Research Into Different Genre's

The first genre that I will be analysing is 'pop' I have chosen to look at a Lady Gaga video called 'Applause.' Her target audience is teenage girls, 12-18 years old, she is a very dynamic and controversial artist and this is displayed in her music videos. I chose to look at this video, as I have a recollection of all her weird and wacky antics. The opening sequence of her music video displays the artist name, and also the name of the song, I think this is a clever idea, as if it is displayed on a music video, people are less likely to turn over on the start of the video, this way they are aware of who the artist is. I think that this video fits with the pop genre, as the artist is dressed in minimal clothing, which is apparent in many pop videos, there is also a choreographed dance routine, which is in a lot of other pop videos, this also fits in with Andrew Godwin's theory that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. Lady Gaga shows a performance piece instead of narrative, as there is no obvious story line this also means that the video has an implicit and subtextual meaning, the audience will rely on connotations. In terms of the mise en scene, the artist has many different outfit changes, I think this connotes the change in the music industry. Later in the video, Lady Gaga holds what appears to be a large torch above her head, this connotes that she is winning, this is in relation to the Olympic torch. There are many different shots in this video, most of them are mid shots or close ups, we see the artists face a lot through the video, I think this is to promote the artist. There is a close up of the artists face where she has a variety of different colours painted on her face, I think this is to connote the artists 'colourful' personality. The editing techniques in this video fit in with the pace and tempo of the song, there is a part where the lighting flashes from dark to light repeatedly, this is done to a fast pace to fit in with the song.






The second video that I will be looking at is 'Flo-rida - Whistle' Flo-rida is a hip-hop artist, so this is also the genre I will be looking at. As in the Lady Gaga video, the opening sequence to this video also includes the artists name and the title of the song, I think that this is all for promotion, so that people will know the artists name and the title in hope of purchasing the song. The video is set on an exotic island with beaches, blue seas and high mountain tops, I think this is to connote the wealth of the artist, to be in such a nice place. Flo-rida is without a top for a majority of the music video, as it seems that he has oil on his body, I think this is so that he is to look sexually appealing for his target audience, which in this case would be young girls however, he also appeals to the target audience of teenage boys by putting women in bakinis in the video. This video shows an untrue representation of women, and this is the case in a lot of music videos, women with beautiful figures are often flaunting it in these videos, although it is visually appealing to men, it is not a good role model for young girls. This is a narrative piece, where it starts out that the artist is enticing the woman, by being sexually inviting, and by also wearing expensive jewellery and accessories, the end of the narrative is the woman then giving into the artist. There is also some product promotion in this video, where the artists holds the Nokia phone, and when there is a close up on this Jordan trainers. The main editing technique is the overlapping of transparent images to lead into the next scene, I think this fits with the music, there is also a lot of split screens, which I think tells the story really well as you can see it from all aspects.




The final video that I will be analysis is Dappys 'Tarzan 2.5' this is a rap video, and targeted mainly at young males with an interest in this music genre. The video is filmed in a huge house, where there appears to be a party going on. All the male members of the party are wearing thick gold chains, expensive looking watches and backwards snap backs, this is the representation of a rapper, that they have a wealthy lifestyle, and this is represented by there possesions. This is emphasised by the shots of the possesions throughout the video, there is a long shot of the artist singing, where there is two black range rovers in the background, there is also a close up of some sort of expensive bike. The main wording of this song is 'Versace' which there is many close up shots of the Versace logo. Throughout the video, the artist is surrounded by men, this is to connote that he has a tight relationship with his friends, which is really important, hence the shoutout at the beginning of the music video.

There are two main women in the music video, both of them are wearing matching outfits, I think that this connotes that the women are seen the same, that they are of no real importance, which is how women are represented in many rap videos. The women are also seen to be seducing eachother, this is for male entertainment, and will appeal to the target audience of young males, however, I feel that this is degrading to women, and they should not be represented in this light. This video is a performance piece, as there is no real story line.

Initial Ideas For My Music Video.

With only just starting this project, I am leaning towards doing a dub-step/rap music video, having a song in mind, however I'm going to have to do some research on collaborations on two different music genre's and see what the music video would consist of, and then see if it would be appropriate to what I want to do. If this is to complicated for me to pursue, I think that I will just stick to the genre rap, as I think this will be easy to comprehend with, living in South East London.

Conventions of Music Videos ( Different Genres)

Here is a mood board that I have created of R&B music videos.
As you can see, everything is quite urban, in an R&B music video, the stereotypical protocol is money and women, I think this is evident, from looking at the mood board. There is no actual dress type for an R&B music video, it is all depending on the mood and the meaning of the song, most ones that revolve around women, and impressing a woman, involve 'players' in baggy trousers, and a tight fitting vest top, that emphasises their muscular build. However, if a song is about fast cars and money, then they are most likely to be 'suited and booted' to show how rich and successful they are. R&B music videos are usually set in 'luxurious' or expensive settings, such as on a private beach, on the streets of Miami or a top club.

This is a mood board that I created using a collaboration of Rap Music videos.
Mise en scene is an important factor to consider when creating a Rap music video, here you can see in a majority of the clips, that the artists are wearing snap backs or beanie hats, so if I was to choose rap as my genre, I will have to keep this in mind. Many of the artists are also making gestures with their hands, as rap is quite an aggressive form of music, I think that these gestures emphasize the lyrics that the artists are singing. Most rap songs are about money or 'crews', however, they're not about already being rich, they are about struggles and what they have had to over come to get to where they are now, a lot of rappers use real life events making them narratives.

Here is a mood board of Indie/Alternative Music Videos.
Indie music videos are sometimes very simplistic, just a young girl, in a vintage dress, with a pastel hair colour, other times indie music videos are very extreme, majoring in a weird and wonderful ideas. As you can see in the images above, each artist has one unique thing in the still image, wether its an old style bike, a multi coloured beanie hat, a unique hair colour or are being followed by a marching band, that is what makes an indie music video, and it comes from the word individual (indie.)

My last mood board is clips from music videos from the Rock Genre.
As you can see above, most of the images are dark, as Rock is a quite dark genre, most of the artists are holding a musical instrument, as Rock music is not just about singing, it is about appreciating all aspects of the music. In a Rock music video, artists tend to be using their instruments or have them on display, so that the audience know what genre they are. A lot of Rock stars have a lot of tattoos so I would have to bare this in mind, if I decided to do a Rock music video.

Reflection on AS - Self Evaluation & Brief For New Task

Brief for A2 Task.

After a long decision of what option to choose I decided that creating a music video would be the best option. In order to complete this coursework I must create:

A promotional package for the release of the Music Video containing:

 A Music Video Promo.

 A Cover for the Album.

 A Magazine Advertisement for the video.

Format of the practical:
20 marks – planning and research.
20 marks for the written evaluation answered as the Director.
20 marks on the overall product.

I have chosen to do this brief as I really enjoyed creating the music magazine and learning the different conventions and applying them on InDesign. I also love listening to music and I would want to be able to get create an effective professinal music video. 

The genre I will be doing is Pop, I chose to do this as I am familiar with the conventions and listen and watch pop music videos.


Self Evaluation:




How successful was my research on real media? How could my research skills be improved?

I think that my research of real media, was sufficiently detailed, I feel that I found out all the information that was appropriate to my magazine, such as the conventions of a music magazine, using graphology to attract your target audience and the importance of camera angles and effects. My research could have been improved if I bought more music magazines, instead of relying on the internet to support my research, also looking back, I feel that my research would have had more impact, if spent less time on making the actual magazine.

How successful was my audience research? How could I have made my results more meaningful in order to take them into account when producing my media product?

When partaking in my audience research, I made a detailed questionnaire, which I handed to about twenty people who I considered to be appropriate as my target audience, after receiving the questionnaires back, I took the data, and made them into pie charts, so I could review the data that I had, and apply that to my magazine. However, I feel that I could have made my results more meaningful by holding talks with people of my target audience, and then recording it, so I could watch it back, and take note of their opinions, I also feel that I could have taken my research outside of the sixth form  and even have asked random people for feedback. I also feel that I disregarded some of the feedback I got from my questionnaires, as I felt it didn't quite fit the style of my magazine, however, for my next media product, I will stick to my target audiences preferences. 

How successfully did I keep my blog up-to-date? How could I have made better use of it's multimedia capacity?

At the start of my Media project, I admit that I didn't post on my blog as often as I should have, however, further into the project, I realized the importance of my blog, and decided to try and post on it at least twice a week, with updates and new ideas for my work. I could have made my blog a lot better by taking advantage if its multimedia capacity, I could have made videos and uploaded them to YouTube to post on my blog, I also could have made various types of presentations.

How successfully did I follow the conventions of real media? Where could I have improved?

I feel that I stuck to a majority of the conventions of a music magazine, however, I felt that when it came to my picture, I made my own decision, on the size and positioning of image, looking back I regret the choice that I made, as when I look at the main image on a magazine, I realize how much better my front page could have looked. However, I stuck to the 'Z' rule when structuring the format of my magazine, I applied a bar code in the bottom right hand corner, and I made my title, big and eye catching.  Also, for my double page spread, I used columns like they do in a lot of interviews, I felt that this made the interview looked a lot more professional. 

Which technology skills did I learn and develop? Which skills do I need to improve/learn in the future?

Whilst using the flash software Indesign, I learnt and developed a lot of new useful skills, as I had never used this software before, I found it a challenge, however, have used adobe flash player, I had a general understanding on the the software and its layout.  If it wasn't for doing the initial school magazine before creating my music magazine, I feel that my magazine would have been of really bad quality, as I wouldn't have had the opportunity to build the skills that I did. I also learnt techniques to editing photos using Photoshop  and I also got a better understand on camera angles and shots. 

How successful was my creation of my media text? Could I have improved or been more creative?

I feel that  my creation of my media text was quite successful, I also feel that my interview for my double page spread, was detailed, and would be found interested by my target audience, the only problem I found with this, was fitting all my text into my columns without overlapping.

Did my text fulfill the requirement of the brief in terms of audience, representation and genre?

As my text was about my main artist, who was my main image on my front cover, I feel that it did fulfill the requirement of the brief, the text also included information on my artists personal life, information on their music and also a majority of pictures, which are all conventions of other magazines. I found that using the artists personal life, when writing an article, would attract more of an audience, because they could relate to the 'heart break' that my artist had been through. I also found that my text portrayed my genre, as I stuck to the same colour scheme in regards to my text through out the magazine, and I also created an artist that would appeal to my target audience.

How detailed was my evaluation? How could I have improved my discussion of the success of the finished product?

I feel that my evaluation was relatively detailed, covering all aspects of the magazine, I also feel that I used successful tools in terms of presenting each of my different questions of my evaluation. I feel by adding animation, music and colour, this made my evaluation more enjoyable for people to watch. To improve my evaluation, I feel that I could have got feedback from the people who answered my questionnaire, and see if my magazine complies with the standards of what they think fits my genre.