Kings of leon

 

In order to analyse this CD advert and reveal how synergy has been created I will have to analyse a music video CD cover and this advert. This is because I have now understood the connotations of the genre Pop punk. Therefore as King of Leon is of a rock genre it will also be interesting to contrast these genres as Pop punk evolved from Rock. Moreover, I will be able to understand CD promotion further in magazines as I will have to get to grips with the conventions of CD adverts as quick as possible because I am behind and should be doing my planning by now.

This CD advert is basically a copy of the CD cover from the digipak. Nevertheless there is a shop name HMV and the Music producers logo in the bottom corner of the advert.

Colour - Black background connotes death and the white font connotes purity. It is  used to give the details about the band, the date of the album will be released the website where the album is sold and the music producers. The logo of the place where you buy the album is in pink so that it stands out and follows the brand of the shop thus using synergy to promote this shop and complies with registered trade mark legislation as HMV is a registered company.

Font: the info of the new album is is big bold and all the same size except the music producer and the shops website. Therefore the attention is drawn to the product. This is because the artists name is quite big but the album name is even bigger.

Layout the CD covers layout is in a rectangle portrait with the shops logo aligned to the right hand corner and the music producers logo aligned to the left hand corner. This gives a symmetrical effect as everything else is in a centre alignment.

Language - Mechanical Bull is the name of the album therefore it is short and sweet and follows the brand of the CD cover. Also a bull is quite a vicious animal therefore making it mechanical like a robot or computer makes it even more smarter and stronger. It also made me think of the rodeo bull which are ridden until people are thrown off by real bulls  which is a very dangerous sport or the ones which are electronically operated called Bucking Broncos. Kings of Leon denotes royalty. One interpretation of Leon rhymes with neon which is what the album cover and CD advert is like. However the real interpretation according to the following website http://guycodeblog.mtv.com/2011/08/23/band-name-meanings-2/ is that "Band members and brothers Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill named the group after their father and grandfather, both named Leon."

However this is the same as the image on the analysis which is below:

The fact that they are so similar shows synergy as it promotes both the magazine as people that like the band will recognise the brand and if there is information about the band then they would want to know all the gossip. Also people who like the magazines genre may want to buy the album as they are familiar with it.

Image The arrow and the albums name is like a clubs sign which is iconic to the genre of rock. The genre is reinforced by the black background. The arrow emphasizes the importance of the sign by pointing at it and adding a graphical effect.

Colour red connotes blood, blue connotes masculinity and yellow connotes brightness which is why they are like neon lights.

Font the mechanical word is joined up like humans handwriting whereas bull is bold and printed suggesting that they are already strong and big.

Layout - it is all centred except the bands name which is centred at the top of the cover.

Mise en scene

Body language Facial Expression - quite relaxed and happy with the male protagonist and antagonists. whereas the female antagonist is happy and sassy (almost a sex symbol - legs crossed with good posture sitting on the car bonnet.) Thus, I think the representation of this video is a stereotype of gender both male as they like cars and female and females as they like males.

Costume This follows the same fashion style as the 1950s with the denim and is iconic for teenagers then which is probably why it says "teenage head" in the latter part of the video. This also reinforces the stereotypes as all teenage boys think about is cars and teenage girls think about is boys. When the girl cuts of one of her buttons with scissors it emphasizes that they are sassy and confident on one hand but then sex symbols on another. It depends on how you interpret it.

Make up the above is reinforced by the girls lipstick and nail varnish. However I also feel the males are wearing fake tan either that or the editing effect darkens their skin tones.

Props - The milkshakes or icecreams at the beginning are classic and iconic to the 1950s. The fact that the girl is pouring it conveyed through both the close up shot and diegetic sound portrays the stereotype of women in kitchens doing cooking and cleaning. The advert in the background is also iconic to the time.

Lighting - is high key as it resembles the 1950s films that were viewed with projectors and shown in the cinema.

Sound

Diegetic - at the very beginning there is a car motor heard reinforcing the male stereotype

Non Diegetic - They are once again lips syncing even though it wasn't invented until 1960

Editing - This video uses cool effects that are kind of negative black and white parts of the frame and I am assuming the rest of it is a tribute to the 1950s (guessing) as there is a real tinted tone of the colour that livens the music up. This video is more of a performative based video which cuts away to

Camera Angles - there is a close up of an African American girl chewing and blowing up chewing gum expressing a seductive facial expression. This could also be a representation of ethnicity as in the 1950s when it seems to be set racial segregation was happening in the USA.