Additional Research

Research

We decided as a group to research into our choosen artist which is Little Mix. Within this we have created an Artist biography , genre research and will then links to theories such as the male gaze.

Artist research - This was created by team member Georgia Pearce

Little Mix are a British four member girl band formed in 2011, members including Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall.

They were put together on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011 after originally auditioning as solo artists, becoming the first ever group to win the competition. 

After the show, they signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records and releasing their winners single, a cover of Damien Rice's "Cannonball".

Their debut album DNA was released on 19 November 2012, and their second album, Salute, was released on 11 November 2013 in the UK and was released on 4 February 2014 in the US. As of October 2013, Little Mix have sold over 4 million singles and over 2.5 million albums worldwide.
Perrie Edwards:

Born 10 July 1993 (age 20), Perrie was born and raised in South Shields, Tyne and Wear to parents Alexander Edwards and Deborah Duffy, with an older brother named Jonnie. Her first audition was "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette. She has been engaged to One Direction member Zayn Malik since August 2013.

Perrie's First Audition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYCpNTsiokg&list=PL493AEEC6EE4D2249






Leigh-Anne Pinnock:

Leigh-Anne was born 4 October 1991 (age 22), and was raised in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire along with her two sisters, Sarah and Sian-Louise. She is of Barbadian/Jamaican ancestry. Before joining Little Mix, she worked as a waitress in Pizza Hut. Her first audition was "Only Girl (in the World)" by Rihanna. She's currently in a relationship with Jordan Kiffin.

Leigh-Anne's First Audition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmqXUTyCDfs

Jade Thirlwall:

Jade Thirlwall was born 26 December 1992 (age 21), and raised in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. She previously auditioned for The X Factor during series 5 (2008) and series 7 (2010). Her first audition song in 2011 was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles. Her musical influences are Diana Ross and Cheryl Cole. She's currently in a relationship with Diversity's Sam Craske.

Jade's First Audition (2011):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5Kf_A0Pmws

Jesy Nelson:

Jesy was born 14 June 1991 (age 22), and raised in Romford, London to parents John Nelson and Janice White. She has an older sister Jade and two brothers, Joseph and Jonathan. Her first audition was "Bust Your Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan. Since joining Little Mix, she has faced cyber-bullying and struggled to cope during her time on The X Factor. Prior to the show, Jesy worked as a barmaid. She's currently in a relationship with Diversity's Jordan Banjo.

Jesy's First Audition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuJip8PbTzQ

Genre Research

My team member Kala Hill  then went on to conduct research into the Pop genre

The general conventions
Pop music videos are all about the artist selling their music to their audience. Typical eliminates in a pop music video include; Lots of bright colours, dancing, make-up, vibrant outfits and props. Many artists in this industry such as Rihanna and Beyonce are sex symbols as well as a product to help promote their music to the public.
Mise-en-scene typically consists of Bright colours, lots of make-up and fashion accessories.
Editing typically consists of Tints and filters to enhance colours and photoshopped artists so they look perfect.
Camera work typically consists of Many close-ups of artist faces and long shots of dancing and partying.

Narrative
In pop music videos a narrative is not the most common theme they usually go with a performance based theme as this attracts the audience, however if a narrative is used in a pop music video then it is usually based upon parties or relationships/breakups. Such as Little Mix "DNA" the narrative behind that is all these girls obsesing over a guy, this is typical for pop music videos.

Performance
Pop music videos are almost completely focused on the artist and no one else. If there is a dance routine in the music video then then the artists will always be the main front dancers, or if they have a narrative then the artists will play the main charecters. Pop artists always perform in a sexual manner or a cute way to attract the biggest audience base they can.

Finally I went on to research into how women are presented in the media and whether we are going to subvert or reinforce these stereotypes.

Firstly Laura Mulvey states that- "In cinema pleasure is related to issues of sexual difference and sexual politics". -'Film studies: The essential resource - Peter Bennett, Andrew Hickman and Peter Wall'

The media is mediated by the ways in which male characters look at female characters. A female is identified as an object of desire, she is defined as a passive sexual spectacle. Cinema centres ideas around pleasuring a male heterosexual desire and defines the female as the passive object of male desire.

As we are presenting an all female band it is extremely hard to completely subvert aspects such as the male gaze. Within many of Little Mix's videos they are wearing tight clothing , showing a lot of skin and wearing clothes that enhances their assets. However they still manage to keep an aspect of innocence. Therefore in out video we will follow these guidelines, the characters will wear outfits which reinforce the male gaze but we will try to keep the aspect of innocence.

Final Treatment

Final Treatment

Date: 15/1/14

Name of artist: Little Mix

Title of track: Move

Following the draft treatment and the padlet feedback , we have made amendment to the areas that appeared to be lacking. They felt that there wasn't a structured narrative to the video and that some of the ideas may be a bit far-fetched. Below this the aspect will felt needed changing.

Narrative

      At the beginning of the video it will show the girls getting ready together for their up and coming party. The main theme will follow the girls 'playing games' with their love interest. The video will be leading up to the party , this will involve images of them getting ready , singular shots of them singing to the camera in front of a green screen and group shots of them dancing together. There is a lot of interaction with this 'Love interest' over social media and phone networks. Toward the middle and end of the video the party will be the dominant and will just show the girls having fun together. In this part of the video the 'love interest' will make an appearance and highlight the plot twist which is that all the girls have been talking to the same guy.

      We have decided against using a choreographed dance routine in our music video as this may be a bit far fetched as it have proven difficult to getting numerous people together to create this part of the video. 

Draft Treatment

Draft Treatment

Below as a group we have created a draft treatment , This is a starting outline of our ideas for our music video. We will then gain feedback from this and alter it to improve it.

Date: 5/12/13

Name of artist: Little Mix

Title of track: Move

Outline of ideas for music video (Narrative, Characterisation…) and Justification of ideas relating to artists, genre and audience questionnaire and focus group information This will be a performance-based video formed around a party scene as our focus group stated that this would be preferable in relation to the song. A Christmas or birthday party scene – reference to lyrics. ‘Feeling like it's my birthday, Like Christmas day came early’. Green screen scenes, which include the artist singing to the camera. This is a typical feature within Little Mix’s videos so this needs to be included to incorporate their star motifs. Dance routines should be included throughout the video as the focus group claimed that they enjoys pop music videos which include a strong dance routine and this is a typical convention of pop music. There will be the use of lots of bright colours, this will be incorporated through costumes and props. This is a convention of pop and a star motif of Little Mix.

Resources that will be needed? (Actors, props, settings…) 4 “Little Mix” members Extras: Party background and dance routine extras Camera & Tripod Party location Dance location Party equipment (Part poppers, glow sticks, streamers, balloons, banners, cake and candles) Costumes: Little Mix members outfits and extras costumes (provided themselves)

To gain feedback about peoples thoughts in reference to our ideas about our music video , we created a Padlet account to gain feedback. (Link embedded below)

Link:http://padlet.com/wall/j4xg57idqc

Focus Group

Focus Group

For research into what to include in our music video , we created a focus group made  up of our 'typical' target audience and ask their opinions on a set of questions. Their answers will help shape how we create our music video.The video of our focus group is embedded below:


                                      

From the focus group we have learned that a performance based video was preferable due to the lyrics of the song. The focus group believed that it would be hard to have a narrative due to this. The best location for our music video would be a party , studio or dance hall and make sure we include a dance routine embedded throughout. Their favourite music videos were Katy Perry's videos as they found them fun , Jessie J's Who's laughing now because of the bright colours used ,Beyonce's music videos as she always have a strong dance routine and finally Michael Jackson's music video's also due to having dance routines. 

We found that our focus group dislike when pop videos don't have a variety of shots and when they only focus on one member of the group throughout the video. Also they claimed that they disliked it when the main artist remained stationary throughout the majority of the video. Finally they stated that they didn't like it when the video doesn't have any relevance  to the song.

So therefore looking at these results we believe our video will be performance based and will revolve around a party scene. During this scene we intended to embed dance routines throughout. Additionally as the use of bright colours were perceived as important we will enhance this by using green screens. We intended for our video to be fun and lively , this will be achieve by using a variety of shots and cuts. In addition to this we will have our video artists moving frequently and avoid being stationary for long periods of time. Lastly we will try to the best of our ability to make sure the video is relevant to the lyrics and song.

Conventional music video analysis

Six freeze frames analysis

For research into the pop convention , individually I went on to research Katy perry and her pop conventions. Katy Perry is conventional within pop music as she has very up-beat songs and the use of bright colours in her music video. My more in depth analysis is shown below.

This screenshot portrays many aspects that are typical in pop music videos. The bright colours are a typical convention of pop and these are presented through the costumes that are worn and the streamers that are hanging over the banners. The colours used have connotations of fun, happy and excitement. The lyrics in the background “we’ll do it all again” implies to the audience that they are having a great time. This implies to her audience that by listening to this song that you will as well have the time of your life and feel like you are at a crazy party for the duruation of the song.

This second screenshot represents a typical convention of pop genre music videos. This is a close up of Perry, this portrays to the audience that she is still the focal point of the video even through a large number of people are present within the video. Additionally the background is blurred which supports this idea as Perry is fully in focus. Perry does this to remain in control and remind the audience that the party revolves around her, she is the life and soul of the party.

This third screen shot follows the typically convention that pop music follow a far fetched storyline. This music video follows a typical love story and this is shown through this long shot. It is very far-fetched as the male is portrayed as a knight in shining armor and Perry appears to be princess awaiting her prince. Pop culture tends to take a rose tinted view at most aspects of reality. Additionally this portrays the idea that if you listen to perry's song that you will escape reality for a while and enter a fairytale land. 

This screenshot portrays a typical convention of pop music videos. The majority of pop music videos include a dance scene which typically includes quite a few people. Perry uses this convention throughout the video as dance scenes are included throughout. This is a convention as pop music has originated from dance music which means that artists intend to use this in their videos.

This wide shot shows a lot of Perry’s star motif’s . As shown in ‘Tgif’ and this shot from ‘California gurls’ it portrays that Perry is very well known for bright colours. In addition to this her video’s tend to be quite far-fetched as in this shot she is walking through a forest made of sweets and is wearing a candy dress. Perry does this to stand out from the crowd , she wants her music and video's to be different and interesting. She want to keep her audience interested and make them believe that anything can happen. In the majority of her videos she appears to be in another world and this is how she therefore portrays this to her audience.

Lastly a convention of pop music videos is the artist presenting themselves in a sexual manner. This is used to try and lure the audience in. Perry in the screen shot is only covered by a ‘Cloud’. Additionally she has a direct mode of address while winking which portrays that she is aiming it directly at the audience. This is appealling to the 'Male gaze' , due to her childlike candy theme video , she want to appeal to all genders and ages. By appearing naked she appeals to male's sexual sense and therefore draws them in. All of the aspects she includes in her video is to maintain her audience and even attract new people to listen and buy her music.

Copyright Permission Letter

Copyright Permission letter

As we are choosing to use a copyrighted song, we have to gain permission from the record label.Through this process I have learnt the importance of gaining copy right permission before using a form of media for educational purposes. Copyright is in place to stop ,any body other than the artist, gaining profit from their material. We decided it would be beneficial to gain this permission from Sony Music and reference the artist and song we would like to use as we are not the original creators of this song and we want to make sure all credit goes to Sony Music. Below is the letter that I wrote to send to SME to gain this permission.

Faye curry

138 Whitethorn Avenue

West Drayton

Middlesex

UB7 8LD

Monday 11^th November 2013

Sony Music Entertainment

9 Derry Street

London

W8 5HY

Dear Mr. Morris,

                                    Our names are Faye Curry, Kala Hill and Georgia Pearce and we are currently studying A-level media at Swakeleys Sixth Form. Part of our coursework is to create a music video and we would love to use a song by Little Mix, which are one of your artists that you represent. Therefore we are writing to ask for your permission to use their most recent song ‘Move’ as a backing track for our project.

This video will be for educational purposes only and we will not be gaining any credit from it; all copyright credit will go to Sony Music Entertainment. In order for our work to be moderated the video will need to remain online for three months. After this period the video can be removed if there is an issue. Additionally we are able to make a hard copy of our video, which will be sent straight to the moderator and will thus not be publicised if there is any concern over the use of the song in question.

Yours Faithfully,

Faye Curry                                   Kala Hill                                Georgia Pearce                

Audience research

Demographics and Psychographics of our target audience

To create the basis for our target audience , we conducted research into the demographics and psychographics of our target audience.  A demographic is 'Measurable characteristics of media consumers such as age, gender, race, education and income level'.  A psychographic is 'A more sophisticated form of demographics that includes information about the psychological and sociological characteristics of media consumers such as attitudes, values, emotional responses and ideological beliefs'.



The image inserted above was created by myself using an online site called polyvore. My aim was to try and recreate the fashion and style of our target audience. I included lots of bright colours , logo tops , unique accessories and converses.

Additionally a team member of mine Georgia Pearce presented the audience demographics and psychographics on a online site called prezi. The link is inserted below:



This information will be used to determine our audience when making our music video. This will influence our costumes and who the video will be aimed at.

As a group we created a list of potential artists that we could use for our music video.Our list consisted of Katy Perry, Jessie J, Little Mix, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Pink, Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding and The Saturdays.


A team member Kala Hill researched into all of these artists by looking through their music videos and looking at their appearance. She decided to narrow it down to Little mix and The Saturdays and anaylsed as video by each of these artists.


The Saturdays "Disco Love"

This video was chosen from the saturdays because it represents typical pop conventions.The video consists of all the girls having fun, going on a day trip out together, going through all the different eras. Throughout they are all wearing very girly outfits that are stylish and bright. In the video they have a lot of costume changes to suit the time period they are representing. As they go through all the different decades of dance, Many actors and dancers are involved but The Saturdays are always the main focus through out the video , through multiple close ups.

Little mix "How ya doin"

This music video by Little Mix consists of many costume changes and consists of very bright and vibrant colours. It is a stereotypical pop music video starting off with the girls in a very pink room getting ready together. Then at the parties they are all dancing together in bright rooms including rooms with bright UV lights and rooms with black and white stripped walls. All of these rooms appear very bright and funky matching up with their costumes and making the song lively and fun.

Questionnaire

Needing to investigate into our target audience more we created a questionnaire.As a group we collated appropriate questions based on our research into our potential target audience.The results from this will then be used to help form our target audience.

I went on individually to create the survey on Survey Monkey to collect these results, The link is pasted below along with a screen shot of the questionnaire.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QXLRZSN

Looking at our questionnaire I went on to create a quick over view of our results on Go animate. The video embedded above is the representation our target audience , which we have gained knowledge about through the results.


Then as a group we decided we needed a more detail analysis of our results. I then went on to use Quick time to make a video of our results . Then a team member Georgia Pearce completed a voice over on the video to explain it further. Then together we edited the sequence on imovie and uploaded it to YouTube.

An overview of our results is that our target audience is mainly females who are between 17 and 18 years old. When predicting our target audience we believed they were in bracket E which is youth who are unemployed and in full time education. The results back this is up as 53 % of respondents were unemployed and 100 % were in full time education. Similarly as our chosen artist is Little Mix they are typically a pop girl band , our results showed that 69% of our respondents liked pop music which reinforces our ideas. In addition 56% liked bright and vibrant colours which we found was typical of little mix and those colours are dominant within their music videos.

These results have now enabled use to gain an understand off our target audience. As they are mainly teen girls we are able to keep to Little Mix's style motif's by using bright colours and girly items. We can now make sure our video caters to their likes and dislikes within pop culture such a costume choices and make-up.