Music Video Analysis

For us to have the knowledge of what conventions music videos have and how that makes them successful, Rianne and I analysed three music videos.
Rianne analysed Ciara - "Like A Boy"
I analysed Rihanna - "Pour It Up"
We both analysed Cassie - "Long Way 2 Go"



This enabled us to have a better understanding of similar artists and how they create their music videos for a certain reaction from the media. Ciara's is very similar to ours and it has taught us how colour can affect the mood connoted from a production. The lack of colour made it seem much more serious as oppose to a frilly video that would've possibly taken away the meaning, hence why we are doing that with ours.
"Pour It Up" helped us to understand how a small budget can actually lead to a good result if we use the green screen correctly. We will be incorporating a green screen so that we can get a certain image, just like Rihanna did.
Cassie's video taught us about costume. The costume our artist will be dressed in will have to be casual but her actions will be different. Having her fully clothed but acting a little sensual gives off the urban vibe that Cassie gives off, which is what we want.

Magazine advert and article analysis

Magazine Advert Analysis

This magazine advert analysis has taught the two of us various things. We learnt that the sexualisation of women in the music industry is a very important marketing tool as it is what captures the attention of the audience that are looking at it. The presentation above was done as a group, but we both worked on it separately so that we could understand it for ourselves and do a combination of our minds together in one piece. The Beyoncé analysis was done by Rianne, the Rihanna one was done by me and the Ciara one was done together.

Magazine Article Analysis

We then went on further to explore some of the previous artists and see how they were represented in magazine articles. There were some similarities and some difference but when promoting something that isn't theirs we realized that whoever is sponsoring then alters their image to their liking to what their fans know them for in music. The Beyoncé analysis was done by Rianne, the Miley Cyrus one was done by me and the Ciara one was done together.

Audience Profile

I have created an audience profile to showcase a fictional member of my target audience. This highlights what kind of characteristics a typical member of my target member would be interested in. Of course this is subjected to fit into one character so I have made some personal attributes as well. To view it please look at the PDF below:

Blog Reflection - Week 5

This week I began working on my survey. I have decided to base it on an R&B artist so that my responses can be based around something very relevant to my final production. This survey has been published and is currently awaiting ten responses so that I can gain a wide and fair response in order to please as many people as possible within my target audience.

I have also begun working on my magazine article analysis with my partner where we both will work independently on our own article as well as working together on a third one. This has enabled us to understand more about this piece of work so that our knowledge on it grows, thus enabling us to create a better piece when it comes to creating our own version for our chosen artist.

As well as the above parts of the planning processes, my partner and I finished working on analysing digipaks. We found out quite a lot about digipaks, which is quite useful to us as we will be making one for our own artist. This Powerpoint can be seen here, which also includes how I believe it has inspired our own project.

Digipak Analysis

A digipak is a special edition case that opens up to give a few extra parts of the case. It is typically priced a significant amount higher than the standard edition and is also usually only available in stores for a limited time only. The point of this is to build a quick amount of hype for the product so that sales can grow in a shorter space of time. Even though not everybody may be able to afford the digipak, it can also build hype for the standard edition as people will still be hearing about the new CD/DVD being released.

As a group, my partner and I had to analyse a set of digipaks as we were going to be making one ourselves for our chosen musical artist. We chose to use Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" (analysed by me), Beyoncé's "Greatest Hits (2009)" (analysed by Rianne) and Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" (combined).

This presentation can be seen below: 

In terms of how this will affect my music video project, I believe that they all inspired me in some way.

With Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" I am now confident with using two themes in one. As she had a childish and sensual choice with her theme I believe that if I'd like to market my item at two completely different markets, it would be possible if I use one in a similar manner as the other theme. As Katy had the naked photo as well as symbolism used in her CD and photographs, she had made up for it in terms of her youthful market by having a lot of sweets included.

With Beyoncé's "Greatest Hits (2009)" I liked the idea of having an elegant woman that also showcases her "fierce" side to her. I was extremely fond of this as it gave off a very respectful representation that has been showcased through the current appreciation of the artist right now. I would like a similar aspect for my artist as it enables them to be liked by the markets, thus being a successful musician.

Finally, Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" was extremely racy. Although I do not want to go as far as she did with, I did learn that if I wanted to represent only one theme then I should go for exactly what she did. However, as the album did not do too well in terms of sales there was obviously something wrong with the marketing plan. Personally, I believe that it was because the product was more than just this promiscuous outlook. As I stated in the powerpoint, she had two sides to her, the one we all know and the "bionic" one. This "bionic" side was showcased on the cover, but it was soon taken over by the racy images inside the digipak, plus the negative media attention that Aguilera received at the time. From this I have understood that timing is key when promoting an artist; bad times with the press need to be out-waited as well as the use of photography needs to be very specific and not include two completely different representations. If I did this then my public feedback would possibly be as low as Christina's, which is something I do not want.

Market Research Survey - LINK!

So that I could get an understanding of what my target audience would like to see in their music video, I created a survey using Survey Monkey. This is a great site that enabled me to create a ten question survey for free!

Once I reach 10 responses I will analyse my results as I believe that 10 is a good enough place to stop. This is because I would like to get on with my production as soon as possible and 10 will be enough to have a range of different opinions, especially as my questions ask for a reasoning behind responses - so this can mostly guarantee that I will have varied views. Having a wide range of responses will also enable me to meet many member's needs as it shows to me what is needed and what is not liked very much.

To see my survey please click on the image below!

Blog Reflection - Week 4

The start of the week consisted of me presenting my own pitch as well as listening to others and having a focus group after each person was done. Fortunately, my presentation was done with ease and I was able to inform my fellow classmates on everything that I planned to let them know. They also all asked great questions that I had prepared for in advance so I did not hesitate when giving my answers. I can now safely say that if my partner and I decide to go on with my idea then we will do so with a great understanding of what to do. I also asked my classmates some questions that I was concerned with which enabled them to think as well as give an understanding to the rest of us.

As we are one group, we could only decide on one song to use. The song we are using is my partner's one "Let U Go" by Thicke. We have decided to use it as it we believe that her idea is more unique and can stand out better than mine.

My partner and I also decided on which member will do which job in terms of every production stage. We decided to make sure that it was fair so that we could both demonstrate our understanding of the subject as well as obtain knowledge. As we are both thriving to understand the subject more, we wanted to get a hands on grip of everything it offers, so evening out the jobs in terms of writing, research and production jobs was a very fair decision in our opinion.

We also, as a pair, created a Pinterest board based on what our target audience would like. Although not every member of the audience would be fond of everything we have included, we have chosen to create an overall understanding based on stereotypical aspects of the characteristics of our audience. This has allowed us to sit down and think about our target audience more, as well as convey to the viewers of our blogs whom our product is targeted at.