Friday 28 October 2011

Deconstruction of Music Videos

There are many different types of music video. Some have a story line, some are conceptual, and some are very simple, yet effective. I am going to deconstruct and analyse two music videos which are somewhat close to what I am aiming for in mine: the first is the video for "Comin' Home" by City and Colour.


City & Colour - Comin Home from Alaska Fairweather on Vimeo.

Directed by Chris Sargent, released in 2005, the video features the artist performing the song in a variety of rooms. As well as this, we see a woman and the artist visiting different rooms, but never being in the room at the same time. The whole video is in black and white, which I think contrasts well with the texture of the song, as it is just an acoustic guitar and vocals (which is exactly the style of music I am using) with added solos from an electric guitar. Although being a simple concept, there is a lot of editing within the video, especially in the technique of when the artist is playing, the camera is split, so one side of the screen shows his face, and the other him playing guitar. This is an effect that I could possibly adapt into my own video. The use of fading to either change to a different scene or juxtaposition is utilized quite well, perhaps to give the effect and reflect the means of the lyrics of the song, that things are "fading away". I very much like the intro of the video, where the artist comes in, sits down and starts playing. This is very similar to the concept I have as to the intro of my video, and I may chose to take influence from this, specifically, the use of black and white, and distortion of the lights in the background. The camera is predominantly focused on the artist, with the shots being mainly close ups. Most of the other shots are wide, as to include the entire set when needed. The target audience for this video are possibly a combination of males and females aged 18-30. This could be exampled by the age of the artist, as he is relatable to, and the theme of the song and video: relationships.

Another video that is relevant to the type of video I am wishing to create is "Your Body is a Wonderland" by John Mayer:

John Mayer - Your Body Is A Wonderland from Wut Andeweg on Vimeo.


The video contains a variety of storylines, which are: the artist, performing the song to a woman, him and the same woman frolicking, and him filming her when outside, the artist writing the song, and him performing live/tour footage. There are a lot of close ups on both the artists and the woman face, and a lot of shots where there faces are together, this details the intimacy of their relationship, possibly allowing some viewers to relate. For a majority of the shots, the background is subject to a partial distorted effect, this helps to keep the audience focused on the two main characters of the video, and make them stand out. Although the screen time of the artist and the woman is seemingly equal, I feel there is more focus on the woman's expressions, which, being very happy and joyful, give the video a very positive and emotive feel, as well as featuring the artist playing the song specifically for her, make this a very romantic video, which, in turn I wish to have as a feeling within my video. Many of the shots and camera angles are very close, which helps encourage the feeling of intimacy between the two characters. The fact the use of home video footage is used also give a unique personal feel to the video.  Target audience for this video is practically the same as my first video: Males and females ages 18-30, possibly for the same reasons, Although this video features a much more intimate and romantic theme between the two characters, and the nature of the song suggests it could target teenagers/young adults in relationships.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Questionaire Data Analysis

After recieveing some answers to my questionaire, I gathered the data into a simple tally chart, though simple, it should tell me the information I need to know quickly; This is what I gathered.

Gender: From the collection of people that done my questionaire, it shows that they were mostly male, this could tell me that the genre of music my video is going to be should be directed at males. Although, other research could show that females are actually the predominant audience for my music genre.

Education: Most of my audience are currently in college/A levels.

Music Genre: The biggest music genre my audience seems to like is rock, although the secondary genres were acoustic, pop and rock.

Acoustic1152%
Electronic1152%
Pop1257%
Rock1676%
Metal524%
RnB629%
Jazz733%
Country419%
People


Acoustic versions vs Orignal: There was a tie in votes between yes, the acoustic is better than the orignal, and no preference.

Purchase format: A majority of people put iTunes/Download, so this will possibly effect what format I distribute my video/music through.

Music video concepts: the most popular choice for this was a storyline based music video, which is something I have planned to do. All other choices gained the same amount of votes.

Performance/footage of the artist838%
Romantic629%
Conceptual/Abstract/Unusual838%
Story line based943%
Fantasy733%


Do music videos influence your purchase: the majority vote in this was yes.

Song Lyrics: the most popular choice for this was Romantic lyrics, with everyday life, although this could be justified with how everyday life could include romance.

Romance1467%
Everyday life1152%
Fantasy733%
Death/Depressive629%
Abstract/Random838%


Artists / Musicians: John Mayer was the most popular of the musician given, despite how a majority of votes were given to "None of the Above" this could show that many people who done my questionaire are not interested in the musician that influence my music, and this means I possibly need to look for a more specific group of people to draw data from.

What/why music video's appeal: some of the comment I obtained included: They appeal to everyone, narratives follows lyrics, you can relate to the, the convey interesting concepts.

Album Artwork: Photography was the most popular choice, with artwork and sketches being the second. When it comes to designing/create my album cover, I shall take these into consideration.

Social Networking: Facebook and Twitter were the most popular websites people use, with google + haveing more votes than both bebo and myspace.

This is a summary of what I have learned from the Questionnaire, and how it will affect my project:

  • Genre wise, my audience likes acoustic versions of songs, and like a pop-rocky type, therefore I can keep to the song I planned on using, also, Romantic lyrics were what people chose in the lyrics question, and my song undoubtedly has these.
  • The preferred style of the music video is storyline based, also with footage of the artist performing, and this suits the idea for my video perfectly.
  • Most people chose that they download there music off iTunes or some other sort, so I will need to keep this in mind when choosing distribution methods.
  • With album artwork, the popular choice was photography, and the idea I have already suits this, though it may be subject to change, if I choose to combine elements of the second choices: artwork and sketches with it.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Music video research/questionaire

In order to get a more consise idea about my target audience, I have decided to carry out a question with a few questions that should help me gain usuful information.

I have created the questionaire on google documents, and this is it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&pli=1&formkey=dFRwdV9QZWhUWldsMkVTM0RHZG16VWc6MQ#gid=0

I will distribute it through various social networking sites and as soon as I have enough reponses, will gather the data and transform it into a more useful form
 

Ancillary Product One - Digipack Cover

One of my ancillary products will be the cover art for my Digipack, and this could be a variety of things such as photos, art and sketches.

Sometimes album artwork has meaning or a relation to the album title, or the songs within. Although as of yet I still have not finalised a title for my digipack, I have had an idea for the cover:

This photo is quite simple, yet portrays a very realistic interpretation of what the album contains, and what the songs are about.

I could use this picture as it is, but an idea I had was to get it sketched by a skilled artist to give the photo a more rough and artistic flare, thus complimenting the music more. I have already found and requested someone to do this, but at this moment I am awaiting the results, and will upload the picture when I obtain it.

Using Photoshop, I have played about with various effects on the image, and uploaded them into a Flickr slideshow:

Effects of these include black and White, charcoaled and sketched. The black and white gives the whole image a classic and darker feel, which will work well with the Digipack, and the black and white elements within my video.


I will show these to some of my target audience, and recieve there opionions/critisisms.

Edit: I have shown these to a small focus group, and the general response was that the favorites were between the original color version, and the sketch version. Views on the sketched version were that it was liked for how defined it was, and would give a very nice effect for an album cover.

Monday 10 October 2011

Music Video concept/Organisation

In order to keep all of my ideas/organisation together, I decided to create a post it note website so I can keep updating it and put ideas there as and when.

This is a link to the site:

There are a lot of "To be decided"'s on there, as many decisions are unfinalised, but I will update them as they get confirmed.
I will be posting screenshots to keep up to date with what the page looks like on various dates
November 2nd 2011

 November 17th - Added more set location + Recorded Song.

December 9th - Updated concept to match the new location/stills.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

OCR Website/What is a Digipack?

http://ocrmediastudies.weebly.com/index.html
I had a look on one of the official OCR websites for some help regarding my project, and I found a link to wikipedia, showing what a Digipack is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digipak

A Digipack is essentially, a style of CD packeging, usually with a gatefold layout that is constructed using either paper or card. It is also a registered trademark of AGI world ltd. - http://www.linkedin.com/company/agi-world

It is commonly used for Singles, special edition albums or Dvd/CD releasing. it is used to give less abrasion than jewel cases, and it is recommended to coat the card or paper with a protective UV coating to make it last longer.

Digipacks have become popular recently due to the fact they are considered more enviromentally friendly than the conventional Jewel Case.

This is an example of a well designed digipack, it is very durable (being made of plastic) and suits the job very well, though it looks very plain and simple.





This is a digipack for Oasis. it has an effective design, featuring an acoustic guitar to signify that the album is "acoustic". It is foldable, so that it is the shape of as 2D square whilst folded, and looks as though it is made of cardboard.

The Music Industry

The music industry is a very complex organisation, and is made up of various parts played by a variety of people. All of these have their own role with the industry, and without all of them, it could not function at 100%.

Musicians - These are the people who perform (and write) the music
Songwriters - They either write or compose the songs the musicians perform
Publishers - ensure the musicians or songwriters recieve payment, through the use of publishing contracts
Producers - Oversees and manages the recording of music. They are involved in the whole process that comes with producing music.
Record Labels - Manages a brand or trademark that comes with the music, mainly the artist.

As for my project, most of these jobs will need to be undertaken by myself, though I may possibly be able to bring in people with other area's of expertise, such as filming etc, If I find it too difficult to balance tasks.

I will update this post as I research more.