2. What have you learnt about the genre you have
researched?
As a group we have learnt that singer/songwriters are normally
represented as a solo artist, this is the case with such artists as Elton
John and Paul McCartney.
Although artists such as Florence and the Machine and Marina and the
Diamonds, sound part of a group, they are nearly always compositioned
by them selves in their music video’s. Therefore this draws all the
attention to them.
With all music video’s that we looked at in the genre of
singer/songwriter, we recognised that there were at least 4of the 6
theories that Andrew Goodwin said were to be in music videos in each
video we looked at.
3. What have you learnt about the genre you have
researched?
With the digipack covers we have looked at, we have noticed that again
they are of the artist. They are either in a close up position or a body
length shot.
This links in with the album adverts that we found. In the case of the
Madonna and Florence and the Machine, we found that the advert
usually contains a smaller picture of that from the actual album or
digipack.
This is done so that the audience can relate the advert to the product
and artist. Artists such as Michael Jackson use a logo or picture so that
his audience can recognise his work, other artists use types of fonts,
such as Florence and the Machine and James Morrison.
4. What commonality have you detected between
digipacks and adverts within your genre?
As I said before there are obvious links between the digipacks and
adverts of singer/songwriters.
As singer/songwriters are soloists, they seem to be the only people on
the front cover of the digipacks we have looked at. They are always
compositioned in the centre of the album.
This is done to tell the audience that the whole digipack is about them.
This gets to the point, meaning that customers don’t have to spend ages
trying to work out who is on the album.
5. What commonality have you detected between
digipacks and adverts within your genre?
The adverts usually copy the theme or picture directly off the album
cover, this is so that the advert can be easily recognised by their
audience.
For example, James Morrison’s ‘Songs For You, Truths For Me’ the
advert contains a larger image of him sitting on the curb. This is so that
the audience would be able to relate these two products to the artist.
This was the same with the Madonna ‘Celebration’ album cover and
advert that I deconstructed before. With this advert the colour is
enhanced so that the attention of the audience is draw to the album on
a shelf or to the advert in a magazine or newspaper.
6. What commonality have you discovered between
videos within your genre?
Usually the music video is comprised of just the singer songwriter
either in a basic stance or walking somewhere. In the music videos I
have deconstructed: Elton John, John Lennon and Kelly Clarkson are
all walking. They are either just walking along or they have a
destination to get to.
The song ‘Stronger’ by Kelly Clarkson goes against the stereotypes of
the genre, because signer/songwriters don’t normally have a
performance in their music video, but there are certain clips of which
she is on stage singing.
Kelly Clarkson is known for her performance acts in her music videos,
such as ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’.
7. What commonality have you discovered between
videos within your genre?
The other music video I deconstructed by Paloma Faith, tells a story
which is sometimes done by singer/songwriters. During the music
video she is sitting by herself in the car and on the bench in the garden,
this supports the stereotype of them singing by themselves, between
theses clips there is a story being told that links with the lyrics.
This is the case with Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’, she is rooted to a spot
on a balcony for most of the song, but it tells a story during the music
video, as there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals (Andrew
Goodwin’s theory) .
8. Does your chosen artist support or challenge your
genre findings.
Our chosen artist is Marina and the Diamonds, in her albums she is the
main focus on the digipack. This is due to the record label wanting close
ups of the artist (Goodwin Theory), this is so that people would recognise
her easily. She can be easily recognised by her trademark love heart just
below her eye, she is often seen looking like this in her music videos,
albums and averts.
From the research that we have done we can see that she is influenced by
Marylyn Monroe, by her dress sense and her hairstyle. This means when
people think about Marilyn Monroe, they may think of Marina and the
Diamonds. She also can be recognised by her American dress sense, due to
the fact that she often wears American football jackets.
She also supports the stereotypes of the Genre singer/songwriter, this is
because in her videos she is normally standing alone. This is what most
singer/songwriters are seen to be doing in most of their music videos.
