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Monday 17 October 2011

Image & Genre - Beth

This is a research task that we have been given to complete on our artist:

I think that Jenny and Johnny come under the genre of Alternative or Indie Folk. Another band that I think could be classified under this genre is Belle and Sebastian. Both artists have a very vintage style, Johnny and Jenny generally have a 50's rock&roll style whereas Belle & Sebastian's style is more 60's. Their style's differ slightly in the sense that Jenny and Johnny always look quite casual and slightly scruffy wheras Belle and Sebastian usually look very smart and neat which I think is because they are aimed at a slightly older market than Jenny and Johnny.


In this picture you can see that Belle and Sebastian all have a smart, 60's style image, all matching and wearing similar colours.


In this picture you can see that Jenny and Johnny have a matching vintage style and they both have their names and band symbol on their jackets which shows that their image is important to the way they are marketed.
Jenny and Johnny have only been a band for a year. Prior to that they both had solo projects and Jenny was part of a band called Rilo Kiley.


Rilo Kiley - The Moneymaker Music Video
When Jenny Lewis was with the band Rilo Kiley I think her image was quite different to how it is now that she is part of Jenny & Johnny. As you can see in the pictureabove her style seemed to have more of a 70's influence. Clearly she is still in keeping with the vintage theme but she has taken her style from a different era.
As you can see in the images above Jenny Lewis's image changed alot during her time as a solo artist which seems to suggest that she was experimenting with it alot and trying to find a look that suited her and her music best.
However, during his solo project Johnathan Rice's image seems to have remained fairly consistent. He seems to have had quite a folk image with the long hair and check shirts and always looks very casual, as if he hasn't really given much thought to what he is wearing.
Then, after forming Jenny&Johnny together both Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice's images changed to the matching 50's vintage style that their fans recoginse them by today.

As I have previously stated Jenny&Johnny don't actually have a music video yet but I have been looking at music videos from similar artists and from Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice's previous musical projects to get an idea of what kind of generic conventions are evident in music video's for their style of music. These usual include both an element of performance and narrative in the video and quite often (though not always) the narrative is centered around some form of alternative lover story. This can seen in the video below from Jenny Lewis's former band Rilo Kiley.
Music videos by Alternative bands usually feature the theme of rebellion and often center around people who live an alternative lifestyle to the societal norm. This theme often features things along the lines of sex, drugs and rock&roll. This theme can be seen in another of Rilo Kiley's video which features porn stars.
More conventions of alternative music video's are hand held/home video style camera shots, unexpected camera angles and low-key natural lighting. All of these things can be seen in the video below from Johnathan Rice's solo project.
Fans of Jenny&Johnny would also expect to see their trade mark vintage 50's style in a Jenny&Johnny video.
Beth

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