Analysis of demographic questionnaire.

To get a better feel of what our potential audience for our video think like, my group and I designed a questionnaire which enabled us to get an idea as to what type of person our target audience is, plus their likes and dislikes in terms of the rap genre and rap videos.

Here are the questions from the questionnaire that we made our participants.

• Pleas put your name, age and gender
• What apps or websites do you listen to music on?
• Which of the following describes you best? Pick one.

A digital, free spirited, creative young single.
Someone with high aspirations but low economic status.
And aspirational, fun seeking, active individual 
Part of a high driving, high involvement couple.

• List your 3 Favourite rappers
• If you chose 'creative young single' what would you change about rap videos?
• If you chose high aspirations, why do you watch rap videos?
• What is your favourite rap album and rap video?
• What would you expect to see in a rap video? Does it need to be linked to the song?
• Do you prefer rap videos to be entertaining or to have a message?
• Do you believe we'll need a lead singer for our music video?

Analysis

To gain an understanding of our audience, we decided to analyse the results from the Questionnaire.

This is for the question "which one of these (Life matrix personalities) are you, pick one"

This question was so we could see what type of people are demographic would be. The one most people selected was the 'Digital, free spirited, creative you minds' this didn't surprise me as this is what we expected from our demographic. Also the 'High aspiration' and 'active young single' ones are very high as well. Looking at these two high results now makes our group consider what things we can do to entertain them with our video also.

This is for the question 'Do you prefer rap videos to be entertaining or to have a message'

This will help us in what direction we take when we come to film our Music video. The results were close. but most people chose to have a message. This is good as in our initial ideas and pre planning, we wanted to have a message in our video. I can see how an audience would want a message in the video as they want to be inspired. We'd also want to make our video entertaining, as a high number of people voted for that, and in my opinion the message would stick if it's presented in a humorous.


This is for the question 'does our music video need a lead singer'

The margin was close but the majority said yes. For our product we'll be using a mainstream rappers song, so realistically we can't have the rapper be in our own video, plus in our opinion it wouldn't look right someone else rapping it. We think that as long as the product is good and they are entertained by it, the fact that there isn't a rapper in the video won't affect people's opinion of the song.

Audience profiling research.

When researching ways to categorise different demographics,  I found a few different methods that this was achieved and ones that helped give an insight into my audience. 

One of the ways I found useful in in identifying a demographic is the ABC1 C2DE form. What this does is it makes the different group from the social classes of the audience. With regards to the rap genre that I'm researching, I think that the genre would come from and focus on the lower sections of the table illustrated above, as they focus on the working class more. I think this as a recurring theme in rap music which is money, and more specifically in making money and how much money you have. This theme would strongly resonate with a working class community as they have struggles with money and I believe that it would clearly resonate with them as they are able to relate to the message the rappers put across.

Evaluating this way of profiling a demographic I feel is useful. However there are limitations, one being that it is quite vague and not specific enough for a specific person or category they may fit into.

Another way I found of looking at demographics is through psychographic profiling. This enables advertisers to link the ideologies of the product to there consumer as they understand how important 'brand loyalty' is as the market gets cluttered with brands that don't differentiate themselves.

Linking to this is the four C's, which stands for Cross-Cultural Consumer characteristics , is a way of categorising people with regards to their aspirations. Here is a handy chart with the definitions of some categories as a part of the 4 C's.

In my opinion, I think this is very effective as a company can use this to find a specific person to sell and cater their product too.

Another way of categorising audiences is through called Life Matrix segments. Here's a picture so you can understand what they are.

This is something I have personally used in one of my questionnaires about the rap genre. Developed in 2002, it defines ten categories which are centered around values attitudes and beliefs more than the original simplistic categorisations. I found it useful as there was little chance in overlapping when a person tried to fit themselves in the category. 

Analysing a magazine advert.

This is a magazine advert for the Manic Street Preacher's 2009 album, Journal for Plague Lovers.

Let's analyse!!

• The main image is of a young child, with the drawing making the child look beaten and bruised. This could represent the raw emotion felt through in the album
• It distinguishes music and lyrics. This is because the band took lyrics from one of their former band mates, who disappeared without a trace 14 years previously in 1995. To use his lyrics again adds to the emotion, as it makes people remember him, and also contributes to the atmosphere felt on the album.
• The release date is there to let fans know when it is available.
• The producer is listed to add more prolificness. Steve Albini, regarded as a very talented producer who has worked on loads of famous albums. His name could alter people's opinions on the album.
• There's cross promotion with Amazon, as they are stated to having the album.
• The website is listed for self promotion of the band, as a subtle way to get people to go there so they can keep up with what the band are doing.

Researching Marketing Tools - Digipaks!

 A Digipak is a patented style of optical disc packaging. They usually consist of a gate fold (book style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside.

Digipak style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets.

Two notable albums with Digipak's are Stadium Arcadium by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West.

What would I expect to find on a Digipak

Here are a few things that generally will feature on a Digipak.

• Bold Images on the front and back panels, these are the two main promoters and will draw people in.
• Front will usually tend to have the artists name in bold, with another bold image accompanying it, to attract people to it.
• Inside the Digipak will feature the disc itself and perhaps artwork different to the art on the front and back of the Digipak. Also things that could be featured are lyrics, artist information and personal messages. 

Analysis of Digipak

This is the Digipak for Stadium Arcadium.

What I found

• Their is a lot of bright colours, used to be aesthetically pleasing.
• The colours of blue, red and purple all mix into one another, suggesting the songs mixing into each other and flowing one after another.
• The image on front cover could be meaning to show a bands progression or distancing themselves from other bands of the same genre or their own discography.
• The appearance of the band on the back could be for the benefit of their new fans, so they can now put a face to who plays the instruments.
• The images go with a space theme, suggesting literal spacing with the band, or could be linked again to distance, suggesting the band is far different from earlier releases.

Researching the Rap Genre.

Genre is definable in a number of ways. As a way of categorising texts, a way of defining codes and conventions for a category of a text and a way of setting up audience expectation. There are other definitions of the category and it's a dynamic concept, one which changes over time in a different cultural contexts.

John Fiske, a known genre theorist, describes genres as 'attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture  for the convenience of both prodcuers and audiences'

With the genre of rap, it first gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1970s as a kind of street art, particularly among African American teenagers. One of the first rap tracks to gain notoriety was in 1979, when Sugarhill Gang released their breakaway hit, ‘Rapper’s Delight. Once they did, numerous rap acts, including Run-DMC and N.W.A., surfaced, and the genre gained more exposure and popularity. It wasn’t just African American male rappers getting in on the act, either: By the 1980s, white rap bands such as the Beastie Boys and female rap bands such as Salt-n-Pepa were reaching the top of the charts as well.

By the 1990s, rap matured from an old-school-style – which was based o­n relatively simple lyrics – to a new-school-style, which was louder and included more complex lyrics. Artists such as The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg and Tupac ruled the charts during this time, as did Eminem – o­ne of the most popular white rappers of all time.

Rap is part of the Hip Hop genre, and the style is prominent in a multitude of genre's, including soul, dance, pop and rock music. Rap came up in the American society among the black urban youth. It started as a way to criticise the ideology of the American society, and especially the authority and powers that are present in the society. Much of the rap music are arguments against institutions. Often, it contains cultural contradictions that are against the dominant ideology.

Most common ideological discourses in rap are politics, race, gender and sexuality. Even though there is a whole ideology behind rap music, unfortunately the commercialization of it moves this ideology to the background.

With time, the way music has changed is from live instruments into studio made beats. In the beginning, the 'music' was made with live bands, with influences from soul and dance music. As technology has advanced, the genre has moved into more club and dance influences, with music being made with Mixing decks and music software, often utilising samples from actual instruments or anything they can find.

Some audiences, are with the rapper through grass roots connections, for example the same area so they rap about things relatable to the listener. Through codes and conventions, a new fan can pretty much no what to expect with someone in the rap genre, with perhaps one thing subverting normal expectations of the genre, thus making them stand out.

Initial ideas for my practical work.

The song my group and I are creating a video for is for the song "Swimming Pools" by Kendrick Lamar.

There were many reasons for choosing this music video to recreate. One being that Kendrick Lamar is a well known artist so we believe that people will take an interest in the video before they've even seen it. 

Another reason is the subject matter. The verses are about the negatives of excessive drinking, however it has become a popular song at parties. My group believe that this mixed message would be a good idea for a video. We were thinking of shooting the music video at a party where people would be having fun but also could be susceptible to excessive drinking would illustrate this message effectively.

Also, the group and I think that the concept of drinking is interesting and we believe that we can incorporate many different things in our video as it's such a big concept to cover. It allows us to stick to a mixed narrative, allowing us to incorporate even more ideas with what we want in the video.

One thing we want to distance ourselves from in terms of comparison is having a rapper in the video. In Kendrick Lamar's video, he is heavily featured as it's his video. As we don't have Kendrick, we don't want to have someone replicate him in the video. We'll have a character who'll be the main focus, just so there's a story to be followed which is connected to a person, but we won't have a rapper. The star theory helped us with this decision, as we felt there was no brand or image we wanted to endorse.

Main Ideas

These were some brief ideas that we discussed and we would like to include in our video.

Quirky face paint
Close ups on face
Switching between emotions
Editing that matches the beat
Slow motion burning
Food colouring in water

We were thinking of having it set at a party, with the focus on one person who is drinking excessively. Showing how bad this can be, this will be the message we're conveying through the video.

Roles in the group
Charlie Adams - Cinematographer and Director
Aidan Emberton - Print Media Editor and Director 
Dan Grayer (Me) - Video Editor and Director

We chose the roles best suited to our skill sets. We're all going to direct the music video, as we all have ideas of what we want to see in the video.

Linking back to my music labels post, I think that if my group were to choose from the labels that I researched, I think we'd choose Warner Brothers for our video. I believe we would choose this because they are a big mainstream label, and the rap genre in today's society is generally received well by a large majority. By choosing an artist with a genre that is popular with a high majority of people, it would help both parties. It would give the artist and video exposure to a bigger audience and it would make the label money. 

Representation & how useful it really is!

If you want to convey a lot of information about a character or a social group, the best way of doing so is through representations. However representations of groups can often stereotypes.


Anything involving a group can be stereotyped, to make them more identifiable in the media. Here are some stereotypes/ ways that stereotypes can be created-

• Age - all teenagers love rock and roll, have no respect and do drugs and alcohol.
• Gender- all women like housework
• Nationality- all Germans are Nazis
• Places - It always Rains in England

A stereotype is simplistic and doesn't allow for complexity or depth, sometimes there'll be absolutely no truth in the stereotype. 

To give myself a challenge, instead of doing a conventional rap video, i've chosen something completely different.

To explain representation, I'm have chosen Weird Al Yankovic's Parody rap song "White and nerdy" Based off of Chamillionaire's song "Riding Dirty".

Firstly, the social group of Nerds and Geeks are being represented, more specifically those who are white, as the song title goes. The Video and song in my opinion is wholly positive, there are no sub texts or hidden meanings there to cause offence, it's just a comedic songs used for comedic purposes, with Weird Al playing this 'White and nerdy' character and using common traits and things associated with a nerd or geek. It could be argued that it's poking fun at the overly masculine rappers that Hip Hop seem to spawn, with a song about the total opposite of what most rappers would be like.

The Representation of these social groups are constructed primarily through the lyrics, and with visual accompaniments. Mise en scene is the biggest element helping with constructing, mainly through props and costume and theme's that our prevalent amongst people who fit into the 'White and nerdy' Category. Here are some examples of how a 'White and nerdy' person through this video can be identified, with the lyric in quote marks.

Being very good at math. "I know Pie to a thousand places"

Participating in games of chess. "and even the chess team"

Collecting Superhero figurines. "All of my action figures are cherry"

Knowing computer code and a made up Sci Fi language. "I'm fluent in Javascript as well as Klingon"

With the editing, it's very conventional to a rap video, as it flows with lyrics, and cuts at the end of the lyric, to keep up with the flow of the music.

In terms of a Rap Parody an audience would expect all of this. This is because they want to be entertained and also connect to the rap portion of the song.

The Ideologies that are suggested, as explained is what 'White and nerdy' People are like. Another is the Ideology that this group of people and the culture of rap should not mix, this is evident as the chorus features lyrics about Weird al wanting to associate with the 'Gangsters' but he can't because of how 'white and nerdy' he is. 

Levi Strauss's theory of Binary opposites is heavily abundant in the video. With the two contrasting groups of Rappers and Geeks as the main premise of the video. However, towards the end, the two blend together, in these two pictures they show a blend.

The two men look like they are doing a shady drug deal, where in actual fact, Al pays for a Star Wars Dvd, a popular franchise in nerd culture.

Weird Al gets refused to play bowling with the 'Gangsters' and is directed to the 'nerds' instead. The blending is that the two groups are in the same place doing the same thing, whereas outside of the bowling alley
they wouldn't be near eachother

The representation isn't typical to the genre, as is the point of the song, which states how nerds can't associate with rappers, because of how nerdy they are. In most respects, it is a fair representation, but is one to not take seriously and is for the basis of comedy, as both groups are quite diverse with the definitions of 'Nerd' and 'Gangster'. In terms of a rap video, it's subversive in it's representation, but the genre itself, it's common as it matches the lyrics being said.