Audience Research (Secondary Research)

This image shows the number of subscribers each artist within the music industry has, 19/10/2015.

These figures will have an affect on our audience, as the majority of the top subscribers in the music industry are pop genre based. In the “Top 100” subscribed music channels, the only “alternative” music channel that is included in this is “Linkin Park” at number 38. This could directly affect our audience base as it shows that YouTube have quite a niché market when it comes to rock music.This could affect our audience as the statistics gives a clear indication that our genre of music will not be as popular as the pop-based artists. Statistics show here that the pop genre is approximately double more popular than rock music. For example, this website shows that Rihanna is the most subscribed youtube channel for music. Earning 6,740 more subscribers within the past 24 hours, whereas Linkin Park earning 3,141 subscribers in the past 24 hours; roughly half than what Rihanna has gained. This also is a positive as with rock not being as mainstream it will mean we can find a target audience's much easy with it being such a niché group of people. This will mean are audiences will be in small amounts but easy to measure and get audiences views.

It also shows that the majority of the channels in the Top 10 are Vevo channels. Vevo is a multinational video hosting service owned and operated by a joint venture of Universal Music Group (UMG), Google, Sony Music Entertainment (SME), and Abu Dhabi Media, and based in New York City. Launched on December 8, 2009, Vevo hosts videos syndicated across the web, with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue. Vevo offers music videos from two of the "big three" major record labels, UMG and SME.

This shows the most viewed rock music videos on Youtube, which is mostly shown to be Linkin Park.

Overall, I have found out who the majority of our audience listen to, and so I can be influenced by these bands by using similar shots and filming styles in order to connect to my audience more to keep them intrigued and interested. So to help with the production of my work, I will look at these types of artists and their music videos and look at how these have been filmed, and then use certain shots/styles for my music video, as I now know the kinds of elements my audience are interested in.

Ancillary Task - Poster Analysis

Ancillary Task - Poster Analysis

Ancillary Task - Digipak Analysis

Ancillary Task - Digipak Analysis

Music Video Analysis 3

Music Video Analysis 2

Music Video Analysis 1

Mood Board

This is our moodboard to give us a general idea on what we want our main and ancillary tasks to look like. We will be using the band's logo frequently, close ups of instruments and the band members faces and have the grunge-theme continuing throughout.

Initial Ideas

Coursework Ideas

Main Idea - Music Video

• Performance music video
• Possible Location - Black Box, empty warehouse
• Use of lots of bright lights - strobe?
• Close ups, Go Pro cameras on artists/instruments, pan shots
• Artists performing to camera
• Possible audience
• Use of fog machine
• Fast editing
• Record from multiple angles

Ancillary Tasks

Digipak for album’s release

• Idea 1) Picture of the band in the studio in front of green screen, use a dark background. Or picture of band in front of graffiti wall.
• Large font with name of band
• Booklet? List of names of songs, words from the band

Magazine advert for the digipak

• Picture of band
• Name of the band
• Interviews - talks about their songs, rehearsals

Evaluation of Franklin Start

What have you learnt in each of the four areas?

I have learnt a variety of different skills for each of the four areas. For music videos, I have learnt about the codes and conventions in which help to create a specific type of music video, depending on the message you want to get across. For example, if the song's genre is sad and slow, the music video may be a narrative music video with characters to present a story. Whereas if it is a fast, upbeat song, the music video may be a fast-edited performance video of the band/artist. For documentaries, I have learnt about what elements help create a successful documentary in order to keep the audience of a specific topic interested, yet kept professional and educational. This is done by a clear voice over with the use of statistics, and usually interviews with specific people to back up the evidence/statistics given. For video game advertisements, I have learnt about how advertisements have changed and developed over time. I have learnt that companies would have advertised their products back in the 80s by showing children playing the game, whereas companies nowadays would mostly show clips of the game being played with a voice over on the top, usually the voice over being the main character of the game. This shows different ways in which these games were advertised, and how gaming advertisement and society itself has changed over 30 years. Finally for a regional magazine, I have learnt and identified the different codes and conventions that create a magazine cover and double page spread. The codes and conventions used a varied based on the region of the magazine and what is suitable for the given audience. For example, if it is a tourist magazine, there would be a lot of secondary images of the tourist attraction.

What could you improve on in each of the four areas?
For music videos, I feel I could improve on looking at a variety of more shots that I could use in order to vary my music video more. I could explore the different types used and the effect this could have on the audience and look at why I have chosen to use a specific shot. I could also explore a variety of different ways in order to present a specific genre. For example if I want to create a dark looking set, I could look at editing it into black and white or using a smoke machine. I could improve on my documentary by using less editing (such as cutting down the fast editing) and include more factual information. This will help make the documentary look more professional. I could also expand on the interviews, as although I feel this was our strongest point, I feel we could have made this longer and possibly included more interviews to explain about how a documentary is made. For video game advertising, I feel I could have improved on my variation of the games I chose to look at. I feel I could have chosen games from a more varied time period, which would have helped me explore the development over time better. We also could have spoke more about the games during our voice over more by including more terminology and key words which tie in with our chosen games as to how they link with the development of the games over time. Finally, I could have improved on my magazine cover by thinking more carefully about what I want to talk about. I went out taking random pictures for the cover without coming up with any idea what I wanted my magazine to be about. So to improve I think I should choose a specific genre I want to create and then find ways in which I can present this through a photo which I can easily take. I can also look at different magazines of the same genre and gain ideas as to what is presented on the front and how this can help me with my magazine in the future.

Based on your experience, what task would you like to take forward into coursework and why?
Based on my experience, I think I would like to take forward the task of creating a music video with my coursework. I would be interested in creating a music video as music is something that not only myself am interested in, but everyone is interested in as everyone listens to some form of music. I thoroughly enjoyed this topic the most and I feel I could offer more taking forward this area of coursework, as it is a very open area. It will allow me to explore different ways to present this music video by using different shots and editing skills which I can experiment with. It sounds like a very enjoyable area for me to work with that I will be able to connect with well, so I know I will be able to perform better than with the other areas of media.

Regional Magazine Pros and Cons

Pros
The pros of creating a magazine is that is fairly simple to create as it is all done in one place. This area of coursework is all done on the computer on a specific programme, and so there will be less complication in comparison to other areas of media, for example making a music video. There will be less planning in areas to film as it is all done in one place so this will be easier for the group to work with. It can also be an enjoyable topic as I can make it about something I enjoy (such as a specific music artist or a fashion magazine) and I can take my own photos so it gives it a more personal feel to my project.

Cons
However the cons of this is that I feel I may get fairly bored quite quickly with it. I would enjoy taking pictures for my magazine, but I feel once I start editing it together I will get bored and lose inspiration and interest with my topic due to doing the same thing as there is little variation in my project. Also, I think I would struggle after a while deciding what to put on the cover, as I feel that most covers are the same with their main image and text around it. I would want to create it so that it is different and unique, and I feel like I would struggle to maintain this as most magazines have the rough same guideline.

Magazine Conventions

Here I have looked at a range of different magazines; both a front cover and a double page spread. I have looked at the pages closely and identified the pages with the terminology in which helps make the magazine attractive to it's audience.

 

Magazine Front Cover

This is my first draft of my magazine cover. I created this using a Nikon camera to take pictures around college, and then used Adobe InDesign to edit this by adding text and a barcode in order to make it look more like a magazine front cover.

Video Game Advertising Pros and Cons

Pros
The pros of creating a video game advertisement is that it is easier to make. It is all done on computers so there is less involved and no extra work (such as camerawork, filming etc). It also helps maintain my interest in the gaming industry, as by researching further into this would interest me about my chosen specific game. Another pro of this is that it is more reliable rather than working with cameras. For example, by making a music video or a documentary, this would involve lots of different work on cameras with a group, using an artist if we were to do a music video. However by making a video game advert, everything is all done in one place on the computer, so it would be easier to work with

Cons
However the cons for creating a video game adverts is that I personally would find it boring after a while​. I would find the other things to make more interesting, as well as there could be a disagreement on the video game to make an advert on which could cause problems during the beginning of the task. Furthermore, this would mean having to do a lot more research; not just on how we would create the advert, but we would have to do extra research on the game itself in order to create the correct advert for the game. This could become very time consuming. Also by doing this, this means there would be very little interaction/connection with people when creating this, whereas if I made a music video there would be a connection with the artist/band. I think that a connection with someone would encourage me to do well with my work, whereas a video games advert would have little connection.

Video Game Advertising

This is my video game advert which involved looking at a variety of video games from a range of years ago and analysing the codes and conventions on what makes them effective.

Documentary Evaluative Reponse

I think our documentary was fairly successful. I think that documentaries should be made rather fun so that the audience don’t get bored, so I feel we did this by adding lots of information as well as making it entertaining by adding some upbeat non-diegetic music. We gained elements such as interviews and a voice over to portray the information across to the audience which I feel was successful.

I think we successfully applied some codes and conventions. We applied a lot of different camera angles and shots, mostly using handheld shots as documentaries mostly use these types of shots in order to capture the realism. We also included the use of interviews by using people in my group which were professional and detailed, as well as going up to random people to interview.

I think we could improve on our filming by adding more script work. Although we included lots of interviews that were all non-scripted, maybe by adding some scripted speech would make it look more a little more professional and extra information. Furthermore, this then links onto my point as we could have added more speech for the voice over, rather than only right at the beginning.

I think we could improve our editing by taking our time with it. Due to technical difficulties at first, this caused us to fall behind so our editing was rather rushed which showed in the final product. So next time I think we should take our time with it rather than rush. Also I think we used too much fast pace and so to improve I would cut this down a lot to make it look less messy.

Documentary Pros and Cons

ProsThe pros with creating a documentary is that is can be a very educational piece of work to create which can be useful and enjoyable for some people about a specific topic. By doing plenty of research and gaining important information, it can be very simple and easy to create a documentary that is educational to a specific audience. It can also be a very broad topic to research, as a documentary can be about anything and there is endless ways in which it can be structured.

Cons
The cons for making a documentary is that a lot of people can find documentaries boring. So if we were to make a documentary, it would have to be based on something which appeals to our chosen audience, whatever this may be. This then follows onto another following problem, that myself and my group will all have to decide on a certain topic, which could be a difficult task finding something everyone agrees on.

Documentary Video

This is myself and my group's attempt at creating a short documentary about documentaries, applying the codes and conventions I learned about such as interviews, natural lighting, text etc.

Silent Debate on Documentaries

This is our silent debate on documentaries. This task included getting with my group, not communicating and writing down everything we associate with documentaries, such as shots used, lighting etc.

Pros and Cons of making a Music Video

ProsThe pros of making a music video is that it is an easy way to help promote an artist. It can be used to advertise an artist, their songs, which can be easily be put on social media sites or YouTube to make them easily noticeable to their audience. Also if I did choose this area of media to study for my coursework, it would help maintain my interest in the music area of the media. It is a very straightforward task with a clear objective and is a very open form of media, being able to choose from different types of music videos to create such as narrative, parody, performance and surrealist. By creating a music video, this will also give me various skills in the future.

Cons
However the cons for this music video would be finding an artist or a band to film with, if we were to decide on creating a performance video. It could also be very time consuming with lots of re-shooting, and organisation with the artist could start to get difficult. As it is also being filmed by students, it could start to look very unprofessional and resulting in lots of messing about not taking the project seriously.

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos