Diversity of Music Video's

Diversity of Music Video's

Using examples from famous artists, such as Madonna and Alphex Twin, I will explain what is meant by the diversity of music video's.

'Frozen' by Madonna is very slow and unconventional to the style of music she creates. The typical stereotype known for Madona is happy, fun and joyous, making her image appeal to a large target audience. In contrast to this, 'Frozen' has an opposite effect on the audience as it is more sad, lonely, gothic and uses large amounts of dark colours. The video also shows a large amount of emotion portrayed through close-ups of the artist. Madonna is holding a black handkerchief in her hand matching her clothing. She is dressed as though she is in mourning of death. The video is completely performance based, not linking to Andrew Goodwins theory, showing Madonna isolated in an empty wasteland. As this is unlike any other video's of hers it is likely that the artist has tried something different in hope of gaining a wider target audience, aiming for people with tastes in other genre's to show that she is diverse and versatile.

The next video which is an example of a diverse music video is Aphex Twin's 'Window Licker'. This video is extremely unconventional to the genre he is in. The music video is solely concent based and like Madonna's 'Frozen' could be another attempt to widen her target audience. Because this video is something nobody the audience that watches would expect, it makes the artist unique to any other artist in the same genre category. Whether the video is liked or disliked, it probably has caused controversy with his fanbase and maybe people from the genre he has tried to reach for being something he is not. The clothes worn and the cars shown in the video, show how the artist is trying to be something seen in a hip hop/r'n'b category. The first four minutes of the video includes swearing and a lot of sexist talk about women, a stereotype not seen is his usual genre. It has been made quite difficult for the audience to build a relationship with the artist Aphex Twin as he doesn't appear in the video. The video, like 'Frozen' doesnt conform to Goodwins Theory because it is solely concept based instead of having a bit of all three.

There are positives and negatives about an artist having a diverse music video. The positives show the creative side to the artist and how the artist can be diverse and versatile. It can also represent a deeper side to the artist, something possibly not shown through the media.
A big negative point would be that the artists consistant fans may not be overwhelmingly impressed with the drastic change as they like the artist the way they are. Which brings controversy although that may be what the artist wants. Famous artists such as Madonna have the power to manipulate the industry and maybe make a divrese music video, therefore with the power she has in the industry, one bad/diverse song won't break her career. By creating a diverse video that isn't liked by the audience they are aiming at can be detrimental to the artists reputution and damage their career.
Diversity brings large amount of publicity to not only the artist but the record label and the genre of music the artist is currently in. More publicity whether good or bad will make the audience want to listen to what all the controversy is about and also results in more advertising and fame.

Both music video's were directed by Chris Cunningham which shows that his idea's are unconventional in all types of the word. He seems to focus on the outrageous and not care about what the stereotypes of the artist's genre there are but to make up his own. Chris Cunningham is best known for his work in 'Window Licker' as the visuals are over 10 minutes long and he was nominated for a Grammy for the Best Short Film Music Video.

Overall I think I understand the message the artist wants to bring that they are able to be something other than the image created, star theory by Richard Dyer, however neither of these videos personally appeal to me and I think maybe they stretched a bit too far out to create something that wasn't necessary. Both artists are very talented but the visuals of the videos were strange and not something an audience is used to seeing from these artists. After watching these video's I don't think I will be making my music video to the song 'I Won't Give Up' very diverse.

Planning Artists Image

Planning Artists Image

The costume to be worn by our artist has to represent the genre we are aiming for our target audience. Therefore has to wear clothing that applies to this genre. Clothes to be typically seen on an artist in the alternative pop genre would be a pair of vans, chino trousers, a shirt possibly with a coat and raybans. Clothes that will be worn won't be bright or in your face, just simple to connote the originality of the artist.

Our artist will wear a red jumper. The colour red has connotations of love, hate and anger. These are all emotions that the artist could possibly be feeling. The colour red will leave the audience to decide how they think the artist is feeling. The jumper will be worn over a plain t-shirt. The artist will be wearing skinny jeans or chino's because this tight type of trousers originated from the alternative genre then became more populated.

Like the red jumper, by wearing red vans it has connotations of love, hate and anger. Again vans is an item of clothing that first originated from the alternative genre and become popular however both items first come from the alternative genre therefore still applies.
In some shots as a group we may allow the artist to wear kharki or light green blazers. The colour green has connotations with nature and that is where the artist will be spending most of his time outside, with shots of him thinking, and reminiscing.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment will assist my group and I when we are filming as a guidline to make sure that we are sticking to the rules throughout the time that we are filming. 

Film Schedule

Subculture

Subculture Theory

A subculture is a group of people brought together by a shared interest and become a group evolving from mainstream.

The three main theories about subculture are from the CCCS (The centre for contemporary culture studies), Grant McCracken and the Hebdige theory.

The CCCS theory is when subcultures emerge from a reaction rebelling against mainstream. As a group they would have disagreed with the idea of the mainstream therefore creating an alternative culture by seperating themselves from the norm.

Grant McCracken believes that there is no mainstream and that the worlds culture is dynamic and diverse in creativity with various ideologies and values. 

Richard Dyer's believes a star's image is 'constructed' which therefore leads to the star not being a real person. Although the theory is based on film stars, we can adapt it to music too. Star's also rely on objects like CD's, advertisements, concerts and appearances. 

Dyer believes that the star image is based on two main paradoxes. The first is that the star must be both ordinary, allowing the audience to relate to them as a person as well as a star, and extraordinary with their given talent. The second is being simultaneously present in the public eye however also absent, so that when the artist is away making an album or taking time off, it is a big deal when they come back. 

The artist I have chosen is Jason Mraz. Mraz falls under the alternative pop genre, which conforms to the CCCS theory as it rebels from the mainstream. The code and conventions of this artist match with the alternative pop genre which is very unlike the mainstream. This shows how a culture has been created through like-minded people disagreeing with ideologies of the norm.

Shooting Plan

It is important to have a shooting plan to give us a guideline to stick to when filming. This allows us to have continuity as we won't have to keep stop and starting filming to decide what the next best shot will be.

Group Magazine

 Group Magazine

As a group we sat down and considered each members adverts and decided to share different ideas and designs between the group. My group and I also considered the codes and conventions of alternative music and evaluated each magazine advert which can be seen to the right.

Ryan Hall's

I like Ryan's advert as although it is simple it uses the colours necessary to conform to the genre we are focusing on. The image used of the artist is natural, fun and not edited too much so that the target audience are able to build a relationship with the artist. The magazine is conventional to our music genre as there are simple colours, the same colour scheme, its not too much or in your face. The type is in a font of which is easy to read however is effective with the outer glow created on photoshop allowing it to stand out from the background. The magazine could be improved if the writing at the bottom half of the advert was clearer to read, it also could of been more creative with a greater use of photoshop.



I really like Harry's advert due to the simplicity of the structure. The first image the audience can see is

Harry Chick-Hewitts's

of the artist attracting their attention immediately, with a natural shot showing a close-up of his face. The text is in grey therefore softer on the eye, and the font is nice and easy to read. By having the words 'out now' written in red it really attracts the attention of the target audience and promotes the artist's album effectively. The advert is conventional to the alternative pop genre due to the simplicity and the natural photograph as well as there not being too many colours on the advert. The advert could possibly be improved by using the rest of the space possibly with another picture or bigger font writing.

Adam Taylor's

Adam's advert is good because it gets straight to the point with minimal words and images allowing the audience to know exactly what the advert is about without having to go into too much depth about it. It is conventional because it is quite plain and uses the right amount of type and a good image of the artist however this advert could be better if Adam was a little more adventurous with photoshop and maybe changed the font or had more images of the artist.

Olivia Smith's

My advert conforms to the codes and conventions of the music genre we are aiming to reach as it uses the photoshop correctly by making the image of the artist stand out more by making the background black and white and leaving the artists face in colour with a glow around him to make his face more appealing. The writing is easy to read and used the same font throughout the advert to keep it flowing. With minimal writing, and just what you need to know it is obvious without having to look at it for too long to know what the advert is about. Having the album cover in the bottom corner also promotes the artists album that little bit more. The colour scheme is something I have stuck to throughout just using black and white and the natual colour of the artists face. Although extremely simple and to the point, with a lot of white background, the advert is effective and still creative.




The magazine my group and I have chosen to submit is my one. We did this because as a group we realised it conforms more to the conventions of the genre, as it is simple like the others but the space in the advert is used better and the use of photoshop on the image allows the artists face contrasting from the background to stand out more from the whole advert, therefore making it easier to see what the advert is about. My group and I thought that the target audience would be able to relate to advert because of the image that I have selected to use and this is because our artist looks friendly and inviting.



Magazine Reflection

  Magazine Reflection

    My magazine advert is conventional to my music genre due to the colours, connotations, images and layout. I designed the advert to be simplistic and to the point as that is a common stereotype for the alternative pop genre. The audience can identify that the artist is alternative due to the natural background of each image used.

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  For my advert I decided to use a simple image of my artist and as the background and faded it a little bit to make the rest of the writing stand out. By making the writing black and then giving it an outer glow makes the writing stand even more against the background. By having a minimal amount of writing on the advert, it maximises the importance of the words that have been written. The content is straight-forward and to the point. The simplicity of the advert conforms to the alternative pop genre therefore will appeal to the target audience that I am looking to attract. By having the artists name in the top half of the advert, written in a bold much larger font than the rest of the advert, it will immediately attract the attention of the target audience I am looking to appeal to. The rest of the text is much smaller and is placed above and below the picture. By having the album cover as a small image in the bottom left corner it also promotes the artist. By having the background being nature, it follows the conventions of my alternative pop genre. If I could change my advert I would make the artists face smaller so I could have more detail about the album on the advert. When creating my second draft I will be more creative when it comes to using photoshop and be more daring when using the tools possibly adding contrast and changing the structure alot.

This draft is more conventional than my last to the alternative pop genre as the colour scheme is simple yet effective. By using just black, white and grey its matching with the image in the middle as I made the background of the image blurry and black and white making the image of the artist stand out and catch the attention of the target audience we are looking to appeal to. By putting an outer glow but more so on this image just makes the artist stand out even more. The font type is effective and used just for the title however is the same as the font in the album cover in the bottom right corner. The advert includes the record label in the top left corner, the website at the bottom on the advert and the main important information in the middle just underneath the image of the artist. The image I chose to use for this artist makes the artist looks friendly and inviting as well as natural and not too posed. If I could change this advert, I would of made more use of the space available. Possibly have been more adventurous with photoshop for the background and font.

Cinematography

When I create my music video I will use a varied amount of shots to help convey the feel of the song. One of the main shots used will be a close-up which can be seen in alternative pop music videos. The point of a close-up shot helps to portray the emotion of the artist and by showing the expression on the artist's face it can help the audience to determine how he/she feels about what they are singing. Close-up shots are also a camera shot that is seen a lot in alternative pop music video's therefore conforms to the genre.

Another shot that I will use frequently will be an establishing shot. Establishing shots help to set the mood and the scene of the whole music video by showing the audience the place and setting of which the artist is at, therefore are extremely important. As my music video is going to be filmed in a series of places, there will be a lot of establishing shots helping to show how the artist has gone through a journey.

Long shots will also be used throughout the music video. Using a long shot will help to show the whole of the artist in the frame as well as his surroundings, therefore for our locations using busy towns and cities such as London, I can show my artist being still whilst the rest of the frame is moving or vice versa. As the artists clothing can be seen as a mood-changer, long shots allow the audience to see exactly what the artist is wearing. Long shots are another convention to the alternative pop genre.

Finally, another shot going to be used in my music video is going to be a mid-shot. Most music genre's use mid-shots allowing the audience to see the artists face, showing emotions like the close-up, but also half of the body so also showing the artists clothing and top half of the body. This shot suits most music genres as well as alternative pop as it shows off not only the artist but also the location.

Analysis of Digipak

Front Cover

The images on this post are that of which feature in Jason Mraz's digipak for his album 'Life on Earth'. The album cover is a good representation of the artist as it shows that although at a first glance he may seem plain and just black and white, his tracks are full of ideas, emotions and his life so far shown by the explosion of colour coming out of his head. It's not over the top, its simple and concise and perfect for the image they are trying to convey. The primary purpose of the digipak is to promote the artist and his album.

The background is white which has connotations of purity and cleanliness. The image of Jason Mraz looks hand drawn, still sticking to theme of it all being simple something most alternative artists wish to convey. The colourful images on the front leak to the left and follow then on to the back page. With a background still being white and the colours so bright its not necessarily something seen on an alternative artists album due to the colours being so bright. However is eye-catching and does exactly its purpose by being attractive to an audience possibly not just of the target audience they were looking for in the first place.
By having the barcode and the track list all in the top third on the back cover of the album keeps it neat, out of the way and still enables the audience to see the mini colourful images.

Back Cover

The font on the album covers is simple to read yet a little bit edgy, an image the artist is possibly wanting to portray. The style of language is informal, the font is easy to read and well laid out.

Analysis of Magazine Adverts

Jason Mraz is one of the most successful artists in the alternative genre. This poster promotes the artist and shows him in a conventional way to his genre by him being shown at centre of the stage with an instrument in front of a band, which is a typical characteristic to have for alternative artists as most of their music videos are performance based. Jason Mraz in this image is shown to be an active artist pouring his emotions into the song which is something the audience wants to see to know that the artist is passionate about music. The artist takes up three/quarters of the poster as the poster's primary purpose is to promote the artist and his upcoming gig.

The main colours used are brown and light blue which contrast nicely together but aren't too bright and don't take up too much room on the poster. The light blue is a soft colour that has connotations with tranquility, nature, and earth. For a contrasting colour, brown is a softer and warmer colour than black and also has connotations of autumn and an earthy feel. The spotlights above the artists head portray how the artist is now successful as all the lights are on him. The large splat of colours on the board behind him shows he can be spontaneous and that although most of his songs have a slow tempo, he can also be a lively and active artist.

The layout of this advertisement is typical for an artist in a magazine as it is eye-catching, to the point and giving the audience all the information they need without going into too much detail. The large title of the artists name at the top of the advert immediately lets the reader know what the advert is about. The image of the artist in the middle of the poster of him performing with his arms spread wide holding onto his guitar is an image you would typically see for an artist of this genre. By placing this specific image on the advertisement it allows the reader to see that Jason Mraz gives everything he can into a performance, making it worthwhile going to see him at a gig. The bottom half of the image is all the information the reader needs to know about attending the gig. It's short, sweet and straight to the point. By using the colour cream it isn't as harsh as white but still stands out against the brown. Being all in capitals again catches the attention of an audience. Having some words larger than others emphasizes the importance they hold.

The font is informal yet readable and is fluent throughout the advertisement. The artists name is a different size to the rest of the type as it is what the advertisement is about therefore drawing the artist into reading more about the poster. It's longer and in the blue colour possibly leading to connotations of the artist. Closer to the bottom of the poster, the text is in different sizes due to importance. However although when the tickets are on sale is important it is in small font although in a cream box making it stand out that little bit more than the rest of the text.  The poster is not misleading in this way to somebody flicking through a magazine as the audience understands exactly what the poster is about without having to read  much into it. Although there is little text it really is just the vital information. The language used is simple and straight forward as well as being easy to read as it is just standard english with no specific register.

The advert promotes the artist in various ways, the first by the first words you read being his name. Being the largest words on the whole of the poster it draws your eye straight to it enabling the audience to know exactly what they are about to read. For something flicking through a magazine looking for this poster it is ideal as it would be difficult to miss. It also promotes just the artist in the way of which just Jason Mraz is standing right in the middle of the long shot. By the artist being the only visible, interesting character to look at it just overshadows the background making you concentrate solely on the artist which is standing right at the front of the stage during the performance of which he has given showing his all. This poster promotes the genre as it shows exactly what a concert would be like with the artist. By Jason Mraz standing right at the front of the stage, singing and playing his guitar it is exactly what the audience of this genre want to see. The artist making his own music and performing it naturally with no added techno beats, just the artist and his instruments.


Ed Sheeran is an artist of the same genre, the reason I'm analyzing this advert. This poster is of an image of Ed Sheeran smiling looking away from the camera in sepia. The sepia effect gives the same feel to the advert as the brown used Jason Mraz's. It's soft and brings warmth, linking into the expression on his face. By smiling Ed Sheeran is bringing a positive attitude to the poster allowing the reader to see that the artist is just being himself and natural and not being something he is not.

The only other colours used in this poster are orange and white. The use of white against the brown is effective as it makes it stand out. Orange is used as it is the colour of his album therefore makes sense to include on the poster. The type is small and a little difficult to read due to the font. The poster's primary purpose is to promote the artist and his album. The lighting in the image focuses on the artists face which is a mid shot. The style of language is simple and to the point. By having an image of the album cover on the poster its just promoting the artist a little bit further. This poster promotes the music genre as it is simplistic and therefore the artist is the centre focal point of the advert.

Copyright

Copyright is a legal act of which protects an original company/persons product, ideas and in the music industry, espeically songs, beats and lyrics. This act restricts anyone from using whatever it is that has been copyrighted without permission. Copyright law lasts for 60 years from the release date of a specific song although can be renewed at anytime by the artist. Many song's that have been released in the past ten years are old songs however were never copyrighted therefore free to use and mould into your own as an artist.

As my group and I will be using Jason Mraz's song 'I Won't Give Up' for our music video it is vital that we apply for copyright to Atlantic Records, the record label our artist is signed to. Applying for copyright is essential because the consquences can be a fine for a large sum of money unable to be paid by students only by a large corporate company such as a record company. To use this or any song that has been copyrighted without permission is an illegal offence.

Researching about the copyright act has enhanced my knowledge and allowed me to see the importance of it and the highly damageable consquences linked to it. Understanding how important copyright is gives me an insight into how serious the music industry is and how they will take action if necessary.

Planning Lighting and Colour

Lighting and colour is vital for our chosen music genre as it represents emotions more evidently and control the mood of the entire song. The brighter the lighting the more happier the theme of the song is whereas darkness can connote sadness, evil or danger.
Due to our genre we wanted to stick with natural lighting, making it easier for the audience to connect to the artist as they will not feel as though the video is unrealistic or unconvincing. Experiences through the artists life is sometimes shown as a journey so the more realistic we as a group can make the video by using natural lighting, the more the audience will feel as though they are taking the journey with the artist. A location we have chosen to use in our music video is London due to bustling city life and also the quiet and natural parks, Hyde Park. Using natural lighting for these shots will be ideal as at this time of year the sky is dull and gloomy possibly connoting the mood we may try and put across to the viewers. This can be linked to an emotion or worry of the unknown future or an adventure unknowing what the future beholds for the artist.

Grey tint is something to be considered to use in our music video as it is an easy way for the audience to see that its representing the past or a flashback from a previous time when he was with his love interest. However usually flashbacks are can be for a positive or negative period in their life. A grey tint can also show the audience that the artist is full of uncertainty about a decision to be made or they are having a hard time.
Sepia is largely similar to the grey tint however can be seen as a more positive flashback rather than negative showing a good time in their life of what they are looking back to as the brown of sepia isn't as dull as the grey tint. This colour also can make the relationship of the audience and artist more intimate as they understand the feelings and emotions the artist is feeling at the time and also of past as they are shown flashbacks helping them to understand the artists situation or problem they are facing. Sepia isn't used as much as a grey tint or not using a tint at all as it is not conventional of an alternative music video to have this effect, although as a group we may use it to help us portray the emotions we want to put forward to the audience.

Planning Artist Image

How is your artists going to be represented?

As a group we plan to represent our artist in a precise style that applies to the alternative genre.  Artists in this genre usually portray their emotions more than other genre's through their costumes, the lighting and props. Sometimes in the Alternative genre the audience is shown the artist looking more thoughtful than a more obvious emotion like happy or sad. As a group, we want to present our artist as a typical artist from the alternative genre by using various props such as a guitar; as this genre shows a lot of performance, 'indie' accessories such as a leather/other wristbands, scuffed trainers, a trilby hat and Raybans.

The lyrics in the song convey negative and positive emotions but we are trying to create a certain atmosphere which will allow the audience to decide for themselves. The music video will take the audience on a journey with the artists conveying these positive and negative emotions throughout. This allows the target audience to build a relationship with the artist as they feel are taking the journey too through the montage that we plan to show through the music video from a beginning to end through visuals. We plan to use a few close-ups as these specific camera shots help to show the emotion that the artist is feeling.
Specific clothing has been chosen by my group and I. This includes, chino shorts, a long sleeved shirt and a pair of old vans/blazers. This costume will mainly remain the same for different shots however vary slightly as we don't want to take away the theme we are trying to portray to the audience.

Music Video Prop

Research into Chosen Artist

I have chosen Jason Mraz as the artist for my music video. Mraz falls into the Alternative Pop genre and creates music that is easy to listen to and that could appeal to large target audiences. Narratives are able to be created in music video's of Mraz's as he contains a constant theme throughout a song. Being experimental with techniques he uses in beats, lyrics and subtle changes in tempo it makes Mraz an interesting artist, one of which you'd want to listen more of and discover intended values and meanings of his songs. A relationship can easily be created between an audience and the artist as as he doesnt break any conventions of the genre he is categorized into therefore expectations of the audience are met and the audience are able to relate to the artist which in turn creates a strong fanbase. I have chosen Jason Mraz as the artist and 'I Won't Give Up' as my song for my music video as it was the highest result from the questionnaires my group and I put out. This particular artist uses various conventions and techniques mentioned above making him diverse from other artists in his genre category. Because Mraz's songs are usually quite deep and have a strong message, it will be exciting for my group and I to think up and put a narrative together with the lyrics and beat of the song still linking the what we consider to message to be to include.

Jason Mraz was signed to his record label Elektra Records in 2002 and released his first album 'Waiting For My Rocket To Come' which was his first success making it to number 15 on the US Billboard 200. In 2005 he was signed to Atlantic Records after which he started making albums that reached higher and higher in the charts a single of which includes 'I'm Yours' which peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
I have decided to analyse 'I'm Yours' and 'Lucky' as these songs were both very successful for the solo alternative artist. The first I will analyse is  'I'm Yours' which has Mraz's most successful single to date selling 9.5 million downloads worldwide. The music video itself was posted onto Youtube and received over 100 million views from July 2011.

 

The 'I'm Yours' video was filmed in various locations and had mutiple costume changes which made the video very effective. In this video I would estimate that the artist would have would be aiming at a target audience of 20 to 25 year olds  implied by the costume worn throughout the video. This includes Ray-Ban sunglasses, Vans or beaten up trainers, a normal every day t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He also wears a backpack which tells the audience he is on a journey. Costumes are changed to show time moving on and also in different locations through the different countries of which he visits. Although the artist is present in the video, he isn't highlighted through any specific mise-en-scene features, showing that the video concentrates more on the journey and the locations than the artist. This is shown when Mraz is sitting on a plane and however has low key lighting on him but the emphasis is through the window and on the blue skies outside. 

Goodwins theory of a relationship between visuals and lyrics being present is not evident throughout this video however moments in the video show close-ups of the artists foot, hand or him dancing along to the beat of the song showing a relationship between the music and the visuals. Due to the music video and the lyrics of the song it is easy to assume that the target audience would be of a slightly mature age due to the travelling and the emotional journey that the artist is going through in the video.

The first shot seen is of a private jet showing the artists wealth which is not something commonly seen in an alternative artists video however throughout the rest of the video the artist is not entirely present. By the costume worn it shows that the artist is just an ordinary person relating back to Richard Dyers Star Theory where he states that the artist will have to seem ordinary to connect with the audience but also extraordinary of which he is because of the private jet and the countries he's travelled to.

 

'Lucky' is a music video featuring another artist Colbie Collat. This is relevant to the music video because the first two shots are two establishing shots showing where each artist is. Goodwins theory is not relevant in this video at all as none of his statements apply here as the music video has a narrative running alongside the performance which is shown through a lot of close-ups and mid-shots of the artists. The contrast of the two settings between the two artists are on different scales and this shows their difference in personality. Caillat is at a warm, hot climated country on a beach expressing her individuality and personality as being a fun-loving person whereas Mraz is in a bustling city, showing his possibly busy but dull life. Being at completely different places across the world whilst they are singing about being in love shows how strong the love is and that no matter where they are in the world, they'll still love each other. The distance and the vastly contrasting locations shows the different lifestyles being led therefore leading to the connotation that there is great difficulty in maintaining a relationship when they are both so far away.
Mraz is seen in a variety of location which include the city, in cars, on a bridge this could possibly lead to connotations that he is looking or searching for her, showing that he will do anything to find her. There is fast paced editing throughout which is effective although the pace of the music isn't too fast, it matches well together. Mraz is presented as being a businessman dressed smartly throughout the video which is showing a good representation of the artist sticking to conventions of the genre. Due to the song changing tempo's numerous times throughout the video, the target audience would be difficult to determine however I come to the conclusion that it would be an older audience to what Mraz usually targets of possibly 25-40 although it is down to personal choice.

Close-ups are used throughout the video. This particular camera shot is used to highlight the artists emotions and help the audience understand the message that the artist is trying to portray through expressions and whether the song is supposed to be happy or sad. An example of this would be near the beginning when the audience see's a close-up shot of Mraz which then changes to a long shot of Colbie Caillat standing on a rock in the wind and then back to Mraz showing the audience that this is what the artist possibly dreams of.

Both of Jason Mraz's two songs analysed conform to Richard Dyer's Star Theory. This is done by one of the paradoxes he states about being a star is being an image and being what the audience wants. This is done by the artist just being a star himself and bringing the star qualities and selling his music and his music video by being on chat shows. However although he does conform to the Star Theory he has always only ever promoted himself as being an ordinary person living an average persons lifestyle which appeals to an audience of people that live an ordinary lifestyle.

Overall I think this artist's genre and song 'I Won't Give Up' will be perfect for my group and I to focus on creating a music video as we will be able to be creative with locations, costumes and thinking up the overall narrative of the story and try to include Goodwins Theory and Richard Dyers Star Theory.

Research Into Chosen Genres

Pie Charts

Pie Charts

After gaining our results from our questionnaire, my group and I decided the best way to present them was in pie chart form. By doing this, as well as being easy to use and read, our results are being shown clearly.

By using Microsoft Excel, we managed to put each question's answer into a pie chart so not only do they look smart but are also simple. 

Questionnaires

Questionnaires

 

Before creating our own music video, we used questionnaires which became valuable as a key part of our research. As a group we found our questionnaire to be fairly important when it came down to deciding our target audience and genre. Our questionnaire's allowed us to see exactly what our viewers wanted in a music video to give us a higher chance of our it being liked and watched more. Once taking in all the results that we gathered, my group and I can now take into consideration the opinions and views of what our target audience actually wants to see in a video. Hopefully our results will steer us into the correct direction of what exctly our viewers will be looking for in a music video.

After asking 40 people various sets of questions such as "What do you prefer in a music video? Performance/Concept/Narrative?" and also "What is your favorite genre?", it narrowed our options further and gave us a clearer insight to exactly what our target audience are looking for. Our results concluded that out of 40 people more listened to 'Alternative' than another other genre.

 

• Are you male or female?                                          Male/Female
• How old are you?                                                     <16 / 17-35 / 35+
• What is your favourite genre?                                 _______________
• How often do you listen to music per week?           >3 / 4-12 / 13+
• Do you like new releases? (Top ten chart)               Yes/No
• Which do you prefer in a music video?                    Performance/Concept/Narrative
• What tempo do you look for in a music video?        Fast/Slow
• Do you like seeing the artist in the video?                Absent/Present
• Do you like seeing the artists lifestyle?                     Yes/No
• What emotion do you like the artist to convey?       _______________
• Please circle your favourite song from the list:       Jason Mraz - I Won't Give Up
  
                                                                                   Chase and Status - End Credits
  
                                                                                   Calvin Harris - We'll Be Coming Back
  
                                                                                   Drake - Over
                                                                                 

It was easy to divide the workload as we handed out forty questionnaire's between four of us. By having ten questionnaires each, it allowed us to hand out and receive our results quicker enabling us to use the data and display them into pie charts to view our results in a more clear way. As a group we chose to ask forty people as we knew that our results would be strong and reliable.

 

Record Labels

Major Record Labels

Definition: Large companies within the music industry that may also own smaller record labels

Universal Music Group is the larget of 'the big three' record labels that dominate the music industry. The company's multitude of global operations and market share, allow them to be a huge company with varied genre's of artists signed. Examples of signed artists and bands are Blink 182 and Kanye West. Like many large companies from the music industry, Universal Music Group have many different subsiduary labels that also have many more infamous artists signed, known as a parent company. As the Universal Music Group are not only associated with the music industry they are also a big entertainment company, branching the company off into different subject areas such as films.

Sony Music Entertainment are the second largest of 'the big three' and possibly one of the most well known. Having UK pop bands like JLS to global superstar Adele signed to them, they one of the worlds leading music corporations. Like Universal Music Group, Sony have many subsiduary labels all of which are large and well known. RCA records have signed Ke$ha, Columbia records have Calvin Harris signed and Epic records were bought out by SonyME and therefore now a subsiduary with Alexandra Burke signed. Due to these large subsiduary labels and Sony branching out into other areas such as the film industry, tv channels and programmes etc. it allows Sony Music Entertainment to be one of the most well-known and largest music label.

Warner Music Group is a American based global conglomerate and is part of 'the big three' when speaking about record labels. As well as Warner Bros., Warner Music Group also operates Atlantic Records as well of the worlds largest music-publishing companies. Basshunter, Gnarls Barkley, Bruno Mars and Michael Buble and just some artists that are signed to Warner Music Group and their subsiduary labels.

Finally Live Nation is also one of the largest global record labels that there is.

Independent Record Labels

Definition: Music labels that operate one or a few music labels



A well known independant record label in the UK is Finders Keepers which is based in Manchester. They sell to a niche market, producing old vintage records. although being a cottage industry, they have subsidiary labels such as twisted nerve. 
Another independent record label is Cherry Red which was founded from a rock band to promote rock concerts. Artists signed to this record label is  Morgan Fisher, Marine Girls, The Passage and The Misunderstood. As a label they promote 'critically unloved' genres. They have one subsidiary label 'Shout'  that specifically devote to the re-issue of Soul and R'n'B music from the 1950's and 1960's. 
Deltasonic is a record label based in Liverpool. It was previously joint ventured with Sony Music however is now completely independent. The first single released was by 'The Coral'. Bands that later signed to the label was  Mountaineers, The Little Flames, The Dead 60's, The Rascals and The Longcut which was their first long-time signing. 

Personally I don't think it is right for major record labels to dominate the industry as the smaller independent labels are usually created because of not wanting to make music that will be seen as mainstream.

Analysis of Different Music Genres

Music video's have various purposes however the main is to sell the record and the artists' image in some cases too. They are used to promote the artist, which is useful when the artist is new and  upcoming, or just to show the audience the message of the song through a concept or narrative. There are many different genres of music each with their own stereotypes and conventions each typically shown in their music video's.

The rap music genre's audience has grown vastly over the last fifteen years. Drake's video 'Over' conforms to both Goodwin and Dyers theories about the conventions of rap music video's. The video starts with a close-up of the artist sitting on a bed singing straight into the camera. The whole room including drake turns red for a short amount of time which could possibly connote the passion Drake has for what he is singing about. The message of the video that Drake is trying to put across to the

audience is the struggle he went through from his old life to his new life. Close-ups of the artist are shown throughout the music video to showing his emotions through the way he is singing the song and also to build a relationship with the audience by singing directly into the camera helps the audience to believe that he is singing directly to them. The editing is quiet slow at the beginning of the song basically the same pace as which the song goes however as the song's tempo begins to build the pace of the editing begins to pick up

too. Drake is wearing all white possibly to show that he does not want the focus of the video to be on him but to show the background more when the walls are shown with a projection of a fast bustling city. As the beat gets faster in the song, the projection on the room changes from a clear road at night to the busy city life and then again changed to a projection of the sky as the beat slows down again. The projection of the city and different roads at the beginning creates the relationship between the  music and visuals as Drake raps 'We've been everywhere and back but I just can't remember it all'.

The only convention shown of a rap artist is that of a busy life, however nothing of fast cars, girls or fancy clothing, allowing the audience to feel the emotion Drake is trying to convey through the video. When the audience see Drake's performance side of the video the lighting is quite dark only allowing you to see Drake. The video's use of CGI is very effective as it shows the meaning of the lyrics that Drake is singing, whether it is the projection shown in the bedroom or even when the audience see's a blurred mid shot of Drake with a full shot of Drake in front of the mid shot. The relationship between lyrics and visuals is part of Goodwins theory.

Conforming to conventions of a dance video is Flo Rida in 'Club Can't Handle Me'. Although this is a dance track, Flo Rida is a rapper which is shown in the video through Goodwins conventions. The first image the audience see's is a close-up of a gold expensive car and then an establishing shot of the gold and another black car outside of a club, setting the scene for the rest of the video. There is a lot of people outside of the club that Flo Rida is about to go into, proving that it is a popular place to hang out. The beginning of the song starts off slowly therefore the pace of the editing is also slow however gradually builds due to the speed of the tempo. As Flo Rida and the man he is with gets out of the car he throws a handful of money up in the air again conforming to the stereotypes of typical rap stars selling their lifestyle to the audience. This song's primary purpose was for the film 'Step Up 3D' as it was the soundtrack to the film therefore throughout the music video clips of the film are shown. This dance track could be seen as Dyer's star theory that this song is what was wanted and Flo Rida fitted in with the image they wanted to sing this song.

This video is performance based which is common for a dance video. Close-ups are shown throughout the video showing Flo Rida's emotions which is happy. This is to show his enthusiasm and how much he is enjoying himself which builds a better relationship with his fans. There is low lighting in the shot however highlight on the artist's face to bring him out from the background. The first of the micro-elements I decided to analyse was the editing style. Whilst the beginning few

frames were slow, the frames faded one into another however once the pace of the editing began to pick up they changed quicker.

Camera shots throughout the whole of the video are mainlylong shots of the artist. An example of this is when there is a long shot of Flo Rida standing much higher than the crowd shown in the image

to the right. This image could possibly connote that Flo Rida is an important star and that he is more than capable of filling a club full of people or even that the artist was at the club for an appearance and was able to bring the club alive. It is clear that the chosen location is definately a club as there is low key lighting, strobe lighting, alcohol and plenty everyone dancing. Women inadequately clothed are shown in the video although deemed appropriate by some by the genre of the music.
Many aspects of Goodwins theories are shown throughout this video from intertextual references for example the cars that Flo Rida and his friend arrives in, to the clothes he is wearing and the film that is being promoted. Although this is a dance video many R&B conventions are shown such as the fast car, the money, the clothing, medallion and lifestyle Flo Rida is presenting to the audience.

 Contrasting to this The Killer's song 'Mr. Brightside' conforms to stereotypes of this specific genre. Most music video's from the rock genre are usually performance based as is 'Mr. Brightside'. It is eccentric and performance based with a narrative running alongside. The first most noticeable shot of the video is close-ups shown of the lead singer in the band throughout. Close-ups main purpose are usually to show the characters emotions which is shown clearly in this video as the main character which happens to be the lead singer sees the girl he is in love with, with another man. Lyrics and visuals do not really have much of a relationship as the video is so diverse and uses a stylistic approach to do something different. The only couple of times the audience does see the link is when he sings 'I just can't look its killing me' and covers his face with his hands. Also when he sings 'She's taking a drag' he acts as if he has a cigarette in his hand and pulls it away from his mouth.
During one close-up of the lead singer' face whilst singing he is looking to the audiences left towards the woman he is in love with sitting with another man. You can tell from his expression that he feels jealous and upset. The wacky hairdo's, makeup and old clothing make this video interesting and leaving the audience wanting to watch more.  The color of the set is red which can connote love and lust linking to the emotion of the song and also the character's feeling. The music video was inspired by "Moulin Rouge" therefore set in a burlesque theme. The deep colors such as the red provide provocative and sexual feel to the video. The expensive suits that the men are wearing and the long dresses that the females are wearing are reinventing the time period of which "Moulin Rouge" was made.
The editing is relatively fast-paced due to the song having a fast tempo. As the video is like a three way relationship between the female, the lead singer and another male, the transition of frames changes quickly to see all of their facial expressions near enough at once. The lighting on the female's face in close-ups is usually really bright possibly leading to connotations that she is angel-like or that is how both men view her.