Detailed research

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Detailed Research
Danielle Fletcher

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Taylor Swift – Blank Space

+ Identify the institutions for this video and the
institutional codes employed by the institution:
 Blank Space was released on November 10, 2014 -
 The director and editor behind the Blank Space music video was
Joseph Kahn and in total, it took three days to shoot. Marla Weinhoff
Studio is the company behind the production design of this music
video.
 The Marla Weinhoff studio specialises in full service production and
set design for film, music videos, live performance, fashion and
advertising.
 The studio is based in New York and has a strong presence in Los
Angeles, it also regularly engages in projects on location all over the
world.
 Some of their artists include: Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Justin
Timberlake, Kayne West, Elton John, Madonna, Will Smith etc.

As you can see along the bottom, these are the music videos Marla
Weinhoff Studio’s have produced. They’re all brightly coloured;
therefore displaying their specific tone of music video.
They tend
to stick to
music
videos that
have a
narrative.
So all the
visuals on
the screen
fit along
with the
lyrics in the
song.
All the Lady
Gaga videos
seem to follow
a dark tone
with hints of
bright colours.
These videos
all appear
unique and
different to
anything I’ve
seen.

+ What are the key selling points of this video?
 The video is quite personal to the artist, Taylor Swift, as she is
aware of the jokes roaming around about her ex-boyfriends and
how she likes to include them within her song writing. So Taylor
decided it would be good to address this in a fun way and play
an insane girlfriend villain. In her videos she usually plays a
clean-cut role, however this time, she intended to play a parody
of herself. The comical aspects behind this video can really
attract an audience.
 This video can, in some what, be relatable to audiences. Many
females have had their boyfriends cheat on them, which of
course leads them to go insane and mad. Similarly, some
females have been assumed, like Taylor, to have had “a long
list of ex lovers”. Being relatable to audiences of course attracts
an audience and becomes a key selling point.

+ How does this video establish genre?
 The genre of Blank Space is Electropop – a pop genre primarily
consisting of the use of synthesizers and various electronic musical
instruments. Electropop genre conventions include: Not so much
dance routines as these are more featured in R’n’B videos. There’s
usually fast cuts throughout, a modern setting with bright lighting,
concept and narrative based videos to create exposure of the artist.
They generally have a light hearted and relaxed atmosphere.
 Blank Space does in fact conform to these genres. The music video
has a narrative theme throughout, and it does not include any dance
routines. The editing of the video does contain numerous fast cuts in
order to match the pace of the song. The lighting in the video is
definitely bright in the modern setting. The location of the video was
actually filmed at Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York and some of
the interior scenes were shot at the Woolworth Mansion which of
course is a luxurious, modern setting.

+ How successful is this video? Identify which
elements work or not for you?
 Personally, I felt this video was extremely successful and it
has won awards to prove this. At the 2015 MTV Video Music
Awards, Blank Space won Taylor ‘Best Pop Video’ and ‘Best
Female Video’.
 I love how this video has such a comical element to it. Taylor
definitely receives ‘hate’ and comments on her ex-
boyfriends, so she displays how much she doesn’t care by
playing a parody of herself in both Blank Space and Shake It
Off. I especially admire the fact she can laugh and joke at
herself along with the ‘haters’ making mean remarks
towards her. This video is definitely something different to
what Taylor has made before and it is definitely one of my
favourite videos from her.

+ What appears to be the target audience for the
music video?
 I would say this target audience would be preferably females.
Simply because the lead character within the narrative is also
female, and therefore it is easily to relate and connect with a
female audiences.
 The intention behind the video was to portray how mentally
deranged some females can be throughout the breakdown of a
relationship perhaps because of the stereotype of woman being
the emotionally weaker gender.
 I would say the age range for the audience
can vary, simply because people get into
relationships at different ages, and
therefore experience heartbreak at a
different age.

+ How is the audience explicitly targeted in the
video?
 One way in which the audience is specifically targeted in the
Blank Space video, is by the lead character in the narrative
being a female. It enables audiences to therefore relate and
engage with the characters actions and feelings. Although the
setting displays the character has a luxurious lifestyle, in reality
she is no different to any other female.
 Blank Space has such bright lighting and is
generally quite colourful which could attract
a younger audience.
 Due to the content, I would aim the target
audience at being either older teenagers or
young ages, simply because you would not
see children playing with knifes, for example.

 The director behind Take A Bow Anthony Mandler who had
previously directed around 16 of Rihanna’s videos including:
‘Hate That I Love You’ and ‘Shut Up and Drive’. The video was
shot in Venice, Los Angeles on April 3, 2008.
 Anthony Mandler is an American film director, music video
director, television commercial director and photographer. As a
music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator
is Rihanna. One of their first collaborations was for ‘Unfaithful’
(2006) and they have worked together many years after this.
 He has also written and directed music videos for
other artists including: Jay Z, Beyonce, Eminem,
Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift and many more.

This is a
screenshot which
I had taken from
Anthony
Mendlers
website of some
of the videos
which he has
directed. As you
can see they all
visually have a
‘green’ tone to
them. This is a
way in which you
can tell an
Anthony video
from any other.
Mendler’s talent of
vivid emotion-
driven storytelling
is definitely
apparent within
his music videos,
especially the
ones with Lana
del Rey. This is
the type of music
video Mendler
enjoys to make,
an emotional one.

 A key selling point can include how engaging it is with the
audience. Having a female lead actor can therefore connect
with the female majority of the audience.
 The actress can come across as quite comical through her
sarcastic facial expressions and generally her actions.
 Obviously having Rihanna has the lead actor in the music video
attracts her music audience who would love to see her in a
music video.
 The video itself is quite emotional, it Rihanna sings directly to
the camera through close up shots which enable audiences to
visually view the emotion behind the lyrics of the song.

 The genre for Take A Bow is R&B. Woman in
R&B music video convey their sexuality through
their clothing which is usually minimal – Rihanna
wears a black vest top and jeans. The hair and
makeup is usually flawless and made up; this is
because they tend to display themselves as
being perfect in the eyes of the audience. The
slow R&B songs usually have quite a dark tone
for the music video as this evokes emotion –
Take A Bow conforms to this. Songs about
breaking up usually take place in a plain black
room which will probably have minimal items in
the room. These types of songs tend to have the
artist as the main focal point therefore a lot of
close up songs are used to display figure
expressions.

 Although the video has not won any awards, I do still think it is
a successful video. It has infact been nominated for MTV Video
Music Award for Best Female Video, Best Direction and the
People’s Choice Award for Favourite R&B.
 The parts of the music video which I loved the most are the
close up shots where Rihanna is singing directly to the camera.
I feel like this enables audiences to really connect with what
she is singing and it displays the emotion behind the song.
 I also love the narrative element behind the video. The male
actor is trying to win back his lover, however the female actress
stands for women’s power in the sense that they do not need
guys in their life who cannot be loyal.

music video?
 The target audience for the music video would be majorly filled
with fans of Rihanna music who would love to view her music
video.
 The fact there is a female lead character in the music video
implies that her audience is mainly built up with female
audiences who can therefore connect and engage with her in
the song.
 The love theme is apart of the pop music genre, simply to
attract the youth audiences, therefore I would assume her
target audience would be ages from teenager and above.

video?
 Take A Bow music video contains a female lead character for
the narrative who has experienced a breakup with her
boyfriend, and therefore it comes across quite an emotional
video. This is one of those videos and even songs which some
girls going through a break up can relate too.
 There is no explicit content for the music video, meaning that
its content is appropriate for the younger eyes.
Therefore the target audience for this video can
vary. Of course, experiencing a break up will
benefit when connecting to the actress, therefore
the audience would perhaps be older teenagers
who may have experiences similar.

+
Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball

 Wrecking Ball was directed by Terry Richardson, and was
premiered through Vevo on September 9th, 2013. With 19.3
million views in the first twenty-four hours of its release, the
video held the record for having the most views in the time-
frame across Vevo platforms.
 Terry Richardson is an American fashion and portrait
photographer who has also shot advertising campaigns. He
has been directing music videos since the late 1980’s.
 Some of the other music videos he has created include:
Beyonce – OX, Lady Gaga – Do What U Want and Thirty
Seconds to Mars – Hurricane.

As you can see from
these three music
video which Terry
Richardson directed,
you can visually seen
that his genre of music
videos is definitely pop
music.
Richardson uses a
bright pop of
colour in all of his
music videos
which makes them
his own style.
Even Wrecking
Ball is not
extremely
colourful, but there
are obvious hints
of colour through
the bright red lips
stick and blue
eyes.

 When the music video was released on October 5th, 2013. I
remember there was so many people talking about it through
social media, simply because of the fact that Miley was nakedly
swinging on a wrecking ball. This obviously led to people being
desperate to see the video, just to view what everyone had
been discussing online.
 There are many parodies of this music video all over YouTube,
if someone came across the parody, they are most likely going
to want to see the original video, which of course becomes a
selling point for the video.

 The genre for Wrecking Ball is ‘Pop’. In the pop
genre, artists are often expressed in a very sexual
and seductive way, trying to lure the audience in –
and of course Miley is completely naked. The hair
and makeup is usually used to communicate with
the artists feelings, Miley’s makeup remains very
simply to highlight the tear trembling down her face
because she is feeling emotional. In a pop music
video there is always a link between the lyrics and
visuals; so when the lyric is “I came in like a
wrecking ball”, Miley visually comes in on a
wrecking ball. The actors within pop music videos
are generally young and the video contains and
element of love, simply because it appeals to the
target audience of youth.

 I believe this video is extremely successful in the message it is
trying to display. The close up shots where Miley is singing directly
to the camera displays a tear trembling down her face, which in an
interview she admitted to them being real tear due to how raw and
emotional the song was. The video is definitely powerful and
extremely emotional to watch. Such a simple video can have such
an impact on audiences.
 I feel like after a bad break up, most people would love to use
sledge hammers and wrecking balls in order to just break and
destroy things.
 At the 2013 MTV Europe Music Awards, Miley took home the
award for Best Video and the award for Video of the Year at the
2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Adding to its success, the video
also won Miley the award for World’s Best Video at the 2014 World
Music Awards in Monte Carlo.

music video?
 The target audience for this video was definitely for over 18,
considering the sexually explicit content. When being viewed on
YouTube, it was only allowed to be viewed if you had a YouTube
account in which displays you are clearly old enough for the
content.
 A non-explicit video was also produced for younger audiences,
there was no nudity included in this video, it is covered with white
clothing.
 I would say the audience is mainly targeted at a female audience,
simply because they will be able
to relate and connect with the
emotional female character
displayed in the video.

video?
 The content of the music video is definitely what define the age
gap for the audience. Miley Cyrus swinging nude on a wrecking
ball surely is not something that parents would want their young
children to view. Sexually explicit videos are made knowing that
they’ll be for an audience over the age of 18.
 The close up of Miley singing directly to the camera makes it
seem as she’s singing to the audience themselves, therefore
engaging them into the video and emotion behind it.
 The swinging of a wrecking ball and use of the sledge hammer
can represent how power woman are, simply because these
things are associated with strong, masculine women.

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