M1 - Justification, Marketing and Distribution

 Justification of Content

The song I have chosen for my music video is ‘Tickle Me Pink’ by Johnny Flynn. It will largely be a narrative, intertwined with some performance. The final, master video will be HD (1080p) and 25fps. The genre of the song is Folk, and my target audience is Millennials. My video will appeal to my target audience as they too will want to escape from their mundane lives in the city, and escape to the countryside filled with beauty. This agrees with the Uses and Gratifications Model which implies that audiences may use media for diversion, escapism, pleasure, relaxation, and emotional satisfaction which are aspects I will include in my music video. The Uses and Gratifications model implies that my video is about the main character setting off on a lonesome journey to escape his mundane life of civilisation to discover his true happy self, along with making a couple friends along the way.

At the start of my music video there will be a few seconds of natural, ambient sounds of the scene with no music, followed by an instrumental where Character 1 first appears. This character is a tall, young man who will be wearing casual, comfy outdoor clothes He will be seen getting out of his tent, packing up and setting off on his journey using a variety of close ups, medium close-ups, and mid shots. I have included this to create a calm and relaxing introduction for my music video and to act as an introduction for my character. During the first verse the character will be seen walking through the woods using different maps. I have included this to begin the build-up for the chorus and rest of the song. The first chorus will occur and there will be a montage of the character walking along the moor using extreme wide shots and wide shots, this is to set the scene of isolation and the character escaping and going on a journey of discovery. Once the first chorus has come to an end, the second instrumental will play and two new characters will be introduced: character 2 and 3. Character 2 will be a young, female dressed in comfy outdoor clothes playing a couple drums and Character 3 will be a young male dressed in comfy clothes playing a string instrument (guitar/violin) – they will be introduced using a master shot to set the scene of where they are. I have included these two extra characters to add a performance aspect to my music video, along with extending the narrative aspect by becoming Character 1’s friends who he meets on his journey.

In the next verse, Character 1 will be seen sitting on a rock looking into the distance, portrayed initially in a master shot into a closeup, another master shot which expands into a wide shot as he walks away. I have included to link to the lyrics ‘I wish I was home away’ to symbolize the character thinking ‘should I really be here?’. It’s to allow the audience to realise that to escape reality and enjoy their lives that it may involve some guilt, but no matter what you should do what makes you happy. The second chorus will be another montage of the character walking along the moor using extreme wide shots and wide shots, this is to set the scene of isolation and the character escaping and going on a journey of discovery, just like the first chorus – to keep a theme up and repetition to help build up to the final chorus. This will then be followed by a third instrumental which will be another master shot of Character 2 and 3 playing instruments, but this time Character 1 will be seen walking past them. I have included this because I want to link the narrative and performance aspects together, along with creating a story. However, I wanted to ease it in by changing the instrumentals every time. For example, in the second instrumental, it was just Character 2 and 3; in the third instrumental, Character 1 walks past them; and in the fourth one, Character 1 is seen talking to them, etc.

In the third verse, Character 1 appears in a wide shot sitting on a rock in front of a waterfall reading a book, towards the end of the verse, an over the shoulder shot of Character 1 will appear, on the book it will say a motivation message (not yet decided), which will link to ‘brand new start’ (this is to link back to the previous verse where he was having some doubts), to now symbolise that he has overcome any guilt from leaving and is ready for his ‘brand new start’ in his new, free life. The third chorus will include yet another montage of extreme wide shots and wide shots showing him on his lonesome journey. However, this will be intertwined with him walking along the tarn using long shots, mid-shots, and medium close ups to link to the instrumentals when Character 1 is with Character 2 and 3. This will be followed by the fourth instrumental which will be a master shot, where Character 1 will be talking with Character 2 and 3 whilst they are playing their instruments to further ease into linking the performance and narrative aspects as well as develop the story of him making new friends on his journey.

The fourth verse will include an entire new scenery of Ilkley town to link to the lyrics ‘monsters in the valley’. The word ‘monsters’ is a metaphor for people and civilisation. The first shot will be a mid-shot/long shot of Character1 walking through a busy street, which will be followed by a medium close-up where he will speed up slightly and quickly turn to the camera’s left (his right) towards the hill, as the fourth and final chorus begins. During the first part of the chorus (around 15 seconds), Character 1 will be seen rushing uphill towards the moor again, this will be in a shown in an over the shoulder shot, followed by a medium close-up and long shot before he reaches the moor again. This is to build up to final part of the chorus and to show that being free in the countryside is where Character 1 belongs. In the next part of the chorus, Character 1 is seen walking along the moor which builds up to him running whilst smiling, this is presented initially in a medium close-up which then expands to a long shot and then cuts between a series of wide shots, extreme wide shots, mid shots and medium close-ups this is to link back to the previous choruses, but to now show that he is free and happy and has let go of all past regrets and escaped the ‘monsters in the valley’. This is intertwined with master shots of all characters dancing, playing instruments and singing to finally link both aspects of the video together and complete the story. The second to last shot will be a medium close-up of Character 1 running along the moor whilst smiling, this will then cut to a close-up of him looking into the camera before it fades to black, this is to create the calm sense which was present at the beginning of the video.

Marketing and Distribution

My target audience is Millennials as my music genre is most popular with them. As they may live in built up areas to work in and spend most of their time working so they will want to escape and feel free so I believe they will be able to relate to the story of my music video. Generation Z may also relate to the story of my music video as they may be caught up with education and work so they may want to escape and have fun and feel free. A large portion of Gen Z tend to live a rebellious lifestyle and not live with the norms of society – so this may further allow them to relate to my story as not many people are brave enough to actually escape and do what makes them happy. However, I will mainly be focusing my ways of distribution on Millennials as I believe some Gen Z may use the same platforms as them.

My video will be distributed via traditional and online methods. It will be distributed traditionally to a large audience at a festival. My music video will also be distributed via online platforms such as social media, for example: YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, as my target audience (Millennials) appear mainly on these platforms so this will enable me to spread my video and engage as much of my audience as possible. For example, Millennials are aged between the ages of 25 and 40, and 338 million of Instagram’s global audiences are aged between 25 and 34 which are the ages I’m targeting so I will be able to reach a large proportion of my target audience (Millennials). YouTube is also a platform where majority of music videos are uploaded and is also where my music video will be uploaded as 96% of adults aged 25-34 (Millennials) use YouTube. Twitter is also popular with Millennials as 69% of Millennials are members of Twitter. Therefore, I will distribute my music video mainly on these three platforms. I will also have my music video appear on the artist’s (Johnny Flynn) social media and website to further market my music video, as fans of his will want to watch my video and may even appear at the festival. Finally, my music video will also appear on TV on channels such as MTV and 4Music where music videos and songs are showcased. I believe this will draw the attention of a large part of my target audience as 63% of MTV watchers are aged 15-34, which includes a large portion of my target audience. In the past, my artist has used Instagram to promote his music. For example, ‘Lost in the Cedar Wood’. Along with promoting his music videos on YouTube and his website. However, he has not used platforms such as Twitter, so I plan to expand the audience to by reaching them on platforms such as Twitter, to promote my video as much as possible and even expanding Johnny Flynn’s target audience.

To be able to distribute my music video electronically and online, the brief states that the two final master videos must be exported as full HD resolution (1920 x 1080p) and 25fps as European standard, the audio quality must be stereo to be able to come out of two speakers and be 48 KH to ensure the highest quality and comply with broadcast standards. The full HD master version must have the video codec Apple ProRes when using Final Cut Pro, and for the compressed mp4 the video codec must be H264 for exporting to YouTube.