Here is my Focus Group for my audience research; I had seven questions (featured on another post) which were created to get any full information out of my audience which will be helpful for my audience research. Referencing to the conventions of genre, preferred music video style and style for my genre, why they watch certain music videos, what catches their attention etc.
From my audience focus group feedback it is clear that my audience have
stereotypical views on my chosen genre of Alternative Rock. The music video
should be a performance/narrative, involving genre conventions of the genre -
including a performing band including typical instruments drums and guitar,
dark connotations - stereotypical colours like black which reflects the rock
feel. When informing the focus group about my chosen initial idea; they were
able to create their own interruption of what they may see in the music video -
combination of colour and black & white, smashing plates/objects on a wall
when the couple fight, and you see the object smashing in slow motion. These
are very good ideas that I can interpret into my music video because it would
be effective to make the audience believe the narrative, and it is what the
audience will be expecting.
From the results from my blog poll questionairre relating to audience research; here is what i have concluded.
There is a clear divide between male and female - male - 1, female - 9.
The audience who took this questionnaire reflects my target audience being 'teenagers' - who are 17-19 year old students.
Most students both listen to music and watch music videos every day.
They watch music videos by YouTube; which shows me that the actual video is popular because a vast audience watch them continuiously.
The popular music video type is Narrative.
Referencing to my genre and my music video; the popular genre choice is alternative rock (which is my chosen genre), the popular music video style for Alternative Rock genre is Narrative and the audience would expect the music video of that genre to be in black and white.
Reflecting on these results; it is clear that my target audience is fitted to my chosen genre by the audience who answered the questionairre and the results shown. It protrays how popular music videos are and how essential the planning of the music video will be to raise to the expectations of my vast target audience. It is clear the genre 'Alternative Rock' is a popular choice amungst Teenagers. My ideas for my own music video (my initial ideas) are reflected in these results; the popular music video type for both personal opinions and for my chosen genre is Narrative. And the video for my genre should be in black&white since it was a popular choice. My inital idea was for a Narrative styled video in the combination of both colour and black&white - this will be a popular choice with my target audience due to this blog poll.
The very first rock and roll song to make it onto any music charts was Bill Haley’s song titled “Rock Around the Clock” performed by Bill Hayley and his Comets. (Below)
1960's-early 1970's-This was a big moment in history since at the time rock and roll was still a new music, and to many parents they looked at rock and roll as noise, or to some the music of the devil. As rock and roll became more popular it began to have its own rock music charts, which focused on rock and not all of the other styles of popular music at the time, like Motown, which was just beginning in the motor city of Detroit. One of the most famous Detroit rockers who has become a household name is Alice Cooper. But another one of them is Bob Seger, who founded the classic rock band Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.
Mid 1960's-
Another one of the very important people that came from the Detroit rock music scene was a musician called Iggy Pop who played in a rock band called The Stooges at the time before they changed the bands name to Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Iggy Pop and the Stooges was the first band to pretty much start the punk rock movement in the mid sixties, and their influence is seen to this day as all the aforementioned artists. Since then Detroit has seen many forms of music and many popular rappers come from there nowadays but they still turn out many rock and metal bands as well. Some of the more recent famous rockers from Detroit include Kid Rock, Taproot, and The White Stripes.
Late 1970's - 1980's - Alternative Rock also made a big influence in Britain where Punk Rock was more popular. Creating Iggy Pop, The Sex Pistols, and The Stooges. Punk rock music was a music that was anti everything and many of the English punk bands considered themselves anarchists and tried to ensure they were social outcasts.
Punk music was very simplistic, usually consisting of a couple chords, fast drum beats, and nihilistic lyrics. Many punk rock music bands and their fans wore raggedy clothes and everything was held together by safety pins. Another signature of the punk rock (especially in the British punk) was the new and unique hair styles and hair colours. Hairstyles such as the Mohawk and the liberty spikes became extremely popular among punk rockers, and they were usually died colours like green, red, and blue. Many bands started taking punk and branching out from it and many different forms of punk rock are in existence today, and a majority of today’s top music acts are variations of punk rock. In fact, Alternative Rock music entered mainstream in Britain earlier than it did in the United States. This gave Alternative bands a broader venue even before it gained popularity in the United States.
1980's - REM was making their start in Alternative Rock by most of their airtime was by college radio stations; which is where their loyal fan base started. (However their commercial success started about the time that Alternative Rock became popular in the 1990's.) The rock music of the 80's was very optimistic and upbeat. This is why 80's rock music ends up in a lot of good movies and some songs show up on multiple movie soundtracks. This is one of the best ways to accumulate great 80's rock music without buying a bunch of individual albums.
One of the best movie soundtracks for 80's rock music is The Wedding Singer. This film has songs from Billy Idol to The Culture Club. (Pictures featured to the left)
Another great movie for 80's rock music is The Breakfast Club; which was created in the 80's. The theme song that was written by Keith Forsay and Steve Schiff was performed by the band Simple Minds. “Don't You Forget About Me” became an instant 80's rock music hit. (First YouTube Video shown below)
Another great movie was released in 1997 with a great 80's rock music soundtrack. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and included songs like “Foot Loose”, “Time After Time”, and Turning Japanese”. (Second YouTube video - Footloose opening - which features the theme tune 'Footloose') - (Picture featured to the left)
Movie soundtracks are a great way to purchase a CD with a variety of music. Instead of all of the songs sounding the same, you get a bunch of great songs. The ones listed above are great for fans of 80's rock music. They have the classic 80's music that you are looking for and the movies are great too.
1990's - Alternative Rock became popular in the 1990's by the popular band 'Nirvana' brought Alternative Rock to the mainstream audience by gaining popularity by college crowds. Due to this gain in popularity; the Grunge Genre movement started, which started in Seattle, Washington and then took the world by storm. This movement featured bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
Conclude: Many different styles or rock and roll have dominated the rock music charts in the different periods from the charts beginnings to modern time. There were years where southern rock dominated and then it was a lot of the new wave and punk bands. Eventually the eighties arrived and many of the rock/metal bands were dominating until the alternative music craze started in the 90’s, and the grunge scene dominated the charts throughout the 90’s. In the modern day and age many of the rock charts are dominated by pop/punk bands and alternative bands, but many seventies inspired bands have been on the rise.
This is my e-mail - featuring a link to my blog - to all the media groups so people can fill out my blog poll questionnaire for my audience research. This is a good strategy so i can reach out to a wide range of opinions from my target audience who are both male and female - 'Teenagers' - aged '16 to 20's' years old. In the social class of B,C1 & C2 because my main target audience will be students so they will be in full time education (or hold a part-time job as well).
An early example of a music video is; St Louis Blue's - Bessie Smith - 1929. Where the blue's singer Bessie Smith appeared in a short film called 'Saint Louis Film' featuring a performance of the hit song - it was shown in the theatres until 1932.
In 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous pieces of classical music.
In1950's & 60's -
1963 - 'The Summer Holiday' was released which starred the artist Cliff Richard as the mian male role. And it also which featured the musical hit 'Summer Holiday' - Cliff Richard's well known songs. (Below)
The Beatles' first major motion picture, 'A Hard Day's Night' in 1964 - Which starred the characters as themselves. It took the genre to new heights with their groundbreaking films for 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' made in the early 1967 which used techniques like; dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and rhythmic editing. These two landmark films were the first to purpose-made concept videos for many of their famous songs; shown in performances or abstarct ways to 'illustrate' the song in an artful manner - rather than creating a a film of a performance. (The Opening scene of ' The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night' is shown below which features the theme tune 'A Hard Day's Night'.
1966 - Bob Dylan's clip performing 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' The clip's ironic portrayal of a performance; featuring randomly celebrity Allen Ginsberg - in a non-performing role. Which was all filmed and performed in one single shot; with Bob Dylan holding certain lyrics on cards in a alleyway behind a theatre.
The 1970's -
Queens - Bohemian Rhapsody also started a whole new era for using music videos as promos. Which was only formed 1975 - 10 years after Bob Dylans single shoot for his song 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'; this shows how videos have developed.
An american band 'Devo' - 'The Truth About Devolution' were also important developments in the evolution in the genre and these Devo video cassette releases were arguably the first to form long-form video productions; as well as Bob Dylan's single shoot of 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. The UK importance of 'Top Of The Pops' created competition and an environment of innovant between bands; artists and record labels.
The 1980's -
1981 - MTV is launched; the first video to be aired is 'Buggles - The Video Killed The Radio Star'. (Above)
Above - David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade - thanks to eye catching demo - 'Ashes to Ashes'.
In the early mid 1980's - artists started to add more sophisticated effects to their videos, and added a storyline or plot to their music video.
Michael Jackson was the first artist to create the concept of a short film; which has a beginning, middle and end. He did this in a small way in 'Billie Jean' then in 'Beat It' which has influences from the musical film 'The West Side Story', but it wasn't until the 1984 release of 'Thriller' short film that he took the music vido format to another level. (Below)
Top Of The Pops was concious in its approach to video content, so another approach was for an act to produce a promo that will be banned or edited and so use the resulting controversy and publicity to promote the release.
Early examples are - Duran Duran's 'Girls On Film' ( Below) and Frankie Goes To Hollywood - 'Relax'.
1986 - Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel was first shown.
1989 - Madonna - Like A Prayer - is released.
Madonna owned a great deal of her success to the skilful construction and seductive appeal of her videos. It has been suggested by these short films; artists like Madonna have constructed an image that echoes their image/ego. Although MTV see the mid 1980's as an 'Golden Era' of music videos and an unparalleled success of new art form in popular culture. Others see it as hastening the death of the true musical artist; because physical appeal (aka the artists image) is now critical to popularity; which justifies Madonna's success and popularity.
Music Today:
Music today also justify popularity by the success of their music videos. Instead of watching music videos for the music, they now appreciated for the visual qualities/effects, whilst the viewer remains uninterested in the audio. This is a normal sociological reaction; by the increasing trend in the music business to be focused/interested on the visual appeal of artists, rather than the quality of the track.
1991 - Nirvana 'Smells like teen spirit' was released; changing MTV from Glam rock to Alternative Rock - catapulting Grunge genre into the American and Worldwide mainstream. (Above)
1992 - Credit was given to music video directors. And Guns'N'Roses video November Rain was released and remains one of the costliest ever produced. (Above).
1996 - Pop-up video first launched VH1. And M2 is launched as a 24-hour music video channel; as MTV has largely replaced videos with other content. But then in 1999 is renamed MTV2; which is then replaced by MTV Hits in 2002 so MTV2 plays fewer videos.
2006 - The Norweigain unsigned band 'Rektor' makes the world's first playable videogame music video game. ( Above)
Aim - Do want to know what audiences like; concerning music videos.
1.What type of music do you listen to?
Alternative/Rock - R&B - Indie - Pop 2.Are you male or female? Female - Male 3.How old are you? 14-16 - 17-19
- 20-25 - 30+ 4.When do you listen to music? Every day - Every Other Day - Once a week - Other 5.When do you watch music videos? Every day - Sometimes - Once a week – Never 6.How do you watch music? TV – YouTube - Other 7.What type of music videos do you watch? Narrative - Abstract - Performance
8. What would you expect when watching an Alternative Rock music video?
Story Line - Abstract - Performance
9. What colour would you see the music video to be in?
Colour - Black and White - Combination of both
Calvin Harris Ft Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love.
Referencing to the Cinematography - using a handheld camera to film a couple style video. At the beginning of the video, there are shots of the couple in bed; using close-ups and two shots to capture the attitude and feeling created by the couple.
As well as Editing of this video references to the idea i have for my own video. For the Editing i really like the fast cuts and jumps from scene to scene - past and future, can capture the 'out of control' feeling people may have when they're in a relationship.
(Right) is a screen shot of the Editing used for the fast cuts from scene to scene (past and future) which is a reference to my own music video. (Below) Is a screenshot of a two-shot of the couple at the beginning of the video referencing to Cinematography.
Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness.
1:35 - linking to Cinematography, i like the footage of each character like they are spinning each other around - this connotes to the audience that they are happy like children with each other because you associate that kind of behavior from a problem-free-young child. That can connote the feeling she had with this girl - young-wild and free.
00:00 - 00:30 - linking to Cinematography; is the establishing shot of the location. Shows the audience that the characters are away from everything. I especially like the Editing as well; it creates the illusion that the footage is old/antique; by the dis-colouring of the footage, and the fact some parts are jumpy.
Here are some pictures taken from the music video - to the left - is a shot when the characters are spinning with each other and are care free. By the prop it shows she is filming a home made video. - Below left- shows a two-shot of the characters in the car. - Below - shows the audience another side to this music video - changes from happy to sad. Close up of the characters face as she cries.
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