A key part of our project is the focus on genre of our music video. What will be the main factor of our project is the study of the codes and conventions of existing media products from the same genre that we have chosen. What we have been asked to do is not only consider these codes and conventions but to challenge them as well.
There are several theories relating to genre which we can apply within this pre-production stage of our music video. Rick Altman explained that genre is a set type and group which any medium can be classified within, when applying this to music examples of this are reggae, jazz, drum 'n' bass etc. In each case the acknowledgement of genre depends on the acceptance of the generic conventions. Genre can change and develop over time it's completely open to historical change. Altman also stated that viewers pre-read media texts, that they become passive viewers which ultimately restricts genre.
Richard Maltby claimed that the success of Hollywood is reliant on the combination of predictable elements with variation. This suggests that as producers we should follow the codes and conventions of our chosen genre but also add some variation within our work so that the audience does not become bored and the media text is not predictable. This will be a theory to keep in mind and apply to when planning the narrative part of our music video.
Jon Fiske said that any one type of media will bear the main characteristics of it's genre, but is likely to include some from others. Categorizing it in one genre would mean deciding which characteristics are most important. This theory specifically applies to our project, pop is the genre of our artist, song and music video but as pop music is such a wide spread genre there are several characteristics from R&B and hip hop. Therefore when looking at existing music videos and promotional packages we will have to keep our research focused on very similar artists who are primarily pop singers but incorporate other genres of music within their work.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
AUDIENCE THEORY
When looking at audience within the research stage of our production it is important to recognise and remember audience theories. Below are some key audience theories which could be a possible help influence on our final products.
"All the world's a stage and the mean and the women are merely players." As the audience we can be manipulated and can be persuaded to buy products or follow corrupt leaders through propaganda. The question is whether or not this brings us together. On one hand when we listen to CDs and go to the cinema we become part of a mass audience. However at the same time we are very different because we are separated by space and sometimes time.
THE HYPODERMIC SYRINGE
The media is like a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience who as a powerless mass, have little choice but to accept. For example a person might watch something violent and then may do something violent. If you are a woman who's watching a woman washing up on television, you will feel a subconscious need to go and do it yourself. If you are a man watches a woman doing the washing up on television then you will expect the woman to do the washing up.
On the other hand there are theories which oppose this view.
THE CULMINATION THEORY
One media text does not have too much of an effect and influence but years and years of watching violence will make you less sensitive to violence.
TWO STEP FLOW
Another argument suggests that the masses will experience the media individuality but then they will discuss what they have watched with others and it is the discussion which can then influence people's opinions and behaviour.
USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY
We make the choices about what we watch, we also have certain expectations, we expect to be gratified by what we have watched. The types are as followed...
"All the world's a stage and the mean and the women are merely players." As the audience we can be manipulated and can be persuaded to buy products or follow corrupt leaders through propaganda. The question is whether or not this brings us together. On one hand when we listen to CDs and go to the cinema we become part of a mass audience. However at the same time we are very different because we are separated by space and sometimes time.
THE HYPODERMIC SYRINGE
The media is like a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience who as a powerless mass, have little choice but to accept. For example a person might watch something violent and then may do something violent. If you are a woman who's watching a woman washing up on television, you will feel a subconscious need to go and do it yourself. If you are a man watches a woman doing the washing up on television then you will expect the woman to do the washing up.
On the other hand there are theories which oppose this view.
THE CULMINATION THEORY
One media text does not have too much of an effect and influence but years and years of watching violence will make you less sensitive to violence.
TWO STEP FLOW
Another argument suggests that the masses will experience the media individuality but then they will discuss what they have watched with others and it is the discussion which can then influence people's opinions and behaviour.
USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY
We make the choices about what we watch, we also have certain expectations, we expect to be gratified by what we have watched. The types are as followed...
- Information
- Entertainment
- Personal identity
- Social empathy/social personal interest
- Escapism
This may be more relevant to a short film project, however in our music video there will still be a strong element of narrative and despite the fact we are using song, we have chosen a song which tells a very clear story from start to finish.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS
From carrying out our questionnaire, we have learnt they key points that our target audience want to see within our music video. This video has to predominantly be about the artist performing the song, the narrative must feature the artist within it and there must be a large amount of performance within our music video.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS
Here are the results from our questionnaire. We asked 40 people in age region of 13-21, what they liked to see in a music video, how they watch them and how often they watch them. We made the graphs using Microsoft Excel and uploaded them using Scribd.
Questionnaire Graphs
Questionnaire Graphs
Monday, October 12, 2009
TARGET AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE
An important part of our research and planning in preporation for our media production is audience analysis. To find out about our audience and their attitude to music videos in general, we will produce a questionnaire for people to fill in. In this questionnaire we will ask our audience what they like to see in a Pop/R&B music video and what they like to get out of a music video. As the target audience for this genre of music is typical teenagers and young adults we will ask this demographic of people.
Friday, October 09, 2009
RECORD COMPANY LOGO RESEARCH
As part of this project we were also given the opportunity to be creative ourselves by creating our own music record company. This will be the name featured on our media products, as well as the company name advertised when we create Facebook groups, Youtube channels, Twitter pages etc. First of all we looked lots of different existing record label logos. You can see a montage of them below...
As you can see they're all quite plain, basic straight forward. All of them feature the company name in their own individual fonts accompanied with basic illustration and layout. We decided to create our own by finding a font on the internet and then giving it a glow on Photoshop and spacing out the letters far apart. Below you can see our logo.
As you can see they're all quite plain, basic straight forward. All of them feature the company name in their own individual fonts accompanied with basic illustration and layout. We decided to create our own by finding a font on the internet and then giving it a glow on Photoshop and spacing out the letters far apart. Below you can see our logo.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
MOODBOARD OF EXISTING ALBUM COVERS
To gain an understanding of the type of different artists who are similar to Justin Timberlake, pop singers who have incorporated blends of R&B into their music we have put together a moodboard of existing album covers. By this we can see themes and continuing trends that will be beneficial when putting together our promotional package.
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