Music Channels

Music channels, also known as 'music television' is a programme which features on TV, focusing mainly on playing music videos from bands and also artists, this can be used as a form of promotion, and entertainment. A majority of the time each music channel will host their own competitions, which may feature prizes such as free gig tickets, signed instruments, or the chance the meet the artist/band. They also hold and put together their own charts, this usually involves listing the top 40 selling singles, albums, or even artists of the genre in which the channel belongs to. One of the top music channels being MTV, which is now also known for hosting TV shows too, and less music videos. 

MTV
MTV was originally known as Music Television, before being shortened down to the three simple initials which everyone knows it as today. The American based channel was launched in 1981, and owned by the MTV Networks Music and Logo Group. In the channel's early years it's original purpose was to play music videos guided by television personalities, at this point the channels main target demographic was young adults. Whereas now in modern day MTV, the channel is aimed at young adolescents instead of young adults. MTV became famous as it played music videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As television programmes were becoming shown on the channel, less and less music was being played on the channel - which led to other spin off channels such as MTV hits. As well as this the the company upgraded the variation of MTV, by creating a website for the channel which then led to the audience being able to watch the music videos online in both America and the United Kingdom. 

Video Music Awards
In 1984, the channel produced it's first MTV Video Music Awards, or as everyone else knows it, the VMA's. The awards ceremony was originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards. The annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony has often been nicknamed as the "Oscars for youth", an acknowledgement of the VMA ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20's each year. The statue which is given to the award winners, is of an astronaut placing an MTV flat on the moon. When it comes to the awards, they are given for many different reasons such as, Best Music Video, Best Live Performance, Best Single, and also Best Album. Madonna was the first people to win an award on the show, after she performed her hit song 'Like A Virgin' live on the awards show. She also has a record when it comes to the VMA's for winning 20 awards, that's more than any other artist has ever won for this. The awards ceremony takes place every year. Some of the current award categories are:

• Video of the Year
• Best Male Video
• Best Female Video
• Best New Artist
• Best Pop Video
• Best Rock Video
• Best Hip-Hop Video
• Best Collaboration
• Best Direction
• Best Choreography
• Best Visual Effects
• Best Art Direction
• Best Editing
• Best Cinematography
• Best Video with a Social Message
• Best Song of the Summer
• Best Latino Artist
• Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award

Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award

The Video Vanguard Award, also known as the Lifetime Achievement Award is giving to musicians who have made a large scale effect on the MTV culture. The award was renamed in 1991 as the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award from then on. The award is given to music video directors who have created some of the most popular and acclaimed music videos in MTV history. Some of the recipients for the awards were/are:

• David Bowie
• Madonna
• George Michael
• Janet Jackson
• Guns N' Roses
• Beastie Boys
• Duran Duran

Best Rock Video

The MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video was first given out in 1989, and it was one of the four original categories added to the VMA's that year. That year, thought, the award as called Best Metal/Hard rock Video, and in 1996 the award was once again renamed Best Hard Rock Video. Finally in 1997 the award gained its present more general name, as after 1998, acts would have previously been eligible for the Best Alternative Video award. Aerosmith is both the biggest winner, and also the biggest nominee in this category, having been nominated a record eight times for this award, and winning four of these. Another few winners of the award were/are:

• Guns N' Roses
• Limp Bizkit
• Korn
• Linkin Park
• Green Day
• AFI
• Foo Fighters
• Thirty Seconds to Mars

This is the music video in which Limp Bizkit won an award for. The video won as it contradicts the average conventions of a rock video, and also follows it follows them in other scenes. For some of the scenes, the band is shown 'cruising' down a street in a car they just stole, which matches one of the stereotypes of the genre, as they're often classed as misbehaved, and thieves. 

Ancillary Texts - Illustration Album Artwork

Lady Gaga - Applause (lighting)

Although none of the Lady Gaga songs match the genre in which I am using for my music video, I am fascinated by the aspect of lighting within her videos, especially this music video for the song 'Applause'. My main interest being in the black and white parts of her music video, where the background is completely black yet she is still shown in clear view, without any of the lighting affecting her features, or blocking out some of the visuals when it comes to her movements. Although some of these effects will need special equipment which I cannot afford, I would love to experiment with a cheaper kind of feature, when it comes to filming the original video. As when it comes to filming the video in black and white, it may have a better effect than filming the video in colour - or at least for a majority of the video. As some parts could feature colour, just as the above Lady Gaga video also does. 

Test Shots

These three videos were experiments when it came to filming ideas when it came to the music video. Although there is a lack of lighting within the videos, I also like the effect which has been created by there being a lot of light at one side of the side, and no light at the other. The way the face is shown half light, and half shadowed relates back to the genre and effect of the song chosen for my music video. Although the model had a lack of preparation when it came to learning the lyrics for the test shots, he will be ready and will have learnt them when it comes to the actual music video - as well as other members. Another fault with these videos is the way the camera keeps losing focus and then gaining it once again, this effect will also not be happening when it comes to the music video being filmed. The face paint in this has a nice effect as it shows the parts of his face, which wouldn't have been shown if the model had his original skin tone showing. Another effect which I favour within these test shots is the red wall as the background, as it can connote danger - matching the war paint on the model's face which in my opinion is a decent combination. 

Face Paint Tutorial

This video features myself face painting one of the models which will be featuring in my music video, although the idea of my characters in the music video having their face painted isn't important. I did want to experiment with the idea of giving the characters a different look, almost making them unrecognisable. During this video, I first started off with a single coat of white paint, then letting it dry and re-coating the face one more with white paint. This making the white more vibrant against his skin tone, and also more obvious when looking at the face. After this, I mixed a white paint with a black paint to create a silver coloured grey paint - this then being placed on the eyelids, and around the eyes. Adding a more worn down and almost dead effect to the character being painted on. Once there, I then added "war paint" which throughout history has always being considered as threatening. This effect is helpful, as it relates to the powerful effect in which the song 'All I Want' is considered to have - this helping the mise-en-scene relate back to the lyrics being used in the music video. For the war paint, I added two large black tear drops on each cheek, before drawing a line which separates at the bridge of the nose before spreading down into two separate lines down the rest of the nose. From there I also added another line on the chin, to add to the symmetry of the design (war paint). After the video cuts out, I also added another layer of white paint onto the skin to brighten it up and make it more vibrant once again. 

Final Outcome:

I am proud with the final outcome as it came out with the effect in which I wanted to have. That effect being that at first the face paint is not threatening at all, although after staring at it for a while it seems to have an effect which can get to an audience, and almost intrigue them. With the extra white coat which was added after the video has finished, it gives off a more vibrant effect on the model's face. As well as the grey around the eyes making the colour of his iris' more vibrant and bold against the make-up, once again intriguing the audience as having brightly coloured eyes is not considered as natural. 

Tim O'Sullivan - Ideology

Tim O'Sullivan (1998) created the term ideology, which refers to a set of ideas which produces a partial and selective view of reality. Ideology involves a widely held ideas or beliefs which are seen as 'common' sense and becomes accepted by society. Ideology helps us to make judgments about the world and the different views people have within it. It can also be argued, and is one mechanism by which a ruling group tries to deceive and control the ruled.

More about Ideology
Ideology implies that a powerful group can choose how and what messages are leaked to the media, and how that society view these people/messages in certain ways because of expectations. An example would be that the powerful want black people to be represented as gang members which have negative connotations, because they have the power to feed this ideology to society, and believe it to be true as this is what the society are told by the more powerful groups who control the media. Ideology is controlled, the audience have to consume their opinion to be the right one, as the audience have no control. 

Terry Eagleton
Terry Eagleton said "Nobody has yet come up with a single adequate definition of ideology."
Eagleton may be right as far as the wording of the concept of ideology is concerned. However, scholars generally agree on the social nature of ideology: it is about social relations, consciousness, and power struggle which play important parts in carrying out ideological objectives.

Ideology and Society
Because of Ideology we have ideas about the world that we live in. Because the media is so powerful it can control what and how ideas are portrayed to an audience/consumer. The more powerful you are in society, the more control you have over how messages are given to an audience.

Richard Dyer - Understanding Representations

Richard Dyer is a representation theorist who studied the representation in media, and looked at how media texts represent themselves within society, and also an audience. He closely studied the ideological and historical significance of film stars, and also looked at the media in general. "How we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them. How we see them comes from representation."

Dyer created a set of questions that are considered when studying representations in general:

• What sense of the world is it making?
• What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or deviant?
• Who is it speaking to? For whom? To whom?
• What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to the representation?

Representations
Representation enables us to understand a media text. It allows us to be able to categorise the ideology of the text to give us meaning. With out representations texts would be meaningless, without representations text would have no messages. Without it texts would also not be able to translate a narrative to an audience, and without this there is no denotation.

Two Step Flow Theory

Origin of the Theory
The study of the 1940 election campaign. In 1940, Lazarsfled, Berelson, and Gaudet conducted the first full-scale investigation of the effects of political mass communication. Their research focused on the 1944 Presidential election campaign and their findings were published in 1944, in The People's Choice more research had been conducted.

The Importance of Social Influence
Their research was originally based on the simplistic hypodermic needle model of media influence, whereby it was assumed that a message would be transmitted from the mass media to a 'mass audience', who would absorb the message. Lazarsfeld's investigations suggest that media effects were minimal, and that audiences did not respond to a campaign as such but were more influenced by a person they knew or an opinion leader. The conception of a 'mass audience' was inadequate and misguided due to individuals having opinions towards a message. Social influences had more of an effect on the process of opinion information and limited the media's effect. The research found that we are more likely to respond to people we trust and know.

Limited Effects
The study by Lazarsfeld concluded that only 5% of people changed their voting behaviour as a result of media messages. Audiences exposure to election broadcasts turned out to be a relatively poor predictor of their voting behaviour, especially when compared with other factors such as their personal communication with friends, union members, business colleagues and the political tradition they were raised up in. This view of media effects was confirmed in a variety of other investigations demonstrating that as individuals we are more likely to consume something if it is recommended by friends or family, or people the audience knows. For example, they are influenced by what they watch or listen to.

Tessa Perkins

Stereotyping is not a simple process and contains a number of assumptions that can be challenged. Tessa Perkins (1979) identifies five assumptions, which are;

• Stereotypes are not always negative (for example; The French are good cooks)
• They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful (e.g 'upper class twits')
• They can be held at one's own group
• They are not rigid or unchanging
• They are not always false

Tessa says that stereotyping is not a simple process. She identified that some of the many ways that stereotypes are assumed to operate simply aren't true. As society changes it's hard for stereotypes to change as they stick in society. Not all stereotypes are bad, not all good and the audience categorise themselves.
Stereotypes are always usually wrong in content. They are negative concepts a majority of the time. They are about groups with whom the audience have little or no social contact with; by implication, they're not held about ones own group - that's a stereotype of a stereotype.
They are about minority repressed groups, yet they are more than often simple. People either 'hold' stereotypes of a group, meaning they believe them to be true, or they don't. Because someone holds a stereotype of a group, his or her behavior towards a member of that group can be predicted. Stereotypes are an invaluable aid to understanding the world, and all the stereotypes must have a bit of truth or they would not have such an influence.

John Berger

John Berger analyses how men and women are culturally represented. In "Ways of Seeing" Berger claims that the representations of men and women in visual culture entice different 'gazes', different ways in which they are looked at. He states that 'men act women appear, men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at'. The woman is usually posed in a way to please the viewer and the audience, her gaze is meant to entice the viewer, and this notion is the same in modern day advertisements and photographs. Berger states that a women unconsciously acts in a way knowing she is being viewed. Women are constantly surveyed, and not only by men, but other women too, and also by themselves.

More about Way's of Seeing
John Berger's "Way's of Seeing" is an in depth look on art, the way people view it and the influences that traditional oil paintings have had on society and modern day publicity. A lot of famous artists from hundreds of years ago, mainly during the French revolution painted naked women, either looking at the audience, or glancing through the corner of their eye. This intriguing the audience, due to the way she is looking, and also for the lack of clothing.
John Berger looked at art and how historic paintings have adapted to modern day imagery and ideologies. Images are the most powerful communicator that exist. There are things that people cannot describe in words, but that images can illustrate and explain. The power images have also mystifies viewers. An example of this is the old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Berger states that women were 'depicted in a different way to men - because the "ideal" spectator is always assumed to be male, and the image of the women is designed to flatter him'. Jib Fowles states 'in advertising males gaze and females are gazed at' (1996)
This shows that both Mulvey and Berger feel that women are the objects for men to look at, desire and seek pleasure from. An example of this being used in modern day culture, is in a lot of modern music videos, a prime example being Rihanna - Pour It Up.




The video features Rihanna, and several other women wearing hardly anything at all, and performing seductive dance moves - this being used to gain the males attention to the video, and also Rihanna's music. As well as this, it also gains the attention of females, either those that like other women, and also those who wish to be like Rihanna, and have her body/looks.

Paul Messaris (1997)
Paul Messaris says female models in ads addressed to women 'treat the lends as a substitute for the eye of an imaginary male onlooker'. Adding that it could be argued that when these women look at these ads, they are actually seeing themselves as a man might see them.
This argument by Messaris is saying that women know what they are portraying and that they are able to view themselves as how men want to perceive them to be in control of their desirability. 
Women and sex are used profusely in advertisement since it appeals to both women and men. Men want the women and the sex, and the women want to be the women within the advertisements. This study looks at and compares how women in the media industry are used to the exact purpose that female nudity was used in traditional oil paintings. To be looked at, desired, envied and to be seen as desirable women, not only by men but also by other women.

 'Such ads appear to imply a male point of view, even though the intended viewer is often a woman. So the women who look at these ads are being invited to identify both with the person being viewed and with an implicit, opposite sex viewer'

This demonstrates that women are aware of the choices they make, and are making these statements for a reason. The example images above, show modern day album covers by Rihanna, Batforlashes, and also Nicki Minaj. Rihannah and Nicki being well known for hardly wearing in clothing, and also for showing off a lot of their bodies in both music videos and the real world.

Laura Mulvey - Feminism

Laura Mulvey is the creator of the theory of the 'Male Gaze' (1975). She looks at how the audience view people who are presented in the media. The Male Gaze typically focuses on emphasising the curves of the female body, referring to women as objects rather than people. It also focuses on the display of women, and how men think they should be perceived, as well as female views, viewing the content through the eyes of a man.

The Male Gaze describes how the audience or viewer is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. The concept of 'the gaze' is one that deals with how an audience views the people/person presented. An example of this is the recent look and behaviour of Miley Cyrus, and how she has gone from dressing respectively, to dress in short and clingy clothing, and also showing off a lot more of her body. 

Mulvey states that in film women are classed as objects, rather than the possessors this is displayed by the control of the camera. The camera uses particular movements to perceive the women in an idealistic view. Some women may disagree with this use of camera yet others may feel liberated. 

The male gaze occurs when the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man, for example, it lingers over the curves of a woman's body. The man emerges as the dominant power within the created film fantasy. The woman is passive to the active gaze from the man. An example of this is a majority of music videos which are shown on TV, and how the camera objectifies the women by focusing on the areas of the body in which would expect to see the males gazing at, breasts, bottom, etc.

Mulvey also states that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze because women look at themselves through the eyes of men.

A feminist may see the male gaze as either an expression of unequal power between gazer and gazed, or as a conscious or subconscious attempt to develop that inequality, men are more powerful therefor it is okay to objectify. Summarising the women is displayed for the male gaze to provide pleasure in a sexual way (voyeurism). However women may want to be objectified and find this empowering. This objectification is a running theme in music videos, and within all media elements.

Binary Opposites

Levi Strauss (1958) came up with the idea of binary opposites. He believed that we understand words not solely based on their meaning they directly contain, but of our understanding of the opposites they reflect, hense 'binary opposites'. The ideas of these terms are culturally constructed. Our understanding of the word 'hero' depends on our understanding of the word 'villain'. Within the media world, binary opposites are used on a frequent basis. They are usually the basis of our understand of a story as it is a conventional narrative and enables an equilibrium. Binary opposites are used in films to help plots, they are also used in music videos are part of a narrative to re-inforce song lyrics. Levi Strauss' theory links heavily with our ideological values of how we feel we should 'perceive' the world.

Why use binary opposition?
This theory enables us to have an understand of a narrative before it has even begun. Representations re-present themselves to an audience to assure an understand, meaning and recognition from a text is understood. Having opposites within a text enables climax and interest. However more recently this can be challenged for example; in Lady Gaga's music videos' Judas, or films that have a narrative with no clear protagonist/antagonist. 

Marxism - Theory Representation

Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) was a German philosopher who believed that material goods are at the root of the social world. He said that dominant classes create dominant ideology: how culture is constructed in a way that enables the groups holding the power to have maximum control with the minimum conflict. His theory looks at how society is built in 'classes' and argues that lower classes cannot better themselves and that upper class people are the powerful and control ideological views put to society.

His idea/theory..

He stated that power was held by a minority group known as the 'elite' or the 'bourgeoisie'. He said that these people have access to capital and because of this they could use their money and power and keep within their group to make more wealth. He said that the majority of the population (the average public) the 'mass' or 'proletariat' had their labour to help them make a living. Marx stated because of this industrialization, the elite were the only ones who had access to means of production.

Because the elite help the money and the power it meant that the mass were dependent on the elite, the elite took advantage of this power and to maximize their own profits and accountability they need to get as much labour for as little money possible. Because the workers were dependent on the elite for resources and money the elite group needed the mass of people to accept their role as powerless workers. This basically means the rich are powerful and have lots of money and the rest of the public work for the rich to be able to earn a living, the public have to accept their role in society. They use the public to make money, and if they don't do it, then they have no role or purpose.

How can this theory be used in the media?

Mediation of media can relate back to this theory in a way that the people who are rich, and also hold ideological power. Therefore they can present messages to the word in ways they want people to perceive. The media can control messages and what is shown to give messages about groups of people within certain classes. For example, the ideologies of reality TV shows. 

Uses and Gratifications model

Blumler and Katz 1974
The 'Uses and Gratifications' model represented a change in thinking, as researchers began to describe the effects of the media from the point of view of audiences. The model looks at the motives of the people who use the media, asking why they watch the television programmes that they do, why they bother to read newspapers and magazines, and also why they find themselves so compelled to keep up to date with their favourite TV shows, and soap operas.
Blumler and Katz argued that the audience needs have social and psychological origins, which generate certain expectations about and within the mass media, leading to differential patterns of media exposure. This resulted in both the gratification of needs and in other (often unintended) consequences. This does assume an active audience making motivated choices.

Explaining the model
The idea behind the model is that people are motivated by a desire to fulfill, or gratify certain needs. So rather than asking how the media uses us, the model asks we use the media. The nmodel is broken down into four different needs:

• Surveillance
• Personal Identity
• Personal Relationships
• Diversion

Surveillance
The surveillance need is based around the idea that people will feel better having the familiar feelings that they know, and what is going on in the world around them. The surveillance model is all about awareness. We use the mass media to be more aware of the world, gratifying a desire for knowledge and security. We can associate to the dominant messages of conforming via the dominant ideologies given in media texts such as music videos.

Example: Blink 182 - All The Small Things



Blink 182 are a band that have been around for longer than a decade, and are still creating iconic and popular indie/punk music. Yet their most famous song, is All The Small Things. Even people who aren't fans of the band, always know this one song. The music video tot he song is also iconic, and an insult to those boy bands of a mainstream genre. In the music video, Blink 182 take the 'mick' out of several boyfriends who were around at the time. To do this, the band dressed up in ridiculous outfits, such as combat whilst dancing with other women. Another iconic scene being when one of the band members is being windswept by a fan, pulling faces at the camera. In which the video when zooms out to show the band member sitting on the toilet, grabbing hold of some toilet roll. The video became instantly famous, and also an outrage for some as it insulted those of a mainstream genre - as well as this, it also discussed topics around at the time within the music industry.

Personal Identity
The personal identity need explains how being a subject of the media allows us to re-affirm the identity and positioning of ourselves within the society. The use of the media for forming personal identity can be seen in music videos and also films. Pop stars can often become big role models, inspiring young children everywhere. This is also why there is such an outcry when one of them does something wrong. An example of this being the time when Justin Bieber was photographed smoking drugs, and his fans became heart broken and began self harming. This became a trending phase upon twitter, which then lead to more and more fans doing the exact same thing.

Personal Relationships
This section comes in two parts: Relationships with the Media, and Using the Media Within Relationships.
We can form a relationship with the media, and also use the media to form a relationship with others. Many people use the television as a form of companionship. This may seem sad, but think about how many times you've watched the TV on your own, or with the other people (family or friends) in silence. The television is often quite an intimate experience, and by watching the same people on a regular basis we can often feel very close to them, as if we even know them. When presenters or characters in a soap die, those who have watched that person a lot in a TV show, often grieve and become emotional when the character is gone, it almost feels as though they've lost a friend.

Pink
An example of growing with a character or artist, is the artist Pink. A lot of people were listening to her music when she first started off with early songs such as Family Portrait. Which was a video about the stories of her life, from when she was a little girl up until this song was released.

Since then, Pink has released more music videos, yet all of them have meaning to either her life, or at least the narrative/meaning within the lyrics. This allowing an audience to grow, as she does, as well as letting the audience in on her personal life, and what she has been through.

The more we watch the same personalities, the more we feel we get to know them. Reality TV shows such as Big Brother, or I'm a Celebrity give us such a feeling of intimacy with the participants that they can become a part of our lives. Even though the relationship is completely one-sided, it's easy to see how we can fall in love with TV personalities.

Using the Media Within Relationships
Another aspect to the personal relationships model is how we can sometimes use the media as a board to form and build upon relationships with real people. Having a favourite TV programme in common can often start a conversation, and can even make talking to strangers much easier. Some studies suggest that some families use sitting around watching the television as a stimulant for conversation, talking to each other about the programme, the characters, or related anecdotes whilst it is on.

Diversion
The diversion need describes what's commonly termed as escapism - watching the television so we can forget about our own lives and problems for a while and think about something else instead. We watch music videos to take our mind off our every day lives, we want to distract ourselves from the problems we are experiencing. We want to see that people experience the same feelings as we do, and want to forget about our own problems and focus on someone else's. 

Criticisms
The researcher Ian Ang also criticized Uses and Gratifications approach in three aspects:

• It is highly individualistic, taking into account only the individual psychological gratification derived from media use. The social context of the media use tends to be ignored. This overlooks the fact that some media use may have nothing to do with the pursuit of gratification - it may be forced upon the audience for example.
• There is relatively little attention paid to media content, researchers attending to why people use the media, but less to what meanings they actually get out of their media use.
• The approach starts from the view that the media are always functional to people, and may thus implicitly offer a justification for the way the media are currently organized. 

Audience types

There are numerous factors that effect whether we take the dominant, oppositional or negotiated reading. These factors are:

• Life experience
• Mood at the time of viewing
• Age
• Culture
• Beliefs
• Gender
• Sexuality

Reception Theory -

This theory is an active audience theory, which means the audience is seen as being actively engaged in the media, and in the interpretation of media texts, rather than as passive consumers. Individuals receive and interpret texts in different ways, depending on their age, race, etc.
This theory demonstrates that even though one message is sent out, not just one understanding is made from the text, many meanings can be interpreted from one message. This sometimes making it offensive to some, and not to others. This theory also allows for a media text to be consumed individually and takes in to consideration the meaning of a text, and the relationship an individual may understand from this in relation to sociological factors.

The creator of this theory is Stewart Hall, the theory was created in 1980. The study of semiotics: Encoding - Decoding.
This theory says that the media texts are encoded by the producer (the people who make the media texts) and that these texts are full of ideological values.
The text is then interpreted and decoded by an audience, but not all audiences will decode and respond to the text in the same way. In some cases not how the producer intended on the message being portrayed.

Lady Gaga:

An example of this being Lady Gaga's outfits, which she has worn to several different award ceremonies. One of the most memorable being her meat dress. This dress was made entirely from raw meat, including the shoes being coated in raw meat. This caused an uproar amongst some audiences, yet others seemed to find it amusing and stylish. The encoder (producer) wanted to provoke an understanding with this dress, and an opinion on a subject matter. Whereas the messages decoded by the audience resulted in several different opinions. As an example of the opinions, a lot of Lady Gaga's fans thought she was a fashion genius, and also extremely brave to wear such an unusual outfit. People who are vegetarian or even vegan caused an uproar in several occasions and on twitter sites, as it degrades animals, as they also state the animals died for her fashion crisis'.

How encoding and decoding works:When a producer creates a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that they want to convey to a mass audience. This is called the preferred reading. This theory will sometimes be correctly decoded and the audience will understand what the producer wants them to, however sometimes the producer can encode a message that is not correctly understood by an audience. This meaning the message then becomes un-effective and useless, often meaning it is taking out of the public's view, and also the media scene.

Audience types:Steward Hall identified three different types of audience readings, or decodings of the text. Those three readings were:

• Dominant or preferred - how the producer wants the audience to view the media text and agree with the message it is conveying on a dominant scale.
• Negotiated - a compromise between the dominant and the oppositional readings, the audience who negotiate are on equal terms, this is where the audience understand and agree with parts of the producers encoded messages. But they also disagree with others, as they have areas that they have their own views and opinions on.
• Oppositional - this is when the audience rejects the preferred readings and create their own meanings for the text, they then reject any of the message as they fully disagree with the encoded message being submitted to the audience.

Audience Theories

• Reception Theory - Steward Hall 1980
• Uses and gratifications model
• Selective filter model
• Two step flow model
• Audience reading theory
• Moral panics and folk devils mass response

Existing mise-en-scene

The above images are screen shots from YouTube, of music videos which exist in similar genres to the song that I have chosen to create a music video for. In this case the bands that I have used are Avenged Sevenfold - So Far Away (first two images), Billy Talent - Viking Death March (third image), Fall Out Boy - Dance, Dance (fourth image), Fall Out Boy - The Take Over, The Breaks Over (fifth image), Panic At The Disco - Mona Lisa (sixth image), A Day To Remember - I'm Made of Wax Larry, What Are You Made Of? (last three images). I have used these as an idea for mise-en-scene when it comes to creating my own music video, not only that but it also explains how the mise-en-scene can relate back to the lyric meaning, and theme of the video in general. It also varies with each genre, and it can also break the generic conventions of a genre. The Panic At The Disco screen shot is an example of the mise-en-scene matching the genre of the song, as the staircase is somewhat aged, yet different compared to average decor, and also the colours used within the wall. Which matches the mystical style of Panic At The Disco's music genre. Whereas the images which belong to the A Day To Remember video feature bright colours within the mise-en-scene and also sport outfits - whereas the song features some lyrics which are screamed, and it also features heavy guitar riffs. This meaning that the mise-en-scene breaks the common conventions of the genre in which A Day To Remember belong too.

Health and Safety

This grid is to help with the health and safety risks when it comes to filming my music video. With this, I can analyse the dangers which may be put into action at the scenes of where I am filming. With this grid, I can now see the dangers and sort them out before the cast or myself get seriously hurt, as well as this, I can also put objects in their rightful places out of danger. This helping to prevent any cause of danger happening upon the set, and also when filming.

How to define a target audience -

• Demographics (social class, economic power)
• Gender
• Age
• Education
• Research into sub cultures (social and cultural consumption)
• YouTube, MTV, Rock pack, smart phone/tablet
• Do they play games? How do they play them (xbox, playstation, smartphone, pc)
• Do they buy CD's? Vinyl? Download?
• Do they watch films? DVD's? Netflix? LoveFilm? Download?
• Do they go clubbing? Watch football? Shop online or in shops etc.
• Geographic location
• Do they drink? What do they drink?
• Do they have healthy lifestyles? Unhealthy lifestyles?

This list of items which define a target audience will help when it comes to appealing to the age group, and types of people which I want to with the use of the music video and digipak. Giving the audience what they want, and how they want it will be a large part of making the music video and album covers (etc) become popular, and also available to a large amount of audiences, instead of the odd few that stroll across the video on youtube/google.

Audience Theory

This slide share which I made is based on the Hypodermic Needle Theory, which is often used when it comes to the media. This will also help when it comes to the basis and content of my music video, and also understanding what the audience will need/want when it comes to viewing the final product.

Costume ideas

This image is a quick mind map of the outfits which will feature within my music video for 'All I Want' by A Day To Remember. I have chosen these individual items of clothing as they all express the stereotype, which fits the fans which listen to this band and song. I have also created a mix in the image between goth, indie and also the 'emo' stereotype. By doing this, I have posted different items of clothing which fit into the different stereotypes, for example; the large black new rock boots fit into the goth genre. The pair of blue and grey vans shoes fit into the indie genre, and the drop dead t-shirts fit into the 'emo' genre. The band members/individuals I am using within the music video all fit into these stereotypes which makes it easier when it comes to choosing outfits, as I won't physically have to go out and buy specific items, as the cast will most probably own a majority of the clothing needed.

Costume do's and dont's
When it comes to the costumes within the video, what I will make sure the cast don't do is wear outfits such as Adidas jumpers, or tracksuit bottoms (or anything else matching in with that fashion label). This being due to the fact they're on the opposite side of the scale compared to the stereotype which I am aiming to achieve when it comes to the music video. As well as this, the cast are not going to be wearing anything that fits into mainstream fashion, for an example brands like; Lee Cooper, Levi's, Hollister, or Jack Wills. Although those brands are fashionable, and are often merged into different stereotypes to make interesting outfits, I won't be using them for this video. I am sticking to the general clothing brands which fit into the three stereotypes I have chosen to mimic. This meaning I will be sticking to clothing brands such as; Drop Dead, Criminal Damage, New Rock, Vans and also Heartless Clothing. This will help make the video more realistic, making the audience believe more in the music video. Whereas if the cast were wearing tracksuit bottoms, or Hollister, the audience wouldn't believe that the cast belonged in the video, and therefor the video wouldn't have the same effect. Using the 'Uses and Gratification' theory, this can help when it comes to the music video casting of the outfits. This meaning the audience gain a connection with the media, in this case they gain a connection with the music video. A lot of teenagers, and young adults often going onto Youtube, or Vevo, or Muzu.tv to watch music videos. Most of the time they watch the music videos to escape from their own lives, and imagine they're the characters within the narratives of the videos.

An example of this being the artist Taylor Swift. A lot of her songs are about breakups with boyfriends, and how she got over them and became a better and stronger person afterwards. Teenage girls who have been heartbroken from a breakup will often go onto the sites on the internet to access her music videos, and they image themselves as a character within the video. They imagine that they're the strong independent woman within the narrative, and once the video is over, they feel a lot better than they did before. This is why making the outfits match important, because without the outfits fitting into the correct stereotypes of the song, the illusion of the audience being a character within the video won't seem realistic and won't have an effect.

Another idea..

The band 'Misconception' have let me down when it came to organizing filming as they have now officially broken up due to different reasons. Which means my idea for the music video is now having to change to another tactical idea. Instead of using the band as a whole, I'm going to use the singer/guitarist in my music video, who will be singing the lyrics, as well as a few other friends who dress in a similar way which fits the bands stereotypical genre. The message behind this being that by filming these people separately, it will bring them together, just like the singer of A Day To Remember is intending when it comes to his lyrics in the original song. The music video is now going to consist of a montage of shots of all these people singing the song individually, which will have a nice effect when it comes to the final image.

Album Artwork/CD Art

The above image is a collage of recent pieces of album artwork, from bands which feature in a similar genre to A Day To Remember, the band I have chosen for the music video. The styles vary with each sub genre, for example; the System of a Down album cover in the top right of the image features an odd looking woman, staring right at the audience, which almost makes it slightly mesmerizing. This relates to the genre as the band are known for having almost hypnotic styles within their instrumental moments within their songs. The album art from a band's CD often representing their style, and also some of their songs. The album name also reinforcing the points previously made.

When it comes to the album covers, the images or graphics on the front of the cover have to match the genre of the album/artist in some form of way. Not only for the fact it will make the album look better, but also for the fact of audience appeal. Audiences are often attracted to visuals that they recognise and also feel comfortable looking at. As an example; if someone who was looking for a Linkin Park album within a shop such as HMV, would look for items such as spray paint, grunge scenery, or indie kind of artwork upon the cover. This is due to how comfortable they feel with the album art, they're used to the music giving across an indie vibe, and that's what they expect on the album cover. If the album cover was bright pink, with yellow flowers featuring around the sides, they would most likely feel uncomfortable, and go in search of another album belonging to another artist. 

Lyric Analysis

The two images above are pieces of paper which feature the lyrics to 'All I Want' by A Day To Remember. The song I have chosen to use for my music video. The analysis of the lyrics can help with visual ideas when it comes to the storyboard, and also ideas which can feature in the music video itself. It also gives a more clear meaning to the song, which can also help with designs on the digipak, and for the advertisement. This making the song speak to the audience better as they may be able to relate to the meaning. Another reason as to why the meanings of the lyrics are important are for the audience to believe the video may actually be real, so they can imagine themselves as a character within the video. This relating back to the 'Uses and Gratifications' theory.

Focus Group

The three girls above (from left to right) are Kayleigh, Lauren and Kiera. All three of them listen to different genres of music, which are helpful when it comes to focus groups - to find out who actually knows of the song I have chosen, from within the same genre, and outside of the music genre. This can help with feedback, when it comes to ideas for my music video, and also the ideas for the digipak and magazine advert.

Music Video Progression

New Found Glory's music video for the song 'My Friend's Over You' is a perfect example of how music videos have progressed since the first made by Queen for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. This music video features different effects such as making one of the band members head extremely large, and also clever shots. Another example of a clever use of cinematography and performance being when the singer leans down with the microphone into the crowd, where himself is also in the audience singing into the microphone and acting all excited. The music is of a different genre of that to Queen's, also punk, and pop punk did derive originally from rock and pop music. This music video featuring odd scenes like the ones mentioned, which fit in with the genre of the music, yet they don't match the actual lyrics themselves, making this an abstract music video. The colour schemes used within the music video match the genre of punk, and pop punk, as there are bright reds, yellows and other vibrant colours used. Punks always being known for standing out with vibrant colours on their clothes, and also their hair.


Placebo are a more slow paced band, which are still punk, yet they can also be classed as goth, due to the trans guitar sounds in the background of most songs, making them dark yet mystical. The music video for Placebo's song 'The Never Ending Why' is an animation, which is another stand of music video that can still be effective to portray lyrics and meaning within the song. The visuals shown on the animation consist of blacks, dark/light purples, and also blue shades. This representing their genre of music as Gothic yet also slightly punk, as the colours are different. The animation consists of a male and a female, consistently being dragged through the world they live in which matches in with the lyrics, meaning this video is structured around a narrative.

Videos in the modern age have changed drastically from simple music videos where they just showed the band performing in a room, or on a stage for a live performance. Back then the music videos didn't have meaning, and also didn't match the lyrics, making all the videos abstract. Now that technology has incredibly improved, so have the videos, giving directors and the artists the chance to make either a video structured on narrative, or a completely abstract video. As well as this, a lot of videos now feature odd scenes, such as nude women/half nude women, and other attractions to gain the audience's attention and also publicity.

Rock Music Timeline

This timeline is more of an insight to the rock genre, and how it began to branch out from the 1950's, into different sub-genres of music such as glam rock, soft rock, hard rock and so on. This giving a different diversity, and creating a larger target audience for such music/artists. From these genres eventually came the pop punk genre, which can sometimes be heavier than rock, and sometimes be lighter than rock but faster paced.

Music Video History 'Queen'

Queen are an English rock band that started in 1970. They went on to make the very first music video, that was made for the purpose to show them playing their music in some form of narrative/more physical form instead of just listening to the song itself. The song they used for this first music video was 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the single from their 1975 album 'A Night At The Opera'. The single is still popular now, and a vast majority of people like the band Queen, some more than others, those who don't like the band as much at least like one song. That song usually being 'Bohemian Rhapsody' as it is different from any other song, it doesn't feature a chorus, it consists of a ballad segment which ends with a guitar solo, it featured a hard rock section and also a section of operatic singing. The lost of their front man Freddie Mercury, stopped the band in it's tracks before they went on to release the album the band had all been working on a few months after his death, this also being a best seller. Freddie Mercury was known for having one of the greatest voices of all time, due to the pitches and scales he could meet, managing to sing such low notes before skipping up to incredibly high notes.



The video is simple, and basic featuring different shots, and also merging several shots together before fading them out against each other. This having a creative effect, and almost makes the beginning scenes of the video when the band are singing in sync, in the poses almost eerie, and adds a slight shudder to the aspect of the song. It then proceeds on to show the band on the stage, performing their song for the camera.

These charts show the sales of the single 'Bohemian Rhapsody' alone, without the album it belongs to. The single managed to stay in the top 20, in 12 different countries a year after it was released. It also managed to be positioned in 2nd place, in the 'Billboard Hot 100' in the US, in 1992. This being 12 years after the single was released, and even now the single is still popular, no matter what genre of music a person tends to listen to. The sales and certifications table at the bottom of the image also shows how popular the song was, it selling over 6 million vinyl copies of the single alone. 

Scuzz Top 40 Pop Punk Bands Ever

1. GREEN DAY - When I Come Around

2. BLINK 182 - What's My Age Again

3. NEW FOUND GLORY - My Friends Over You
4. THE OFFSPRING - Want You Bad
5. FALL OUT BOY - Dead On Arrival
6. RANCID - Ruby Soho
7. NOFX - Franco Un-American
8. A DAY TO REMEMBER - I'm Made Of Wax Larry, What Are You Made Off?
9. ALKALINE TRIO - Mercy Me
10. BAD RELIGION - 21st Century Digital Boy
11. ALL TIME LOW - Dear Maria, Count Me In
12. GOOD CHARLOTTE - Lifestyles Of The Riches And Famous
13. SUM 41 - Fat Lip
14. RISE AGAINST - Give It All
15. SIMPLE PLAN - Shut Up
16. LESS THAN JAKE - She's Gonna Break
17. THE ATARIS - In This Diary
18. FOUR YEAR STRONG - It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now
19. DROPKICK MURPHYS - Sunshine Highway
20. THE BOUNCING SOULS - Sing Along Forever
21. THE DISTILLERS - City Of Angels
22. MXPX - Heard That Sound
23. BOWLING FOR SOUP - Punk Rock 101
24. GOLDFINGER - Spokesman
25. THE WONDER YEARS - Local Man Ruins Everything
26. IGNITE - Bleeding
27. YELLOWCARD - Always Summer
28. ANTI-FLAG - The Press Corpse
29. MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK - Her Words Destroy My Planet
30. HOME GROWN - You're Not Alone
31. WE ARE THE CROWD - On Your Own
32. EVERY AVENUE - Mindset
33. MAN OVERBOARD - Dead End Dreams
34. ALL AMERICAN REJECTS - Swing Swing
35. LIT - My Own Worst Enemy
36. HIT THE LIGHTS - Bodybag
37. MAYDAY PARADE - When I Get Home You're So Dead
38. ME VS. HERO - What Seems To Be The Officer, Problem?
39. SAVE YOUR BREATH - Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy
40. BOYS LIKE GIRLS - The Great Escape

 

This is the list of the top 40 Pop Punk bands ever, published in October 2013. A Day To Remember featured at 8th place in this list, this meaning the band themselves are popular. Which will help gain an audience when it comes to the release of the music video for All I Want. Witih their placing on the list, it also means they naturally have a very large fan base, which when the advertisement for the new video/album is placed in the magazine, it will attract their attention. Gaining more popularity will help gain more attention for the music video, giving it more views and so on. The main age groups that listen to this genre of music are late teenagers, and young adults, meaning they have access to the charts, and the internet which means watching the music videos on websites such as YouTube, or Muzu.TV 

The Rock Top 40 Singles (October 2013)

 



These images are of the recent top 40 rock singles sold, up to the date of 13th October 2013. These can help my project in the sense of ideas for album designs, ideas for what to feature in my music video (e.g certain features to add into the music video, such as mise-en-scene costume designs), and also what to mention the new album is going to sound like compared to other artists. If I mention popular selling artists such as the one on images, it will help attract a wider audience.