Jenny and Jonny are very typically rock and roll 1950’s styled. This is shown by the leather jackets, oversized sun glasses. They use old retro looking cars and landscapes for their photo shoots that enhances the retro rock and roll feel of their visual style and image.
The artists on screen image is a tad hard to say as they haven’t got a existing music video but going off photos taken at their tour gigs the rock and roll look of the performance shots look very in keeping with the look they are trying to replicate from the 1950’s.
Jenny and Johnny’s music matches their visual style by being very bare basics with no computerised sounds or effects, their music is very strings based that shows the audience that they are confident with their musical ability as they don’t have to hide anything by putting in electronics sound effects. This is similar to music in the 1950’s where the music was that purely of the instruments and that the artist made there vibe and feel of music themselves and not on a computer, but as they were in the 1950’s not using a computer was quite easy....
Jenny and Johnny seem to be more targeted towards the female market as the majority of the products in their very limited merchandise shop on Jenny and Johnny’s official website shows me that they have a bigger female market share in their brand than males do. Out of the six apparel items that are available to purchase on the website only one of them are dedicated to males. This shows that they don’t expect to sell many pieces to the male gender so have limited that choice and expanded on the female’s product range.
The t-shirt for the male market is just a plain black t-shirt with a little Jenny and Johnny logo, as seen below:
For the females there are products such as handbags and pink t-shirts, as seen below:
With keeping with their 1950’s theme Jenny and Johnny have released a Vinyl LP version of one of their albums. This shows that they don’t just cater for those that want to play their song on CD players but they appreciate the style and origins of their sub-genre and the look that they style themselves upon. The Vinyl LP cover can be seen below:
The front cover shows Jenny and Johnny lounging about on a street with the sun light from the top left hand corner bleaching the image so it has a red glow over it. This makes the picture stand out as a normal colour photo would look bland. The clothes that Jenny is wearing are of a quite retro look as the shades complement the high thigh dress well.
Jenny and Johnny use their record label (WMG) to promote and sell themselves by cameo appearing in several US TV shows such as ‘Gossip Girl’ which is produced by Warner Brothers TV, which is itself a sub company, from the conglomerate Warner Brothers. This is examples of synergy that is used to promote the bands brand of Jenny and Johnny which will itself drive the sales of their music and tour tickets.
Jenny and Johnny have an official website that is used to promote tours and new singles/albums as well as be used to host their online merchandise shop for fans to buy into their brand with branded t-shirts and bags. An official Facebook page is also used as promotional material for the duo along with the obligatory band MySpace page.
Jenny and Johnny are a duo whose music is in the Alternative/Indie/Folk genre. Jenny and Johnny style themselves on the looks from the retro 1950’s era with a rock and roll ‘Elvis’ feel as a side order. They both carry off a casual laid back approach that matches their clothes perfectly to create the whole feel of rock and roll even if there music isn’t that.
A similar band like Jenny and Johnny is another band duo, Wye Oak. Wye Oak play similar music and have a similar look to Jenny and Johnny. They are a male and female duo who seems to like unusual photos of them such as:
They dress in casual clothes but have that bit of rock and roll which they portray in the way they play their instruments, such as:
Jenny and Johnny have only in the last few years been a band together, before they joined up Jenny Lewis (the Jenny half of the duo!!!) was in a band called Rilo Kiley. Rilo Kiley’s style was very different to that of Jenny and Johnny’s. The styling was very much three geeks and a friend who’s a girl (not girlfriend!!), the ‘geeks’ of the group wore very stereotypical dress with matching hairstyles with Jenny Lewis was very much the ‘pin up’ of the group and was made to look that way from every angle, maybe too much effort was made in this area….
Johnathan Rice had before joining Jenny Lewis to form Jenny and Johnny a soloist who had had the same style for the majority of his career. His style is the typical folk/indie look with the long hair, shirts/t-shirts and jeans. The whole appearance of him looks like not much time and effort has been afforded to styling his looks. However the genre that he is in requires that kind of look so he pulls it off perfectly.
After Jenny and Johnny formed Jenny and Johnny, their looks were moulded into that the fans know today, the 1950’s, rock and roll style.
This is a research task we were asked to do on the visual style and image of our artist. Because our artist does not have a music video yet I chose to use press shots and pictures for my research.
Image
Some of the typical visual elements that I think signifies our artist is their clothing style. They are well known for their 50's vintage outfits and matching jackets which represents both their band and personal relationship.
I also think the use of specific colours signifies them. Blue, black and red seem to be reccurring colours in most of their press shots, incorporated into their clothing and the setting around them.
Their style also seems to be very all american with a country/folk style sometimes used.
Visual Style
From the research I have done using music videos from Jenny&Johnny's former bands I think they would use editing in their music videos to cut between performance and narrative scenes. I think this because most alternative bands use both of these things in their music videos and Jenny&Johnny use them in their music videos from their former bands (links below) Link to Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining Music Video Link to Johnathan Rice - We're All Stuck Out In The Desert
I also think that they would use alot of hand held camera shots, almost like a home video. I think this because it would fit with their DIY music style image and it is used in the Johnathant Rice video (link above.)
Following on from my email to Stewart Thornhill, permisson has been granted and a location suggested for our filming. Here is the response I recieved:
Mart
Dear Martin,
I don’t think that you need to request busking permits as strictly speaking you’re not busking. As far as a suitable location, I would recommend using Chapel Bar beyond the bars outside seating areas and close to the public seats. It is an official busking pitch but rarely used so you will not get any hassle there from buskers wanting to perform there at the same time. You would get problems using other busking pitches as they are more popular.
If you do get approached by our community protection officers, you can show them this email as proof of permission being granted.
It was brought up in our pitch feedback that a busking license might be required for our music video. Today I emailed Stewart Thornhill (who is Nottingham's City Centre Neighbourhood Action Officer) regarding the issue.
I emailed him the following:
Dear Mr Thornhill,
I am a Media Studies student at Bilborough College and am working in a group of 3 to produce a music video. We are currently in the planning stages of the process.
Our main idea for the video involves two buskers on opposite sides of a street, from cut scenes the consumer will know they were a couple and have recently split up. Throughout the video they strive to outdo each other with their busking. Eventually the girl gives up, goes across to the boy and steals his equipment.
For this idea to work, would we need a busking license?
We/Our two actors/musicians would not be taking any money from the public (if we do get given money, it would be given back instantly). We would obviously be filming the busking from a variety of angles, lengths etc, like what would be seen in a standard music video. So do we need a license to film in the street? We wouldn't film any members of the public, just our two actors/musicians.
We would be filming for about 2 hours for one day, and possibly a second day if a re-shoot is required.
Please can you advise me/us on what we can/cannot do and where we can/cannot do it.
I have been researching busking in Nottingham and got your details off the following link: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=9409&p=0
Yours Sincerely,
Mart Smith
The album cover for Jenny & Johnny's album "I'm Having Fun Now" shows Jenny and Johnny in their usual vintage style with their old station wagon in the background on what seems to be country road in America which fits in with their very "All american" style. They are also lying very close together which shows how they are usually marketed on their personal relationship, not just the fact that they are in a band together.
Johnny and Jenny use their "His&Hers" style theme in their merchandise by having his and hers t-shirts. The t-shirts also feature the bands logo which makes them recognisable as Jenny&Johnny band shirts.
Jenny & Johnny's Merchandise also seems to suggest that they are marketed more towards a female audience as most of their merchandise would appeal more to a female market, for example the "Jenny & Johnny Tote Bag" (pictured)
Their merchandise also maintains their vintage theme as they have a Vinyl version of their album "I'm Having Fun Now" availible in their online shop.
(Pictured)
Jenny & Johnny also show examples of synergy in their music promotion as they featured in an episode of Gossip Girl which is on Warner Bros TV which is owned by conglomerate company Warner Brothers who also own Jenny & Johnny's record label WMG.
Jenny and Johnny use new media technology to promote their music as they have a myspace and a facebook page (links below)
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.
The album cover for Jenny & Johnny's album "I'm Having Fun Now" shows Jenny and Johnny in their usual vintage style with their old station wagon in the background on what seems to be country road in America which fits in with their very "All american" style. They are also lying very close together which shows how they are usually marketed on their personal relationship, not just the fact that they are in a band together. 
