Archive for June 2017

Home Archive for June 2017

There are many significant differences across band websites due to differences in genre. For this, I will be analysing the differences between a band named 'Jungle' who are a modern funk band and 'ACDC' who are a relatively older hard rock band.

ACDC

The ACDC homepage is very full of different options and shortcuts to other parts of the website. The website is very cluttered and things are very close together, the website also involves scroll, which means that there is a lot of things that they have got to show, most likely due to the fact they have been around so long.

The homepage also has a link to the store, where the fans can buy apparel, music or accessories. The store allows the fans to not only have their music to listen to, they also have different ways of connecting to the band.

There is each of the albums that the band has released, they offer a place to either buy, download or stream the album so that they are easily accessible.

A star image is being constructed for the band through many images of the fans being used throughout the website, this likens them to the audience and presents them as regular people that the audience can relate to. The band while simultaneously being ordinary are also being presented as extraordinary though the merchandise and the fans in their photo wearing shirts of the band and there being a lot of fans shows that they are desirable. The desirability is there as the band is ageing which means that they are no longer young and as good looking as they were, so there is less images of them present, this goes against large stars which are younger and more desirable.

The target audience for AC/DC is harder to pin down than Jungle’s music as AC/CD are a relatively older banned that is mainly focused towards an older generation, however, the photos that are on the website mainly feature a generation to show that the band is timeless, however, the target audience is most likely 50-55 due to the classic design sparking nostalgia of when AC/DC were relatively new.

The overall message/ideology that the band is presenting is that even though they are an older band, they are always timeless and they will be in music forever.

Jungle

The website for Jungle uses their bands logo which is golden and a custom font, this shows that they are different to all the other bands as they are the only people that use that font and reflect in the genre which is a modern techno funk. The colour scheme of the website layout is the same as that which is on their album cover, the minimalist design isn't over cluttered which makes the website feel more inviting, The photos also don't feature many photos of the actual band, however, they show individual fans/people in their videos, this makes them feel like a more personal band that don't focus on the many but on the few.

There is a menu button on the website which gives contact information about the band, the information shows how to get in contact to book them or get in contact with the people that promote the band. The fact that they are so easily accessible shows that they care about the audience and shows that they are personal as well.

The menu also offers a shop for big fans of the band, to wear clothing what has their logo on it, this is done as if people are wearing shirts with the bands name on it, they are almost advertising the album through their clothes.

One of the main photos of the band on the website show the diverse group of people that the band consists of, the different genders and races present the band as more inviting as it can be aimed at so much of the population. The band also give of a mix of threatening and caring poses, this presents them as a strong newcomer to the industry after their first album became hugely successful and the caring poses show that they care about their fans and the threatening poses show they are strong and will remain creating new and good music.

The target audience for jungle is most likely a younger group of people aged 18-21. The assumption is made due to the streetwear that the band wear and the apparel that they sell, as it looks as though it is designed towards a younger generation.

The overall message that the website portrays is that even though they are a new band, they are worthy to be listened to and will fight to be in the industry.

Comparison

There isn’t much similar between the two websites except for the use of black, however, the colour is used for different reasons for both of the websites, for AC/DC it is to be more representative of the genre, whereas, Jungle use the colour as it is part of the colour scheme of their album cover

The differences is layout and style, Jungle is more minimalistic, whereas, AC/DC is designed to look like a rock scrapbook, the differences are their to show differences in genre so that they can target audiences who listen to the genre that they do and visually portray the genre through the design of the website.

I believe that Jungle’s website is more successful due to the star image being represented, with no the band being the first image, instead it is a fan, this makes them seem more personal to the audience, whereas AC/DC showing their masses amounts of fans, even though it shows a larger than life star image, it lacks the personal touch that Jungle have. The minimalistic design of Jungles website is also morse successful in my opinion as it is less cluttered and everything is easier to find and isn’t over complicated.

The purpose of a music video is to make the song memorable as it will give more memorable visuals for the lyrics, this means it will stay in peoples heads longer. Music videos also help the consumer understand the narrative of the song as well as they will be able to see what is happening. Music videos were made as early as the 60s with the first official music video being made by ‘Queen for their song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which was made as a visual aid for the listening experience, however, before this, bands such as ‘The Beatles’ did make videos to accompany their music, however, they weren’t used to aid the story of the song, therefore weren’t properly classed as music videos. The music video for the song ‘Like A Prayer’ doesn’t really aid the love story behind the lyrics, however, it does present the ideologies of the artist with the anti-racist views which were used to combat the racism presented by religious extremist views of groups such as the KKK.

The 'Like A Prayer' music video was so controversial as it stated that God and Jesus were both black, the music video also showed her as Jesus with the nails through her hands of her being on the cross, she also had Madonna having sex with Jesus in a church, she was also dancing in front of burning crosses which is the symbol of the KKK to show that their hatred of black people through religion is unjust as Jesus was black. Another thing that made the video controversial was a part in it where Madonna witnesses a black man getting arrested for a crime that he didn't commit.

The artist is trying creating an image that shows her being a figure of unity such as Jesus was a symbol for, which is why the shot of her hands that have been penetrated by nails to be attached to the cross was there, it is relating her to being Jesus, which was a problem in 1980s when people were very religious and saw it as disrespectful to the religion which didn’t aid the image that Madonna was trying to create, in fact, it subverted from it. The image Madonna was also trying to create was that she was anti-racist which did come across in the music video, but not in a good way. The video accused the police of racism towards black people by showing them arresting a black man for a crime that he didn't commit and also filmed in a church full of black choir singers and a black Jesus, and at the time when this video came out, sparked a lot of controversy. The ideology that is being presented by the music video is that people should be kind to one another without bound no matter what race they are, therefore presenting the main black character as a victim and then having another as God, shows two opposite ends of the spectrum.

Technical conventions used in the videos are slow cuts to create a more intimate relationship with the artist, this is as the longer time you spend on one shot will draw emphasis to what is happening in the shot, it is also more intimate so you feel closer to the artist. There is very little sound in the video which isn’t the song, however, at the beginning there is slight diegetic sound of sirens and a door slamming, the sirens connote that there is danger present and the door slamming is most likely connoting towards the oppression that black people faced in the 1980s due to unfair treatment by the law. the shots also mainly show slight low angles on Madonna and the people in the church which shows empowerment and slight high angle shots on the criminals that committed the crime that the black man gets accused, this shows them as the villains, they are also white which subverts from the stereotype of white people being the ‘hero of the norm’. The links between racism and the music video are made apparent from the police arresting a black man for a crime he didn’t commit is made apparent, this adheres to the stereotype of the black character being the victim in media texts, however, this doesn’t support the image that Madonna is trying to present with an anti-racist stance as black people in the music video should subvert from their stereotypes.

Madonna singing in-front of the burning crosses showed the audience that she didn’t agree with movements such as the KKK as it was cut together with clips of her with black people in church, this showed that she respects the religion, however also believes in unity. The cross that Madonna wears also states her religion as Christian along with the other Christian religious imagery.