Alternative rock music videos

Alternative rock emerged from the independent music scene, there's lots of different headings that come under this genre such as grunge, britpop, indie rock etc and it's all descended from original Punk Rock. Bands that come under this genre would be ones like : Blink 182, Biffy Clyro, Nirvana, Foo Fighters etc.

Here's some examples of some music videos that come under the genre, in the videos the bands don't take themselves too seriously, there fun and enjoyable to watch. They don't seem as though they're technically difficult to create, and they seem achievable.

Blink 182 - All The Small Things




This is a modern alternative video, they are making jokes out of boy bands and over exaggerating their actions. The typical representation of this band


is that they like to enjoy themselves and have fun with their music, and that is portrayed through their video. Because the video includes a funny context it allows the producers not to add in any unnecessary effects. The music is fast pace so it includes lots of jump cuts and panning to portray the pace of the song, it also uses establishing shots, closeups and the stereotypical shots that are used in cheesy boy band videos.



Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit





With this video they have made it look as though its school pupils at a game with cheerleaders, but instead of it being a happy cheery expeierences they have completley changed the connotations of it. The crowds looking at the band ( them being the main attraction), the room its filmed in is smokey and the lighting is dark. Again like the other video there is no special effects as they are not needed, special effects are usually used in pop videos, or videos from the 70's or 80's, thats what I've noticed. Again the producers use lots of jump cuts, panning, close ups etc. shots and movements that keep up with the pace of the song.

Album Posters

This advert has all the key features of which an advert needs, it tells you who it is, it gives you an image, the album name, the release date, what format you can purchase the songs buy, and the most famous featured tracks. Some features that are missing would be a web address and a review quote, but both things aren't really essential. I think the reason the comapany has decided not to put a review quote is because they want the audience to make their own minds up about the album. The Foo Fighters are a famous, popular well established band, and at the bottom it says 'includes' it draws the audience in, and grabs their attention without giving too much away. So that bits the selling point. Another key feature of an album advert is that its bold and straight to the point, which this advert has portrayed. They have used the same image as whats on the album cover, so when the consumer comes to buy the cd, if obviously the advert has persuaded them it will be easily recognizable. I like how they've kept the colour scheme simple because it makes the logo stand out, and draws your attention to the advert.

Again this advert is straight to the point and bold. Its very different to the one before, its just full of reviews, this is a good selling point as it shows how much people respect and rate the album. They've put reviews in bold red writing so that it stands out, and is eye capturing and easy for others to read. They've kept it simple by not adding any pictures, they can do this as they are well established and the band already have their audience, so they don't need to 'over advertise'.

Kasabians band poster looks mysterious, the poster gives away no clues of the genre or the bands attitudes. This is their unique selling point. The basic message of this advert is just telling you to buy it, just like its waiting for you.

Bands advertised in magazines

Bands are usually featured in magazines when something big happening to them, so their releasing a new album or single or their going on tour etc. So they always feature to advertise themselves. Each different magazine features bands that relate to their genre, so Q would probably have Take That or Oasis or someone, NME would have new bands such as The Horrors or The Gossip.

This article is from Mojo, it was when the band The Last Shadow Puppets first started out, its advertising the bands first single, and making the audience aware if a new band and familiarising them to it. The bands a combination of the two front men from current successful bands, Alex Turner from the Artic Monkeys and Miles Kane from The Rascals. So the Last Shaddow Puppets are promoting themselves to audiences
that both of there orginal bands gathered, as those that are interested in music always like to hear new and different things. The magazine has been clever when thinking up a title for the articale 'best of both worlds', it makes it sound as though they will bring something new and interesting to the music world, which is a clever advertisment and word choice that MOJO has come up with.

This advertisment is advertising a tour, a new album (west pauper lunatic asylum) and new tracks (vlad the impaler). The band has a quirky, rock n roll vibe, you can tell this by the photo they have used, the front man with a spotlight beaming down on him. They don't need to over do their image as they're a well known band with a good reputation. It's not as though they're a new band, they are well established with a large varied audience, so they have to kepp the poster fairly simple, as to appeal to everyone. It must be successful though, seeing as they always get sell out tours!

This magazines advertising Britneys return after her downward spiral. So that's her advertisment selling her new singles, and people will because she is such a major superstar, they'll want to see if they've become worse or if anything has changed etc. The magazine has a wide audience, people buy it monthly as they are faithful to the magazine, so it's clever that she's agreed to so this interview as people will read it, people that don't usually listen to Britney spears, so her songs should hopefully recieve a wider audience. Everyone says that she has 'the girl next door' look, so they've chose an image, slightly reavling but not so much, making it appeal to men and women. They haven't really wrote anything about her on the cover, making people want to read further, especially for her fans. That's an effective selling technique.

Band advertisment research

The type of magazine that I'd like our bands advertisment to be in, would appear in magazines such as Mojo or Q, they feature bands and have a style similar to ours. In order for bands to sell themselves and their albums they need to be advertised in the right places, where their supposed target audience are likely to look. So featuring in a magazine which is typical to the bands genre gives them a good chance of selling themselves to the right sort of people.





With every single edition of this magazine they include a cd of the featured artist, including a few of their tracks, straight away thats a selling point for the band because it makes the audience want to hear more if they like it enough. The magazine hope people with an interest in the 'rock n roll' genre will buy it. The artists name doesn't really stand out very much because it doesn't have to, Noel Gallagher has an extremely recognizable face for those interested in music and the magazine genre. So its common knowledge that the audience know who he is, making people want to read further. The magazine have been very clever whilst coming up with a photo for the cover, the message that his face gives me is 'you better buy this magazine as I didn't get interviewed for nothing', his face is the thing that makes you pick up the magazine. The artists/bands that MOJO uses gives the magazine the reputation that they take their music serouisly, and so they have to be careful when picking their artists as they want people with an amazing reputation.




This is the inside interview feature of the magazine. It shows a different side to Noel, he seems more loosend up, more laid back, it seems as though he wants to do the interview he's more willing to do it, compared to the front cover. Instead of advertising his own music, he's talking about his favorite bands, advertising other peoples music.

Album Covers - Digipak reasearch

Most of the time album covers are relevant to the genre of music, but you can get random ones. The factors that make album covers different are the images, the font, the layout, and the colours. They create common ideolgies and opinions of the band or artist, letting you create your own opinion. They need to look interesting and appealing to the audience, to draw their attention, making it more likely they'll buy it.

The album name is placed along the top of the cd, it's not part of the cd. It relates to the image and the band, because at the time when the Clash where in their prime time, it was a time of racism. So it was a 'black market clash' against England. The font of the name is simple, because I think the band were trying to send out a message. The Clash is written in a destroyed kind of way, which could have connotations of social equality being destroyed at that time. The band wanted to combine both punk and reggae together, which they did very successfully and were also one of the first bands to ever do that. Even though the photos are real pictures, it has a cartoon effect about it. It was a time period of riots, so the cartoon likeness could be their idea of a joke towards civilization. The cover has connotations of the band having strong opinions towards the government and society, and if you know about the band members especially Joe St rummer you will also know that that's true. I think that its easy to identify a punk album, simply because somewhere on the album they will use bright, fluorescent colours, or they will use surrealist images. They've also shown that their not soley just punk, by putting the rastefarian on the front, it also shows they were not embarrased to be different and they enjoyed being experimental and individual. Not all punk album covers have messages on them, but this was a band all full of strong opinions, and rebellion against the government.

As you can see this album cover is influenced by the genre. The obvious aspect would be the punk being the central image, it's got a scribbly look about it. The name looks like its spray painted, this has connotations of the band being rebellious. The slogan to me shows how the band has different sides to them, whether that be a difference in songs, or personality. The design of this album is another typical convention of the punk albums, having a black and white image with the name standing out in colour. On all of Rancid's other albums they've kept the style of the name exactly the same, with just a change in colour, they also keep the style of the images the same, they put a cartoon like effect on them. This gives the band their iconic image, making the albums and their image recognizable.

A2 Media Cousework Brief/ music video history

When Tv was first introduced Mtv was the first channel to ever show a modern music video. The first video to ever be shown was The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star. In the video it was extremely experimental, including a number of different themes. One of the first successful videos that really did push the boundries of technology was Micheal Jackson - Beat It. As you can imagine for the audience at that time it would of been exciting to watch as it was a lot different to the videos that were around at that time.
Obviously since then conventions of music videos have changed becoming more experimental, for example the Gorillaz have pushed technology boundaries. As you can see compared to the Micheal Jackson video you can see how much technology has improved





A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
- a website homepage for the band;
- a cover for its release as part of a digipak(CD/DVD package);
- a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

I've decided to choose this brief for my coursework because it was the one that I was most interested in, and believe I will do my best in. I've also decided to choose 'punk' for the genre of music, as that's the genre of our friends band that we have decided to use. I have decided to create a magazine advertisement and an album cover because my skills are more developed in that area of technology.

As Media Course Work Evaluation