Reflections on 1D website

Advertising.

What is it all? It's 360 degree marketing, highly orchestrated to promote the image that the record label wants. It's a contemporary advertising campaign, driven by Web 2.0 for a predefined target market, in this case, 7-14 year old girls primarily. Syco Music has designed the website to be the home hub for all of One Direction's advertising.

Advertising starts with constructing a brand. In One Direction's case, by running off the back of X-Factor losers, they gained a lot of public goodwill, which mean that the public was very accepting of the group already. It also provided a stable base for the marketing team to build on. One Direction is a group of 5 boys who can sing well, but not outstandingly. They have pretty faces, but are marketed to be innocent, naive, all of the advertising is designed to show One Direction as this sort of summer camp love interest.

The end result of all this advertising is supposed to be profit. In our jobs as the record label for a new upcoming band, we have to shift our band's product to gain money. We have to sell the album, single, as well as the video and tour tickets.

We can do this through the more contemporary online marketing campaign, through which we could create a viral network via YouTube videos, Facebook or Twitter. We could create a website from which all news and fan interactions could take place. We could create a store with which to sell merchandise such as clothes, or accessories like mugs, calenders or posters. We could even create an iPhone or Android app to promote our band.

Alternatively, we could advertise our artist via endorsements, for example, One Direction endorses Nokia phones, with a new 1D Nokia C3 and C202 phones coming out soon, as well as Twitter endorsements via Ollie Murs, who comments on 1D. As it happens, Ollie Murs' record label is owned by Sony, as is Syco. Finally, we could go with the traditional broadcast media. That is, magazine interviews, TV spots, radio advertisements, billboard posters and bus stop posters, etc.

One Direction's advertising campaign is pluralistic. This means that aside from their main target market, they are also targeting a secondary and possibly even a tertiary market. The secondary would be older girls, teenagers aged 14-20. The tertiary would be the primary market's parents. They have to like the product for them to buy it. If they find the boys appealing, then they are much more likely to buy an album or a single for their children. They may even like the band themselves, buying the single because they like 1D as well. It's all a cunning plan to sell as much product as possible.

One Direction website research

The One Direction website is a giant host of advertising and interactivity. Even on the first page, before you get access to the main website, there is a giant embedded YouTube video of their debut single, designed to advertise the music and interest people, with 3 links to purchase the single at the bottom, whether at Amazon, HMV or iTunes.

On the main page, you are immediately greeted by a giant splash image of the 5 members, as well as another link to purchase the single overlayed on top, ensuring that someone will purchase it, as the splash is the first thing to catch your attention. Right above that is a link to connect with the respective Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages, creating a wide network with which to advertise with.

 
Even on the news page is an item dedicated to selling the group; personalised gift prints, messages to send in their handwriting. There is information on the tour dates, as well as competitions to win a copy of One Direction's book, as well as a video of their reflections of the book signing.

On the music page, there are yet more links to purchasing pages, with the same image as on the main page greeting you. Many followers may buy the single just to see their faces every time. Already, the website is being consistently branded, with 'One Direction' emblazoned across the header and the logo always in the top left corner of the screen.

On the sidebar to the right, there are also Facebook and Twitter comment boxes, which allows the target audience to interact with the website and thus give them a more vested commitment to the website.

Also on the website are photo and video pages, on which you can post comments from Facebook. There are also fanart pages, where fans can post their photos that express their deep passion for One Direction.

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Busted - Year 3000



There are a lot of intertextual references in Year 3000, most notably is a reference to Back To The Future, with a time machine (a souped up car, ala the DeLorean from the film).

A 'flux capacitor' is mentioned, referencing the film directly, with the neighbour resembling the Professor as well (albeit a child). At the very beginning is a reference to the old Amiga 3000 game console, with the ancient graphics and shooting of pale green aliens (Alien Invader). When showing the 'triple-breasted women', it's both a reference to Total Recall, which features a triple breasted stripper in the bar, as well as the ancient sci-fi show convention of having triple-breasted women as aliens, which is one of the oldest clichés in science fiction.

The location of an underwater city with animated creatures swimming around seems to reference Spongebob Squarepants. The animation style also seems to resemble Futurama (this resemblance is strengthed by the 'Big Dan's Calimari' ship, which looks like the Planet Express ship). It offers an interesting insight into what the future might be like, which is nothing like what old sci-fi novels represent the future as, all robots and machinery.

The lyrics have quite a lot of irony within them, for example, saying that 'not much has changed but they live underwater', which is actually quite a big change. The video is also quite mocking of boy bands in general, for example, the production line of boy bands with a best before date on their boxes, accompanied by the line 'boy bands, and another one, and another one... and another one.' This reflects an occasional belief that boy bands are simply regurgitated versions of each other, with no originality.

Busted are also unafraid of creating irony with themselves, showing a backstage room with a Busted sign and 3 stars on it, containing the extremely aged version of themselves, suggesting that they are an ancient cash cow.

Music and Me: Reflections

During class, we discussed our song choices posted on our blogs in great detail. For example, who we chose, why we chose them and what we might choose in the future. During childhood, many of us shared similar tastes in music, many people enjoyed listening to Busted or the Spice Girls. There was a sense of going along with the crowd, because it was what everyone else listened to. There was a sense of fitting in and it gave you something to talk about in school. On many occasions, music tastes were heavily influenced by parents or older siblings, who were often the ones to introduce them to the music. These bands were absolutely everywhere; played over the radio, on CDs bought by parents/blasted out by siblings on hi-fis, on posters at bus stops, it's no wonder our song choices are mostly mainstream pop bands. It was a musical sensation and almost a complete monopoly on the market. I can't remember many bands from the 90s except the major groups like S Club 7 or Steps, which shows how effective their marketing was. It was camp, it was upbeat, it was peppy and quite honestly, it was absolutely brilliant. Any child in that time would have been absolutely enthralled by the music and the dancing.

Steps - Last Thing On My Mind



It was when we entered secondary school (or thereabouts) that we start to stray away from the mainstream hits and start to form our own music tastes, exploring the wide world for different genres. Around the same time, the iPod was invented. Suddenly, music became portable. You could bring an iPod into school and show your friends the coolest new song and just like that, music became viral. Bands that children had never heard of before could be listened to just by someone bringing over their iPod for you to listen to. This meant that musical taste was no longer just browsing through the vinyl records or CD section of HMV, it was whoever had a computer with enough space to store their music and enough money to afford an iPod.

Children nowadays have almost instant access to any kind of music they want through websites like YouTube, or applications such as Spotify and iTunes. I suspect that music will become progressively more available for younger generations as technology continues to improve and become easier to use. With shows like X Factor, or Pop Idol, people can go from unknown to pop sensation overnight, with YouTube videos being linked everywhere over Facebook and Twitter (as with Justin Bieber). A potential problem with these 'overnight sensations' is that real talent starts to disappear, as these people with good marketing teams start to gain a monopoly on the music world. It's amazing what a handsome boy with a few beauty shots will to do the average teenage female.

Regardless, it became clear that many of the reasons for choosing a particular song were down to factors such as nostalgia, being reminded of a person, a place or a feeling. As we grow older, our musical tastes change, and more often than not, we look back on our childhood tastes and wonder what on earth we were thinking. But for the few of us who look back fondly on our childhood and enjoy getting hit by the nostalgia train, modern technology means that the music will always be there for us.

Costume design

This may be the outfit for our lead singer. It hasn't been confirmed yet as we haven't pitched our idea yet, but my group approves of it and everyone I asked has said that it looks appropriately rock-chic/rebellious.

Music Video idea for Goin' Down

My idea is that for the first verse, she could be being interrogated by police in the station (or turning herself in by going up to patrol officers). But instead of telling them upfront, she could be flirting with them all the way through, showing that she still has power over them.

When it goes to "There was this boy", we could cut to the Epping forest shot of her dragging a body along (panning through trees optional). Then we cut to her tracing his face with a hand sensually, with a manic smile on her face. Then at "eight feet underground", we shovel some dirt onto the camera.

When it goes to the chorus, we cut to her being locked up in prison, with the band playing behind her. I think it would be most effective if we have a lot of jump cuts in time where she keeps moving around the room making crazy actions and random twirls.

If we keep the second verse, we keep up the flirting, like, shoving the officer against a wall and straddling him with a leg maybe, then pushing him away laughing. Anything to play with his mind, to show that she's manipulative or crazy.

When it gets to the second chorus, I was thinking that we could go to a scene where it's her and her boyfriend before the affair, like, they're having fun outside or something, maybe at a funfair? But there should be little hints that he's not as faithful as he should be, like maybe checking out some girls walking down the street.

Then when it gets to the softer part, we should cut to a late night, she's been out working (or partying), she comes home and goes upstairs to find her boyfriend with another girl (taking that line literally). We *have* to do the cliché sheet grab thing. We could cut to her attacking him with a steak knife or we could just cut back to Epping forest, where she throws a cigarette (or a spade, I'd prefer the spade) on top of the camera.

At "And now there's no one left", we could show her sitting at home against a wall, knees to chin and staring at a photo of them together, which would probably involve her smiling a lot and him with his head in the space between her shoulder and neck and trying to kiss him. After the pause from "Drag", it should cut back to her at the police station, acting a lot more violently and crying. In the silence that follows, we see her walking out of the police station completely unhindered. This whole section is supposed to show that she's remorseful for her actions. Or is she?

Because the very next chorus, we have, you guessed it, her by a burning car and singing out the remainder of the song with the band and she would be acting exactly as crazy as she's shown to be inside the jail cell.

Problems:

-Burning car.
-Police office (possibly someone's study? We need blank walls and a simple desk). -Jail cell (bars? Would Edmonton Police Station let us film in there? If not, we could get the Seward Studio and repurpose it?).
-Lipsyncing the song (maybe her lipsyncing the song all the way through would suggest that she's insane? You know that stereotype that insane people speak to themselves? Maybe everyone hears this song as the ramblings of an insane woman?)

These are my thoughts, I think it would be interesting, but perhaps too story driven. But it would be an idea, definitely. Not sure if Ms. B will like it. Not sure if you guys would like it either. I flicked between down here and about the Seward Studio, I think we could do a lot of stuff in there if we made it look right. Anyway, I'm done.

Joseph Hahn - Music Video Director

Joseph Hahn (March 15th, 1977) is better known by his stage name of Mr. Hahn, best known as DJ and sampler for the rock band Linkin Park. He has also directed every single Linkin Park music video to date. In a 2003 interview with MTV, he called film-making his true passion, music was just something that came with the job. Aside from working with Linkin Park, he has also directed music videos for Story Of The Year, Xzibit and Alkaline Trio. He has also directed the trailer for the video game Medal Of Honor (2010), which featured the first single of Linkin Park's newest album, The Catalyst (the album is called A Thousand Suns).

Music Videos

Linkin Park:

One Step Closer
Papercut


In the End


Pts.OF.Athrty
Somewhere I Belong
From the Inside
Breaking the Habit


Numb
Leave Out All the Rest
Bleed It Out
Shadow of the Day
What I've Done
New Divide
The Catalyst
Burning in the Skies
Waiting for the End
Iridescent
Wretches and Kings

Common themes

Many of Hahn's videos are performance based concept videos. Notable concept videos are In The End, Papercut and Breaking The Habit (which I touched upon earlier in the blog). All of Linkin Park's videos have been directed by him, which causes them to share similar themes, such as paranoia and a sense of starting anew.

His videos feature quite a lot of CGI, most notably the remix of Points of Authority, which consists of a full CGI battle between robots and aliens, the robots headed by the 6 heads of Linkin Park members. In The End has a giant sky whale, with an entire barren landscape turning into a lush forest in minutes. Breaking The Habit is entirely animated like a Japanese Animé.

Potential Music Videos to cover

Today, we agreed on the first members of our group, me, James Reader and Olivia Cole. This is still subject to change, but we have no problem accepting another member. We also went through some songs and we (or rather, Olivia) decided on our band type, which is to be a girl rock band (a rock band with a female lead, as opposed to a full female band).

Goin' Down - The Pretty Reckless



This is a nice angry song to burn a car to. Our idea is one of a rebellious teenage girl and this song is very punk, it's very fitting for our needs. However, one of our concerns is that the references to the Catholic Church could be offensive. In my opinion, if we're going to burn an old car, we might as well go the full mile and rebel against the church. The song is about murdering a lover after he cheated on you though, the church just happens to feature.

My Medicine - The Pretty Reckless



This song is a lot slower than the last one. It has a different effect. This one is a lot more sluggish. It gives me the feel of a hazy back room in a bar, with smoke whirling around in the air. I'm not sure if it's angry enough for what we want, but I can definitely see us using this to play with mental conditions.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar



Now, this song is a lot less angry and a lot less punky. It makes sense given that it's an 80s song. This song was for a slightly different idea than the one we had. There was a plan to shoot a music video for this at Alexandra Palace skate park, due to its graffiti. Something about tying me up to a chair and pushing me over. It was a lot more light hearted than my current thoughts on the rebellious girl.

That said, these songs are still subject to change. We still have to go through a lot more girl rock bands and we might find one that fits our needs better.

What Music means to me

Children - Robert Miles



This track was what got me into the dream trance genre. When I was about 7 or 8, I spent a lot of my time on the computer while listening to this track. I feel as though this track defines my childhood because of its constant beat. There are many different threads in this track, they all go in different directions, but the beat is always there, keeping it on track, binding it together into a coherent piece of music. I can apply that to my childhood, as I always to slack off, but my Mum would keep me working so that I'd do well in school. I appreciate the efforts now.


Somewhere I belong - Linkin Park



This song reflects my early teenage life. I felt really lonely because I was so socially awkward (and still am). I didn't feel like a part of any group so I was on my own for most of my time. I'm sure that there were attempts to befriend me but I didn't understand how the friendship dynamic worked and I just felt that no one liked the stuff I did or understood why I was how I was. I wanted to find my place in society. This song describes my desire perfectly. It was also one of the first ever Linkin Park songs I listened to. My friend brought over the Meteora CD one day and I was hooked instantly.

Firework - Katy Perry



Firework is a song that I feel reflects my life currently. I feel as useless and lonely as I did in my young teens, but now I have a glimmer of hope, mostly provided by my art and my friends. There's a future in sight for me now and everything is slowly coming together. If I can put my talents to good use, then I'll never want for use again. One of the problems I have right now that the song covers is my lack of self confidence. I don't think I'm good at anything, it's especially hard when my Mum keeps comparing me to people who work harder than I do, or people who just have more talent than I. It's kind of depressing, but I just have to keep my spirits up.

Album cover research

Linkin Park album covers are always interesting. The band is well known for its nu-metal and alternative rock songs. Their style of music is suggested through the album covers, for example, the first album cover, Hybrid Theory, consists of a soldier with dragonfly wings. The idea behind this was to describe the blending of hard and soft musical elements, contrasting the outstanding red soldier to the delicate, pale wings. The use of spray paint reflects the content of the songs; frayed, uneven and broken, like the themes of isolation, disappointment and relationship failure.

The second album, Reanimation, also has a related cover. The soldier from Hybrid Theory has been replaced by a robotic version that resembles a Mobile Suit Gundam from the Gundam Wing animé that became extremely popular in the U.S prior to the release of the album. The robot has connotations of a remixed album, as the songs are remixed versions of Hybrid Theory songs.

For the Meteora album cover, spray paint is again a common theme. The album contents reflect this, which is perhaps the reason that some critics have called it nothing more than Hybrid Theory part 2. This, however, makes it easier to brand as Linkin Park. They are already well known for their nu-metal/alternative rock songs due to Hybrid Theory, allowing LP to link Meteora back to that via the spray paint. In addition, the man doing the spray painting with a gas mask is a call back to one of the songs from Reanimation; Frgt 10 (Forgotten), the music video of which features a rebellious man spraying the LP logo onto a wall.

On the other hand, while Linkin Park often shows their band members on the cover of their albums, Coldplay is more of a conceptual band than Linkin Park, with their album covers reflecting their alternate nature, despite being classified as the same genre as Linkin Park. Coldplay's first two albums, Parachutes and X&Y have a cryptic album cover, mystifying the listener. The covers raise questions about the band that aren't immediately answered, which interests the listener and persuades them to buy the album to examine the band furthur. While Parachutes has no direct reference to the songs on the album, X&Y is named after the song X&Y on the album. None of Coldplay's albums feature the band on the covers, although Parachutes has the band on the back (albeit very small)

 

As a whole, album covers are designed to sell the album, to market them to the target audience. They are there to help promote the band image, in Coldplay's case, to promote an image of mystery and indie, in Linkin Park's, to sell the band as punky and edgy. The front cover sells the artist as a whole whereas the back cover is to sell the album itself, as well as having the institutional synergy (i.e, company information, company logo, barcode etc). The back cover also has a song list, with time codes and duration of the song.

Every album cover will have the title of the album, the name of the artist and a unique image to help market it. The size of the font will depend on how well known the artist is, if it's a debut album, the name of the band will overshadow the name of the album, with the band name shrinking in the later albums, as there is less need to emphasis the artist's name. The type of font used will usually reflect the artist's nature, for example, Linkin Park's font is quite grungy earlier on, reflecting the dark themes contained within, whilst Coldplay's font is relatively plain in the earlier albums, but becomes much more extravagent and eccentric in the later albums.

Semiotic Analysis

Coldplay - The Scientist - X&Y - 2005



The Scientist is about starting over in a relationship, about a scientist who wants to rewind time to when they were still together.

The video starts are the end of the story, with Chris exhausted on a moldy old mattress. It shows him going back through an urban setting to the countryside, which suggests going back to simple times, as there is a common conception that the 'big city' is complicated and the countryside is more plain. It also suggests that life is continuing around them and that the countryside is isolated, where they're in their own world. It's implied that life is complicated after the breakup/loss. The imagery of Chris throwing away the jacket seems to suggest Chris throwing away a burden or trying to get rid of his loss. Perhaps it represents his heart. Chris sings about how "nobody said it was easy", reflecting on the difficulty and stress of breakups. The video shows how Chris loses his girlfriend in a car accident, which represents the event that splintered their relationship.

The whole video is in reverse, suggesting that Chris wishes to rewind time, undoing whatever he did wrong. The lyrics suggest that the Scientist was too busy "guessing at numbers & figures", not playing enough attention to his girlfriend. The song suggests overall that if he had another chance, he would cherish his girlfriend much more and pay more attention to her.

Scientist is very Coldplay, similar to previous songs with of love underlying many of their songs.