Planning Artist Image

What is the purpose of an artist's image?

Rihanna's first album in 2006. She appears
 natural and the music on this particular album is very innocent.

Rihanna in 2013; her style more edgy and lyrics
more explicit.

The image of an artist refers to their current fashion style, personal lifestyle, the type of music they are making and what they are known for. Richard Dyer's theory proposes that artist image should remain incoherent in order to maintain an interest from their target audience. It suggests that artists are commodities to be consumed by remaining incoherent as the changing image of the artist is effectively encouraging the audience to keep up with it. Therefore he states that artist image effectively is something for an audience to keep up with as it gives the audience something to relate to, whether it be accurate or false to the actual individual. A good example of an artist that continuously changes her image is Rihanna; in 2006 she was a natural beauty that was creating music consisting of innocent lyrics that spoke of heartbreak and having a good time; whereas now in 2013, has a very edgy style and arguably promotes controversial topics in her explicit lyrics that often push the boundaries in terms of what is acceptable.

What image will you include and why?

The image of our artist

Nina Nesbitt conforms to the typical image of a female indie artist, in which we will also aspire to create. She is portrayed as an individual rather than a commodity, proposed by Richard Dyer. This is important in portraying to our target audience, as indie was created as a genre as a result of people rebelling against mainstream artists and conventions and therefore, to appeal to such people we must create an image that can be related to rather than what is deemed 'abnormal'.

Our artist will appear down to earth and simplistic; her make up will be red lipstick and dark eye liner, conventional to the indie genre as this is an edgy take on the natural look without appearing too over the top. She will also play the guitar during the performance aspects of our music video, as this conveys her talents and interests therefore providing a short representation for the audience to relate to. Also, we will illustrate the artist's emotions during the narrative side of the video, as the artist begins to convey emotion in the lyrics of the song. The artist sings of a struggling relationship in which the audience can relate to as it is an ordinary situation and therefore by conveying emotions that the audience can relate to, the audience can feel they know the artist in more depth and therefore increasing the ability to build a relationship with her.

How is your artist image conventional to your music genre?

Nina Nesbitt, an example of an
 'indie artist'

Female artists in the Indie genre have a recognisable image that could therefore be deemed conventional in terms of the genre; they normally have dark, heavier eye liner, red lipstick, hair typically long and wavy or short and bright coloured and wear unusual vintage clothing. Our artist will also wear eye liner and red lipstick, conventional to the indie genre in terms of a girl's make up. Her hair will also be long and wavy rather than short and bright coloured as this can be related to by the target audience as well as a wider audience to increase the popularity of the artist. Her style will remain conventional to the genre, wearing outfits that are typical of the indie genre. Here are the outfits planned to be worn by the artist:

PICS OF OUTFITS

How does it build a relationship with your target audience?

Our artist's image can be easily related to by our target audience. Indie artists typically wear high street clothing and therefore is affordable as well as wearable by our target audience. Because our target audience can relate to the style of our artist, it encourages them to maintain an interest as to what they are wearing, where they shop etc. Artists such as Beyonce who's image consists wearing expensive high end fashion can not by related to by the audience in terms of familiarity, as they can not wear the clothes she does. However, because our artist will be wearing clothing that can be worn by our target audience, it allows them to relate to the artist through common ground regarding fashion and therefore build a relationship with the artist themselves as they feel more similar to the artist.

However, an artist's image does not only consist of their style, but also considers the type of person they come across as. As stated before, Richard Dyer claims that artists are commodities in which their image is constructed purposefully in order to be consumed by the target audience, suggesting that such image is fake in terms of what that artist is actually like as a person. However, our artist image will be portrayed as much more realistic in terms of her personality. She will be shown as having both good and bad times with her boyfriend in simplistic locations such as London and fields. The narrative will depict a conflicting relationship in which our target audience can easily relate to, as they possibly may have experienced similar circumstances either directly or indirectly. Therefore the emotions portrayed by the artist can be related to by the audience encouraging them to build a relationship with the artist as they can relate to her as a person rather than an artist.

This demonstrates a proficient understanding of planning techniques. You have started to consider a variety of clothes that you wish to include within your music video. But further discussion of the effect it creates and how it is conventional, is essential in demonstrating further planning techniques. Also aim to explain why you have decided on using a variety of clothes, for each location that you have selected.