The Script- Hall of Fame: Music Video Analysis

Magic!- Rude: Music Video Analysis

Sam Smith- Leave your lover: Music Video Analysis

Market Segmentation and Audience Profiling

Demographics is the statistical data relating to the population and the particular groups within it.These can be classifed with Age, Gender, Economic Class, Education, financial status etc.

Psychographics: This involves dividing your market into segments based upon different personality traits, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles of consumers. This segmentation is advantageous because it allows you to engage in product design and marketing in a focused manner. These can be divided into 6 classes
​Mainstreamers, Aspirers, Succeders, Resigned, Explorers, Strugglers and Reformers.
For our Music video the classification is as follows:


Demographics:
​Mainstreamers, Aspirers, Succeders, Resigned, Explorers, Strugglers and Reformers.
For our Music video the classification is as follows:


Demographics:
Age Group: 16-30 
Gender: Males and Females both
ABC group: 
Group B: Middle class people i.e administrative, managerial professionals.                      
Group C1: Lower middle class i.e supervisory, junior managerial                     
Group E: Non working i.e Students, pensioners.Employment Status: Students, Unemployed and Employed people
Location: Mostly cities and Urban areas where people can easily access music videos 
Economic class: Middle class, Lower middle class, Working classFinancial Status: Both High and Low income earners.

Psychographics:

1. Mainstreamers: People who seek security, tend to be domestic, conventional and sentimental, favor value over brands and money worth and conformist

2. Resigned: typically older people who seek survival, and prefer traditions and values, slightly rigid as well.

3. Reformers:  People who seek enlightenment and inspiration, tend to create social awareness, anti materialistic but having a good taste in things and have freedom of personal growth.These are the Demographics and Psychographics of the Audience we are looking to target in our music video.

Summary of Audience survey

After conducting the survey for the music video here is a summary of what responses we got: 

Most of the people who took the survey were from the age group 16-25 and in my opinion these people would generally be attracted to the indie pop music. The most popular medium of viewing videos is obviously Youtube, it's extremely user friendly and has all the top hits on the main page which makes it easier for audiences to view.





After the survey we found out that watching music videos is still something general audiences do since due to technological convergence and the increase in digital technologies everything is so compact and readily available, audiences watch music videos using applications like youtube on their phones. There is easy access to technology.

Audiences prefer stories in order to understand the lyrics better and relate to them hence Narrative based music videos are popular.

Indie/ Contemporary pop happens to be a popular genre, 69% people have an idea of what it is. The survey shows that audiences are more into a lot of exposure to lifestyles, voyeuristic ideas and exotic locations. The third most liked element is the social messages passed on through music videos while graphic elements also seem to be important since nothing is complete without proper editing and graphics. 

Music Video survey

Codes and conventions of Indie pop

Denis McQuail says ‘The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers’, this theory applies to the Indie pop genre.

Representation of Artists and Bands in the Indie Pop genre

Music videos in this specific genre are usually performance or narrative based. They are very simply made, and are mostly covers and remakes of original songs; for example, Boyce Avenue does covers by various artists and yet is on of the most famous indie singers. 

The representation of indie artists and bands is not done as a showing off spree, there is no selling of body image, no aggression, no violence, the videos are very calm and simple. The artists are very casually dressed up- they don't have a heaps of make up on and it's more about how the artist is talking about his own story through the song. 

For example, Boyce Avenue- A great big world

Only a few indie artists/ bands dress up formally for a music video even if the context of it isn't formal. 

For example, FUN- We are young

The lighting for such music videos is mainly low-key but it also depends on what the mood of the song is. The mis-en-scene for most acoustic videos is generally a small self created studio or a big room etc. The hairstyles, clothing is very casually done- there is nothing specific to it while some artists may have their signature style, Ed Sheeran is known to be a red head with wavy hair.
The representation of these artists is very typical to what a normal audience could easily connect to.

Instruments of Indie/ Acoustic Pop

Acoustic/ Indie music primarily uses instruments that produces acoustic music as opposed to electronic/ electric means. 

The very basic yet important instruments used are:

Cajon Box Drum

Bass Guitars

Acoustic Guitar

Percussions

Similar Albums for Indie/ acoustic pop songs

Albums of all indie/ acoustic songs differ, some artists only have a few acoustic songs while the rest of the playlist focuses more on the pop/rock side of music which is more popular among the general audience.

Here are a few indie albums with songs from pop to indie rock, catering to a wider audience. 

Some Indie/ Acoustic Pop Tracks

The genre being indie pop, some great music includes:

Thinking out loud- Ed Sheeran

Lego House- Ed Sheeran

We Are Young- Fun

Say Something -A Great Big World, Christina Aguilera 

Cool Kids- Echosmith

Genre; Similar artists of Acoustic/ Indie pop genre

From the time when acoustic pop genre had nearly died down, it is becoming popular again, slowly but definitely. Artists like Sam Smith have played a great role recently in bringing about this change again with pop artists like Ed Sheeran adding up to help the genre grow.

Acoustic/ Indie/ adult alternative artists are extremely popular with their soft, melodious music. A few of the very popular ones are: 

Selecting the Genre

After doing some research on various genres, the genre my group decided is "Indie pop".  It is a very recent yet one of the most popular genres, it includes unplugged performances, the instruments are not plugged into speakers and only portray their actual sounds, with a few exceptions such as the bass guitar.

Indie pop music is a branch of indie rock but much more mellow, melodious, angst- free and without any ruggedness- it is a kind that most audiences thoroughly enjoy. Examples of indie pop singers being Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Ellie Goulding etc. Sometimes the indie pop genre is up-beat as well with singers like Taylor Swift and Rihanna. 

Understanding Genre

A genre is a way of categorizing a text through style and form. Identification of key elements in a text helps us to categorize and classify the text in the genre. Each different type of media form has its own characteristics and codes and conventions that need to be followed in order for it to be accepted by society as a whole. Films have genres e.g thriller, horror, film noir etc, magazines have genres, entertainment, lifestyle etc and so do music eg. pop, rock, indie pop, etc. These genres often have sub genres and sometimes these sub genres are a combination of two different genres.

The elements of media texts might be referred to as paradigms and range from costumes, music, plot points and even the fonts used, depending on what medium is used. Genre is important for readers and the creators of the text especially since nowadays, the audiences have become Prosumers; they produce and consume media texts. Genre helps both the producers and consumers to make decisions about what they want to see and what they want to make to supply the demand. 

"Genre creates expectations that condition our responses. The familiarity of the genre enables each spectator to anticipate and predict what will appear in them. Genre sets up hopes and promises and brings pleasure if these hopes and promises are fulfilled." - Warren Buckland 

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Voyeurism in Music Videos

Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature. The voyeur does not normally interact directly with the subject of his/her interest, who is often unaware of being observed. The essence of voyeurism is the observing but may also involve the making of a secret photograph or video of the subject during an intimate activity.

Voyeurism in music videos is extremely common, it is exploited to attract target audiences (usually of the opposite sex). For example, female pop singers use close ups of their breasts, and other body parts just for the sake of attraction from their own audiences. Male performers usually show their mid shots, shirtless with six pack abs and crazy tattoos.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory: He argued that a female performer with often be objectified through the camera and editing will be done in a fragmented sequence. This emphasises the sexual image of the star. Male performers are however exploited within a music video to flatter their ego.

Example:

Rihanna- Pour It Up

 http://www.ytpak.com/watch?v=ehcVomMexkY

In this music video Rihanna exploits her body and uses voyeurism for attracting the male audience. Firstly, her body movements highlight the figure a lot. The provocative dance movements on the chair and then the pole dances leaves nothing to the imagination. The mid shots show Rihannas arching back and in return magnifies her bottom. All of these leave the male spectator with a lot of sexual gratification and pleasure.

Star Image

Some research into Andrew Goodwins and Richard Dyers star image theory: I chose Beyonce as the star since her image has changed a lot ever since she started off.

Looking into my favourite Music Videos

Music videos is a form of media everyone enjoys thoroughly since it allows you to listen to your favourite song and watch the video along with it, it is a genuine source of enjoyment.

Some of my favourite music videos are:

Sam Smith- Leave your lover
This music video has an extremely interesting story, it uses the hermeneutic code. At first as the video goes on you're forced to believe something else to be true while the actual truth/ story behing the video is revealed at the end. The narrative of the video is told using the body language, facial expressions and close-ups of the star, creating a very prominent star image (Andrew Goodwin theory). 

Katy Perry- Unconditionally
I enjoyed how the music video gave an interesting representation of the Victorian Age where men and women wore big, bold dresses and danced across the halls. This music video portrays it really well and promotes the image of the artist as well, shot by shot, with those elegant dresses. The different mis-en-scene and representation of the artist captured my attention.

Types of music videos

Music Video Theorists

A few theorists we learnt about for the production and creation of our music video are:

1. Sven E Carlsson:
     He believes that there are two categories that music videos fall into:

•      Performance
•      Conceptual

In the performance videos, the audiences are able to see the artist(s) singing/ dancing throughout the video. For example: Lady Gaga- Bad Romance. 

The conceptual videos are when the audience is watching things other than the artist throughout the video. For example: MIKA- Lollipop

2. Michael Shore concludes that music videos are recycled styles that contains an information overload and therefore contains views of adolescent male fantasies. Most videos contain elements of speed, power, girls and wealth. All this conveys into soft-core pornography with clichéd imagery.

3. Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin says that these theoretical conclusions are the basis of understanding music videos.

Cinematic genre 

Advertising

New forms of television

Visual art

“Electronic Wallpaper”

Dreams

Post-Modern Poetry

Metaphysical Poetry

“Semiotic Pornography”

History and evolution of music videos

Here is a background check on the history and evolution of music videos:

What is a music video?

A music video is a collaboration of different images and motion pictures. These images/ motions allow viewers to understand the embedded ideologies and thoughts in the songs. Music videos are made in order to promote an upcoming new album or an artist. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Music videos can be defined as  "Mute 3-minute movies".

Music videos use a wide range of styles of contemporary video making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film.

There are three main types of music videos; Performance-based , Narrative-based and concept-based.

Performance based videos, as the name suggests refer to videos in which the artist performs- it is either live, studio recorded or at the artists own house/ surroundings. A great local example is of Coke Studio Pakistan.

Narrative based videos are different, they tell a story based on the lyrics for example, Handlebars by flobots. Its like a story with a musical background. There is no lip- synchronized singing.

The concept based videos only depict a certain issue or thoughts. Nowadays, record labels use a hybrid form of music videos because they interest audiences more, the most hybrid form of music video is performance- narrative.

Introduction:

I'm Fatima Ali, an A level student at Learning Alliance- I recently worked on my AS level Foundation portfolio which included making a magazine cover, content and double spread page. The foundation portfolio helped me understand the importance of all media projects and the effort and attention it requires, I was able to polish my photography and Photoshop skills.

Here is a link to my previous blog: https://fatimaalismedia.wordpress.com

Set Brief:

For my A level advanced portfolio, the task is to make a "Music album promotion package". It includes making a music video, website and a Digipak. The advanced portfolio allows us to develop our critical understanding skills and be able to plan and construct our media products according to the way we want. In order to be able to have a good project completed by the end of the year, extensive research and planning is extremely necessary. If research is done properly with good detail and sound knowledge of the codes and conventions of a specific genre planning a project becomes comparatively easier since an individual would know what exactly has to be done. During the planning, a proper storyboard and mood-board will be needed in order to show the understanding of all the conventions. Photographic evidence along with footage's of where and what the project is must be given in order to give the portfolio a more personalized feel. 

A music album promotion is going to be challenging but I look forward to learning more, researching and eventually using all of my knowledge of codes and conventions in my project.