Thinking about the audience
Now that you have sketched out your artist and have chosen your song, you need to make sure you have the audience research you need.
- similar artists - same genre - similar / same label: What's the audience? How did you find out? What are their tastes? How can they be labelled and classified (for such a wide age-range, there might be several subgroups)
Create an audience profile.
REMEMBER:
'Audience' is a key concept in media because media texts are produced with an audience in mind, a group of people who will receive the text and make some sense out of it; the text will gratify them in some ways. The ways in which they receive the media text is also worth considering.
SO the audience is part of the equation. The video is ultimately serving as a marketing device for the artist and the record label so must appeal.
Audience research is an important element for any media producer. It is important to understand how a targeted audience is 'made up' and how it can be broken down into categories.
Demographics • age • gender • sexual orientation • family size • family life cycle (see below) • occupation (usually of the Chief Income Earner or CIE) • income (with special interest in disposable income) • education (highest level reached) • religion • nationality • socio-economic status
Psychographics - Attitudes, beliefs, interests
Also think about the different generations:
Secondary audience research looks at the data and existing research about the audience to construct a sound analysis. This will include quantitative and qualitative research / data.
Appealing to your audience through generic conventions of music videos for your genre:
- Why is genre useful when targeting an audience?
- Conventions:What you expect to see?
- Iconography – Genre indicators
What conventions or elements of iconography are present here and how will this appeal to an audience?
Use ideas from audience theories too:
Blumler and Katz' Uses and Gratifications - here it is likely that out of the main categories, the music video will address areas such as Diversion / Escapism, Personal Identity and Personal Relations/ Social Interactions.
Reception Theory:
What messages will be dominant? ie the preferred / encoded reading - how will you make sure that your target audience shares the 'code' of the text? Will you use intertextual references to clarify and anchor meanings (as well as gratify the audience)?
In what ways could messages be negotiated? Is there any risks your messages might find oppositional readings?
Cultivation Theory: What hegemonic messages are likely to be present/ reinforced?
Look at this old post for further help:
http://a2musicvid.blogspot.com/2015/09/audience-research-1-initial-questions.html
Thinking about the conventions for your chosen music video genre
What are the codes and conventions of the music videos by similar artists? You will need to do music video analyses with screengrabs. Use the ideas of Goodwin and Vernallis to help you. What are the dominant features? What music videos will influence your work? You will need to do a collage of shots to illustrate the types of style, iconography, narrative, techniques etc that are likely to appeal to your audience and are source of inspiration for your own work.
Look at these student's work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xi9M1CK_6w
https://www.scribd.com/document/242442454/Arctic-Fire-The-Suburbs
https://lishagorasia.wixsite.com/a2mediastudies/research
We will be looking at the following music videos in class:
Lana Del Rey https://youtu.be/JRWox-i6aAk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdrL3QxjyVw
Paloma Faith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijel4Vcqd9g&feature=youtu.be
Mumford and Sons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqFsRt0uYzA&feature=youtu.be
