Audience Research - Questionnaire

I have emailed out to seven students a questionnaire that I asked for them to fill in and email me back so that I could gain even more, in depth knowledge of what my target audience are expecting within the music video I am going to create. 

Above are the evidence of emails back I received from students of my questionnaires. 

These are my responses from some students on my media questionnaire that I created so that I could engage with my target audience and learn what they are expecting to see and also how they feel about music videos. Most Importantly I wanted to learn where they watch and listen to music and videos for promotional aspects of my music video. I also found out what they enjoy about music videos so that I could apply this to my own planning and when creating my video.

Audience Feedback - Focus Group

                              

(May need to listen to this on full volume to hear feedback from students)

During my focus group, I got together with three students who are within my demographics that I am looking to aim my music video at. From left to right there is Lauren, Courtney and Jordan who are all 17/18, current students and either un-skilled employment or unemployed . I gave them many open questions so that I could gain an in-depth, detailed response. I asked questions such as "now that you have listened to my chosen song what could you visualise my music video to look like?", "After reading my three initial ideas, which one would you feel is the best to apply to the song and why?", "what do you feel is wrong with existing music videos at the minute". I also asked closed questions such as "which genre of music do you prefer?" and "what is your favourite music video at the moment". All these types of questions will help and guide me with my planning of the music video enabling me to get the best out of my filming and include shots that my target audience want to see.

Audience Profile

Audience Research Key Term Definitions

Qualitative Data

Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method investigates they why and how of decision making, not just what, where and when.

Quantitative Data

Collective Data that can be measured by numbers.Often more specific data which can be compared and put into statistical analysis.

Demographic Data

Current statistical characteristics of population. Mainly used in areas such as sociology, public policy and marketing.

Psychographic Data

The study of personality, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. Can be valuable in the fields of marketing, demographics, opinion research and social research in general.

Audience Research By Poll

I have created a poll on my blog asking relevant questions to help me as part of my audience research. I used demographic questions so that I can highlight the most important areas I need to take into account when creating my Music Video. I sent an email out to all A2 media groups and my close friends so that I could gain a varied demographic answer through quantitative data. The questions on my blog are as follows;

Gender
Age Group
Social Class
Where Do You Live?
What Genre of Music Do You Like?
What Form of Music Do You Like?

Businesses need to reach out to consumers and get to understand who they are and about them. Having this kind of information about a persons age, gender, income and education tells a marketer how likely a person is to making a purchase. Understanding the demographics is important because if the business gets to know their target audience very well then this gives the business a better advantage at selling the product to the viewer.

Initial Ideas

These are my first three initial ideas that I came up with once I listened to Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire. I feel my first initial idea is the strongest of the three and more of what I would like to do. Due to my audience research I feel the narrative videos appeal more to my target audience, as they want to see the artist involved too whilst a narrative evolves.

 I liked the idea of my second idea when I first thought of it but after a lot of research into my target audience I feel this kind of performance wouldn't appeal to them as it would not connect with the song due to the lyrics and the feeling you get from listening to the song.

My third idea is more of a montage video, this would be heavily edited to create a more abstract piece of work but using the lyrics as a narrative but again after a lot of research into my audience and what they expect to see in a video, I feel this would not appeal to them and have them connect with it, it may appear to get boring and repetitive due to the lyrics being very repetitive throughout.

Chosen Song I am Going To Reconstruct

I chose this song as I felt I needed a fast paced music video to be able to have quick edits and have the ability to show more content to the viewer. Bastille are a Indie Rock/Pop band from the UK that first formed in 2010. Originally Dan Smith,the lead singer, was a solo performer and decided to form a band. The four piece consist of Dan Smith, Chris Wood, Will Farquarson and Kyle Simmons. In December 2010 the record label EMI decided to offer the band a record label with Virgin Records. Bastille are a fairly new band and are not yet "huge" in the US. In May of 2013 Bastille released their Haunt EP in the US via itunes and on september 3rd they released their debut album 'Bad Blood' in the US via itunes, helping them to gain a bigger and worldwide fanbase. I feel this video from Bastille is very abstract rather than narrative, which I hope to create and show throughout my video, but also still keeping a meaning to make the viewers stay interested.

Bastilles Narrative Videos

Laura Palmer by Bastille is a narrative video which depicts a vague and bizarre story where group leader Dan Smith is kidnapped and released within less than two minutes, four people wear rubber masks. Towards the end, after being released, Dan Smith is given a rubber mask which looks like Killer BOB (Twin Peaks main antagonist). Dan Smith dons the mask and removes it after a few seconds.

The version of the song used in the video is unique to it because of a sudden an unexpected interruption in the music. During the scene where Smith is kidnapped, which is shown as a camcorder shot, there is a jump-cut as in a badly edited VHS tape - to a completely unrelated shot of a dog howling, also shot with a camcorder, and the song stops in the middle of the second chorus. After five seconds, the video cuts back to a more neutral point of view shot and the song resumes.

Myself, I am going to look into using the camcorder shot within my own music video as it relates to the genre and will relate to my initial ideas.

Bad Blood was the second single to be released from the album. It reached a peak of number ninety in the UK Singles Chart. The music video to accompany the release of Bad Blood was first released onto YouTube on 29 June 2012 at a total length of three minutes and thirty-four seconds. I believe this music video shows the narrative of a girl who has had a relationship with a boy, who in the music video is played by the lead singer from Bastille. The girl let him drown and disappear and the relationship turned sour. This bothered her and played on her mind so she tried to salvage what was left of the relationship by going back to old memories. In the end it looks as if the friendship was dragging her to drown too, so she let go of all the memories in a box.

Other Videos Relating to the Genre

Two Door Cinema Club - Changing of the Seasons

Editing- The editing throughout this video is mainly straight cuts to show the narrative developing. There is also use of blurs which is typical of the indie genre to create more of an abstract look than a high-tech super natural look. Black and White throughout whole video. Slow motion is also used.

Sound- We hear the development of the narrative begin through diegetic sound as Two Door Cinema Club act out a conference about themselves and their music. This then leads into the song that we hear throughout. 

Mise En Scene- Leather Jackets, Sun Glasses, Suit Jackets, Turtle Necks, Old fashioned clothes such a tartan skirts on girls. Lighting is near enough all the same throughout due to black and white effect. Microphones, stage and smoke for performance. Old looking building when skips back to conference. Old looking house for the party aspect of the music video.

Cinematography- Pans, Tracks, Handheld shots, zooms, Tilts, Medium Close Ups and Cantered angles.

The 1975 - Sex

Editing- Jump cuts from live band performance to narrative. The main use of editing is straight cuts from one shot to another. There is also the use of effects when the boy takes drugs so that we are looking at the world through his perspective making the image look abstract and unreal. Fast cuts are used when boy takes drugs to abstract images.

Sound-The song starts with the boy and girl having a conversation this then straight cuts into a diegetic sound of a muffles police siren before cutting into the song that we hear throughout.

Mise En Scene- The band are in black skinny jeans, lose cut tops (black and white), denim waist coat. Boy actor is in skinny jeans, lose cut tops. Girl is in baggy tops, bikinis, less clothing such as bra and knickers. Minimal make-up is used. Hair is messy and unstyled to create care-free teenage look.

Cinematography- Cantered angles to support unstable vision of boy when using drugs. Pans, Tracks, Handheld Shots, Video camera shots as if one of the actors within the music video is filming the footage, Long shots, close ups, zooms.

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks

Editing- Straight cuts are used but also flashes to get from one shot to another. Blurs are once again used which are also used in the TDCC video above this shows the continuity throughout indie/rock music videos. All colour shots. Fades are also used to get from shot to shot.

Sound- Song throughout. Echos from the microphone when recording are used this makes the music sound live and as if we are at a performance from the band when listening to it.

Mise En Scene-Performance area again as scene in all three videos, stage, instruments, microphones, live performance. Lose tops, jeans and black shoes/vans throughout the band. Shots at a recording studio. Follows band on a journey, houses, roads and signs used throughout. Lighting goes from sepia tone to natural lighting and also colours are used when performing such as reds, blues and greens. 

Cinematography- A lot of handheld camera footage, to develop the narrative of them almost video blogging their journey. Pans, Tilts, close ups are used throughout.

Lyric Visual Story Board

Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire

Lyric Analysis

Here I have analysed the lyrics of my chosen song. To me "Things we lost to the flames, Things we'll never see again" I feel the underlying meanings of these lyrics relate to memories the artist had and they have been forgotten and burned away within his memory.  The repetitiveness of the lyrics "These are the things, the things we lost, the things we lost in the fire, fire, fire" connote the fact memories are always being made and this is a repetitive cycle but they're also forgotten and become distant memories this could be shown through the repetitive lyrics. I also feel that the lyrics "turned to dust all that I adore"  show a boy had a relationship with a girl and the relationship turned sour therefore the memories got burnt away with the fire ending within their relationship and the fire settling and leaving the aftermath and remains.
From this, I think the song symbolizes memories and the struggle of relationships possibly through teenage years which I can relate to through own experiences but also my target audience.

Bastille - Things We Lost In the Fire

Lyric Timings

NO SOUND, ESTABLISHING SHOTS WANTING TO BE USED TO START AND DEVELOP AND ESTABLISH SETTING OF MUSIC VIDEO AND ITS NARRATIVE (0-16 sec)

Things we lost to the flames   (17-22 sec)
Things we'll never see again   (23-29 sec)
All that we've amassed  (31-36 sec)
Sits before us, shattered into ash     (37-44 sec)

These are the things, the things we lost     (45-48 sec)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (49-52 sec)
These are the things, the things we lost (53-55 sec)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (56-1:00 min)

We sat and made a list (1:01-1:04 min)
Of all the things that we have (1:04-1:07 min)
Down the backs of table tops (1:08 – 1:11 min)
Ticket stubs and your diaries (1:12-1:15 min)
I read them all one day (1:16- 1:18 min)
When loneliness came and you were away (1:19-1:22 min)
Oh they told me nothing new,(1:22-1:25 min)
But I love to read the words you used (1:25-1:29 min)

These are the things, the things we lost (1:30 -1:33 min)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (1:34-1:37 min)
These are the things, the things we lost (1:37-1:40 min)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (1:41-1:46 min)

I was the match and you were the rock (2:00-2:03 min)
Maybe we started this fire (2:04-2:07 min)
We sat apart and watched (2:08-2:10 min)
All we had burned on the pyre (2:11-2:13 min)

(You said) we were born with nothing (2:14-2:16 min)
And we sure as hell have nothing now (2:16-2:20 min)
(You said) we were born with nothing (2:21-2:24 min)
And we sure as hell have nothing now (2:24-2:28 min)

These are the things, the things we lost (2:29-2:32 min)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (2:33-2:36 min)
These are the things, the things we lost (2:37-2:39 min)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (2:40-2:44 min)

Do you understand that we will never be the same again? (2:45-2:52 min)
Do you understand that we will never be the same again? (2:52-2:58 min)

The future's in our hands and we will never be the same again (2:59-3:06 min)
The future's in our hands and we will never be the same again (3:06-3:13 min)

These are the things, the things we lost (3:16-3:19 min)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (3:19-3:22 min)
These are the things, the things we lost (3:22-3:26 min)
The things we lost in the fire fire fire (3:26-3:29 min)

These are the things, the things we lost (3:30-3:32 min)
These are the things we lost in the fire fire fire (3:33-3:39 min)

Flames they licked the walls (3:53-3:59 min)
Tenderly they turned to dust all that I adore (4:00-4:08 min)

History of Form