One Direction case study

1) What are the key conventions of music video?

Movement is a key convention of music videos such as camera movement or fast-paced editing.

2) What is intertextuality?

When one media text references another media text. An example of this is when there are clips from the x-factor in One Direction's "History" video.

3) When did music videos first become a major part of the music industry?

During the '80s and '90s.

4) What launched in 1981 and why were music videos an important part of the music industry in the 1980s and 1990s?
MTV was launched in 198. Music videos were a promotional device to encourage people to buy music.

5) How are music videos distributed and watched in the digital age?

People use Youtube to watch and share music videos in the digital age.
One Direction: Industry

1) How were One Direction formed and how is this reflected in the music video for History?

One Direction are a manufactured group that were put together as part of the X-factor by Simon Cowell.

2) What is vertical integration? You may need to check your book for this (or remind yourself from this Year 1 blogpost.)

Vertical integration is when a conglomerate owns other companies in the same chain of production.

3) What is horizontal integration? (See link above for help again!)

Horizontal integration is when one company buys another on the same level of distribution.

4) How has technological convergence changed the way audiences consume music videos?

People can view and share music videos on their smartphones now so there is no need to watch them on television and videotape them for a friend like people would have had to do in the past.

5) As a manufactured band, what influence do Simon Cowell and the record company Syco (part of Sony) have over the content and release strategy of One Direction music videos?

Simon Cowell has the majority of the band's image since they are a manufactured band. It could be argued that they are not as authentic as traditional bands like Arctic Monkeys.



Audience

1) What is the main One Direction audience - demographics and psychographics?
The main One Direction audience are young girls aged 9-13 that middle class with the mainstreamer personality type.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by the music video for History?

Nostalgia is a large part of the audience pleasures for "History" because it references old clips from the X-factor, vlog style clips of the band and old video snippets, this is to make long-term fans reminisce about the boys' music career.
Diversion and Entertainment is another key audience pleasure because it immerses the audience into the band's memories and interesting lives that they forget about their own for a while.

3) Pick out three particular shots, scenes or moments in the video that would particularly appeal to One Direction fans. Why did you choose those moments? 

The very end where all the members walk in different directions shows that their group career has ended and would make One Direction fans emotional. The crying fan at the concert represents how the band appreciates that their fans have suppourted them thus far. The silly dancing shows that the group members are now too old and out of touch to be part of a boy-band, this makes the goodbye slightly less hard for fans due to the humour.

4) What is nostalgia and why is it a key audience pleasure for the History music video?
Nostalgia is a 'yearning for yesterday'. In the History video, by using black and white and playing clips of when the band members were younger to make the fans wish they could go back to those times.

5) How are fans positioned to respond to the video? What do the producers want One Direction fans to take from the video?
The preferred reading of One Direction's History video is that although it is upsetting that the band is breaking up, they all need to move on and do other things and that they hope their dedicated fans will still suppourt them in everything they do.
Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Read this Huffington Post article about the video. What extra details are provided in the article regarding the construction of the video?

Read this short Teen Vogue feature on the video. What does it suggest regarding the ending of the video?

Finally, read this excellent Medium blog on the future of the music video in the digital age. Summarise the main points of the blog in 100 words.