The Research we carried out included: questionnaires which we transferred to numerous pie charts to show our findings and vox pops which consisted of selecting various people in our target audience who we believe our video will appeal to and asking them relevant questions regarding various video components. In total, we surveyed 40 people from our target audience. This is due to that face that it is not too small a group or too many people and still gives us relevant and reliable information. I feel that the Vox Pox task will help usin the process our of our music video because it gives us more of an insight into what a young audience expect from a music video. Furthermore by having the vox pox on Youtube we can easily refer back to it for any needed help.
The values of subculture
Links
to values… how the subculture view:
•Conformity
and rebellion
•Attitude
to capitalism and consumerism (are they materialistic)
•‘Tribal/gang’
rivalry
•Traditional
or ‘neophyte’ (new ideas)
Grant McCracken was a Media theorist who believed that the post-modern is full of diversity, dynasim and creativity. McCracken says that if we look at the array of values and ideaologies then we can't say all sub-cultures come from one culture.
CCCs views were very general and ignore McCracken's ideology. The CCCs are a group which assume all sub-cultures come from one main culture: a definite reaction to the mainstream culture.
•Hedge
came
to the conclusion that although some people think subcultures only appear to be
different but deep down they are the same, he says if you look deeper, there is
enough richness to warrant renaming ‘subcultures’ as ‘little cultures’.
•Stars
represent shared cultural values and attitudes, and will promote a certain
ideology.
•Fans
who agree with that set of values will support the star
•Fans
will imitate stars in an aspirational effort to get ‘closer’ to the glamorous,
fantasy lifestyle they appear to have – this may take the form of ‘dressing
up’, imitating performances, adopting behaviour etc.
•Though
Dyer was applying this theory to movie stars, it can also be applied to pop
stars, who often have a far faster rise to stardom by promoting values.
We as a group have discussed each individual culture theory and have decided to follow the CCCs views. This is because it is most relevant to our music video production. Because we are using an artist and song of the Indie genre, this theory is relevant because...CCCs
My media group and I decided to conduct vox pop interviews as part of our primary research with a varied group of people in order to gain research into what an audience enjoy when music videos are concerned. We decided to undertake this as part of our research as we asked the participants open questions and therefore received qualitative data from their replies. When conducting our vox pops we asked the participants different questions to those we had included in our questionnaire so that the results we received would give us a broader understanding of peoples interests within music videos. We asked 5 people (3 males, 2 females) to feature in our Vox pops in order to receive opinions from both sex's therefore we could get an insight into what males and females expect from a music video, therefore enhancing its effect on the viewers.
Target audience feedback is fundamental and vital as the music video intends to appeal to this group therefore needs to include elements in which they appreciate. We intend to create a music video that will entertain the target audience and also make them think abut certain issues.
We then added text at the bottom of each interview clip including the person we interviewed and their age. This question at the bottom just makes it clear for the audience what was asked and who this person is.
The results from the Vox pops enabled the group and myself to gain a deeper insight into what viewers may want and expect from a music video. The data was qualitative and primary research therefore it is mainly based on the participants opinions . The information that we gained helped us decide what kind of style of video whether it be narrative, concept, performance or a mixture. I feel that this study of research has aided us greatly in the production process as it has given us vital knowledge about what to include to receive positive feedback. We also know now how to make the music video conventional to the chosen genre and also if breaking conventions is appreciated by an audience.
Creating our own vox pops will assist us with the planning of our creative production as it allows us to consider our target audience throughout. This may effect certain camera shots/editing styles we may like to use and to see how appropriate they are in aim to fulfil our purpose of appealing to our audience. It can be archived on YouTube as displayed below:
We decided to create pie charts to record our information as we felt they are a visually effective way to hold information. The vast amount of colours allow us to identify clearly the difference between each factor in which we are measuring.
Pie Charts
Are you male or female?
We asked the question of gender as we wanted an overall level of results and not just focusing on our target audience of girls. We wanted to know what both genders looked for in a music video. By using a 20/20 split of males and females it allowed us to specify the people we are targeting more therefore we can achieve a more accurate target audience in order to increase the audiences appeal.
How old are you?
Previous to the primary research we conducted we had a rough outline of who our target audience would consist of: 16-25 year olds (mainly females) We included 5 catergories of ages: 10-16, 17-21, 22-30, 31-40, 41-50. The most popular age brackets were 10-16 (with 10 of our participants being within that age) and 17-21 (being most popular within the participants we sampled which we initially expected) Our chosen artist is aged 19 currently therefore we believe her overall image, music and lyrics (she composes herself) will appeal more greatly to audience members aged 16-25 (a general outlook)
What is your favourite genre of music?
We also decided asking each participant what their favourite genre of music is was fundamental to contributing to the success of of music video production. It so happened that Inide was the most popular music genre out of the 8 genres. We as a group are fans of the Indie genre as it is very current in the industry. This is mainly because it is known to subvert mainstream conventions which therefore increases its originality. We feel that an Indie genre diverts from the mainstream music which allows it to create different songs which are exciting. Therefore by choosing to create an Indie music video we have the opportunity to appeal to a wider target audience.
Do you prefer to listen to solo artists or bands?
We also decided to ask participants about their preference of bands or solo artists as this gave us an indication as to the types of artists they are interested in and the representation in which they find appealing in order to adopt such opinion in our own production. 28 people said that they prefered listening to solo artists rather than bands. I think this is because an audience will want to connect with the artist and if there is many of them then this can be difficult due to not having as many shots of lyrics than if it was a solo artist.
Do you prefer to see the artist in the music video?
There are many different ways that an artist can be represented within their music video and this all depends on the artist's ideas for the video and also the record label and the genre of music they wish to stand by. A large proportion of the people we asked would prefer to see the artist within the music video. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly because the audience feel more of a connection to the artist as they can visually see them involved in the narrative. Secondly by seeing the artist they will then recgonise them when seen again and therefore will remember them for when the artist releases another song.This is as opposed to a constructed commodity made for consumerism as mentioned in Dyer's Star theory. Therefore, this creates the impression that they care about their music which therefore makes it more meaningful and makes it more appealing for the target audience.
What style of music video do you enjoy?
Within a music video there are 3 main components which are explored within many videos including performance, narrative and concept. As a group, we all agreed that a strong performance and narrative element work effectively together, therefore, that is what we shall follow. This is evident also within the pie chart displayed above which has allowed us to come to a final decision.
After we come to the realisation that this is what our target audience preferred overall, as a group we agreed that a narrative based music video is affective.
This is because we feel the audience will be able to connect emotionally and visually with the music video.. Despite this, we understand that by having a strong narrative element will take the attention away from the artist. However this is stereotypical of the Indie genre as it is very much about the sound of the music rather than the artist and the narrative.
Do you prefer the music video to be conventional to its genre or diverse? Why?
The results from the first part of the question is evidence that the people we chose to survey prefer a music video that was conventional to its genre rather than employ a diverse style which may be difficult to understand. Below are some of the reasons they had for their opinion:
'I prefer a conventional music video as they are easier to understand. A music video that is too diverse can be confusing.'
Karis Myers, 17
'Conventional music videos offer visual appeal without taking the focus away from the song and artist. If there is too much going on the audience is unable to connect to the song and artist.'
Jackie Jarvis, 18
'Diverse music videos are unpredictable. Because they subvert generic conventions, the audience are unable to guess what is going to happen; therefore keeps them engaged as to what is going on.' Charlie Snow, 16
'Music videos that are diverse gives the artist appeal as their image is different from mainstream artists, it gives us something different to watch, someone different to be interested in.'
Questionnaires are important in order to gain information from a varied group of people. They allow you to create questions that fit to your chosen subject in order to receive primary feedback. We used a combination of open and closed questions in aim to produce qualatative and quantative data. In order to choose the genre we asked the question of 'What is your favourite genre of music?', this will give us an idea of what genre is most popular amongst our chosen target audience of 16-25. After coming up with our initial plan my group and i decided that is very important to decide which type of audience we are going to target. Having a target audience is very important in the music industry as record labels and artists want to becomes as successful as possible, the record label can achieve this if they are familiar with their target audience and appeal to them successfully. Questionnaires are important when becoming more familiar with your target audience as it is useful to identify certain quality's we want to aim our music video at such as age or gender as the target audience will be who is viewing our music video. It also helps us discover what our target audience are expecting and what they will enjoy watching. Being aware of this could help us become more successful as we can then decide what conventions to follow or whether we want to go against them and create a diverse music video to gain attentions and shock our target audience. After discussing together what questions to include into our questionnaire we decided how we would dispute them. We decided to give them to 40 people altogether with a 20/20 ratio of female to men. We each gave out 10 questionnaires to random members of the public ensuring we gave them to 5 females and 5 males each. We divided the ratio of female to men specially so we could contrast the differences in gender preferences to help us decide whether we were going to appeal to both genders or one in specific.
Name:_____________________
Age:___
Gender:
1.)What is your favourite
genre of music?
Pop
RnB
Indie
Rock
Rap
Hip-Hop
Classical
Dance
2.)Do you prefer to
listen to solo artist or bands?_____________________
3.)Do you prefer to see
the artist in their music video?
Yes
No
4.)What style of a music video do you enjoy the most?
Narrative
Performance
Concept
5.)
Do you prefer to a music video to be conventional to its chosen genre or
diverse?
Why?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6.)Typically how do you watch music
videos?________________________________________
7.)Do you prefer a simple music video or one which includes special
effects? Why?_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8.)Have you heard of artist Nina Nesbitt? If
so what is your favourite song of
hers?______________________________________________________________________________________________________
9.)What type of editing in a music video
appeals to you as an audience the
most?_____________________________________________________
Indie is a short-form of "independence" or "independent" and is a genre in the music industry. Indie music originated in the 80's with bands including The Smiths and Joy Division. Indie bands then turned into Indie solo artists which became increasingly popular in more recent years. The genre Indie is almost a hybrid of Pop and Rock music in terms of the appearance and the music that these musicians play. The style of music you tend to hear in Indie can differ from some artists sounding very clear and using there voice in a more conserved manner, such as pop, and it can also be fairly loud and wild, such a rock. The appearance of the artists is also very unique as well and can link in with both how pop and rock are viewed. The artists tend to look very clean cut like those found in pop music but also very unique and different like those found in rock. However the convention that tends set them apart from both rock and pop is their performance. Unlike rock, the don't perform very wild and rebellious in their music videos and unlike in pop, they don't perform like they're having the time of their life, but instead they give off a very conservative approach in their performances as if they are just their to sell their music rather than trying to sell themselves.
The Kooks, Nina Nesbitt, Ed Sheeran, Arctic Monkeys, Passenger, Laura Marling, Alt-J, Bastille, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Lumineers, The Vaccines, The Courtneers, Lana Del Ray, Florence and The Machine, Imagine Dragons, The Killers, Mumford & Sons, Kate Nash, Noah and The Whale, Of Monsters and Men, Just Jack, Jack Pente, Daminen Rice, Two Door Cinema Club and The Wombats.
TThe general sound is melodic with the use of simple yet textured and effective instruments which traditionally includes acoustic guitar and the artists voice alone. Instruments which have recently been introduced into the Indie genre include a simple drum beat, keyboard, violin, banjo and ukelele. Lyrics which construct Indie songs often develop a strong emotion without sounding mainstream, a play on words and are often very original.
Live Performance It is very common for artists in the Indie genre to do a live performance for their music video. This way the main focus is on them as performers doing what they love to do. It also keeps the focus on the actual music itself and the talent that the artists have.
This is very typical in the Indie genre as the genre itself it was never about success but more the music and the passion that people have to perform and play. A modern twist is now often put on this with a narrative included in between to break up the music video and give it a story for the reader. Also there is more room to play around with the video if a narrative is included so many artists tend to use this tehcnique a lot. It also helps them to compete with other artists of other genres who do narrative videos that are heavily based around a story to make it more memorable. Live performances also promote the artist as people will release how natural they are and that they can actually sing well and sound the same when live. It takes a lot of charisma to be able to play an instrument and still perform so the live performance option highlights artists talents in a good way and can therefore attract an audience. Narrative It is very common for artists in the Indie genre itself was never about success but more about the music and the passion thatb people have to perform and play. A narrative video is used to tell a story throughout the video by using a sequence of images and videos that relate to the song. This is done in such a way that if makes sense to the audience so they can follow and link it to the lyrics. This is very popular with all genres as it leaves room for the imagination. There are so many different variations of this used and theres a lot of room for creativity which can leave a video very memorable to an audience. This is a great way of making a music video stand out from the crowd and making it popular. This is because there are many variations so you can make it as different and wacky as you like. Narrative videos also hold peoples attention better in comparison to a live performance as what you are seeing is constantly changing and keeps people entertained at all times. Even people who are not necessiarly a fan of the artist may still enjoy the video so this method often helps people gain success and status. Mise en scene Mise en scene now plays a large role in a lot of music videos and especially the Indie genre. This is because Indie artists often have a retro look and this can be created through the sets they use props, and also their own appearence. Props can change the look of a video completely for example in Lana Del Ray's national anthem her surroundings are a very expensive house which shows the character she is playing is very well off, wealthy and well respected. Costumes give people their identity and set them apart from the rest. A good example is Lady Gaga whose known for her elaborate choice in clothing. In the video telephone we know she wears a hat with a build in telephone and this reinforces the message thats in her video. As this was a memorable look, people now remember that video because of her appearance. Make up is also important as it can give us an indication as to which era the video is meant to be set in. For example Paloma Faith has very subtle make up in her videos with a pale face and red lipstick. This highlights her unique profile. Ellie Goulding- Anything can happen Anything Could Happen is a song by Ellie Goulding, released as the lead single from her second studio album Halcyon (2012). Written and produced by Goulding and Jim Elliot, the song recieved positive reviews from music critics. The music video was directed by Floria Sigismondi and filmed in Malibu, California. The video dipicts Ellie Goulding and her on screen boyfriend getting into a car accident. The music video setting is a futuristic beach which may connote the accident to seem surreal to the artist and that she cannot quite fathom what has happened. This relates to her calm facial expression as blood drips from her nose. Blood signifies danger, however the music video seems to take hold of the magical and spiritual aspect of death and tragedy. She is very laid back and this is very conventional of the Indie genre compared to that of Pop where there is a enthusiastic atmosphere or in Rock when the artist is generally quite angry. The video is very disjointed and tells many different aspects of the story in a non-chronological way
Lumineers- Ho Hey
Ho Hey is an indie folk song by an American folk rock band. The song reached 8th spot in the UK's singles chart and the song has been used in many british adverts and Tv shows. The music video for Ho Hey was directed by Ben Fee and shows the band walking around a light bulb lit building, playing instruments and singing until they enter a room full of other people who are dancing and having fun. The corridor in which the band walk down, is dull and includes brown and neutral colours showing the simplistic setting in which many indie music videos adopt. The corridor is also dressed with pink flowers showing a natural and peaceful element to the song.
The soft lighting of the video matched the genre and feel of the song as it coincides with the genre and feel of the song as it is warm and welcoming. This music video lacks narrative as it is predominately performance based.
The props used help set the theme to the song such as the hats that the characters wear however still there isn't a definite narrative going on.
The sound Ho Hey has a gentle feel to it as it is acoustic but also has a crowd participation element to it with the 'Ho Hey' and the floor stomps. It sounds very folk and sounds like it would be played around a camp fire which would also have a warm glow like the light bulbs used.
There is a lot of long length shots that track and pan. The first shot is a sideways track of light bulbs hanging from a wall for the camera to the artist walking towards the camera in which the camera at that moment tracks backwards. There are a lo t of close ups that show people smiling and then when the focus of the camera is on someone, the lights in the background have a broken effect.
The main editing techniques used in this video are cuts on the beat and a flash effect used as transition into the next shot. The length of each shot are quite long. The first two shots are aout 20 seconds each. There is a slow motion shot when the front man stomps onto the light bulb. The shots of when there are more people that have joined the group are also in a slow motion to match the tempo of the song.
The main props for the video are the warm lighting created by many light bulbs. This enhances the warm feeling to the song and this prop is always shown until the front man of the band smashes one of the bulbs. The main prop is then roses on the ceiling then multi-coloured confetti to show a celebration. The stained glass windows match the colours of the confetti but also look like they are in a church as that is where stained glass windows are usually soft.
By researching into the Indie genre I have gained a deeper understanding into the genre and now know what to include within our own music video. We know now that it needs to be independent and different from other genres and videos.
