Further theories

Further theory research

Two Step Flow Theory;

The idea that we gain our opinion of an artist through mass media producers such as Spotify, YouTube, and the radio when it is passed on to what is known as opinion leaders who shape our view on a certain song or artist. 

There is a significant influence on the amount of people who enjoy a certain genre based on how much it is established within the media such as Magazines, Radio and social network. Henceforth, the alternative music fan base is not as large as others such as Pop or R&B as it isn't evenly distributed within the media and there are smaller radio stations which focus on indie and rock music such as Radio X. 

This is why our target audience is a niche audience with a specific taste: this makes it more difficult to get our conventions to match the likes of someone within this audience.

If someone with a large following or fan base promotes or shares their likeness of a song or artist then it is likely that we follow their opinion and also end up liking them also. These opinion leaders shape of views and determine what we like or dislike. 

Artists of the alternative genre will often enjoy music of a similar genre, so when they collaborate together or share their fondness of another artists of that genre we immediately want to like that artist too.

People in our target audience will enjoy our music video because Lorde is a proclaimed artist who is also liked by very famous alternative artists such as The 1975, David Bowie, and Lana Del Rey. Due to this, the fans of these famous alternative artists will notice Lorde and want to share the same likes with an artist they already enjoy, hence the two step flow theory. 

How can this theory be applied to our music video?

Because Lorde is a proclaimed artist already in the music industry and the mass media shows her through all sorts of ways; eg: Magazines, music videos, news articles, adverts, billboards, etc..., the fact we are using her song will mean that the audience will follow the distributor of the music video and form their own opinion of the artist (link to Dyer's star theory) 

The audience will recognize the artist and the song and will therefor naturally take notice of it due to the portray of it through the mass media. 

Reception theory:

This theory suggests that audiences are active in their viewing or watching of media text; the producer will try to give the media a specific message and the audience actively decide whether they agree or approve of the message.

Some people will naturally decode the message and understand the song for example and see that it is part of the alternative genre and decide whether they like it or not. 

Others will reject the message or theme it is trying to portray and completely misunderstand what the media text is trying to portray, which leads to people liking only certain genres and why not everyone likes the same style of music. 

This shows that people who are in my target audience and naturally accept music within the alternative genre will notice the conventions and stereotypes of indie music within our music video and understand the message we are deliberately trying to portray. Others of the same age but whom prefer Rap music for example will reject what the music video is trying to portray and wont enjoy it. Henceforth, we get different groups of people for each genre of music, so our video must relate to those existing fans of the alternative genre. 

How does this apply to music videos?

For example, the demographic of the Alternative genre will already be aware of the conventions that come with that genre of music and will be able to identify them; the music video allows the artist to do this and makes the audience aware of the genre and the sort of music it is. 

In this Noah Cyrus music video there are scenes shot in a grave yard, which connotes rather sinister ideologies and will immediately reflect the alternative and indie style of the artist that she is, whereas it is highly unlikely that a pop artist would have their music video in a grave yard as it mirrors concepts of darker themes as opposed to more happy and light hearted themes.

The audience would accept these conventions or reject these conventions based on their likes of the alternative music genre; this process is the reception theory; without thinking about it the audience will be able to make a judgement on their like of the song based off of what the music video tells them. 

Dominant→

Dominant is about what the audience wants to hear from people and agreeing, but with limited knowledge on the subject.

Negotiated→

Negotiated is when the audience agrees, disagrees or questions a political speech or news broadcast due to previously held news.

Oppositional→

Oppositional is when the audience recognizes the Dominant message but rejects it due to culture or political opinion.