Telephone – Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce
This music video is seen to be quite outrageous and ‘out there’, especially for this day and age. The video begins with no music for around about 3 minutes and this is just the narrative seen here, we also here odd bits of dialogue spoken which again adds to the new, stylish way of music video’s. The video seems to almost be similar to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ is terms of the length, and the way that the videos caused such a stir. The video is set in a prison to begin with where we see Lady Gaga posing in a provocative costume/outfit and this shows what type of video it may lead on to be. This shows her as an dominant person and gives her a ‘bad girl’ sort of image. The fact that she has coke cans in her hair again shows Lady Gaga’s brand image as we all know her for her wild and daring fashion and style. The lighting in the video has a constant theme of being of lower light, although in most music videos it would make the story harder for the audience to understand, here it acts as an aid for them and it almost catalyses the narrative itself. The idea in the video is that they are trying to get away from everything, yet somehow it seems ironic that they use a bright yellow car in which almost everyone would notice it. Throughout the video they constantly use the phrase ‘honey b’ to refer to each other showing signs of affection towards each other and the fact that they are the only 2 people standing at the end of the video shows that they are stronger together as 1. The scene where Lady Gaga seems to be in the kitchen is very bright in comparison to the rest of the video, and here they use the idea of cartoon missed with video which in this case works very well as the rest of the video almost seems very animated. Throughout the video we see the motif of a phone and especially in the diner scene, not as obvious but still out of Lady Gaga’s hair is a yellow phone with a wire stretching across her head, both again relating to her brand image of being outrageous and also the video itself. Beyonce is well known for her dances and bold singing, and here we see her mark on the video in the dance scene at the end and in the middle the almost rap style of music shows Beyoncé’s brand image. The music starts calmly and gets more and more frantic as it goes on and louder – this shows the progression of the video and the structure in which they chose to present it to the target audience. The target audience would generally be teenage girls around 17 or 18 years old up to around mid 20’s. The reason for the higher age choice is the fact that the video does show some very provocative things in which younger girls should not see.
La Roux – Bulletproof
Throughout the video we see the constant bright white lighting giving a futuristic look and lots of SFX are used which is part of La Roux’s brand image. One thing I noticed that it was very obvious that lots of different shots were being used yet I believe that this is part and parcel of making this video a success. The edits were all very clean and sharp, and very on the beat which is more effective for the audience if there is a visual to go with the sound of the music. The video shows no narrative, and is all based around La Roux herself, this is perhaps to do with the fact that she was bullied at school and now is proud to be where she is. The coloured lights which feature all the way though the video but are most obvious when the video is at its darkest at the end, this is perhaps a feature that would be nice to recreate and be able to shows throughout our video. The colours black and white appear throughout the video and binary opposites are seen at various points for example black background with white outfit – this works well as the audience can make this clear contrast, and the music fits in well with this type of Mise en scene. The music video is all visual and no narrative, yet because of all of the shots, edits and Mise-en-scene it works – this keeps the audience interested and also makes the video eye catching and unusual.
Madonna – ‘Vogue’
This video is very stylistic and for when it was made unusual as it is in black and white. Vogue like the magazine is obviously about models and fashion which is very clear that is what Madonna is portraying through this video. The different shots such as a high angle shot gives different perspectives so that all types of people can enjoy the video. The video does portray something different about it and when this video was released it was something different to the other music videos. Madonna has always been known for being something bizarre, and her brand image has formed around this. The video is a narrative, yet shows not as mush performance side – it is mainly just dancing and on the odd occasion singing towards the camera. I think that the video works well, yet in my opinion the narrative is TOO simple as there is not enough substance to make the whole video interesting enough for the audience. The target audience for this video and Madonna I would say is 30– 40 year olds who enjoy a bit of ‘feel good’ music. To make the video better, or what could improve it is using odd splashes of colour and adding more to the narrative side of it, this would both allow for more shots and edits to be created instantly creating more interest for the audience, and this would then open up what you could do in the video more – thus increasing the target audience.
DVD Covers
Madonna
The DVD cover here has a continuous colour theme of blue running throughout, although in different shades, which in y opinion doesn’t work as well as it could if they were more similar. The back looks very professional as it has all of he details of the video very neatly, all square on. This is effective as it shows professional and effective work. The two images that have been used both show Madonna as a powerful woman, which we also see throughout all of her music videos, and also the posses in which we see in the photographs relates to the name of the name of the album ‘Ciao Italia’, this shows part of the Italian culture as they have cultural dances, and the dresses she is wearing is powerful in relation to her brand image and the red that is seen in it relates well again to the album title as red is in the Italian flag and this relates well. The spine of the DVD cover just seems to blend in with the rest of the DVD cover where I think it should stand out.
Take That 
Again blue is a constant colour theme throughout, and it works as the motif for this is the sky. The hot air balloon on the front cover ties in very well with the whole ‘circus’ them around the DVD album, and the fact that the background is the sky, it shows that it has been very well thought out, especially in comparison to Madonna’s DVD cover. The white writing on the back stands out very well, and these could also be thought of as clouds which again if you look at it that way, it seems like it has been very carefully thought about. This DVD cover is all about the visuals and it works very well as it creates a link for the target audience . It relates well to the name of the album, the CD cover and the advertisement poster for the release of the CD and their tour.
Again blue is a constant colour theme throughout, and it works as the motif for this is the sky. The hot air balloon on the front cover ties in very well with the whole ‘circus’ them around the DVD album, and the fact that the background is the sky, it shows that it has been very well thought out, especially in comparison to Madonna’s DVD cover. The white writing on the back stands out very well, and these could also be thought of as clouds which again if you look at it that way, it seems like it has been very carefully thought about. This DVD cover is all about the visuals and it works very well as it creates a link for the target audience . It relates well to the name of the album, the CD cover and the advertisement poster for the release of the CD and their tour.
James Blunt 
The continuous theme of black, white and red seen in this DVD cover creates a professional look and can relate through to the target audience better than if it was multiple colours. The one large image on the front is simple yet effective and possibly shows that the video/music itself is simplistic yet beautiful. The way the back is set out is neat and well presented yet doesn’t look very professional, and this almost ruins the whole DVD cover. The spine is well done as it just blends in with the rest of the cover and the artistic design shown throughout on the bottom of the whole cover is a good way to blend the front and the back of the cover together. Again this is mainly visual as it really gives nothing away about what the Music/Music video will be like.
The continuous theme of black, white and red seen in this DVD cover creates a professional look and can relate through to the target audience better than if it was multiple colours. The one large image on the front is simple yet effective and possibly shows that the video/music itself is simplistic yet beautiful. The way the back is set out is neat and well presented yet doesn’t look very professional, and this almost ruins the whole DVD cover. The spine is well done as it just blends in with the rest of the cover and the artistic design shown throughout on the bottom of the whole cover is a good way to blend the front and the back of the cover together. Again this is mainly visual as it really gives nothing away about what the Music/Music video will be like.
Advert
La Roux 
This is typical La Roux’s brand image and we see. It is very much cluttered which is a complete contrast to her video’s which are simplistic just featuring her. It includes most of the features seen on all adverts such as the single that it is particularly featuring and whom is presenting the DVD etc. The colours seen are red, blue, white and black – all very bold colours which relates now to La Roux’s Brand image. By having the image placed at the top of the page it shows dominance and also this uses the rule of thirds by having La Roux poised directly in the centre of the page, and buildings either side. The fiery feeling that this photo portrays is strength, which she has had to have success in the music industry and power, she could almost be seen as a role model to her target audience (teenagers etc)
Madonna 
This advert is based around fashion. The way that Madonna is posed already suggests stylish and artistic as it is not a posed generic poster. It is advertising for an album that she is releasing ‘Confessions on a dance floor’ yet I feel that although artistic it is too simplistic and should have recommendations on to attract other people than just her regular target audience. The special effects that are used are quite obvious – reducing the brightness and increasing the saturation to give t an unrealistic sort of look. The disco ball in place of the ‘O’ in Madonna is a nice touch and show a little of Madonna’s brand image. Also the faded out larger disco ball in the background keeps the continuity of the poster going.
This advert is based around fashion. The way that Madonna is posed already suggests stylish and artistic as it is not a posed generic poster. It is advertising for an album that she is releasing ‘Confessions on a dance floor’ yet I feel that although artistic it is too simplistic and should have recommendations on to attract other people than just her regular target audience. The special effects that are used are quite obvious – reducing the brightness and increasing the saturation to give t an unrealistic sort of look. The disco ball in place of the ‘O’ in Madonna is a nice touch and show a little of Madonna’s brand image. Also the faded out larger disco ball in the background keeps the continuity of the poster going.
Westlife
This is my least favourite advert, because I think the colour quality looks poor in comparison to an advert like Madonna’s. On the other hand I like the typical ‘boy band pose’ as I think it shows them all together as one and by just having head shots of each of them we can see all of them and distinguish each band member which I think is forgotten about these days as people just name them by the band names. The grey background looks bland on first look, but the yellow writing really enhances the whole look of the poster, also the yellow ‘tinge’ that can be seen over the whole poster makes it more ‘alive’ than what the basic grey background did. By having the band name boldly across the top of the poster it shows the target audience exactly who the advert is for and then the audience can see what it is exactly that is being promoted and what is available for them to buy. Overall the poster conveys its message however I feel that it is weak as it does not give any recommendations and does not fit all of the codes and conventions that’s is usually present on a poster, such as recommendations and when the album will be released.
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