Rihanna- Good Girl Gone Bad- Album Poster Analysis

Marina and the Diamonds- The Family Jewels- Album Poster

Rihanna- Talk That Talk [Deluxe]- Digipak Analysis

Rihanna- Talk That Talk [Deluxe]- digipak analysis from ryan_woodley95

Florence + the Machine- Ceremonials [Deluxe]- Digipak analysis

Geri Halliwell- 'It's Raining Men' Video analysis

The notion of looking is expressed through the 'It's Raining Men' video in two ways. One way is the judging panel watching Geri Halliwell dance.This can also be expressed as quite a voyeuristic view of the female body as the judges are watching her perform in not many clothes. The notion of looking in this sequence also helped to get across Geris new image after leaving the Spice Girls. Another way is when Geri is singing on the stairs looking into the camera, an action not usually used in the media other than by TV Presenters. The notion of looking is also shown when a crowd begins to form around the door as people watch Geri in her audition.

 



Intertextual references play a big part in the video to 'It's raining Men'. The music video takes references from both 'Flashdance' (1983) and 'Fame' (1980). The video references 'Flashdance' heavily in the opening sequence and creates an almost shot-by-shot recreation of a scene from the film. The video then goes on to reference a famous scene from the film 'Fame', but instead of using the iconic yellow New York taxi used in the orignal they have replaced it with a Yellow London taxi. The video could also been seen to have references to Michael Jacksons 'Thriller' Music video, this is in the big group choregraphed sequence.

The video does meet the conventions of other music videos in its genre. The song is in the pop genre and features both a dance routine and lipsyncing, two conventions that are common throughout the pop genre.

Marina and the Diamonds- 'Hollywood' video analysis

During the music video for 'Hollywood' there are many intertextual references. Mostly all of these relating to American culture (1950s-60s).Two of these references come as references to people. These two people who are parodied/impersonated are Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Another intertextual comes as a prop held by Marina during a segment of the video. This prop is a replica of the famous 'Oscar' film award.

This video also features the genre characteristic for 'Pop' by having the artist lipsync to camera and also features some dancing, but without a choreographed routine.

 







There a few relations between lyrics and visuals, these come as either a visual representation of the lyric or as a hand movement. The first relation between lyrics and vocals comes as Marina describes 'She is a polish girl in America. Tall, tanned hot blonde called Anya'. As this lyric is spoken a tall blonde woman appears and begins looking at herself in the mirror.Another relation between lyrics and visuals comes as Marina says 'Do anything for a dime'. At this point she looks in the mirror and begins rubbing her fingers together as if she is holding money. The other relation between lyrics and visuals comes near the end when Marina is chanting 'American dream is the American queen'. At this point we are shown a woman being crowned. This could also be seen as a reference to American culture as it could be viewed that she is being crowned Prom Queen.

There is a lot of moment within the video that show the convention of looking. This is shown by having many people look into a mirror and also through the photographer taking photos of the woman at the beginning of the video.











Coldplay- 'Paradise' video analysis

The music video for Coldplays 'Paradise' does feature the genre characteristics of a 'Rock Band' video. This is through the live performance sequence at the end of the video. A live performance is a characteristic of many music videos that feature a band. During this video there are two versions of the live performance, one with Coldplay dressed as Elephants performing in the desert and another with Coldplay performing a concert to a massive crowd whilst wearing only the Elephant costume heads and hands.

 The music video features intertextual references to both London culture and also a piece of Coldplays work. In the video there are shots in which the Elephant is seen riding a 'Boris Bike' through London. The Elephant then goes into a London Underground station and busks to earn money for a ticket. The intertextual reference to a piece of Coldplays recent work comes as one of the lyrics 'every tear a waterfall' this is a reference to the Coldplay song 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall'. The beginning of the video is also made to look like a Film title sequence.

 



There is no real relation between the lyrics and visuals, but there are some made through the use of placards reading the lyrics. This could also be seen as an intertextual reference to the Bob Dylan song 'Subterreanean Homesick Blues, which is deemed as the first proper music video and also features the use of placards reading the lyrics throughout the video.





Jay-Z- '99 Problems' video analysis

During the video for '99 Problems' there are many characteristics related to the genre of Hip-Hop. 

These characteristics consist of the use of guns, balaklavas, graffiti, suitcase of money/drugs in car boot (x-ray shot), police search, run-down urban area (Brooklyn), girls in bikinis, baseball cap/baggy jeans/hoodie, 'bling and street dancing. Many of these connoting a criminal or 'gangsta' lifestyle.

During the video there are also intertextual references to the record labels of which Jay-Z is a member of. The record label DefJam Recordings is referenced by featuring the founder, Rick Rubin, throughout. 

Another reference to Jay-Zs career is the 'diamond' hand symbol which is made by various people throughout the video. This is a reference to Jay-Zs own record label 'Roc-A-Fella Records' which plays on the name of an early 20th century American billionaire by the name of John D Rockefeller and uses the 'roc' to describe a diamond. The diamond' hand sign is used in many of Jay-Zs music videos and live performances. The 'diamond' hand sign has also been adopted by  artists such as Kanye West, Rihanna and Rita Ora, all of whom are signed/managed by either Roc-A-Fella Records or Jay-Zs newest record label, Roc Nation.

Rick Rubin

'Diamond/Roc' hand sign

During the video there is voyeuristic treatment of women. Although this is common within Rap/Hip-Hop music videos, women are only slightly featured within the video, only showing up in a few shots. There could be two reasons for this; one of these reasons being that Jay-Z has many problems but 'a bitch ain't one' relating to the lyrics of the song. Another reason for the small amount of voyeurism of the female body could be to withold Jay-zs 'Good Guy of Rap' image which has helped him gain the level of success and popularity he is now at.