Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions on music videos


Above is a Sideshare the exam board provide, with a list frequently asked questions, this is important as it ensures you work within the remit of OCR's specifications for the coursework. Not including any of these specifications will loose you lots of marks.

Ideas for Targeting Your Own Audience for Feedback

To get feedback from our audience, we first have to get our music video out to them. To do this we have put our draft of the video onto YouTube, so that we can get some feedback, in order to know what we should improve and include in the video. Additionally, we have created a twitter page linked to our band, and have also created a QR code, so that our audience can scan the code and go directly to our video. To create the QR code I have used a website called QRstuff.com, here is a link to the site, http://www.qrstuff.com/ . The reason we created a Twitter account for our band is so that our audience can keep up to date with latest news about the band.

Textual Analysis of Trap Queen

The first video I done my textual analysis on was Trap Queen by Fetty Wap, I chose this song because it is the song we are creating our music video to. The song is a mixture of rap and pop. The actions that the characters in the song do, relate to a stereotypical American rappers lifestyle, this is also backed up in the lyrics. Also, the video relates to the lyrics that are in the song so that the pair up and that the actions match the words.

The main character in the music video is the artist himself, Fetty Wap. This allows the viewers to clearly identify he is the main singer, as there are multiple close ups of him, as well as various other shots, making him stand out from everyone else in the video. His videos from other songs have all got similarities in which they refer to the American rap lifestyle. His image is consistent throughout his videos so that his identity as an artist is clear to his audience.

In his video to Trap Queen, Fetty Wap is surrounded by other men and girls. His use of props such as mass amounts of money, and excessive amounts of jewellery, show off his richness and how an American rapper is perceived to behave and how they dress and act. The use of women in his video gives the impression that the women are their for the men's entertainment and sex, which is enhancing their male dominance, potentially just because they have money and can afford it.

Audience Theorists

Katz and Blumler Theory


Katz and Blumler discovered from researching into audiences that there were three main elements that provided audiences with the pleasure of watching films. These three elements where;

•  Information

Using sources such as newspapers to retrieve information about current events which satisfies curiosity gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

•  Personal Identity

Reinforcement for personal values, this is to find models of behaviour, insight into one's self. For example Twitter can reinforce your own values by only following that certain criteria in which you are relating to.

•  Integration and Social interaction

Insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, interaction,  enabling people to connect with family, friends and society. For example someone may tune into a TV drama so that they can relate and reinforce into their own lifestyle.

 

My Audience

Gender: teenagers and young adults

Nationality: British or American

Hobbies: Listening to music

Music taste: Pop/house

Overall, our target audience would be aged teenagers and young adults, females and males. This is because  the songs he sings are in the pop charts, so it appeals to both male and female. The core audience's nationality would be British or American, as the artist is American. The songs are also sung in English, so secondary audiences would be English speaking countries, for example America and Canada.

Our target audience would be keen listeners of music, ones who always look for the freshest music around; either from watching music channels or finding out on the internet. The core audience would prefer genres such as pop or house as this is the type of genre that the song 'What Do You Mean' would be associated with. They would also be keen users of the internet and social networking, meaning that the label and artist can directly contact them and inform them on everything they need to know, for example single release dates or tour dates.

Finally, the perfect audience member would also buy music legally, whether that be by buying a physical copy or downloading, so that the artist and label can become successful and gain profits from their songs.

Coldplay Adventure of a Lifetime Analysis

I have decided to analyse Coldplay's "Adventure of a Lifetime" as it is the song we have chosen to do for our final music video. I have analysed the video in many different ways, such as mise-en-scene, sound, camera and editing. Coldplay's genre of music alternates between Alternative rock, post-Britpop, pop rock, pop and piano rock. 

In 'adventure of a lifetime' all the footage seen is created by Computer Generated Imaging (CGI). Digital motion capture studio took the lead designing the concept for the chimp characters who appear in the video. Motion sensors attached to the body tracked the movements of the band members to created the visuals of the chimps moving. This then got combined with CGI to represent the band members movements onto there own unique designs of a chimp.

 

At the end of the video when Martin's character climbs up a tree and overlooks the forest we can see reference to the title as if you are over looking on the amazing past you have had. 

The beginning lyric “Turn your magic on” immediately portrays the song as upbeat and encouraging. But a lyric he says is “She’d say.” This could potentially mean he is talking about an adventure he once had with a woman. He constantly sings “Under this pressure, under this weight / We are diamonds.” This verse is to remark that though life may be hard, we can become better people from the pain and suffering we experience together. Chris Martin also recently split up with long term partner Gwenith Paltrow, which who the song could relate too.

The chorus pursues the idea of coming alive and taking control of the day “I feel my heart beating, I feel my heart underneath my skin.” This is shown with a close up shot of the monkey hitting his chest and looking up as if he is releasing all stress which has built up inside him. This is also reinforced by a fast paced, wide shot of the monkeys dancing.