AP - Analysis of Promotion Campaign

alt J - Hunger of the Pine

Audience

This music video by alt J would be consumed view various media platforms. This music video is available on web2.0 platforms such as YouTube as well as MTV's website. As well as these online platforms, the music video may possibly be consumed via platforms such as music channels on the television, an example would MTV's music channel. There is no performance in this music video and there is only one line of narrative which is confusing meaning that it is focused viewing as you are watching carefully to see what is happening.

Institution

The music video for this song was released on YouTube July 16th 2014 which was three days prior to the release of the single. This music video has high production values which can be seen view the mulitple aerial shots involved in the music video which were filmed by Pegasus Aerial Imaging. The underlying meaning of the song itself, suggest the idea that missing someone – pining – can be a physical pain much like hunger. The record label for this song, 'infectious records' is a record label who have worked with other bands such as Ash, Symposium, My Vitriol and Seafood. All of whom have a similar genre, indie-rock.

Wilkinson - Afterglow

 

 

Narrative

 

The relationship between lyrics and visuals is amplified. The visuals on the screen somewhat amplify the lyrics throughout the duration of the video. There is similarity throughout the video in both the lyrics and visuals telling the story of a 5 year relationship that is documented in the visuals with a montage of shots of the couple partying, arguing etc. These visuals are amplified by lyrics such as “lights and action, strong attraction” and “someone hold the sunlight back, ‘cause we want this night to last” – these imply that the sunlight metaphorically provides an end or an awakening from this journey, that it is the end of the relationship. The strong attraction is mirrored in the visuals with scenes of a sexual nature that show the intimate connection between the two actors. The video conveys a message to its viewers about valuing life itself and all the experiences we share in it with people, and the importance of enjoying every moment with people, in this particular case of the video with a loved one. The relationship between the visuals and the music is a both illustrative and explicitly obvious one. There are two main parts to the song, the chorus and the bridge, and the verses. During the verses the music has a slower tempo, is quieter and has a much more down beat tone and feel, whereas in the chorus and bridge the tempo, volume and tone all rapidly crescendo, in doing so creating a far more upbeat, happy sound. The visuals on the screen directly emulate this, exemplified at the beginning of the video for example when the verse starts there is a shot containing the two characters stood still with a slow zoom and long shot duration to make it seemingly slow paced and accompany the slow tempo of the music perfectly.

 

Genre

 

Afterglow falls into the Dance genre, as does the music video that accompanies the song, with generic conventions evident, such as multiple scenes of dancing along to the track that is playing. The music video is of a very unique style, subsequently containing fewer generic conventions and scenes that would typically be associated with the dance genre of music videos. The uniqueness differs from a typical dance video that would feature the artist usually playing a gig or festival as the artist does not at all appear in the video. However it still contains youthful actors, locations such as parties and festivals and also slow motions on intimate acts – all generic conventions. These also help to portray the artist Wilkinson in a fun, youthful manner. 

 

Sigma - Nobody to Love

 

 

Media Language/Representation

 

The purpose of this music video is to promote 'Sigma' as an upbeat band whose music fits into the dance genre, typically associated with summer/festival music which can be seen in the video itself. When the beat of the song is slow, the footage is also slow but when the beat drops, the action taking place in the footage also does. The music video has no performance parts involved which is conventional of this artist's metanarrative. There are references to popular modern culture as the genre and style of music is widely listened but many different audiences. This video is repeatable as it is fun making people want to watch it again and again. The different social groups in this music video are young males and young females. The young females are shown to be having a good time and they are dancing when the music drops, this is also the same with the males. Youth is shown to be having fun, however, the girls are shown in a voyeuristic way as shots focus on them in their bikinis. However, the fact that they are always shown dancing can suggest that they are immature and probably under the influence of alcohol.

 

Wilkinson (Lazers not included - digipak)

The genre of the track is evident in this digipak as we can see people in a rave on the front pane of the album cover. You can see people with their hands in the air which is conventional of this genre of music. Wilkinson's music is of this style and genre. This adds to their metanarrative as the artist is not in the album cover and nor is he in the music videos which he releases. However, the album cover is disjunctive as the album cover is quite dull in black and white, yet wilkinson's music is the opposite.