Magazine advert reflection

Magazine advert reflection

How did you use your research into magazine adverts to start planning your own?

In order to get started on a magazine advert, my group and I had to carry out a lot of research on what a magazine advert is, what it is used for and also how to create one. Therefore in order to do this I looked into other pop genre magazine adverts to get a rough idea of all the information that needs to be put within the advert and also to guide me on the type of colour and writing that is conventional to the pop genre in particular.I researched into many pop artists magazine adverts over the internet and gathered individual information about each different advert. As our artist is a male, I focused more on looking at male singers in order to get a clearer understanding of how to lay out a male magazine advert. One of the singers I looked into was Justin Bieber's magazine advert. His adverts tend to be quite a basic but extremely effective, therefore I decided to base my advert around that particular one.

What are your ideas and inspirations behind your paper design?
My initial idea for my magazine advert was originally to have a picture of our artist, Jamie, sitting down on a chair whilst holding his guitar. This picture would of covered the top half of the page and the bottom half would consist of information on what songs his album consists of and also inform the audience that his album has just been released. The colours I had chosen to include in my magazine advert consisted of black, red and white. The reasons I chose this colour scheme was because the red connotes love and for our music video to the song impossible we are creating it based on a couple that were extremely in love. However we then chose the black to connote danger and partly a miserable atmosphere as the girl cheats on her boyfriend. Then finally I chose white as it connotes the purity and innocence of the artist. This is why I decided to write the artist name in white as it makes creates more emphasis on the artists innocence.

How will this help you with creating it on Photoshop?
By planning a rough image of my magazine advert before going straight on to Photoshop, it was extremely helpful as I started using Photoshop already knowing what exactly I wanted to get out of it. One of the changes I made whilst using Photoshop was the background. At first I had an interesting landscape in mind, however after using Photoshop, I decided to make the background black curtains as they are more realistic .

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Risk Assessment

It is vital to create a risk assessment before doing any type of filming as it allows you to consider whether or not you have taken the correct precautions to protect yourself and others around you. The main purpose of a risk assessment is to make sure that no one gets hurt and nothing gets damaged when in the process of filming. 

The risk assessment allows you to identify hazards and risks, identify who might be at risk, evaluate hazards and risks and record your findings.

Hazard	Hazard prevention
Individuals in the background	The filming of the music video cannot be disturbed by unwanted people in the background and so no one apart from the members within the production will be present when possible. However the outdoor location of Dover cannot avoid this therefore we will have to be cautious when filming so there are no disruptions within the video
Low battery on camera	The camera will be fully charged before filming but a back-up lead will be available in case of low battery. This will prevent the battery dying out which would mean the scene would have to be shot from the beginning as filming continuous parts on a different day is too visible
Weather	As the weather is unpredictable, all members of the group must be somewhat flexible. Weather such as rain may potentially cause water damage to the camera therefore the forecast must be checked prior to filming in order to avoid the weather preventing us from being able to film on the day planned.
Carrying/using the tripod	When carrying the tripod, it must be made sure that it does not incur any damage. Also, it must be carefully watched so it is not stolen.  When filming. the tripod will be set evenly on the ground so it does not fall and no damage will be caused.
Household objects	Filming in a house means that all objects need to be moved out of the way so no one trips over while filming. It is also important that no unwanted objects are visible in the video and so attention to these objects must be paid.
Fire	As this may cause a fire hazard, when burning the cards all members of the production will be aware and ready to put the fire out with the use of water. To prevent others from being affected by the use of fire, an open location will be used.

Research into chosen music genre

Research into chosen music genre

The music genre that we as a group have chosen to do is pop as it is one of the most popular music genre that majority of people enjoy listening to. As our genre is pop, it shows that we will be aiming our music video at a mainstream audience. We chose the pop genre as we thought that it will be effective seeing as it will relate to both Goodwin's and Dyer's theory. Another reason we chose to research the pop genre is because within our group, all of us have a great interest in listening to music that is within this genre. Therefore we decided that we will be able to come up with more creative and effective ideas for our music video.

James Morrison - Broken Strings ft Nelly Furtado

Within this music video both artists are presented as ordinary, everyday people. This is shown through the mise-en-scene used within the music video. The mise-en-scene within the video is pretty much very basic. This is mainly shown by the location which is an empty and simple hotel room, however this could possibly be used to represent how lonely the artist is feeling as he is singing about being heartbroken.

Both artists are shown wearing simple jeans and casual top which emphasises the fact that they are very much like ordinary people. However this doesn't actually apply to

Richard Dyers Star theory as his theory suggest that artists are not people but possessions and objects but within this music video, both artists look very ordinary.

The main iconography used within this video consist of a guitar which is very effective as it is the typical iconography used in many pop music videos.

From watching this music video, you realise that it relates more to Goodwin's theory than Dyer's theory as Goodwin's theory states that their is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, so when the beat drops in the song and both artists sing "you cant play on broken strings" as they both sing the word broken, the lamp and television start breaking.

The music video is mostly performance based as it shows both artists singing throughout the whole video. However they way the video is made also shows slight narrative. This is shown when James Morrison is singing about how he is trying to get over his girlfriend but her reflection pops up on the glass as she starts singing. This shows narrative as it tells the audience that the other artist Nelly Furtado is supposedly meant to be his girlfriend.

The camera show used at the beginning of the video is an extreme close up of the artists face. This was an effective way to start of the music video as it introduces the artist before anything is said or done. This allows the audience to take a moment to recognise the artist and also build a relationship with him through the music video.

Another camera show that was used quite often was a close up and this was used to maintain the relationship between the audience and the artist. However, the close up camera shots were also used to emphasise on the artists facial expressions and emotions which allowed the audience to understand the absolute pain he was feeling and to get a feel of the type of atmosphere that was going on within the video.

Summary

The research I have carried out on the chosen music genre will assist me when it comes to planning our own music video as I have had a chance to broaden my knowledge about what sort of videos pop artists create. Also I have learnt more about the codes and conventions of a pop music video and what camera shots would be effective to use throughout my own music video.

History of music video

History of Music Videos

As technology has progressed in many ways over the years, it now allows people to consume music videos in a variety of different ways. Music videos are short films created to integrate a song and an image. It is also produced to promote an artist or explain a narrative to the audience.

Since the first ever music video was shown to the public in the 1980's, technology has advanced a substantial amount which now allows the audience to access and view music videos on many different things some of which may consist of Television on music channels, YouTube, smartphones and social media (Facebook & Twitter).  

Over the last 33 years, music videos have become more popular each day and we are now at a point where music videos are as popular as television programmes and people watch music videos purely for their entertainment.
During the 1980's music videos were not known as a big entity and only had small air timings o TV shows like top of the pops. The song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by the band Queen was the first music video ever to be shown on TV. However all of this changed when the media executive Robert W Pittman came up with the idea to have a TV channel solely for music only. That was when the music channel MTV was created in 1981.

MTV

MTV is used to refer to Music Television. It is an American network in New York City that was started on 1st August 1981. MTV was the first music channel ever created and the initial purpose of this channel was to play music videos purely for peoples entertainment. The first ever music video to be broadcasted on MTV was "Video killed the radio star" that was sung by the Buggles. During that time only a few thousand people could watch it on the satellite television at the time as technology back then wasn't as advanced as it is now. During the early eighties, most people couldn't access cable or satellite television, so viewing music videos was a very rare thing. During the early eighties when more bands and artists began to make music videos. MTV then really took off when more of the population had access to cable television. Viewing music videos then became easier then ever and it was basically the norm for most artists to create a music video to accompany their singles.

YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website that was created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005 and owned by Google since late 2006. On this website, users can upload, view and share videos as well as commenting their thoughts and feelings on any videos. YouTube also allows people to subscribe.
Subscribing is when someone enjoys watching many videos in particular which could be videos put up by one specific person. They can then subscribe which allows the audience to get informed/notified whenever the subscription uploads a new video or makes any changed to their YouTube profile.
Over the years, YouTube has developed a lot. By 2006 YouTube was one of the fastest growing websites on the internet uploading more than 65, 000 new videos and 100 million video views per day in July and was rated 5th most popular website. Throughout the years YouTube has continued growing and this year managed to get 1 billion users visiting the site every month.

This year it has been well known to the public that the song 'Gangnam style' which is sung by the South Korean musician PSY, has had the most views on YouTube so far, with a shocking 1,832,815,152 views on YouTube. This song was released in July 2012 as the lead single of his sixth studio album. 'Gangnam Style' became the first ever YouTube video to reach over a billion views and by November 2013, the music video had been viewed over 1.834 billion times.
By September 2012 'Gangnam Style' had been put in the Guinness world book of records as the most liked video on YouTube. It then subsequently then won the award for the best video at the MTV Europe Music Awards that was held later that year. By the end of 2012, the song had topped the music charts of more than 30 countries which include; Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Budgeting
During the 90's, music video production had become more cinematic, and the budgets were bigger. Artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna had some of the most expensive videos of that era, making videos that would cost £5-7million to produce.


Michael Jacksons music videos have always been ridiculously expensive.
In 1983, he spent $800,000 on 'Thriller' which would now be worth about $1.4 million today.
His music videos were getting more expensive to produce which left him spending  over $1.2 million on his music video for his single 'Black or White' and in 1992 he spent even more on the music video for his song 'Remember The Time'.

However his song 'Scream' had become with no doubt the most expensive music video to produce which cost 7 million dollars.

The 7 million dollars were used on... 

Computer-generated spaceship: $65,000

Breaking guitars: $53,000

Morphing artworks: $50,000

Michael's makeup: $3,000

Janet's makeup: $8,000 a day

Choreography: $40,000

Giant video screen: $80,000

Lighting: $175,000

Cost per day: $636,000 (about 11 days)

Total cost of 11 sets: $5,000,000

Music Genres
Over time, music genres have changed and progressed to different styles and mixed with different genres and example of this is how Rock music started out in the 1960′s. By the late 1960′s, lots of rock sub-genres had been created, including hybrids such as folk rock, blues rock and jazz rock fusion. Each combining the styles of both or more categories.
By the 1970′s punk rock was created, which included themes of politics and social differences. By the 1980′s it developed sub genres such as New wave and post-punk, followed by the alternative rock movement. From the 1990′s, alternative rock began to dominate the rock music scene and break through the mainstream, in the form of grunge, Britpop and indie rock. Since then, further sub genres have been created such as Rap Rock/Metal, Pop Punk, Nu Metal, Garage rock and more.



 

Planning lighting and colours

Why is lighting & colour important within a music video?
Lighting is very important within a music video as it sets the mood of the atmosphere which shows how an artist is feeling. An example of this could be how light blue lighting can show someone feeling very calm and relaxed where as dark red lighting could be used to show danger, pain and also in some cases love.

What style of lighting you will include and why?
Throughout the majority of our music video we will be using low key lighting as the song in general is quite a sad and dull song. When we are filming the performance part of the music video the artist will be shown in low key lighting as he is singing about how his heart is broken. Where as when we are showing the flashbacks of the artist and his girlfriend together, we will be using high key lighting as it shows happiness when they were together. This will help the audience to understand the narrative a bit more as the lighting will set of the mood of the atmosphere.

What effect does it create?
The effect that both lighting and colour would create is that it sets of the mood and atmosphere of what is going on within the scene. This allows the audience to relate to what is going on within the music video. An example of this could be how when the couple are happy and were showing flashbacks of memories, the lighting will all be high key and bright to set off an exciting atmosphere where as when they couple are arguing and break up, we will be using low key lighting which will symbolise darkness to show how the mood is very down and angry.

How is it conventional to the pop genre?
The lighting and colour is conventional to the pop genre as we will mostly be using naturalistic lighting which is usually used quite a lot for the pop genre. The conventional lighting allows the audience to focus more on the artist during the performance aspect of it and also when filming the out door scenes, the bright high key and naturalistic lighting allows the audience to clearly view the location.
For our music video we will be using both low key and high key lighting to make it look more interesting and not boring, also we will be using different lighting to show a contrast between the happy memories and sad.

How does it help build a relationship with your target audience?
This helps build a relationship with the target audience as the lighting is a key feature in many aspects to show the mood and what the atmosphere is like within the music video. The different types of lighting will also allow the audience to get a greater understanding of the narrative as the lighting shown on the screen helps drastically to set the scene. Therefore if the audience understand the narrative properly, it allows them to understand the song that is sung by the artist and this finally allows the audience to build a relationship with the artist.

Research into chosen artist

Research into chosen artist 

Introduction
After carrying out research as a group about our audience and what they look for in a music video, we decided to make our artist James Arthur.
As James Arthur is one of the most recent singers out in the UK now, we thought that he would be quite well known by many people, specially our target audience. This is why we believe that it would be effective to use him as an artist because our music video will intrigue our target audience and it will be something enjoyable for them to watch as it is someone they know.

Artist Profile
James Andrew Arthur is a young British singer and musician. He was born on the 2nd March 1988 and is currently 25 years old. He became famous by winning the 9th series of the X-Factor in 2012 last year, which is British television programme/music competition created by Simon Cowell. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for the old television programme called pop idol.
After the artist James Arthur had won the X-Factor, his debut single 'Impossible' was released and debuted at number one on the UK singles chart in its first week of release. It has since gone on to sell over 1.2 million copies in the UK, and 2.5 million copies overall.
The successful young artist has now been signed to the record label 'Syco music' which is also known as 'Syco records'. This is a British record label founded by Simon Cowell, the English television, music and talent competition judge which was founded in 2002.

Artist music video analysis

James Arthurs latest single "You're nobody till somebody loves you" was released to the UK radios on the 9th September 2013. It was released as the lead single of James Arthurs first album.

Throughout the majority of this music video, the artist is shown performing with a band but part of the music video shows some narrative. Therefore I would say that the video is 90% performance based and 10% narrative based. The narrative of this song consists of the typical British tradition which is a street party. 

In relation to Richard Dyer's Theory, James Arthur is shown as very original, talented and 'normal'. This is shown through artists image which is represented as a typical 'everyday' man. The clothing he is wearing consists of general casual clothing and nothing which is outstanding or over the top. This shows that James Arthur is very down to earth and is seen as more of a person and not a possession. However this may be because he is a new artist and at the moment is spending his time trying to get noticed and recognised.

Goodwin's theory is can also be applied to James Arthurs music video as the theory states that there should be a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. Some of the lyrics that the artist sings like "You're nobody till somebody loves you" it shows groups of people together laughing and having some kind of physical contact, this shows how everybody feels like someone as they are loved.

The target audience for this music video looks like its aimed at teenagers and young adults. This is shown through the music video and how James Arthur shows many groups of teenagers/young adults throughout. Although the music video is aimed at youngsters, it comes across as quite a widen and broader audience as that is conventional to the pop genre seeing as this particular genre is massively mainstream. Within the music video the audience are shown and equal amount of both boys and girls which show how James Arthur is not bias about the different genders which also makes the target audience a bigger group of people as the music video is aimed at both boys and girls.

The most common camera shot used within this music video are close up's. This is used as James Arthur is quite a new singer and many close ups of his face allow him to become recognised and for the audience to build a relationship with him.
Another camera shot that is used many times throughout the music video are mid shots. These are camera shots that allow the artist to be standing in the middle of the frame with some location shown equally on both sides. This shot is effective to use as it puts emphasis of the location James is in and also of the people around him.

 

Summary



By researching into our chosen music artist, it has helped me become more aware of what the artists image is suppose to look like. Therefore when we film the performance part of our music video we will make the artist look a lot like James Arthur which is very ordinary, stylish and 'normal'. Another thing that this research has made me realise is the different camera shots used and why. As a result of this we will also be using similar camera shots used within "You're nobody till somebody loves you" as we thought they were extremely effective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planning editing styles

Why editing is important within a music video?
Editing is vital when it comes to creating a music video as it is one of the main feature that helps make a video successful. This helps the audience understand the full narrative of what is going on in the song as editing is what puts the whole story together.

What editing styles are you planning on including and Why?
One of the editing styles we are planning to use within our music video is fast pace editing. This is when you have one of the video clips and increase the speed of which the action is going.
Within our music video we will be showing a couple, fiercely arguing with each other as the girl was caught sneaking out the house. Here we will be using fast pace editing as we believe that increasing the speed of which the argument is happening will help make the scene more intense and the rushing action going on will also relate to the fast pace editing as the editing could show the amount of thoughts and emotions the boy was feeling at the time.

Another editing style that we have decided to use as a group are flashbacks. These flashbacks will be showing both happy and sad moments that has happen within the music video.
As a group we decided that it would be effective if we show the couple arguing and breaking up, then go on to flash backs of how the couple had a happy relationship. The reason we chose flashbacks were to show a contrast between the good and bad times that happen within a relationship.


How are your editing styles conventional to your music genre?
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How will your editing styles help build a relationship with your target audience?
Editing styles will help to build a relationship with the target audience as it will allow them to create a relationship with the people they see within the narrative and performance aspect of the music video. This will then broaden their knowledge of what is actually going on within the music video. 

Planning the Artists Image

Why is an artists image important within a music video?

The artists image is extremely important when it comes to creating a music video as you have to think about many things. One of the things being that you cant make an artist look bad in any way. This is because the artists image is what allows the audience to build a relationship with them and also the image of the artist is what the audience judges them by.

How is your artist going to be represented in your music video?

Our artist is going to be represented as an innocent, down to earth and humble person. As we are recreating a music video, the music artist we are doing is James Arthur. Therefore we cannot recreate a music video to his song and make him look bad. Throughout the music video, there will be many different outfits that the 'artist' will be changing in to as the outfits will be used to portray the artists emotions, feelings and frame of mind.

James Arthur is a British singer that recently won in X-Factor. As you can tell he is represented as an ordinary guy, this is shown mainly throughout the ordinary outfits he wears like normal guys.

The costumes that the artist will be wearing will consist of casual clothing like jeans and a top. However, depending on the flashbacks is what will decide what the artist wears at that time. An example of this could be if there is a flashback of the couple very happy together, the artist will be wearing white to symbolise innocence and purity where as on the other hand, if we show the couple arguing, the artist will be wearing red to symbolise pain. Throughout the whole music video we will try to ensure that the artist is dressed in light colours like white to show the innocence within him. Overall , We will be representing our artist through different types of Iconography, mise-en-scene and settings.

How is the image conventional to your music genre?
The image of our artist is conventional to our music genre as within the pop genre, artist are usually seen in casual clothing like jeans. They are shown as ordinary people and not diverse or 'crazy'. So as we are representing our artist as ordinary, it meets the conventions of a pop music genre well.

What effect does this have with creating a relationship with your target audience?
If the artist's image is conventional to our music genre, it allows the target audience to build a better relationship with them as it helps the audience to get a broader understanding of what the music video is about. Also a music video that reaches the expectations of what an audience wants and also matches the conventions of that particular music genre is most likely to be a success as it appeals to an audience a lot more. So as the artist is being represented as an ordinary guy, it matches the pop genre well which is why we believe that out music video will be a success.

Target Audience Research

Target Audience Research

What is the purpose of a target audience?
Target audiences can be separated into particular groups. These groups can be age, gender or a specific music genre that certain people have more of an interest listening to. So in the music industry, a target audience is a specific group of people that the artists aim their music at. An example of this could be Rihanna and how she aims her music at the age group of 18-23 year olds as her music interests that age group more than others.
One of the purposes of a target audience is so we can create our music video based around what a particular age group would enjoy watching. This would lead to our music video being very successful as we would already have a good audience that are ready to watch and enjoy the video. Without a target audience, as a group we would not be sure on what precisely to add in it to make it successful and for a wide range of people to enjoy watching it.

What types of research did you carry out and why?
To create a better understanding of what our target audience would particularly have an interest in seeing in a music video, we carried out quite a bit of research. One of the research methods consisted of a questionnaire.
As a group we created a questionnaire with 10 both open and closed questions in order to gain a good understanding of what they would like to see in the pop genre. We asked a variety of different people which was good as it gave us reliable results from many different people. We then created a pie chart of the results we obtained in order to get a clearer understanding of what our target audience prefer. This helped our group a lot seeing as it made it easier for us to realise what we wanted to include in the music video to make it fun for our audience to watch.
Another method of research we used was Vox pops. This is when as a group you go around approaching people and giving them a mini informal interview. So as a group we got together and asked the open public similar questions to the ones in our questionnaire. This was helpful because it allowed us to ask more questions and get more answers from a variety of different people.

How many people did you survey and why?
As a group we surveyed 46 people in total. We asked 40 people to answer the questionnaire and 6 people to participate in answering questions for the Vox pop. The reason we chose to survey lots of people is because we felt as though it would give us a wide range of answers which would make our results more precise. We asked a group of both male and female people and also many people from different age groups. This is because it gave us more accurate results and it made our survey a fair test to receive answers from lots of different people.

Were the Vox pops successful?
The Vox pops were successful as we received a good bit of feedback from the public. We questioned 6 different people both male and female of different ages as we thought it would give us fair answers of what individual gender and age group prefer seeing in a music video. The results we received were useful as they broadened our knowledge of our target audience which will help us when recreating our music video as we will know what our target audience will be looking for.

How will you use it with planning your music video?
As the Vox pops were successful, it will help us when planning our music video as the results we retrieved were extremely useful. This has helped us to realise what we definitely want to add within the music video to make it something that our target audience will enjoy watching.

Pick 3 different questions and discuss the results that you received.
One of the questions we asked was 'What would you like to see in the pop genre?'. The reason we chose this as one of our questions to ask the audience is because this would give us precise answers on what our target audience would like to see within the music video. This way by following what they said they would enjoy seeing in a pop music genre gives us as a group the option to include everything they would like to see. This would make our music video very successful. An example of this is how one of the girls said she would like to see 'a breakdown of a relationship'  therefore this is one of the things we will be including in the video. 

Another question we asked in our Vox pop was 'Do you know any of James Arthurs singles?'. This was a good question to ask as it helped us realise how much of a well known artist he is and what single of his our target audience prefer. As a group this helped us decide that we will be choosing the song 'Impossible' by James Arthur as it is the song that is most known and that our target audience prefer.

Explain how your results will assist you and your group with planning the music video
The results we received from the Vox pops provided us with information about our target audience and about what song, genre and artist they preferably enjoy listening to. This has helped us as we now know what song and artist to recreate our music video with to ensure that our target audience enjoy it. As we have gathered this useful information it will help allow the audience to relate to the music video as it is what they would like to see and also allow them to feel more involved.

Planning cinematography

Purpose of cinematography
Cinematography is the combination of camera shots, camera angles and camera movement. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of the setting, characters and themes. As a result, camera shots are very important in shaping the narrative of the music video. Cinematography is vital when it comes to creating any type of videos as it helps get the message across to the audience a lot better.

What cinematography will you include and why?
One of the cinematography we will be using is close ups. When it comes to filming, close up camera shots usually the most effective as it allows the audience to build a relationship with the artist and it also allows the artist to become well known. This is why throughout the music video, we will be doing many close up shots of the artist as it will allow the audience to relate to the artist on an emotional level and see the pain he is feeling. At the beginning of our music video a close up is one of the first camera shots we will be using to show the artist. We will also be using close ups to intorduce the girl that will be in our music video as it allows the audience to relaise who she is and allows them to develop a relationship with her.

Another cinematography we will be using is a panning shot.
A panning shot is used to give the viewer a panoramic view of a set, a person or a setting. Therefore we will be using a panning shot on both, female and the artist at different points of the music video. Panning shot is one of the second camera shots we will be using on the atrist as it is an effective way to show the aritst of from all different types of angels and also gives the audience a panoramic view of them both. This is effective as it is the main camera shot used to show the audience what the artist looks like in depth and also allows them to see his fascial expression from the all different angles.

As a group we have also decided to use an establishing shot.
Establishing shots are usually used to show a location and as we decided to film part of our music video on the White Cliffs of Dover, we thought that it would be very effective to use an establishing shot during the video of the artist looking out in to the sea whilst on the cliffs. At this point of the music video the artist will be singing the lyrics 'riding on the skyline' and as there is a relationship betweent the lyrics and visuals, it will show that we are using Goodwin's theory.This would also be an effective shot as the location shows how the artist is feeling which is isolation and lonely. The establishing shot allows the audience to see the atmosphere in which the artist is singing which therefore helps them get a rough idea of the mood the artist is feeling.

Another cinematography we decided to use that we thought would be effective is a long shot of the artist singing. A long shot contains landscape and gives the viewer a more specific idea of setting. So filming the artist whilst emphasising on the setting as well will also give the audience an explanation of what is going on. The great view of the setting also grabs the audiences attention and makes the music video a lot more interesting to watch.

Include still images to support points

How is your cinematography conventional to your music genre?
The cinematography we will include in our music video is conventional to the pop genre as it allows the audience to understand the narrative a lot more as well as allowing them to build a relationship with the artist. The pop music genre usually include many close up camera shots as well as panning shots of the artist to allow the audience to become familiar with the artist.

How does it build a relationship with your target audience?
As we are using Goodwin's and Dyer's theory when it comes to creating our music video, it will help build a relationship with our target audience as they will be able to understand the narrative more seeing as the lyrics and visuals will relate. The close up camera shots we will be using will also help our target audience to build a relationship with the artist.

 

Planning settings and iconorgraphy

Planning settings and iconography 

Purpose of setting
A setting is the location where the stimulus of a music video is performed. The purpose of a setting is so that it engages the audience a lot more and makes the video more exciting to watch. Having a setting is extremely vital as it allows the audience to understand the narrative more.

Purpose of iconography
Iconography is another word used for props in media and the purpose of using it within a music video is that it could help convey meaning. Iconography is very useful when using it in a music video as it will help the audience to understand more about the song. An example of this is how using a guitar in a music video would allow the audience to understand that it is conventional to the pop genre.

What settings will you include
The settings that we will be using are very significant to our music video. This will show Goodwin's theory as the lyrics and visuals will relate.
One of the settings we will be using will consist of a studio with a black background. This will be used to show the Artist which is James Arthur who is played by Jamie. It is significant as it shows the performance part of the music video. However we chose a dark room and a black background because he is talking about love and how its 'Impossible'. The dark and dull atmosphere will be used to represent how he is feeling. We will be using a spotlight that will be placed on him to imply how the audiences attention should be focused on him.
Another setting that will be used within the first half of the music video is a bedroom with high key lighting. This will be used to show a flashback of the girl and boy playing cards. The flashback will consist of them two laughing and joking around as we are trying to portray happy memories of the couple together. The reason we chose a bedroom  with high key lighting is because it is significant as well as stereotypical that if a boy and a girl are in a bedroom together it makes it more obvious for the audience to see that they are clearly a couple.

We will be using a living room to show some focus on the girl in a homely environment. We will be filming the girl walking over to the fire place in her living room and picking up a photo frame of her and her boyfriend together on a beach. This will then lead on to another flash back of a happy memory of the couple together on a beach. We chose to film this part in a living room as the fact that she has pictures on the fire place of them two together emphasises how they actually had a serious relationship.

As a group we felt as though filming on a beach would be effective for many reasons. Firstly it is a beautiful location to film in as we could also be able to use the sea and the pure atmosphere. This will show the innocence within the artist.  Another reason is because the beach would also be a great location to show a flashback of the couple very happy together but can also be used to show isolation when the artist is filmed there alone. As the beach is a very empty and simple location, it can convey a lot of meaning. This could be used to show the artist feeling empty inside as he is now single and lonely.

One of the reasons we decided to use the arcade is because we felt as though it would be another good location to show a flashback of the couple very happy together. Another reason is because we are showing the girl cheating on her boyfriend it would be effective as she is 'playing' with her boyfriends heart like it is a game, like wise being in an arcade would show the girl playing games. This is effective because it is showing a juxtaposition.

What iconography will you include?
As a group we decided to chose a variety of iconography to use.
One of the iconography we will be using is a pack of cards. This will be significant throughout the whole music video as the 'King' and 'Queen' will be used to represent the boy and girl as a couple and also used to show them playing a game which also signifies the girl playing a game with the boys heart as she is cheating on him.

We will be using fire as it is an effective piece of iconography in our music video.
This will be used in the scene just before the couple start arguing which is before they break up. The fire will be used to show danger, pain and for example a 'heated argument'.
We will be using the fire to burn the pyramid of cards and as the cards are used to symbolise the couple, the burning of the cards would be effective as it will show their relationship 'burning down'.

We will be using a guitar in our music video as it is conventional to the pop genre. It also fits in well with our music video as the artist we are doing, James Arthur, plays the guitar. So therefore as a group we feel as though it will be very effective.

Within our music video, another piece of iconography we will be using is a photo frame. This will be used to show a picture of the couple together which will lead on to a flashback. As a group we decided this will be useful as it will also allow us to try out more effects. We will be zooming in to the photo frame and then zooming out which will lead on to the flashback. This will also allow us to use other camera shots like zoom.

How is your setting and iconography conventional to your music genre?
Our settings and iconography are conventional to our music genre as we will be using the locations and props to help the audience understand the narrative and context more. As we are using Goodwin's theory we will try and build a correlation between the lyrics and the visuals. The visuals will consist of the location and the iconography and this will be conventional as it gives the audience a better understanding of the song and what emotions the artist is feeling.

How does it build a relationship with your target audience?
The mise-en-scene of the music video will allow the audience to build a relationship with the artists as all the camera shots, iconography and settings will relate. The settings we will be using will help the audience focus on the artist. An example of this could be how we will be using a simple dark room at the beginning of the music video and many close up camera shots of the artist. The dark room allows the artist the stand out and the close up shots allow the audience to build a relationship with the artist. As the iconography relates to the music video it also relates to the artist as well, An example of this could be how the burning of cards are used to signify the pain which the artist is feeling and this allows the audience to understand the level of pain he is feeling.

Target Audience Research - Vox Pop

Target Audience Research - Vox Pops

Vox pops are an informal way of interviewing an open audience and questioning them on simple questions you would ask in a survey. So as a group we went around asking members of the public, general questions about what their favourite type of music is and about the types of music videos they have an interest in. We used this as part of our research as we thought it would be very helpful asking our target audiences what they would enjoy watching in a music video. Therefore when it comes to recreating our music video we will know what to include to make it enjoyable for our target audience to watch. We questioned both males and females as it gave us a more varied response on what females enjoy in a music video and what males enjoy watching in a music video.

Below is the link to our Vox Pop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34rFsA5L64g

Target Audience Research - Pie Charts

Target Audience Research - Pie Charts

 

After questioning 40 different people about the types of genre and music they enjoy listening to and the music videos they find entertaining to watch, it helped us decide what type of music video we would like to create to engage our target audience and make it a video they find entertaining to watch. Below are pie charts that we have created with the results of the questionnaire we received.

 

 



 

The results we received will help us a lot when creating our music video as we now have a lot on information on what to include and what not include, specifically to suit our target audience and what they will like too see within a music video. The pie charts just set out the results from the questionnaires much clearer for us to see the results. As a group it has helped us a lot when planning our music video as it has given us a clearer understanding of what our target audience would enjoy seeing in a music video. So if we base our music video around the results we received, I believe that our music video will be extremely sucessful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Target Audience Research - Questionnair

Target Audience Research - Questionnaire

 

Questionnaires are an effective ways of getting information from a target audiences about what type of music they like listening to and what they enjoy watching in a music video. This information is helpful to us because it will be a guidance to creating a music video that our target audience will thoroughly enjoy. There are two types of questions in a questionnaire which are open and closed questions. Open questions are usually used to gather qualitative data which allows the audience to answer with anything they want where as closed questions are used to gather quantitative data which only give the audience an option to choose one answer from the limited 5 choices offered. As a group we created this questionnaire using both open and closed types of questions and asked 40 different people the questions below.

 

1)What is your gender?

:- Male 

:- Female

2)How old are you?

:- 14-16
:- 17-19
:- 20-22
:- 23-25
:- 26+

3)What music genre do you prefer?

:- Pop
:- R&B
:- Indie
:- Rock

:- Other

4)On average how many music videos do you watch a week?

:- None

:- 1-5
:- 6-10
:- 11-15
:- 16-20
:- 21-25
:- 26+

5)What aspects of music videos do you find most effective?

:- Performance

:- Narrative
:- Concept

6)Do you prefer music videos that are conventional or diverse?

:- Conventional

:- Diverse

7)Have you heard of James Arthur?

:- Yes

:- No

8)If yes, what is your favourite single?      

:- _________________________
 

9)What editing style do you prefer?

:- Fast paced editing

:- Slow paced editing
:- Colour tints
:- Green screen

10)Do you like music videos that feature a motif (any recurring element in a story that has symbolic significance)?

:- Yes
:- No

 

Analysis

As a group we separated and asked about 40 different people these questions of different age groups so we could get a wide range of answers from different types of people. This investigation also helped our group realise which age group preferred to listen to James Arthur more which then allows us to focus our recreation of a music video on what our target audience would want to listen to.

Group Planning

Initial Planning Ideas

My A2 media group consists of Jamie, Jagoda, Lauren and myself. As me and Lauren worked together last year in our AS media project of creating a thriller opening we found that we worked very well together, so therefore decided that working together this year as well would be a good idea. We then decided to pair up with Jamie and Jagoda as all 4 of us had the same idea of what sort of music video we wanted to re-create
Jagoda is the creative one within the group, so this will be beneficial as when we create our narrative for our music video, she will come up with good ideas to make our music video very interesting. Jamie has very good editing skills, so when it comes to editing the music video after we have filmed it, with Jamie's help at editing, our music video will come together nicely. Lauren has good organising skills, so this would be beneficial seeing as she will be the one keeping all our group paperwork safe and also she will be good when it comes to organising group meetings. In the group I will be the one that's good with the filming so therefore when it comes to filming our music video ill know what camera shots will be useful to use at what parts.

Research for video inspiration

I wont let go - James blunt  

This music video consist of both performance and narrative within it. We used this as an inspiration for our music video seeing as the story line was the same as ours, which is about a couple splitting up. So this allowed us to see how they created the video to get the message across. Also it shows the couple in two separate locations whilst they are showing the performance at the same time so this helped us get ideas for our music video as well. Another reason we used this as an inspiration is because of the effective camera shots they use. An example of this is the close up shots used in this music video to show the facial expressions of both male and female.

Summertime - Lana Del Rey

This music video consists of Lana Del Rey in the narrative and performance bit of this music video. This is one of the things we would like to use in our music video, which is the artist in both performance and narrative bit of the video, so this helped us get ideas. Also within this music video it shows the artist standing on top of a cliff  about to jump of, and the exciting landscape shown which grabs the audiences attention was also one of the conventions we wanted to use within our music video. After watching this music video it helped us decide that we will be using the jumping off cliff scene within our music video too.

Mise - En - Scene

Settings

We will be using many settings within this music video to keep the audience intrigued as using the same setting throughout comes across as very boring.
One of the settings we will be using most often throughout this music video is a cliff top. This will be significant because it will be used to symbolise the death of the girl and would also show how she is 'high up in heaven'. Not only will it show a sense of freedom but its also a beautiful background which will look good in our music video.

Another setting we will be using is a homely environment. This will contain of a living room as one of the settings where the couple will be playing a game of cards, which is also part of the iconography we will be using. This is significant to our music video as it gives a better impression of the couple and how laid back their relationship was.

The other setting we will be using within the homely settings is a bedroom. This will be used because it gives us the chance to dress the girl up really casually so we could show of her body as well. Also a bedroom is a very conventional setting to use within a music video about a couple seeing as the bedroom signifies couple behaviour.

Iconography

The main iconography we will be using is a pack of cards. This will be used to show how the couple are actually playing a love game with each others mind and it is also a representation of their relationship. We will be showing this through the use of the king and queen of hearts as the king and queen will be symbolising the couple and the hearts will be symbolising their love.
Another iconography we will be using is a guitar. This will be used to show the audience that it is a pop song as usually a guitar is one of the conventions of a pop song. Also it gives the artist something to do whilst he is getting filmed.

The fire will be used to burn the cards which will symbolise the 'burning' of their relationship. So it will define danger, pain and anger as they are the 3 main emotions couple feel when they are breaking up .

Costume

As we are creating a pop music video the clothing will be very casual as this is conventional to the pop music genre. This will consist of the artist wearing something as causal as jeans and a shit.
Where as on the other hand the girl will be changing into different outfits throughout the music video and the different locations they will be in. Her costumes will consist of causal clothes, such as a baggy jumper and leggings or even a dress. 

Lighting

Throughout our whole music video we will be using mostly high  key lighting. This is because majority of our video will be filmed indoors and the part of it that will be filmed outside on the cliff top will be in broad daylight. Low key lighting will only be used to show the performance part of our music video. This will be when the artist is playing the guitar and singing. Low key lighting will be used to keep the artists identity slightly closed up and also because he is singing about love and how its impossible, the dark and dull atmosphere would help the audience realise how he is feeling. 

  

Positioning

The artist will be places in the centre of the screen during the performance part of this music video. This will be to emphasise all attention on the artist at that particular moment in the music video. During the narrative aspect of this music video the couple will be centre of the frame at all time.

Editing

When editing our music video, one of the editing techniques we were planning to use is a slow pace whenever they show the female character which will be the narrative aspect of our video. This is because it will allow the audience to concentrate more on the narrative/story line than the performance part of it. Its also a great way to show the emotions within this music video of the 'couple'.

Another editing technique we are going to use is fade, so between most individual scenes they will fade in to each other. This would be good seeing as it will emphasise the relationship between the artists and his 'partner'

 

Cinematography

One of the camera shots we will be using the most throughout this music video will be close up shots of both the artist and the girl so it can allow the audience to build a relationship with them. Also it helps the audience emphasise on their facial expressions more so therefore the audience will be able to relate more to the video.

Another camera shot we will be using is a panning shot at the beginning of our music video showing the artist as it is conventional to the pop genre and also it will show him playing the guitar which we feel is a vital aspect within the performance part of our vide

Music video theory

Goodwin's Theory - This theory will be shown within our music video to show the relationship between the visual and lyrics. As the song we are recreating is a pop song, we will be using conventions of a pop music video to put within our recreation of our music video. We will be doing this through using performance and narrative.

Group meetings 

This snapshot below is one of the storyboards we completed in our group meeting. It contains the information about what will be happening in the first part of our music video.