Ideal Audience member

• Her name is Lauren and she is 21 years old. She is currently studying English Literature at the University of York. She is staying in a flat with her best friends. She walks to class and on the way listens to her iPod , she likes to listen to audiobooks on the way.
• She likes to buy music but not very often. She instead prefers to watch artists on YouTube and discover new songs by independent artists. She is a fan of Indie but does like the mainstream Pop sound. She likes to listen to Oasis , The Feeling, James Blunt , Bob Dylan and Adele. She has a few albums but not many. 

• She does not go to many local gigs but she has been to a few festivals, she particularly likes Glastonbury because it features a range of music that she likes.

• She likes to play the piano and took lessons when she was a child. She never really appreciated it then but she does now.

• She uses the Internet for a variety of reasons. She regularly goes on YouTube to watch tutorial videos of popular piano instrumentals. She also likes to record herself doing cover versions of songs that she listens to such as "Just The Way You Are" or "Someone Like You". 

• She also is a regular Facebook user , she likes to chat with her friends regularly and she likes to post her videos on her wall. She also has a Twitter account but does not tweet, she prefers to follow her favourite celebrities such as Gary Barlow or James Blunt. She used to have a MySpace account and frequently listened to music on there from artists profiles. 
• She does not read many newspapers but likes reading gossip magazines such as Hello!

• Lauren likes to go to the cinema but does not go often due to money constraints, she normally likes to see romantic/relationship films but does enjoy the occasional comedy.
• She likes to watch X Factor, Glee, Friends, Desperate Housewives.

• She does not have a car preferring to ride her bicycle as she cares about the environment. 

• She has a boyfriend that she has been dating for 2 years.
• She likes to wear colourful dresses and tops when she goes out but opts for a more formal but still casual look for classes.

Audience Research- Youtube

To try and get a better understanding of our audience I thought that looking at YouTube statistics was a good place to start .

The first video I look at was the official video of Nick Gardner's Out Of The Clouds song. Looking at the map for where the music is popular , it is clear that the video is most popular in Britain. The video is also gaining popularity in the Americas particularly the U.S.A In terms of of the audience, we can see that the video is more popular with Females aged 13-24. But there is also a strong audience with Males aged 35-44. This shows that Nick has a wide diverse audience of both genders ranging from teenagers to adults. We can also see from the referrals that the video has been watched the most on a mobile device such as a tablet or phone. This is an example of technological convergence and it shows that his audience are tech savvy.


The second video I looked at was Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain". The map shows that this video is hugely popular worldwide which shows how diverse her audience is in terms of culture. America, Europe and Oceania are where she is most popular. Looking at the audience statistics, we can see again that the video is most popular with Females aged 13-24. Also we see that it is popular with Males aged 45-54. Again this shows we will have to target our music mainly at Teenage and Adult women whilst also hitting the male audience above 30. Looking at the referrals we can see that most people searched for the video via YouTube, but also we see there are a lot of views from Facebook. This shows that social networking will be a key factor in trying to target our audience.






The third video I looked at was James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover". The popularity map shows that the video is most popular in North America and West Europe. This shows that his audience are very local and not as spread out as other artists. Looking at the audience views we can see again that the video is most watched by Females aged 13 to 24 and Males aged 30 and above. We can also see from the referrals that the video was most referred from YouTube.






The final video I looked at was Bruno Mars' song "Just The Way You Are". Looking at the map we can see the video is popular worldwide particularly the Americas , Europe and Oceania. Looking at the audience views again we see that he is most popular with Females aged 13-24. But this time he is also popular with male teenagers aged 13-17. Looking at the referrals we can see most of his viewers have come from searching his name on YouTube or by watching his other videos. We can also see that 11 million people came from Facebook which shows that his audience use Facebook on a regular basis.

In conclusion, we can see clearly that our audience will mainly be Females aged 13-24. We also need to use YouTube and Facebook when promoting our digipack and music video as this is where most of the viewers have come from.

Music Video- Initial thoughts and explorations

As our song is called "Out of the Clouds", I can really picture the use of a smoke machine in our music video. This, to me sounds like a good idea as it is a visual representation of the name of thew song as the smoke machine would produce what looks like clouds. However, I spoke to my teacher about it, and she said that it would not be a good idea as it would appear to be cheesy. She then directed me to look at music videos that use smoke machines so that I can see for myself that it would be a bad idea to use a smoke machine. The use of the smoke machine is very cheesy at the end of the song and this prompted me to think that it may be too cliché and cheesy for us to use a smoke machine in our video.

Audience Research- Interviews

Who would be your favourite singer songwriter? (examples include James Blunt, James Morrisson and Bob Dylan)
-Bob Dylan
What would you expect to see in an Indie/Pop music video?
-The band
What is your favourite music video(in this particular genre) and why?
-Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues - clever music video
What would you expect an Indie/Pop artist to wear?
-Trousers (no shorts)
How would you expect an Indie/Pop artist to act in the video?
-Emotional

Chosen Song and profile of our artist

Nick Gardner is a singer-songwriter who is gaining popularity for his videos on YouTube. He started out covering songs by people like Bruno Mars, Daniel Merriweather and Adele which has gained over 250,000 views , before he released his first single "Where I Go" in 2009. He is popular because of his covers that he has done and has made a name of himself by performing well known songs.

Nick released his second single "Out Of The Clouds" in September 2010 which was the 60th Most Viewed Video for Musicians on YouTube. This is is the song that we have chosen to do for our digipack and music video. We will create an image for our artist and make a narrative for the video based on the lyrics. We chose the song because (in our opinion) it sounds good and would be a good song to make a music video for.

Here are the lyrics for our chosen song:-

[Verse 1]
Take this book from me and trace over my lines
Dark the view of the ghost on the road and cover my eyes
Heed advice that you got - stop - walk slow and keep to the sides
Keep all that in your head, use it well and see it it applies.

[Chorus]
But it hurts when it hurts and without you it's worse,
I can bring my head much further from out the clouds.
But it hurts when it hurts and without you it's worse,
I can bring my head much further from out the clouds.

[Verse 2]
Light that smoke with a flame and the sailor will die
And the tides they'll roll back and the ocean waters'll dry
There's a fear of the beast and the fear that it'll get worse
But it won't get worse, I know, it won't get worse.

[Chorus]
But it hurts when it hurts and without you it's worse,
I can bring my head much further from out the clouds.
But it hurts when it hurts and without you it's worse,
I can bring my head much further from out the clouds.


[Middle 8]
And I can see you kneeling on the floor and I can hear you testify
And this bitter pill I swallow makes it so damn hard for me to even try.
And I can see you kneeling on the floor and I can hear you testify
And this bitter pill I swallow makes it so damn hard for me to even try.

[Chorus]

I said wait, that's not me, just stay and you'll see,
I can bring my head much further from out of the clouds.

Audience Research- Survey

This questionnaire is currently being sent around to friends and family on facebook so I can get a good, varied response. The results of which will be posted later on when there are a significant amount of responses.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q6KDF7N

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Plan of Audience Research

We will have various ways to ensure that we get good audience research. Firstly, we will create a survey using the free website "Survey Monkey". I used this website last year and it is a good way to get feedback from the audience.

We will also look on our artists facebook profile to look through the demograhphics of the majority of his fans.

We will look through the youtube comments on his song that we have chosen and see what people feel about the song. On the blog, we will do a post on relevent comments about the song.

We will also do field research where will will interview various people to get their opinion.

Analysis of Shaggy's album "Hot Shot"

This is a video I have done to Analyse how this album digipack satisfies the needs of its target audience. And how it complements the music video.

Media Language

1. A digipack is a physical copy of an album with inlay and CD. It gives the consumer more in order to engage them with the artist.

2. Intertextuality is the relationship between different media texts. An example could be with Big Bang Theory when the group of them go to a cinema to watch "The Planet of the Apes". This could be used by us in the marketing of our video by the cast of our video wearing band t-shirts or something along those lines.

 

3. Intertextuality could be used in the marketing of our digipack through advertising it in the music video by showing it off or using the same artwork so the audience can see a part of the digipack in the video.

4. Goodwins Theory says that the three possible relationships between lyrics and visuals in a music video are the visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. An example of the lyrics illustrating the visuals in the music video is seen here :- "I even had her in the shower"

5. There are various ways we could develop a star image for our artist using star iconography by making him play the piano in the video to create his image.

6. The record company will usually have many demands on the video. One could be that they need to maintain their image so as to not offend their fans. For example, Pete Doherty of the band Babyshambles would be expected in their music videos to show off and be quite outlandish. This would be offensive to some people, but their fans would enjoy it. This is the aim. On the flip side, new artists that have not got a niche audience would be expected to cater for various people and not be expected to be outrageous in their music video and offend anyone. 

Camera Angles used in Music Videos

Camera Angles on Prezi

This is my timetable

Artist Choice

One member of our group emailed a musican called "Nick Gardner" who has some of their own music on Youtube. We had a reply and have been given permission to use his music for our music video. Therefore we are now deciding out of two songs, which one to use.

The Image of existing artists

Feeder- The band tend to try and look cool in all the images I have found of them. They tend to stand in a triangle formation and always have their lead singer standing at the front. This is something to note when we make a digipack for our band as it seems to be a strong convention for the lead singer to be in the forefront of the band.

The Feeling-  The band tend to also have their lead singer in the front of the band. They tend to make their lead singer the focus of attention to viewers. Some members of the band are wearing clothing that appears to draw attention. This could be for effect to  make sure they stick out as members of a band so people can know who they are. The band are all smartly dressed, as are all members from Feeder. This appears to be a convention of indie bands to try and look their best and be as smart as possible without wearing a full suit. This point will be noted when we are making our own digipack to make sure our band members are not overdressed, but are smart enough to look like they could be in an Indie band.

Kaiser Chiefs- The Kaiser Chiefs appear to conform with the other bands I have researched recently. They have their leader singer at the front and he is the focus of the digipack. In the first image, they are all wearing the same colour. This suggests unity with the group which is most likely what they wanted.

Overall, I believe when we make our digipack for our mock band, we should have the lead singer at the front with all the focus on the lead singer as this is a popular convention.

Studying a Genre of music videos

I thought I would research a genre of music that i'm looking at doing a video for so I chose to look into detail at Indie/Indie Rock/Alternative music. It is a very wide genre of music and most bands do not stick to the one genre, but are a mixture of various genres.

Feeder- In Feeder's music video "Feeling the moment" it continuously cuts back to the master shot of the band playing with the location constantly changing behind them. It appears that it is a popular convention to keep going back to a master shot of the band playing. This is something I feel my group will need to do as it establishes to the viewer who in the band plays what and this is a must for an indie rock bands music video.

The Feeling- In The Feeling's song "Love it when you call" the music video starts off with about 15 seconds without music but sound effects and an establishing shot during those 15 seconds. This could be a good idea in order to establish a narrative with the video. This could be something for my group to  think of if it is needed with our song choice. This video is very different to the Feeder video I just studied as this video focuses on a strong narrative and does not show any of the band members playing. It appears that the band felt that they wanted a good narrative that was not interrupted by seeing the band members playing.

Bon Iver- With Bon Iver's video, "Calgary" it varies greatly from the previous Indie music videos I have seen. Instead of following the apparently popular convention of having a master shot that shows all the members of the band, the video has a very strong and confusing narrative that i'm not going to pretend to understand.

Overall, I think we will probably do a music video that is similar to Feeder's video. This is because the video has a good master shot that shows all members of the band playing what they usually play within the band. I feel this is a good idea as it can let the viewers have a good insight into the band. I also feel we should have a good narrative that is not too complicated but represents some of the lyrics in the song we choose.

Song choice for music video

I have sent the following email to various different people involved with Ed Sheeran.

"Hi, i'm Ben Smith, an A2 student that goes to Newport Free Grammar School, in Essex. I have a project in Media Studies where I have to make a music video for the song of my choice. This music video is non-profit and is just for educational purposes. We have a choice of finding a song that is not copyrighted or to get permission to use a song that is copyrighted. I'm a fan of Ed Sheeran, and thought it would be great to make a music video of his music. Therefore, I was wondering if it were possible for me to make a music video for Ed Sheeran's song "One Night".

Many Thanks, Ben Smith"

I have not received any replies and I am therefore now looking for lesser known artists for permission to use their song and hopefully, I will receive a reply from them.

Vintage Trouble - Nobody Told Me Video Analysis

The band are represented as quite cool looking and all appear quite emotional, which conveys the feeling of the song.

The set is a white room, which just includes the whole band and their music instruments. There appears to be a washed out effect that also conveys the calmness of the song.

The band are all wearing fairly retro clothing, which goes with the genre of their music - which was more prominent in the 40s and 50s.

The cutting rate is very slow, which is a visual representation of the music. This affects the audience by relaxing them, which appears to be the intention of the video.

Blur - Song 2 Video Analysis

The band are represented as rather 'cool' and tough as they are in a dimly lit room and appear to be trying to look like a cool rock band. This contrasts with their previous, older videos that seem jokey and light-hearted.

The set is a small room, that appears to be when they are having a band practise. The whole video is in this same room, but as the video progresses, it appears there is strong wind, and the band members are blowing around.

They are all wearing fairly casual clothing which would suggest they are having a practise. Their props support this point as they are all playing the instrument that they play in the band.

The cutting rate varies throughout the video, however it tends to be fast paced as the music is fast paced.

Essay Question

There are various ways my group enticed the audience to continue watching the thriller video we made. For example we used a tension building piece of music in the background that built tension throughout the clip. This is a good characteristic of the genre (Thriller) which I believe my group did well.

Another way we enticed the audience was by using a spooky font, which added tension that is needed to grab the audience. It changes the mood of the film and this was good to do in order to keep the audience’s attention.

One way we grabbed the audiences attention was by using a ‘normal’ location that the audience can relate to as it was based in a house that added to the realism. The location was my house and it added to authenticity because it is a lived in house. This meant the audience could relate to the location. The effect of this was that the audience could put themselves in the main characters shoes as the location is believable.

Another way we did this was by using a clip of what looks like blood in a sink. This grabbed the audiences’ attention and made the audience think that something sinister is going on, which is the idea of it. There is a close-up of the ‘blood’ and this is to give the audience a clear view of what we, the directors wanted.

One use of editing we did to draw in the audience was using a washed out almost black and white effect on a clip of an army officer marching. This was to give a past-tense effect, which I believe was successful. We also varied the cutting rate throughout, but for the majority of the time, we had a fast cutting rate which we used to try and achieve tension for the audience as they don't get a long to see what is going on which gives a state of confusion.

Overall, I believe we managed to draw the audiences’ attention quite well. This is because we kept to certain Thriller conventions well and used good locations and music to make it a good Thriller clip. I believe we could have done better in some areas such as number of scenes as not much actually happened in our clip, instead there were long credits, which I didn’t like about our clip.

Muse - Knights of Cydonia Video Analysis

At the start of the video, the band aren't represented at all, instead there are various shots of a "Cowboy". However throughout, there are short cuts of the band playing. They are all dressed smartly in shirts and a couple of them are wearing big leather hats.

At one point the band are represented quite futuristically as an image of them is projected in a blue light. This could be a visual imagery of what their music sounds like, as they use synthesisers which give the electronic, futuristic sound.

Throughout parts of the video, there is a fast cutting rate. However, this varies throughout the video according to the pace of the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_sBOsh-vyI&ob=av3n