Pop Music History

The name of the genre ‘pop’ abbreviated from the word ‘popular’. The genre also originated in the 50s from rock and roll. The first pop song that is recorded is from 1926. According to Grove Music Online ‘pop music’ came from Britain which was a form of rock and roll and the new style of youth influence. The most well known names in history are; The Beatles, Michael Jackson and ABBA. Pop music accounts for most of today's music charts is a mix of many music genres such as jazz to country or rock and roll to rap. Pop music is seen to be very commercial friendly, marketable and memorial with catchy choruses and verses. From the 1956 to the 1958 lots happened in the pop music industry, for example in 1956 Elvis Presley emerged with so many hit singles to follow. Then in 1958 Michael Jackson and Madonna were born which are two of the most well known people in pop. Within the 70s Madonna and Michael Jackson go forward to release number one singles in the charts. There is a wide range of music instruments that are these consist of vocals, guitars, drums and orchestral sting instruments.

Girls just want to have fun came out in 1983 and was sung by Cyndi Lauper. The song was released in the album ‘Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some’.

Camera angles are used throughout the music video to go against and follow the typical conventions and stereotypes of a pop music video. The first shot is a mid-shot of a woman baking this is stereotypically correct because women are seen to always be baking and not to leave the kitchen. The next shot is a long shot to show what the women is wearing therefore following the typical conventions that women only care about what they wear. An establishing shot is the next and it shows the town that they live in which, shows it to be quiet therefore going against the typical conventions of a pop music video as they normally are busy and doing things. Following this is a long shot of her dancing therefore following the conventions of a pop music video as it shows her to be dancing along with the music. However it goes against the stereotype of women because she doesn’t seem to care what others think therefore is shown to be dancing in the road. Following this long shot there is another long shot which shows her mother getting annoyed therefore showing that they are following the typical stereotypes of teenage girls going against their mothers and arguing a lot. The next shot is a close up of the phone which shows her not being allowed to use it therefore being controlled. This follows the conventions of women not being allowed to do the same things as men are allowed. Linking to this there is a long shot of her dad telling her off and worrying about her therefore can be seen as a ‘daddy’s girl’. Resulting in her getting her own way with her dad, therefore following the stereotype of teenage girls being a ‘daddy’s girl’. There is a mid-shot next showing her to still be on the phone which follows the stereotype of girls always being on the phone and gossiping. To follow the conventions of women being controlled there is a close up of the TV and on the TV there is a man controlling a woman by holding her over his shoulder as if he owns her. Another shot that is shown is a long shot with a high angle of a man standing over a women sitting down which shows that they can try and have fun however they are always being controlled. Lastly an establishing shot of everyone partying in her room shows that teenagers go against their parents and just want to party therefore ensuing the stereotype of teenagers.

Editing is another way that this music video follows and goes against stereotypes and conventions. This is by using fun effects that shows women can have fun. This follows the conventions of a pop video because they are mucking around and not to be taking anything seriously. However it goes against the stereotype of women because it shows that women aren’t serious and don’t care however women are stereotypically meant to look after everyone. The fast cuts that are used throughout the music video shows that she wants to do everything and everything is busy therefore following the conventions of a pop music video.

The Mise en scene is used to show that all the main characters in the music video are girls and therefore they are sticking together. This follows the stereotype of ‘girl code’ as it shows them being there for each other. By having the mother in the kitchen cooking shows that they are following the stereotype of women being in the kitchen all the time. By using the mother’s expression it is shown that, that is where the girl should be as well however the girl is rebelling. By having the man in a vest and being fat is used to show the au9idence that the mother is doing her job by caring for her husband which means that they are following the wife’s stereotype for making sure she is looking after her husband. Girls’ costumes are also used to follow the stereotypes as they are all dressed in dresses therefore shown to be girly which the typical girl is. Following this the girls are doing their hair which is following the stereotype that girls only care about what they look like. Due to this it shows men just standing around starring therefore following the conventions that women are there to be sexualised. Also following that the girls are stereotypically girl the colour her room is follows this stereotype as it is painted pink. Lastly the prop that one of the men bring her shows that women need men therefore following the conventions of women being weak, this is shown as a man brings her flowers therefore also portraying that all girls are girly.

To end the sound is used throughout to follow and go against the usual conventions and stereotypes. The sound of the women cracking the eggs in the beginning is diegetic sound which is a natural sound. This is stereotypical for the women to be baking therefore the sound of cracking eggs can be associated with women. the music in the background is non-diegetic sound which sets the scene in what time of year this is based in, this music shows that the type of music that is played in the background goes against the pop genre therefore shows the teenage girl rebelling more. Another type of diegetic sound in the music video is the singing this is a convention of a pop video because the song follows the stereotype of pop songs being catchy.

Props

Location

Costumes

Costumes for music video

Theory

Story Board

To show the ideas we have for our music video we have designed a story board based on the lyric analysis. This project was easy to do as we wrote down our ideas already on the lyrics which meant that we could draw our ideas down easy.

Questionnaire

To get people to answer our survey, we sent 20 people our survey through SurveyMonkey. These 20 people were a range of ages and had different tastes in music. This survey will help us find out what people like to see in a music video and will help with our structure. Out of the 20 people 20% were males and 80% were female. Our target audience is teenage girls and our questionnaire showed that mostly all the teenagers that answered our questionnaire liked R&B music. Having this massive pull
for R&B in the teen age group. However out of all the people who answered our questionnaire it showed a wide range of ages from teenagers to adults which showed us that there is a massive pull for the R&B genre and therefore the genre R&B is a popular genre.

We asked the 20 people who we gave the questionnaire to, to rate out of 5 stars how they would rate the genre. By asking this question it gave us an understanding whether or not our chosen genre would be liked globally. From our questionnaire we can see that over half of the people rated R&B either 4 or 5 stars and the R&B genre was the most popular. When asked who was there favourite R&B artist 8 people said Rihanna therefore making her the most wanted artist followed by Beyonce,
Whitney Huston. Following this we asked the same question for both Pop and Rock. The rating for Pop music was mostly rated at 4 stars however wasn't as popular than R&B. Within this genre the most favourite artist that was chosen for this genre was Justin Bieber which was followed by Sia and Adele. This helped our group because we decided before that we wanted to use a female artist as we know that it can help us fulfil our best potential, therefore seeing these results shows us that females are most popular over males.

However Rock had mostly negative comments and 30% of the 20 people rated the genre 1 stars which was seen as rubbish therefore proving that we have chosen the most popular genre. following this 7 people said that they didn't have a favourite artist for the Rock genre and this may be due to people not liking the genre. In contrast the most favourite band was Fall Out Boy with a vote from 5 people therefore showing the lack of interest in Rock music. Following all these questions we have decided R&B is the best genre for us to do as it is the most in demand and most popular.

To find out how popular watching music videos are, we asked how many hours roughly do they spend watching music videos in a week? This question is important because we want to make sure that people are interested in watching our music video. Due to the technology improving everyday people aren't watching music videos as much. This is caused by MP3 players improving and Radios becoming easier to use and get hold off. The results showed us that a massive 45% of the 20 people we asked had music videos going on in the background however didn't watch it. Following this only 25% of the 20 people watches music videos between 1-3 hours a week therefore this means that it isn't that popular, linking to this only 5% watch music videos for 7+ hours a week. This shows us that watching music videos aren't as important than the music, which means we need to make sure that people want to see our music video and therefore make it popular. This is proven by a high 20% of the people we asked don't watch music videos at all and therefore this proves that it isn't that popular to watch music videos.

Taking this questionnaire into account we have decided to use the genre of R&B as it is proven to get the best results and therefore is the most popular. Following this we have decided to use a female artist as it means that more people will be interested following the results we have received.

R&B Music History

Rhythm 'n' Blues (R'n'B) started back in the 1940's known as "jazz blues" it was said that the music was descried as "urbane, rocking, jazz-based music with a heavy, insistent beat." It originally was popular in the African-American culture and the term rhythm 'n' blues was originally used by record companies so they could draw in the primary target audience being African-Americans. It was pre-war time which was when the African-Americans population.

This R&B song was released in 1996 by the Backstreet boys and is called "No Dignity". From a lot of the conversations shown in this music video and what they say I personally think that this music video is aimed at young teenage boys. For example they say "attracting honeys like a magnet" this is a stereotypical convection of teenage boys as stereotypically a teenager boys dream is to have a lot of girls around them.

The different camera shots that were used during this music video, represents and challenges the typical stereotype for R&B artists. The first camera shot is a close up of a car which can show that they have a lot of money and that it is important, another shot that represents this is that they are wearing gold chains and that they are noticeable which can also represent money. The next shot is a mid shot of women which shows that women are an important part within the music video. Following this the next shot is a long shot of women dancing therefore shown to be sexualised. Low angle shot came after of the men which shows power as they are looking down on it. Linking to this the next shot was a high angle of women therefore showing that they have no power and the men are higher. Another way that women are sexualised in this music video is the close up of their bums therefore that's what the men want the focus to be on. Following this the next why is a mid shot of their bodies therefore these men think that this is the next important thing to be looking at. Sexuality women in this music video is the consistent thing as they then follow with a low angle shot up their skirts. Therefore all these camera shots and angles are following the typical conventions of a R&B music video as they concentrate on the sexual pars of women and sexualised them more.

The Mise en scene in this music video shows the costumes that the women are wearing whilst dancing progreactive as they are showing a lot of flesh. Another thing is that the ratio of men to women is that there is more women than men and therefore shows that within music videos they are following the stereotypical convention as it shows that men like to have a lot of women around them. Also the lighting in the music video shows it to be very dark and therefore following the serotype of R&B music videos to be dingy and to represent clubs and the street. Another part of the Mise en scene that shows that men have more power is the costumes that the men and women wear. The women wear really revealing and sexualised outfits as the men are mainly covered up and they normally only show parts of the flesh such as their arms that show them to be 'superior'. Following this when the women is singing there isn't as many shots of her than there is of the men when thy are singing showing that she isn't as important.

The sound is also used in R&B music videos which include non diegetic and diegetic sound. The non diegetic sound is the humming in the background that gives it a sense of acoppella which can show that they can do more things than just sign. The other non diegetic sound is the piano in the background which is an convention for R&B because the type of instrument makes it rhythm and blues. However the only diegetic sound that is in the music video is the signing which is a typical convention for a music video.

Lastly editing is used to give the music video a club vibe. This is down by fast cuts as the music gets a fast pace. Therefore it links to the type of music that the music video is used for. Following this women are sexualised again by the quick flashes of women which shows that women are to be sexualised and it attracts the men's attention more to watch the video.

The next video is "Dilemma" which was sang by the artists Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland. This R&B song was realised in 2002 in the album "Nellyville". This music video and sign is more aimed at Trena he girls as it’s more relaxed and not focused on women as much.

The camera shots in this music video follow and goes against the typical conventions of R&B music video. The first shot in the music video that is shown is an establishing shot that shows the type of town that this music video is based in. It shows that everyone knows everyone and that everyone on the street is close. This shot follows the typical conventions of R&B because it shows the song being linked to real life situations. The next shot also follows the conventions of an R&B song as it is a mid-shot of women following the man about. This shows that the women are powerless and that the women are sexualised which may mean that men are seen to own women. A low angle shot is the next shot that is shown in the music video which shows that the men are powerful and make the decisions and that women should obey them. Therefore against the lyrics this shot is going against and following the typical conventions as it shows men are more powerful however the lyrics are saying that she is going against her man, which is seen as going against the typical stereotype for women as she isn’t following or doing what her man says. Another shot that is following the typical conventions for an R&B music video is the long shot of a woman’s legs, this shows that women are there to be sexualised and therefore will attract males attention to the music video. Another shot that follows the conventions of a the R&B genre is another long shot of a man sitting on the car therefore shows he has money and women should respect him for that. Lastly a high shot  showing the women in distress shows that the women needs a man to save her and therefore follows the typical conventions of an R&B music video, as the men are superior and women need looking after.

The Mise en scene is used to follow and go against the typical R&B conventions. Firstly the men are more covered than the women therefore this attracts a male’s attention and follows the typical stereotype of a woman being sexualised. Another part of Mise en scene that is used to follow the stereotypes of an R&B music video is the way the different characters in the music video are placed. This is shown when the men are sitting on the chair and the women are standing around them. This shows men to have more power as the women should only be there to look after the man. Also the Mise en scene is used to follow the stereotype of men leaving this is shown by the man getting fed up with the woman and leaving therefore shows the man to have more power over the women. The props that are used in this music video follow the stereotype because the music video uses props such as cars to follow the typical stereotype of males in R&B songs. This stereotype is that men have a lot of money as they are the breadwinners and therefore shows that men have more power. However cars are also used in the music video to go against the typical stereotypes of women as it is shown for women to be driving. This is going against the stereotype because it shows that women can be independent and that women don’t always need men to be around for them therefore is seen not to be conventional.

The sound is used by being spilt into non diegetic and diegetic sound. This helps sound go against and follow the conventions of R&B music videos. The diegetic sound that is used is the singing throughout the music video this is conventional as all/most of R&B music videos have the artist singing. Secondly the mum shouting out is a diegetic sound as it isn’t added in and is natural to the music video. This goes against the conventions of an R&B music video as they don’t normal have talking over the singing. The non-diegetic sound is the instruments that are used in the music video. This is because there are many instruments that are used and therefore follows the stereotype of R&B music as they have a mixture of instruments to create the beat.
In this music video there isn’t a lot of editing. This goes against the conventional R&B music video as there is normally a lot going on. In this music video there is two types of editing which is fast cutting when the beat speeds up to show that there is a lot of emotion in the song. This follows the stereotypes of R&B music as there are normally a lot of emotions in the atmosphere. The second type of editing is fading between shots. This is going against the conventions of an R&B music video as it shows the emotions to be calm and relaxed, however the lyrics reflect differently.

The last video is “Anit giving up” which is sang by Craig David. This song was released in 2016 in the album "Following my Intuition". This music video is different to a lot of other R&B music videos and therefore this means it goes against a lot of the conventions.

The shots that are used in this music video are very simple and therefore most of the shots don’t represent a lot. This means that it goes against the conventions of an R&B music video. The first shot is a mid-shot of his face that shows the audience who the main artist is. This follows the conventions of an R&B music video as it shows who the artist is to the audience so that they can focus on him more. After that shot there is a long shot of a girl, this shows the girl not to be sexualised as it isn’t focused on one part of her body. Throughout this music video there are a lot of long shots that show the men and women to be equal and neither of them to be sexualised.

The Mise en scene is used to follow or go against the conventions of an R&B music video. The lighting is used in this music video to go against the conventions as it is bright where as others it is dark or dark at one point during the music video. Another part of the Mise en scene that goes against the conventions of an R&B music video is the costumes, this is because all the people included in the music video are that they are covered and therefore aren’t sexualised. Next the Mise en scene goes against the conventions because the men in the music video are seen to be dancing as well and stereotypically men are seen to be to cool for dancing. Linking to this there are only five people in the music video therefore keeping it simple and equal.

The editing is used a little to go against and follow the conventions of an R&B music video. The cuts are suttle and therefore this is going against the conventions because there stereotypically really noticeable and fast. Secondly the other editing technique is that there is a panning shot which flows therefore this goes against the conventions of a typical music video as this is calm and isn’t fast.

Lastly sound is used to follow and go against the conventions of an R&B music video because there is non-diegtic sound that is deepness of sounds. This follows the typical conventions as it creates an upbeat atmosphere in the music video. Finally the singing is diegetic and therefore is natural which isn’t typical for an R&B music video.

Lyrics

The lyrics for 'Man Down' was to long for the time limit we got given therefore we had to cut parts out. In these annotations it shows where we decided to cut verses out and what cuts, shots and miss en scene we wanted for each line of the lyrics. This meant that we are able to put our story board ideas straight onto the story board. 

Initial ideas

Here is a video that shows our initial ideas for our music video.

Lip syncing

To film this we found it difficult to get the music lined up to the lip syncing. To make sure that the timing was correct we played the music out loud in order to make it easier. We found out from this that the genre we want to use (R&B) you have to be more sassy than other genres and therefore that should be portrayed when you lip sync. The challenges was learning the words quick enough for us to film this little clip, that means that it might take a while for the actress to learn the words for the whole music video. Taking this into account would be that in order to make our music video as believable as we can we will need to take a few clips of the same part to make sure we can match it up perfectly. 

Institutional research

Analysing student videos

To show different A2 media students music videos I have done two different videos analysing two different music videos. One that I think is good and one that I don't think is that good.

The one below is the a music video that I think is good and therefore I think we should you some ideas from this music video.

The music video below is a music video I don't think is that good and therefore when we start to do our music video, we should keep in our minds what was bad about this music video and make sure we don't make the same mistakes.

My record label

For our record label we have decided to use the name ‘Orbit Record’ this is because the word ‘Orbit’ symbolises the earth and the way it moves around the sun and therefore it is associated with life and motion. Therefore can be seen to move with the times. Also orbiting can foreshadow a record player which is when the word ‘Record’ fits in. also the word ‘Record’ has a natural flow and therefore fits in nicely with ‘Orbit’.

 

My first idea is to follow the R’n’B labels that already exist. To fit in with this generalisation I decided to use a black and white colour theme. This is because it can be seen to stand out but still be natural therefore is consistent. The two circles around the wording can symbolise orbiting and therefore creates an optical illusion. Having one thicker line on the outside and a thinner one in the middle it doesn’t make the logo look to bold and therefore is kept looking simple.

 

The second idea I came up with was to use a picture of a record label and therefore can symbolise the word ‘Record’. The record label logo for this idea came from the record label ‘Jive’ logo, and therefore already can be seen as a R’n’B record label. The same font is used throughout the logo however having the font curved creates the sense that it is orbiting the record label. The blue colouring of the wording is seen to look simple however stand out against the black record label, the colour blue also symbolises the earth as it can be associated with natural things. However the first one is more natural.

 

Lastly the third record label I created follows the same idea as the first record label however I have changed the broader. This is because having a rectangle finish gives the record label a nicer finish. This logo looks very similar to the record company ‘Motown’’s record logo. Also the black and white theme colour is professional and makes it stand out. The two fonts that are slightly different means that they are able to be recognised however they complement each other. This is similar to the record label ‘Roc Nation’ as this record label used two different colours which were red and black to make it stand out. Also this record label makes it look modern and therefore it fits into today’s society. However the record label looks like it should be aimed for either a hip hop or rock genre and therefore won’t be able to fit in with out R’n’B record label.

 

Overall I think that I will use the first record label I created as it is professional however simple and will be easy to recognise. Also the reason why I don’t think I should use the third record label is because it is to general for the music genres and the second record label looks like an anime or a cartoon therefore is to childish.

Target audience

To show what our target audience is, I have created a mood broad full of the things that I think are associated with teenage girls. I have added in things such as hobbies, food, clothing shops and social media that I believe are associated with teenage girls. The hobbies I have included are;

• Getting hair done
• Getting nails done
• Going shopping
• Hanging out with their friends

The social media I have included is;

• Snapchat
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

The shops that I have included are;

• Victoria's Secret
• Victoria's Secret- PINK
• Topshop
• RiverIsland
• Urban Outfitters
• Newlook

lastly the food I included were;

• Ice cream
• Nandos
• Chocolate
• Pizza