Once I have finished my context work and gained a better understanding of how music videos are made or how the producers make them effective etc… I started to discuss ideas with my work partner Ellie to see what type of genre or style we want to do for our final project.
We both spent a while discussing a few different artists and song choices to see what we both will enjoy to work on and what will benefit the both of us.
We both came to the conclusion that ‘Pop’ is the best genre to do as we listen to this genre a lot more than the others and have better knowledge on the songs in this category. We both were indecisive at first with what artist we wanted to research and what song but then we both made a decision and chose the song ‘Break My Stride’ by Matthew Wilder.
The main reason we chose this song is due to the fact that we both enjoy older pop songs especially ones from the 1980s. We both were researching and listening to a range of songs when Ellie suggested to do ‘Break My Stride’ and then that is when we both started to get loads of ideas for our final project and what we want to create.
Mind Map
The photo above is a mind map that I had created which is about different artists and song choices that me and Ellie could choose for our production work. We decided to pick ‘Pop’ as our genre as we know more songs and artists that we could chose to study and base our production work on. Instead of doing a modern pop song we thought that we would pick a older one as it will be a bit different and more interesting to film, we decided to pick the 1980’s as we both have a lot of knowledge from songs and artists in this decade. As you can see above I wrote down a few different artists that we could possibly chose, Me and Ellie decided to go for Matthew Wilder and the song ‘Break My Stride’ as we both have ideas with the different scenes that we can create.
The main reason why I created a Mind Map was so that I could write down any ideas that I had and then expand on them to make them even more better, I also was able to discuss the ideas that I had with Ellie so that we know what we want to create for our final piece. Creating a mind map is very useful as we are able to understand our ideas better and make them more clear so that we can communicate what we want to produce to our audience clearly.
I also included some relevant facts that we could use in our production piece or create a hidden meaning etc…
Background Information
Matthew Wilder produced a record breaking song known as ‘Break My stride’,the song was so successful that it was able to go to top 5 in the UK and USA. When Matthew Wilder first wrote the song and sent it to the record company a man named ‘Clive Davis’ said that the song would not be a hit and basically would not be successful at all but Matthew still tried and decided to send the song to a different company. He then got an album deal and his song became extremely well known and successful all around the world.
The song was released in 1983 and was popular from 1983-1984 and the genre of the song is ‘pop’.
Matthew wilder wrote the song about a relationship that he had been in where the lady had decided to leave him because it was not allowing her to develop her self personally. This is where he got the song title from as ‘Break My Stride’ refers to keep on moving which is what the lady wanted to do and from writing this song about her it was his most successful song that he had released.
The song was mainly written by Matthew Wilder but he also had help from Greg Prestopino.
Analysis of ‘Break My Stride’-
The above video is a performance type of video. I know that it is a performance type of video due to the fact that it is a live stage performance that uses a range of different camera angles and shots and there is no story line shown. The purpose of this performance type of video is to promote the artist and his song ‘Break My Stride’ also the live performance can draw in different audiences and gain new listeners. As the video is a performance video the audience is able to just focus on the main singer which is ‘Matthew Wilder’ and have a better understanding of the lyrics that he is singing and what they mean.
In the beginning of the video a mid-shot is used which is then turned into a wide shot. A mid-shot can be used to show the characters in the scene, the location it is set and what type of video that it is going to be. The camera then zoomed out into a wide shot to give the audience a better insight of what is happening at that very moment and as this is a performance type of video the wide shot enables the audience to see all of the performers that are on stage playing along to the song.
The video also contains some ‘Thematic’ type of elements mainly because there are some background dancers which are normally used in ‘Pop’ genre style of music videos.
There is a lot of zoom ins and outs throughout the song. By zooming in the audience is able to see more details about a specific person or part whereas zooming out shows everything at once. Zooming out is also a good way to show the environment and location that the video is set at.
A medium close up is used to show the main artist who is singing the song, it is also used so that the audience can instantly recognize the artist and possibly draw in different audiences.
As the video is a live performance there is spot lights used on the performers and main artist to make them stand out and keep the audience engaged onto them. Spot Lights are commonly used in live performances, concerts, musicals etc… to make something specific stand out and to show the meaning that it has.
There are no specific costumes used but as the song was released in the 1980’s there are specific dress codes which show this. The main artist ‘Matthew Wilder’ is shown to be wearing what most people in the 1980’s used to wear such as a tight sleeved top with a baggy t shirt over the top, black jeans and boots which is just casual attire that people wore in the 80’s. The performers in the background are seen to be wearing unique clothing pieces which suggests that the clothing will help the performers stand out and draw the audiences attention to them. There is a reflective type of material placed on the clothing which would shine and also catch the audiences attention. The makeup and haistyles are very 80’s too, the hair can been seen as very voluminous and thick or curly.
As this is a live show the location shown is either at a venue or somewhere that has plenty of space for the audience that is watching.
The sound used is Non-Diegetic as its a live show so there has been no added music or sounds over the top, there is just the main artist singing ‘Break My Stride’ with a audience cheering the artist and the performers. Half way through the performance there is a lady who cuts into the song to explain to the audience what will be happening that evening but the sound is still Non-Diegetic all the way through.
The main purpose of this Live video is to promote Matthew Wilder and his song ‘Break My Stride’ also as the song was such a big hit he was able to draw in many different audiences which will profit him and the venue he is at. As this is a live performance the audience are able to see what Matthew Wilder is like as a person and the audience are able to have a better insight of him.
The lyrics in the song has many different meanings throughout. Matthew Wilder mainly wrote the song about his previous relationship where his girlfriend separated from him because she wanted to focus on other things. The lines “I sailed away to china, in a little rowboat to find ya” could suggest that he kept on with the relationship with his girlfriend but she had already left. Later in the song he sings about “Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride, Nobody’s gonna slow me down” which can show that he has progressed and moved on from his girlfriend and he is going to keep on moving and let nothing get in his way. I also know that this song refers to a relationship from the lines “Never let another girl like you work me over, Never let another girl like you drag me under” which shows that his previous relationship affected him badly. There is a positive message within the song as the main message is to never give up an to keep on going no matter what, this is a really good message to show his audience as its a really positive thing.
By listening to the music you can instantly recognize that it is a pop genre song as its catchy, happy, positive, upbeat etc… All Pop songs tend to have a similar vibe to them which just helps the audience instantly recognize the genre of the song.
The lyrics and the music link together as the song is very upbeat and catchy whereas the lyrics have a positive message. From listening to the song and watching the video I instantly recognized that it is a 1980’s song as the dress codes, hair, style of the song etc… was like the 80’s.
The audience for the song ‘Break My Stride’ by Matthew Wilder is aimed towards a audience who enjoy pop music, upbeat songs, 1980’s songs etc… I wouldn’t say that there is a specific age group as any age group can listen to this song and enjoy it.
Ideas
My initial research has helped me to develop and plan some ideas that I would like to test and try out when doing my production work. I have been able to gain a better understanding of what the lyrics mean, what the song is about, what style of song it is etc… and I am able to use this knowledge when creating my production piece. I analysed the song ‘Break My stride’ so that I could pick up on any key details that I can use in my production piece and the key details will benefit me and my work. Research is generally really beneficial as it gives a better insight into things, my research above helped me understand why music videos are so important to different audiences and the different meanings that an artist shows though a music video.
The main aim is now to develop my research and ideas and start to plan my production work by taking test clips. From the research I was able to take some ideas that I would like to incorporate into my production piece as I believe it will benefit my work.
When it comes to creating my production piece I want to ensure that I include all of the relevant codes and conventions, I think I will be mainly using symbolic codes as I would like to show how the character feels or what the character is trying to show to an audience. Me and Ellie will be using a range of camera angles and shots so that we can have a different perspective on the story of the song but also changing the camera angles will make the video more interesting and intriguing to the audience. Mis-en-scene is one of the most important code and convention to use, we want to have a specific dress code that links to the song ‘Break My Stride’ such as a 1980’s clothing theme as that is when the song was released etc…
One of the main things I need to do is to make the production piece appeal to our specific age group which is aimed towards an audience who likes Pop genre music and the 1980’s. When me and Ellie create our production piece we will be taking this into consideration and adding in ideas from our context and research page or any ideas that we have thought of using.
As the song ‘Break My Stride’ is very upbeat and catchy we want to make the music video follow this theme so that they can link together. Our main aim for when we create our production piece is to create something that our audience will find enjoyable to watch and see but to also see the meaning behind why we chose to use or do specific things.
Extra Research on Audiences and Music Videos
What is a audience?
An audience is a group of people who listen and watch specific things whether its a concert, a film, a music video, a play etc…
There is also a ‘Targeted audience’ which is where producers make their projects and work stand out to a specific audience whether its a younger generation or a older generation or even different genders etc.. The producers would use audience research to find out what appeals to their targeted audience so that their products appeal to them.
Understanding different audience is very important as it gives us an understanding of the different types of audiences and what appeals to them. Different audiences have different characteristics such as Gender, Age, occupation, Ethnicity etc…
Marketing
Music videos are made to promote an artist, an album or a single song. If they are made to promote an artist it could be because the artist is new to the music industry and by promoting them they gain recognition and it helps to boost their music career. There is also a possibility that the artist is already well known and the music video could be there to help promote their new songs or albums so that they reach different audiences.
Music videos can follow certain codes and conventions which help with the marketing and promotions. For example if the music video is a pop genre then specific codes and conventions such as bright colors or bright lighting would be used and these would appeal more towards that specific audience.
There are also different music video styles that artists tend to follow such as performance, narrative or thematic styles of music videos.
Artists can be promoted through may different interactive platforms whether its a social media platform or a band or artist web page. Artists getting promoted is very important as new audiences are able to find out about them or its also a way for the artists to earn money.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zw8xfrd/revision/2
Music Videos
Music videos have many different purposes whether its to entertain a specific audience or to create an image of a certain artist, all music videos have a main purpose or goal that needs to be achieved.
All music videos have different codes and conventions depending on the genre or style of the music video. Some codes and conventions can be:
- Camera angles
- Sound
- Editing
- Mise-en-scene
Example : In a rock music video there may be more close-ups of the artist/ band as they typically use performance style of video. The dress codes can be seen as black jackets or black boots etc…
Music videos are very important in the music industry as they help promote the artist and their music and gain more viewers. Artists also gain profit from this which is very beneficial to them.
Summary
Overall by doing the research I have been able to get a better understanding about what the song is about and the main meaning behind it. Research is extremely beneficial to me as It enables to me to really understand things from a different perspective, I have been able to learn more about the artist Matthew Wilder and his career which is useful as I can use the knowledge I learnt in my production piece. As understanding audiences is very important to understand, I took out some research to learn more about the different audiences that there are and why there are audiences. As I have a better understanding of this, I am able to understand what my target audience is and how I am able to draw them in and gain their attention.
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