The moodboard that I have created shows many features that I would like to see in my music video if it is possible. I want the idea of soft close touching with people who have a contrast of colour. I also would like darker solo parts from the artist as this is a key feature in the music videos of this genre. For the narrative of the video I would like it to take place in the woods to show the relationship in a more natural setting.
I have chosen to do this song because the type of lyrics, sound and original video create different ideas for my project. I have chosen to do this video as the singer is a white female, which breaks the stereotype of the genre but she has done it well and succeeded. The lyrics and the pace of the song work well so I am able to add a total different view of the video. Unlike many of the songs in this genre they do not include a climax in the song but that's why I've chosen it, it ables me to change the pace in my video along with the song.
These two examples are the most common answers between males and females. This research has helped in finding a better and more targeted audience. There were clear trends in my sample of choices. Such as the wide range in age, in my results I found out that the target audience age decided by their type of answers would be aged 19-21 and female. I have also chosen to use the editing effect of slow motion and speeding up the video and the majority of females in this age bracket said it worked. Overall in the results the top 3 artists were The Weeknd, Drake and Lana Del Rey. This has worked in my genre choice well to show it is a growing genre in new generations.
For my digipack I have chosen to add exclusive photos and a patterned disc as these were the majority of chosen answers. This is to go along with exclusive interviews and having my website being laid out simple instead of being busy with movement like the One Direction video. A key question was asking about if it mattered to have attractive people in a music video, all of the males asked answered yes and all the women answered no. I am going to take into account about having attractive people in the music video and clearly some on the males that answered the questionnaire did like the alternative R&B genre, so I have to reach out to all potential target audience.
Having to have grown a deeper understanding of my target audience, I have decided to include key aspects in my music video and taking into account other music video of the genre that have done well. I have decided to include more women than men. To have a mixture of surreal settings being edited into the scene of a woodland when the song gets to key points which will be shown in later posts in a timeline of scenes in my music video. My video will include both ends of the scale from creating parts of voyerism and part where none will be shown. I will do this to meet expectations of my target audience included the lighting and types of editing, which I will be able to mention deeper in a dedicated post, such as lower lighting and black and white changes.
Target audience is key to having a successful career in the music industry, if the artist can not link with their target audience then sales and streams will fall. Having the correct type of target audience makes projects like a music video a lot easier by clothing choice and the style of the video. The people will know what their audience do as hobbies and their dislikes. For example in rock videos you wouldn't see it look like a Taylor Swift video or set on a beach on a hot summers day. This is because they know their target audience wouldn't enjoy watching it, they want to see the band and a grunge looking setting.
For my chosen genre the idea that the artist needs to be part of the target audience, they need to be similar like the clothes they were, similar humour and taste in the opposite sex which is seen through music videos and publicity.
My typical target audience is a young generation because they are the key target audience in the genre. because of the main artists in the genre being coloured it appeals to a higher proportion of coloured people. Their likes will include things such as social networking, going to pubs and being social of other people the same age. Their dislikes will be things such as pop music, music that has no intention of anything in the lyrics and unsocial people. Hobbies will include working towards being successful in anything. As they have such big and correct role models in this genre, people tend to want to be like their role models. This is important when looking at target audience because in alternative R&B these artists drive to talk about love and relationship. So their audience aim to be like them and being successful. Some of their biggest role models will be Frank Ocean, Beyonce and The Weeknd.
Using the yougov profiles helped me understand my target audience in more depth. From down to their political views and their social life. This extremely helps with my website for adding the style and what type of things to include in my website. It has also helped with what feel I want my music video to have. This also helped with knowing how to show how my artist comes across to interact with my artist. The interactive website to tell me more about my target audience, it was able to show a larger possible target audience across the entire UK. It was also a valid example of correct of secondary research.
After looking at three band/artist websites I have taken aspects from each website I saw to add to my known. Such as the three house rule in Bruno Mars website, it keeps it simple and leaves the rest of the website easy to look at for many people. From the One Direction website I will take the layout because it works well with bold text and with a younger feel to it than the Bruno Mars website and The Weeknd's website. Finally from The Weeknd's website I will add the same kind of idea by the opening page having his latest music video up to the enter the site.
Follow the task of links that produced a random word for the artist/bands name, a random selection from a quote for the album name and a random link follow to a random image to produce an album. This abled me to focus of simply the look of the album. Ive taken thought that the look of the album should appeal to as many people as possible, to suit the genre as well and stand out to other albums on sale.
I chose my font around the image that i got, that the calming photo looked to me as a calming, instrumental album. So with the photo i made it appeal to new listeners by editing it into partly black and white, it allows it to stand out from many other album covers. The style of text used i thought was suitable for my genre. It didn't harshen the photo, i kept it in black because it was easy to read and to stand out.
For the spine, i looked at how CD's are shown from the side when on sale.
This shows that the spine can be just as important as the rest of the artwork. Artists who know they will produce a certain amount of albums, they will create an image that is designed to fit along when all the albums are placed all together. I changed the text on the spine so that it is clear when represented like the image above.
My back cover, i converted the black and white the other way around. So that it kept a theme through the album, i kept the name of the album incase it's every shown backwards people are able to see the art of the album, that the thought has gone throughout the whole album.
If there was one thing that i could change about the way i have done about my album, is that the name of the songs are hard to read, so i would of taken more time into how i could make it more readable with colour clashes.
A Digipak is used to allure people to continue buying CD's as the sale decreases in them as downloading music becomes more popular. It can offer extra art which is known as album art. It also may include exclusive images that can only be purchased, along with the lyrics if the artists wants them in there. They create a brand identity of the artist and creates more attraction for the listeners. So the images in there are relevant to the target audience by applying these Digipaks to attract them. The theme of the Digipak will follow through the album such as;
I find this album cover so inspirational due to the fact, it shows how people feel when they listen to his music. The chilling feel in his music is shown in the photo. That the blue shows calm and darkness but the most important is that the person is isolated with their back to the camera. I think the thought behind the look of it with using the light and the colour works well and joins in with the sound of his music.
PINK FLOYD THE WALL
This album work of Pink Floyd's album is known in the top 50 album covers of time. It relates to the entire album, the simple work of a wall is mentioned through-out the whole album. This link between the lyrics is clear in the album art. The type of text they've used over the wall, shows the story of the album that he feels like he's going crazy and talking to someone. This link with the text is done by the orderly formation of the wall is ruined by the rough looking text, like how the man feels in the album. the colour white symbolises the clinical look of a hospital.
BEYONCE
4
This album fits my chosen genre. It's important to show that a lot of these covers are shown of the female body. She shows her importance of her look by covering part of her known name, like people should know who she is. That is because she is so well known that people would rather look at her than look at the album name. Her lack of clothing is also a key characteristic in the genre. Many people look up to Beyonce, this is wear this angle of slightly looking up to her comes from, that she's a respected woman who has power in her industry.
BANKS
GODDESS
Banks also fits into my genre choice. The colour choice of the album is a dark red. red shows either danger or love in most cases but this colour has been chosen to show lust and a darker side of most songs related to love or relationships. The sexual reference is clear in the album, a low cut dress is clear with showing her mid-drift. The bold white text covers this, this can show that she's shy or either young . This adds to her face looking away and the lifting of her skirt, this makes her look like innocent and harmless which removes the first thought of danger when looking at the cover. The album in it's sound it quite and never sound bold. Personally this is why is think she's made herself slightly blend into the colour of the cover instead of standing out.
NWA
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
This album shows how much power the group have, this is done by them totally looking over the camera with one of them holding a gun. This art shows violence which is heavily linked with the genre. The gun point towards the camera also works well. It's all be done to make the person looking at it to feel intimidating and personal. All the men are dressed the same and fitting the stereotype of black crime in America. The bold group name NWA in red links to the danger of them. That they are dangerous and violent.
THE WEEKND
THURSDAY
This album works with a series of album art that the weeknd does. The Thursday album shows the degrading of a women. On the first image her hair is a mess and in a simple black bar. The light black ad white with this photo can't give her a low profile, that she is nothing, her posture of the girl is that she's bored and carless, but concentrating. The change for the next photo is that she is wearing clothes that are bright and the background is bright too, she looks happy and clean compared to the other image, her posture is also upright and she is smiling. The balloons link to the album released before this called House of Balloons, which was in black and white but in this album it shows a transformation. In the last image she looks like she's been sleeping in the street, not a low profile like the low profile but she looks rough in this image, the running makeup and messy hair that contains slight curls from the day before. the colour is still there but it's faded. This album works in so many different ways, the showing of three days of a young women, how his album changes through-out the song list and the of white total background that gives a dirty look to the album.
Using the format of Andrew Goodwin's 6 steps, Plan B's song Ill Manors would make the perfect video within the genre.
The music video has to demonstrate genre characteristics.
Plan B has clearly put a lot of thought into how his video represents the lower class of Britain. He has his actors dressed in hoodies, joggers and with huge hoop earrings for the females. He has followed a strong stereotype for chavs in Britain, he then uses this look because they are associated with rap music, that sounds violent and aggressive towards other people. The darker tone through-out the video creates a feeling that they are dirty people that associate with this type of music.
The relationship between the lyrics and the images, by the lyrics being represented by the images.
There are clear links between the lyrics describing what the people look like and then seeing a group of the actors dressed the exact same. There are also many mentions in the lyrics to violence this is then represented in the video by violence between others than either is shown through his actors or camera footage from events such as the London riots that took place on August the 6th-10th 2011. plan B's video then came out on the 25th of March 2012.
A relationships between the sound of the music to the visuals, done by change in scene or camera shots.
Key parts through out show time skips through the short narratives in his music video, this is mostly done through the speeding up of violence in another scene or a close up of Plan B.At the point of the screenshot above they pointed the time towards the audience by throwing rocks to look through it comes through your tv screen. as the music sounds more aggressive the people start moving a lot faster and switches in all different scenes happen quicker.
Demands by the record label by close ups or signature things to do with the artist.
Plan B has many close ups through the video but adding in his cast from his own film, these two features together work to give more time to his cast to promote his film and a signature known by viewers who have seen the film.
Reference to looking and the female body.
This is the only real close up that is seen of the female body but Plan B has had her represented in a negative way which isn't sexual. She is seen with men who are violent. This is to show that they seen her as the same as them, she is involved in the violence that goes on even if its filming. It was chosen to show that the area they then treats women differently and not on a higher sexual level but as rough and dirty.
Inter-texual reference
This video and song was totally focused on how the lower class are represented, this is shown through footage of the London riots and how the politics reacts to problems in England. After the song came out people agreed with what Plan B was saying. He has footage of a politic hitting a normal person this all adds to the papers that everyone seems to think people like David Cameron can insult others when he's ruining the country. The video goes back and forth to London riot footage to remind viewers what happened not so long ago and referring to headlines about giving free health and free money away to people who should receive it. He does this very well by taking in a comedy route of creating the look of still cut outs to show this.
Andrew Goodwin had a theory about what makes a music video good. This included 6 steps.
The music video has to demonstrate the genre characteristics.
A relationship present between the lyrics and the visuals of the video. Lyrics represented by images.
A relationship between the sound of the music to the visuals, usually done by different shots, tone or atmosphere.
Demands of the record label, this means numbers of close ups of the artist or signature things in most of their music videos.
Reference to notion of looking such as screens and mirrors. Especially the showing of the female body.
Intertextual reference to the media including films or TV programmes.
In Jessie J's music video Price Tag it's clear to see all 6 of Andrew's ideas. The genre of the music video is pop and the demonstration of this through the video is clear, it has soft pastel colour backgrounds with a big bear at the start a Jessie being inside a dolls house. This sort of work appeals to the younger audience of pop being interested.
They match many single lyrics to actions such as gestures of money when the lyrics are about money, little relationships between the lyrics and the video include lyrics saying actions such as looking to the left and then in the video it then being done. It makes a light interactive connection with an audience which involves the audience in the movement seen in the video.
Point three of a relationship between the sound of the music and the visual images in the video is done mainly on the changes in pace in the song and pauses. The movement is between scenes changing of different looks of Jessie J and of different scenes. This works by not letting the audience watch the same thing for a long amount of time, it also slows connection between the actual sound of the song and the look and pace of the video.
The demands of the record label are clear throughout the video, seeing Jessie J in all looks in almost every scene, her different looks can also be used to appeal to different people watching the video to then discuss where she looks better or what they prefer. The close up of her jeweled lips is something Jessie J was known for so this close up is a signature of Jessie J, same with her hair changes through-out the video.
Even though this video is aimed at younger children not often appealing to adults, Jessie J's body is in shown. Either her being in tight clothing or short shorts showing her legs. This shows the way her body looks and her body shape. Same with one of her outfits in the video, that its short and shows a lot of her leg but the upper part of her body is see through but with clothes underneath. Although even with all of these suggestions her body is represented in a sexual way, it's just whats she's wearing that gives this impression. So the representation of the female body doesn't have to move or act in a certain way when clothing can do the same thing.
In the Price Tag video many inter-textual references are made but the biggest one is her own reference to her first ever video 'Do It Like A Dude' with the lyric 'It wasn't low blows and video hoes' the image then used in the video is her in the clear outfit of her last video dancing. This intertexual reference is towards her, this also links to step 4, the record label demands. That her main reference is to her and not giving the light to someone else in her own video.
These two music videos show major key components of the alternative R&B music video. The BANKS video called brain showed skilled edited to keep up with the pace of the song along with the dark low colours. Even though it does just involve her in the music video. It's filled with close ups and slight voyerism of herself by how she moves and is wearing a simple silk dress.
In the song by Majid Jordan and Drake it includes the famous male perspective of a R&B music video, loads of women, drugs and low coloured lighting. These two video inspire me in the chosen genre because they include so many key points that are stereotypical for the videos. Using two video from a male ad female to show the contrast at how the movement and pace changes.
The mis-en-scene for both videos are important, BANKS had decided to go for something simple and sexually appealing, whilst in the Majid video he just exposed part of the female body.
The both have close ups in the videos but unlike BANKS video Majid includes landscape shot from the beginning of the video. It's important that I set me video in a real life situation like Majid but include pace up keeping and iterating edits like BANKS did in her video to keep the audience interested.
My chosen genre is Alternative R&B. This genre is a new sub genre within R&B and Hip-Hop, the base of the genre comes from African Americans with a slow paced tune and more intimate style compared to the rest of the genre. Bigger artists such as Beyonce who were around before the genre was created have then created songs to fit the new genre for bigger and wider audiences.
In my music video i will include some of the conventions of the genre from male and female artists such as the way of style, beauty and people who are seen in the music videos. Here are some examples:
In this genre there is a grown popularity for black beauty for females and males. Bright colours and bold make up is common even though a lot of the video have a dark tone to them. The album art usually contains a female or a standing statement. Exposure of the female body is also key along with climax being using used movement of the camera. I will be using these types of movement and style in my music video.
Settings are totally different throughout this genre but being outside is always feature. This includes being out in a city, a beach and the woods. It is always shown in the album art that females are shown in bright exposed lighting while the men are in darker lights and hiding of their faces.
J.Cole - Wet Dreamz is an inspirational music video because of how the video isn't used in a sexual way like the lyrics. J.Cole moved his lyrics into using dogs. This works well because he's made the video available for midday TV. Instead of having half naked which wouldn't been shown on TV. This is a smart way to promote your music video, it is also smart because this isn't usually done so it catches a lot of attention. It has a steady change of pace throughout the video. They've created a climax in the video and a smooth narrative with a twist. Its engages the audience with puppies.
Bring Me The Horizon use a smart camera edit. This is called a camera shift, it is used to create the look of 3D movement without needing the glasses or a special screen. The setting is also inspirational to me, the video was set in the largest island in Germany. As it is meant to link to the lyrics of "going nowhere" It also then links to their next track which was released called "Sleepwalking" that won video of the video by Music Video Directors Association. I like how it includes a narrative and play of the band. The highlight of the video is the band itself (Bring Me The Horizon) With the use of contrast of the snowy cloudy day to using bright flares in the dark.
JME used a simple black screen for this music video. The circle rotation works well with the group of people looking down on the camera to make the audience feel intimidated. They also match their actions to a lot of the lyrics such as the ABC and digestive biscuits. They also use intertexual references of their clothing brand.The way the artists use their facial expressions and movement to intimidate the audience as much as they can with exaggerated movement throughout the whole video.
The Foals music video is inspirational because they had chafed the way that music videos were made. This works well because it involves the audience when used on a mobile device by using a 360 degree camera. This edit moves whilst the audience moves the mobile device and the set of the video stays the say but the point of view changes. It's also inspirational for using a GoPro spherical camera and then editing it further for the camera view to wrap around and then make it a virtual reality music video.
The song Mine works well with the abstract way of showing love between couples. The emotion is shown through dance. Pace is shown by change in lighting on the two artists faces which works really well. The way explosions of sand are using well to contract show movements n the song and video. Plain colours are used for clothing and extra fabric to add exaggerated movement. The video has focus on movement instead of a narrative. It's soft movement and thought into the video works well with the changes of the pace of the lighting and painted explosions.
