Teacher Feedback

Vahesan I am happy with the improved level of commitment you have shown in relation to the practical work outside of lesson time. Keep this up! You now need to ensure you meet the targets I set in my previous feedback i.e. finish all of the textual analysis.

Music Magazine Analysis; Michael Jackson - "You rock my world"

Artist(s)/ Band: Michael Jackson
Track name: You rock my world 
Release date: 22nd August, 2001

Genre: Disco/Pop, R&b

Michael Jacksons 10th studio album release contains a top ten billboard hit single, "You rock my world". The directer, Paul Hunter, has purposely used a narrative story line to keep the music video appear as a short film. 

We are introduced to a gangster populated entertainment venue, where the famous Michael Jackson and his companion Chris Tucker go on a mission to woe an attractive women.  The smart suits and shirts nearly every male character is wearing implies power and wealth, much like a mobsters or a high level gangster social event,we see a the club filled with many men and women that match the gangster genre that can be affiliated with other films such as  'The Godfather' and 'Scarface'. The multitude of different dangers that Michael Jackson is prone highlights his bravery and creates a favouritism amongst the audience. 

Tracking shots are used to follow the characters through different scenes, as each scene progresses it builds a continuous flow from start to finish that keeps the viewer engaged into the video. The director has also used over the shoulder shots to focus the speech (sung by Michael Jackson) to the leading female actress.

The female actress that our protagonist tries to win over can be argued to be the idealistic women by most male genders due to for such reasons: Her slim body shape, the elegant movement through the scenes, and her positive strong posture gives both a confident and "sexy" attributes to her character. 

The dim lit rooms, with the flowers and indoor plants, there is a definite romantic atmosphere even amongst the many mobsters in the rooms. The silky satin dress worn by the leading actress is shown in many medium and close up shots, as much as it a sexual arousal for males there is also a sense of female dominance; the glamour in the dress and her leading on actions that posses's our hero portrays the significance and importance of woman rather than as products or items.

Teacher Feedback

Vahesan you have made some progress with aspects of the research and planning work such as a range of textual analyses that show a sound understanding of the key conventions, in addition to some theoretical understanding e.g. Marxist theory. You must now finish all research work to include post modernist and post feminist interpretations of music videos. In addition you must add you audience research findings - use the checklist and power point in Firefly to support you. Meeting the deadlines set is to key to your overall mark for their aspect of the course. At present you are working towards a level 3.

Music Video Analysis- Goldie - "Inner City Life" / Marxism Theory Based

Artist(s)/ Band: Goldie
Track name: Inner City Life (album -Timeless)

Release date: 12^th September 1994,1995(Album)

Genre: Drum and Bass, Electro/Techno

The music video of a famous electro/techno DJ, Goldie, narrates the reality of a particular section of society, the lower middle class. Shining the light on the lives of the middle class instantaneously causes much of the audience to relate to the video, oppressing the status quo of how they (lower/middle class) are benefit dependant, have low work productivity and a leech to society, but in fact there lives are in fact hard to sustain even for a decent living to support family and keep surviving.

The majority of camera shots are low angle shots used to show the housing estates which visually looks unpleasant and creates an empowering enclosure to the lives of the people living in them. This negative amplifications are used to portray the reality of the life of people living in the city, hence the link to the title of the video "Inner City Life", with the sepia colour scheme used in the editing of the video, we get a sense of colourless, which can be also used to resemble emotionless characters. 

The mise en scene used in the video shows shows bills and empty trolleys, this representation shows the bombardment of money in which middle class people have to pay out to survive in order to get food and shelter, the empty trolley can be used to imply the lack of food and water, the money being absorbed through bills, any essentials are swallowed immediately and therefore families are in struggle to survive. 

Music Video Analysis - Wretch 32 ft Josh Kumra - "Don't go"

Artist(s)/ Band: Wretch 32, Josh Kumra

Name of song:  Don’t Go

Director: Ben Newman

Release date: 11^th July 2011

Genre: Rap/Hip-hop

Throughout the video alot of variety of camera techniques have been used, low angle helps establish supremacy, medium and long shots help picture the surrounding environment that can be used to represent the artist in various ways, the most common shot we see through the video is the panning shot, this shot causes to visually focus on Wretch 32s gestures and actions, as a result making the video more interesting to watch, due to the symbols and graffity words on the walls such as "What if" creates a deeper impact as it is absorbed visually.

The type of genre in which the video is categorised under (Rap/Hip) will stereotypically make the audience pre judge the artists clothing and representations, however Wretch 32 is portrayed oppositely to what is stereotypically known about this genre, he is dressed in a smart manner with a waistcoat and shirt, a sophisticated look which definately challenges the stereoptypical genre identity this video would have foreseen. Opposing the typical representation can be used to imply that this artist wants to terminate the literal prejudged thoughts, many audiences can relate to this and therefore be much coherant to the video and also to his other releases.

There are countless abstract scenes, thus making the video seem much calmer to the eyes of the audience, the different shots of water ripples, clouds and the slow motion camera affects inevitabley makes the whole video less aggressive and therefore this video can be argued that it can be used as an emotional releasing factor in were the audience can find peace and tranquility. 

Music Magazine Advertisement; Green Day - "American Idiot"

This music advertisement of Green Day promoting their album release "American Idiot" uses a higher volume of text than the other music advertisements that I had analysed upon. The increased number of text can be an overload on information, but in this case, the text are presented in a clear format with words such as "Free", "No.1" that catches the viewers attention and keeps the viewer more interested, resulting in them gaining more information that would likely to remain in their memory.

The majority of the advertisement is filled with one of the members gazing up into the skies. The wondrous look in his eyes emphasis excitement and adds mystery to suspicion. But it can also be argued that it implies an uplifting power which causes the singer to momentarily look up rather than at the audience (during performance), this action of the singer will cause the potential buyer to be more persuaded to buy their album.  

Music Magazine Advertisement; Beyonce - "Dangerously in love"

This advertisement of Beyoncé’s "Dangerously in love", applies the typical genre related features that would be expected to see from a famous and talented artist.

Three quarters of the advertisement consists of the, much critics say, perfect body of Beyoncé posing with her hand in the air, slanted on a angle but face directly looking at the viewer, with her hair flared out, which creates a moving momentum feeling that could be used to imply both elegance and control (face directly looking at the viewer).

The bottom quarter of the advertisement shows simplistic text "CD IN STORES" "JUNE 24", in large bold print, in grey, this stands out due to the contrasting background, black. This differs to the previous text used on the name of the artist "Beyoncé" which is much more unusual, funkier thus making it stand out to the rest of the text on the advertisement.

In addition, the mise-en-scene that has been used on the advertisement opens up to Beyoncé wearing a unique dress which reveals much of her bronzed skin. The silver and white jewels embedded on the dress can be used to show glamour and wealth, which could be widely affiliated with women all over the world but also definite attractive factor towards the male gender.