Media evaluation, question one on Prezi

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My audience is my key, they shape the way I form construct and view my products. http://www.findmytribe.co.uk/ claim that everyone belongs to a ‘click’ you just have to find where you fit. Whether it was addressing the genre, characters or narrative of my music video and ancillary texts I always asked the questions what would my target audience want to see? How does my product entice or repel them? These were the main questions that were continually considered throughout my planning, when I was making decisions about which Media conventions and influences from real Media products I wanted to use.
This is a link to another of my posts detailing my target audience profile. http://flincoln.blogspot.com/2010/03/target-audience-profile.html
For the production of my media texts I had three main artist influences: Kate Nash, Regina Spektor and Katie Melua. Kate Nash was a very strong influence in the construction of my music video, for both the inclusion of still frame animation and the construction of a strong but still feminine female lead. Her compelling attitude and the entertaining narrative of her music video ‘Foundations’ were the original aspects which drew me to the artist. However as I delved further into the artist I realised that I wanted to copy the fun and happiness which is captivated within a song that has an undercurrent of sadness.
Regina Spektor was originally chosen as I enjoy her music and the quirkiness of her character and lyrics. Though when I was planning my Digipak I looked to the pictures on her case for the decision of whether my artist should be represented literally or figuratively. Although the idea of using visualisation to construct my artist was appealing it didn’t suit the nature of my genre, or the aspirational qualities I wanted my audience to connect with my artist, as they wouldn’t see her face and so I decided to use images of ‘Freya’ posing as Ruth as the folk pop genre is very communal and welcoming.
My large female fan base meant that I wanted to veer away from an overly sexual video, and instead create a strong feminine and inspirational character. This idea connected well with the folk genre stereotypes, as folk music is about telling a story it’s descriptive and innocent, not over dramatised and sexual. For example in Katie Melua’s video ‘Nine Million Bicycles’ the main focal point is her face not her body.
The editing and camera work used for my music video was important to creating my genre as too many close ups on Freya’s lips and mouth could have given the wrong impression. During the edit I mainly used cross dissolves and superimposition to keep the storyline flowing.
This idea was transferred into my ancillary tasks with none of the pictures emanating the ideals of the ‘male gaze.’ However I did not go overtly masculine and morph the character into a she-male. Firstly because I wanted ‘Freya’ to be a realistic representation of Ruth Bewsey, but also as for my target audience (of fashion conscious feminine females) to be able to connect with my character, as audiences are drawn more to performers they can relate to and in some cases aspire to be.
Another stereotype of the folk genre that I chose to maintain was the idea of telling a story, as it complemented the song’s lyrics and made for a very compelling narrative. Artists such as Kate Nash use their music to emanate an emotion or aspect of their lives; it’s a way of sending a message or showing their audience members that they are human as well. This Media convention is a great way for an artist to connect with their audience; if the audience can imagine themselves in the role then they have more respect for the artist. So my video was composed in chronological order to give the appearance of a miniature film and not just a compilation to the song.
I marketed my brand as a hybrid genre-folk pop- because I felt that the folk stereotype was too naturalistic and truthful, for the ambiguity I wanted to include at the end of the video, whereas the pop genre stereotype was overly mainstream and vain for my artists and ran the risk of ostracizing some of my audience. Also by combining the genre I was able to use ideas from both genres in my ancillary products which meant I was marketing my artist for a wider band of people having quotes from both the music magazine NME and the fashion magazine Sugar running side by side on my advert.
Another aspect of my video that I included because of Kate Nash were the stop motion stills at the beginning of the video, I liked the way that she derived emotions through the use of inanimate objects suggesting that they were moving away from each other as naturally as she was moving away from her boyfriend as it is a subversive way of conveying a message. Originally it was cast that the stop motion sequence would be part of the main video, however as plans changed I decided that by having the sequence at the beginning of the video I could draw my audience in as it acted as a mini prologue.