The Genre and Target Audience of my Music Video

http://goanimate.com/go/movie/0x4J6K0PjqrA?utm_source=emailshare&uid=0O-bMiZMwSkU

Picture

In my video, I want the main character to have angel wings. This picture shows a typical angel figure, for example, tousled hair, pale skin and white clothing. This sort of image is what I want to project through my video.

Avril Lavigne - Wish You Were Here

The artist in this video is Avril Lavigne, the genre of her music is mainly rock but some is identified as pop-punk or punk. She is signed to 'Epic Records' and produced her first album 'Let Go' at the age of 17, she also first performed with Shania Twain when she was 15 years old.
At the beginning of the video, the first shot is establishing but the artist is in medium shot, this shows the mise-en-scene, which in this video is an attic. This style of camera shot shows an emotion of lonliness. The beginning of the first scene looks like it has been filmed in reverse and been played normally. This camera shot zooms into a mid-close-up with no editing in between, this suggests a sort a storytelling theme which may suggest that the artist is telling a story of her emotion at the time of writing the song. The camera shots start to change into close-ups and medium close-ups after 0:48 and the editing technique is a dissolve between shots, this also adds to the storytelling theme as it shows there are no breaks in between the shots (story). At 0:52, the camera is steadycam and moves randomly which creates a disorientated effect. Thiss effect matches the pace of the song at this time as from 0:52 the song becomes more fast-paced.
In this video, there is a blurring effect between scenes, this makes the video entertaining as the setting does not change much. I think this is a good editing technique and I am inspired to use this effect in my video.
The mise-en-scene of the video higlights the emotion of the song and the lyrics. The fact that the video is set in an empty attic adds to the mood.
Through the rest of the video, many of the shots are close-up which draws the viewer's attention to different parts of the shot. This creates a bond with the audience and attentiveness to the video and what is being represented. The close-up shots of the artist's face creates a personal bond between the artist and the viewer. It also concentrates the viewer's attention on the artists facial expression.
In the video, an audience is not being represented but what is being represented is the personal feelings and emotions of the artist. From my own perspective, the representation is not the audience but the feelings and emotions which the audience might feel. Therefore the video is effective in portraying a certain mood (in this example the mood is sadness) The fact that the artist is representing their own personal feelings appeals to the audience as they look up to Avril as an inspirational body. This shows the viewer that not every artist has to be glamorous and put on a made up act to be successful and appeal to their target audience.

Ed Sheeran - The A Team (Official Music Video) OUT NOW!

Ed Sheeran is a new, rising artist and this is the video for his debut single. the genre of Ed Sheeran's music can be identified as folk soul.

This video has a black and white setting. As it is a slow-paced song, this is effective to set the mood. This effect would be useful in my own video as it would follow the codes and conventions of the genre of the song I have chosen. Also, the video features a lot of extreme close-up camera shots, I think this is effective because it emphasises the character's emotion and shows an intimate side to the narrative. In my video, I want to include some close-up shots and some extreme close-up shots as I believe it is a creative method of camera usage and would create a bond with the audience.
through the video there are close-ups of certain things that the character does. an example is of her walking down the street. The camera follows her feet as she walks, this creates a sense of distortion as this technique is not usually seen in videos. The scene where the people walking past her in the street are in fast-motion but the main character is still is effective. This technique focuses the audience's attention to the character and how she is out of place in society.
The beginning of the video is the end of the video, in that the video starts exactly how it ends, this breaks the usual convention of a narrative of having a beginning, middle and end in that order. This method of video is effective as it leves the viewer wondering how the situation at the beginning happened. It also immediately draws the viewer's attention to the narrative and what is being represented.
The establishing shot of the character laying on a park bench represents not only homelessness but also a low class urban society. The clothing in which the character is wearing represents homelessness and prostitution. Her ripped fishnet tights signify the stereotype of a prostitute or 'tart' and the rips indicate that she has been wearing them for a while. She also has a thick coat on and is holding a blanket, which suggests that she has been living outside.
at 1:37 there is a close-up shot of a sign saying 'improving the angel' this is significant as it suggests that the character is a good person but she needs help in her life in order to improve.
at 1:52 there is an establishing shot of the character sitting on the street, in the background there are shops. The shop on the right represents glamour and fashion and the shop on the left is a house showroom. Both of these shops create the view of the aspects of life which the character lacks and the fact that she is sat in between the two shops outside creates a distinguishing contrast between her situation and what she doesn't have.
The video represents many typical problems in society such as: Drug Abuse, Prostitution, homelessness and poverty. As the target audience is young people approximately aged between 16 - 25, these problems being represented are most common within this age group of people. This means that the video effectively raises awareness of these problems and puts them into their negative perspective for the viewer.

Paramore: The Only Exception [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Paramore is an American rock band and released their debut album 'All we know is Falling' in 2005. The style of their music varies from song to song. Some are upbeat rock while others are slow and emotional.
This paramore song is from their album 'Brand new eyes' and it is slow-paced, this fits in with the narrative form of video with the exception of a few performance scenes. This is effective as it tells a story which is backed up by the lyrics. The establishing shot at the beginning shows the mise-en-scene of the living room of a house. The conventions of the mise-en-scene in this shot includes a television, coffee mugs, blankets, bookcases, a lamp and a sofa. The set also suggests that the character's are students and that they live alone. We can tell because the furniture is mismatched, the television is small and old, which suggests lack of money. Also, when the female character writes in the notebook, we can see on the left page that there are class notes. This shows that they are students. when the female character walks into the next set, we can tell that it is representing a single parent who lives in a different house, the single couch chair in the bottom right of the first establishing shot suggests lonliness. I can tell that the scene is meant to show a scene in a different house as the character acts as though she has not seen the older male character (seemingly her father) in a while. The furniture is also fairly matched and organised. This suggests that it is her parents house. When the character exits this scene and enters the bedroom scene, we can see the divide of the two sets. This follows the post-modern theory, in that it relies on the viewers knowledge of how the text is actually made to make it effective.*
The narrative features the artist as a character, this means that the video promotes the artist as well as telling a story, probably a story of an experience of the artist. The narrative also includes some lip-syncing, which isn't included in the narrative apart from on one occasion when the character in the narrative mouths the lyrics that are important for distinguishing what the rest of the lyrics mean. The idea that she 'would never sing of love, if it does not exist', while the rest of the song is about the person she is singing about being 'the only exception'. This refers to the fact that the character's parents are seperated as when she sings that she would never sing of love if it does not exist, she is looking at a photograph of her parents.
When the character runs throught the different sets, she is showing the process of which the character would go if she was going to go along with her decision shown at the beginning. When she realises that the path she has chosen is wrong she goes back through the sets back to the beginning.
The target audience is being represented in this video. The target audience is young people who prefer the rock genre. The song talks about a girl's parents who have split up and that she is relating that back to her own relationship with the male character in the first scene. This situation is a common occurance among young people as they are just starting to have relationships and experience expressions of love at the same time as adult divorce becoming more common.

Paramore: That's What You Get [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

This video is partly performance and partly narrative. The song is quite fast-paced but the background narrative on its own as the video would fit a more slow-paced song. The beginning shots are each around a second long and feature a clear cut between the shots, this fits in with the fast-paced music at the beginning. Having this many shots in the opening sequence allows the viewer to get an overview of the setting and basic storyline. There is a clear representation of young people throughout this video. The narrative elements represent young love The steadycam in many of the shots creates distortion. Therefore, the performance highlights the more upbeat theme and the emotional narrative highlights the meaning behind the lyrics. I think that this is a proportionate method of promotional video making for this particular song and I plan to use a similar technique in my own video.
The artist is shown singing with the characters of the narrative in the background. This is a cross-over of the two elements of the video. This may suggest that the lead singer is part of the social group that is shown in the background. This lets the character into a bit of the artists personal life.

My chosen song and lyrics

"We Are Broken"

I am outside

And I've been waiting for the sun

With my wide eyes

I've seen worlds that don't belong

My mouth is dry with words I cannot verbalize

Tell me why we live like this

Keep me safe inside

Your arms like towers

Tower over me

Yeah

'Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And oh, the promise we adored

Give us life again

'Cause we just wanna be whole

Lock the doors

Cause I'd like to capture this voice

That came to me tonight

So everyone will have a choice

And under red lights

I'll show myself it wasn't forged

We're at war

We live like this

Keep me safe inside

Your arms like towers

Tower over me

'Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And oh, the promise we adored

Give us life again

'Cause we just wanna be whole

Tower over me

Tower over me

And I'll take the truth at any cost

'Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And oh, the promise we adored

Give us life again

'Cause we just wanna be whole