Intertextuality and Representation in Music Videos

Lily Allen has recently released a video for her song "Hard out Here". She has included a lot of intertextuality relating to pop and rap videos included the one most know for objectifying women "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke. Her video has had mixed reviews from the media saying that it is not suitable for younger audiences and it's also racist as it features mostly black and Asian women, however Robin Thicke's song has had mostly bad press but had not been banned from either the TV or online sites such as YouTube.

Lily Allen - Hard Out Here

 
 

 

Lyrics

 The content seen in "Hard Out Here" is that of which is most commonly seen in rap videos where the rapper is surrounded by scantily clad women and women dancers. There is also a large amount of references to "Blurred Lines" in how all of the women features apart from Lily and dressed and the way in which they act around the main singer.

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines 

 


Lyrics

"Blurred Lines" features an excessive amount of footage of women dressed in barely any clothes (or in some shots none) and are also being objectified and shown as "toys" for the men can unwrap and to do what they want with. This video has received a large amount of criticism from the media from newspaper articles to online forums exaggerating this point and trying to get the video taken down.

Plans for Magazine Advertisment

Here are my plans for Kill the Freak's magazine adverts/posters:

I have made 2 plans for my magazine advertisement, both contrasting in colour and design. I  created 2 to show a clear contrast in how I wanted it to look, and to also experimented with different designs to see which one looked best for my groups chosen band and genre.

With my first design, I have included a large picture of a hand with the bands songs tattooed onto it, showing how their songs can mean a lot to someone and are memorable to listen to. I have also included social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter so the fans can contact the band and see what they are up to within their career.

In my second design I have included a fist to connote the pain felt in the lyrics of the bands songs and how their emotions effected their lyric choices. I have also included the bands name and the name of the single so fans can search it on ITunes and purchase it with ease.

Magazine Advertisment Analysis 2

This Slipknot concert DVD advert takes up an entire page of the magazine it's in. The cover used for this DVD displays a large image of a devil and the page is all dark colours which fits in well with the bands image and the Rock genre of music.

The name of the band 'Slipknot' in depicted in the centre of the page in the bands signature front and is a bright white which contrasts from the darker coloured background and picture behind it, as well as the other small print which is also white and stands out clearly. Their logo is also used on every single one of their products and is copyrighted because of branding rights.

The name of the DVD 'Voliminal inside the mind' however is small compared to the name of the band and doesn't stand out as much. The image of the devil makes the DVD look interesting and relates to a horror film so again works well with the bands genre.

This will help when creating my own Magazine advertisement as I can see what colours and fonts match up with the genre I am using, and how images can effect the style I am working with.

Magazine Advertisement Analysis 1

Justin Bieber -Believe (album) - Teen Now Magazine

On this page of album/single promotions, Justin's album "Believe" has the largest amount of space. The cover used for this album displays a huge close up of Justin's face which covers the majority of the cover, most likely because the record label demands it. The close up of Justin also makes him look important and angelic because of how the light is reflect on certain parts of his face, highlighting features such as his eyes and lips, making him also look more attractive. The colours used on the album cover make the artist look powerful and rather angelic, again because of how the light highlights certain features. The font used is rather simple, but all letters are capitals, making them stand out, especially  with the name of the album "BELIEVE" going straight across the bottom of the cover.

The outline of white also stands out well over the darker photo of Justin. Surprisingly  the name of the artist uses a very small font compared to the album title, and is displayed at the top of the cover, which is not very noticeable at all. I think the album cover uses quite simple images and texts to not draw your attention to too many aspects, as the main focus is on the artist face. Next to the image of the album is a little summary and description of the album which ends with the sentence "Another Pop classic", making the album sound really good quality and makes the audience want to purchase it.