Demographics are statistics about a group of people. These statistics usually include;Age, Location, Gender, Income level, Education level, Occupation and Ethnic background. Demographic audience profiles can be created, this is where audiences are categorised according to their education level and income e.g Upper middle class.
In contrast psychographics allow audiences to be categorised according to their personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests and lifestyles.
From the music videos I analysed, the only artist I could find on 'YouGov' was Sade. For her music video I looked at, 'By your side' I felt like it targeted the middle class and 25-40 year old age range at it's time (demographic wise). The video made me think this because it doesn't show lots of obvious signs of wealth and therefore doesn't appeal to the younger generations, as well as being quite slow paced which may lose the attention of a younger viewer. in addition I don't think it was made to appeal to much older generations as the imagery was a bit surreal so might not appeal to the 'Resigned groups'. The video also may not be aimed at the 'Aspirer' as it isn't showing lots of signs of wealth and luxury and in turn may be more tailored towards the reformer as the song and video show different forms of success and fulfilment.
All music videos present to us an artificial and constructed version of reality. In doing this, the producers have filtered and usually distorted real life in some way in a process if careful mediation. For representation to be meaningful to audiences there has to be a collective understanding of places, situations, people, ideas etc.
This means that subsequently there are ideologies behind them.Certain ideologies can be encoded into texts and others can be left out.
Theorist Richard Dyer(1983) posed these questions. Although Dyer famously wrote about film, his questions can also be asked about music videos.
Today I'll be applying these questions to the 3 music videos I analysed. Firstly, as I have already found the typical Sade listener's demographics I'll look at her video first. I think the director has tried to distort reality by simplifying it down to the essentials such as food, shelter, warmth and love(appeals to reformers.) Which they contrast by showing the artist with her simplistic journey and background surrounded by a busy and bustling city. The director's ideology is clearly to live in a more pure and minimalistic way, only focussing on what they find important. This implies a deviant and atypical view on the real world, regardless of wealth and age(the tree house scene,)as well as race and gender.
I feel like this video is speaking to the entire audience, whether old or young, rich or poor as it is a large message that could apply to anyone who has the facilities to watch the video. However by showing the signs of beauty and purity I think it could also appeal to the older generations who may value these more, even with resigned ideologies.
In response to this representation I feel like the viewer could feel inspired to live a more basic and centralised lifestyle, yet I think the majority of viewers will probably just feel a stronger connection to the artist and her music as the song matches very well with the video.
Whilst there are recognisable stereotypes such as the locations and her actions I feel like they aren't intended the stereotype and overall just add to the overall narrative and feel of the video.
Been watching some "Video parts" from a few of my favourite skate brands, thinking about angles,techniques etc.
The first video, produced by Pontus Alv (a Swedish director known as the Stanley Kubrick of skate videos) for Polar Skate CO. Pontus Alv is renowned for his creative filming style,graphics,editing,concepts and music choice. This video features many songs ranging from electronic to indie rock. The next video I wanted to post on here is by Welcome Skate store(a local business in Leeds,) produced by Joe Allen,a great filmer and nice guy. The video features some great local skaters such as Sam 'Blinky' and Joe Winters who you can usually find at Hyde Park or LS-TEN. 'Stickers' is probably filmed on a SONY VX as the majority of skate videos with this style are, because they are a favourite within the community. The video features classic songs from Bob Dylan,The Isley Brothers, Blood orange and Sister Nancy :)
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in St. Albans, Queens, New York in 1985, originally composed of rapper and main producer Q-Tip, rapper Phife Dawg, DJ and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and rapper Jarobi White. The group is regarded as a pioneer of alternative hip hop music and the kings of NYC jazz rap.
The video follows the group with them lip syncing the lyrics the majority of the video, most memorably on Venice beach where the director uses a ripple effect to amplify the feel of the beat.
Also in this beach performance scene we see the director introduce the karaoke lyric effect which he also uses later on. I think he's done this to add to the overall mainstream feel of the song (intended) and ultimately poke fun at it. Which the label (Zomba) may have been fine with or just not thought about.
Before this there are two invisible cuts (one including voyeurism,) which alongside an extended mix of the drums and a few sound effects takes the setting from a night in the city to a day on the beach. However this is only one of the only examples of external sound used in the video.
This video uses special effects in a very clever and innovative way(for the time.) This can be seen in the form of excessive invisible cuts, sometimes by the cover of darkness and others through the manipulation of voyeurism masking techniques throughout, most notably when the video of a girl on a beach transforms into a bus advertisement.
This influence is seen often in modern music videos most noticeably(and possibly copied,) in A$AP Rocky's video: Besides the masking and clever invisible cuts the video uses slow-motion, reverse speed and overlay graphics as well. However one of my favourite SFX in the Tribe video is the CGI, masking, invisible cut blend at the beginning and end of the video. The editor uses a render of a planet fading into/out of the action to introduce to video and close it off. This gives the video a circular structure and also an insight into how a lot of the days for the artist's may play out. Furthermore it could also be an intertextual reference however I'm not sure on the text it references.
Whilst being a more popularised and genre stereotypical style video it still supports the group's iconography, with their performance style, voyeurism effects and object wipe transitions (seen using a traffic light in 'Find a way'. Here is an example of one of their previous videos where you can spot some common similarities'Find A Way' does fit many Hip-Hop conventions for the time such as; Signs of success like cars, strong performances and dancing women. As well as the low camera angles which make the artists seem superior and powerful. Here are some examples of other Hip-Hop videos from the time:
Just like most music videos the Tribe video also uses wide angle shots to show location and large groups (the whole group performing too,) and close ups to show singular people and details.
When thinking about: Composition, Framing, Movement and Angles there are many interesting decisions and uses of them in this video.
Compositionally this video follows typical rules and conventions such as the 'Rule of thirds'. The director uses the rule of thirds for wider shots and opening shots of the artists/interesting features and then as the framing gets tighter the composition becomes more centralised and symmetrical which directs attention towards the main subject. In terms of framing there is a wide variety, however most memorably the director often uses frames inside of frames which are then used as transitional vehicles. The most common type of framing is the 3-shot (as it is a group of three,) used when Tribe are performing and when individuals are interacting with eachother. There are only a few one shots and these take place when the artists are in their cars or taxis (MS.) The wider shots and lager shot sizes create a less intense feel which supports the mood of the song. There are unique camera movements and angles that have been used by the director to diversify the video and give it a more upmarket and high budget feel (contrasting the group's old iconography.) There are frequent uses of aerial and crane shots when opening a scene, these sometimes transition into gimbal shots like when the group is performing on the beach, or remain aerial like in the CGI opening at the start. We rarely see any stationary shots as the motion keeps the viewers interest and there is no strong storyline, instead there are many smooth gimbal operated shots which follow the artist/s through a scene, like the party.
Helen Folasade Adu CBE (born January 16, 1959), known professionally as Sade Adu or simply Sade is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. She creates soul and smooth jazz music and I feel like her music videos fit the genre conventions well.
Videos from this genre and era tended to lean more towards performance style videos with beautiful settings and vibrant colours, Sade's video is no exception. Here are some other music videos from this genre:
Sade's video is a bit more glamorized than both of these examples but this is just part of her iconography. Her videos always seem to look a bit surreal and fairy-tale esk (intertextuality,) which fits her soft voice and soothing music.
Here are some more Sade videos with surreal settings and glamorous moods.
Her videos tend to illustrate Andrew Goodwin's theories well, with all of them reflecting the feel of the songs as well as there being a very strong style and iconography. Furthermore there is an excessive use of artist close-ups (genre convention,) this could be a director choice or by demand of her label (Portrait/Epic records.)
The whole video follows the artist's journey from a tree in the middle of nowhere to a bustling city (continuity.) It starts off with Sade at a tree against a (cgi) sunset when she picks a berry(which we see by a cutaway,) that has been edited to look enchanting.
Most of the way through the artist is performing her lyrics whilst still being engaged in the storyline and action going on around her. The director shows Sade's journey towards the city by a repeated cutaway shot which shows her perspective of the distant city getting closer and closer. (CGI city)
The next location, like most of the others, looks like it is an indirect or even direct use of intertextuality. The reason I think this is because it looks like a generic shot from a Disney film, this adds to the overall theme of the video and the artist's persona and outfit. The enchanted berry she collected earlier gets submerged in the magical pond then she hugs is whilst singing?
Also in this music video we see a poor and freezing family who seem to be dancing outside of their surreal tree house, occupied by Sade's band,when the artist goes and dances with them. However the adults don't seem to notice her, then she leaves after collecting something else and walking through another enchanted forest, all adding to her typical style and goddess like iconography. Finally after getting closer and closer to the city and walking through various beautiful and vibrant scenes (shown via extreme-wide shots,)she arrives in the city where drivers ignore her dancing in the middle of the road.
Also supporting voyeurism the ending shot has been shot through a car windscreen to show the perspective of someone driving past and seeing her performance.
Composition and framing are used wisely by the director (Sophie Muller) to compliment the mood of the song.She uses lots of wide and extreme wide shots typically shot from eye-level or lower angles - this establishes location, creates a calming feeling, allows for personal connections and makes her seem powerful (especially as she is alone.) There is a very prevalent use of compositions where leading lines are used alongside a central composition to direct the viewer's eye straight to the subject (Sade,) and help outline her journey and destination. Close-ups and extreme close-up shots are used to show smaller details and focus the audience's attention on things that would other wise go unnoticed (music video convention.) There are rarely any angles where the camera is placed above the artist's eye-level as she is meant to feel powerful and not inferior. In terms of camera movement there is frequent use of stationary (tripod) shots - this emphasises the feeling of loneliness and also adds to the slow and calming pace.There is a slider/ gimbal shot where the camera remains on the same level however moves from left to right following Sade through the forest scene. This is subtle movement adds a bit of interest when the plot moves from one scene through another.
Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hyne December 23, 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is a solo English singer, songwriter, record producer and director.
This music video was directed by Crack Stevens and produced by Nuuksio Films. Edited in Final Cut
The song apparently falls into the alternative and indie genre/ neo soul. Music videos from this genre usually tend to be concept style videos making it hard to identify conventions however they usually have this vibrant, s curve colour correction with a lot of the videos being shot on vhs or film. Here are some similar examples;
One noticeable thing about all of these videos is how they all feature close-ups and extreme close-ups, always focussing on the eyes. This allows the director to convey a certain emotion judging by the artists facial expressions, adding to the overall mood of the song. In the Blood Orange video i counted a total of 26 extreme close-ups (not including many more close-ups.)
Throughout the entire music video the director uses a split screen effect. These split screen shots are usually matching composition wise and sometimes content wise but the director often contrasts the content on either side of the split(Intercut).This can help emphasise the emotion and feeling of the song especially when close-ups are used.
The composition of the shots usually amplifies the song and its lyrics. Typically in this video we see the shots being framed wider when there is a happier, higher energy feel to the song.Whereas when there is a more solemn feel to the song the shots tend to be framed more close-up to reflect the mood. The majority of shots in the music video are shot from eye level to allow us to form personal connections with the people in the video. However some shots are shot from a high angle in regard to children and some are shot from a low angle to show location.
The director likes to use jump-cuts, he does this not only to show the passing of time but also to cut on beat in order to keep a good flow and maintain the continuity. One example of this is seen inthe birds eye view of the food near the start. As the pace slows at the end of the song and it begins to fade the director stops using jump-cuts and just shows one continuous shot. Apart from the artist's performance shot I only noticed a few other cutaway shots which usually revolved around certain characters such as the children and the old woman.
We are directly addressed by the artist at times in the video when he's performing and looking into the camera. The artist does have a fairly significant music video style usually created by the colour grading, use of slow motion and strong conceptual writing. Heres another video from Blood orange.There are no special effects in the 'Charcoal baby' music video besides the constant split screen but I can't see how special effects would've added to this concept.
This video is set on two different days in a 'Family restoration centre' (scouted by Andrew Gillman) . The concept of this video really focuses on family and socialisation, you can see a whole range of emotions from sad to ecstatic, accurate to what will happen in a place like this. The artist himself clearly feels a connection to the place and the people in it, so he probably wanted the world to see it. We see how confident he feels around these people towards the end when they are all dancing and he joins in.
En scene we have seen a focus on people, food and the setting. Also there is a motorbike shown on both sides of the split screen at one point as well as some very cool and vibrant outfits that reflect the personalities of the people.
Compositionally both sides of the split screen are similar, usually with central compositions. To add to this continuity and overall theme both sides also match n terms of movements, angles and framing. The filmmaker has used low angles frequently to make the subjects seem powerful and confident, supported by their surroundings, props and outfits. When the director wants us to form more emotional connections with the subjects the angle switches to eye-level (or high angle in the case of children.) The eye-level angles are usually accompanied by tighter framing, these close-up shots allow us to see smaller details on the subjects such as freckles, allowing for a more vulnerable and personal connection. We see a few angular anomalies when other aspects of the location are shown such as the birds-eye view showing food or the floor-level angle when near the end when chairs are packed up. The movements in this video are all very smooth and professional, created by the use of a gimbal and/or slider rig. This allows the camera to move smoothly between a scene when following a subject and helps differentiate framing - In addition it adds continuity and means that transitions between shots are seamless and don't disturb the viewer.
Andrew Goodwin, an american theorist, wrote 7 key characteristics of music videos in his 1992 book. Today I'll be trying to apply these theories to the 3 videos I chose to analyse when outlining video styles.
1. His first key characteristic states that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals; whether illustrating,amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. In Thundercat's 'Them Changes' music video this is visible, with the gruesome visuals emphasising the lyrics showing the artist's take on heartbreak.
2.The second key characteristic outlines a relationship between the instrumentals and the visuals, this could involve cutting the clips to the beat (usually focussing on a certain instrument,) or matching the pace of the editing to the pace of the video. This is also seen in the Thundercat video where the cutting of clips matching some beats and the hits of the swords at the start also matches the instrumental.
3.Andrew said that genres typically have their own video style and iconography. This could mean signs of wealth and success(usualy modern hip-hop,) or it could mean conforming to video styles like concept. Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' fits into the Trip-hop and downtempo genres and the concept style video mirrors this genre, being very abstract and unique.
4.Apparently there is usually a demand from the record-company for lots of close-ups of the artist/s. The three music videos I analysed for my music video styles post don't demonstrate this. However this is seen excessively in Pop music videos like this one from Ariana Grande.
5. Goodwin also outlined that typically we see artists developing their own iconography inside and outside of the music video. This can help artists to form a strong relationship with their fanbase as fans like having a consistent idol as well as it making it easier for them to represent their favourite artist. One extreme example of iconography within music is MF DOOM,who always wears an iconic and individual mask, often sending decoys to live performances and interviews. This is because MF DOOM (one of Dumile's many artists,) is based off of a cartoon supervillian, so Dumile plays this part. We see this anonymity in this video.
6. The sixth key characteristic Goodwin specified was that there is a reference the voyeurism. This is where we are looking through a frame within a screen,binoculars,camera...) This can be a really good way to diversify a music video or get creative with editing techniques as well as possibly giving an insight into the artist's psyche. A really good example of this can be seen in a$ap rocky's 'A$ap Forever'.
7. The seventh and final key characteristic Andrew Goodwin lists is Intertextuality. This is where the producer either directly or indirectly references another piece of work. Indirect references are inevitable as ultimately all work is inspired by what you have seen in the past, here is an example of an indirect intertextual reference which could be inspired by the film 'Up'.
In comparison, direct intertextual references occur when the director aims to reference another producers work.
I'm quite proficient in using Adobe Premiere Pro and have been using it for around 4 years. However I've never used Final Cut Pro before, so using some drone footage I imported from my Ipad I experimented with some subtle transitions, speeds and basic titles.
Today in a group of three we reviewed a music video filmed and produced by Miles Charlesworth in 2018 for his media A-Level. The video is for a Leeds indie band, typically this genre sees performance style videos with subtle narratives.
The Tunnels Eyes - MCHARMEDIA (A level music video)
Miles' video fits this stereotype well, the video follows the group and features shots of them performing, underpinned by the restoration of a car and lit by vibrant light. I think this is an effective video as it portrays the group as energetic and represents their music well. Some line animation has been used, whilst this effect is subtle it takes a long time to edit(usually in After Effects.) It has been used to make still shots more dynamic and maintain the pace.
I think the in the production of this music video, the line animation would've been very time consuming. Furthermore having enough engaging shots to fill a 4 minute audio and still maintaining the storyline would've taken a lot of planning and time.
Today I spent 4 hours in total photographing and cropping 200 of my Grandpa's pictures from between the 50s and 70s. His images were taken on transparency film, the type that is visible when backlit by a projector or viewfinder. I spent 15 minutes creating a clean set to start, then lined up the transparency viewfinder with my digital camera lens. Then I individually removed and inserted all 200 slides, focusing, exposing and taking a new digital image every time (this took 2 hours.) After this I imported all the images into Lightroom and cropped each image separately which took another 2 hours. Here are some examples of my Grandpa's Photography.
Outside of school I do somefreelance photography and have been published a few times. You can see my photography portfolio at Ollie Evans Photography ;)
We are learning about three important styles of video; Concept, Performance and Narrative.
Concept music videos are based around a single idea or concept which is typically abstract and unusual. A lot of the time the video will have no relevance to the lyrics and just be aesthetically pleasing.
Performance based music videos feature a singular person or a group of people performing the lyrics, this is usually the artist however there are exceptions. These can be just as emotive as Concept and Narrative videos.
Narrative music videos include a storyline and the shots in the video aid the storytelling. Often narrative music videos can include sound effects and dialogue from the start to the end of the video and are often longer than the typical length of the song.
My name's Ollie and this is my blog page for the Media Studies Cambridge Technical course, where I will be writing about and uploading my work. I'm interested in the full film production and photography processes as well as all forms of design. Here is an example of a travel video I like.
Today I'll be applying these questions to the 3 music videos I analysed. Firstly, as I have already found the typical Sade listener's demographics I'll look at her video first. I think the director has tried to distort reality by simplifying it down to the essentials such as food, shelter, warmth and love(appeals to reformers.) Which they contrast by showing the artist with her simplistic journey and background surrounded by a busy and bustling city. The director's ideology is clearly to live in a more pure and minimalistic way, only focussing on what they find important. This implies a deviant and atypical view on the real world, regardless of wealth and age(the tree house scene,)as well as race and gender. 
