Political and Cultural Context of Europe and the US in 1983

Research and Planning: Pitch & Feedback

 

MY FEEDBACK:

Audience Research

 Audience Research

Primarily 16-25 year old middle and up market audience of people who like to be engaged

AGE:

I will focus on my target audience of 16-25 year olds. Roughly 41% of Gen Z say that loneliness negatively affects their mental health, with 42% reporting social anxiety. As well as this, 33% of young people in the UK feel lonely. In my music video, I want my audience (Gen Z) to resonate with the main character / the artist of the video and to take into consideration the steps and processes of them in regards to being lonely. At the beginning, it will have lots of energy and lots of people who, as the music video goes on, leave to go home, ultimately resulting in the music artist being alone. However, due to the high rates of anxiety and sadness in my target audience, I want my character to feel at peace and comfortable with being left alone. My aim is to allow my target audience to see that someone who they may idolise (a music artist) is comfortable with having moments alone and is able to cherish the moments they have had with people. 

CLASS

I will aim to target an ABC1 demographic where people who are interested in my product are drawn towards the merchandise of the artist which can be promoted on the music website. In my music video I will include activities that can be enjoyed by everyone of all classes which will help engage everyone as it is relatable and activities that my audience partakes in. I could include merchandise that is very popular for the ABC1 (and 16-25 year old) demographic such as vinyls, hoodies and t-shirts as they have had a recent uprise in sales for music artist merchandise.

GENDER

Among young women in Gen Z, 57% reported feelings of persistent sadness or hopefulness. Similar to my point above, I want my audience to understand that it is important to cherish moments that you have with people instead of dwelling on it afterwards. As well as this, there is a male in the friend group featured in my music video, and there is a very common stigma towards men and women being friends and that they can never be 'just' friends, so by him being in this music video allows for the audience to understand that all genders can be friends without there being romantic feelings involved.

INTERESTS

I believe that my audience will be interested in lots of indie movies, especially romantic ones, so I plan on featuring intertextual references to romantic films which my audience will have definitely seen. To solidify this, I asked some people who fit into this demographic if they recognised my potential intertextual references and all of them recognised the movies they were from. As well as this, about 56% of Gen Z adults (18-24) and 74% of teens (13-17) hang out with friends at least once a week and attendance at daytime hangouts / parties has increased by 44% from Gen Z instead of late-night drinking culture which other generations find very popular. With this, I want my music video to include a group of friends (teens and young adults) enjoying a hangout during the day to feed into these statistics and to represent the culture of 16-25 year olds as accurately as possible so it is relatable. My audience are people who want to engage, so by making the music video relatable and interesting to that audience, they would be willing to engage with the music video and putting their interests into it will make this possible.

Industrial Research

DOMINO RECORDING

- A British independent recording company

- Founded in 1933 by Laurence Bell and Jacqui Rice

- Their first ever release was Sebadoh's EP 'Rocking the Forest'

Their distributors include: Redeye (US), PIAS Group (UK and owned by Universal Music Group), FUGA (digital only) and Hostess (Japan and owned by Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group).

- They have over 90 current and alumnis. Some of their most popular artists are Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Anna Calvi, Wild Beasts and The Kill.

- They have a range of music styles such as Lo-fi, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock and Electronic.  

Initial Ideas to the NEA Briefs

 Music Video

Song Ideas

- Beaches by Beabadoobee            - Indie Rock / Pop Rock / Alternative Rock

- Drop in the Bucket by The Glow    - Retro Soul / Indie Soul

- Hey, Kid! by Phoneboy                  - Alternative/Indie

- Pillow by Malcolm Todd                - Alternative/Indie

MY MAIN/FAVOURITE IDEA :: Beaches by Beabadoobee:

Pros:

• Alternative & indie genre clearly stated
• Clear ideas for music video
• Wouldn't get bored of the song
• Easy access to suitable locations
• Would be easy to shoot as it would all be in the day
• Can get 2 demographics in (male in the friendgroup, would get close ups / shots of just him)

Cons:

• Would need to cut the song a bit
• Not much performance in terms of close up of instruments? Would definitely be narrative but would have some shots of lip syncing but not necessarily have any instruments .. MAY be able to squeeze them in?

Drop in the Bucket by The Glow:

Pros:

• Idea for music video
• Wouldn't get bored of the song
• Can access lots of locations
• Easy to shoot as in the day
• Can easily get 2 demographics in as the main singer is a male but has female backup singers (male + female band)
• Can get lip syncing + performance + narrative

Cons:

• Alternative / indie genre isn't explicitly stated but can be inferred
• May make it harder to get marks due to the genre being not EXPLICITLY the correct genre

Hey, Kid! by Phoneboy:

Pros:

• Clear idea for narrative + lip syncing
• Can easily get instrument/performance in
• Genre is EXPLICITLY alternative/indie
• Can easily get 2 demographics in
• Could get some good useful locations

Cons:

• Little difficult to film as the song says that they're being rebellious "hours past curfew" ... so at night / in the dark - would also make quality a bit worse ?!?!

Pillow by Malcolm Todd:

Pros:

• Can easily get instrument/performance/lip syncing in
• Can get narrative in it
• Genre is EXPLICITLY alternative/indie
• Could get some good locations (house, outdoors, good prop ideas)
• Can easily get 2 demographics in 

Cons:

• Much more of a moody song so would require darker colours and lighting which may affect quality of music video

Big Issue Cover

 

unfortunately low quality as it would not save properly - had to screen shot

Theories

 Richard Dyer - Star Theory

Celebrities are personas that are constructed to be marketable and are images that represent them.

Stars as Commodities:

- marketable, they are made to be economic engines to make money

Stars as Ideological Representations

- made to represent certain views and ideologies that become associated with them

The Paradox of the Star

- Artists must be ordinary for audiences to be able to relate to them but must be extraordinary so they are able to be looked up to

- Artists must be present so that audiences feel they are always there (e.g. always on the radio and doing interviews) yet be absent so that nobody can really reach them so audiences desire to try and reach out to them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5v3kku4y6Q - Harry Styles 'As It Was' - 

Goodwin - Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin's music video theory suggests that there are certain instructions for a music video to be successful, including genre characteristics, lyrics and visuals, music and visuals, close-ups and motifs, and intertextual references.