Focus Group

As research for my music video, I will do a focus group to assess what the target audience is appealed to most, such as certain cinematography, editing and mise-en-scene. I can focus on the answers I get in response and use them to assist in the creation of my music video. This will differ to the survey I created, as participants will be more likely to tell the truth and give a more open, detailed opinion. There will be no closed questions, and therefore there is an unlimited variety of answers participants can give in response. This will make it easier for me to understand their individual views, likes and dislikes. I can generalise this, by age, gender, and social class group, to comprehend my audience.

Midway through each interview, I will allow the participants to listen to the song, "The Draw" by Bastille. I will ask similar questions before and afterwards. I will do this to compare people's opinions on both prejudice of the genre and the actual song itself. This will be to perceive the viewpoint of someone who has not heard of the artist before, and their initial judgement.

Institution Profile

Demographics

These are social class demographics, and the types of jobs which each class usually has. There are stereotypes which go with each group, such as group A are rich snobs, whilst group E are poor but have a lot of free time. There are also musical taste stereotypes, as certain classes are more likely to listen to certain genres of music. In my opinion, group A would listen to more classical music, perhaps opera, group B would listen to older music such as 60s and 70s pop, group C1 and C2 would listen to 80s and 90s music, more the dance genre, group D would listen to chart music and modern day pop, and group E would listen to a range of genres, from rock music to classical. I have made these assumptions from the ages I have presumed represent each group, such as group A I assume to be 50-60 years old and group D to be 16-25 years old. However, group E can be a range of ages, from pensioners to students, and therefore there isn't a clear musical stereotype for this group. Students are more likely to listen to rock music, whilst pensioners are most likely to listen to classical music. I also base these assumptions on when each age group was growing up, and the music that they listened to whilst doing so, however there could be cases where students listen to classical music and pensioners listen to rock music.

My target audience is groups E and D, as these are most likely to listen the indiepop genre. Not everyone can be labelled, however these stereotypes give me something to aim for when creating my music video, as they fit the majority of people. Groups D and E may have less money, however they will have more free-time and therefore more pastimes, such as listening to music or watching music videos either on YouTube or on TV. This is a major target audience, and therefore my music video can include a variety of mise en scene, codes and conventions and still appeal to many people. 

Textual Analysis

I have chosen to study and analyse two music videos that are also in the indiepop/electropop genre, so I can compare and apply the codes and conventions used to my own music video. There is a link between each track, and if generalised to all other songs in the indiepop/electropop genre, it would be a convention of the genre. 

Melanie Martinez - Sippy Cup

The first music video is Sippy Cup by Melanie Martinez. This video has an aspect of each narrative, performance and abstract. The storyline follows a mother who finds out that her husband has been committing adultery, and her angry outburst that follows. The mother kills both her husband and his lover, however this isn't shown directly on screen, it is implied by the use of a knife and blood. The meaning behind the song is that no matter how much you try to hide it, or distract yourself, reality is still going to happen. Lyrics such "he's still dead when you're done with the bottle" and "syrup is still syrup in a sippy cup" represent this. Melanie Martinez is similar to Halsey with her musical genre and style.

The video opens with a fifteen second outward zooming shot of Crybaby, acting as an establishing shot. This is followed with a sequence of handheld shots of her mother, the antagonist of the video. This handheld succession of clips represent her drunken state, as the camera staggers as she does. She is shown holding a bottle of what is implied to be alcohol. She begins to pour this liquid into a child's cup. This follows the theme of the song, which is that no matter how you disguise something as something else, it is still what it is. Crybaby is awoken from her sleep by the noises her drunken mother is making. Her father comes home with his mistress, most to his wife's ignorance. She takes a knife and it is implied that the mother attacks and kills both her husband and his mistress, however it is not directly shown on screen. 

Crybaby comes to investigate the noise, and finds the bodies of her father and his mistress. The mother covers Crybaby's mouth with a cloth, takes her to her room, and then force feeds her liquid from a "sippy cup". Whilst this narrative is taking place, there is an interweaving performance in between shots, of Martinez lip syncing to the lyrics. She is shown with iconography that represents heaven, as she is in a light pink setting and is shown with angel wings. This is implied to be a 'flashback', as it seems to be Crybaby after drinking the contents of the sippy cup. She tries to play with her toys, however they are lifeless and unmoving.

There is a relationship between the music and the music video. The shots are sometimes in time with the music, such as when Crybaby's eyes are shown in a close up at the beginning in time with the lyrics. Also, in the actual track on the album there is a dubbed pouring sound, which is in time with one of the opening shots in the music video. As Martinez's album (Crybaby) is a conceptual album, there is a constant motif that is repeated throughout all songs and music videos. This repeated pattern is the story of Crybaby, a child who struggles with love and understanding the world around her. Therefore similar imagery, codes and conventions are used in all of Martinez's music videos in order to portray the story of Crybaby and for them to be connected. Child mise-en-scene is commonly used, such as children's toys and clothes. Each one of Martinez's music videos are directed by her, in order to fulfil the story that she had envisioned for Crybaby. Above, there is a double feature music video that includes much of the same imagery as in "Sippy Cup", such as children's toys and clothes. 

Both Halsey and Martinez have concept albums, where all musical or lyrical ideas contribute to a single overall theme or unified story, however Martinez has a stronger, more connected story. Every song follows the life of 'Crybaby', and is themed around childhood, featuring track titles such as "Mrs Potato Head", "Milk and Cookies" and "Training Wheels". Physical copies of Martinez's album have "The Story of Crybaby" with it. This is a story book which acts as a companion to the album, using lyrics from the songs and hand-drawn images to tell the story of 'Crybaby'. Halsey's album, 'Badlands' tells stories from a dystopian world, however these songs do not follow on from each other, whilst Martinez's songs do. 

Bastille - Laura Palmer

The second video I have chosen to study is Laura Palmer by Bastille. The song is named after a character in the 1990's American Drama 'Twin Peaks'. In the TV show, a series of events follow the murder of teenager Laura Palmer, as the town struggle to recover from her death and uncover the killer. Laura was known to many people, however each person knew a different side of her personality, a different 'Laura'. The director has reflected this in the music video. The theme of the video is about escaping yourself and life's norms and conventions, living a life different to others and accepting what you make of your life. This is evident in the opening lines: "Walking out into the dark, cutting out a different path, led by your beating heart". In the video, there are both narrative and performance features. However, both of these collide as the performance becomes part of the narrative.

It begins with a  group of youths in a junkyard, one with a camera recording their vandalism. Some of the shots used are through the video camera he is using, giving the music video a documentary style. This documentary style filming is used throughout the music video to represent the viewpoint of the teenagers, the ones who are "lead by their beating heart". They all wear a variety of masks to hide their faces, making them seem anonymous.

In the meantime, the lead singer (Daniel Smith) is shown singing with strobe lighting behind him, however the forth wall is broken as the camera crew, director and makeup artists are shown. These two narratives are interwinding, and soon collide to become the same narrative, as the group of youths kidnap Smith. This is shown by both a professional camera and the handheld camera used by the teenagers, which implies that all attention from both narratives are on the kidnapping. One of the shots used in the music video is also used for their Laura Palmer EP (shown to the left). This is so the audience quickly recognise the EP because of the music video and vice versa.

After the lead singer is kidnapped, there is a brief break from the music, where only atmospheric sounds are played such as a dog barking. The music video filming site is left empty, with the strobe lighting still working. When the music begins again, the woman who is portraying Laura Palmer plays the piano in time with the music. Various fast paced editing is used through this to create a montage of clips that represent that the singer has spent a lot of time with the kidnappers. Strangely, the date on the camera in these scenes are on the 8th of August 2011, whilst the date on the camera when he actually was kidnapped shows the 10th of August 2011. This lowers verisimilitude as according to the date on the camera, he was kidnapped at a later date then when he was actually being held by the kidnappers. 

The music video ends with Smith putting on a mask, becoming like one of his kidnappers, anonymous and free. The lyrics "This is your heart, can you feel it? Can you feel it? Pumps through your veins, can you feel it? Can you feel it?" are represented by the music video, as he is doing something that he wouldn't usually do, and he can feel the adrenaline. He is free from his commitments, and although it scares him, he embraces it anyway. This is the message and theme behind the song, and the representations of Laura Palmer. The entire documentary/found footage style of the music video is an aspect inspired from Twin Peaks, as the only imagery found of Palmer before her death was that of which was recorded by her friends in a handheld documentary style, and is a major plot line in the TV show. The image shown above is a shot of this footage, as is very similar to one of the opening shots in the music video (shown below).

Story Board (Halsey)

This is a brief, but fairly accurate storyboard which represents what shots I will include in my music video and in what order. The narrative follows a young woman, the protagonist, who is hallucinating "monsters" and is in a delusional state because of it. The narrative ends with the woman fighting back against one of the "monsters" and killing it. She comes to her senses as the hallucination comes to an end, and it is revealed that the "monster" is someone she knows. 

The Genre (Halsey)

Halsey is defined by Wikipedia as being both an indie-pop and an electro-pop artist. Indie-pop is a mashup of two genres, individual and popular. Electro-pop is also a mashup of two genres, electronic and popular. Below are the Wikipedia definitions for these genres, and the history behind them.

Indiepop

Electropop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_pop                   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electropop

Spotify (an online music streaming software) calculates artists similar to other artists by who the audience also listens to. According to Spotify, those similar to Halsey are artists such as Hayley Kiyoko, Melanie Martinez and Troye Sivan, who are also indie-pop and electro-pop artists. 

Google images compiles many popular images that are often linked with certain words of phrases. Therefore I have Google image searched the genres Indiepop and Electropop. This will give me a clear insight to the tight of artists that are in those genres, and the iconography that I should include to fit my artists. When I searched Indiepop artists, performers such as Haim, Lana Del Rey and Foxes were shown, who are coincidentally all women. Further down, an image of Halsey's debut album, Badlands was shown, as well as Troye Sivan's EP, Wild. 

When I Google image searched for Electropop artists, not many well known popular artists were shown, as it is considered a niche genre. However further down, an image of Halsey is shown, which implies that some people to refer to her as an Electropop artist.

When I had searched "electropop", Google immediately gave me the most searched for phrases. The first one that appeared was "electropop star Halsey", which clearly shows that she is one of the most influential and famous artists in the electropop genre, as no other artists were shown as a recommended phrase. 

I also had Google image searched only the genres, so that I could grasp the clear stereotypical iconography that is shown throughout the images. Indiepop has quite a vintage style, using dark, natural colours that complement each other and represent a 60's theme. Wikipedia states that "indie quickly became shorthand for a genre whose defining conventions were identified as jangling guitars and a love of '60s pop" which complies with the vintage style iconography. In contrast, the search results for electropop showed a modern, neon coloured theme, usually a bright hot pink. Whilst indiepop was a compilation of complementing vintage colours and graphics, electropop shows bright, contrasting colours and graphics. I will show these genres in my music video by applying aspects of vintage and neon iconography. I do this so that my music video will be more believable and will fit in to the correct genres. If I was to include iconography such as black clothes, dark makeup and electric guitars, this wouldn't suit the genre, as that is stereotypical of the rock music genre.

Halsey's music video for her song, Ghost, uses mainly electropop imagery. It contains hardly any inidepop, which implies that Halsey herself believes that she is an electropop artists, and would rather be represented with iconography from that genre. Since Halsey plays a major part in the production and direction of her music videos, they are very representative of her own desires rather than those of directors hired by her record label. Therefore, I will include mainly electropop imagery in my music videos.