Selena Gomez- Micro Elements

In Selena Gomez's video-'A year without rain' there are many micro-elements that are of interest of me. In the video, there are many close up shots of the artist, from several different angles. The use of these close up's express the artist's feminity and pretty, fresh-faced image. It also emphasises her singing, and the audience is focused more on what there saying, because they can link it to the image on screen.





After much research I have realised that it is common for female country pop Artist's to have many close up's in there videos. We are also going to use this camera shot in our video, and will take some practice shots first to get the right angle.





Below is the Artist, Selena Gomez. In the shot, I have noticed an interesting micro-element. She is running away from the camera in slow motion, this gives a romantic and passionate image to the Artist and overall feel of the song. Her hair and dress is blowing in the wind behind her, this creates a feminine picture, and shows she is stripped back, and everything is flying in the wind around her. This slow motion running is an editing technique that we are going to use in our video.


In the screenshot below, the camera is tracking the Artist's feet. This is something we would like to do in our video, as we believe it creates mystery and builds suspense-we are going to link this with the song, and build it up to the chorus. The tracking also has connotations of following the Artist's life, following their 'every step.'




In the shot below, the editing is really effective.
The shot is of lots of old photos, overlapping, and then a close up shot of them. The photos relate to what the Artist is singing about, and demonstrates her lyrics into visuals to match. The photos tell a story, however they also create mystery and make the audience question who is in the photo's where are they taken etc. This micro-element may be useful to consider for our music video.

Narrative

Lia and I have decided on our narrative that will help us in order to film our music video. We have decided on the following storyline: 

• A boy and a girl who are in a complicated love story
• In the video we portray the boy as the one chasing the girl
• The girl almost teases the boy and is made into a jokey situation as the song is upbeat.
• Girl is deep in her own thoughts and almost in her own world singing about the love of her life.
• We chose the Audley End Location to emphasise the narrative, especially of the girl being deep in her thoughts- walking around the garden's. We thought this would be effective, and have a peaceful,feminine portrayal. 

Our Artist Profile

Digipack Analysis

Digipack Analysis of Carrie Underwood's Album- 'Carnival Ride.'

Our Ideal Audience Member

Progress Report

In today's lesson Rosalia and I decided on specific location's in Audley End garden's and a selection  of various shots we want to do. We constructed a big spider-diagram on sugar paper to present our Shot and Location ideas.

Location Permission

We e-mailed the woman in charge of the events at Audley End House, to ask for permission to film outside, and preferably inside the house too. These are the corresponding emails:

Location Planning

After much thought, Rosalia and myself have decided we think it would work really well if the majority of our shots were around Audley End Garden's. We believe this links to the country conventions of nature, and the outdoors. However we also believe it links to existing similar Artist's, and having a colourful production with flower's creates a feminine video, attracting our target audience. We are also thinking of having a few shots of our Artist in front of the house, and at the back of the house by the fountains.

This is the back of Audley End house. In the photo you can see the big fountain, we are thinking about doing a lot of shots in this area. 

This is another part of the Audley End Garden's were we would also like to film, as we think having our Artist walking along the path would create the innocence, girly and angelic image we are looking for. 

Video Analysis-Lyrics

I decided to analyse the lyrics in Kellie Pickler's song 'Didn't know how much I loved you.' I believe by analysing the lyrics, I will get a stronger idea of how to construct my music video to relate with the lyrics and form a story and performance of that narrative.

The opening lyrics that start the song are 'I remember the way you made love to me, like I was all you'd ever need.' These lyrics are deep, emotional and personal and describe a connection between the singer and her 'lover,' of whom she is addressing this song to, in a poetic, love-letter style. This instantly outlines the format of the song, and gives an insight into the content that the viewers will expect to see and hear.

The song continues with lyrics that are as follows: 'now here I am trying to make sense of it all, we were best friends, now we don't even talk, you broke my heart.' These lyrics have changed the initial direction of the songs approach, and now begins to describe a situation that has resulted in the two 'lovers' no longer being in a relationship, this relates very closely to our chosen music song as it presents a tale of two 'lovers' that were once close and are no longer together, leaving the narrator/singer heartbroken.

The chorus then comes in, and it is opened by lyrics that correspond with the songs title; 'didn't you know how much I loved you, don't you know how much I love you, baby.' Kellie Pickler is now beginning to describe how, although her and her 'ex-lover' are no longer together, she still has feelings for him that she wants to make him aware of. This relates strongly to our chosen piece of music, as the chorus lyrics of our song start with 'I'm falling hard and there's not even gravity,' which reflects a similar sense of emotional hurt, with the narrator/singer being the individual wishing for their loved one back, and also wishing they could have the opportunity to reflect their emotions.

The second verse then begins with the lyrics, 'I can't get you out of my head, I still feel you in this bed, you left me alone.' This line suggests that Kelly is in a constant battle between her head and heart,  trying to figure out whether she still wants her lover or she's angry at him for leaving her. Again, this ties closely into the 'Falling Hard' song, and corresponds to the lyrics 'I heard a story the other day, a love one, I got mad and I walked away, it's just another one.' Both sets of lyrics show that there is some kind of resentment and anger towards the singers' lovers, and their recent loss of this loved one has left them with a negative and confused opinion about love.

Miley Cyrus Audience Demographics

I searched online for the Artist, Miley Cyrus's audience demographics, to get an idea of what my target audience would be. Below is a graph showing the results. It is obvious that women are more interested in Miley Cyrus, and women aged between, perhaps 16-24. After extensive research, these results reiterate my many other results, proving to me, what out target audience is.

Audience Research

I then looked at Carrie Underwood's song 'Blown Away' and viewed the comments on youtube, to get an idea of my target audience, as my chosen song has many similarities to hers. Here were the results:

Both these comments have been written by two women, aged 19 and 28. Both women talk about personal issues, and show how they relate to the song. The song makes both women empathise with the Artist, and makes them think about their own experiences. After researching into three different Artist's and their Audience's, I have now got a strong idea of my target audience.

Audience Research

I decided to look at some of Shania Twain's song's on youtube, as our chosen song has big country influence. I looked at her song 'You're still the one' and viewed the comments below to get an idea of my target audience. Here are the results:

Both these comments are from females expressing their love for both the Artist, Shania Twain, but also the message and narrative of the song. The second comment, the girl directly comments on her personal life experiences, and links them to the song, and show's the relation between the two.

Audience Research

To get an idea of my target Audience, I searched similar songs to mine on 'youtube' and reviewed the comments below. First I looked at Miley Cyrus's song 'The Climb.' This gave me an idea of the gender and age of my target audience, but also their belief's, values and reasonings behind enjoying the music. Below are my results:

All of these comments were written by female's between 18-22, as I looked on their profile's. There comments relate to emotional factors, and how the song has helped them with personal life experiences. This, from my research, I have found to be a very young female trait.

Audience Survey

I constructed a survey to figure out my target audience and their needs and wants. I did this to get a better idea of what I will include in my music video to enable me to attract the desired market. Below is my survey that I made on 'Surveymonkey.'

I will display the results as soon as I have received feedback. I've embedded my survey into my facebook page-this way I will receive replies from a range of people. I have also used a web link to post it to a wider audience. 

Video Ideas and Inspiration

During class last week each group played their chosen song for their music video and all the other students wrote down on a piece of paper their interpretations of what they think would be in the music video, if there was a music video. 

From various students these are our results as follows:

- A sunset background

- A girl in a field singing

- Someone singing about a complicated relationship, for example sees that boy around         when he's with friends. 

- Boy sees the girl but seems that he doesn't care and chooses his friends instead of that girl

- The girl is fed up about particular events in her life

- Girl wanting that boy she sings about to change

- The video not showing the boy that the girl is singing about

- when she is outside there are: autumn leaves, kicking her feet/ dangling her feet

- Autumn colours and theme for the video

- floating leavs

- The video tells a story/ has a relevant narrative

- possible shot- cross cut between indoors and outdoors so has a link between narrative and performance

Faith Hill- Performance Analysis

Faith Hill is an American, Country singer. I am going to analyse her song 'Breathe,' specifically to identify the way the Artist is performed and presented to the audience. 

This shot is taken from the beginning of the video. Faith Hill is immediately presented to the audience as quite angelic. She appears to be floating in the sky, and has a floaty white dress on. The fact that she appears to be in the sky makes her seem like an angel, this has connotations of innocence and purity, linking with the white dress she is wearing. Although the shot has been edited so that the sky is orange, it is obvious that you can see the clouds in the background.

The second shot I have chosen to anaylse is a shot of the artists bare legs, half covered up by a white sheet. This shot has sexual connotations, and the artist is presented differently to the previous shot. However the pure white sheet, and the nakedness of her legs expresses a degree of vulnerability and portrays the artist as helpless. Although this shot could be taken a few ways.

The third shot I have captured is a close up of the Artist's face and shoulders lying down. The close up emphasises her feminity, with her long blonde hair sprawled across the pillow. In this shot, it links to the previous one, however reveals more to the audience. The Artist is portrayed as more sexual, and sensual, due to the shot of her hand stroking her face, and the emphasis on nudity.

In this fourth shot, the Artist, Faith Hill is looking directly into the camera. When she does this, she sings the lyrics 'When i'm wrapped up in your arms.' This makes the Artist appear to be singing to a specific person, telling a story of personal experiences. By capturing the Artist close up, it makes it seem more personal, and the Artist's image is more emotional and passionate, as the expression on her face is clearer.


After analysing this video for Artist Performance, I can now identify various technical features and the required effect, and I can bring that information forward with me whilst regarding my music video options. 

Kylie Minogue-Location Analysis

Kylie Minogue is an Australian singer, songwriter. Kylie's music has many influences, e.g, country, pop. Kylie started her career as a pop Artist, but then as she grew older she merged pop with more country influence. Minogue's later songs, her image is very different to her previous pop songs. In her latest song 'Flower' she appears more minimalistic - with less makeup, little jewellery. Her image conforms more to 'Country' conventions. Her 'Flower' video is shot outside, linking to the title of the song 'Flower' and also relating to freedom and independence.

The video is shot in mainly black and white, which conforms to more of an 'alternative approach,' rather than the colourful, vibrant nature of Kylie's previous videos.