Music Video Research Audience Research and Music Consumption

Task 1:



Learning Comment
From this task i learned a lot about how people actually consume music and albums. The main findings were that the majority of people will first hear the song on youtube or on TV and so watch the music video along with it, before they download it on something such as spotify or apple music. if it was not for youtube however people are not willing to pave to pay for a music video as this obviously is something that they do want. However, there is an interest to watch them. On the other hand if and when they do watch music videos they all seem to be most interested in the narrative side of the video a this is what grabs the attention of the audience. the most popular choices in terms of genre was pop and R&B. Overall our audience do not see the music video as something important when it comes to music however they think that it is a good touch and can really add to the song if it is done well.    

Task 2:

Audience Research from JacobDMBird

Learning Comment 
From this task i leaned a lot about the theory behind each and every music video and how they are tailored to a target market just as a business would taler a product for a target market. Each and every artist has some sort of an expectation as to why they are going to produce and so when they create a new song the audience what to be able to link themselves to it in one way or another. some artists will alter the song to appeal to different types of people as this will rase there popularity overall. Another convection which artists often do is write about everyday occurrences so that people feel like the song is about them which will make them want to buy it. other than this artists love to put some sot of message in the song to get a reaction from people mostly good and sometimes bad. Overall i found that artists find many different way to get the audience to buy there songs.

Task 3:



Learning Comment
From this task i found that it is very hard to make a low-cost music video that really engages the audience and makes them enjoy it. It did however make me realise what needs to be in my music video to make the audience enjoy it. Firstly the actors, the actors will need to be confident and outgoing so that they do not look awkward or refuse to do something. We need to mask sure that the traditions and editing are as smooth as possible so that the overall flow of the video is smooth. we will need to ensure that the narrative of our video is good and easy for the audience to understand. we also need to ensure that f we are having multiple caricatures in the video then we need to use different actors and not the same ones over and over.

Music Video Research Music Video Analysis

Task 1:



Learning Comment
From this task i have learnt that music videos (just like TV programs) have a lot of content which they use to make them up and create the story and feel of the overall video. Each music video themselves choose the Mise en Scene, Sound, Editing and camera angles purposely so really set the mood of the video, if the video is linking to the lyrics it is likely that there will be lost of Mise en Scene in the way of props as well as the use of Diegetic sound. Every video has a huge amount of thought that goes into it and this is something i will have t keep in mind when i create my own.

task 2:

Weapon of choice 

weapon of choice is all narrative there is not much of a story being told either. the video focuses on an actor who is dancing around a hotel. the only illustration and link between the lyrics and narrative is where it says “walk without rhythm” and the actor dose a type of dance walk to the beat. the original pop song is in disjuncture with the narrative video and would attract a different type of audience. The fact that they use a famous actor attracts people to watch the video and relates to the heterosexual audience as Laura Mulvey said, as they can relate to this a guilty pleasure.

She so lovely 

starts with key relation between what is happening on screen and the lyrics of the song, while the lyrics say “she’s so lovely” the slow motion close up shot of the girl shows her face to show how beautiful she is illustrating the lyrics. The song also directly proves Goodwins theory with the lyrics “I like the way she bites her lip” once again illustrating the lyrics. The semantic elements that are incorporated in to the song objectify women, one example of this is a slow motion track of the actresses bottom accompanied by the lyrics “i love the way she shakes them hips”, the   amplify the narrative. This objectification is useful in a pop video as the audience would be heterosexual males as Laura Mulvey said.     

Beat it

the music video shows a very good example of Tolarovs equilibrium theory as there are all five stages of the theory in the video. The video starts with an equilibrium of all gangs sat in pics drinking and minding their own business. The disruption in the equilibrium is disrupted as both gang leaders decide that they will get their gangs together and go and fight the other. The disruption continues until the gangs have met. The recognition of the disruption then begins the two gang leaders have a knife fight. Michale jackson is the hero of the story as brakes the two men up with the lyrics “it docent matter who’s wrong or right” this is the of resolution and the problem is solved. at this point both men and gangs start to dance and this is the new equilibrium. 

Hot line bling

The opening shot of the narrative shows women in tight clothing in a sexual call centre. All the women are unsurprisingly beautiful and are stereotypical the type of women we expect to see in an R&B music video. Moments after the performance begins these same women are dancing in a very sexualised manner. As Versallis said women appear and men act this theory is supported all the way through the video. Drake is the only man and the only one performing where as there are multiple girls who are only there to dance and make Drake look like a “pimp”. The gender stereotypes are all the way through the video it objectifies women and also supports Mulveys theory that the audience would be heterosexual males.

Learning comment
After completing this task i have learned that the overall typical music video appeals to the heterosexual male. By this i mean that every aspect of the video has been placed there so the male audience can enjoy or relate to the video itself. Very oftenly  we see a objectification of women and it is shown that women can not perform and are only something to look at. I also leaned that music videos will of then follow Tolarovs equilibrium theory as this is what people have come to understand as a standard music video. When it come to the lyrics it is very clear as to wether the video is disjointed or illustrating them, most illustraight but arguably just as meany disjoint themselves. both (when done well) make equally good counterparts to the music and lyrics themselves.  

Task 3:

Task 7 from JacobDMBird

Learning Comment
From this task i have learned about three of the main genres of music, each of them are very different but have many simpler things at the sam time. I firstly looked at Rock. Rock is a very interesting genre but different to most other genres. Things such as the way of dress, lifestyle and makeup really set rock aside from everything else. They some dress as 'goths' or very oftenly incorporate chains. Most 'rock stars' try to show themselves as a sort of 'bad boy' as this is something that fans have come to associated with Rock itself. On the other hand pop is very much different in the same sort of ways. Pop as a genre is very much concerned with sex appeal (for both women and men) the way they dress when preforming could be classed as extremely provocative and the reason they do this is because (just like Rock) it is what the fans have come to expect. One point that Pop has done very well however, is to open up the music industry to women. Although there are now lots of other genres that women exile in, when pop became popular it allowed women to get a real foothold in the music door. Finally hip-hop is very much ruled by men with the one exception of Nicki Minaj but this shows what the fans of Hip-Hop really want like rock it is the bad-boy lifestyle that draws them in. Fans also have the expectation that the rappers will have almost a gangster lifestyle and then rap about them in there songs. where clothes are concerned within Hip-Hop rappers are very diversified in what they can choose but most chose to wear their own brands.        

Task 4:



Learning Comment
From this task i learned about the amount of elements that go into making a music video along with the music itself. I found that there are over five or six main points that are needed to make a successful package. the first is the music itself, the lyrics are of absolute paramount to making a successful song. The second is that the backing music fits the lyrics and there are point that you don't even notice the music and you are listening to the words of the song and no longer hearing the music itself. The third main point is the video itself, this is what the viewer judges the whole thing on and so the artist must get this right. The transitions must be cage on the beat most of the time and like a TV program or film if you do not notice the camera angles changing then the editors have done a very good job and this is the same for a music video. Also for the song to be successful the visuals must either have or make reference the lyrics (as Eminem did) or they must bear no relevance at all, if they chose to go somewhere in-between then the overall product can become very messy and confusing. finally you need to have a performance side of a video as it would only be a backing track to a film if you did not. thesis are all things that i have to take into account when making my music video.

Music Video Research

Please click here to go to my website

https://jacobbird1313.wixsite.com/studens-videos 

BLUE LIGHT- by Lily-Rose Clement
https://youtu.be/jjiUviEviCk

Macklemore- Tyler West, Jeffrey Sasu, Jorgenson Paragas and Jordan Edwards
https://youtu.be/ZpBNqqPGsmc 

Read All About It- by Isabel Shen
https://youtu.be/hvNa2KpzVRw

Learning Comment
After completing this task i have leant that and up beat, happy, fast sort of genre claims the highest marks. This is because it allows for creativity to play a larger roll in the making of the video allowing you to challenge convections and incorporate new ideas into music videos. Some things that i have seen which i would hope to use are maybe using some type of affect making the story line more powerful and interesting as the second video did. I will also insure that the scenes change on the beat of the music as this can really make or brake the video. i have also learnt that camera angles are very important for telling the story of the narrative, but if they a wide range are not used it can easily become very boring for the viewer.          

Music Genre

This task was a look into similar music videos and songs as to the one we are going to create. I looked at features of a music video which we could add into ours to match the film to the song effectively. This task gave me a key insight into how the editing varies with our genre. From looking at multiple videos, Ive come to the conclusion that the editing is quicker than regular TV and film, however slightly slower than the majority of mainstream pop videos. This may be because the songs are often less joyful and upbeat so fast editing isn't as much of a match with these slower songs. Ive confirmed here that this genres music videos have a mix of narrative and performance. In the song Heathens there is even an inclusion of performance with the narrative. We will do the same in our music video to create a more fluent and connected video that has a clear link to the song and lyrics. After looking into Goodwins relation to lyrics theory, we will use elements of amplification and illustration in our video to create a clear link between the narrative and the video. After looking at another song made by Twenty One Pilots, Heathens, I have learnt more about the band and the instruments used in their songs. Drums and a bass guitar are featured in the music video for this song which has influenced our ideas. We will include a drummer and his drum kit in our video along with a  singer. This shall mean that our video matches the instruments in the song to make for a realistic and professional video.

Branding Research

Learning Comment
After completing this task i understand the importance of using synergy when creating a brand for an artiest. For an effective brand to come together all five secret parts of the brand must fit together and interflow to make a solid brand that is easily recognisable to customers. Meany artists however do not fit all five aspects together which make them more interesting people and so there is a balance which I must achieve when creating a brand for my artiest.

Analysis of Digipak Adverts

Analysis of Digipak Adverts from JacobDMBird

History of Music Videos

Learning comment
After completing this task i have not only learnt about how music videos have changed over time, but how important music videos are. When making my own i now have a better understanding of what society today expect of a music video ad know that the story of he video is just as important as the narrative. This will also help me when it comes to my project as i have noticed many convections that music videos (even the old ones) are using for example just some of these are the narrative and performance being equally important, and in some cases the narrative is even more important than the music itself. To me this means that i will have to insure that the narrative of my music video is very good and a little over the top.

Analysis of Websites

Click Here: To link to the website 
http://jacobbird1313.wix.com/music-websites

The first website i looked at was the Bruno Mars website. the first impression that i got of it was that it was very plain and not at all confusing. the genre of music that Mars focuses on is predominately pop and or sole music and this defiantly comes across in the picture on that consumes most of the screen. The way the picture has been modified and the affect that has been put on Mars looks as if it is his sole, by making the rest of the page completely black it makes the viewer focus more on the image of Mars. The next part that I’m am drawn to is the option to follow Mars on spotify which for the artists point of view is very important as the downloading of their music is is how they make there money and stay popular. The shapes that are in white are which are portals to the four main vocal media sights are very good thins to have in the website as the public that follow Bruno Mars are very likely to have accounts with all four of these sites, meaning that the fans can keep up with everything that Mars. Which fans love to do. There is also a sign in option at the top which allows users to make an account and get special “keep up” emails about things such as up coming concerts. The “select country” gives a list of about 10 countries which when one is selected a portal takes users to a page and it shows all of the events and songs that will be happening in that country. This is a very good aspect of the website as it makes information that users are most likely to want very easy to find. The search bar within the website makes it eisy to find anything about Mars that you may want to know which for users means they do not have to go on to different websites to find information out. As you begin to scroll down the page a very popular convection of picture movement occurs to show a new picture of Mars. when scrolling down instead of the whole screen moving as most standard websites do the actual website moves bring first a download songs option and then a sing in mail option before a new picture of mars, sining his most popular song “up town funk” and a simple play option. as you continue to scroll down the website continues to show pictures of Mars at some of his biggest shows until you come to the bottom which again gives you the option to join the mailing list for updates on mars. Overall i think that this website is very, well made very simple to navigate and full of the relevant information that users will want to know. The design of the website however is not very unique and it does not stand out from the other websites of other music artists that i have also visited. On the other had however i still very much like the way that the website works and how the pictures almost flow into each other.

The second website i chose to analyse was the Emnem website. The first thing that takes my eye when entering the site is the mercendice that is for sale. this for me as a user is rather annoying and seems as if the artist needs to sell cloths to make money. moreover it feels like they are being pushed in your face to buy them. Equally disappointingly the next thing i am drawn to is a large advert that takes almost half of the screen and although it includes Emnem it is not the reason users will go on the website. If you then swipe right or left the website changes the picture to an image of Emnem with an exploding truck behind him. Although, this is an advert for his newest song this image represents the R&B/Rap genre of music that Emnem is so popular for and this would have been much to have when the website is opened. This unfortunately is the only picture available on the left and right click bars and so they almost seem a pointless thing to have. The six options that are along the top that include shop, email sign up, video, events, lyrics and tumbler are all portals to different websites or different parts of the websites. As in the other websites it gives you the option to sign up to a “keep up” email which sends users all types of things such as when Emnems next show is and new cloths that are coming out. From the sellers point of view this is a very good idea as is it is in essence free advertising. The video section is a portal which takes you on to a different part of the website where you can watch all different sorts of videos ranging from promos to music videos. The events portal is probably the most useful part of the site as it tells users all about the different events in the area that you are in. Meaning that there is no confusion for someone who is not educated in computers. The four most popular social media sights are then also included in the sight as the vast majority of Emnems followers will have accounts on all four of these sights. As you begin to scroll down the webpage there are two main sections on the homepage the first is a selection of dates and locations that Emnem is preforming at and the second is a portal to all his music, which is on the left of a portal to all of his clothing line. Overall that Emnems website is very boring and concerned much more with pushing users to buy cloths than giving information about the singer and the performances that are upcoming.   

The third website I chose was Elvis Presleys. the first thing that jumped out at me was the connection of the the genre of music e.g Rock to the picture that presents the website the fact that Presley was most famous for his rock makes this choice of picture a very good one as users will know straight away that they are on the correct website. My first impression is that it is rather  minimalistic but not to the point where it becomes rushed and half done. The three black boxes with the white writing is the next this that is most obvious, each one of these boxes are a portal which takes you exactly to what is states in the box. For the user of the website this is these boxes are very useful as it is more than likely that they are going on the website looking for one of these options. The options inn the top right are also portals which take users the the specific parts of the website where they can find additional information about Presley and packages which are for sale. one of the most interesting of these are news as Presley is dead and so there can surly not be a huge amount of news about him. When scrolling down the the website has been designed so that it gives the illusion that in stead of the whole page statically moving up and down the pictures instead move in a 3D sort of way. this makes the website more enjoyable to use and would make the user more interested in what is going on in the screen. it also makes you want to find out more and read the information that is provided at the bottom of the website. Once you get to the bottom of the website there is a portal that takes you straight to the shop where it is possible to buy all types of Elvis merchandise which is mainly focused around his music records. There is also four recognisably shaped portals that each take you on to a different social media and to the page of Elvis this is grate for the users as it means that they can follow the newest anouncements about elvis from different sites and although it is targeted at an older age range social media is very popular in these generations now to. The actual amount of space you can scroll down however is very minimal as there and it seems very short for a front page of a professional website. My overall view of the website is that is is very simplistic and easy to navigate however it lacks in information about the singer and actual images of the singer to get you visually excited about the front-page of the website.

Conventions and Codes of the Websites 

The first main convection of all three websites homepage’s is the minimill amount of information. This is now a very popular trend when i comes to making people focus on whats the most important thing rather than many different peaces of information that is useless. I believe that this has come about from companies like apples how defiantly use the saying less is more when it comes to websites. A general code that all the websites seem to use is one big opening picture that presents the performer and their genre of music. This is then followed by more pictures of some of the performers biggest performances. Although in only two out of these three websites the way in which the website scroll down is very common wishing music websites. it gives a sort of 3D affect which not only makes the webpage more interesting but also it gives a more immersive experience. One convection on not only all three of theses websites but on arguably all websites is the local media portals. social media is now so massive that all people have at least one account on one of the websites making it an accentual tool for web developers to use on websites. The font of each of the websites used is also a very noticeable convection where all seem to follow the same code of thin capital letters for all of the information and for the name of the artist  have privately designed fonts. This is to give the website a professional look but also give the pro former a bit go a logo in the form of their name. The last similarity and convection that on every website that i visited there is a “contact us” proved in all three of these sites the option for a keep up with the artist. For users of the site this makes it a more immersive and personal experience. 

Learning comment

After completing this task I have found many different useful points that i will need to include in my website when it comes to making it. the most predominant feature that i will be sure to use is the minimalistic design of the websites and to keep things simple and straight forward. Something else I have learnt from carrying out this research is that not to overload the website with information that is not immediately relevant to what the artist is doing as people don't want to have to look through hundreds of pages to find what they're looking for. something i will also include when it comes to making my website is to have one or tow big bold pictures so that the general public instantly recognise the website as bing mine. These are the main points that i will take from this task.   

Digipak Research

I have created an example of a Digipak to help me lean and understand what they actually are, how they work and what type of information they contain.


Learning Comment 
after completing this task i now understand what a Digipak is and how popular they are. After having ago at making one i decided to come up with some questions which i though would help me to get a better understanding of how other people view and use digipaks. From the interviews i found that 1)  The large majority of people know what a digipack is. 2) that people would pay around 10 pounds for one. 3) people are unsure as to wether they prefer digipaks to regular CD cases. 4)they think that the cardboard will be flimsy and not last. 5) on average people own about 0-2 digipaks. All of this are things that i will have to consider when it comes to making my own album and digipak.