another girl.

It ends with a fade and a slightly tilted angle movement of Taylor lying on the bed with her guitar, singing the final lyrics. But actually the final thing you see is the guitar on the bed.

8 years later, she has changed quite a bit. There have been a few bits in the media about her change. She has changed from doing ‘country’ music, to doing more ‘pop’-style music. One of her new pieces of music, ‘Shake it off’ was actually number one in the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in September 2014.

Analysing the music video for ‘Shake it off’- Just a few shots

The establishing shot shows possibly some ballerinas, getting ready to perform a routine? The music starts up too. But no lyrics yet. It’s only when they are all just about to start the routine (?) that there is a mid-shot of Taylor, starting off the lyrics of the song. She sings to the camera a lot in this music video. There are many different shots of all of them in the same room. They are all ballerinas, including Taylor.

The scene then changes into a more ‘urban’ themed mise-en-scene. Although the music style stays as it is. There is some ‘break-dancing’ shown in this urban theme. Even Taylor has a go…

It then switches to the ballerinas. And Taylor has now got a ballerina costume on. Going for a more ‘delicate’ ‘Ballerina-style’ theme. Some more dancing is involved too.

Then she goes for a more ‘gymnastic’ theme (?).They do all these ‘stretchy’ ‘gymnastic’ moves.

It transfers between these themes for a few seconds, until the beat of the music changes a bit, and she is now doing a ‘robotic’ ‘retro’ themed mise-en-scene and dance.

She then changes to another different type of ‘urban’ theme. Perhaps you could say a more ‘chavy’ theme (?) This is because of the costumes she, and the others are wearing at this time.

As well as switching between all of these different themes. Some scenes show her singing to the camera, with a band behind her. She is also holding a microphone. She also raps. When she starts rapping, the theme of the mise-en-scene is cheerleaders/cheerleading. BUT she seems to ‘accidently’ make a mistake, by dropping her pom-pom on the floor. She makes some mistakes in most of her themes in this video. Which I think shows that she wants to make this song ‘fun’ and ‘upbeat’ and wants to tell her fans that don’t worry about making mistakes. We all do it. I may be wrong though.

And the last ‘theme’ is quite basic. Just a small band, her and what seems like her fans. They are all wearing basic everyday clothes, and are just dancing.

DIFFERENCES

I can see quite a big difference between one of her very first songs ‘Teardrops on my Guitar’ and her newer, more recent song ‘Shake it off’.

One of the differences I see is that ‘Teardrops on my Guitar’ has a narrative and story to it. It tells the story of a girl who wants to be more than friends with a guy she likes, but she can tell that he only sees her as a friend, and likes another girl. This is shown in the music video, by the way it shows a narrative storyline that follows along with the lyrics and appears every so often.

The ‘country’ genre is very often pointed out in the music video by the use of mise-en-scene. Mainly by the guitar that is shown with her, in the scenes where you can physically see her singing whilst lying on her bed. You can also tell it’s a country theme by the pace of the shots and the song in general. They seem much more slower.

‘Shake it off’ doesn’t have a narrative storyline, although I think it does have a moral. The lyrics and the way she shows different themes and cultures, through the use of mise-en-scene show this. I think the moral that she is putting across is that if you make mistakes, don’t worry. Try and laugh it off and try again. Also there are going to be people who dislike you, just ignore them and ‘shake it off’- be the better person and don’t let it get to you. Shake it off is definitely more of a ‘pop’ genre. This is because there is no narrative, a lot of dancing, fast paced editing, different themes etc.

Although these two songs differ, they have one similarity in that they both use a lot of mise-en-scene to help enhance the quality, and to help people identify the genre and themes of both of the music videos.

Taylor Swift has obviously felt that in this era ‘pop’ is most probably more popular than ‘country’, and so created a pop song and music video. I think she has most definitely moved on from ‘Country’ now and so has changed a lot in almost 10 years.

Katie Tancred

Our Song Choice

Royals

After some discussion, our group has chosen to use the song Royals sung by American artist; Lorde. We chose this song because we felt that it matched the taste of all us in the group so no one felt left out with what ever decision we made. While watching the music video to this song we found that we instantly came up with ideas because it was so simple. The video shows the story of two boys and their poor standard of living but the lyrics suggest they want more from life, instead of living the way they have been living.
By choosing this song, we want to show the contrast between upper class and lower class by having two groups of people in our video. We will also include one of us acting as the artist which we will move back and forth from through out the video so you will see one of us within the group singing. 

Research on basic Music Videos

Sinead O’Connor – Nothing compares 2U

This music video is pretty basic and low budget. This is something that would be good for us. I’m not saying we should copy everything in this video, but the concept or idea of it, is good. We don’t want something that would cost a large amount of money, and we don’t want a lot going on. This video is just a few shots of a garden or somewhere outside and a close up of her face singing parts of the song. Simple.

Queen- These are the days of our lives

Another song that is similar is ‘These are the days of our lives’, by Queen. Their video is basic. They are in the same location throughout.  They don’t use any colour either, it’s just black and white all the way through the video.  The camera shots vary between mainly the lead singer, Freddie Mercury, the guitarist, Brian May, the drummer, Roger Taylor, and a long shot of all of them including the base player, John Deacon.

Katie Tancred