Music Industry Overview and Target Audience

Location Scout - Camden Town and Nonsuch Park

Location Scout

Brief: This is a location scout of the locations we are going to be filming at during the production of our music video.

Camden Town

One location we chose to use for a setting of our music video was Camden Town; specifically an area of Camden Town that was less busy, but still within the area of the inner city.

The location shown above that was decided on meets the above criteria. Another reason for selecting this location is that the building shown in the first picture is not currently in use, therefore pedestrian traffic around it is minimal. This location also provides us with a lot of pavement to work with - this will be beneficial as the shots filmed here will feature both the band members and the female narrative character.

Nonsuch Park

A second location we chose to use for a setting of our music video was Nonsuch Park.

This location is optimal due to the fact that it is a wide, open, green space that is on high ground. This means that the feeling of isolation and freedom that the location provides is not interrupted by the sight of buildings or other infrastructure.

Location Research - London Underground

Location Research - London Underground

One of the locations we are going to use in our music video is to London underground. In these shots, the female character will be traveling on the train towards London where she will be sitting in between the for band members. This will add a urban feel which the audience can relate to as it is such an easily available means of transport.    

Location Research - School Dance/Drama Rooms

For one of our band locations we decided on our school drama/dance rooms.

We chose these locations as they are fairly open, with black curtains allowing us to create an infinite black backdrop in the background in low lighting. The curtains can also be used to create an intentionally fake looking set, giving it a very independent look which we are going for.

Both rooms also have lighting systems allowing us to create a professional looking studio for our band, with the dance hall having a proper lighting system allowing us to change the colours and brightness of the lights, giving us the option of adding some form of variety to the lighting used. This will be very effective in creative an upbeat, quirky image for the band as different colours may be used rather than standard white light.

Audience Research

 Audience Research 

The Music Industry  

The Music industry has changed rapidly over the last 10 years. Through the greater and continuous use of digital music servers (Such as iTunes, YouTube and other online music sites) the music industry is delivering more artists to a Larger and more World-Wide audience. According to 'www.ifpi.org', there has been a record high growth in revenues in therms of trade, an increase of about 0.8% across Europe, the USA and Latin America.

Although much of the Recording industries revenue still comes from form of physical format sales, such as Cd's of Albums (51%), There has been a large increase in the amount of revenue coming from digital forms of sales, such as iTunes and other music buying websites (39%) (fig.1). This demonstrates that the music video is moving more into the way of digital distribution.

Fig 1

In 2013, it was found that the was a 40% increase in people that paid of online music subscriptions compared to those in 2012. Although that physical forms of music sales still account to over half the music industries revenue as previously stated, it has suffered a fall of 4.4% over the last year. This is indicating that the form of digital music sales are increasing and will eventually over take the physical forms of music sales in the near future.  

Also the music has massively changed over the years; The 50's saw the birth of rock 'n' Roll with artists such as Elvis Presley, the 60's & 70's brought along massive rock Bands such as the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Queen compared to more modern music with the 90's and 00's producing a massive pop music scene with the likes of the spice girls, Madonna and Britney Spears also following on to the present day. As you can see below, the top 5 songs that have been decided from all the genres played on the radio consists of all 5 being pop songs. This emphasizes the ever large pop culture that is still around today.

Indie/ Alternative Rock Audience Research

Commonly, young people from ages 13-22 are the typical audience for indie/alternative music genre. This is due to the people of these ages can relate to the themes and messages the bands are portraying through their songs and persona. Many younger people are attracted to indie/alternative genres as when people are going through their teenage years, they use this time to find themselves and experience relationships, going against the norms and values of society and having fun and exciting experiences with new friends. These messages and themes are portrayed through the artists songs which as their audiences are going through these experiences, they can relate to and therefore feel like the artists are directly talking to them. 

Also, indie/alternative band members typically wear casual clothing (such as skinny Jeans, Plaid/lumber jack shirts, trainers or canvas shoes and colourful jackets and sometimes vintage clothing). This helps connect to the audience as these items of clothing could be typically warn by the audience members of that age. As well as this, if the audience want to further connect to the artists they can easily buy cheap items that suit the genre of their favorite band.

The genre of alternative/indie rock music is followed by both genders. There is no clear division between both sexes and which attracts a much more larger fan base, creating a larger revenue for the band.   

How do institutions attract their audience?:


One band use an abstract costume and take on a music video which helped to attract lots of attention to them and their song. In their music video 'Paradise', Coldplay portrayed their main character in the narrative as an 'elephant'/ a man in an elephant costume. This was used to take an abstract take on a quite serious message which gave a comical tone to the video and to attract various numbers and types of audiences.
      

As well as this, the band 'Imagine Dragons' use one of their music videos, to commemorate a fan who lost their battle against Cancer. This can be used to help the band gain a larger audience as the people who knew the person they dedicated their video to may start to listen to their music and it will also attract others who may have battled cancer before, are currently battling cancer or know someone who has been affected by this. It will also give the band a new image as they pay their respects to one of their fans which may change they way people see the band for the better.

As well as some bands doing positive and abstract things in their music videos to try and get more audiences to watch their videos and listen to their music,  Artist such a Jenifer Lopez make videos on taboo or shocking content to attract lost of different types of audience to her videos. An example of this is her newly released music video 'Booty' featuring artist Iggy Azalea. The video is based around a montage of the two artist, in sexually explicit costumes, dancing and singing together. The combination of the sexually explicit costume and the erotic dance creates a shocking music video which may offend some audiences but will attract some as well.   

The Music Industry

The Music Industry, Audience and Targeting Techniques

Brief: This is a video containing facts about the music industry in its current state, as well as describing the target audience of our genre, Indie/Alternative, and how the industry attracts them.

Concept Pitch - Band Image

Brief

Transcipt

My brief is to produce a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with the following: 

• a cover for its release as part of a digipak (Cardboard CD cover)
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak

Low Budget Music Videos

Low Budget Music Video Ideas

Brief: This is an analysis of two music videos which managed to produce their sequence to a respectable standard with a small budget. The ideas found in this analysis can help in the planning of my music video as, similarly, I will not have a large budget to work with.

Music Video Directors

Music Video Directors

Brief: This is an analysis of music video directors and their signature style found frequently in their works. This was done to develop an understanding of what previous directors have done, allowing me to reflect upon their works and decide the direction I wish to take.

Similarly to feature films, music video's employ directors to portray their own interpretation of what the visuals for the artist's song could look like. Different music video directors have different styles that are reoccurring in the videos they work with. Since I have acquired the role of lead director of our group music video, I have looked into the creative direction of other known directors have taken and how their styles differ.

Daniels

The Daniels are a directing duo made up of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

• Directed for - Tenacious D, Foster The People, Passion Pit
• Style - The Daniels take their music videos in a comedic direction, using the visuals to create an abstract story/concept filled with slapstick humour.
• Positives - The amusing visuals are entertaining to the audience, allowing them to watch the entirety of the video without getting bored.
• Negatives - Over-abundance of humour can lead the visuals away from the songs underlying message.

Romain Gavras

• Directed for - Jay Z & Kanye West, DJ Medhi, M.I.A
• Style - Gavras uses dark themes of realism in his videos. Gritty, low saturation, long shots - but with a lot of energy, his style portrays a more violent and pessimistic mood.
• Positives - His style is beneficial when the themes of the song are less pleasant and the artists wants to portray them in a negative or realistic light
• Negatives - The dark tone of his videos can take away enjoyment from some audience members as they do not provide them with the escape from realism some seek with music videos.

Tom Scharpling

• Directed for - Real Estate, Monster Magnet, Aimee Mann
• Style - Scharpling, Spin Magazine's Music Video Director of the Year 2012, focuses much more on portraying the tone of a music video through the media language, rather than simply illustrating the lyrics of the video. To do this he displays abstract narratives that don't fully make sense but express a concept/mood. He also incorporates comical elements to his music videos, similarly to The Daniels.
• Positives - The fact that he doesn't simply visualise the lyrics gives the song another perspective for the audience, giving them a reason to watch the artist's music video as well as just use it as a means to listen to the song.
• Negatives - This style might confuse a number of audience members as the videos are not just basic illustration videos.

I have decided then when directing our group music video - I will be more influenced and draw ideas and inspiration from Scharpling as I find his style to be a lot more creative and thought provoking than that of other directors.

Song Details and Initial Ideas

Artist Image Post

Artist Image

This slideshow displays our initial ideas for the artist's costume and overall look to the audience.

 

Song Lyric Analysis

 
 

He is the analysis of the lyrics to the song we have chosen for our music video.

Group Roles

Group Roles

Conventions of a Alternative Rock Music Video

Conventions of a Alternative Rock Music Video

Close up of Main Band Member:

Typically in alternative rock genres music videos, there are a lot of close ups of the main band member. This can be done to use him as a promotion for the band, someone the audience can connect with and relate too. This could also put a personal tone to the video due to viewers seeing the artist a lot, it feels as if they are actually singing to them. 

Different shot of band member:

In alternative rock music videos, the attention isn't always on the main artist like it is in pop music videos, the band is made up of more than one person therefore the video consists of different shot types showing the band separately and together. This creates a connotation of community and unity within the band as each member is a key part of the band.












Costume:

The costumes of an alternative rock band would be very different to those of a pop artist. The typical costumes of a alternative rock band are things such as: leather jackets, dark trousers and black shoes, mainly all dark colours. These colours could be used to show an emotion or the meaning behind the song. This also allows the viewers to connect with the different band members.

Abstract Settings: 

Commonly in alternative rock music videos, some bands use quite abstract settings within their music video. This could be to reflect the meaning of the song or emphasis an emotion caused by the lyrics. This can also catch the audiences attention as the strange setting will keep the video fresh for the viewers to watch.

Narratives:

Furthermore, in some alternative music videos they follow a narrative. The story could relate to the song and the lyrics, a meaning the band are trying to portray through the video or could be something completely un-related. This can also be a key factor in capturing and keeping the audiences attention.

Low Key Lighting;

Low key lighting is commonly used in alternative rock music videos as it can help to add or emphasis to the meaning of the song through the lyrics. This is one of the most common alternative rock music video conventions and can also help the audience understand the meaning or emotion behind the song. 

Fast Paced Editing:

Alternative Rock music is generally fast paced, therefore when editing an alternative band's music video together the editing will also need to be fast paced to fit the music. Fast paced editing can also add meaning and emotion to a music video and can create the connotation of excitement and energy towards the viewers.

Song Choice

Song Choice - Dancing Song, Little Comets

Brief: This post reveals the song we have chosen for our music video, as well as explaining why this decision was made.

Once our group had established that we wanted the genre of our music video to be indie/alternative rock, we decided on this specific song - Dancing Song by Little Comets.

This song has a fast tempo as well as an upbeat and positive mood and tone. This was a main reason for choosing it as it meant that we would be able to incorporate fast pace editing and generally positive visuals when making our video.  Another reason for choosing it was that it does not currently have a music video made for it.

We have an idea that we want the artists of our music video to be a 4-piece band made up of a singer, guitarist, bassist and drummer. These artists would be present within the video in possibly a studio scene, as well as within the abstract narrative. We also have an idea that we want to focus the narrative around a central female character, as if the artists are telling a story about this person. The narrative would see her initially in an urban environment followed by some sort of field or other location to symbolise the idea of her being free (to dance).

Rock Music Video Analysis (Kasabian - Where Did All the Love Go?)

Cinematography

Mid/Longshots of band -

Large amount of close ups - The large amount of close ups, primarily  on the vocalist and the guitarist help them to make a connection with the audience, as the audience has a clear view of their face.

Mise en Scene

Dark costume - Throughout the music video the costumes that the performers are wearing consist of dark, and dull colours such as black and grey. This creates negative connotations and helps make the tone more downbeat.

Leather Jacket - The lead vocalist of the group can be seen wearing a black leather jacket. This creates the representation of him being rebellious, and creates an image for the band that they do as they wish, and are unruly.

Negative iconography - During the music video the audience is shown shots containing lots of negative connotations, such as child with his face painted like a skull, or a clown. This helps create an appearance of the band being edgy and eccentric.

Low key lighting - Through the use of low key lighting negative connotations of sadness and darkness are created. This gives helps to emphasise the sombre tone of the song.

Performance of instruments -

Editing

Largest duration on band - This is seen through the camera spending the largest amount of time on the band, with very fast cuts to the other locations and characters in the video. This shows the audience that they are the most important part of the video. 

Song Details and Initial Ideas (Little Comets - Dancing Song)

Song Choice

 

For our own music video we decided on Dancing Song, by Little Comets. We chose this song as it meets the criteria for our own music video; It is made by an English group, it has no music video, and it is a fast paced song. The fast pace of the song allows us to create an upbeat music video, following to the conventions of the indie rock genre.

Initial Ideas

 

Our initial idea is to have our video as an amplification music video, and follow a short narrative of a girl walking down a road in a city, using long shots and loose frames, creating the sense of sadness and loneliness. Then the video would cut to a much brighter shot of her being happy, dancing and having fun, using bright filters, lens flares and silhouettes, linking to the upbeat nature of the song and the lyrics. This allows us to implement many of the conventions of the genre, such as high key lighting and high energy performance into our video, while also creating meaning through the micro-elements, this also gives us room to experiment with more advanced cinematography and editing techniques.

Conventions of Indie Rock Music Vidoes

For our own music video we decided on the genre of indie rock. Indie Rock followed many of the same conventions that almost all music videos shared, while also having unique conventions:

Dancing/High Energy From Characters And Artists - 

I found that conventionally there will be some form of dance or performance in the video, whether it be the band members or characters in the video. This makes the video more lively and helps to make it more interesting for the audience. It also creates a very positive and upbeat tone.

Bright colours -  Both Setting And Costume - 

The music videos that I looked at generally had very bright, vivid colours, often with white backdrops to make them stand out more. This was scene in both the artists' costumes/ instruments and other props. Like the dancing, mentioned earlier, this helps to create a positive tone and also make it more interesting for the audience as the colours draw the audience's attention.

Artist Costume - Smart/Casual - 



The costume worn by the artists is often very casual, however it can be smartened up. In many of the videos I watched, the band members were wearing either plane t-shirts and jeans/chinos, or a plain/checkered shirt with trousers. This gave the band the image of being very laid back, and relate able to the audience as they are wearing normal clothing, compared to costumes scene in some pop videos, or some rock videos.

High Key Lighting - 

The high key lighting, like the bright colours and performance is used to raise the mood of the video and the audience, making it appear much more cheerful and friendly, attracting the audience in.

Fast Paced Editing - 

Conventionally, the editing in the music videos was fast paced, matching the pace of the music, and cutting off the beat. This made the video look very snappy and helped to emphasise the beat of the song.

Conventional Performance Of Instruments And Lip Syncing - 

In almost all music videos lip syncing and performance of instruments is used. This is often coupled with direct eye contact to the audience, allowing the performer to create a connection between them and the audience giving the impression that they are singing directly to that person.

Mid/Longshot Of All Band Members Playing - 

In almost all the vidoes I watched a mid/long shot was used of all the band members playing. They were often in the very center, with the singer standing closest to the camera, creating the impression that they were to leader, and face of the group.

Artists Are The Main Focus - 

This was shown through the editing of the video, as they will have the longest duration of shots, and also have the largest screen time. The artists are also shown to be the main focus due to their composition in the shot, as they are often in the center, making them stand out as the central part of the shot. This is due to the music video trying to sell the band members to the audience, letting them know who they are and advertising them. It also gives them a sense of importance as they stand out from all the other characters in the video.

This tracking shot shows how the singer is the most important person in this video as the camera is constantly on him. Even though there is a large amount of people in the shot, the audience's attention is on him. This is achieved due to him being in the middle of the frame, making the audience look towards him. Also when he walks behind people, it cuts to his face, keeping him in shot and showing he has the most power.