The genre for our music video

is electro pop.

Electro pop...

• It is a sub-genre of pop that was particular popular in the 80’s, where the synthesizer was the most dominant instrument.

• It arose as a distinctive genre originally in Japan and the United Kingdom as part of the post-punk era and within the new wave movement of the late 70’s to the mid 80’s.

• Some of the most famous synthpop (electro pop) include ‘Duran Duran’ and ‘Spandau Ballet’, who where popular in the United States.

• This genre did begin to die out towards the end of the 80’s, however has since been revived, with commercial success for artists, La Roux, Kesha and Owl City.

• Electro pop has been described as ‘eerie, sterile and vaguely menacing’. With common themes of isolation, loneliness and the feeling of being cold and hollow.

A modern example of and electro pop artist...

La Roux

• La Roux are an a Electro pop duo made up of a singer and keyboard player, Elly Jackson, and writer and produce, Ben Langmaid.

• Their music is influenced by 1980’s British synthpop, including artists such as ‘The Human League’ and ‘Eurythmics’.

• They released their debut single, ‘Quicksand’ in December 2008. However their second album, ‘In For the Kill’ was much more successful debuting on the 16th March 2009.

• In order to promote the band, they supported Lily Allen on her UK tour of March 2009. As well as performing at many festivals and gigs, in particular headlining at the ‘Samsung NME Radar tour’ in 2009.

• Their main target audience is from the ages of 13-20, with a predominant female gender.

The lyrics to one of La Roux’s most famous songs, Bullet Proof...

Been there, done that messed aroundI'm having fun, don't put me downI'll never let you sweep me off my feet

I won't let you in againThe messages I tried to sendMy information's just not going in

Burning bridges shore to shoreI break away from something moreI'm not turned on to love until it's cheap

Been there, done that messed aroundI'm having fun, don't put me downI'll never let you sweep me off my feet

This time, baby, I'll be bulletproofThis time, baby, I'll be bulletproof

I won't let you turn aroundAnd tell me now, I'm much too proudTo walk away from something when it's dead

Do, do, do your dirty wordsCome out to play when you are hurt?There's certain things that should be left unsaid

Tick, tick, tick, tick on the watchAnd life's too short for me to stopOh baby, your time is running out

I won't let you turn aroundAnd tell me now I'm much too proudAll you do is fill me up with doubt

This time, baby, I'll be bulletproofThis time, baby, I'll be bulletproofThis time, baby, I'll be bulletproofThis time, baby, I'll be bulletproof

This time I'll be bulletproofThis time I'll be bulletproof

This time, baby, I'll be bulletproofThis time, baby, I'll be bulletproofThis time, baby, I'll be bulletproofThis time, baby, I'll be bulletproof

Their are very dark colours used on this album cover, creating a shadowed, eerie atmosphere. The black connotes a depressing feel, following the orange/red colours that express fire and power. It could highlight the artists passion.

Their is an indirect contact from the artist, creating an impersonal cover. The position of the artist creates a strong, but shy persona. The placing of her on the cover, of centre, places her further towards the background. This is further emphasized through the dark clothing and her shadow, therefore she does not stand out from the rest of the cover.

The artists name is placed at the top of the cover in the bold white colour, therefore making it instantly stand out from the rest of the cover. This and the size of this title, makes it the first thing the audience see’s when looking at this cover. I believe the text font that they have used is quite sci-fi, but clean cut. Which I feel reflects the music in this album and the genre electro-pop, which also has a sci-fi feel.

The title of the album is slightly less obvious on the cover, because of it’s smaller size and the font that has been used. However it has been placed in the centre of the cover, therefore making it stand out more than the image of the artist. like many other album covers, they present the artists name as more important than the album title.

La Roux-An album cover

I have decided to analyse La Roux’s music video Bulletproof, so I am able to gain an understanding of the codes and conventions that is used in the genre of electro pop.

One characterThroughout the whole of the music video there is always the one character, we follow her story the whole way through the video. Despite this, she does often change her outfit providing an element of variety. I think through the track that is used and the long shots, this helps the audience to be positioned with this character and helps us to feel what she is feeling, therefore allows us to connect with the song. I think this is a convention that we could easily use in our music video, because only one actor is required which takes a lot less organization than it would do if we needed a group of actors.

The Variety of shots

La Roux uses a variety of shots in her music video, cutting simultaneously from long shots to medium shots to close up shots. I think this provides variety within the video and helps to create the distorted atmosphere that La Roux wishes to portray. I think this convention is something that we could adopt quite easily. Using a number of different, quick shots to create a scene/ movement is something quite simple, but looks very effective. Although I do think it will be hard to keep the continuity perfect, because of the number of different cuts that we will have to fit in. This has been done well in La Roux’s video which means the cuts flow well into each other.

LocationThe location that has been used in this music video is very unique, something that I don’t think that we will be using in our video, because we want to keep it more naturalistic. However I think this location works well in this video because it fits in with the distorted feeling that is attended to be created.

ColoursThe colours used in this video are very bold and vibrant, something that I think we could use in our music video. They make the video stand out, grabbing the attention of the audience. Using these colours in our own video would be effective because they would server the same purpose. This could be changed when we are editing the video, using the colour adjustment tool.