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