Summary of My Findings
• Form
- Music Videos – Music videos are used as a marketing device used to promote the sales of music records. Great videos tend to increase a song’s sales, because viewers hope to see the music promo video again on the music channels. If they don’t see it quite often, it gets brought as a download before it goes on actual release.
- CD Covers – CD covers advertise the main contents of the product i.e. the song. The picture on the cover is also a primary image for promotional reasons as it will be there to represent the whole album. It will be extremely identifiable for the fans and the audience. It can also be seen as the copyright for that album too. A slim line jewel case tends to be used for packaging the CD.
- Concert Posters – These are again another type of marketing device, but this time for promoting a tour of the album. They advertise the event have clear information of when, where and what time it will be on. These concert posters can eventually become collector’s items, especially for certain big name artists such as Michael Jackson. Concert posters are a cheapish way to advertise the event as advertisements on the TV can be quite expensive. But concert posters can be shown anywhere.
• Codes and Conventions
Symbolic
- Stock Settings – After research many R&B Pop music videos, the main locations used were primarily studios with a green screen in the background, which enables the director to create certain effects. But also, locations such as the beach (Ashanti – ‘Rock Wit You’) or a New York street (Chris Brown – ‘With You’) or even iconic locations people can relate to are used. However, studio settings are mainly used as it is spacious for the dance routines and you can create your own effects. Also, for the CD cover and the concert poster, I will take the photos in the studio as with the green screen I can create any type of background.
- Stock Characters – The characters that tend to be in R&B Pop music videos, links into whether the song has a narrative. If the song is about empowerment of women and getting over an ex or a boyfriend has cheated etc, then there is obviously going to be the cheating boyfriend, the girl who is the artist and they may show the woman the guy has been cheating with. Also, people feel that only afro-American people represent the genre of R&B Pop, but that isn’t the case, for example, Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake. Both artists work within this genre and they have been just as successful as afro-American people, so in my music video I have a choice of who to cast.
- Narrative – For the narrative of the song, the narrative theory I would use would be Todorov’s theory of having equilibrium. This being maybe if the song is about an ex, you could have them seen together when they were happy, when the girl suspects her boyfriend is cheating, the girl then catches her boyfriend and cheating and in the end the girl is much happier without the boy, which links into the representation of gender, where women are shown to be empowered, whereas the guys tend to be shown as cheaters. However, Propp’s theory comes into context here, because the ex could be seen as being the villain and the girl’s best mate could be seen as the one who helps the heroin, so either narrative theory could be used.
- Iconography – The pictures on the concert poster and the CD cover will represent the genre and the artist. It will represent the artist and their picture will be shown on the front, however, it will represent the genre as it will have some characteristics of R&B such as the greyscale effect, which gives it a sleek look, which is associated with R&B Pop.
- Glamour and Style – Glamorous and stylish locations are used to convey certain glamour and help towards the narrative possibly. Huge well known locations can also be used, to help with the narrative of the song too, but it makes the video look a bit more spectacular. The genre sometimes can also be over-exaggerated with artists doing things out of the ordinary to create certain personas. Also you get old R&B artists returning with a more mature, update sexier image, such as Mariah Carey. They reinvent themselves.
- Dancing - Dancing is a main aspect for any R&B Pop music video, Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ video is an example of how dancing can be really effective, as she did a choreographed dance with two other dancers throughout the whole song in one cut and she got praised for that. It reflected how much of a star she is. Also, through the dancing the artist is able to show how creative they are to the audience, but their dancing could also reflect their idols. For example, Chris Brown. In his music videos he is always dancing, however, he dances like Michael Jackson and he was his idol. Another dancer is Usher, who always tends to have a break in his music videos to show a one minute part of him dancing.
- Costume – The outfits worn in R&B Pop music videos tend to be very fashionable and bang on trend. Normally in the videos the artists have at least three or four costume changes and many of them are very picky, most of them are also divas, artists like Rihanna and Beyonce are huge divas. The costumes are there however, to convey a certain image; it reflects their personalities and who they are. It’s their alter-egos. For upcoming artists the costume’s are used to get them on the map or noticed, such as revealing dresses. However, most of the time the outfits are worn to get them noticed e.g. Lady Gaga wears the most outrageous outfits, which makes her constantly, commented on.
- Framing – The artists is always the center of attention, therefore always being positioned in the middle of the frame, and dominating the video. Artists, especially the divas, love it when everything’s about them, when all the focus is to do with them.
- Props – Props such as mobile phones, laptops maybe and possibly a prop for the artist to dance with, e.g. Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ music video, she danced with an umbrella. These will be easily accessible.
Audio
- Non-diegetic Sound – The sound of R&B Pop has the soulfulness of R&B in it, but the fast pace of a Pop song. This type of genre is slowly rising and making a name for it, as it is also quite easy for DJ’s to remix the songs for clubs. They get promoted a lot more.
- Diegetic Sound – Diegetic sound such as a radio maybe at the beginning or hearing someone talk on the phone and seeing them, will be possibly in the music video.
Technical- Camera movements, shots and editing – The camera movements and shots tend to either reflect the narrative or the pace of the song. Pans tend to be used for fast paced songs, whereas tilts and still camera movements tend to be used for slower paced songs. Long camera shots are used to show the artists dancing, especially if it is choreographed and close ups are used to show the artists facial expressions, or certain parts of their body if they are promoting their sex appeal. For editing, jump cuts and continuous straight cuts are used in fast paced songs, to show the pace of the song, whereas they aren’t used so much in slower songs, as it may be a love song and it conveys the narrative.
• Clever ideas – Creating certain effects such as a greyscale effect, normally gives the videos or pictures a sleek look. This effect is sometimes associated with R&B. Special effects with the help of back lights and street lights connote the artists’ stardom, and give it a stylish and glamorous effect. Also clever editing and camera tricks help the videos become very iconic for example, Kanye West’s ‘All Falls Down’ video.
• Narrative theory/issues concerning representation
- R&B Pop songs tend to be slower if they have a narrative. For example, Beyonce’s ‘If I was a Boy’. The songs are almost always about love, so Todorov’s theory tends to be used in these videos as you see a couple together, then maybe the guy sleeps with someone else, the girl realises this etc. Concerning representation, R&B songs that are about getting back at an ex, tend to be songs sung by women artists and they represent the empowerment of women and how strong a woman can be. Therefore, the guy could be seen as the villain, because of how mean he has been to the girl. However, you could say that Propp’s narrative theory could also be used to show stock characters such as, the villain who is the ex, the girl who is the heroin and maybe the heroin’s helper who is the girl’s best friend. An example of an artist using this theory in the music video is Shaggy in his ‘It Wasn’t Me’ video.
• Target Audience- The primary target audience for R&B Pop music videos tends to be young adults, teenagers and people in their early twenties. But my target audience will mainly be 16-25 year olds. The reason for this being is because when you’re young you experience all these different emotions, you can experience love and the songs the artists bring out, are almost always about love. Therefore the teenagers and young adults can relate to their music making them the target audience for this genre. Afro-American people can also be the target audience for R&B music as it was a genre created by Afro-Americans and came from Rhythm and Blues. However, now it has become more contemporary, it appeals to everyone as the music is much more upbeat, and that is how R&B Pop got created as a sub-genre. Therefore, the two main demographics are age and ethnicity.
• Institutional Context- Record Label – ‘Def Jam Recordings’ is the record label I have chosen to represent my artist. It is a United States hip-hop record label which is owned my Universal Music Group, however they specialise in R&B Pop as well. The label represents huge artists such as Rihanna, Ne-yo and Amerie, who are big name R&B Pop artists. It was founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons in 1984. It has a distributing label Mercury Music Group (Def Jam UK) which is situated in the UK, so my artist is guaranteed huge promotion on their single and album, also on any concert tours too, they will have a successful team to help them. They are a huge record label and support my artist really well in starting up a great career.
- Music Channels – ‘4Music’ is one of the music channels that I wish for my artist’s song to be played on. It is a music channel in the Untied Kingdom owned by Box Television, a network by Channel4 and Bauer Group. The channel was formally ‘The Box’ but it was re-launched as 4Music on 3rd August 2008. The programmes shown on the channel are things like ‘Today’s 4Music Top 10’, ‘This weeks 4Music Top 20’ and ‘4Music Big Ones’. This one in particular plays pre-leased singles. Smash Hits music channel is another channel I would want my artist to be played on and this would be possible as it is owned by Box Television too. ‘Kiss’ again is a music TV channel which is owned by Box Television. They play mainstream Urban R&B, R&B Pop and Dance. It was launched in 1998 and is very successful music channel.
• What have you learnt and how will it aid your planning?
I have learnt quite a lot from researching R&B Pop music videos. I know much more now than I did at the start. I know in detail about my institutions and the ones I fell are best for promoting my artist. They are successful and steady, so they do not carry a risk. I know how to promote an artist and what needs to be put on the cross media products. There are little things that make a difference to the products in a big way and have a huge impact on the target audience. I know what needs to be done for the music videos and how to represent the artist and whether or not to have a narrative or a more upbeat video. I clearly know my target audience, which helps a lot of as I am a young adult myself I know what we like to see. I know I should be creative in my work to get the best possible result.
Video of Research Findings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Dn4bIslNo
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