Textual analysis

This is the front cover of the debut album by Lily Allen and it is called "Alright, Still". The visual signs on this LP sleeve suggest that it is a pop album. Pop as a genre is very image orientated genre. Many artists are judged on their visual image rather than the music that they produce; this is why Lily Allen (herself) is on the front. The cover makes her out to be a relatively attractive female, which will attract her to the male audience. The rest of the design on the sleeve is very urban looking; almost graffiti like. The images that are depicted in this way are icons of urban living; big cars, dogs and large sound systems. The pop market is usually teenage females which are of a middle class. However this is market increases to (more often than not) teenage boys when an attractive female is the main artist. Daytime radio play and instore is where this music will be consumed. This increases its popularity and makes it more sucessful. It was released by an imprint of parlaphone/EMI; meaning it has the financial backing of EMI but has the freedom and independacy of a local low budget label. Both regal and EMI own the recordings of the album of which Lily only recieves royalties from. SOme of the lyrical motivation comes from mrs Allen herself. She wanted to highlight some of the social problems exprienced by the young people at the time thus tying her music in with the target audience.

This is the front cover of The White Stripes self entitled debut album. The overall first impression of this sleeve is rock and roll. The look of the people on the sleeve is very messy and untidy. The vintage film reel is also an icon that makes you think that the style of music is going to be retro rock. This being the debut album from a band it instantly sets the colour scheme and overtall look that the band has. The cover is also very minimal, again this reflects the music that they produce. Present in the franes of the film are the band memebers of the band. They come across as being quite messy and quite rock but at the same time co-ordinated. Almost like controlled disorder. The target audience for this text are late teens to early twenty tear old who are interested in the history of rock music. They would have to have this interest because the music to the average person would sound dated. This music is likely to be heard on alternative rock stations or late night rock shows thus meaning only a small amount of people will be able to hear it. This means that the album is not likely to be a chart sucess due to it niche market that it finds itself in. It was released on a small independat label called Sympathy for the Record Industry; making it even less acessible to the audience. It was recorded using very basic eqipment as most independants do due to money costs. This record has changed owership as it was owned by the label but then the artist bought it.

Website Deconstructions

As it is my brief that I have to create a website for my chosen artist/band, so I did some research into what a bands website looks like. I did this by deconstructing several different band's websites and the links to these deconstructions are below. I chose similar websites to the genre that I have chosen so that I do not go off genre and loose consistency. Click to enlarge the image;

David Bowie

Foo Fighters

Green Day

Sex Pistols

The Strokes

Genre analysis – Music Video

                The concept of the music video first came about in the late 50’s early sixties when short films were produced to promote artists. Some of the first videos were of a French origin; Serge Gainsbourg was one of those pioneering artists. Another early example of a video is “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals. 

However the first proper music video is often considered to be done by The Beatles; they released feature length movies and made the first promo videos. Some songs had several promo videos made for them. The hit single day tripper had three video’s;  1st version, 2^nd version and 3^rd Version. They were the first band to record a color video in 1967.

                After this innovation many other bands started to produce videos for there singles; Bob Dylan’s video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is dubbed a classic and has been imitated by so many different places. 

Over the following years many acts, both British and American, recorded videos.  However it was only when the long running BBC music show “Top of The Pops” started showing video’s that they became part of the public conscious. The late seventies heralded a change and by the 80’s everyone  knew of music video’s due to the invention of 24 hour music television also known as MTV. The first video to be shown on MTV was “Video killed the radio star” by The Buggles. The video is often rumored to be the cause of the songs success.

Technology since then has played a massive part in videos. The use of green screens made it possible for any artist to be anywhere at any given time. Better camera’s allowed video’s to be shot in a HD and even in 3D.



The range of lighting and visual effects has greatly improved since those early days. The different types of video have also changed.Videos can now be; performance, narrative, backstage pass and visual experiment.

The forms and conventions of a music video.

This is me trying to explain what a music video is to someone who has never seen or heard of the concept before. I completed in just over 200 words.

James Reay: A music video is a visual representation of a song released by a band/ musician to promote said song, which in today’s society is normally featured on an album. More often than not that people behind the music feature in the video in one way or another. In some video’s they are actors and in others they just perform. Additional cast members are usually present but they play the supporting role in the video. Narrative is sometimes key in a music video; the song may have a narrative to it and the video director wants to reproduce this story in a video format. The length of a music video is usually quite short (with a few high profile exceptions) so you only have a short space of time to display; what the band are like, their style of music and their financial situation. More often than not these features are easy; it is very rare that after seeing a video with its music, you fail to get these facts. If these facts aren’t gained the director has failed in his production because all of these things are essential for a bands promotional campaign for the song/ album. Videos are often aimed at the younger age of the population so they need to be able to fit with their life style.

After writting my own definition, I seeked out other definition for the same thing.

Google: A videotaped performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dancing and visual images interpreting the lyrics.

Wiki: A short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.

Replay Records: Music videos are visual programs designed to accompany a song or other musical composition. These videos often include the performer and may or may not contain a plotline.