1//analysis of Media Products

At the beginning of our research and planning process, we chose to analyse three different sets of media products, from three different artists, in order to get a realistic idea of what we will need to create throughout the course of the year, as well as start drawing ideas of conventions and other aspects that we may choose to use in our own major task. Currently we are considering using one of Milky Chance's songs for the major task, which is why we also chose them for the first analysis.

"Flashed Junk Mind" (Music Video) - Milky Chance

The first music video which we chose to analyse is for the song “Flashed Junk Mind”, written and produced by Milky Chance, a German duo. Milky Chance’s music is a combination of multiple genres, therefore it is hard to place them under simply one category. They utilize a mixture of alternative rock, electronic, reggae, folk, and indie sounds to create what seems like a unique genre. The vocalist; Clemens Rehbein, also has a very unique tone to his voice. It is very raspy and rough, providing a nice contrast to the smooth guitar and background beats.

The first step in analysing this music video was, obviously, watching it. The first time we watched it through, we tried to understand the main concept. We then watched it a second time and tried to pick apart different details and frames, screenshotting key frames which we feel are representative to the video.

The music video to this song is in a montage format, with a new clip about every four to eight beats. The clips are a variety of different outdoor scenes, depicting activities with friends. The whole music video is very laid-back, and exudes a positive, and happy feeling to the viewer. It begins with different clips of friends traveling to the countryside, where we then see a montage of their activities such as; climbing rocks, walking through forests, riding motorcycles, sitting around a campfire, jumping into a lake, and hanging out of cars. The entire video uses very vibrant colors, and the characters are all wearing light clothing, implying that it is summer. They have used a montage format because the entire video seems like a recollection of their memories from the summer. Typically when you’re reminiscing about a certain time period in your life, you don’t do it in chronological order, but rather you recall these memories in bits and pieces. This music video is able to capture this feeling/experience, and keeps the viewer encaptured in each clip. Along with this happy vibe, there’s also a feeling of melancholy and nostalgia, as the music slightly lilts at certain points, further emphasizing that this feeling won’t last forever, and that the memories will fade over time. The lyrics also support this theory that the music video is a montage of memories. From the very first verse we can tell that the artist is reminiscing on his past, as he uses the past-tense to talk about when he was a “young soul”. “When we were young souls On the junk-yard Now we are stunned minds Full of junk-goods” The entire music video perfectly emanates this feeling of nostalgia and reminiscence that most viewers are able to relate to, which is why it is so encapsulating and emotive, even though it is simply a montage of clips without a specific narrative. Throughout the video, they manage to create a storyline which gives a very youthful, playful, and sometimes humorous feel, matching the instrumentals and vocals in the background very nicely.

Milky Chance - Website

https://www.milkychance.net/

Milky Chance has a very colourful and fun looking website. It seems to be inspired a bit by a more retro, pop-art, 70's time period. The first page that is seen when opening the website is a promotion for their new single. This is a very efficient way to advertise new songs or releases which they may have, as it is the very first thing which is seen.

At the top of the page they also included links to their various social media platforms, which is a common convention found on nearly all artist's websites. The color scheme is very intriguing and pleasing to look at, creating a positive image for the new single in the viewers mind. When scrolling down, they also placed their new music video so people can watch it directly from the website. Underneath this, they have links to their most popular songs, linked under two categories; "Music Videos", and "Other Videos", maybe to inform people that are new to the band, and have their most enjoyed music in one place.

When scrolling down, they made it so that the "navigator" tab remains at the top of the screen as you scroll, with the social media links and menu navigator easily accessible without having to scroll back to the top of the website.

Below this they have their tour dates and locations, which is an easy and accessible way to buy tickets if interested in going to a concert. This is also a common convention found in most artist's websites.

One unique aspect of their website is the design. When scrolling down between categories, there are different images in the background, behind each category. This is hard to explain with words so I will provide some screenshots for reference below. (click through the images)

They also have a blog category, where they post updates on tours, meet and greets, and other events which they might be participating in. This is also a common convention. Throughout the website they keep a pretty simple design, with a teal, grainy background color. It seems like they kept this more simple so as to draw more attention to the images happening behind all of this (see example above). Overall, this website has a very artistic and creative take, using colors which are appealing to the eye, and match the style of their music greatly. It includes most of the common conventions found in musician's websites. What they do not include is a sort of "store" where fans can buy merch, or cd's. This may be a good idea to include, so that fans that want merchandise can buy it from a reliable source such as the Milky Chance official website. ....................................................................................................................................................

On their main site, they also have a link to another website. They state that: "We started our very own sustainability project called Milky Change!" https://www.milkychange.com/ This website is dedicated to showing the ethical and environmental approaches that Milky Chance is taking towards becoming more sustainable musicians, contributing to making the world a better place. The name of the website is "Milky Change", which is a fun play on words, dictating that they're aspiring to make changes to the current state which our planet is in. The home page of the website looks like this:

At the top they have links to different categories of the website. They have a blog section where they document the steps and actions which they are taking towards being more sustainable musicians. At the mission page they state: "As musicians we have lots of opportunities to see the world first-hand and are faced with the already visible consequences of this issue. As parents, we started to think even harder about the lasting effect of our own actions. What kind of world are we leaving behind for our kids to explore when they grow up, and what about the generations that follow? We are aware of the responsibility that comes with being artists who tour globally and the environmental impact of doing so, but we are also aware of our platform to spread this message towards a better future." I wanted to include this in my analysis of their website as I feel that not many artists are openly talking about and taking steps towards making our environment more sustainable. I looked at some other websites to compare, and found that although there are some big artists like; Rihanna and Beyonce which have sections of their website dedicated to this, there are others like; Ariana Grande or Shawn Mendes who don't have any public support on environmental issues on their official websites. The fact that Milky Chance, who isn't that well-known of a band has an entire project created by them for this specific purpose, shows where their priorities lie, and automatically creates a positive image for them in the eyes of the viewer. Milky Chance-Digipak

I chose to analyse the same digipak which I took inspiration from for my preliminary work. Out of all of their digipaks, this is the most detailed one, therefore making it easier for me to analyse it. However, it doesn't really have a hidden meaning which I can analyse. It is a picture of the two individuals which make up the band: Clemens Rehbein, and Philipp Dausch. The picture is a bit faded, with some color changes to the sky, as well as their skin. The whole digipak follows a collagey theme, without much significance or connection to the songs included within the album. Milky Chance - Instagram Page We chose to go through their instagram page as we will probably choose to create a social media page as one of the minor tasks. Firstly, we looked at their bio and story highlights, to get a main idea of the sort of vibe they want to transmit to their followers through their insta page. Their highlights mostly consist of tour information and behind the scenes of music videos or other productions.

These are the last couple of posts which they have posted on their instagram page. They have created an image for themselves which shows them in a very positive light, having fun and living a very light and stress free life. They don't follow a particular colour scheme, rather they stick to more random and fun feed, without any particular guidelines. Overall this is definitely the same sort of vibe which we'll want to follow for our own social media page. "Why" (Music Video) - Dominic Fike We chose to analyse this music video because it is relatively similar to the one that we analysed from Milky Chance. It is also in a montage format. The difference is that the images used in this music video aren't as clear, and have a filter placed over them to make it seem more vintagey, and like they were filmed on an old camcorder. It also includes many clips of Dominic lip syncing the song as well as playing the guitar. All of the clips are filmed outside in a jungle in Yucatan, Mexico. As for camera movement, the camera is always moving, in all of the clips, either slightly trembling, or with bigger movements. Most of the clips are during the day, however there are also some night scenes, with Dominic swimming in a lake/natural pool. The entire music video just seems to be him having fun, without any apparent hidden meaning or significance. Just like the "Flashed Junk Minds" music video, it emanates a sense of nostalgia and longing. Like we did with the previous music video, we chose to go through and select some key frames from the music video. We found this process really helpful in simplifying and understanding better the key concepts of the music videos. We can easily see the difference and variety between different camera shots and angles used, as well as the content variation between each clip.

The entire song seems to be him questioning the purpose of life, and how unnecessary the stress of it all is. "Don't crash, don't text, don't renew your tags No sex, no sleep, just that job I bet you miss what you had You can't get no sleep at night Do you ever wonder why everyone is out to get you every day? Or do you question anything?"

The chorus consists of him repeating the phrase "Do you ever wonder why?" The lyrics are very straightforward and easy to understand, making the listener wonder why, and place questions upon themselves. I do think that the music video matches the overall vibe and feeling of the song. The vintage looking clips make it seem like they're old recordings back from when he was "stress free". Once again, further perpetuating this feeling of nostalgia and longing for "the good old days".

Dominic Fike - Website

The first page seen when opening the website is a promotion for his most recent album; "What Could Possibly Go Wrong".

At the top of the screen there are links to different sections of the website (home, listen, watch, and shop). When you select the "Listen" category, a new page opens which has links to each of his albums, and the platforms on which users can listen to them (apple, spotify, and soundcloud). When selecting "Watch", links are given to his most popular music videos. Overall it's a very simple and easy to navigate website, including the bare minimum of categories. I like how at the bottom of the screen it states the name of his new album, his name, as well as the length of the album. There is also a list of each of the songs included within the album and the length of them. The color scheme is very dark, and seems almost kind of mystical, which in my opinion doesn't really match the theme of his music, and instead offers a clear contrast in style. Dominic Fike - Digipack

This is the cover of his debut EP, containing his most popular songs. He started off on Soundcloud, so he doesn't really have any professional album covers that we could find to analyse, but I ended up choosing this one. It's very simple, with a taupey, beige background. There's a break in the main color about halfway down, with a depiction of Dominic's eyes and upper half of his face. This section seems to pop off of the rest of the screen due to the bright yellow/ochre color used. The style and editing on the face is very grainy, and similar to the filter used in the music video that we analysed to the song "Why". He included the names of the songs on the cover, with all of them except for the last one being in a regular font. The last song name is written in what seems to be his handwriting, maybe it was added last minute and he wanted to make it stand out from the other songs in the EP. He wrote the name of the album vertically on the side of the cover, probably to add some dimension to the overall image. Lastly, on the top of the album he included his signature, a simple DF. The whole cover gives a very "homemade" feel, which can cater to a certain group of people who may not want to listen to very mainstream music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, this analysis of different media products within the music industry was very helpful for us. We feel like analysing the music videos was the most helpful part, as watching them through multiple times, and staying attentive to common conventions and details used within them helped us to fully understand the work that we will have to put into our own final project, and exactly what we should be including in it as well.