Reflective Analysis of Biography's

After analysing both biography's by Joe Brooks and Olly Murs, it has given me a a good guidance as to what should be included in the biography of the artist that I am making. It has shown me that I want to have lots of quotes in my biography because that is a good way to talk to your audience and make the audience feel like the artist is interacting with them.

The biography will be a more informal approach with a very friendly mode of address, in which will interact with the audience and make them feel more involved with the artist. As most artist now, have a very strong web presence, my artist should be available on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. This because media is becoming more available on the Internet so the biography of my artist should be available on these sites for people to easily access.

Biography - Dexter

‘This is all I have ever wanted to do since I was young, all I want is for people to enjoy my music’. This is a direct quote from the fabulous pop rock artist Dexter himself. Dexter was born in a small town in Surrey called Cobham on the 1^st October 1991. Dexter was brought up as an only child by his dad as his mum left the family when he was just a child.

‘The first moment when I knew I wanted to become a music artist, was when my dad took me to one of his gigs’. Dexter’s dad worked evenings as a soft rock music artist, his dad was not signed by a record label, but continued to pursue his dream of becoming a worldwide known music artist. ‘My dad has always been determined and dedicated to his music; this has made me want to follow in his footsteps.’ Dexter knew that when his dad reached the age of 40 that maybe it was too late for him and he wouldn’t be able to crack it into his music industry, so he took it upon himself to fulfil both his dads and his dream of becoming a well known music artist.

Dexter started his musical career when he was in secondary school because he was in a a rock band with some of his friends. He then decided that maybe a rock band was not exactly what he wanted to pursue, so he left his band and become a solo artist and that’s when he started to create music of more of a pop rock genre instead of a heavy rock genre.

When he raised up the money from doing odd jobs round his neighbours he could afford a recording kit, that’s when his first singles started to make it onto YouTube and MySpace. ‘I just uploaded one song, then went back the next day and there was already 100 views and it just increased from then on. I was so shocked that people actually liked my music.’ Dexter was approached by two different record labels but didn't feel he was ready to be signed to a particular record label. ' I just want to keep my feet on the ground and don't want to get wrapped up in the music world, i want to just figure out what i want, before i sign away my life to a record label'.

Dexter started out just writing songs, ‘All my music is full of feeling and most of the songs that I have written are from experience from my life.’ Dexter’s music is a mixture between acoustic and pop rock. His most recent song that he has written is ‘Superman’, this song has not been realised as a song quite yet, but will be soon and it is the title of his first realised album.

Watch out for Dexter’s new music video to Superman!

This is Dexters biography which will be found on his Facebook and MySpace page and he will also be found on Twitter.

Analysis of Biography: Joe Brooks

Joe Brooks is the artist of the some that i want to use fer my music video. His biography is very informative providing very specific details about his life and his musical career. this includes details about his journey to becoming a signed artist and how he gained fans while unsigned this is all information that new fans of Joe brooks would want to know. this biography is formal and has a very formal mode of address; This is evident within the first few paragraphs. this is shown as there us very little communication or quotes form Joe Brooks himself. this could show maybe the lack of fans that Joe Brooks had at the time of creating his biography and maybe just created one so that people who were interested in hims as an artist could become familiar with him becoming a die hard fan.

the language used is rather simple but effective. this could reflect the lack of knowledge in the type of fans that Joe Brooks has, so his biography reflects that by using very generic language. Joe Brooks has both a website and a MySpace page. his MySpace page shows off the type of fans that he expects to have as younger people are more likely to use MySpace and is who his music is aimed at.

Link for the Biography: http://www.last.fm/music/Joe+Brooks/+wiki

Link MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/joebrooksmusic

Analysis of Biography: Olly Murs

Although Olly Murs is not necessarily exactly the same genre as the artist that I will create for my music video. But I think that the thought and feeling behind music that Olly Murs creates is very similar to the thought and feeling that I want to create through my music video. In regards to Olly Murs Biography he was a runner up in an talent show. This gave him a good staring point in his career and his biography reflects this. This is shown by the fact that his biography is informal. This is because even though he is new to the music industry throughout his journey through the talent show he developed a large fan base. So even though he is a new artist he still has a large amount of fans. The way that i can tell his Biography is informal is because throughout the biography there is direct quotes from Olly Murs. This is a good way for Olly to keep his fans interested as it seems as if he is directly addressing his fans.

The mode of address though out Olly Murs biography is very friendly, this is because he already has a large fan base and doesn't necessarily need to win people over. So his biography is just talking to his already fans and is making them feel welcome and like they are his Friends as he is letting them in on some of his thoughts and opinions.

Link to Biography:http://www.ollymurs.com/gb/about/

Link to MySpace:www.myspace.com/OllyMursMusic

Link to Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ollymurs?sk=wall

Refelctive Analysis: analysis of music videos and Album covers

After analysing both the music videos and album covers that can be related to my artist’s genre, I have realised that most videos of the pop rock genre include musical instruments; this is an aspect of music videos that I will get include in the final product of my music video. I would also need to think about the other conventions of a pop rock music video, to make it more believable for my audience. Realistically of all the music videos I analysed, Teddy Geiger’s ‘For you I will’ video is the most compatible to the ideas I have for my own music video, although I would like to incorporate speeding up the background like shown in Ed Sheeran’s ‘A Team’ video.

In regards to the album covers, I would love my artist to eventually be able to use Coldplay’s ideas of an album cover. But at the stage in which my artist is in his musical career, he will need to have his picture on the front of his album cover as for his fans to recognise one of his albums. Also this album is my artist 1st album so it would need to be able to be recognised by the the audience in which he has.

Analysing a album cover

The second album cover that I am going to analyse for my A2 coursework is 'mylo xyloto' by Coldplay. The title for this album cover translates to 'the love of mine'.

Coldplay are such a well known band that they don't need to have their pictures on their album. they don't need to prove themselves anymore they have such a wide fan base that they don't need to win over any more fans.

Coldplay have done several videos different album covers that look very random. this has become of of their trademarks, so they don't even need to have their name 'Coldplay' on their album covers because their fans would recognise one of their album covers even if it didn't have their name on it because of the miss match of color and bold background.

In comparison to my artist that i am using they would not be well know so this is not a route for a album cover that i would be able to pull off. But in future that is what i would want my artist to be able to do, to be have a recognised trademark that could be used on their front cover without having to have their face or name on the album cove.

As part of my A2 media coursework i am going to have to make a cover for my song. In order to understand some of the codes and conventions of a CD cover i am going to analyse some that are similar to the genre of the song i have chosen to do for my A2 coursework. i have chosen to do 'underage thinking' album cover by Teddy Geiger.

The boldness and rugged look of the font style enhances the audiences perspective of the artist that is Teddy Geiger. this is because the way he is dressed is very causal and not what you would expect for an artist to put as their as the front cover of their album is one of the initially impression of them. but because of the type of artist that Teddy Geiger is its audience knows hes a young rough and rugged artist and don't expect him to wear anything but what he is wearing.
As well as this the simplicity of background of the album cover, shows just how important the music is to Teddy Geiger's fans and how they don't want any fuss, all they want is to be able to recognise the album cover and buy the album.

Analysing a Music Video

The last music video that i have chosen to analyse for my A2 coursework is a song by Teddy Geiger called 'For you I will'. Teddy Geiger is known more in USA and for doing songs in the genre of Alternative rock and pop rock. The song that I am analysing is in the genre of Pop rock.

The 'For you I will' video is all about how Teddy Geiger always goes for what he cant have, this is shown in the music video when he falls for a girl who is played by Kirstin Cavallari who is in the US program called Laguna Beach. But this girl has a boyfriend, so Teddy Geiger does what ever he can to get what he wants and how he ends up getting what he wants. There is a slight hint of performance on the music video because Teddy Geiger is seen busking on the streets, which could be linked back to when he started singing, because a lot of artist start busking on the streets to get them out in the public eye.

There are lots of examples throughout this video of Goodwin's theory that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. One example throughout the music video is in one of the last scenes of the music video where Teddy Geiger is in a typical American house party, and when he sings 'Cannonball into the water' he does a cannonball into the pool. This is done to relate the lyrics of the song to the visuals that the audience sees. There is also another part of the music video when there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This is when Teddy Geiger sings 'I could fall asleep on those eyes' and it cuts to the actress playing his love interests eyes. This enhances the lyrics and what they mean to the audience.

There is an example of Goodwin's theory that there is a relationship between the Visuals and the music. this is shown about 30 seconds in the music video and the music starts to become louder and the pace starts to become quicker. There is 6 different shots in 5 seconds before the music begin to slow down again. This part pf the music video is when Teddy Geiger sees the girl that he has fallen for. the change in pace could connote how when he sees her, his heart beings to beat quicker. these are 3 of the shots in the six shot sequence.

there is a shot in the music video which helps to show how Teddy Geiger is trying to be sell this track by showing how he has grown as an artist from a very young age. in this shot there is a picture on the wall of Teddy Geiger as a young child with an electric guitar in his hand and he walks past it and there is a moment when the audience can see how much he has changed from when he started having an interest in music.

To conclude Tedd Geiger's music video for 'For you I will' has some of the codes and conventions of a pop rock music video. It has the typical guy lusting over a girl who he cant have. This combined with the typical setting of an American house party is what makes this music video a typical Pop rock music video.

Analysing a Music Video

I have chosen to analyse Coldplay's son called 'Fix You'. Cold play are an alternative rock band, they have been a band since 1996. the music video 'Fix You' was directed by Sophie Muller who has previously worked with the band.

The music Video for 'Fix You' is a combination of a narrative and a performance based video. The section of the video when the main singer is walking down the road is the narrative part of the video, and the part where he runs onto the stage with the rest of his band is the performance part of the music video. I have chosen to analyse this music video because i like the idea of the walking down the road and the tracking shot following the artist. This is something that i hope to incorporate into my music video.

'Lights will guide you home' this is one of Goodwin's theories being that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The lyrics combined with the shot from behind the artist following some lights (lamp post) helps to illustrate and amplify the lyric that is being sung by the artist. Also the next part of the music video is the artist running to his band. 'Lights will guide you home' these lights he is following is taking him home, home to him is on stage in front of a crowd with his band.

Half way through the song, the artist stops singing and then a guitar solo starts and the music starts to get louder. This is a good example of Goodwin's theories that there is a relationship between the music and the visuals. This change in music combined with the artist running and the quick cuts, shows the change in pace of the music. This is before the performance part of the music video, this is a way of the directer creating more excitement in the music video.

Throughout the whole of the music video there is close ups of all 4 of the different artist that make up the band Coldplay. The band music is trying to be sold as the music and not as a gimmick compared to other bands who play up to an image where as cold play are all about the music so they don't need to have any sort of gimmick to make them stand out from the crowd.

Overall, Coldplay are such a well known band that they don't need to do an amazing video to impress their audience. Their audience likes them simply because of their music and Coldplay, play up to this by doing a simple and stripped back video, nothing fancy just them performing to them its all about the music.

Analysing a Music video

The first music video that I have analysed for my A2 coursework is a song by Ed Sheeran called 'The A Team'. Ed Sheeran is a acoustic, folk, hip-hop and grime artist and his single 'The A Team' is of the Folk Soul genre. The music video was directed, shot and edited by Ruskin Kyle (Rivers Rush Video Production Company).

The music video for 'The A Team' is narrative based focusing on a homeless prostitute who lives on the streets of London. The story starts at the end, when the girl has seemed to have taken an overdose of drugs, this shot fades out starting from the beginning of the day. The faded shot is connecting to the story because the shot zooms out as well and connotes the feeling of her leaving her body and going up to heaven. Also one of the last shots we see is the same as the first shot, this helps the audience to understand that this is a narrative based video, and this girl in the video has died.

Throughout the music video there are lots of scenes where by the surroundings of the main girl in the video is speeding up, this is done to show passing of time. It can also show how the world is going by so fast around her. The shot is also taken from behind her, this gives the audience the sense of voyeurism (a theory devised by Foucault) as they are watching her watch the world go by. This edit is one that I would like to incorporate in my music video, that is why i chose to analyse this music video.

'Class A Team' this phrase is said several times through the song, this can be portrayed in two different ways, the audience could take it as her being addicted to class A drugs, in tern being in the class A team. Also the audience could see this as the girl being not in the class A team. People tend to think class A would mean the best, looking the best and having the best. This lyric backed up with the images of the girl can show the audience how she is not class A as she has nothing and looks dirty, with greasy hair and smudged makeup. This is a link between the lyrics and the visuals which is one of Goodwins theories.

Through the music video, the main girl is shot in close ups. this is done so the audience feel sympathy fro the main girl because her face shows so much emotion and sadness. This is a powerful way of involving the audience in the music video and making them feel for the main girl.

When the girl gets into a car, the singing stops, and a guitar solo starts. This is done because the visuals in the music vide is enough for the audience to take in there is not need for and other singing at this time in the video. After the music drops and the singing comes back again, this is because the audience has had enough time to digest what has happened and what they think is going to happen.

There is lots of scenes in the video where there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics a theroy of Goodwin. Throughout the music video when the song says 'angels to fly' in the back ground there is a station called angel, and also a sign that says 'Improving the angel'. These are done to enhance and illustrate the lyrics that are being sung by Ed Sheeran.









Ed Sheeran appears in the video at one point, he gives the girl money for what magazine she is selling. This is done to show Ed Sheeran image and star motifs.


Overall I think this video is a very powerful narrative video. I think this because of the powerful message that it is trying to portray and the way the camera shots and the music make the audience feel sympathy and emotion towards the main girl because they can tell how sad she is because of all the close ups thought the music video.

First Idea