We decided to ask Halsey for permission to use her song for our A2 music video project. Below is evidence of us tweeting her for her permission. She tweeted us back giving us permission and wishing us the best of luck.
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Is Halsey represented stereotypically or counter-typically in her music videos? In order to find out the answer to this question I had to look at Halsey's music videos, including 'Colours' and 'New Americana'. In both she is represented in completely different ways, meaning that Halsey is counter typically represented in the sense of her hairstyle and costume. However she is stereotypically represented, due to the provocative costumes she wears, but the style of costume is different in each music video. The Media's view of Halsey as an artist Album Review: In this review a man called MJ Rawls is reflecting on Halsey's first ever album: 'Badlands'. As a reader you get the idea that as an artist Halsey is very honest about her feelings and the topics of which she sings about, and one thing that the reviewer liked about Halsey's music was that the songs narratives were very clear and straightforward. Later on in the review the meanings of her songs are explained, revealing to the public that Halsey's music has very deep meaning.But overall the album scored a 8 out of 10, which is a high rating. This represents Halsey positively in relation to her music and the sort of person she is. Magazine Article: By reading this article about Halsey we have discovered that the songs she writes reflect her struggle with a numerous amount of issues: being bipolar, bi-sexual and as she labels herself an 'inconvenient woman'. This article gave us a reported account of what Halsey did and said in an interview. Through this we found that she is accepted by the media, as someone who has faced a lot of trouble in life and has some issues that she deals with, by venting her emotions in her songs. Initially I would say that Halsey is represented in a negative light at the beginning of the article, as the first line quotes Halsey feeling drunk. This is not a good image to have. However as I read on the writer of the article seemed to sympathise and understand Halsey, making her appear as a normal person. She is also represented as being confident and mature, both of which are positive aspects to have. So over the whole of the article Halsey is represented both in a negative and positive way. After having watched the start of this interview, I was able to identify Halsey as being represented as an individual, who has gone through a lot of struggle to get where she is today. This maybe seen as a positive representation in the eyes of those, who have dealt with or are dealing with the same problems Halsey's talking and singing about(e.g. drugs). However another perspective would suggest that this is a negative media representation of Halsey. In this radio interview we have realised that she is a very honest, down to earth, open person, which is again a positive representation.
We will be analysing the differences between a student and a real artist music video. The music videos that we will be comparing are both of the song 'Problem' by Ariana Grande. The media students version of the music video is shown below: The original music video is shown below: The differences we found between the professional and the student version of the song 'Problem' were the following:
We had to carry out some secondary research in order to get a deeper incite on who our target audience really are. Who is the electro-pop listener?
We researched the electro-pop target audience, and found that 45% of women and 55% of men listen to this sub genre between the ages of 18-24, earning between $25,000 and $49,000, who are of white ethnicity. The majority of the listeners of this sub genre have also been in some form of education(e.g. college- 28%). This was found on a website called: Nielsen.com We thought that this website was very useful and easy to understand, as it provided us with information in the form of graphs. They are the following: For our target audience we carried out primary research in the form of a focus group and a questionnaire below: Focus Group This focus group consisted of us asking our media class questions about our genre, so that we could get a deeper understanding of what people in our age group know about this genre, and how popular it is. We also used this as an opportunity to find out what sort of video they thought would be most suitable for our music video. The questions we asked are the following:
Below is our focus group chat: The questionnaire: In our questionnaire we wanted to find out what specific ages groups liked about music videos and we also wanted to get a better understanding about what types of editing, locations and props they wanted to see. This helped us find put what they expected of a music video. Below is our questionnaire and results: From carrying out this questionnaire we found out that the majority of 16-18 year olds were more likely to listen to electro-pop music. The majority of both genders though that having a music video for a song is very significant and that the aspects of a music video that captivate the audience varies on personal taste but the most liked aspect of a music video is the mise en scene (e.g flashing lights, clothing and background). We also found that the most popular type of editing that the audience like is parallel editing and we assume this is because the style makes more sense to the audience. Most people think that dictates the costumes used in a video is the artist of the song, we will consider this when deciding what costumes the characters will wear. Additionally we found that people prefer to have a narrative to a music video along with lots of different locations and cars and jewellery used as props. Overall we found that both narrative and performances based videos were the most preferred music video type.
In conclusion we will use the results that we found to help us plan and create our music video. We will take all of this information into consideration. We decided to carry out primary and secondary research to find our target audience and create a music video suitable for our target audience. For our primary research we led a focus group and carried out a survey to help us get a better understanding of our genre and what is expected of it by our target audience. For our secondary research we used the internet to research the target audience of the electro-pop genre.
In order to gain some more insight on what is expected of us in our music video, I analysed a past students music video of the song 'Problem' by Ariana Grande(A Grade), using the codes and conventions of electro pop and the micro elements: camera work, mise en scene and editing. Mise en scene A variety of locations are used in this music video including: the street(at night), a room which has lights, images and block colours projected onto it and behind a school building. The female dancers and artists all seem to be wearing appropriate, casual costumes(e.g. crop tops, jeans, shorts and jackets) as well as make-up. The only evident prop used was the streetlamp that the main artist used to dance around. However the lighting used in this music video was very interesting in the fact that they used artificial lighting(as projections) in different forms (e.g. picture of the sky, block colours and as a spotlight). But they also used natural lighting in the outdoor shots. Camera work A variety of angles and shots were used in this music video, they are the following:
Editing The shot duration in this music video increased as the tempo increased, meaning the shots were edited in accordance to the beat of the song. In order to ensure continuity occurred in this music video, they used match on action of the character playing Ariana Grande touching her leg, when she is sitting on the floor. The 180 degree rule was used when the dancers were dancing to ensure the audience didn't get confused about the positioning of objects and people in the shot. In relation to transitions, the music video was only edited in the format of cuts, as it maintains the audience's interest. In this music video a few genre conventions were used. They were the dark lighting (that was used in the street location); the majority of the costumes of the artists and the dancers were in dark colours(e.g. black); around 4 different locations were used(which is common in electro pop music videos) and the song title and the artists names appeared in block colours, whilst the songs introduction starts.
We decided to analyse the editing techniques in terms of shot duration, transitions and continuity for two music videos in the electro-pop genre. The music videos we have decided to analyse are; 'The nights' By Avicii and 'Five more hours' By Chris Brown. By analysing the editing techniques it will help us come up with ideas when we make our own music videos. Editing techniques- Avicii 'The nights' Shot duration:
Transitions:
Continuity:
Editing techniques- Chris Brown 'Five more hours'
Shot type:
Transitions:
Continuity:
Own ideas: We have come up with a few ideas on what we want to include in our music video through doing this research. The things that we are considering are the following:
We have analysed two other electro-pop songs in relation to it's mise en scene it's sub elements, which are props, costume, lighting, framing and location. Firstly we analysed the mise en scene of Calvin Harris' song 'Summer' and found the following in the music video:
From analysing the mise en scene of these electro pop, it has allowed us to come up with some ideas for our mise en scene.
We have found that centre frame is very popular when representing the artists within their music video, so we will make sure that we will place the artist in the centre of the frame sometimes. Secondly we are thinking of using a mixture of artificial and fluorescent lighting as they are easily available to us. Thirdly in relation to costume we have realised that black and white are common colours that are used, so we may use black and white clothing within our music video. Additionally we have decided that the costumes will not be too revealing as they are in the Calvin Harris video, because we feel it is inappropriate. Lastly we have discovered that props are used in music videos to provoke meaning, like the rocks and pills were used to hint to the audience the situation that the 'heroes' were in. So we have decided that we will use props in a similar way, so that our audience will understand the situations that will be presented in our music video. This is a high angle shot of a woman's legs and shoes (costume) showing her walking towards something. The location is unknown however, by the ground we can tell that she is on a type of road or pathway this means that she is outdoors and natural lighting is used. Here is a mid wide shot showing two men greeting each other in a high-street with a pawn shop in the background. They appear to be wearing smart clothing this is shown through the front depth of field. As the location is outdoors natural lighting is used. In this mid-shot the artists are introduced in the music video they are wearing smart old fashioned clothing making the video classy. The background is of an advertisement (prop) of a music event featuring their song. This is a low angle wide shot showing the main artist and friends dancing in a street like location, which uses natural lighting. The props used are part of the costume. which are the hats, sunglasses and jewellery, which makes them more of a spectacle to the audience. Here a wide long shot is being used, showing a new prop, which is a car. A car is a code and convention in electro-pop music videos. They are in the same costume, location and the same lighting is used. This mid-shot revels the artist and his friends dancing and lip-syncing to the song outside of a shop in the street. They are wearing the same costumes and the same props are used. Here is a wide shot of both artists in a shoe shining shop. The props used are a magazine stand, chairs, newspaper and a shoe shine sign. As they are in an indoor location artificial lighting has been used. In this low angle mid shot of the artist performing on the stage in a nightclub wearing the same costume, as the rest of the music video, spot lights and florescent lighting has been used to make the performance more realistic. The props used are the microphone stands. Here another wide shot is being used showing a different location in a hair salon. The props used are the chairs, hair products, posters and the characters are dressed in hairdresser gowns, which makes the location more realistic. Artificial lighting has been used to emphasise the shadow of the blinds in the salon. |
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