Audience Profile

This is an audience profile that I ceated on Photoshop to represent the audience of the band/genre. I included images that were best fit to the type of people that are likely to listen to this genre of music. It includes a representation of the different aspects that categorize them through images and brand names. The types of charateristics involved are:

-Fashion - the profile has images of the types of clothing and also brand names of some of the stuff that the audience are likely to wear. Also it shows a picture of hair gel which represents the 'grooming' aspect of their life.
-Food/Drink - the profile contains images of the logos for fast food chains. This represents the fast paced culture and the popularity of fast food amongst this audience.
-Technology - shows the different type of technology used such as mp3 players and laptop etc. They are a key aspect of modern life.
-Hobbies - shown partly through technology also. The profle contains the brand logos of social networking sites which are also a key aspect to the lifestyle of the audience.

Kasabian Marketing and Promotional Research

Social Networking

Kasabian have accounts on the social networking sites facebook, myspace and twitter. This is a promtional strategy to advertise albums/songs. Their myspace page features advertisment links to promote their latest album and also to direct fans to itunes. There is information about the bands latest gigs and also about any promotional things the band are doing. This help to increase the hype about them and also provides another way of advertising and getting more publicity. These pages converge with other aspects of the bands marketing and their facebook fan page is purely used for telling the audience about ticket sales, interviews with NME etc. This creates a circle type effect with the social networks linking to their music sales, magazine articles, youtube videos and the bands personal website. Everything leads on to another aspect of the bands portfolio.
Having these pages gives the audience a chance to interact with the band and post their views about them. It provides a sense of friendship and almost make some members of the audience feel a personal link to the band.

Sales

The band have a number of outlets to distribute their music and merchandise. They have their music available to download from the itunes store. It is also possible to buy their music from their personal website. Their music is also available to buy online stores such as 'Amazon' and 'Play.com' and from all high street music chains. For their latest album, Kasabian released a promo version of their song 'Vlad The Impaler' on their website which was available to download for free. This was an indifferent marketing strategy but was a clever way to gain some extra sales.
The band also sell a number of different merchandise such as posters, keyrings, T-shirts and DVDs. It is essential in the current music climate to sell these types of merchandise. The public always want a new way to connect bands or show off their love for them. DVDs especially, offer the public a chance to gain an inside look into bands and the voyeurism aspect of it appeals greatly to the audience today.

Kasabian Album Cover Comaprison

This is the album artwork for Kasabian's first album, the self titled 'Kasabian'. As you can see is a very basic consisting of a black background with an image of what appears to be a person in some sort of bandages or something of a similar nature. The album had different colour schemes for different countries. The UK had this black and white one, the USA has a black and blue one whilst Japan had a black and red one. This could be to represent the indiviual countries flag colouror part of it.

This is the album artwork for Kasabian's second album cover 'Empire'. The artwork has considerably more detail than the previous one which may be linked to the band's greater success. The cover is in the format of a playing card with the symbol K in the corner, which matches the name on the band. As th ealbum is entitled 'Empire' the theme seems to represent this with a drawing. Part of it has is of a knight or maybe a king of some sort of to match not only the hierarchy of an empire, but also the playing card (king).

This is the album cover for Kasabian's third and most recent album cover 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'. This is even more different to both the previous album artworks. This has been clearly thought out and invloves a picture of the band for the first time. It shows the band dressing up for a party at the asylum whilst looking in a mirror. The costume and props had been clearly thought out seem to suggest a sort of 'whackiness' to represent the place from which they took their name, the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

Paul Weller Video Analysis

Paul Weller - Wild Wood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVARPcZuwL0

This video is a narrative video which

tells a story of every day life from the perspective of Paul Weller. It signifies how we are

controlled by higher powers and the lyrics portray the 'wants' that people of this working class nature dream for but unlikely to get. This is also reflected in the lyrics: 'Day by day your world fades away, Waiting to feel all the dreams that say ,Golden rain will bring you riches'.

The term 'Wild Wood' seems to represent the hustle and bustle of life and the video shows various shots of busy high streets packed with people and busy traffic. Opposed to this, the video shows images of Paul Weller on his own playing acoustic guitar. This is a juxtaposition to the concept of the video and portrays him as a peaceful individual.

There are a lot of signs within this music video that suggest the view that we are being controlled. The video has close-ups of traffic lights and road signs which accentuates this view. As a consequence it appears that this video represents the 'ordinary' person.

There appears to be an underline moral in the strory which suggests how people can rely on only themselves and that you should try to live your life the way you want to. If you do this, you will manage to get what you deserve out of life. This message is depicted within the lyrics:

'Dont let them get you down

Making you feel guilty about

golden rain, will bring you riches

All the good things you deserve now

Climbing, forever trying

Find your way out of the wild, wild wood

Now theres no justice

Only yourself that you can trust in'
The lyric 'find your way out of the wild, wild wood' can hold many different connotations but I perceive as Paul Weller advising people that they have to try and escape from this 'hustle and bustle' lifestyle and break free from the clutches that life can bear on you.

The way this video is arranged seems to be very deliberate and the video is a way of supporting the lyrics with visual links and connotations. The message is made very clear and the distinction between the slow tempo of the music and the fast paced cuts and frames of the video help to create this message and build an atmosphere around the song as a whole.
The song itself is very basic, just a four chord sequence which is repeated throughout the song. The chord sequence is played on an acoustic guitar and is in a minor key which helps to express the serious meaning behind the song. As the song and its narrative is aimed at people generally from a working class background, like Paul Weller himself, it has helped it to become one of the best known songs from its time. Its success is due to the appeal it has for so many people and how it speaks for a generation that Paul is very familiar with.

Specials Video Analysis

A Message To You Rudy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVcD1xAMTo8

This video is a performance based video. It consists of the band playing the song in a white room. The emphasis

of the

video seems to be predominantly on fashion and the style of the band. There is a recurring theme of black and white which were the main colours of the 'ska'

movement. The band are wearing clothing such as two tone suits, trilby hats and braces which were at the forefront of the fashion side of the movement. Some cuts of the video feature a group of people showing off their clothing which fits in to the theme of the video. At the end of the video it shows the camera zooming out and the band's performance gets shown on TV. This gives a reference to the notion of looking and suggests that the video was made for the record label to help promote the band's image.

Arctic Monkeys Video Analysis

Teddy Picker - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2XBoxtcUA

This is largely a performance video but has a part of it narrative. The main focus of the video is of the band record their song in the studio. The director tries to capture the spirit of the single and give an insight into the kind of work that goes on in a studio. Parts of the video show the band playing the song as you hear it. A lot of the scenes are shot without a tripod to give more action to the video and match the rugged look of the band. The video than cuts to the band going to the pub. It suggests that they have taken a break and shows the hard work that goes in to recording songs. After this it shows the band going back into the studio to finalise the song. I think the video was made for the audience to give them a view into the work that the band does.

Kasabian Video Analysis

Underdog - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNGjaCpiAHc

This video is a performance video. It shows the band playing live at a gig but not playing at the same time as the actual song. It shows more slow paced, action shots of the band. This captures the raw emotion and energy of a live performance and shows the band's appreciation of the audience. It also has close-ups of each of the band members to engage their own reactions and feelings. The camera cuts to the audience at several times during the video to show their actions at the gig. It expresses the interaction between the audience and the band, and animates the vigor of their movement. It shows the audience clapping and singing along which shows their involvement in creating an electric atmosphere. The video is in grayscale which emphasizes the attention onto the action in the video rather than the clothes they are wearing etc.

A2 Group

For my A2 coursework this year I will be working in a group with Harry Parker and Conor Harris. We are using the song "Thick as Thieves" by Kasabian for our task.

Kasabian Video Comparison

Shoot the Runner - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fe6dQ1TwmQ

This video is a concept/performance video. It involves the band performing on a black background. The saturation is manipulated to enhance the colour to give a cartoon effect and to emphasize particular parts of the colour wheel. The concept of the video involves the splashing of paint. It gradually becomes more prominent the further into the song it goes, to match with the increased dynamics in the latter parts of the song.

Vlad the Impaler - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM5YDI7ttME

This video is a narrative video. It starts of with opening credits to establish the name of the video, similar to a film. The video involves Noel Fielding impersonating vlad the impaler. As Noel Fielding (from the sitcom "Mighty boosh") is in the video it immediately makes you understand that the video is a very tongue in cheek. The video has a dark theme and therefore has very dingy lighting and is shot mainly in sunsets and night time. It gives the impression that it is winter as there are no leaves on trees. It also tries to resemble a place similar to eastern Europe as this was where "Vlad the Impaler" lived. It does this by shooting in vast, secluded woodland and field areas. Also, the only building shot is a run down farmhouse.

Comparison

The two videos are very different to each other. The concepts of the videos differ greatly and do not give an indication that they are from the same band. There are no distinct similarities between the two which shows the variaton available for music videos, not only for the same genre, but also for the same band.