First draft of our storyboard 'LG TD BH KD'

Location Shots 'LG TD BH KD'

These are some location shots from the our music video, including some of the main areas of film.

Audience viewing habits

These days it has become extremely easy and massively available for everyone to watch and enjoy music. 

There are many ways in which people can watch music videos of all different sorts and genres. The internet, You can view music videos through many different websites, the main one obviously being the official websites of the artist/band of the song their listening to. 

There are also websites such as Youtube and Vimeo. 

You could also watch music videos on television as there are now many channels dedicated to certain music genres, these channels include MTV, AKA, Scuzz, Kerrang and many more.

Channel AKA is a Free-To-Air music channel, owned by All Around the World Productions, available through Sky within the UK and Ireland on channel 385. It is a music channel, focusing on playing upcoming UK urban/grime/hip-hop music and this would be the channel that the audience of our music video would watch as it features the exact type of videos we are creating. Channel AKA is a significant outlet not only for established artists, but also for those who are just starting out. Its material "includes crude productions shot with handheld digital video cameras," and helps new musicians attract attention and build a fan base.

Another way to watch music videos would be on smart phones and other technology such as iPads and iPods etc.

Audience theories

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - The theory that there are 5 layers of needs that all humans share; physiological (food, sleep,shelter), security, social, esteem and self actualisation.

Hypodermic Syringe Theory - The theory that media messages can be injected into the system like a drug, and influence people to behave in a certain way, e.g. seeing a 'cool' rapper being aggressive in a video could influence a male audience who identifies with him to behave similarly.

Desensitisation Theory - The theory that repeated exposure to certain messages can influence audiences to accept them, e.g. continued exposure to music videos that sexualise women through their clothing can influence ordinary women to believe that this is a 'normal' way to dress.

Two-step flow Theory - The theory that in society there are opinion leaders, who are influential in being able to shape the opinions and attitudes of people.

Uses and Gratifications - The theory that audiences use media texts to fulfil certain basic needs and pleasures, such as personal relationships, personal identification, diversion/escapism and surveillance.

Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.

Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg) substituting soap operas for family life

Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts

Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living eg) weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains

Analysis of music video survey results

This is the analysis of the music video questionnaire...

More than 80% of people said that music videos are important. This means people are constantly looking for new features and styles of music videos, because people are always interested into looking at new music videos. This is a good sign for our video because it means they will be interested with the style of our videos.

Over 50% of people who answered said that they would rather view a music video containing a narrative rather than a music preformance. The lyrics of our song itself is a story being told through the artist in this case Ed Sheeran & P Money are telling a story of hardships of life, The track is very personal and i think this is the best way to get the messages across.

Codes and conventions of a music video

Camera

- Close up shots of the lead singer and their instruments such as guitar.

- Short cuts in time to the beat of the song.

- Long tracking shots of the full band.


Sound

-Fade outs/ins.

-Can use distorted effects to blur in or out some lyrics.

-Auto-tuning modern day pop songs and even
other genres now use auto-tuning.

Mise en scene

- The narrative depends on the genre.

- If pop its normally based on love, sex or break-ups.

- If rock/alternative there is usually more band shots rather than a story to the video.

- Product Placement in music videos (for example putting Redbull in a music video with a lot of dancing)



Editing

-Quick cuts and cross cutting for up-beat fast paced, mainly pop songs.

-Slow mo shots for example rock or alternative.

-Fade out's are used in slow songs.

-Sometimes certain lyrics appear on the videos.

-Cuts in time to the beat.

Theorists - Dyer, Todorov, Propp and Levi Strauss

Todorov -

The theorist who studied narratives and came up with the theory that all narratives have an equilibrium, a disruption, a quest and a return to the equilibrium.

Propp -

The theorist who identified that narratives tend to contain identifiable character roles, such as the hero, mentor, villain and a helper.

Levi Strauss -

The theorist who said all narratives are made up of binary opposites. The use of opposites offers a comparison and helps to exaggerate features, examples.. dark vs light, warmth vs cold, etc.

Dyer -

Dyer was the theorist who studied celebs and concluded that stars are an image and not a real person, a cultural construction, a commodity, both extraordinary and ordinary. An example of one of these stars would be Lady Gaga.

Audience Research (Survey)

This is the survey i have created to have a better understanding of my audience and how they feel about music videos.
This will fundamentally be my audience research for my music video. I have asked these questions in my survey to find out certain factors which will affect our music video.
These factors i have chosen to find out are How people watch music videos on? Why do they watch music videos? What is their favourite genre? Do they listen to urban music? etc...

If you could take the time to answer the questionnaire that would be a major help to me and my group, thank you.

Click here to answer the survey..

Research into record labels

A record label is a trademark which is related to the marketing of an artist or bands through the use of videos and records. 

They are involved in the production, manufacture, distribution, promotion, marketing and copyright enforcement. 

They also conduct talent scouting and development of new artists and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers.

The three big record labels since 2012 are;

• Universal Music Group 
• Sony Music Entertainment
• Warner Music Group

Also a number of artists use independent record labels. Independent record labels is a record label without the funding of a major record label. Independent record labels often release their music to a small audience of devoted fans not depending on huge sales and success therefore giving the artist more freedom and a more enjoyable life as a music artist with more time to themselves.

The History/origins of the Music Video

Queens Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975 has said to have been one of the most influential music videos of all time, although many different things before this might have influenced the modern popular music videos these could have been;

• Busby Berkly
• Walt Disney
• Sergei Einstein
• Youth culture revolution
• Rock and roll films

One of the reasons Bohemian Rhapsody is so regularly recognised as definitive for the newer popular music videos is because it exemplifies the grammar of popular videos. The key feature of popular music video is that the moving images is edited to be in time with the music. Subsequently the produce of Walt Disney, Sergei Eisenstein and Busby Berkly are key landmarks in the advancement of the modern music video. Although to consider the video directed by Bruce Gower for Queen as the first ever music video is incorrect.

During the 1940's the Panorama Soundie jukebox played clips of films over popular songs as the 1950s rock & roll films introduced audiences to the idea of band proformances. Though it started life as a B-movie, Rock Around the Clock, which starred Bill Haley, was one of the biggest hits of 1956. The film is composed mainly of band performances by Haley, The Platters, Alan Freed and Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys. As it is difficult to pick out one single factor in the transformations that took place in youth culture at the end of the 1950s, the reason for the spread of popular music television in the period were as complex as they were dynamic. To say that since the advent of the popular music chart it would seem that increasingly the lifestyle choices of the wealthy demographic of baby boom consumers was fixed around the purchase of highly influential popular music products. Music in television like American Bandstand in the US, Top of Pops in the UK and Beat Club in Europe were central factors in the developing youth culture revolution.

The thrust of the youth movement within the 1960s can be drawn in the transformation of fasion codes and conventions from the fastidious tailoring of the Beatles suit to the long haired revolt of the hippy era. From the Beatles earliest inception, yet, popular music television defined the forms and conventions of the usual music video which consisted of carefully choreographed dances/performances, synchronised to the studio recording of that individual track; close up shots, taken from high and low angles, then edited in time with the music. While the BBC courteously provided their own dance crew when an artist was unable to perform on the show, such was the influence on record sales that by the late 1960s record companies were airing big name stars to create short films to coincide with single releases when promotional duties over-seas would otherwise prevent them from supporting the release with a television performance. However, while the Beatles track Strawberry Fields and Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale are both examples of early music videos, the reason Bohemian Rhapsody is so revered is that the visuals are structured so precisely around the alignment of the song.

Micheal Jackson's Thriller Analysis

I watched the infamous Michael Jackson music video ‘Thriller’ I researched the video in detail and took notes to use for the analysis.

The Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ music video was published in 1982 by Epic records. The genre is pop/RnB/Funk. The video won 8 Grammy awards. 

The music video is different to a normal music video in many ways. The video is set out like a film and is 15 minutes long. This is unlike a normal music video which does not last this long and instead, usually lasts about 3 minutes. They do not usually this long because the audiences' attention would usually drift. Artists such as Michael Jackson are able to do this because of their name and their audience trusts them so much to entertain them and keep their attention. 

The thriller video was so popular when it was released that it would be played on mainstream music channels and radio stations more than 3 times an hour due to high demand. The video was made with a budget of about $500,000 and made about 9 million units in profit.

The video goes against the stereo typical features of the pop genre. The video keep more towards a stereotypical horror video. The scenery is very dark, the characters are creepy monsters and ghools and there are even some jumpy scenes at the beggining of the video which is very stereotypical of a horror video.

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

In terms of audience, Kings of Leon's video 'Use Somebody' has many fandom opportunities in which the fans can experience behind the scenes actions such as unseen footage of the band backstage and laughing and joking. Through the video, the audience can develop a personal empathetic relationship with the band through the close up's of the lead singer and his sad lyrics the target audience feel they can relate to. The target audience of Kings of Leon would be young adults, who have been through similar situations to the band members themselves, therefore identifying personally with the experiences the lyrics speak of.

    

In terms of narrative 'Use Somebody' tells the story of how lonesome travelling alone can be on the road without someone to love you. It shows the hustle and bustle of busy life as a performer, and how the lead singer could 'use somebody' to be with. Tracking shots showing traffic- giving connotations of travel and movement- and tracking aerial shots showing cities from a birds eye view being juxtaposed with close ups of the singer singing to the camera provide the binary opposities of the busy life of travel with the calm stillness of lonliness.

The video of 'Use Somebody' is placed within the rock genre which shows the busy life of being on tour and the 'rock and roll jet set' lifestyle. I know the genre of this song is rock as it features a full band which includes guitars, drums and male vocals (typical of a rock band).

    

The video clearly shows a representation of a rock genre. It includes leather and dark clothing which is stereotypical of rock bands as is the dark lighting, this is to try to show the audience that touring is not very nice and not as glamorous as it seems.

The mise-en-scene of this video shows the band in New York and shows the skylines of the city, it also shows them lying around and look exhausted from the hectic lifestyle of touring. The music video involves a lot of short jumpy clips, cutting from one to another. This editing technique reflects that fast 'on tour' lifestyle.

The video mainly focuses on the band and in particular the lead singer, when the band is backstage it mostly shows all of them together hanging around and what not. This shows the band are close and are still happy together even though touring away from family and home is tough.

R. Kelly feat. Usher - Same Girl Analysis

R. Kelly feat Usher – Same Girl Audience

Target Audience

The target audience for this music video is likely to be males who have also identified the ‘issue’ of being two-timed by a woman and who might aspire to live the lifestyle of Usher and R. Kelly. Followers of Usher and R. Kelly would be excited about the fact that the two stars are in one song together and also being able to see the kind of lifestyles that they live, There is an opportunity to develop and understand personal relationships between the artists. Woman and girls might also be attracted to the romantic declarations of the artists, and identify with the woman in the video and the idea of being a ‘potential wife’.

Narrative

The narrative begins with the equilibrium of establishing how busy their lifestyles are (and how successful they are). The narrative continues into a phone call between R. Kelly and Usher, where they discuss a girl they have both recently met who is described as everything a man could imagine in a girl. As the narrative progresses, the disruption emerges of the gradual revelation that they are talking about the ‘same girl’ and the conversation continues in a car and in a fancy house, which has a basketball court; this shows the success of the artists. They plan on tricking the woman to meet them at a restaurant at the same time, where they discover they are actually identical twins and the equilibrium is restored.

Genre

The genre this song would fit into would be R&B. There are many things in the video that tell us this. Firstly the iconography of R&B such as the bling, fast cars, cigars, money and clothing. There is also some stereotypical language in the song, words such as ‘homie’, ‘crib’, ‘dawg’ and these are typical for R&B. The acting of the artists in the video is also associated with African American music and R&B culture which involves lots of hand gestures and pointing at the camera.

Representation

The video/song has an unusual theme for R&B, as it shows a woman playing two men where it is usually the other way around. In the video we see two men being betrayed, but rather than have a dispute over it, they use thier friendship bond to get back at the girl in a role-reversal. There is a lot here that is stereotypical, however male R&B artists tend to be associated with extravagant displays of wealth and luxury which is also shown in this video, with expensive cars, basketball courts, jewellery and luxurious houses. Another thing i noticed about R&B videos is that woman are usually represented as sex objects, however in this video she has some power over both men. Her outfits throughout the video are revealing and exaggerate her sexuality, and the colour black associates her with danger and mystery.

Institutions

Analysis

Ed Sheeran - Small Bump Analysis

Ed Sheeran – Small Bump 

The audience for this video is likely to be primarily females, who might be able to relate to the tragedy of losing a child and who might be able to associate to the lyrics. Fans of the artist would be excited to hear this track by Ed if there are already his fans. He gives the opportunity for people to think about a deep meaningful matter which would be too sensitive to bring up in normal conversation but in the form of a song the subject can be discussed.

The narrative of this song is about his friend losing her child For the purpose of the song, Ed imagined that it was his child, allowing the track to become racked with tear-jerking lines and imagery. Ed is great at drawing on reality to create acoustic masterpieces like this. It’s relatively simple, backed by a slow beat, piano, acoustic guitar and it “tells you nothing but truth”. Ed’s vocals are pure with a touch of innocent maturity to his tone.

He’s still young but he appears to have seen and experienced a lot. Naturally, given the subject matter, the lyrics are incredibly profound and sad. As is typical in Ed Sheeran songs, the closing lines always leave the listener with a lasting impression that sums up the overall message. Small Bump ends with “You’re just a small bump unborn for four months, then torn from life. Maybe you were needed up there but we’re still unaware of why.” I think it rounds off the song well and encapsulates all the pain and anguish that he’s tried to create in the song. In the video there is injured people shown, this is to represents Ed’s pain.

Raised in Suffolk, he moved to London in 2008 to pursue a musical career. In early 2011, Sheeran released an independent extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project, which caught the attention of both Elton John and Jamie Foxx. He then signed to Asylum Records. His debut album, containing the singles "The A Team" and "Lego House", was certified quintuple platinum in the United Kingdom. In 2012, he won two BRIT Awards for Best British Male and British Breakthrough. "The A Team" won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song musically and lyrically. In 2012 he won British Solo Male Artist and British Breakthrough Act.

The video is placed into the ‘acoustic rock’ genre but he is known as a singer-songwriter. Although the video is sad and depressing the acoustic guitar is the main part and is played throughout the song. The image of Ed Sheeran shows that he is in the ‘rock’ genre he is typically long haired and bearded.

The opening shots are a series of cuts showing different things you would find in an A+E area of a hospital, all of the shots are dark and out-standing showing the seriousness of the song. There is then a slow zoom towards Ed as he stares at the floor showing how deeply into thought he is about the prospecting prospect of losing a child. The camera then pans slowly back and forth Ed as he is sat there with a gloomy look upon his face. There is no action in this video yet is still very intense and the lyrics engage the audience into the horrific feelings that Ed is ‘feeling’, The acting of Ed in this video is outstanding.

The Brief

A2 G324 Advanced portfolio
A promotion package for the release of an album. 

The Brief...
You have to produce a promotion package for the release of an album, to include :

Main Task: 

 A Music Promo Video

Ancillary Tasks: 

 A cover for its release on DVD

A magazine advertisement for the DVD