Audience Research Questions

These are the questions I plan to ask the public. Before I ask these questions, I will ask them to give me their favourite genre of music out of a list of four genres: Pop, Rock, Indie and Dance. I will eliminate any who do not say indie, and will use these people to find out more information and make it more suited to the specific audience I am looking to target at. By doing this, it will save me time and effort. I will only film people who answer to 'indie' being their favoutire genre so that I am interviewing the right type of people and get more audience research out of my basic questionnaire.

Questions as follows (in order):

On a scale of 1 to 10 how aware are you of the indie music genre?

What is your favourite indie band?

What are the typical items you’d expect to see in an indie music video?

What would you expect an indie band to wear in their music video?

What are the typical locations you’d expect to see in an indie music video?

Would you prefer an indie music video to have a straight forward narrative, a fragmented less-clear narrative or no narrative at all?

What would you expect an indie band to be doing in their music video? Performing with instruments in front of the camera, acting out a narrative or both?

Lastly, what is your favourite music video and why?

Lyrics Breakdown

Initial Ideas

Permission Request

Interesting Music Videos

The reason why I think this music video is so interesting is because it has no link to the lyrics, it is completely random and spontaneous yet the whole concept of what they have done is really creative. It is very time consuming and difficult to apply this kind of idea to my video as I would need professional help to convey this plan and it would take months but I enjoy watching it. Their idea for this music video makes it very unique and recognisable and a topic to talk about.




I particularly like this music video - it is one of my favourites. I love the way the colours and pace of the video reflect the mood and lyrics. I could maybe add this idea to my own music video, using colours as a way of portraying a certain mood: brighter colours for more positive points in the song and black and white dull colours for the slower, more thought-provoking points. I could also use the same idea with the pace, using fast and slow paced editing by adjusting the speed percentages on Final Cut. This whole video is very eerie and sad yet interesting at the same time.




The context of this video very much reflects the visuals. What you hear is what you see on the screen. The main man walking down the street has a careless, rude and mindless attitude which could conclude to many people disliking his character, yet if you listen to the lyrics it may make you think about why he is acting in that way. I like the way the video is pretty much an entire continuity shot, it has no variety of shots or edits, yet it says so much  just by staying as it is.
 This proves that although for my music video I need to meet certain criteria and demonstrate a variety of different shots and editing techniques, I do not always need to show my footage in lots of different ways to prove a point, it can just be left as it is to prove a point.



This video is also interesting in terms of mise-en-scene. The facial expressions of the people match the beat of the song, despite it being very fast paced and the shots being in slow motion. The colours are also interesting. It makes me think back to the Street Spirit video and why they have particularly decided to use black and white over colour. The black and white links in with the smoke from the cigarette.




The Thought Beats are very clear in this music video - everytime there is a clear lyric the shot changes on screen and matches the pace of the song. Although my song that I am choosing has elements of fast paced as well as slow paced motions, I still want to try and match the beat just like in this video, except not at every moment. This is because my song is meant to be sad and thought provoking, and by adding too many thought beats it may change the overall mood and become confusing to my target audience.




I like how this video demonstrates its lyrics on screen, yet if I chose to include this technique in my video I think it would make it too cheesy and 'pop' like, subverting my chosen genre of indie/alternative rock. However its quite interesting how Metronomy have chosen this technique for their video as they are an indie/electonica genre, but like to keep their videos unique. I also like the effect they have with the old TV screen.




Similar to Bittersweet Symphony, I like the way this video is highly edited, yet uses one continuity shot to show the changes over time. The 'space' background definitely adds to this effect and don't think it would have had such an impact if they had deicded to use a plain white background over a black one with stars. The colours used on the objects floating past reflect the era - Some have a retro vintage tint on them to make them look more dated. Also, this supports the idea that indie music videos aren't always relevant - this one is quite random, a lot like the Cough Cough video, which means my video doesn't always have to focus on a certain narrative, it can be fragmented. I like the way the video is also shown in a chronological order - it shows the objects of childhood in a particular order to show how we grow up and grow out of toys and food.

Creative Shots and Editing Techniques

In the video Skinny Love by Birdy, the whole video is just one take of the artist singing the song. The lyrics are emphasised at different parts through the artist's facial expressions (e.g. more frowning, closing of eyes, etc). We can tell some parts she is more passionate about singing than others. I also like the way although the shot is always the same, the focus varies, such as this point on the left. It's as if the rest of the world continues around her yet she is unnoticed and lonely.

I also like this editing technique, which I have seen in a number of other videos. Sometimes artists make their music videos seem like a short film, and use text at the beginning of the film to make it seem more realistic. This especially seems to help when music videos have a strong narrative to them, as they are telling a story just like a film does. This has been taken from the music video to Talk Through The Night by Dog is Dead. The lines on the edit give it that 'old film' vintage effect.

Although this video shows all its band members, which is something I do not really want to do, I like the way the band members are slowly revealed through a backward dolly track through a corridor in a fancy suite. The first band member plays the drums, then the guitarists. I think the way the band is 
revealed creates a hype for the audience and the way they are all positioned makes the video look interesting and well thought out.



The video for 'How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep?' by Bombay Bicycle Club is an animation throughout. I do not plan to use any animation in my video, however I do like the editing technique in this shot how the mobile shows the song title. It is especially clever how the videos the theme of sleep, which is shown in the title. The idea of 'swallowing so much sleep' links to dreams, which is what this video is about - space and psychedelic happenings in the man's dream.

Islands by The XX is personally one of my favourite music videos, as I find the choreography and the planning of the video really interesting. I love the way the scene is repeated yet changing ever so slightly every time to represent the relationship and meaning of the song. The actors and actresses leave the set and become less enthusiastic about their dancing, making the overall mood of the song change from the beginning to end. The repetitive 'X' also promotes the band and its instantly recognisable logo.

Digipak Analysis 2

For my second digipak analysis I have chosen to analyse the Radio 1 Live Lounge Volume 3 album. I chose this album as it has a wide range of genres on its track listings, mostly covers of contrasting songs and artists which is what Radio 1 Live Lounge is so well-known for doing.

Each Live Lounge volume normally has a certain colour, this one which I own happens to have a red and white (mostly red) colour scheme throughout. I think Radio 1 choose different colours each time for their albums as the album is always a mix of songs from varied genres, therefore there is never a specific colour they go for as the audience could  judge the album as something its not (e.g. black colour schemed album - gothic/heavy rock music, white colour schemed album - classical/calm/pure music).

The digipak I have chosen is a 10 sided digipak, which is quite rare to find but is more suited to this album as it has 3 different discs.The front cover of the digipak has a keyboard, guitar, tambourine and technical equipment, as well as an on/off air sign which has been converted into the album title 'Radio 1's Live Lounge Volume 3'. This gives the album a very obvious 'acoustic' feel, as it actually shows the instruments on the front cover and emphasises on the fact all these tracks have been recorded live. The keyboard is covered in band stickers to show which bands are on the album, but this also gives the album an authentic, unique feel as usually when we see a band live, or when they are practicing, they have their band stickers and logos on their equipment. The album also has the Radio 1 logo on the top left corner of the album so that the audience know this is Radio 1 merchandise, and fans of Radio 1 will be especially keen to give the album a listen, or if they heard the live lounges being performed on the radio and liked them they may want to purchase the album. The yellow highlighted stamp on the album tells the audience what is included in this album, and may like the idea of the 'Bonus DVD' as not many album's include this feature. On the other side, the triangle E states the album if from UK Classification.

Opening up the digipak, a 2 page spread image of a guitar is revealed, edited by copying the image over the same one to create a cool look to the guitar. Again, this adds onto the authentic theme of the album and the idea of instruments being involved and a lot of the songs being classed as authentic and unlike the original versions. The guitar has been outlined in yellow to make it stand out more on the red background. The white coloured small print includes the special edition DVD listings and on the right a thank 

you note from Radio 1 to the people who 
helped to put together this digipak.

When we unfold the digipak further, the CDs are shown. They keep the theme of red and white even on the CDs so that the artwork on the entire digipak matches and it does not look messy or misplaced. Another image of an instrument, this time the keyboard, is shown on the next foldover, again the photo edited to make the instrument look interesting and unique to the audience and make them think of the instrumental side of the music as well as the singing. The photo has again been tinted red to fit in with the theme of the album and has also been divided and jumbled up.


On the back of the album, the background colour has changed to white. I personally think they may have chosen the theme of red and white to reflect on the England flag and the positive things in our country (such as the winning bid of the Olympics - as the album was published in 2008 the year we found out we would be hosting). The font and size of font has not changed the album which makes it appear more professional. The track listings have been put into two separate columns on the album to make it more clear for the audience which tracks are on which disc. 


Below the track listings there is copyright information, a barcode and a list of logos which the album and Radio 1 are in partnership with. Every album/digipak has to include these features on the album as otherwise there could be a risk of copying the album. 

I believe the typical target audience for this digipak would be people who enjoy mainstream music and have a open taste to anything. The target audience would also most likely include fans of Radio 1 as it is one of the few merchandise Radio 1 have on offer for the public to buy. I would not say the album was targeted at any specific gender as the choice of artists on the album is mixed and there is no obvious genre.

Music Video Analysis

For my music video analysis I have decided to analyse the video 'Breezeblocks' by alt-j. I have chose this song as it fits in with the genre I am researching on.

The song starts off quite quiet for the first few seconds until the drum beat kicks in. The beat and pace of the song is shown through the straight cut editing (one of Andrew Goodwin's theories of 'Thought Beats') and the smoother more calm, non-instrumental parts of the song are amplified in a less-violent way (e.g. the woman running away from the man in slow motion at 0:35 seconds). The video has three main actors who we presume are a couple but who seem to be having an argument over another woman who appears later on in the video. The lyrics of the song also reflect upon the visual and what we see ("Never kisses all you ever send are fullstops"). The way the video is in reverse, similar to The Scientist by Coldplay, also gives the video a eccentric touch and makes the video jerky and not as simple to understand compared to music videos with a relationship/love theme with a easy to read narrative structure.

The mise-en-scene and colours used in this video are overall quite dull and dark, mainly greys, blacks and dark blues, which could reflect the problems that the couples are facing as the reality of the situation is low spirited and hurting. The idea of 'breezeblocks' links in with the idea of the couple trying to build and improve their unbalanced relationship. The video also uses breezeblocks as props as a way of symbolizing the violence in the relationship. It could also symbolise their feelings towards eachother with the idea that there is parts 'missing' and 'empty' (the holes in the breezeblocks).The facial expressions, such as an aggressive gritting of teeth, angry mid-shouting and guilty head-in-hands, of the man and woman also tell us a lot about how they're feeling, especially as there is no lip syncing in the video so the audience will have to rely on the lyrics properly to understand the storyline (e.g. 'please don't go/I love you so' - he does truly love her and regrets killing her). The camera angles and shots are interesting as the couple never look directly at the camera as they are too involved in the violence and argument. The camera is sometimes placed in discreet places, e.g. low angles are used and there is sometimes something partly blocking the cameras view like a table, which makes the audience feel as if we are secretly watching in on the argument when we aren't meant to be as arguments are usually about personal things.

The narrative of the video is readable, yet the narrative before and after what is shown is confusing (why was the woman being kept under the wardrobe with tape over her mouth? Was he cheating on his wife with another woman because of the frequent cutaway edits to his gold wedding ring on his finger?). These missing parts of the story make the audience want to keep watching the video and make them want to find out what happens to the man; does he end up getting arrested after the murder? Is the girl really dead? This supports Torode's theory of the 5 stages of a music video/film, although in this video not all stages as we do not fully understand the reasons for the beginning and the end.

Because the narrative is reversed the future is shown in the beginning, where we see the male with his head in his hands looking very guilty and in regret. The camera then cuts to the female character, who is under the water in the bath, along with a breezeblock.

 From the media language we presume he has gone too far in the argument and ended up killing her by throwing the breezeblock at her and knocking her unconscience, which is an enigma and key object in the video as the breezeblock represents more than one thing.
Although this conclusion to the argument may not always happen in everyday life, normal people can relate to this type of violent argument which makes the music video quite realistic and eye-opening, and alt-j may be trying to bring attention and get a message across on the topic of domestic violence in the world today. This is also known as representation and Carole Vernallis' theory states that people are more aware of situations when they are realistic and happen in the culture we live in. In this case, domestic violence is a key problem in the UK that needs to be tackled, and alt-j try to make the public more aware of the problem with their music video. 

Alt-j are not present in the video and instead their video is being acted out by the two girls and man. This means that there is no star image as we do not actually know what alt-j look like, but this is one of their debut singles and they are a new band, therefore we might find out more about them as time goes on and they release more.Their other popular song 'Tesselate' is played on BBC Radio 1 more and more frequently and their presence at this year's music festivals continues to help them on gaining their popularity.

Magazine Advert Analysis 2

My second magazine advert that I am analysing is Coldplay's 'Mylo Xyloto' album. This genre of music could still be categorised under alternative rock/indie but Coldplay are also a band loved by a wide variety of people, so they do not have one set specific genre which they are categorised under.

The advert's background colour is very dull/plain, but this has been done deliberately so that the name of the album, which is positioned in the centre of the A4 sized page, stands out and is more eye-catching to the audience. There is a variety of colours used in the inside of the letters of 'Mylo Xyloto'. They look as if the artists of this advert have deliberately used spray painting and graffitti inside each individual letter to make them look more bold and readable.

The advert is not designed to attract a specific gender or age group. However, the way there is spray painting/graffitti inside each letter gives the album a fresh, urban look which would attract a lot of younger people. It is almost a kind of futuristic design which is interesting as it's so different from their past album design/styles. They may have decided to change their overall look as a band to try and attract a wider variety of different people, as their past albums usually had the same audience.

The band name and album release date has used the same style of font and colours. The letters have been made simple in a black outline, which makes the name of the album stand out even further. It must be important for Coldplay to promote their newest album with a unusual name 'Mylo Xyloto' which people are most likely to remember from it's uniqueness.

At the bottom of the advert it states 'Pre-order the album on iTunes'.The fact that the album is yet to be released may be why the magazine advert doesn't seem very revealing and quite plain, as it may be that desire creation was used to grab the audience's attention about the album and make them aware that Coldplay are returning with a new album after such a long break from their music. It also states about their new single 'Paradise' which also intruiges the audience as they would have already heard and taken a liking to the song being played on the radio and be in the Top 40 Charts. The information also includes a website that people can visit 'coldplay.com' to find out more about the upcoming album.

Magazine Advert Analysis

The magazine advert I have decided to analyse is Oasis' 'Dig Out Your Soul' album. I chose this advert as, again, it fits in with the genre I have chosen to research on and base my music video around.

As you can see, the name of the band is instantly recognisably at the top of the advert. The font style that has been used has been kept the same throughout the whole of Oasis' career, so they have a specific band logo which the audience can relate to.

The main colours used are blues on the advert, with the sun appearing at the top above the clouds in the background to create a happy positive feel to the album. The image of clouds and the sun help give the album a calm, high-spirited interpretation (we can roughly link the advert's theme to nature), without even listening to the tracks.

The title of the album is positioned just below the name of the band, which is used in a similar style of font to the 'Oasis' logo. The colour is also kept the same to keep the colour scheme simple and avoid making the advert looking messy and unprofessional. 

The main and only image is positioned nearer the bottom of the page. It is almost like a collage of different types of pictures - a butterfly, a general soldier and a vinyl disc. This image is very random and psychedelic and, often like the genre, is open to interpretations and opinions. The large image of the butterfly could link in with the idea of freedom and 'digging out your soul', which the background image also supports.

At the very bottom of the advert, there is information about the new album itself, with new popular single releases listed on the album (that the audience might already recognise due to the technique of desire creation), a website the audience could visit for more information (www.oasisnet.com), and information about a special edition CD and bonus DVD of the album that could also be purchased).

The advert is not aimed at a specific gender of age group. The early work of Oasis already attracted a lot of people and soon Oasis had a great number of fans and followers, therefore anybody who listened to Oasis before would most likely be interested in this latest album, especially as it is their last ever to be released as a group before they split up.

Digipak Analysis

Above is a photo of the MGMT 'Oracular Spectacular' album digipak which I have chose to analyse. I have chose this album as the band fitted in with the genre I am focusing on in my research and I personally thought the artwork on the digipak was quite interesting and not just plain colours like some digipaks.

The photo of the front cover is of the two band members, both in a medium long shot looking into the distance. They are in what looks like a hot, holiday location and are dressed in unique aztec-print clothing which makes them look like part of a tribe. This brings out the bands quirkiness and different style of music and singing compared to other bands in the charts, as the tribe look makes them seem 'one of a kind'. The colour scheme consists of purple/pink colours and the small sun in the distance adds an exotic theme to the album which could make the audience who buy the album feel a part of their 'tribe' and style of music. The spine still fits in with the colour scheme but is a much brighter pink to help the name of the album stand out. The font used on the front cover for the vertical 'MGMT' is very clear and the centre positioning makes it the first thing the audience sees. The font used reminds me a little of egyptian style writing, which again could fit in with the idea of a tribe.

On the back outside cover of the digipak there is a long shot of a group of people standing in the sea with their backs to the photo. Again, this highlights the idea of being a part of a tribe, and the fact them throwing fire into the water gives a feeling of a 'celebration'. The back cover shows a barcode, track listings and copyright information which are all essential on any digipak.

The inside photo spreads over both sides of the digipak. We can immediately see a contrast between the inside photo and the outside photos. The photo that has been used is in black and white to juxtapose between the two. The band members are holding banknotes - this could be to show the start of their career and them both making money from their music,  which would support the idea of the picture deliberately being in black and white (to show the past). The inside right side of the photo lists the producers, art, thank you notes and who the songs were written by.

Nine Frame Analysis 2

Nine Frame Analysis

Shot Count Task

Shot Count Task

Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club



For my shot count I decided to choose this video by Bombay Bicycle Club as they are an alternative rock/indie based band which fits into the genre that I wish to focus on in my coursework (Indie/Alternative Rock). 

Bombay Bicycle Club often demonstrate their quirkiness and individuality through their body language. Their distinctive 'dance moves' and facial expressions suit the style of Jack Steadman's singing, and almost make the lyrics and words of the song seem more true and meaningful to the audience. Also, the unique editing techniques and effects used in Always Like This support the idea of an 'authentic' feel, a popular convention across the Indie genre.

For this task I had to count how many shots I could In this music video I did a shot count which added up to approximately 140 shots. It was quite a difficult task to do as the pace of the editing was so fast that it was hard to keep up with the shot count. The types of shots vary throughout the video but one the most popular types are medium shots of the band members playing instruments, mainly guitars. There are also a number of establishing shots to emphasise on the way the band perform and walk to different places throughout the day and into the night. The repetitive lyrics of 'It's Always Like This' make me personally feel as if the lyrics link in with a complicated love situation, where the relationship has flaws and always goes back to square one (hence the idea of 'it's always like this' - this meaning the problems).

For quite an thought-provoking song, the number of cuts in the video is quite high. This could be because the emotion is hidden behind the editing and more upbeat moments of the song.

Genre
The IndieAlternative Rock genre of this music video is shown mainly through the use of editing and mise-en-scene (instruments such as guitars, drums etc.). The effects used in the video such as the 'recording', 'pause' and 'play' symbols and distorted purposely bad camera quality add a comforting home-ly feel, as if this video was filmed by the band themselves using their own personal camcorders. The colours used in the video seem quite dull and unhappy, which could reflect the lyrics in the song.

Narrative
The music video itself does not follow a specific story. If I could interpret any sign of a story shown through the visuals it would be about the band embarking on their journey through fame and musical development, as the band start off playing around houses and car garages, but by night they end up on the streets, in a bar and by a bus stop. This is also one of the band's debut songs, so this kind of idea would make sense. However, on the lyrical side of the song a completely different story. An analysis of the lyrics could conclude about love.

Audience
Bombay Bicycle Club do not have a gender specific audience but their style of music does attract those who enjoy listening to indie genre, as Jack Steadman's style of singing is not the usual vocals you'd hear in the Top 40 Chart. His image relates to his fans: long hair, skinny jeans, shirts. These are all linked to an 'indie' fashion taste that a lot of fans are likely to follow to make a statement and to portray their music taste.

Representation
Althought all band members of the group are male, they subvert the typical male icon. Jack Steadman is quite skinny and his glasses make him out to be labelled as 'geeky'. However, the indie genre turns this usually negative image into a positive one, promoting that it is 'cool to be different and unique'. This is similar with other indie based bands, such as Tom Vek.

Comparing to Another Genre

David Guetta - Little Bad Girl ft. Taio Cruz



Compared to Bombay Bicycle Club above, this music video comes from a dance/pop genre. The song is more upbeat and fast paced, therefore we would expect to hear this song in places such as clubs and bars where people dance. The video also highlights more features of a party-like atmosphere such as flashing lights, bright colours and lots of people dancing. I counted 137 shots in this video.

Preliminary Task Lip Sync

The preliminary task was a practice talk we had to complete in the summer holidays before we started A2. It was done to help us get a glimpse of how to edit lip syncing and get an idea of music videos. I worked with Beth Thornton for this task. We did not complete the full song as it was not on the schema for our A2 portfolio but it was just done to help practice. Overall I think this did help me for when I made the real music video as it gave us an oppurtunity to use the camcorders again and get used to using Final Cut after a long break from the first year coursework. 

Personal Skills Sheet

Personal Skills Sheet from alllllexx