Audience Case Study

My music video is promoting the track "Across the Sea" (The Chief of Seattle) should potentially appeal to fans who enjoy the genre of folk/country and interests their music tastes. In my production, the narrative is focused upon a female character called Lucy. The audience follows the character through a series of quick cuts (Montage) from the performance of the band to the locations of where Lucy is arriving at the beach and eventually to her death. The amplification of these shots (Similar to the events in films such as "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "Greta") would appeal to people who take upon themselves to feel sympathy and would want to see the harsh truths of reality. This music video is a diversion from the false side of reality and focuses on the side that isn't chosen to be seen by a audience. This is specifically illustrated with the close up of Lucy placing the stones into her pocket and she makes her way towards the sea and loosing the sight of how harsh reality has shown her. Four sixth form students when watching this stated that sometimes people this way and they also said that they sympathised with the character and knew that she wasn't happy.

The demographic for our music video is mainly focused at a teenage, female audience of 16-19 years of age. These two demographic categories are down to the age of the actors which were 17-18 years old and the other being the main character is female which would help to link the female viewers being the primary audience of the music video, this link is amplified with the lead singer of the band, who also plays the main character being female. Other aspects of our music video could cater to different demographs, with the other main character Steven being male, this could enhance the female audience but could also attract a smaller male audience. The genre of the song being folk/pop-rock is becoming a more influenced and recognisable genre of song by youth with artists such as Gabrielle Aplin and Birdy, with their songs being played on popular radio stations such as 'Radio 1' which means that the specific genre is highly enjoyed and overtime the genre is being exposed to popularity by the changing youth collective tastes.

Music videos are being accessed through platforms such as 'YouTube'. With the high popularity of viewing content on this platform between teenagers, it is easy to share music videos and different styles of genre that they aren't exposed to in the mainstream culture. Other platforms for finding new music would be on iTunes and Spotify, where you can find music by genre etc. When viewing music videos and songs online their is a similar suggested songs that the consumer may like. The consumer and audience demographic would shop in popular, mainstream, high-street fashion shops such as TopShop and H&M. Many teenagers are placed in social groups such as urban tribes, which are heavily influenced by music, due to the desire to dress and act like the bands and artists. This would link in with the clothes and style that our female character wears, the t-shirt and coat would be found along popular shops such as H&M.

Are music video has a link with teenage depression and social anxiety and connotes suicide. There is a lot of stigma circulating the topic and that's why people, especially teenagers find it hard to talk about it. 1 in 4 younger people are affected by depression, it's an issue that arises within modern day society and has become a focus point around the mental state of teenagers. It is calculated that 24% of all young people will experience major depressive disorder and the mean of sufferers being aged 15-16, this indicates that it is a recurring trend among younger people and this is the theme in our music video, which means many of the demographic audience I stated can relate to the main character and the emotions that she portrays.

Theory: Our music video challenges the theory placed forward by Laura Mulvey of the first Male Gaze. She believed in a social system where men have a higher authority over women in all aspects of society. One of the first ways in contradicts the theory is through the costumes used in the production of the music video, neither of the main characters, female especially aren't revealing with very little skin to be shown towards the audience, due to this the theory of heterosexual males re-enforcing voyeuristic theasure is prevented due to the lack of showing our female character in an erotic way. Another way our music video challenges Laura's theory is through the role of the female actor, within Laura's theory she states that females are only placed in productions to 'bear the burden of sexual objectification' and they are not there to alter the end outcome to the storyline or bear any significant importance to keep the story-line going.

However our lead female is the protagonist and is the main focus point throughout the music video, the narrative was structured and carried out through her point of view until the end. No point in our music video was Lucy subjected to being a form of sexualisation, she was represented as some of the few artists that keep her dignity and not fall under media and public objectification of trying to suit what the male audience would want to see rather than a female role in carrying the storyline. Our music video challenges other music videos that producers want to showcase girls with less clothes on in order to sell to a mass, male audience, these music videos belittle women and make it acceptable for them to be dehumanised and give them little attention and dignity.

There are also similar artists that replicate the same genre as The Chief of Seattle: Gabrielle Aplin/Bob Dylan/Joni Mitchell/Birdy/Nina Nesbitt/Ed Sheeran/Ben Howard.

Ben Howard

Joni Mitchell



Bob Dylan

Birdy

Gabrielle Aplin

Ed Sheeran



Planning Print Productions

Panel 1

The first picture was taken when we were on the Winterton beach shoot as part of showing  the character identify in my music video planning. I thought that this picture was of great significance because you can imply a lot from this; she's seen to be confident which is an aspect of the music video. She also is the singer in the band so that the consumer can easily identify that she is the focus point rather than the band. The type of photography is portraying that the marketing technique is to try and sell through using her as the unique selling point, with her centre frame of the cover, people will easily identify her. Goodwin also stated in his theory that notion of looking is featured in promoting artists especially females due to the high attention they were getting from male viewers and followers, in this case this is supported with the red lips and close ups we got of Lucy.

Panel 1 Black and White

Photoshop

As I am not used to using Adobe Photoshop CS5, I started to play around with the potential colour corrections and filters. As I did genre research into different artists album covers that share the style of genre (Folk) I came across many that have the image of the artist in black and white, for example Ben Howards album cover for 'I forgot where I belong'. I like the noir style of cover because then you can alter the different layers of colour such as her hair, the greens of the grass and the red lipstick that she used, the use of have specific colours standout is used in album covers such as Gabrielle Aplins 'English Rain' and movie promotional covers such as 'Sin City'.

Panel 2

This second panel I thought that it would make a good reference to the whole narrative that is being shown in the music video. The look that the girl gives stephan indicates that she is in deep conversation or deep thought that is contrasted by the next image which is the hand moving away when he tries to tough her. I like the colours and the colour grading in this picture because it gives the image a more realistic approach to the sea side and makes the colour of Sorrels hair really stand out.

Panel 2 Idea

Panel 3 Idea

When discussing with fellow students and asking my teacher the best advice for alternative images to put into my panels, this image taken from the beach using the name of the band and featuring the band was very popular. I feel that this would be an excellent idea, using both panel 2+3 to create a landscape view of the ocean featuring the female protagonist character. Goodwins theory would link to this image because the still mimics the idea of the audience seeing the ocean and then they can relate to the image. I shows of the iconic landscape that the beach has to offer and also shows the importance of the sea itself in relation to the ideologies that are seen in the music video of vast isolation and vulnerability. I feel that by using one still and creating a panoramic view of the seaside would be a positive option and would connote the significance of the location giving it its own persona (Personifying the beach).

Panel 3

The third panel I though was rather unique because its the image you see of her placing the stones into her pocket and therefore the realisation that she is about to do something that will affect her life. I like the image of her placing the rock into her pocket because it tells the audience about the sort of character that she is and what she is prepared to do. Along side with the colour of her nails, it connotes the fact that she is still taking time to feminise herself which shows a level of dignity. This panel will be used for the cd backdrop. 

Panel 3 Alternative Idea

As well as using the panoramic landscape of the beach as panel 3, I also thought about using the hat being washed up onto the beach to be quite significant. As you see Lucy walking into the sea at the end of the music video, it is the optimum moment that has been leading up since when you see her placing stones into her pocket. The white hat symbolises purity, innocence and being independent, all these words link to the ideology to the emotions that she is feeling throughout the music video. When the audience sees the hat being washed up onto the sand, they get the impression that its over and they know what's happened even though they haven't witnessed it, but have decoded (Stuart Hall) the outcome, I thought that this was a powerful message that could be used for the inside panel or for the back, panel 4. 

Panel 3 Alternative Idea

 Another idea that was brought up by my teacher was to include behind the scenes shots to be incorporated into the CD cover. By using these photos that I took while in the production phase of the music video, loyal fans and others may be interested in how the music video was made. I thought that I wasn't as strong as the first previous idea, but liked the concept of showing the audience members some of the behind the scenes images to let them see how the video was put together. I also thought that we could include a digi-pack into the CD like a booklet showing a variety of different images from behind the scenes and stills from the footage we didn't use for an exclusive look, we would include this picture as well

Panel 4

This is the final panel when looking at the photos I took on the shoot that I thought had some significance to it. The silhouette image of Steven strikes me as an enigma because of the stance and the lack of knowledge that comes with the image, the audience isn't fully aware of what character he is and what part does he play in the actions that Lucy eventually takes in the music video. The fact that he is distant form the camera suggests that his character is distant in his role in his relationship with Lucy and that his hand are in his pockets suggesting that he is well preserved and stubborn, amplifying his role in the video. I liked the colour grading and lighting in this picture followed by the location on the bridge, it makes him seem like an evil villain, when the audience points the blame at him for what Lucy has decided to do.

Panel 4 Alternative Idea

When on location for this scene, I wanted Sorrel (Lucy) to look back into the camera to amplify the emotion and isolation that she was feeling and project that back towards the audience. It worked well because she stops in her tracks, looks back, as if looking for help, which puts the audience on edge because they feel that they can't do anything to help, in its self making them feel vulnerable and waits to walk off in the vanishing point of the sea. Goodwins theory of continual motifs of close ups of the lead singer, Sorrel who plays Lucy is also the singer of the band, we use a variety of close ups so that the audience are aware of who the artist is. In the music industry this is very common, so that the  record label can demand that there artist is promoted as much as they can.