Target Audience Survey

I created a questionnaire to help me to discover who my target audience is, their interests and what they enjoy to see in a music video. All of this information will give me an idea for my own music video so I can successfully attract my own target audience:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1uCLdOpWQxzYOvKg6u1W7y90S0p0MUjI_VqH6RNe5ugQ/viewanalytics

The results I got from my questionnaire show that majority of the people are ages 16-25 years old, female, white ethnicity with no religion and are students. This will be my main target audience for my music video.

The most popular genre of music among those who we asked was Hip Hop/ Rap followed closely by Pop and Indie Pop. This is unsurprising as these genres always dominate UK charts. Majority of people said 'sometimes' to my question 'How regularly do you watch music videos' closely followed by 'all the time'. Majority of people preferred a Narrative and Performance music video, this consists of a storyline behind it also with 62% of people saying the album of the packaging influences them to buy it.

Analysing Music Video (Robbers-The 1975)

Robbers- The 1975

Link to the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/1975/robbers.html

The lyrics play an important role to the music video, it refers to the relationship they have with each other. 'Robbers' the name of the song is an extended metaphor, this is because the whole music video itself isn't about robbery it is more about love and the relationship they have with each other. The lyrics 'But if you just take off your mask You find out everything's gone wrong', this is a metaphor that people don't show their selves, they suffer with a mask on , this suggests that there is something wrong with the relationship as the work 'death' is used a lot in lyrics, this shows that the relationship is falling apart.

Camera

The camera shots and angles they mainly use are two shots and close ups. They start the music video with a two shot , they starts to get close and kiss each other, this shows the relationship they have with each other at the start. The close-ups reflect a volatile/ destructive relationship they have, it makes us understand there relationship more.

Mise-en-scene

The genre of this music is indie/rock, the actors have worn costumes to fit into this category  The messy hair, tight jeans, open shirts all relate to it's genre. Because there genre is indie/rock they have considered many things before making this music video. Firstly, they are set in a none recognisable location, the area is run down and housing is disused. Smoking, sex and robbing the store all relate to indie/rock genre it has a not so serious and relaxed vibe to it. We can tell the music video is represented earlier in the days as the video is monotoned, it makes the video look older.

Editing

The music video keeps cutting back and forth quite quickly, it shows short sequences of there relationship, they don't use fades nor do they use any dissolves until the end of the video, this may suggest that all the happy memories they they've had in a short time of space has finally come to end or the relationship will never be stable.

Sound

The music does not play all the way through the video, the music stops when he enters the store, this builds up tension and makes the audience wonder what will happen. Ambient sound is then used with the gun shots, as they run out of the store the music starts playing again, this doesn't make the tension go away but still makes the audience worry as it doesn't show what happened to him. The band uses a lot of guitar and drums in the background, this is shows that it is a indie/rock band.

Arctic monkeys- Arabella

                                    

Similarities to the music video Robbers by The 1975:

-Indie/Rock band

- It is mono-toned

- Smoking and sex are shown

-Shows short sequences of the storyline 

-Ambient sound is used in both music videos

-Both about relationships

-The lyrics in Arabella by Arctic Monkeys "just might've trapped into your mind and soul, You can be sure', this is very similar to Robbers  music video, both are saying how much they are in love. 

Differences between the two music videos:

Robbers is a narrative  based music video with a bit of performance

Majority of Arabella's music video is performance based

Both music videos show short sequences of the storyline however Arabella's music video's short sequences are shown more like pictures, this suggests that the music video suggests that he is looking back in the past.

Progress Post

Initially, I was just going to make a simple music video, however after this lesson there is lot more meaning to a music video than I thought. However now I realise due to audience and reception theory the audience want more. It's not just selling the music video to the audience but also what the audience want and what they aspire to. An example would be a music video about love/ relationships, the audience would listen to the lyrics so the audience can relate to them or want to relate to it. Watching a music video with a happy relationship aspires the audience, they wish to have perfect relationship like that too.

Digipak Adverts

Ed Sheeran's album cover Plus

The album cover is a chalk drawing by Phillip Butah. It features a drawing of the artists face. This reinforces Sheerans image as a genuine/real artist image could be constructed as being stereotypical, Ed Sheeran's eyes are also directly looking at the buyer which grabs the audiences attention.

The album title in the bottom right hand corner of the CD, simplistic title might reflect nature of Sheerans music. Title may also be described as atypical.

Image of Ed Sheeran is very large and most eye-catching part of the album cover. Sheeran is the unique selling point and one of the main reasons people will buy the album, also the orange background may be a sarcastic reference to Sheerans ginger hair.

                                       

Arctic Monkey's album cover Humbug

The title of the album is placed in the far left hand corner and is a simple sticker on top of the album image itself. the positioning of the title means that it doesn't ruin the simple photo of the cover. The writing is in bold capital letters, as this will attract their audiences' attention by making it stand out. The brands name is 'Arctic Monkeys' is written in a stylistic 'quirky' font and placed over a contrasting colour to make it stand out against the background. This is effective in that it will grab the attention of their target audience. 

The band members are wearing stereotypical clothing associated with indie musicians which highlights the reinforces their genre of indie rock/ alternative music. This album cover incorporates a vintage/retro element, as the colour of the image is quite faded giving it that old 'quirky' edge to it. As with many typical indie/rock bands, the Arctic Monkeys are not dressed to meet a certain criteria or made to look like a manufactured band in any way, as the album cover is quite unique and simplistic.

                                    

Jason Mraz's album cover

This is a Digipak cover for Jason Mraz We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. in this digipak we can see that is fairly simple and easy as it looks very child like, but at the same time a little bit artistic. It is very different to may other digipaks, as they would have real pictures of artists or the band with colour and abstract shapes, whereas this is the complete opposite as it is a drawn image of the Jason himself, which includes no colour barring black and white with the title underneath his picture. It is very simple to do but it is effective as we see the artist, who he is and the name of his album so it will still be appealing to his fans and the audience.

Looking Into The Digipak

A Digipak is a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard/plastic with an internal plastic holder for one or more disc.

They typically consist of a gatefold paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Digipak-style packaging is often is used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD digipak.

The front of the digipak will have some aspect of what the artist represents and what there predominant genre is. The digipak will most likely embody and theme and a message about the artist image. Digipaks benefit artists and their music as its promotional aspect of the music industry which heps bring awareness to the artist thus selling artist and encouraging consumers to buy and listen to their music.

My Audience Survey

Analysing A Music Video (10)

Owl City- Fireflies

Camera:
The video opens up with a close up of the keyboard and a switch being turned on which attracts away from the artist and to the props and mise-en-scene of the room
Many long shots and close up shots are used
long shots- to show the location he is in, he is in his bedroom with many toys and a keyboard this may show that he is isolated

Editing;
To ensure that the audience sees all of the toys in the room, sometimes the same shot is used but the focus is changed from soft focus to deep focus.
A lot of cross cutting is used from the toys to him playing on the keyboard

Sound:
When the song gets more upbeat there are more lights that turn on in the room, in time to the music, and creates light for the artist to perform in.

Mise-en-scene:
There is little light at the start of the video which creates loneliness and innocence feeling and again this links to the lyrics that are about not wanting to say goodbye to fireflies
The video only has one setting- which is of a bedroom with many toys and the artist to one side playing his keyboard