Planning setting and iconography

What is the purpose of setting and iconography?


The setting and iconography that we have chosen in our music video are crucial in order to convey the genre of the music as well as the way that the artist is represented. The setting and iconography will allow the audience to build a relationship with the artist and allow them to understand lyrics and visuals. Each of the locations that we have chosen represent the narrative and the forms of iconography also link with both of these. Each aspect has been carefully chosen to display genre characteristics or develop a relationship.

What settings will you include and why?

For the scene where the crash takes place we have chosen to use a isolated dusty road where there will be little other car activity. This will therefore allow us to have only our car in the shot as well as to stage the crash without putting anyone else in danger. The dust on the road will also help to mask the little resources that we have and the unprofessional construction of the crash itself. 

The flashbacks that we have Incorporated within our narrative will be filmed in multiple locations in order create the feeling that time in passing and to therefore represent the time that they have spent together in their relationship. One of these locations will be a in the bedroom to show the couple intimately and portray the happy times of their relationship as we will also be showing the negative side. Other locations such as: Hyde park and a bowling alley will be used for the flashbacks. This is because they are typical places that a young couple would go to spend time with each other which reflects our chosen narrative and will therefore be more relatable to the teenage target audience. This will allow the audience to build a relationship with the narrative and therefore the artist. 

The lyrics in the song says 'walk through the valleys' which is a biblical reference and we felt that it would lend itself to the part of the narrative that will be located at a graveyard. This will show the mourning the death of the teenage girl after the crash has taken place and is a crucial part of the narrative.

What iconography will you include and why?

There are several specific pieces of iconography that we have chosen to use in order to develop the narrative and the story that it tells as well as create an effect on the audience. These include:

• Grave stone (Graveyard)
• Flowers (Graveyard)
• Tissues (Graveyard)
• Boats (Hyde Park)
• Picnic - blanket, food etc. (Hyde Park)
• Car - (Dusty road)
• Phone - (Dusty road)
• Another car? (Dusty road - crashes into)

All of the iconography that we have decided to include are all crucial in creating a believable setting for the scenes that make up our chosen narrative and will lead to a more professional looking music video.  

How does it build a relationship with your target audience? 

Each of the objects of iconography that we have chosen are all linked to the setting and scene that they are being used in. This therefore reinforces the atmosphere that we are trying to create so that the audience can empathise with what is occurring as the iconography is stereotypical to the setting. This will therefore help the audience build a relationship with the narrative as the props will help to make the setting feel as real as possible and therefore more relatable. 

Research into chosen artist

Our chosen music artist is Klangkarussell consisting of two members Tobias Rieser and Adrian Held. They are dance, electronic producers from Austria who were formed in 2011. The reason that we chose to create a music video for their song Sonnentanz is that it is their biggest hit has been which has reached the Top 10 in 6 countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Switzerland. It is therefore a well known song and is enjoyed by a large audience and therefore will make to video more enjoyable as a large amount of people like and listen to the song. Klangkarussell is a fairly new artist and have already become largely well known within the dance/house genre and therefore attracted us to choose their music. It is also a genre that we all choose to listen to and will therefore lead us to understand and incorporate the conventions of the genre when creating our music video. 

Tobias Rieser began as solo artist under the name 'Klangkarussell' and Adrian Held produced electronic music under the artist name of 'i herald'. The pair joined together in 2011 under the name of 'heroes sound' and produced their first songs together. However, to avoid confusion they changed the name to Klangkarussell and now produce their music under this artist name. In June 2013 the duo released their debut single "Sonnentanz" which peaked to number 3 in Austria, number 3 in Belgium, number 170 in France, number 4 in Germany, number 1 in the Netherlands and number 3 in Switzerland. The song was released in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2013 and features vocals from Will Heard. To date is has accumulated 22 million views and over 10,000 comments. 

Year	Title	Peak chart positions									Album
		AUT [1]	BEL (Vl) [2]	BEL (Wa) [3]	FRA [4]	GER [5]	IRE [6]	NL [7]	SWI [8]	UK [9]
2013	"Sonnentanz"	3	3	7	103	4	—	1	3	—	Non-album singles
	"Sonnentanz (Sun Don't Shine)" (featuring Will Heard)	—	—	—	—	—	18	—	—	3
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released.

The pair are signed to Vertigo Records, Capitol Records, Universal Music and and after wowing the major label with a private gig, they were signed up to create their debut album, due early next year. It is said that is will reveal the depth of the pair's influences, indirect as they are: the carefully constructed beats that hark back to Adrian's drum'n'bass background in their flawless execution (though not their tempo); the anthemic qualities of the Kalkbrenners (and even Austrian pop icon Falco), and the restless innovation of dance music's lateral thinkers like Jamie xx and Flying Lotus.

Artist music video analysis

1) Analyse 2 music videos
2) Explain how Dyer’s star theory is used
3) How is Goodwin’s theory used?
4) How is the artist represented?
5) Who is the target audience?
6) What is the style of the music video?
7) How is mise-en-scene used?
8) What common camera shots do the music videos use?

Summary
Explain how your research on your chosen music artist will assist you with planning your own music video 

Target audience research: Evaluation

Target audience consider many different components including: age, gender, income, status, ethnicity and interests. A target audience is greatly important to decide upon as each decision that is made will need to consider whether it will be appropriate for the target audience that you have decided upon so that will attract an audience to the product that you are creating. The target audience of a product can be organised into two categories: Niche - small and Mass - large audience. 

We carried out different forms of research in order to make sure that each aspect of our music video would attract the correct target audience. This research included: 

• Questionnaires - We produced a questionnaire that would find out the crucial information needed in order to collect relevant feedback in order to adapt our ideas and concept the suit the target audience that we had chosen - making it a more successful music video. 
• Pie Charts - The information that we collected from the questionnaires we then transferred into pie charts in order to visually display our findings. This made the information easier to understand and interpret to make group decisions. 
• Vox Pops - This was video footage of us asking questions to a selection of people that would fit into our target audience demographic to collect information on different aspects of a music video. It gave us an insight into the opinions of the people that will be watching our music video and whether it will appeal to them.

Theorys:

• Grant McCracken - His theory states that post-modern is full of diversity, dynasim and creativity. McCracken says that if we look at the array of values and idealogies then we cant say all sub-cultures come from one culture.
• CCC's - Assumes that all sub-cultures come from one main culture: a definite reaction to the mainstream culture.
• Hebdige - He believed that if you look deeper into the industry, there is enough richness to warrant renaming sub-cultures as 'little cultures'

As a group we have decided to follow the CCC theory as it is the most relevant to the dance/house genre. This is because although the artists are seen to be 'extraordinary' they are also portrayed to be very grounded in comparison to artists belonging to other genres, such as Pop and R n B where videos rely more heavily on branded clothing etc. 

Research into our chosen genre

The song that we have decided to use to create our music video is Sonnentanz by Klangkarussell that falls under the genre of Deep House. Deep House is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980's which initially fused elements of Chicago house with Jazz funk and soul music. The genre is well known for its complex melody and use of unrelated chromatic chords underlying most sequences and a soul, ambient, or lounge vibe vocals. 

House/Dance characteristics:


Cinematography:  - Handheld camera work
                               - Rarely any static shots
                               - Large variety of camera shots and angles
                               - Close up of lead singers

Mise-en-scene:     - Night club scenes
                               - Flashing lights
                               - People dancing (street dancing, break dancing, raving)
                               - Modern teenage stereotypes (Alcohol, Drugs)
                               - High key lighting
                               - Fun atmosphere

Sound:                   - Upbeat music
                               - Repetitive drum beat
                               - Produced sounds (techno/electronic style)

Editing:                  - Fast paced/ to the beat
                               - A cut to a new shot usually every 1 or 2 seconds
                               - Usually cut to tell a narrative 

Example of a conventional dance video:

The song Animals by Martin Garrix for example shows a conventional dance music video to complement a typical dance track. It has upbeat music created with produced sounds which is stereotypical for the dance genre. The video however begins by breaking the conventions by using static shots with a slow pace, however this goes with the slower pace of the introduction of the song. The amount of shots used begins to increase which quickens the pace of the music video to reflect the faster pace of the music. As the beat of the song kicks in the night club scene is introduced, showing people dancing (raving, break dancing) with flashing lights. This is greatly conventional as this is the setting that dance music would be listened to and enjoy which leads the viewer to feel as if they are there enjoying themselves with the people present in the video, further adding to the entertainment value of the video. It sticks to the rule of a new shot every 2 seconds within the quicker pace in the middle of the song. This allows the video to follow several stories within the nightclub setting as well as further adding to the drama of the music by making the pace faster. There are also several shots of the artist performing the song to a large audience. This gives the impression that he is a well known artist that is enjoyed by a large target audience and adds to his status within the video and therefore also in the eyes of the audience. 


Example of an unconventional dance video:

Another dance video is Clean Bandit - Rather Be feat. Jess Glynn. This video however breaks many of the conventions that have previously been mentioned. It focusses on telling a narrative to the audience rather than a performance based video. This is shown through its use of longer camera shots, including static shots and slower paced editing to provide more information within each shot - making it easier for the audience to understand. (This is a feature that we have included within our video due to our video being largely narrative based.) This breaks the conventions of the dance genre as the videos usually have a new shot every one to two seconds in order to increase the pace to resemble the fast paced beats. Several of the settings that are used are also unconventional such as someones home, restaurant and a market, however these scenes are necessary in order to tell the story. A club is shown however half way through the video showing a large group of people enjoying themselves, this will keep the audience interested and add an element of excitement and enjoyment as the artist still wants to attract its chosen target market. This setting incorporates flashing lights as well as the group playing to an audience, this is conventional as it is what the audience would be expecting to see within a dance video, and encourages the audience to join in and have fun.

Target audience research: Vox pops

   

Vox Pops

As a part of our primary research we carried out vozpops in order to gain further information on our chosen target audience. It allowed us to ask a range of people how they felt about the different elements that they would like to see within our video and whether their opinions linked with our ideas.

This information is invaluable when creating our music video as without it we may create an unsuccessful video that doesnt appeal to our target audiece. We chose to base our questions on the different aspects and ideas that we originally had for our music video such as (example of question). We chose 5 questions that we felt were the most important and that would give us the best understanding of our target audience and the aspects that would lead us to creating a successful music video. We then asked 5 participants who we found walking around school and filmed them on an iPhone and uploaded the footage onto the Apple Macs. We then carried out some minor editing eg. adding transitions and adding a name tag underneath each participant on Final Cut Pro.

Our Vox Pops have been proven crucial within the planning of our music video as it has highlighted areas of our initial ideas that the target audience both agree and disagree with. This will allow us to adapt our ideas in order to ensure that it appeals to our audience.

Target audience research: Questionnaires

q   Questionnaires are important when creating our music video in order to collect information from a variety of people to ensure that our video will appeal to  our chosen target audience. It will allow us to become more familiar with our chosen audience and identify different qualities that they enjoy when watching a music video in order to give the best chance of our music video becoming successful. Being aware of aspects such as this will give us a basis to work and build on and will help us when making important decisions such as: which conventions that we should follow and which we should break. 

l

     Within the questionnaire we used a range of open and closed questions in order to create a range of qualitative and quantitive data. The qualitative data will be easier for us to put into pie charts to analyse and evaluate it, however, the quantitive data allowed the candidate to elaborate on their answers and give us a greater understanding of what they like to see within a music video. 

We decided to distribute the questionnaires to 40 people in total within which 20 were male and 20 were female. This decision was made so that we had a large range of people which would allow us to receive varied results so that we could make sure that our music video will appeal to a range of people. 


An example of our music video questionnaire:

1) What gender are you? Male / Female

2) How old are you? 0-15 / 16-30 / 31-45 / 46-60

3) Which is your favourite music genre?  Rock / Pop / Dance / RnB / Rap / Jazz

4) a. Have you heard of Sonnenantz?  Yes / No

b. If yes, what is your favourite Sonnentanz song?

5) Do you prefer to watch a performance (singing and dancing), a narrative (story) or a concept (idea)?     Performance / Narrative / Concept

6) What conventions (typical elements that make up a dance video) would you like to see in a dance music video?

7) Do you think music videos should be censored? Yes / No

8) How do you think an artist should be represented?

9) What editing styles would you like to see in a dance music video?

Jump cuts / Split screen / Green screen / Fast paced editing / Slow paced editing

Copyright

Copyright is the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorise others to do the same.

It is important to consider copyright when creating our music video as the record company that owns the song Sonnentanz may not give permission for us to use their music. In this case if we continue to use the song and create the music video we would be breaking the law as we need to be given their consent.

Research Into the Diversity Of Music Videos

Each music video that is created is unique in some way. This is due to the different characteristics of the artist that is being displayed within the video and leads to the type of video that is made to be altered. For example a music video for Rihanna will have to be edgy and include the genre characteristics of her music, whereas a music video for Ed Sheeran may be more low key due to the slow paced style of his songs. Themes and concepts are also altered throughout different videos and depend on whether the video is concept, narrative or performance based. Other factors such as the mise-en-scene of the video, the genre, cencorship and contrast contribute to a music video becoming unique.

Directors such as Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry are know for creating diverse music videos that do not conform to the stereotypical genre characteristics:

Chris Cunningham:  is a British music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk. He has had close ties to Warp Records since his first production for Autechre. Videos for Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker" are perhaps his best known. His video for Björk's "All Is Full of Love" won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. It was also the first ever music video to win a Gold Pencil at the D&AD Awards.

Cunningham directed the video for Madonna's 'Frozen' and is considered as a diverse music video. The structure of the video consists of both performance and Narrative, with performance being vastly heavier weighted. He presents the song and the artist as being Gothic and mysterious and it portrayed through the use of dark colours and drab weather. These dark colours are evident in the iconography such as the dark cloak that Madonna is wearing and even down the black birds that fly behind her when she is performing to the camera. The use of the Black birds also link to Goodwin's theory as the lyrics and the visuals link. When Madonna sings the lyrics 'birds' the group of back birds appear and sly behind her. Her frozen and pale complexion also reflects the title of the song 'Frozen' and is a theme that is continued throughout the entirety of the video through factors such as: the cold and windy weather and isolated location. The video however does not represent the artist in a way that the audience is used too as she is known for creating more uptempo pop/dance songs. The video for the song 'Frozen' however, although linking with the title of the song and the representation of Madonna within the video, goes against all of the conventions that you would expect to see in one of her music videos.

The video for the song 'Come to daddy' by the Aphex twins was also created by Cunningham and is another great example of how his directing allows a diverse music video to be created. The video has been created to more accurately fit the connotations of a short film as it is predominantly narrative based and follows the structure of having a beginning, middle and end.The music belongs to the genre of Dance/Techno however the video contradicts this by going against the generic conventions of people dancing etc that you would normally see in a video for this genre of music. Instead, Cunningham has produced a video that would not feel out of place in a thriller film. The only aspect that links the lyrics with the visuals is the editing where the beat and cuts etc follows the music.

Michael Gondry: Is an Academy-Award winning French filmmaker, whose work include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise-en-scene. 

The music video that we have studied that has been directed by Gondry is Kyle Minogue's 'Come into my world'. The video is set in Paris and is purely narrative and performance based. This is not conventional to the pop genre that the song belongs too as they usually contain more of a performance to compliment the upbeat type of song and lyrics as well as enticing the audience. This is one factor that has helped contribute to the video to become independent. The lyrics 'come into my world' introduce a new Kyle or aspect to the video which links the lyrics to the visuals and relates to Goodwins theory. The video also conforms to Dyers theory where he believes that the artist needs to appear accessible. This is shown through Gondry's decision to portray her as an ordinary person through the use of mise-en-scene and iconography. The setting for example shows an ordinary street in Paris and shows her walking around as if she is doing normal daily things. Her costume is also used in order to show her as being accessible as she is dressed in jeans and a top, just as a normal person would be when going about their daily activities. 

Gondry's technique of incorporating a new edition to the video is replicated in the song 'The hardest button to button' by the White Stripes. This is shown where on the beat of the song a new set of drums is replicated in the video. Ths song belongs to the genre of alternative rock/indie and the conventions are present throughout the music video through the mise-en-scene such as the long black hair of the artists and dark colours (black and red). Instruments are also used which is stereotypical to music of this genre, these instruments include drums and guitars. It also follows Goodwins theory as the visuals link to the lyrics as they are singing about a red box and there is a red box present in the video. The structure of the video is purely performance based as it shows the artists performing to the camera using their instruments and there is no underlying storyline etc to introduce any other elements.