Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Research into music channels- Miss Georgiou

Music television channels, which have been aired and in place since the early 1980's, are used to show music videos, the latest charts, interviews with artists, and anything else relevant and currently popular in music. Music channels were first introduced to mainly air music videos on, and be the main hub for viewers to watch them, which allowed there to be a breakthrough in music, combining audio and video together. It allowed viewers to know more about the artist and visually see them on screen in their homes or out in public such as barbers or shopping centres, rather than having to pay for a ticket to a concert just to see them. MTV was the first channel to air music videos, and became the main home for fans to view their artists' performances and songs on the channel daily. MTV's main target audience could be considered 13-21. As the channels popularity has grown, it has began to air reality programmes such as teen mom, the valleys and 16 and pregnant, which appeal specifically to it's target audience, attracting them to the channel as they have programmes on that they can relate to. The logo design also looks graffiti designed, again getting down with the potential interest of a young audience.

MTV mainly specialises in playing current popular music, usually songs featured in the top 40 charts, to give the audience fresh content. In today's age, artists that would feature on MTV on a regular basis would be artists with successful hits that are considered "chart toppers", such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. During MTV's introduction period and first airings on television, you would of expected to see artists such a Michael Jackson, Queen and Diana Ross appear on the channel.  
Artists such as Rihanna, Katy Perry and Taylor swift not only appear on the channel due to their successful songs, but also that their music appeals specifically to MTV's target audience, as it is aimed at young girls. In comparison, an artist such as Nicki Minaj would also appear on this channel, but not typically because of her appealing lyrics or messages, usually she appeals to the audience with the visual content in her videos, which can lead to attracting a male audience, whilst other female artists tend to attract an audience of their own gender. An artist such as Nicki Minaj will attract viewers to the channel with her performance, compared to an artist such as taylor swift who will attract with a love story that viewers feel they can relate to, with her narratives are usually the main selling points of her songs.
As MTV'S popularity continously grew over the years, it lead to larger profits for the company, which allowed them to create sister channels and also their own brands, such as MTV Magazine and MTV News. Viacom, who own MTV and their channels also own a number of other popular television channels, such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and VH1. MTV is used as a form of branding, as shows aired on one specific channel that viacom own are usually advertised across their other brands, particularly MTV. 

Below is a list of programmes aired on "MTV Music",  which shows one-to-one's with popular artists such as Ed Sheeran and Rita Ora. It features up to date and relevant music to attract the audience, and personal interviews with artists for fans to get to know them better.
Another popular music channel aired on TV is Kerrang, which features mainly heavy metal or rock music. It's target audience can be considered 16-25, for mainly males usually an older expected compared to MTV due to more aggressive lyrics and themes. Artists such as metallica, black sabbath and kiss may feature on the channel. Below is the logo of kerrang, it is black bold font, the black can resemble the dark nature of the lyrics. The effects are also quite aggressive, also supported by the exclamation mark at the end, again showing the nature of the songs and music on this channel.  
Above is kerrangs programming schedule for a selected day, showing them mainly playing music that suits their channel and appeals to their fans. It is a 24 hour channel, providing material for their fans around the clock.

Channel AKA is a grime/hip-hop/rap playing radio station that was launched in 2003, previously known as "channel U". It's censorship on the channel is relatively very low, so low, that even in June 2005, the channel was fined £18,000 by Ofcom for a number of offences, including the broadcasting of inappropriate material, using premium rate telephone services in programmes, and failing to ensure a clear distinction between programmes and advertisements. Artists that may feature on this channel include, Skepta, Wretch 32, Wiley and N-Dubz, it is has been used to push unknown artists to build hype around them and boost their popularity. Artist who have benefited greatly from having their music played on channel AKA, are Tinie Tempah, Dizzie Rascal.




Magic, is a music television channel which usually focuses on soul and calming music, particularly 80's soul. Artists that may feature on this channel include Barry White, Lionel Richie and Luther Vandross. It's target audience is considered age 40 and above, as older listeners will know more of there songs, and may have a stressful life by then and may want to cool themselves down by listening to a channel such as this. The colour blue used can be implied that it is to show it's relaxing tone and it's a peaceful colour, which can be compared to the colour of the sea, which puts people at ease and is calming. The font is smooth and not aggressive, just like the musical content that this radio station plays.




The vault, launched in the summer of 2003, features mainly on playing older chart toppers in the early-late noughties, mainly pop and R&B. It's target audience could be considered as the early to late twenties, as people of this age will remember this sort of music when they were younger, compared to a younger audience who may not be familiar with the songs. The purple- pink funky coloured logo mixes in with the upbeat and mainly pop classics the channel plays.




Overall, I believe MTV has different channels such as "MTV base" and "MTV classic" to reach a wide range of people and have a specific target audience for each one of their channels, trying to cater the wants of many, not just specific groups, such as teenagers. MTV need to reach to a wide range of people in order to expect a wide range of viewers and increase their popularity. Analysing music channels has helped me in seeing what programming schedules give to an audience and how different music channels try to meet the needs of their possible audience. In my production, I hope to meet the needs of my target audience and fans of the genre my music video will be, in order for it to be successful. I plan to pursue the idea of possibly making an indie music video, as this is a very popular genre, particularly amongst people of my age and since I know in general the preferences of what many would like to see or expect in a music video, I believe I can market and produce this genre of music video well. It is a genre of music that I enjoy and have listened to for many years, so I am familiar with what audiences enjoy and have an idea of what fans would like to see in my own production.

Friday, 12 June 2015

What is a music video- Miss Miller

A music video is a short film integrating a song or imagery, which is used for promotional or artistic features. Modern day music videos are mainly a marketing tool, which may feature cool futuristic effects, or an interesting story behind the song itself. It may also be to send an important and serious message, such as Band Aid's "Feed the world". In general, it is used to showcase the artist who is behind the song. There are many codes and conventions you can expect to see in a music video, which all depend on the genre of music, for example, for Heavy Metal you may expect to see a lot of black, gore and danger, and animals such as snakes and scorpions, whilst in a dance music video, you may expect to see bright colours, dance routines and males and females who show themselves off, for example girls in bikinis.

For this post, I will analysing K Camp ft Kwony cash- Money baby, which falls under the "hip-hop" genre. At the start of the video, there is a mid-shot of the two rappers travelling to a big luxurious house, which is stereotypical and conventional to the hip-hop genre, as artists who specialise in this type of music often like to flaunt what they have and show others how much money they have. Following this, we then see a montage of shots added together, which all show nice furniture and also a bar inside the house, again items that aren't available to all, and the artist also wants to show his fans what his every day life is like, possibly in an attempt to impress them. Iconography is also present as at one point there is even a close up of a bag of money which is eventually carried out of the house by the two rappers, again deliberately trying to convey how much money they have.

Another convention of hip-hop videos is you can usually expect to see many women appear in them, usually revealing themselves, as male hip-hop artists like to give the impression they have a lot of women available to them, and can get a lot of girls with the amount of money they make, and also how well known they are through fame. Typically this can be seen as a competition across  music videos between fellow hip-hop artists, as the more luxurious items and women they have in the video, the more popular and "cool" they seem. This is present at the beginning of this video and also throughout, as the rappers appear to be hosting a pool party, as a high angle shot followed by close-ups of women in bikinis diving in a pool shows this.

Hip-hop artists may also be associated with drug use, and can afford high amounts of drugs because of the money they have, K-camp mentions his drug use in his lyrics, with the first line of this song being "I like smoking weed I like getting fly". These lyrics are said whilst not only is he holding money, but also expensive champagne, again using iconography to showcase his wealth. He wants the viewer to believe he has so much money, that even girls are swimming for piles of it underwater, also further showing his wealth with a close up of him throwing money at the camera. Shots of girls in and around the pool in revealing outfits doing sexual and provocative dances could also be considered P.O.V shots, what the artists see inside the pool and it puts the viewer in their eyes if they were having this party with all these women around them.

Hip-hop artists may also want to be seen as promiscuous, having a lot of women to showcase themselves as a "player", which has been doing throughout hip-hop history by artists such as Notorious B.I.G and 50 Cent. Not only are the artists in this video constantly surrounded by many women, the lyrics also support promiscuity, as K-camp mentions "I like taking n***as hoes but I stopped doing that". This is further supported with lyrics that follow after this about how he likes his sexual intercourse with women. He is trying to show this is just another day in the life of a rich hip-hop artist, and that it is only for the selected few and he is superior and good enough to have it, saying "You ain't in my crew if you ain't tryna get rich".

There are then various shots and fast editing of them leaving the party in an expensive jeep, with a tracking shot of one of the rappers throwing money out of the vehicle, again showing further just how much money he has, as he has been throwing it around and holding it the whole entire video, which shows he has so much money, it may be seen as worthless to him that he can just throw it everywhere. The music video ends with Kwony cash's verse, where he again talks about drug use and women. The ending shots feature the artists holding more money and also with their fellow crew member, and the women left dancing in the pool.

Various elements of mis en scene throughout the video are used for the purpose of displaying conventions of the rap genre and also to make the artist look "cool". The money notes are an example of mis en scene, and connote that the artist is very rich and that money is just an object to him, making fans idolise him and wanting to live the easy life that he does. Another example of mis en scene is the cars in the video, which again shows the luxurious lifestyle of the rappers and as well as making fans idolise them, it also supports genre conventions as rappers are usually known to flaunt their valued and high priced possessions.

Overall, this video features a performance, a narrative and a concept. It features a performance, as both rappers are on screen performing in their video, there is not much of a narrative or a story to this, song just about how much they like money and they amount of women they have. The concept of this song/music video can be seen in a number of ways. It can be seen to have positive messages, it can motivate viewers to work hard at their goals, more so if they are an aspiring artist, to work hard enough to eventually get everything they want and dream about, unlimited disposable income, all the girls they want and a luxurious house. However, it can be seen to have bad messages, the song and video clearly objectify women and drug use is commonly mentioned, which others may be influenced to treat women disrespectfully or try drugs because their favourite artist or a successful one uses them. This video helped me to think about the genre I wanted to make and that my video may be primarily performance based, fans seeing this while idolise the artist and be drawn into their performance and also the story that they're in in the music video, which makes it interesting and also appealing.

1) Elaborate on why certain micro-elements, styles are used within the video, and how it enables the artist to further represent themselves/appeal to the TA
2) When referring to generic conventions, you need to mention how and where the video analysed follows, challenges, or adapts these conventions and why
3) Don't focus on lyrics of the song too much - analyse editing, MES and camera
4) Need to mention the different styles of videos and what their purposes are
5) Explain how this video has helped you to think about the genre and style of video you may want to create


Monday, 8 June 2015

History of Music videos- Miss Georgiou

Music videos in today's society can be viewed in a number of ways, on television channels, in shops such as barbers or cafes or on people's tablets through apps or websites. Due to continuous changes and advances in technology, music videos have not only been able to be better presented and visualised, but also they are much more available around the globe than ever before.

The breakthrough in viewing music videos was through the channel MTV, which was the main hub of viewing an artists video to a song heading into the modern generation, after the channel was released on the 1st August 1981. Artists were more eager to get their videos out there, knowing MTV had a worldwide audience of millions, which could lead to further awareness about themselves and promote their music to increase their popularity. Artists such as Michael Jackson and Diana Ross received increased popularity and success from the distribution of their music via MTV. However, music videos existed before the rise and emergence of MTV, creating music videos began around the early 60's, the "beatles, a worldwide popular English Band being one of the first to experiment. The whole concept around MTV was to have a "video-radio" channel and to make themselves the main hub of the latest popular tunes. The first ever video to be released on the channel was The Buggles- Video killed the radio star, in 1981. MTV were far less lenient on the videos released on their channel back in these days, as the first video ever to be banned on their channel came only a year later in 1982, with Queen's "Body language" being banned for mainly shortage of clothing and lots of skin and sweat. Their strictness on the content released throughout the years has greatly declined, compared to todays age where highly sexual, provocative and revealing videos such as Nicki Minaj's "anaconda", are allowed to air freely with pretty much no restrictions.

Youtube: Youtube, first launched online in February 2005 has provided a massive breakthrough in viewing music videos and also the views that these videos get. Youtube is an online website, where most, if not, all music artists post their content. Their fans can watch the music on their laptops or tablets wherever they go whenever they like. The music videos can be watched on-demand, which is efficient as fans do not have to tune in to their televisions and wait for videos to appear and then go after watching them, they also can watch them wherever they are, at school, work or on the train for example. Below we can see the top 30 viewed videos on youtube, racking up hundreds of millions, and even billions of views, showing just how globally popular the website is. What's also important, as that all 30 of these videos, are songs and music videos. Songs that are published on youtube can gain mass popularity and viewing, and therefore more hype around the artist. Artists who have benefitted greatly and have risen from youtube include Rae Shrummurd and PSY, a before unknown korean pop artist who ended up having the most viewed video on the website ever, even overtaking global sensation Justin Bieber, who's record stood for over 2 years, showing the just how powerful the impact of youtube can have on a music artist.


Budgets for music videos can vary, with the most expensive productions ending up costing millions of dollars. The most expensive music video ever made is of "scream" by Michael Jackson and his sister Janet, costing $7,000,000, a record which has stood since 1995. The average cost for a music video today (2010 average) showed it being in the range of $200,000-$500,000.

Technology used in music videos has changed significantly over the years and has been more prominant in production.


Technology is improving and advancing every day, and videos over the years have featured far more attractive visual effects, along with better sound quality and even the introduction of HD, which can be viewed on youtube. Videos such as Black eyed peas-boom boom pow and Katy Perry- Roar, can show how much technology has changed and how videos are higher quality and more features and effects can be added into them, making it more appealing to the audience. Technological advances have also meant viewers can watch these music videos wherever they travel on-demand, typically on their "tablets", especially iphones. The public are no longer restricted into tuning in to channels to see these videos, instead watching them whenever they wish and as many times as they like, allowing music videos themselves to become more and more popular among their viewers and audiences.


Iphones and smart phones in general have a huge impact on the consumption of music videos. Not only do smart phones allow these videos to be played in high quality and on-demand, they can be viewed in a number of ways through downloadable "apps", such as youtube, shazam and vevo. A connection to wifi outside or inside the house allows them to use the apps to view music videos whenever they please, with hardly any restrictions.



A music genre is a type of music, ranging from heavy metal, which may feature bass guitars and heavy drums all the way to hip-hop, which may feature cowbells and electronic keyboards. The genre may also depend on the lyrical content, with heavy metal tending to see more darker lyrics, whilst pop lyrics are a lot more family friendly and intended for a younger audience.



Overall, I have learnt the massive role of technology in helping the breakthrough of music videos and also how their popularity and worldwide availability has increased massively and also how in the current era, they can not only be seen, but talked about so frequently by so many people, e.g tweets and youtube comments. Youtube is very beneficial for m project, as other than costs of production, it gives me a free way to publish my video that can be seen by the whole world and is available to all, just by simply uploading it on the site, a feat which couldn't have been accomplished before the early 2000's. As a whole, I believe this research will benefit me in making my own music video and has taught me more about what my viewers may prefer and it has given me a deeper insight into how music videos have changed and how their popularity has increased.