Research into chosen music artist UPDATED

My chosen music artist for my music video, is Birdy, who is a quite a well know indie artist. A large majority of her songs are slow and could be deemed as having quite a sad theme. However, I love the fact that her songs are slow and quite like a ballad. I think this allow me and the audience to really understand the emotions she is trying to show in her music. Also you feel as if you are getting to know Birdy on a much more personal level, as her videos have a feel of the song being sang live. The song I am going to use is Wings, I have decided to use this song as I think it is truly a beautiful song and portrays real emotion about an experience she has had in her life. Therefore, I feel I really understand the lyrics and concept in the sing. By understanding this ill be able to produce a suitable music video for the song, the matches the standard of the song.

Birdy has had music embed in her since a young age, her mother was a concert pianist, and at the age of 7 she learned to play the piano and began to write her own music. She is quite a current artist and hasn't been in the industry for very long, however this is understandable as she is only 19 years old. Her first real experience singing in front of an audience was when she won and entered an UK talent contest, Open Mic UK. She performed her own original song, this was her first time singing in front of an audience apart from her family.

After this contest Birdy record her own album with Gareth Henderson in River Studios, this album ended up being offered a publishing contract with Good Soldier Songs Ltd. This is run by Christian Tattersfield, who is also the chairman for Warner Bros. Records UK.

One song popular song by Birdy is Skinny love.

In the video I can see Dyer's theory evident, Birdy is displayed as both ordinary and extraordinary. This is evident through this mid shot of Birdy playing the piano and singing. This is quite a normal thing for someone to be able to do, however she is shown at extra talented as she has a whole production made just for her and the whole focus on her.

Also Goodwin's theory is evident in the video, a variety of close ups are seen of the artist. This close up I have chosen shows the artist Birdy singing and looking directly into the camera. This allows the focus of the video to be on her face and the lyrics that she is singing at that current moment. For the audience this really intensifies the song, as her face is the only object visible in the frame, therefore giving the impression she is singing directly to them. This benefits Birdy as it allows her audience to feel like they have a connection with her and therefore would follow her music to try to get this feeling again.
It is evident again when as the video is primarily performance based, we see this through a mid shot showing Birdy singing and playing piano. She is not looking at the camera, this could imply that she is really focused on her music and likes to concentrate on it. This shows the audience that Birdy has actual talent as she is playing the piano as well as singing. Some of the audience would therefore find her more respectable as an artist as it highlights that she has pure talent and doesn't need a music studio to make her sound good. Birdy could benefit from this as it gives her really positive image as an artist.

In the video Birdy is represented as quite a shy and reserved person as this mid shot shows a silhouette of the back of Birdy. Implying that she is not the most confident and out going person as you don't see face. This is a common feature in this video as her face is not shown very often. This makes her a relatable person to her target audience as many people go through confidence issues so it shows her as a real person and that she has these issues as well. Being relatable is important to an artist like Birdy as this is what engages people with her music and allows her audience to feel like they are getting to know her through her videos and lyrics.

The target audience for this video is 17 - 30 this is shown in the video by the concept of the video, as it is based on love. She is singing about a failing relationship and that it is going sour. This age range are likely to have gone through or be going through similar situations to this. Meaning they will be able to relate their own personal experiences to the song, this will allow them to gain a better understanding of the lyrics. As they feel more real to them.

Mes-en-scene is seen in the video, specifically costume, hair and make up is shown through a variety of shots as there is not single shot that shows the whole of her including her face. This mid shot is one of the shots where Birdy is most visible, we can see she has very natural hair with barely any make up, also she is wearing a lace flowing dress. This is conventional to female artists in the indie genre as it gives them an edgy/retro vibe that many of her audience can relate to. This benefits Birdy as it shows her a very natural as that she doesn't need to be covered in loads of make up and fancy outfits but she is a very real and natural artist. Linking back to my earlier point that she has raw talent of playing the piano.

Setting and iconography, this shot is of Birdy's foot as she is playing the piano, highlighting to the audience that she is actually playing the instrument herself and that there are not tricks, she actually has pure talent. This shows her as a good role model to her audience as it shows that you have to work had to achieve your dreams, she has the actual talent of playing the piano and there is no studio glitches, it really I her playing.


Lighting and colours used can be seen through this mid/long shot of her walking up the stairs, the lighting used is dark/low key, thus supporting my earlier point that she is being quite reserved in the song and trying to hide herself quite  a lot.  Again this makes her highly relatable to her older teenager target audience as it is commonly known that many teenage girls are quite self conscious and try to hide away sometimes. therefore it shows her as a real person and not just  a star

Facial expressions and body language, can be seen through a close up of her hands as  they are touching the glass window, her movement appears soft and gracious, this matches the speed and tempo of the song. I think this helps the audience to relax into the music and really following the song.




A common camera technique that is seen in the video is a bringing the shots in and out of focus this can be seen at the start of the video, an unfocused mid shot of Birdy playing the piano slowly focuses back into a sharp focus mid shot of her playing the piano. This helps to draw attention to Birdy, as it is near the start of the video it helps to focus the audiences attention of the artist. This will help to keep the audience engaged as they are waiting to see a clear shot of the video.

The song opens with  close up shallow focus shot of the light beginning to increase and pour into the frame. Implying that it is the start of the day. This also represents the start of the artists relationship, at the beginning when everything was bright and happy. At the very end of the video the song finishes with this close up of the glass model and the frame getting darker, eventually fading to black. This represents the end of the day and the end of the relationship. These two shots will benefit the audience because they will feel like they have been on a journey with the artist in her relationship. This will then allow them to personally build up a better relationship with the artist because they will feel like they can relate to her/understand her music better.


Some common editing techniques in the video include slow editing, this is show through a close up of Birdy's feet/legs as she walks up the stairs. This matches the speed of the song and when the music slows down slow editing is used like in this frame. It also helps to link the visuals to the muicThis helps the audience to really engage with the song as they are waiting to see what happens next. This benefits Birdy as if she engages her audience they are likely to want to go and see her perform live to mirror the feelings they felt when they watched her video.

The next editing technique that I can see in the music video is a fade. The frame fades from a black screen with the light pouring in revealing a small glass object. Slowly pouring in the light sets the tone for the rest of the song, which engages the audience as to what is going to happen in the rest of the song. This editing style represents the artist as emotional and sad as it is representing her love fading away in her relationship with her partner and everything is going sour. As a result of this the audience will feel sympathetic towards the artist, and relate to her relationship problems.

People help the people

Dyers star theory is used, as in this video Birdy is seen as an ordinary person, we can see this through a mid shot showing her sitting on a bus looking out of the window, this shows her as an ordinary person as she is not traveling around in a private car being driven for her. She is on the bus like regular people. This implies to the audience that she thinks of herself as a regular person and doesn't think she should get any special treatment just because she is a star. This benefits Birdy as it makes her relatable to her audience and this therefore engages them with her music.

Goodwins theory is evident as there is a plethora of close ups of the artist, similarly to the previous video. The first one we see, is when the camera pans into a close up of her face as she begins to start singing. This helps to really focus all the attention onto Birdy and hooks the audiences attention to what she is singing. Birdy would benefit from this as it will help the audience to understand her emotions more when she is singing specific lyrics and therefore will be able to relate and link there own past experiences to the video better.

His theory is also evident as there is a link between the visuals and the lyrics. This can be seen when she sings "give me your hand and ill hold it" and syncing with this you can see a group of children walking down some stairs, some of the bigger children are helping the younger ones down the stairs. This is implying that she thinks everybody should help each other, even if it is a simple thing like helping someone down the stairs. Offering a hand to someone can go a long way. This is relatable to the audience because they will be able to link this back to when they've needed help in the past or when they have helped someone themselves.

Birdy is represented as very relatable and normal in this video, this close up shows birdy singing into the camera by looking away slightly. Also in the shot I can see her braces poking out. This shows her as a really normal person and that not everything about her is perfect, she also has some flaws. This is highly relatable to the audience and I think they will highly appreciate the fact that Birdy isn't trying to hide away in this video like the other and is embracing herself.

For this video i think that Birdy has a wide target audience because her song is relatable to many people. Most people have gone through some struggles in life and had to have someone help them. And as Birdy is displayed as such a normal person many various ages will find this relatable and enjoy listening to her music. Parents will find her a good role model for their children and younger people will be inspired to be more like her and try to help people more.

The style of the music video is mainly performance based, this mid/long shot shows birdy walking down the road singing. This again shows her as a highly relatable  artist because she is just walking along and does not have a crowd of people following her, like security and hair and make up people. This shows the audience she is a real person and doesn't need all of the glamor that comes with fame like some artists, therefore they will be able to relate to her.

Mes-en-scene is evident in the video as, a long shot shows her waling down the road wearing long baggy clothing and little make up and hair products. This shows her as a very natural person and that she doesn't need to hide behind a face full of make up or fancy outfits. Therefore making her appear as a normal person and this will make her relatable to her audience. The message that it is giving off tot he audience is that you don't need to wear a load of make up to be beautiful and it doesn't matter what you look like. The message of her music is far more important to her than looks and a big outgoing performance. Instead like her outfit and make up everything is quite casual and relatable to the audience.

The setting through out the video is common everyday setting that we would see all the time. The filming is London based, we can see this through an establishing shot at the start of the video, these everyday settings make the audience able to relate to the video therefore will help them to engage in what is going on. Also London, is quite an iconic place, London bridge is in the background and the iconic black cab can be seen. Therefore even people from other countries will recognise the location and be able to relate to it. Furthermore indie music videos conventionally are filmed in low budget settings, the public setting is very low cost so is conventional of the genre.

Birdy holds quite a neutral facial expression through out the whole video, this can be seen in this close up of Birdy singing on the bus looking out the window. By having this neutral facial expressions i think that is represents that she is quite a 'neutral party' she does not judge anyone and is accepting of different people. However, i think this also shows her to be looking quite hopeful and that she wants everybody to join her in helping others.







The video has a black and white filter layered over it through out. This is because in the video Birdy is trying to represent everyone as equal as they should all be helping each other. Therefore this filter helps to make everyone look more similar. Also it is quite bright so everyone is quite exposed. Implying that everyone should just join together and come together as a community to help each other.

Although Birdy is in the whole frame of the camera a lot, a vast majority of the frames are of other people walking along the streets and sitting on the bus with her. This is because the whole concept of the song is about helping other people and being better members of our community. However, when she is in shot her positioning is always slightly off centre, this portrays to the audience that she feels she does not always feel the need to be in the centre of attention. And even though it is her music video she does not need to be the whole focus all of the time.

This mid shot of Birdy show her looking slightly upset as she is looking to the floor and slightly frowning. Due to the concept of the song this implies that she is quite upset and frustrated with the way that people treat each other and how peopled not help each other. This will make the audience considering how they themselves treat other people and get treated. And how they also like Birdy want to live in a world where people treat each other right and help each other.

Slow pace editing is evident int eh establishing shot in London of people walking and the cars going past. This is implying that now days everyone leads such high pace life styles and rushes around everywhere, sometimes in life we just need to slow down. Not everything in life has to be rushed and sometimes we can just take our time and slow down a bit. This will make the audience consider their own life styles and how they should take time out from rushing around  and spend time with friends and family.

A common editing technique that I can see in the video is slow editing, this matches the pace of the singing and the soundtrack. It is good that the editing is used to match the music because I think that it encourages the audience to slow down and focus their attention onto the music video. Therefore, it helps to maintain the audiences attention to the video. This is good for Birdy as it will help her to build up a relationship with her target audience, and it will also allow them to get a better understanding of the song and what she felt when she was writing it.

To conclude, this post has helped me to see some of the common features that Birdy uses in her music videos, these include slow editing and dark filters over her video. I think that she does this to help show her emotion through her music and allow the audience to focus on her lyrics. Also I have learnt that she typically wears very casual clothing and is a very simplistic artists and doesn't like to hide behind fancy props or costumes.