12. Secondary Research

As channel 4 are seen to produce many independent types of TV programmes and slightly more controversial things so subsequently I thought 4music would have a good audience for my video.

There was an article in BBC news discussing how channel 4 has always been quite controversial and doing things it shouldn't. The article discusses the 1993 Brookside Kiss, lesbian kiss which was the first scene of this kind to be shown on British television. It also discusses the one-off Brass Eye special about paedophilia, the allegedly racist bullying of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and Derren Brown's controversial Russian Roulette stunt.

With this open view on whats shown on television I expected a similar approach to what is shown on 4music; a mixture of mainstream and independent, slightly quirky music. However when I looked on the website I found that the music was much more mainstream than I had thought and with the track for my music video being Freakfolk I didn't think it would be sensible to work with 4music for exhibition of my video as the audience would be far too mainstream.

On the 4music website in the sales section they state that their purpose is to showcase the best in mainstream music for high street addicts and that they feature the latest chart music. Comparing this to my research I do not think this would be the direction to go in when my audience members are clearly not high street addicts and very little Freakfolk ever enters the charts.

The audience i am trying to target 'Craft Kids' do not listen to mainstream music often acquiring their music through word of mouth or through searching youtube videos. Finding new music as to what is suggested on youtube when listening to music they like. They are not the types to watch allot of television, being more creative people they access their music more through the internet. This is why I would not go down the television route when distributing my video.

4AD Records is an independent record label who has a much more independent selection of artists such as The National and Tune Yards. They have a youtube channel and use youtube as a source of exhibition. This is more the direction I would go in with my video.

11. Audience research

To find out what subculture my audience member belongs in I went on the website http://www.findyourtribe.co.uk/ , a website which can calculate a persons subculture by their tastes and interests and did their questionnaire in the mindset of someone who would listen to this sort of music and is interested in this music genre to discover what sort of person my audience member is. For example when asked for what I do on a night out I answered go to a gig and when asked from a list to choose my favourite musician I chose Jack White as the rest where too mainstream and his music was the closest to Freakfolk I could get.

UK Tribes is a website created which has been created due to large amounts of research into youth culture which is why I believe it to be a reliable source of information.

Result.....

You are a Craft Kid! You can’t remember the last time you bought a new piece of clothing – you’d much rather knit for six years than buy a jumper off the peg. It’s so much better for the environment and you like something unique. Hence your love of vintage – tea sets, floral dresses, aprons and matinee idols are your interests. Young fogey style is here again.

After receiving this result i looked deeper into this sub genre to discover more about my audience.

Craft Kids often care alot about the environment and the world around them. They like to make do and make mend; re-using things to make new things. They can often be related to Hippies in this sense. They will make alot of their own clothes and often make an effort to re-cycle. Lots of Craft Kids will also be vegetarians as this ties in with their love for the environment.

Their dress sense is very relaxed but normally has some unique quality to it, often something slightly bizarre. They like to wear things like scarves hats and gloves.

As they enjoy being creative they will not always follow the crowd. Instead of doing things like going to the cinema they might have a picnic or come up with their own ideas rather than just follow the trends. Yet they never go out to be outrageous for the sake of it. They are the way they are because its how they like to be.

In the same way that they don't follow trends they do not follow the more mainstream music. Being creative they like their music to have some element of creativity in it, to have some individual feature (which describes the genre of Freakfolk and confirms my audience research into music videos). Music they may listen to would be bands like MGMT, CocoRosie, the fleet foxes, Moby and more. Many craft kids will play an instrument and write their own music as they love to create.

This is an example of the sort of music they would listen to;

Although I feel my video is available to both genders I feel that due to the presence of a female protagonist and the lighthearted theme and narrative it may appeal more to a female audience.

Alternative music such as freak folk tends to appeal to a younger audience of 30's and under. Due to the nature of my song; It has a strong beat and controversial themes, I believe this will also appeal to younger audiences yet young teens are more commonly into pop culture which is why I set my target age rage at 15-30.

Ideas - Inspirational video's

I really liked this stop motion video. I want to include some stop motion in my video and i thought this video was a good one to look at.

Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

This short film i thought was incredibly well shot and mise en scene is amazing. I cant hope to have the technology to get anywhere close to this in my film but i still find it inspiring.

Nuit Blanche - Arev Manoukian

10. Audience research

To find out about peoples veiws on music and music videos i made some questions which i asked to four different people with different tastes in music; rap, folk, acoustic and R&B. The questions were;


1. What genre of music do you listen to/like the most?
2. What do you like about this type of music?
3. Do you believe music videos make a difference when selling a song? would you watch what you've heard is a good music video if you didn't like the song?
4. What features in a music video would put you off?
5. What features of a music video do you think would attract you to it?


From my research I found out these things;


Why do people listen to the music that they do?
One of the answers that came up alot for question two was the lyrics of a song. People like songs which have meaning and make them think. The emotions which are portrayed in songs are often felt in the listener and this sort of emotional power and depth is important the listener as it gives the song purpose.


An example of a song which has thought provoking lyrics would be Bob Dylan's the Times They are a-Changin'. This song if famous for its strong views and cleverly crafted lyrics.


"Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin"


An example of bad lyrics would be the song Life by Des-ree. This song contains the all time worst lyrics according to a listener poll held by BBC 6 music.


"I'm afraid of the dark,
'specially when I'm in a park
And there's no-one else around,
Ooh, I get the shivers
I don't want to see a ghost,
It's a sight that I fear most
I'd rather have a piece of toast
And watch the evening news"


Do music videos make a difference when selling a song?
For question three everyone answered that the video does make a difference to the selling of a song and the majority said that they would watch a good music video if they did not like the song. This shows that music videos play a big part in the selling of a song however; the liking of a music video does very much come down to taste. This is why different genres of music have different styles of music videos.

As you can see the top and the bottom rows are two different videos from two different genres. The top in John Lee Hooker's video for One Bourbon, Onse Scotch, One Beer which is in the genre of Blues. The bottom is the video for Kanye West's song All of the Lights. The videos have been crafted for their genres audience by knowing what the audience likes due to its genre.


With the constant advance in technology music videos become more accessible than just watching on TV. They can not be downloaded onto phones, ipods, ipads and many more devices. This makes music videos in today's world much more important as they are available in a more portable fashion making the video just as an important feature as the song itself in many respects.


What puts people off music videos?
People do not watch music videos which have been badly made. With the rate of technology today there is now an assumption that music videos must all be up to scratch. They must be filmed well and edited well. People do not like videos which are uninteresting; videos which are simplistic with no feature of individuality. Without an interesting narrative or element of originality (like the OK Go video below) there is no reason for a viewer to sit and watch.


What attracts people to music videos?
Generally iIgot the same answer for question five; people like a music video which has an interesting original idea or some feature of individuality. The point of music videos it to be watched and to entertain and people are entertained by something new which they haven't seen before. People now haw seen allot of music videos in their lives so many of the ideas behind music videos are unoriginal which is why people enjoy watching something different as it is new and exiting.
For example OK Go's video for This Too Shall Pass;

This is an interview which I did for the questions with a member of my class which I recorded.

9. Andrew Goodwin music video theory

Andrew Goodwin on Prezi

8. Mood Board

I have created a moodbord to show the timbre and tone I want for my music video.

7. 9 shot grid

Beriut - Elephant Gun

From left to right;

  1. This frame is close to the start and introduces the theme of elephants to the music video. The people wearing elephant noses are often seen through out the video. Their behaviour is playful and like that of animals, this and their noses show that their characters represent elephants. The light hearted colour scheme and behaviour brings an uplifting tone to the video.

  2. This shot shows a dance sequence. The dance sequence comes in when the trumpet comes in in the song. The sound of the trumpet creates a variation and is an uplifting and joyful sound. The dancing mirrors the tone of the music creating a link between the tone the two.  

  3. This frame appears at the start of the video. It is where the singer is introduced. The camera tracks up from his feet to his head where he holds an old style mic and sings into it. The lip syncing allows the viewer to connect the vocals in the song to this man.

  4. This frame is just after the dance sequences where the centre of attention in the video is returning to being focused on the lead vocalist. Shots of both him and the dancers (like this one) allow for easy transaction between the two sections.

  5. This frame is from the very beginning of the video. It uses animation in the form of the circular shape which frames the shot of the ukulele. The animation fills the frame to begin with but circles out to the sides; introducing the video. This effect gives the feeling that you are entering the video. The colour schemes used are the same of that in the video.

  6. The video is divided into two locations; the indoor section with the dancers and the seaside section with only the singer. This shot shows the video moving into the second location. The singer turns and the wall falls and he is on the beach. Just before this there is a small A Capella section. This change in the song is mirrored in the change in location. 

  7. The two locations are edited next to each other to tie the themes of the video together. The shots are interchanged by using a wipe cut, wiping with the fabric from the dancers.

  8. This is a shot from the seaside location. The sunset and the waves tie in with the light hearted tone of the video which is why the two locations work together. The image is a very dynamic image and is a typical sea, sunset, silhouette image.

  9. This is the final shot. The video shows the indoor location and a party. The singer falls back and the shot fades out in a circular shape which reflects the opening to the video. The united singer with the elephants creates a 'happily ever after' feel, leaving a viewer feeling happy.