Focus Group

One of the ways we did research into what audiences like from music videos was by conducting a focus group. We asked a few of our friends to sit and listen to our questions, to aid us in narrowing down our ideas, and to see what appeals to an audience of our age.

Here is the link to the focus group - Unfortunately it wont embed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq7_dXDDgdU&feature=youtu.be

The results showed that audiences like videos with narratives, they also like the artist to be showcased, and to have some costume changes, basically they like a video that is visually engaging and makes you think about it. 

Marketing

An easy way of bringing a target audience basis is by linking your youtube videos with all the things that people will type in to bring your video to the top of the search list, these are called tags, you can then also tag all the things to do with your name and your videos, blogs and music pages, so they will all be there in a bunch that the viewer can click on after watching the first video. Thus allowing them to see all your work, giving them more of a chance of enjoying what you do, so then they can support you and join your fan base.

Here is an example that i print screened for my focus group -

Filming With A Green Screen

I am planning on using trippy, moving backgrounds of swirling colors, and moving clouds in my video, the easiest way i can do this is by using a green screen. This will be the first time that i will be using a green screen, i used youtube tutorials to lear how to do it First i will find a big flat wall, i will use big rolls of bright green paper to make the green background. Ill need to make sure that the lighting is evenly spread all over the subject and the background, the most effective way of doing this is by using 3 point lighting - This is where you put a light shining on the subject, chest area, then 2 other lights shining either side of the subject to illuminate the whole of the background. You can then film your footage.

                                                  This is what Three point lighting looks like

It is essential that you get rid of all creases and shadows on the green screen, so that it has maximum effectivity, and looks smooth. You must also make sure that your actor, or subject doesn't have anything green on them, or else it will become part of the background when you edit it. The reason you Use bright green is because its the least common colour that can appear on a person, and it shows up very clearly behind them.

When editing It in Adobe After Effects i will do the following - After dragging the footage into a new composition, then under effects and presets search for key light, and apply it to the footage. I then use the screen colour dropper tool and select the green background. Then change the view from final result to screen matt, change the colour balance so the background is completely black, and the subject is completely white. Then switch back to final result, and the subject has a nice smooth edge all the way around. You can then create a new background layer, and lay any images or video footage over it, and your green screen effect is done. 

Last year when i did my As piece, i was more limited with what i could do, because i had just got some new video editing software, now i have had a while to get used to it, so i can do better special effects. Also i could never use a green screen, because i had no idea how to key it in, so my skills have developed massively this year, and i can do alot more than ever before. Also with sound editing softwares, this has been a drastic improvement. Last year i could only use Adobe Audition, which is a very basic sound editing software. Now i know how to use FL Studio, which is a proper DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), so i can make better quality tracks. 

Filming In Low Level Light

Half of my music video will be shot at night time, by a campfire, so i have to make sure the lighting is right so you can still see whats happening. Some techniques i will use are:

Bounce boards - These Are large White boards, that i will place just out oof the frame of the camera, so they will reflect the lights given off from the fire back onto the actors, this gives a nice natural glow on their faces, so it doesnt look too artificial. Another piece of harware that will make a significant difference is a camera with a large sensor - this allows it to take in  more light ion the picture.

When i am filming the chase scenes,  i will need to use a portable LED light strip, with very powerful LEDs, however, LED lights often look very artificial, so i will balance it out with some yellow lights, to give it a more natural feel. I can also wait for a night when the moon is really bright, and use that light as a natural advantage.

Another technique i can use is, put some cold LED lights on one side of an actor, so it looks like moon light is shining, then on their other side have the natural yellow campfire light reflecting on them, this mix of cold and warm lighting looks quite interesting, and has an eerie feel to it. In the middle where they meet you can sometimes get a purplish glow, which would work well with my video because its called purple epidemic.

Here is a music video that shows two different teqniques of filming in low level light

My problem was that i didn't have any lights i put up behind the scenes, so i had to turn the ISO up really high on my camera, in effect this causes the image to be really grainy, and not so good quality. 

Storyboard

My storyboard was hand drawn, i had the idea of doing it digitally on a story boarding website, but i find it difficult to draw with a mouse. 

Questionnaire

What genre of music most appeals to you?

How old are you?

Are you male or Female?             M            F

How do you use the internet to find new music?

What is your favorite music streaming website?

What gadgets do you use for listening? Walkman, phone, ipod

Do you go to live music events?                                Y              N

Do you support small-time artists by BUYING their music?

Are you a musician?

What is it about music that you really enjoy? i.e the beat, the lyrics, the melody…

How do you feel about recreational drug use?

Results - I found that most people had a mixed taste in music, liking mainly hip hop and club music, and then indie, and acoustic rock. They were between the ages of 18 and 25, and half males and half females. They all used the internet to get their music, nobody really uses cds anymore unfortunately :( Everyone used YouTube to find their music, and 35% of that also used sound cloud, 12% of that used last fm as well. Everyone use their computers, phones and iPods to listen to music, and 45% of people often go to music events. Unfortunately only 56% of people bought their music from the record companies. 12% of them were musicians. Generally people listened to the lyrics and the melody, they like the way music makes them feel, and they want the music video to reflect that. 95% of the people didn't mind recreational drug use.

Artist Identity

The artist for my track is myself, i am a student and i like to be different, my stage name is Vince Anthony. In the video i will be playing Vince Anthony, who is basically a character that i want to represent my music. He don't like conforming to social norms, so i want my video to be a bit strange and psychedelic. However i am trying to appeal to a slightly more mainstream audience, so it has to contain conventions that appeal to them as well. So i will be having shots of me playing and singing the song, it would also be helpful if i could get some girls to be in the video so it would help attract a bigger male audience. The video will be a journey of the Vince Anthony and a few of his friends, partying and living a free spirited life, this will appeal more to the younger spectrum of my target audience ie university students etc, because they are at that age where they get to experience their freedom so much more, and experiment with life. I want to Vince Anthony to come across as a care free, down to earth guy, who is wise but doesn't mind doing silly things because he enjoys all walks of life. I also want him to have an air of mystery, so the audience don't know that much about his personal life, hes a bit quiet and likes to fly under the radar a bit. He is not superficial or materialistic, and i think this  is appealing to some members of the audience because it seems like so many artists are materialistic and false, it especially appeals to the hippie side of my audience, because hippies are not materialistic.

His style can be defined as easy to listen to, with a catchy tune and a raw sounding voice. On all of my albums and Merchandise, ill have the name in the same font, this is my logo, and audiences will instantly recognize the artist brand, simply by the logo, and perhaps something that the artist wears, for example, Michael Jackson and his black shoes with white socks. Vince Anthonys brand clothes will be a hat and glasses, and usually  a half a suit to go with, or hat and glasses with really colorful clothes that look a bit ragged. If Vince Anthony dresses quirky i feel this could also be a selling point in the case of his brand identity, because it seems audiences like it when artists dress weird, for example - Lady Ga Ga, i wont dress as outrageously as her, but it is a style that has developed along with the music. This ties in with Roland Barthes theory of symbolism, people know instantly from an artists symbol everything the artist is about, a picture says a thousand words. So in my video, the cocaine symbolizes the actual feeling of lust, which is a very strong sometimes aggressive feeling that can make a person do crazy things, just like cocaine. When ever there is a picture of Vince, it will usually be him with a guitar looking somberly and knowingly at the camera, seeming a bit distant, in his own head. Another part of his brand identity, is that he plays all the instruments, and does all of the recording and producing himself, this gives him another sub audience of people that do the same, and people that like other genres of music that he does will hear his style in them, so that's like a signature on a song.

                    Below is an image that i made as an example to show the brand identity, and the logo.