Audience Theory

Artist: Charli XCX ft. Rita OraTrack: Doing it

Genre: Indie pop/popDirector: Adam Powell

Release Date: 20th January 2015

Charli wrote this about this music video: ‘ Doing It - The video was very inspired by Thelma & Louise, Natural Born Killers and Barbie. Rita and I went out to the Californian desert and shot in some incredible places with some incredible people. I was very inspired by Florida strip clubs, 70s fashion (I'm wearing flares!!!!!) and David Lachapelle. It was so fun working with Rita on this. We had a wild time.’

Primary Audience Demographic• Age: 16 -25 – this is because the performers in the music video are mostly young adults and

the artists are young too; Charli XCX is 22 years old and Rita Ora is 24 years old.

• Gender: Male and Female – this is because the two artists are girls, which some girls may be able to identify with, but also males will be engaged to the music video due to the women’s attractive appearance. However, females may choose to watch the music video due to the male performers being sexualised. Although, both genders are sexualised in this video.

• Ethnicity: White/Kosovo Albanians – Charli is White and Rita is a Kosovo Albanian.

• Nationality: British/American – this is because both Charli and Rita are British, however the location of the music video is in America, therefore both a British and American audience will be able to identify with the video.

Other Artists/Music the target audience would enjoy:

When googling ‘Charli XCX’ – these other artists are what other people who had searched this, searched: Iggy Azalea, Lorde, Ariana Grande and Marina & the Diamonds)

When searching ‘Charli XCX’ on amazon, related searches were: Marina & the Diamonds, Iggy Azalea and Sky Ferreira. Therefore these artists produce the type of music (indie pop) that ‘Doing it’ uses and appeals to the same target audience.

Target audience continued:

• The two artists costumes are quite cowgirl like but also several of their costumes are very revealing. This would appeal to an audience who enjoy western films – this is also because of the locations used, or thriller films (Thelma & Louise).

• The revealing costumes would mostly appeal to males as the girls are being sexualised, therefore this shows a negative stereotype of females being presented as voyeuristic.(There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body- Goodwin ) However, this is challenged as one of the male performers practically naked body is exposed, more than the women. Additionally, the two men dressed as policemen also strip. This challenges the power of authority figures as the track involves the theme of rebelling against society’s norms and values and shows that authority figures have a lot less influence than expected, considering they strip.

• Alternatively, it could mean that individuals enjoy disrespecting dominant forces in society. Therefore, this could potentially appeal to females due to the behaviour of the male performers.

• Also, all the performers are represented as hedonistic, similar to my own music video production, the way they behave is for their own pleasure and fun – people who like to enjoy themselves rather than stick to the rules would like and identify with this music video. Similar, to my own music video, this music video is also a montage that uses fast paced editing to fit with the upbeat track.

• This music video involves a lot of dancing and is constantly active, therefore an energetic audience would engage with this production.

Images from Music Video:

Media Theory:

• Denis McQuail argues that genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce productions consistently and efficiently and to relate the production to the expectations of its customers.

• This can relate to Charli XCX’s indie pop genre. All her music videos have a similar style, they are all upbeat and very fun, therefore she is being consistent with the tracks and music video’s she is producing; this meets the expectations of her audience/customers who buy her products.

• Futhermore, Nicholas Abercrombie argues that 'genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre' - this another theory that can relate to this music video.

• Other music videos by Charli XCX:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABhDiXbUaBE (Break The Rules)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fkt91iye4c (Breaking Up)