Production Diary: Day Four

Production Diary: Day Three

Animatic StoryBoard Alternative Beginning Two Presentation of Results

I have posted below a presentation showing the graphs that I made to illustrate the results that I found from my questionnaire; I designed these graphs to make it easier for myself to see what the results were from my questionnaire. On the whole I found out that it was felt overall that the genre was Pop, that the majority of people felt that the beginning did not fit in with the rest of the animatic and that on average this beginning was scored an eight. 

Beginning Two

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Animatic StoryBoard Alternative Beginning One Graphs of Results

I have posted below a presentation showing the graphs that I made to illustrate the results that I found from my questionnaire; I designed these graphs to make it easier for myself to see what the results were from my questionnaire. On the whole I found out that it was felt overall that the genre was R&B, that the majority of people felt that the beginning did fit in with the rest of the animatic and that on average this beginning was scored a nine.

Presentation1

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Production Diary: Day Two

Production Diary: Day One

Picture Locations

Below I have placed pictures of the locations where I wish to film.

Shooting Schedule

To help me not fall behind in my filming and to make sure I knew what shots I wanted, what props and costumes I would use for what scenes I created the below table.

Booking the school theatre

As the theatre at my school is very busy I had to email Mr Nugent to find out a time and place that I would be able to use the theatre and below are the emails for this.

Star Image Analysis

What is a Star?

In its simplest form a star in the music industry is someone that is liked, idolized and very well known. Not only for their music but also for other things such as a fashion line, a shoe line, as an actor/actress and through having their own perfume line. A perfect example of a star is Beyoncé who is very well known and idolized not only for her music but also for her acting ability, fashion sense and through her knew perfume lines Heat.

What is a Star Image and how is it constructed?
A star image is the image that the star has or brand, how they sell themselves not only to their audience but to people in general. For instance using Beyoncé as an example again her star image is one of a sexual, feminine and dominating woman.

‘A star is an image constructed from a range of materials’ (Richard Dyer, 1979)

As Richard Dyer states a star image is constructed through a range of materials for instance music videos, posters, television appearances are just a few ways in which an image is constructed. However it must be pointed out that the most prominent way in which a star’s image is constructed and portrayed is through the star’s music videos. Beyonce for instance image is a sexualized one and this portrayed in her music videos through the fact that she shows her legs a lot and wear very few items of clothing which are usually very figure hugging to emphasise her body.

Why did I decide to carry out a star image analysis?

Richard Dyer’s idea is a factor in why I decided to do a star image analysis, to help me be able to see how a star’s image is constructed through a number of ways. I also wanted to find out about how a star’s image is carried through, changed and developed through a star’s music videos. As I wanted for my star in my music video to have a particular image for my artist that the audience could see how that image could and would be developed and changed. To make sure that the audience is interactive not only with my music video but also with my artist on more than one level.

Why did I choose Usher to base my star image analysis?

I decided to base my star image analysis on Usher as I have chosen to use an Usher song for my music video. I felt that I needed to know what Usher’s image is and how it has change; as Usher is a R&B artist so I wanted to see what makes an Usher video a R&B video. In the hope that I would be able to carry the codes and conventions that I found in the music videos that I looked at through too my own video. Furthermore I wanted to explore how the R&B genre has changed over time; in the hopes that this would influence in whether I fit the codes and conventions of the R&B genre in 2000 or the codes and conventions of the R&B genre in the present day or even have the codes and conventions of somewhere in the middle.

Usher Videos that I looked at: Think of You, You make me wanna, U dont have to call, Confessions II, Love in This Club, OMG and There Goes My Baby

A bit of brief background information about Usher

Usher is an American R&B singer/dancer/entrepeneur who is renowned throughout the world as a singer and dancer appealing mainly to the female audience. Usher is considered the new R Kelly of R&B as his been singing since 1994 with the release of his first album Usher. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (United States) on October 14 1978 Usher is currently 33 and rose to fame in 2001 with his third album 8701 which gave him two number one hits ‘U Got It Bad’ and ‘U Remind Me’. However his second album that was released in 1997 and is called My Way did give him a number one hit called ‘Nice and Slow’. His fourth album which broke the record for R&B first week sells by selling a massive 20million copies not only gave him four number ones ‘My Boo’ ‘Confessions Part II’ ‘Yeah’ and ‘Burn’ but also certified him as the new R&B king.  Usher’s fifth album Here I Stand gave him the number ‘Love In This Club’ followed by his sixth album Raymond vs Raymond gave him the number one hit ‘OMG’. Lastly Usher’s seventh album Versus gave him the number one hot ‘DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love’. Usher is further more an actor and has stared in movies such as ‘Light It Up’, ‘In the Mix’ and the ‘The Faculty’. Usher is crowned as one of the best R&B artist’s of all time and it is much debated if he is the best R&B artist of all time. The genres that Usher fits into are obviously R&B but he also fits into genres such as pop. At the start of Usher’s career he was undoubtedly an R&B star but with the progression of time Usher has evolved into a mixture of an R&B, Pop and Soul artist.

Usher’s earliest image

The image of Usher when he first started in the music business was that of a naïve, innocent, young Romeo. Usher’s first few videos e.g. Think of You (1994) and You Make Me Wanna (2007) build up this image of Usher through things like the mise-en-scene consisting of baggy leather jackets and Usher having a mini afro which makes Usher seem very young. The leather jacket is commonly connoted with young people as the leather jacket is a fashion statement of cool. Right at the beginning of  Usher’s career props were hardly used however by the time it got to about 1997 props were introduced into Usher’s videos. In You Make Me Wanna props such as guitars, gold fish balls and chairs were introduced, this builds in with the idea that there is more to Usher than meets the eye. The guitar is a typical romantic instrument as it represents serenading and romance, the fact that Usher implies that he is playing the guitar shows the slight shift in his image. From one of a more passive romantic (i.e. just singing the song) to a more active one where he plays the guitar to her and tries to prove his feelings for her. Moreover Usher’s earlier videos are a mixture of narrative and performance, as Usher doesn’t ‘typically’ perform like he does in his later video’s e.g. Burn but Usher does mostly stand in front of the camera and sing. This could be taken as Usher performing to the girl that he is singing to, this connotes to the audience an edge of seriousness to the song. This adds another layer to Usher’s earlier image; whilst Usher’s image was one of innocence this seriousness gives him a sense of determination. The lyrics play a huge role in this image being established as they portray this sense of innocence as Usher can only see love as straightforward with no grey areas and no difficulties. Moreover the lack of dance routine that dominated Usher’s earlier video’s built on this image of innocence, connoting to the audience that Usher is too young and too new to the music industry too partake in dance routines. This heightened by the fact that behind Usher was female dancers with the mid shot showing Usher just looking into the camera singing.  Once again building on the idea of Usher being an innocent young Romeo. A range of shots were used in his earliest video’s from long shots to mid shots and this implies that there were a wide range of aspects to Usher’s image and personality. Additionally the fact that there are a range of shots suggests that Usher is indecisive as the shots change, such as in Usher’s video You Make Me Wanna the shots change constantly from close-up’s to mid shots to high angles to long shots. This adds another dimension to Usher’s earlier image as it points towards the idea that there are many different layers of Usher’s image which have to be thought about and dissected. The editing of the video’s also built on the image of Usher as no fancy editing for example eye-line-match or cutaways was used in Usher’s earliest videos. For example in Usher’s video Think of You the editing was one of Continuity Editing which creates the

The development of Usher’s image

The image of Usher is developed in his later videos to a more personal one with a close relationship with his audience and challenges his previous image by changing the aspect of his innocence to heartbreaker. The mise-en-scene is the first indication of this change in image, in his earlier videos the clothes that Usher wore were innocent and young yet in Usher’s later videos Usher is wearing tight fitted shirts, fitted jeans and shirtless in most of his videos. For instance in Usher’s You Don’t Have To Call video Usher begins the video by being naked from the waist up (only wearing his boxers) which fits into Usher’s image of openness and intimacy as it shows that he is comfortable enough to be semi naked in his videos. The props in his later videos also show this development in his image as they get more flashy and expensive looking, for instance in Usher’s Confession II video Usher has a piano as a prop. Pianos are typically associated with wealth as they are expensive, the fact that Usher has this as a prop shows that Usher’s image has changed in the sense that he is fitting into the convention of R&B where expensive props are used. What’s more though the use of the piano links back into earlier videos e.g. You Make Me Wanna whereby Usher is linking and tying himself to his earlier music videos which indicates that in a way Usher is still as innocent as he was in his first music videos. The shots that are used in his later videos portrays his development and change in his image, instead of having a wide range of shots like in his earlier videos the shot shifted to close-up’s, extreme close-up’s and mid shots. These shots tie in nicely with the more personal image that Usher had established with his audience as the close up shots helped to illustrate the emotion which Usher was showing in his more personal songs and videos.  Usher’s video Confessions II illustrates this perfectly for instance the close up shot at the beginning of the video highlights the pain that Usher felt at being told that he girl he slept with behind his girlfriend’s back is pregnant and keeping the baby.The editing of the Usher’s later videos has also developed along with his image, as more advanced editing is used for instance flashbacks were used in Usher’s U Got It Bad video and match on action in Usher’s 2008 video Love In This Club. This type of editing gives off a sense of maturity to Usher that wasn’t in his earlier videos which tells the audience that he has matured which is already established through his lyrics which aren’t as innocent as perhaps they were previously. The lyrics in Usher’s videos no longer talk about the innocence and beauty of love but of the complications and heartbreaks of love.

When Usher first started out there was a certain naivety to him which is illustrated by the youth if somewhat baggy costumes in the mise-en-scene the simple props and the innocence in the lyrics. Through the development of Usher’s music videos Usher’s image has changed to a more mature, open eyed and sexualized star. This has all been create by the loss of the innocence in the mise-en-scene i.e. having his shirt off all the time, the lyrics being sexualized and show the battles that he has been through in love.

Animatic StoryBoard Alternative Beginning Two Questionnaire

To get feedback on my second alternative beginning I created this survey on Survey Monkey.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Alternative Storyboard Beginning Two

Below I have placed my second alternative beginning.

Animatic StoryBoard Alternative Beginning One Questionnaire

Animatic Storyboard Alternative Beginning One

Below I have placed the first alternative beginning that I have for my music video.

Animatic

Before I started filming I felt that I needed to get a visual on my ideas. so I created an animatic by first drawing my ideas on storyboard paper. I then filmed my storyboard, uploaded it to I-Movie and added the music to the background. Below I have placed my animatic.

Why did I do an animatic storyboard?

There are many reasons why I decided to do an animatic storyboard; the first reason is because it gave me a better idea of what was going to actually happen in my music video. As it made me take into account important factors such as the locations, props and how many people would be in my video. Secondly carrying out the animatic meant that I was able to co-ordinate the lyrics and visuals (which I had learned from looking at Andrew Goodwin’s theory). For instance would there be a strong relationship between the two or a weak one, would I have the visuals reflecting the lyrics or the lyrics reflecting the visuals. Lastly would I have a more narrative or performance based video, using the animatic I had to decide how often my artist would be present in the video, would he be performing or acting? Or would I go for something more radical which breaks the convention of the R&B genre and have the artist singing but have someone else play the main character. To make it look like my artist was simply an observer singing from someone else’s point of view; as is seen in Kelly Rowland’s ‘Stole’ video.

An advantage that I found when I had transferred my storyboard to an animatic was that I could actually visually see what my music video would look like. Which meant that I was able to tweak anything which I felt didn’t fit in with my vision of my music video; as well as see what worked well in my music video.  Another advantage is that I was able to familiarize myself with the software, through my use of recording using a tripod and using Imovie on the Mac. This was great experience for me, through using the camera and tripod I was able to get used to the way a tripod moves and turns and the distance which is needed to film. By using Imovie I was able to familiarize myself with using basic things on there such as cropping and moving a clip to before or after another clip. 

Looking into Genre in music videos: Case Study

Genre Case Study Presentation

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Looking into gender in music videos: Case Study

Gender Case Study Presentation

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Exploring Narrative: Usher 'Climax'

To get a greater understanding of how Usher uses narrative in his videos, in the hope that I might be able to apply these theories to my own music video I looked at the Usher video ‘Climax’; it is a brand new video from Usher as it was only released in March 2012. When looking at this video I thought about several theorists and conventions of narrative, including Propp, Claude Levi-Strauss and Todorov. I further looked at narrative depth, narrative structure and Cameron’s modular narratives theory.

Narrative is the way that stories are told, for example beginning, middle and end to the audience, sometimes they have a set way in which they are told and sometimes they are told in a new and original way. Furthermore the way that narrative is told gives cause and effect to the story, for instance the way that the middle of a narrative is told is caused by the way the beginning is told and it affects the way that the end is told. Narrative additionally can be told from a range of viewpoints, it can be told from one person’s view point, it can be told through a hundred peoples view point or no view point at all. Lastly the way that narrative is told is condenses time and space, for instance in this video the video is approximately four minutes long however the video explores weeks.

Usher’s video ‘Climax’ has several of Claude Levi-Strauss binary oppositions but the dominate one is anger vs passion. Passion is portrayed in this video by Usher and the women ripping each other’s clothes off each other and holding each other tightly. Passion is also explored through just Usher himself as he seems to be pulling at his clothes off in a gesture of passion. The lyrics also demonstrate the passion in this video as the lyrics include things like ‘I just need you one more time’ and ‘we’ve reached the climax’. The lyrics are quite passionate in the sense that they do reference sex which is one of the main forms of showing passion however they do express a sense of desperation, of needing each other and that in itself is passion. Anger is the binary opposition of passion, anger is showed through the way that Usher and the women push each other around express anger. Also the way the artist moves around the camera for instance when Usher is alone singing the way that the camera does a panning shot, gives the sense of anger but also the way that Usher pulls at his clothes and clenches his fists. Another binary opposition that features in this video is love and loneliness; this is explored by Usher being portrayed as either by himself or with the girl that he loves. When Usher is by himself in this video he is portrayed as lonely in several way, the fact that he is alone being the most obvious but when he is alone he is either against a plain background or standing by himself or sitting in his car by himself; this really emphasis the fact that Usher is alone. Furthermore when Usher is in his car for example he puts his arm on the passenger seat like he is missing something there-e.g. the girl.

Secondly there are a few of Propp’s characters in this video, Propp believed that the narrative is shaped and directed by the characters and this is certainly true for this video. The video is shaped by four different character types and some being in the same character. The first one is the princess who is obviously the girl that Usher is in love with, she is the princess not because she is wearing fancy clothes or wearing a tiara but because she is the prize that Usher is trying to win.  Usher can be several characters all rolled into one he can be the hero, the false hero and the villain. Firstly Usher is the hero as he is clearly the main character that is there to rescue the princess, in terms of this video not rescued from a man but from herself, Usher is stopping her from ruining their relationship and hurting herself.Usher can also be considered the villain as the girl has moved on with another man and Usher shots the man and this is a very villainy trait.

Todorov’s theory can be applied to Usher’s video however not all of the five steps can be applied two can. The first Todorov step that can be applied is step two a disruption. This step can be applied as Usher explains through his lyrics that the disruption was him and his girlfriend breaking for example ‘couldn’t handle the arguing so we gave up.’ Through the lyrics we the audience can piece together the dysfunctional relationship that the two had that caused the disruption. The second Todorov step that can be applied is step four: attempt to repair the disruption. This step is shown differently to how step two is shown it isn’t shown through the lyrics it is shown through the actions of the characters who are Usher and his lover. This is shown in a number of ways, the two characters trying to run away being only one of them.

Additionally the video structure is one of non-linear/fractured and open ended. Narrative structures are important as the meanings of the narrative need to be interpreted correctly by audiences. Firstly the structure is open ended as the video ends with a wave of questions and uncertainty with how the video concluded. The video ended with the implication that the car with Usher and his girlfriend crashed into another car however as this was not shown, all that was shown was the two cars getting nearer and nearer to each other, the audience is left speculating and questioning what happened at the end of the video. Secondly the video is non-linear/fractured as the sequence of events happened in are out of order. First of all we see Usher by himself singing then it flashes back to Usher sitting outside a house then it flashes further back into time to show Usher and the girl he loves having sex then once again it flashes forward to show Usher singing by himself then flashes back to demonstrate Usher going into the house with a gun and so forth.

Furthermore this video does demonstrate Cameron’s modular narrative theory in manipulating time. It doesn’t fit into all four parts (Anachronic, Fork-pathing, Episodic and Split screen) but it does fit into two which are Anachronic and Episodic. The video fits into Anachronic as the video involves flashbacks a key example of this is when Usher is sitting in his car and then has a flashback to when he run out of the house with the girl. Additionally whilst it isn’t obvious that this video is Episodic there are at least four different distinctive episodes in this video. These episodes include how the girl and Usher broke up, then how they started seeing each other again, how they decided to run away after killing her boyfriend and lastly them being in a car crash.

The role that Usher play’s in this video is a mixture as he is both the narrator and the protagonist. Usher is firstly the narrator as at the start of the video Usher is shown more by himself singing and what he is singing is informing the audience of what has happened between him and the girl-just as a narrator would. Then constantly throughout the video Usher pops up by himself singing a brief line which contributes to the story in some way. Usher furthermore plays the protagonist as he is clearly the hero in the video, as not only does he come to rescue the girl from heartache and pain he also comes to rescue himself from heartache and pain.

The narrative depth in a video is very important as it lets the audience see the video in two different ways, either from a range of peoples point of views (subjective character identity) or just from one characters point of view (objective character identity). Climax portrays subjective character identities in the narrative; this is because the viewpoints of both Usher and the girl are portrayed. Usher’s viewpoint is portrayed in a more obvious way as he is the narrator and the main character so we the audience get his viewpoint the strongest. However the girl’s viewpoint is also shown and this is in a more subtle way, the constant use of ‘we’ in the lyrics indicates to the audience that the song is from the point of view of both the two main characters. 

Colour Idea

After referring back to my original research (the development and change of R&B videos) I found that the artists from the 1980’s/1990’s used a lot of reference to colour to symbolise, convey and illustrate to the audience their message. Transferring this idea to by music video I decided that I wanted to use this simple idea because I knew it would be effective; but also because it is a very simple idea. Which I fell is in keeping with the rest of music video, as all my locations are simple yet romantic and the general theme of my music video is simplicity. The song portrays this idea because it is quite a straightforward song, the mise-en-scene that I have used is quite down to earth and the overall tone of my music video is one of humbleness, naivety and modesty. Overall I think this idea of having a close up shot my artist against four different colour background’s will not only make a reference to the ‘old school’ type of R&B videos but also illustrate beautifully the emotions of the song and my artist. The colours that I have decided to use are pink, red, orange and green and I have listed below why I chose to use these ideas and what I hope to illustrate to the audience with these specific colours that I have chosen.

I chose the colour green as it primarily brings to mind the connotations of jealousy and envy. I wanted these connotations to be made as my artist is jealous and envious of the guy who has the girl that he loves. Deeper though the colour green represents unripened, which I think fits nicely with my artists unrequited love, as the love between the two isn’t ripe yet, it is still raw. Moreover green naturally connotes nature which I think is a correct connotation for my artist as he is a breath of fresh air in his honesty about his feelings for this girl.

I used the colour orange as it represents a number of things such as fire and heat. I wanted the audience to get these connotations from this colour because I wanted the audience to see and feel the heatand the fire building up between the artist and the girl. Moreover I wanted the audience to feel that this isn’t just a ‘high school romance’ I wanted the audience to get the sense of heat and passion that crackles between these two and show the audience that this is a serious, passionate and all-consuming love.

Straight away the colour pink connotes love to the audience which is the main theme of my music video. The fact that my artist is in love with a girl and trying to persuade her that he is the best option and I wanted this to be carried through the whole of my music video. Pink also connotes a sense of sweetness and naivety which are two key themes that I also felt that I needed to connote to my audience. I felt that this needed to be connoted as my artist is naive and sweet which is portrayed through the lyrics and I also wanted the image of my artist to be one of a naive and sensitive artist which I feel isn’t usually found in an R&B artist. Pink also connotes a sense of tenderness, which I feel is already established through the lyrics for instance ‘Your problems I will erase’ and other lines.



Red instantly connotes anger and passion and I wanted this to be connoted to the audience because the colours pink and orange already touch on the connotation of passion. I wanted to carry on this connotation and show that the artist isn’t just in love with the girl that he is passionate about her. That the connection between the two is more than sweetness and tenderness it is about him needing her and vice versa which is what he is trying to show her-that she needs him. Anger is strongly represented in the music video; the connotation of anger which screams out is his anger at the other guy for not treating the girl right. A less obvious connotation of anger in this music video is his anger towards her, he is angry at her for not choosing him and putting the pair of them through pain.

R&B Survey Results and Summary

I created this survey so I could find out what type of features my target audience would like to see in my music video. I asked questions to find out what people expect want and do not want to see i a R&B video. Even though I only asked 5 questions I feel that I have researched what my target audience expect to see in a R&B video when I combine this with the music vodeos I have analysed.

The first question I asked was ‘What do you like to see in a R&B music video?’ I asked this as my first question to make the people taking my survey think about what they want to see in music videos not what they expect to see or what they see in R&B videos. The majority of people said that they like to see is a dance routineother answers include women covered up, an expnsive looking mise-en-scene and flashy things. This question lets me know what my target audience want to see in a music video. 

The second question I asked was ‘What do you most expect to see in a R&B video?’ I asked this question to find out what my target audience exoect to see in a music video so therefore I now what I must place in my music video. Or what I wont put in my musicvdeo so that I can break the stereotypes of R&B videos. The answers I got back indicates stongly what I should put in my music video 81.8% of the people who took my survey expect to see flashy cars, expensive clothes and flashy locations.. The second highest result I got was that 45.5% of people surveyed expect to see jewellery, 27.3% expect to see a dNace routine whereas 36.4% expect to see minimul routine and lastly 18.2% of people expect to see other things. These answers indicate to me that I will be expected to have flashy cars, expensive clothes, flashy locations, jewwllry and a minimul dance routine.

I then asked the third question of ‘What feature do you feel a R&B video must have?’  this question gives me the information of what my target audience feel must be in a R&B video and indicates to me what I must have in a R&B video.The results I got from this question include a love story narrative, a slow beat and  a performance.

The fourth question I asked was ‘Is there anything you like to see in a R&B video that you feel isnt in the  majority of R&B videos today?’ The results I recieved with this queestion are vry telling I got answers like ‘girls with more clothes on’ stereotype chang’ and ‘dance routine’. These results show me that people feel that the R&B genre needs to be challanged and this is omething I am considering doing with my music video. As well as putting in a dance routine and having the girls in my music video, however as 2 people said that they would like the stereotype to be challanged I dont think I will be putting in a dance routine however I will be putting in girls wearing clothes.

The last question I asked was if the participants had anyother comments 6 people skipped this question, 2 people said no and only 3 left comments. From the people who did answer it 1 person said that they would want me to have nice clothing and 2 participants said that I shouldchallange the stereotype. The results from this question indicates to me that people want me to challange the stereotype of R&B videos and to make sure that the people in my music video are dressed in nice clothing.

Ovrall this survey tells me that I must have the following features in my music video: a performance, a slow beat, a love story narrative and expensive clothing. I have also learned that my target audience feels that a R&B video should have women covered up instead of nearly naked.

R&B Survey

I created a survey on Survey Monkey to see what people felt needed to be in a music video, so that when I came to filming I would be able to incorporate these ideas into my music video.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Target Audience Survey Results & Summary

The first survey I have done was to investigate the age and gender that my music video will appeal to. I added in questions that determined the gender, age range and type of genre most liked. Below is a brief summary of each question with a graph below to show the results.  

The first question I asked on my target audience survey was ‘What gender are you?’ I asked this question because I wanted to know what gender I would be looking at to aim my music video to. From my results I can see that the majority of my audience will be female as 70%  of the people who done my survey were female and only 30% were male. I have placed the graph for this question below.

The second question I asked on my survey was ‘What age are you?’ I asked this question because I wanted to know what age range I would be looking at to target my audience to. From my result’s I know that the majority of my target audience will be in the age range of 16-19 year olds as 70% of the people who took the survey were this age. I also learned that 10% were in the age range of 12-15 year olds, another 10% were in the age range 20-24 year olds and finally 10% of my target audience were in the age range of 30+. Interesting no one who took my survey was between the ages of 25-30 year olds. From asking this question I now know that my target audience will not only be more likely to be female but between the age of 16-19. Below is the graph relating to this question.

Lastly I asked the people who took my survey what type of genre they listened to help me determine what age and gender listened to what type of genre. I have found out that 60% of the people who took my survey liked the genre of R&B compared to the 20% who liked Rap and 10% who liked Pop and the other 10% who liked other types of music. Similarly with the question above no liked the genre of Hip Hop. Finally I have placed the graph for this question below. 

Overall from my survey I can deduce that my target audience for my music video will be between the ages of 16-19 and will be female as the majority of people who done my survey clicked on R&B as being their favourite genre. Now that I know my target audience will be female and between the ages of 16-19 I know how to make a music video that appeals to them. I know to add typical R&B features such as jewellery and to make my artist look as adorable as possible to appeal to girls of that age.

Target Audience Survey

Below is a link to a survey I have created to investigate what the target audience is for the R&B genre. I will get 20 people to fill in my survey so that I have a big enough sample to to make the results I get accurate.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Textual Analysis of Usher's 'U Got It Bad' Video

Usher's 'U Got It Bad' video was released in December 2001 and spent 6 weeks in total at number one in the United States whilst entering into the top 5 in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Jermaine Dupri and co-produced by Brian-Michael Cox and fits into the R&B genre however it does have elements of soul and 2-step garage. The characteristics of that this video has that makes it an R&B video include minimual clothing of the artist (Usher), a dance routine and a love story running throughout.


Dance Routine
(Chris Brown)                                                                                                                      (Usher)

There is a majority in this video that the relationship isn't strong between the lyrics and the visual's; however there are some instances where the lyrics and visuals work in sync. Overall though the visuals and the lyrics don't work well together. One of the few example's of the lyric's working together is about half way through the video when Usher storm's into his loves trailer and say's to her 'Tell her I'm your man, your my girl, I'm gonna tell it to the whole wide world.' In the video we actually see Usher say these word's to her as he move's closer to her an embrace's her. His love reply is also another example of the visual and lyric's working in harmony, the girl's reply goes like this 'I'm your girl, your my man, promise to love you the best I can' as the girl say's this Usher's voice is co-ordinated  to say this in place of her voice as her mouth moves. Over all the relationship between the lyrics and visuals are pretty weak for example after it is revealed that Usher never went to his lovers trailer and is just walking through the street he walks past poster's showing his lover whilst singing the word's 'It's too bad that you can't se. That you got it bad......hey.' Clearly there is no open relationship between the two the only relationship is that his got it bad for her and that she is the women in the poster. However if you take the time to think about it then that particular example show's there is no relationship between the lyric's and visual's. Furthermore another example of no relationship between the lyric's and visual's is at the beginning when Usher is on stage with no one around just singing the chorus, there is no relationship between the lyric's and standing on the stage singing to no one. However in that example there could be a relationship if you look deep enough the reason that Usher is standing alone on a stage singing the chorus (which talks about having it bad for someone) to no one could be interoperated that he is telling her and only her how he feels. Print screens of these examples are below.

Example of the visual's and lyric's working togethafter it is revealed that Usher never went into his lovers trailer and is just walking through the street he walks past posters showing his lover whilst singing the words ‘It's too bad that you can't see. That you got it bad...hey’ Clearly there is no open relationship between the two the only relationship is that his got it bad for her and that her is the women in the poster. But unless you take the time to think about it (and most people will not take the time to do that unless there analysing the video) then that particular example shows there is no relationship between the visuals and the lyrics. Furthermore another example of no relationship between the lyrics and visuals is at the beginning when Usher is on a stage with no one around just singing the chorus, there is no relationship between the lyrics and standing on the stage singing to no one. However in that example there could be a relationship if you look deep enough the reason that Usher is standing on a stage singing the chorus (which talks about having it bad for someone) to no one could be interoperated that he is telling her and only her how he feels about. Printscreens of these examples are below.

Example of the visual's and lyric's working together:

Example of the visual's and lyric's not working together:

The relationship between the visual's and lyric's is a complicated one on the surface it would seem that there are a few examples of there being a relationship between the two but underneath it looked at and scrutinized there can be seen a relationship between the visual's and lyric's. 

A love song where the lyrics tug at the heart strings of people who are in love and lost their love, a boy who was in the process of transitioning into the sexual icon that he is now know as, throw in a dance routine and thats how the record company are looking to sell this record. This video sharply contrasts with songs from his previous albums, which are called Usher and My Way, for example in Usher's first album Usher his image is one more of a sweet innocent boy singing only about the happiness of love. This is shown in the song Think of You in which Usher is shown as no more than a baby with his chubby cheeks his youngness is further illustrated by his baggy clothes making Usher seem no more than   a innocent teenager. By the time his second album My Way  came around in 1997 this image of Usher had slightly progressed from that of a baby to a late teenager/early adult. The mid, long and close-up shots make usher seem not so innocent as well as the hint of a six pack and the lyrics. When USher's third album 8701 in 2001 U Got It Bad showed a total change in the image of Usher , no longer was he the fresh faced boy he was now a sexual icon singing about the pain and heartbreak of love. The close-up and mid shots of his face and chest help to further his change in image as well as the lack of clothing he wears in this song. However before and after his image change one thing remained the same Usher is always the main character in the video he is always the audience see the most of.

Usher in his first, second and third album:

Usher is clearly on sexual display in this video the costumes or lack of costumes he wears portrays this. In about 80% of the video Usher is either nearly naked or is in clothes that are stuck to him from the rain. The camerawork helps to intensify the felling of Usher being on display for example at the end of the video Usher is lying on the bed in only a pair of boxers from the birds eye shot we see the whole of Ushers chest. How can this be anything other than Usher being on sexual display? Moreover another example of Usher being on sexual display is when Usher is in the rain and the mid shots shows the rain dripping down Ushers face and making his shirt cling to his body. Even through Usher’s dance routine on the surface makes him seem like his on sexual display as it plays into the female fantasy of a man soaked cause of the rain. The fact that Usher is dancing alone is significant as it is unusual for this time video for an R&B video where the artist is dancing with no backing dancers, this has been done to illustrate further the fact that Usher is alone. I have placed screenshots below to strengthen my argument.  

Example of Usher on sexual display:

This video does have intertextual references but not in the usual way not to a film or another music video but to his real life relationship. ‘Chilli’ from TLC stars in this video but also to as Usher’s girlfriend in real until they split shortly after this video was made. The intertextual references are to things that have happened in their relationship, such as arguments, conversations and the video footage at the start of the video of  Usher and the girl together as a couple in real life. These intertextual references are used in the video to give the video more of a sense of credibility to make the song and the video seem more realistic. 

Whilst this video is partly performance based the majority of it however is narrative based. The narrative fits both into the Classical Greek Theatre and into the Standard Hollywood Narrative structure. It primarily fits into the Classical Greek Theatre  because it has a opening, where Usher is reminiscing about the break up, a conflict, the horrible decision Usher has to come to does he go and get his love or leave her and finally the resolution where by Usher decides to leave her be and wallow in his pain. However it does go into the Standard Hollywood narrative as it is a single diegesis-the storyline of Usher and his love, the events are governed by the actions of Usher out of the multi-strand. The events go in a non-linear line as it flashes back constantly to when Usher was with the women that he loved which in turn makes the audience emphasis with both Usher and the women. Lastly the video fits into the pattern of enigma as Usher has the dilemma of what to do about the women he loves and the resolution when Usher decides to leave her be. The video is furthermore narrative based as it fits into the unrestricted narration as at the start of the video when the audience are being told that the two split we are told through a news bulletin on the TV that Usher is watching. Unfortunately the narrative doesn’t really fit into Propp’s theory on characters in the sense that the characters are not clearly defined it’s all up to the audiences interpretation. For instance on person might think that the villain could be Usher whilst another person might have the opinion that the villain id the girl. The fact that the characters can be interpretated differently goes against Propp’s theory which is that the characters are establishers to increase the understanding of the audience. On the other hand U Got It Bad does fit into Levi-Strauss theory as binary oppositions run constantly through the video for example heart vs. head does Usher listen to his heart and go after the women that he loves or does he listen to his head and leave her alone. Another binary opposition is the past vs. present as Ushers past has been decided but his future is still undecided. However there is some performance based concept to this video as in between the narrative Usher performs whether it be on a stage of dancing in the street. The ratio between the narrative and performance is very slim with the performance bit being shoved in between the flashbacks and the real time of the narrative.

Example of performance based:                                                                 Example of narrative based:

  

From this video I can deduce firstly that the lyrics are from Ushers point of view as he is the main character in the video and this tells me that he singing about himself and his girlfriend the constant close-ups and mid shots strengthen this opinion. However instead of feeling detached and merely like a spectator I get the sense of personal relationship with the artist as the close up shots consequently mean me looking into Usher’s eyes. Although the relationship between the lyrics and visuals are poor it does not mean that the overall quality of the video is poor far from it. The video has a lot packed into, it shows the flashbacks of the storyline furthermore it actually poses a question to the audience many might of faced-do you let someone go that you love go and the video comes to the conclusion that you do. The narrative in this video is running throughout the video, the video switches from the past to present to the past again and the future as well making it a most enjoyable and video to watch. Lastly I have placed a link below to the music video I have just analysed. 

Textual Analysis of 'I'm Glad'

The music video that I will be analysing is a Jennifer Lopez pop music video called ‘I’m Glad’ which was directed by avid LaChapelle and choreographed by Jeffrey Hornaday.

The stereotypical concepts of a pop music video include all the cameras focusing on the artist and painting them in a God like way.

This music video both contradicts and compliments the lyrics. For example J Lo sings the line ‘I dig the way you get down’ and the visuals on the screen show a male dancing and getting down and J Lo standing a little way from him staring at the man entranced.  However a contradiction between the visuals and lyrics is when J Lo is singing about loving holding her mans hand but she is dancing as the exotic dancer and she isn’t holding anybodies hands.

There is a relationship between the music and the visuals right from the start of the video to the end of the video. For example at the start of the video the beat is a slow one and the visuals match with J Lo doing slow dance movements and her overall movements being slow. Them as the beat starts to fasten up J Lo is shown to be riding a bike illustrating the fastening of the beat and the setting of thee pace, J Lo’s dance movements also start getting more fast paced and more precisiced. However on the other hand the visuals and music dont always compliment each other for instance when J Lo is dancing at the club the beat is fast paced this go’s however it then cross cuts to J Lo sitting by herself looking vulnerable an the beat is still the same, that doesn’t go it contradicts.

The record company is firstly trying to sell this track by making the video resemble the smash hit 80’s film Flashdance, the video is almost like a summary of the film or a trailer of the film if you like. Making the video like this not only attracts fans of the film but helps to give the video a sense of being enticement to the audience to watch the video again and again. This is because the narrative of the story makes the whole video flow easier and sort of gives the audience a knowledge of whats going happen in throughout the video. Furthermore the record company is selling the video to the male audience by appealing to their more natural instincts and basic desires, this is done by J Lo’s costumes being very revealing and most shots of include her legs, bum and face. The image that she is portraying is one of fierce independence as she is clearly working in a more stereotypical mans job role which is that of a construction worker. We can tell this through the mise-en-scene where she is in a dark and setting, where no other women is and by her clothes which include a helmet covering her face and by her wearing overalls. Her being a construction worker contradicts the mans role and makes her fiercely independent as she shows that she doesn’t need a man. Previous videos by J Lo in 2003 include ‘All I Have’ and ‘Baby I Love You’ these videos are different to this video even though they portray her as strong and independent they dont show her as a sex symbol so much as they do in ‘I’m Glad’.

In the video there is a sense that J Lo is on sexual display this is shown more obviously when she is in the role of an exotic dancer, this is shown by all the men leering at her, sweating and even when on fainting as she dances in front of him. That sense of  her being on display in front of the men is re-enforced through her lack of clothing, her make-up and hair and also the close up shots on the parts of her body which we as a society see as very sexual and not be on display too much like a long shot of her whole body with her legs taking up most of the shot an the close-up of her rear end. Furthermore there is a long shot of J Lo sitting on a chair and her being drenched in water, this is clearly an intertextual reference to a dance move Alexandra Owens does in the film Flashdance. However this could have also been to show that she isn’t just a dancer but a performer or entertainer as most entertainers use elements in their shows such as fire or water and that the role of a dancer is too entertain the audience to wow it. It could also be a sort of ‘wet t-shirt’ fantasy to help keep the male audience and the general audience watching the video.

Intertextual references are present in the video to a film called Flashdance which is an American romantic musical film made in 1983. Produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer the film is about Alexandra Owens who works as a construction worker in the day time and an exotic dancer at night. This is portrayed in the video as Jennifer Lopez seems to play the role of Alexandra Owens as she looks exactly the same as Alexandra in terms of hair and costume.

This video is an equal mixture of performance, narrative and concept based. Firstly it is a concept based video as its the producers David LaChapelle and J Lo’s concept of what an dance audition is like e.g. when J Lo is walking through all the ballerinas to get to her dance audition. It was their concept that all people who go for dance auditions are young, female and all ballerinas. Secondly this video is very narrative based as we get the story of J Lo’s character that she has two jobs, one as an erotic dancer and the other as a construction worker, and that she wants to be a professional dancer as she is auditioning for possibly a dance school? Lastly this video is performance based as J Lo  basically dances to the audience and she does sing to the audience s well’.

In conclusion J Lo’s pop video ‘I’m Glad’ is one big long intertextual reference to the 1980’s film Flashdance, it puts J Lo on sexual display through her costume, the camerawork and through lighting.