Audience Concept Case Study

8/12/2019 Audience Concept Case Study

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You Me At Six: Reckless

A case study focusing on the concept

of audience, relating to my ownproduction.


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Institutional Information

Band: You Me At Six

Genre: Alternative/indie rock

Nationality: English

Album: Sinners Never Sleep

Album Recorded: 2011, Los Angeles,California, U.S.

Album Release Date: 3 October 2011

Label: Virgin

Track Name: Reckless

Track Number: 8Track Length: 4:29

Track Single Release Date: 22 October2012


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Primary Target Audience DemographicOwn Production

Age: 17-21

Most people shown in the video, as well as all band members andentourage, appear to be around this age which allows an audience of a

similar age to identify themselves with those shown in the shots. Swearing,

alcohol and somewhat general reckless behaviour shown in the video is

stereotypically associated with people of this age.

Gender: Male

Most people shown in the video are male. All-male band.Ethnicity: White British

Most people shown in shot are of this ethnicity. Binge drinking and

childish behaviour commonly seen as stereotypical of British youth.

Reckless

The audience demographic of this music video would be deemed as almost identical to that of myown production as, similarly, most people featured in the video are white British males, suspected

to be around the ages of 17-21. However, the target audience for this track could potentially aim to

include females; on several occasions the band is seen to be directly interacting with female fans.

However, considering genre and the fact that the majority of figures shown are male, I believe the

audience demographic to be mainly male dominated but aims to begin to develop the generic

audience of the indie rock genre to include females also.


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Audience and Video RelationshipGig Experience/Performance in Reckless:

Gigs and concerts are extremely popular within the music industry and

especially so within the indie/alternative rock genre; this upbeat genre

relies heavily on the experience and atmosphere surrounding live

performances to reaffirm their popularity and appeal to their fan base. By

including shots of an impressive stage (with smoke cannons and flash

lighting) adds to the hectic, carefree disposition of the fans, reflecting the

jovial, light-hearted nature of the band and also enables the audience to

relate to and share the exciting experience of witnessing a live

performance. This may also heighten the audience by energisingmemories of previous experiences and therefore encouraging audiences

to attend future gigs, as well as encouraging those who may not have

experienced such performances to attend.

Relation to Own Production:

I have used the idea of performance and atmosphere within my own

music video by including shots of the band performing the song.

However, as the band who recorded and produced my track, Not MyDay, have since split and are no longer performing, I was forced to

compromise and use friends as actors. This also meant that I could

not get footage of a large gig performance and therefore instead

used the idea of band practise. This, I believe, worked well in that

the audience of my music video are able to relate more to the actors

seen as, being in a more normal, average location, the audience are

more able to place themselves in the situation.


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Audience and Video RelationshipLocation in Reckless:

Throughout the music video the band is shown to be

in a variety of locations; some are accessible and

allow the audience to relate, whereas others are

specific to the artists and highlight their status as a

band. At around 2:30 band member, Max Heyler, is

seen messing around on an ordinary-looking street

location, positioned next to a classically British, red

double decker bus. This location not only representsthe Britishness of the band but also places them in

an every day location, available and relatable to their

audience.

Relation to Own Production:

To fully enable the audience to relate to my

production, I mirrored the street location used

within the Reckless video. However, unwilling to

copy the shot directly, I decided to use one of

Norwichs old cobbled streets to represent the

Britishness of the band and to replace the idea of

the bus as a background.


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Audience and Video RelationshipClothing and Appearance in Reckless:

In the opening shot of the music video the band membersare shown to be advancing down a flight of stairs in a casual

nature, chatting and wearing casual attire, typical to the

genre. Bands within the alternative rock genre tend to wear

dark coloured, casual clothing such as t-shirts, relaxed

shirts, jeans and trainers, often supporting genre-specific

brands and band tops. Being in casual attire, the audience

is able to immediately establish genre and style as well asbeing able to relate and feel a sense of familiarity from the

bands image. With genres such as indie-rock, the fashion

and style of such bands is extremely influential on the

styles and appearance of the fan base.

Relation to Own Production:To ensure the audience of my production also feel able to

relate and create a relationship between the band and the

fan base, I too ensured that each person (especially the main

vocal singer) appearing in the music video was dressed in

casual, genre-typical attire: dark-coloured t-shirts, jeans and

lumber-jack style checked shirts.


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Audience and Video RelationshipBand-fan relationship in Reckless:

Throughout the video there are various shots ofthe band members directly interacting with the

audience/fan base. This would appeal to the

audience as it immediately establishes a

relationship between the band and its fans; the

audience viewing the video are more likely to

create a likeness for the artists and may also be

able to place themselves in the position of thefans on the video or aim to meet the band

themselves, therefore increasing the band-fan

relationship and ensuring their faces are known

and increasing popularity.

The fans shown in the production are seen to be

around the ages of the target audiencedemographic, however there are many shots that

are shown to be female-dominated. This may

have been done to increase target audience;

primarily aimed at a male audience, the band

ensures the females of the same age/ethnicity are

featured in the video to encourage a more

widespread, unisex audience.


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Audience and Video relationship

Male Audience in Reckless:

Within the montage there are various actions and activities shown that may be considered to be

stereotypically masculine in nature; the band are seen to be playing football, drinking beer and generally

messing around in a somewhat childish manner. Stereotypically, sports such as football and activities such as

drinking alcohol (especially beer and ale) are considered typical to the male gender and therefore the idea

of a dominantly male audience is supported; the audience would be able to relate to and feel a familiarity to

the actions seen throughout the video and therefore establish a relationship with the band members.

Male Audience in Own Production:

Alcohol is also featured in my production but is used more so to show the carefree, fun-loving nature

of British youth today and not necessarily to suggest gender. However, after reviewing and analysing

my own video again, I suspect that the shots of the pint of Guiness may appear to encourage a gender-

specific audience; this specific type of alcohol is stereotypically seen as a mans ale which may

persuade viewers to assume a male audience more so than what was intended. The shots of theskateboard (also seen as a more masculine activity) may encourage this further.


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Audience TheoryIn 1974researchers Bulmer and Katz expanded Lasswells1948 theory of Uses and Gratificationsto say that individuals might chose and use a text for the following purposes:

Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine. Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction (e.g.

substituting soap operas for family life)

Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values fromtexts

Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living (e.g. weather reports, financialnews, holiday bargains)

After analysing the generic use of audience and video relation through factors such as gender,age, appearance, location and attitudes in both my own production and existing productionReckless by popular indie rock band You Me At Six, I am able to confidently suggest that elementsof Bulmer and Katzs theory on audience are correct and exercised within the indie rock genre,and more specifically, within my own production.

Bulmer and Katz suggest that audiences look to music videos and iconic artist images in order toestablish their own personal identity in regards to appearance, behaviour and life/moral values.This is apparent within my previous slides of analysis which each identify individual elements andaspects of ones life that can be related to within an existing production, as well as my own. Manyartists and producers do this purposely in the hope that the audience establish a relationship orcreate a sense of familiarityin connection with the band and therefore increase the artists fanbase/following.

This theory has been used within my own production to successfully promote the band.

Audience Concept Case Study

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