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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.