Music Video Production

I have chosen to create a music video for Sing by Ed Sheeran. I chose this song because it has a good, steady beat that can be complimented with fast paced and effective editing. The song is categorised in an R&B, Funk genre and was almost directly inspired by singer Justin Timberlake. This song would be aimed at a target audience of vibrant, young adults aged between 21 and 30 as the lyrics are based around a night out in Las Vegas.

Market Research - Existing Products

Before I create my advertisement for a social message campaign about being safe online, I will research the conventions and techniques used by social message campaigns.

I will find examples of 5 types of social message advertisements and analyse each of them to find out: what the ads are for, what techniques are used, what style of ad it is, what form the ad takes, what conventions can be seen and what the target audience is and how we can tell.

The 5 types of social message campaigns are:

• Anti-Bullying
• Driving Safety (alcohol)
• Donating Blood
• Smoke Alarm / Fire Safety
• Diving Safety (speeding)

The first campaign I will explore is Anti-Bullying.



This advertisement is meant to make people "spread the word" and help put an end to bullying. The campaign aims to encourage people to become more involved in anti-bullying schemes and programmes to reduce the amount of people who are bullied every day.
Techniques such as using an overt message and sparking an emotional, compassionate response are used. The overt message is explaining that parents should teach their children to respect everyone and not fall into a trap of becoming a bully. The compassionate response lies with the young girl that appears throughout the campaign; she is bald, suggesting she has been ill in the past and that she is possibly undergoing treatment for cancer.
The style of the advertisement is dramatic. The whole campaign has a serious tone and is in no way humorous or comedic, however it is uplifting.
This campaign in particular takes on the form of a stand alone anti-bullying ad with a vague talking heads form also. The people who are featured in the ad are not 'experts' as such, however they are providing a testimonial regarding the importance of teaching young people and children to respect and love others they way they are.
This advertisement shows the following conventions:

• presents the message throughout
• shows a brand logo
• has a catchy phrase
• features audio and music

The target audience for this advert would be adults and parents as the message throughout the ad is telling parents to teach their children to be respectful and loving towards everyone, even people who are "different". Not only is the advertisement aimed at parents and adults, the ad is aimed at young people and teenagers as they are being asked not to act in that way and prevent others around them acting that way also. 


Secondly, I will explore Driving Safety (Alcohol) campaigns.



This advertisement is designed too make you think twice before having that "one more" drink before driving home. The advert shows a man doing the impressions of the various different people someone would come across, the police for example, if they are caught Driving Under the Influence of alcohol.
This drink driving campaign shows the technique of presenting a hidden message: "it will ruin your life if you get caught if you drive under the influence of alcohol". However, the advertisement also provokes and emotional response; fear and compassion. The two emotions are conveyed through the ad as it is designed to make you feel fearful that the situation that is being presented through the bar tender will happen to you if you drink and drive; as well as causing you to feel compassion for the character presented last in the advert as he has now lost his driving license and job as a result of his actions.
This advert is styled seriously, dramatically and has constant serious tones throughout. As drink driving is a serious and dangerous topic to discuss, the advert was in no way humorous or light-hearted; the advertisement was designed to shock people in to the possible consequences of their actions.
This particular Think! advertisement has been created in a realist narrative form. It is common for drink drivers to lose their license after being caught and be punished through the criminal justice system and therefore the situation the ad presents is likely to have happened to many different men and women across the UK, making a realist narrative.

The conventions shown in this advertisement are:

• shows a brand logo
• features audio
• presents a catchy phrase

The target audience for this advert is adults over the age of 18; it is illegal to drink alcohol before the age of 18 and illegal to drive a car before the age of 17. The advert is aimed at people that may be confident drivers and people who feel they "know their limits" when alcohol is concerned. The ad isn't necessarily aimed at people of a similar age to bar tender in the advert, it is aimed at all drivers and adults of any age that consume alcohol and will consider driving home.



The next campaign I will explore is Donating Blood.



This advertisement has been made to encourage members of the public to donate their blood to be used to help people with serious diseases and/or injuries. The advert uses children to make the last part of the advert more shocking and memorable.
The technique used in this advertisement provokes and emotional response: compassion. The children talking about what gifts they would like for Christmas attracts parents to watch the full advert and families for ideas as to what gift to buy for a young child in the family maybe; however at the end, the comment made by the young girl in the hospital bed is hard hitting and causes a strong compassionate reaction from the viewers.
The style of the advert is humorous to begin with as the children make funny and surreal suggestions regarding the gift they would like. Although, when the young girl in the hospital is asked what she would like for Christmas, the style changes to dramatic. The advertisement suddenly becomes serious and has an emotional tone; this tone becomes apparent when the music stops and you hear the beeping sound of the hospital monitor attached to the little girl.
The Give Blood advert takes the form of a realist narrative. The young girl in the hospital bed is one of thousands of people in need of blood in the UK, leaving the scene shown in the advert a regular occurrence in various hospitals across Great Britain. Consequently, this means the advert has been formed as a realist narrative as it shows a common occurrence in society.

The following conventions can be seen in this advertisement:

• shows the brand logo
• presents a slogan and message
• features music and audio

The target audience for the Give Blood advert is parents and adults with families. The advert shows young children that are meant to attract parents' and adults attention; these people are then likely to watch to the end of the advert and feel compassion for the young girl in the hospital. This target audience is accurate as you must be aged between 17-65 to give blood.


The final campaign I will explore is Driving Safety (Speeding).



This advertisement campaign has been created in order to make drivers more aware of the legal speed limits and why they are set at that certain speed. Think! created this ad to give factual information that makes it clear as to why various roads are limited to 30 miles per hour.
The techniques used in this advert are, provokes and emotional response and presents an overt message. The overt message is: speed limits are set for a reason and need to be obeyed. The emotional responses that are caused are, fear -of hitting a child crossing the road as a result of speeding-, compassion -for the young girl who has been killed and her family- and solution to a problem -if you do not speed you will not end up in this situation.
The advertising style used in dramatic; the advert is hard hitting and tough to watch. The sound of the girls bones supposedly breaking back into place makes you aware the injuries that have been caused as well as death and therefore creates a very serious tone to the ad throughout. 
Think! created this ad in the form of a realist narrative. The use of statistics in the ad shows that speeding is an increasing problem and instances such as the one presented in the campaign occur far too often in Britain's modern society.

The following conventions can be seen in this ad:

• shows the brand logo
• features music and audio
• presents the message throughout
• presents a slogan

The target audience for this ad is adult drivers and parents. Primarily, this campaign is targeted towards over confident drivers who disobey speed limits. The ad has been designed to present one possible consequence of their speeding habit and attempt to deter them from continuing to break the law and endanger other people and members of the public. Moreover, the Think! ad is aimed at parents to teach their children to be more aware of dangerous drivers on the road and ensure that parents themselves do not speed and risk causing a terrible tragedy like the one presents upon another family. 

Advertising Presentation - Full Presentation

Analysing Advertisements

I will begin by analysing 5 advertisements.

1. DR DRE What Will Your Beats Be FT Ellie Goulding 




The style of the advert is an Intertexutality. The headphones advert references music from Pop Culture, Ellie Goulding's in particular. This advert also uses Celebrity Endorsement as an advertising technique. This attracts viewers, especially Ellie Goulding's fans, to watch the advertisement and become potential customers for the product being shown. furthermore, the audience watching this advert would be young people, most likely ages between 12 and 30. This seems like a very large age range however people between these ages are the iPod generation and are most likely to be listening to music on portable devices and through headphones. The colours of the Studio Beats suggest that the product is aimed at young people, as well as a host of young people featured throughout the advertisement; these people are older teens and young adults therefore broadening the age of the audience up to 30 years. 



2. Yes Sir I Will Boogie in the office - Cadbury Dairy Milk




This advertisement is Humorously styled. Cadbury will have chosen to advertise their product in a humorous manor so as to entertain their audience and ensure they remember the advert for the product. Cadbury's advert has a hidden message throughout: if you eat Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, you will feel happy and joyful. This message is presented at the end of the advert when a picture of the product is displayed with a hashtag #FeelTheJoy displayed underneath. This advertisement is aimed at all ages and genders; the colourful packaging of the product suggests it is aimed at young people, however the people featured int he advert are of working age and in an office, therefore presenting the idea that the products is aimed at everyone.  



3. Evian Baby and Me




This advertisement is shown in a Parody style. The ad makes fun of itself and shows many humorous qualities. This advert by Evian has an overt message: drinking Evian water makes you feel and seem young again. This advertisement is aimed at people of all ages. The advert featuring adults presents the idea that the water is good for older people and a source of youthfulness; the babies in the advert support this as they represent the reflections of people walking down the road. However, the babies in the advert also present the idea that drinking their water will help them grow up to be strong, independent adults.



4. New Ford Mustang Commercial




The Ford Mustang advert is Dramatic. It is a serious advert for the company and is an expensive product, therefore the advert has serious tones to it. Ford's advertising technique is to aim to produce an emotional response. This emotional response may be either to make the audience questions their self-perception or social class. As the advert is dramatic and serious, the customers are likely to be of a similar nature, for example the Upper Middle Class or Middle Class category of people according to the JINCAR Scale. The lady at the start of the advert is presented as a classy woman with an important job, similarly to the chef standing in the doorway of a restaurant. The young brunette girl featured at the end of the advert presents the 'self-perception' emotional response technique as she wears a pink leotard and tutu when the camera is directly facing her; however when the camera films her reflections, she is dressed in a Black Swan costume. This creates the idea that owners of a Ford Mustang will appear to be superior and have a pristine image to onlookers.  



5. Lynx Excite Fallen Angels




Lynx's Fallen Angles advertisement has been made within a Surreal style. The events that happen in this ad would never happen in reality, and therefore make the advert strange and unusual; although entertaining. The ad technique that has been used is a hidden message: if you buy and wear Lynx Excite, women (angles) will fall for you. Moreover, another technique that has been used is the attempt to provoke and emotional response and make the viewers question their self-perception. The ad aims to make men feel that they would benefit from wearing Lynx deodorant and that they would be more attractive to women. The advert is aimed at young men aged between 16 and 30; these men are the most likely to be interested in attracting female attention and therefore the perfect customers for the message the advert promotes.

Newspaper Article about a Media Researcher

         After working for Channel 4 for almost 7 years now, I have asked to write an article discussing my daily duties of my job, a media researcher. When I started my career at Channel 4 many years ago, I had secured a media researching internship, allowing me to train and progress to where I am today. I performed the majority of the duties I do today, although I was supervised and given advice and direction until my manager promoted me, allowing me to work alone. In order to make the Channel 4 program successful, it is imperative that I conduct the appropriate research; audience research, market research and production research. These three types of research combined allow me to gather new and current ideas to keep up with society’s desires and also to make sure the programs appeal to the viewers. In this article I will be exploring my day-to-day activities whilst I completed my research for the Channel 4 documentary, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. 

         The most important material to explore when researching for a television documentary is the audience research. It is important to conduct audience research so as to identify the make-up and habits of the audience of the particular program or network. Furthermore, audience research allows us to understand what improvements could be made to ensure the media is successful and ensure the producers can tailor the media to be suited to the group in question. The main aim of audience research is to identify the target audience. This can be done via various methods of primary and secondary research for example interviews, questionnaires or observations, or publications identifying what age range watch documentaries or interview transcripts. The primary and secondary research helps to narrow down the audience we would eventually target to documentary towards. Also, it is beneficial to have views and opinions of potential viewers as it can contribute towards tailoring the show around them, leading to more viewers and therefore more revenue for Channel 4. One way I collected information regarding audience research for the documentary was via vox pops. This self-generated, primary research allowed me to collect information about the target audience’s age, gender, lifestyle (i.e. income and how they access media), nationality/ethnicity, interests, location (where they live) and viewing habits. The interviews were conducted in major city centres across Britain such as London, Manchester, Belfast and Newcastle. Whilst in these busy areas we handed out questionnaires for passers-by to complete as the vox pop interviews took place. The questionnaires collected numerical data by asking questions with simple tick box answers that were turned into graphs and statistically analysed in the process. The questions included ‘how old are you?’ with age ranges including ’12-17’ and ’51-65’. As My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding has a mass audience, we provided passers-by of many different ages to complete the survey for our audience research. Due to the mass audience, it was important that we did not exclude any age ranges as that kind of method could have had a significant impact on our research and the success of the documentary. Throughout the rest of the survey, there were also questions such as ‘where do you live?’ with tick box options including ‘Surrey’ or ‘Middlesbrough’ and ‘which television channels do you watch the most often? Please tick more than one.’ with answers including many of Channel 4’s competitors. In contrast to the questionnaires, the VoxPop interviews collected non-numerical data, people’s opinions and feelings. Questions included ‘would you enjoy to watch a documentary about Irish traveller lifestyle and if so, why?’ leading the interviewee to express the opinion. These two methods of primary research collected both qualitative and quantitative data regarding the audience demographic, geodemographic and audience profile. An audience profile is extremely valuable to us as it contains the basic information about our target audience, giving us the opportunity to aim specific features of the documentary and advertising towards them. This will then allow us to gradually add detail to the profile and in turn tailor the advertising and different features of the documentary around the target audience. This will help us appeal to the target audience and therefore maximise viewings and ratings, leading to higher revenue for the company.

         The next step in this process is to conduct market research. Market research will have a major contribution to the success of the documentary on Channel 4, as we are able to gain information and feedback of the current products that will be in competition with our show. Furthermore, market research gathers information about the popular products in our medium, products that were not successful, controversies we should aim to avoid, the best method of advertising for the documentary and allows us to identify a niche market. My team and I organised a focus group to answer questionnaires and interview style questions about what types of documentary they have viewed in the past, what documentaries they particularly enjoyed, if they know of any upcoming documentaries on the BBC or ITV and what features of a documentary appealed to them and what features would deter them from viewing the show. The participators in the focus group were both men and women aged 24-40. We chose this age range as we felt that people of that age are most likely thinking about settling down and getting married at some point in the future. However we felt that people of this age are also young enough to use social media sites to comment on the show and the possible shocking and controversial scenes and occurrences we may come across; this may help advertise the show and therefore make the show more successful. People aged above 40 are most likely already settled down and may not be interested in what the documentary entails; however they could create word-of-mouth advertising through talking to their friends about the series of events. When we realised this we set up another focus group with people aged 40-55 so as to ensure we gathered as much information as we could to aid us in the process. Our primary research helped us to compare the style of documentary shown on competing channels, for example we concluded that the BBC produced factual and formal documentaries and ITV produced very few documentaries, as they were more focused on light entertainment shows such as Surprise Surprise. We used secondary sources such as BARB and RAJAR to expand on the information we gathered about our competitors through the primary sources so as to have accurate and up-to-date information that we could use further along in the production of the documentary. Our secondary research included viewing statistics such as average weekly viewings for various competing channels such as BBC1, BBC2 and ITV and many others. The qualitative and quantitative data gained from our research also allowed us to identify why it was an important feature of the process; we are able to conduct a competitor analysis with the data we have collected, as well as allowing us to gain information about advertising placements. It is important to carry out a competitor analysis as it allows us to analyse sales and marketing campaigns of any competing products in our medium. This helped us in the making of the documentary identify the ideal target audience as we were able to extract information from our competitors’ audiences. It is also important to gather information about advertising placements as we can find out what placements are most successful at attracting our target audience. Market research will help the overall success of the documentary on Channel 4 as it provides vital information to help appeal to the target audience as well as what to avoid, ensuring the viewers are not put off watching the series.

         The final step in my job was to carry out production research. It is important for a media company to carry out production research so as to understand what is required in order to create the media and how viable the project is. It was imperative that I carry out production research for Channel 4 to ensure the company had planned what would be needed to make My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. A list of things I needed to research were; what equipment and resources were needed; the company’s budget; what personnel would be required; location of filming; story board for the documentary titles; health and safety regulations and copyright. It was extremely important that these things were looked into properly so as to ensure the company did not come across any problems during the making of the documentary. It was necessary to investigate what budget the company obtained as I would not be able to make arrangements with film crews, graphic designers and other personnel if I was unaware of the available budget. I had to negotiate the cost of hiring the equipment to film the documentary as well as the labour costs of the personnel operating the kit. Furthermore, finding someone to record the voice over for the documentary was necessary and also involved negotiating pay, similarly to finding adequate graphic designers to create the titles for the series of documentary episodes. To begin, I searched directories and the internet to find contact information for potential employees to interview for the above responsibilities- another example of secondary research. I then conducted primary research; this included conducting various phone call interviews and face-to-face interviews and trials with film crews, graphic designers and celebrities interested in recording the voice over. My qualitative data originated from the interviews I conducted; I had made notes during the interview indicating strengths and weaknesses of the candidates for each responsibility in order to compare and contrast the notes when it was time to make a final decision on who to employ for the fixed term job. I gathered quantitative data whilst researching the different companies I interviewed; I was able to find a few satisfaction ratings regarding their service which contributed to the quantitative data I collected. The production research I conducted made a big difference in the success of the documentary on Channel 4 as it collected a lot of very important information regarding the viability of the project. The information gathered indicated that the company would not be able to employ the regular film crew as they charged too much, therefore the team has to negotiate with the other potential employees in an attempt to collect the necessary funds for the well established film crew. Unfortunately, this did not go as planned and we were unable to pay the film crew we had chosen to help us produce the documentary, however, the other film crew I had interviewed were enthusiastic be involved in our project and were very excited when we asked them to be a part of it. The production research gave the superior producers the necessary information they needed to budget for the project and maximise the feasibility of the documentary.

         To summarise, my job as a media researcher for Channel 4 has been crucial to the success of many different TV shows and documentaries produced in the past; and also will be crucial in the future. I feel that the audience research, market research and production research allows the company to take into account viewers’ opinions, competitor successes and the viability of projects, allowing the producers and other workers to help make the projects successful and popular.

Conventions of a Music Video

Music videos typically have similar traits.
These traits are known as Conventions.

The conventions of a music video cover many different things including camera movements and location.

I will use The Lumineers - Ho Hey to show the conventions of a music video.

1. The artist appears in the video
2. The song is the soundtrack to the whole video, the video starts and finished when the song begins and ends
3. The artists lip-synch's along with the lyrics
4. The artists perform throughout the video, they sing, play instruments and dance
5. The video has more than 3 locations, changing when a new verse or chorus begins
6. The costumes link to the locations, they often change depending on the location
7. There is a section of the music video that is filmed in a set location, a studio that has been specifically designed for the video
8. The video has a slight narrative, the artists are attending a party and there are frequent shots of The Lumineers performing
9. The video contains a range of camera movements (including tracks)
10. The video has close-ups of the artists lip-synching and mid/long shots whilst they are performing
11. The video used high angles to show how the other people featured in the music video were having fun and enjoying themselves
12. There are a wide range of shot types and camera angles in each location
13. The editing is cut to the beat of the song and is edited in a montage format
14. There is the occasional use of slow motion throughout the video
15. The video is based around the concept of fun and love, this is shown through the video however it is not emphasised
16. The artist makes eye contact with the audience occasionally through the video

For a second example, I will use Zedd ft. Hayley Williams - Stay The Night to show the conventions of a music video.

1. The featured artist appears in the video
2. The song is the soundtrack to the whole video, the video starts and finished when the song begins and ends
3. The featured artist lip-synch's along with the lyrics
4. The artist performs throughout the majority of the video, she sings and dances however there are other dancers in the video that enhance the performance
5. The video has more than 3 locations, often changing when a new verse or chorus begins or some way through a verse
6. The featured artist's costumes link to the locations, they  change depending on the location
7. There are a few sections of the music video that are filmed in a set location, a studio that has been specifically designed for the video (one set for the dancers, one set for Hayley Williams)
8. The video has a slight narrative, the dancers in the video perform and show the meaning of the song
9. The video contains a range of camera movements (including tracks and whip pans)
10. The video has close-ups of the artists lip-synching and mid/long shots whilst she and the dancers are performing
11. The video used lots of eye level camera angles so as to capture all the movement whilst the dancers are performing, however there are high angles used as well as low angles to compliment different phrases of the dancers performance
12. There are a wide range of shot types and camera angles in each location
13. The editing is cut to the beat of the song and is edited in a montage format
14. There is the occasional use of slow motion throughout the video, mostly at the beginning
15. The video is based around the concept of open relationships, the video shows the dancers as individuals, never as a couple and therefore presents the idea that they are in an open relationship as they are on their own more than they are together.
16. The artist makes eye contact with the audience frequently throughout the video

Music Video Genres and their Conventions

The genre of music I will be exploring is Rock.


I will show 5 examples of music video's from this genre and explain the common conventions.








The style of video is common convention in Rock music videos. The artists/bands have a section of the video showing them performing the song.
2 examples of the performances are from Walk and Lived A Lie.





Another common convention in Rock music videos is varying camera shots. The artists use different camera shots to show the band performing. Some shots the lead singer and others show the other musicians in the bands.
2 examples of the varying camera shots are Stay and Mr Brightside








A convention occasionally used in Rock music videos is the integration of non-diegetic sound. This is sound that does not naturally occur whilst the music is being played.
2 examples of the insertion of non-diegetic sound is Bring Me To Life and Walk


The Mis en screen in a Rock music videos show many similarities. The costumes in Rock music videos are commonly dark  coloured and casual, however some styles of clothing vary from denim to leather jackets, to suits, depending on the meaning behind the song.
2 examples of dark costumes are seen in Lived A Lie and Stay




More than one aspect of Mis en screen in Rock music videos are shown. The hair and make-up in a Rock music video may not necessarily be shown on the artist, it may be shown on other characters in the video. This may be to attract attention to the other figures in the video. Hair and Make-up is important for the artist as they are they may be the feature of the video and therefore need to look their best or represent the theme of the video or song.
2 examples of hair and make-up are shown in Bring Me To Like and Mr Brightside