Ideas for Music Video / Narrative on James Arthur (Pitch) - Get Down

Mind Map created by Jamie Friend with GoConqr

Uses and Gratifications Theory

     
       

Categories Of Music Video's

Production Diary 3

I conduct various amounts of primary research  on audience research how they effected by music/music videos. The primary research in which I conducted was through questionnaires and a focus group. I created a questionnaire with 10 questions in which are relevant to my audience research on music. This got handed to a audience anonymously so it would be fairly conducted research which I could use to interpret but also to improve my production. Through a questionnaire it meant the data in which I gathered was current and relevant to the trends in 2016. The importance of this is that as a group we will be able to include certain conventions to market our production so it is
appealing to the current market, which will enable it to become successful. We also filmed a short focus group which enabled us as a group to find out even more primary information which we could discuss. Furthermore it enabled us to analysis the music industry in more detail and to see which information is relevant and what we will take into account.

Focus Group Video Questions and Responses

As a group we set up a focus group from which we showed a group of people some test footage which we gathered together from chosen locations which we decided to possibly shoot our production in. After the test footage was viewed we asked the group four questions in which we belief will help us to furthermore improve our production whilst we are still in the early stages of filming.

From our test footage, what impact do you think our camera techniques will have on our music video?

Trough using Close-Ups, alongside Over the Shoulder shots, allows the video to be more personal element but also creates a star image for our artist, which can be identified by our target demographic.  A long sides with this it also allows the audience to engage with the audience so that they can also feel the emotion that the artist is feeling, which furthermore allows the audience to get to know him on a more personal level. By using Long-Shots it creates a wider view, not only does it involve the artist but it also allows the audience to see any known landmark from the footage being shot in London.  From this the long shots also work in the same way a establishing would from the sense that the audience can see exactly where the footage is being shot, which also helps set the scene. However if we was to additionally use a 360 degree shot, this would create a wider view of the location and allow the audience to see the different cultural aspects from a different perspective.

Do you think the locations, used in our test footage is relevant to our genre and narrative?

Iconography help to show conventions of the genre but also provides the audience with a established location / setting, which potentially creating a wider audience. From this it makes the test footage recognisable world wide from people living in the U.K to tourist's, due to the incorporation of famous  landmarks.

Can you see any Pop genre, codes and conventions?

From viewing out test footage, our focus group identified that the lip syncing is conventional to the Pop genre. Additionally they indicated that our artists outfit is very fashionable, which indicates the popularity or the relevant Pop artist have to modern fashion and trends. 

Do you believe our artists name, Marcus Matthews, is generic of the Pop genre?

Through the use of 'MM' it makes the name easy to remember from the audiences perspective and to pronounce due to its alliteration. Furthermore it provides the demographic with a catchy name, which is unique and current to the genre of Pop. 

Focus Group Video

Questionnaire Result and Reflection

I asked ten randomly selected people if they wanted to compete my questionnaire. I done this to make it a fair investigation, whilst gaining results in which can influence what we are going to do as a group with our product. This also gave us some primary research which is a first hand honest source which is relevant to trends in 2016.  From this we received a range of results which from this we could clearly identify what a target audience deems to make a successful music video. Some of the responses that are closely linked to our production are age, favourite genre, main attraction in a music video and platform for viewing music. We discovered that half of the people that we asked there favourite genre is pop and they are between 16-19 years old. As our production has a pop genre we should aim are product towards a target audience of 16-19 as its clear that is where our market lies. We also discovered that a audience finds the artist the main attraction in a music video. From this it shows me that a large amount of the music video should be based around an artist or a particular character. Also from the questionnaire I discovered the main platforms in which an audience view music videos on, in this case being YouTube. This means that when are music video is released the predominate platform for it to be on will be YouTube, however it may also be on other platforms like ITunes.

Questionnaire For Audience

     1. Are you male or female? 

         Male                                                                    Female

     2. How old are you?

8-11           12-15          16-19           20-22          23-26          27-30          31 +

     3. What is your personal favourite music genre?

Pop             R&B             Rap            Rock            Jazz              Grime            Reggae             Other       

     4. Do you enjoy watching music videos?

Yes                         Sometimes                          No

      5.  What do you find to be the main attraction in a music video? 

Artist                        Narrative                          Location                      Costume                   Other

      6. Do you find a narrative based music video more visually engaging and easier to have a 

          connection to?

Yes                      Sometimes                            No

      7.  Does dancing appeal to you in a music video?

Yes                      Sometimes                             No

      8.  What platform typically do you watch or listen to music on?

YouTube                  SoundCloud                   ITunes                Spotify                  Tidal                Other 

      9.  How often do you listen to music? (Per Week)

1 -2 Time 's               3-4 Times's                  5-6 Times                  Everyday 

     

    10.  Are you more inclined to listen to a male or female artists vocal?

       Male                                                   Female                                                                 Both

Inspirations

I chose these rather casual but smart clothes for the artist to wear to drive the concept of the pop genre through the artist. Through looking at other popular male artists in the pop music industry such as, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown and Ed Sheeran to get some inspiration on what my artist image should look like. Due to our artist being very modern and current it was imperative that he matched the stereotypical fashion trends that are popular today. A side from this the style in which are artist is based around is very relax, simplistic and current to 2016 which coincides with modern pop.

When I have developed my focus group questions i will be using this to see how my potential demographic reacts to the styling to ensure it matches the genre wanted.

Questionnaire Responses (Example)

Example 

     1. Are you male or female? 

         Male                                                                    Female

     2. How old are you?

8-11           12-15             16-19               20-22          23-26          27-30          31 +

     3. What is your personal favourite music genre?

Pop             R&B             Rap            Rock            Jazz              Grime            Reggae             Other       

     4. Do you enjoy watching music videos?

Yes                         Sometimes                          No

      5.  What do you find to be the main attraction in a music video? 

Artist                        Narrative                          Location                      Costume                   Other

      6. Do you find a narrative based music video more visually engaging and easier to have a 

          connection to?

Yes                      Sometimes                            No

      7.  Does dancing appeal to you in a music video?

Yes                      Sometimes                             No

      8.  What platform typically do you watch or listen to music on?

YouTube                  SoundCloud                   ITunes                Spotify                  Tidal                Other 

      9.  How often do you listen to music? (Per Week)

1 -2 Time 's               3-4 Times's                  5-6 Times                  Everyday 

     

    10.  Are you more inclined to listen to a male or female artists vocal?

       Male                                                    Female                                                             Both

Male Gaze Theory by Lauren Mulvey

             

Andrew Goodwin's Narrative Theory

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Theory

                         

                          

Mood Board

Dyer's Utopian Solutions Theory

Production Diary 2

After various amounts of investigating and having discussions as a group together we came to the conclusion that we wanted to go with the genre Pop. This initially went against our original ideas of going with Grime or R&B. We went against the idea with doing Grime due to it being a more new and up and coming genre which does not have much history, or vasts amount of artists/music. The reason why we also went against the concept of R&B was because as a group we where not particularly confident with the genre and individually have not listen to much R&B music in the past. Due to these conclusions we went with the Genre Pop as we where extremely confident and had a lot of knowledge about the genre as a group. There where also several other advantages with Pop being the wide variety and contrast of all the different artists within the genre that we could choose from, but also the wide range of music and music videos there was for us to view.

After several discussions, listening and reviewing different Pop songs as a group we decided apon going with the artist James Arthur, with his song 'Get Down'. 

Target Audience Initial Profile

Gender: Male or Female

ABC1 Audience - Middle to upper class
CDE2 Audience - Lower middle to lower working class 
By addressing our media product at both target audiences it will give it a much bigger viewing platform and will suit all different types of audiences. 

Age: 8 + Produces a wide demographic which in turn will appeal to a vast amount people. 

Both Dyers's Utopian Solution and Uses Gratification Theory have similar ideas and concepts. These theories are strongly focused on the individual and the idea of escaping from negativity with no relation to their age or gender. By have an aged range of 8 + it allows use to uses various different features and ideas which will possibly help them to release social tension between themselths or others. Due to it being ages 8 + it will also appeal to adults and may potentially help them release their energy, but they will also be able to relax away from a busy work lifestyle.

Maslow's Hierarchy of need theory also has some similarities but also differences to these previous theory. It is deemed though the Maslow's Hierarchy of needs pyramid that a audience can gain motivation and build confidence through a media product. This will in turn give the audience a enjoyable experience which creates a strong level of satisfaction. 

Initial Ideas for Artist and Genre of Music

As a group we come up with a few idea's for genres which consisted of Pop, Grime and R&B. We started listening to several song of artist from each of them genres to try and get an understanding of what ideas that we could include into our production of our music video. When quickly come to the conclusion that the most suited genre for us would simply be Pop. The reason for this was simply because it vastly appealed to a much larger target audience. Another reason which influenced this decision was solely due to the fact that Pop had  a much larger but wider range of music and artists which we could choose from.

From the decision of choosing pop as a group we listened to a variety of songs then individually come up with a few songs each which we brought to the group. We then as a group listened to these song and artist's and had a discussion on what we thought that we could do with each of these songs. The three artist that we decided to look at in further detail was Coldplay, Passenger and James Arthur. Firstly we looked at Coldplay and decided to look more in depth at their music and them as a band due to the wide range of music videos that they have produced within the genre. A long side with this we looked at some of the convention in which they included within their music video to get a better idea of what has made them extremely successful. We narrowed it down to two of Coldplay's songs which was 'Fix You' and ' The Scientist'.

The next artist which we decided to discus was Passenger. The reason for this was simply due to the fact of one of their songs 'Let it Go'. This song initially appealed to our group member Seun who's idea was that we should create a music video around a more slower, emotional song which has some narrative. As a group we looked back on this idea and agreed on that our music video should have some narrative base to it, however we did not agree not this particular song.

The last artist that we looked into as a group was James Arthur. He arose as an artist due to the fact that he has wrote and produced a lot a slower emotional pop songs, which have a strong narrative theme. Through looking at his music we decided that the song 'Get Down' was the most appealing song which we could interpret our unique ideas into. We also decided on this James Arthur song because of the fact it is not a mainstream song which has not broke into the charts yet, and that a audience has not regularly come across.

Along with this we have decided on our artist name being, Marcus Matthews. Along with this I have some key ideas to go along with his style and image as an artist.

Overal we decided as a group to go with the artist James Arthur and his song 'Get Down' as we believed we would be able to create a successful music video, in which our Pop target audience would recognise and remember.

This will be performed primarily by our artist Marcus Matthews.

What Is Representation and How Does It Impact a Audience?

Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics in a particular way, with in society. Typically it is the way someone is being perceived within a film or video and how the process of what they have been doing has given this impression to the audience. For representation to impact an audience they need to share something or experience something which they can connect over.

What Is Genre?

Genre is Latin and is any category of literature, music or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of criteria. Genres formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones fade out. This often works by the use of multiple genres keeping but also changing these conventions.

The setting is the environment where the story and action takes place. The theme or topic refers to the issues or concepts that the film has. The mood is the emotional tone of the film and the effect it has on the environment.

What Is Narrative ?

Narrative tells a fictional or fictionalised story, event or narrative. In this style of narrative it’s extremely believable and the characters used help convince the audience that the fiction they are seeing is real. Lighting and camera movement, among other cinematic elements, have become very important in these films and music videos.

There are high amounts of detail that goes into the screenplays of narratives, as these film or videos rarely change from the predetermined behaviours and lines of the screenplays to maintain a sense of realism. Actors must deliver dialogue, sound and action in a believable but relate able way, so as to persuade the audience that the situation is real life.

Production Diary 1

Through the various amount of different research in which I conducted on successful music videos, I identified various conventions and different features. I conducted different types of secondary research to further my understanding on what makes up a successful music video and what impact music videos have on a audience. This then enabled me to conduct research on different types of genres and what traits certain genres follow. From this I understood the key traits in a genre and what stereotypes are associated with it. One of the more informative types of research I conducted was from watching successful music videos in the music industry and from that conducting a textual analysis.This allowed me to get an in depth, strong, detailed concept of what is makes up a music video and they way in which this is done. From this research and textual analysis I will be able to apply these convention and potential idea into the music video that we are going to produce.