Evaluation - Question four:

Evaluation - Question four:
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In order to explain and answer how my group used media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of our work, myself and my group partner Amber also collaboratively answered this question. We used Gliffy, a mind mapping website, to list and analyse every form of technology which was really important and beneficial to us. I also made links to appropriate theories and concepts for this question which are stated below.

An example of a concept which can be applied to my answer to this question are Henry Jenkin's theories. He has theorised about the emergence of a convergence culture as a result of different types of technologies and skills used for them. This relates to me using different media technologies for my research, planning and evaluation stages. My mind maps which list and explain how I used them can be seen underneath this, they are best viewed by clicking on them to expand them and then opening the images in a new tab:

Media Technologies - Hardware:

Media technologies - Software (Internet) related:

Media technologies - Software (Computer technology) related:

Evaluation - Question three:

Evaluation - Question three:
What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I was able to answer this question by retrieving feedback from a variety of people from different age groups. They were able to provide their thoughts, opinions and suggestions about my group's music video and ancillary tasks (website and CD digi-pack). This was done through filmed interviews and online questionnaires. These provided answers which we learned from in relation to questions like what they would rate our main product, what they liked about it and our ancillary tasks, what they thought we could improve on, if they'd recommend them to other people to view and use and what theories and concepts they thought our products related too. For example, the hypodermic model states that audiences consume the messages of media products by interpreting them directly. This would mean those who view mine would take on the approach that love won't last forever. This allowed my group member and I to gain a lot of knowledge about what different viewers thought about them.

Audience Feedback Interviews:

Once we filmed our interviews, which included asking females and males between the ages of sixteen to fifty four a mixture of open and closed questions (to gain an in-depth range of data) about our music video, CD digi-pack and website, we made one joint video of them by editing them together. This was done by using Adobe Premier Pro and Windows Movie Maker. We mostly included young people as they are our predicted target market and were more easily accessible to us. This is why we included a longer, more spontaneous interview with Ryan at the end of the video. This was helpful as it proved to us our target market may mostly be relatively young girls who apart of an active audience since they may share our media products on social media. Although it was also really interesting and beneficial to see what adults thought about our video too since they helped me learn about how different age groups would consume my media products and therefore media products in general. It can be viewed below:

Audience Feedback Online Questionnaire:

We also asked students from our school to answer questions on an online questionnaire which featured closed questions. I thought this would help us learn quickly about what viewers thought as it would take less time for people to complete and therefore appear more appealing to do so. I made it on www.surveymonkey.com. Three males and three females answered it and they were between the ages of seventeen and eighteen. The questionnaire can be seen below:


Create your own user feedback survey

The answers of our survey can be viewed on this picture:

Conclusion about what my group learned from this feedback:

I created a presentation using www.powtoon.com which summarises what I have learned about as a result of gaining feedback from different people. I have analysed how they responded to my music video and ancillary tasks which has resulted in my knowledge about viewers increasing. For example, I have made theoretical links to their feedback which has helped me to explore the fact that different people will have different responses, opinions and emotions towards my media products. One of the theories I have mentioned in relation to my feedback is Hall's Reception Theory. It relates to it because those who recognise and agree with the messages in relation to love and the loss of it I have incorporated within my music video and ancillary tasks, would take on a dominant reading. Other connections to theories as well as how my knowledge about audiences has increased can be viewed below:

Evaluation - Question two:

Evaluation - Question two:
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

I used PowerPoint and Slideshare to present the introductory part of our answer. This describes the combined importance of our main product (our music video) and ancillary tasks (CD digi-pack and website) with links to the synergy between them and theories such as and Katz and Lazersfeld's Two Step Flow Theory and Anderson's Longtail Theory.

For example, since my main product and ancillary tasks share the same themes and conventions in relation to love and the loss of it, the combination of them exaggerates this. However, since my group has incorporated metaphorical and symbolic imagery, they may be consumed by viewers in different ways. An example of this is the snakeskin background used on the front cover of my CD and on my website, which could be a metaphorical link to the character of the boyfriend in the video as snakes have connotations of being sly. Therefore, this relates to the Two Step Flow Theory, which states opinion leaders view media products in one way, spread their thoughts to others, who then interpret these in their own way too. This highlights how effective the combination of my main products and ancillary tasks is, as the presentation below continues to do:

 

Media Evaluation - Question Two from CalumMc

Pixton is a collaborative presentation tool myself and my group partner used to help in explaining the rest of my answer, but in a cartoon format. We liked that this allowed us to create characters which could be likened to us and our situation. It allows us to provide more detail in further explaining how effective the combination of our main product and ancillary
tasks is in a more informative, original and mostly relatable way.

Evaluation - Question one:

Evaluation - Question one:
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?  

I used Soundcloud to upload a voice recording of myself starting to answer this question. For example, I explain how theoretical links to Andrew Goodwin's Conventions Theory and Richard Dyer's Star Theory can be made to my music video in relation their forms and conventions.

Another concept in relation to the narrative of my music video which adheres to the conventions of real media products since it revolves around love, but also involves the loss of love which means it develops this convention, is Barthes' Narrative Codes. Since there is an element of mystery within my video as reasons for the characters' break-up isn't fully explained, it relates to Barthes' enigma code. This makes it interesting as well as slightly different to real media products. I also begin to compare my video to real media products such as Justin Bieber's and Lady Gaga's videos. For the complete script I used for this recording, it is featured in the description of this clip on my Soundcloud profile which can by found by clicking this link: Question one - Soundcloud Introduction:



To answer the rest of the question I chose to write in the style of a media student, like myself, for a school magazine. I write as the media student analysis how I have created a music video (my music video) and explain to other students about it. I thought it would be an interesting and original idea to further analyse the forms and conventions of it in this way. I was able to do this by using www.joomag.com. It can be viewed and expanded so my analysis can be seen clearer below:

Our Music Video:

This is my group's final music video for the song "Desire" by Years & Years. We created this under the fictional group name Cupid & Medusa. It was really enjoyable to create as we collaboratively shared the roles of directing and editing to make it. I also played the minor role of the "boyfriend/ex-boyfriend" in it too. We were able to use our combined knowledge and skills when using hardware and software from both the AS and A2 parts of our Media Studies course to produce a music video we were both really happy with.

Our CD booklet/Digi-pack:

The digi-pack template I used for my CD in Adobe Photoshop.

The album booklet has the themes of love and the loss of love, which my group wanted to emphasise. These are represented by photos of the main character in our music video we took. We edited them using the website www.picmonkey.com and Adobe Photoshop to feature broken hearts, subtly edited flames onto the front cover and insert, as well as the tearing of the heart on the Lyrics CD insert and the broken screen effect added onto the back cover. The snake theme is also present throughout as a metaphor for the male character in our video. Snakes also have links to the Garden of Eden, as do apples, which also have links to fairytales. These also imply that love can be tempting, but dangerous and it won't necessarily end in happily ever after as our music video shows.

By editing our female character into Snow White for the CD insert behind the CD with text in the form of the seven deadly sins onto it, it represents the corruption of her innocence, addiction, pain and loss of hope which are conventions which tie my music video and ancillary tasks together and link to the main themes. Therefore, we used our female character from our music video on the front and back cover as well as similar conventions to emphatically create a synergy between them.

We also incorporated promotional and advertising techniques in the form of the logo of 'our' fictional record label and a link to our website on the back cover of our CD. These would help to attract more people and gain more fans as I learned from analysing the group, Years and Years, and their official website. A larger picture of these can be viewed on the right.

The CD booklet/Digi-pack can be viewed by slideshow (which I created on www.albumizr.com) below. If you would like to view each individual image please click on the icon on the bottom left of the slideshow and click "direct image link" on the image you would like to view:



Below are some images I took of my digi-pack to display what it could look like if it was an actual media product:

Our Band Website:

In order to connect the conventions and themes of my group's ancillary tasks and music video together, create a synergy between them and help to promote our music duo as if we were real artists, we created a website.

Our website helped to emphasise the metaphorical meanings in connection to love and the loss of it which we wanted to imply. For example, this was done by including eye-catching moving gifs like a girl vomiting hearts, which represents our female character in our music video. This can be seen on the screenshot of our homepage below. It would also aid us in attracting, creating and maintaining a continually growing fandom by displaying features like links to social media, news updates, merchandise and our song and music video. These are advertising techniques which real artists use as I learned about them when I analysed Years & Years's website which can be seen by clicking here.

The website was created on wix.com. It can be viewed by clicking here or by clicking this link: www.cupidandmedusa.wix.com.

Music Video - Behind The Scenes:

Below is a video from my group's filming day which we uploaded to YouTube. It shows an insight into how we filmed with Lois, who plays the main female character in our music video. It also demonstrates how useful the storyboard which we created was to us as it inspired us to create scenes and use close-ups of Lois getting ready and doing her make-up. This is to emphasise that she cared about her boyfriend, put time and effort into pleasing him, but is continually let down which creates a sense of catharsis for viewers. Discussions and evidence of this can be seen in the video below:



The second YouTube video below is made up of more different clips that myself and my group member, Amber, also filmed during the days we have used to create our music video. Some of the footage won't be used in our actual A2 production, as they may be referred to as bloopers, however, it's interesting to analyse and learn from to see what we have done during our production stages. For example, by viewing the video below you will be able to see more evidence of how my group has took planning for our production seriously, so there will be noticeable links between these outtakes, our final production and our ancillary tasks.

Music Video Storyboard:

Creating a storyboard is an important part of planning when creating a media production like my group's music video. It provides with guidelines and ideas with what you want to achieve. This is why we drew what scenes we thought we would like to film and wrote what camera shots and other details we would like to include in them underneath the pictures. The different sections of my storyboard can be viewed below:

Music Video Risk Assessment and Shooting Schedule:

Risk Assessments are an important part of planning for any media production. This is why my group completed one for our music video. By using it we were able to assess any threats we could face and how we would get rid of them and reduce the chances of them ever occurring. For example, if we are walking on slippery surfaces, such as a boggy field, we need to wear sensible clothing. The assessment can be viewed below:

 








We also filled in a shooting schedule. This is another example which proves planning is important. It provides you with an insight into what you want to/need to/should do and directs you to 'fill in the lines,' which you have put into place. In this case, my group knew we wanted the music video to focus mainly on our female character so having locations like her bedroom and a dressing room, as well as props like her clothes and make-up were important to use in relation to mise-en-scene. The schedule can be seen underneath:

Music Video Location Scouting and Props:

                                                                      Locations:

My group thought a lot about what locations we should film at and include in our music video in order to establish the mise-en-scene. We considered locations including our houses, our bedrooms, parks and fields. Since my sister was away for a while, with her permission, I thought her bedroom would be most convenient to film in to represent our female character's bedroom. I also thought it would be good to film my parents' dressing room where we could retrieve close-ups and mid-shots of female character getting ready. Since we decided my house would be really useful to feature in our music video I also suggested filming the views from my house, filming scenes in my garden, and in a park or field near by. Below are some of the shots I captured of my house which may be featured in our A2 media production:

My sister's bedroom.

My sister's bedroom.

My parents' dressing room.

My parents' dressing room.

Views from my house.

Views from my house.

My garden.

Props:

We also considered different props which would look really effective and create different links within our music video.  I knew I had a lot of different decorations and ornaments in my home which have connotations of love and the loss of it. As a result, I thought they would be perfect for our video. Pictures of these are featured below:

Time may be important to include.  

A link to the name of 'our' song, "Desire." 

Connotations of love and life being like a box containing unknown surprises.

Heart decorations linking to love.

Metaphorical design: Lack of love.

Light can symbolise hope. Blowing it out: the loss of it and the end of the characters' relationship.

One Page Pitch for our Music Video:

Overview: 

Our song choice and themes: 

 My group member and I's song choice is Years & Years' song "Desire." We think that this will be a great song because it can connote a multitude of things whilst revolving around the central theme of love which we think every type of viewer could relate to. This is why I think that we could create an interesting narrative following the journey of a main female character who is going through a confusing time and different emotions due to her relationship. Lyrics from in the song including, "Is it desire?" Or Is it love that I'm feeling for you?" would, therefore, fit really well with these ideas.

Target audience:

I think our A2 media production will be aimed towards a relatively young, active audience. Due to the pop/dance/electronic song and a narrative which explores a relationship/the breaking down of a relationship we think our music video will be aimed towards teenagers and young adults. These are people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four. Because of this, I think they would share the video with their friends on social media, which would mean more people would view it and hopefully become our ‘fans’ if we were real artists. I believe that this is the case due to also fitting into this age bracket and asking people I know about how they would view and ‘use’ my group’s video.

Filming and Editing Skills we need to use:

My group would like to create a modern, vibrant and high-quality production reflecting situations today’s youth can relate to, as my group are a part of it. To do this we would really like to work with good quality cameras which we can use and develop our skills with in order to film footage to the best of our abilities. We would also like to include a range of camera shots, like establishing shots, close ups, extreme close ups, mid shots and others which relate to our video’s narrative. Since we have analysed real media products like Calvin Harris and Disciples’s music video for their song, “How Deep Is Your Love,” we would like to incorporate colourful, vibrant and therefore, eye-catching scenes, especially since they reflect the conventions of our song’s genre. This would mean we would have to work with green screens and use features in Adobe Premiere Pro as part of editing to change the colour schemes of our footage because we really like Gigi Hadid's colourful scenes in their video. 

Our One Page Pitch Video:

Music Video Ideas:

I used www.mindmeister.com to create a mindmap which describes our ideas, thoughts and feelings about what I think we could use in our music video. These ideas relate to our potential audience, the characters, the narrative, camera shots, editing and mise-en-scene. The mind map can be viewed below:

  

Music Video Ideas: by Calum Mc

Calvin Harris Music Video Analysis:

An analysis of the music, mise-en-scene, camera shots and editing used for the music video, "How Deep Is Your Love." This can be viewed below. An explanation for why and how it relates to my group member and I's project as well as the evaluation can be viewed in the presentation below the music video:

 

Calvin Harris & Disciples - How Deep Is Your Love (Music Video Analysis): from CalumMc

Years & Years Website Analysis:

In order to create our website I thought it would be best to study more artist's websites. The group I chose was suitably the artists of our single choice, Years & Years. I thought it would be beneficial to learn from them and see what strategies they use in order to advertise their brand and their music to existing fans and news fans. To do this I created a presentation on www.powtoon.com:

Single covers comparisons:

Years & Years' single cover for their song Desire is really interesting as it is a combination of colourful, morphed illustration. I think the alternate and fragmented illustrations show different emotional depictions such as screaming and sadness. Since this makes it look like a type of uneven jigsaw, I think this shows the painful separation of people who are in love and therefore the effects of gaining/losing 'desire.' Since it is also a multitude of different colours I think this also shows the different 'shades' of desire which links to the different emotions people can feel. The colour of the typography is also of significance too since it is red, this may connote a sense of danger that desire can lead to as well, which is emphasised by it being bold.

I really like Discloure and Lorde's single cover for their song "Magnets." I think it's interesting because it combines a simple three/four tone colour palette (black, white and two shades of blue) within and outside the boundaries of a symbolic and iconic illustration. This illustration is a drawing of the featured artist Lorde. What is iconic about the cover is the white drawing of the "Lorde's" face. In fact this is the same face used for Disclosure's single and album covers. It has become their trademark. What I find interesting about this, is it's symbolism. 

The colour blue symbolises sadness whilst the colours black and white are binary opposites. This therefore symbolises opposition which links to the song as it is about the separation of people in a relationship. The colours therefore connote a sense of sorrow as a result of separation which the song is about. It's also important to consider that the 'face' lacks character, it is anonymous and involute, it could reflect anyone and could BE anyone. This makes the cover and therefore the song so real, interesting and intriguing. I also like the different typography used, especially the swirled font used for the name of the song. This is something we could take into account in making our album cover, in order to make it look more interesting.

When creating our single and album covers I think it would be important if my group partner and I to consider both of these covers even if we didn't use one of these tracks for our music video. This is because both of these covers are really interesting and connote really thought provoking and intriguing meanings. I'd like it if we morphed different images and created some sort of collage a bit like Years & Years have done, but also think about the colour scheme and typography like Disclosure and Lorde did too. This research has definitely been useful and inspirational.

Single choice comparisons:

Years & Years – Desire:

Desire is the band's fifth single. It was written by the group's members and singer-songwriter Kid Harpoon. As well as also being produced by the group, it was produced by music producer and songwriter Two Inch Punch. The song was recorded and released in 2014. It's official release in the UK as a digital download was the 23rd of November. It successfully peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. It's length is 3:25, which means, as it is reasonably long our music video needs to be interesting and captivating. It could possibly involve scenes connected to someone's personal journey and their gain/loss of love.

As the track is connected to the synthpop/electronica genre it means it is a dance track which needs to be reflected in our music video if we picked this track. Therefore, the video should include elements typical of music videos for these genres, which include fast-cuts, quick transitions and scenes which are morphed together. We chose to consider this track as we are fans of the group and this song’s catchiness.

Disclosure & Lorde’s – Magnets:

"Magnets" is a single by Disclosure and features Lorde's vocals. It was released from the group's second album Caracal as their third promotional single. The date of release was the 23rd of September 2015 under Disclosure's record labels Island Records and PMR Records. The song was written by these artists as well as singer-songwriter Jimmy Napes. The single became Disclosure’s most successful song in New Zealand and Australia. This could possibly be because of Lorde who is from New Zealand and became a worldwide viral sensation with her single "Royals" in 2013. Their collaboration peaked in these countries at No. 2 and No. 14. This meant it became their highest charting song in these countries. It was also a noticeable success in America as it became their first single to make an impact on alternative and adult alternative radio.

As it is also quite long since it is 3 minutes and 19 seconds long and is linked to the deep house, UK garage, synthpop, tropical house genres my group partner and I would also need to consider creating a music video suitable for this dance track. Since the song contains lyrics which have connotations to the loss of love, such as “melting magnets” which connotes the slow separation between people it could also contain quick transitions between scenes showing someone’s sad, personal journey. I am a personal fan of these artists and this song and thought it would be worth comparing for our choice of track.

Textual Analysis - Years & Years' "Desire" Music Video:

I created a textual analysis using Microsoft Powerpoint and uploaded it onto www.slideshare.com. It was really useful as it allowed me to explore the aspects of sound, mise-en-scene, camera shots and editing which are apart of the video. Since my group may want to use Years & Years' song for our A2 media production this is an important part of research as it has helped to expand our knowledge on how real artists create music videos cleverly and professionally. Due to this, it has influenced our thoughts and opinions about how we will create ours. My Slideshare presentation can be viewed below:

"Desire" Music Video Analysis: from CalumMc

Years & Years Case Study:

Years & Years are an all-male trio who were founded originally as a five piece, British electronica band in London. The band is made up of the keyboard playing frontman and lead singer Olly Alexander, Mikey Goldsworthy who plays bass guitar and Emre Türkmen who also plays keyboard. The two past members are Noel Leeman and Olivier Subria. Their music has been thought of as being electropop, whilst being mixed with 1990s house and R&B sounds. Genres attached to the them include synthpop, indie pop and electronica. This is a result of their influences who include the dance music producers Flying Lotus, Diplo, Jai Paul and Radiohead.

Years & Years have become more successful with each music release. After releasing three singles, the band impressed Polydor Records, a britsh record label and company operating as part of the Universal Music Group. This resulted in them signing to the label and relasing their fourth single under them, "Take Shelter." This resulted in their EP reaching number one on the iTunes UK Singles Electronic Chart.

In January 2015, their sixth single called King was previewed on BBC Radio 1. One of the radio hosts Zane Lowe named it the Hottest Record of the day. In the same month they also won a prestigious award, the BBC Sound of 2015 award. In March of that year, their single was also a success as it reached number one on the UK singles chart. Then on the 18th their success grew with an announcement of their first album, "Communion." It ended up also reaching number 1 when it entered the UK Albums Chart. They have also won many awards including MTVu's Artist To Watch Award in 2014 and Gaffa's Best New International Artist Act and Attitude's Album of the Year awards in 2015. 

Textual Analysis - Disclosure and Lorde's "Magnets" Music Video:

Since Disclosure's and Lorde's song "Magnets" is a potential song chose for my A2 music video I thought it would be beneficial to also analyse their music video for it. By creating a textual analysis where I was able to evaluate the song, camera shots, editing and mise-en-scene I was able to learn more about the song and how it links to the video. I really liked that these features create contrasts between the characters in relation to love and the loss of it. This has inspired me and made me think about what my group will do to create an interesting and professional looking video. My powerpoint which I made on Microsoft Powerpoint, which I then uploaded on www.slideshare.com can be seen below:

"Magnets" Music Video Analysis: from CalumMc

Lorde Case Study:

Ella Yelich-O'Connor is now better known by her stage name Lorde. She is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. The genres of music include art pop, dream pop, indie pop, electro pop and indietronica. In her early teens, she signed with Universal Music Group and was later paired with the songwriter and record producer Joel Little, who has co-written and produced most of Lorde's releases.

In the middle of 2013, Lorde released her debut single "Royals". It became an international hit and made Lorde the youngest solo artist to achieve a US number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1987. Later on in 2013, she released her debut studio album, Pure Heroine. The record topped the charts of New Zealand and Australia and reached number three on the US Billboard 200. Its following successful singles include "Tennis Court", "Team", "No Better" and "Glory and Gore."

Lorde would be an exciting artist to study, as I'm a fan of her, as well as Disclosure and their song. I think that her achievement of becoming so popular at such a young age is inspirational and something that may be important to learn from. As a group, thinking as an artist is important in creating a music video and website. Therefore, my choosing a catchy song and thinking about the audience(s) who would like it is important, as if we were a real duo, we could replicate Lorde's blueprint of also becoming young, mainstream artists. I also like that in her and Disclosure’s music video for their single, she appears, acts and lip-syncs in it. This shows that artists who combine theatre with music are popular, with examples such as her, Gaga and Madonna also proving this.

Disclosure Case Study:

Disclosure are an English electronic music duo consisting of brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence. The siblings grew up in Surrey. Their music which is related to genres such as house, deep house, UK garage, future garage, UK funky and synth-pop has reached international success. This has been helped by acts they’ve worked with such as Sam Smith, AlunaGeorge, Eliza Doolittle and Jessie Ware.
Their debut album, "Settle," which was released in 2013 was nominated for Best/Electronic Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards. They most recently released a second studio album, "Caracal," on 25 September 2015 which was also nominated for best

Disclosure could be a captivating duo to study as they are really unique and different to other artists and duos which exist and have existed. I think that my group may be able to learn beneficial lessons from them in terms of how to market singles and create music videos. For example, I think that it's interesting that the pair are rarely in their music videos, yet they are still popular and are a mainstream success. Therefore, although the may not have famous faces, their artist name is.

Artist and Single choice Ideas:

In order to explore which artists and which of their songs my group could choose for our project I thought it would be best to create a mind map of ideas. This was created on www.bubble.us and can be viewed below.  

Analysing The Dance Music Industry:

Below is a Prezi Presentation about the research I  have found about the dance music industry. Some of this research can be found from the following website: Dance Music Industry Information.. I feel that this information has been beneficial learn about as the song choices my group have been thinking about, like "Desire" by Years & Years relate to the dance music genre. From what I have learned I think that if we were real artists, we would be able to to gain a large audience for it, since dance music is growing in popularity, especially if we had a record label as that would be beneficial to help promote it. As well as this, the use of social media and music sharing platforms online also seem incredibly important. When creating our ancillary task in the form of our website, I think it would, therefore, be important to include social media links so that we can gain and maintain a growing fandom.

Marketing Music Videos:

The research I found out about the marketing of music videos is useful as it will help my group in completing tasks for the A2 part of my media course. It helps us understand how beneficial a music video is in promoting a track. As part of the course we also need to create a website. This research suggests that websites are also really important for artists as it helps to promote artists and their songs. If an artist is signed to a record label, they would help them create one so they reach a wider audience. When we create the website, we will have to bear in mind these things so we know how to promote "our" brand and "our" song. Realistically, artists could offer outlets for listeners to listen and stream a song like on Spotify, iTunes and Beatport so we need to bear this in mind too.

I found out that the marketing process by some record labels can affect an artist's album artwork, single artwork and music video. Examples of this include Hussle Recordings, Monstercat and Spinnin' Records. They are record labels which use their logos on artworks for albums as a way of promoting their brands. This is a great tactic as it allows audiences to see their label when new music from them is released which allows them to become more easily recognised and music of the genre relating to the label becoming more well known. This is something which my group should consider as we would want out track and music video to be promoted successfully.

Other ways artists market, promote and advertise themselves and their media products which I have researched about are stated below:

Marketing, Promotion and Advertising: by Calum McDermott

Music Video Regulation:

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) regulate music videos. They do this through the use of age ratings. An age rating is a guideline for an audience and the guardians of viewers as a suggestion for what is or isn't suitable for someone for their age group.

The associate editor of the Sunday Times, Krissi Murison, was interviewed about music video regulation on Radio 4's Today Programme. She said that to regulate music videos it could work with parent supervision if it was constant, although she's not fully convinced.

Full censorship?

Alternatively, full censorship of music videos could be introduced. However, it seems that there are loopholes to the recent introduction of this as it is a problem for artists since censorship can reduce their exposure. For example, when Rihanna's music video for her song Bitch Betta Have My Money was released it was censored so much that only users with a YouTube account who had verified they were aged 18 or over could view it. This meant normal internet viewers could not see the music video or hear the song whilst watching it. This resulted in the eventual introduction of warning signs added before the video which allowed normal users to see the video. Although there is an element of censorship it makes it pointless since anyone of any age can still watch the video.

One example when censorship has been implemented to the extreme was on the music video for M.I.A's song Born Free. It included the mass genocide of ginger people. This resulted in the video completely being banned from YouTube, which meant it could only be seen on Vevo. This could be because of it possibly being viewed as having racist themes.

The blurred lines of regulation:

Another example of extreme censorship was in relation to the very controversial music video for Robin Thicke's, T.I.'s and Pharell's collaboration "Blurred Lines." In the uncut version of the video it featured topless models. This resulted in it being removed from YouTube as a result of it violating it's terms in relating to nudity. However, it was later restored, but with an age restriction proving once again that censorship can be devalued. A second clean version was also uploaded on Robin's YouTube channel, possibly as a result of the backlash.

Lily Allen responded to Blurred Lines with her music video for her first single from her most recent album called "It's Hard out Here." Many see this as a feminist anthem rebelling against misogynistic views such as those expressed in Robin's video. In response to his balloons featured in the video which spelled “Robin Thicke has a big dick,” she used satire to express her negative views on it by including balloons in her video which spelled "Lily Allen has a baggy pussy."

Lily Allen also caused controversy in relation to censorship for herself later on for the music video for her third single, "Our Time." This is because MTV said they wanted a clean version of it. Lily responded to this by saying, "MTV want to ban the 'Our Time' video during the daytime, unless they get a clean edit that shows you a) NOT DRINKING FROM A FLASK and b) NOT DISPLAYING ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR FROM DRINKING BY FIGHTING WITH THE HOT DOG. I told the label we are NOT making a clean version of the video."

My thoughts:

I agree with what Lily is saying because compared to other music videos it only shows mild taboo in a comical and satirical light which most people are used to anyway. I think that this research proves complete/extreme censorship is impossible. This is usually because of the artist's rebelling against it. Although there are certain themes in music videos like nudity I wouldn't want younger people seeing so I feel like age restrictions should be strict. I think this would be a suitable solution.

Peter Fraser’s 10 steps to Music Video success:

In an article named "10 Steps To Success" in the MediaMagazine, Pete Fraser, the principle examiner, wrote about the 10 crucial steps which help to make a successful music video for the A2 course. This article is really useful because it explained in detail what I should and shouldn't do so that I can make an original and really good music video. I will therefore need to consider these steps throughout the creative process for it which are labelled and explained on the mind-map I created on www.mindmeister.com below:

Ten Steps to Music Video Success: by Calum Mc

The Making of Music Videos:

Below is a detailed Powtoon presentation inspired by information from: The Making of Videos Information. The article is a step by step guide to making a successful video. I am now informed of each stage I should take, any issues which could occur and things I hadn't previously thought about like legal issues. This was really interesting to learn about as it helped to inform and inspire me and my group member in thinking of our ideas for our music video. Hopefully, it will be beneficial for us.

Audience Theory and Textual Analysis - Male Gaze Theory and "Baby Baby Baby" Music Video:

Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory is a type of deconstructive theory. This means it is a completion of ideas which analyse why and how people behave. In 1975 she created it from noticing women in music videos are filmed indifferently to men. She believes they have different expectations of what they should look and act like. For example, the media focuses on the weight of women and see being thin in a positive light and being bigger negatively. As a result, she explains that when we are watching music videos which focus regularly on the bodies of women when they are in them, we are watching them through a heterosexual male’s perspective which is called voyeurism.

The main features of ‘The Male Gaze’ theory include:

1. The representation of women as a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexual male point of view
2. Scopophilia: The pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies
3. Objectification of female characters
4. Representing a patriarchal society
5. Showing an active male and passive female: Meryl Streep, a part of the film Suffragette said only 15% of films have lead female characters. Until recently it wasn’t unusual for the actors and make-up artists to be the only females on set
6. Men are shown as being dominant and controlling
7. Women as an image
8. Men do the looking and women are there to be looked at
9. Meeting the needs of the male ego

An overview of this Theory which I made on www.mindmeister.com:

The Male Gaze Theory: by Calum Mc

An example of a music video where this theory can be applied:

Make The Girl Dance's "Baby Baby Baby" Music Video which is mentioned on the mind map above shows features of the Male Gaze theory as it includes naked/semi-naked females who lip-sync along to provocative, French lyrics. Theorist Andrew Goodwin who says that the imagery and lyrics of music videos connect to one other would be proven right in this instance as the women’s sexualised appearances are emphasised through this connection. Due to the fact they sing in French, it could be implied that an immediate, stereotypical association between lyricism, women and sex can be made because of the popular, previously released song “Lady Marmalade,” in which sleeping with someone is a sung about topic in this language. This connection between the viewers and artists is known as a “spectacle,” which links to the objectification of these women.

Mid-shots are used to focus on the women undressing in public places, where men can be seen taking long stares at them. It is evident that Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory can therefore be applied as we view these women in a stereotypical, heterosexual view. This is highlighted by the fact the women walk towards the camera as they undress which feeds into the sexual fantasies of these men and also represents the women as a man’s object who are there to be looked at and enjoyed. Interestingly, this can be seen in the music video, since the reaction of men imply that they like seeing these undressed women, whilst other clothed women look shocked when they see them.

Audience Theory – The Life Matrix Theory:

A market research tool known as The Life Matrix is used to put different types of audiences in one of ten different categories like people described as "tribe wired" or "free birds." The categories can be viewed below on the mind-map I made using www.bubbl.us:

Applying it to my group's audience

I have applied this to my group's potential song choice ideas like our current favourite Desire by Years & Years. Due to the genre of the song which is classified as synth-pop I believe our audience for this song would be people who fit into either the tribe wired or fun/atics categories. This is because the song is connected to the young generations and modern, digital era since it is a relatively new development to the pop music sound stereotypically associated with mainstream pop music. Since this song could also fit into a dance music genre it may appeal to young people since they are stereotypically associated with partying, which fun seeking people may like, especially if they like dancing in clubs.