
The above left advert is published on a single page of a magazine, whereas the advert on the right is on a double page of a magazine. There is not much of a difference apart from the fact that the La Roux advert has some critics' comments.
This is the inside of a Digipak and it contains two CDs.
The Digipak is of Linkin Park's album Minutes To Midnight, I have chosen this image because it shows what is contained in an average Digipak.
On the left side of the packaging we see an information booklet, this usually is the artist's impressions and how they were inspired to release the album with the songs that they chose. The booklets sometimes include lyrics to the songs and the track listings.
The centre of the Digipak holds the main CD
This is the music video for 'I Tried' by Bone Thugs N Harmony (Ft. Akon). The song itself is about the struggle and troubles faced by the artists on their journey to fame.
The video starts with a shot of what appears to be an old, 'beaten up' basketball court that is covered in snow. From this shot we can clearly see that the place is abandoned because nobody can be seen and there are no foot prints in the snow either. The place does look very rough and dangerous, however, in the centre of the frame the sun is shining very brightly and could represent hope in this rough looking neighbourhood.
There are a few more shots to set the diagesis, all containing snow, there is also a pan across a metal fence. In juxtaposition with the snow it shows that the place in which the video is set is very cold. It could also represent the way the artists have been brought up - cold, treated unfairly. Some of the walls used in this opening sequence are graffitied up to support my opinion that it is a rough area. We hear the artists being introduced "Bone Thugs, Akon".
After the establishment of the diagesis we see close ups of the members of Bone Thugs N Harmony, the editing transitions are done in sync with the music. A street sign labelled E.99 and another labelled ST. CLAIR from these signs we know that the video is set in America. We also see a shot of Layzie Bone standing in front of a landmark which says Cleveland, the writing on the monument is shown in focus whereas the artist is out of focus, this is done so the audience can understand exactly where the video is based. Cleveland is also the place that most of the members form Bone Thugs were brought up and raised. So it seems as if they are going back to their childhood and perhaps reminisce what used to be.
The second video I have chosen to analyse is "Ruff Ryders Anthem" by DMX. I purposefully posted the clean version of the video due to the explicit lyrics that may offend people.
The main reason I chose to analyse this video is because of the baggy clothes that are worn by the rapper and the actors.
The opening shot is of two people on white motorbikes, on a city street, they are both wearing white T-Shirts. The use of the white colour shows that they are successful. the biker in the front is doing a wheelie to show that he is cool, the white T-Shirt he is wearing has an "R" logo on it, which can be recognised by fans as the Ruff Ryders logo.
The next shot has lots of people on motorbikes and quad bikes, most of these people are, again, wearing white T-Shirts branded with "Ruff Ryders" or the iconic "R" logo.
A few shots later the s people are shown training with weights outside, it almost seems as if they are in a prison, this could be to represent how they are used to the life in prison and have turned it into a lifestyle outside of prison. The fact that they are all male could also back this up.
At 1.22 of the video, we see the Ruff Ryders all stood around, scattered around the rapper DMX. The camera shot is a low angle shot to show the power of the Ruff Ryders in the music industry. DMX is standing on top of a wall, the wall conotates the strength and dominance he has over the Ruff Ryders,he is also higher than everybody else and this shows that he is the highest ranked person in this "crew". DMX is centre framed and all eyes are attracted towards his direction.
The Pit bull Dogs are in nearly all of DMX's videos, this is an icon of the rapper. In all of DMX's videos he barks like a dog and refers to the people he dislikes as cats. The Pit bull, closest to the camera, in the shot at 2.15 seems to be really aggressive while tearing apart a tyre. This aggressiveness could show that DMX himself is really aggressive and dangerous and likes things to be done his way.
The first video I am going to analyse is "We Made It" by Busta Rhymes, featuring Linkin Park.
The opening shot seems as if it has been shot from a helicopter, the location looks as if it is New York, we can recognise the location due to the high rise buildings and wide streets. The opening shot establishes the location.
The shot after is a medium close - up of a Louis Vuitton logo which is a big/expensive brand and would represent wealth. The camera slowly pans upwards to reveal a watch with diamonds on the face of it, again backing up the representation of wealth.
The shots are in a shot/reverse shot pattern for a while and the audience can see the non - diegetic writing that informs us who the artists are in the song/music video. During this Shot/Reverse Shot routine the artists are shown to the audience.
The location that is used for the introduction of Linkin Park looks like some sort of abandoned warehouse. On the other hand, the location used to introduce Busta Rhymes looks like a glamorous hotel room. This could show the contrast of the lives lived by people of different races many years back (the trashed up abandoned warehouse) to how they are living now (nice apartments).
After the introduction shots, another shot/reverse shot pattern appears showing the singers in the locations they were in. Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda is playing the piano and Chester Bennington sing the opening line of the song. The first verse of the song is sang by Busta Rhymes who is still in his apartment/room. The shot is a close up with the rapper positioned in the right side of the screen. The left side is empty and dark, this could have been done to connotate the emptiness in his early life and that he still remembers how bad it was.
"We Made It" was inspired by the problems faced by the Rapper T.I The the RnB/Hip - hop singer Akon. The song reflects on how far people of different races have come, from the lifestyle they had started with. The song also reflect on how Bust Rhymes' career had taken off. "See, how a Ni**a survived the worst but my life is glorious." this quote from the song tells the audience that Busta has been through lots of discrimination and is now at the best stages of his life.
"When it all got started we were steadily just getting reject and it seemed like nothing we could do would ever get us respected" - This is another quote from the song which could be interpreted as how people from other cultures and races did not fit in and therefore did not get the break they needed, to become successful, at the time racism was a big issue in society.