A key area of planning for our coursework production of a promotional music video was understanding our target audience and basing our decisions on their interests. Before choosing which song we were to create the video for, we decided that the audience should be similar to our age group, which would make it easier when assessing what would relate them. After doing audience research by evaluating watch figures on YouTube, the song we agreed on was ‘I Need Air’ by Magnetic Man, a tune popularised in clubs and other party venues; places in which we would find our target audience. The genre of the piece and most of his other music is classed as electronic dubstep, music which is famed for strong bassline remixing rather than individual singers or lyrical relevance. This genre has a very young audience, exactly what we were looking for.
In order to decipher a narrative in the song we analysed the lyrics. It was clear the song was about a relationship with problems, an issue almost any 16-25 year old could relate to. However we did not ignore the fact that the piece is primarily a club dance song and so did not want the negative nature of the narrative to affect the overall upbeat tempo of the song. We did this by including close up shots of lips (inspired by Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy’ music video) and shots of dancing girls; a convention of this genre of music. The video is split between three characters; two actors who represent the girl in the relationship and one for the man in the relationship (who we see little of). This makes the video itself more relatable to a female audience as the majority of the video is filmed and sang from the girl’s point of view.
The cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing reflect the modern and fast paced tempo of the song. The lighting we used in most of the shots is low key, reflecting the way modern clubs are lit. We limited the colour palette in the clips showing the narrative, and then used vivid hues in the rest. The blue duo-tonal shots seen in the sequence mimic the lyrics which repeatedly use the word electric. Also our inspiration came from the billion dollar film Avatar which achieved world-wide audiences. The success and instantly recognisable looks of the blue characters in Avatar would make the audience associate the music video with the high grossing feature film because of the blue, raising its status. Making most of the footage lip synchronised to the lyrics encourages the audience to copy the movement of the actors, thus making them sing along. This technique would familiarise them with the song and boost popularity and inevitably singles sales.
The editing of the video is highly stylised and would appeal to a younger market for the bright colours and quick cut shots. Because the bassline of the piece is very fast and prominent in the song, we endeavoured to cut each shot at the end of each line in the lyrics. The rapid movement of the video means the chances of the audience losing concentration while watching the music video would be eliminated.
The company we have chosen to distribute the single is one Magnetic Man is already represented by; Columbia Records owned by Sony Music Entertainment. This institution is renowned for signing up-and-coming acts, evolving the music industry and keeping up with audience expectations of genre development. The music video would be appropriate to be shown on music channels such as MTV at night time, when the highest ratings are to be had.
