I am going to analyse 3 of the words used in my Tagul so that you can have a deeper understanding of this target audience...
Careless -The typical stereotype of a teenager aged 16-18 is that they are only interested in drugs and alcohol and pretty much just rebellion as a whole therefore, we thought that the word 'Careless' summed that up pretty well. This stereotype gives us room to play around with our character and decide whether we want them to have these characteristics - there are some teenagers like this therefore, if we decided to go down this route it allows the more rebellious side of our target audience to relate to our artist.
Artistic - Due to our vision for the video being quite artistic we wanted to make our artist artistic too, this then makes the video relate to the artist in even the small details. A lot of people in general are artistic whether it be through art, music, dance or writing etc therefore we feel that Artistic is a good word to use as it relates to our audience and artist.
Individual - Firstly, this links with our genre since it is 'Alternative/Indie' therefore, majority of people in this target audience bracket will have an individual style so we think that the word 'Individual' suits it very well. Also, everyone is different therefore, they all have their individual querks and we want this to be the target audience for our artist and video.
In the video above we discussed what type of target audience we wanted for our music video and digi-pack. We decided that all genders of the age 16-18 was the best idea as it is similar to our age and we like the genre of music we have chosen also, we know both boys and girls who like Lana Del Rey's music therefore, it was only right that we included both genders in our target audience.
We decided that typical stereotypes of this target audience aren't necessarily the best representation due to this age group being closely linked to drugs, drink and non-stop partying however, these stereotypes give us a lot of inspiration for our video as they are commonly seen in this genre of music; Lana Del Rey even uses these stereotypes too. In the word cloud above we have used words that are both stereotypes of this target audience and also words that we perceive as the truth of the stereotype therefore, we have a large variety of inspiration for our coursework.
After some more discussion and confering with our teachers we have decided to have the age group of 16-18 as a niche audience as it is rather small and then have an age range of 16-22 as an overall target audience as it applies to more people, which will help with the marketing of our artist.
The Prezi below is a brainstorm of ideas that we have had for our video, below that is a more detailed description of these ideas....
1. The first idea that we have had meant that the footage would be shot primarily in a studio. There would be a lot of performance with an element of contemporary dance involved, this would make our video current as this is something that you see more often in music videos nowadays, Sia's Chandelier Video is a prime example of this. We were mainly inspired by a variety of other student's A2 music videos that we have watched when they would lip sync inform of a range of different backdrops - whilst this may be a simple technique, it can be fairly effective as it doesn't take too much attention away from the artist yet it gives the frame that little extra spark. A downfall to this idea is that we would have to have a choreographed dance, this is quite challenging as sometimes when you're putting together a dance, it can look tacky if done incorrectly also, a performance based video means a large majority of it will be lip syncing which is something that we do not want due to the fact that lip syncing is very hard to get perfect, especially since the voice that we are using is so well known.
2. Another idea that we have had is to do a narrative video based around a couples summer relationship. It would show the highest and lowest points of their relationship - including the break up, this video could also focus on how our artist is coping with the breakup. We think that we would like majority of the video to be in the point of view of the boyfriend as it will allow the audience to see our artist in a personal light therefore, we would not need to cast any boys for our video. These themes of love, heartbreak and vulnerability will allow us to experiment with different locations, both indoors and outdoors, to show things like pathetic fallacy. We can also try out different camera angles and movements to show the emotions in the video. I think that this is probably our best idea, the only downfall could be that if this is not done artistically and precisely, it could look rather mediocre.
3. A third idea is to turn the real meaning to the song in a completely different direction, and look at it as if Lana is singing about dealing with death. We would have made it so that our artist is dealing with a loss and is not really coping, again we could try a montage of 'good memories' with the person who has died; this will allow us to get an extremely large variety of shots and locations to create a large amount of memories and emotions that would hopefully provoke a mixture of emotions within our audience. However, this theme of death could be too deep and dark to have as a debut music video therefore, I think that we should stay away from this idea.
4. Finally, we thought of having a more comedic video, testing typical conventions of music videos. Our idea is to have funny characters involved to create more humour for the viewers. Humour can be extremely effective as it will definitely get the video spread through word of mouth however, it could create a bad image for our artist, we also would not be able to have a large audience as only few people would appreciate a comedic spin to a sad song - this is emphasised with the fact that every body has a different sense of humour meaning that our audience would be extremely niche, which is the opposite to what we want; a mass audience.
We have decided to go for option 2. this idea will let us experiment with the theme of love - this not only will allow us to put ideas that relate to us in the video but it will also give the lyrics more meaning as we feel that love fits them the most. We all agreed on the point of view shots idea as it will make the video more personal for the artist, creating a connection with the audience as they feel that they know a bit more about her personal life. Point of view (POV) shots also link to our inspired artist, Lana Del Rey, as she has used POV shots before.
This is a POV shot used in Lana's 'Shades of Cool' video.
The genre of this song and this video is Alternative. The video consists of both narrative and performance, making the video both personal and entertaining for the audience. However, there isn't really a structure to this video, this makes the video unsettling, which fits with the genre, the otic used is ink falling into water, this makes the video more artistic. The students have chosen a woods to be their main location and the costume is quite innocent, which relates to the title of the song as children believe in monsters, therefore a level of innocence is assumed. Close ups and long shots are the main shots used, this fits with Goodwin's theory as the audience can see the artist clearly both times. I feel that the editing is quite good in this video due to the use of double exposure to create an unsettling shot however, it is not synched with the beat of the music. Lip syncing is also used to connect the song and the scenes further. I like this video as it is very creative however, if I were to do it again I would try to incorporate more shots and have the lip synching be more professional.
'Problem'
Problem is a song by Ariana Grande which is in the pop genre, this video shows this well due to the amount of dancing and effects used in the video also, this video is entirely performance, which is a convention of the pop genre. There is a structure in the sense that whenever the voice of Big Sean is heard, the shot is of a boy lip syncing his part and also, there is dancing in the choruses however, due to the shots always cutting to different locations there isn't actually a clear order in which the video is. The miss en scene in this video isn't the best as I feel that the outfits aren't 'glam' enough or suited well to the song, I think they look a bit tatty and not really thought about, the locations are okay as the do fit the genre however, I think that the video would look better if all shots were in a studio, similar to the songs official video. As you can see, there is a huge variety of shots in this video, this is good as it makes it more interesting for the audience; they have also used a large variety of effects on the shots however, I think that this can look very tacky and it isn't something that I would like to be placed in my video. Lip syncing is used throughout the video which makes the performance level very high standard, along with the dance scenes however, the actress looks as if she's shouting the song rather than singing it, making it unprofessional looking.
'First Date'
'First Date' by Blink 182 is in the Pop Punk/Alternative genre and I feel that this video portrays that well due to the reference to other bands and musical instruments within the video, these are elements found in actual pop punk videos. This videos is a mixture of narrative and performance focusing mainly on narrative, especially at the beginning of the video when the artist is acting in the library. There isn't a particular structure for this video however the motif the actor singing, playing the guitar and drums in the chorus is recreated in every chorus. The miss en scene is fairly basic due to the costumes, make up and locations to be ones that you can find in every day life however the use of a band tee is helpful in clarifying the genre of the song as this can be found in most pop punk videos. The only down side to the mise en scene is the props, this is because they have used an acoustic guitar when the guitar used was more like an electric one therefore, they should have done some research into the song before choosing props. The students have chosen to use a variety of shots within their video to make it interesting for their audience; shots such as close ups, mid shots and two person shots have been used to make the audience feel as if they know the actors involved. High angle shots are also used to show how to play the drum sequence of this song. The editing in this video is fairly good due to lots of cuts being used however, they could think about making the editing and the song synchronous just to make it a bit more physically pleasing for the audience. Another thing the students have chosen to do it have lip syncing as a large part of the video, this is good as the actor is clearly skilled in lip syncing however, he does get some words wrong so it is something to work on. As a whole, this video is quite good and entertaining for the audience, the only think I would seriously change is the props as they are wrong for the song.
'Put Your Records On'
The genre of this music video is R'N'B however, the video is not quite what i'd expect for this genre due to there being a great deal of narrative. This then leads me on to saying that this video is a combination of both Narrative and performance, focusing mainly on narrative; the performance part of this video is in every chorus of the song. The students have chosen to have the mise en scene as fairly relatable due to the clothes and make up being an everyday look that their target audience can achieve also, the location is a high street therefore making the video feel quite casual and understated. A variety of camera shots and movements have been used in this video, particularly panning up the artist and tracking to follow the 'couple' around, this makes the audience feel apart of the video as they are under the illusion that they are following the artist, close ups have also been used to conform with Goodwin's theory. The editing of this video is very good due to there being sharp cuts at a slow pace however, they have chosen not to edit to the pace of the music which makes the video a bit more unsettled but it still looks good so it is not a problem. The lip-syncing in this video is in the choruses and I feel that the actor has done this quite well but, you can see that she wants to laugh at some point in the video, making it seem a bit unprofessional.
Overall, I think that the is an extremely good video, there is a variety of camerawork, good lip synching, a good location and overall feel of the video; the only thing I would work on is the camera steadiness and maybe have the actor practise her confidence in lip-synching but overall, I really like this video.
His Videos: Spike Jonze has a completely different take to music videos than most directors, he tends to have one big idea and then revolve the whole video around it, for example, Fat Boy Slims 'Praise You' is a dance troop doing a flashmob outside a cinema in California, this flashmob is the centre of the video rather than the artist himself like Andrew Goodwin suggests (I will attatch a slide share on Goodwin's theories below). During his career he has made 58 unique videos such as The Pharcyde's 'Drop' and Kanye West's 'Only One' featuring Paul McCartney. He has won awards for 'Best Direction,' 'Breakthrough' and 'Best Choreogrophy, he accepted these and then went on to make a mockumentory about the experience called 'Torrance Rises.' Jonze has been known to have "Short and epic-length ideas," which come across in his videos making him one of the most interesting and non-conventional directors of the 21st century.
I feel that Goodwin's points are relevant in today's view on music videos however, he believes that these points should always be followed - Jonze on the otherhand, does not, he goes completely against Goodwin's views and takes risks with his videos. To me, Jonze's mindset is appealing becuase he isn't sticking to the 'norm,' in which I feel is what makes a successful video; being original and stepping outside the box is whats going to get people watching and talking therefore, when creating out video I feel that we should take Goodwin's points into consideration but also, have the mindset of Jonze so that we can come up with a unique twist on our video.
Alternative - The type of genre we want our artist to be is Alternative, this is because it means different and unique - we would like our artist to have this label as it provides inspiration to their fans. The alternative genre also tends to be the most artistic, which is something that we would like to incorporate into our video.
Narrative - The large majority of Alternative music videos have a narrative to them therefore, we feel that this is a large part of the genre that we would like to include in our music video.
Catfish and The Bottlemen - This is an example of a band within the Alternative genre, they could be inspiration for the look of our artist - they dress in all black with messy hair. A lot of their videos are performance based therefore, breaking conventions of a typical Alternative music video.
Edgy - We would like our artist to be of the edgy sort, this is because it fits in with the Alternative genre, this will then create continuity within our coursework.
Funny - We would like for our artist to come across as funny, this is because it will create a good image for our brand as well as creating a personal connection between the artist and their fans/target audience.
Non-Conformist - When we say non-conformist, we mean it in the terms of not afraid to test the conventions of the music industry to get themselves recognition and good content, this will make our artist come across as passionate about her art.
Career: Active in the music from 2005 to the Present day. She started writing songs at the age of 18 and got her first record deal with '5 Point Records' in 2007, in which she released her first digital album 'Lana Del Rey' in January 2010. She then bought hersself out of the contract in the April after releasing the album and signed a joint contract with 'Interscoppe','Polydor', and 'Stranger records' in the July of 2011.
Lana released her second studio album 'Born to Die' in January2012, in which it debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 and was also the 5th nest selling album of 2012. Her highest charting track was a remix of 'Summertime Sadness' where it got number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Del Rey then released her 3rd extended play 'Paradise' in the November - 3 of its tracks were featured in Lana's short film 'Tropico'.
'Ultraviolence' was her 3rd studio album, released in June 2014, it debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200. She announced in December 2014 that she will be headlining a tour with Courtney Love this summer.
She is the most streamed woman in the US on spotify - her music has been noticed for its cinematic sound and references to pop culture such as 1950s and 60s Americana.
Lana Del Rey has said that her musical influences are Elvis, Amy Whinehouse, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, Nirvana, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen and Briteny Spears; she also gets much of her inspiration from Film Noir and poetry.
Her website http://lanadelrey.com/ tells fans about news, her music, picture gallary, merchandise store and live shows.
Copyright is the legal right given to the person who created a piece of work. The rights give the person control over who uses the work and who can reproduce it. For example, an artist owns the rights to their art.
When creating our music video it is important for us to ask for permission to use the song we are wanting to use before we carry on with the planning. As a result of this I have emailed Lana Del Rey's record label, 'Stranger Records' to confirm that we can use 'Without You.'
Below is a printscreen of the email that I sent the record label. I have clearl stated why I would like to use the song and that if the label doesnt reply that I persume we can use the song.
We decided to make a mind map on Prezi of our 5 top songs by Lana Del Rey. Within this mind map we discussed the pros and cons of each song.
http://prezi.com/2yasykmmsutt/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
We came to an overall conclusion of 'Without You' due to us feeling that it allows us to be the most creative and artistic. It also, doesn't have an official video therefore, we will not be swayed by ideas from said video - our ideas will be completely our own.
Shannon Saunders' 'Atlas' is in the Alternative genre of music - the video is fairly typical due to the concept of the video being a narrative; following her around whilst she is on tour and watching her discover sets and venues as well as interacting with her fans. This narrative also shows Shannon performing on stage.
There isn't a structure to this music video as it is more of a 'Tour Diary,' meaning that the video shows a period of time rather than constantly back tracking on events that have previously happened. Within the whole video a motif of Shannon rehearsing and performing is used, clips of this are shown frequently, which suggests that a new day has come around and she is preparing or preforming in a new show. Another motif used is stills of Saunders either interacting with fans, performing. with friends or on a photo shoot - showing her in action; this tells the audience that Shannon is all about the music rather than the fame, it tells them that doing what she loves most is her main priority.
The mise-en-scene for this video goes well with Saunders' persona and genre; clothing wise, she wears a variety of outfits however all of them include at least one item of denim whether it be jeans, a jacket or a shirt. She also has fairly natural make up which again, emphasises that she is more interested in the music then how she looks. The setting of this video is mainly in 'indie' venues, supporting the alternative genre of music. The lighting used is either bright or dull depending on the location; if at a venue the shot is mainly dull with a spotlight on Shannon and if Saunders is on a seafront or outside the lighting tends to be just that bit brighter.
A variety of camera shots and angles are used such as a wide shot, long shot, close ups and high angle shots - this makes the video more interesting for the audience as it gives them a different perspective of the same situation. The use of a close up fits with Goodwin's theory of the record label wanting close up of the artists to promote them however, not many are used which tells us the Saunders is wanting to break the typical conventions of music videos.
The editing in this video is extremely good; there are 122 cuts and shots suggesting that the editor really worked hard to create an interesting video also, majority of these cuts are synchronised with the beat in the background of the video, this makes the video physically pleasing for the audience as it all matches up. Also, when clips of Saunders performing on stage are shown, the music fits in with what she is singing, showing a form of lip syncing, this again, pleases the audience as it matches together.
Overall, I really like this video as it isn't cheesy or has a lot of performance in it, this makes the video feel more personal for her fans as they get to see what she gets up to whilst on tour. I would like to take inspiration from this in our video, maybe if we were to have a narrative video instead to make the video more interesting?
Lana Del Rey - West Coast
West Coast by Lana Del Rey is an Alternative genre video, just as Shannon Saunders' video, it is mainly a narrative, this time of Lana's dates with her current boyfriend in the video, it shows locations such as the beach and on a long road, this shows us that she doesn't mind not going on dates in fancy restaurants and would rather just be with her boyfriend.
The structure of this video is that the chorus of the video is set in the car on the long road and the verses are filmed at the beach - this is consistent throughout the whole video. The only real motif used is Lana smoking; this is shown frequently, it could suggest that her relationship is slowly killing her just like the cigarette is.
The mise-en-scene for this video match up with how Lana Del Rey is portrayed in the video; fairly rock 'n' roll, she wears leather jackets, monochrome clothing with a dark lipstick, this tells us that she is fairly edgy, a contrast is made in the chorus when she looks very glamorous with sleek, shiny, wavy hair however, the dark lip is still features.
There is a variety of shots used however, I feel that there probably could've been more. Shots such as close ups and mid shots are used, again meaning that Goodwin's theory is correct here.
The editing is fairly good due to techniques such as double exposure and cgi (fire has been edited in). Personally, I feel that the fire looked slightly tacky and did not really work for the video however, it was still skill full. The editing was not synchronised to the music making the audience feel more uneasy then they would if it was synchronised however, it was not a mistake as it worked well.
Lip syncing is used in this video at the beginning of verses or mid choruses however, more acting is used, this tells the story better, making it more interesting for the audience.
I like this video as I feel that the idea of a narrative is very good and artistic however, I would change the editing in the sense that the cgi didn't really look good.
Florence And The Machine - You Got The Love
This video is of the alternative genre and the whole video is performance based; Florence is singing on a moon and occasionally there are people below her. There isn't a structure, the whole video is based on the moon she is standing on however, there are some clips of her in a white room, this is to make the video more entertaining.
A common motif used is the dancers and Florence pushing their hands in the air, this is because of the repeated lyric 'Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air.' Therefore Goodwin's theory of the lyrics being represented in the video is proven right.
There are only two costume changes in this video, both of them are white however one is a leotard and the other is a dress; the colour white symbolises surrender suggesting that that is what the song is about.
There are some different shots used however the main ones are mid shots and close ups, this is to keep the artist in focus at all times - the editing of this video is not synchronised however there are a large amount of cuts making the video more interesting for the audience also, lip synching is used at all times in this video, which pleases the audience as it matches up.
Overall, I do not like this video as I find the performance repetitive and fairly boring therefore, this is something I would like to stay away from.
Kate Nash - Do Wah Do
Do Wah Do by Kate Nash is in the alternative/indie genre, the video is not typical for this genre though as it is fairly pop/r'n'b like. This video is a combination of both narrative and performance, the opening titles are like a film "Kate Nash in Do Wah Do" and then at the end of the video it says "The End" making it a narrative as it suggests a story.
The main structure of this video is that in every chorus there is dancing in the isle of the plane. I think this makes the video entertaining for the audience as it is something different to look at however, it isn't something I would intend to have in my video due to it being difficult to get a group of people willing to do it.
There is only one outfit used in this video which is an air hostesses outfit - this fits with the narrative of the video therefore, it pleases the audience due to continuity. The only location used is a plane, which again shows continuity.
The editing is not to the beat however lip syncing is used at all times in this video which shows that the editing was matched up perfectly.
Overall, I feel that this video is too poppy for the alternative genre however, it is well put together and the narrative is fun for the audience to watch.
As you can see from the video I have inserted, the group had a dicsussion about what genre and artist we would consider using for our music video. The general vibe of the video is indie/alternative music due to us all sharing that music taste. We also decide that using a woman's song would be best due to reliability on the boys we know and also for lip synching purposes.
We decided to narrow it down to four potential artists; Shannon Saunders, Lana Del Rey, Kate Nash and Eliza Doolittle.
Definition of a digi-pack - "A type of Packaging for CDs or DVDs typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder or one or more discs" Part of our coursework is to create a digi-pack for our chosen artist and their album. A digi-pack is pretty much the same as a normal album however, it is made out of cardboard instead. Digi-packs are often more expensive than a normal CD as it opens up like a tiny book, this gives more room for inserts such as lyric books or multiple CDs. Digi-packs are normally used when an artist releases a special album, this is because digi-packs create a luxury look therefore, artists tend to use these when they are creating something exceptionally special to them. When creating our digi-pack we need to consider things such as colour schemes, style, fonts and how it is going to represent our artist.
For A2 Media we again, had to work in groups of up to four to complete our coursework; the music video.
I chose to work with Tamzin Sellar, Evangeline Luckhurst and Kate McQuaid. Firstly, as we have worked together before, we know each others strengths and weaknesses and we know how to help each other to create the best work that we can, we had also created a very successful final piece in AS, without many disputes or issues in the whole process therefore, making us a strong team.
Tamzin's main strength is that she is good with the camera, she can come up with different shots and film them with a steady hand when the camera isn't on a tripod. Kate is very organised, she will come up with a schedule for us to stick too and organise locations to film on etc. Evie's main strength is her Mise en Scene skills, she can create an overall look that fits with our work and makes it all tie in together nicely. My skills are the editing side of things, I am very confident on software such as iMovie therefore, once all of the filming is done I can use my strengths to create a superb final outcome.
These girls also share the same music taste as me which of course means that when making the music video we should easily be able to come up with a list of possible song contenders that we all like. As a group we decided to do the music video as we thought that it was more of a change from the AS coursework rather than the film trailer, which is fairly similar. The music video also seems like more of a challenge as there is a lot more filming involved and many more skills need to be used and progressed such as lip syncing.
Overall, I feel that I have chosen a strong group who can work well together and bounce interesting ideas off of one another. I have high hopes for the next year of coursework.
