Tuesday 13 October 2009
Sunday 11 October 2009
Audience Research
For my audience research, I have looked at consumption of music and popular culture today; I decided to focus on the younger demographic of people aged between 16 and 25 as this is who my target audience is for the music video. By finding out any trends or popular developments I can then aim my music video towards my target audience even more. The research method I used was in the form of a questionnaire:
QUESTIONNAIRE
Age: (16-20) (21- 25) (26-30) (31-35) (40+)
Gender: M/F
Occupation: (Student) (Employed) (Self-Employed) (Unemployed)Which genre of music do you listen to the most?
How do you consume this music genre?
- TV
- Radio
- Online (Spotify etc)
- iPod/MP3 player
- Computer (iTunes/Windows Media Player)
- Other
What do you think the most popular music genre is among young people today?
How often do you attend gigs/concerts?
Would you describe the music you listen to as mostly mainstream or mostly independent/niche artists?
Does the music you listen to affect your style?
How would you describe your style?
Do you often read/purchase music magazines? (NME/Kerrang)
How do you find out about new music?
- Internet
- Radio
- Friends
- Gigs
- Magazines
- Other
How do your purchase your music?
- CD- Internet downloads
- File sharing sites- Vinyl- TapeIf other please specify:
Do you think illegal downloading is a problem today, and if so why?
How often, if ever, do you watch music videos?
- Everyday
- Four times a week
- Twice a week
- Weekly
- Occasionally
- Rarely
How do you consume music videos? (Youtube, Music Channels etc)
What do you find attracts you to a music video?
- The song
- The artist
- The theme/genre
- The editing
- The narrative
- Surrealism
- Other
Do you have a favourite music video? If so, which is it and why?
Have you heard of local indie band, Blighters?
I distributed the questionnaire on social networking site, ‘facebook’ as this is a website that many young people within my target demographic use today. I managed to receive 8 replies to this questionnaire, which is less than I’d hoped. I think handing out questionnaires by hand would ensure more replies. These were my findings:
Male: 4
Female: 4
16-20: 6
21-25: 2
All Students
As I am aiming at this demographic, I didn’t need to distribute my questionnaire to older people unless I wanted to compare results, which I don’t. Distributing it on ‘facebook’ gives me a slimmer range, which could prove useful for my research as it is more focused. Using only students doesn’t really affect my results, as my target audience would be mostly students because of their age group.
I found that in this group, only half watched music videos quite regularly. This shows that they are popular with youth, although not everyone watches them often. I found that these music videos were consumed mostly on YouTube, rather than music channels like MTV and NME TV, showing the increase in web use amongst teens.
Finally I asked if anyone had heard of the unsigned band we’re using, Blighters. One person had which surprised me as they are not a huge band! They had also seen them live at a local gig.
This information has all helped to create a demographic profile for my potential target audience.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Age: (16-20) (21- 25) (26-30) (31-35) (40+)
Gender: M/F
Occupation: (Student) (Employed) (Self-Employed) (Unemployed)Which genre of music do you listen to the most?
How do you consume this music genre?
- TV
- Radio
- Online (Spotify etc)
- iPod/MP3 player
- Computer (iTunes/Windows Media Player)
- Other
What do you think the most popular music genre is among young people today?
How often do you attend gigs/concerts?
Would you describe the music you listen to as mostly mainstream or mostly independent/niche artists?
Does the music you listen to affect your style?
How would you describe your style?
Do you often read/purchase music magazines? (NME/Kerrang)
How do you find out about new music?
- Internet
- Radio
- Friends
- Gigs
- Magazines
- Other
How do your purchase your music?
- CD- Internet downloads
- File sharing sites- Vinyl- TapeIf other please specify:
Do you think illegal downloading is a problem today, and if so why?
How often, if ever, do you watch music videos?
- Everyday
- Four times a week
- Twice a week
- Weekly
- Occasionally
- Rarely
How do you consume music videos? (Youtube, Music Channels etc)
What do you find attracts you to a music video?
- The song
- The artist
- The theme/genre
- The editing
- The narrative
- Surrealism
- Other
Do you have a favourite music video? If so, which is it and why?
Have you heard of local indie band, Blighters?
I distributed the questionnaire on social networking site, ‘facebook’ as this is a website that many young people within my target demographic use today. I managed to receive 8 replies to this questionnaire, which is less than I’d hoped. I think handing out questionnaires by hand would ensure more replies. These were my findings:
Male: 4
Female: 4
16-20: 6
21-25: 2
All Students
As I am aiming at this demographic, I didn’t need to distribute my questionnaire to older people unless I wanted to compare results, which I don’t. Distributing it on ‘facebook’ gives me a slimmer range, which could prove useful for my research as it is more focused. Using only students doesn’t really affect my results, as my target audience would be mostly students because of their age group.
From this I can see that indie/alternative music is most popular in my interviewees, followed closely by rock music. The unsigned band that I am using, Blighters, describe themselves as new wave/reggae/indie, which would come as a sub genre of indie. Therefore our video could be quite successful due to the popularity of the musical genre of the song we are using, as people may be attracted to this. When asked, which they thought was the most popular genre today, people also mostly answered ‘indie/alternative’.
I found that consumption of music in this group is mainly through iPod or MP3 players and is now much less popular by radio or online, even with the proliferation of software like Spotify and iTunes Store.
I wanted to find out about popular culture as well as the music side of my target audience, therefore I asked questions about gigs and concerts, music magazines and fashion styles that could be affected by music listened to. I could use this information to influence any themes or costumes used in my music video, if there are close links, to appeal to my audience and relate with them more.
Only 5 out of the 10 people read music magazines, like NME. There were also only 3 of them who regularly attended gigs, local and mainstream bands and this is how they often discovered new music. The majority of people said they discovered new music through radio and magazines rather than through people. One person said they watched music channels to find it, this shows that music videos can have a positive public effect on sharing unsigned music and bands. Many people said that music taste did not at all affect their style, although they could understand how it would affect certain groups.
As you can see, most music is purchased, or consumed through internet downloads and filesharing, which isn’t always legal. People don’t seem to have a problem with this however and continue to do so. When asked if they thought illegal downloading was a problem, everyone answered ‘yes’, with reasons like ‘it loses the music industry money’ and ‘it’s getting more widespread as more people do it’.
Another aspect I wanted to investigate was how popular music videos are today, and what it is that people expect from them. This information can help when creating my own music video, as I will know what my audience are looking for and can perhaps conform to or twist some of these expectations.
I found that consumption of music in this group is mainly through iPod or MP3 players and is now much less popular by radio or online, even with the proliferation of software like Spotify and iTunes Store.
I wanted to find out about popular culture as well as the music side of my target audience, therefore I asked questions about gigs and concerts, music magazines and fashion styles that could be affected by music listened to. I could use this information to influence any themes or costumes used in my music video, if there are close links, to appeal to my audience and relate with them more.
Only 5 out of the 10 people read music magazines, like NME. There were also only 3 of them who regularly attended gigs, local and mainstream bands and this is how they often discovered new music. The majority of people said they discovered new music through radio and magazines rather than through people. One person said they watched music channels to find it, this shows that music videos can have a positive public effect on sharing unsigned music and bands. Many people said that music taste did not at all affect their style, although they could understand how it would affect certain groups.
As you can see, most music is purchased, or consumed through internet downloads and filesharing, which isn’t always legal. People don’t seem to have a problem with this however and continue to do so. When asked if they thought illegal downloading was a problem, everyone answered ‘yes’, with reasons like ‘it loses the music industry money’ and ‘it’s getting more widespread as more people do it’.
Another aspect I wanted to investigate was how popular music videos are today, and what it is that people expect from them. This information can help when creating my own music video, as I will know what my audience are looking for and can perhaps conform to or twist some of these expectations.
I found that in this group, only half watched music videos quite regularly. This shows that they are popular with youth, although not everyone watches them often. I found that these music videos were consumed mostly on YouTube, rather than music channels like MTV and NME TV, showing the increase in web use amongst teens.
Finally I asked if anyone had heard of the unsigned band we’re using, Blighters. One person had which surprised me as they are not a huge band! They had also seen them live at a local gig.
This information has all helped to create a demographic profile for my potential target audience.
AUDIENCE PROFILE
My target audience would be between the ages of 16 and 24 and in higher education - sixth form/college/university or working. Considering the band are British and the music video is filmed in the UK, it would be aimed at a UK audience.
The genre of the band is defined as indie-pop/alternative, this appeals to people who want to listen to music that noone else listens to and therefore often look for unsigned or niche bands, rather than listening to mainstream artists. The indie genre is wide and increasingly popular, as found in my research, closely followed by rock. My target audience's media interests would include watching music channels like MTV TWO and NME, they enjoy reading music magazines, local ones like Outline and some more mainstream like Kerrang and NME. My target audience would be regular gig attendees, mostly local gigs of small and unknown bands although some slightly bigger artists too. For example in Norwich, they would attend gigs at venues like Norwich Arts Centre, The Marquee and Karma Kafe. They would enjoy arty, niche things like photography, getting involved at local radio shows and hanging out in coffee shops. They would also be part of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace and may also write their own blog on sites such as blogger or tumblr.com. Their fashion would be quite individual, shopping in places like Topshop, H&M and smaller vintage stores or boutiques.
Similar bands my target audience would like include: Maccabees, Metronomy, Mumford and Sons, Hockey, Foals, Wild Beasts and Animal Collective.
Friday 2 October 2009
Music Video; Costumes
Below are some ideas of what our characters will wear in the video, they aren't necessarily the same but it gives an idea.
As the band we're using has quite an indie, city style, we decided to follow it, keeping with the genre of the music and any expectations people would have. With our target audience also being listeners of indie/alternative music, they will be able to relate with these styles, if followed, although this is quite stereotypical. It also reflects the style of artists like Jack Penate and Hockey.
Our main male character will be dressed in quite casual clothes for the classroom scene, a checked shirt - which the audience can relate to as it is still a contemporary and popular style-, jeans and plimsolls. The shirt could also mimick school uniform, as they are in an exam setting.
Our female character will have a similar, indie style, wearing a dress and cardigan and some pumps. This creates a casual look, as would be worn to college/sixth form. It has less of a 'uniform' feel. This would also appeal to the audience, as it is a current fashion item, making the characters more relatable to the audience. Artists like Those Dancing Days and Pixie Lott like also use these styles as they are current and contemporary.
As the band we're using has quite an indie, city style, we decided to follow it, keeping with the genre of the music and any expectations people would have. With our target audience also being listeners of indie/alternative music, they will be able to relate with these styles, if followed, although this is quite stereotypical. It also reflects the style of artists like Jack Penate and Hockey.
Our main male character will be dressed in quite casual clothes for the classroom scene, a checked shirt - which the audience can relate to as it is still a contemporary and popular style-, jeans and plimsolls. The shirt could also mimick school uniform, as they are in an exam setting.
Our female character will have a similar, indie style, wearing a dress and cardigan and some pumps. This creates a casual look, as would be worn to college/sixth form. It has less of a 'uniform' feel. This would also appeal to the audience, as it is a current fashion item, making the characters more relatable to the audience. Artists like Those Dancing Days and Pixie Lott like also use these styles as they are current and contemporary.
Our teacher character we want to resemble the new 'geek is chic' kind of trend. With big glasses coming back into fashion alongside blazers and shirts, we can recreate an old geeky teacher character but keep him with current fashion trends. Ironic.
Music Video; Storyboards
(These are the first two storyboards, the final two will be posted up shortly, as I seem to have misplaced them in my computer files!)
Thursday 1 October 2009
Music Video; Locations, Characters, Props
Initially we were planning to only use one location in our music video, which would be the classroom. However, this could become extremely tedious and repetitive so we've decided to use a gig venue, for performance shots of a band playing, a crowd mingling and maybe even dancing. And we can also take the narrative outside the classroom, taking the main boy and girl to the gig venue therefore interweaving our performance and narrative footage. We want to use an old classroom to create a sense of nostaglia and to play with idea of old styles returning to the 21st century, like with fashion and culture. Indie styles today often replicate those of the 80's and 90's with a modern twist. Music videos by bands like Golden Silvers and Taylor Swift also use this idea. We are also following the 'exam' focus of the lyrics. We also found performance footage makes a good video, and helps promote the band well which is why we want to use a gig venue. It also fits in the narrative of the guy and girl dating, as many couples or potential partners go and dates to gigs or concerts today.
Our locations include:
Characters:
- Main guy.
- Main girl
- Teacher
- Rest of Class in exam, 7/8 students
- Band, 3 members?
Casting on seperate post.
Props:
- Blackboard
- Chalk
- Paper and pens
- Instruments: electric guitar, drum kit, bass guitar, microphone and stand, speaker/amp.
The instruments are needed to film close ups of at the start, as if the band are preparing for the gig, getting ready to start - like drum sticks being picked up, leads being plugged in. We can access all of these instruments in a rehearsal room, and film it seperately to the perfomance footage. A similar idea is used at the start of the video, 4ever - The Veronicas as we discovered afterwards! It gives a look in at the instruments involved which in turn, introduces the genre of the song.
The blackboard, chalk, paper and pens are all to add to the old classroom style. Paper and pens on the desks will help make the 'exam' or lesson seem more realistic. We can have writing on them too. The blackboard and chalk, we want to use to write some of the lyrics on using stopmotion animation, or perhaps showing some of the teachers thoughts, using effects like in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8blXgmUXvI - Chalkboard Animation.
Our locations include:
- an old style classroom. It has been very difficult to find a classroom exactly like this one, because so many of them have been refurbished and modernised nowadays. We've found a classroom within CNS, Room 21, which isn't as modern as most of the other ones. It has single desks which can replicate the exam desks, however doesn't have a blackboard but we will either use the whiteboard or cover it up, and bring in a blackboard on an easel. Filming at school will be much easier and more accessible, and also much easier to organise.
These are pictures of Room 21 at CNS, the oldest looking, accessible classroom we could find, with posters covering the walls, bookshelves and the lack of an interactive whiteboard.
- and a gig venue, either: The Marquee/The Birdcage or Norwich Arts Centre. Gig venues can be really difficult to film in, because of the lack of decent lighting for filming and also getting permission. This is why we're not using main ones like The Waterfront or LCR. We decided a low key pub venue or somewhere like the arts centre would be much better, as they tend to use less effects and just have better lighting within the venue. It would also be easier to film the narrative without huge crowds getting in the way which is why we're attending an low key, local gig.
Characters:
- Main guy.
- Main girl
- Teacher
- Rest of Class in exam, 7/8 students
- Band, 3 members?
Casting on seperate post.
Props:
- Blackboard
- Chalk
- Paper and pens
- Instruments: electric guitar, drum kit, bass guitar, microphone and stand, speaker/amp.
The instruments are needed to film close ups of at the start, as if the band are preparing for the gig, getting ready to start - like drum sticks being picked up, leads being plugged in. We can access all of these instruments in a rehearsal room, and film it seperately to the perfomance footage. A similar idea is used at the start of the video, 4ever - The Veronicas as we discovered afterwards! It gives a look in at the instruments involved which in turn, introduces the genre of the song.
The blackboard, chalk, paper and pens are all to add to the old classroom style. Paper and pens on the desks will help make the 'exam' or lesson seem more realistic. We can have writing on them too. The blackboard and chalk, we want to use to write some of the lyrics on using stopmotion animation, or perhaps showing some of the teachers thoughts, using effects like in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8blXgmUXvI - Chalkboard Animation.
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