Evaluation

Media Audience

My audience was an AB audience of ages 16-25 and I represented this age group through the actors in the video as well as my artist. On the website you can see that the artist is quite a high class character as he is always dressed formally. He is also in the age group that I have targeted. Other techniques that have been used to conform to the target audience is the links to social media. Social media is used predominantly by a young audience, so by implementing links on the website to  different social pages means that it appeals to the young demographic of 16-15 year olds. It is also a form on audience interaction as the audience feel more connected with the artist. The materialistic props and the clothes (certain brands) were chosen specifically to target the popular desires of the target audience. For example the use of the car brand "Mercedes" appeals to the young, AB audience as it is a luxury/sports car brand that is popular with the younger generation as well as expensive and aspirational.

Media Industries

The genre that i was inspired by was "rap" and my music video conformed to most of the conventions of a typical rap video, however, it does not conform to some. For example, a convention in stereotypical rap music videos is the sexualsation of women which falls under a patriarchal ideology and the idea that women in the western world are seen as objects by men. My video chose not to conform to his and alternatively represented women as powerful and independent.  My video did conform to the idea of boasting about success and showing off luxury assets such as cars. My video also conforms to a narrative music video type as it is telling a story of rags to riches. This conforms to Neales theory of genre hybridity as the video has elements of more than just one genre. This makes the music video more interesting as it is not predictable and too similar to other videos. My artists logo appears consistently across the video and the website which is there to build a brand identity for the artist. There is also a very consistent theme of black and gold/yellow.

Media Representation

There are multiple representations of different social groups within the video. The representation of females in the video does not conform to that of stereotypical rap music video. Van Zoonens Feminist theory states that women bodies are represented as spectacles for men. In my video, the female character is represented and an independent and successful business women. The focus is on her status and power rather than her looks. The main contrast is between rich and poor, especially at the start of the video. the less wealthier man is seen looking very scruffy and not well groomed whereas the wealthier man was the opposite. The wealthier man is also very arrogant and "stuck up" which is portrayed with how he laughs at the poorer man and pushes him out of the way. As it goes on the poorer man gets richer and this is represented through a change of outfit and how he looks cleaner. However he shows that he is humble and not stuck up in the final scene where he is celebrating in a tracksuit to show he has not forgotten his roots.

Media Language

The use of camera work, props, location and costume all work together to make the video look smooth and professional. The video feature many cinematic shots that help it looks more professional. There were a range of shot in the video. Close ups and extreme close ups were used in order to focus on details like brand names/logos as well as writing (eg texts). I also used many wide angle shots to establish were the scene was taking place. As my video had a narrative it conforms to Barthes narratology (ball of string) theory. There are a few narratives in the video eg. the main rags to riches story; the relationship between the main character and the female character, and also the fall of the rich man. It also conforms to Todorovs theory of narratology. The video starts in disequilibrium and ends in equilibrium. There are a few inter textual references to the TV shows Power and Empire which are shows about a man and woman working together as equals to make money.