Demographics & Psychographics

Socio-EconomicPeople in the UK are targeted based on their social class.
The categories are A, B, C1, C2, D, and E.
The things they are based on are things like, Occupations, Education, Economic status and Background.
Most newspapers in the UK still use this system to categorise people.

A – Upper Middle Class
B - Middle Class
C1 – Lower Middle Class
C2 – Skilled Working Class
D – Working Class
E – Those at the lowest level of subsistence.

Social Groups
There are many social groups, and most people are categorised in one.
- Rebel
- Trendies
- Cowboys
- Groupies
- Utopian
- Traditionalist
- Puritan
- Drop-Out
- Innovator
- Egoist
- Drifter
- Cynic

That is only to state a few, there are lots of different categories.

Psychographics

Psychographics is looking at the way people see themselves and the kind of lifestyle they would like to have. It involves looking at where you think you are now and where and what you want to be in the future.
- Succeeder
- Mainstreamer
- Individuals
- Carriers

By researching certain types of groups it will help us to define our target audience and ensure we have the codes of conventions in our music video for our target audience.

Reply From Gabrielle's Manager

On the 18th of September we were given the confirmation for the go head oh the song Gabrielle Aplin - Home by her manager James Barnes.

Regulating Bodies

OFCOM

OFCOM stands for the “Office of Communications”. It is an organisation that regulates TV and radio sectors, ensuring people who watch TV and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material. OFCOM also protects people from being treated unfairly in television and radio shows.

Under 18s – sexual content, drugs and language

OFCOM feel it is very important to protect under 18’s from harmful and offensive material. Younger viewers can be easily influenced by what they watch on TV so have created laws that programme makers must abide by.

• They believe that programme makers should always consider the impact that the representation of the use of illegal drugs, the abuse of drugs, smoking, solvent abuse and the misuse of alcohol, may have on younger viewers.
• OFCOM would not expect programme makers to allow frequent occurrences of material that condones, encourages or glamorises the use or abuse of these substances

OFCOM also regulate the amount of violence that can be shown within a programme. They are concerned in areas with the use of accessible domestic implements such as knives, or other offensive weapons.

Offensive language is also an area of concern for OFCOM. They understand that it is a feature of British life and in certain contexts it has an appropriate place in broadcasting. However, there is a concern with the harm it may have to young children who may be watching. There is a concern that children may imitate this offensive language even when their parents or carers have told them it is wrong.

A variety of music videos are watched by children. However, OFCOM are concerned where song lyrics may cause offence, and ask broadcasters too possibly use track remixes or edits. Some videos will only be shown after watershed if OFCOM believe the video will cause serious harm and offence to young watchers.

Under 18’s – employed in film/video

OFCOM takes extreme caution and has rules that all broadcasters must comply with if any under eighteen appears in or participates in a programme. Broadcasters must always take into consideration the child’s welfare. If a participant is under sixteen, OFCOM asks broadcasters to ensure that there is consent from a parent, guardian or other person over eighteen. When given consent by parents or guardians, OFCOM believe it is the broadcaster’s duty to make sure the parent understands the full implications of their child’s participation. Programme makers are told to highlight both the positive and negative likely outcomes from participating in programme.

Flashing Images

Flashing images can cause seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. This is why OFCOM have specific guidelines for broadcasters who use flashing images in their programme. OFCOM say that all broadcasters should give a clear warning before the programme starts that flashing images may occur.

My Music Video

After reading through OFCOM’s guidelines, I have realised what I can and cannot put into my video. I was not planning on showing drug use, violence or sexual content in my video so these guidelines don’t apply and have not changed my plans. As the song I plan to use has no strong or offensive language, these guidelines also do not apply. I will be using under 18’s in my video, so I will have to ensure that no harm can be done when filming. I will also not be using under 16’s so will not have to worry with asking for their parent’s written consent. I will also need to be careful to comply with guidelines regarding to flashing images. In my video I want to have a series of patterns of change of colour, so I will have to ensure that the speed of the changes complies with OFCOM’s rules.

By doing this task it has benefitted me as now I know what content I can and cannot use in my music video if I want it to be suitable for the viewing of under 18's, which I do.

History and Developments of Music Videos

What is a music video?
Music videos are created and produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Most modern music videos are made as a marketing device to help to promote the sale of music recordings. Music videos became most popular in the 1980’s when MTV was created and based its company on showing music videos. Before the 80’s, music videos were referred to as “illustrated song” or a “promotional film”. Music videos can be made in a variety of different styles using a mixture of techniques such as animation, live action filming, non-narrative and abstract.

MTV

MTV is an American network based in New York City that was launched in 1981. The original purpose of MTV was to be “Music Television” showing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, guided by on-air personalities known as VJ’s (Video Jockeys). MTV had a huge impact on the music industry and popular culture, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced and both artists and fans found a central location for music events, news and promotion. MTV have faced criticisms for the moral influence they have on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism.

For the last two decades of the 20th century, the music industry rotated along the axis of MTV. The company represented a direct line into the hearts and minds of music consumers around the world, and their main form of expression was music video.

When MTV launched in August 1981 and blasted “Video Killed the Radio Star” through American households, it represented the ambitions of a company who wanted to significantly influence popular culture. It succeeded in a big way, earning millions of pounds. It remains a critical part of the music industry by leveraging music videos to help flesh out the image of acts as diverse as Michael Jackson and Green Day, Guns n’ Roses and 2Pac. 

This is a massive difference from today, where the company is more focused on reality television than music videos, and is now in a battle with Vevo to serve the music video watching populace on the web.

It was the digital revolution in the late 90s that really put the pressure on the entire music industry as it was. Music videos, which primarily served as an advertisement for record sales, feared losing their pillars of support as the big labels worried about declining CD sales as a result of availability of music online, for free. 

Now, not only is MTV used for music, it also shows programmes such as Cribs. This programme is based on showing celebrities houses, and lifestyles, all of this is a way of promoting the artist.

Developments

Over the past year, it is fair to say that technology has increased greatly, this has had a massive effect on the music industry. I believe that the advance in technology has effected the music industry in a very positive way. It has allowed artist to increase the standard of not only the music itself but also the music video.

Not only has it allowed the standard to increase it also has made new places for artist to publish their music. For example, Youtube,
Youtube has become one of the biggest online sites for where people view music from.
Many artist are found on Youtube, for example, Justin Beiber has become a world wide star and it was all down to youtube. 

Conventions Of A Music Video

Conventions of a music video

I have looked at 3 different music videos that are all the same genre of music that I want to create my video for. I have used these videos to help me develop and understand what conventions and similarities each video has, so that I can design my video to fit with these conventions.
The three songs I decided to compare were Birdy 'Skinny Love', Birdy 'People Help The People' and Christina Perri 'Jar Of Hearts'. By looking at these three snapshots it has made me realise at-least two things I need to include in my video. 

Close ups- they are often used to emphasise the lyrics of the song that are being spoken.

A dark feel to the video- most 'indie' music videos seem to be quite poorly lighted or in black and white, maybe this is to emphasise the message they are trying to put across in the song and video. 

Birdy - Skinny Love

Birdy - People Help The People

Christina Perri - Jar Of Hearts















The pace of the editing in all three songs seems to be quite fast paced and there seems to be no more than three seconds between each cut.

Contrasted with pop videos- indie videos seem to use neutral colours, black and whites whereas pop videos tend to use bright colours.

Contrasted with 'Skinny Genes' by Eliza Doolittle 'Skinny Love' by Birdy seems to be a lot darker neutral compared to the pop video which uses clear, bright images and bright, bold colours

In my video I will make sure I use a form of dim lighting and neutral colours and similar camera shots to fit the codes and conventions of Indie music video.

Permissions

Permissions

For our coursework we wanted to create a music video to the song ‘Home’ by Gabrielle Aplin. As this song is copyrighted I needed to get permission from the record label to use it in our coursework. To gain permission we decided to send an email stating what the song would be used for and promising that only myself, my teacher and the exam board would be able view the music video on a password protected online site. . Here is the email I sent:

"Hello,
Our names are Katy and Polly and we are studying Media as one of our A Levels at Tavistock College and we have been set the task to create and produce a music video for our final piece of practical work. We have been thinking long and hard about what song we would like to use for this piece of work and we have decided we would like to use Gabrielle Aplin's song Home as we are both big fans. 
We would like to ask your permission to use this song for our video which will only be viewed by our teacher and the exam board of OCR. 
We would appreciate it if you could get back to us.
Thank you,
Katy Cowie & Polly Sargent"

Initial Song Ideas

Initial song ideas

After deciding upon creating a music video for my project I started looking for potential songs I could use.

Here are some of the songs I may use for my music video;

To Build A Home - Cinemactic Orchestra.

This song was my first port of call because it is one of my favourite songs and the song in itself is very adabtable because there aren't any lyrics in it. Therefore, it would be easy to create a good narrative for the video.

However, I decided against this song because I thought it may a little too challenging as because of the little amount of lyrics in the song it may become boring and repetitive- and because it is an orchestration it may not appeal to as many people as a more popular contemporary song would.

Good Morning Sunshine - Alex Day

The first song I looked at would be described as 'chill out' music and I wanted to look at all genres of music before actually deciding on a final song. I thought of this song because the person who wrote and performed the song is an independent musician therefore I thought it would be easier to get the rights of the song. Another reason I thought this song could be potential for my music video because the song is very 'bright' and upbeat.

The reason I decided not to do this song is because I  enjoyed the 'official video' too much and I found it hard picturing different ways I could adapt the song. Also because the song has a naraative in the lyrics that also went with the video and I didn;t want to feel as if I was copying the offical video.

                                              

This Kiss - Alex Day (feat. Carrie Hope Fletcher)

This song is again by the same artist as 'Good Morning Sunshine' and again my reasoning for him being an independent artist is why I chose this song. Along with the other reason I also loved the cover of the song 'This Kiss' and I think with this song I could adapt it easily and give a good narrative/performance to the video.

Gabrielle Aplin - Home

This is the song I am going to use for my music video. I decided to use this song because Gabrielle Aplin is again an independent musician and I thought it would be easier to get permission. And the genre of her music suited the style of music video we wanted to create.