Sexism in music videos

Sexism in music videos has been around for some time, but it has recently reached a peak where many people have started to take note a what to change.
Some artists are using this as a way to build publicity for their songs, some examples are Miley Cyrus with "Wrecking Ball", and Robin Thicke "Blurred Lines".

Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" was her first number one single in the United States after the release of its controversial music video, and as of January 2014 "Wrecking Ball" sold three million copies in the United States. The reason this video caused such an outrage could be because of the contrast from the popular Disney star "Hannah Montana" who was played by the young Miley, to the singer she is today.
I think "Miley Cyrus" made this video because she wanted to get away from the typical Disney character she was expected to play while she was young. However I feel she has over done this as she has the responsibility to her younger audience to keep it suitable.

Robin Thicke's video "Blurred Lines" was a very successful song as it made number one on a varity of Billboard charts. the song went worldwide and toped charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealan, Ireland, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom, as well as reaching the top ten in other countries. The song sold over 5 million copies in 22 weeks of release in the US  and 6 million in 29 weeks. This is the fastest in digital history.
The music video was released on the 20th of March 2013 and two versions were made, the first includes models Emily Ratajkowski, Jessi M'Bengue, and Elle Evans being topless, the second has them covered. On the 30th of March 2013 the topless version of the video was removed from Youtube for violating the sites terms of service.
The song's lyrics and music video have been called controversial with some groups who claim that it promotes date rape, this led to the song being banned at universities in the United Kingdom.
It has later come out that Robin Thicke and his wife with whom he has been with for more than 20 years and have a child together are broken up, some people have said that the song "Blurred Lines" had a contribution to their break up but this has not been confirmed.

Proposal to increase sales, broaden audiences and expand audience

I created a survey which i gave out to a range of people in order to find out how many of them watch music videos and what do they look for in a video. The survey can be found below:

I am hoping that this survey will answer the question of whether music videos appeal to younger generations more than older people. I will then suggest what my reccommendations would be to boost sales and broaden the audience of popular music videos. The results are back and are as follows:
In summary:
-the generation between 11 and 30 watch the most music videos
-Most of the answers read that people watched music videos regularly
-Most wanted to see different morals and messages in the music videos instead of love and relationships
In order to improve sales and audiences, my suggestions are:

Focus Group

These are some photos of our focus group watching our music video. They then told us what they liked and disliked about the video, this included the shot types which they felt we fully utilised and effectively demonstrated, they all thought the shot of me and sean in the drama studio was the best. They also made it clear they could understand the naritive of the artist being kicked out and having to live on the streets leaving everything but his music behind. the fact they understood this shows that the story is easily understood and is clear to some one watching for the first time.

The problem with our focus group is that the three people involved are all female and between the ages of 17-18. this means that our results are not varied and we cannot know what a younger girl or what a boy of any age thinks of the video.
Athough our target audience is mainly teenage girls which means that the focus group could represent the audience we are targeting.

Animatic

Storyboard

survey results put into wordle

What changes if any would you suggest?

·      More stop motion

·      Slightly faster

·      No changes needed. It was really good

·      None

·      None

What was your favourite aspect or shot in the music video?

·      The stop motion

·      Lip-synching

·      The guitar shots

·      The lyrics on the screen. That was pretty awesome.

·      The one with the guitar player in the background

·      Drama studio with singer and guitarist in shot

How old are you?

·      Under 10 = 0%  (0)

·      11-18 = 66.67%   (4)

·      19-25 = 16.67%  (1)

·      26+ = 16.67%  (1)

Did you understand the story and the video of the song?

·      Yes = 83.33% (5)

·      No = 16.67%  (1)

Do you think the video fits with the feel of the music?

·      Yes = 100% (6)

·      No = 0% (0)

Did you like the music video?

·      Yes = !00% (6)

·      No = 0% (0)

Album Cover Practice

asking for permission/receiving permission to use the song