Planning: Editing

Editing

Introduction:

Editing is a crucial part of our post production process as the different edits used impacts on the success rate of our music video and therefore, we will have to adapt to various editing techniques within our video by making the visuals pleasing to the eye. We will also use more advanced editing techniques as it is important we make our music video unique as its own yet appealing to a large mainstream audience.

Some of the main editing techniques we will include throughout our music video will include:

Fast Editing

Fast editing will be incorporated in our music video as it creates excitement through the audience. When i researched into similar music videos, they tend to use fast pace editing to really exaggerate the shot making the audience feel excited and apart of the music video. As this is a very an effective piece of editing, I want to use this in my music video to achieve the same feeling when others watch my music video. Dave and AJ Tracey's 'Thiago Silva' influenced me to use this fast pace editing as I believe it will build tension and excitement. As their music video is also similar to ours, mainly performance based, I believe it will work very well.

Slow Editing/Slow Motion

We decided to use slow editing also as it almost gives the same effect as fast editing, it empathises their performance by slowing it down a bit really contrasting with the fast paced lyrics. By slowing the performance down, we're able to see the artists facial expression and body language better, further allowing the audience to connect to the artist more. The music video 'Thiago Silva' also uses slow pace editing to create excitement within the audience. Using slow editing will promote this music video to be more exciting for the audience as it evokes greater emotion. 

Jump Cuts

We will be using jump cuts in between our music video to show the different location the artist will be at. This is so the audience doesn't get bored of the one location he may be at, instead it will jump to different locations followed by an outfit change. 

Montages

Using a montage with the use of fast pace editing, I believe it will make the slow beat song we picked make the audience feel excited despite this. I want to use different shots of  the artist at different places and put them together to create a montage to match the beat of the song.

Filters

We will be using filters over our shot as I want to create a a low-key lighting throughout to match the song lyrics as it may difficult to create low-key lighting naturally without it being too dark.

Seamless editing

We will try and use seamless editing throughout the music video such as shots of when our artist is lip syncing as it is important to ensure that the audience can build a relationship with the artist, understanding who is the artist is and what he is about. Through each transition of shots, we want to make it look as seamless as possible without the audience even noticing just like these other mainstream music videos we've watched that have seamless editing, they are also extremely successful because of this.

Planning: Characters

Characters

Main character:

Name: Emeka

Age: 19

Ethnicity: Nigerian

Gender stereotype of role: Emeka will take on the role of the main artist and the only character in our music video. This is because we want the audience to concentrate on him only as the song has a deep meaning behind it, we wanted to keep it quite serious and personal almost like he's telling a story about his life. This will encourage a personal relationship between the audience and him and hopefully make the music video successful.

Costume: Emeka will have several different costumes with different shots and different locations. This is to keep the audience intrigued with the artist and not get bored because he looks the same in every shot. He will wear hoodies and tracksuits, nothing too flashy. His clothes will predominantly be of dark colours to connote his back story and that dark side of his personality.

Body language and facial expression: He will have a relaxed body language throughout to show the audience that he is comfortable of his surroundings (his home). His facial expression may be relaxed at times but other times he will look more passionate to show the audience that his been through a lot.

Role within music video: He will be the main character of the music video playing the artist lip syncing to the lyrics and therefore he will play an artist who has been through a lot such as the place he has come from has played a big part of who is today. He had to do illegitimate things to get where he is now, coming from a working class background, it wasn't always easy for him.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we believe that its important to be aware of who our character is and what their role is in the music video to effectively allow us to identify how he will be represented through the shots we used. This is important as every shot is portrayed differently by the audience and we must make sure they all interpret our artist in the same we visualised it. Without planning our character properly, we would be unsure of the characters role and it may also confuse the audience watching it. We also have decided to use a character with an ethnic background to meet our target audiences needs and expectations of the genre.

Planning: Locations

Locations

Intro:

Planning locations is important when making a music video as locations can be representative of many things as well as a fundamental part of the music video. The locations in a music video should fit the general narrative and meaning of the music video. An example of this is, if a shot or part of the music video is about young people living freely, a more acceptable location would be a park or somewhere there are young people, as opposed to a the inside of a house or a night club. We decided on our location while and after we created our storyboard and as we finalised our idea. We decided on having multiple locations as it is a convention in a hip hop music video, as well as all the locations being in areas which follow a general theme. The general theme is that all the locations are where young people would be seen. We carried out a questionnaire which also helped finalise decisions on locations. Questions such as "What location do you see a hip hop location set in?" Our results from the questionnaire stated that most people would see a music video set on the streets, with house,club, park and beach coming after with the least responses. Although we decided to incorporate the streets mostly as well as a field and a skate park. We considered the advantages and disadvantages of the locations as it is important to identify what problems could occur.

Chosen locations:

Conclusion:

In conclusion, we decided that using various locations has allowed us to make our music video more interesting and of a higher standard. In hip hop music videos, the locations change frequently within the video along with fast paced editing, therefore we will be doing this with our locations. The park and the use of the drama room are the least conventional for hip hop music videos but the other three are frequently seen in music videos. All of our chosen locations are somehow relevant to the music video and we are hoping these locations will be beneficial by us being able to shoot on time with no problems. We have outlined potential problems in case this does happen as we must ensure all the locations are used properly.

Planning: Artist Image

Artist Image

Genre Ideas:

The genre of our song is Hip-pop which is a very popular genre that has particular conventions that
should be followed in order to have a successful music video with our target audience. We also decided to go against some of the traditional conventions of mainstream music videos which often attracts attention and creates huge hype. Our artist, conventionally will follow the original style of performing as does the genuine artist of 'Too Young'  - Post Malone. This is evident is most hip-pop genres where the artist tends to perform his or hers song the way our original artist does. As our target audience will be hip-pop audiences ranging from ages of 16-28 are already familiar with how their favourite music videos are like, its best to follow this traditional convention to keep loyal fans happy. 

Morals and Values:

As reflected form the lyrics, the song portrays the challenges and difficulties the young man has to go
through because of his social status of a young working class male. Because of this, the artist has to turn to illegitimate means to get through the day which isn't the safest of options, yet he has to go through with it thus the tittle of the song is 'Too Young' referring to the youths that are dying too young because of this. This is also reflected from the lyrics of the song when it says 'I don't want to die too young'. 'I've been grinding for too long' is also part of the chorus which means the artist had to go through a lot more than the average person to get his average pay. Because of the struggle he goes through, a young male with a working-class background, tuning to crime as a way out, he says 'counting bands, hallelujah' which means he is grateful for the money his got. He expresses this through the visuals of his music video from having flashy cars, expensive drinks and designer clothes.

Media Perception:

The original artist form the music video can be perceived as controversial by the media because of
the lyrics of his song, evoking drugs and other illegal things. His artist image can also be perceived by the media as controversial too because he is in fact a white male with cornrows. Although he does come from a working class background, our artist fits a more stereotypical working class male because he's black and is usually represented in the media. Although the song that we chose was quite mainstream, he also has a target audience of niche audiences rather than mainstream audiences because he mixes country and rap together. 

Similar Artists:

During our planning stage, other artists including 50 cent, Young Thug and Kanye West has influenced our original artist and so we decided to use them to help with our planning. Having similar music taste, Post Malone worked with the following artists which are mainstream artists in the hip-pop genre. In addition to helping us with our artist representation as the each portray their own unique style yet very similar using their own image in their music videos. Despite having each having a different artist image, they have similar morals and values as they all represent originality and sometimes may create controversy at times.

In our music video, using different urban shots where our artist will be at, we also want him to dress differently as it may reflect an existing character like these artists do in their own music video. We will make our artist dress in black hoodies and caps to reflect the youths nowadays and connote the dark side of being an individual coming from a working class background.

Some of these artists are mainstream and others are niche but together have similar target audiences. I want my artist to be portrayed in a similar from the mainstream artists by following conventional music video conventions to attract that target audience. This will allow my music video to attract more audiences through social media, radio chat shows and public appearances.

We are hoping to fulfil this type of artist image through mise en scene and cinematography. We believe if we are able to execute the right mise en scene and cinematography right for the shot then it will enhance the star image of our artist. Furthermore, this makes her more popular and interesting to watch on screen. By following theories we will also enhance this image.

Our Artist:

We have decided to use Emeka as our male artist as we believe he will be able to reflect the stereotypical aspects of the similar artists we have researched. He will be also allowed to express his own values and opinions through his persona and costume. We wanted to keep our music video similar to the original music video of our chosen artist so we're dressing him hoodies and trainers that our target audience are use to seeing. We also want him to dress in dark clothing to connote the dark side of his personality. He is also 19 years old and therefore is able to represent our target audience allowing them to relate to him. Emeka also has a performance and dancing background which means he is familiar with performing in front of a camera which ensures the artist image consistently looking confident and successful.

Link to Theory:

Goodwin: Close-up shots will be used to allow the theory of star image to come through, with these shots, it allows the audience to recongise the artist more easily for the next time they see him. Extreme close-up shots of his designer clothes to match the lyrics with visuals, mid-shots used to portray the artist clearly and allows them to establish his costume. This all helps with enhancing his star image.

Mulvey: We may consider using Mulvey's theory as it does help with attracting a bigger audience. Also considering to use female characters in the background of the music video like some of the artists I researched do.

Popular Culture: Our music video is performance based which means he will not be engaging in popular activities.

Conclusion

Overall, planning our artist representation has been extremely beneficial as we now have a clear understanding of how we want our artist to be portrayed by our audience. The audience are able to extract our artists sub-cultural morals and values just by their performance and how we represent them. In addition, this part of planning has helped me acknowledge similar artists and incorporate ideas from their music videos into ours to ensure a successful music video in the particular genre we chose. Creating the right artist image is important as the audience will be able to easily identify the artist from the offset, identifying their beliefs, values and persona which should not continuously change as it could turn turn the audience against the artist. This has also helped us link our artist to certain theories such as Goodwin and Mulvey who promote important factors within their theories.

Planning: Shot-List

Shot-List

Shot list

Our group created a shot list which we used to identify the different shots, movements and angles that we will include in our music video. This will be extremely helpful as we were able to choose various shots, angles and movements and discuss whether they would work together to make a successful and entertaining music video. It also helped us avoid repeating similar shots. When filming the music video we will keep the shot list handy to ensure we are capturing the correct shots in the right order.

Conclusion

Shot list helps our group understand what shot sizes, angles and movements we will capture in order, for each frame and for how long these shots will last. The shot list will be very useful for the director as they will know what angle and shot to have in which order, which will also prevent them from repeating shots. The editor will also find the shot list useful in post production to ensure everything is in order and all the shots make sense to make the most entertaining and appealing music video. 

Planning: Storyboard

Storyboard

In order to film our music video, we needed to do a storyboard to understand what was going to happen in every shot. It's a graphic representation of how a moving image will unfold shot by shot, made up of illustrations or images. Each shot includes what camera shot will be used, location of the shoot, props, lighting, sound, dialogue, editing and narrative description to ensure that there is no confusion when filming. In addition, this helps filming run much smoother as everyone will know what shot to take next.
Storyboarding our idea is very helpful for a number of reasons, not only is there as guidance but we're able  to look closely at the narrative taking all shots into consideration, rather than identifying a brief overview. This would have not give us any insight into the details we need to look upon when creating our music video. This makes it easier to pick upon the things that need changing if its an unrealistic goal. We storyboarded the entire music video and thought about all the details, giving us a clearer idea of how our music video will unfold.

Conclusion

With a story board, my partner and I are able to shoot our music video without any confusion because we know what shot we need to shoot exactly.

Planning: Research into Similar Videos

Research into Similar Music Videos

Introduction:

We decided to analyse different music videos to identify similarities within our own music video. This also gave my group and I some new ideas that we could use to develop our idea making it more successful. We also decided to analyse videos by looking at three main factors including, content and visual style, content and visual style of the video and artist representation. This is to find similar to the videos that had these particular factors, we had to analyse the various music videos from these various genres.

Content Analysis

Video 1: Sia - Elastic Heart

Analysing this particular music video was interesting as the visuals and content of the video was unique and different to most mainstream music videos.

• Themes Apparent: The particular themes that were explicitly evident to me included isolation, struggle, connection and escape. These themes also supported the particular narrative of the music video.
• Lighting and Colour: There was natural lighting throughout, top lighting as well as back lighting with no added colours as I believe the artist wanted to keep a natural and innocent tone to it. Furthermore, the natural lighting makes it more realistic as the top lighting adds to the personalities of the characters that are caring and innocent to each other.
• Body Language and Facial Expression of the Characters: The two characters have flexible bodies in addition to their body language throughout bend and dance to the music. This is followed by their neutral facial expressions in the beginning in which then turns into an aggressive facial expression. This creates suspense and tension for the audience especially if the narrative is not as clear to them.
• Setting: The setting is a white empty white room with a large cage in the middle. This is where the two characters dance inside. The us of the cage represents imprisonment.
• Iconography: Iconography in the music video includes the cage to illustrate the how the two characters that may feel trapped and the bandages the male character has wrapped around his hands to portray his struggle.
• Character Representation: The characters are represented unconventionally as they are perceived by the audiences as dirty with no emotions. Instead they express their emotions through dancing as their form of communication. Characters like this are not usually mainstream and therefore, this music video is more likely to be targeted towards a niche audience.
• Artist Representation: This is not evident in the music video as the artist is not present
• Editing: There was slow editing used in the beginning of the music video and fast editing gradually used towards the end of the music video. This accompanies what the characters feel within the narrative as the type of editing is used to empathise their emotions. First calm and non-expressive and then aggression.
• Use of Camera Work: Panning shots are used throughout the music video to capture shots around the cage. Establishing shots were also used to allow the audience understand the type of setting the characters were in and extreme long shots and long shots were used to capture the characters when they dance together.

After analysing this music video, we identified some similarities that we also may use in our music video such as the type of editing they used to portray their emotions within the music video without any words. Moreover, this will create some type of suspense for the audience. We wanted to keep our music video clean and simple like this to keep a natural tone to it.

Artist Representation

Video 2: A$AP Rocky - L$D (LOVE, $EX, DREAMS)

Whilst analysing this music video, the bright colours and creative editing really captured my attention. Although this type of complex editing was no what I had in mind, A$AP Rocky is very similar to the artist Post Malone which makes sense why their artist representation may be similar in many ways. Originally coming from a lower class background, they portray a stereotypical individual who may be from this particular background and therefore they both may have similar morals and values.

• Body Language and Facial Expression of the Artist: The artist has a neutral face throughout the music video with a calm and relaxed type of body language. This mellow type of vibe we get from him is contrasted between the creative editing and vibrant colours used throughout the music video. This is also contrasted from when he is performing, lip syncing to his song. This is when he becomes a little more active.
• Costume, hair and makeup: His clothes tend to follow mainstream fashion as he has different types of outfits throughout the music video. It goes from black and white or bright colours and geometric patterns on his tee.
• Interaction with Others: In this music video, he has a female companion with him which looks like they have an emotional relationship together. They accompany each other throughout the music video until the end where she disappears.
• Camera work: There are many crane and panning shots that follow the artist around which is also accompanied with complex editing which gives it a trippy feel to it. There are also close-up shots of him and medium shots of him when he is with the female character.

From this analysis and from the title of the song, the music video is meant to portray an LSD trip. This is supported by the colourful edits and camera shots shown in the music video. The narrative also predominantly focuses on him and his female companion and from the title reads 'Love and Sex' which may inform the audience what that female character was to him. The similarities I found with this artist and the artist that I have chosen for my own music video is that they have similar themes within their music video that focuses on the opposite sex, money and drugs.

Structure and Artist Representation

Video 3: The Weeknd ft. Future - Low Life

Analysing this music video, the particular structure and the character representation used within this music video was similar to how I wanted my music video which was why I was interested in it.

• Performance: The performance in this music video was mainly the artist performing the song. There wasn't much any other performing within the music video, this is how I want my music video. With very few things to distract the audience from the artists.
• Concept/ Abstract Ideas: The artists are lip-syncing to their song with other female characters that are standing in the background to attract more audiences.
• Narrative within the video: There isn't a narrative as the concept is based on performance.

Conclusion

Overall, I will be taking these ideas from these music videos. I will do this through the same use of dark coloured clothing with high and low-key lighting. This evokes suspense from the audience. Similarly to these music videos, this is what I want to achieve within my music video. This has helped me on how I can achieve a successful music video looking into some music videos that have similar factors that I want to include.

Planning: Outline of Narrative

Outline of Narrative

What was the task? Why did you do it?

To understand how we wanted our music video to unfold in our chosen form of narrative, we had to come together to analyse the lyrics to make sure it made sense. We made sure what the audience was listening to, was what they were also seeing. I wanted the relationship between the lyrics and visuals to be strong so it was easier for the audience to understand what was going on in the music video even though we didn't have a clear and specific narrative for it. By identifying the narrative, it helped us develop our idea to each line and beat by applying it to theories we had previously learnt. As a result, this allowed us to identify how we wanted each shot to form and when it should come in.

Themes evident within song:

1. Power
2. Money
3. Friendship
4. Determination
5. Death

Apply idea to theory:

Goodwins Theory - Our idea follows Goodwins theory on genre characteristics, relationship between lyrics and visuals, intertextual reference, notion of looking and star image motif, performance, narrative or concept based. These following conventions that Goodwin mentions are used in our music video as we believe that our audience will enjoy it more if it has a clear structure throughout instead of a music making the audience think too hard when they could be enjoying it.

Genre Characteristics:

• Hip-pop, rap genre - The main artist will be visually pleasing to the audience to make him stand out more, the females within the music video will have dramatic makeup. 
• Relationship between lyrics and visuals - The visuals will reflect the lyrics when he raps about money, he will have money in his hand and other expensive stuff to show the audience that he has money.Further showing the audience that despite where he started from, he still made it.
• Intertextual reference - 
• Notion of looking - We plan to have our main artist looking attractive to make him stand out to the audience. There will also be females in the music video that will also look attractive through the use of close-up shots.
• Star image motif - During the scenes, there will be many close-up shots of the artist so the audience are able to spot the artist whenever he appears despite the different shots we might use.
• Performance, narrative, concept? - The video will mainly be performance based with the artist lip-syncing to the song with no clear narrative.

Mulveys male gaze - This theory is based on the 'male gaze' on a female assets. This theory will be evident throughout our music video as the female character will be captured through close-up and mid-shots as it does attract more audiences despite its frustrating reason why.

Adorno's popular culture/true art theory - My male artist will not follow the popular culture as he is not dressed in typical clothing that a mainstream audience will expect him to wear however, will ensure my success through working-class audiences as there use to seeing similar themes in the music video in their everyday life. This will make more appealing to them.

Video Narration

From analysing the lyrics of the song, we first identified the themes that were portrayed throughout the music such as money, death and power. As our artist wont be following any specific narrative and will be following a performance based music video, he will lip sync in most of the shots where the other shots will be of his friends and establishing shots of his area to really empathise his working class background. This allows the majority of the audience to relate to our music video further making it more entertaining them as they feel closer to the artist.

As the music video begins, there will be an establishing shot of the urban area of where the artist is from, this will capture the distinct features of his area allowing the audience to understand where he is from despite the expensive things he has. This will also be in slow motion because it allows the establishing shot to become more effective giving the audience time to understand where he's from.

There will be a various of shot reverse shots of our artist in different urban areas of where he's from to really empathise where he's from and that he is proud about where he comes from despite where he is now.

Conclusion

By planning our narrative according to the lyrics of the song, it has allowed us to acknowledge each stage carefully and how it will follow. This task also enabled us to think about each shot in more detail furthermore, allowing us to remove small parts that were irrelevant. It encouraged us to identify the major parts of the narrative that the audience need to see to allow them to understand the narrative. From this task, it has made my partner and I more confident about how our idea and narrative will form itself and how it will come together smoothly. 

Without planning the narrative according to the lyrics, it would've been challenging to film what shot goes next or if we have enough content filmed. We are now aware of the locations we need and how we will film according to the content we need to film.

Planning: Copyright Letter

Introduction:

Once we had finalised our song choice, we decided to write a copyright letter to the record company to ensure our production was legitimate and that no problems later occur during the process which may prevent us from using the song we have chosen. Creating a copyright letter for reassurance is essential to the process of the music video, without it we do not have legal rights to use an artists song for our benefit and eventually share it on platforms such as Youtube. The copyright letter will be used as a source of evidence to prevent us from being accused of infringement.

Copyright letter:

We wrote up a letter requesting permission to use the single, we ensured that we will credit them for letting us use the song and we emphasised that the song will be used solely for educational purposes.

Email:

We sent this via email to the artists two managers. We are currently waiting for a response to ensure that we can continue with our production and use the song for the video we are creating.

Conclusion:

Creating the copyright letter is very important as it will give us the legal requirement to use the song we wish to, so it is done in a legitimate and effective way. The letter will be used as protection for our own production company as we have reached out to the copyright holders of the song. On the occasion that the copyright holders respond and inform us that we cannot use the single, we will respect their decisions and immediately alter our ideas to suit our position. If we get permission to use the single however, we will do as promised and use it while crediting them in the most appropriate manner.

Planning: Audiences

Audiences

Introduction:

Why is it important to know about audiences when creating a music video? It is vital to know about audiences when creating a music video as it lets us know what their interests

Age, Gender and Ethnicity

After creating our questionnaire and evaluating data, we learned our music video will be suitable for those of all ages, genders and ethnicity between the ages of 16-28. Our genre is hip-hop and we believe this target audience is suitable as they are more likely to listen to this genre of music . The audience can be very broad as we are not targeting a specific gender, as both males and females can enjoy this type of music, therefore will enjoy my music video. Although in terms of relatability, males will be more likely to relate to the video as our artist will most likely be a young male, also there are stereotypes surrounding young males from disadvantaged backgrounds and as the song will follow these themes, it will relate to a certain demographic more than others. Our music video will not be aimed at a certain ethnic background audience, as those of all ethnic backgrounds and race may be able to relate to the video, the narrative is also not focussed on ethnicity but rather the problems people of lower social classes face on a daily basis. Identifying age, gender and ethnicity is pinnacle to the creation of a successful music video as important decisions are made surrounding them.

Income Bracket/Status

We identified that the income status for our target audiences is working class or unemployed - those who are in the E/D audience category. This is because the performance we will be showing with the music video will relate to those of that belong to that social class. The main character in our music video will present working class values and will show this through their persona and behaviour. This is so our audience can relate to the character. A large majority of the audience will also be young people or students who will be attracted to the music video due to the themes and the narrative. After we select our target audience our main character will be chosen specifically to relate to our audience, therefore they will be of the same social class and wear typically those costumes.

Interests/Hobbies

Our audiences interests and hobbies can be identified as they line up to the genre of the song we have chosen. The genre is hip hop and it is likely that it will be played at gatherings and meet ups with friends, as well as when relaxing or trying to relive stress. Our audience is at an age where they will be busy with exams or even their job and will want time to themselves to listen to music and relive as much stress as possible. The narrative may also appeal to my audience as their hobbies will include what is shown in the video, going out and being with friends ect. Identifying the audience's interests and hobbies is important as the audience should be able to relate to the content in the video.

Audience reaction

- Audience engagement will be present in my music video as the audience should be able to react differently according to their hobbies. If they are able to link what is shown on screen to their own experiences the audience will react in a positive way. Although it is said subcultures are evident in society according to Hebdige, certain subcultures may be able to relate to my music video. They may do this by associating their interests with the video, therefore a larger audience can relate to it.

- Audience expectation will be present as the mass audience will have different expectations according to their age, gender and hobbies. The audience may also have different expectations due to the theme and overall how the music video is portrayed, with a lot of low key lighting and generally  a darker theme. Although the video should be able to meet the expectations of a spectrum of audiences due to the star image motif and possible intertextual references we will include.

- Audience identification will be present with our main character, or artist. According to Dyer our artist should be portrayed as ordinary and we have taken this into consideration, this is so that as much of the audience as possible can relate. The artist will be portrayed as a young working class male who worries about his future due to the position he is in, this part will be relatable but the ending will include his fears becoming true, this will be controversial but will show the realities of growing up struggling in society.

Why have we identified this group as our target audience?

We have identified this group as our audience as our song choice directly reflects our audience and who they are from a social, economic and behavioral position. The video is suitable for people from the age of 16 to over 30 years old, of any gender. As this is a very broad spectrum of audience to enjoy the music video we can ensure it will be successful. The themes are also relatable to these types of people as they focus on youth culture, having fun and socialising. This is something that can easily appeal to mass audiences. Younger audiences under the age of 16 and those over the age of 30 may not be able to relate to the music video due to themes it focuses on, younger audiences not being able to understand them and older audiences simply not being able to relate due to the many responsibilities they may have at this age.
and expectations are. Prior to creating the music video, it is important to find out what the target audience enjoy, so we can alter and make decisions to suit their expectations. We will make the music video as relatable to the audiences expectations as much as possible. This is so that we will gain a mass audience to watch the video, in comparison to creating a music video with solely our own interests which would be more likely to attract a niche audience rather than the mass audience which is what we need for a successful music video. To find out about our audience we will be collecting primary and secondary data such as research on the internet and questionnaires, which will be put into graphs to be easily analysed.

Planning: Final Idea

Audiences

Introduction:

Why is it important to know about audiences when creating a music video?

It is vital to know about audiences when creating a music video as it lets us know what their interests and expectations are. Prior to creating the music video, it is important to find out what the target audience enjoy, so we can alter and make decisions to suit their expectations. We will make the music video as relatable to the audiences expectations as much as possible. This is so that we will gain a mass audience to watch the video, in comparison to creating a music video with solely our own interests which would be more likely to attract a niche audience rather than the mass audience which is what we need for a successful music video. To find out about our audience we will be collecting primary and secondary data such as research on the internet and questionnaires, which will be put into graphs to be easily analysed.

Age, Gender and Ethnicity

After creating our questionnaire and evaluating data, we learned our music video will be suitable for those of all ages, genders and ethnicity between the ages of 16-28. Our genre is hip-hop and we believe this target audience is suitable as they are more likely to listen to this genre of music . The audience can be very broad as we are not targeting a specific gender, as both males and females can enjoy this type of music, therefore will enjoy my music video. Although in terms of relatability, males will be more likely to relate to the video as our artist will most likely be a young male, also there are stereotypes surrounding young males from disadvantaged backgrounds and as the song will follow these themes, it will relate to a certain demographic more than others. Our music video will not be aimed at a certain ethnic background audience, as those of all ethnic backgrounds and race may be able to relate to the video, the narrative is also not focussed on ethnicity but rather the problems people of lower social classes face on a daily basis. Identifying age, gender and ethnicity is pinnacle to the creation of a successful music video as important decisions are made surrounding them.

Income Bracket/Status

We identified that the income status for our target audiences is working class or unemployed - those who are in the E/D audience category. This is because the performance we will be showing with the music video will relate to those of that belong to that social class. The main character in our music video will present working class values and will show this through their persona and behaviour. This is so our audience can relate to the character. A large majority of the audience will also be young people or students who will be attracted to the music video due to the themes and the narrative. After we select our target audience our main character will be chosen specifically to relate to our audience, therefore they will be of the same social class and wear typically those costumes.

Interests/Hobbies

Our audiences interests and hobbies can be identified as they line up to the genre of the song we have chosen. The genre is hip hop and it is likely that it will be played at gatherings and meet ups with friends, as well as when relaxing or trying to relive stress. Our audience is at an age where they will be busy with exams or even their job and will want time to themselves to listen to music and relive as much stress as possible. The narrative may also appeal to my audience as their hobbies will include what is shown in the video, going out and being with friends ect. Identifying the audience's interests and hobbies is important as the audience should be able to relate to the content in the video.

Audience reaction

- Audience engagement will be present in my music video as the audience should be able to react differently according to their hobbies. If they are able to link what is shown on screen to their own experiences the audience will react in a positive way. Although it is said subcultures are evident in society according to Hebdige, certain subcultures may be able to relate to my music video. They may do this by associating their interests with the video, therefore a larger audience can relate to it.

- Audience expectation will be present as the mass audience will have different expectations according to their age, gender and hobbies. The audience may also have different expectations due to the theme and overall how the music video is portrayed, with a lot of low key lighting and generally  a darker theme. Although the video should be able to meet the expectations of a spectrum of audiences due to the star image motif and possible intertextual references we will include.

- Audience identification will be present with our main character, or artist. According to Dyer our artist should be portrayed as ordinary and we have taken this into consideration, this is so that as much of the audience as possible can relate. The artist will be portrayed as a young working class male who worries about his future due to the position he is in, this part will be relatable but the ending will include his fears becoming true, this will be controversial but will show the realities of growing up struggling in society.

Why have we identified this group as our target audience?

We have identified this group as our audience as our song choice directly reflects our audience and who they are from a social, economic and behavioral position. The video is suitable for people from the age of 16 to over 30 years old, of any gender. As this is a very broad spectrum of audience to enjoy the music video we can ensure it will be successful. The themes are also relatable to these types of people as they focus on youth culture, having fun and socialising. This is something that can easily appeal to mass audiences. Younger audiences under the age of 16 and those over the age of 30 may not be able to relate to the music video due to themes it focuses on, younger audiences not being able to understand them and older audiences simply not being able to relate due to the many responsibilities they may have at this age.

Planning: Questionnaires and Graphs

Introduction:

After completing our final idea, we made a questionnaire that posed particular questions which we needed answers from audiences of music videos, to aid us during production. The questions focussed on the hip-hop genre and hip-hop music videos. This feedback and data would be helpful as it allowed us to make required changes to the decisions we make during production and other planning.

Questionnaire:

Graphs

After receiving responses from our questionnaire which was given to 20 people, graphs were created to visualise the data. There is also analysis below each graph which interpret the results of the graphs more clearly.

Conclusion:

The responses we received allowed us to make important decisions based on what the audience want and because of this we're able to narrow down our idea to make it most entertaining for our target audience.

Planning: Initial Ideas

Ideas

After deciding who was doing what by dividing up the group roles to each other fairly, we shared our ideas to each other taken one another's idea into account. We had to consider each others ideas by identifying the elements associated with it such as the genre, concept, micro-elements, theories, conventions, advantages and disadvantages etc. By doing this, it was much easier for us to come to one idea yet include our individual ideas that we had our own. Moreover, it enabled us to see clearly who had the more realistic storyboard. By combining the previous lessons I had, I was able to take all the theories into consideration such as Mulvey, Goodwin and Dyer seeing if they would fit our idea.


Idea 1: My idea
I presented my idea to my group:

Song: Future ft.Weeknd - Low Life
Genre: Hip-pop
Narrative: The song I chose is both upbeat and mellow at the same time and therefore I wanted to use this song and for quick montage shot which I find very effective when it comes to the hip-pop genre. These lyrics portray
a guy who is quite reckless and does what he wants for example, he mentions sex, money and drugs throughout the song. The term 'low-life' often has negative connotations, however he says that he represents the low-life because he does what he wants and he doesn't care.
Narrative structure: Performance
Characters: Two young men with their friends in a black and white background to really focus on their lip-syncing.

Mise En Scene:
Costume, hair and make-up: Our artists costume hair and make-up is heavily influenced by how the youth dress nowadays, with hoodies and caps to really attract our target audience who at use to seeing this. Various of different outfits for each location to make the artist look attractive as hair and make-up will be minimalized to the average young male.
Lighting: Low-key lighting will be pre-dominantly used in my idea because it allows audience to understand that this artist is not a typical mainstream artist who likes to be glamourized and in the spotlight, rather in the dark singing about what he knows.
Iconography: Bottles of expensive beverages to reflect the lyrics of the song. Further illustrates what young people like to do nowadays.
Setting: Various urban locations to represent his working class background such as parks/fields, skate parks, streets, an estate, studio, car parks etc.

Application of Theory:

Goodwin Theory: This music video follows the conventions of Goodwins theory of a hip-pop music video.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals - The lyrics the artist sings tell the audience that he's proud of where he comes from despite him originally coming from a low working-class background. Despite this, he was able to become successful through his love of music and has made it in the world. He sings about all the luxuries he has including the money he buys drugs and girls with. You see the two artist smoke marijuana and girls in the back with very minimal clothing as close-up shots present their female assets. In my music video, I want to create something similar to this as I believe it allows the audience to understand what he's singing about even though they might not fully understand what he's saying. The visuals that match the lyrics will be very helpful as audiences are able to understand the song much faster than usual just by looking at the images.
Relationship between music and visuals - The quick beat supports the visuals very well as there are multiple cuts and edits such as shot reverse shots, montages etc to compliment it. Moreover, to match the mellow backing track, there are some shots slowed down where the girls are moving in slow motion to really exaggerate the calm but fast beat song. I want my music video to have a good relationship between the music and its visuals as i believe it puts the audience in a happy mood when watching and listening to it as they feel in sync with the song. In addition, the quick cuts and edits allow the audience to further feel like they're in a trance as it makes them feel apart of the music video.
Star image motif - Just like the original music video for 'Low Life', I want to include many close-up and long-shots of my artist as I present him as the brand. This makes it easier for audiences to recognise him as the artist faster.
Performance, narrative and concept - I want my music video to be quite similar to the original one as I believe that the video and song compliment each other very well, I want to create my own version of it. This music video will be mostly performance base as well as concept as there is no consistent or particular theme in it.

Advantages:

1. As a mostly a performance based music video, the audience will be able to understand that it is just a performance and there isn't much of a hidden message they need to struggle and find.
2. Watching a performance in a music video is always entertaining and allows the audience to enjoy it

Disadvantages:

1. The song lyrics can be quite explicit and controversial and may offend some audiences
2. There is some nudity in the video so it might not be suitable for young viewers and some others might get upset whilst watching.

Idea 2: Dillan
I presented my idea to my group:

Song: Post Malone - Too Young
Genre: Hip-Hop
Narrative: A young man, preferably in his late teens is going to all the places he goes to during a typical day for him. Showing his life as it typically is, this relates to the lyrics as he doesn't want to die "Too Young".
He is from a lower socio-economic background and shows those areas almost presenting it as the 'Ghetto', he may also go to more developed areas to show his goals and where he would like to be once he achieves more.
Narrative structure: Performance
Characters: A young man, his friends in the background as moral support as friends should be there for you.

Mise En Scene:
Costume, hair and makeup: Various outfits for different shots and locations, tracksuits and jackets. Hair will be a typical short hairstyle for a young male.
Lighting: Low lighting due to the topic of the song and natural lighting for the shots outside.
Iconography:
Setting: Various locations, parks, near flat blocks, in a studio, car parks.


Application of theory:
Goodwin's theory: Genre characteristics can be applied to my music video as my will contain conventions of a
hip hop music video with the artist being the main focus of the video, as well as the artists costume being very casual.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals - The narrative in the visuals will match the lyrics.
Relationship between music and visuals - The music will match the beat and pace of the song, with multiple edits and cuts.
Star image motif - There will be many close ups on the artist as I will be using them as the brand, this will increase their star image and make them identifiable.
Performance, narrative and concept - the video will mostly be performance but may have elements of a narrative music video.
Mulvey's male gaze: I will be applying Mulvey's gaze as I will not be following the common convention of a hip hop music video and having women dressed in costumes with minimal clothing. If women do appear in the video they will be the main artist's friends and be considered equal.

Advantages:

1. The main character will be clear as they will be the main focus of the music video.
2. The whole video should relate to the audience as it is about a normal young man. There will be no special effects or extraordinary abilities given to the character.

Disadvantages:

1. The video and song is about dying too young which could be a sensitive subject for some people.
2. People may not enjoy the dark themes of the video as well as the low key lighting

Conclusion:

Overall, we both shared our initial ideas with each other which was very helpful as we could take in a account the ideas that we had and make it into one. Discussing each others idea made us eliminate the disadvantages and weaknesses the idea had, as a result, we were able to choose an idea that would be the most effective and easiest to do. In addition, this helped us picture the type of concept, performance or narrative base our music video would be, micro-elements, structure ideas and theories that we could apply to our music video to give the audience the full experience of fun and entertaining music video.