Research into Chosen Artist - Miss Miller

Research into Chosen Artist

The music artist I have chosen is Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde who is better known for her stage name Birdy. I have chosen Birdy because she is a successful English singer and songwriter from the indie genre who has produced and succeeded in over
I have decided to create a music video for this artist as I believe the lyrics that are used in her videos can easily apply to all types of situations that we could narrate within our music video.

Birdy

Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde better know as Birdy is a English singer and songwriter born 15th May 1996 aged 19. She has been writing her own music from the age of 8 and started learning to play the piano at 7.
Birdy debut single, a version of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love", was her breakthrough, charting all across Europe and earning platinum certification six times in Australia. The cover reached a peak of number seventeen
Birdy is signed to the record label Warner Bros Records. Birdy's album "Birdy" was released on the 14th November 2011 by Atlantic Records, the album includes singles such as "Skinny Love", "Shelter" and "People help the people". The album received 100,000 certifications in the UK but received a vast amount of sales in France receiving 3x platinum and 300,000 sales and shipments.


Skinny Love

Skinny Love is a song by Bon Iver which was covered by Birdy and became extremely successful.
The artist is represented in many different ways in the video but the main representations that come across in Birdy's Skinny Love video is isolation and sympathy. This is shown through many different aspects of the video but mainly the low key lighting and the isolated setting of a lonely house. This makes Birdy seem as though she is lonely and in a dark place with her feelings and emotions. With the song having melancholy lyrics and also being of the indie genre the target audience can recognise that Birdy may be portraying a personal message of something that she cant let go off and is finding hard to get over for example heartbreak or break of relationships. This is also making her relatable to the target audience as it is a common issue that people in Birdy's target audience could have dealt with themselves.



Goodwin's theory is used in Birdy's Skinny Love music video. Links between music and visuals is used within Birdy's "Skinny Love" music video. This is evident when a close up shot is used to show Birdy playing the piano to the music. This shows that Birdy is a raw talent and is able to perform her music with emotion and passion which is shown with a close up shot to ensure the audience can see this. The audience will be able to recognise that Birdy is playing the piano and singing at the same time which is showing she is trying to portray her emotions about this subject and wants to portray it in a way that the audience will be able to relate and feel sympathetic towards her in order to further promote herself as an artist. If Birdy portrays herself as more believable and realistic in her music videos then the target audience are most likely to build a relationship with her and relate to the same feelings that they felt when they experienced some of the same situations in their life similar to Birdy's.



One of Dyers theory paradox's is that the star should be both ordinary and extraordinary. This is shown in the way that Birdy is represented as a young ordinary girl who is quite humble and introverted as she walks around a dark house on her own which represents her to be quite isolated as a person. This could be relatable as some people who are introverts would be able to relate to this type of lifestyle and could build a relationship with the artist who is portraying herself in this way. However Birdy could also be represented as extraordinary in this video as she is also representing herself as an artist who has a passion to perform her material which is shown through close up shots and mid shots of her singing and playing the piano. This represents her as extraordinary as it shows how hard she has worked as an artist to come to this point and perform her written songs for her target audience. However she still represents herself as a down to earth girl who people could relate to. She also makes herself relatable to young girls with a similar age to her as it shows that their dreams of becoming a performing could come true just like hers.



Mise En Scene



Setting

The setting of Birdy's Skinny Love video is of a isolated dark house which she roams around in and plays the piano for the duration of the video. This type of setting is conventional to the indie genre as it represents the artist as quite lonely and independent. This is conventional to the genre as the artist is usually singing and writing songs about past experiences that they want to portray a message to for their target audience. For example they may want to express their emotion in a song and give the audience a deeper look into their personal life and how ordinary things such as heart break still happen to artists and they live a normal life like everyone else. This also helps for the artist to become more relatable as it represents them as an ordinary personal like the target audience and they may be able to relate to similar experiences of their own. They will feel sympathy of how the audience may be feeling and can then build a relationship with the artist and enjoy their music.



Costume

Birdy's costume in her music video Skinny Love consists of a long white dress with long sleeves. This costume represents Birdy as an artist to be pure and innocent through the use of the colour white. The use of a long flowing white dress also makes Birdy look as if she is in a dream and is dreaming about the experience of broken relationships instead of going through them herself. alongside the use of the low key lighting it could represent Birdy being in a dream and dreaming about her emotions. The audience could relate to Birdy as she is showing them that she is an ordinary girl like them who has dreams and aspirations in life. They will be able to build a relationship with Birdy because they share the same aspiration to be a independent artist who writes and sings songs about their own experiences.



Positioning

The positioning of Birdy in her Skinny Love video is mainly central throughout the video and is very clearly visible throughout. This is conventional to the indie genre as the focus is always on the artist and their feelings and emotions. Therefore with the positioning of Birdy being in a way that is very easily recognisable to the audience makes it hard for the audience to find any distractions to take their attention away from the artist. If the audience are constantly being reminded of the artist then they begin to be able to relate to them as they can see everything that the artist is feeling as they begin to look in more depth at the artists facial expression and body language and this will help them to understand the hidden messages in the video and also how the artist feels about the situation. If the audience can gather their own opinion of the artist which is mainly positive them this will help them to build a relationship with the artist as they begin to feel a connection with the artist and want to listen and watch more of their material gradually becoming a fan.




Iconography

The only use of iconography used in Birdy's Skinny Love video is the use of a piano. This is played by Birdy at different points in the song to show that she is portraying a message through her skills to play the piano. To play this type of instrument is conventional to the indie genre as the instrument is quite personal as Birdy can make what she wants of it and is in control of the sounds it produces. This also represents her as being in control and being independent in her situation as she sings about her past experiences. This makes her more relatable to the target audience as it shows that she is a powerful and independent artist to which the audience could admire her for.



Lighting

The lighting used in Birdy's Skinny Love video is mainly low key and dark. However this is conventional to the indie genre as the material in this genre consist of mainly melancholy themes and negative situations such as love affairs, heartbreak and trauma. Therefore the low key lighting represents a negative outlook on the overall video and makes it easily recognisable for an audience to understand the narrative and hidden messages of the song. This will help for the audience to gather an understanding of how the artist may be feeling by the lighting they have used in their video. This can make the audience feel sympathetic and empathy for the artist overall helping them to build a relationship with the artist because they feel sorry for them and want to make them feel as though they are not alone as they may have been through the same experiences before. They can understand that the artist is still an ordinary personal and lives the same lifestyle as them and can still be involved in heartbreak and tragedy.

The style of the music video is a mix between performance and narrative. This is shown through Birdy playing the piano but also portraying a narrative through the video as well. The song portrays a meaning of two people who are in love but cant be in a relationship and are forced to move on. Therefore in the music video Birdy is playing the piano as it is a fairly personal instrument that allows her to flow with the music an portray the hidden message of the song in her own way by performing in two ways by singing and playing the piano.

The target audience for the video is mainly women around the same age as Birdy herself so around the age bracket of 16-25 as this covers the majority of ages that would listen to indie music. The target audience is mainly of this age group and gender because the themes that Birdy writes and sings songs about are quite mature and things that the majority of women have experienced and could relate to for example loss of love, heartbreak and broken relationships. When Birdy sings and writes emotional lyrics to portray how she feels the audience can feel sympathy for her and begin to build a relationship with her.


Light Me Up

Light Me Up is a song written and performed by Birdy, the song and video features in the indie genre.

In this music video Birdy is represented as a happy and young and free individual artist . It shows this by the different micro elements of miss-en-scene and also the camera shots and editing styles. The editing styles are used in the main narrative part of the video, it uses fast paced editing and also special effects over the top to show that she is almost in a dream and remembering her past memories which made her feel positive and optimistic.

Goodwin's theory of demands of the record label is also used in Birdy's video Light Me Up. This is shown right at the beginning of the video when Birdy's name appears in large bold writing before the music video begins. This is another element which makes the audience think deeper about the artist they are watching. This is because people that may not have heard of the artist before or aren't that knowledgeable about her will be reminded of her when they see this video and will instantly know who the main focus in this video is and will therefore be intrigued to find out more as this name gives off a sense of importance from the beginning of the music video and the audience will want to find out more. 


A conventional camera angel used in the Light Me Up video is the use of close up shots. These close up shots usually show Birdy singing and performing towards the camera. This is conventional to the indie genre as it portrays the artists feelings and emotions to the audience. This is also conventional to the indie genre as the artist usually sings about personal experiences which they feel strongly about in some type of way. They most commonly sing about common themes which ordinary people and fans experience in everyday life such as heartbreak and broken relationships. Therefore the audience can relate to the same feelings as the artist and remember the way they felt when this happened to them. They can then build a relationship with the artist because they feel sympathy towards them as they have been through similar situations.


A common editing technique that is used within Birdy's Light Me Up music video is the use of montage editing. This editing shows various images merged together in a fast paced editing technique to show almost a hallucinating effect with various different shapes and colours which resembles a club like atmosphere when people are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This is conventional to the context of this video however unconventional to the indie gene as indie music videos usually make use of slow paced editing to portray a clearer and stronger narrative to the audience when they are narrating feelings and experiences. However due to the narrative of Birdy's Light Me Up video being her having fun with her friends and being rebellious this is conventional as it sets the scene and also breaks up the video to give a further idea to some of the things Birdy could be doing with her friends and her personal life. This may be relatable to the audience because they may be able to relate to having fun and being rebellious at some points in their life especially being a teenager and experiencing new things like this. This could help the audience to build a relationship with the artist because they may be able to understand the struggles of being a teenager and experiencing new things.


Star and Dyers theory is also used in Birdy's Light Me Up video. One of Dyers theory is the paradox that the star is extraordinary yet ordinary. This paradox is used in the video as Birdy is portrayed as both of these elements. Birdy is portrayed as an extraordinary girl as she performs around a market with her friends messing about and ruining all the stalls. This shows that she is extraordinary as she has the ability to do this whereas any ordinary person wouldn't have the privilege to do such things that Birdy does without having a consequence. However Birdy is also seen as an ordinary girl at elements of her music video. This is shown when a close up shot reveals Birdy's emotions such as sadness and loneliness when she sings to the camera in a close up shot. This is portraying to the audience that Birdy still has feelings and can get hurt by people and situations like everyone else. They could then relate to her because of this as they begin to understand she lives the same life and goes through the same situations that could hurt her feelings. They can them feel empathy towards her and this will help them to build a relationship with her as an artist.

Mise-En-Scene



Setting



The setting of Birdy's Light Me Up video looks as though it is set in a London street. She is seen wandering around graffiti bricked walls as she sings and dances. This is conventional to the indie genre as they usually use low budget locations which are easily accessible by the public. This gives the video a sense of realism for the audience as they know they could easily walk around the same streets with ease which makes Birdy as an artist more relatable for them as she this makes her seem just like an ordinary girl which they could then build a relationship with her because of.





Iconography

There is a vast amount of iconography used in the Light Me Up video when Birdy and her two friends reach the market. The market has many stalls with all different types of objects on for example, teddy bears, bagels, bouncy balls, candy floss, rose petals, feathers and many more. In the video Birdy and her two friends are messing around and trashing up the stalls which represents them as having a lot of fun together. This is conventional to the indie artist as it usually portrays the audience with a narrative and a close relationship to which they can gather information. This is also giving her a sense of realism as the audience could also go to a market but yet wouldn't trash it up with heir friends for fun. This element shows Birdy to be extraordinary as she is able to do this for her music video making the audience idolise her and her music.

Costume

The costume that Birdy is wearing is quite casual and not too over the top and it could be considered as some type of grunge clothing. She is wearing black and white tights with jean shorts and a leather jacket. This type of clothing is conventional to the indie genre as it shows she has her own sense of style and is free to be herself in her own skin and clothing. This helps for the audience to relate to her as they can understand that she is not afraid to be herself and express who she is with her thoughts and feelings, they may be able to relate to this and it will encourage them to know its ok to express themselves. They then will be able to build a relationship with her as this portrays her as almost an ordinary girl who worked hard for her dreams.



Positioning

Birdy is positioned central throughout and it is always easy to see her in the video. This is conventional to the indie genre as they mainly want the focus to be on the artist at all times making the audience remember her and watch the video more intently. This is also to keep the audience's attention on the artist at all times and make it easier for the audience to build a relationship with the artist as they begin to understand how they are feeling and what sort of message they are trying to portray through the video. This is conventional to the indie genre as the artists are usually singing and writing songs about personal experiences that they have had to deal with in their personal life which are usually mature themes of love and heartbreak which the audience can relate to.



Lighting

The lighting in this video is mainly high key which is slightly unconventional to the indie genre as the low key lighting used is mainly portraying the sadness and negativity of the video. However this is challenging the conventions as this indie video is very happy and positive and uses high key lighting and even some neon colours which is almost representing a pop genre video. However the lighting indicates the fun that Birdy is having with her friends as she presents a strong concept of friendships in the video. However near the end of the video as the narrative changes the lighting does slightly change as well. When the narrative turns out to be almost like a memory to Birdy the lighting goes back to being dull and lifeless which shows how Birdy may be feeling about the situation. The lighting represents Birdy's different emotions changing throughout the video from happiness to sadness as she narrates a self experience that she has been through. This helps for the audience to understand how she is feeling and they can understand she is feeling sadder towards the end of the video therefore they can feel empathy for her and build a relationship with her.

The target audience of Birdy's "Light Me Up" video are mainly females of a similar age group to the artist herself. Females from the age group of 16-25 are most likely to watch Birdy's music videos as they are the type of people that are most likely to have experienced the same things that Birdy expresses in her music videos for examples the themes of broken love affairs and relationships, heartbreaks and teenage crisis. To have a target audience that can relate to the artist makes it more conventional to the indie genre as indie artist make their material very personal for audience purposes to gain loyal fans and promote themselves as an artist.



My research into my chosen artist has helped me gain a lot of information of how different elements of Birdy's music video further promote her as an artist and also gains the audience's attention and loyalty. I have understood the way in which they can build a relationship with the artist and also relate to them in many ways. Some inspirations I have taken from my chosen artist is her use of mise-en-scene such as her costume and positioning as these are the main things I picked up on watching as part of an audience as I could tell that she was trying to express herself in these ways. I also believe that the use of fast and slow paced editing techniques can both work equally as well in an indie music video. Therefore I think I will make use of both of these techniques in my own music video to showcase two different techniques to portray certain emotions and narratives to the audience.