Survey and Analysis

We conducted a survey with a range of people to help us establish a target audience for our artist and music video. We asked a range of questions in order to get an idea of what the audience is interested in and their general lifestyle.

Question 1.

What age category do you fall into?

We asked the general question about age to the participants. This is because it allows us to see what age range most of the data is coming from. We understood that the information would mainly come from the 15 to 19 age range. This was beneficial to us, this being because we belong to this age range as well we can relate to how the audience understands the media product. From this question alone we can establish that most of the participants will be tech savvy and therefore we know how they would access the music video also the topics that are most popular with this age range. However we took into account that other age ranges are involved and therefore we needed to us this to our advantage when creating the music video we needed to ensure that it is suitable for all age ranges.

Question 2. 

 What social grade do you fall into?

The second question that we asked was involving social grade. We briefly explained each social grade so that the correct social grade was selected.

The most popular social grade was as expected, this being student or/and part –time worker. This is reflective of the age range. This allows us to establish the kind of disposable income, this is important because we need to establish how to have our artist relatable to the audience and therefore helps us create the impact that we want on them.

Question 3.

What is your gender?

The third question that we asked was what gender category they fell into, this allows us to see if our main target audience was female or male. This although is not important as some other questions we asked, it allowed us to establish what aspects should be included in the music video. It is important in society and the same applies to our music video due to the message to not present an unrealistic expectation to young girls about how they should look, similarly, we should include unrealistic expectations as it will impact young men’s expectations.

Question 4.

What artists do you listen to?

The 4^th question we asked applied directly to the genre that the artist falls into. The most popular being the R&B line up we made. This including the artist we are using. This allows us to establish how many people will be attracted to the music video based off of the genre alone. We also established similar artists. This was important to our print artefacts it allowed us to see what artists we should encourage or presents relation to.

Question 5.

What interests/hobbies do you have?

  

We asked about the hobbies that the participants have, this was important due to the first draft we had when attempting to formulate a narrative.  However, after the change we established we still want the artist to be relatable and therefore we decided we may incorporate their hobbies within the music video.

Question 6.

 What phone brands do you use?

We enquired about the type of phone that our participants use, this was in order to effectively incorporate product placement. The most popular, as expected, was Apple. This therefore impacted the phone we used within the video as we know that product placement impacts the sales of the product.

Question 7.

What social media platform do you use the most?

This question was wanted in order to establish where our audience goes on social media the most. From this we can see Facebook and Twitter are the most popular and therefore it means that the video will be shared on these platforms in order to spread the message to as many of the target market as possible.

Question 8.

What issues are most concerning in today's society?

We asked our participants what is the most concerning issue within today’s society.  We varied the answers from things that were currently going viral, this being because today’s audience enjoys to be able to relate to a video as it captures their attention. However, the issue considered the most important is mental health, with the recent increase of awareness this was expected. The second most popular is the issue of body image this is the message within our music video this allows us to know that the message will impact a large amount of people.

Question 9.

 What platform gets messages across best?

This question was asked in order to see how they would normally receive a message, the most popular being social media, which was unexpected, we expected music to be the most popular. However, from this we took that the video should be shared on a variety of social media in order to get people’s attention.

Question 10.

What attracts you to a music video?

This question was asked in order to see what draws an audience to a music video. We discovered that the song is the main thing that attracts people to music videos the next being the artist, this means that within the music video there should be a large appearance of the artist and therefore abstract videos are not going to be effective.

Test Shots

Test shots were taken in order to help understand the lighting and presentation of the subjects within different shots. It was important to create a range of test shots as within the final production lighting will be key when presenting the emotion and helping the development of the narrative. I used the actor that will be used within the final product as this means that the height will remain consistent and therefore the lighting will be presented and similarly to the final product.

When conducting the test shots the main element that we changed was the lighting. This is because the video is going to have a ‘moody’ impact on the audience at some points and a more positive mood towards to end.

The decision to create a moody effect on the shots means that when shooting we have to be careful. The test shots area shown below, where positive and negative elements of the shots are taken into account and expressed.

Originally it was decided that the subject moves around a light in the centre of the shot in order to get an idea of how the light and the camera react with each other and reflects onto the subject. These images are presented below.

We concluded that the most effective based on the emotions we want to implement onto the audience is the first image. This is because the lighting is strong enough to clearly see the subject and their facial expression and body language, however isn't too strong that the lighting reflects a positive atmosphere. We have however, considered using the last image to present the performance elements within the product as these are more neutral mood moments that the artist is sharing with the audience and this means that when the brighter lighted scenes are presented, it creates a sense of utopia. The second image shows a moody lighting, which although is what we want to reflect, the lighting blocks the audience the chance of seeing the subject clearly.

From this we decided to take images by windows, although the day we conducted this it was not a bright day due to the rain, it helped us discover the kind of impact that filming the outside and performance elements will have as we are planning on filming this using natural lighting to create the darker lighting.

We decided to use a close up and a medium shot for these test shots, as these are the shots we are most likely to use when filming. After looking at them once they were displayed on the computer we discovered that the artificial lighting took an impact on the subject and therefore we decided that although not natural lighting that the contrast between the dark background and the artificial lighting reflecting onto the subject that the second image is more effective as the lighting on the subject clearly presents the facial expression to the audience.

 

After this we decided to use a room that had plain wall so that the lighting is reflective across the shot. We took these in order to see the impact on the subject with a strong white light on them. We chose to shoot against a wall with two shades (white & grey) in order to see the impact on the subject in comparison to its surroundings. We then added colour into the shot, in order to see the contrast. We took into account the clothes the subject was wearing, the clothes are neutral and pastel which will be common theme of the outfit throughout the music video.

After this we took to an area with a different colour light. For this we used the canteen at the sixth form. These shots are shown below. We took one image with the subject in the middle in order to get a complete artificial lighting shot, with the colour that was reflected due to the colour of the lighting, we decided against these shots. However, we took into account the angles and the lighting next to the window. The second and third image are mainly reflective of natural lighting, so we took to angle shots.  We concluded we liked the high angel of the subject due to the way the light reflects, we decided using a high angel shot would be beneficial due to the connotations that come along with it, these being that the audience has power and knowledge of that compared to the subject. This is the kind of impact that we want on the audience this being due to the subject and actions that the subject is conducting in within the music video.

After this we decided that we would take pictures under a white light again, these were mainly for the brighter scenes such as scenes towards the end and the performance scenes. We decided to take pictures in a classroom and outside in a coridoor in order to get a feeling of how the light is diributed across a large open area. We concluded that we prefer the whiter light for the scenes were most appropriate as they represent a more happy emotion and therefore allow the audience to distiguse between happy moments within the video, this along with after affects will enable the point is clearly made. We used different shots such as long shots and close ups in order to allow us to see how the light reflects onto the subjects face. This is because in some scenes we plan on having a close up of the artist menaing it is important for the audience to clearly see the subjects facial expression.

Drugs in the media industry and videos

The genre of music, which commonly is associated with drug abuse, is alternative music such as Metallica with their song “Master of Puppets” and “Needles” by System of a Down. This dates back throughout history, for example in 1971 the Rolling Stones released Sister Morphine. Another example is “The Acid Queen” by The Who, which was released in 1969.

However in recent years this has grown into the mainstream genre of pop. Artists such as Lady Gaga and The Weekend make references to drugs throughout their music songs such as “Mary Jane Holland” by Lady Gaga and “The A Team” by Ed Sheeran.

The contemporary R&B artists such as The Weekend and Rihanna who both identify with this genre, they have delivered songs about drug use/ abuse, for example Rihanna released a song called “Diamonds” in 2012 the song refers to marijuana in the video and in the song. The Weekends song “ High For This” refers to drugs in the sense of nightlife such as clubs, the song has the theme of marijuana.

 A study conducted by the Department of Health and Human Service (DHS) found that in a sample of a thousand songs from 1996 and 1997 based on commercial success, 75% of hip hop songs some version of substance abuse was involved compared to that of a maximum of 20% in other genres.

A recent mainstream artist who has been related to drugs is Miley Cyrus where her songs continue to refer to drugs, such as “We Can’t Stop” which references cocaine use, however she has recently been connected to drugs such as cannabis and MDMA. Modonna has also stated that she supports MDMA as it provides “euphoric feelings of love”.

Scars To Your Beautiful Prezi

Body Image Research

US Statistics

• 80% of children who are 10 years old are afraid of becoming fat
• Nearly a quarter of girls aged 15-17 would consider cosmetic surgery
• 13% of girls acknowledge having an eating disorder
• 7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way regarding looks
• 80% of woman are made to feel insecure by images of other women 

UK Statistics

• Out of 2000 girls, 8% said they were happy with their body image
• 19% of teen girls (out of the 2000 girls asked) questioned were actually overweight 
• 67% of the 2000 girls questioned said that they needed to lose
• 64% under the age of 13 years old had already been on a diet
• Almost a fifth (19%) admitted to already suffering from an eating disorder
• Cosmetic rates have increased nearly 20% since 2008
• 1 in 4 7 year old girls have tried to lose weight at least once 

                                                     

From the statistics above, it is clear that a lot of women have struggled with their body image due to the effect the media has one their mental state. The statistics above are shocking to myself and the other members in our group. This is because with the upcoming generation, girls and even boys are young once they start having negative thoughts about their body. Young people are being influenced to change themselves, resulting in their teenage years becoming a lot more difficult when going through puberty. This can lead to mental illnesses such as depression which  with social pressure which may lead to severe suicidal thoughts.

Advertising in magazines has taken a large influential effect on today’s society. Mainstream magazines present women as being thin and with the typical ‘hourglass’ figure and men are portrayed as being extremely muscular. Media platforms such as magazines and social media are used to advertise products and services. This is typically done through using the ideal female representation through a model. The models used help create a powerful impact on the consumers as it reminds them of the social expectations that have become the norm of society. The typical female retains the hourglass figure with the ideal symmetrical face with the latest make up trends being presented flawlessly. Men on the other hand are expected to have unrealistic muscle definition naturally. This is not an accurate representation of the majority of females and male.

Across the years, the type of models that have and are used in advertisements have transformed. Around 20 years ago, the weight for the ideal model was 8% less than the average woman. This has been altered dramatically in a negative way. In today’s society the ideal weight for a model is approximately 23% less than the average female (according to the DailyMail, the average weight for a British female is 11 stone, this means that today’s models weigh about 2.53 stone). This easily demonstrates the pressure that the industry puts on young adults and teenagers. It also shows the pressure put on models whom are already in the industry, both of these situations increases the percentage of underweight individuals. The average model wears size 6 and 8 (UK sizes) compared to the typical woman being sizes 12 and 14, this presents the large difference between a healthy weight and what is considered the ‘perfect’ size. Advertising companies believe that ‘thin sells’ which increases the number of models we seen on screen and on media platforms on a daily basis.

Photoshop has become a large part of society and people’s presence on social media. This continues when producing articles and print products, a model or celebrity will not be considered perfect until they have been ‘altered’ using software such as Photoshop to create an unrealistic expectation for society. This process will still go ahead even if the model or celebrity is the ideal weight for their height, this has been demonstrated and ‘exposed’ by a number of celebrities. For example, an American actress, singer and dancer called Zendaya saw her finished photos for a magazine article which had been photoshopped. She quickly took to Instagram to explain the situation and express her unhappiness with the finished product and the negative implications that come with them. When referring to social media with social media such as Snapchat creating bite sized advertisement and news referring to celebrities and models’ bodies, as teenagers and young adults we regularly check social media, so on an evening we came across the images shown below on Snapchat, it pointed out to us actually how much this happens and how idol the generation can be when consuming the things we see on social media, we realised that a lot of our expectations of ‘beauty’ was shaped by the media and the things we consume while growing up on social media.

Advertising is believed to be based on insecurities, it is believed that by making the audience feel insecure about themselves and their lifestyle while watching an advert it is more likely to encourage consumers to purchase a product that creates the illusion to make the insecurity disappear similar to the model in the advert. On the other hand, we can expect some types of active consumers to be discouraged to buy the product because of the negative emotions that the advert presented onto the consumer.

Change has been made in recent years, steps are being made to change the ways advertisers use models to promote products and services. A Canadian magazine called Châtelaine had promised not to touch up photos from now on. Therefore this means that photos would not be photoshopped or edited in anyway which means the models presented in the magazine will natural. Alongside this promise they ensured they would not use models under the age of 25. This means it increases the age of the target audience which means that the young people are less likely to be influenced by magazines. This means that the magazine will stand out and therefore will mean that the magazine should have a popular reputation which means the actions that they have chosen to take will effect more people, therefore impacting society positively. Other magazines are following in the Canadian magazine’s footsteps and are speaking out about the models and the requirements for them to be used in advertisements. In 2009, the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, reportedly accused specific fashion designers of forcing magazines to hire underweight models. Alexandra claimed this happened by magazines only providing miniscule outfits at photoshoots so they have no choice but to hire underweight models.

Research was conducted to see the effects that magazines had on both men and women. The results collected from over 200 boys and 200 girls of different body masses. They were asked about the effects of magazines in relation to three genres: Fitness/health, Sports and Fashion. The study has remarkable  results as listed below:

Reading magazines leads to an increase in drive to be thin, anorexia and bulimia and other eating disorders and decreased body satisfaction.

Reading the magazines will lead to social comparisons which will lead to the effects mentioned above once again.

Social comparisons may also strengthen the relationship between magazine consumption and the above affects.

Reading magazines will increase critical body image processing which would lead to the impacts mentioned above.

Teens that read central content felt better about themselves because of the information that they consume when reading the actual article instead of focusing on the pictures.

Reading sports magazines shows an increase in muscularity in females, not males.

Health and Fitness magazine shows an increase in anorexia, bulimia and drive to be thin.