Research Into Chosen Artist - Miss Miller

Aplin's style is unique yet simple

I have chosen to create a music video for the song 'Panic Chord' by Gabrielle Aplin. This artist interests me because her music videos and image is quirky and unique yet casual and simple. Furthermore, she appears unique as she is not stereotypical or conventional to the pop artists etc as she wears unique clothing and has a stripped back look. Also she appears ordinary as her songs and image is never over the top. This means she can relate easily to an audience as she teaches them to be themselves and not to be afraid of being slightly different while also wearing casual clothing or minimal makeup that some of her audience are likely to wear which makes her again relatable.



After choosing the indie genre I began to research and watch several music videos of artists from this genre. I specifically focused on female artist as my group member who is female is likely to be the subject of our music video. In doing this, I came across artists such as Nina Nesbitt, Birdy and Gabrielle Aplin. Compared to Birdy, both Nina Nesbitt and Gabrielle Aplin seemed more likely to be used asI found their narrative style videos would be more interesting to create compared to Birdy's mainly performance based ones. I also found the song 'Panic Chord' inspiring because it was a song about a breakup that a lot of people could relate to and the music video had an interesting narrative much like 'Boy' by Nina Nesbitt. However, i had more ideas for a narrative for 'Panic Chord' and so decided to choose it to create a music video for.

Gabrielle Aplin is a 23 year-old British singer and songwriter who belongs in the indie music genre. She started her singing career by posting covers of other artists songs onto the internet. She mostly sung songs from the indie-rock genre by artists such as Paramore and You Me At Six. Then in 2012 she got signed to the record label, Parlophone.  Parlophone has released many albums from artists as famous as The Beatles.  Current recognisable artists signed to this label include Conor Maynard, Coldplay and Gorillaz.



Aplin's first single released by this label was a 'Frankie Goes to Hollywood' cover, 'The Power of Love'.  This song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, was certified gold and became the theme song for one of the famous John Lewis christmas adverts in 2012. Following this success, Aplin has gone on to release further popular singles such as 'Please Don't Say You Love Me,' 'Salvation' and 'Home'. 'Panic Chord' is the third single on her album 'English Rain' (this album debuted at number 2 in the UK Albums Chart and has since been certified gold for selling 100,000 copies) and was released in May 2013. It reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart. The music video was uploaded onto YouTube on May 10th 2013 at three minutes and twenty-seven seconds.



Please Don't Say You Love Me - Gabrielle Aplin

Richard Dyer's star theory states that some most common values of stars are that they are young and youthful, talented and role models. Each of these elements are found in this artist and her song 'Please Don't Say You Love Me' The artist was only 21 when it was released and wears minimal makeup to highlight her bare-faced and innocent look. She is shown as talented through her singing and ability to song write as she wrote the lyrics herself.  The song is based upon a breakup and shows Aplin looking at a couple and singing about them. This suggest she is reflecting back to her past and that hehe was a part of the couple. This suggest she is coming to terms with her past relationship and realising how she acted wrong. Therefore she teaches the audience that you do not realise what you have until you lose it and that everybody makes mistakes and so she is no different to them. The first paradox of Dyers theory states that the artist must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. I believe this is the case for this artist and her song. This is because she is portrayed as extraordinary through her original talent yet ordinary through there casual image and the theme of the song which is a breakup that everyone can relate to. This means Aplin can relate to the audience and inspire them at the same time.  This makes her a good role model as she relates to her target audience and very day life events and problems yet is different in terms of her unique talent and fame and so is in a position where she can teach her audience positive messages through her songs.

genre characteriscs



The visuals and lyrics in this music video match on several occasions which supports Goodwin's theory. When the artist sings "When you look at me like that" there is a close up of the artist looking at the camera. On another occasion Aplin sings "just where we're at" and the makle actor goes from slumping to lifting his head and looking up as if he is seeing where they are "at" in their relationship as the lyrics suggest they are both unclear. This is because the lyrics suggest the girl does not think she loves the boy but appears to have a good time when she is with him.

"When you look at me like that"

"When you see just where we're at"

This theory suggests that the demands of an artists record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist. This is evident several times throughout the music video. The artist is not a part of the music videos story line and instead is just seen singing and acting as a narrator for the couple.

The artist

The actress

A motif is a visual style which helps the audience build a relationship with the artist and reoccur across the artists work. In this music video, the motif is the actor who plays the female part as she is made to look very similar to the artist. This acts as promotion of the artist and her week-known style. It also adds to the narrative as it suggests that the artist looks like Aplin because she is singing about a personal experience that happened to her in the past. This will help the audience to build a relationship with the artist as they will be able to relate to this situation and feel that they are closer to the artist having been through similar things. they may also believe that they have a stronger relationship with the artist through the fact that she is sharing personal experiences which proves that she trusts her audience.
Supporting the theory once again, this music video features frequent reference to notion of looking an particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This is achieved in the shot whereby the female actor is dancing in the pub and making eye contact with a male stranger. He watches her dance as though he is attracted to her.



This music video is primarily narrative based as it tells the story of a couple who are driving somewhere but their car breaks down, it shows them having fun before arguing and then making up. Gabrielle Aplin does not play a part in the narrative as some artists to. Instead she focuses on the performance part of the video by being shot in several locations singing about the couples story. 

The artist is represented as talented through her voice and ability to sing and song write. She is also portrayed as honest as she is singing about personal experiences. This also allows her to have a closer relationship with the audience as she is trusting them and telling them about her past bad experiences in a relationship. This allows the audience to build a relationship with her as they can relate to her as most will have probably experienced similar situations as her and will be able to understand how she feels.



This music video has a target audience of young people from around the ages 15-25. This is because this is the age group that the artist herself is in and this is also the age group that would typically experience the most relationship problems and breakups as they are young and starting to get into relationships before settling down. This means that they will often relate to Aplins songs about relationships such as this one.

The locations in this music video are a dusty old road whereby the couples car breaks down and a small garden pub that they stumble across. Both locations have connotations of the couples relationship. The dusty road could suggest how they feel lost and unknowing in their relationship as they are unsure where they stand with each other. Yet the pub shows that they have fun when their together and has connotations of good times. So the overall message of the music video (the couple are uncertain or confused with their relationship but decide to not stress and just have fun with each other) is portrayed through the locations.

In the garden pub, iconography includes a candle and glass of red wine. These both suggest and represent the idea of romance which confuses the audience as the girl appears to be interested in someone else at the pub. This confusion is purposefully created to portray the feelings of the couple oin the relationship. "Please don't say you love me, because I might not say it back" is sung several times throughout the song which suggests a negative relationship but the visuals show a mostly happy couple which adds to the confusion.


The artist wears a baby blue dress with a black leather jacket. This quirky and unique style is conventional to the indie genre as artists often tend to portray their personality through their fashion sense to make them stand out. This helps the artist build a relationship with the audience because they believe they understand the personality of the artist through seeing her fashion sense and because she encourages them to be themselves and stand out making her a good role model.


The lighting in this music video is primarily natural up until it becomes night time and it gets darker. Then low-key lighting is used when the couple are at the pub. The lighting denotes the time of day but connotes the atmosphere surrounding the couples relationship. AT the start of the day and perhaps at the start of their relationship as a whole, the atmosphere was light-hearted and fun whereas as the day went on and possibly when the relationship went on, the atmosphere become more dark and serious as they began to argue with each other.


The artist is positioned in the centre of the screen in most of her performance shots. This makes her the main focus of attention so she can directly reach out to her audience to get the message across. This creates the effect that she is singing directly to the audience and in turn may make the audience feel more close to her.



    Home - Gabrielle Aplin

 In terms of Richard Dyers star theory, 'Home' by Gabrielle Aplin supports the first paradox. This is because the artist is portrayed as both ordinary and extraordinary so again she is able to relate to the audience at the same time as inspiring them. She is shown as ordinary through her bad luck as the video shows her being lost after having her car  stolen and wandering around cluelessly. She works in a small cafe or restaurant washing dishes and has to result to stealing and hitchhiking to get by.  

Supporting Goodwin's theory, there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals in this video. This occurs when the artist sings "It's not just where you lay your head" and then lays her head down onto a pillow. The artist looks sad and alone in the cheap accommodation she is staying in which supports the songs meaning as she is singing about home not just being a place where you sleep. This is because you can still feel alone or lost in this place. Instead she believes home is wherever you feel most happy.


The artist is represented as young and naïve in this music video through the struggles she is facing and lonely because she is facing them alone. However she is also portrayed as driven and hardworking as she puts up with her situation and tries to better herself to get through it. This makes her a good role model as she is setting a good example for her young audience as well as showing them that she can relate to them and times that they feel lost or alone. Aplin herself projects the image of a typical teenager, with typical teenage emotions and so can relate to her young audience.




The target audience for this music video is similar to the previous music video as the artist has not particularly changed and has the same audience. Therefore the audience is still quite young, again from the same age group as Aplin (15-25). A reason for this in terms of this music video is that the artist is represented as a role model who is inspirational through the narrative of the video. She is shown fending for herself and learning how to make something of herself when she started from nothing.


 The style of this music video is narrative mostly with some elements of performance. The narrative shows her feeling lost and clueless as she tries to get her life together starting from scratch. She gets a low paid job, hitchhikes and steals while staying in cheap accommodation. This narrative engages and inspires the audience because it shows them that if you work hard you can get to where you want to be in life.


The video is set mainly in a desolate desert setting. This has connotaions of being lost and lonely as no one else is around. This portrays how the artist feels inside as she may feel confused with what she wants to do in life and lonley as she has no one. The artists thoughts are matched to her situation and location as she is both physically and mentally lost.



My research into Gabrielle Aplin will assist me in planning my own music video as I have annotated the artists style and will as a result be able to adopt aspects of it in my own video. It has also provided evidence for what editing styles, camera techniques and mise-en-scene elements work well and do not work well in the indie genre and what effect they have. Furthermore, I have learnt to consider both Dyer and Goodwins theories and if my music video will support or oppose them and in what ways.

M Miller7 October 2015 at 06:28

This is a minimal analysis of your artist as you have not covered all points necessary for each of the videos, and have made some very vague points about the Target audience and artist rep

You need to:
1) Follow a clear structure
2) Cover Goodwin's and Dyer's theory for EACH video (2nd video Dyer's theory only half explained)
3) Elaborate on how and why the artist is represented in each video
3) Elaborate on who the TA is for each video and why
4) Cover all FIVE AREAS of MES for each video
5) Cover TWO camera and TWO editing examples for EACH video
6) Screen shots and URL for both videos