analysing avril lavigne’s i’m with you music video

8/10/2019 Analysing Avril Lavignes Im With You Music Video

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Analysing Avril Lavignes Im With You

music video in relation to the concept

of audiencehttps://www.youtue.com/watch!v"d#$%&$Ww'g(

Billy Clayton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGR65RWwzg8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGR65RWwzg8


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)ac*ground of Artist

Avril Lavigne, born in Napanee,

Canada, is a singer-songwriter

who achieved world-wide success

when she released her debut

album Let Go at the age of ! in

"##"$ %er music is primarily pop-roc& with elements of pop-pun&,

alternative and acoustic$ 'he trac&

Im With Youwas ta&en from her

debut release and reached the top

# in multiple countries including

the (nited )tates, New *ealandand the (nited +ingdom$ Much

Musicnamed the video one of the

Top 100 Best Videos Of All Time$


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Audience of Im With You 'he music video for Im With Youwas shot in Los Angeles and directed by photographer

avid Lachapelle$ 'he video displays " primary locations the busy nightclub filled with

people dancing together whilst Lavigne wal&s through loo&ing lost and e.cluded, and the

outdoor scenes which display Lavigne standing in a dar& alleyway, in front of a snow ban&

and pacing down a rainy street$ 'he whole video was shot in slow-motion but the singing

remains synchronised due to the original playbac& being doubled in speed during the

filming process$

Because of Lavignes e.clusion from the preppy-dressed clubbers, as well as her cut-off

blac& /eans, doc martins and dar& eye-ma&eup, the primary audience demographic for the

music video and trac& are li&ely to consist of white 0-"1 year olds from America, Canada

and the (nited +ingdom with interests in 2op-3oc& music and hobbies such as

s&ateboarding$ 4 feel that the gender demographic would be closely split for this trac& andmusic video as no representation is heavily gender specific in this production as the artist

has a slightly androgynous clothing style, opting for loose fitted trousers and hoodies as

supposed to the more popular archetype of a young woman in the industry whos image is

voyeuristically sculpted$'his lin&s to the gratification theory as this form of media is essentiallyproviding people with the company that they did not have, or the lifestyle that they do not

possess, but fulfil via popular culture consumption such as music videos$


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Audience Appeal ue to the 0 5 "1 age demographic of this trac&, the audience may find the club location either

appealing or relatable they have reached an age where going out seems li&e an e.citing new

e.perience, or, because Lavignes music is considered 2op-3oc& with alternative elements, the

audience may feel a sense of relation to Lavignes isolated situation in the music video as she

wal&s through the club whilst the lyrics state6 Im looking fo ! pl!ce" Im se!ching fo ! f!ce" is

!n#$od# hee I kno%&5 a sense of social difficulty and oppression from the dominant society ispresented$

'his idea lin&s to the concept of collective identity and subcultures theorist '!l M!(contributed

his statement to collective identity theory, stating !ll mem$es of societ# must follo% ! go)ened

)ie% point" !nd if #ou dont do this" then #ou !e e*ected$ 'his lin&s to the Im With Youmusic

video as Lavigne is an outsider to the contemporary dressed, dancing couples as a then 7-year-

old who plays guitar and en/oys s&ateboarding$

Another obvious factor to audience appeal includes clothing$ 4n this video, Lavigne wears a white

tan& top, a blac& par&a coat, blac& cut-off /eans, blac& doc martin boots with s&ull /ewellery,

straightened hair and dar& eyeliner$ 'his style is heavily associated with and classified with s&ater-

pun&, a 8#s movement that adapted British pun& roc& elements with American teen pop-pun&, a

style suited to younger generations$ 'he audience may relate to the dress sense in the video as

li&e the artist, they identify as outsiders to the dominant, contemporary society$


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-arget Audience

9ur music video tells the tale of a teenagegirl named anielle who drin&s tea from amysterious loo&ing tea cup in her owngarden before being thrown into a world offairy tale, magic and confusion$ 'he videoinvolves clear representations of the popularfairy talesAlice In Wondel!nd" +!nsel !ndGetel" Little ,ed ,iding +oodand

Goldilocks, all achieved through mostlyoutdoor locations decorated with colour andprimarily through the characters costume$

9ur music video primarily targets white-British females between the ages of 0-"1who en/oy 4ndie:;ol& music$ 'his is becauseof the bands genre -o-o !nd theButtefieldsare a British ;ip-;o&


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Audience Appeal

9ur music video attempts to not only attracta teenage female audience from the (+, butit provo&es them to be nostalgic$ 9urproduction ta&es the everyday character of.!nielleand puts her in a not so typicalsituation where she becomes the characterswe were all familiar with as children$ 'heproduction documents .!niellesconfusion

and lac& of consent with the occurrencesta&ing place and thus provides a humourousapproach for the audience as they are tosome e.tent put in .!niellesposition asthey share her confusion at parts, effectivelycreating a sense of inclusion and appeal forthe audience$

9ur music video also creates appeal via its

primarily outdoor locations we have createda white-British teenage girl via hercontemporary fashion sense and put heroutdoors and away from the house,surrounded by artificial flowers, tree-framedpathways and bridges to which she is left towonder and e.plore, thus, creating appeal toour audience via implied escapism$


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urther Audience Appeal 9ur music video also offers a male character 5 %ansel who accompanies >retel during

the scene that anielle embodies >retel$ 'he male character can act as a reflector or

relater to some of the male viewers who also happen to be teenage white-British males,

and thus, see themselves fitted into the production to some e.tent$ 'he male characteralso creates the implication that some teenage females may dream of males, li&e

anielle is in our production and thus, create a humorous and relatable sense of appeal$

anielles fre?uent costume changes also play a significant role in attracting our

demographic as her clothes appear somewhat contemporary highstreet:topshop style

/umpers and dresses that have been put together effectively and highlighted with

accessories to create the fairy tale archetypes not only help to establish the

representations we chose to display but to create a sense of familiarity and appeal to our

audience, once again lin&ing to the gratification theory which states that the use of media

allows individuals to consume that which they aspire to be a reflection of$


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Audience eedac* After handing out ?uestionnaires to friends and classmates, we received some

feedbac& that helped us to understand who our primary demographic would be$ 'he

?uestionnaires as&ed the participants to state out of 0, being the least interested and

0 being the most, e.actly how much they en/oyed our music video, focusing onvarious factors such as how clear the representations where and how gripping the

narrative was$ ;rom this, we were given overall ratings of 7$0 out of #$ As a group, we

concluded that white-British teenage females provided the most positive feedbac&,

stating that the representations of certain characters, chosen locations, relation to the

trac& and overall flow was an overall success and provides very little challenge to

grasp whilst holding consistent attention$

9n the other hand, despite still receiving positive reviews, our male participants rated

the production slightly lower, stating that certain transitions from one character to the

ne.t were slightly complicated but mostly understandable$ 4n relation to the use and

gratification theory, this shows that females tend to rate media te.ts that display a non-

hyperse.ualised, non-ob/ectified female character as significantly higher as they feel a

sense of familiarity and relation$

analysing avril lavigne’s i’m with you music video

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