Planning the Dance Shots

When discussing potential shots and locations for our music video, we knew that we wanted dancing in it as we thought that it would fit well with the music. We found a contact who new a great group of dancers and asked them if they would like to star in our video. They agreed and decided to choreograph the dance. Later that week we received a video of the dance. This is it: 

Target Audience

We believe our target audience for our music video would mainly be teenage girls and young women up to the early 20's. This is because the music is likely to be of interest to this particular people as they can relate to the music and are more likely to be fans.

Results of Target Audience Survey

90% of our target audience was female suggesting the video would need to feature motifs and iconography that they could relate to them such as jewellery and fashionable clothing.

The most used social networking site was 'Twitter' suggesting to keep up with our audience we needed to make one as well for our artist.

The majority our our target audience seem to be aged between 15-21 years old.

The most read magazine was 'Cosmopolitan' suggesting when we make our album advert for a magazine it should be for one our target audience regularly reads. 

Just over half of our target audience likes to eat Nando's.

The majority of our target audience describes their style to be either 'girly' or 'latest trends' giving us ideas of what style of clothing our artist should wear.

Approximately a third of our target audience shop at Topshop. This suggests may be we could get Hannah to dress in clothing from this shop.

Over two thirds of our audience like to go shopping on the weekend. 

When asked the question, 'Who is you favourite artist?' Answers included:

- Beyonce

- Ciara

- Katy Perry

- Cheryl Cole

- Nicole Scherzinger 

Ciara Video Analysis

• Music videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics - performeance of the song is not on stage but a studio performance. It is lip synced throughout and they are wearing appropriate clothes for the genre of the music 

• There is a relationship between lyrics and visual - the song is about Ciara acting 'like a boy' and this is seen throughout where she dresses like a boy (in a suit) and sits like a boy at the beginning of the music video. 

• There is a relationship between music and visual - on average there are two beats per shot and generally they change on the beat, but some of the shots change much more quickly and some slower. There are about 150 shots in the whole music video and a huge range of different camera movements including panning, zoom and tracking. 

• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist - this is evident in Ciara's "Like a Boy" as throughout the music video Ciara is seen in the majority of the shots which include long, mid and close-up shots. 

• The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work - in this music video, it is the objectification of males. This is seen when she grabs her crotch, she doesn't smile and the dance is more what you would expect from a male dancer. 

• There is frequent reference to the notion of 'looking' (screes within screes, filming, cameras) and particularly voyeuristic (pleasure through looking) treatment of the female body - this is opposite in Ciara's music video as she is seen to be objectifying the male rather than the female being objectified. We see him as passive with close-ups of her looking down on him. 

• There are often intertextual references-mostly to film, television and popular culture - usually women in this pop/ hip-hop genre are shown dancing provocatively where as Ciara has turned this round and her and her dancers are dancing like men. 

I decided to analyse Ciara's "Like A Boy" music video to help me with my music video as it is similar to it. I used Andrew Goodwin's 7 characteristics of a music video to help me analyse it in greater detail. This has helped me to see that in my own music video I would like to have dance shots with a plain background as I really liked that. Also from a practical point of view when they were filming the dance shots, the camera was always still but the shots were edited at a fast pace to still make it effective. 

What We Learnt From Our Audience Expectations

From our audience expecatations we recieved a variety of ideas. Some were mentioned more than other suggesting this was a common features. These responses were repeated and besides each one is written how we wish to/have already tried to include them in our music video.

• Fast pasted editing - our song is quite upbeat so this we wish to incoperate to keep the viewers entertained and interested in the video.
• Many different locations - We have found quite a few different locations and hope to use them in many ways.
• Good chorepgraphy - We regularly keep in contact with our dancers where we have been reviewing the dance for our music video
• Different lighting effects
• Close ups - When we start storyboarding this is something we need to include especially as a lot of people mentioned this.
• Appealing to audience - This task helped us to think of things that we may have missed out when planning, therefore we now wish to use certain things i.e.girly items of clothing or visuals to relate to our audience which is teenage to women in the early 20's.

Survey For My Target Audience

I created a survey to send out to find out more about my target audience. These are the questions I asked: 

Ciara - 'Livin' it Up' lyrics

Here is a copy of the lyrics to 'Livin' it Up' 

Ohhh ohhh
Yeah, yeah
I don't believe in much
But I believe in you
I don't believe I can't
'Cause I don't follow rules, hey
I see your star so bright,
No one can dim that light
No one can cross you out, but you
And I, I, I
Living on borrowed time
And I, I, I
I'mma be gettin' mine and
And I, I, I
I'll be wrong if I don't try
I Don't know when my next meals coming
All I know is I'll be running
I, I, I
I be livin' it up, I be livin' it up, yeah
I, I, I
I be throwin' it up, I be throwin' it up, yeah
I, I, I'll
I'll be playing it cool
'Cause a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do
Making up my own rules
O'la, o'la aye,
O'la, o'la aye,
O'la, o'la aye,
O'la, o'la aye
I have my doubts in love, but I know it's true
I don't have many friends, but I got you
You are a walking gun
You are a secret bomb
Something no one can take from you
Ohh, I
And I, I, I
Living on borrowed time
And I, I, I
I'm gon' be getting mine and
And I, I, I
I'll be wrong if I don't try
I don't know when my next meals coming
All I know is I'll be runnin'
I, I, I
I be livin' it up, I be livin' it up, yeah
I, I, I
I be throwin' it up, I be throwin' it up, yeah
I, I, I'll
I'll be playing it cool
'Cause a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do
Making up my own rules
I'mma live life to the fullest
I'll be speeding like a bullet
I'll be rolling like a train
I'll be dancing in the rain
I, I, I
I be livin' it up, I be livin' it up, yeah
I, I, I
I be throwin' it up, I be throwin' it up, yeah
I, I, I'll
I'll be playing it cool
'Cause a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do
Making up my own rules
O'la, o'la aye,
O'la, o'la aye,
O'la, o'la aye,
O'la, o'la aye