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.

Vox Pops and Evaluation

The purpose of a music video:

Knowing our target audience is very important as it allows us to cater exactly to a specific group of people. People can be grouped by sex, age or the genre of music. By having a target audience it helps us to target a specific market therefore our music video will gain interest. However not having a target audience could result in our music video being highly unsuccessful and not being watched by any kind of audience. In order to reach out to the specific group of people we want to target, we need to take the results from our research into consideration to include the needs/wants of what our audience would like to see.

Questionnaires: 

To help us to decide what our target audience wanted, we carried out some research by making questionnaire's and a vox pop. By surveying forty people it enabled my group and I to see what our specific target audience wanted to see in a music video and also what genre of music they preferred. A questionnaire is useful as it is a quick way to figure out what our audience want and also allows us to narrow down questions to include. Questionnaires are a easy, direct way to get straight to a member of an audience however questionnaire's does not leave much room for personal opinion on specific things therefore video-ing them and asking them more in depth questions about what they would like to see. 

Pie Charts:

To show our results in the clearest way possible we decided to put them into pie charts. This allows us to see clearly what was the most popular result from each question in turn allowing my group and I to analyze how data easier and quicker, enabling us to pinpoint exactly what our specific audience wants and allowing us to cater to this.

Vox Pops:

Questionnaire's can possibly be considered restricted as they don't allow the audience to expand on their answer. Therefore my group and I decided to take up another type of research. By filming several people of the target audience we wished to cater to, we got a broader answer enabling us to make a list of what our audience wants to see so we are sure we have included everything possible of what they are after in a music video.

Censorship

Do You Think Music Video's Should Be Censored?

Censorship is a law that has been put into place by the government so that various media texts can be monitored and controlled. This is done so that some of the public such as young children for example will not hear rude or explicit material on television and computer or hear on the radio. Sometimes various artists will not censor sexually explicit or taboo language in their music video's because of the target audience they are trying to aim for. Therefore censoring video's will be down to the music channels who play the video. 

Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting of different media texts. It is up to OFCOM whether they censor video's or choose for them not to be shown at all which may be down to explicit language or visually explicit material. 

An example of censorship on a music video is the video 'Every Girl'  by Lil Wayne and Drake. Every other line in the lyrics has a swear word that gets blanked. However due to the amount of taboo language in the song most of the song is actually just blanked out. This may of been done by OFCOM or by the artists record label or just individually by Vevo or music channels.

Certain artists in the music industry believe that music video's shouldn't be censored as that is the image that they are trying to bring across as an artist. They also believe that music and music video's are just a form of entertainment not to be taken too seriously therefore OFCOM should not be allowed to censor their video's. A video that could be considered highly inappropriate is Rihanna's 'We Found Love' as throughout the whole video there is referencing to drug and alcohol abuse, however as Rihanna is such a well known largely liked artist by all ages it may be difficult to decide whether to censor this video or not. 

Eminem is the most well known white rapper in the world since the Beastie Boys. There is a lot of controversy that not only surrounds his video's but also his lyrics. The debate held in class as to whether Eminems songs and video's should be censored was from different points of view such as Eminem himself, parents of children for and against, MTV representative, the record label and fans. Eminem's point of view was that he feels as though it is essential for him to express his emotions and his life so far through his music. He believes in freedom of speech and that it is why he chooses to sing using taboo and offensive language not only about the public but other artists such as Michael Jackson and Britney Spears. He does this to potentially build a relationship with the audience as it him being himself uncaring to others points of view or opinions.

Eminem owns his own record label 'Shady Records' therefore has the full backing of his record company behind him. As long as he is making a profitable amount of money there is no problem from the record labels point of view as to what Eminem puts out.

Eminem is banned from being played on radio stations such as Kiss and also MTV music channel since the beginning of his career because of the offensive language used as it will be seen as easy access to younger viewers who are not permitted to watch video's like this. Also because these channels cater to wide audience of all ages and genre's therefore they would rather not play one artist and have a few not watch there channel than play Eminem and have more people not wish to watch the channel or ban their children from watching it. 

In an interview with Eminem he stated that if children take his video's out of context and do bad things with idea's from his songs then that is not necessarily down to the artist himself but possibly how the child has been brought up or is just 'crazy'. Eminem can be considered as a good or bad role model. He could be a good role model as although he has had a lot bad things happen in his life so far, he has still made it as one of the world's largest and influential stars in history possibly proving no matter how bad your life was or is there is nothing that can stop you from doing what you love. On the other hand, Eminem can be considered a bad role model as he sings using taboo language, using inappropriate material about other artists which can be copied by younger children.

My personal opinion of this debate about Eminem is that he makes good music, sells a lot of records and has a large fanbase. He would not have all of those if he was not a good artist or considered as some sort of role model to his fanbase. Eminem has proved that no matter what your past is, it doesn't have to effect or influence your future. Enimem argued that music and music video's are just a form of entertainment. I find this fact to be true therefore should not be taken too seriously. Taking this specific comment out of the debate, it is true and it is up to the parent or carer to take specific precautions when it come's to what they allow their children to watch or listen to.