Analysing the success of music videos

    

From looking on the top best selling music videos on iTunes, it is clear that the pop genre dominants the sales. This is a good type of research to conduct as it allows me to see the most successful video for its visuals, rather than the song having an influence. The top best selling is Adele's 'Hello' video, which is filmed using a variety of shot angles, with the most common being a close up of the artists face. In addition the music video is slow paced and has a series of slow-motion shots, as well as being in sepia effect all the way through. 

Overall through looking at the majority in the top best selling music videos there is a common theme of dance moves, big effects and close ups of the artist. Through this research we can therefore take these themes and portray them within our music video so that it attracts our audience more into watching it.

Editing for our music video

One type of editing that looks effective on our music video is the use of still pictures. We took 12 different stills of our artist holding the guitar at different angles, all in the position of clock hands. We then lined them up along our timeline in the right order and made the speed faster for each individual one. This way when played the still shots would look like a moving image/timelapse of the guitar representing a clock going round. This additionally looks successful as it matches the lyrics of our song through "Don't wanna waste my time on you again", and still keeps the rock feel to the music video.

Getting ideas from different social media

To portray what type of props we have used in our music video i have used the website Pinterest to make a 'board' displaying pictures of the items. Each prop is stereotypical for our rock, therefore our audience will be able to decode the genre of our video fairly easily. The only prop that does not stereotypically fit our genre is the rubix cube. This is because we have decided to make our video stand out, so that the audience will want to view it more than once and not follow the usual look of rock genres, as through our research we have found they are not as popular amongst our target audience as pop genres are.  Through this change we hope to attract more audience and additionally link to the lyrics of our song, for example "I am not your game".

Researching the Design of Marketed Products in HMV



Rhianna stood by the top sellers

she is telling someone to be quiet

she is biting down on a chain

HMV
As we are about to start creating products like CD covers, we felt that it would be a good idea to visit somewhere that has a diverse amount of similar products (like HMV) in order to see what we like and get an idea of what we want our own CD cover to look like. One of the most influential factors we obtained from visiting was the fact that we could see which CD's were selling the most, giving us an even better idea of what a good cover looks like. For example Adele's CD was the best seller and unlike the rest it stood out due to its desaturation and boldness with the close up on her face.
P!nk

We thought it would be a good idea to look at our main inspiration (P!nk) as an example of what our CD cover may look like. Having looked at 2 of her CD's it is obvious that she opts for a fierce independent look, something which could be a great aspect for our artist (as her lyrics are about the fact that she is independent).

this CD shouts rock to us

this CD cover shouts rock to us

this CD cover shouts rock to us

Rock Genre



When we visited HMV we thought it was imperative that we looked at rock genre CD covers, as we feel our cover also needs to display what genre we have chosen. Having looked at multiple ones we felt that the use of darker colours like reds and blues seem to be identified more with the genre (perhaps due to their intensity) - we want our song to be associated with intensity also. Furthemore rock styled CD covers seem to have quite emotive figures on them. for example Paolo Nutini has a very emoive face and Thin Lizzy has a powerful stance on his cover - these powerful and emotive poses leaves the suggestion that their music if good (as it is very moving). This could be something we incorporate in our own CD cover as we like the idea that the artist is displayed at moving and perhaps even inspirational.

    

guitars central to CD

guitars central to CD

            Guitars

We found a couple of CD's which focus purely on the music rather than the artist. For instance both these CD covers have guitars as their main feature rather than their artists. This is something really important that we have tried to incorporate from the start of our process, as we don't want our artist to be too sexualised (we want the music to be the main feature to the video and other products like the CD).

the thermal colours and geometric style

the colour scheme

          Colour
For something to stand out it usually means its got a lot of colour that makes it appealing to the corner of your eye. These 2 CD covers both have a lot of colour and the this makes them stand out well. Particularly with the use of our rubix cube theme, we feel that colour on our CD could be a significant choice. 




Positioning



the logo placement is intriguing

his placement and the background



the movement of her hair

Each of these 3 CD covers along with many others have been carefully and cleverly positioned to attract buyers and make the artists appear within their personality types and genre of their music. For instance each artist is positioned centrally as it makes them the main feature of the cover, however The Vamps are positioned in a roughly with serious expressions (in an attempt to make them appear amnly - perhaps because they dont want to be associated as a teen boyband anymore), where as Ellie Goulding is portrayed as angelic (as her hair has been positioned to mask her from others - creating an innocent look), and Bieber is positioned looking downwards with a prayer like position to make him seem almost 'holy' perhaps because he wants to be portrayed as a good person. Because positioning can change so much about the way an artist is portrayed, it is very crucial that we position are artist carefully.

  

         Other forms of marketing we saw in HMV





Record covers



 Merchandise

We saw lots of records which we could also look at as inspiration for the cover of our CD; the records that were instore also seemed to be mainly rock (this was helpful as we furthered our ideas - for example their was one record which simple had a stage light looking down onto a rock artist)! Another thing we saw in store which could relate to our music based coursework was the selling of t-shirts with different music logos on them (ACDC...).





A few things I've learnt along the way

Working on my Media Studies coursework, I have learnt various things:

1. I have learnt to blog properly - I can use plenty of external applications such as Scribd... and submit them into our group blog easily. Having the capability to do so, I feel has enabled me to broaden my knowledge on computing and given me a diverse understanding of marketing on the internet.
2. I have also been able to further my ability when it comes to editing - although having been able to edit successfully last year when producing my opening sequence to a thriller film, I feel that this year I have increased my ability to edit via the use of filters and transitions.
3. Using the camera this year, I have been able to lengthen my skill when handling it, as I now know multiple camera shots - some even more interesting then last year! For example using a tilt is something I have found intriguing.   
4. This year I have also learnt more about the audience and their desires for the video by asking them directly.  For example the responses from my Survey Monkey questionnaire and our Twitter/ Facebook accounts. Using audience feedback like this, I expect our music video to be better than if we were to just do it in our own style, as it has been analysed more and adjusted with not just our opinions but varied opinions.  

Overall there are plenty of new things I have learnt this year and there will probably be some more to come as well; learning new things will only help my progress and make my coursework a better project, as it'll benefit from these improvements.

Storyboard changes and progress

We decided to make a video discussing our storyboard changes and why we have decided to remove clips or edit our storyboard. Additionally we explained what more we were going to do and how we were going to film certain clips.

Technical Difficulties

Our Location

Key artist to look at when establishing our image

For our artist we want to focus less on the image but the music itself, this is therefore why we are choosing to not sexualise her image and although there will be a loud image due to the message about her finding her voice, this relates back to singing/ music!

Whilst trying to represent this in our ancillary products, we have looked at numerous artists who similarly try to shy away from their image and instead put one-hundred per cent into what they are creating.

For instance our largest inspiration in this field is Coldplay. They are an excellent example to examine for this aspect of becoming artists, as they put all their input towards the music itself rather than looking a certain way to create a pleasing image for their audience. Instead their process of making music is to spend time on the tune and lyrics (no matter how long it takes them to finish a track) and it doesn't matter if the music is widely accepted as popular, it's if the music pleases them that truly matters!

perhaps why they never show themselves on the front cover of their albums

lip syncing practise

We were given two clips, one of a woman lip syncing and the other was the music that went with it. We then tried to match up the lyrics with the video and get both in place. Additionally this was good as it gave us practice for making our own music video and allowed us to see how to line up both clips with each other using markers.

Twitter account and audience feedback

home page

purpose of twitter

 

desaturation

Having asked some target audience members (girls aged 17-22) what they'd be interested in introducing to a rock music video, I have found out that the majority would suggest desaturation. this may be due to the stereotypical dark palette rock is usually associated with. for example you don't tend to come across a rock music video with bright colours like pink or green... Therefore the use of black and white could potentially link our music video further with the rock genre!

upbeat

After asking our target audience what connotes the genre rock, I found that it lies with the speedy music created by stereotypical rock instruments such as guitars and perhaps drums also. Therefore I believe that it is going to be imperative for my music video to include instruments as well.







eye catching





Furthermore our audience think that to produce a suitable music video we should make it eye catching in order to grab our audiences attention.







fascinating

So to make our artist stand out and become appealing I think that by using a unique prop not found in most music videos we will be able to make the video non generic and intriguing.









desaturation

Although I asked our target audience their ideas for the music video, I also asked what they expect from rock music videos! These two questions sound practically identical however what the audience wants and expects is very different (however in this case they have responded with the same answer)! The fact that the audience have mentioned desaturation twice infers that it would be a good aspect to use in our music video as it obviously connotes rock for our chosen target audience. Also, black and white will help make our chosen prop (rubix cube stand out well as we can use a Pleasantville effect to make it pop with colour. 



Progress so far in storyboard style

Editing photos for music video

These photos have been edited on Pixlr with an overlap. I have done this so they can possibly be used within our music video.

Within our song there is a repeated line saying "I am not your game", which is an ideal place to have one or both photos pop up. The top picture is overlapped with Pacman, the most famous arcade game for over 30 years. In addition to the second picture, which is an overlap of colourful circles, which looks like the connect-four game, but even further links to our frequent use of an Rubix Cube. These pictures, when matched to the lyrics of the song will be effective as the audience can easily decode the meaning of the song, as the visuals have a clear link to the lines the artist is singing. In addition it will also make our music video better visually, as throughout the first half of the storyboard the visuals will be in black and white until further on in to the song where these pictures will be places. The change in colour will signify the artist becoming more independent, in which the lyrics imply that she is standing up for herself, compared to the first half of the song, which will represent her in a depressed/angry mood, connoted through the dark lighting.

 

Our Filming Schedule

Our Editing Schedule

Having used both powtoon.com and wistia.com I was able to create this video.

Audience feedback of our location

I have took to social media to ask our target audience about the location we are using for our rock genre music video. This is so I can know we are following what is stereotypical of a rock genre and so I know it is clear to the audience what genre our music video will be before hearing the lyrics. The replies showed that our location is effective for our genre, which is significant as we want our audience to view our music video more than once.

Our Animatic

This is our animatic for our music video, we have completed it so we have a visual copy of our storyboard at hand to view and is a excellent way to keep with the timings of the lyrics, in which the visuals need to match up with. It also enables us to ensure our storyboarding matches the lyrics and the shots we intend to use are decent.

Props used for filming

 

 These are the props that we have used within our music video. As you can see the majority are musical instruments, which are typically seen within the rock genre. Guitars and drums are the most common to our type of genre. Not only because it makes the music sound more dramatic and edgy, but because the genre usually has a band and focuses more on the beat and lyrics of the song, compared to pop genres who focus on the artists image more.
We have also used fairy lights to light up the back ground of our music video, so it looks like the band are performing in a gig setting to a audience, so it makes it look like stage lighting and gives more creative mise-en-scene, compared to a plain black background.

Health and safety for filming

These are a few health and safety tips we are following while filming our music video, so that the camera work and overall product is completed without unnecessary interruptions. As we are filming a rock genre, we are stereotypically using musical instruments for a significant majority of our music video, both in filming the artist on their own and within a band. This means we have a bigger complication with musical wires and cables around while filming, from the guitars, amps and micro phone, meaning we need to be more careful around the set when filming.

SurveyMonkey: Audience Research

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-KDJT3JQC/ 

Analyse:

Undoubtedly having analysed these results I have established that most people in my target audience are suitable for our song choice and the music video (with the majority having a keen interest in rock genre songs and music videos)! In conclusion there is little/ if no need to adjust our target audience at all. Furthermore I have also found that all the participants would expect to see a band in a rock performance video, so it is therefore imperative that we include more than just the solo artist in order to fulfil their expectations. I think that our target audience are interested in a band rather than a solo artist as rock comprises of multiple instruments like guitars and drums, and by using just one artist we would not be able to show all of these in practise. Also, the genre of rock is very loud with lots of action and things going on, and we are best able to resemble this volume by incorporating a band to make the music video more busy. Additionally looking at my findings it is obvious that most assume there would be male performers in a rock associated music video, so its important that we include at least one male actor in our music video (so it is relatable to their stereotypical view of the rock genre - thus identifying our video with rock). Although most assume male members will be in the band we hope to counter argue this by introducing a dominantly female group, as it will make our video unique and appealing, as well as introducing a new product amongst the music video industry. -Maddy

Costume, Hair and Make-up

Edited on Pixlr

 Make Up


Eye make-up is very heavy on our artist as well as the red lipstick helping connote boldness to our audience, therefore suggesting that our performer is independent (linking directly to the lyrics of her song - which go on about how she's 'not your game'...)!

We also wanted this look consisting of heavy make-up as we felt it best suited the style genre our artist is in to. For example other rock performers with a similar target audience such as Avril Lavigne have chosen this type of look for multiple videos of their songs. And we feel our artist is similar to Lavigne in the fact that she is also portrayed as independent.

As our target audience is made up of females aged 17-22, we felt the use of make-up would grab their attention (as stereotypically it is one of their niche's largest interests.

However we didn't want to take the attention away from the music itself by sexualising the artist and we feel that although wearing heavy make-up it doesn't take too much attention to her looks (but rather complimenting the artist's style/ look).

                                                                   Costume

Edited on Pixlr

Edited on Pixlr For our artist's costume we opted for multiple outfits (all within the rock style - using tops like the one in this picture to the left which has the Rolling Stones logo on it, as well as edgy bottoms like the shorts which have crucifix's all over them with chains to accent it). However one thing we have kept constant throughout the video is the black and white pair of converse worn by our main artist. We chose to keep this section of the costume the same, as they are a stereotypical shoe for rock performers. For instance our biggest inspiration Avril Lavigne can be seen sporting them pretty much anywhere! Besides them being stereotypical we feel that as our artist is portrayed as independent through her heavy make-up connoting seriousness, her clothing connoting untraditional fashion for women, that her shoes must not be the traditional dependent women's stereotypical high heels but rather the opposite (therefore we opted for converse sneakers as they display her untraditional rebelling for independence).

Avril Lavigne wearing her converse

Health and Safety Regulations

Health and safety from Madeleine Fox


It is crucial for us to follow these health and safety guidelines, as it could prevent us from a serious injury on set, such as tripping on cables or the tripod and hurting oneself. Furthermore it could actually help us when reporting any injuries that may have occurred on set and prevent our production company from receiving any of the blame.  

Location

Our main location is going to be the drama studio, as its simplistic black and grey colour scheme will be perfect when emphasisng the performance taking place (as well as ensuring there is little distraction form the music itself). Although choosing a simple setting for our performance scenes we still want our audience to be interested in the video as well as the lyrics, so we have included some intriguing fairy lights along with  four inflatable guitars (to add a quirky aspect the audience can enjoy). Besides that we have just added some musical instruments like guitars and a few amps to connote a realistic performance.   

Props and other mise en scene

• Converse - typically worn by rock performers, therefore the use of these will help connote the genre of rock to our music video for our audience.
• Red lips and dark eyes - having researched artist's such as Avril Lavinge we have found this choice of make-up a popular one. Our target audience is also formed with girls aged 17-22 and with make-up a stereotypical interest for them, we thought it best to use it in our video. 
• We also want some simple fairy lights, as it'll make the drama studio location more intriguing and can also be found in multiple music videos as it is a great source of high key lighting (especially with the studio being quiet dark)!
• As a performance video we want typical instruments which connote rock like guitars and drums.
• And costumes similar to the stereotypical grunge look sported by rock individuals like Avril Lavigne (consisting of checkered shirts, ripped jeans and chains/necklaces).