Here is the research for my music video
The Vaccines - Wetsuit
The concept of the music video is very interesting, as the images are sourced from the audience, making it feel more personal. This combined with the dark orange tone that the images had makes it feel more personal and nostalgic. It featured lots of young adults and things that young adults do, such as drinking alcohol all night long. It would be very fitting with its young adult target audience, who likes to reminisce their younger days, despite still being young themselves. However, I believe the music video is too static, which would be fine for a minute but gets boring over time.
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Dani California
The song is about the story of a girl named Dani, sharing her life experiences, talking about events like her being locked up in prison, until her death. The music video however, seems to be completely unrelated to the story of Dani. The video's concept depicts RHCP performing the song as different bands from different eras, like Elvis Presley, or The Beatles, paying homage to them. As the song progresses, they start using close up shots more often, and even include several low dutch angle shots. This, plus the erratic camera movements, could correlate to the lyrics, as the story of Dani gets crazier and crazier. This would engage the audience as they would notice that the song is getting more intense, making them more excited to listen and watch until the end.
The target audience are more varied. This is due to the concept including different bands of different eras. Therefore, fans of older bands may find this music video as interesting as fans of younger bands. However, the main target audience are young adults, ages 15 to 25. This is due to the bright colours and more camera movements, which might not suit the eyers of older people who would prefer a duller, slower video.
I like the concept of having elements from different media texts or things, which would be very helpful in diversifying our audience. However, i wouldn't want to make a music video where the video and lyrics have very little connection between the two. It would be a much better experience for the audience if they can relate the music video with the lyrics.
KSI - Holiday
Media Language
The music video centres around couples enjoying their time. The camera angles used were close ups, making their interaction more intimate and may build a connection with the audience. It was also shot in slow motion, emphasising and further intensifying the intimate relationship the couples have. This is very typical of slow love songs, where they would like the audience to feel like they are a part of the relationship shown. This is prefect to set a romantic mood that would be appropriate when listening to such music.
Representation
The diverse representation of people in the video, including people of colour and LGBT couple, conforms to the stereotypes and ideology of its young target audience, who tend to be more 'woke' and open minded in topics regarding social groups. All people were represented positively, which would inform the audience that this music video is a light hearted and fun, positive, romantic music video, as opposed to a sad one.
Audience
Other than fans of pop, love, romantic music, this song mainly appeals to young audience. The singer, KSI, is a young YouTuber, who people look up to for breaking boundaries, where previously YouTubers were seen as weak and lame people. This can be explained through the Uses and Gratification theory of personal identity, where people consume media because they look up to a role model (KSI). As mentioned previously, elements of LGBT and maybe people of colour being starts of the show might be a turn off for some people, particularly older people who holds more conservative beliefs. This is in contrast with younger people, who tend to be more open minded regarding said issues. Therefore, the main target audience would be young adults.
Industry
The music video was posted on YouTube, which would make the most sense as KSI is a YouTuber, so most of his fans would have it recommended on their page and thus maximise views and exposure for KSI. YouTube in general is very popular not only to young adults, their target audinece, but people of all ages, from young kids to old grannies.
I think the music video fits very well with the lyrics.
Black Eyed Peas - Where is The Love?
Where is The Love is a song which is spreading the message of how care and love has disappeared from Earth. The music video shows us people sticking stickers, painting, or discovering images of a red question mark. This mysterious question mark can be classified as a hermeneutic code, a part of Roland Barthes's five narrative code. It is mainly shown using a close up or a long shot. The close up shots are very in your face, and will definately give a small shock to the audience, who would sense the urgency of the message. The compilation of long shots make this seem like its everywhere. This mysterious element that appears throughout the music video would make audiences more interested and hooked in watching the entirety of the music video. The very fast paced cuts and erratic camera movements indicate chaos and a feeling of urgency,
The target audience would be younger, western people, who are stereotypically portrayed as 'woke'. The people being represented were children people of colour, filmed with a close up shot, which builds an intimate relationship between the audience and the children. It also highlights their face and emotions more. Younger people tend to be more passionate about issues relating people of colour.
I enjoy how simple yet impactful the video is. It does a very great job at spreading the message of the lack of love by using a mysterious question mark as its centrepiece.
Weezer - Island in The Sun
The song is a very happy one, and the music video perfectly reflect its happiness. The lyrics talk about the joys of being on a holiday. The setting of the video is at some wedding, which is a happy event. The people in the shots are moving slowly, and this combined with the bright colours and grainy texture gives a nostalgic feeling in audiences, and nostalgia is associated with happiness. All the things just said work together cohesively to evoke a positive and happy feeling in audiences.
The target audience is more diverse with a larger range, appealing to both young and old audiences between the ages of 14 to around 50. The slowness of the camera movements and acting of the actors makes it more appealing and easy to watch for older audience, while younger audience can relate to the lyrics about holidays, which young people love. The bright colours may also appeal to younger people more so than older audiences.
I like how well the music video fits the lyrics, unlike some songs that I have researched, where the lyrics are disconnected with the music video.
Pharrell Williams - Happy
The song is about feeling happy, and not much else. The music video features people of all walks of life being joyful at whatever they're doing. They were shown mostly individually and using a medium shot. The use of a medium shot is very important as not only is the happy body language of the actors being shown, but also the often peaceful surroundings.
BRANDING
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Analysis
Red Hot Chilli Peppers has built an image around psychadelism, and this can be seen by how they present themselves in their music videos, album cover, and social media. From the logo, which is a star of affinity, we can already see that they were going for a 'chaotic' or avant garde style in music and presentation. It helps that their logo is very simple yet reflects them so well. Their album covers are also very psychedelic and trance inducing. It is very colourful and abnormal, as seen from the examples above. Their social media page is pretty standard in todays world, where they would have their most recent album featured on their banner, and posting upcoming tour dates. Their music videos always have a very energetic and again, psychedelic elements, featuring lots of colourful video effects.
Black Eyed Peas
Analysis
Songs made by the Black Eyed Peas mostly fall under the dance/hip-hop and EDM genre. This can be seen from the way they have branded themselves. They have never stuck to a single logo, but one common feature of their logos are that they look techno or futuristic. The first logo shown above includes thunders, which is associated with electricity, which is associated with the EDM genre. Their album covers also look futuristic, like the computer generated green human face. Their social media page is littered with bright colours, and lasers, common features you see in EDM festivals or raves. Other than that though, its pretty standard for a musical group, having their latest release as their banner and posting tour dates. Bright colours and lasers can also be found in their music videos, as seeon above. I think they have done a great job at portraying themselves as an EDM dance band. They have incorporated conventions from those genres very well in their branding, and it would be easy for audiences to tell what genre they are.
This research has taught me lots of things. It made me realise how connected the band's branding is with everything they do, including the media language they use in their music video. Through the research, we were able to decide that it would be best to have a music video that is related to the lyrics of the song, as I have found through analysing several music videos that when the music video and lyrics match, it keeps the audience more engaged. Im pretty satisfied with this research as it introduced me to the conventions of music videos and different genres, including the one we are doing;
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