Initial idea

For my music video, I have thought of an initial idea that could be my videos narrative or construction throughout:

- A girl has broken up with her boyfriend and is going down a road, she checks her phone to see that her boyfriend has sent her a message to say 'I miss you. Lets talk.' but ignores it and comes across a woodland passage. She decides to enter it and makes her way around the place, looking at various things. The wooland is making her reflect her relationship and about life. Within the video she sings some parts of the song but it is mainly a visual aspect.

Props: Maybe a guitar, a ribbon she finds whilst walking around and takes it with her
Clothing: Jeans, jacket, jumper or top, boots
Make up: simple, natural colours and hair down

Copyright permission letter

In order to authorize my use of Gabrielle Aplin's Home song, I asked permission from Parlophone records so at least I have notified them.

Copyright Research

Since I am using a licensed song for my music video, digipak and advert to be based on, I need to seek out copyright permission from the record label so I have official authorization to use this song. However, if I do not get a reply back, at least I have contacted them. But first I want to research copyright laws within the music industry.

Music copyright is the legal protection for composers of music, recording artists and other musicians to be recognised in their work. This means that if a piece of music is under copyright protection then you can not broadcast, use or report  it unless you have been given permission by its rightful holders.

Several exclusive rights typically attach to the holder of a copyright: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

• to produce copies or reproductions of the work and to sell those copies (including, typically, electronic copies)
• to import or export the work
• to create derivative works (works that adapt the original work)
• to perform or display the work publicly
• to sell or assign these rights to others
• to transmit or display by radio or video

Questionnaire Results

After collecting my results from the week, I have begun to notice a similar pattern to my target audiences answers. With these results, I can now analyse them and observe the common opinions and interests within my target audience range.

For my first question I asked the people to do the survey what age range they were in. Since my target audience is teenagers and young adults, the majority were between 15-20 since I know more people of that age range. However, as shown I did ask older people to complete the survey in linking to my actual audience who might watch/listen to my music. It was important for me to mention others outside my target audience so I can get a broad view point of interests and ideas.

The next question I conducted was what gender my audience was. Considering my target audience I mainly asked girls, so I could gain a better view point of what people of my gender are interested in and influence what I can do to make my products appealing to them. Of course I did ask a few male responders so I could keep in mind appealing to my actual audience and gain their views on the questions too. From this, the majority were female who  I asked to answer my survey so I can now think of ideas to appeal to a female audience but also my actual audience can be included too.

For this question, I asked what class most people were in. Again linking to my target audience profile I needed to aim for people who were either working class or middle class. This is due to my song and ideas for locations to use a urban or nature setting for my video, as they are public settings that most local people see everyday, and highlights the connection between the music and it's fans. From this, the majority were working class to which the majority of people are as well as some middle class people too. This shows me that using simple settings/locations as well as casual clothing for costume would be best to do.

The next question asks how often do people watch music videos. This is key for me in knowing how popular music videos are in a media dominated world and how significant they are in promoting music and popularising the artist. As shown, most people watch them sometimes and only some watch them always. At times this depends on the artists popularity, what the music video is like eg: Is it controversial or extravagant and how often new music videos are available for the public to watch. However, this does highlight for me that music videos are still important and are highly popular for public viewing.

It is significant for me to know where most of my target audience watches music videos for them to spread worldwide appeal to their audiences and make them popular. I included well known TV channels such as MTV, VIVA and 4Music so there is a variety alongside viral popularity. The results show that Youtube is the most popular place to watch music videos. This is not unexpected as the internet has highly dominated media access through websites such as Youtube. This illustrates how viral videoing has allowed people to watch artists with easy access and helps promote the artist all over the globe. Also the public has there own share of fame with uploading their own videos, becoming part of the media and making a statement for public viewing too.

Although I have already chosen a genre and a song I have mainly consolidated with my performer on, I still need to know public interest within the music industry and it's many branches of genres. From my results, they show that Pop and Indie music are very popular among my target audience and actual audience too. There are many pop artists that appeal to mainstream audiences, however as I have begun to notice from my research Indie music has become increasingly popular too with bands and artists such as Adele, The Script, 5 Seconds of summer, Lorde and Ellie Goulding. These results have complimented my genre choice well in using the Indie genre and it's sub genre of Indie Folk/Pop to have a niche audience appeal as well as a mass audience appeal for my actual audience. However, some responders liked Rock and R n B which shows the variety of interests within specific niche audiences.

My next question is defiantly important for me when storyboarding and laying out my ideas for the music video. To ask what my audience mainly focuses on in a music video, will help me with my look and concept of the video plus help with the ancillary tasks too. The results show that the artist, the visuals and the performance/narrative (depending on existing video) is what the audience find interesting in a video. Of course, the main artist is important to look at, which is what I have noticed as being key in researching the ancillary tasks as the dominant feature too. Plus the visual outlook seems important for the music video to create a certain look. I will have to think about the kind of effects, shot types, angles, movements, imagery and setting I want to create for my own music video within pre and post production. When it comes to narrative or performance this is included in the visual aspect, which is something I will need to think about if I want to have a narrative.

Finally, my last question is to highlight the kind of music videos that my target and actual audience find interesting to watch. From the results it establishes that most liked a mixture of all, but mainly themes, performance and definitely narrative. When it comes to planning I will have to set out locations I could use and make the narrative work around this. Hence, I will have to keep in mind how the location could work with the song and the narrative I could come up with. 

Music Video Questionnaire for Target Audience

In order to help me with gaining ideas for my music video, I have designed a questionnaire about their opinions on the subject. From the questions I hope to gain an insight into what my target audience find appealing or are interested in, so it may influence my decisions and choices when planning my video.  
I have used the website www.surveymonkey.com to help me collect my data efficiently and for my target audience to have easier access to answer the questions provided. 
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KGHVMLY

Extra Existing Magazine advert analysis

This is another magazine advert for Indie/Pop artist Adele. I chose this one to analyse because it was very different from the Florence and the Machine advert, and I wanted to look at a  one with a more simplistic and neutral look. Also the two artists have a similar target audience to mine, which is why I need to observe other artists and their own individual look.This will also help me with my own designs for the digipak and the magazine advert too.  

The colour scheme is very simple with a grey, balck and white tone to it. The black background makes the the artist herself stand out with the right lighting to silhouette her image. The way the lighting and the position is, makes her seem relaxed and sophisticated in her look. The audience see her this way and almost shows her personality and kind of music she is involved in. I would like to try to think about my own style, and how the dominant image can already give the impression of what type of artist I am portraying.

The text is modern and easily stands out with a white and mint green colour scheme, which highlights the digipak at the bottom corner. It mainly shows the name of the artiost, album and extra information.

Although the text is quite big in the middle, it doesn’t take focus away from the key image. This shows that most adverts are more of a visual medium, making it clear that for my own to grab audience attention, I need a dominant, appealing image.

For this magazine advert, unlike the Florence and the Machine advert it actually shows the digipak (mainly its front cover). This is something I would like to do to make it clear that this is an advert for the digipak not just to advertise or promote the artist. The advert and the digiapk appear to have a similar look and colour scheme too, which helps link them together. This is important as if they were to contrast it might seem to the audience that their advertising two different products.

Extra Existing Digipak analysis

This is another digipak of Marina and the Diamonds, who is another Indie artist. Analysing this digipak, allows me to look at a different layout and look of the artist and her style. It gives ideas on creating my own distinctive look for the products I will produce and how to present them in my own way.

With each panel Marina is shown in different positions but ideally with the same make up and hair style. I like the different ways the key image is presented and makes the artist look unique and feminine to the audience that observe the digipak. Also throughout the panels I find the pop art editing on the digipak is stylish and is quite attractive to grab the audiences attention.

The front panel directly shows an artistic pop style, with the main foreground image of the singer. This is key in most digipaks I have observed and something I want to do for my digipak, having my performer as the main focus. The background is there to highlight the singer's image, hence in choosing the right colour scheme I could heighten my own performers look too. The text font is very feminine and compliments the rest of it’s style. I will also need to choose a font style carefully to fit in with the look I wish to create. 

The back panel highlights Marina again, but this time the text seems more important than the image itself. This is a common factor I have noticed within the other digipak I have observed, as the back panel's purpose is to mainly emphasise the song's listed. Of course again the text font is similar which is something I will need to do for it to be continuous. Also with the products information is usually on the back panel too. Again, the audience can see a preview/first impression of what kind of songs and look the artist has, and whether they might be interested to buy it.

The CD panel is simple and contains the name of the artist on the disc itself. This panel is just to mainly hold place the actual disc, so it doesn’t contain any graphics or images. I will have to try and perhaps find a plain CD that I could use to put inside my digipak, but this depends on my resources. 

The extra image is of the artist again but this time in a different position This is common of the other digipak I have observed too and would be something I want to duplicate. I like the expression and position of the artist, who is almost teasing the camera, making the digipak more appealing to the audience.

Production schedule

This is a schedule I have made in order to plan for the upcoming weeks ahead and know what to achieve within my time limit of my whole coursework. This schedule is to help me recognise what I need to do and how long I have left. I will try to stick to this schedule as best I can which will make my work more organised.

Gabrielle Aplin Home: In depth music video analysis

This is the song me and my performer have chosen as the best to do called 'Home' by Indie artist Gabrielle Aplin. The artist herself has done many songs that can be categorised into mainly Folk, Indie and Pop music. With this diversity, she can appeal to other audiences who are interested in other similar genres, which is helpful for me as I myself know that other people will be interested in my music video/song. This  Indie Folk/ Pop song in particular can appeal to other audiences with nice visuals, an upbeat tone and relatable themes. 

A close up of her face shows the worry and start of her struggles to make it back home. The long stretch of road symbolises this as the camera follows her. It is important to note that her clothing style is casual wear with a t shirt, jeans and jacket but stylish, in order to fit the singers personality, with a Pop element in her look and fit the mood/tone of the song as she rough rides her situation. Plus, as a first impression of the music video it contains no special effects (except for a subtle tinted filter to the hue and saturation of the video), the scenery is  natural and not artificially made and her clothing doesn't make her look provocative or for sex appeal like many Pop music videos contain. All of these hints including the music's style, tempo and sounds make it an Indie song. 

As the video continues, an establishing shot of the scenery is highlighted with Gabrielle herself look outward towards the lake and the distant hills. Many shots of the scenery are shown to project her theme of  how isolated she is at the start, being away from her comfort zone and searching to find it within a desolate landscape. From some other scenes a lot of establishing or long shots are shown to highlight the scenery and herself as an individual struggling to get back on her own.

Moving on, she finds a shop in order to supply herself with the necessities needed for a long trip. The camera movement seems never to be in a fixed and steady way at most times adding to the natural movement of her and the songs feel. In addition to this, I have noticed that the different scenes mainly jump cut from one to the other, which is a popular editing technique since songs only last between 2 - 3 minuets long and need the necessary footage for the video. For this particular song and video there is more narrative in her journey back home then seeing the artist sing, however she does show a lot of performance being the main character in the video.

Throughout the video it hardly shows the singer herself singing the song and heavily focuses on her trials in surviving on her own without any support. All along, this keeps the flow of the songs lyrics and heightens the message and theme of her goal and remembrance of home as a place of comfort and 'where your heart is centred'. 

The narrative can also relate to people who have been in this situation and with it showing the struggles and despair of being in an unknown place, getting into uncertain events, trusting strangers and having no support, money, shelter or food makes home seem like heaven and desirable. Hence, the songs repetitive message of being who you are and knowing how important that is.

Again I have noticed that the video concerns itself a lot with her expressions and her actions towards her isolation and loneliness, which is key to highlighting the songs messages, themes and lyrics.The music and video's mise en scene has also gone from being quite slow and casual, to becoming more happier and upbeat as the narrative continues and she becomes comfortable in her life and situation. This transition helps move the song and story throughout and makes it seem not all is lost with the main character.

Additionally, it gives the song a more joyful beat in it's tempo and mood, so that the audience listening can feel the happiness that the character has for herself. To add this happier mood, the atmosphere has changed when she arrives at the city. Its more colourful and bright with the lights from buildings, she is surrounded by more people and is finally smiling and socialising with others. There is even a back flash on her on the road from the start and now she is running the hope of going home. This helps heighten the importance of being supported by others whether they be family or friends so you don't feel alone and not having to deal with problems in isolation.

Journal 2

From researching existing songs, looking back at my short analysis of each and after asking my performer and showing them to her, we both agreed the best song to do would be Gabrielle Aplin's Home, which is labelled by Parlophone Records. This is because I personally like the alternative themes that are included within the songs lyrics and video such as love, home and knowing who you are. My performer agreed on that she would be able to lip sync this song better than the others. Also since the song is about home, I could use an urban or nature setting that is local to us, making filming easier when picking a location. To fit in with the genre, wearing casual clothing would also be best as home is meant to represent comfort, but I will go more in depth when I plan my video. As an extra note, for the two ancillary tasks I could take more visual pictures with my performer in local areas too. In conclusion, this specific Indie Folk/ Pop song would be best to make a video of and inspire me to create promotional products that will go along with it. 

Initial ideas on surveying target audience

To help me plan my music video and ancillary tasks, I would have to involve my target audience for certain decisions I will make and gain their opinions about my ideas. I will mainly use my target audience for my planning but I have included them within my research too. This is so I can make my products interesting towards the audience and help me gain useful information that will enhance to appeal of my music video.

Ideas for survey:
- Questionnaire
- Social media 
- Discussions
- Tally chart
- Note making 

What to ask:
- Costume ideas
- What they think about the location/s
- Choice of song ( I will mainly consolidate with my performer on this)
- Do draft ideas for ancillary tasks and ask which one they liked best
- Draft of storyboard and gain initial thoughts
- Summarise ideas on overall look and narrative (if wanted) and gain initial thoughts

Existing Digipak analysis

What is a digipak?
 A digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI-Shorewood, an Atlas Holdings LLC company.
Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVDigipak) is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets. Such packaging is less resistant to abrasion than jewel cases, so it tends to show signs of wear relatively quickly.

      


In order to help myself understand what a digipak looks like and its style of the genre, I needed to analyse existing products. This is a digipak of Indie Pop artist Ellie Goulding. Within the digipak there is a similar colour coordination and theme to the digipak's visuals as well as the font use and simple layout. I will need to consider the kind of layout I want for my own digipak and how it will look to match my chosen song and the magazine advert. 

 Front Cover

The front cover shows Ellie Goulding: The main artist with a relaxed expression almost in a euphoric state. The image is bright and dominant over the text which is attractive to the audience and helps sell the digipak. In order for mine to look appealing, I need to consider having a key image for the front cover that will match the theme/s of the song I will choose and make it look stylish yet simplistic to the genres conventions. Indie/Indie Pop music is meant to be different from mainstream music, as it highly prides itself on the artists voice rather than loud or bold sounds and visuals, which is why this design links to the genre in it's natural look. 

The use of the special effects can visually enhance the digipak and artist of which I would like to do for my own product. This effect is continued throughout the digipak and instantly grabs the audiences attention to it by it's subtle and different appearance. The font style relates to the light effect in the letters glowing and makes the image more vibrant to help promote the artist and albums name. I will need to pick a font style that can be just as appealing as the image itself and is modern to my audience.

Back Cover

The back cover is simultaneous to the front cover, which is important for my own products to match too. The background has the same special effects placed on with the light effect as well as the colours, making it look more visually appealing alike with the front cover. Possibly I will use certain effects to transform my own digipak's look and make it more of a visual medium as alongside the information I will show. The artist's songs are listed, along with the information, copyright details and barcode which are the main conventions of a digipaks back cover.
The positioning of the songs are centred to the back cover and the smaller details are just below, helping me understand its layout that I can duplicate. The same font style is used to make the digipak continuous and link to the lighting effect of the background. Again, this will help me acknowledge what I need to do for my own digipak to look professional.

                                                                                                                                                            
The Disc/Disc insert

The Disc itself is simple and again natural to the digipaks design and the artist's themes.
Even though this doesn't have a abstract or artistic image, it is till bold with the disc's block colour of yellow and doesn't make the digipak look chaotic in it's visuals. There is a clear plastic case that keeps it in place, and can be easily taken out for audience use. At this point I am not sure whether to use a clear CD and make a cover for it, depending on my resources and time.



Extra image/Side image

Since this digipak is a 4 panel digipak with the CD placed on the inside, it always has an extra image either on the inside or outside extra panel. The image is to reflect the songs or albums themes of peace and a casual ambience to their tones. A lot of Indie music can be considered quieter and slow paced, which is why the side images are important to recognise the digipak in promoting the Indie genre and to add as an extra feature. This can also reflect the artist as a song writer and singer in the type of music they make, which adds to their personality. These extra images can help advertise the digipak, which is why I will need to shoot other images that can make the digipak more appealing to my audience.

Existing Magazine advert analysis

This is a magazine advert for Florence and the Machine who is an Indie/Indie Pop artist that is widely known for her music and originality of songs. It is important to look at other existing products to gain ideas for my own and see how other professional magazine adverts are presented for the digipak.

The title at the top is  positioned in a way to make it clear who it is and doesn’t draw attention from the key image in the middle of the magazine advert. For my own magazine advert, I can use the same positioning for the main title so it is more of a visual advert. 

The key image within the advert shows many conventions of the style and look of the artist as well as the Indie genre. It is important for me to show these connotations of the genre and my song, in order for the audience to recognise it as a newly released Indie album, whilst selling the artist too.From this advert, I will need to consider taking a photograph  of my performer as the dominant image, with a background that is suitable and appropriate to my song and its themes.

From my research, I have noticed that most artists within the Indie genre are young (as most are in other genres) and some are easily recognisable to the  audience, but some are not, and need a specific audience or fan base to be recognised. This allows the audience to relate to the artist and be influenced by their songs, style and personality. The advertisement and the digipak both need to show who the artist is and give a good first impression, which is what I need to consider for my own audience in the layout of my two ancillary products. 

At the bottom of the advert, it contains the additional information which is positioned in an ideal way for the audience to know the date, CD details and reviews. These are common factors of a digipak advert, which is what I need to include on my own. The details are less significant visually, which is why I need my key image to look presentable to my audience. Information like this can be useful for the audience and makes the audience known by the institution and artist. 

Indie songs

In order to help me choose an appropriate song for my music video, digipak and magazine advert to be based on, I created a list of songs that I have seen. Observing and looking at the details of the songs themes, narration (if any), locations, effects, costume/s, artists involved, props, how the song sounds (whether its upbeat, mellow or sad) and fitting into the genre is essential to ensuring that the right song is best to do.

Ellie Goulding: Guns and Horses
With this song, it has great visuals and has an upbeat tone making the video look fun with dancing visuals, colourful costumes and a woodland setting.The video cuts between showing Ellie Goulding singing and other events, actions or scenery that is included keeps the music video enjoyable to watch as well as listen to. Having a balance of visuals and performance of the artist is key to not only promoting the artist and their music, but to also make the video interesting and engaging for the audience to watch it. According to my research, the song contained a narrative about an online romance hence the lyric 'you've found me, at a screen you sit at permanently'. Within the video, Ellie stands out from the rest of the cast wearing casual clothing compared to the dancers in military suits. This again only heightens her visually and allows us to focus on the singer more than the dancers in the background. Learning from this video, I will have to apply some sort of balance in showing my performer and other visuals or actions in my own music video. Also, giving me ideas on the themes I could use too and how they are influenced by the song's lyrics and video.

Lana Del Rey: Summertime Saddness

Lana Del Rey is a very well known retro style singer in both her videos and vocals. Much of her music sounds from the 1950's era and she uses many effects and styles in her videos to compliment her. This emphasises the kind of style I need to think about and what I would like for my music video to have, depending on the song I have chosen. The video is quite abstract and different compared to some music videos, especially with the narrative featuring two lovers who commit suicide. The special effects used enhance the video's appearance by tinting the screen with an old film colourful look, hence complimenting the artist and her style. This is something I would like to use in editing too, so my video can look as professional as possible and help create the look of my performer. The settings are common of the genre (and other genres alike such as house music) with a natural, urban feel making the video's mise en scene seem more down-to-earth. From listening to the song, it may seem a little difficult (if I choose this song) to lip sync, but it has given me ideas on thinking about a specific look for my own video when planning.

 

Gabrielle Aplin: Home

Gabrielle Aplin's 'Home' contains alternative themes to some popular songs such as love, relationships ect. The themes in this video are of home, knowing who you are and going through life's journey which I find more interesting to do, and I can relate to my target audience as young adults. I like the songs calm and casual mood throughout and the lyrics are nice to listen to. Again this is a common mise en scene feature that the genre gives, in their appearance and feel within a song. The video itself emphasises the narrative/themes more since showing more visuals and scenery, rather than the performance of the artist. However, the visual aspect of a music video is just as important as listening to the song and the artist singing it, which is something I would like to keep in mind for my planning stage. One thing I have noticed is that in most videos I have researched, is the clothing is quite casual and reflective of a conventional Indie artists look. But I will consider the style that I want my performer to look like, during my planning process, including the overall look. Personally, I like this song and that it seems easier than the previous two to lip sync with the tone of voice the artist has.

Common conventions:

-Urban or nature setting or both

-Song's based on events/themes young adults go through

-Casual and stylish clothing

-Artist mainly performing as either a character or as themselves

-Shows off visuals or other events apart from focusing on the artist singing

-The song's don't sound harsh or loud compared to Indie Rock or the latest Pop music

-Camera work: establishing shots/long shots of scenery and artist, close up shots, mid shots, tracking movement, panning at times.

Target Audience

Target audience is crucial in understanding a music genre's ability to appeal to a certain type of audience that will buy an artist or bands songs, hence making a profit. Its also important for understanding audience wants or needs in order for songs to become great hits and artists to be popularised by public liking. 

Whether Indie Pop/Rock or alternative this particular music genre has become increasingly popular over the last few years and has allowed many freelance or independent artists/bands to be producing their own music. The genre can be quite diverse in its branches of sub genres such as pop, rock or alternative which can allow it to appeal to a wider variety of audiences who prefer the rock or pop side of the Indie genre. Since I have decided on the Indie Folk/ Pop genre, it contains a niche audience who are interested in the Indie genre, and help me guideline the conventions and details I could use for my music video. 

Indie music is unique and original to what other mainstream music is like, hinting that the target audience are influenced by the music's themes, artists and songs to be different from the conventional crowd. In terms of class, the music is available to all classes but mainly working and middle class. This is due to the nature and settings of the music videos being low budget (however can have a high budget depending on popularity of the artist to attract the audience) and mainly using a fresh, simple but creative soundtrack or live music. Also the settings take place in public places such as a park, forest, city or the streets. This highlights the connection between the music and its fans, being down to earth, natural singing used with upbeat sounds or effects and common settings that people are surrounded by. Additionally, since most people are middle class it is more accessible on both the Indie Folk and Pop side of the genre, for fans to be attracted by its individuality and popularity.

The songs I will look at are mainly done by female artists, so I can recruit a female performer for my music video. Hence I am aiming my products mostly at the female gender as the Indie female artists aim to. Usually, females are more associated in being fans of popular music, with listening to Pop or R and B and males are more likely to listen to Rock and Indie genres. However, more females are identifying themselves or taking an interest in Indie songs in both style, artists and of course songs and there themes. The audience will buy tickets for concerts, live music festivals and with the influence of the artist themselves the kind of clothes and make up they would wear. The genre of Indie Folk/ Pop music will also have a wider appeal to both female and male audiences, when including some elements of Pop within the main Indie part. Considering this, a male audience and younger or older audience will be able to listen and observe my products too, as I understand the genre’s diversity and the interests of others, in their taste of music and artists within my actual audience.

Considering the age of the audience, it would be mainly targeted at those between 15 - 25. This is because Indie music's nature is divergent and distinctive to societies mainstream flow of music. Teenagers and young adults can be rebellious and unique which sets them apart in the way they think, act and look compared to older adults for example. Within this period, they go through many hardships, the freedom of independence, goodtimes and relationships, making the Indie genre more relatable in its themes, symbolism and lyrics for young adults to compare themselves too. This does not necessarily mean that all Indie songs are about love struggles as many with other themes. With this audience, there is a diversity available for people of these ages to like the genre’s conventions and its visuals, allowing it to become popular with this specific age range.

Journal 1

After considering my options and researching music video codes and conventions as well as my two main genres, I believe an Indie Folk/ Pop song (depending on what song I will choose) would be best to create a music video for. This is because it can be low budget, which is advantageous to my limitations and availabilities of equipment, cast, locations, storyboarding and outlook of the whole music video. The locations are easy to film; either being in a park, forest or city area, as well as lighting and costume but this depends on the song. Special effects are not necessarily required though with my prior editing skills I can use them if I want to, in order to create a certain look or filtering layer (this can be used for an Indie Pop song). The genre appeals to a diverse audience but mainly to young adults/teens, of which I can relate to. In addition to this I can incorporate themes, narratives and symbols of situations that the audience can be involved in, (however this depends on the song and its lyrics or original themes behind it). The Pop side of the genre, is primarily how the song sounds and with the use of editing I can place some elements of the Pop genre, however the pop side of the music is only minor compared to the main Indie and Folk part. But, I need to find a song that my performer can easily lip sync to and the conventions of the Indie genre is included.

Music Genre research

I am going to mainly look at the Indie and Pop genre of music, as I am interested in them for my music video. Some genres can integrate with each other like Pop and Indie music, which is why I will observe them and analyse their techniques for a music video. This will also help me determine which song I want to use and what is best to accomplish with my limited resources and availabilities. 

Indie music
Indie music or independent music is produced independently from any major record labels or producers. Indie music can integrate with other genres such as Indie Pop and Indie Rock, which helps make it appeal to a wide variety of audiences other than being an alternative genre. 
Lately, Indie music has become very popular amongst young adult audiences for its distinction from mainstream music, with usually subtler tones, mystical themes, symbolism and more use of narration in both lyrics and music videos. For bands and solo artists, performance music videos are used occasionally, however most are conceptual or non - narrative. 
Artists:
- Artic Monkeys                   - Adele                                  - Lorde
- The Lonely Island              - Of Monsters and Men
- Passenger                         - Birdy
- Ellie Goulding                    - Gabrielle Aplin

Codes and Conventions:
Effects - Indie music is more natural in both song and visual image, so it doesn’t use a lot of special effects to enhance it’s look. This is mainly due to the fact a lot of Indie music videos are low on budget. However, if having a high enough budget, effects are used such as overlaying an animation or stylised effect to match the narrative or conceptual themes that the song is portraying. This gives it a unique image and filtering over the current scenes. The black and white effect is popular as well as a rustic atmosphere to the setting and song, notably with rock Indie. 

Setting - To highlight the natural feel/tone of the music and visuals, a natural setting must compliment this. Some settings include a park, forest, city or studio which can be easily accessed and link to the audiences urban environment. These particular settings can also create opportunities for mystical themes or symbolism to be incorporated within the video too.

Mise en scene - One of the main features of the Indie genre is that it has a retro look, which can appeal to young adult audiences for the genre’s classic but unique style. The artists costume and make up can emphasise this, with a natural or hipster look and props are also used, especially with bands in using their instruments. 

Camera - For Indie videos, close ups of the artists or a particular object is used to introduce the setting or artist and helps promote them. Close ups are key in highlighting the passion or emotions that the artist portrays through singing the song. Crane shots or pivoting are popular to capture the whole band and its performance from different perspectives. Establishing shots, mid length and long shots are great for showing the body language of the artist and emphasising the setting to show off the video’s creativity.

Editing - For most music videos, jump cuts are used as the song only lasts between 2-3 minuets long on average, so the different scenes need to be shown quickly in order to keep the pace of the music to flow with the actions on screen. Fast or slow cuts help message the mood of the song towards the audience and enhances the music’s pace.

Lighting - The lighting in Indie videos is more subtle and natural compared to the loud and bright pop videos. This is to match the natural flow of the music but at times artificial lighting can be used in studios. If the setting is outside or has a old fashioned look, the lighting is edited to match this so it can fit in with the songs themes and atmosphere.

Costume/make up/props - Many artists dress differently to mainstream trending fashions, to make them more identifiable with the genre and themselves as people. A lot of Indie rock bands/solo artists would wear dark coloured clothing to match the music's tough attitude or try different styles to make them stand out from generic fashion. For female Indie artists some may dress 'hipster' like, if involved in a Rock Indie band they will dress darkly coloured or natural, feminine styles.

Sound - For Indie music, the vocals of the artist is very important in emphasizing their natural singing voice. With a lot of indie songs, the non digetic or diegetic sounds of the instruments playing (live music), compliment the artists singing with usually a simple tune or up beat flowing soundtrack.


Pop music
Popular music identifies itself having a wide audience appeal, usually distributed to large audiences throughout the music industry. It mainly has artists or bands that appeal to a mass audience and usually has happy, bright and colourful themes, though mainly about relationships. Visually, it uses less narrative in order to focus more on the artist themselves rather than a storyline and at times can be seen as sexualised, particularly with girl artists to attract a male audience.
Artists:
- Olly Murs                              - Rhianna          - Lorde
- Beyonce                               - Rita Ora          - Adele 
- Little Mix                               - Avicii 

Codes and conventions:
Effects - Fade effects to transition the scenes, tinted colouring or brightening effects for it to look visually appealing and fits in with the upbeat and happy mood of the song. It could also use animation or stylised effects to interact or enhance with the artists performance. Or if the song is a little less happier for example, the narrative of breaking up with someone, the effects could use darker tones or colours.

Setting - Settings can be created with special effects or in studio conditions with green screen or performance stages. These settings are more expensive and more elaborate to attract young people and enhance the artist/band’s look for it to sell more. At times, natural settings are used such as a city or park too.

Mise en scene - The mise en scene is usually up beat to reflect the happy tune/sound of the song. This is mainly shown in videos where people/artists are partying, having fun, on a stage or just dancing. Some songs such as break up songs or sad songs can have a sadder tone to its mood and atmosphere. Commonly, artists are expressed in a very sexual and seductive way, trying to lure the audience in; very show like. However current artist choose to dress in provocative ways portraying a sexual atmosphere e.g Rhianna and Miley Cyrus.

Camera - For Pop videos, a lot of close ups of the artist/s is used to highlight their appearance and singing skills. There are also close ups of objects or the setting depending on the video’s theme. Mid shots and full body shots are used to highlight the body language and dancing (if there is any).
Sometimes for camera movement there is a lot of panning, tracking or tilting during the video to focus on the artist/s and the scene.

Editing - For most music videos, jump cuts are used as the song only lasts between 2-3 minuets long on average, so the different scenes need to be shown quickly in order to keep the pace of the music to flow with the actions on screen. Fast or slow cuts help message the mood of the song towards the audience and enhances the music’s pace. Sometimes the artist's voice can be tweaked slightly 

Lighting - Pop videos are bright and colourful for most of the time, but this depends on the songs mise en scene and mood/tone of the song. Artificial lighting is used primarily in studios if the setting is artificial too, creating a brighter look to the video’s appeal.

Costume/make up/props - Pop artists are very fashionable, stylish and mainstream to what their young audience wears. Their make up matches what they wear and is professionally done to enhance their image. Some make ups can be extreme for the videos effect, for example Lady Gaga’s look is defiantly striking and different to most pop artists.

Sound - For sound, the vocals of the artist singing and the soundtrack that compliments the artists singing is mainly heard. Diegetic sound can be used depending on the scene and is only briefly used as the main focus is the song itself.

Music video research

What is a music video?
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they became popular in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip".
Music videos use a wide range of styles of contemporary video making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation, music, and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video

Some examples of modern music video stations include: MTV, Kerrang! TV, 4Music, NME TV and Viva.


Codes and conventions of music videos
Editing:
Jump cut is the main editing technique used within music videos. This allows a sudden change from one scene to the next, since music video’s only last between 2 - 3 minuets long. Similarly, transitions are used to fade or dissolve.
Lighting:
Depending on the mood or tone of the video, lighting can be dark or bright in order to reflect the song. Some use artificial lighting to enhance the look or link to a songs theme.
Sound:
Mainly the vocals and score/soundtrack of the song and the artists voice. At times, certain sound effects are used depending on the situation and location.
Props, Costume:
Depending on the themes, narrative or mood of the song props can be used to make it look more visually appealing as well as sounding appealing.
Colour:
Different effects can be use to change the look and colour of the video, depending on the songs themes and mood. For example, rock music has darker colours and lighting than pop music which is more bright and colourful.
Camera: 
Mainly close ups of artists singing, mid or full body shots are used to show body language. At times if there’s a setting there will be establishing or long shots of the scene. Camera movement contains mainly pans and tracking of the artist.

Characteristics of a music video
Music video’s demonstrate a genre’s characteristics:
This is important in establishing an artist’s target audience as it must be clear from not only the song but the video to highlight this. For example, a pop video maybe brightly coloured, contain remix music, might sound soft and might emphasise the location more than the artist itself. Where as rock music can focus on the band performing as a group and have a lot of dark themes and colours.

Relationship between lyrics, music and visuals:
This is usually a reflection of the kind of person the artist wants to illustrate themselves and the type of audience they want to attract. For example, Lady Gaga can be outrageous and at times controversial. This shows she wants the publicity to further her status and with recent videos make her look different, unique and artistic.  

Types of Music videos
Narrative:
- Often the video tells a story either that features in the lyrics or is suggested in the lyrics eg: a relationship is broken, love struggles or showing either sad or happy moments
- This narrative can be like a Mini film, with a beginning, middle and end
- Or it can suggest some links to a story that the audience or artist knows
- It can promote a film with clips from the film included - telling a story
  Since it is only 2-4 minutes it can be:
-Very fast paced, lots of shots and cuts to a different scene as it needs to get the narrative within 2-4 minuets
-Use inter-textuality with films, TV and other videos
-Mimic other film and TV genre eg: horror or sci fi 
-Sometimes the story can contradict what is seen for effect
-Sometimes the artist is a part of the story or an observer or completely separate

Performance:
Many music videos include performance of the artists as part of the video. The performance is briefly shown to mix in with the visuals but it depends on the certain genre. For example, Rock videos contain more performance in showing the band playing. Some of the conventions of a performance video are:
- Often containing shots of the artists performing
- Can be a live stage performance, with shots of artists and audience
- Can be the artists in real life situations eg: warming up, talking, being with friends
- Often includes lots of close ups of the artist and there can be a particular visual style that goes with the artist (a motif) eg: particular clothing, actions, props, type of images.
- Often the artist can appear to perform in an unusual place - all lip-synched  eg: a field, a rooftop

Idea of spectacle: Music Videos may be considered to be examples of 'spectacle '. 
In this the performers are performing, often looking directly at the viewer.  This is called “direct address” where they are directly interacting with the viewer.

Thematic:
- There are lots of common themes in music videos
- Depends on the genre of music eg: Heavy metal bands go for performance dominated clips
- Rap has lots of “street” images, dance routines are common for many female artist performances
- Pop is mainly about love
- Indie can be based on a lot of themes not just love or relationships

Symbolic:
- Use of lots of symbols to build up meaning eg: graveyard = death
- Lots of use of montage - lots of images to create meaning sometimes often contradictory
- Lighting often used to suggest mood
- Fast paced - often only a few seconds per shot to build up meanings
- Pictures can support or contradict the lyrics
- Usually most music conveys an artists feelings or events in there lives

From this research it has given me a general view of common music video characteristics that has allowed me to think about my own music video, and what kind of conventions are possible to use. Also the research has given me an insight into how (depending on the genre) it represents a song and it's artist.