Defining Target Audience

On brainstorming in my own time without influence of any other input these are the kind of traits i imagined the target audience for my artist would have:-



This is only a rough idea of what my audience profile would be, but i can clearly take from this that my target audience is mainly female orientated, this is something to take in to consideration.

In creating this brainstorm i have no concrete information to go on to say that this audience profile could possibly exist. Therefore through the use of http://www.findyourtribe.co.uk/ I took the survey putting myself in the place of my imagined target audience taking into account the traits that I established in my mind map above.

Upon taking the survey 'FindYourTribe' calculated me as a 'Rah'. A brief video summing up the 'Rah' tribe is shown here:


The FindYourTribe survey is a great way of separating people into labels or 'tribes' which is helpful in detailing my audience profile, but the only problem is they are not completely accurate and some aspects of the tribes don't necessarilly fit in with what I feel would be my target audience. So on http://www.uktribes.com/ I decided to look further into what classifies a person as a 'Rah' and as I suspected it did have some very similar, in fact identical characteristics to what I had jotted on my mind map, but I also felt it was slightly too stereotypical and narrow-minded especially with the idea of Rah's being aristocratic and those attending grammar schools.

I feel Ruth Bewsey is an artist that admittedly would appeal mainly to the type of audience described in the 'Rah' category but i also feel she is slightly more widely accessible than that to people who aren't so into high society and social events, and not necessarily middle to upper class. Therefore on the home page of http://www.uktribes.com/ I used the 'Roll over a tribe to explore box'.





When I touched the mouse over the 'Rah' tribe it linked to 'Townies' and 'Indie Kids', this shows that Rah's have the closest links with these two tribes. Upon looking into further detail about these other two tribes I did find some characteristics that I felt fit much more comfortably in to my potential target audience showing that my artist isn't restricted to only one demographic.

Rahs

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On the UKTribes website is a detailed description of the Rah's

http://www.uktribes.com/?p=tribe&id=17&article=1

Townies

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Like with the Rah page, UKTribes has a page describing the Townie styles and trends

http://www.uktribes.com/?p=tribe&id=15

Indie Kids

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There is also a page dedicated to the Indie Kids and their lifestlyes

http://www.uktribes.com/?p=tribe&id=15

Target Audience Profile

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How our video is designed to appeal to the audience

How costumes, props, idea and actors would appeal to the target audience.

This music video is targeted towards a demographic of both males and females aged 15-25. I think the idea created for the video reflects the youth of today but it also represents change, which is something people of the target demographic go through a lot at their age that is beyond their control for instance the idea of independance is quite scary, with the thought of leaving the safe confines of school and being thrown into the real world with no real support or guidance. The video is a light hearted way of showing that change doesn't have to be scary, it can be fun, exciting and uplifting. From the video the target audience may feel they can take inspiration and that by looking at change from this point of view life can be a little less scary, they can see it as more of an adventure.

The folk genre is all about telling stories, as that is how it originally came about - telling stories in the form of song. But it is also also about the raw music in its simplest form, not using gimiks such as auto tuners, synthesizers etc. Therefore the idea of using a performance narrative alongside a linear story narrative gives the two different elements that the genre represents. Although music videos often use this convention, music of the folk genre and similar genres tend to not have their performance element in such a structured location as a studio, they are often found playing in casual, relaxing locations such as the bedroom, eg. Tristan Prettyman - Madly, Missy Higgins - Where I Stood. A set up like that of our music video is similar to videos such as Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone, Paramore - Misery Business, 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens. This shows that the set up is used throughout a wide range of genres from pop to rock. Therefore maybe using this layout will grab the attention of the target demographic better especially people who fall into this demographic that wouldn't usually be attraced to the genre as they may be attracted to the variance.

Freya was chosen to represent Ruth as she has similar characteristics to the actual artist. She is pretty, petite, and feminine, this is something that i also would relate to the voice had i never seen the artist as it is a 'pretty', delicate voice. Casting someone who is pretty and feminine will hopefully attract the target demographic as she is easy on the eye for the male viewers, and something the female viewers will be attracted to in a sense of idolisig or comparing, effectively someone they aspire to be. The choice of clothing for this character reinforces this idea, as the clothing is all attractive feminine and appropriate, complimenting her figure without showing a lot of skin to prevent making her body the main focus yet still emphasising her beauty.
The casting for the guitarist wasn't quite so important as the camera isn't often focussed on the character. Therefore the main aim was to choose someone reliable, but so as not to alienate them casting someone of a similar age seemed the most appropriate therefore Cameron was casted. This way even though he is not focussed on very much, a viewer who is interested in the guitar will be scrutinizing this character or aspiring to him, therefore a good image is crucial. He was casted with a grey t-shirt and jeans so as to look casual and comfortable in his surroundings, the song is about being laid back and this image reflects this.

Props affect the appeal of a music video, for instance certain brands of mobile phone are often used in music videos (for instance in Fall Out Boy's music video, 'This Ain't a Scene It's An Arms Race) to show the status of the artist, to promote the phone and also if the viewer idolises the artist they are watching they are most likely going to want the phone in the video so that they have as similar image to the artist as possible, ultimately making them feel accomplished and in style. In the music video for Sail Away the main props used are:- an amp, a microphone, an acoustic guitar, a stool, and a suitcase. These are not so much about image and status, they are simply essential props to both a performance and to the story narrative, but nontheless they still affect the audience somehow. In order to appeal to the target demographic a modern suitcase is used, as an old fashioned suitcase may alienate the audience slightly, and it would also clash with the image given to the main character. The acoustic guitar is an essential instrument to the genre, it is also a very popular instrument with young and budding musicians today therefore alot of the target audience will be able to relate to this. The stool is simply used to give the guitarist a comfortable position to play, and it also emphasises the casual, laid back feel to the performance, this simply adds to the viewer feeling at ease from the mood created by the atmosphere on screen. The microphone and amp are used to give realism to the performance element, without them the balance would be thrown off and the scene would not be quite so aesthetically pleasing for the viewer, the veiwer would also get the sense that the performance is simply a farce, so by using these props we are avoiding this from happening. Also the amp is a 'Marshall' amp which is a very popular brand, the viewer may notice this and get the impression that because upmarket brands are being used, this artist is modern and stylish and therefore it would be 'cool' to be a fan of the artist and their music, as today with people within my target demographic, style and the way you present your image means a lot within society and if the artist didn't give off this impression that they are stylish it may put off a lot of the target audience.

The animation at the beginning of the video is used as an enigma to entice the viewers. The idea of a pile of clothes growing on the bed followed by a paper boat sailing over the top of them gives the viewer a taste of what to expect within the video, it gives a hint at what both the song and the video is about without the viewer realising, they won't understand this until the end of the video hence the idea that they will have to watch up until the end to work out the enigma set at the beginning. This quirky technique is being used more and more often in music videos today as technology is getting more and more accessible, for instance in videos such as 'Beneath the Rose' by Micah P Hinson. I think this technique will captivate the target audience because it is not music video style they will be used to seeing as most videos they view that are in the charts at the moment are very conventional, and don't often use complicated or unusual techniques for the rick of their audience rejectiong or not understanding whats happening on screen.

Research Into Target Audience

For my audience research I am investigating how my target audience, (consisting essentially of aspiring girls of a similar age to the artist aged between 16 and 20, although the target audience isn’t completely female so males that fall into the same demographic will be considered too) consume music and how much they feel the music industry contributes to their day to day lifestyle. From my results I will be able to conclude the most successful and effective way to promote my artist in the forms of a music video, digipak and magazine advert to this demographic. Additionally I will be able to gather an idea of which mediums of media the song is expected to be consumed, what music channels it would fit best with and how the target demographic would like to see the artist represented..
In order to do find out this information I need to find out:-
• What genre/style of music they consume
• Where they consume it
• How this affects their lifestyle (clothing/hairstyle/social cliques etc.)
• What they want from their music – in terms of merchandise/extras when buying a single

I will create a questionnaire for 10 people to fill out, the questionnaire will be used to gather quantitative information based around the above areas.

Music Consumption

Male Female

What is your favourite music genre? Include examples of artists/bands
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

How do you consume this music? Tick appropriate…
Radio What station/s? ____________________________________________
TV What stations/programme/s? _________________________________
Internet What website/s? ___________________________________________
Shops What shop/s? _____________________________________________
Gigs/Concerts/Festivals What venues? _________________________________
Other Please state _______________________________________________

Do you think the music you consume affects your everyday lifestyle?
i.e. clothing/appearance/social groups/attitude to life
Yes No

If yes which areas and how?______________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If no why do you think this is? ____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In what form do you buy your music?
CD DVD MP3 Vinyl Other please state_________

If you bought a single in CD format what would you expect to get from it?
i.e album artwork/band pictures/lyrics/extra songs/the music video etc.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How much would you be willing to pay for a single?
Less that £1 £1-3 £3-5 £5-7 £7-10 £10+

Thank you









Quantitative Research Results
After handing out the questionnaire to 10 people that fit into the target demographic. I selected teenagers studying a-levels and asked them to fill out the forms whilst within their working environment so as to make sure they are concentrated on the task at hand and fill out the forms properly. I managed to collect information revealing trends showing how these 10 people consume music, their idea of popular genres, how music influences their lifestyles and most importantly how much they are willing to pay for a single and what they expect from it.

The first result is based on the target demographics most popular music genres. This is what came up:-


This shows that the demographic are mainly into mainstream genres especially pop and indie. Indie is a very vague label for a genre as within it consists a range of music styles often caused by hybrid genres being the combination of two or more mainstream genres or a combination of two or more mainstream and niche genres combined. By doing this labels are promoting their artist to a wider audience as they are covering audiences for more than one genre. This is something to take in to consideration when promoting my artists genre style and artist image, because if I combine her folk style with a more mainstream genre such as pop she is going to be more likely to succeed in attaining a substantial sized audience. As the genres that came up are all relatively mainstream they each can be found collectively on mainstream stations such as Radio 1, Smash Hits and NME. In order to promote my artist successfully she needs to be promoted through channels that have listeners that are going to be open to my artist’s style. On the other hand, by promoting the song on a specific genre station such as Kerrang! Rock station the song would be immediately dismissed as it wouldn’t be taken seriously by its audience. It is unrealistic to think that an unknown artist’s music is going to be played on prime time radio time especially on such well established stations such as Radio 1. But there are particular radio shows on often late at night on weekdays that do play unknown and unsigned artists and bands. Take for instance the Colin Murray show on Radio 1 where people can send in any music via email and he will give it air time if it is of a good enough quality to be played. This is a fantastic way of promoting an artist such as Ruth Bewsey cheaply and effectively.

This following graph leads on from the previous, as through analysing what mediums my target audience use to consume music I can establish through what mediums to promote my song to most successfully capture the audiences attention.
As I mentioned above, by promoting the song on mainstream stations would be the best approach at reaching my target audience, and through radio shows such as the Colin Murray show would be really effective. From this graph I can grasp that the radio and the internet are clearly the most popular form of consuming music. Of the people that had ticked radio as a form of consuming music the most popular were clearly ‘Radio 1’ and local radio station ‘Heart fm’ with 33% choosing Heart fm and 44% choosing Radio 1. This tells me that by promoting my music on local mainstream radio stations would be the most successful at capturing the attention of my target audience.
Internet being the second most popular choice for music consumption would also be an effective way of capturing my target demographics attention. From the questionnaires 28% chose iTunes as their favourite website for consuming music and 42% chose YouTube. Therefore it may be worth uploading and posting the video on YouTube and also creating a YouTube ‘channel’ for the artist where future videos from the artist could be uploaded and subscribers to the channel would immediately be notified of the new videos. By creating a ‘channel’ for the artist this essentially gives her a homepage within which she can edit profile pictures, information, background images, general photos etc. This is a cost effective and essential way of promoting an unknown artist as potentially the world can access this page. Also by making the song and video accessible for download on iTunes and putting a promotional image of the songs CD cover on the iTunes store homepage this may draw a lot of attention from interested members who are interested in all different genres, although in order to get an image of the artist on the homepage it is likely to be quite costly as you would have to pay for advertising space. Another way of promoting an unsigned artist like my own more effectively is through creating a MySpace homepage, MySpace is renowned for it’s music scene, and like with her YouTube channel the artist can create a profile that promotes her songs, her videos, her singles and albums, and much more. Then through adding similar artists that are much more established within the music industry she is going to be visible on their page and the audience from these artist’s are likely to click on her which will take them to her page and subject them to the world of Ruth Bewsey.

I asked this question so as to find how my target demographic prefer to buy music. Clearly from these results CD and mp3 are the only real contenders. Mp3 being the most popular, this is not surprising as through the likes of iTunes, Napster, Last.FM and Spotify downloading mp3s has become a much cheaper, more convenient way of consuming music than through any other form as they can easily be transferred to mp3 players and Ipods of which have become almost a necessity in the everyday life of our generation. Therefore it would be worthwhile to sell Sail Away in an mp3 format. CD is also clearly still a popular format to buy music in. Research has shown that this is because of the aesthetics and all the extras that come alongside the single itself, including the artwork, the inside booklet containing exclusive pictures of the band, sometimes which even unfolds into a poster, the extra songs that come along side the single which are usually songs recorded for the album but never made it onto the actual album, some come with even more. It is the ‘collectability’ that still attracts consumers to the CD. Therefore it is worth creating a CD and designing a CD cover and booklet/poster to go alongside to attract the target demographic to the ‘collectability’ of it. The questionnaire also asked what people expect from a single and here are all the different ideas that came up.

This makes it clear what is most asked for, the most popular being album artwork, lyrics, pictures of the band, extra songs and the music video. This can easily be done… with no particular budget. But when I asked the target demographic what they are willing to pay for the single this is what came up.

From this, clearly the majority are only willing to spend up to £3 which could be tricky in reality to create a CD format including all the above popular extras within this budget. A compromise would have to be made to either slightly increase the price barrier or to lose some of the extras. An interesting exercise would be to make a dummy version of one CD single with fewer extras for less than £3 and one with all the extras for over £3 and show these to a range of people within the target demographic and see which one they would choose and why!

The Male Gaze Theory

The male gaze is a media theory applied by American feminist Laura Mulvey. In the male gaze Mulvey believes women are objectified and voyeuristically treated by the media and especially in film with the purpose to appeal to a male audience. A large percent of media texts, particularly moving image are male orientated from direction to editing and post production therefore the texts created are through the male eye with the aim of pleasing audiences such as themselves, this leads to the male gaze theory filtering through many areas of production revealing the psychological obsessions of the society possibly without even being conscious of it. This patriarchal society has moulded the film form into the constant stereotyping of the female in film.
Mulvey believes that the representation of women is usually shown through the stereotypical ‘mother’, ‘virgin’ or ‘whore’ therefore being presented to the voyeur as either the passive female or the fallen women with the need of being either rescued or put in her place. These stereotypes are created to masculinise the audience especially the male spectators as they get to fulfil erotic male fantasies through the cinema experience, putting them in the position of the male in control of the objectified woman. Often men in film are also portrayed as extremely masculinised angry, powerful, rugged characters, this also adds to the idea of the male spectator being able to relate himself to particular characters so as to fulfil sexual fantasy.

The male gaze refers to the act of looking upon women as objects, of adopting the role of spectator, but metaphorically it refers to a way of thinking about and acting within society. The female protagonists often have modern aspects but alongside there is almost always a stereotype attached alongside this. Examples of stereotypically portrayed females and the male gaze are:-
The female blinded by material things such as beauty or fashion
The powerful heroine who constantly struts around half naked oozing sexual confidence
The female who’s aim in life is to settle down and have a family
The successful professional yet neurotic female

The following slideshow is a case study applying the male gaze to the film adaption of the Comic Sin City, released in 2005, dir. Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller

The Male Gaze in Sin City

How Contemporary Media Issues Are Changing The Music Industry

How Contemporary Media Issues Are Changing The Music Industry

Contextual Analysis of Folk-Pop Song 'New Shoes' By Paolo Nutini

Paolo Nutini
New Shoes
Released March 12th 2007




Media forms and conventions
This video follows a narrative based structure where the action is parallel to the lyrics for instance the first lyric is “woke up one Tuesday, I’m looking tired and feeling quite sick”, linear to this is the image of the artist waking up in the morning in bed at home looking tired and fed up. The purpose of using this structure is that it simply follows the story that is being told within the song, this makes the lyrics a lot more memorable to the viewer as when they see the video they visually see what they are hearing.

This is a visual example of how linear the narrative is:-

‘New shoes’ is a folk-pop/blue eyes soul song that tells a story of carefree living, and looking on the bright side of things. This links well to the genre as blues music originated from black slaves and the purpose of the blues was to give them some happiness during their lives of slavery, and the folk genre is used to tell stories to entertain.

Aspects of mise-en-scene such as location and props reflect characteristics of the folk genre. For instance, the video is set in two locations; the house and the street, these are both unglamorous, homely locations that are not used to promote wealth or voyeurism but to simply reflect the story being told within the song. This also reflects the genre in the sense that the video is used to tell the story and nothing else.

The majority of camera shots used in the video are medium close ups of Paolo Nutini, his head is almost always in the centre third of the screen, this connotes that he is the very centre of this song; it is based upon a single person and his view on things.

Also, throughout the video the colour tone is very warm, with a lot of greens and oranges and warm lighting; this reflects the warmth of the song, the story and the character.

There is simple straightforward editing where each shot cuts to the next on a beat, no shot lasts longer than 5 seconds; this maintains the upbeat pace of the song, there is only one fade during the lyric “I’m walking ‘til the break of dawn”, at this point the singer is walking down a street at night, a golden light fades in then disappears to reveal the busy kitchen. This gold fade is used for two reasons,
1. To symbolise the sun coming up as the ‘break of dawn’.
2. As it is nearing the end of the song and going into a multiple repeat of the chorus it signifies the beginning of a montage of different locations and actions but the video is no longer telling the story.

Some special effects are used in the video, the effects used are sparkles of light around the singers feet as he is dancing along the street, dots of light are also used to hover around his head as he says ‘where bright lights and angels meet’, therefore these lights are used to signify the ‘bright lights and angels’.

The video uses props and locations that are used in many music videos from artists of a similar or surrounding genres, for instance the acoustic guitar in this video is often seen in folk and alternative videos as it is a sound that heavily influences the genre. Other videos that include this are; James Morrison – Wonderful World, Nerina Pallot – Learning to Breathe and Newton Faulkner – Dream Catch Me.

Representation
The song is a folk song in which the artist sings about everyday occurrences and his outlook on these occurrences, his outlook is optimistic and upbeat and since the narrative is linear the video also promotes these aspects, therefore the place represented is a recognisable world to people of all ages as everybody has a home and everybody walks down the street… and everybody buys new shoes at some point! The world represented in the video therefore is a world everybody can associate with and as the video portrays an optimistic outlook on the everyday life the audience also feel that connection with their surroundings (for the duration of the song). This creates a strongly likeable appeal to the song as it makes the viewer feel warm, happy and inspired about their life as they watch the video.

Institutions
Paolo Nutini joined Atlantic Records in 2005 shortly after his 18th birthday. Atlantic Records is a large mainstream record company that works with artists such as Bjork, Led Zeppelin and Tracy Chapman. The company works with talents of all different ages and genres. The advantage of being part of such a large label means that Paolo Nutini has a lot of experience behind him in the sense that the company has been established long enough to know what makes a successful band/artist. Also as the label works with so many different genres they also know what works for his music and what doesn’t. Another advantage of being part of such a well-established label is the recognition; it is a lot easier for Paolo Nutini to gain recognition with a mainstream company than a small independent producer as they have the money and the acknowledgment to put him in the spotlight.

Technology
The internet has been the biggest breakthrough in technology in the past 20 years and as it is so easily accessible to such a broad audience it means it has a large impact on the music industry especially in reaching target audiences. For instance Youtube and Myspace have created a lot of recognition for Paolo Nutini as members upload videos of live performances where anybody with internet access can watch. Also, Myspace has become very music orientated within the past few years with almost every artist having their own page, this is a great place to target young adult and teenage audiences as Myspace is a social networking hub for people of this demographic. Paolo Nutini has had his own page since 02/11/2005 and since then has gained 185402 friends.

Contextual Analysis of Pop Video 'The Promise' By Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud
The Promise
Released 20th October 2008



Girls Aloud are a girl band that were manufactured in 2002 from the TV programme Pop Stars: The Rivals. Since then they have shot to fame and become extremely successful. Their main audience are the young teenage females fitting into a demographic of 12-16. This is clear from the outlets they are marketed such as teen magazines including the likes of Bliss magazine, Sugar magazine and Glamour magazine.

The song ‘The Promise’ is one of the most recent singles released from their latest album. In comparison to previous singles such as ‘Sound of the Underground’ the groups image has grown up alongside the band. The music video for ‘The Promise’ is heavily influenced by the 1960’s era and references to the likes of ‘The Supremes’ are clear in the video.

There are a range of intertextual references in the video that are very stereotypical of the era being represented, these include:-
The 50’s/60’s style drive in movie theatre
The 50’s/60’s style cars
The bouffant style hair
The clothing
The black and white music video with the old film reel quality
The 60’s style microphones
The make up – smokey kohl eyes, and long fake eyelashes
Therefore there is not only reference to the style of an era, but there is also the reference to American movies such as Grease, and to ‘Diana Ross and The Supremes’. By using reference to the likes of ‘The Supremes’ and the glamorous 60’s style the band are creating a highly appealing image to the teenage female demographic that are their main audience. The references ooze sex appeal and beauty but unlike a lot of pop videos they portray don’t portray it in a voyeuristic way, the glamour of the era is tasteful and the girls aren’t strutting around in very little clothing which is a generic convention often seen in pop videos including videos Girls Aloud have released in the past such as ‘Long Hot Summer’. By representing the band in this image with these references they are creating a much more positive image for their audience, as the bands main audience are at a very impressionable age where they aspire to be like their idols, therefore by promoting a more wholesome image the band are opening up to a wider and older audience as they appreciate the wholesome glamour a lot more than the voyeuristic approach. Also, this representation promotes a better image to the male audience as the audience sees that girls can still be sexy without being voyeuristic.

The narrative structure is a mix of both performance based and concept based. The performance is important in reflecting the 60’s influence on the song since in the 60’s music videos were all based on performances, there were few music videos that were narrative based at that time. Also ‘The Supremes’ were all about performance, their music was about the voice, the soul and the image, narrative was not of great importance. The concept based narrative being the girls at the drive-in movie theatre watching the film and flirting with boys was also used to emphasise the influence of the era on the song. It simply illustrates the innocence of teenagers in the era, ultimately demonstrating a positive image of the ‘teenage girl’ to the viewer.

The band and the song are mainstream pop but unlike the majority of Girls Aloud videos and one of the main generic conventions of pop videos the ‘The Promise’ video does not contain a dance routine which is an essential in a pop video. They have taken a more mature approach with this video as a performance behind stand-alone old fashioned microphones conforming to the convention by doing a very minimal routine with general body language – but not a full blown dance routine.
Another generic convention commonly used in a girl group pop video is the use of the opposite sex as love interests. In this video the concept is used. Although the concept is used, in the generic way of portraying the male is quite degrading, they are often beneath the girls and often shown as ‘a pawn in their game’ for instance like in the Girls Aloud video ‘The Show’ or the Sugababes video ‘Push The Button’. But in this video their presence is quite insignificant, and where they are present the relationship between the two genders is very innocent and childlike for instance at 2:35 Nicola is handed a love note and giggles naively and the boy who wrote the note shoots a hopeful innocent glance.

Although voyeurism isn’t used in the acting of clothing, some voyeuristic shots are used especially in the black and white performance where the camera tracks up the girls’ hourglass bodies and takes close up shots of the girls’ hips especially. This creates sex appeal, but at the same time promotes a healthy image as the camera emphasises the girl’s healthy curves as opposed to being stick thin. Voyeurism is also used during the scenes at the theatre such as at 3:50 where the camera uses a medium close up and tracks Nicolas body from her feet to her head as she is posing against a car in a very short dress. Although this seems voyeuristic it doesn’t come across as degrading as the overall outcome of the video is very innocent and a one off shot like that seems to simply be promoting her beauty as opposed to a voyeuristic approach.

During the performance section of the video the lighting is used in addition to the film reel effect to emphasise the glamour of the 1960’s and the ‘bright lights of showbiz’ concept. There is a variety of lighting techniques used to emphasise this such as the spotlight, stage lighting including floor lighting and the light reflection of the glitzy dresses that is flashing all the time, there is also the intertextual reference to the old fashioned backstage mirror lighting in the background. All these lighting techniques simply add to the fascination of stardom and the dream that is Broadway.

The link between the music and visuals in this video aren’t very important in this video, the shots change after ever few seconds to reflect the pace of the song, but the transitions aren’t in time with the beat, they cut back and forth to different angles of the same action or between the two different narratives mid lyric and between beats, this creates a very soft transition between the two narratives and also gives the impression (particularly during the performance narrative) that the edit is very simple and the performance is almost live, as it reflects the style used in live videos or coverage of a TV performance or concert performance. There is also the occasional cross fade such as at 3:45 which creates a dream like effect, and also reflects the girls state of mind and shows the link between the lyrics being sung during the performance and the awe the girls feel when watching the performance.

There are a range of camera shots and angles used and they are very different for the two different narratives. During the performance narrative, a lot of the shots are medium shots and are head on to capture all of the action; this is a very conventional style of capturing music performances. There is also tracking and panning across the five girls during chorus using a head and shoulder shot to capture each of them singing in more detail. As each girl is singing on their own the camera focuses on that person from all different angles such as from a low angle, a close up of the girls face from both head on and side on, there is also subtle zooms both in and out, the combination of these gives the performance a very smooth, sexy feel and gives the viewer the chance to see every aspect of the performance.
The concept based narrative is based on the beautiful, pure, innocent teenage girls watching a movie and experiencing the innocent flirting with boys. Their naivety and beauty is accentuated by the camera shots used and the expressions of the girls. There are a lot of close ups that focus on the girls faces and their reactions, each time the girl is either looking up, making them look wide eyed and naïve or looking down looking shy and innocent.
There is a very specific shot at 00:40 where there is a medium close up of Cheryl clutching ‘She’ magazine o her chest, this is an iconic shot as it sums up everything a teenage girl was about during that time period and even in the present day. Teenage girls follow glossy magazines as their bible and this shot depicts that concept perfectly.
Another one is at 2:59 where Kimberly is fixing her make-up in a compact mirror and then pouting in the rear view mirror of her car to check her appearance. This is also another very stereotypical shot of teenage girls during the 60’s time period where glamour and beauty was a very big part of their day to day life; it is also something girls of the present day can relate to as well.

The band began with the UK label Polydor Records, subsidised by Universal Music. In 2006 Polydor launched a label solely dedicated to pop music called Fascination Records which Girls Aloud transferred to. The band had an advantage in capturing an audience through the TV programme Pop Stars: The Rivals which gave the public the power to essentially create the band, and the national recognition from the programme instantly gave the band overnight stardom making it easy for them to overcome the hurdle that is one of the hardest for up and coming bands which is to become known. Also, they were moulded in front of the publics eyes to become a pop group so they also were immediately given a target audience. Being a part of Polydor Records gave the girls the opportunity to work with a well established label as well with links to other well known artist including Gwen Stefani and Eminem. Working with a well established label also helps to give the band recognition as opposed to a small unknown indie label. It also gives the impression that they are likely to be a very successful band as a large company has put its reputation on the line to promote them. By transferring to a pop dedicated label gives the group and the label the chance to focus solely on their genre potentially making the image stronger also.

Class Research

I am creating a music video for a country/folk song called 'Sail Away', I am aiming the video at an audience of 16-20 year olds, in order to gather some qualatitive research about music videos and different genres a research session was held which consisted of a selection of about 15 people aged between sixteen and twenty. This would help me gain some knowledge of my target audience and how open/closed minded they are, what interests/disinterests them, what they find memorable and enjoyable and in which direction i should steer my music video in order to appeal to as bigger audience as possible effectively.
Four different videos were shown that were of very different styles ang genres. The four videos shown were:-

• Boogie Pimps - Somebody To Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMW6Mw-_UkU

This video was chosen as a topic of discussion as it clearly falls into the stereotype that women are sexual objects, it also uses the unconventional idea of miniature babies parachuting onto this semi-naked woman, this is a video that can clearly shock an audience and be the cause of an interesting discussion.

• Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Az_7U0-cK0

This video is quite uncomfortable to watch, it isn't mainstream and wouldn't be found on everyday music channels, therefore subjecting the audience to such an unusual video would cause contreversy and spark some great discussion.

• JLS - Beat Again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og07i_Qwwp0

This video is a stereotypical pop video subjecting men as sexual objects in order to sell their music. This contrasts greatly with the Boogie Pimps video as it is subjecting men as opposed to women. This is a great opportunity to discover how an audience reacts to the change in role. This became a Top 40 number 1 so it would be interesting to see how the audience reacts to the video in relation to it's song becoming a number 1 single.

• And Michael Jackson - Beat It http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSVrJAbwKdQ

This video was used to show how pop has changed over the past twenty years and to discover how differently the audience reacts to different era's. Also as Michael Jackson is such a big part of music, it is interesting to see how the group view him, is he in a league of his own? Can he be compared to other pop artists at all?

After each video was shown a selection of guideline questions were held and then a discussion followed, the following questions were asked:-
Was there anything about the representation of age/gender/race/stereotypes you found shocking?
What in the video stood out to you? What did you find interesting/effective?
Does the video reflect the genre?
Would you watch the video again? why?
Do you think the video should have an age limit/restriction?
Which audience stereotype do you think the video is targeting?
Where would you expect to see this video?

The video that clearly caused the most interesting divide between the audience was the Aphex Twin video, where one particular member was intreigued by the disturbing images shown in the video and she would be happy to watch it again even though she didn't appreciate the music very much, whereas the rest of the group were disturbed by the video and would not like to watch it again. This shows how creating a memorable music video may not be the way forward, if it is memorable for the wrong reasons, but if the video was not created for mass consumption in the first place but solely created for dedicated listeners/viewers then a video such as Come To Daddy can be very effective.

The Boogie Pimps video did not stem much discussion as it was seen as a stereotypical video that wasn't out of the ordinary especially with how the woman in the video was represented, none of the group appeared uncomfortable or embarrassed by her, nor did they seem interested by her. Whereas when the role changed with the JLS video it was clear that the male members were alot more uncomfortable with talking about how the band members were presented, on the other hand some of the females got quite excited by the video and were happy to watch it again which is interesting as this shows that the subjection of men to women appears more effective than the sumjection of women to men (aged between 16 and 20).

Beat It was hardly compared to the JLS pop video, the audience members insisted that Micheal Jackson could not be compared, his 'brand' could not be held down by any particular label or genre that liks with other bands and his videos are unique and can't be copied or duplicated by anyone else, so what makes Michael Jackson so successful?

Labels

Evaluation, G325, Planning digipak cover, Planning magazine advertisement for digipak, Planning music video, Research into the music industry, Research into target audience