Analysis of music genres

Justin Bieber- One Less Lonely Girl.

At the beginning of the music video, there is mid-shot of the artist of him in a launderette with a guitar, it  helps establish the scene for the video and begins the narrative of the video. The shot also helps the audience familiarize themselves with the artist as this was one of his first few music videos and he wasn't quite an established artist yet, he is playing a guitar in the shot which again makes it evident to the audience that he is a performer as well as singer.

20 seconds into the video there is a close-up of the artist, he is singing to the camera which makes it more personal to the audience and makes fans feel more involved, the colors are bright and vibrant which conforms to his 'pop' image and are also in keeping with the relaxed atmosphere the scene portrays. The background image is slightly blurred which makes it obvious that Justin Bieber is the focus and centre of attention too, also giving away the plot that revolves mainly around him.

The music video has quite a slow pace of editing which is so the audience can keep up with the narrative of the video, another reason for the slow pace editing is because the song is quite slow anyways, there are lots of scenes showing Justin Bieber and a girl edited in but reasonably slow this is because he may want to establish himself and make him more familiar to the audience.

There are jump cuts that have been edited into the music video, this is to maintain the narrative of the video but not waste too much time as the story line takes a while to establish and follow. The jump cuts make the video have a slightly quicker pace at certain parts to help speed up the long narrative happening but overall the pace is still generally quick slow.

Mise-en-scen is shown throughout the music video, the setting is in a launderette before the narrative takes the setting of a street and many more shops. This setting makes the audience feel more involved as the launderette and other shops are quite day to day occurrences, which makes it seem as though Justin Bieber is including the audience on a more personal level in his day to day life.

Justin Bieber is shown in quite casual clothes throughout the video, this makes him more likable as his audience and fans would be roughly around the same age and dress similarly, as he's quite young and its one of his first few videos, Him being dressed casually also makes the video more relaxed and comfortable for the audience too, it makes him seem more personal to the audience as though he isn't putting on a show and being a artist he's not by dressing a certain way for the video.

Drake- Over.
at the beginning of the music video there is a mid-shot of Drake sitting on a bed in a room, this makes the audience feel more personal as the shot shows a more stripped back artist as opposed to him posing for the camera he seems relaxed, the main focus is the artist and the lyrics to the song as the setting is so plain. This lets his talent become more obvious earning his celebrity status he wasn't accustomed to as this was his first big song.

there is another mid-shot towards the beginning of the music video where the walls in the room change to show traffic really fast, this could portray Drakes fast pace lifestyle that he now leads because of fame.

Music Video Analysis.

The video I’ve chose to analyse is Katy Perry – wide awake, it uses many different techniques to intrigue the audience including bright colours and an interesting narrative that entertains the audience. The target audience for the music video is a young female audience, however she also appeals to the male audience too as she’s seen as a sex symbol and wears revealing costumes. The narrative of the video is to show her journey through fame to the audience, it includes a young girl who is portraying her younger self also giving her an insight into the lifestyle. At the beginning of the wide awake music video, Katy Perry finish’s filming her previous song California Girls before walking off set to prepare for her next song; this makes the audience feel more involved on a personal level as it doesn’t cut straight to each music video but includes the audience in behind the scene aspects too.

The show shows Katy Perry finishing her song through the camera which also shows the image she portrays to the public; it could represent the front she puts on to the media in order to maintain her image, however the shot is colourful and bright connoting her whereas through the camera lenses the shot becomes grey and less bright which could represent the effect the media has on her and the image she has to maintain. The shot has a personal aspect as you can see the filming behind the camera man giving you the impression of involvement however the camera adds glamour too the video as the finalised version shows Katy Perry on a cloud of candyfloss whereas in reality its edited on a green screen, the insight could portray that she wears a mask and conceals a lot from the public,  although it’s a previous music video the footage is included in her current video which could show that she’s showing the real her now by revealing the footage before it was edited and released.

After this particular shot Katy Perry cheers that the music video seems to be finished, this could highlight the fact that she’s pleased it all over so she can begin to reveal herself in the video for Wide Awake which begins to play. The close up shot of Katy Perry closing the door on a member of the team shows her escaping the limelight before it cutting to show her removing her wig that she wore for the video, she allows the audience too see this as if beginning to remove all the false factors that make the image she maintains in the song California Girls also preparing the audience to see something new of her that they might not of seen before.

This shot shows the realisation after removing her wig as the background slowly pans through a forest to show Katy Perry in a completely different way, her hair is a darker colour which could connote the reality, as California girls the wig is pink and the fact that she removes the wig for the audience to see highlights how false the scene was whereas the darker purple hair could represent her darker intimate side with the high angle shot showing her as inferior. Previously Katy Perry was positioned on a cloud appearing happy yet the narrative links to the lyrics which read “falling from cloud nine” giving the audience a sense of foreboding as we get the idea the rest of the video will be different from her previous work. The lyrics could also represent the fact that her personal life has influence the lyrics making It more real and relatable o the audience as it highlights the fact her life is not perfect and despite a lot of success and fame she considers herself to be ‘falling’. The following shot shows Katy Perry entering a maze yet not hesitating connoting that there’s only one way out, the dark colours could reflect the fact that she’s unaware of what is yet to happen, it could also represent personal issues as black is the colour of mourning and she had just publically divorced her husband, it could hint that she blames fame for that and appears lost in the video without the reality.

The pace is slow at the beginning of the video giving the impression of slow motion despite the fact she doesn’t hesitate near the maze, the slow pace could represent things happening around her and not being familiar with them which leads to curiosity as she enters the maze anyway, making the audience feel involved as she seems to be intrigued yet unaware similar to them despite the mutual feeling of foreboding.

Goodwins Theory.

Wide Awake- Katy Perry.

Genre Characteristics: Katy Perry’s music is within the pop genre and therefore the different aspects in this music video conform to the genre. Features including bright colours throughout the majority of the video. However there are also aspects of the video that do not conform to the stereotype of pop videos such as the dark twisted fantasy land. Katy Perry has gone against her stereotypical clean cut image in some parts of the Wide Awake music video, as her image usually portrays a vibrant fun image whereas in this video she is represented more seriously to the target audience giving Katy Perry a diverse outlook to the pop genre.

What is the relationship between music and visuals? The pace of both the music and visuals is slow as Katy Perry Is taking her time to explain her feelings to the audience because she wouldn’t be singing a quick paced song if she was upset. As well as this there’s a story being explained which is why the video is slow paced to build up to the anticipation to the realisation of the actual video and the narrative behind it. The song is building up to a quicker pace where she grows more powerful in the actual video when preparing her younger self as she is superior in the video at that point.

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals: the lyrics and visuals are in sync in this video. At the beginning, Katy Perry is seen filming for her previous video on a cloud in a pink wig before climbing off the cloud and removing the makeup and wig in the privacy of her dressing room, this relates to the lyrics “falling from cloud nine” as she literally climbs off the cloud. They also relate to “crashing from the high” as she’s literally stripping herself from all the colours which could represent her happiness so the audience understand that something has happened and sympathise for her, meaning the relationship between visuals and the lyrics is evident. After Katy removes her wig and make-up in her dressing room she appears with a darker image than her usually bubbly one. The lyrics foreshadowed her emotions that she then went on to display in the video.

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs: there are close-ups of Katy Perry throughout the Wide Awake video which engages and involves the audience because they feel more connected to the artist? It also gives an insight into the artist’s emotions at certain points of the song that are not clear because of the conflicting images she portrays.

Is it performance based, narrative based or concept based: the Wide Awake video is mainly narrative based as the narrative is Katy Perry is connecting with the audience through her different emotional side and warning her naïve self of the down falls of fame when she’s younger. The video is mainly based on Katy Perry preparing her younger self that fame and the celebrity lifestyle is not as glamorous as she predicted when she was not as experienced.

Intetextual reference: none.

Music Channels.

Task:

1) Who is the target audience and why?

2) What type of music does the channel play and why?

3) Identify 3-5 examples of artists that feature on a regular basis

4) How is the channel used as a form of branding?

5) How does the logo appeal to the target audience?

MTV

1) The target audience of MTV appeals to teenagers to young adults from the age of 15-25 roughly as it mainly plays music that is currently in the charts, unless focusing on a certain artist (e.g. Greatest Hits). MTV also has other music channels of certain genres to appeal to a wider audience.

2) MTV plays pop and R'n'B music mainly, especially music currently in the charts whereas the other channels focus on the genre's this channel doesn't.

3)Rihanna, Katy Perry, Usher, Justin Bieber and Beyonce have all featured on MTV numerous times.

4)MTV has many reality shows including; Jersey Shore, Geordie Shore,  Teen Mom and Punk'd that appeal to a young audience as the shows revolve around things a young audience would find interesting or can relate too. Another form of branding MTV has is a clothing line, the clothing line is quite on trend too, making it appeal to the audience they target, by branding themselves with all these things, the station varies its appeal as it has more to offer than just music.

5) MTV's logo is plain and simple, making the focus more on the station yet it also maintains the image MTV has of a cool urban vibe as it usually plays the latest music making it reliable for current trends. The plain logo appeals too the entire target audience as if it was bright pink it would be considered to be aimed at girls, MTV regularly opts for different themed logo's including bright colour's when featuring certain things. This draws attention to the difference in the show (e.g. greatest hits, summer hits etc.) yet the plain consistent logo has nothing about it to dislike.

VH1

1) The target audience for VH1 is 25 to 30 year olds.

2)VH1 plays a variety of different music genres, but it also has hour shows the play a specific artist or genre, such as '100 greatest power ballads'. This is because it is a mainstream channel which has to appeal to a wide audience of adults.

3) A variety of artists are played on VH1. Include examples

4) VH1 is subsidiary of MTV, which helps with branding as it can be advertised on all the other MTV channels. How does this help to make the channel popular?

5) The logo will appeal to the target audience as it is bright and bold, with the colours; pink, yellow and blue that reflects the 80s, which may appeal to the target audience.

BOX

1)   The target audience for BOX is 14-20 year olds, this is mainly because it plays current music often in the charts.

2)   As BOX plays current music it includes pretty much all genres just depending on what’s popular and in the charts.

3)     Rihanna, Conor Maynard, Chris Brown, Drake and Rita Ora.

4)     Its also a subsidiary channel for 4Music, Kerrang! And Kiss.

5)     The logo appeals to the target audience because its audience is so targeted that it allows the focus to be on the chart and genres. The colours are yellow and pink, which connotes youth and innocence, obviously aimed at its targeted audience.

SCUZZ

1)     The target audience for scuzz is 16-30 year old males as although it’s a niche channel it appeals to a wide age range.

2)     Heavy metal, punk, rock.

3)     Enter Shikari, it has two sister channels known as Flavour Questions 4 and 5 need to be included

KISS

1)     The target audience of KISS is 16-30 years of age.

2)     The channel plays a variety of dance, hip hop, urban and r’n’b music.

3)     Chris Brown, Rihanna, and Jay Z are regularly played on this channel.

4)     Its form of branding is through advertising through other channels such as heart and magic.

5)     The logo appeals to the target audience as its quite youthful in the colour blue which connotes calm and relaxing, the font of the logo is also youthful which  follows the dance, hip hop and urban culture.

Why do you think MTV is broken down into different channels, (base, hits, classic, dance and rock)?

To appeal to a wider audience as opposed to just one sector, the subsidiaries make it so nearly everybody can enjoy MTV.

Why do you think music channels are important in appealing to a target audience?

Its important to appeal to an audience, as you will aim most of your work at them, considering what colours and things will actually appeal for them. Also consider why people watch music channels

Why do you think there are a variety of music channels?

Because people have different tastes in music there’s a niche market for certain channels because its easy to target an audience an cater for what they require from a music channel. Also by focusing on certain genres of music certain people will become loyal fans as opposed to switching between to find certain songs.

What have you learnt from analysing music channels and how will it help you with your own production?

I have learnt what some people require from a music channel and why there are target audiences, it’s also made me realise how we will aim our music video at our target audience obviously by certain aspects that will conform to the stereotype of our video typically and be what our target audience want.