This document provides ideas for three music videos: Exit Wounds by The Script, Dark Horse by Katy Perry, and Autumn Leaves by Ed Sheeran. It outlines details for each video such as genre, target audience, key points, and production company. The production company chosen is Digifish based in the UK for having experience with The Script and providing a unique visual style. Marketing points would focus on the director and themes rather than stars.

1. A2 Media Studies Music Video Ideas
In-Depth Research
Lauren Barrett

2. IDEA 1: Exit Wounds – The Script
IDEA 2: Dark Horse – Katy Perry
IDEA 3: Autumn Leaves – Ed
Sheeran
•
Music Video Details
What Genre + Type is the music video?
– IDEA 1: A break-up/romance video. Indie Rock Music Genre. 70%
Narrative/30% Performance.
– IDEA 2: Commercial/Dance/Romance video. Pop/Dance Music
Genre. 30% Narrative/70% Performance.
– IDEA 3: Friendship/Family/Romance/Nostalgic. Folk/Acoustic/Indie
Music Genre. 65% Narrative/35% Performance.
•
Where will the video be shown?
– ALL IDEAS: A typical music video will be shown on YouTube and
music channels such as MTV, 4Music, Kiss, Box etc. The artists and
their label companies are then likely to also promote the video via
means of social networking, such as Twitter and Facebook. The
audience may also be able to view the video online on the artists’
official website, and music videos can also be purchased through
the Apple iTunes store, available for download and viewing on
various means of technology such as laptops, phones, tablets and
iPods. The video could also be previewed during intervals at
concerts or before the band/artist comes on stage.

3. IDEA 1: Exit Wounds – The Script
IDEA 2: Dark Horse – Katy Perry
IDEA 3: Autumn Leaves – Ed
Sheeran
•
Music Video Details
Who is the target audience?
– IDEA 1: Likely to be popular amongst Irish people – The Script are from Ireland and so they have
a huge following there. They also have particularly large followings in North
America, Australia, parts of Asia and the rest of the UK. Their music is targeted at mostly women
aged 18 – 35, but they also find an audience in fans around the age of 16 and men also who look
up to the band as inspirations for starting their own music career. Due to the potential content of
the central female character over-dosing on medication, self-harming and consuming a lot of
alcohol, the video is likely to be aimed more towards an 18+ audience. The target audience may
also include people who relate to the song especially those who may be coming to terms with a
break-up or losing a loved-one.
– IDEA 2: The audience for this Katy Perry video is likely to consist of women aged 16 – 25. The
American singer acts as a role model for many younger fans, especially those from America, as
they enjoy her ‘sickly sweet pop persona’. The pop genre is one of the most common and most
popular genres in the music industry, and because of her affiliation with the media in more
recent years, the hype around this video/song is likely to be built up quite strongly, and so will
potentially attract a very varied audience. The singer has also recently starred in the film, “The
Smurfs 2” and so may also promote a slightly younger target audience. Men are also usually
interested in viewing this singers’ videos typically because she is seen as one of the most
attractive female performers of this generation.
– IDEA 3:Ed Sheeran is seen as one of this generation’s most respected performers for his down-toearth and simple lifestyle and work-ethic, so therefore, any video produced for him is likely to
attract a very varied audience. The target audience is likely to be 60% female and 40% male – I
have been to a few of his concerts personally and I have seen for myself that surprisingly he has
quite a few male fans too. Although he has fans of quite young ages, the majority of them are
aged between 18 and 28, but like mentioned before, it does vary. The majority of viewers are
likely to be from England, as he is British, but his fan-base is also widely growing in America after
supporting Taylor Swift on her tour there – so her fans are also likely to become part of the
audience for this video.

4. IDEA 1: Exit Wounds – The Script
IDEA 2: Dark Horse – Katy Perry
IDEA 3: Autumn Leaves – Ed
Sheeran
•
Music Video Details
How does this video relate to the target audience of the CD itself?
– IDEA 1: The song ‘Exit Wounds’ comes from The Script’s second studio album, Science and Faith, released in 2010 under the label RCA. The
album reached the number 1 position in the album charts in the UK, Ireland and Scotland, achieving a 2x platinum certification in the UK and
a 5x platinum certification in Ireland. Considering the good performance of the album as a whole, the four singles, “For The First Time,”
“Nothing,” “If You Ever Come Back” and “Science and Faith” weren’t as successful individually, peaking at #2, #42, #188 and #62 respectively
in the UK Singles Chart. From this data alone, it is clear that the album/CD as a whole was generally a lot more popular than the individual
songs, suggesting that the target audience is different for the two different products: the single and the album. Whereas the target audience
for the CD will be genuine fans of the band – those who are going to see them in concert, buying a thousand copies of the album for
themselves etc. the target audience for the video is going to be much more broader, as, for example, the band could potentially perform the
song on TV, and if viewers like what they are hear, they’re more likely to view the video, but not necessarily buy the whole album. It would
also be considered differently if, again for example, the video featured a special guest, such as a famous actress – the target audience will
change for the video, but their not necessarily going to go out and buy the whole album. Because I know the target audience is very specific
for the album, I will try to include some elements to particularly link them to the video. As stated before in the previous slide, the majority of
sales are going to come from Ireland for the album so if I can include some elements of the Irish society - such as Guinness or the national
flag, then this could boost views for the video.
– IDEA 2: Katy Perry’s single, “Dark Horse” is taken from her upcoming album, Prism, due to be released on October 18th 2013 by Capitol
Records. The song acted as the album’s promotional single, but is not yet due to be released as an official single, which is why it does not
currently have a music video. The song peaked at #21 in the UK singles chart, which is relatively successful considering that is was not
released as an official single nor did it gain any promotion on the radios. The album, Prisim, is described by critics as being a relatively Pop
album, but the song itself has a Grime and Hip Hop genre as it also features rapping from Juicy J. Thus, again the target audience for the video
and the album are likely to be considerably different, as the genre for the album is going to be overall completely different from the
song, which is quite misleading as those who are fans of the song are going to expect something completely different from the actual album.
As I don’t know what the album is going to sound like, I can’t make any distinct connections with the music video and the target audience of
the CD. However, looking at the album title and some of the other songs, there is a distinct surreal/magic theme to the album, which I will
reflect in the video to connect with the target audience of the album.
– IDEA 3: This song was taken from Ed Sheeran’s album ‘+’, where the album as a whole has a very ‘easy-listening’ feel to it, so, the target
audience for the video would actually suit the target audience of the album quite well. The light-hearted storyline I will use for the music
video will nicely suit the typical listeners of the ‘easy-listening’ genre. The other elements of my music video, such as the autumnal colour
scheme and the snuggly clothes will hopefully directly connect with the target audience of the CD, as this sort of a tone can be found on most
of the other songs on the album – the album cover itself also connotes a very autumnal feel to it through the basic use of the colour orange.

5. IDEA 1: Exit Wounds – The Script
IDEA 2: Dark Horse – Katy Perry
IDEA 3: Autumn Leaves – Ed
Sheeran
•
Music Video Details
What key genre elements will be employed?
– IDEA 1: This alternative-rock/pop-rock song would require a video with darker ‘grungier’ colours and plenty of
instrumental shots to suit the genre. I also want the shots to be very quick and fast-paced to match the fastpaced rhythm of the music. The actors will need to wear smart-casual clothes as this is a typical convention in
alternative-rock music videos and I also want the lighting to be mostly natural. I also want to use plenty of
close-up shots in the video to emphasize on the characters and the instruments too.
– IDEA 2: Dark Horse is described as a pop-dance song, so the typical elements I would look to include in my
music video are lots of brighter colours, and also a trademark dance routine. Katy Perry is also renowned for her
use of brightly-coloured wigs in most of her music videos, so I would also expect to feature my actresses with
bright wigs too. To suit more of the dance genre, I would want to include a lot of flashing, bright lights to give
off the idea that the video is set in a club sort of environment, or I would use urban style environmental settings
such as next to train tracks, under bridges and skate-parks. The pop genre is often about pairing someone with
the opposite gender, so while my video would be mostly female-orientated, I would also include some male
characters to bring the balance. I would use close-ups to focus on my main ‘character’ and also plenty of long
shots and establishing shots to show the ‘party’ of characters within their environments.
– IDEA 3: Autumn Leaves has a strong acoustic, easy-listening feel to it, but is described as an indie-folk genre
song. Looking at examples from the likes of Mumford and Sons, who are very much a similar genre to Ed
Sheeran, the music videos all have a very countrified feel to them, with typical settings including forests and
fields. The video will have to have a very natural feel to it, as this is very stereotypical with this genre. I want the
lighting to be quite bright and natural to represent the innocence of the genre, with more long and mid-shots
than close-ups as it is often with this genre of music that it is about the environment and the song rather than
what the musician or the actors look like. The colour scheme will also be quite neutral, quite rustic, to fit in with
the natural element of the acoustic genre.

6. IDEA 1: Exit Wounds – The Script
IDEA 2: Dark Horse – Katy Perry
IDEA 3: Autumn Leaves – Ed
Sheeran
•
Music Video Details
What will the key point of the video be?
– IDEA 1: The message behind this song is about someone getting over the loss of a loved one. While the most
obvious message is that it is about a guy getting over a past relationship with someone, the same could be
applied to perhaps someone missing a friend, or the loss of a loved family member. If I choose to use this song
for a music video, I want the key point of the video to be that moment where ‘closure’ is finally reached. With
my video, I will make it so that it is a girl getting over a past relationship with a boy, and the key moment I want
to be will occur at the very end when she finally decides to remove him from her life and move on, and I want
this to be at the end so viewers have something to really hold out for during the entire video. Other key points
will include: scenes of the breakup, the pain and suffering the character feels, attempting to remove the pain
and then the ending as previously mentioned.
– IDEA 2: This song was Katy Perry’s way of expressing how she feels after her much-talked about break-up with
Russell Brand. The lyrics in this song are very much directed at men; it’s her way of telling them that she is not
to be messed around with anymore and she’s taking complete control of her future. If I was to do this video, I
would want the overall image of the video to be the key point, as I want to portray women, just like Katy in the
actual song, as strong, independent women. Rather than having an actual storyline, this video would be more
likely to be performance-based, so the key point would be the different images produced of female characters
to show them as strong characters, using plenty of low-angle shots to emphasize this.
– IDEA 3: The lyrics for this song explore the meaning of death, describing how people come and go in our lives
and we often don’t even realize it. The lyrics start off really strong and powerful, but then go in to explain that
there is a silver lining with grief, and that is that people should never/will never be forgotten if they were really
special to you. If I was to do this video for my coursework, I would look at a storyline based around two
friends, looking back at their lives together, then revealing at the end that one of them has passed away and the
video is actually all about remembering that person. There would be two key points to this video – the first, the
‘recorded’ footage of the two friends together, and the second would be the revelation at the end of the friend’s
passing, probably looking at a memorial or the friend setting off a Chinese lantern in the sky. This would have to
be a key point as it would really evoke emotion in the viewers.

7. IDEA 1: Exit Wounds – The Script
IDEA 2: Dark Horse – Katy Perry
IDEA 3: Autumn Leaves – Ed
Sheeran
Music Video Details
•
What production company will you assign the video to?
Whilst researching for music video production companies, I searched the discography of my three
potential artists; Katy Perry, The Script and Ed Sheeran and looked into who has produced some of the videos for
singles that they have already released. In the media industry, especially in any kind of film production, it is very
common for people to recur in similar videos i.e. a particular band or artist may choose to continuously use the
same producer or director for their music videos because they know they are reliable and produce good-quality
videos. Similarly, it is also very common for a video producer or director to choose the same string of actors and
actresses for their productions….. Think about the number of times Jennifer Anniston and Ben Stiller have
appeared in the same production together. Ideally, I want to choose a London-based production
company, especially as it is more likely that I am going to choose either a song by The Script or Ed Sheeran, so
this would typically be a lot more realistic. Big American stars like Katy Perry are more likely to use big-name
directors from the states who are also often known for their film direction and advertisements. For Katy Perry
however, I would choose the company Partizan, which has facilities in London, New York, LA, Paris and other
parts of Europe, and they also have directors such as BBGUN, Kinga Burza and Philip Andelman working under
their name, all of which have produced videos for big American names such as Rihanna, Enrique
Iglesias, Usher, Swedish House Mafia and Katy Perry herself previously.
• Silvertip Films
• NTSH London
• Digifish
For the likes of Ed Sheeran and The Script, who are a bit more local than Katy Perry, I want to choose a more
• Rivers Rush
local company, one that might have slightly less experience than Partizan as I would ideally like a product which
• Pulse Films
visually stands out and looks different to any other. I also think that using one of these London-based
companies, looking at their portfolios, the majority of their work has an edgy, urban feel to them which would
• Seveer Films
easily suit either one of my options for Ed Sheeran or The Script, plus a few of the companies I have listed to the
• Chelsea
right have previously produced music videos for these artists. My favourite production company from the list is
‘digifish’. “Digifish is about creative innovation combined with experienced and highly professional digital film and
• Partizan
video production.” Based just outside of York, this production company has worked with a list of the UK’s biggest
performers including, Gary Barlow, JLS, Olly Murs and Madness. They have also produced two videos for The • Wanda Productions
Script, which is what caught my eye… they have produced a hybrid music video for one of their latest
• HIS London
singles, and they have also produced a live documentary video for the band which they used alongside a concert
• Radical Media
DVD they sold following their world tour, both of which are elements I want to include in my video.

8. What will be the marketing points of
the video?
(e.g. director, stars, themes)
Themes may include subjects such as
•Alcohol consumption
•Drug addiction
•Self-harm
Stars: My friends?
Director: ME!?
Marketing
Points
May also explore the theme of fashion, i.e. With the
actresses, due to the time of the year, I will want them to
wear very on-trend clothing to match the genre and timesetting of the video. Ideally this will include thick winter
coats + knits, plus tartan prints and leather-look pieces.
This will attract the more fashionable female segment of
my target audience.