The Works of Music Marketing

 Music Research

Behind the video of any song, comes a lot of background research, planning, and brainstorming. Behind the scenes of our music video for the song Coming Home by Leon Bridges, there were a lot of things that we had to do to make sure we could create the perfect music video. First, we had to research the genre, and how to market the genre. The genre of the song is soul. We started our research by finding out what companies market this genre. We rounded it up to two companies: Columbia Records and Atlantic Records.  Although these two companies brand other genres of music as well, we decided 

that they would be the best to research. We also researched some of the other artists that have partnered with these companies. Two of the artists that we found partnered with Columbia Records were Leon Bridges himself and Adele. We then looked at two artists that worked with Atlantic Records which were Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran. After we researched all four of these artists, we had a good idea of what they did, what their target audience is, how many albums they have sold, etc. Since Leon Bridges was one of the artists we researched, we had an even better idea of how we had to market our video. Since the genre Soul is not a very well-known genre by the general population, it was a bit difficult to find out the best way to market this song.

Marketing and Distributing the Music video

Marketing was the most important part of this project. This part also included a lot of research to find the best ways possible to market this genre of music. The first thing that we had to do was think of the target audience for the video. We decided that this genre of music would be for young adults and millennials (around the ages of 23 - 45).

 We then had to figure out where we could market the video. After a lot of research, we decided that we could market on social media. The two main places we chose were Twitter and Facebook. Research showed that 60% of Twitter users are aged 18-44 and that 84% of millennials are users on Facebook. This is how we decided that these two social media would be the best place to market. The different ways that we chose to market the music video were by releasing sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes, thumbnails, and posters. We then decided that the best places to distribute the music video were both social media mentioned before, YouTube, Pandora, and Vevo. Our research also showed that 77% of internet users are aged 15 - 35 and 73% of internet users ages 46 - 55, who are all on YouTube. It is also one of the most popular places where people go to watch music videos. Pandora's demographic users are aged 25 - 34. We also decided to take it a step further and advertise/play our song on podcasts or advertisements.

Planning of the Video

The planning of the video was the easiest part to come up with. Since all of the research was done, all we needed was to decide what kind of video we wanted to do, and what was going to be in the video. Whether it was promotional, artistic, storytelling, etc. We decided to do a storytelling video with the target audience of young adults and millennials. Then we came up with the story, which has something to do with the title (Coming Home). The plan can be seen below.

After this, we created a storyboard that would show what was going to happen, the camera angles of each scene, the timing, etc.

What is the next step?

The next step of our project is to film what is going to happen. After we film, we will show it to a couple of people to see if it is missing any components, which we will then fix. After doing all of this the music video will be ready to be marketed and distributed.

Action Films

What Makes Action, Action?

    What makes action, action? Action is a genre that typically has violence and physical feats. This genre can usually have a hero that partakes in a life-threatening situation against a villain. It also normally ends with a victory for the hero. The plot of an action movie can usually be about something heroic, someone seeking revenge, chases and fights, or a final showdown.

What are some production techniques in action films?

    There are also many production techniques that directors like James Cameron, who directed The Terminator, for example, or Tony Scott, who directed Top Gun, for example, use. Some production techniques come from camera angles. Camera angles are the biggest production technique used in action films because the angle is what makes the scene look realistic. An example would be in the 2021 action movie No Time To Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. In the scene where we see James (Daniel Craig) fight a soldier and start to choke him, the acting and the camera angle is what makes it look realistic. Thanks to the camera angle being a mid-shot, and the shot is in front of the actors and

not on the side or over top, (where you would have been able to see that the soldier is actually not being choked) it looks very realistic and the audience believes that the impact is actually happening. Another important production technique that action films use is sound effects. The sound effects in a film are how the audience knows how hard an impact was, and the sound effects also help the audience believe that what is happening in the film is what actually happened. One last important production technique used in an action film is makeup. The fake blood and makeup for black eyes are what tie the whole scene together. It would be very unrealistic to have a fight and not bleed or have a bruise. So makeup is another very important production technique to make an action film.

    How are action films being marketed?

    The target audience for action films is usually for young males, from ages 16-25. This is because men around these ages are usually the ones attracted to fights, violence, blood, etc. Usually, to advertise action films, for the target audience, trailers and posters emphasize fights, chases, and explosions.

For example, the 1988 action film Die Hard, has a movie poster with an explosion in a building. The explosion in the poster is to attract the audience. The colors red and orange also help with these posters because they are the color of explosions. So in the poster for the movie die hard, everything is black and white except for the explosion and the title, since that will attract the people to want to see the film. (The title in Die Hard is red, which attracts the audience as well). Another example is the 2001 action film Fast and Furious, which has two cars on its poster to attract people that wanted to see action by car chases. 

What films embody the genre action well?

    The film Top Gun: Maverick made in 2022 by Tony Scott, embodies the genre action for many reasons. The film not only has a well plot, but the plot is typical for a action film. The plot of the film has a hero, it contains physical feats, it ends with a life-threatening situation and with a victory for the hero. The film also includes chases and fights, a final showdown, and a part of seeking revenge. The film has all of the properties that an action film would have, and it is tied up into a nice movie. The movie is also very visually pleasing because the acting is well and the production techniques help the movie seem very realistic.

    Another film that embodies the action genre very well is the 2022 action film Bullet Train directed by David Leitch. This film also contains much of the content and production techniques that an action film requires. It contains violence and physical feats, it has a hero, it puts the hero in a life-threatening situation, and the hero ends in victory. The film also has a lot of production techniques for example excellent makeup to show bruises and blood, fantastic sound effects to make the audience hear the pain being inflicted, and the camera angles tie the whole thing together to make it as realistic as can be. The film also has marketing to catch the viewer's eye for example, chases, explosions, fights, etc.

What are some other action films to consider within the genre of action?

                                                        Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

                                                                       Blacklight (2022)

                                                                       Top Gun (1986)

                                                                     Bullet Proof (2022)

                                                                        Prey (2022)

Media

Hello everyone! My name is Arianna and this blog is going to be about the different types of things you can see in any form of media. There will be many different types of media and what occur in it. Hopefully, you will enjoy these blogs soon!