audience research from blog

In SeptemeberI decided to add a poll to my blog so viewers could respond to. I chose to do this to get a wider rang of results as anyone from around the world could answer them. I asked two questions the first one - 'Which style of music videos do you prefer?' with the answers 'narrative, perfomance, narrative and performance , animation and abstract.' the results showed me that 70% preferred narrative and performance which is why I decided to create a music video including these. The second question asked was 'What is your favourite genre of music?' with answers 'Pop, Punk, Indie, Alternative and Rap' the two most popular answers were Alternative and Pop with 50% each which made me decide to to use a song which fit's into the alternative genre.

Planning my digipak

Magazine Analysis

This magazine advertisement goes for the minimalist approach making it unconventional with no image of the band just the important information of the release of the CD for example release date and title. I don't think this magazine advertisement is very effective however I like the idea of having only the important information on the advertisement rather than it being covered in slogans.

This magazine includes an intertextual reference to Blurs album cover with the image being four parts of each memebers face to create one face which slightly links it to pop art like Blurs album cover. The four face arranged together connotes unity and the fact that they are the band, they are the most important part and they are what this advertisement is all about. I would like to creat a magazine advertisement which does something similar to this.

Magazine Advertisement

The importance of radio in the promotion of British new bands/artists

One radio station which helps introduce new bands and artists is BBC Radio 1 with a scheduled slot for new artists which is called 'Introducing' as well as a slot called 'big thing' where each presenter chooses a single (a song which is not as well known as the normal songs played on the radio) which they think will be popular this band is then promoted on the radio in a similar way to what the UK top 40 is to increase its popularity. During the night the DJ's choose songs from unsigned bands to play. Radio1 also have 'radio1 introducing' this is for up and coming new artists to give them their first big break, some artists that we know today started like this for example Wretch 32 and Rizzle Kicks. The radio is a great way to promote new artists with CD's and singles becoming more expensive it provides a free service where the public can listen to old, new and upcoming tracks as well as brand new artists with radio one being the best for this. Not only does it provide free music they also provide information about artists as well as the DJ's opinion of the tracks and sometimes the publics opinions too. Radio stations provide a wide range of music with certain radios for certain genres for example Kerrang and Classical FM however I think Radio 1 are the most versatile radio station provide all different tracks from different genres giving the views a chance to enjoy and maybe then like that genre.

BBC Radio Norfolk have helped to promote the band Slow Panic (the band i have chosen for my music video) by playing their track on their show 'BBC Radio Norfolk Introducing' as well as interviewing them and posting an article on line for anybody to reach and read.

I think the radio is extremely important for new bands it gives them a chance to be heard and gain some popularity and maybe even give them a chance to become signed.

Qu 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Font Research

For my digipak and magazine advertisement I decided I wanted the font to be the same on all of them so there would be a link between the the two. I also decided to do this so the audienced could relate the font to the band or recognise the font and link it to the band.

After looking at several fonts on several different websites such as dafont.com,1001fonts.com and fonts.com I decided that these fonts were far too over the top to fit in with my bands genre. As well as this I have gone for the minimalistic approach to my digipak so adding an extreame/wacky font to it would make it unconventional and unappropriate.

I decided to look through the font's on Photoshop and within minutes I found the perfect font for my digipak.

Here are several fonts which I tried out...

For me personally I think that the most appropriate font is the last one 'Trajan Pro' and after talking to a member of the band and asking him his opinion he agreed with me which has made me decide that I will be using that font.

Synronisation of beat, lyrics and visuals

Originally for my music video I had planned several links between the beat, lyrics and visuals for example the last line of the song is 'you and me' for this I had planned to have the girl and boy reunited walking down a road together holding hands as well as performance shots of the band fitting certain parts of the song, however due to actors being unavailable I decided to change my original planning and filming. Instead I filmed one of the band members playing the same song on the guitar and drums so I was able to sync the beat and visuals together. I also linked the visuals and lyrics together with the last line being 'you and me' when the girl and bear are walking down the hill I edited this scene so she faded away just like the lyrics fade too. As the song was from and unsigned band and was not recorded perfectly the lyrics are quite difficult to hear which made it hard to create a link between the lyrics and visuals. I tried to film the street lights while passing them in a car however the shots were not steady enough so I decided not to use them despite the distinct link with the title lights and the establishing shot could have the street lights.

Audience Research

Actors

In my music video there are only two actors. Originally I had planned to have two actors and the band playing however with the band all attending different universities it was too difficult to get them together to film performance shots however one of the members were able to help me, I filmed him playing the guitar and drums to my chosen song but didn't show his face so the audience wouldn't realize it was the same actor. I also filmed him in my flashback as the girls boyfriend. The reason I chose to use the female I filmed as the protagonist is because she is an ordinary, every day girl as well as attractive which I thought the audience (especially female audience) could relate to keeping them interested in the music video however due to her attractiveness I think it would be popular with the male audience to following Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' Theory.

Lighting for my music video

For my music video I don't plan to use ambient/artificial lighting I intend to use non ambient lighting while shooting as I don't feel confident enough with my lighting skills to create a successful shoot. Instead I have decided to edit the lighting while I am editing the video.

Magazine Analysis - Hard Fi

This magazine advertisement is advertising the band Hard-Fi. I have chosen to analyse this advertisement as I am looking to create a magazine advertisement which has a minimalist look so the audience only receive the vital information they need which is what I think this magazine advertisement does. This magazine advertisement is unconventional with no image of the band however they use irony instead with the statement 'Image of Hard-Fi Not Available' Which connote's that the band themselves are quite quirky and humorous, it also shows the bands individuality. Another reason that this advertisment is unconventional is because it only uses three colours which connotes simplicity suggesting that the bands music is simple and straight forward. The yellow backround connotes happiness showing the band are happy and funny. This advertisement includes only the important information which includes the release date, bands name, bands website and the album name which is what I am hoping to include in mine.

Final Cd Cover

This is the front cover of my digipak

This is the back cover of my digipak

This is the inset of the band which is the 3rd pannel on the front 

This is the CD holder pannel which will be on the 3rd inside pannel 

This image will be the first two images on the first two pannels inside

Magazine Research

This magazine advertisement is promoting All Time Low's new album 'Put up or shut up'. I like this advert as it is overly simple it doesn't contain any slogans or main headlines apart from the the Bands name in a large font in the center of the advert connoting that this is the most important part telling the audience who and what the advert is about. The advert is overly simple with no image of the band and only a small section of information on the band(the release date and album title) however it does include ratings of the album from magazines which promote their genre helping it fit in with the conventions of a magazine advertisement for albums. I think I am going to create a digipak like this however I would like to use and image of the band for mine.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Bob Marley

I think this CD cover clearly represents the Rastafarian culture and beliefs. Bob Marley is obviously an extremely famous musician with almost everybody knowing who he is. The photo doesn't look posed or constructed it looks as though he didn't realise it was being taken  as his eyes aren't focused on the camera they are focused towards the right of the camera this makes it seem chilled out and relaxed which is also associated with the genre reggae due to this the cover feels more inviting and welcoming with Bob having a huge smile across his face connoting the album has made him happy making the audience feel like it could make them happy too. This is also the same case with the chosen font style with it free flowing style which looks almost hand written making it seem non-confontational and  not aggressive. The image has been edited to sepia however the three colours left in are red, yellow and green implying the Rastafarian hat draped over his head which highlights his roots and beliefs.
Overall I think this album cover is clever however It says too much about the artist when you really want to know about the music.

Bruno Mars ft Damien Marley - Liquor Store Blues

This music video represents the rastafarian culture mixed in with the western world culture with the main colours being red, yellow and green throughout as you can see here...

The music video s clearly trying to represent the rasta culture featuring an inconic rastafarian musician (Damien Marley) who can tell is trying to be connoted as a rastafarian with his long dredlocks, so even people who don't know who he is can see what he is denoting. Another way the video connotes this is through the hollousonagenic editing with coloured smoke clouds and bright acidic colours. 

From this clip here you can hear his jamican accent in the middle of the song again connoting the culture and his roots. 

Damien is put forward as not only a rastafarian but a hippie too with his laid back dancing which is light and looks as though he feels like he's floating or flying. You can also see this in the music video throughout.

In contrast to this Bruno Mars dresses more modernly and stylish with his flat peak hate having 'LA' on the front connoting that he is from Los Angles which is a well known wealthy state in america where many famous stars live. You can see the difference in their clothing below.

His accent is also different compared to Damiens which shows a big contrast between the two singers.

Overall i think they have collaborated the two cultures together quite well with some of the lyrics linking in with the actual footage of the music video and there being a few link between the two artists.

Target Audience

To find the correct target audience for my music video I decided to hand out two questionnaires to twenty students (aged 15 - 17), 10 male and 10 female, I wanted to find out if what I had planned for my music video so far was the type of music videos they enjoy watching, to do this i asked them simple questions like what is their favourite genre and what type of music video's they prefer etc.. When asking them what music video's they prefer 80 percent said that they preferred music video's which had a story which suited the lyrics rather than copied the lyrics which helped me make the decision that i am going to use my narrative which doesn't follow the lyrics as i believe this it will keep viewers watching and keen due to its obscenity.
Instinctively I thought that my music video would be aimed at students between the ages of 15 to 17 however when asking them what their favourite genre was I realised I was wrong when 90 percent told me that they loved Pop music. This meant that these students were not the target audience that I needed to be aiming my music video at due to the genre being alternative, so i decided to hand out a third questionnaire to  20 students aged between 16-19, 10 male and 10 female in this questionnaire I asked the same two questions above and a few different ones. The results I received from this questionnaire were much more promising with 95 percent of students enjoying music video's that have a narrative that may not fit with the lyrics fully and 87 percent being controversial and enjoy many different genre's of music. I then asked them if they preferred narratives based on 'love' 'fact' or 'fiction' and the results from this question made me realise that this age group is my target audience with over 90 percent preferring fictional narrative.
I believe that by aiming my music video at this age range it would help the band become more popular due to the band members being around that same age as the students and writing lyrics about past times which the students may be able to relate to.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product wtih ancillary texts? on Prezi

Male Gaze

Male Gaze - Laura Mulvey on Prezi

Narrative Theories

Narrative theories

View more PowerPoint from JadeHarrington

Slow Panic - Lights

Rhianna and Plan B comparison

I have chosen to compare two similar yet to completely different CD covers each done by two different artists. The first CD cover I am going to analyse is Rhianna's album Loud, on the cover of this album is her face filling it all making her the main and only focus of the cover. One of the main colours on this cover is mainly red with her red hair flowing behind and around her face and her bright red lips in the centre, these lips are the focal point of the CD cover with your eyes instantly being drawn towards them. The choice of colouring for the lips (red) connotes lust and love expressing that the album may be focused on these subjects. The album title is also at the bottom of the cover and in thin white writing connoting a strong urge not to draw focus from her. Rhianna is also not looking at the camera giving it a 'natural' look as though she didn't know it was being taken so she hasn't posed trying to connote natural beauty however it is clear to see that it is a posed image. You can also see that the contrast of the image has been edited with dark shadows underneath her chin and extremely black eyelashes. This music video includes the male gaze with many males being drawn to the bright colours and sheer beauty of Rhianna which has been done purposely to persuade them to buy it.The cover is quite ironic with the album title being 'loud' however the image is quite static with not much going on in it.

 In comparison to Rhianna  this album cover By Plan B  'who needs actions when you got words' is much more realistic trying to represent his real life rather than a rappers fantasy the cover doesn't connote wealth it connotes poverty with him wearing one shoe sitting on a dirty sofa, papers piled on the floor  with a retro style TV behind him all in one dirty room. The gun in his arm and the graffiti on the wall connote crime and vandalism which is usually found in city suburbs especially London which is where he is from. Looking at the album cover and around the time that is was released it is almost poison on the edge of a massive  uproar about youth and knife crime however the cover does fit the genre of the music with it being grime you can see definite elements of grime instantly looking and the graffiti and gun. His CD cover isn't creating surrealism it is creating realism suggesting that the album could be very personal to him with it seeming as though he is sitting in his own grimy flat.

While comparing the two CD covers when it comes to representation of gender it is clear to see that there is one big difference between them. The main difference is the fact that Rhianna's album is sold on sex appeal and lust where as Plan B's is sold on the basis of his views on reality.

CD Cover analysis

blur:Best Of - This album covers is one of the most iconic and famous certainly in this country,Designed by Jeremy plumb and Dan poyner and Painted by Jullian Opie. This denotes a sense of being British as Jullian Opie was born in oxford in 1958. The pop art movement started in Britain in the mid 1950s this is obviously where her influence comes from. compare this to the Andy Warhol painting of Marilyn Monroe and the similarity's become more apparent. The pop art movement is very similar to the journey blur took from being an English band to being a worldwide band touring the US to recoup their finances. The album cover also bares resemblance to another iconicly British band Queen and there 1982 release of Hot Space. All these elements capitalize on being historically British

I Think the album cover works so well because of how simple it is. Looking at most album covers which include shots of the band there always seems to be someone in front of the other members which is normally the 'Front Man' or lead singer, but in the case of this album cover they are all at the same depth within the image which is denoting that they are all as important as each other. The bright vibrant colours are eye catching and appealing. The album cover draws heavily on minimalistic art and the ideas and concepts behind it which try to expose the essence, essentials and identity through eliminating all non essentials or features. This is captured beautifully with this album cover the essence and essentials to blur have always been the four band members so in hind-sight to have an image of something else would not work. It also exposes the identity of all the members but still leaves a bit to the imagination. It seems to have an idea of no distractions and not trying to deceive any ones expectations of what they will get.

It also uses the trademark blur font which has been used on all the albums the band has released. This album cover has directly influenced my choices in regards to my own album cover.

After looking at this CD cover and realising how many British features are behind it i decided to incorporate some of there ideas into my CD cover adding four images of the band each edited differently to show an intertextual refference to this CD cover. 

Location scouting .

After planning my music video I then needed to choose the locations where i was going to film. I decided not to film in too many locations as i wanted to keep the narrative simple and keep it flowing.

The first location i thought about filming at was at Gentleman's Walk in Norwich. However when i visited the location before filming i realized this wouldn't be possible as the streets are too busy and filled with people who would either get in the way of the camera, stare at the camera or not want to be filmed without their permission making it much more difficult so i decided to change to the location of a deserted field to emphasize her loneliness.

We are also filming in my house for the main shots with the teddy bear as it was in my plan. The only shots that will be filmed in my house will be the shots of the main girl along with the bear.

I am also planning on filming a few shots of the girl and boy walking through the streets of Costessey.

As all of my filming will be done in the daytime the lighting will be non ambient so i will not need to use any special lighting for my shooting, I will also not be needing to do anything with the sound of my shooting as i am producing a music video the only sound that will be heard is the song.

Images for didpak

This image is one section of my digipak overall my didipak will have six sides with different details. This image has been heavily edited to begin with I wanted the two images to merge into one to connote that they are linked however I found this quite difficult on Photoshop so instead i decided to superimpose one image above the over to still show that they are linked. As well as doing this I also edited the brightness and contrast of the images to bring out the red in the right image connoting love and hate and to brighten her white her in the left image to connote innocence and purity which you will understand once you have seen the music video.

Another image I am going to be using in my digipak cover is this one. Here is what the original image looked like and then what it looked like after I had edited it.

Original image

 

Edited image

 Firstly I changed this image into greyscale as I believed it would look more effective. I then edited the sharpness of the image to make the guitar strings more prominent however they didnt stand out as much as I wanted them too so i then edited the brightness and contrast which gave me this image which I am very happy with. This image will be on the back of my digipak with the credits balancing on the guitar strings.

 This image is going to be the front cover of my CD cover once ive added titles. Blurs album cover inspired me to create this album cover however where they have the four different band members I decided to the the same image four times just edited differently each time to give some clear differences between each of them for example some are black and white others have high contrast or high sharpness. I then decided to fill the gaps between the images with a red cross which connotes a part of britain indicating to the audience that this is a british band.

This pannel is where my insert is as you can see. I decided to use the minimalist approach with this as I want the audience to focus on the writing not the image.

I have decided to use this image behind where the actual CD will go to link with the image above which includes the insert.

Case Study, Slow Panic - Norwich Unsigned Band.

Being an unsigned band did you find it very hard to play gigs?

'Yes normally it is very hard as you don't have any promoters so you'd have to do all the work yourselves putting more time into the promotion of the band rather than the music, however the promotion company 'Half a glass' promotions help promote us and find gigs for us.

What venues did you play at?

We played at several venues none of them really popular or mainstream they were more underground with places such as The Marquee (a pub in Norwich), The B2 (a bar and venue where many local unsigned and signed bands play),  Jurnets bar (a bar) and several others, but as you can see from the venues they weren't big venues with big crowds so it was hard to get our music heard.

What were your problems with getting signed?

With dedication to our studies (all band members were taking their A levels) we found it hard to find the time to practising, write new songs and then play gigs and with it being our last year living in the same area we knew it would get worse with some of us going to university or getting full time jobs our free time grew even smaller however we do meet up whenever we can to regroup and play our old tracks.

Do any of your lyrics have any messages in them or any meaning behind them?

A few of them do our song 'To the counter' was about prostitution and our song 'lights' was focused on a relationship however we didn't want to focus all of our songs on 'love' as this has become too generic with nine out of ten songs being subjected around it we wanted to bring something different to the music industry.

What were the highs and lows of being in an unsigned band?

The highs - We had complete creative control we could to whatever we wanted with our songs and to make it better we could work on our own schedule. We also preferred it as it was more of a hobby than a career which felt like we could enjoy it a lot more. We found we got in a loop of other unsigned bands where we all lent each other favours and helped each other out as well as supporting each other.

The lows - obviously we didn't have any funds behind us so we found it hard being students and then being able to record our tracks. We also have a low fan base as we aren't very well known. we also felt a lack of confidence in our lyrics as we didn't have that much support from our fans as there we didn't have that many.

Back of my digipak

Here is the photo which is on the back of my digipak case before it is edited...

Here is the photo again after i have edited the contrast and brightness as well as the sharpnmess of the image.

CD cases

 You may or may not know that there are several different design of CD cases. The most common case today is the Jewel CD Case design which is a plastic case which can hold from 1 CD to 4 depening on the size. 

 

These are most popular today as they are cheap to create and also keep the CD safer from scratching or breaking. However there are other designs which are as follow...

 

 

Other formats can include:

Digipak - A Digipak is a case which consists of a plastic CD tray placed inside a cardboard cover which useually folds over it. These are not as popular today as they cost more to make however they are much more eco friendly.

Discbox Slider - This is a cardboard case which looks more like an LP case rather than a CD case however it it smaller. 

Paper Sleeve- This is the cheapest design due to its simplisity. However these are maninly used for software cases rather than CD cases.

 

For my CD case i will be using a Digipak case this is because i like the idea of being able to add more images of the artist as well as having space to add an insert on the band. I also think Digipaks look a lot smarter which i think would appeal to more people.

Olly Murs - Busy

This music video by Olly Murs has been the most inspirational music to influence my decisions on my music video in his music video for the song Busy. This music video is entirely narrative based with Olly singing the lyrics during the narrative. The narrative is based on him and his imaginary girlfriend (which he has created) and his life with her. Olly's costume is based on a stereotypical geek with his hair slicked back with gel while he's wearing glasses, a shirt and sweater vest all of which connote a 'geek'. From looking at the set it looks as though it is set within the 60's/70's with the retro wallpaper and cushions. As you can see below.

 The video almost portrays Olly as being someone who is dilusional with the lyrics playing 'Everytime we hear the real world rushing by I know that were not crazy' which conflicts with the visuals as he is sitting beside his imaginary 'paper mache' girlfriend.

 I want to add the dissolousional effect that he protrays to my protagonist with her befriending her childhood bear and thinking that it's alive just like in Ollys video.





This video has given me many idea's for my music video.