Initial secondary audience research

Here I have used the website: https://yougov.co.uk/results/ to research the audience of Chase and Status, the artist who's music I used within my music video.

This suggests that the secondary demographic group of people who like chase and status are generally working class females aged 18-24. The likely regions are East Anglia, South coast and the north east. In terms of politics people are usually left wing and their professions tend to be Advertising, Translation or Fashion design. People normally have a disposable income of around £125 to £499 per month. 

This suggests that people are usually online for around 36-40 hours per week and watch TV for around 21-25 hours per week. Tv shows consist of American Dad, Family Guy, Live Ford Super Sunday and Champions League Highlights. The most common read newspaper is The Sun.

This suggests that these people enjoy buying and selling online, our quizzes and watching live music. Favourite sports include motorcycle grand prix and archery. General interests are usually video games, mobile applications and sex and relationships. Niche interests consist of German, Spanish, Motorcycle Grand Prix, English National Football and Japanese. The most likely pet is said to be a cat. 

This suggests that people who like Chase and Status would describe themselves as Geeky, Spontaneous and Loyal. But... on occasion would describe themselves as Nerdy, Selfish and Forgettable.

This suggests that these people would be the customers of Twitter, Mccoys, Virgin Media, Collect, Play Station, Hermes, Snapchat, SKY.COM, Vans and mainly shops at Tesco supermarket. Clothing brands such as Zara, Urban Outfitters and Firetrap are popular. In terms of bank these people would use Natwest and the top make of car is Seat. 

This suggests people favourite movies would be Zoolander 2, Inception, Dirty Grandpa, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Big Short. Favourite TV shows consist of Russel Howards Good News, Ninja Warrior, The Undateables, Making A Murderer and Take Me Out. Peoples favourite music artists are The Prodigy, Florence and the Machine, Kendrick Lamar, Dislcosure and Major Lazer. Favourite celebrities are Sacha Baron Comen, Gordon Ramsay, Louis Theroux, Jonathan Ross and Leanardo Dicaprio.

The Top Facebook Pages related to chase and status are Chase and Status, Brian Badonde and The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 2004-2012.

Browsing history includes websites such as ARCHIVE.ORG, WWWNHS.UK UPLOADED.NET,IGN.COM and THECHIVE.COM.

Top Twitter follows are @Dynmomagician, @GaryLineker @SkySportsNewsHQ. @SkySports and @piermorgan.

This suggests that people who like Chase and Status are likely to have mobile applications such as Snapchat, Vine, Talking Tom, Angry Birds Space and My Town 2. 

Underground Dance - music video genre conventions

Underground dance music specifically, doesn't have that many music videos which is primarily down to the fact that it has not entered a mainstream culture which means that they haven't been financially successful enough to commonly produce music videos for this type of music as the financial return is not always guaranteed. Most listeners of this specific genre are only bothered about the sound and not so much the visuals of the music video. However saying this, there has been occasions where a star has arisen and fought this generalisation and been big enough in order to receive the financial support to create music videos. My artist, specifically, is one of these artists. My artist has very successful music videos which can be argued to be of complete professional quality but also providing a moral for the story in each music video. The videos are often of a sinister tone as they explore realistic but troubling themes which allows people to watch the video and internally relate to the video.

With regards to conventions on the whole, as underground dance music varies within itself from sub genre to sub genre, whether it be psychedelic trance music or simply drum and bass. It suggests that to explicitly identify the conventions of underground dance music a very hard task. For example, Coki & Benga - Night's music video, an old school dubstep song, depicts a squid with a mechanism inside its head moving to the beat of the song. This shows no narrative but a weird and almost spooky vibe to the audience. Another example which contrasts immensely to the previous one is: Wilkinson's - Half Light ft Tom Cane. This music video is professionally made with its own narrative which you could argue has a positive relationship between visuals and lyrics. This is simply down to financial backing and audience recognition so that the record label can guarantee a profit and good amount of financial return on the music video.

Another example of an underground dance music video which is unconventionally successful is Breach's - Everything you never had. This music video is unconventional for this genre due to its success in becoming mainstream, despite this however, this particular music video is conventional within the genre as it is a concept video rather than a video with a narrative. The weird and spontaneous visuals allow the video to abide by the conventions of the underground dance genre as there is no relationship between the visuals and lyrics, this is a convention as it is is also seen in the above video: night by Benga and Coki.

Initial primary audience research

Here I have used the website: https://yougov.co.uk/results/ to research the audience of Chase and Status, the artist who's music I used within my music video.

This suggests that people who like chase and status are generally males aged 25-39. The three top regions are London, Midlands and Wales. In terms of politics people are usually left wing and people professions tend to be Architecture, Real Estate or Sports industry. People normally have a disposable income of around £500 to £999 per month. 

This suggests that people are usually online for around 36-40 hours per week and watch TV for around 21-25 hours per week. Tv shows consist of American Dad, Family Guy, Live Ford Super Sunday and Champions League Highlights. The most common read newspaper is The Sun.

This suggests that these people enjoy buying and selling online, our quizzes and watching live music. Favourite sports include motorcycle grand prix and archery. General interests are usually video games, mobile applications and sex and relationships. Niche interests consist of German, Spanish, Motorcycle Grand Prix, English National Football and Japanese. The most likely pet is said to be a cat. 

This suggests that people who like Chase and Status would describe themselves as Geeky, Spontaneous and Loyal. But... on occasion would describe themselves as Nerdy, Selfish and Forgettable.

This suggests that these people would be the customers of Twitter, Mccoys, Virgin Media, Collect, Play Station, Hermes, Snapchat, SKY.COM, Vans and mainly shops at Tesco supermarket. Clothing brands such as Zara, Urban Outfitters and Firetrap are popular. In terms of bank these people would use Natwest and the top make of car is Seat. 

This suggests people favourite movies would be Zoolander 2, Inception, Dirty Grandpa, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Big Short. Favourite TV shows consist of Russel Howards Good News, Ninja Warrior, The Undateables, Making A Murderer and Take Me Out. Peoples favourite music artists are The Prodigy, Florence and the Machine, Kendrick Lamar, Dislcosure and Major Lazer. Favourite celebrities are Sacha Baron Comen, Gordon Ramsay, Louis Theroux, Jonathan Ross and Leanardo Dicaprio.

The Top Facebook Pages related to chase and status are Chase and Status, Brian Badonde and The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 2004-2012.

Browsing history includes websites such as ARCHIVE.ORG, WWWNHS.UK UPLOADED.NET,IGN.COM and THECHIVE.COM.

Top Twitter follows are @Dynmomagician, @GaryLineker @SkySportsNewsHQ. @SkySports and @piermorgan.

This suggests that people who like Chase and Status are likely to have mobile applications such as Snapchat, Vine, Talking Tom, Angry Birds Space and My Town 2. 

Music video analysis 6

This music video depicts Odell sitting in an armchair in front of the camera as a girl attempts to get his attention. It ends with the girl seemingly leaving Odell.  It is a narrative video as there is a link between lyrics and visuals e.g "I wanna cry and I wanna love, but all my tears have been used up" plays over the male protagonist ignoring and rejecting the female protagonist".  The song is a sad love song which links entirely to what we can see in terms of visuals. The music video has a non-linear narrative as it is not continuously obvious to the audience what is going on i.e it isn't telling a story. Throughout the audience faces narrative enigma as the reason for him ignoring her and her leaving is not apparent. The lyrics however may suggest he has cheated on her and lost love for her e.g "all my tears have been used up, on another love".

Thoughout the whole of this music video with see a huge amount of direct eye contact with the camera lens (mode of address). This mode of address helps create a sense of direct connection with the audience.

A common convention of indie pop/rock music is the large use of band members with hints of performance. This music video certainly portrays that with the lead singer (Tom Odell) lip synching the whole song. Love songs within this genre can be poetic and tell a story resulting in music videos being more narrative.
Performance is included using the use of lip-synching. The camera angle stays the same throughout however it zooms in and out of the protagonist (Tom Odell). By using the singer of the song as the protagonist, this creates large amount of star treatment. A consistent camera angle focussed on Tom Odell is used for the entire length to single him out so huge amounts of star treatment are involved.

Source:http://atkosounds.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/tom-odell-another-love-music-video.html

Artist research - Chase and status

Chase and status are an english electronic music duo composed of Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status) originally met in London through a mutual friend although met up again whilst university students in Manchester. Will studied History of Art at the University of Manchester, while Saul studied English and Humanities at Manchester Metropolitan University. Will decided to drop out of university to pursue a music career although Saul did manage to achieve an honours in his studies despite spending most of his time on music.

Due too the level of success of the duo, they have been able to sign to many different record labels which include: RAM Records, MTA Records, Mercury Records, ROC Nation Records and Vertigo Records. Despite the number of signings, chase and status have set up their own record company who they are also signed too, MTA records. With this information, I'm guessing that they will use their own record label to release their own music as it gives them a personal finance boost.

The duo has released 3 albums in total consisting of 42 songs where 14 where successful on their own, as singles and made it into the uk charts. The discography of the duo is very long including production material for other artists, remixes of other artists songs, mixtape and also extended plays which consists of recent project 'London Bars' which uses grime artists along with the duo to create music.

These 2 chase and status music videos are just 2 examples of the many contemporary music videos filmed by chase and status to compliment there songs in an attempt to reach out to a youthful and potentially oppressed audience. The music videos all often explore real life themes of destruction and trauma, for example alive is about an native indian community destroyed by meth addiction and in particular how one boy fights the addiction to be killed by drug dealers. Below is the music video for count on me, another song by chase and status, this is about dancing and vibing life through many different perspectives, however this could be argued to not be a depressing theme but it can also be argued that it is a realistic interpretation of many people realities which it has in common with the music video: alive.

Here is an example of a marketing strategy by the artists. Here is a screenshot of their website. It is mainly factual and has limited user interaction which could be connoted to mean they are dictating to the user what they want them to know. The colours are primarily black and white which gives the duo an edgy vibe. Here and at the top of this post you can see the artists themselves depicted in blacked out sunglasses which could mean they are almost trying to hide their identity and keep you as an individual guessing at the types of people they are.

Here is the chase and status logo, They have depicted the British bulldog on top of a crown which can be argued to be an attempt to publicise their patriotic views. However it could be argued differently to suggest that the bulldog is a symbol for the everyday working-class people of the country and the crown to symbolise the bourgeoisie of the country. This would therefore mean that chase and status are almost against the system of the country suggesting that the valuable assets of the country is not the rich and the monarchy but the poor and the majority.

Music video analysis 5

In this music video there is a strong direct relationship between the visuals and lyrics. Both the lyrics and the visuals tell a story about a man called Stanley who believes he is the greatest fan of Eminem. Stan writes a sequence of letters to Eminem which each verse he increasingly becomes more obsessive and when he gets no response to his letters he becomes progressively angrier. By the end Stan creates a voice recording of him driving himself off a bridge into a lake with his pregnant girlfriend in the boot of his car. It is after this had happened that Eminem responds to his letters. Although Eminem is the only rapper in this he is the vocals of both Stan and himself as seen in the visuals.

In terms of genre characteristics for this music video there are very hard to identify due to the video being unconventional to the general hip hop. As this music video is following a narrative they were unable to follow any conventions so nothing can be spotted in terms of visuals which will enable the audience to link it to a specific genre. Normally hip hop portrays the main singer performing and dancing, so it is generally focused on the artist performing and not usually in terms of a narrative.

Stan provides us with a  closed narrative that follows a close story line. I would say that the narrative is non linear as Stan is writing in his letters and including things from the past tense, this is shown in the form of a flashback in the music video.

Again as this music video is unconventional there is an indirect mode of address as the artist isn't performing and looking directly into the camera as a narrative is being followed. Instead Eminem is playing the character of himself where star treatment can be identified. The whole main story line is about a crazy fan and Eminem receiving fan mail which reinforces his fame and stardom. This enables the audience to particularly single the artist out. Camera angles in the music video are shown to help emphasise the importance of the artist. For example when Eminem is performing on stage there is a high camera angle looking down on Stan and his brother.  There is also lots of close up shots that keep returning to the  artist on posters on the wall etc, this is another way that Eminem is singled out.

source:http://jayrvids.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/eminem-stan-ft-dido.html

Music video analysis 4

This music video is a concept video as there are no direct connections to the lyrics. It is a rather random / unpredictable music video with huge amount of humour. We see the band members doing different things throughout such as running down a beach naked, dancing in a studio etc. 

There is a huge amount of performance within this music video. However it is not a convincing performance as it doesn't look like a genuine live performance as the audience and stood behind the band We see the band performing and lip synching in different locations wearing different clothing. Due to the band members starring in this music video there is star treatment involved. Most shots in the video include at least one of the band members. Star treatment and large glimpses of performance is a characteristic for this genre (rock). There is an audience in the video which is again another characteristic of this genre. Although most bands have little direct physical contact with their fans, its vital to create a sense of personal engagement, and representing fans within a video can be a useful means of signifying this.The audience are positioned differently to an actual concert. They appear behind the band, wear bizarre clothes and generally create a more fun, humorous vibe for the video.

In terms of mode of address we see the band members making continuous eye contact with the camera throughout. The band appear on a beach throughout the video and the video changes to black and white. Music videos that are black and white and involve luxurious white beaches usually are boy band music videos. So the band could be humorously imitating a boy bands video. This is an example of intertextuality.



source:http://atkosounds.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/blink-182-all-small-things.html

Music video analysis 3

For my third music video analysis I have decided to analyse Plan B's  song entitled Ill manors. This song has influenced not only my initial idea but my view with regards to social inequality on the whole. This music video can be argued to be a reaction to the coverage of the 2011 London riots which consisted of a detrimental amount of crime in the UK's major cities. The music video depicts the life of young 'thugs' on an estate with a gang like mentality.

With regards to the relationship of the visuals to the lyrics, it would be considered a strong relationship as there is a direct connection of what Plan B is saying and what is being illustrated on screen. The overview of the lyrics is that he is basically saying that all the common stereotypes and thoughts towards the young people who live in deprived areas and particularly on the council estates of London are true so if you live in a nice area you should stay away. The lyrics are aimed at the middle and upper class population of Britain.The lyrics are very negative towards the young people and the artist uses phrases such as 'scum of the earth'. The music video depicts the young people doing criminal activities such as violence, drug dealing, robberies and gang related crimes. It can be argued that these lyrics are a retaliation to how the media depicted the 2011 riots from the perspective of the bourgeoisie and the rich in the country. This suggests that the song is there to give the side of the working class ordinary citizens that were in fact involved in the riots. The lyrics constantly link back to the events of 2011.

"There's no such thing as broken Britain 
We're just bloody broke in Britain
What needs fixing is the system
Not shop windows down in Brixton"

This song belongs to the genre of hip hop which has its own characteristics and conventions attached to it. With regards to music videos and this genre specifically, the videos often follow gritty themes and subjects in order to entice an audience into a topic of a taboo nature which is exciting for viewers and listeners as it can often be viewed by middle and upper class people as frightening. 

With regards to intertextuality, the artist plan b address many issues of the system in place within the UK today. He address these issues through the music video by using real life footage of events such as John Prescott being egged by a member of the public. Another use of this is the wedding cake of David Cameron and Nick Clegg being eaten by a dog. This is all intertextuality which links to the idea that the government are doing it all wrong. The intertextuality references the cultures surrounding these ideologies from almost a marxist perspective where its being argued that the rich bourgeoisie are running the country in their favour in order to retain money and wealth.

With regards to performance of the artist being used within the music video, plan b the initial artist of the song is seen throughout the music video acting as almost a narrator telling a story. This, in my opinion, works well and in favour for the message the artist is trying to get across, he has basically turned himself into a spokesman for the argument being put forward by the lyrics and visuals.

                       

Discussion and feedback with Mr Zomerplaag

Overall Mr Zomerplaag was impressed with my blog despite the little it had on it at the time. He urged me to continue with the highlighting of any media terminology I had used within my blog posts. He also asked me to look at some more potentially older music videos in order to expand my knowledge and perspective on the conventions of music videos and how they have changed over time. We then had a conversation on what I am going to for my initial production and what my production is going to look like, we decided on the idea that I was going to explore a taboo topic of some sort which had real life application to society today which does not get talked about on a daily basis.

Music video analysis 2

I have decided to analyse the music video of Magnetic man's - 'I need air'. This music video captures a performance by the artist but doesn't follow the conventions whilst doing this. This video captures the crowd and the atmosphere in which the music creates as almost an illustration to how the audience should react to the music.

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of what you see on screen is hard to interpret. The lyrics are not clear to what they mean and could possibly be interpreted in multiple ways. One theory of what the lyrics mean is an account of an individual describing the feeling of being overwhelmed by another in the sense that they have fallen so hard for them they can't breathe as they don't know what to say hence the title: 'I need air'.

The genre of this song is electronic which doesn't really own its own conventions regarding music videos. However the upbeat intensity of the music is reflected in the music video by the reactions of the audience dancing vigorously to the music. This is often common in electronic music videos as the purpose of the song is to uplift the audience to a better mental state which is achieved consequently by the illustrations of the audience at the initial performance.

The use of intertextuality is not very apparent in this specific song as it simply shows one scene and doesn't explore other media products. However it could be argued that the culture behind the music video is illustrated in an unconventional but accurate way. This is down to the uncommon use of filming the crowd at the performance instead of the actual artist which almost educates people on what to expect if they were at a performance of that nature and in the crowd. The music video depicts lots of people all crammed into a large warehouse type room but feeling a level of euphoria and ultimately having the time of their lives. This is good as many other media products depict the act of 'raving' to be of a sinister nature which puts many people off and creates a level of ignorance around it.

The music video is a performance of the song being played. However the camera is focused primarily on the crowds reaction to the sound produced. This is unconventional as 99% of the time the camera is focused on the artists as they want all of the limelight in the music video. This however means that there is no narrative for the viewer to follow and it is simply a case of watching a crowd of people dance.

My initial idea - pitch

This is my 1st pitch to my class in an attempt to show them what my idea is and how I am going to create it. In fairness I believe that this pitch was not very effective and hope to get the opportunity to recreate it.

Music Video codes and conventions

Music video theorist Andrew Goodwin wrote a book in 1992 titled, Dancing in the distraction factory. Andrew stated that music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals, the song and the artist. In this book he stated that there are 7 primary codes and conventions with regards to music videos. These are as follows:

- All music videos have certain genre characteristics which coincide with the genre of the music.

This simply means that a music video is   distinguishable based on the genre of music being played. For example rock music videos might include a more hard-hitting and cynical theme about things such as death or heartbreak. There are many examples of this such as War pigs by Black Sabbath which is music video depicting lives being torn apart by war. In the comparison of this music videos which belong to genres such as electronic dance music are usually themed around a more uplifting and positive theme. An example of this would be Phillip George's - Wish you were mine music video. This video focuses on a young boy living in a rigid and dull world who starts dancing uncontrollably to the music.



- Relationships between the lyrics and the video.

This means that the lyrics in the actual song have relevance to the visuals shown in the video. For example the video could be a direct illustration of what the lyrics are trying to portray or they could have a more subtle relationship which can only be discovered if the audience looks deeply into the video. Also some music videos have literally no relevance to the lyrics and are there to simply look aesthetically pleasing. Here is an example where the lyrics directly relate to the visuals. My chemical romances - welcome to the black parade, literally depicts a black, sinister parade welcoming a ill man. This allows the audience to create a visual image which is dictated by the band and record label. So basically the record label has forced the visual image of what they want the audience to see. And sample of a music video not relating to the lyrics would be Faul & Wad Ad vs Pnau's - Changes. This video illustrates a group of young girls who infiltrate a group of boys hideout with a scouts theme to it. The girls use toilet rolls to defeat the boys which has 0 relevance to the actual lyrics.

-Relationships between the music and video.

This means that the actual sound created matches the video with regards to aspects such as lighting, atmosphere, tempo, intensity and even the theme. So for example a strong relationship would be something such as Magnetic man's music video of I need air which is strong due too many reasons such as: the tempo of the song which is very fast matches the fast flickering strobe lights which creates an intense and passionate atmosphere which is reflected in the genre of music intended for people to let themselves go and move their body to the sound of the beat. The music video uses blue and black colours which can create a dark and spooky feel to the video which matches the spooky nature portrayed in the video of young people dancing in a dark warehouse type building.

-The demand of the record label will be evident in the video.

This basically means that the more successful the artist the less control the record label will have on the music video. So for example up and coming artists will have little influence on what is actually produced as they are not the ones funding the production of the music video whereas stars such as Justin Bieber will have record labels throwing money at him to use so that they can have a part of the success. A classic example of record labels taking control of the production of music videos is the case of Meghan Trainor's - 'me too'. This video was photoshopped to make the artist look more aesthetically pleasing to the audience without the artists actual permission. This was seen as a scandal and sparked outrage amongst many fans as she is usually portrayed as a body positive artist.

-Artist iconography

This is when the artist is portrayed as an icon throughout their appearances in music videos. This can be achieved by giving them a fake identity and dressing them in a specific style. there are many classic examples of this which include: Daft punk and Deadmau5 who have helmets on so people only recognise the individuals through the character they have created for themselves. This allows the artist to carry a level of continuity with them allowing the thing that makes them an icon something that people relate to the artist. So for example when people think of a mouse they will think of Deadmau5. This also allows the artist to create their own image from scratch allowing a completely unique form of the individual to be born.

        -The notion of looking

        

      The notion of looking is simply a tactic used by artists to grab the attention of its audience whether that be through sexualising the video, creating something surreal or even using realistic techniques so that the audience can internally relate to the video. A classic example of this would be the use of male gaze. The male gaze is the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. This is commonly used in music videos to attract male attention. A prime example of this would be the song 'stacys mom' by fountains of wayne. This song uses lots of nude like scenes to entice a male, heterosexual audience into watching the whole video. This use of voyeurism is used in most music videos as it is a successful way in retaining an audience.

       -Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the reference to other media products within a media product. Intertextuality is often seen is tv programmes or films and not as much in music videos however it is still prominent. An example of intertextuality being used in a music video is Plan B's Ill manors. Ill manors the song and ill manors the film are based on the same themes and ideologies using similar visuals as they are both set in urban London.