1. 1b) b) Apply the concept of Audience to one of your coursework productions.
(Awarded 24 out of 25 marks)
I will be analysing my music video that we filmed and edited for our main task
which formed part of my Advanced Portfolio in Media – a promotionalpackage for
release of an album, to include a music promo video. We studied audience and
audience theory and in particular, the way music videos are consumed on a range
of media platforms reflecting a digital convergence culture – audience
consumption of music videos as a media productstereotypically target youth
audiences so we wanted to ensure this demographic was the main focus of our
music video.
Importantly, it is necessary initially to identify the target audience in depth of our
Electro Pop/Dance hybrid music video of the song Take Me There by the unsigned
band Money Honey – students and first time jobbers, 16-25 both male and female
are the primary target audience who are aspirers and mainstreamers using psycho
graphic categorisation but also from the socio economic backgrounds, C1, C2 and
D. Typically the target audience are unmarried, single and free from
responsibilities and a have a ‘live for the weekend’ lifestyle. This is very much
reflected by the narrative and representations in our music video that show
aspirational urban (city) locations and focus on interpersonal relationships.
Themise-en-scene is very colourful using a bright palette but also saturated high
key lightingto appeal to this audience. Editing is fast paced and the shots are
dynamic and also use humour to appeal to youth audiences. Relationships are a
universal theme, particularly with young people and female empowerment we felt
would not necessarily alienate a male demographic.
In this way, using Stuart Hall’s theory the audience were positioned into decoding
a dominant preferred reading (in terms of female empowerment) not just through
the mise-en-scene but also through our use of technical language which included
shot selection, camera angle and camera movement – close up shots of the
overweight body of the banker in a club scene for example reinforced a critical
reading of his personality. Audience positioning is as important as audience
identification for commercial reasons in a music video media artifact for purposes
of entertainment - we ensured the acting and performances mirrored this need in
a mainstream market saturated by upbeat, dynamic music videos. In terms of
audience identification we linked the key signifiers of the dance genre to the music
video to ensure audiences make connections, and used graphics that would allow
audiences to go online and follow the band on social networking platformslike
Twitter and Facebook. Colour, pace, graphics, representation, body movement
and sex appeal were all aspects of the video we hoped would draw audiences in.
Using Blumler and Katz’ Uses and Gratification theory as a model to understand
audience appeal in our music video, surveillance was achieved by uploading
information about the band. Personal relationships were established through
blogging, YouTube and forums discussing the video while personal identification
in relation to the actors and performers (particularly the female representations)
was apparent. Diversion was a key appeal – the Electro Pop/Dance genre has an
upbeat mode of address that sometimes suggests escapist scenarios that are
aspirational to an audience. In filming an ‘amateur’ music video by an existing
2. unsigned artist and uploading to YouTube we were inviting interactive feedback
but also seeking publicity for the band. While Andrew Keen would suggest this
creates a long tail of amateurs, we believe that as well as being the stereotypical
audience of music videos we were now producers of media. This made us more
appropriately labeled using Gauntlett’s model of the prosumer. We understood
what audiences would be interested in seeing and constructed the video in this
way – we were both the originators of our music video but also the first audience
to see it and able to offer aself-reflective evaluation on it to which we could then
add audience feedback.
The concept of audience is now much more of a complex concept – our music
video needed to be made available online initially but also to be seen by as many
people as possible within the limitations of a restricted marketing budget. Seeding
the video on YouTube seemed the obvious first move to encourage file sharing but
also to build a micro blogging website to promote the video and the band:
takemetherevid.co.uk. This was a hub that allowed the video to be viewed but
also ensured that convergent links to the band were embedded, as were links to
the band’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. We received interesting feedback on
the genre hybridisation that we felt was necessary to maximize target audiences
and also align the product (in terms of intertextual references) with existing
successful media. We believe that what was also important was recognising the
limits of promoting a band through a music video that to all intents and purposes
were independent and not signed to a major artist. The net result was positive in
terms ofaudience feedback and was an interesting exercise in constructing media
with a specific audience in mind. (24/25)
