Filming Update 19th December 2014

Yesterday I was able to film the final clips I needed for my music video, which involved the green screen. Today I have completed the first draft of my music video and in the new year I intend to show it to my focus group and have them fill out a questionnaire about how I could improve on it. I will also try to find out a general response of if they like it or not and whether the story between the real world and the dream world is understandable.

Changes to locations 
I was unable to get to the beach to film for the end scenes of my film due to many factors. The first being by the time I would get there after college, it would be dark. I personally didn't have the money to put enough petrol in my car to get there. Furthermore, my actress has been ill for a long period of time and coordinating a time to go to the beach when she was feeling better was virtually impossible as she, her self had so much work of her own to do.

Instead, I changed the location of the scene to a near by lake which I thought would also be suitable for the video.

Quadrophenia and moral panic

Quadrophenia follows the story of Jimmy Cooper who works as a post room boy for an advertising company. He argues a lot with his parents and spends a lot of time with his mod friends. The mods and rockers do not like each other which eventually leads to a riot between the two groups when in Brighton.

Jimmy is in love with his friend Steph and just before he is arrested in Brighton for rioting, he has sex with Steph. Jimmy is having what he believes, is the time of his life in Brighton and everything seems to be on the up.

But when he returns home Steph is no longer interested in him, he gets kicked out by his parents and quits his job. He is at an all time low. He then returns to Brighton and finds that his idol isn't all that he was known to have been. So jimmy steals his scooter and crashes it over a cliff. 

A moral panic is an exaggerated over reaction by society to a perceived problem which is usually driven or inspired by the media. 

This theory could be linked to Quadrophenia because of deviancy amplification through the riot scenes between the mods and rockers. The public are more likely to remember these scenes and associate it with real life nods and rockers. This is especially likely to happen if there is a small altercation between a mod and rocker that the media then amplifies and creates a moral panic over it

Filming update

About 3/4 of my video has been filmed, however there have been a few difficulties in how to film certain scenes where I need a black background/night sky. I have researched various ways to go about filming these scenes and I have decided that the best way would be to us a green screen.

I spent time researching where I could get one or how to make one. I also researched what to do once I have filmed the footage.

Fortunately for me, it turns out that my colleges ICT department has a green screen that I could use to film my scenes. The next step will be coordinating my actors so that I can get everyone together at the same time when the green screen is available.

Social Realism and a British film that best represents me (About a Boy)

Magazine Advertisment - Frank Turner

This is a tour poster for the singer song writer Frank Turner. You are immediately drawn to the image in the centre top half of the poster. The image is in a tattoo design, which if you know of him, is significant to his life. It gives his existing fans a sort of satisfaction of knowing that they can recognise his work from a simple image. 

The colour scheme of the poster is very neutral, I think he has done this in an attempt to attract more main stream audiences. Frank is typically known for punk rock and his opinionated political views. However, I think this poster is purposely using neutral colours in order to reach wider audiences.

The simplicity of the advertisement means that you could go to a Frank concert completely unaware of what he looks like. This could be an advantage for an artist such as Frank as he has many diverse songs that vary from punk rock to political to the more mainstream pop sort of songs. 

The advertisement is very well organise with all of the information being central, the artists name is clearly bigger so that it is easy to read and shows his importance. The name of the band which accompanies him, 'The Sleeping Souls', has the next biggest text which lets the readers know that they are of less interest but because of their placement, just under the artists name, it shows that they are still important. A different colour is used to distinguish between the musicians and the album name. All three parts of this information is separated off from the rest of the poster which makes it more aesthetically pleasing for the consumers.

The font of the tour dates is a simple but neat font, which is easy to read and promotes the idea that booking a ticket will be easy. And if its easy then it won't be stressful which means you're more likely to have fun and have a good time. The difference in colours between the location and the dates also enhances the poster by alloying you to easily take in the information. 

Through this poster I believe that people could achieve a few aspects of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. For example, the tattoo design could appeal to other members of society who also have tattoos and give them a sense of belonging and friendship.   This image could also boost their self esteem, give them confidence and make them feel respected by others or give them respect of others (specifically the artist). This is because tattoos are negatively stereotyped in our society and have been for many years, but seeing this tattoo design on a poster for a prosperous artist could give them confidence to pursue their dreams and goals and not worry about their body image, especially if they have tattoos, when out and about. This negative labelling of tattoos could create a self-fulfilling prophecy but artists such as Frank prove this negative label wrong as he is becoming more and more successful and making something out of his life.

This links into the idea of Self actualisation and lack of prejudice, that you're likely to experience at a Frank concert.  

Location/ Shot/ Cast

House Location:

Woods Location:

Norwich:

Lake Location: 

(see Filming update 19th December 2014 )

Cast:

Main Character:

Alice in Wonder Land:

Little Red Riding hood:

The Mad Hatter:

The Big Bad Wolf:

Story Boards

These are my storyboards for my music video idea.  

'So High' Music Video Ideas/ Music video Treatment

This is my rough draft of ideas for my music video which I then expanded on, as you can see below.

Online Audience Research Analysis

I used the website "SurveyMonkey" to create my Online Audience Research and chose ten questions that I thought would be helpful when trying to find out what people expect from music videos. From my Audience Profile I found that there was a variety of people of all ages and backgrounds that listen to my artist and because of this I decided to post my survey on to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. I also produced a physical copy of the survey so I could target people who don't have access to the internet or don't use it frequently. The survey focus on how people consume music and their music habits.

Question 1 & 2:These first two questions were to just establish who was responding to my survey i.e were there more males or females and was there a more common age group. Out of the 15 people who answered my survey 13 were female and 2 were male. This could suggest that the audience I should target is females. However, it could also just be that the sample group isn't representative.  The most prevalent age group was 15-19 year olds followed by ages 42, 50 and 54. This suggests that there is an opportunity to market towards older audiences but I would probably have greater success with youths. 

 Question 3
I asked this question because I wanted to see if my chosen artists genre of music fitted in with what was current in the music industry today. I also made it a multiple answer question so the answers weren't restricted. As you can see, Rock was the most popular genre at 80%, followed by Indi, Classical and Pop. This is useful as my artists genre is Indi pop so I feel like there would be a large audience to target and enables me to look at the type of conventions found in the music videos of this genre. It also allows me to attempt to target niche audience such has scremo, rap and RnB. I can do this by looking at videos from artists in those genres and seeing if i can incorporate themes or the style of the video into my production. 

Question 4

This question was simply to gain an idea of the response my artists song would receive, without any accompanying visuals.

40% of respondents rated the song as a 7 on personal enjoyment. 8 (20%) and 6 (15%) were the next highest. This indicates that there is room to improve the ratings and this might be achieved through the use of my music video which would provide visuals through a narrative, enhancing some consumers experiences. 

Question 5

The highest response here was a narrative video. This is useful to know as I plan to create a narrative based video and the results reassure me in my decision to pursue this type of project, by knowing it has a higher chance than the other options at being liked. It also supports my previous idea (question 4) that the enjoyment of the song may be enhanced for the consumers through the use of a narrative based video. 

Question 6

I asked this question because I thought it will be helpful to have a reference to videos that my audience thought were good because I can use them to influence my work and to look at themes/styles. What made that video their favourite? What camera shots are most commonly used in them? etc. No of the respondents answered with the same video which gives me a wider range of work to use in comparison with my video. Also, by providing the details of their favourite music videos I can use the ones that are specific to the niche genres (question 4) when thinking about how to attract audiences who don't typically interact with productions from my artists genre

Question 7

I asked question 7 for very similar reasons to question 6. However this question was open-ended and therefore allowed for elaboration which enables me to gain a deeper understanding of the respondents choices. This in- turn allows me to think about what would be the strong points of my artists song e.g lyrics, or does the track need to be sold to the audiences through the use of my video and if so leads me to think of ways in which it would be possible to link the lyrics to a video

Question 8 and 9
I included these question so that I could get a better understanding of how popular music videos are in the current time and the demographics of my respondents. It also allows me to select my possible target group from respondents who watch videos more often than those who don't. The questions also allowed me to see what kind of people were responding to my survey and as we can see, the majority of them were students. This suggests a target audience for my video. 

Digi Packs Reviewed

What are Digipaks?

"Digipaks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion. Usually, the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background." (http://musicians.about.com/od/ah/g/digipacksleeve.htm)

In 2007 Beyonce released her album 'Beyonce- Greatest Hits'. It included songs of her previous albums 'Dangerously In Love', 'B'Day' and 'I Am...Sasha Fierce'

The digipak included images of Beyonce and her previous albums, this is allowing the artist to showcase her other work and to re-promote it to her audience who may not have seen her older works. A normal CD case wouldn't accommodate for this as there isn't the room to showcase these images. The images of her previous work also help to promote her image as they are all fairly similar, in that they are all quite sexualised which fits into the 'pop' and 'RnB' genre. For example, the image of Beyonce on the far left shows her in a outfit that shows off her figure, which is emphasised by her having her arms up as it draws your attention to the gap between her arm and her waist. This is then repeated again in the middle picture which too is quite sexualised as Beyonce is wearing quite a low cut top and holding a similar pose to the picture before. The picture on the right is a mid shot of Beyonce which looks like it is less about showing off her body. However, the sexualisation of her image is shown again in the bigger picture of her in leather clothing which shows off her figure and promotes her image and perhaps the image she has of her self which could be of confidence in how she looks and feels. Which in its self could be a selling point to many women as they may aspire to be like her. All of this was made possible by the nature of the digipak and the space that it offers for creativity and advertising or perhaps, re-launching a brand. 

A large chunk of space is taken up by writing about Beyonce and her career. This is another good selling point of the Digipak as a normal CD case may not allow for this. Plus it appeals to her fan base who have followed her throughout the years and want to know more about her. 

One Disk is a CD and one disk is a DVD which includes music videos. This is something that the traditional CD case wouldn't accommodate for. Therefore a digipak allows for extra features which may also bring in more profit. The images behind the CD and DVD are also of Beyonce, showcasing her image again. A typical CD case wouldn't allow for this many images therefore the digipak is allowing for the artist to be more creative. The front cover of the digipak shows a extreme close up of Beyonce's face which shows her importance and makes a very clear link between who she is and what she looks like. The whole album is quite glamorous (for the time it was released) and conveys power and importance which in-turn could link to Beyonce's nick names of "The Queen of Pop" and "The Queen of RnB".

In 2010 Katy Perry released 'Teenage Dream'. Below you can see the image for the digipak.

The digipak strongly represents the music video for 'California Girls' with images taken from the video. The images are quite sexual and flirtatious which could be a selling point. Sweets and 'treats' are seen through out the digipak design, you can see here on the CD's the design of a lolly pop and a donut; you can also see in the top picture that there are cakes and a crown of cakes. These are things that are associated with fun and good times which could link to the less serious side of the lyrics. Also the sexualised image and the theme of sweets link to the title 'Teenage Dream' as they are themes that you might find teenagers being more interested in than perhaps adults. 

Research into an aspect of the Music Industry // MTV

MTV (Music Television) was set up in 1981 by John Sykes, Tom Freston and Robert Pitman/ Originally the idea of the program was to target adults by showing music videos with T.V personalities presenting in-between the tracks.  However, over time the audience of the channel has changed from adults to teenagers. Nevertheless, this doesn't necessarily mean adults are no longer watching it, especially as teenagers eventually turn into adults and whats to say they aren't still watching the same T.V programs? 
As a result of this, I would say that the website has been tailored to both teenagers and adults, through the fresh, clear cut design. Everything is easy to access and you can immediately find what section you're looking for. The 'On TV now' section is particularly a useful marketing tool as it allows the audience to find their favourite programs and the time they will be aired. 

MTV was originally just one channel but with the increasing popularity of music and music videos they have extended their lists of channels to include MTV Base, MTV Hits, MTV Dance, MTV Rocks, MTV Classic, MTV Live  and MTV +1 . These additional channels allow for MTV to target a much larger audience as each channel can play different genres thus gaining the attention of the fans of those genres. 

MTV are also in control of channels such as VIVA, Comedy Central (HD, +1, Extra), Nickelodeon, Nick Replay, Nick Jr and Nicktoons. Combine this with their sister MTV channels and you find that they own a lot of channels that are directed towards children and teenagers. Although this list of channels aren't necessarily music channels, they do however provide the opportunity to advertise music and music videos. Although MTV do play a lot of music videos they also play a lot of TV shows from different genres such as: Reality series (Teen Mom, Catfish, Geordie Shore), Competitive series (Are you the one?, House of Food), Comedy series (Punk'd, Girl Code), Scripted series (Teen Wolf, Awkward, Finding Carter, Eye Candy) and Throw back series (My Wife and Kids, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). This showcases how MTV's audience has shifted from people who solely wanted to watch music videos, to people who want music videos and TV shows all in one place.

When MTV was set up in 1981it originally was designed to play rock videos. Subsequently very few black artists showcased on the program.  Artists such as Rick James and David Bowie publicly questioned MTV on the lack of videos from black artsist in the hope to "break the colour barrier". However videos such as Super Freak by Rick James were rejected by MTV's head of talent and acquisition, Baker, who was black, on the grounds that the video was "a piece of crap with half naked women in it". She stated that "as a black women she did not want this video representing her people as the first black video on MTV" 
It wasn't until 1983 when Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" aired on MTV and this became known as "the video that broke the colour barrier". However it was only added to MTV's 'Medium rotation' playlist (two-three airings per day) after it reached number 1 on Billboard Hot 100 chart. A month after this it was put up to 'heavy rotation' a week before the release of "Beat it". Following this, other black artists were now in 'heavy rotation' on the channel and with the release of "Thriller" by Jackson the networks support for black artists grew; subsequently more R&B and pop videos were introduced to MTV. This was eventually followed but the introduction of rap and hip hop to the channel.  "Breaking the colour barrier" has allowed MTV to gain much wider audiences as previously because if music videos by black artists are played, you are likely to attract black audiences. However this idea is a little out of date now as most people listen to music by artists of all and any ethnicities. But this introduction of R&B, Pop, Rap and Hip Hop are particularly important in not only attracting audiences but also allowing the genre to grow and develop. 

Audience Research - Jess Harwood

I am starting my audience research by looking into the profiles of people who like or would like listening to my artist, Jess Harwood.

On Jess' Biography on Facebook it states:
Jess Harwood- a 21 year old singer-songwriter from Blackpool. Writing and singing her own songs since her early teens, Jess is a self taught guitarist whose songs have already been played on Radio Lancashire, All FM and BBC Radio 6 to name but a few. Appealing to all ages, the catchy melodies in Jess’ songs live long in the memory and Jess’ abilities as a musician, songwriter and singer and will leave you wanting more…

This gives me the impression that Jess would be liked by people who are trying to teach them self how to play guitar, as they may see her as an inspiration, this would be quite a pocket sized audience . Jess has also been on Radio Lancashire and BBC Radio 6, which tells me that her music could have been herd and liked by a range of people and age groups especially as their website states 'there's not a lot that we won't play' and 'our shows explore a wide spectrum of music from all sorts of genres' 
This idea of a wide audience is supported by BBC Radio 6' Twitter page that has 225,000 'followers' and 169,402 'likes' on Facebook. This is such a huge audience base that it is very difficult to narrow it down to one or two genres/artists that I should base my video off. 

Jess also played at 'Parrot Fest' back in August. This is a festival in Blackpool specifically for local artists. It had sets from bands/artists such as:
RyanCreganMusic -(pop)
Fade to White- (acoustic)
Sessions (indi rock, dance punk)
James Edgar
The Ebeneze
April Keen (acoustic)
Shiver

Again there were quite a few genres but acoustic and indi are more common. It was also free entry which is good for local bands as it brings them bigger audiences, who may not have been to the event if it was to cost them money. 


Earlier this year Jess also played at a charity event in Blackpool called, Esmor's JCB Charity Fundraiser. This again would appeal to many different age groups and people of different classes, jobs and interests. These types of events are good for the artist as they allow you to reach bigger audiences and make you more well known. 

Jess also had a Live session on BBC Radio Manchester booked which was postponed. This tells me that she may have a good audience base in Manchester as it would be unlikely she was doing a live session otherwise. This also clues me in a little bit to the other types of music her audience may listen to. For example, Manchester is typically seen as a working class area and because of this I think it is unlikely the audience from this area, would also be listening to high culture. A more typical genre/style for this area would be pop culture/ RnB or Alternative.


More recently Jess has played at the Deaf Institute in Manchester and at 'The ferret' in Preston. The deaf institute is located in the heart of the Manchester Metropolitan University Campus. This suggests that the audience for this location would be students and the genres of music could be a wide ranging. On The Ferret's Facebook page it states that it offers a range of gig nights each week covering most genres, with a capacity of 190+. Playing at a venue like this is good for a unsigned artist like Jess as many different people who have many different tastes in music may hear her and decide they like her and therefore she will be reaching wider audiences. 

On Facebook, there is an analysis for the number of people who have 'liked' Jess' Facebook Page. This Shows me that the city that is most involved in Jess' Facebook page is Blackpool, which isn't too surprising as this is the city where Jess originates from and where she has recently played a lot of gigs. It also tells me the age range of the people engaging in the page which is 18-24 year olds. This suggests to me that this age group may be my target audience for my video. Below you can also see that the 'total number of page likes' is at 651 which is a fairly big group of people for a unsigned artist. However, this is contrasted by currently only 20 people talking about her. This leads me to think that maybe some of the people who 'liked' the page may have lost interest or their music tastes may have changed and this might effect the number of survey responses I would receive if I was to post my survey onto this page.

On her Facebook page, Jess has liked a lot of other bands/artist. This could be because they give her inspiration or because she just likes to support them. Either way, this could effect the type of music/genre her audience listen to, especially as some of them, like Ellie Goulding, are already well known established artists.

Twin Planets- Alternative
Abi Redmond-Best - Acoustic
Rock and The Ravens - Alternative Rock
Sarah de Warren Music - Alternative
Cartoon Food- Original Material
Ellie Goulding - Indi pop
Rae Morris - Singer Song Writer
Sophie Morgan - Singer Song Writer
The Ello Official - Indi pop

Next I looked at the people who were commentating on Jess' Facebook statuses. I found that they had 'liked' artists such as Ellie Goulding, King Charles, Daughter, Two Door Cinema Club, Killswitch Engage, The 1975, Lorde, Sam Smith, Royal Blood, Embrace, Katy Perry, Bomb Bay Bicycle Club, Local Natives, Bastille, Jake Bugg and The Smiths. This is quite a wide range of musicians with a wide range of genres, for example: indi pop, alternative, folk-pop, indi, dance punk, grunge, acoustic, blues rock. This tells me that my target audience might range from quite a few genres, demographics and that there may not be a specific generic type of video that would fit for my artist. 

From looking at the 'Bios' of Jess' Twitter followers it is clear to me that there is a range of people from business owners, to musicians to college students and more. This again suggests to me that there  isn't one specific brand of video template that I should be looking at. 

To conclude the target audience for my artist and music video has a range of people with different professions and music genres. The most common genres that I have found are acoustic, alternative, indi and pop. These are the genres I should look at for inspiration for my music video.