What is audience research?
Audience research is defined as any communication research that is conducted on specific audience segments to gather information about their attitudes, knowledge, interest, preferences or behaviours with respect to prevention issues. Segments may be based on various grouping strategies, such as race and ethnicity, age, education or family income.
What is the purpose of audience research?
Before finalising any project, research must be done before even thinking about the initial design. The point of doing this is so that the producer can get a better insight of the target audience, it would be pointless creating something that's not going to appeal to the right people. It's important part of the procedure as it's time consuming , and a waste of money if the product is not created the way expected. Knowing the kind of people you want to target the product at can create a wide variety of ways to advertise the product also.
My Target Audience
For my target audience, i decided to aim it towards teenagers and young adults from the age of 16-25+
this would mainly be targeted at female rather than male as it is an emotional song about love.
Within a CD case there is visual booklet. This can include images of the artist or their band etc, song lyrics for the songs featured on the CD, a background cover displaying what order the songs are in and possibly a message from the artist to their fans.
This helps enhance the artists theme and illustrates their image. For example Ellie Gouldings digipak includes photographs of her playing the guitar and singing which reinforces her musicianship. It also includes a playlist of the tracks on the CD. The font used looks slightly handwritten and is individual for the artist, therefore people will recognise the font with that specific artist, which means it can be used on all of the artists merchandise such as posters, tshirts etc.
This background of Rihanna's album 'Good Girl Gone Bad' is quite simple and straightforward with only the artist on the front cover portraying class and elegance. Her name is in big bold turquoise letters in the centre of the page in order to show by whom the album is song. The fact that the artist name is in the middle of the page makes it very eye catching and attracts the audiences attention. Because her name stands out, it puts more emphasise on the artist herself and who she is, as the rest of the album is in black and white. The name of the album is " good girl gone bad' she has used alliterations of the letters 'G' to make it easier for the audiences to memorise the album name. The artist pose is quite sexual and appealing, which would attract a lot of male audiences. However,also females would be attracted to the album as young girls would envy and want to emulate her in the way she looks. Brighter lighting has been used round Rihanna's image in order to make her and her outfit stand out and emphasise her importance on her front cover.
The same black and white theme runs through the back cover of the CD with again a brighter colour used in Rihanna's image. The song titles of the album are in turquoise in order to make them stand out and allowing the audiences to see what songs are included in the album. The fact that a lot of black and white colour is used could be that the colour black connotes the "bad girl" and the white colour connotes the "good girl" which links in with the album name " Good Girl Gone Bad". Rihanna makes her album cover very straightforward which is associated with R&B fashion therefore we can point out that the album is part of the R&B music genre.
Conventions of DigipaksConventional digipaks often contain a booklet inside, containing lyrics of the song and information about the artist along with pictures or possibly posters. Along with lyrics, some bands/artists explain the meanings behind the songs so that fans can relate to them. Digipaks used to be the prime way that people found out about their favourite bands and even though their is information in these packs, people are far likely to use other media forms for example the Internet. So, therefore, more focus has been on the lyrics and 'Thank You's' in this booklet. Audience's and fans often want to know the lyrics so they can sing along to their favourite songs and although their available on the internet its far more personal in the booklet that is made. The Thank You pages also make the booklet more personal than on the internet as it's easy to recognise who the band are thankful too and who's helped them along their journey. Digipaks are rarely seen in comparison to past years and albums from artists as people are more likely to download them rather than buy physical forms. However, some people prefer to buy physical copies of albums and digipaks so they can collect them/keep them. Digipaks also obviously include the track list on the back to make the audience aware of the names and orders of songs. They also show the record company and show who's released the album and got copyright of the album. Also on the back is the barcode obviously and often a scan code relating to either a website or another media text. This means individuals can scan the code from their phone and be automatically directed to the link thats encoded in the scan code, creating intertexuality and enabling links between different media texts. Having this code somewhere on the digipak would mean that fans can also access other elements to the artist on the web meaning that they will create a wider fan base.
The song I choose to do for my music video coursework is 'Broken Hearted Girl' by Beyonce. Broken Hearted Girl is a video that has influenced many young teenagers/ women as the lyrics are very deep and meaningful which others could relate to it. 'Broken Hearted Girl' is a song by American RnB recording artist Beyonce knowles. It is the seventh single released from her third studio album, I am sasha fierce.
Beyonce has received numerous awards. As a solo artist she has sold over 15 million albums in the us, over 118 million records worldwide, making her one of the best selling music artist of all time. Beyonce has won 20 grammy awards, both as a solo artist and a member of Destiny's Child, making her the second most honored female artist by the the grammys, and the most nominated woman in grammy award history with 52 nominations.
Beyonce's work has influenced numerous artists such as Adele, Ariana grande, Lady gaga, Rihanna and Jessie J. Nicki minaj a recording artists stated that seeing beyonce's pepsi commercial influenced her decision to appear in the company's global campaign.
Beyonce is a role model to many young people and she inspires people from all over the world. She has done done so many charitable work with UN and UNICEF and this is why she is a great model. Her songs are so meaningful and this is why i choose to do one of her song "Broken Hearted girl" for my music video course work.
I believe that the music video was such a success as it is very simplistic, and gets the story across the audience. The simplicity makes it effective and interesting to watch. The target audience of the video is mainly teenagers and young adults aging around 13-30. It will mainly relate to female viewers as it is about love from a girls perspective.
This music video uses narrative structure throughout the video and there is no band performance. The narrative is told in a circular way, the video starts at the end. It is told from another perspective, a person watching the girls life.
The video is in black and white, which shows how basic it is. Also the fact that it is in black and white shows that there are no distractions away from the meaning of the lyrics and the video. The black and white could also represent a reflection of the main characters life which is hard and colourless.
Within the video there are many close ups of the protagonist. This then creates a feeling of sympathy from the audience towards the protagonist because the lyrics links to what we are seeing, a wasted life. The target audience for this video are the younger generation, between the ages of 15-25, this is similar to the singers age. The song is about drugs and this is a topic that young people get caught up in. The music video appeals to both gender because, although it is only a female in video, it targets both as drugs can effects both female and male.
At the beginning of the video there is a close up of a woman standing over a girls body and crying. As an audience we immediately think the girl laying on the ground is dead. We are then shown a close up of the body then the close up turns into a medium shot. The girl is staring blankly into the camera and in the background the sound of a bird chirping can be heard. This effective is used because it gives the audience a cold feeling towards the video, and they are drawn in to find out who she is and what happened.
We are then shown a medium close up, from this scene the audience learn more about the character and realise she is homeless as she is lying on a bench with a sleeping bag. She is not fully dressed suggesting that she can't afford clothes. She is wearing ripped tights and also a mans coat which is too big for her . Along with this she has thick makeup on which implies that she has been trying anything for money. This is also shown later on the video when there is a series of close ups of the girl putting makeup on in a dodgy flat and then a long shot of her showing her legs to get the car to stop. Suggesting that the girl is a prostitude. The lighting is very low key all the way through the video which makes it more realistic, However there is key lighting on her face which shows her negative expressions. She is distressed and the drugs are there to take her away from her pain and reality.
This music video attracts it's target audience because they are people who could be involved and trapped and it shows that there isn't away out. The circular structure intrigues the audience causing them to be attracted to the video.
If I were a boy By Beyonce
The song 'if i were a boy' is based around relationship problems and explores the way males stereotypically treat females in a relationship. This is enhanced through the use of role reversal narrative in which Beyonce is seen acting as the male typically would in a relationship, but as the music video progressed at the end it shows that she is the one who is being hurt.
The music video for the song was shot in black and white in New York. Beyonce said that the video shows that men commonly do to hurt their partners, like not answering their phones, before adding that the video is about little things that mean a lot in relationships.
Audience
through her music career beyonce has built a large audience, because of her range of songs. Most of her music is targeted at a younger audience, but is also widely popular. Aimed at a majorly young female demographic, 'if i were a boy' like much of Beyonce's music has a strong feminist perspective. Many of her lyrics describes independent women, and go against the typical conventions of pop music in that area.
Context
The song was successful worldwide, selling over 2 million copies and reaching to number one in the worlds single top 40. http://acharts.co/song/38420. The song was also nominated for 'video of the year' at the BET awards in 2009.
Style
The video opens with a short dialogue of the woman and man, describing the importance factors of relationship. This scene adds impact to the message of the video. The firm is shown in narrative form. although there are short performance scenes at the end. This is after the audience understands the full meaning of the song.
For my inspiration i have been watching music videos on YouTube and MTV, hoping that i might get some ideas as to what kind of video i want to create. I've chosen some music videos which i really enjoyed and explained what i liked and disliked about them and if there are any elements i might want to include in my own video.
Somebody that i used to know- Gotye
This song has quite a slow tempo, in addition to this the shots are really long, there aren't many cuts to other shots. I like the calming effect, the audio and along with its visuals which complement each other. also i really the large amount of lip-syncing and will consider this when planning and creating my own video. Although there is no live performance it gives the audience the impression that the people are singing along.
Next Year- Two Door Cinema Club
I really like the slow motion effects used in this video, it adds to the surrealism occurring in the rest of the video such as the jacket and pillow 'walking' I like the use again of lip syncing, and at the end of the video there is a live performance.
Adele- To Make You Feel My Love
Just like Gotye, the tempo of this music video is slow and again the lip syncing is brilliant. I like the fact that all of shot are well filmed.
These three videos were the three i enjoyed the most out of all the ones i watched. The similarities between them include a slow tempo, slow motion effects, straight cuts, pastel colors and brilliant lip syncing. Working with these features will help me produce the best music video that contain all of these effects. I believe this will be where my creative talent lies so i will aim to incorporate these effects.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus has been a household name since she broke onto the Hollywood scene in 2006. From 'Hannah Montana' and world tours. She was the most well known Disney pop star who inspired young children. However as the years go past Miley changes her pop star image to gain more publicity. She went from being a sweet disney pop star to a wild cragy young adult. Changing her music style and her appearance. Miley got so much critics for doing this. Some people believed that she was going crazy and became inappropriate but miley's transition has gained her more confidence and these makes her fans become more confidence in themselves too. She gained so much more fan base than she previously had.
This is miley singing a disney song of hers.
This is miley now with her latest music video hit. This song caused a few controversy due to the fact that it talks about drugs.
Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift are both inspiring artist, but their music videos are completely different, they both approach their fans differently.
This music video here is of Taylor Swift making fun music videos now a days which includes women shaking their ass ( Twerking) and the message to her music video says its doesn't have to be like this and why are women portray like this.
This music video is very catchy and its about a love story
One of my favorite music videos, is Sorry For Party Rocking by LMFAO. I like the fact that this music video has a slight simple joke-like back story to it., and that people who are large fans of the group LMFAO understands the humor behind the video, However, it still makes sense and is funny to those who aren't big fans. I like the fact that the mise-en-scene has a cartoon is-like/plastic-like and colorful, giving the impression that it is taking place in a 'fake' world. The whole theme of the video is fun, and this is shown by the fact that everything is colorful and exciting, the people in the video are dancing around, drunk and drinking alcohol, dressing up in colorful outfits, singing and making a mess. This is also shown in the editing of the video, at moments such as 4.07 seconds onward, when the editing speeds up to emphasize the excitement and drunkenness of the people at the party.
There are many ways that a music video can tell if a music video is successful or not, such as:
whether it wins a VMA award or not
whether it is talked about or not or featured in magazines, newspaper and online
whether it has a lot of hits on youtube
the amount of publicity, whether it s positive or negative
how many CD's sold.
A video that I would consider to be very successful is Gangnam style by Spy. This video is 'foreign' to most countries and the lyrics makes no sense to most people, however due to videos and dance routines, it hit number 1 in many countries, including the Uk, and is one of the most successful youtube videos having a lot of likes and views.
Another video that i would consider to be the successful is the Nae Nae. It is a debut single by an American rapper Silento. In March 2015 he was signed to Capitol Records that released the track as a single with an accompanying music video. The song peaked number three on the Billboard Hot 100, where it has spent six non consecutive weeks, being kept from number one on the charts. Internationally, the song has peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, as well as the top twenty of the charts in Denmark, New Zealand and the UK. The song has reached over 373,123,488 views on youtube and many young teenagers doing the dance moves.
Critics.
Rihanna has shocked many fans with her latest music video, which features nudity, bad language and gory violence. The singer who unveiled her new single 'BBHMM' isn't the only star who has done a controversial music video.
For Example Lady Gaga featuring R Kelly with the song "Do What You Want" The video for this song is so scandalous that it has never been officially released except a 30 seconds clip on TMZ. Directed by controversial filmmaker Terry Richards, the video starred Lady Gaga as R Kelly's patient who told her: 'Im putting you under, and when you wake up you're going to be pregnant.' Many people post the video to be literally an ad for rape.
Sia is another artist who got criticised with her music video of 'Elastic Heart'. Critics of Sia music video claimed that the video, which starred a 12 year old Maddie Ziegler and 28 year old Shia LaBeouf cage fighting in a coloured leotard, had paedophilic overtones. Parents were not happy with this music video at all.
Taylor Swift who is a very well known recording artist has found herself embroiled in fresh race-related controversy after the video for her latest song Wildest Dreams was accused of having racist overtones.
The music video has already been viewed more than 14million time on youtube, has been accused of portraying an "African colonial fantasy" due to the fact that there was a big white cast despite it being filmed in an undiscovered location in Africa.
