Planning -Target Audience / Mise-En-Scene / Location

Target Audience 

Make-Up

This is the my main artist Demi Lovato. This is a screen shot from her latest music video `heart attack'. As you can see in this picture her makeup is quite dark making her seem strong and powerful in the music video. She has black smokey eye, dark eyebrows, nude lips, slightly contoured cheeks and almost no blush and also the black hair helps to pull the look together. She has used makeup in a way she can express how she is feeling in the music video.   `Puttin’ my defences up Cause I don’t wanna fall in love If I ever did that I think I’d have a heart attack' these are a few lines from Demi Lovatos song heart attack.  She's trying to show that she is independent and has made a decision of not falling for it.  By using this type of make up she has allowed the audience to know what is it that she wants and how strongly she feels about it. 

For our own music video we have decided to use her 
song `Mistake' and also basing it around her song `Heart attack' as they both have an aspect of independence and being strong. `Heart attack is more about being strong and `Mistake' is about getting strong. Make-up is again very important for our music video, and a dark eye makeup would be perfect as it shows confidence and gives a strong impression.  This would appeal to the audience as the artist will be seen as a strong and confident this would give the audience almost an artist to look up to or take as a role model. 

Clothing 

The clothing that we decided to use in the music video had to be carefully thought out; this is because of the weather and the place. It has also been picked out as somewhat of a fashion trend appropriate for our target audience of 15-20 year olds. We wanted to use simple trends that our target audience can easily follow, the whole outfit is very basic, and it is not too much or too little. It is just enough to show that the artist has fashion sense and she can rock the look as long as she is confident.  

Knowing that it is a pop music video we decided that instead of going for the colourful and happy theme, we wanted to go for a more sophisticated feel as the song is about the artist getting over a breakup. This is the stage where the colour black would show how she is feeling as it gives a hint of sadness but also a bit of an edgy confident look that says she’s trying to get over him but not there quite yet. For the look to be not too dark or all black we have decided to use a gold chain that is very much in trend at the moment and also a bright pink lipstick. We kept in mind that because of our genre we had to think about our target audience at every stage.

We would use some trendy items in our music video that our target audience of age 15-20 year olds could follow. Three items that I specifically chose are the black coat, gold chain and the doughnut bun.

Digipak outfit

For the digipak advertisent and our digipak we want to show the artist in a more feminine light, we have chosen to use an Aztec print dress as it is fashionable and it shows a different side of the artist from the one shown in the music video. In the music video she is wearing black in the performance based and come colour in the narrative part of the music video. The music album is going to have more songs that are not all about break ups, there is going to be more girly and fun type of songs that portray the ideal pop genre. This is why we wanted the artist to be wearing a trendy feminine dress

Locations

Our main location to film our music video is central London and other locations are a home environment. We have picked central London - south bank as the main location as it has a number of activities allowing us to film for example the small beach, the bench area and some beautiful green area. We can use all of those locations for our narrative and performance based music video. For the narrative based we could use these locations as a memory where the two lovers would be happily making memories together but it can also be a location where the main artist is having her performance based.  

Overall we picked this to be our final location, we understood that there could be be many different difficulties and restrictions we would face while filming. For example this is one of the most popular place for all Londoners and tourists, this means there would be a lot of crowd and problems while filming but to overcome this we went filming earlier in day to avoid this from happening. Another restrictions was the weather and lighting, for our music video we decided to used natural lighting rather than a artificial lighting, this was a problem at some filming days because it got dark pretty quickly. We over came this by fixing our filming schedule to earlier times. 

Planning- Music Video

For our pop music video we have chosen to do Demi Lovato's song `Mistake'. We have chosen to do this song because it would fit our target age groups 15-20 year olds. Demi Lovato is a young popular artist, the audiences would be able to connect to her because of that and also connect to her songs because her experiences about love and break ups would be similar in that age group. 

Under this photograph I have written the lyrics to the song 'Mistake'. As you can see the song is about moving on with your life after a break up. We will try to capture these lyrics in a video camera and show it through our music video.  

Our music video will be `narrative based and `performance based'. The music video will switch between these two concepts showing the past of the artist which will be narrative based showing her past as she was having a good time with her boyfriend and the performance based will be when she is lipsinging in teh present thinking about the past.We will use many techniques and editing skills in our music video such as a time lapse, at the beginning of the music video this is to show how the main character is feeling, time passing by just like that. Right after this there will be 5 to 6 pictures of the main character and her past lover. These pictures will be shown very quickly as it has to fit in with the fast beat. The main parts of our music video will be performance based and some will be memories of the main character and her past love. Overall using effects and techniques to will have a huge hand in our music video as we are trying to show the character moving on rather than getting sad about it.

Lyrics - Mistake

Now that I am thinking sober

Don't you try to get no closer

I'm just gonna get in my car and drive, and drive

Looking in the rear view mirror

Everything is so much clearer

Watch me wave it all goodbye, goodbye

The lights flashing, giving me all the danger signs

Someone to save, to save but it don't work that way

Think you made your greatest mistake

I'm not gonna call this a break

I think you really blew it this time

Think you could walk on such a thin line

Won't be taking your midnight calls

Ignore the rocks you throw at my wall

I see it written on your face

You know you made it, your greatest mistake

(Your greatest mistake

 Your greatest mistake

Your greatest mistake)

When the last straw is broken

When the last door is closing

I ain't that dumb to stick around, stick around

I ain't got the time for looking back

Gonna let yourself slip through the cracks

And you just keep going down, down, down

I'mma stay undercover, lay low need some time

No one to save, to save, this sick cycle's over babe

Think you made your greatest mistake

I'm not gonna call this a break

Think you really blew it this time

Think you could walk on such a thin line

Won't be taking your midnight calls

Ignore the rocks you throw at my wall

I see it written on your face

You know you made it, your greatest mistake

Why you lookin' at me, spittin' the same old line

Tryin' to creep back, ain't no flippin' my mind

Don't you get it by now

The story's over, over

Still callin' my name outside my house

I'mma hittin' the switch, watch the lights go out

Watch the lights go out

I hope you ache, ache, ache, ohh, ohh oh

I hope you ache, ache, ache, ohh, ohh oh (ohhh)

Yeah, yeah-yeah

Think you made your greatest mistake

I'm not gonna to call this a break

Think you really blew it this time

Think you could walk on such a thin line

Won't be taking your midnight calls

Ignore the rocks you throw at my wall

I see it, written on your face

You know you made it, your greatest mistake

Ohhh, oh

Oh-ohh

Conventions

Intertexuality in music videos

The intertextuality means to combine two texts and merge them together. Artist may choose to use intertextuality in their music videos, as using a popular reference may increase the amount of the views the music video gets. Intertextuality is often quite hard to incorporate into a music video as usually the thing that is being incorporated has to be well known, For example Katy Perry's music video for Last Friday Night.

When you pause at 1.13 you can see intertexuality being used used. The main character is using her laptop and going on the website called friend place. This website is an imitation of the very popular social networking site `Facebook'.  The artist has used intertertexuality refrence to appeal to her target audience of 17-23 year olds. People around that age are most likely to relate to this music video and the intertertexuality the artist has used.

Another intertextuality reference in music videos comes from Taylor Swifts `Love Story'. The intertextuality reference is very clear in this music video. There is an undeniable Romeo and Juliet feel to the music video due to its setting and mise-en-scene.The intertextuality reference fits perfectly with the lyrics of the song as the artist talks about how their love is forbidden by their parents"daddy said stay away from Juliet" is a line from the song. This matches the real love story of Romeo and Juliest as in the original story by Shakespeare their parents forbid them to be together. The artist has chosen to use this intertextuality as it fits with her target audience of 12-16 year olds. As Romeo and Juliet is one of the most well-known love stories she will gain a lot of popularity from this.

      


I think my group will incorporate with intertextuality in our music video. This is because using intertextuality reference can only be a good thing. It gives positive and more popularity to the music video if used well. In our music video the reference has to be a popular well-known or else the music video can maybe look bad or not to the finest quality.

Questionnaire - Research

Questionnaire - Research


Questions:

1. How often do you listen to music?

2. What type of music do you usually listen to?

3. Do you listen to artists from all ages? or do you prefer only listening to artist around your age?

4. Do you feel as if you can connect to the artists you listen to?

5. Do you listen to what's topping the charts? Or do you prefer to find your own music?

6. What is it that attracts you to a music video?

7. Do you think the music video has to visually relate to the lyrics?

8.Which of these locations would be good for a pop music video . (choose your favorite two)

- London - South Bank
- Restaurant
- Beach
- Park
- Studio

Questionnaire Results

History of music videos & How music video and artist have changed

From this timeline I have shown the key changes and improvements of music videos over time. MTV became a platform to watch music video as it allowed the audience to listen and watch latest music videos. Since the release of YouTube in 2005, it became very popular as it allowed you to listen and watch music videos any time. For our music video the main platform for our audience to view it would be YouTube this is because YouTube has grown in huge numbers in the past few years, having the most popular music video at nearly 2 billion views. The vast increase of people watching music video on YouTube has increased as it is a form of entertainment and it is easy to find. 

Michael Jackson

Demi Lovato 

Digipak Print Advertisement Analyse

Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night 

This is the album advertisement for 'Only By The Night' by kings of leon. The first thing you notice about the album advertisement is the colour, which is sepia green. In the middle you can see sections of the face. Shallow focus has been used to show the importance of the face. The image as a whole doesn't show the artist, but is almost an illusion as face is made up of human face mixed with an owls face. The image also gives away a bit of allusion to what the album is called “only by night”. The album cover having a humans face and also the owl signifies the name of the album cover ‘only by night’. 

The albums name is written underneath the image in capital letters and is also a very close colour as the sepia green used in the image. This is because of the relationship between the image and the name of the album. The name of the band is written on top of the cover in a big font and colour, this is because it has to stand out and notify the audience of the band. On the bottom of the album advert it promotes it's lead singles out from the artist for example it says 'the new album includes sex on fire, crawl and use somebody'. This has been written so that the album advert because most fans would recognise these songs as they're the most popular ones. On the bottom of the album advertisement there is a link which leads you to a website that gives you more information about the album. Also next to it there is the companies logo this has been placed there in order to advertise the company. 

From the over all look of the advertisement you get a hint of what genre it is from which is indie scene. This is because of the colours and effect they have chosen to use for example the whole advertisement looks a bit old and not fresh and eye catching. They have chosen to use colours like neon which is a very bright colour but instead of going for the bright neon they have used sepia/neon which makes the advertisement look a bit dull. This advertisement is targeted for audience over 16 years of age, instead of gaining and attracting new audience it seems like the artists are just going for the fans that they already have. This is because the advertisement isn't as eye catching and other advertisements you seeat the time.

Ellie Golding - Lights 

This is the album advertisement of 'Lights' by Ellie Goulding.  The first thing you notice from this album advertisement is the image itself and the name of the artist. The image is of the artist itself, which means she has chosen to promote her own music. What catches your eyes is the glitter/lights in her hair as it makes you look twice as it.  Like The Kings of Lion 'only by the night' glitter/lights effect has been used to signify the album name which is 'Lights'. 

Ellie Gouldings music is different as it is a mix between acoustic and pop hence maybe the reason why she is wearing natural makeup and hint of glamour from the lights/glitter effect.Unlike the last album advertisement of Kings Of Leon on the bottom they have chosen to have ratings and little reviews of certain people for example 'A staggering achievement' giving it four stars and so on.  There is also the logo on the bottom which is not very clear this has been put there again to advertise the company.  This would attract the audience by just looking at it because of the lights, it seems like they are really lighting up. This would attract the artists fans attention and as well as gain more audience due to interest after seeing the advertisement.

Ethnicity

How is Ethnicity represented within the pop genre?

Ethnicity is represented in many ways within the pop genre, these ranges from the different views of white British or white American pop artists and black British or American artists. This however doesn’t change the audiences opinions of the artists due to the fact that we live in a multi-cultural society by which ethnicity doesn’t change people’s perspectives.

There are pop groups that have different varieties of ethnicities within the group, however this doesn't have a huge impact on their records selling or their popularity. For example the teen pop group Spice Girls of the 90s . The Spice Girls has 5 members in total, four of them are white British and one of them is black British. Having one black British girl however doesn't have any effect on their popularity because Spice Girls  sold 80 million copies world wide making them the best selling female group of all time. This show us that ethnicity isn't a huge focus in the pop industry and it doesn't change people's perspectives. 

Another example of this is the more recent pop band One Direction. One Direction is also a British boy band and has 5 members in total has four of them are white British and one is asian British. Having one member who has a different ethnicity however doesn't change their  popularity this is because they have made it very big in the UK and also the US. They are often describes as forming part of a new "British Invasion" in the states, the group have sold 19 million singles and 10 million albums and labeled as the 'biggest boy band in the world'. 
 

In conclusion ethnicity isn't represented in a way where it effects success or popularity, it didn't in the 90's when The Spice Girls were making hits after hits and it isn't now with One Direction breaking records and setting new records. It hasn't been a problem in the past and it isn't being a problem now. Ethnicity will never be a problem, this is because we live in a multi-cultural society where ethnicity isn't thought of as an issue especially because of the wide variety of cultures across the countries. 

 

Digipak Analysis

This is the digipak for Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. Straight away from the colours and the styles of font she had decided to use we can see the music style of the artist. In this front cover you can see the artist laying down naked with some parts covered with soft pink cloud. The image is quite provocative as she has no clothing on but the clouds around her makes the nudity acceptable. This is also because Katy Perry is seen as a female sex symbol. You can see her make up and hair is more of a pin up style which is known as a sexy but also a very classy style. The nudity in the cover can can shock her younger audience but it will also increase sales from more male audience. 

The CD design of this album is very fun and childish in a good way as it goes along with the outside cover very well. Why the CD design seems fun and childish is because one of them is meant to be a doughnut where as the other one is a red and white strawberry and cream drops. They go along very well with the front cover because of the colour that has been used most which is pink. If you look at the back cover of the digipak it relates as all the O's is replaced with the strawberry and cream drops. 

I think the artist has used a playful but also a sexy concept in her digipak because it is targeted towards audience from 16 and up. The playful and childish tone of the digipak is targeted towards the younger audience where as it is actually mostly targeted towards a older audience this is because of the sexy concept that is a lot deeper. This is also because the artist wants to target and attract male audience. 
The back of the digipak has song names in red, this makes it stand out more to the audience and has a nice contrast with the pink clouds at the back.The font is quite big and chunky which makes it easier for us to read and it also matches well with sweets that have been placed instead of O's. I think the digipak this artist has created fits her genre very well which is pop and overall the digipak does have a pop feel to it because of the different colours and text used init.

Planning - Props/Equipment

These are the equipments we will need to film our music video and digipak;

Equipments (Filming)

1. HD Video Camera - We will need a video camera to film our music video, it will be best if it is HD this is because we want to record our music video in the best quality possible. we will need this video camera to take photos of the artist for our digipak and advertisement.

2.Tripod- We will need a tripod to film many shots and to keep the camera steady while doing so.

3. Mac Computer- We will need a mac computer to edit our footage. We thought a Mac computer would be best to do so because it is slightly more advanced then normal computers and it also has many features already on it that will be helpful in the process of editing.

Equipment List (Editing)

1. Final Cut Pro
2. Adobe  Photoshop

Props

Ice cream- We will have very simple props like ice-cream in our music video, this is to make the scene more fun and creative. Making the music video fun and creative therefor showing our target audience and also our genre pop.

Pictures- We will have pictures in the music video as a memory, showing the good times the couple used to have. This will be an important prop in our music video as it will show how close they were and how difficult that break up was, this will help the audience relate to the artist and help create an emotional bond.



Phone- We will be using a phone in the music video as an intertexuality where the audience will be able to see the boyfriend of the artist calling, there she will decline the call this is to show that she has moved on.

Audience / Target audience

The primary audience we are aiming to target are aged from 15-20. We decided to target these ages as they are slightly more mature and may be able to relate to some of the music and lyrics.

Our secondary audience we chose to aim our music video at are aged between 9-14. This was because from our research we noticed that there was a huge fan base for a lot of pop artists from this age. It could be argued that this is because they are easily influenced and inspired to follow the trends and lifestyles of their idols.

Some examples of the type of musicians our target audience may listen to are Little Mix and Justin Bieber. They are two very different artists but often share a very similar group of fans. Our target audience enjoy listening to girl bands such as Little Mix because of their music and personalities. Also because they are young and at a similar age to their audience, it is easy for them to find things in common and relate to one and other. From this picture, you can notice the out-going style these individuals have. From the audience's point of view they see the band over all as a querky, fun and happy girl band.

On the other hand, Justin Bieber is seen as a successful, attractive and talented male artist who has a huge supportive fan base.
His target audience is also of a young age which varies widely. Justin Bieber is an attractive male, this could expand his audience further as they admire his looks a lot aswell as his music.

Target audience 

Laura Mulvey Theory

Laura Mulvey's theory ' The Male Gaze' suggests that the camera/audience always represent a heterosexual man's perspective of the scene objectifying women. Mulvey states that women are typically the objects, rather than the possessor, of gaze because the camera is controlled by the assumptions of a man’s point of view.

The perspective of women through a man's eyes has changed in many ways over the past few years for instance before men used to admire a females natural beauty as for now, for instance a man’s eyes linger over the curves of a women's body. In the recent music videos this can be shown clearly for example Robin Thicke's `Blurred Lines' has been creating controversies where University of Bolton student union has banned the song becoming the sixth to do so due to its references to sexism and non-consensual sex. 'Blurred Lines' is an example to a heterosexual male’s perspective as the music video itself and the lyrics are from a man’s perspective.

 

 

Laura Mulvey's also states that in music videos women are portrayed only in two ways these include 'virginal innocent character' or the sexy 'whore' she calls these to perspective the 'virgin/whore dichotomy'. The first music video is by Nicki Minaj, as Laura Mulvey's theory would say she is portrayed as sexy 'whore' character whereas the second video is by Taylor Swift is portrayed as the 'virginal innocent character'. Identifying the sexy 'whore' in a music video, it is normally suggested through their character in the music video as you can see in the first video the artist is wearing tight clothing that emphasises their curvy bodies and also very revealing in some areas. Whereas identifying the innocent character in the second video you can see the artist is wearing clothes that are more lady like and covered up. Laura Mulvey disagrees with the interpretations of women as it conveys women to look at themselves through the eyes of men and instead of having to try to fit into the male gaze ideology they should have their own individual image.

 

Dyar's Star Theory

Dyer's Star Theory

Th Dyer Star theory focuses on the idea that celebrities that we see are constructed. `Stars as constructions' Dyer's Star applies that the image we see is constructed or made by the music companies and institutions to target a specific audience and to get financial gain. He believes that a celebrity is built for the audience and is not an actual person.  Dyer Star suggests that celebrities are constructed making them unique and different, finding a different point to be their selling point, for example Lady Gaga. She is a very famous artist that is shown to be a extraordinarily unique wearing dresses out of meat and other unusual type of things.

Dyer star believes that celebrities  are made or created to make money from the audience for the record label. One example of this is X Factor, x factor is a popular TV show that repeatedly churn out what they think the audience want. From this TV show the record labels have to cater to the whole markets of audience who want something different. Dyer Star also believes that the stars influences new culture for example imitate a fashion trend, hairstyle, clothing which is copied by the audience. Linking back to the Andrew Goodwins theory of demands of the record label, the artist would need to include a lot of closeups of the artist which would be primarily to sell the material of the artist, also to introduce a style to which fans can relate and imitate through mise-en-scene. In both Rihanna's short black hair could be a influence as it was a huge trend back in 2009. 

Dyer Star believes that the character is formed by the record label but also the personality is formed by the them. 

Celebrities are presented as 'real' human beings this is to make the celebrity believable among the audience. The celebrities are presented as 'real' human beings, as for this when we see a star's life in magazines and news we feel as if we are close to them for example Britney Spears who had troubled few years and breakdowns. 

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin's Theory 

Andrew Goodwin  ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)

Andrew Goodwin believes that artists use music video to demonstrate their genre characteristics, to show what category they fall in to. The artist may chose to show the genre of their music video through the use of mise-en-scene, editing, camera work or soundtrack. Hip Pop based music videos often shows what genre they fall into by mise-en-scene, for example dance choreography and the style of clothing. Where as a punk rock music video would show their genre through the mise-en-scene mostly for example hair, makeup and clothing not dance choreography. 

Goodwin also states that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals . This could be applied in many music videos now for example Katy Perry's `Last Friday Night'. In this music video you can see there is a clear correlation of the lyrics and visuals. 

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Goodwin also believes that there is a relationship between the music and visual. For example, in a Hip Pop music video the editing will be quick and clean, with a tempo matching the speed of the song. However a more slow music videos for example Adele's `Someone like you' the video is more slow, fading cuts this can help emphasis the expressions of the song.  




Goodwin also suggests that due to the demands of the record label, the artist would need to include a lot of close ups of the artist. This is used primarily to sell the material of the artist, and also to introduce a style to which fans can relate and imitate through mise-en-scene. This can be applied to many popular artists but one main artist that this could be applied is Rihanna. This is because in this music video the hair style/hair cut that Rihanna has was extremely popular after this music video came out. 

   

Goodwin also suggests that there is a frequently reference to notion of looking. This is mainly used in the updated music videos, which in their mise-en-scene, features several shots where the artist are looking into the mirror. As well as this, in music videos from the present aswell as the past, contains lots of female objective. This is constant feature throughout music videos, weather it be the singer herself, for example Rihanna. In the the music video above you can see her body language and mise-en-scene that she presents herself in a sexual way. This type of female objectivism could be found in many other videos for example the female dancers in the background in a male singer or group. 

Goodwin theory also says that there is often intertexual reference in music videos. There is often intertexual reference. Many artists uses several reference to other memorable image of figure through their music videos. Those images or iconic figures could be recognised by the audience and they understand the artist is trying to replicate this for either comic effect or the their attempt to create a relationship between the artist and the original image. 

Catagories of music videos

Perfomance Based Video

Performance based videos tend to show the band or artists mostly performing their song mostly in a stage or a studio setting. The two perfomance based video are One direction's "Little Things" and Matallica's "Whiskey in the Jar"

One Direction - Little Things




This is the music video for One Direction's little things; this video is made up completely of shots showing the pop group singing. The colouring of the video is black and white which makes the video more interesting as it stays in people’s minds as most music videos are usually in colour for example other pop genre music videos are filled with bright colour. This song in particular is very different to most of One Directions music as it is a tempo pop and folk ballad whereas all of their other songs are up-tempo song which interpolates pop genres teen pop, power pop and pop rock. There is a range of camera shots being used and close ups of the group members which shows they want the audience to connect with the artists. This is due to the fact that their target audiences are teenage girls; therefore by singing about girls they’re targeting their audience. Metallica's music video Whiskey in the jar is also another example of performance based video.

 
Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar

Narrative Based Video

Narrative based music videos have a storyline, and tend to follow that storyline throughout the whole of the video. The music videos below are narrative based videos.

Carly Rae Jopsen - Call Me Maybe



Narrative based video attempts to tell a story. This type of video generally involves a main actor and maybe extras to potray the story. The narrative of the song is lyrically literal, but sometimes for some narrative based videos it isn't. In this video Carly Rae Jopsen is the main character and the others are all extras, through out the video we can see a story bulding up till the end. Rudemental's Waiting all night is also an example of narrative based video.


Rudemental - Waiting all night

Concept Vidoes

Jason Derulo - Talk Dirty



Concept based videos follow a single concept or idea, which are often usual or show a particular filming or editing technique used. A good example of a fully conceptual video is `Talk Dirty' by Jason Derulo. The genre of this music video is RnB and it is targeted towards teenagers both males and females. The female audience would find this video appealing due to Jason Derulo exposing his body parts .The male would also fine this music video appealing because of the clothes Jason is wearing and other expensive materials as they may use this sort as inspiration. There is so narrative in the music video but instead are just a performance and a dance this video more intresting for the audience. Robin Thicke's Blurred lines is also another example of concept based music video.

Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines