research of potential target audience

while we are still on the planning stages of our music video we need to research into potential
target audiences. I have done this by talking to one of the band member. He told me that the

average age of people who attend their gigs range between 13 to 20. This tells us that teenagers are the age group we need to attract in our music video.

Godwin's Theory & analysis of music videos

I used Goodwin's theory when analysing my music videos. The main asspects of his theory are:

1) The video will show a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
2) The video will have relevant references between the music and the visuals
3) It will demonstrate characteristics of the genre
4) The artist may develop distinctive motifs that may reoccur throughout their videos
5) There is often intertextual reference whether it is to films, tv programs or other music videos
6) There is often sexual references towards the female body.

I have quickly analysed Cheryl Cole's music video "Fight for this love" and found all the asspects of Goodwin's Theory clearly shown in this video:

1) The video will show a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals - The lyrics of the song are about fighting which is backed up by the artist in a military uniform and dancing in the style of someone boxing.

2) The video will have relevant references between the music and the visuals - During the middle of the song the beat slows down, this is reflected in the cutting rhymth of the visuals which also slows and then quickens with the beat returns to a fast rhyme.

3) It will demonstrate characteristics of the genre - The genre of this music video is pop. The characteristics of a pop video are performances from the artist, useually a number of different setting and outfits and often if it is an upbeat number there are dancers or the artist is dancing along to the song. All this is seen in this video. There are 8 different outfits and settings in this video, a number of dancers performing a routeen and many shots of Cheryl Cole looking glamerous and selling her image.

4) The artist may develop distinctive motifs that may reoccur throughout their videos - The reoccuring motif in this video is the colour red. This is becasue red holds connotations with blood and war which fits in with the theme of fighting. The colour is seen in the outfits, the lighting and the backgrounds.

5) There is often intertextual reference whether it is to films, tv programs or other music videos - The intertextual reference in this video is to fighting and war which is shown through the costumes (milutary outfit), the dance moves and the colour red (connotating ideas of anger, blood and fighting)

6) There is often sexual references towards the female body - some of the outfits Cheryl Cole is dressed in are very provokative and reveling, making her look very sexy and desirable.

The Killers - Mr Brightside

The video seems to have been inspired or made in the style of the 2001 film "Moulin Rouge", Directed by Baz Luhrmann. This is due to the costumes and basic story line of the video.


The video starts with a establishing shot of what looks like a theater. The costumes ad make up of are all very exaggerated and extravagant. There is a medium close up shot of a girl with very big white hair. The is a high cutting frequency with shots that do not last longer than about 5 seconds. The shots keep jumping from the girl with white hair, a man and the band, though they all seem to be in the same room. With in the first minuet of the video misen en scene is used to show a recurring motif of a red apple. Red apples are usually represented with ideas of temptation due to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. The man throws the girl a red apple throughout the video which tells her to go off with many different men.


During the chorus of the song the pase picks up which is echoed by a more frequent use of cutting and ranging from close ups and medium shots. the narrative of the video is of the man singer of the band wanted to be with the white haired girl and sneaking around with her, it seems as though the girl is a prostitue due to her being told to be with different men and beacuse of the film Moulin Rouge, which this is based on.


The audience for this video is most likely teenagers, for they are the most likely age group to listen to The Killers.

Daniel Powter - Bad Day

The video is follows the day of a boy and a girl. The song is called bad day which is reflected in the video for the days which the boy and girls have are both quite bad. The genre of the video is pop which is shown by the structure which is a mixture of narrative and the main story line of the boy and the girl and the shots of the singer.


The video starts with the screen split in two so you can see two images at once of a boy and girl both sleeping. There is then a cut to a shot of two different alarm clocks and the boy and girl getting out of bed, again with the two shots shown side by side. The shot then changes to a long shot of the singer playing the piano outside on the street. The narrative follows a boy and a girl and shows you through their day. The most common technique which is used in the editing is split screen editing for example when the girl is getting dressed you can see her dressing for three different days at once. Though the story is mostly of the boy and girl there are also cut backs to the singer

There medium shots of the boy and girls looking at different couples which then suggests to the viewer that this is a romantic story line. after the shot of the couples there is then a shot back to the boy and girl showing them looking sad and lonely.

The singer appears in the same setting as the boy and girl, though non of them notice the others. For example they are all on the tube and it seems although the singer is not really real but watching over the boy and girl.

There is a medium shot of a water tank which then keeps cutting between a close up of a calender showing the change of days. The idea of the water tank not moving until the third shot suggests that every day goes by the same why.

To show that the boy and girl are having a bad day there is a medium shot of the boy in a meeting with him in focus and the other people out of focus. This suggests that he doesn't notice the other people around him. The other people all laugh and he says staring into space, which suggests that he is unhappy.

One of the motifs of this music video is the bill board of a woman sitting on a bench. the boy and girl both pass this bill boars and they draw a picture on it, eg the girl draws a rain cloud over the womens head, the boy draws an umbrella in the womens hand, the girl draws a car splashing water on the girl, the boy draws a man sitting next to the girl blocking the water with a question mark between them and the girl turns the question mark into a heart. This is also used to set up the ending of the video for the picture turns out to be true and the girl is standing in the rain with the boy holding an umbrella over her.

Plain White T's - 1,2,3,4

The video starts in black and white with a handi cam camera which gives the effect of a home made video. There is no music at this point, just the main singer of the band walking. The shots jump to clips of Chicago and people walking on the street. A heading appears on the screen, telling the viewer that this video is set in Chicago , IL, december 28, 2008.


The shots then changes to many different shots of the main singer, from long shots to medium shots with a high cutting rate. A popular choice of camera techniques within this video is zoom.


The most obvious motif within this video is firstly the black and white effect and also the captions telling the viewer about the people in the shots, For example "Michael and Susan, Married 27 years." This suggests that this song is about love and relationships. This is shown in the song for the lyrics are "(I love you) I love you There's only one way to say..."


The Narrative of the video is the main singer singing on the street and shots of lots of different couples with captions saying who there are and details about them.


There doesn't seem to be a set audience group, for the different couples are of all different ages and the main singer seems to be in his late 20s. However it has been suggested that girls like more romantic things than boys do, so therefore this music video may be aimed at girls of all different ages.
Katy Perry - Thinking of you

The Video starts with a close up of Katy Perry's

face. The video is set in the 30s in America during the war. The narrative is about a women being with another man but thinking of the man she loves who i fighting in the war. The narrative jumps from four main stages.



The First is the Katy Perry getting ready and sitting at her dressing table. There is a close up clip of her looking at a photograph of the man she is i love with, telling the viewer that she s still thinking of him. There is then a shot of a man lying in her bed.

The second main narrative is of her and the man together in her bed room. These scenes fit in with the lyrics for the song says "When I'm with him I'm thinking of you"

The third is flash back sequences of her and the man she loves together. This is clear to be flash back for the lighting is a lot warmer making the scene feel brighter and happier. The Video seems to have been inspired by the film The Notebook for some of the flash back scenes are similar to scenes in that film.

The forth narrative is of the man she loves in the war in combat.