Audience Research Questionnaire

Audience Research Questionnaire.

1) Gender.

Male

Female

2) How old are you?

0-12

13-16

17-20

21-24

25-30

31-34

35-40

41+

3) what is your occupation?

Student

Employed

Unemployed

Other:…………………………………….

4) What is your favourite music genres? (tick more than one if necessary)

Rock

Metal/ heavy metal

Indie

Punk

Alternative rock

Acoustic

Reggae

R&B

Hip Hop

Dance

Rave

Techno

Drum‘n’Bass

Dubstep

Folk

Other: ……………………………………….

5) How do you purchase your music?

Cd’s

Internet downloads (itunes, napster etc)

File sharing (e.g. limewire)

Other:……………

6) And why?

……………………………….........................................

7) Do you ever illegally download music?

………………………………............................................

8) If so, why?

………………………………..................................

9) How do you listen to music? (Circle as necessary)

Mp3/mp4

Radio

Online (YouTube etc..)

TV/music channels

Mobile phone

Other:……..

10) how often do you listen to the radio?

Everyday

1-3 times a week

4-5 times a week

5+ times a week

Never

11) How do you find out about any new/unsigned music/artists/bands/videos that you may like?

Friends/Word of mouth

Radio

T.V

Internet (Myspace etc)

Reviews

Gigs

Advertisements

Other:…………………….

12) Do you enjoy watching music videos?

Yes

No

13) If so, how often do you watch music videos?

Once a week

2-4 times a week

5+ times a week

13) How do you consume music videos?

TV channels

Youtube

Myspace

Other………………………………...........

14) Would you ever buy music magazines or visit bands websites to check on upcoming events and for interviews/info about the band/artist?

Yes

No

If yes, why?

………………………………......................................................

15) Does the way bands you enjoy listening to/watching dress effect the way you dress?

Yes

No

If yes, why do you think this is?

……………………………….............................................

16) In your own opinion do you think the looks and the way the artists/actors look in a music video is important?

Yes

No

17) How important is it that the narrative of the music video relates to the lyrics in the song?

Very important

Important

Doesn't matter

Don't care

It is not important

Shooting Schedule

Below is what scenes and when we are filming together as a group. This is to help us stick to our deadlines and be finished filming in time to start editing.

In the end we did not use a church, or a shop window for filming locations, but found all of the other locations effective.

Casting - Revised

As our original plan did not go ahead, and we could not get a big cast all in one place at one time, we decided to cut down the number of actors we were going to use and use myself and Guy Walker.
We used myself because i knew i would be reliable to my group and we needed a female actor. I also had no problem with being on camera.
We chose Guy because we knew he is a commited actor as he has been acting with Norwich Theatre Royal for a long time, therefore knowing he is used to being on camera and performing in front of people, would listen to our directions and we also knew he was reliable as he is a good friend, so i trusted him to be where we needed him to be on time without letting us down as we had this problem with other actors before we revised our plans.

Guy Walker -

Charlotte Hodges -

Costumes - Revised.

As the music video will no longer be shot at the beach, we have changed our costume ideas.

We decided to opt for using fashionable, but everyday clothes to give a modern up to date feeling for our music video. An example of this would be, dark shoes and jeans with a t-shirt or polo shirt with a hoody for the boy, with a hoody if it is cold. Skirts and tights with strapped tops and cardigans, or a mini-dress for the girl. We also used these clothes because they are similar to our own dress sense. The choice for these clothing is to give a casual every-day look to the couple, as the settings filmed are supposed to be natural and real.

Grey hoody- We chose a grey hoody to go with the casual theme of our video, the genre acoustic generally means that the artists just dress comfortably, how they feel comfortable, yet in a stylish way. The grey hoody fits into this, as is it for comfort, but also is a key fashion item for men that is very popular amoung young male teenagers, an example of a music video that includes a male wearing a grey hoody is;

Blue straight leg jeans - These jeans represent being casual, we did not want to use skinny jeans, that in fashion represent those into indie music, or big baggy jeans, but the straight leg for a casual look. Also another key piece of clothing in young male teenagers, that dress in a casual sense. We decided it was crucial to use this item of clothing as it does and always had represented popular culture.

Polo shirt- This is an important piece of clothing in our music video as it connotes a casual look and does not connect necessarily to a particular genre in music, but can be worn by anybody in to any kind of music. For example if you logged on to a popular fashion/teenagers clothes shop it would always advertise a polo shirt as they are a part of a popular culture. An example of where a polo shirt could be seen in a music video is; Jamie T - Sticks 'n Stones.

Black shoes/pumps/trainers - these connote a casual look by not being too fancy and can be worn for everyday wear, and fit the teenage look by having a style and label that is generally worn by teenagers, you can find this type of shoe on popular shoe websites such as schuh.

These outfits may be stereotypically casual and for teenagers but we feel that this fits the genre and style of our song and ideas for music videos well, and can contribute to making our video look the best it possibly can, whilst sticking to originality of an persons individual sense of style.

Female Costumes -

For the female in our music video we went for the same style, high street fashion but casual. Such as in the video for;

Below is a picture on a mini skirt, a popular item of clothing for young women, we chose this because it represents a young culture and a feminine look, a skirt of this look has been used in many music videos in the past, such as pop bands, or women in a boy bands video and they are used because of the shaping of them to make a womans body look 'sexy'.

Plain strappy top - We chose this to be the base of most of the womans costumes as it is simple and casual and fits in with our chosen look, the use of this is to show that many acoustic songs videos include a look that are not dressy. So a strappy top is the basis of the casual look, a top like this is shown in the video; therefore this is why we thought it would be a good choice for ours, as the music is also in the same genres.

Cardigan - This is to be worn over the top of a strappy top, the cardigan was chosen because it is in the style of a causual look and will look right on our female lead - it is also featured in many fashion magazines at the present time showing it is an up to date casual look.

Props - Revised

Firewood - As before the use of a fire will be included in our film to show the spark between the two people, it will symbolise romance and love. The light of the fire also matches in with the lyrics of our song - and goes with the title of the light shining.

Photographs - These will be of me and Guy together. We need these pictures to show they were a couple. The boy will throw this photos on the fire to show how he wants to forget about there relationship and the pain he is going through getting over it, and being without her. Pain is shown in this way in many music videos - not necessarily throwing them onto a fire, but in the bin, or ripping them up, so is a recognised way of showing he wants to forget the pain.

A tree swing - Our group decided this had featured in other music videos and films to show a happy time and the time they spend together enjoyable. We managed to locate a swing at my friends house. We always decided to used this because we thought it was quite original, although i have seen it in films before i have not in a music video and is very rare so we thought it would fit well.

Mobile phone x2 - This is to show the couple do not want to be apart and when they are all they want to do is talk because they miss each toher. It shows that when they were in a relationship they were strong and inseperable.
Later on in the video one of the mobiles phones is to show the girl rejecting a call from the boy. This is to show how the relationship has broke down and it is her choice. We chose some of their communication to be via mobile phone as our demographic which is a young audience will relate to this as it is a piece of modern technology.

Alcohol, Whiskey - the alcohol is to symbol depression and sadness when he is missing the girl after she has left, this is often used in films and to represent someone being depressed or upset. In music videos such as;

A phone box - This is used when the boy calls the girl and she rejects it. The boy being inside a phone box can also show how he is stuck and alone. Again, we thought this idea was original as it is an older way of communicating with people therefore not used much in modern music videos.

A suitcase - This is for when the girl is leaving the boy behind and moving away. It emphasises on the point that she is leaving for good, or at least a long time. But the point of this shot is to leave a slight sense of unknowing about where, why and how long she will be gone for.

Narrative (Revised)

After much discussion we decided that our narrative and shooting locations plus the ability to get all of our original cast in one place at one time was too complex. We decided to change our locations but keep the initial love story in the video.

The plot is now as follows:

A boy is sitting at a fire looking at a photo of a girl. The shot then cuts to a flashback of when the boy and girl first met. The story is of a couple, who were together but since have split because the girl has to move away. The film is from the boys point of view of flashbacks of the times they had spent together, and then comes back to the present when he is alone. We thought the idea of flashbacks would make our film more interesting and add an element of originality as none of our class mates has done so, although the use of flashbacks are frequently used in films such as; Pink - Family Portrait. We have chosen just to use 2 people to make it easier to organise and so we can get a range of more interesting shots with close-ups and split screens with the editing. And the varying locations were easy to get to and plan to go to with a smaller cast. We will try to tell the story of their love with present and past with interesting features, locations and styles of filming to make the video the best and most interesting we can make it.

Visual Narrative For Original Idea

Here in bullet points is what is happening shot by shot in our music video.

• Medium shot of the sea, sand and sky, with only the sound of the waves crashing in on the beach to connote the tranquility of the beach and how quiet and sucluded the setting is. The lighting will be naturally of late afternoon/early evening trying to capture a sunset. The camera will start to pan around to the first shot when the song starts.



• Panning shot around the lighting gets darker and stops at the artist with a guitar in his hands and he is standing by the fire, with the rest of the cast sitting around the fire. This is when the song starts. The lighting is darker than the first shot.



• A high angle shot of the fire and a girls feet, this is to add some mystery to the shot as you don't know what the girl looks like, who she or what significance she has to the music video. The camera then pans up her body to the girls face.



• Close up of a girl's face (2 seconds )



• Cut to an establishing shot of the artist and the cast around the fire.



• Cut to artist walking slowly towards the camera whilst playing the guitar and singing the song.



• The next shot is of a long shot of male actors arriving at the beach.



• Cut to low angle shot of the new arrival at the top of the hill/dunes with the sunset in the background, this signifies the love theme.



• Tracking shot of the boy walking towards the group.


I would have finished this post, but half way through writing it. Our group decided to change our idea, so I will write one for our new idea/video

Costumes. - Original

Guitar Player & Guys - Board shorts/Jean, collared shirt, hoodies, trainers.

Girls - jeans (skinny or slim fit), flip flops, mens/big hoodies, loose hair, bikini under clothes to indicate high street fashion and popular culture, these sorts of clothing would be available in popular high street stores.

We have picked our cast to be dressed in this way as it connotes a beach look at night, when the good weather has faded and goes with the natural sound of the acoustic track we have chosen as they are in relaxed and casual clothing. We also chose this as the setting of the music video is a casual one, and the clothes are fashionable and modern, which also goes with the style of our music video.

To begin with we were going to dress our actors in clothing that would be expected of a day at the beach, but after rethinking we realised if we were going to a party on the beach at night we would dress warmer and less like we were going to a beach as the weather would be worse and it would be colder than during the day. Here are photo's of what we intially thought our cast would look like.

Props

Fire wood - the fire represents the light shining relating to the title of the song & the sparks of the fire act and connote the sparks between the two lovers.

Fire lighters (a lighter/matches)

Deck chairs/beach towels/picnic blankets - for the group to be sitting on around the fire in the middle of them.

Acoustic guitar - for the singer to be playing in the video.

A digital camera (for characters to be using in the video)

Crate of beer - represents the group of friends having a laugh involving alcohol as it is a sterotypical item that you would expect at a teenage party.

Photographs of the props will be added to this post soon, once we have started filming.

Location Scouting For Our Music Video

Below are pictures we took at Waxham/Winnterton On Sea for our music video setting.

This close up first picture shows the sucluded setting in between all the marshes and grass and the church tower in the distance shows how far away they are from civilisation. And how they don't want to be interrupted.

The purpose of this close up, overhead shot could be in our video, in the way that the beach fire could be in the middle and everyone can be sitting around it, but it is surrounded by grass and plants to show they are cut off from the rest of the beach/world.


This long distance shot would be good for the two lovers to be walking hand in hand in the distance, and it connotates how they are alone on the beach with only the horizon in view which connotes the empitness and still setting of the beach and that no one else matters at that point in time and that they have distanced themselves away from the group to get closer to each other. Also it shows they have moved away from the group to show that they want to be alone and closer to each other in private.

This long song shows the length of the beach, and how much space they have just between a small group of them. This shot would be good against the sunset to connotate the relaxed calming atmosphere of the sandy dunes in the wind.

This shot would be good for the 2 lovers to walk past, or away from towards the sea as it is looks as if you as the audience cannot be seen by the lovers and it gives the impression that what is happening between them is private as they are trying to be out of your view.

This shot gives the connotation of the friends being alone in the wilderness that is the beach. With the sun setting on the beach in this shot, and the cast behind the grass would give the right atmosphere and feel we are wanting to create for our music video.

Music And Media Investigation Proposal.

Topic: "How are females represented in RnB/Pop videos such as Girls Aloud/Beyonce compared to genres such as Rock/Heavy Metal and bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Paramore and Good Charlotte".

Reason for choosing this topic: I am interested in finding out opinions of peers of different ages, to see if age comes into the type of reaction i get from a music video in these genres. I also am interested in researching into the genres and artists/bands videos to see if the stereotype of these genres is true in all of their music videos or if it is just true in some. It would also be interesting to analyse and debate why women are represented the same or differently in different genres. I also picked just a few bands and only 2 genres of music to compare as otherwise it would be to broad of an area, but i tried to pick two completely different genres that are likely to be listened to by different people. If there was more time, i would have looked at these genres maybe 15-20 years ago and see if they are represented in the same way as today or whether this has developed over time - this may be because it has become more acceptable for women to be seen as sex object and that music videos are more popular now because of increasing use of technology.

What do you expect to find out: A general idea as to why women are represented in different ways in different genres and by different bands and if age/gender and social class come into how people react to the videos. Such as men may find women in a pop video attractive, but women may find this degrading. And also what the public who consume these music videos think of the videos and why, i also expect to have some varied opinions according to age, gender, and what genre they themselves favour.

How will it help develop understanding for the Year 13 coursework: Hopefully this piece of research will help me influence how my group and I portray the role of a woman in our music video, and how we would like an album cover to look for our song, depending on its genre. It will also help to get opinions of others to understand what they would like to see in our video. Although this does not focus on the acoustic genre - which our song is. I chose this because we still have to represent any women in our video in a way in which a varied audience will appreciate and I wanted to focus on opposing genres with lots of bands within them, where as acoustic is a smaller genre - although I know the research I find will still help my year 13 coursework.

How will you express your findings: In an essay/booklet style with some graphs for my results.

What research will you carry out: Watching music videos made for the bands in different genres, and compare myself, write my own views and opinions and why I think they are represented in this way. Then ask a variety of people their opinions in the form on a questionnaire on which ones show women in a better light, and why they think this, and then complete a way of presenting their data and opinions.

Looking at the album and single covers of the bands and compare for example an album cover of girls aloud to an album cover of avenged sevenfold and again write my own opinion and the opinion of my peers.

Meeting and Shooting Timetable.

Here are the dates we met up and discussed the first stages of making our music video:


Tuesday 8th September - Discussion about song choice and initial ideas for what we think should go into a music video.


Wednesday 9th September - Final choice of music video and discussions about about the plot and what/who we could use in our video.


Thursday 10th September - We started planning, and filling out idea sheets, deciding when we should start filming, finalising our narrative, thinking about who to cast in our video, and where to shoot our video.


Saturday 12th September - Planning was continued, but was more focussed on started storyboards and what props/costumes we would need.


Monday 14th September - Location scouting in Waxham and Winterton on Sea. Pictures and shots taken of the beach and dunes we may use in our video.

Narrative/Plot of our music video

Once we had interperated the meaning of the lyrics to the song, we made our first draft for the plow. Below is a simple draft of the plot, next to the lyrics to show how the lyrics coinside with the plot.

Meaning of our lyrics

To help us decided on the narrative and plot of our music video, we decided it would be a good idea to try and interperate the meaning of the lyrics. We asked George Brook, the artist, what he was thinking about when he wrote the song and what the words meant.
We also thought about what we thought the lyrics meant to us, and what we thought he could have been thinking whilst writing the song.

We thought the use of the word 'light' would symbolise how who he is singing about was lighting up his life, that that there was a spark of light between them. The lyrics 'I see the way that you do' and 'I see the light that you do' would seem to symbolise that they are thinking the same thing and have many things in common, and are both falling for each other and feel the same way about each other.

Although the contrasting lyrics of 'cause its right, that this light won't shine, i dont know, you don't know, no one knows why' seems to say that their relationship cannot work, but there is no real explanation as to why, and they cannot seem to work out why it cannot work.

Treatment For Your Music Video

Name of artist: George Brook
Title of track: Time for this light to shine

Outline of ideas:
filmed on the coast/beach
Sun setting/early evening
Campfire
Group of friends including 2 lovers

What resouces will you need?:
8 actors
firewood
acousitc guitar

Justification of ideas in relation to genre and artist:
Chilled out acoustic sound of the guitar compliments the location of the beach.
The lyrics of the song go well with the plot of 2 lovers.
Name of song goes well with 'fire' idea.

Unconventional Music Video.

The music video below is unconventional as it goes against the norms of a music video, Red Hot Chili Peppers are an established band - therefore have the chance to do something different with their videos, and not have themselves appear so much, but animated characters of themselves.

This video is likably different as it keeps your attention throughout by changing characters and locations with the video being like a video game, and the members of the band have to compete and battle to beat what they come across in lots of action.

I think this video is appealing to both genders but is more appealing to the males because it relates to a video game which is typically seen as a male past time.

The mise en scene for this video is appealing as it is every changing and is colourful in its appearance, and there is no other music video like this that i have seen or tried to find. This proves the video is unconventional and different as it is original.

I think the band and label decided this would be good for the band as it appeals to its audience, it does not need to have the band as the starring role as they are established and well known and have built up a huge fan base.

New Blog.

This is my new Year 13 A2 media blog.