Beachcombing

Keyshia Cole - Heaven Sent



This is a great, soothing song by Keyshia Cole and I enjoy it even more when watching the music video as it matches the lyrics and the feel of the song perfectly. A female audience ageing from 16-40 is targeted by this music video through the costume, narrative, style and conventions.

A female audience with ages ranging from 16-40 is targeted through the costume. Keyshia Cole wears long, brightly coloured dresses throughout the music video. The length of the dresses really appeals to this target audience as they are in fashion and are most commonly worn by this age group, more specifically by the older women in the age range as they like to keep their modesty. Therefore females aged from 16-40 can personally identify themselves with Keyshia Cole as they have something in common and will therefore most likely enjoy the music video more. The bright coloured dresses appeals also to this age range, in particular the younger females in the audience as they like to wear bold colours like yellow and pink as they are very pretty and girly. The colours of the dresses also suit the song and the song title because yellow and pink are very innocent colours and reflect a heavenly feel on the audience.

The narrative targets this female audience of 16-40 year olds also as it is about women that cant help who they love and want their love to think that they are 'sent from heaven'. This narrative targets women of these ages as they tend to be in romantic relationships from the age of 16 until the age of 40, therefore they can personally relate to what Keyshia Cole is singing about. The narrative is reflected in the music video as the sole focus is on heaven. The locations used in the music video are very natural, earthly and beautiful locations connoting what heaven looks like and that God's creation is perfect.


A performance style has been used as we see Keyshia Cole throughout the whole music video singing in a heavenly atmosphere. This is to emphasise the heavenly locations used including; beaches and waterfalls and her presence in front of them to show that she can be a piece of heaven for her love. This is to show the target audience that they too can be heavenly for their man.

The audience is also targeted through the camera conventions as we see a lot of long shots and close-ups which are typical in music videos. Especially the use of close-ups to show Keyshia Cole's passion and love for her man as we see her lip syncing the lyrics. There is also a lot of camera movement rather than cuts to follow Keyshia Cole and to track over the sea and the beautiful islands etc. In addition to this there are a lot of dissolves used to show Keyshia Cole's face over the beautiful scenery to show the audience that she is a part of this heaven, literally.

The mise-en-scene in this music video gave me a lot of inspiration for my music video, as it was constructed very well and all of the elements in the mise-en-scene lead to deeper connotations about the preferred reading of the song. Proving that the music video was well thought of and planned in pre-production, therefore I need to make sure that when I am producing my music video it must be planned to the best possible standard.

The Isley Brothers - Busted ft. JS



This is one of my favorite music videos as it tells a good story. I feel that this targets an audience of both genders of the ages 20-35 and this is done through the costume, narrative, style and conventions.

This audience is targeted through the costume because the way the females are dressed in this music video is very modern, slightly provocative and youthful. This allows an audience of 20-35 year olds to perhaps personally identify with their costumes. However, the men in this video dress more sophisticated in suits and ties connoting that they may be of an older more mature age which appeals to a more mature audience.

The narrative in this music video is that a man's girlfriend has been cheating on him with another man. After returning late home one day her boyfriend starts questioning her of her where abouts and she doesn't stick to one story as he had called her friends the ones that she had claimed to be out with. Realizing that she has been lying and is cheating on him, he kicks her out and calls her a taxi to leave the house. This narrative can relate to this target audience of both genders that are 20-35 years old as they may be able to personally relate to the situation as they may have cheated on someone in a relationship or may have even been cheated on.

This music video is a narrative performance. This style has been used so that a story could be told in the music video whilst the artists are singing it, to allow the target audience to really understand the situation and empathize with the man who is being cheated on as we can see and hear his anger.

The conventions demonstrated in this music video are plenty of long shots, to show the artists body language, so that the audience can see their emotion. In this music video in particular there are lots of conventions suiting the R&B/Hip-hop genre, including; mansions, expensive cars, jewelry, designer bags, etc.

I love the narrative performance element in this music video as it helped to highlight the themes of the song. This inspired me because I want to use an artists song that fits into a similar genre as this one (R&B/Soul), so after seeing this music video it has made me consider using a narrative performance styled music video as it is very interesting and entertaining.

Floetry - Floetic



This song is by a female vocal group called 'Floetry', their music video for the song 'Floetic' is very interesting as it involves some animation, some that is relevant to the song and some that is irrelevant. An audience is targeted in the music video through the costume, narrative, style and conventions.

The costumes that the artists are wearing lead me to believe that an audience of both genders with ages ranging from 30-50 are being targeted because the clothing being worn by the artists protects their modesty and they are dressing very age appropriate as they too are within that age range, so little skin in being displayed. Therefore an audience interested in this R&B/Soul genre music would perhaps personally identify with the artists through their costume.

There is little narrative in this music video as it is full of random action from people on the street and some performance from the artists themselves. By filming what seems to be everyday people dancing on the streets of America, an American audience is targeted of both genders between or of the ages 30-50 years old. This will uplift the hearts of the target audience as they will still feel young and vibrant. The action of all of these people dancing together connotes a strong sense of unity between people of different ethnicity's, cultures and faiths. This is connotes a representation of America and London today as the artists state that they are from London when giving a postcode, so they are trying to signify equality.

The Style used in this music video is performance along with some animation.This targets an audience as they are entertaining them through the performance element of the music video to engage the audience as they'll feel like they are singing directly to them through their screens. The animated elements within the music video also provide great elements of entertainment for the target audience as it expresses creativity and uniqueness to separate this specific music video from other mainstream videos within the industry today.

There are a lot of typical music video conventions used, especially within the camera language. There are a lot of close-ups used when the artists are singing, this is to highlight their passion for the song and the lyrics that they are trying to convey to the audience as we see them closing their eyes whilst singing at times. There is also a lot of camera movement, more specifically a lot of pans when showing the other people in the music video standing on the street.

This music video has inspired me as it is unusual for a song of this R&b/Soul genre to use animation, but they have and it looks creative not tacky. Therefore, it has opened my eyes to more potential ideas for my music video which will be of a similar genre because I know that there are no limitations as to what styles can be used in a music video of this genre now.

Aaliyah - One In A Million



This is one of my favorite old songs, by Aaliyah. An audience that are particularly interested in the listed themes; love, romance, partnership, dancing and acting are being targeted through the costume, narrative, style and conventions of the music video.

Throughout the majority of the music video Aaliyah wears crop tops, this hints a theme of romance as the outfits are quite provocative as they reveal a lot of skin, targeting an audience with the interest of romance through the artists costume.


No narrative is really being shown in the music video as the selected style of it avoids revealing a narrative. However, a man does feature in the music video whom the artist dances with suggesting that he is the man she is singing about who's love is a 'one in a million'. This targets an audience with the interests of love, romance, partnership and dancing as we see the pair dancing closely together proving all of these themes existence. Therefore the audience may be able to personally identify with this music video because of the portrayal of these themes.

The style of this music video is performance, but not wholly as it is mixed with elements of dance and acting to signify the main theme 'love' in the song. An audience is targeted through the dancing and acting in the music video as the audience will enjoy it for both entertainment and personal identification purposes. As they will like watching the artist and her partner dancing and they may in fact identify with the dancing because they themselves are dancers or just dance as a hobby.

The conventions of music videos are clearly evident in this music video as we see a lot of camera movement, from tracks to pans. One example of a track used in this video is when it tracks Aaliyah whist she is singing from her legs to head. A lot of close-ups are also used of her face and body whilst she is dancing and standing making small movements performing. The music video includes a lot of transitions in the editing, especially dissolves, which are very common in music videos. For example from 3:17-3:43 there are lots of dissolves from one shot of Aaliyah to another.

This music video has inspired me as the editing is very good as it has been thought of and mapped out really well. A lot of the conventions of a music video within the editing field have been used which make it well structured.

Lauryn Hill ft Bob Marley - Turn Your Lights Down Low



I love this music video because it is very culturally relevant, although it narrows down the target audience, coming from a Caribbean background I enjoy it a lot. A black, Caribbean audience is targeted in this music video through the costume, narrative, style and conventions.

The costume in this music video targets a black, Caribbean audience as the people in it are wearing very bright, bold colours that are representative of the Caribbean islands like; Jamaica, St.Lucia, Barbados etc. These colours are also representative of the Caribbean islands as they connote summer and in these tropical countries the weather is typically always hot even if its raining and the sun is shining for the majority of the time.

There is some narrative in this music video as we see a man take Lauryn Hill out, they seem like they like each other and as they're riding on a motorbike the song sings 'I want to give you some good, good loving', connoting that they are lovers or soon to be lovers. This targets a black Caribbean audience as the pair are black and seem to be riding through a Caribbean island, therefore it is likely that black, Caribbean's will be able to relate to the narrative and song better.

This music video is styled so that there is a lot of narrative showing along with some performance from the artist/s. This is to portray a story to the audience, or the message intended in the song or even to reveal what the song is exactly about. In this music video, the narrative targets young, black Caribbean lovers as that seems to be the main theme in the narrative - sex but in a romantic relationship as it is sung about subtly and respectfully.

The conventions of a music video are used in this one as there is a lot of camera movement, more specifically pans from left to right into the next shot. There are also a lot of long shots to show the people featuring in the music video and the mise-en-scene to really develop a feel for the Caribbean within the audience.

This music video has inspired my ideas for my video as it puts a lot of emphasis on the mise-en-scene, which really helps audience members to understand the song better in a narrative styled music video.