CONCEPTS – Audience Ideologies – who is your target audience?

In order to understand audience you should understand what makes them tick, especially what reasons they have for consuming media at all. A couple of theorists who considered this were Blumler & Katz, who suggested that there were four reasons collectively known as Uses and Gratification. Their theory describes the active audience and suggested that four reasons for people to actively seek out and consume media:

Information Self education to suit personal needs; advice on practical matters; information on events or issues of personal interest; curiosity or general interest
Personal Identity Media reinforces personal values; models of behavior; content explored to challenge, adjust or affirm sense of self
Social Interaction Identify with others to gain a sense of belonging; find basis for real life interactions; substitute for real life relationships
Entertainment Escape; diversion; emotional release; filling time; aesthetic enjoyment

Here is a powerpoint on Stuart Hall and his ‘Reception Theory’. Consider what he says about audience.  He argues that an audience decodes what the producer encodes in a text. However, how they read the text will depend on their demographics and psychographics and general cultural competence.  Here is the Theory Booklet with all of Hall’s ideas on Pages 11 and 12.

So…?

In order to pitch, produce and promote a music video successfully, you need to know your ‘target audience’ and why they are going to buy into your product, the artist. After all, if you don’t understand your target audience and their preferences your music video will not be a commercial success.

As a group consider what broad groups they fall into (Gender, Age, Occupation, Marital status, cultural background) as well as: other bands/artists they would be into, other media they would consume, fashion tastes, musical genre preferences, and then finally some of the attitudes and beliefs they hold about the world including politics. Think also of which ‘communities’ you are hoping to attract. Where do they live, work and play?  Consider their DEMOGRAPHICS AND PYSCHOGRAPHICS.

Here is a handout we gave you last year which describes different audience groups / communities which might be helpful in reaching some conclusions.

Task – Design your perfect audience member

Use the blank Facebook template to describe the ideal audience. Give them an image, name, gender, relationship status, groups, status, likes, dislikes…all of this should be through the filter of music and should help describe your audience profile. Make it as detailed as possible – why not consider someone you know (do not actually use them) who likes the music, is a fan of that music/band and use them as inspiration.

Facebook template – word – take a copy and annotate accordingly

Each group member should complete their own ideal fan .

YOU SHOULD ALSO USE THIS WEBSITE: yougov.co.uk and mention it in your introduction or even better, take a snipping tool screen shot of the profile target audience for your performer. Scroll down to yougovprofiles when you can put the name of your artist or a similar one to find out lots of data about your target audience.  For example this link gives information about fans of Beyonce. https://yougov.co.uk/profileslite#/Beyonce/demographics

REMEMBER TO USE TERMINOLOGY IN YOUR BLOG POSTS AND TASKS! – preferred reading, encode, decode, oppositional reading, demographics, psychographics, cultural experience, uses and gratification, target audience, producer, target audience, entertainment, education, social interaction and personal identity etc.

Representation of your Star Image

How the star/band/performer is represented in your video and on the digipak and poster is really important.

Music videos are made primarily to promote the star, in order to sell their music, in order to make money…simples!

Star image is crucial in terms of raising a star’s profile in the media. They should be studied as ‘products’ to be advertised, publicised and be ‘sold’ to the fans. They have to remain constantly interesting to keep the fans intrigued – the star evolves! It could be seen as its own special kind of ‘species’.

Richard Dyer Handout

Richard Dyer is a theorist you need to learn about. He came up with some concepts about how ‘star image’ works in the media. Here is a Theory Booklet about his ideas – go to page 7:

PINTEREST/GOMOODBOARD.COM TASK – STAR IMAGE (you can use any other collage app of your choice but you must be able to annotate it)

Your task is to take the ‘star’ (performer, duet, band, group) you analysed with the music video and digipak and create a ‘pinterest page’ on how they are ‘represented‘. Find examples of news stories, incidents, events, digipak covers, music videos, articles, blogs, tweets that all contribute to their ‘star image’. The way they are represented is called their metanarrative (over arching story about them).

 

Image result for pinterest

And remember, just as you did in your TV drama representation – you must add ADJECTIVES to how they appear through that particular event, story, picture etc. You can do this task as a group but must all equally contribute to the page.

This is a link to an excellent example. You should have at least 15 – 20 images and comments.

Test Shoots/Concept testing

I took a walk around Perelle and came across some intriguing and interesting locations/backdrops/settings. You need to do that too this week and weekend to make sure your ideas are ‘doable’ and you need to prove it to your teacher.

Take some tests shots too of tricky concepts that you have i.e. underwater? Sounds great but in reality is very hard to do so make sure you can do it and you understand the complexities of it (remember to risk assess this in advance with your teacher and make sure there is a qualified lifeguard on hand).

Do you want certain special FX – can you use After FX to help you? You must be able to prove it to the teacher before you embark any further on your idea.  This will all save you a lot of time further down the line if your ideas then don’t come up as practical.

MV – Planning for Success

This is a really great article about how to be successful in A level production projects. The advice comes straight from the chief examiner and so it is well worth spending time on.

Please spend time this lesson working on your Production Group Agreement. Think about the general (transferable) skills your team will need: diplomacy, organisation, compromise, creativity… as well as the technical skills like choreography editing, costume design & lighting…

Think back to the dummy mash up and your thriller production group: What technical and personal qualities did your group possess that helped you deliver the product and on reflection, where were the problems and what did you lack as a group?

Upload it to you blog and remember to use a thumbnail to attach the link to. Also, please include a brief commentary on:

  1. What is the document that you have uploaded?
  2. In what ways will this discussion help you manage the project?

Remember to use pdfs and jpegs – NOT LINKS to GOOGLE FILES!

Dummy Mash Ups

Here are the fabulous dummy mash up videos we made as a preliminary exercise for the music video.

Please reflect on the product and process. What have you learned that you can take into the real video you’re going to making next half term?

Block C

Block B

Block A (Group 1)

Block A (Group 2)

Block A (Group 3)

MV – Your music video ideas (Synesthesia) – links to music sites – INSPIRATION

Synaesthesia is a way of generating ideas from music – effectively ‘seeing sounds in your head’.

It is a really helpful technique to use when listening to music in order to come up with visual ideas.

When listening to a piece of music you should concentrate on each of the following features in turm:

  • Sense of subject matter
  • Grain of voice
  • Arrangement
  • Suggested Stories
  • Cultural references

Here is a Prezi which explains and illustrates these ideas:

Task 1 (done collectively)

  • You will listen to two songs and write down the images, ideas, colours, adjectives, themes, subjects that come to mind when listening to the lyrics, beat, grain of voice, tempo etc.
  • Then we will watch the videos and see how close you were to how the music was interpreted in visuals.

Task 2: you have @ 5 lessons and independent study to complete this.

Independent Study – Develop and present a music video idea for one song.
You need to short list some songs (see below the guidance on choosing songs) and, using synesthesia, develop some tangible ideas for one of them.
You should present your ideas as a inspiration board of found images / videos. It should include:
  • The genre of music & repertoire of elements associated:
    • The look of the band / lead singer
    • Locations for performance / narrative
    • Style of Performance
    • Costume / Make Up / Hair
    • Instruments
    • Colour Palettes
    • Narrative Events
You may use whatever digital format you like: Google Slides, Prezi, Pinterest, Photoshop, InDesign…or something else…(please check with your teacher)
Choosing a Song
  • Start with thinking, ‘Who will perform this?’ and work from there.
  • Perhaps opt for a solo performer to make organisation easier
  • Don’t choose a song by your favourite band/star.
  • Don’t choose something that is well known.
  • Don’t choose something too long, 3 – 4 minutes is plenty.
  • Album tracks or cover versions are useful options
  • Beware of Warner Music Group and its associated record labels

Please listen to music on these site for inspiration:

This presentation should include:

  • a moodboard – to encompass genre and star image
  • annotated lyrics (like you’d annotate a poem – with visual / thoughts / themes)
  • an embedded mp3
  • extended step outline in terms of a description of the narrative
  • Introductions of your ideas for narrative and performance to include key terms for genre and star image and narrative (use the terms in context and refer back to previous blog posts for theorists, ideas, concepts).

MV – Just some more inspiration….

Just some inspiration!

 

It is always worth looking at OTHER ART forms for inspiration. Photos, art, websites, films, theatre – they could all spark a moment of imagination.

These are just a few links to ‘weird and wonderful’ youtube videos:

Beckett play – Theatre of the Absurd – Quad

Not I – Beckett

Beckett – Acting without words – I High

The Bed Experiment – Theatre of Cruelty

DV8 – Physical Theatre – 3 ballets

Enter Achilles – Dv8 – physical theatre

MV – Dummy Mash Up Evaluation questions

  • What lessons did you learn about planning and the use of Shot Lists and Production Meeting Agendas? Why are they important when out on shoot? 
    • TARGET:
  • What lessons did you learn about directing people in front of the camera? What information do they need to know about their character / their performance style? How can the director get them to relax and have confidence in front of the camera in order to perform well? 
    • TARGET:
  • What lessons did you learn about filming the performance for your production?
    • TARGET:
  • What did you learn about editing and post-production?
    • TARGET:
  • What did you discover about the use of conventional Mise-En-Scene for music videos? (Refer to the completed Dummy Mash Up with all the various genre’s included).
    • TARGET:

Cut and paste the questions above and give some detailed responses to them – what did you learn from the task? what will you take away? how will your production benefit from this exercise?  Flag up what went wrong too – this was a learning experience so make sure you have learnt valuable lessons in readiness for your own production.

Remember to use as much media lingo as you can that you have learnt so far – include the terms (conventions, repertoire of elements, blueprint, contract, predictable pleasure, star image, paradox of the star, metanarrative, extraordinary, ordinary, present, absent, genre, narrative, disjunctive, amplification, illustrative, performance, break the 4th wall etc…) and also refer to the product/text with specific moments, examples, outcomes.

MV – Star Image for the Dummy Mash Up

Create a shared pinterest post on how a star of a similar genre to your DMU section is conveyed in the media. How do they come across in their music videos? How are they represented in the media? on Twitter? On Facebook? On fanzones?  On websites? In interviews?  All of these ideas should help fuel how you are going to represent your star in your section.

How are they connoted, portrayed, represented?  This is their star image; Their meta-narrative.

See the sheet below for some theory on star image, representation and meta-narrative and The Paradox of the Star:

Richard Dyer & The Star Image

Example

Here is an example Pintrest Board for Michael Jackson

YOU NEED @ 15 images AND VARIOUS ADJECTIVES – USE A THESAURUS.

MV – Dummy Mash Up Planning documents x 3

TASK 1 – Visual Shot List – Joint task

  • Visual Shot List – Using your section, take screen shots (or snipping tool sections) of each and every shot used.  Transfer to google slides and then make sure you list the following:
    • Shot term:
    • Description of shot:
    • Time:
    • Transition to next shot:

This is to ensure you understand just how many shots are involved in a short 30 second segment.

  • shot list exemplar

Reflect: so what do you notice? Is there a predominance of certain shots, edits, transitions?  What can you see might be conventional for that particular genre?

Additional: Then look at  least 3 other videos of the same genre and find 3 other exciting, inspirational shots, edits that you could use as well in your filming of the performance and add these in at the end of the presentation.

TASK 2 – Annotated Lyrics – Joint Task

  • Annotate the lyrics with ideas on where and when you might use the different shots i.e. instrumental section might have a close up on the instrument, solo section might have an extreme close up of the performer?

TASK 3 – Production Meeting Agenda – Joint task

You need to really start to think about co-ordinating locations, props, sets, costumes and make up. Think about this now so that you have time to get it together for next week’s filming.

MV – Dummy Mash Up – Genre analysis

Your group will now have been allocated a specific ‘generic’ section of the Dummy Mash Up that you need to research, plan, film and edit.

Taking your ‘genre’ (acoustic, pop, rap, indie rock, girl band etc) you must now research what are the conventional features that are associated with this genre of music video? This ‘repertoire of elements’ (recipe of ingredients) is something you will need to research in your own video and be able to write about and analyse in the exam, so the sooner you start thinking in media term and focus on genre, the better.

Conventions are Crucial. Why? They give predictable pleasure to the audience who will have certain expectations that they want satisfied – the music producers will follow a pre-established ‘blueprint’ (map) that they follow which will form part of the ‘contract’ (mutual agreement) with the audience. However, audiences demand novelty and in order to be creative and to ensure that the video is watched again and again, there has to be something that goes beyond conventional boundaries in order to make it watchable, entertaining, intriguing – new.

Genre document – terms and theorists

Task 1:

Create a collage of images taken from music videos of similar artists of the same genre. Find conventional features – what style of costume, narrative (themes), location, performance style, cinematography (camera & lighting), editing regularly feature in music videos from this genre of music? A clear understanding of these conventional features will inspire you for your Dummy Mash Up section.

Annotate your collage with appropriate adjectives, nouns, adverbs that relate to that genre – edgy, rebellious, emotional, romantic, canted angles and any other words that you associate with the genre I.e. Bass guitar, ripped jeans, festivals, live performance, cover versions, countryside  etc.

Once you have done this, discuss your findings with the group so that you can start to iron out and focus on how to make your section ‘conventional‘ yet ‘contemporary‘ or in other simpler terms, ‘the same but different’?

Here’s an example:

Elements of punk, grunge, indie & rock.

MV – Dummy Mash Up – Introduction

Your research and planning into Music Video conventions will include a ‘practise’ performance shoot for a specific genre of music.

We have allocated ‘genres’s to specific groups and each group will perform for their partnered group.

Above is last year’s valiant effort.  The aim is to produce a performance video that shows you understand how genre is conveyed and communicated through the use of MES, Camera and Editing and how the star image of the band/performer is represented.

Here are the groups and allocated sections of songs that you have got to work with!

Your first task is to convert the song to an MP3 and place it in a folder in the D Drive of your production computer. Then download a copy of the lyrics and highlight the section you are working with.

MV – Previous Students’ Work

Here is a playlist of some of the best music videos made by students from The Sixth Form. They are an example of what is possible and moreover – what works: 

Task:

Here are the assessment criteria.

Independent Study Tasks

  1. Embed the video (not the whole playlist), copy the level ladder and evaluate your chosen video in terms of how it reaches (or doesn’t) level four.
  2. Address each section in turn and using sub headings for your evaluation.
  3. Remember to EVALUATE the success of the video with reference to  the assessment criteria with SPECIFIC EXAMPLES from the video  and use  TECHNICAL TERMS.
  4. Remember to try and get in theoretical terms too (SIGNIFICANCE): ‘brand, break the 4th wall, genre,  code, star image, representation, narrative – almost like a mini textual analysis.

MV – Conventions and detailed contents analysis

Here’s a music video we’re going to complete a close analysis of, Katy Perry – Chained to the Rhythm:

You should type  up that analysis and embed it into the post called Close Analysis of Music Video.

Here is a blank version of the form you can use.

To supplement this, you must do your own close analysis. Choose another video from the list suggested and use the sheet attached (make your own copy) and do your own analysis.

This work is important as it shows that you are able to deconstruct the narrative, performance, star image and generic & technical conventions of a music video. This will help inform your own production ideas and help prepare you for the exam by starting to use all the terms that you need.


Example

Radiohead – Just


Kodaline – Love Like This

Lana del Rey – Born to Die

Muse – Time is Running Out

Taylor Swift – Wildest Dreams

Christina Aguilera – Say Something

Foo Fighters – Pretender

MV – Music Video Playlist + Contents Analysis/Narrative

Study, reflect, consider, enjoy, be inspired:

This week we’re going to be watching most of the videos from this playlist. They were carefully chosen because as they illustrate many of the conventions typical of this media form.

You need to study these videos carefully so that you understand the following:

  • The media form
  • Technical conventions
  • Features typical to the genre of music.
  • Narrative conventions and structures.

You must be understand these things in order to be able the develop and devise videos of your own video and knowingly use, challenge or subvert conventional features.

Complete this form and make a copy yourself and then save as a PDF and upload to your blog.

It is your first piece of coursework so do it well!

Narrative presentation.

Here are some other suggestions but try and get a range of genres and different narrative/performance ratios.

Narrative Only

Performance Only

Performance and Narrative (disjunctive)

Narrative Only

Narrative and Performance

Performance and Narrative

Test Shoots/Proof of Concept

Many of you will remember that Jack and Elliot showed how they had made sure they ‘tested’ their ideas before filming.  They spent time and effort ensuring the lighting and location was exactly what they wanted to prove that their ideas, concept was achievable.

Some of you have fairly challenging ideas in terms of lighting, location and camera work and FX so we are asking you to do some test shots over the coming week and weekend.  This means finding the ideal locations and setting up with any required lighting and trying out the shot to see if the vision works.

You will need to complete a risk assessment before you do this so make sure this assessment has been discussed and agreed with your teacher & parents.

PARENTAL CONSENT FORM

PARENT COVERING LETTER

FILMING RISK ASSESSMENT – SPECIFIC

You do not need to involve your cast/performers/actors at this stage as you can use each other as models.  Also remember that anyone under 18 who appears in your video must get their own parents/guardians to sign the parental consent form.

Here are some very basic Concept videos that Mrs C tried out this summer to prove that she could use the camera for movement in a specific way and also that there were the relevant filters, FX she wanted to use and use of the Prem Pro presets for an imaginary ‘flower music video’ (!).  There are also some random photos taken this weekend on a walk around the lanes near her house. The kind of exercise you should be doing this weekend to show where and how you will be shooting your video.