Music Promo Analysis || Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High

The Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band that formed in 2002. The band consists of lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, lead guitar Jamie Cook and bass guitar Nick O'Malley.
They have released five studio albums and their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in British chart history.

Record Label
The Arctic Monkeys are signed to Domino Recording Company, it is a British independent recording company based in London. The company has other divisions in Germany, France and America. Founded in 1993 by Laurence Bell and his partner Jacqui Rice, it signed many American artists but found its most success during the Britpop era during which they began to get a more steady stream of signed artists. They have had recent more high-profile releases from artists such as the Arctic Monkeys, which aided in it's growth.
Domino had the first UK #1 single in October 2005 with the Arctic Monkeys' 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'


Lyrics
The mirror's image
Tells me it's home time
But I'm not finished
'Cause you're not by my side
And as I arrived I thought I saw you leaving
Carrying your shoes
Decided that once again I was just dreaming
Of bumping into you

Now it's three in the morning and I'm trying to change your mind
Left you multiple missed calls and to my message you reply,
"Why'd you only call me when you're high?
Hi, why'd you only call me when you're high?"

Somewhere darker
Talking the same shite
I need a partner (hey)
Well, are you out tonight?
It's harder and harder to get you to listen
More I get through the gears
Incapable of making alright decisions
And having bad ideas

Now it's three in the morning and I'm trying to change your mind
Left you multiple missed calls and to my message you reply (message you reply),
"Why'd you only call me when you're high? (why'd you only call me when you're high?)
Hi, why'd you only call me when you're high?"

And I can't see you here wonder where I might?
Sort of feels like I'm running out of time
I haven't found what I was hoping to find
You said, "You gotta be up in the morning, gonna have an early night.
And you're starting to bore me, baby.
Why'd you only call me when you're high?"

Why'd you only ever phone me when you're high?
Why'd you only ever phone me when you're high?
Why'd you only ever phone me when you're high?
Why'd you only ever phone me when you're high?

Lyrics and Visuals

There is a definitive link between the lyrics and the visuals seen during the music promo. There a certain key moments in the promo where the audience can specifically see the link between the lyrics of the song and the visuals produced, for example when Alex Turner is looking into the mirror in the bathroom, the audience see what he is meant to be seeing in his drunken state; his mirror image moving around. This visual links to the start of the lyrics 'The mirrors image tells me it's home time'. During the introduction there is another moment where a clock face changes into a smile, this called also be a reference to the same lyric.

However throughout the music promo there are clear references to the title and chorus of the song 'Why'd you only call me when your high' The camera shows the audience what Alex Turner is seeing and then what is really there, illustrating to the audience that he is drunk or maybe high. The introduction to the music promo also helps to promote the idea that the main character is drunk or high as he has been at a bar and drinking.

Another link between lyrics and visuals comes from the lyric 'Left you multiple missed calls' and in many shots Turner is shown with a phone, but once again the overriding lyric 'why'd you only call me when you're high' is portrayed again; post production editing has been used to show the phone slipping inside Turner's hand.

Music and Visuals

Clearly there is a more distinctive link between lyrics and visuals to music and visuals. The track has a deep bass throughout creating a darker feel, this idea has been relayed through miss-en-scene, the whole promo is set at night and is quite dark; matching the feel of the song.

Narrative/Concept/Performance
The Arctic Monkeys music promo for 'Why'd You Only call Me When You're High' has a strong narrative base and no concept or performance elements. The narrative has been extracted from the lyrics of the song, the basis being 'why'd you only call me when you're high'. The music promo has a minute long introduction helping the audience to understand the narrative of the story.
The music video focuses on a man who is clearly drunk after a night out with his friends, the audience are taken with him as he stumbles his way home. The man appears to be distressed about something as he keeps checking his phone and seeing things on his walk home. In the end the audience find out that he has been pining after a girl as he ends up at someones door by the end of the song, but has the wrong door due to his drunkenness as the camera shows the girl in the house opposite pick up her phone to look at the messages sent from the man.

Mise en Scene
Location
There are two main locations for this music promo, the bar and city streets, with other places such as a bathroom and a girls house. Together these locations help to carry the story narrative.


Costume and Makeup   Props
No makeup has been used in the music promo, making the costumes more significant. The man is dressed in all black with a leather jacket, this could suggest that he is more of a darker character who spends a lot of their time at a bar. The dark clothes also blend in more with the dark streets, implying that he may be a 'night owl'.
The main prop used during the video is a phone which the man keeps looking at, like he is anticipating a message or a call, moving the narrative forwards.


Lighting
The bar where the man is first seen is dimly lit, suggesting that the video is set late at night. In contrast to the dimly lit bar the bathroom is very bright and the white walls make it seem even brighter, this transition could be the man realising that it is time he goes home. The bathroom also has a small red glow coming from the door, like it could be beckoning the man back into the bar.
The streets that the man is seen to walk along are dimly lit by street lights as well, suggesting that the area may be slightly run down and that it is very late.


Camera Work and Editing
For most of the music promo the camera follows the man as he walks home, there are several over the shoulder shots and close ups. The closeup shots mainly show the man looking at his phone, and with post production editing the texts are shown to the audience, making the narrative more immersing.

Focus Group Thoughts
'The music video has amazing visual effects that help the storyline along and brings to light some hard hitting issues in it.' - Alexia 16

'The storyline is quite relatable making the video more enjoyable to watch and the visual effects like the mirror make it more interesting' - Jack 17

Website Homepage Analysis || Arctic Monkeys

The Arctic Monkeys website homepage is similar to their latest album digipak, it follows the same colour scheme of black and white and layout with the Arctic Monkeys logo at the very top. By having the logo at the top of the page the viewer automatically sees it. 

As the viewer scrolls down the page the top transparent part stays at the top, it has links such as, news, gigs and store along with other links. By keeping the links constantly at the top of the page along with the band logo it gives easy access to the audience around their website, by making a website easy to navigate it might keep someone interested and on it for longer.

Scrolling down the page the viewer can read about past shows, watch video and go to other linked pages. It has a side bar which displays videos and their twitter and facebook, so that people can follow them on social media and keep up to date with the band.
The synergy of the website to the digipak makes the Arctic Monkeys feel as though it is all one, and works together giving a comforting experience with the band.

Digipak Anaylsis || Arctic Monkeys - AM

The Arctic Monkeys digipak for their album AM is very synergistic. The front panel displays the iconic Arctic Monkeys logo on top of a plain black background. The big white logo stands out on the plain black drawing and the same typeface has been used which is recognisable Arctic Monkey fans. The viewers attention to it and there is nothing else on the front to distract the viewer, promoting the band. This techniques may also help people to spot the album when in a music shop as it is big and bold.

There is synergy across the digipak and CD as the well known AM logo is displayed on a black background just like the front cover but the album logo instead of the band logo. This is a very simplistic digipak but is also represents the Arctic Monkeys themselves as they emerged in the brit pop era and have a very distinctive genre of indie rock, garage rock and post punk, these genres can be linked to the clothes the band wore, such as black leather jackets, black jeans. And the album digipak emulated this by using the plain black and white contrast of the logo and background.

The back panel of the digipak follows the same colour scheme of black and white, displaying the Arctic Monkeys logo on the back. The repetition of the logo imprints the band in the viewers head, meaning they will remember the band and maybe go back to their music, if not buy it.

The track list is on the back in white writing, the typeface is very basic but easy to look at, keeping the viewer looking at the album. the copyright information is all along the bottom, so not to draw attention to it as the band want to promote themselves so make more space by moving the copyright info to the bottom and make it very small. The smaller writing makes it harder to read, this means that many people won't look at it or try to read it and will look at the band logo or track list.

There is a line that goes through the middle of the track list on the back cover, this links the back cover to the front as the line is a continuation of the sound waves logo for the AM album. This continuous line makes the digipak feel as though it is all one thing and more together.

Music Video Analysis || BTS - Dope

K-Pop is a genre of music which is becoming more and more popular and each music video made seems to follow the same set of codes and conventions. While I may not be able to analyse the link between the lyrics and visuals without a translator, there are still visible features that each promo has.

This video released in June 2015 is much like an other K-Pop video, it is very upbeat and fast paced, with large portions of very fast and difficult choreography that each member performs. This follows the code and convention of promos needing to meet demands of record labels as each member gets their own screen time and the band is shown together.

Other codes and conventions for this genre of music would be, extravagant sets, complicated choreography, imaginative costumes making the videos performance and narrative based.

Dope starts with a small intro before the song starts which introduces the first member of the group who is in a costume, ticking off one of the codes and conventions already. Each of the boys costumes are work related, this gives the video some narrative that audiences can follow. Two other members are then shown in there own sets and in different costumes, before the chorus starts and the entire group perform a dance. The dance is fast and looks difficult, this feature could be used to grab audiences attention as the performances are so well done it leaves people wanting to watch more.
As the video continues the rest of the band get their individual screen time with close ups and dancing, making the video more performances based.
The bridge of the song is slower, this is shown through the changes in lighting which focus on two of the members in blue and red and the dancing that has stopped/slowed.

The music and visuals have been linked together through the fast dances and sharp camera movements but also through lighting. During one of the group performances spotlights are used erratically which ties in well with the music.

This music promo has followed every convention of a modern K-pop video such as the big and multiple sets. Compared to other K-pop videos from other groups such as EXO there isn't any noticeable motifs that individual bands follow, this may be because K-pop is less about individuality and more focused of created popular bands with mass success.

Focus Group

An introduction to the members in my focus group. 
I have chosen a mix of girls and boys for my focus group because music is never specifically targeted at a gender so it is import to see what both genders think of different genres of music.

Alexia - 16
Izzy - 17
Jack - 17
Dan - 18
Jess - 17

From this group I have got both male and female who are in the range of my target audience. 
I can use my focus group to help to conform to codes and conventions, whilst also gaining their opinion on the products I will be creating. This will allow me to get ongoing feedback to better my products as they are produced. 

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos

There are codes and conventions that every music video follows.
The three main types of music videos are; Narrative based, Performance based and Concept based. However they can be mixed together to create a more diverse promo.

Music promos demonstrate genre characteristics, they do this through different mediums. Pop genre music videos will follow different characteristics to a punk genre video, for example a pop song such as Katy Perry's Roar is very upbeat and playful compared to Green Day's Basket Case video.

The song itself has to fit with the promo, this is done through looking at lyrics and visuals, music and visuals. Certain lyrics in a song can be used as a focus point to which a music promo can be made around, for example going back to Katy Perry's Roar music promo is jungle themed which is where the lyrics and visuals created have tied together. The music must also match the visuals; an upbeat song needs to have an upbeat promo for it to work.

Demands of record labels can also influence the music promo made, this means that the video may be required to have multiple close ups of the artist/band and artists may develop motifs that reoccur within each promo. This gives a music promo individuality as it is specifically tailored to a particular artist or band.

Introduction

G324 Advanced Portfolio in Media

Our task is to produce a promotional package for the release of an album, this includes:
- creating a music promo video
- digipak for the album
- magazine advert for the digipak // website homepage for the band
We can either complete this in a group or individually.

I will be using this blog for my research, planning and evaluation whilst also documenting other related topics throughout my course.