Recording of pitch and teacher feedback

After completing the research and planning sections of my coursework, my next task was to pitch my music video idea to my teacher and get feedback. We sat down and I began to explain how I came to my final idea for my music video; as I explained the process and my idea to my teacher, she asked me questions and gave feedback on my progress.

During the discussion of my music video idea my teacher asked me about what kind of research I had done on my audience and how this had helped me when planning what kind of video I wanted to make. She recommended that I should look at some more music videos by artists of the same genre as this can help me make sure that my video will fit into the genre and I will be sure to do this.

After talking about the research and planning I explained some of the further details of my video idea and my teacher gave me feedback saying that I didn't necessarily have to make the imagery in the video match the lyrics as this could turn out too cliché. She also gave me some advice on looking at the narrative structure throughout the video, my next step will be to create a storyboard for the video so that there is a clear plan for the order of the video.

We then discussed the star quality and brand of my artist in the video; how I will create an image for them through the use of costume, styling and props and how I should consider creating a reoccurring motif for my artist. I then discussed what kind of message I want to give to my audience through the video and how I wasn't sure how to end the video. My teacher then suggested that I do an audience survey/ focus group to get more opinions of what would be best suited to end the video- this response to be the driving factor in making my final decision for the ending of the video.

Another key element that we discussed was the difficulties that may arise and how I will overcome them. One of the biggest threats to continuity and shooting was the weather as it could change very suddenly making it it harder for us to continue with filming  and differences in lighting can affect the continuity of the entire video. Another problem could be the reliability of actor. For instance if they were unavailable or backed out last minute there would need to be re-casting and even re-shoots if any filming had already been done. To make sure that there are no problems with this I have cast reliable and close friends who are dedicated to helping me and have lots of free time to do filming. My next step is to create my shooting schedule as I can get a lot of filming done in half term and this can get me ahead in my work, I will also get some images of my locations to present in a post about Location.

My next step is to use the feedback I have gotten from my teacher and make some changes to my idea after getting some crucial feedback about certain ideas I had. One of the biggest changes that I will be making is the location of some of my shots. Originally one of the locations was going to be at a beach but after discussion and feedback from my teacher, I have decided that this choice can result in too many difficulties with scheduling and possible things that can go wrong. I will be making a post on 'Location scouting', that will show my research into different locations that are more accessible for filming.

I will also be sure to do all the extra bits of research and planning to make sure that I am completely ready to begin filming. I will also move on with my organisation of the final details of my shooting schedule, location scouting, props and equipment list.

Focus group and Target Audience profile

Focus Group

In continuation from my Audience Questionnaire and other audience research, I decided to do a focus group with members from my target audience. I asked them questions relating to the song that I have chosen and what they think should be in the music video for the song.

I got together a group of 4 members of my target audience and recorded them answering these questions. Below is a collection of videos of their answers that I uploaded onto YouTube and embedded onto my blog.






Target Audience Profile
After researching my target audience, I decided to create an audience profile to show some of the key information about my audience- their likes and dislikes, age range, music they listen to and other interests. I decided to create the profile in the form of a social media page as my target audience widely uses the internet to communicate and listen to and share music. Below is the profile of a member of my target audience.

Audience questionnaire and feedback

My Audience Questionnaire:
To gather information on my target audience, I created a survey using the software Survey Monkey. I made a questionnaire of 10 questions with a range of questions. I gathered information on who my target audience is, what kind of music they enjoy and how they listen to it. The next few questions are about their interest in music videos, so what they enjoy seeing in them. The final three questions are closely linked to my artist and chosen song. They allow me to gather closer information on my audience's opinions of the kind of video it should have and other artists they feel are similar.

My next step is to get in 25-30 responses so that I have targeted a wider part of my audience and to analyse the results I get and feedback the response into my planning and music video idea. Below is an embedded version of my questionnaire so you can see the specific questions that I asked my audience.

  Create your own user feedback survey 

Questionnaire feedback:
After getting responses from over 20 people from my target audience I began to analyse the results. By looking at the results I could determine who I would be marketing towards, helping me create a final product that would be successful in the music industry.

From my first question I found that the majority of my audience is aged 17-21, allowing me to better aim my product at people of this age by making sure that they can relate to the narrative of the video. The second question showed me that majority of my audience will be female, showing that it will be necessary to market my artist towards them; meaning lots of close ups on my artist throughout the video. In response to the question 'What 3 genres of music do you listen to the most?', my results showed a clear favour for the Indie, Pop, Rock and Alternative genres- meaning that it is important for me to included genre conventions and characteristics in my music video. Images of the tables presenting the results of the first three questions can be seen to the right.

For questions 4 and 5 I focused on the habits of the audience in relation to the consuming of music products. I found that the most popular way for listening to music was through the online streaming service Spotify, on the video sharing site YouTube and the radio. This means that when I create my website, I will need to take into consideration the popularity of these sites, so will include links to the Spotify and YouTube pages for my artist so that the audience will have direct access to their music. I also found that my target audience frequently go to live music performances and so it is important that there is an element of live music in both the music video (this will be in the shots of the artist playing guitar and mining the lyrics) and on the artist website (this will be in the form of a 'Live' section on the site that links to information on the artists performances and videos of them).

In the response to Question 6 I found that the majority of my target audience watch the music videos for songs that they enjoy, this will be important in the later stage of my construction when I need to make sure that my music video will draw in my target audience and be successful in the industry. For the proportion of my target audience that does not frequently watch music videos, I can use the website that I am going to create to make it more accessible to view the music videos by having clear links to the most recently released one on the homepage. For question 7, I focused more on the style of video that my audience prefers and found that narrative was the most popular.

For my last 3 questions I asked my target audience their preferences on the content of the music video for the song 'After Rain' after having them listen to the song. The focus group that I had also focused on this aspect of feedback and this information can be seen in the next post. From question 8 I found that my target audience after listening to the song felt that it would be most suited to a narrative video that tells a story, however I will be making the second most popular response, a combination video of narrative and performance, as this style of video most suits my genre.

For questions 9 and 10, I asked open questions that would give me the widest response from my target audience. The first question focused on the genre of the song and asked if the audience knew any other artists of the Indie-folk genre. This will be helpful in the creation of my digipak, website and music video as I can take inspiration from the products of the artists listed and use them to help my artist's products fit better into the genre. The most common responses to the question were the artists James Bay, Hozier, Ben Howard, Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers.
For question 10, I asked my audience if there was anything that should be included in the video; most responses asked about the idea of nature and shots of the guitar. All of the answers featured a note about the setting being in nature. I will be using all that I have learnt from the responses to my questionnaire in the planning and creation of my music video and the answers will also influence decisions I make in the construction of my digipak and artist website.

My music video idea

My music video if going to be for the song 'After rain' by Dermot Kennedy and it is going to be a mainly narrative video with shorter shots of performance throughout the video. My idea for the narrative is the story of a relationship between a boy and girl, their breakup and the effect of the break up on the boy.

At the beginning of the video I am going to open with some establishing shots of the two different locations I am going to use- a beach landscape and a teenagers bedroom. This will set the scene for the video and also help with setting the mood through the use of lighting, colour and props. I am going to begin the video with shots of a couple who are in love, I will show them interacting with each other and expressing their love for each other, as the song progresses I am going to include some shots of the couple loosing their spark and becoming more distant with each other. This will set the scene for the break up that will come around the half-way mark of the song. After including some shots of the couple fighting and the girl walking out I will include some shots of the boy pining over her. I am going to put emphasis on his loneliness- this illustrates the lyrics in the songs, "you won't go lonely", and the lead up to his downfall. The video will then follow his decision to return to the beach that holds to many happy memories of him and her and then show his toying with the idea of killing himself.

I think that my video will fit with other music videos of  the Indie genre and that it also presents conventions of the sub-genre, Indie-folk, that will target the right audience. In my research I found that many Indie music videos are of a narrative style and many songs in this genre tell stories of the artist and that videos that give the audience a narrative are very commonly used. They help the audience connect better with the song and better understand the artist. 

Representation

Intertextuality

Real Media Artefacts analysis- Artist Website

For my second ancillary text, I chose to create a website for my artist. I knew that I needed to look at some existing artist websites so that I could have a better idea of how websites are structured and what they include. By doing this analysis I could see the importance of interactivity for an audience and the importance of an overall house-style for the site that made it easily associable to the artist.

Music video theories

By researching these two music video theories I have been able to better understand the place of music videos within the industry and the importance of how an audience both receives and views a video. A key example of this is the role of women in music videos which I have further analysed within my presentation on Laura Mulvey's theory.

The influence of the research on these two theories can be seen throughout my planning as I had to consider the audience I was targeting when making creative decisions.

Conventions of music videos

During research of music videos it was very important to look at the conventions of music videos. After doing my AS coursework I knew that media products had their own conventions that made them successful products and so I knew that for music videos the inclusion or development of conventions was key. However, it was also important to look at the most common genre conventions as the use or challenge of these would allow for my own video to fit its genre and my chosen artist well.


Music video conventions - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;

Music video categories

It was very important for me to research the different kinds of music videos before I made any creative decisions about the type of music video I would be producing. Earlier research into real media products showed the basic difference between videos but this further analysis informed me on the key aspects on narrative, performance, concept and combination videos.

Research into the music industry and Age Ratings

The Music Industry

In the digital age of the 21st Century, the importance of media has increased drastically. The use of social media, online streaming sites and new media technology has made the creating and sharing of music easier than ever.

The process of creating a music video usually begins with the brainstorming of ideas, with a focus on the track's genre and the artist's start image. Once an idea has been decided on it must be developed with storyboarding and trial footage. The next stage is location scouting and casting; this means that a  shooting schedule can be created and then followed in the filming stage of the process. The editing stage follows where the different shots and clips are ordered and altered to fit the idea and storyboard that had been created and is then ready for promotion and distribution.

The main purpose of music videos is the promotion of a song. A music video is a means of sharing a track with an artist's audience and a way for the label to expand their artist's audience and so increase revenue for that artist and the label. When the creation of music videos was first introduced into the industry, it was only for the lead singles on albums. Yet with the growing wealth of the industry and artists in it, it is now more likely that a music video will be made for 3 to 4 songs on an album. This is with the exception of artists like Beyonce who released her self-titled album in 2013, which featured 14 tracks with 14 accompanying videos.

Some of the most famous music directors, like David Fincher who has worked with artists like Rick Springfield, Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones and George Michael, have created some of the most successful music videos in the industry. These videos become successful due to their uniqueness, marketing and specific targeting of an audience; allowing them to blow up and become iconic. The average amount spent on music videos varies depending on the budget of the label or independent director; however Fincher spent over 5 million on the production of Madonna's 'Express Yourself', one of the largest budgets in the history of any music video ever.

With the existence of music videos, the development of television shows and channels dedicated to showcasing the videos for those songs in the charts has increased. However, this also ignited the increase in the free streaming of music videos on sites like YouTube, causing an increase in piracy and loss of profit for many artists. Besides the more negative aspects like piracy, new forms of sharing music and music videos have been immensely helpful in the distribution of new media products with many music videos getting hundreds of million views.

Age Ratings for music videos 

In early 2015, a scheme was introduced that called for online music videos to begin receiving age ratings before being posted on sites like YouTube. All videos made my UK artists signed to major labels will be classified before release by the British Board of Film Classification. The rating will be displayed beneath the video as a guideline for its viewers as a means of protecting children from unsuitable content.

The new government-backed scheme only applies to British acts signed to Sony, Universal or Warners and 20% of the initial videos submitted for classification were found to receive a 12, 15 or 18 age certificate. However, labels are not required to submit videos for classification that they feel will not attract a rating. This scheme bring music videos inline with those released on DVD or other physical media that are obliged to have age ratings due to the Video Recording Act of 2014.

Many child safety and protection organisations welcome the new scheme saying that it was "encouraging to see UK music labels and digital platforms stepping forward to help protect children from inappropriate online content".

For my own music video, I am going to include an age rating in the description of the video when I post it onto YouTube. This will make sure that my music video is viewed by the suitable audience. Below is an image from the description box of a music video on YouTube with an age rating:

Primary Target Audience Research

Target audience research is a huge part in the creation of any media product that is going to be released for purchase by consumers. It is important to know and understand your target audience, as well as your artist, so that your product will be successful in the industry.

My artist:
Dermot Kennedy is an Irish, singer-songwriter who is part of the Indie-folk genre. He first made waves in the music industry by uploading his original songs and covers onto YouTube, where he has over 4000 subscribers and one video of a cover of Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' with over 2 million views. He also supported Mick Flannery, an artist of the same genre, and gained many fans with appearances at performances. He has been likened to artists like Ben Howard and Hozier who place a great deal of their music in their own musical abilities with guitar and songwriting. 

Dermott Kennedy

My artists target audience:
Most of Dermot's fans are from Ireland, Dublin, with this being one of the few places he has played live. However he also has listeners in England, the United States, Portugal and Germany. As seen below in images of comment on his YouTube videos.

Many of Dermot Kennedy's fans are aged 15-28, with the exception of those who learnt of Dermot through Mick Flannery, whose own audience is aged more 25-35. With my research I have also found that his audience is fairly balanced with a slight leaning towards being more female dominated.

Mick Flannery

Due to the age of his audience, online streaming sites are popular, with his Spotify account being the cause of many discovering him as an artist with him having over 900,000 monthly listeners and over 13 million listens on his song 'After Rain'. The tickets for his shows are also very reasonably priced (at only £14), showing a consideration for the type of people who are buying tickets and their income. from the types of jobs that those at that age may have.


To further my target audience research, I will conduct a focus group of people aged 16-18 to find out more about my artist's audience, their music taste and opinion of music video and the industry. These can be seen on a later post on my blog. 

Real Media Artefact analysis- Music Videos

For the analysis of real media artefacts, I decided to analyse the music videos of artists whose digipaks I had already analysed. This meant that I can look at the link between each product and how each one connects with the target audience and the indie genre in different ways. Below are the presentations of each analysis of each video; I chose to use the software 'Prezi' as I could easily embed the music video and images from the video in my analysis. 




After analysis these real media products I learned of the importance of audience. For my own music video I will be sure that all of the conventions that I choose to include or challenge are going to help my product target my artist's audience and ensure its success in the industry.