ARTIST RESEARCH
Michael jacksons music video was unusual which is why the medium became a marketing tool as well as an art form. The style of video is concept as it has no real narrative to it. It is thought provoking, makes the audience think about it and. The start of the video has a short narrative which featured the Boy from Home Alone which was good for promoting Home Alone at the time of its release. Using a kid in his video influences young people to follow his ideology. The whole purpose for the video was to raise awareness for the fact that there is rasicm happening in the world and this links to issues in modern day society like black lives matter which is a huge at the moment. Michael used ideology to represent certain social groups, ethnicity's and views which will therefore reinforce his fans to believe whatever he does because he is very famous.
There is a shot of two babys where one is white and one is black sitting on top of a world and this just shows how everyone is born innocent and clueless of everything around them and that racism is taught by the influence of other people. Throughout the video ther are so many people who are shown that come from all around the world and it makes people appreciate their culture. At the end of the video there is a montage of people whos faces merge into one another and this implies that the audience can at least relate to one of them. and everyone should except everyone regardless of their skin colour.
Michael Jackson
A performer since the age of five, Michael Jackson is one of the most popular singers in history. His 1983 album, "Thriller", sold forty million copies, making it the biggest seller of all time. Through his record albums and music videos he created an image imitated by his millions of fans. He then started professionally solo in 1971. Michael Jackson used his platform to create awareness for world wide issues such as racism.
Demographic and psychographic
Demographics is segments of the human populations broken down into categories such as age, gender race. A demographic is important when creating a product as you will need to know the specific target audience that will be consuming the product, you will need to aim it at. The target audience can also be broken down into Psychographics which focuses on the audience's personal life such as income and hobbies rather than general attributes of a person.
Michael jacksons music was mostly pop music and was targted at teenagers and young adults. He was most popular among millenials than any other age groups. 56% of his audience were millenials whereas 37% generarion x and 39% were baby boomers. Baby boomers are from 1946-1964, Generation x are from 1965-1981 and millenials are 1982-1999 which shows that his music style attracted young people ans was modern. it shows that 54% of his audience were women and 36% were men, meaning that there wasnt a huge gender gap but more women were a fan of his music. As Michael Jackson was such a huge pop star there wasnt one paticular race and ethnicty that listen to him as everyone from around the world knew who he was. As his audience is in the younger generation, this means that they wouldnt nessacerily have marital statuses and annual income and would most likely be living at home, studying.
Taylor swift
An example of a demographic centered video is Taylor swifts "Bad Blood" video. The video challenges a love story narrative and uses tropes of sci fi and action Genre. this is different for Taylor as she would have never made a video like this in her early stage of her career. This video is female oriented realting to female empowerment The 18 celebrities who feature in this video have a large age range between 18-50 which means the target audience would be the same. Taylor swifts fanbase are normally young teenagers/women that look up to her and want to be like her so this video is a great way to present strong independent women and make a good impression due to under appreciation for them in modern day.
In the video there is a shot of a teddy bear with the connotations pf immaturity childlike ans vulnerability. The bear then gets attacked by a knife and this could reflect the fact that Taylor and her innocence when she started in the industry an could suggest how she has changed and became alot more independent and strong. In this case the video wouldn't stereo typically be for a pop song but as Taylor has directed it herself it shows there is a personal message behind it. This video was released after she had the conflict with Kanye which gives the impression that she is now sticking up for herself and proving that she is control which expresses her importance.
It is mostly about being strong independent women. All of the women in the video are represented to have a lot of power and not afraid of the upcoming fight. Taylor and her friends do acts such as knife throwing and boxing which isnt typically a womanly activity to do. The mise en scene in this video appears like a constant battle of power and enforcing ones dominance. There is constant battle of power and enforcings ones dominance. There is alot of violence and at the start taylor wins the fight however she is then defeated and this would show she has lost her power which juxtaposes to the star image and portrayed as weak at first
Bruno Mars
Born Peter Gene Hernandez on October 8, 1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii, singer-songwriter Bruno Mars grew up in a very musical family. His target audience is a mixture between men and women who are teenagers and adults.
The bruno mars video for "uptown funk" is old fashioned and appears to be set in 1980s with a funky hip hop vibe to the song. The main purpose for the video was for entertainment for the audience. The video has a narrative and performance based style as at the end of the video Bruno and Mark ronson are performing the song.
The art deco on the buildings in the street suggests that the video is set in an american street and this all relates to Bruno as it was in the era he grew up in America. Bruno has created a fun video which mixes all cultures and ethnicties even though in the 80s there was alot of racism. Like the Black and white video, the ideology of this makes his fans follow his beliefs and opinions because he is standing up for what is right by creating it to be something fun for his younger audience to enjoy. The narrative of this video is a group of men who meet up and are getting ready for a performance which is set up at the end of the video. The group of men all wear a suit in the video which is quite smart and formal fora pop music video. Throughout the video Bruno and Mark and all the other men use gesture codes to show they are confident bravado and cocky. Although Mark produced the song Bruno is always centre in the shot as he is more famous and he attracts a wider target audience.
Billie Eilish
Billie was born on December 18, 2001, in Los Angeles, California. She was born into a family of musicians and actors. She grew up with her elder brother Finneas who is also in the music industry and helps her produce many of her songs. Billie Eilish main genre is Pop and some alternative rock. Billie is known as a modern day pop star for her iconic songs and music videos.
Billie Eilish image is very unsettling and edgy and For example her song Bury a friend is strange and is known for being very unique. Most of her music videos are known for being quite gruesome and creepy. In my opinion the music video is almost like a horror film and I think the concept of the video uses symbolic conventions that would be in a horror film. Another example of a scary video of hers is the song Xanny.
Researching into Billies Eilish's demographic, genre, music videos and her background has helped me understand more about her image and the way she produces her songs and videos in the way she does. Her style is very different compared to the other artists that I researched and I liked this as her style of music in my opinion is more interesting. The reason I want to create a music video for one of Billies songs is because of the story behind the song and also how catchy the song is as well. 'Bellyache' is one of the first songs to really start her career and from there she became very famous. The song is more of a Pop song disguised with a dark message behind it. When this song was released, Billies style of music was not as dark as it is now, which shows that the unsettling side to her music was going to come out. I really liked the fact that the song was quite fun and upbeat at the chorus but also slow and sad at some points. The contrast keeps the song interesting and I also want to portray this contrast with my actors style of clothing and personality. After watching a few of Billies more recent music videos I noticed the outfits, hair and makeup and are all very dark and edgy which I want to do for my video and take inspiration from her herself.
Demographic
Billies main genre of music is Pop and her main targeted audience is for young adults. In terms of demographic of the audience, 65% female and 35% male. Furthermore, about 75% of her audience are 34 years old or younger. Nearly 70% of her audience are females which is a huge comparrison compared to the 30% of males.
The song I have chosen to do for my music video is "Bellyache" by Billie. This was the first ever song of hers that I listened to and then from that I become a fan of work. I also chose this song because the meaning behind is very sinister and the lyrics convey a story which billies image is all about.
The song is about how she kills her friends and then feels bellyache which is guilt. The lyrics in this song are very straightforward and easy to imagine which is what I liked as I can use this to my advantage. For example she explains everything and one line in the song is 'mouth full of gum in the driveway'. They are very literal which is good for me to try and recreate the scene of someone eating gum in a driveway.