Who does this?

I have a very creative and talented brother. That said and out of the way, he has recently produced some music and had it posted on itunes for popular consumption. The three songs he has so far are all Halloween music. The first song is an hour long track of sounds to play outside your house on Halloween and it is sold as a $10 album. The other two are funny rap/hip-hop songs with funny lyrics and catchy beats... as if he were attempting to create the new "Monster Mash." Just before Halloween, he and his group (the "Trick-or-Treaters") put together a music video for one of the songs. The conversation that we had about the video after I watched it taught me more than I think it taught him.

After I watched it I had many questions for him. Questions that I would ask a class in a similar situation I think. Who is the audience for this? What are you saying by showing these specific images with the music? For me, I wasn't sure I understood how the girls in the video would be spending time with the men that were there... it didn't make sense to me. The message in "I'm a Werewolf" then almost communicates not to hang out with older men because they are scary and turn into beasts. The concept of what he was doing was clear, but just maybe wasn't communicated completely effectively for who he claims he was marketing it for.

"It is for the Disney teen-age crowd," he told me.

Well if that is the case, then I have more questions:
What does a person need to know in order to understand this video? (Maybe the reference to Thriller that you are parodying or your comment on old-school rap videos where the only shots are of the guys from the dash of the car as they are driving somewhere... that usually ends up being a place with sleezy women).
And who are the people that will know and understand these things? (Those who were there for those things!)
What kind of media is the intended audience participating in already and how is this like that?

I thought of how we communicate to our audience and how thinking of them is vital to communicate our stories. As much as it is an expression and artistic and entertaining, it will not be marketable or engaging unless it is consistent and meaningful. The younger crowd will not understand this as much as the older crowd will, and the older crowd will be baffled by it. I am not, by any means, saying that the video failed or that it was poorly made. I am saying that as a marketing tool for music it will attract a different crowd of people than my brother intended. We also talked about the marketability of this music-- which was a whole 'nother topic. We determined who was his audience after all, and when the music would be used. This is a small group of people for a small percentage of the year. The important thing was what he said at the end of this conversation: "well, at least I know the process of how it all works now!"

Great! I have full confidence that my brother can produce marketable media for popular consumption now that he has learned the how-to's and the what-nots...