Research into music genres

How do music videos appeal to an audience?

A music video is usually an extremely important way to create a connection between the artist and its target audience. It also helps the audience understand the narrative behind the song and what the true meaning of the song is seeing as visuals could relate to the lyrics. Each different music genres consist of different music videos relating to the artist. An example of this could be how rap artists music videos usually consist of sexy women, money, cars and jewelry. Whereas a dance music video usually has a loud music and upbeat dancers.

How do the technical elements vary in the different music videos?

How do music videos appeal to an audience

How can the audience build a relationship with the artist?

What ideas or inspirations can you use for your music video and why

Drake - Over

The room Drake is sitting in right at the beginning of the song is empty which gives the audience the impression that the video is simple and boring. However it turns out to be extremely interesting seeing as there are projections on the walls around him which relate to his song and lyrics. This show's Goodwin's theory.
He is targeting both male and female audience within the age group of 15-25 and is singing about how he became famous so quickly.

Camera

Roughly a few seconds in to the music video one of the camera shots used is a Low Angle of drake sitting on his bed rapping whilst at the same time there is a projection of a road on the walls. This shows that he is becoming bigger as he is on the 'Road to success'

Another camera shot used many times in this music video is close ups of Drakes face. This is because as Drake was a new artist when he released this first song, so he wanted the audience to recognize him and the close ups of drakes face allowed the audience to build relationship with him straight away as the it was one of the first camera shots used.

Editing;

One of the editing techniques used was a Time Lapse which is when drake was going at a normal pace as the projection of people next to him was increasing at a faster pace. This is interesting because his lyrics relate what was going on in the music video for example "I know way too many people here right now that I didn't know last year" this is where it relates to Goodwin's theory. This editing technique could symbolise how he is getting bigger and more recognized by people.

Another editing technique used is special effects. One of the special effects used is when drake is standing in a dark room and his shadows behind him are increasing in size. This could symbolise how he started low down and he his making himself bigger as it is shown on the wall that he is getting bigger.

Flo Rida - Club cant handle me

The narrative of this music video consists of flo Rida trying to show off/boast about all the money and popularity he has now that he is famous. The music video is set in a club showing flo Rida surrounded by many people that practically worship him. This is shown by the levels  used within the club.

Camera;

One of the camera shots used was a low angle in the club when Flo Rida is standing on a higher level than everyone else there. This could be because he trying to emphasize the fact that he is now very powerful because he is famous and rich. This shows a lot of arrogance.

Another camera shot that was used right at the beginning was a close up of the two Lamborghini cars. This is also shown to emphasize the fact that he is now rich and he is trying to show that he is turning up in one of the most expensive cars.

Editing;

One of the editing techniques used was a fade of each individual scene at the beginning fading into each other. The scenes consisted of clips of Flo Rida coming out of his Lamborghini, throwing the money around and entering the club. This shows his success and how proud he feels of his achievements.

Another editing technique used was a split screen of the club and a deserted street. This could of possibly been used to symbolise how he felt before he became famous (Lonely, deserted) and how he feels now that he has many fans, is famous and well know.

Justin Timberlake - Cry me a river

This music video consists of Justin Timberland  singing about how his girlfriend had cheated on him and now he wants her to 'Cry him a river' while he gets his revenge.

Camera;

This is one of the first camera shots used in this music video. It is a close up shot of a swimming pool which can be used to symbolise the water of his ex girlfriend 'Crying him a river' and also this shows the rain which is pathetic fallacy which shows that something bad was going on so it was raining.

Another camera shot which was used many times was close ups of Justin Timberland's face seeing as he was a new artist when he released this song so he was trying to make him self become recognized and well known. This also allowed the audience to build a relationship with the artist.

Editing ;

One of the editing styles used within this music video is slow motion. This is when the action that is going on in a frame is slowed down and this editing effect has been added when the raindrops fall on the car. This editing could be used to symbolise the tears he cried over her and possibly the tears he is trying to make her cry.

Research and analysis of a star, Dyers theory

Richard Dyers Theory

·    Richard Dyers star theory is the idea that music artists and celebrities are constructed by different institutions for financial reasons and are built to target a certain audiences or a different group of people.

·    He gives of the impression that :-
 - Stars are an image not a person
 - Stars are a product
 - Stars are constructed out of materials such as advertising and magazines.

Dyers theory can be broken down in to 3 segments which are audiences and Institutions, Construction and Hegemony (Cultural Beliefs)

Audiences and Institutions

o    Stars are used for no other reason but to make money

o    The Institutions then advertise the stars images around their target audience, for example advertising Rihanna in magazines to attract a target audience of teenagers.

Constructions

o    The star is a fake person built solidly for the audiences entertainment not as an actual person

o    A star is built specifically by someone that wishes to differentiates them from other starts

Hegemony

o    Some people may try to copy what they like about the stars however this can be negative as even though starts are seen as role models, in music videos there is usually use of drugs and alcohol which negatively influences Youngers.

Applying Dyers Theory

Rihanna is a Barbadian recording artist that started off her singing career in 2005 at the age of 17. She released her first album 'Music of the sun' which consisted of her song 'Pon de replay'. This was the lead single from her album. Although she is in a night club and is wearing a silver  belly top with baggy jeans, she still comes across as an innocent young woman.

Pon De Replay

This was one of Rihanna's first song that she released in 2005. By watching the music video its easy to notice that she portrays the image of a sweet, innocent young lady that just wants to have a good night out with her friends. The video is performance due as she is informing the DJ to 'turn the music up' and at the same time telling everyone else how to dance. This is shown in her lyrics when she said 'It goes one by one even two by two everybody in the club let me show you how we do it' and then she goes on to explaining how to 'Dip it down low and bring it up slow'  however she doesn't do any dirty dancing within the video and her innocence remained.

Rihanna's appearance throughout the video is just as innocent as she is wearing baggy jeans and a gold sequenced belly top. Also in another scene she is wearing a denim dress with her hair in two pony tails which also sets off an innocent look as well a stereotypical representation of a young girl. Throughout this music video there are many close ups of Rihanna as it was one of her first ever music videos and the record label wanted the audience to gain recognition of this singer. Therefore the close ups put much emphasis on her face so she became well known.

However, in 2007 soon after the fame and popularity had gotten to her head Rihanna had 
completely changed her image to continue gaining popularity and that when she released her third album 'Good girl gone bad'. This album consisted of her songs 'Umbrella' and 'Shut up and drive' which allowed the audience to see the dramatic change in her nature from innocent to provocative. These songs consisted of many references to; love, sex and being 'possessed by the devil'. It comes across as though Rihanna knew how much her popularity and fame had grown, so she felt as though she could completely change her image and attitude and still maintain a high amount of popularity.

Shut up and drive

This song was one of the 5th singles from her album good girl gone bad. Her innocent appearance had suddenly transformed to provocative and allowed the audience to see the development in her confidence and attitude towards her career. You could see the difference in her appearance when she appears in this music video with her hair cut extremely short and the numerous revealing outfits she was changing into throughout. An example of this is when she has her hair  in two ponytails in her music video of  'Pon de floor' which shows her innocence where as in her music video 'Shut up and drive' her hair is cut into a bob which adds to the more 'Rude girl' look. Another example could be her outfits in 'Pon de floor' when she is wearing a denim dress she comes across as a naive young girl where as on the other hand in 'shut up and drive' she wears outfits like shorts and cut tops. 

Also her song 'Pon De Floor' comes under the music genre of more Dance-pop where as her song 'Shut up and drive' comes under the music genre of Pop-rock. However; her song 'Shut up and drive' has a narrative behind it which is her talking about sex. Throughout the whole song she is talking about how her "engine's ready to explode, explode, explode, So start me up and watch me go, go, go, go" which means she is waiting for some one to come along and give her that 'sexual pleasure'. Her attitude in this music video shows how she has transforms in to that 'bad girl' as she is creating songs about intercourse which sets of a bad example to the young teenagers that look up to her. 

The advantage of her change for Rihanna is that she will be receiving a lot more male attention as they found her very attractive.

It comes across that this music video also applies to Goodwin's Theory as the lyrics and visuals relate. For example the lyrics are talking about a car, the engine and about a guy driving; so throughout the song it consists of her trying to fix a car and towards the end it shows two guys racing in the cars. Which could symbolise two guys competing over her as her song is about what guy could 'handle her'

Pour it up

This is one of the most recent songs and music video that Rihanna has created which was released in 2013. It shows the dramatic change within her personality and appearance as she has now become extremely provocative. Her music videos now consist of her dancing inappropriately and contains some nudity. Reflecting back on her old music videos that I have analysed above, you can clearly see how she has changed. As Rihanna's music videos are now very inappropriate, it comes across that her videos can't be shown on TV before 9pm.

The costume she is wearing at first consist of her wearing a big furry coat, very big heels and red underwear. The red could symbolise love and provocative behavior. The amount of clothing she is wearing is extremely limited which gives of the impression that she is going 'off the rails' as the fame and popularity has gotten to her head. This backs up Dyers theory as it proves that fame and popularity creates a fake person.

Within this song, Rihanna seems to be singing about going clubbing and drinking. This is shown through her lyrics which are "Strip club and dollar bills, I still got my money, Patron shots can I get a refill, I still got my money". She is giving of the impression that at clubs she "flashes her cash" and yet again she still has plenty of money left. This is a negative impact on her audience as it gives of the impression that she feels like its a good thing to spend lots of money when going clubbing. 
Throughout the song she tends to speak a lot about money and how her money never runs out. This could be her telling everyone around her about how she feels like she has lots of money to spend as she is famous which gives the audience an impression that is has become very arrogant.

Dyers Star Theory

Richard Dyers theory relates to Rihanna as it is clear that Rihanna has changed over the years to gain popularity, fame and to compete with all other artists. Therefore this backs up Dyers point that Artists are not who they portray themselves they are fake images just to engage more of an audience, to gain popularity so that could leads to them making more money. This has been shown and backed up with my analysis Rihanna's three most famous songs which shows a drastic change in her behavior and her lifestyle. It has been a negative change and she is no longer seen as naive and innocent but provocative and arrogant.



Research into music channels and target audience

Music channels

Objective

To be able to show an understanding of how music channels appeal to an audience

1)  Who is the target audience and why?

2)  What type of music does the channel play and why?

3)  Identify 3-5 examples of artists that feature on a regular basis?

4)  How is the channel used as a form of branding?

5)  How does the logo appeal to the target audience?

1)   MTV music channel is targeted at young youths aged 12-24 years old. This is because MTV play all the modern songs that are in the chats and songs sung by famous artist that teenagers look up too, for example Rihanna.

2)  MTV plays different types of music from different genres like Pop, RnB, Garage and hip-hop. However MTV concentrate more on playing new songs released and familiar artists as they show this type of music for their target audience’s entertainment. 

3) MTV’s artists played on a regular basis at the moment is  Bruno Mars, Rihanna, One Direction, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift as these are the most popular artists at the moment.    

4) Although MTV is recognised as a music channel, it also features many TV shows. Examples of this may consist of Teen mom,

5) The MTV logo is very simple and plain but it’s made in a clever way as it really stands out to the audience and their sign is very unique so it’s very well-known and easily noticed.

1) VH1 music channel targets an audience between 25 to 44 year olds seeing as they aim to be mature, sophisticated and stylish. The music played by VH1 is music that the older generations use to listen to when they were younger so it’s something they have an interest in.

2) VH1 music channel plays a variety of different music from many different genres. They also have TV shows of specific music genres for their target audience an example of this is the 'Top 100 singles in the 80's' which would be targeted at adults. This comes across as a good marketing technique as many adults may not enjoy the music VH1 plays, however when that  particular programme comes on it will attract them as they wouldn't mind listening to music from when they were younger.

3) Many artists feature on VH1 music channel on a regular basis. However they usually focus on artists from the 80's as they target an older audience

4) VH1 is a subsidiary of MTV, therefore it is branded through MTV which comes across as a positive thing as MTV is one of the biggest most popular music channel so when they advertise and brand VH1 all MTV audience would tune into VH1 which increases popularity.

5) The VH1 logo appeals to the target audience as it is very bold and the bright colours really grab their attention. The colour difference reflects basic colours from the 80s which suits the adult target audience.

1) Box target audience is 14-20 years old as it consists of all the latest music in the charts that teenagers and young adults prefer to listen to. Also teenagers and young adults usually take more of an interest in recent music.

2) Box currently plays music from many different types of genres, those consisting of genres like
Pop, R&B and Indie seeing as this is what interests teenagers and young adults

3) The top 5 artists played by box are Macklemore, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Taylor swift seeing as they are the top 5 artists in the charts at the moment.

4) Box music channel is also another example of a subsidiary of MTV and also 4Music. This is so it can be promoted and advertised through these other popular music channels, this way they will achieve a greater target audience.

5) The Box music logo appeals to an audience because the writing is shaped in a form of a box which makes it an interesting logo and the colour adds to the audiences attention because its not plain black, white and boring.

1) The target audience for kiss music channel is 15-34 year olds. This is because Kiss is one of the biggest radio stations in the UK and they play music from the recent charts and also music from the 90s that would interest the older target audience.

2) Kiss play a variety of music genres at different set times. Some of the music genres they play consist of Grime, R&B, Garage, Hip hop, Urban and pop.

3) The top artists played on kiss consist of Rihanna, Jay Z, DJ Fresh, David Guetta and Beyoncé. This is because these artists are the ones that interest the targeted audience as they are the most popular artists at the moment.

4) Kiss is used as a form of branding through promoting it self as it has no subsidiaries.

5) The logo appeals to the audience as it is blue and the colour blue represents calmness and young youths. Also the logo stands out as its very simple but interesting.

1) The target audience for Scuzz music channel is 16-30 year olds. It is a niche market seeing as it only specialises in a certain genre of music which is Rock. So only teenagers/young adults interested in rock music listen to it. Therefore it isn't popular but it has a devoted audience. 

2) Scuzz music channel only plays one genre of music which is heavy rock.

3) The top artists played on Scuzz are Enter Shaikari, muse, Green day and many more rock bands.

4) It is used as a form of branding through its 'Sister channels' which consist of Flava, vault and tiny pop.

5) The logo appeals to the audience because it is silver and connotes the heavy metal genre. It also consists of the sharp pointy bits which Audience that like rock music would find appealing.

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Research into music censorship

Should music videos be censored?

Ofcom is the government approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunication and postal industries of the UK.
It censors music videos that may be inappropriate for people under the age of 18, so it is used to protect Youngers from drugs, sex, violence, racism, weapons or homophobia. 

In the past there have been many incidents of artists being banned or music videos being censored due to inappropriate behaviour that could influence naïve teenagers in the most negative way. 

Some music videos that have been censored consist of Robbie Williams; Rock DJ – As it starts off with Robbie Williams naked stripping off his skin which was highly censored as it contains gory images. Another example of censored songs is Sean Kingston; Beautiful Girls – As he mentions the word ‘Suicidal’ which got changed to ‘In denial’.

Eminem has been censored on many different occasions as his lyrics always consist of inappropriate words and phrases. For example in his music video Stan it involved suicidal and murder, however some of the swear words have been censored so younger viewers don’t start thinking that swearing is acceptable as parents wouldn’t want these songs having a negative effect on their children’s attitude and behaviour. 

In our media lesson we had a debate about Rihanna and whether her music videos should be censored or not. We were roll playing and within our debate we had Rihanna, her biggest fan, a record label, parents for, parents against, kiss radio station and MTV. 

Rihanna was talking about how her music that she produces is very good and it helps her earn a lot of money and she believes that she should continue to be looked up as a role model as she doesn’t think that she is doing anything wrong and her music should just be enjoyed.
Her biggest fan raised the points that Rihanna is actually a good person and that everyone should just appreciate her music.

The record label mentioned that they are just doing their own job which is to release music, however Rihanna isn’t famous for being a role model, just a singer so it’s a choice of these young teenage girls to idolise her.
Parents that were for Rihanna spoke about how good parents should educate their children well enough for them to know not to copy what is shown on TV and music videos.

Parents against were arguing that some of the things Rihanna does in her music videos shouldn’t even be shown on TV as it is inappropriate and unpleasant and regardless of good parenting or not it’s a bad influence.
Kiss radio station can only play cleaned and censored music therefore they believe that Rihanna needs to tone down a bit as they believe that she is a role model to little girls so therefore she needs to be cleaner.

MTV decided that young teenagers shouldn’t be exposed to drugs, sex and violence when they are most naïve as it could negatively influence them in to thinking that these famous singers are doing the right thing.

Advantages
There are many advantages of censoring music videos. These advantages could consist of..

:- Preventing the public display of disrespect to any particular individual or community
:- Children are prevented from learning things that could negatively effect them in future
:- It shields the morals of society
:- It retrains the use of Obscenity
:- It restricts the abundance of violence used in music videos

Disadvantages
Some of the many disadvantages of censorship are...

:- Freedom of speech is compromised
:- Prevents ideas from flowing freely
:- Creativity is restricted
:- Used to control people
:- May be used to block out legitimate criticism

In conclusion I think that music videos should be censored as teenagers are very naïve and vulnerable when they are within the age group of 13-17. Therefore by seeing some of their favourite celebrities and singers behave the way they do on TV and also hearing the way they use inappropriate language, teenagers would get easily influenced into behaving negatively towards friends and family.
Also many young teenagers look up to these celebrities and singers as role models, so therefore they would copy the way they behave thinking they’re ‘cool’.  

What is a music video?

What is a music video?
A music video is a market tool used to promote an artist or song.

Purpose of a music video

·         A short narrative to represent an artist.

·         To attract a particular target audience.

·         To identify an artist or a group.

·         To buy into an artist’s life style.

·         To show the different conventions of a genre or a music video.

·         For an audience to remember the music video.

·         To make a song available to a wide audience.

·         To show more about an artist.

·         The audience request music videos.

·         To build a relationship with the artist.

·         For the audience to understand more about a song.

Styles of a music video

Music videos are split into 3 different categories which are :-

·         Performance – Singing and Dancing.

·         Narrative – Telling the audience a story.

·         Concept – Selling the audience an idea or theme or ideology.

Some music videos contain a mixture of the different styles and some contain only one style. 

Codes and conventions of a music video

·  The codes and conventions of music genres are all different to each other and this is because music genres have different target audiences