MTV Analysis

I have decided to conduct some research on the music channel, MTV, as it is an example of the type of channel in which the genre of our music video will be typically showed on.
MTV stands for ‘Music TeleVision’, and for the past two centuries has proven to be one of the most successful music channels amongst its target audience. It is hosted in America and was first launched on the 1st August 1981. The first show debuted with an image of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, symbolising the achievement of the show and also promoting it to be something huge. The first video debuted on the show was ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’, again instantly emphasising this buzz created around the first show and re-enforcing the purpose of this television show. This was then emphasised by the tagline “You'll never look at music the same way again."
Throughout the 1980’s, MTV played mostly rock genre of music, such as Duran Duran.
Throughout this time, MTV’s initially success also meant that the introducers and hosts also become well-known celebrities themselves.
In the first few years, MTV broke what was known as the ‘color barrier’ – one of their most notable achievements to date. Artists such as Tina Turner were allowed airtime on the show. However, many artists of the black race were rejected airtime – purely because the genre of the music did not fit into the rock genre MTV were showing and promoting at the time. This achievement was not actually recognized until Michael Jacksons “Billie Jean” was finally given it’s airtime on the show. Throughout the 1980’s, MTV was considered the biggest promotional tool.

In the 1990’s, MTV expanded and the genre of pop was introduced onto airtime. All of a sudden, artists such as ‘New Kids On The Block’ were becoming more and more successful due to MTV’s allowance. The show also started not only showing the name of the artist and the song, but also started showing the name of the director – enhancing their popularity and also advertising their skills.

By 1997, the genre of music played on MTV changed again, with an increase of airtime dedicated to electric pop – artists such as Roni Size and The Chemical Brothers were immediately gaining a load of success. The original genre of pop culture was not totally abandoned, with an introduction of artists such as Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears receiving airtime, generating a huge buzz around them which could suggest MTV holds some responsibility for the massive amount of success in which they have received in pop culture over the decades.

However, in 1997 MTV gained some negative reviews about the decrease in the number of music video’s they were playing. MTV immediately reacted to this and began playing some rock music in combination with the pop music they were already playing, and also began the production of some new shows. One of the most notable shows to this date within all music channels was TRL, which was a chance in which the audience could watch interviews with their favorite artists but also got to watch a number of different music videos, counting down the music chart.

In relation to our own production…
We now realize that the song of our specific genre would have been welcomed to airtime on MTV since around 1997, also showing that it would not be new to a market, furthermore suggesting that our video will have to be different to the usual in order to catch the attention of the audience and prove to be a success. Our research also shows to us that promotional wise, our artist would benefit greatly by appearing shows such as TRL and also ensuring our video gets a lot of airtime on the channel.
(Picture above) Modern day pop female artists (in the same market as our own) such as Miley Cyrus still today make appearances on the MTV show TRL to boost there popularity and the success of there new releases.

(Pictures Below) Some of the most successful modern pop female artists had generated there success from the initial airtime provide by the channel MTV.

Director Research - Jake Nava

I have chosen to do some research on the music director, Jake Nava, as looking through his videography, he has directed some of the most successful music videos of the same genre.
Jake Nava is not only a music director, but is also an advertising director as well as a feature film director. He has won a number of different awards in recognition of his music video, with a lot of credibility going particularly to Beyonce’s debut music video, ‘Crazy In Love’.
Nava began directing music videos in 1994, when he directed Lulu’s video for ‘Goodbye baby and amen’. The black and white music video effectively used lightening to match with the beat of the music. 15 years later, Nava is more successful then ever, having directed over 80 videos
In relation to our own production, Nava has successfully directed a number of ballad’s that revolve around this thought of loneliness or isolation. Some include:
Atomic Kitten – It’s Okay
Pink – Nobody Knows
Leona Lewis – Run
He is also well recognized for creating a successful ‘female empowerment theme’, also closely related to the narrative behind our song.
Jake Nava says the way in which he directs is he takes an idea to the artist and then they usually have an input, for example saying they want more narrative, more exterior etc. He claims the style of the video changes depending on the artist, saying it’s important to give an artist there own unique identity. Nava says the style of the video is dictated by the genre of the music and the vibe that he feels makes the artist that’s doing that song look there best.


In relation to our production...
By finding out about the ways in which Nava finds he directs most effectivly, with evidence from videos of simular artists, it helps to give us some tips and ideas of the most effective way in which we can create a simularily successful video.

Here are just a few influencial stills from some of Jake Nava's directed videos. I felt them influencal for a number of different reasons - Framing of shots, colouring of shots, effectivness of conveying a certain message or value etc.

Filming information

Actors:
Our main actress (the artist) will be around the 17-19 age range. We chose to have them around this age as this is the age that the majority of our target audience will be. Therefore, by having the actress at the same age range, the audience will feel they are able to relate to the actress more and so resulting in the video being more of a success. Our actress will fit into the conventions of a modern popstar (attractive, long straight hair, clear skin etc.)
Our male actor will also be around the 17-19 age range to compliment the actress and also to make the narrative more real. He will be attractive to some extent, but not as attractive as the female. This is to compliment the narrative, suggesting she was too good for him and therefore matching the narrative that she will be better off without him.
Our third actress – the one in which the male is cheating on our artist with in the narrative – will be attractive, but not as attractive as our artist. Again, this is to create this idea that our artist is better then her and to create this empowering feel.


Shooting List
Firstly, we will shoot the performance based scenes. We will do this late December/ early January. We hope to get all these shots done within one day, but are prepared to return to the beach for a second day if all shots are not completed. We have chosen to shoot this first as it is the scene which takes up more time in comparison to the others, so by completing it throughout the holidays we are able to make sure all our attention is dedicated to the video, as appose to term-time where we may be focused more on our other studies.
Within the next few weeks after shooting the video, we will shoot the narrative shots.
The scene of the our male and the third female in the car will be shot in either mine or Laurel’s car or a relative, as this minimises any costs and is also more applicable. The shot with our artist in her room with her friends will be shot in one of our friends rooms – again, minimising costs. We will choose the most feminine room available to again create this empowering feel to the narrative.

Research on a record company

(All info was found on the polydor website)

Founded in Germany in 1946 as the popular music arm of the long-established Deutsche Grammophon label, the UK division of Polydor was not established until ten years later - perfectly timed to coincide with the rock'n'roll revolution that was transforming the musical landscape and establishing youth culture for the first time as a significant phenomenon. Initially, the label concentrated on releasing continental-made recordings - but with Germany a popular touring destination for the emerging British 'beat' groups, there were rich pickings to be had. In August 1961, German Polydor released a single called My Bonnie by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Boys. Nobody realised it at the time, but the record was destined to change the face of popular music, for the backing group was none other than the Beatles. Recorded in Hamburg during the band's legendary three month residency at that city's Top Ten Club, My Bonnie was the first official release by the group and was reissued two years later, when it briefly charted in Britain during the first flush of 'Beatlemania'. Polydor went on to place itself at the centre of the creative melting-pot that was British music in the 1960s by signing a series of adventurous production deals with some of the most dynamic pop entrepreneurs. At the time the approach was highly unusual, but it established a model that has since been much-copied. Giorgio Gomelsky, who had discovered the Rolling Stones and managed the Yardbirds, brought in Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp brought in the The Who, and via their Track Records imprint, Jimi Hendrix, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Thunderclap Newman. And Robert Stigwood brought two big-hitters to the label with the Bee Gees and Cream.
Between them, they created an enviable pop and rock roster of British-based talent that left the competition trailing in its wake. At the same time, Polydor developed its American connections to become a significant soul and r'n'b powerhouse. Among the acts who came through Polydor was the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown, while the UK license to the Stax and Atlantic labels gave them Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and a host of other top names. In the 1970s, a combination of enlightened deals with entrepreneurs such as Stigwood and the adventurous policy of the label's in-house A'n'R team, built an impressively broad-based roster. Progressive rock was represented by the likes of the late, great Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton, both solo and with Derek and the Dominos. Glam rock was represented by Slade and the Rubettes. Then there was a Swedish group who won the Eurovision song contest in 1974 and went on to dominate the charts all over the world for years to come. They went by the name of Abba and their greatest hits Gold album still sells strongly to this day.
Via Robert Stigwood's RSO stable, Polydor also led the way in disco, with the Bee Gees and the chart-topping Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. At one point in 1977-78, Polydor/RSO held the number one slot in the American charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with six different singles. At the same time, Polydor was in the forefront of the punk revolution, signing the Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sham 69, among others.
Into the 1980s, the dance-funk of Level 42, The Wonder Stuff and Paul Weller's Style Council added further diversity to the roster. In the 1990s the label became even more eclectic. Credible singer-songwriters such as Van Morrison and Eagle-Eye Cherry were signed alongside Britpop heroes Cast and Shed Seven. Former Stones Roses frontman Ian Brown launched a solo career on the label, while the Lighthouse Family and Boyzone flew the flag for the mainstream. Polydor's link with the Interscope, Geffen and A'n'M labels also brought on board an impressive roster of American talent, including Eminem, 50 Cent, Beck, Counting Crows and Marilyn Manson as well as the Nirvana catalogue.
Into the new millennium, the label continues to boast plenty of big pop names from Ronan Keating to Daniel Bedingfield. But it has also built an adventurous roster to revive the potent excitement of the halcyon days of the 1960s. From the realm of contemporary British urban music came the trailblazing Mercury Music Prize-winner Ms Dynamite, while Scissor Sisters, Snow Patrol and Sweden's The Hives spearhead an impressive alternative rock contingent. Other big name include, Will.I.Am, Busta Rhymes, Take That and Miley Cyrus.

Target audience questionnaire analysis

1. What is your favourite music video channel?
There were a whole range of answers that we received for this question. As you can see from the graph below the most popular one proved to be Kerrrang! This implies that the most popular type music in our class is rock.


2. What is your preferred genre of music to listen to?
Again there is a dominant preferred type of music that is apparent and can be demonstrated below.


3. What is your favourite artist from your preferred genre of music?
Due to everyone’s tastes and opinions there were various artists that people preferred. Again the graph bellow will illustrate this.


4. What do you expect to see in a music video from that genre?
Those who answered that their favourite genre of music was pop/RnB said that in a video of that genre they expect to see women and men sexualised to appeal to both genders. Also they are portrayed to be very rich and glamorous. They also expect to see either a lot of upbeat dance moves or a lot of close ups with narrative based performance.
Those who expressed that their preferred type of music was rock said that they would expect to see a performance from the artist because rock is a lot about the skill of the musician; this answer was common amongst those who filled out the questionnaires.

5. What type of performance do you prefer in a video?
The most popular answer was both, proving to us that people want too see performance of the artist and a narrative behind this.


6. Why do you prefer that particular type of performance?
Everyone who completed the questionnaire said that just performance of the artist can be boring. Having narrative within in a video makes it more interesting and in depth and gives a better understanding as to what the song might be about.

7. What is your own personal favourite music video and why?
Again there was a whole range of answers as everyone has different tastes in music and opinions. One favourite is Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson. This is due to the fact it is practically all performance based and this interests the audience because of his dancing and whole demeanour. Another favourite was Scientist by Cold Play. This is because the video is backwards, for example, the narrative starts at the end and everything is played backwards. This also matches with another answer from a different artist. The Academy is… video is also in reverse.

8. Do you prefer black and white videos or colour?
Everyone said, apart from one person that they prefer colour videos. This is slightly negative feedback due to the fact that we plan to have our video in black and white. However, we hope that we make the video good enough for people to like the black and white effect.

9. If you know of any do you favour a particular music video director?
Out of all the people we handed a questionnaire out to only three people knew of any music videos directors, which in my opinion suggests that directors of music videos and quite under rated. Two people said that Dean Karr was their favourite because his videos are “surreal, disturbing and crazy.” From researching him on the internet it seems as though his main focus and genre is that of rock, due to the fact that he made videos for Slipknot, Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper. The other favourite director that was mentioned was Jake Nava. He is an English producer and has worked with some big stars, also from the genre we are focusing on in our production. These include, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Usher and Pixie Lott.

10. Do you think that in creating this it has been useful in trying to establish a target audience?
Everyone replied with yes.


In my opinion I think distributing this questionnaire to members of the class has been very useful to us. This is because it has given us a greater insight into other people’s preferences of music and so illustrates to us whether people will enjoy the type of music we have chosen for our video. It has become apparent from this the majority of the class prefer rock music but hopefully our video will also appeal to them. It is interesting to see what music and videos people like apart from ourselves.

Video Analysis - Rihanna, Take A Bow

The video I am going to analyse is Rihanna – Take a Bow. I chose this video as it is by a female artist of the same genre. It also has the same story behind the narrative and therefore could give us some influence and idea's as to how to portray this particular idea. I have only analysed the first minuite as it will give me a clear, sharp indication of how instantly the narrative can be established.


The video starts with a close-up of Rihanna’s arm placed across her body and then tracks upwards so we see Rihanna’s face. The initial close-up of her arm then tracking upwards helps to show the mise-en-scene of different gold jewellery which she is wearing – The gold ring, the gold watch, the gold necklaces, which are emphasised by the black costume she is wearing. This is a genre characteristic – A lot of R&B artists wear jewellery to show there wealth etc. Once the tracking to the focus on her face is complete, Rihanna sings the rest of the line to the audience in a performance-bases sequence. The remains of the close-up helps to show the emotion on her face, which is to some extent vital when the artist is singing an emotional song – It makes the performance more believable. The black costume and background helps to show the overall mood, as appose to if the costume and background were of a bright colour suggesting a more positive mood of song.

Once Rihanna has finished singing and the next line kicks in, we instantly cut into the first narrative-based shot. This is a medium shot of Rihanna walking away, from an angle which appears to be set on the floor. The mise-en-scene is jeans and more importantly, heels, showing the feministic side of the narrative. The quick shot only lasts for a few seconds – It lasts for the beats between Rihanna’s first line and second

We then have a cut back to the performance based sequence. Again, the shot is very quick and once again only lasts for the duration of the one line ‘a standing ovation’. It is a close up of Rihanna’s face which shows the strong emotion but also how the lyrics she is singing are not to be taking literally but more in a sarcastic, figurative way.

For the part in which Rihanna is not singing, it once again cuts back to the narrative concept. A long shot of Rihanna walking to the window and looking out the curtains, almost as if she’s specifically looking out for something, almost suggesting in context of the narrative that her ex boyfriend has just turned up or something. The mise-en-scene in the shot shows a red chair (red as a colour symbolising romance, again linking to the narrative. You also see the laminate flooring, pure white curtains suggesting that money-wise, she is at a higher working class and earns a lot – a genre characteristic of R&B. The long shot allows us to see the physique of Rihanna, referring to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of the male gaze

We then go cut back to the performance base of a close-up of Rihanna, again showing the emotion as she sings. It then cuts to the scene of her ex-boyfriend knocking on the door, furthermore establishing the narrative. There is then a quick cut back to Rihanna in the narrative based shot by the window, which then cuts back to the ex-boyfriend. This helps to establish the link between these two characters and shows us how Rihanna is not only the performer but also the character within the narrative. We then cut back to the performance based, but this time Rihanna is walking and looking down. By looking down, she is showing a more negative overall emotion as appose to if she was looking up and directly to the camera. There is then a quick cut back to the narrative based as she is walking down the stairs to answer the door. Again, stairs showing she is the owner of the house and furthermore suggesting wealth – a genre characteristic of R&B.

We then start the first verse with the same performance based concept of a close-up of Rihanna against a black backdrop. She is looking directly into the camera, as if singing it directly to the ex-boyfriend. This effect is reinforced by the lyrics – ‘you look so dumb right now’, addressing him directly (as appose to ‘he looks so dumb right now’). This then cuts into a short cut of Rihanna walking towards the door in the narrative base. The medium shot helps us to see chandeliers hanging from the wall again, suggesting wealth. This quickly cuts into a performance-based shot of the back of Rihanna’s head, symbolising the way she’s moving away from the relationship and moving on.

There is then a fade transition to the next narrative based shot. It has a quick close-up shot of the male talking to someone through the wall. This then quickly cuts into a medium shot of Rihanna at the other side. There is then a quick cut to a long shot of him leaning against the door, showing how desperate he is to see her. The fact that Rihanna is singing in the narrative scenes again shows how the experience is one taken from her, as appose to referring to some other relationship. This could work effectively as not only would the target audience relate to the song making it a success, they would also relate to Rihanna as an artist. Both shots the characters are both scene wearing black and a bit of gold jewellery are seen. The black costume, again emphasising the moods, and the gold jewellery being a genre characteristic representing wealth. The fact we see the male talking against the door in the dialogue suggests how he may be begging for Rihanna to take him back. The fact she just stands against the door shows the strength she has to ignore him.
We then have a shot of the performance based sequel, quickly cutting at the beat to the performance base for the line ‘trying to apologise’. In both shots she shows a smirk look upon her face, showing the strength of knowing she is now in control, but also in a patronising way towards the male.

There is then a close up of the male for part of the line ‘trying to apologise, you’re so ugly when you cry’. The close up allows us to see the emotion of the males face, showing how sorry he is, linking with the lyrics. At the beat, we have a quick cut to Rihanna at the other side of the door. Her arms are folded to suggest she’s had enough. She’s facing the side to show a slight sense of vulnerability, which is demolished when her head turns to face the camera and create a sense of confrontation. The absence of her singing the word ‘please’ (when it is actually placed within the song) shows the lack of manners she has towards him and therefore the lack of respect she has for him. We then have a cut back to him, continuously knocking on the door and showing how distressed he is and how much he wants her back. We cut back to Rihanna, and once more back to the male. You see him walking away, making gestures with his arms to show his annoyed and upset expressions