Researching Mise En Scene for Photographic Shoots

A successful photo shoot contains more than just clicking the button on the camera. Lots of preparation is required to pull off a successful photo shoot. Professional photographers will dedicate hours to to planning their shoots, such as, lighting, costumes, setting, hair, make up, positioning and poses. Professional photographers will often have staff, and people that will often prepare the stuff for them. As I am neither a professional or wealthy enough to afford to pay people to do it for me, I am going to have to research Mise En Scene for the rock music genre.

To create professional and successful photos Mise-en-scene needs to be thought about in detail, this includes costumes, makeup and hair. For the rock genre, rock starts are presented to look rough and ragged, this is achieve by using costumes, makeup, in some cases, and their hair. For my front cover, I am going to need to think about how I’m going to create a cover image that will appeal to the target audience, in order to sell my magazine.  

To begin with, I researched costumes. It seems that suitable costumes are the likes of denim wear, jackets and jeans, torn clothing, which again connotes the rough, bad image portrayed by the rock genre.  The costumes will be very retro and resemble clothes worn by rock stars from past decades, as that is what is associated with the rock genre.

This is an example of the kind of costumes that rock bands wore during performances.

The makeup that is usually used is either very colourful, extravagant makeup that consists of bright colours, perhaps seeming pretty outrageous and against the normal this again connotes rock music as it is often associated with the rock as it is portrayed and rebellious. On the other hand the makeup could be very subtle, just enough to make the subjects of the photograph look a little dirty and scruffy. In my shoot, I will use the different techniques to get a range of different pictures in my magazine, to how that it’s not just about one part of rock, but will cover a lot of it. Having these types of makeup will help me to get the right perception of the rock genre and will enable my target audience to recognise their magazine, by the images on it.

 This is an example of famous rock band kiss. They are well known for wearing extravagant make up.  

Finally, I looked at what types of hair you would expect to see on a rock artist/rock model. I found that, as with all the other aspects, making the person look scruffy is the main objective. To do this, making them hair big, knotty and dirty looking is key to getting the rock look perfect. Longer hair is better for achieving the right look because it is seem as rebellious that a boy would have long messy hair, as opposed to short, well kept hair. On the other hand, short, wacky hair is also something that can be associated with rock, as again is seen as rebellious. So on my magazine, I will try to make my models hair look scruffy and messy to achieve the best rock look I can in order to help sell my magazine.

This is a video of how to create a slick back old school hair style which was commonly seen amongst rock men with long hair.

Researching Photographic Techniques

When I come to create my images, I will be looking to create a high level of professionalism, a make my images high quality. By researching photographic techniques, I will develop an understanding of how to make my images look professional and of a high quality, so that they can then be used on my magazine front cover, feature articles and contents page. 

To begin with I looked at the lighting in rock shoots. It soon became clear that when taking shots of a whole band, having over head light shinning onto the persons you want to shoot is effective as it outlines and highlights the people in the shot well. Secondly, I were to include a portrait shot, I would want to use three-point lighting as it is more effective for getting the lighting on the face of the person in the picture. Three point lighting is where two lights get placed to the left and right of the model, and one behind to make the photo as light and possible this allows definition around the face of the model.

Next, I looked at location. I looked at many rock photo shoots and I found that shoots often take place on stage, or somewhere that is easily constructed to look like a stage, with instruments and stage back drop. Props often used on such shoots obviously include, instruments, such as, guitars, drums, drum sticks, etc. Secondly, I found that places like basements, with brick walls also offer a good backdrop for a rock photo shoot, as the backdrops look rough. In shoots like these in regard to props they are often fairly simplistic, with little props just a simple background and few, if any props. When it comes to making my own magazine, I will try to use both of these different types of shoot, to show my knowledge, and to make my magazine as professional as possible. 

I then went on to research poses and framing for my shoots. I discovered that if I am going to take portrait pictures of people, particularly men, as they are more associated with rock then its best if the men are stood tall, excelling tall, broad posture, it helps make the photo more happy and open.  For my cover photo the shot it would seem to be best to use is a medium close up for my main image, then to be complemented by some medium long shots.  I will take these tips into consideration when making my magazine as the things I have researched are the things that sell to the target audience of the rock genre, and in the end I will be looking to make money by selling my magazine and it will only sell if it appeals to the target audience.

I found this video which covered most areas of a rock photo shoot. 

Researching Photographers

Theorist Bentley (1997) says ‘rearranging of the old to create the new’  To follow this theory, I researched the work of existing rock photographers in order to get a better understanding of the types of shots, make up and lighting expected to see in rock images, and convert these ideas in to work of my own.

To start with I looked at the very well known rock photographer Mick Rock to gain inspiration from his work.  http://www.mickrock.com/

Mick Rock was born in London, England in 1948. Rock is best known for his iconic shots of many rock and roll legends, such as David Bowie, The sex pistols, The Ramones and Queen. Mick Rock often gets referred to as "The Man Who Shot the Seventies", perhaps the most memorable images that Mick shot were the images of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, he also earned the role as Bowie's official photographer. 

What I like about the work of Mick Rock is that he uses a range of different camera angles, including long shots; close-ups and close medium shots. Mick Rock also uses a range of different colours to highlight the artist/ artists he is trying to take photographs of. He also uses black and white photos quite often, this gives the effect that the picture is older, this works well in the rock genre as rock is largely seen as something from the past. In all of his pictures he highlights the artist against the background so that they standout. In Mick Rock's photographs he makes the rock stars in his picture either pose as if they are looking off into the distance to look cool and as if they don't care. This suits the rock genre because the poses he asks them to pull connote that they don't really care and this is strongly linked with rock music. In the first picture I have the people in the photo are posing as if they are performing, and the lights from the stage light up the artists so they are highlighted. The second two pictures they subjects of the pictures are being made to pose unnaturally, but in a way that connotes rock music. I will consider trying to connote rock music in my photos, and I will do this by trying to use similar techniques to what Mick Rock has used. When I come to taking my own shots for my magazine I will look to use a fair amount of mid-shots as this seems to be what Mick Rock uses fairly often, so these obviously appeal to the target audience and will hopefully sell my magazine. 

Audience Research

“Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience” (Hall and Holmes, 1998).

What Holmes and Hall(1998) are basically trying to say is that if I want to make a successful media product, you need to understand and people able to represent and display what the target audience want. I am going to do some primary and secondary research in order to find out what type of language I will need to use to make a profit from my product

An important thing to remember about the magazine industry is that Making money is the aim of the magazines that are published. This means is that each magazine is a product that needs to made for, and sold to, a specific target audience in order to make a profit. Inevitably, this impacts every part of the production process and media language decision. Basically this means that everything is done with the audience in mind, due to the fact the magazine needs to sell to make profit.

A lot of money has been invested in audience research and the industry refers to key theories, this is know as secondary audience research, when considering who to pitch a magazine at and how to attract the target audience they are looking to make a profit from.

Well-known media institutions like the BBC, are exceptionally good at this, the magazines they produce are commercial and are pitched at a mass audience. Independent magazine companies usually produce magazines that are supposedly 'more creative' but less financially viable because they are pitched at niche audiences as opposed to the mass audience.

There are two main types that magazines pitch to, mass and niche audiences.

Mass Audience: mass audiences are large mainstream audiences who are part of mainstream or popular culture. Stereotypically, this usually consists of 'working class people'. Things like, Hollywood films, soaps, Premiership football have mass audiences because they appeal to most people rather than a specific target audience. Publications like Empire film magazine and Top of the Pops music magazine also have mass audiences.

Niche Audience: the opposite of mass audience is niche audience. Niche audiences are smaller than a mass audience, but still have a big influence. Those Marxist would suggest that as upper class/middle class who are in control of the media would perhaps prefer to see a 'high culture' programs, this explains the launch of BBC four. It was launched for people who want to hear or see high culture programs. On the other hand, niche audiences don't necessarily come into this group, they can be small groups who advertisers feel are worth marketing products for. For example, fishing magazines and farming programs.

Audience Profiling

When Magazine editors decide on their target audience they take into account audience demographics (class/economic status, age, gender and geographical location) along with their viewing preferences:

In other words, magazine publishers think about the following before developing a magazine...

1) What social class will the primary target audience fall under?

2) What gender is the primary target audience?

3) What age will the primary target audience be?

4) What ethnicity will the primary target audience be?

5) What ethnicity are the primary target audience?

6) What sexuality are the primary target audience?

7) Audience appeal - what will the primary target audience be looking for in a magazine?

8) Is the magazine for a niche or mass audience and how/why will it generate a profit?    

I am now going to do a Surveymonkey to find out my own audience demographic

To find out what it takes to make a successful music magazine that I will be able to make a profit from I created questionnaire using SurveyMonkey. It included appropriate questions for me to find out relevant information to create a successful magazine which tends to the needs of the target audience. 

From the data that I collected it became apparent that most of the people who answered the questionnaire were aged 18-24 years old. This being the case it means that the answers will relate to what this age range want, therefore they will be my primary target audience. I will have a secondary target audience of 11-17 year old.

My survey results show that it is a fairly even split between male and females, but just slightly more males. 

The results show that the only average household income range that took the survey was £25,000 to £49,999, meaning the people that took this survey fall into the band class C1 to E. 

My results show that the people that took this survey are all White British.

The results of my survey show that only straight people took my survey.

I found that more than half the people who took survey read music magazines, but I also discovered that some people only read them sometimes, This means that I will need to make my magazine appeal to the people who only read magazines sometimes.

The results of my survey show that everyone who took the survey wanted a rock magazine. This could of been the choice due to the people who took the survey, mostly straight, white British males aged 18-24. This could be the case because as I know from previous research of the rock genre, I know that this is the target audience of rock music.

The final question was about what attracts them to a magazine cover. It was a question where you could answer more than once, and the results show that I need to include all of these aspects, in order to gain the target audiences approval and sell my magazine.

Using Stereotypes & Representation Theory

Professional institutions profile who their target audiecne is they refer to representation theories, audience research and existing products to find out what stereotypes/media language they should use to represent/attract their target audience. I will now look at how key theories concerning stereotypes of gender, youth, nationality, sexuality, ethnicity, and class, can be applied to music magazines similar in genre to the one I am going to use whenI create my magazine.  This will show me how I can use stereotype to sell my magazine.  

Sexuality

Andy Medhurst (1998) claims that gay men are seen as 'screaming queens' and lesbians are seen as 'butch dykes'. He also says these stereotypes are made 'to make heterosexual viewers feel safe in the belief that there way of living is the only natural one'. Although on this cover it is an image of a music artist who claims to be a lesbian, but by Lady Gaga being portrayed as this type of woman she is seen as desirable to men so is going against the stereotype proposed by Andy Medhurst. In turn this leads to her being more popular as she is being liked by more than one target audience, or by more than the target audience you would expect to follow a lesbian singer. 

Class

Keith Gandal (2007) claims that 'Lower class people are portrayed as a 'Cultural other' through fashions that deviate from the middle and upper classes. This magazine cover shows it with the mis-en-scene used in the main image as the singer is wearing a hoodie. Although the person in the image may not be from the same audience demographic as the magazine for in this instance the person isn’t from the same audience demographic as the magazine, but by putting the men in the images in hooded jumper it helps people from band C1-E that would be buying the magazine relate to those people so will buy the magazine.

Nationality  

Andrew Higson (1998) says that 'Identity is generally understood to be shared identity of naturalised inhabitants of a particular political geographic space- this can be a particular nation or region.' This magazine uses colours to under pin the fact that this magazine represents British music. This magazine supports this theory as is reports the latest stories within British pop this is shown by the main image on this magazine being of a White British music artist.

Youth

Dick Hebdige (1988) terms 'Youth as rebellious' but also 'Youth as fun' because not all teenagers do want to read about rebellion. This magazine cover has used bright colours and a young music artist to make the magazine look innocent and friendly for younger teenagers who don’t really want to read about rebellion. Appealing more to the ‘Youth is fun’ side of things.  When making my magazine cover I will use the right mise-en-scene to appeal to my audience

 Gender

Laura Mulvey claims in her theory (1975) about women that 'As erotic objects of desire for the characters within the story, and as erotic objects of desire for the spectator.' In this case the female has been photographed in an erotic way to encourage the target audience of 16-25 year olds to buy their magazines. As far as mise-en-scene goes the female in the image is wearing revealing clothing that is considered to be “sexy” by the target audience. The target audience will be attracted to the image as the star model is wearing a top/dress that shows off her cleavage. This will mean that the target audience will be attracted to her therefore wanting to read on. In terms of lexis “the readers choice” shows the readers that other people similar to them have chosen this person to be on their magazines cover so will be entitled to read about her.

I may use an image of sexual desire to support Laura Mulvey’s theory. However, I will more than likely not use a image of sexual desire as my target audience are males aged 16-25 and Females aren’t particularly associated with rock and my target audience won’t necessarily find males attractive and females are rarely seen on rock magazine covers.