How has your target market research affected your music video production decisions?

During the planning stage of my products I carried out some target audience research, this was done in order to find out my target audiences preferences. Using this would then help me create my Digipak and music video, I use this information to make sure that I sculpt the project that my target audience want and would watch. I asked a sample of both males and females, who like the genre of alternative rock in order to base my project around them. I wanted to know there favourite music artists, what genres they like (but asking more people who I know like rock) what they think the importance of the music video is, How do they stream there music video, how do they find new music. I made sure that I picked a genre that I like, this was so that I could build my own opinion as well as relate to what my target audience are looking for. This almost gave me to debate there answers in order to build the best picture around my Digipak and music video. I was interested to see how my target audience would feel and if there answers would correlate, I was interested comparing in order to get a wider understanding of how people work.

When carrying out my research I found that males prefer listening to genres like dubstep, house, rock, trap and so on. Some example of artists would be, Skrillex, KDrew, Tiesto, Greenday, Linkin Park and Trap city. This lead me to believe that males like the more musical aspect of music rather than the vocal areas. Whereas my female audience said they enjoyed Reggae, R&B and Alternative rock. Some examples of artists would be Rhianna, B.O.B, YouMeAtSix and Sean Paul.

After I asked them about there preferred music genres I spoke to them about the genre I like and was creating a music video round which was Alternative rock, I decided to play them some alternative rock songs such as Underdog by YouMeAtSix in order for them to understand the genre I was focusing on. I then asked them for there opinion on the song and the type of genre it falls under, the response I got was that they enjoy listening to it because the genre and song is powerful with emotions and characteristic and it sound like a song they’d listen to. Some didn’t like the song I chose therefore it didn’t help my research some of the guys felt the lyrics were more appealing to the female audience but liked the layout and styling of the band. This then let them understand the focus point of alternative rock, I then started basing my question around how much they enjoy the genre. For example if someone liked it but wasn’t keen, I would ask them basic questions like what would they expect from a poster of this type of genre. Whereas if they really liked the music I would then ask them what they like about the genre, what they like about the artists, what they expect from the music videos, what they think I need to consider when doing my Digipak ect.

Another question I asked is what they think is important in a music video? The response I got was quite clear from all, they mainly like it when a music video tells a story. They like it when they have something to connect them with the artist so that they feel like they can relate to him or her. Therefore humanising him/her rather then make him/her look better than everyone else. They like it when the music video has emotion in it, so laughter, sadness something that they can feel represent the lyrics in the song. They expect the location, time of day and clothing to go with the period of time the music video is in and that they stay within the genre of the song. 

I asked my audience is how they discovered new music? The main or most common result was the Radio 1 chart show, this allows them to hear top songs released within the UK, however there are other ways they asses there music. Otherwise include tv channels and chart shows, recommendations from friends, online websites for  upcoming artists, SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes charts or through featured artists on itunes etc. When designing my ancillary texts I felt it was important that my album featured other popular artists, that way when they are searching through favourite artists or the related artist on websites, chart shows or youtube channels they would then come across my artist and it would then make it easier for them to find my music video because of the featured song.

I also discussed the importance of a music video? My audience said that what they felt is mandatory to include within my music video. However there will always be mixed opinion on what everyone thinks is important to include because everyone has there own judgement and thinks differently therefore it’s important for me to argue both cases and try to come up with the best video. However when it came to discussing if it was important to have a music video some said that they don’t really look at the videos they just listen to the music and relate the songs to past experiences in there life, they don’t need a video to do this. However some believe tat emotionally it helps them relate the song to the artist and is helpful for them to understand the artists message and is key for that success of the artist. If the artist doesn’t do a good job of the music video it could ruin the song. Therefore its important otherwise the artist image is then corrupt and the popularity of that very song would/could decrease.


How my video compares
with my music video I made sure that throughout my music video the artist was the main focus point, I wanted the audience to be able to relate to the character. The song I chose was called funeral I believe that the video I created represented the song choice well and gave over the image the artist wanted to create and the lyrics within the video. The video was upsetting, some could say depressing and engaged the audience in order to get them to think and build there own story with it. I wanted to make sure that it was a video that you couldn’t walk away from what I mean by this is I wanted the audience to like it so much that they wouldn’t be able to click off of it. I made sure that the editing was paced with the timing of the music, various effects and also a summery feel which makes people see how precious life really is and how friendship and family is a true love. I filmed it in such a way that when put along side the music; you can make assumptions that the character is possibly dead because of the mother dropping the phone after the car crash. The audience don’t get to see the mothers face because i want them to build there own picture of what she looks like and the emotion betrayed on her face, this creates the persona of the story and the link between the audience and the music video. My music video is also very performance based, from my research I felt that it was important to engage with the audience by creating a 4th wall, meaning the artist is almost specifically performing to the individual viewer, this will help to build a strong fan base.

 

To maximise viewer engagement I introduced a sister into the video so you could then see the link between the brother and the sister and see the emotion she’s feeling. This character is shown several times and picture are shown of the brother and sister together, this creates a link between the audience member and a member of there family, building a bridge between the audience and the music video, the love, the strength, the loss of the character and relating that to there own lives.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

An important aspect of creating the ancillary texts is making all parts tie together, keeping a running theme and consistency throughout. This helps an audience to identify them as one, to create an artists persona through the use of different medias.

Plan B - 'The Defamation Strickland Banks'.

Plan B's Digipak has a musical theatre theme throughout its content this is due to the fact  he is an already established artist, this means that he doesn't need to feature so much. People already know who he is, songs he’s done, peoples he’s featured in. this means that he already has a wide range of audience, viewer and listener therefore doesn’t need anything to stand out he’s already known. Therefore as you can see he’s used very minimal colours mainly black, white and red which contrast well with each other also the font is the same throughout, it also goes with his theme in this album its quite opinionated and almost like an argument therefore the colour contrast goes well with the point he is trying to make. Plan b is also a well known director of movies, therefore the theatre them isn’t uncommon or unexpected. This album could be seen as him branching out or linking his work together.

after analysing other Digipak within the same genre and so on I found that most albums use the same type of colour palette this is mainly whites, blacks and reds. This creates a usual contrast, fonts aren’t exstreme they are seen quite plainly and there’s more to it.  

 

Visual links that I have used to ensure my Video and ancillary texts look like a consistent package - they all use:

·         Natural theme – forest, colours that represent outdoors like brown and different shades of orange

·         Colours – black, brown, orange, white, red colour pallette,

·         Calm, relaxed imagery - non aggressive

·         Album title is defined

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are many conventions when producing a music video, within camera shots, camera movement, editing, post-production digital effects, lighting and mise-en-scene:

·         Close ups of the artists - establishing who the main artist is.

·         Low angle shots - portray a sense of power, strength and dominance of the artist but can make them seem weak depending on the scenery around them.

·         Establishing shots are used to show a new location

·         Direct address breaks the 4th wall, allowing the audience to feel more personal with the artists which connects the bond between them.

·         When running, a pan, tilt or tracking shot is used to help the audience to feel more involved in the action.

·         Handheld camera is used to create a more personal effect and build a closer link between the audience and the artist also used in action shots.

·         Cross-cutting is used to switch between the story line and the artist, this makes the audience more involved.

·         Editing is often fast and structured, jumping back and forwards in time using jump cuts

·         Editing needs to be in time with the beat or rhythm of the music, to each section of the song which helps the overall music video flow and work properly together.

·         Colourisation can be used to create different scenes, to make the day look sunnier, or mysterious and dark depending on the message the video wants to portray.

·         Having light that reflect the location, time of day and emotion within the scene. This is so the audience can then build a picture.

·         Mise-en-scene is used to express the story and help provide the message and becomes the integral part of building a message to the audience through the us of props.

Alternative rock video conventions
My chosen song is Funeral by The Band Of Horses which comes under Alternative Rock, and within these genres there are different conventions that are followed.

·         Depending on the story and lyrics you can either have bright, if its emotional it is mainly dark

·         Problems, bad habits, mistakes are usually shown.

·         You usually see friends, family’s, close friends helping to display the emotion of the song.

·         Scenes showing the area or location, mainly areas that you could consider your self alone or even abandoned.

·         Artists sometimes wear makeup in order to show how emotional the song is

·         Very basic editing is used to the pace of the music, some special effects are used for example biffy clyro has a car crash in the music video opposite.

·         Wearing dark but casual clothing, sometimes suits are worn.

·         Sexualising goes against its usual form, men can be scene as weak.

·         Repetitive, smooth and slow editing is used to make it flow with the music, make it much more realistic to tell a story

Inspiration from pre-existing music videos
Throughout my planning, I looked at various example music videos and gained some strong themes and ideas which I developed into my own video:

Before creating my music video I looked at various music videos one of which was Biffy Clyro – Opposite, this song fits within the same genre I have chosen. I like that in this music video the main singer is the focus point of the music video, everything that happens is all about him he is the centre peace to the music video. He always keep eye contact with the camera, its almost like he’s telling you the audience a story, he’s speaking to you the viewer. It almost like he’s trying to get you to be part of the story which in turn helps you get engaged in what’s happening, this is a simple tactic however works very well. Simon Neil, the main singer is dressed with quite dark clothing, he attitude is one that you’d consider to be relaxed. Its like he’s telling you the story which your taking part in. I like the use of time throughout the music video and I tried to incorporate this in my music video through the use of pictures that change over time.

Another song I like is You me at six – lived a lie, this is quite a basic but effective video. It starts off in a room and then it breaks out to the streets. The colours used in this video are Black, White and red these are the usual associated colours of the genre alternative rock. At one point in the music video everything starts to set on fire, I would have liked to experiment with this however I don’t have the experience to pull it off yet. Its an inspiring video for location, mise en scene, time of day and clothing. The locations and time of day really caught my eye and this was when I decided to base my video at night because I thought the effect that it had on this video was overwhelming and I wanted to recreate this in my own way.