Wednesday 8 July 2015

Diversity of Music Videos- Miss Miller

Within a music video, to gain uniqueness and diversity the music video must include content that is abnormal to general music videos in order to provide something to the audience that they never seen before. Furthermore, it also makes the video gain more attention which then results in the artist receiving more recognition which then results in them receiving higher popularity. It also makes the the artist more successful as the artist would be gaining more popularity for creating a more unique character.





Firstly, Christopher Cunningham is a British video artist within the music industry who particularly focuses on diverse music videos within his work. Chris Cunningham as worked with artist such as Aphex Twin "window licker"   "come to daddy", Bjorks " all is full of love" and Madonna " Frozen"in which he has produced this style of music videos with these artist.






Madonna - Frozen
Firstly, I can identify Goodwin's theory being applied within Madonnas music video 'frozen' by the use of costume. This is evidently seen through the use of her dark theme portraying her in a black dress, dark make-up and black jewellery. I find that the colour black represents depression and the use of death. I believe the genre of this video is pop. Conventions such as dark colours (black/grey) are unconventional as general pop videos tend to include bright, bold colours rather than dull colours. Furthermore, as part of Goodwins theory, which can be evidently seen by the use of the visuals and music matching which is evident from where the frames display a change of the beat portraying Madonna transforming into various birds. This is part of goodwins theory as he believes that the music and the visuals should match in order to engage the audience more and build a better relationship between them and the artist. With regards to the style of video, I can state that the video is a performance style video as the artist is singing directly into the camera. Also, with regards to the artist representation, the artist can be seen as possessed as during some parts of the video she is seen floating in the air which makes the atmosphere mysterious as this is abnormally possessive behaviour.


Aphex Twin- Window Licker
Within the video we can say that the artist is seen as talented as in the video he is showing of to girls by showing of his talented dancing which makes the audience think that he has dancing potential. Furthermore, the video also follows genre conventions in which this case is trance. The use of a narrative at the beginning displaying a small narrative is unconventional as artist within this genre tend to get straight into the music and show a performance rather than trying to tell a story. The music video also follows Goodwins theory as it displays voyeristic behaviour with regards between the male and female.  Furthermore, the style of the video is a narrative as the men at the start are looking for women to chat up which starts to tell the audience of the mens typical behaviour. With regards to the artist representation we could say that the artist is quite charming as he is seen as flirtatious and wealthy and clearly has a way with the ladies. The female within the video also seems to be impressed by the dancing as they can see that he is talented.









Tuesday 7 July 2015

Censorship - Miss Miller

To begin, censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful and sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by the governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups and institutions. Censorship is used to protect audiences so that they do not grow up to adapt in disobedient behaviour and follow this resulting in an unhealthy lifestyle e.g drugs, smoking etc. Furthermore, censorship also enables audience to not be allowed to be influenced by harmful behaviour in which could result as a threat in their lives or cruel punishments. It also prevents harmful and offensive content from being distributed into the audiences.
Censorship can be used at various times within music videos such as when swearing in the lyrics/narrative is being used so that young audiences are being prevented from using vocabulary like this. Furthermore, it is also used to cut out nudity as many older audience may find this is inappropriate if they young children come across this kind of appearance. Also, censorship can be used to remove violence as it is believe that this behaviour will influence audience to start behaving in this manner and get themselves into serious trouble in which could be a threat to their lives.
Censorship can be used in 10 various ways to protect audiences such as:
- "blanking" which is when the volume is silenced for all or part of a word.
- "bleeping" which is when playing a noise, usually a 'bleep', over all or  part of a word.  
-  "re sampling" which is using a like-sounding portion of vocals and music to override the offending word.
- "resinging" which is replacing the offensive word/phrase with a more appropriate word/phrase.
- "backmasking" which is taking the offensive word and reversing the audio, sometimes the whole audio is reversed (often because it is a home-made job), but more usually only the vocal track is reversed. 
- "repeating" which is repeating the word said just before the explicit word was used.
- "skipping" which is deleting the curse word from the song without a time delay. 
- "disc scratching" in hip-hop, scratching on the word, making it sound like another word, or make the word sound slower or faster,
- "robovoicing" which is making the word totally non understandable by overpowering a robotic voice effect (usually used as the last resort for home-made jobs)
- "distorting" usually in hip-hop, less offensive words such as 'shit' or others are distorted. It is usually done by shifting down the pitch. 

Ofcom is the regulator and competition authority for UK communication industries. It regulates, TV and radio, fixed line telecoms, mobile, postal services and the airwaves which wireless devices use. People who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful and offensive material. Ofcom have roles such as securing the optimal use for wireless telegraphy of the electro-magnetic spectrum, securing a wide range of electronic communications services is available throughout the UK, securing a wide range of TV and radio services of high quality and wide appeal are available throughout the UK, securing that sufficient plurality in the providers of different television and radio stations is maintained, securing the application of standards that provide adequate protection for members of the public and others against offensive and harmful material in televisions and radio stations, securing the application of standards that provide adequate protection for members of the public and others against unfair treatment in television and radio programmes and unwarranted infringements of privacy resulting from activities carried on for the purposes of such television and radio stations. Ofcom make sure that the people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices, while ensuring that competition can thrive.

An example of an artist video that has been sensored can be "Rihanna-S&M". This song not only got sensored but also banned in 11 countries. BBC One radio was the first station to air an edited version of the racy track, which cut out words such as "sex" "chains" "whips" from the chorus. Since then, several top radio stations followed the suit. BBC One radio will play the original version of the song after hours and the edited version during the day. This song had been censored as it is inappropriate language and can easily be heard to young audiences who may be listening to the radio in the car in which this would be unsuitable for them. Furthermore, the song is very negatively sexual as it refer's to sexual content which could be an inappropriate influence for audiences as the sexual content is refereed to throughout the whole song therefore needs to be censored in order to keep the audience protected.
Within this research I will be analysing different views, and particularly the views for Rihanna's music videos.

Artist
Firstly, if we take the perspective of Rihanna in relation to censorship we can see that she is strongly against it. From an artist view it seem that she cannot express the music that she is producing properly and being viewed in a different concept. The music that she is producing will be taken into a different view by the audience which will then make her music video less successful as the audience will not be able to understand the concept and will just be confused.
 Furthermore, this shows that also her personality as a music artist is not being able to be portrayed which results in audiences losing interest as they are seeing a different person on who she intends to be which decreases her popularity. Audience's will see her as a different character and she will not get seen for who she really is therefore the audiences that she as an artist targets will not be able to see her through this made-up character which is where the loss of popularity will begin.
In the video, she is also to be seen naked and from this social media start judging her saying that she is inappropriate and slutty when in actual fact she trying to express her feelings and create a concept of not being able to car what other people say about her and not be afraid to be judged by other people. She is expressing that by her being naked she feels more free as this gives her a sense to reveal her true self instead of covering up to please the media.
In addition, by creating videos that contain more attention will result in her receiving more publicity as she will become more memorable and the audience will see something that they have not seen before. From this she will also be seen to be a more unique artist as she is creating her own characters and not just following other artist which she will gain more popularity which she will then receive more success within her videos.
Due to her having a good mind and standing up against society, she will then be seen as a role model and idol to many as it is uncommon that artist stand up against society, most just do whatever they are told for the money however Rihanna is different as she is standing up for her true self.
By taking things to an extreme, she is gaining a wider audience as they are seeing things that they haven't seen before and this will become more entertaining for the audience as it is bringing them more excitement.
Due to there being entertainment for both genders, male and female.. there is entertainment for both genders therefore  Rihanna is now gaining a wider audience and increasing her success which then makes her music video more successful and her a more successful artist.

Record Label
Rock Label is one of the most popular and wealthy record labels on the planet, home to some of r&b and pops biggest artist and was founded by the face of rap and hip-hop, Jay Z. They have the belief that censorship will not do the song justice with artist such as Rihanna to change the lyrics and its a breach of her artistic integrity.
Parental advisory stickers are not compulsory on songs with explicit language and scenes in their videos and it is up to the record labels whether they want to put a parental advisory sticker on their artist's music. Therefore by not putting this warning on Rihanna's music we are able to attract a wider audience and increase their record sales and popularity. The more controversial the video, the more publicity the record label are getting. Rihanna is widely recognized as one of the worlds biggest and popular artist and has created an image for herself in the music industry that makes her audiences idolize her. This image includes being controversial, using explicit language and scenes in her videos and selling a theme and narrate of her life in her music. Each of these making Rihanna the artist she is today and a successful and conventional pop/r&b artist and therefore as her record label, they are responsible for Rihanna's actions, music and publicity and censorship hinders her selling herself and giving her audience what they want.
Rihanna's song "We found love" became her 11th single to reach no.1 on the Billboard hot 100 and the Barbadian singer has notched 20 top 10 pop hits in less time than any other musician. She is therefore held responsible as the face of pop music and influential in the development of music and the way it is perceived. Because of this, she should be able to reveal her music how she likes in what ever way she likes. In order to maintain her popularity within the audiences.

Parental FOR
There are 1000 parent off camed parents  find the explicit and nudity unsuitable for the audience and particularly younger audiences.
Parents find that children need a good role model. For instance they don't want to look up art artist such as Miley Cyrus who played the part of the children sensation Hannah Montana who then transformed into an artist who likes to get naked and become a bad influence to the target audience for Hannah Montana.
Furthermore, the parents believe that music shouldn't be shown through explicit content and should just show the artist singing so that it shows their talent within music without using anything inappropriate.
It is also very easy for children to have this access for explicit content such as viewing the original video on YouTube therefore makes it more of an eagerness for the artist to use censorship to prevent younger audience's from seeing this kind of behaviour.
Children also need to be reminded of the morals that was set as it is important for them to grow up well behaved and not being influenced by any of this behaviour.
The lyrics are also inapproaite therefore if this was to be heard by a 10 year old this would get them in trouble if they was to start using this language.
Younger audiences will also be oblivious to these lyrics and start using them as they have no idea what any of it means therefore would not think about what it means before they say it which could also lead to them getting in trouble.
Also, all of Rihanna's songs are based around sex and drugs so this is inapproaite for audiences to listen to especially young ones who are again oblivious to this language.
There is also a high rate of illegal crimes so this type of music video and language being shown and heard would promote this kind of behaviour which is bad for the society. This can also lead to harmful effects such as not being able to control yourself from preventing this behaviour.

Parents against
From a parent against censorship a view would be that Rihanna has over 400 million views on her music video which shows that she has a successful popularity for the way she is represented in her music videos without censorship therefore if this was to stop her success would come to an end and potentially her career.
Videos without censorship are still accessible online which means it would make a difference whether a radio/tv includes the censorship. If anything, the music video using censorship would make audiences more keen and eager to see the original material.
Rihanna using nudity on her video isn't bad as it is showing equality. Furthermore, she is revealing parts that all humans have therefore she isn't showing anything irregular and is just being natural with herself. It's not like no ones ever seen these parts therefore it is completely normal.
Audience viewing this material would also be mature enough to see this behaviour which means they wont imitate this behaviour.
In real life, over 10 million people smoke without using the video as an influence therefore viewing Rihanna smoking in the video wouldn't make a difference to their habits.
It is also a lesson for the younger audiences to view explicit content as they can learn early as they will eventually comes across this in their lives and can't go their whole lives without viewing scenes like this. The video also creates awareness for this content.
Her target audience are 16 year olds so they will be mature enough to view this content without copying whatever she does.
Scenes such as gambling wouldn't be seen as an influence as real life scenarios of gambling such as the national lottery are being used in every day lives without being seen as harmful which means this is not a threat.
The video is also being blocked for the wrong reasons as it is not educating the audience properly which can affect their future.
It also legal for audiences at 16 years old to get a tattoo therefore what is being seen won't affect audiences lives as they have human rights.
The more views she is getting on a videos also promotes herself and her music which means that she is creating a better success and using censorship could harm her career so its bad.

MTV
Mtv is the most successful  music channel in the industry.
MTV includes the watershed from 9pm which is when explicit content is allowed to be shown on the channel which means this is safe for audiences as younger audiences wouldn't be watching TV at this time and more likely to be in bed which means no one can be offended.
They also believe that children who listen to music become more aggressive.
By using this structure, the channel can become more successful and progress as a music channel.
It also lets younger audiences listen to their favourite music without being offended or harmed resulting in them being more safe in society.
They find that audiences who imitate audience become more similar which means they are putting their lives at risk.
It allows all fans and age groups to watch and listen to the music videos which means the channel is opening up to a bigger audience which means they popularity is increased and their channel is becoming more successful.
People can also listen to music on an mp3 for atleast 2 hours a day which means that the audience that they are surrounded by won't be harmed or offended which means that they can enjoyable listen to the music without harming others around them.

AKA
AKA believe that using censorship is ideal as the artist have the opportunity and are enabled to highlight their talents and themselves as a musician by showing the audience what they've got to offer and showcasing themselves as artists.
They also believe that by using censorship, the music industry are basically taking away the artist freedom of speech as artist represent their feelings and emotions through their music by showing the type of character that they are and by using censorship, the audience are not able to see the artist within this perspective.
By using censorship the artist are also restricting themselves as they are not being entitled to be the artist that they want to be therefore they are being forced to hold all the unsuited content back and not showcase it.
The channel also believe that there are more harmful content within the modern world that could harm audience as they are more likely to be impacted by this rather than what they are seeing on a music video. Furthermore, they find using content that could be alarming to audiences can educate them as it can make them more aware of these situations in real life.
When an artist uses no censorship and enables the audience to see explicit content, it is usual to do with the fact that there is a concept behind the idea. Artist do not intend to harm audiences in anyway as they are only trying to give the audience a lesson.
Furthermore, most artist use the power of music to tell a story and by using censorship it makes it difficult for the audience to understand what is happening and what the story is about. This basically ruins the whole concept of the story and music therefore the censorship should not be used so that the artist can deliver their music in their narrative format.

Radio 1
Radio 1 believe that censoring should be used as the use of explicit content should be banned as it is extremely inappropriate for the audience and can be sensitive for them and the presenters find this type of content outraging for audiences as the material being used within the music is far too explicit for audience to hear/watch.
Presenter of Radio 1 Nick Grimshaw is outraged with this type of content being shown to viewers and wants to put a censoring on Rihanna's music as he finds this inappropriate and is potentially trying to end her career as a music artist. Following from this story, Rihanna is fuming with this behaviour from Nick as she replies "are you f****** kidding me!!!" which shows her as an artist being frustrated with this.
Radio 1 believe if you want to either listen or watch explicit material from the original music videos rather than the censored ones then you as an audience should just go to a different channel and not complain about the less harmful version that is being shown on this channel.
Radio 1 are not massively concerned about how popular their channel is however they want to do the best they can to keep the audience safe by avoiding the explicit content being shown.

Capital Xtra
Their is firsly a wide variety on this channel as they play both censored and not censored in all different genres therefore resulting in a wider audience being brought to the station.
Capital Xtra use watershed so that the explicit content is shown after 9pm so people who want to see this type of material can watch it then.
When they censor a music video they tend to use blanking so that it generally doesn't disturb the song as much and some of the concept can still be understood by the audience.
Furthermore, they also find by using censorship completely, it can annoy the artist as their song will not be able to be understood by the artist as it will cause a lot of confusion and the song would not make sense to them therefore the whole concept of the song will be ruined making it less successful for the artist which will also affect how the audience feel about the song.
By using the feature of watershed, the audience's that are younger are also protected from harmful content so this can make the audience range wider.
The only censoring that capital xtra do is censor the swear words so they will not be imitated by the audiences that are watching/listening,
The station generally disagree with censoring as they believe that the music that is being created is a freedom of speech that can not be able to be heard by the audience.

Fans
With regards to social media, Rihanna has 22.1 million followers on instagram, 48,207,206 followers on twitter and over 81 million people like her official page on facebook. This shows that they fans that she has admire her for a reason and find her and her music videos entertaining. Furthermore it also shows that she is seen as a role model and inspiration to many so by using censorship it is harder for her to engage with her fans. The high numbers also show that she has a lot of support within the work that she produces as an artist,
Fans believe by using censorship, she is restricting her real personality and character from being shown which means that audience will have more difficulty engaging with her and also will receive the wrong sense of her as they will be seeing a fake version of her.
Rihanna's explicit content is usually based on real scenarios. Furthermore, the song 'Love the way you lie' is based on relationships that consist of domestic abuse which is a serious issue within the modern world and the audience will not be able to understand this concept she is not allowed herself to express the views. Furthermore, she is singing about what it's like to be part of a relationship like this and it is vital that the audience understand this so that they can be educated about this serious issue and Rihanna can create more awareness which means that the censoring should not be used on this as it will cause more confusion within the song.
If Rihanna can't express her feelings properly, then it will be harder for audience to build relationships with her and engage with her as the censoring is restricting her whereas if there is no censoring the fans can easily relate to her and build relationships.
She has also received more fans from the content that has not been censored so censoring this will cause disruption amongst her fans and she is more likely to lose them.
Fans also believe that if you so happen to not like a music from Rihanna then it is your decision to not watch or listen to it again and by this time you will have an idea of what her music is about therefore should be able to make your own choice of whether to listen to it or not depending on whether you get offended or not.

I believe that the main overview of censorship is that it shouldn't be used as audiences will come across this in their lives anyway. I find that using censorship on music videos can not only affect audiences but it can affect the artist as it disturbs their career as they are being shown as a character that they do not intend to be. From this they will lose popularity as the audiences are not seeing them for who they really are. I believe censorship should not be used as this affects the artist career and could potentially end them as they will lose their popularity and their fans. I believe that in terms of young audiences they will eventually come across this in their lives so using censorship is basically stopping them from being educated and they are not be abled to learn things that will eventually happen in their lives. Furthermore, in terms of older audiences, they should have the common sense and brains to be mature enough to not imitate this behaviour and should be able to make their own life decisions by themselves and should know better if they choose to copy this behaviour. For example, artist such as Rihanna have more fans than haters which show that fans enjoy her music and the entertainment that she brings. If she was to change into a different persona and play a different character within the music industry it is a high possibility that she would lose most of her fans which would then make her a unsuccessful artist. I will not be following censorship within my own video as it decreases the audience range that the video could engage to. I don't want to use it as it opens up to a wider audience which means more audiences can become engaged which results in me having a more successful video. Also, I will be targeting 16+ year olds for my video therefore they should be mature enough to know the difference between right and wrong and choose to make the right choice and not to imitate the wrong behaviour. It will also engage the audience as it would be more relatable. Using no censorship can also be educating the audience so this is a benefit of not using censorship.

Friday 3 July 2015

Research Into Goodwin's theory- Miss Georgiou

Firstly, I will be analysing Andrew Goodwin's theory within this part of my research in which he has 7 elements in his opinion of what makes a good and successful music video. Considering his theory is essential when analysing music videos as he states these elements are what dictates how engaged the audience are and what type of relationship can be built. To help me within my research, I will be using the video Wiz Khalifa ft Charlie Puth "See you again" as this contains examples that could inspire me within my own music video.


Music Video demonstrates genre characteristics; Pop/Rap
The genre of this music video is pop and rap combined as Charlie Puth is the pop vocalist and Wiz Khalifa is the rap vocalist. Within the pop area, a lot go genre characteristics are included such as Charlie Puth playing the piano on top of a mountain overlooking LA. This is a genre characteristic as pop genres tend to be set in a isolated location and setting as it creates a better focus for the audience as all their attention is on the artist so that its easier for them to build a better relationship. Furthermore, the artist is dressed quite fashionable which is a genre characteristic as they intend to make a good impression on their audience to create themselves as a character.  The artist appears to be in a jacket and jeans which are both stylish. This impacts the audience and helps them to engage as the audience will be more knowledgable about the artist as they know their artists representation and also are now aware that the artist take pride in how they dress to appeal to the audience. Furthermore, the lyrics in pop genre tend to be related to love and relationships and in this music video the lyrics are about loving someone who has passed away and stating that one day they will be reunited again mentioning that the bonded love will never die with the person. " It's been a long day without you my friend, and I'll tell you all about it when I see you again". This shows that the artist has been suffering a long time and causing a lot of mental pain due to this loss. The word "long" states that the pain is ever lasting and causing sadness. This impacts the audience as they engage more and audiences tend to be more sympathetic for a dead person as it brings more memories and emotions with the song. The lyrics are clearly written with love so the audience engage themselves in understanding the artist point of view by mesmerising the dead character.



In terms of Rap, the artist that is producing the rap is Wiz Khalifa. Within the rap area, the video consist of a lot of rap genre characteristics such as expensive and luxurious settings. This can be easily identified by the iconography of flashy, sports cars being included within the background. Rapper's tend to include more expensive iconography to show they have a rich lifestyle as they believe the audience will find this more attractive and entertaining and become more engaged within the music video which results in better relationships being built with the artist. They tend to use more sporty cars as these types of cars are seen to be owned by higher classes who have more money to spend. Furthermore, another characteristic is the use of casual clothes and nothing to characterized. This costume genre characteristic can be evidently seen as the artist is wearing jeans with a denim waistcoat with a white t-shirt underneath along with a beanie hat. At another point in the video he can be seen wearing jeans with a black top and white leather jacket. Both these outfits represent him and modern rappers as not wanting to be judge just by their appearance and what they way. I find this is a subversive characteristic as rappers tend to wear big gold jewellery with baggy clothing to show their luxurious lifestyle however here the outfits tend to look more classy and subtle. Casual clothings help to build relationships and effects with the audience as it creates a concept of not judging a piece of music just by what the artist wears. Music should be about listening and not watching. It also makes the music more relatable as the artist fans won't necessarily be wearing expensive clothing and will also be wearing subtle, low key clothing. Another characteristic within this genre is the use of passionate facial expressions. This can be seen during Wiz's rapping about someone death. Rappers such as Wiz tend to use this within their videos as it expresses their feelings and emotions more. Furthermore, most raps tend to be real life scenario or be about something that happened with their lives so the lyrics are more personal therefore releases more passionate expressions as it engages the audience to be invited to experience the feelings and emotions that the rapper is going through.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals;
I have identified a relationship between the lyrics and visuals during the rapping of Wiz Khalifa; "when brotherhood comes first". Here there is a relationship as the lyrics are portraying how important family is whilst displaying two characters from the film who see each other as brothers. The fact that the lyrics are stating that brotherhood comes first shows that they are each other number one priority and nothing comes before this. It also shows how important they are to each other and how much they affect one another life. Wiz continues to allude to the friendship between Paul Walker and Vin Diesel but also the Fast&Furious characters Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Connor- they became family on and off screen. Their bond held strong until they reached the 'figurative' finish line. The two characters from the film, Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Connor grow fonder and closer in each film. Throughout all of the 7 films they have seen each other as brothers and always had their moral to be 'I haven't got friends, I got family'. Their relationship with each other is a close bond. This impacts the audience as it creates a more sympathetic relationship as the rapping gives a perspective from Dominic's view (left) on how much actor Paul Walker (right) has impacted him stating that the most important thing has been taken away from him. It also brings the audience to try to imagine what it would feel like losing a family member and try to understand the pain that is being created. It also makes the audience feel loved as it's loving to know how much respect and love was there for Paul by Vin Diesel.

There is a relationship between the music and visuals:
In the music video, a relationship between the music and visuals can be identified at the end as the 2 cars are departing in different directions and the music is becoming more upbeat as the cars grow more and more further apart. I find that there is a relationship here as the pace of the car is fairly fast which is identical to beat of the music as they are corresponding at the same time. This impacts the audience as this part of the music video includes a concept of the two characters being separated and beginning there lives away from each other therefore it is important that the audience understand this concept so the sudden upbeat music will immediately capture the audience's attention and help them to engage the most at this particular part and build relationships with both these characters. As the audience becoming more focused, it will help them to understand what the intention of this section of the music video is.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work:

Within the video, a lot of close up's of the artist are used. I find that this creates more popularity for the song and also creates more recognition towards the artist as it helps to promote their songs more as audience are more likely to remember them featuring within a music video if there are close ups of the artist being shown. This engages the audience more as fans who have a strong attachment with their favourite artist are more likely to be intrigued and entertained if several close ups of the artist are being shown and also results in a better, closer relationship being created between the audience and the artist. This impacts the audience as it enables them to build a more closely bonded relationship with the artist as it can enable them to see the emotions and feelings that the artist is expressing closer.

There is particular reference to voyeristic treatment of the female body

The use of this theory shows that the female is giving a flirtatious smile towards the male. Furthermore, the use of the smile and starstruck eyes shows that the male she is looking at, she obviously has a huge passion for him and that he is a big part of her life. This engages the audience as they are very intrigued and interested to know the story behind the relationship. Furthermore, particularly girls are more interested in love than boys so this attracts a wider audience as more girls will be obsessed with this story as they want to know the full details. The passionate smile alongside with the glare in the eyes show the love between the two.

There is often intertexual reference:

Within this music video, the majority of the music video is being overlapped with different sections from the films of 'Fast and Furious'. Due to the fact the music being initially created to play alongside the tribute of the dead actor at the end of the last Fast and Furious, the music video consist with a lot of sections from the different Fast and Furious parts however mainly includes more parts featuring Paul Walker and less time focusing on the other characters in order to pay their respects. Furthermore, this music video is an alternate tribute for the actor therefore includes his best parts from all the different films in the series. This effects the audience and helps them to engage more as it builds a general sympathetic relationship between the audience and particularly Paul Walker as the music video is memorising his success in the films and how much the character he played affected the film and how important he was. It also can bring happiness to the audience as it makes them happy to know how much his character's basically stole the film role and turned it into such a huge success.


Whether the video is primarily performance based, narrative based or concept based:
I believe that the video is mainly concept based. I find that this music video has been created in order to pay respects to one of the main characters in which the actor who played sadly passed away. I find that it was a created way to pay respects to his loss and also as Fast and Furious was his main role in the filming industry, too include all his best particular parts within the movie in order to at least give him some satisfaction and to know that he died a success. Elements such as his role being shown on multiple occasions help to back up this theory of a concept being used. The audience can relate to this as it makes them feel more sympathetic however still proud of what he accomplished before he went. It disheartens the audience as any death can be hard to deal with however this death affects the entire series of the Fast and Furious as Paul Walker was such a big contribution.

From analysing Goodwins theory, it can help assist me with the planning of my own video as I will have a clear structure of what to include in order to make my video successful. Furthermore, I am now knowledgeable of the different genre characteristics and how they can effects and help to engage the audience more and what type of relationship it can create. Furthermore, by creating a relationship between the visuals and music/ visuals and lyrics it can help to engage the audience more as they want to know more details of what is going on. I also learned, that creating a motif through the different artist work help to determine the image that the audience create for them. I want to use techniques such as relationships between the lyrics and visuals as I find that creates a strong relationship between the music and the audience as it makes them more engaged. I also want to use the generic convention of subtle clothing as that would make it more relatable to the audience and build a better relationship with the artist.

Thursday 2 July 2015

Research into television music videos- Miss Georgious

There are various purposes for television music videos such as giving the audience more entertainment on a 24 hour basic along with listening to their favourite songs. Furthermore, music channels provide interviews with A list artist so audience's can find out more information about their favourite artist resulting them in becoming more engaged with the artist music they are producing and also create a better relationship between the audience and the artist.



MTV:


I find that the target audience for MTV music is 13-21 year olds. I believe that this is the target audience as at 9am on the MTV music channel, there is the official uk download chart showing, as this is the type of music that this age range would listen to as it is more modern music being played rather than old music which past generations are more likely to listen to. Furthermore there is then 2015's hottest dance hits top 10 at 13.00 on a Saturday which younger audiences would be home for to watch instead of the old generation who would be more likely to be at work. There is then the official chart update at 18.00 in which most people this age will either be just come home or already home which means they have the time to watch the programme. From this tv schedule we can tell the target audience is this age as this is the type of music they tend to listen to as they find it more entertaining. Also, MTV provides various genres so that there is a lot of entertainment for different types of music. MTV tend to play popular chart music, specifically pop genre such as little mix, Tinie Tempah, Rita Ora (shown above), omi and Selena Gomez who are also fairly young within the music industry therefore can create more appropriate music and engage more with their audiences and fans.

To the right is a Tv Schedule for mtv music channel.  MTV is a popular company is owned viacom. Viacom is a conglomerate company which owns many channels. For example, they are the owners of Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Channel 5. Being owned by a large company is beneficial as they will earn more money which means they have more to spend on and create a more successful business. Also, bigger companies have more recognition therefore have more ability to invest in other companies and create a wide business. Within the MTV logo, there is a big, bold stencilled 'M' which means that automatically captures the audiences attention instantly and creates more excitement for the audiences. The 'tv' is white within the logo is written in a graffiti styled font meaning that it can automatically link in with the teenagers as they are stereotyped to find this attractive and synchronise with this style. Black and white are complementary colours which states that there is a variety for different audiences. Also, it will capture a lot of attention for the audience every time they see the logo on a channel so it will receive more recognition.


Heart Fm Tv:

I find that the target audience for heart fm 20-30 year olds as it has older modern songs. I can tell this by the tv schedule as '6 songs that made Bruno Mars' at 2pm, '75 Summer Sizzlers' at 2.30 pm and 'Club classics 90-99's' at 8pm. From this schedule, I can inform that this is the target audience; for example the 'The 90's club classics' state that the generation of this music isn't majorly old however isn't today's typically popular music. Heart intends to bring back popular old school music for people that lived in that 90's generation however not going too far back so that the songs are unrecognisable. Heart tend to play older modern songs from various artist such as Lionel Richie, Michael Buble (on the left), Will Smith, Whitney Houston and Kings of Leon.
 To the left is a music schedule for what songs are being played. Heart is owned by a conglomerate company called 'Global Radio'. Global Radio owns many radios such as Heart, Capital, Smooth, Gold and Classic fm in which they whole provide music channel services to televisions. Being owned by a large company means that the company can increase their profit income and use the profit to buy more music industries and increase the success within their company and create a better recognition. Furthermore, if the company is becoming more successful then they will automatically receive more recognition which means other well know companies may want to work along side and build a vast company and become even more successful. Within the logo there is the word 'heart' written in red with a white background but the 'a' is written in the shape of the art. I find that the company has done this so that it makes their logo more unique as they are adding their own companies touch. Also, the heart can represent that their is a passion for music within the company means that the audience and listeners may create a better relationship if they know the people displaying the music have a passion for music as it would engage them more. Furthermore, the red on top of a white background makes the writing stand out more which then means the company can receive more recognition and captures more attention from the audience and also makes the logo more memorable.

Magic Tv:


I find that the target audience for Magic is 30+ year olds as it plays music from their generations so they find this radio more enjoyable as they understand this music better as it was produced in their time and have a better connection between the audience and artist. Below I have provided a small section of the typical evening schedule that would display on the channel. From this I can state that "Official Biggest Hits Of The 90's" is very suited and ideal for the audience as playing older hits rather than modern day hits would be more ideal as it would engage with the audience better and build a better relationship as the audience would understand this type of music more as it is within their generation. Also, this type of music is being played in the evening which is mostly likely when this age group would be at home so this provides a better entertainment for them. "The official magic playlist" combines all genres that would be played on this music channel which means there is more entertainment for all audiences who watch this. Furthermore, this is ideal for the audience as it promotes music that some audience might not be aware of. 




There are various artist that make appearances within their music on this channel such as Pharrel Williams, Take That, Queen, Michael Jackson and Abba. This is ideal for the audience as these artist are not being included in modern and recent years music however have created a intriguing experience for the past generations for older audiences, therefore music by these artist being played would be more ideal for the audience. Magic television channel is owned by "The box plus network". This company is a conglomerate has it is a big company that owns various smaller ones such as Magic, Smash Hits and KISS Tv. Being owned by a conglomerate company is ideal for smaller ones as it provides a higher recognition meaning other companies can invest in the company more which will result in higher profits being made which will determine a higher success within the company meaning they themselves can also invest in other companies to build a higher growth. This company particular bases themselves with music television channels therefore is more ideal has the company has more of a focus. Within the logo, it has been designed fairly simple by the word "magic" being written in a simple font with a green circle shape above the 'i'. There is only one green within the title so I find that this symbolises that there is a spark within the music that the channel displays. Also, the title is on a white background so that it captures more attention and is more eye-catching to audiences.

Kerrang
I don't believe their is a specific age group the music targets however I believe that the music has a target audience for audiences that enjoy the rock genre. Below I have provided an evening schedule of what would be playing on the channel. "We Want The Rock" is ideal for the channel as the majority of viewers watching have a strong passion for rock music and this programme is only providing rock music. The title "we want the rock" just shows how passionate the programme and the channel is about rock music so rock music audiences would have more entertainment and joy watching this channel. Also, the programme after "RockZombies: 25 US Mega Monsters!" again shows that the term 'rock zombies' are people who listen to rock music till they die which shows they are passionate about this genre.  All the programmes are only about rock and no other genre therefore if audience have a obsession with this genre then this is the ideal channel for them as they can be more satisfied in comparison to other music channels. There are various rock artist being played on a daily basis such as Fall Out Boy, Black Stone Cherry, Royal Blood and Marilyn Manson who are all famous rock musicians.
Kerrang is owned yet again by The Box Plus Network who is a conglomerate who owns various companies as mentioned in the previous music channel 'Magic' as they are owned by the same company. Within the logo, it is set like a ticket as if the audience are being invited to come and listen and watch the music that is being played. This idea can also be developed by the idea of the barcode. The white on top of the redish colour also makes the writing more bold and eye-catching for the audience.

AKA
I believe the target audience for this music channel is 15-23 year olds as this channel as a focus of the rap genre and this age group seem to be more interested in this particular genre. Below, I have provided a short tv schedule of what would be showing. The programme "Dappy-In his own words" shows that a rapper is giving an insight of his own life so that he can educate the audience while providing entertainment. "Dr Dre&Friends Top 30" provides a hit list of the top rap and hip hop songs to give the audience a range of their different favourite styles of music. There are various artist that make a contribution within this music channel such as Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal and Chipmunk who are all successful, famous rappers. 

AKA television is owned by "All around the world productions" who also owns other channels such as Greatest Hits TV, Planet Pop and Clubland TV. This company is a small one which is beneficial as it can focus more on the AKA television rather than managing various other television companies giving it a smaller attention and focus meaning its likely to go unsuccessful. Within the logo there is a large 'AKA' in the centre in white, bold capitals meaning it stands out a lot to the audience. Also, there seems to be a black figured gangster leaning against the 2nd 'a' to separate the letters. I find that this is intriguing as it is giving a glimpse of what the style of music the channel provides to their audiences by using the concept of symbolism.

I believe MTV is broken down into various different channels (base, hits, dance, rock, classic) so that they can appeal to their audiences more. This is by providing the audience the specific genre that they want to listen to and watch rather than providing genres that they may not be interested in resulting in losing viewers. The audience will have the ability to watch the genre of their preference which is more likely to boost the views meaning more success is created. Furthermore, they can also listen to other songs that fall into that specific genre and perhaps find other songs that intrigue them. Also, if a specific artist belongs to one of the genre, a common interview with the artist can take place on the channel of their music genre meaning the audience can become more educated.
I believe music channel are important in appealing to an audience as it is vital that the music that is being provided on the channel matches the channels concept. For example, a pop channel is more likely to lose viewers and become less successful if it starts including rock music. Furthermore, audiences want to view artist and their musics on that channel and are more likely to become more engaged if this happens. Music channels are created to deliver entertainment to music fans so it is important that the channels enables the audience to become more engaged.
I find that there are a variety of different music channels and different channels provide different concepts and genres so that they appeal to a specific target audience within the music audiences. It enables the audience to find their ideal channel which plays their favourite kind of music without listening to music that does not appeal to them.
I have learned from analysing music channels the different types of genres that can be included and how specifically the channels aim to interest their audience by playing a variety of different programmes linked to the genre of the channel and how easily accessible these channels can be. It will help me within my own production as the genre of my music video will have to be appropriate for the channel that displays my work. Furthermore, I have also learned the different companies that own these channels and how they can benefit from the music industry. I will now have a better knowledge of what company will be more appropriate for my video.

Monday 22 June 2015

History of a music video: Miss Georgiou

Overtime, the way that people have accessed music videos have changed due to the change in technology. Roughly twenty years ago, consumers relied on purchasing their own records themselves such as CD's and tapes because there was no technology for them to access it on digital technology therefore resulting less people buying the records because it would cause aggravation. In 1979, the first CD recording began. The first commercial compact disc was produced 17th August 1982. The first popular CD was produced at the new factory was 'The Visitors' in 1981 by ABBA. The advancements in technology meant that the music copies that were harder to access were no longer necessity; the introduction of the digital mp3 pushed out the requirement to own the CD's individually. Similar to mix tapes, consumers would have to borrow a friends CD then copy the music to their computer and have an electronic version on their which meant they could only listen to the music when they was with their computer instead of the music being portable. The internet became introduced in 1969-present which made it slightly easier for consumers to access their music better. Overtime, the internet has gradually improved as it shook things up further, as connection speeds increased and file sharing became more common. At this time, consumers generally illegally started using programmes such as Napster and Limewire to pirate music, waiting for many hours to download a single track which caused a lot of inconvenience to many users. The use of social networking also brought a whole new element to the music industry, with twitter providing a platform for users to follow musicians and discover new bands. YouTube has meant that consumers no longer have to rely on MTV or purchase a bands video or DVD to watch their music videos. Streaming services like Spotify give consumers access to listen to any music from any location with an internet connection. Technology and the internet have changed the way we source and listen to music but also changed the way the actual music has been produced. Roughly twenty years ago, artist would rely on the corporate producers to listen to their demo disc and convince them to give a record deal however due to the success of the internet, any potential artist can upload a video of one of their own songs or cover on to useful video sites such as YouTube and with the rising popularity hoping a record producer may hear the song. They are able to produce their own track, upload it to the internet and promote it accordingly. This not only helps the listeners discover them but also producers, helping them to get signed and make a success. With internet connectivity continuing to  improve and the penetration of smartphones only set to increase, technology and the internet are predicted to maintain a firm hold on how music is consumed, shared and produced. These advancements are welcome by most as it gives both the listener and artist both more choice and power.


YouTube is a popular site for uploading and watching different types of videos and was founded in 2005 on February 14th. To this day, YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google which is first. During the summer of 2006, YouTube was the fastest growing site on the web uploading more than 65,000 new videos and delivering 100 million video views per day in July. YouTube has more than 1 billion users and everyday, people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views including views for music videos. The number of hours people are watching on YouTube each year 50% year on year in which mostly are spent watching new releases. 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute meaning that the material on the site is always fresh and up to date meaning that listeners of music can instantly access new releases of their favourite artist music videos. YouTube is localised in 75 countries and available in 61 different languages meaning that anyone in the world can access these videos and can globally experience the same as someone from the country of origin. Half the views that YouTube receives on a daily basis are from a mobile phone as it the most convenient way to access to watch a music video as people can view the music on the go and watch it whenever it suits them. Additionally, YouTube contains the ability for videos to be shared instantly straight to social media which promotes the music videos even further resulting in a gain in popularity and word of mouth as more people will hear about the video as social media sites contain more fans.


This is a list of the top 20 most viewed music videos on YouTube:

From this official chart we can easily state that the most watched music video was 'Gangnam Style by PSY' in which it received an astonishing 2,352, 631,105 views. The song was released in July 2012 and was produced by Park Jae Sung. I find that this music video is a performance style music video as it involves more entertainment and dance performance styles. The video was accessible on YouTube therefore gave free access to everyone globally. I believe that this was the most viewed music video on YouTube as it brings its own uniqueness towards music entertainment as it uses its own choreographed dance which became a hit across the world. Furthermore, the fact that the music is coming from another country makes it more amusing for the audience as they are more intrigued to know the concept of the video as they are required to put more focus and attention in the video. The music being used within the video was catchy as the rhythm is simple and repetitive therefore resulted in more audience becoming more interested. There was also synergy between the music and visuals as the visuals were cut to fit the rhythm really well, making the most of the interaction between the two. The video was also silly comedy and wasn't serious unlike other music videos therefore brought more amusement to the audience. Several of the scenes are ambiguous and make the audience wonder what is going on therefore leads to the audience becoming more eager to focus more on the music video if not repeat the music video. PSY is making fun of himself while making fun of every pop cliche the audience would of seen therefore results in more entertainment being created for the audience. The South Korean style made it more appealing for audiences as if it came from the UK or US it would be less entertaining as it is more typical therefore lend it a certain charm for people elsewhere in the world. The dance performance being included is easy to learn and extends the engagement from the digital to the physical world. The fact that Gangnam is a district in Seoul, originally somewhat seedy but now the haunt of the nouveau riche lends extra depth to the videos success. Due to the video being seen by so many people, peer pressure can also cause more people to watch the video as it could look less 'cool' if one person hasn't seen the video therefore they would be more eager to see the film as soon as possible.




MTV debuted on the 1st August 1981 and was instantly a popular emanation of the entertainment industry. From the start, it represented the new lifestyles of youth of the time and today it continues to be a trend setter, by influencing young people's understanding of the meaning of 'cool'. MTV's success has been achieved because of its ability to adapt to and reflect the desires of each new generation. MTV was once known as Music Television for good reason. Before the debut of MTV, music videos were practically unheard of. The new channel featured a way of presenting music. It introduced the innovative idea of presenting, in effect, a short film too accompany each song. In fact, for the first six years, MTV played music videos only. However, 1987, MTV revealed its first mainstream television shows, such as "Club MTV", repeats of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and a game show called "Remote Control". The impressive ratings received by such shows prompted MTV to try other non-music shows, such as "House of Style" in 1989, "The Real World" in 1992 and "Singled Out" and "Road Rules" in 1995. Today, MTV shows music videos only a few hours a day, the few hours when most people are asleep. During the 1980's, MTV viewers were more enthusiastic about music than they are today, and that was enough to keep MTV a thriving success for several years. As the years passed, however, the taste and interest of the youth changed aswell. Today's generation is now more interested in shows about celebrities and non music television shows. Over the past few decades, the genres of popular music have also changed dramatically, and MTV has needed to adapt to the unpredictable interest of each generation's youth. During MTV's first seven years, the genres of rock and pop compromised the majority of the music played on the channel. In 1988, however, the show " Yo! MTV Raps" debuted, and the debut was considered by some to be the official start of the hip-hip craze. After the debut, MTV gradually began playing more and more hip-hop. The rock and pop generation of the 1980's had changed into a new era of hip-hop. Although MTV has been the most popular reflection of pop culture, it has also been a venue for positive social change. In the 1980's, for example, openly displayed homosexuality was rarely considered acceptable. Controversial topics such as diversity, AIDS, sexual orientation, famine, and poverty were rarely matters of discussion among the youth of the time. In 1998, however a homosexual student was beaten to death at his college and MTV took a strong anti violence position of this topic. Over the past 20 years, MTV has developed into a leading voice for young generations and modifies itself to remain as relevant to today's youth as it was the youth of the past.

In terms of budgets for music videos, they all vary depending on what style and genre the music video is. For instance, a performance style video would require more technology cost due to special effects. Furthermore, budgets is important for hiring out different locations for the music video to be set and also the costumes to be used within the video. Over time, the music video budgets have become more demanding as the technology is developing and the price requirement is becoming higher. Also, the music video industry is becoming more competitive therefore artists and producers need to add more within their video's such as different special effect in order to keep the audience's attention and not fall down. They have to be more creative and innovative with what they do for the small budgets they work with. Over the last 30 years, music videos have helped cement the emotional connection between visuals and music, and have been used as a tool for communicating the message of the artist who is performing. Music videos have become a genre of video production in their own right, peaking with budgets to rival small independent movie productions in the 1990's. The 1990's was truly the decade of high budget, high impact music video for many artist looking to ramp up their marketing efforts. Downloading and purchase of single-only tracks was not even on the horizon, and the record company budgets were incredible. Iconic videos for Madonna, Michael Jackson and other big names in the industry heralded in an era where music video broke records for their production cost.

The most expensive video to ever be produced was "Michael Jackson-Scream" in which it was released in 1995 and involved $7 million to be produced. Michael Jacksons's videos have always been ridiculously expensive. In 1983, $800,000 on "Thriller" which would be about $1.4 million today. Before "Thriller" no one even came close to spending that kind of money, and he had to do it with limited technological capabilities. As technology improved, his videos became more expensive , spending over $1.2 million on "Black or White" in 1992, and even more on "Remember The Time". "Screams" $7,000,000 price tag is more than twice as the next most expensive video at $2.7 million and it's easy to say why; he spent $5 million alone on 11 sets. Yet while watching the video, it all seems incredibly wasteful, not coming close to the film quality of "Thriller", "November Rain" or "Victory". Computer generated spaceship was $65,000, breaking guitars $53,000, Morphing artworks $50,000, Michael's make-up $3,000, Janet's make-up $8,000 a day, Choreography $40,000, giant video screen $80,000, lighting, $175,000, Cost per day, $636,00 (about 11 days) which means the total cost of 11 sets $5,000,000. Although the music video was extremely costly, this didn't impact the video in the sense making it the most viewed. This shows that the audience are more about the music and format that is being produced rather than how much money is going in to the video. Based as the name of the song links with bad press that Michael Jackson was getting in media at the time. They are dressed in black and swearing at the camera to project their towards the media.


Technology,special effects and the development have changed over time as producers and artist have more money in which they could spend it on. This gives them the opportunity to spend it on lavish technologies which could increase the the way the music video appeals to an audience. Technologies such as hd cameras can be used within music videos to make the video more appealing as it provides a better view and format for the audience. Also, due to the better view for the audience, they instantly become more engaged with what's happening as it would feel more real for them. Furthermore, it also provides a better focus for them as they can see the composition in s better view. Colour for video cameras wasn't released until 1935 so before this, all video formats had no clue and where viewed in black and white. The evolution of the camera mean that audience can now view their video in colour and also at a high definition quality meaning that they can become more engaged and build better
relationship.

Another technology that has evolved is the green screen. A green screen or some people call it a blue screen is a background in front of which moving subjects are filmed and which allows a separately filmed background to be added to the final image. The green screen first became introduced in the 1970's. It allows the production to be created faster and more money is saved rather than travelling round the world searching for ideal locations coming to a costly amount which additionally also waste time. Also once an image is captured with consistent lighting and sound, you can easily cut and edit footage to create the sequence needed. Furthermore, it also benefits the production team as it is a more controlled environment as there are no distractions or potential inconsistencies . The first music video to include a green screen was Michael Jacksons "Don't stop till you get enough" which was released in 1979.  Within, their video there are consistent moving backgrounds and they are all  different so that there is a variety. This bring more excitement to the audience as this is a setting that they have never seen before as it is only just being introduced to them. Furthermore, they are all moving background therefore encourage the audience to become more engaged as it appeals more to them as the moving background capture the attention more and keep them more focus as it is more entertaining for them.

The target audience and number of views a music video/channel receives has changed over the years through the development of smart phones. Now days the evolution and development of smart phones means that apps that can provide music videos such as YouTube are now accessible on mobile phones meaning that audiences can listen or watch their favourite music videos on the go with just needing a network connection in which people tend to have all the time. Furthermore, smart phones have also developed apps within the social media such as Facebook and Twitter which means that audiences can keep up to date with their favourite artist where ever they are. For example, if an artist has just released a music video, then the social media can provide links or even the music video which means that audience's can watch it almost instantly. Apps such as YouTube also provide a link that allows users to instantly share a music video they like on to the social media they desire so that people that are friends and follow them can also watch the music video and spread the word creating a word of mouth. Furthermore, if a music video or channel has a lot of views and followers, this may influence other audience to join in and watch the videos as they want to see what the 'hype' is about even if they are not a fan as it may look that person look less 'cool' if they haven't seen it. If there are a lot of followers this shows that there is popular interest within what is being produced so audience automatically join in so that they are with the popularity.

Music genres have also developed a lot over the years as the technology is becoming more and more developed through the generations meaning that different genres can develop their genre conventions and portray them in a more efficient way. For instance, a dance genre can be seen different to what it was 10 years ago in comparison to today's dance genre as now days technology gives us the ability to include more lighting technology and also special effects that could help the video to appeal to the audience better as they would feel more engaged as the video is more developed. Furthermore, the technology within the sound equipment means that artist can produce more sound efficient and better quality vocals which would make the audience appeal to them better as they would sound more attractive therefore resulting in a higher popularity and successful music video. The technology of green screen has meant that music genres can develop because they can create more real background, for instance instead of filming in space, the producers can use a realistic space background as the green screen to cause less aggravation as the music genres can develop more.

My research will assist me within my own music video as I have learned all the different ways technology and development of conventions can help appeal to the audience more. Furthermore, I now know different ways that audience can access music videos to make it more popular therefore I can use the research to help my music video appeal to an audience more. Furthermore, I also researched other music videos from different generations which I learned the different ways that they used to appeal to an audience and how they have developed over time.