Concept Development

Our Roles

When deciding on our roles for the creation of our music video, we opted to choose based on our strengths and willingness to do the roles. As Mica felt that her strongest skills were camerawork and editing, which the group agreed with, she took those two roles. She also has more knowledge of the camera than the rest of the group, and it will therefore be useful for her to be in charge of the camera. Eden took the role of mise en scene, as she already had several ideas regarding costume and props, whilst I took the roles of director and lighting. This is because I already some plans for lighting and how to set the mood of the music video with it, and when choosing the director, I was open to doing the role and the rest of the group therefore felt that I should take the role. Lastly, our performer is going to be Ciara, as she not only volunteered to be the performer in our video, but we also as a group felt that she was fitting to the type of image we wanted to present in both our indie pop artist and the character in our music video. For this reason, we chose for her to be the performer.

Industry Audience Research: Who Are The Specific Audiences For Particular Products?

When looking at specific audiences for particular products, one site that is exceptionally helpful is YouGov Profiles, which collects data in order to present the 'typical fan' of this product. For this reason, I used YouGov Profiles to find the typical fans of some popular indie pop artists. These were Bastille, The 1975, Chvrches and The Wombats. 

One of the first things that can be noted when looking at these results in the gender of indie pop fans, which appears to be a mix between female and males. This therefore suggests that indie pop is not gender specific, and does not attract or cater towards one specific gender. For this reason, when making our own indie pop music video, we will not only avoid catering towards a particular gender, but we will also ensure that the music video is effectively gender neutral and can therefore be enjoyed by both genders. 

Another important aspect that can be noted about the typical fans of indie pop is that they tend to be around the age range of 18-24, although this does not necessarily mean that there are no fans older or younger than this range. However, this does tell us that when creating our music video we should keep in mind that our audience is young, and ensure that our music video caters towards this age and is relevant to their time. It also allows us to know what the best age for our performer should be, as young fans often appreciate young artists more than they do with older artists.

Lastly, the profiles above also allow us to understand the style and fashion sense of indie pop fans, which is, apart from The 1975 fan, fairly casual. The majority of the fan profiles show fans wearing jeans and t-shirts, and this therefore gives us an insight into what our performer should wear too. If the fans dress casually, we will ensure that our performer also does, as this allows fans to relate with the artist and also adds to the laidback, carefree atmosphere of indie pop music.

Industry Audience Research: What Do Real Audiences Consume?

Industry audience research from sophieb17

Creating Our Artist's Image

Lyric Annotations

When reading the lyrics of 'Shark' by Oh Wonder, the overall atmosphere of the song appears to be quite melancholic and unsure, showing how the singer is confused over and trying to figure out her feelings for someone -- and how they feel in return. This introspective, nostalgic atmosphere is best seen in the line 'Standing on the world outside', almost as though she is looking from the outside in and contemplating her feelings. As a result, the song paints quite a sad, thoughtful image, which has therefore led us to think of a setting for our music video in which the artist is thinking back on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, and how she feels for him now, as this would match to the tone of the lyrics.

Unconventional Music Video: 'Da Funk' - Daft Punk

Although the majority of music videos share and follow particular conventions, there are also on occasion some videos that do not. One key example of this is 'Da Funk' by Daft Punk, which goes against a large number of conventions throughout it. The first is that, throughout the music video, the narrative is the primary focus whilst the song itself is effectively used as backing music. The characters talk over the music, therefore drawing the audience's attention away from the music, rather than towards it. This is, as a result, a strange method to use in a music video, which the sole purpose of is to showcase the song. Another aspect of 'Da Funk' that is unusual is that the volume and clearness of the music depends on where the character is in respect to the camera, as the song is supposed to seem as though it is coming out of the character's boombox. For example, when the main character is looking through a shop window, and the camera is on the other side of window to the character, the music sounds low and muffled. This is a strange thing to do within a music video, as it distorts and mutes the music, therefore not allowing the audience to properly listen to the song. Lastly, this music video is also unconventional in terms of its narrative. Whilst it is not unusual for music videos to have slightly vague storylines, the storyline for 'Da Funk' is exceptionally vague, with many aspects of the music video being unexplained or not being hinted at to have a deeper meaning. Some examples of this are the main character's broken leg, or the fact that he's a dog. This therefore confuses the audience and, as the music is not being presented as the primary focus, causes them to focus on working out what the narrative is about rather than truly listening to the music. It is for these reasons that 'Da Funk' is an unconventional music video.

Director Study: Francis Lawrence

Though Francis Lawrence creates very different music videos to the type of music video and narrative that my group and I want to create, there are several aspects of Lawrence's work that we can incorporate into our own project. One key example of this is the editing, as Lawrence uses a varying range of editing on and off beat in a way that keeps the video dynamic and interesting to watch. For this reason, we will be likely to take inspiration from Lawrence's method of editing. Another way in which we have taken inspiration from Francis Lawrence's work is in his wide variety of shot types. In his 'Bad Romance' video, Lawrence uses numerous different creative shot types and camera movements to make the video unique and interesting to watch, and my group will ensure that we use this example for ideas to use in our own music video. An example of this is the shot in 'Bad Romance' when the camera pans sideways, slowly bringing Lady Gaga into the frame. 

Our Chosen Song: 'Shark' - Oh Wonder

For the song in our music video, we have decided to do 'Shark' by Oh Wonder. Oh Wonder is a British indie pop band consisting of the duo Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West. We have chosen this song as we feel it is fitting of the indie pop genre, and we have already been able to come up with some ideas of what our music video could be about, based on the lyrics and atmosphere of the song itself.

One example of this is that we could do a music video with a vague narrative, which features a teenage girl walking along the street visiting places that she visited with her ex-boyfriend. As she sees places, there are cuts to flashbacks of her time with him, paired with cuts of her lip syncing as she walks. We are also planning to use editing such as eyeline match and split screen.

Conventions of Indie Pop Music Videos

Analysing Pop Music Videos 2

Analysing Pop Music Videos

Carol Vernallis's Theory Behind Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin's Theory Behind Music Videos