Audience Research: Questionnaires

This is the first research method that we used

To get a better idea of audience and what they like and their demographics, we have created 2 questionnaires in order to find out this information. We are also going to conduct a focus group where we will show them 4 different music videos - 
Kodaline: High Hopes
The 1975: Robbers 
The Vaccines: If you wanna
The Neighbourhood: Let It Go
We have chosen these music videos as they are different styles and narratives, the Vaccines is a performance video and the other 3 are story but The 1975 is non-linear and Kodaline is linear. 
All this will allow us to gather what their favourite type of video is so that when it comes to creating our music video, we will know how to appeal to our audience.

To start off our audience research we produced 2 questionnaires: Preference Questionnaire and Demographics & Preferences Questionnaire. We produced these on a website called freeonlinesurveys.com. We did not produce the questions on surveymonkey as it was not flexible like freeonlinesurveys and had a limit to the amount of questions you could ask. Freeonlinesurveys also allowed us to include pictures. 

Preference Questionnaire
This is the Preferences Questionnaire where we asked the participants to answer 7 questions about their preference of album covers and album adverts. We kept the questions simple but effective, we needed to keep them simple so that they can be understood by everyone meaning we get more valid and truthful answers. We included pictures of the album covers and adverts to make it more 'fun' and it also manages to produce a true answer as they can see the picture without having to know the artist etc. Even though essay boxes require lengthy answers and a participant may not be enthusiastic about writing a lot, we gave essay boxes so that the participant can freely express themselves and their views with no limits like check boxes do, even though it will be harder to analyse as it is qualitative data. But we do have some questions that will produce quantitative data making it easier to analyse. By asking questions about what the participant likes on an album/advert, we will be able to know what we should and should not include on ours so that we can appeal more to our target audience. Question 5: What album cover do you prefer? Allows us to see what design(s) is preferred in the genre, same with question 7. These two questions are important as we need to entice our target audience and suit their needs and expectations. Here is the link to the questionnaire Preferences

Demographics Questionnaire

We also a produced a demographics questionnaire as the demographics of our audience is very important as we need to know who we are targeting. We asked the gender of the participant as different genders have different tastes and expectations, so what something a male may like a female may not. By getting a perspective from both genders, it will enable us to see if we should aim our video at both genders, or just one in particular, meaning that we can include most things they like and please them. We also did this with age, so that we know what age group we want to aim at. Then we asked what our participants expected from a music video, but to get more information we conducted a focus group as not everything can be expressed easily on paper without watching a video first. The video questions are important as the music video is very important and needs to appeal to our target audience, if it completely veered away from what our target audience expected we would not have much of an audience or a disappointed audience. Demographics&Preferences

Media Language in Indie Rock Music Videos

When analysing media language in our genre we had to consider - How Do The Elements Communicate to the Audience?
Elements like Mise en scene, editing, camera shots/movement and sound create a language that tells something to the audience about what they are watching/seeing/listening to. I have applied these elements to the music videos we have looked at as a group, and see how they tell a something to the audience. I have analysed:
Kodaline: High Hopes
The 1975: Robbers
Jake Bugg: Seen it all
Alt J: Breezeblocks
The Neighbourhood: Let it Go
Bastille: Bad Blood

Alt J: Breezeblocks

Mise en Scene: The mise en scene in this video is very plain and casual and perceives the right tone of a casual home and normality. The clothing is dark, connoting that what is happening between the couple is wrong and bad. The couple are most of the time framed together, and when they aren't, the man is the one whom is mainly framed on his own connoting the idea that he is the dominant one and strong one and doesn't need anyone, this reinforces the stereotype that men are the dominant sex. The woman is rarely framed on her own, connoting that females are weak and she is the weak one in this relationship and cannot live her life without her partner. This is a typical element of domestic relationships- the man/woman tend to make their partner feel they can't be with anyone else etc. and can't do anything without them. The breezeblock is what holds the female down dead in the bath, meaning that the breezeblock has negative connotations resembled with death and matches the lyric, 'hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks' Also he grabs her a lot pulling her back close once again matching the lyric, 'She may contain the urge to run away'. The lighting is very low key thorughout the video, once again connoting that what is happening in this household is wrong and dark. Also at the very end where he is walking out of the door, the outside is much brighter, high key lighting compared to the low key lighting in the house connoting that the outside world is safer, but also where this man lives a lie as it covers his true self. The facial expressions on the couple are consistently changing, but most of the time their is anger, hurt, scared and sadness upon their faces. Just by seeing their facial expressions, one gets to engage more in the narrative and what is being told. 

Camera Shots/Movements: Close up on man crying and woman in bath, this establishes that he has something to do with what has happened to her and the wedding ring emphasises to the audience that he was in the wrong and one will feel an anger/hatred towards his character as one does not do this nasty stuff when in relationship. There is also close ups shown on feet and hands when fighting which creates a sense of fight and urgency, this makes one feel much closer to the action and feel more of how they are fighting. There is more than one close up of the wedding ring which once again emphasises the relationship and how wrong this situation is.

Editing: Man and woman edited together like at start when in bath, this establishes relationship alongside the close up on the wedding ring. Non linear narrative, everything is edited backwards which gives it a uniqueness, it also gives the story in a unique way. The non linear editing/narrative also gives the sense of urgency as hair is blowing around, things are being smashed and 'unsmashed', being replaced etc..This editing also creates a sense of confusion and can also lead to enigma as one knows the result but does not know how it all started etc. 

The Neighbourhood: Let it Go

Mise en Scene: The lighting in the video is consistently black and white which are binary opposites used to show the contrasting emotions. The high key white lighting shows the women living a supposedly happy life doing typical, stereotypical female roles but then this is contrasted when there is an edit to a black low key frame where the women are showing very negative emotions connoting that they are not wanting to live the typical, stereotypical roles of women. By creating these binary opposites, the audience feel sympathetic and empathy towards the female, especially females can associate with these women more than male audience members as this video is mainly perceived from a woman's point of view. The mise en scene is very consistent throughout the video as the women are all typically wearing the same costume - dresses, aprons, make up etc. these are very stereotypical female costumes. These costumes also make the women look like house wives whom are supposed to be serving their home and cleaning it. The make up on the women's faces is pristine in the white frames but then in the dark frames, their make up is running down their faces. This emphasises the fact that they are angry and upset with their lives creating more sympathy from the audience as we are seeing much more from their emotions. The women are also shown with domestic items like brooms, dusters, ovens, kitchens etc connoting that this is the place that women belong. The low key black frames also create enigma as one does not know what the woman is going to do as when someone gets angry, they act irrationally. 

Camera Shots/Movements: The camera most of the time stays in one position especially in the black, low key frames. This connotes that the women feel stuck in this place and roles and they cannot escape, once again creating sympathy. Also by staying in one position, one can see more of the emotion from the women. Sometimes, the camera jolts now and again to emphasise the falseness of these women's lives. Also, the camera focuses on certain aspects, for instance the camera focuses and does close ups on the domestic items connoting that women should do the cleaning and cooking and sometimes it focuses on certain parts of the women's body like her legs, shoulder etc to connote that women are objects to admire and use sexually. 

Editing: There are not any straight cuts connoting that these women's lives are false and is especially shown by the white, bright edits meaning there is no verisimilitude. But the majority of straight cuts that are used are to edit to the black, low key frames creating verisimilitude connoting that this is real. Also near the end there are many fast straight cuts and the frames show things with negative connotations connoting that this is in fact their real life, attitudes and feelings and that the white, high key frames are just a facade covering the truth and what society expects of them.

Overall: The elements are mainly used to create sympathy towards the women and also make up the genre as the 'Indie Rock' genre mainly uses low key lighting and relationships which are used in this video. But there is not the typical iconography of smoking, alcohol etc. This video also gives negative views on society and men as the video is shown mainly from a woman's perspective and the men are shown as lazy and especially when they are eating the money at the end. 

Applying Audience Theory

We started to look at audience and why audiences engage in texts. The main things that we came up with was:

We expanded on the 'Uses and Gratifications' Denis McQuail to get a clearer image and more in depth view on this subject:

Information: 
- Finding out about relevant events: Developing our knowledge of the world
- Find out social norms or values
- Engaging with the world
- Gain a sense of security via knowledge 

Personal Identity:
- Sense of self
- How we are seen/portrayed 
- Find reinforcements for personal values
- Find models of behaviour

Integration and Social Interaction:
- Share values/ideas so know whom we want to be around
- Feel part of a collective: Belonging
- Make friends: If put our likes on a social media or wear a t shirt etc
- Community
- Social Gatherings like events and conventions
- Find basis for conversation 

Entertainment:
- Pleasure
- Escapism
- Interest
- Mood
- Engage
- Relaxing
- Emotional Release

We then applied this to two music videos, we chose to apply it to 'Kodaline - High Hopes' and 'Jake Bugg- Seen It All'

Analysing Advertisements

I have chosen to look at advertisements for: 
Kodaline
Jake Bugg
Arctic Monkeys
The Vaccines
The 1975
I have done range of advertisements and artists as they are all promoted quite differently and can be hard to find as everything is promoted online, for instance Bastille's Bad Blood -



Most CD's are now promoted via Facebook, the artists website, Twitter etc as this is a better way to promote to a bigger audience. This is why it is rare to find paper copy advertisements in magazines etc...





These were the advertisements for the CD/music video that I looked at independently and as a group associated with my genre as I could not find adverts for all the ones I looked at independently:

Overall, the adverts seem to follow similar patterns. All of them have a release date for the album which informs the viewer when they will be able to purchase the album. This is important as if one does not know when the album is going to be released, or if it has been released they won't be able to buy it. On most of the adverts (apart from Arctic Monkeys) the album title/artists name are the most dominant feature in the frame as most of the time they are bold, big in font and are a colour which contrasts off of the background making it stand out more. There is also not much text on the adverts as it all gets straight to the point and the typical text shown is release date, band/artists name and album title. On all of the adverts I have analysed there is no sign of an image of the band/artist connoting that they focus on their music and don't want people to buy the album just because they like the look of the band/artist etc. Also, the text is the main thing that stands out the most (apart from Arctic Monkeys and maybe Kodaline) as there are no major images or designs that take the emphasis/focus away from the text which is good as a CD advert is made to advertise the CD and not the band members. Because of this, people focus more on the important aspects like release dates etc. The advertisements also match the CD cover design, which allows for one to know what album to look out for when going to buy/download it.

Analysing CD covers

I have chosen to look at the CD covers of my 5 music videos-
Bastille - Bad Blood
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
The 1975 - The 1975
The Neighbourhood - I Love You
Kodaline - High Hopes

The Front and Back cover


The 1975: The 1975
By having a simple CD cover it is very effective and allows focus on the main aspects of the album like the title and track list as there is nothing to distract away from it. It also enhances how the band are serious about their music.


Alt-J: An Awesome Wave


Bastille: Bad Blood
This album cover is very different from Alt-J,The Neighbourhood and The 1975 as it actually has a picture of a band member.


Kodaline: In a Perfect World
Kodaline challenges conventions of 'Indie Rock' CD covers as it is high-key lighting on the front cover as the rest have low-key lighting.


The Neighbourhood: I Love You

Overall, the typical elements shown on the front of the album covers have been, low key lighting to create some form of enigma, white writing for titles and track lists and the track lists are typically the main focus on the back cover of the CD as there is not much surrounding them and there isn't really anything taking away the attention from it. There is also typically just some form of pattern, and no band members/artists. There is also typically the album title and band/artists name on the front cover, with the exception of a few. Also the front cover seems to have more things going on on it like pictures etc... more than the back cover of the CD, this is down to the fact they want to attract an audience/buyer. Isolation also seems to be a theme on the album covers as most things are framed alone, or there is not much occurring or going on. This matches the key theme in the music videos of the 'Indie Rock' genre of isolation. 

The inside album cover

Bastille: Bad Blood

Kodaline: In a Perfect World

Alt-J: An Awesome Wave

The Neighbourhood: I Love You

The 1975: The 1975

Overall, majority of the time, the inside album cover has the same colour scheme as the front cover. This is good as it is consistent and one can see that it is all part of the same colour as it would look weird if, for example, 'The 1975' had a black front cover but the inside cover was bright yellow, or just a bright colour in general. Some have the picture of the band but some do not, it depends on the album and the ones that do have an image of the band, it goes well, it does not look out of place. But, even if there are hardly any images, it is still effective and works well. I have noticed that most of these inside covers have a simple design or layout and nothing too extravagant. Also, the images that are used match the album name, for instance, 'The 1975' is a self titled album and by including an image of the band 'The 1975' it matches, and one can form an image in their head of who the band are whenever they hear, 'The 1975'. This is the same as 'Kodaline: In a Perfect World' as the image looks tranquil, serene and perfect, matching the title. White and dark colours are a dominant colour that is used a lot in these inside covers, this enables one to know that it is part of the 'Indie Rock' genre. Out of all of them, the 'Bastille' inside cover looks the most out of place from its front cover, as the only thing that really matches is the sepia tone. Alt-J seems out of place also, but it works really well as, if there was the same pattern on the inside there would not be much attention focused on the booklet and there would be too much in your face.

Music Video Analysis: Narrative and Genre

Narrative

Me and my group have agreed on focusing on the genre of 'Indie Rock' as this is the type of music we can all agree that we like and would like to work with. In order to get a feel of the videos that go with this genre, we did a task on narrative: Propp, Strauss and Todrov. We had to apply these narrative theories to 5 videos that we chose. I chose to look at videos for:

The 1975 - Robbers

The Neighbourhood - Let it Go

Alt-J - Breezeblocks

Bastille - Bad Blood

Kodaline - High Hopes
Todrov believes that the narrative in films, videos etc goes in the order of there being an equilibrium then a disruption to the equilibrium, a recognition an attempt to repair and then a new equilibrium.
Propp on the other hand believes that there will always be characters in a text consisting of a hero, villain, princess, helper, donor, father and dispatcher.
Strauss believes that there are binary opposites, for example, good vs bad.
Barthes talks about and expands on the idea of codes, with a main one being the enigma code. 

The 1975 - Robbers

Todrov - 

Equilibrium: At the start of the video you can see the couple together where they look happy and in love doing many different things like laughing, dancing, smiling etc.

Disruption: He has a gun and they are planning to and go to rob a shop. He drinks and smokes a lot and gets shot when going to rob the shop. 

Recognition: Girl seems to start worrying shown by her facial expressions, especially when he holds the gun at her as a joke. 

Attempt to Repair: After the robbery they escape and go back home and she tries to heal his wound. 

New Equilibrium: They now have a lot of money because of the robbery and after the girl sees that she nearly lost him, they 'kiss and make up' 

Propp -  

The main singer Matt plays both the hero and the villain, he is a villain as he robs a shop and would have scared many people and would have threatened lives to get the money he got. But he could be seen as a hero as he survives a gun shot and is the main actor/character that is on a quest to rob a shop. The princess is played by the girlfriend as she is Matt's lover but she is not the one who needs saving, in fact it is Matt whom needs saving. The girlfriend can also been seen as a helper as she helps Matt rob a shop and helps heal his wound, also the rest of the band who plays Matt's friends in the video can be seen as helpers as they drive the get away vehicle and help Matt get to safety.

Strauss -

The binary opposite could be male v. woman as she is not a huge fan of this plan (shown by her facial expressions) and Matt seems to be the bigger fan and planner of the robbery.

Barthes - 

Engima is created in this video via the use of edits as edits create a sense of flashbacks. For instance, when there is a camera shot of a red (blood) handprint, the viewer is wondering why the is there and ponder what has happened. Also enigma is also created via the use of camera shots/movement, for instance when Matt gets shot and is running out of the shot the handheld camera movement creates a sense of urgency and the viewer does not know whether he is going to be alright. 

The Neighbourhood - Let it Go

Todrov - 

Equilibrium: The women seem to have normal but very robotic lives, doing typical feminine roles like cooking but they look happy.

Disruption: The women realise they aren't necessarily happy having to do the same old typical female roles, they recognise this mainly around the men. The disruption can be that their emotions is ruining this 'happy' supposedly normal lifestyle, shown by the black and white contrast and different facial expressions.*
Recognition*

Attempt to Repair: The women seem to do certain actions in their thoughts that they would not be able to do in real life. (Although this is not a real attempt to repair as everything is just being masked over and ignored, the cause is not being dealt with or destroyed)

New Equilibrium: At the end of the video it all goes back to 'normal' but it will never really be different as this is society and women are living a façade. 

Propp - 

The villain seems to be society and men as society expects women to do the stereotypical female jobs like cook etc and men also expect the stereotypical roles of women like looking after them etc. The princess is the females in the video as they need help/rescuing from society and their horrible emotions/feelings.

Strauss -

Happiness v. Anger/sadness
Another binary opposite is the idea of what society and men see (the white, high key lighting frames) opposed to how the women actually feel (the dark, low key lighting)

Barthes -

Enigma in this video is mainly created through lighting and edits this is due to one minute there is high key lighting and then edited to low key lighting where there are 2 completely contrasting emotions. Enigma is created as one does not know why/what has made this emotions have occured.

Alt - J - Breezeblocks

Todrov - 

Equilibrium: There is no real equilibrium at the start as it goes straight to disruption as this video works backwards. 

Disruption: He has killed the woman (whom looks like she has come to save his partner from the domestic relationship), as shown by the video being introduced with a dead woman being held down dead in a bath by a block. And he is on the floor holding his head upset.

Recognition: He recognises this disruption as he is crying on the bathroom floor.

Attempt to Repair: At the end he is trying to console his wife/partner but she is not listening and he walks out of the door. But if this is played backwards he is walking through the door and goes to the closet where she is hidden.

New Equilibrium: A woman is dead.

Propp - 

The villain is the boyfriend/husband as he produces some form of domestic violence which eventually leads to a woman's death. The princess is his wife/girlfriend as she needs saving from him. There is also a hero as the woman who dies in the end, has come to try and save the woman whom is being locked in a cupboard by the assumed partner.

Strauss -

Man and woman - Men are the stronger sex and control the women more and women are the weaker sex.

Barthes -

Enigma in this video is created due to the editing as the video is in a non chronological order and everything is happening backwards, so we start with looking at a dead woman in a bath but do not know how it has happened so enigma is created to find out why it has happened. Enigma is also created as not many answers are given and some things can be very hard to make out, so as well as enigma one can feel confused.

This is a good video, but it is very confusing as it is hard to make out who is who and what has actually started to happen. But if you watch this video in reverse you see that a woman comes in and sees the other woman being held up in the cupboard by the assumed boyfriend so tries to save her, resulting in her death. 

Bastille - Bad Blood

Todrov - 

Equilibrium: The girl is on her own, quite content in the garden 

Disruption: The TV shows a missing man and she seems to be somewhat involved or in some form of relationship with him

Recognition: She sees the TV with the missing man and the police lights outside the house

Attempt to Repair: Gets rid of his stuff in a box by putting it in the same place that he went missing (in the ocean)

New Equilibrium: Still alone but living with guilt, as shown by all the thoughts she has of him and her facial expressions.

Propp - 

It is very ambiguous so the woman may be a villain but she may not be as we do not know the full story, hence why it is ambiguous. 

Strauss -

There was no real binary opposites. But it could be argued that there is good v. evil as at the start something good comes from something evil and at around the end the couple get killed which is a bad thing but when it happened something good was happening between the couple - love. 

Barthes -

Enigma in this video is from the mise en scene mainly, for instance the tv reports of a missing man and the woman in the garden alone, the police lights outside, the man with a hood over his face, the sea. All of these elements create mise en scene as clear answers are not given and one wants to find out how everything links together. 

Kodaline - High Hopes

Todrov - 

Equilibrium: She saves the man from killing himself and he saves her from a marriage which she does not want to be part of (we eventually learn that it was an abusive partnership)

Disruption: *
Recognition: When they are alone he sees bruises on her back which is where we learn it was a abusive relationship later on the ex partner shoots both of the couple *

Attempt to Repair: He holds her hand as they lie there bleeding and then go to the hospital

New Equilibrium: They get to be together in some way even though she is dead and he is alive.

Propp - 

The hero and princess are both the man and woman as they both needed saving and they saved each other and they were a prize for one another. The villain is the ex partner as he used to abuse the woman and kills both of them by shooting them.

Strauss - 

Life and death - at the end where he is alive and she is dead 
Another binary opposite is that how something so wonderful came from something so miserable and daunting (unwanted wedding and attempted suicide)

Barthes -

Enigma is not really created as the ending is very unexpected as there were no real clues that their death was going to happen and when. 

Genre

Genre is a certain type of media text and is the way in which we categorise a media text.

What elements?

- Setting            - Narrative

- Iconography   - Characters

- Themes          - Mise en scene 
This links in with what Gunther Kress said about their being common ingrediants in a genre - 'A kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes' 

Why important for audiences?

- Idenification       -Preference 

- Social                - Escapism

- Entertainment   - Information

So they know what to expect and that the text meets their expectations and that there is something out there for everyone to enjoy like Christine Gledhill said, 'Differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to' Audience also links in with why genres are consistently changing/evolving because audiences change - Andrew Goodwin. 

Why is it important for producers?

- Know what kind of things to include in the text
- Know what things are typical of the genre and know whether to include certain elements in the text (it is a clear blueprint/guideline)
- Clear demographics
- Plan what going to do
- Know what times to put it on, e.g. a tv programme. If it is in the thriller genre they will know not to put it on at the time where children are still awake
- Economy
What Denis McQuail said about Genre being a blueprint to make a product links in with this as producers can gain more audience and money as they will be appealing to the right people by using the right elements. It is also practical for producers as Nicholas Abercrombie said that because genres use roughly the same things each time it is economically sensible, 'Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again' 

What the main elements/ingredients were that we found in our genre:

We all came together with each of our 5 videos and looked at them all and made a note of what elements regularly occurred in our genre. Some of the videos put together overall as a group were: Jake Bugg 'Seen it all', Arctic Monkeys 'Black Treacle', The Vaccines 'Post-break up sex'. 

Clothing: The clothing that is very typically worn in our genre I have noticed to be is -
                - Vest tops
                - Ripped jeans
                - t shirts 
                - Leather jackets
                - Military boots
                - Turn up jeans







Stock settings: (Like Gunther Kress said, there are stock themes that run through a genre)
The settings that are very typically used in our genre I have noticed have been:
- Isolated as the main character seems to be isolated from the world, it also gives more notice to that character or band member as they are the main one that we are looking at.
- Bars/pubs as most of the characters in the videos we have looked at seem to be youths and this is the stereotypical place for young people to go.
- Streets, this adds to the rock edge of the song
- Night time is very typical 
- Home is also a typical stock setting as many scenes take place in a home.

Sound: The typical sound that occurs from the indie rock artists are very independent, edgy, acoustic, sounds as it would as if it was sung live as the music isn't perfected by loads of different producers. There is also a lot of drums, guitars and bass. 

Stock characters: The typical gender for the main character to be is male and they tend to have a female partner (The 1975) and women tend to be the princesses and are the weaker ones and are just there to be with the male character. The characters tend to be isolated or have some form of disruption to their lives which has a big impact (Jake Bugg, Kodaline)

Iconography: The most typical iconography used in our genre has been: 
                           - Alcohol
                           - Cigarettes
                           
                 - Instruments - the instruments are often shown with the band member(s) to                                      emphasise that they are a band/or solo artist whom make their own music                                    and play their own instrunts.

Storyline/Themes: The main storyline/themes that seemed to occur the most were:
 - Relationships and romance, this was a major theme in most of the videos that we had watched. This typically led to a disruption to the relationship and something traumatic. Relationships were shown to be both good and bad in the videos.
- There was a lot of anti social behaviour and the main character had got into quite a lot of trouble (The 1975)
- Violence and sex was a very dominant theme also which fits in with how the characters seem to be youths and sex and violence is a stereotype associated with youths.   
 - There is also a dominant theme of injury/death to give the videos some form of tragedy that will engage the audience more and remember that video, like when I watched Kodaline's High Hopes video. 
Even though one may not have lived through these events one has an understanding for it because it is how it has been portrayed the same throughout the genre - John Fiske 'A representation of a car chase only makes sense in relation to all the others we have seen - after all, we are unlikely to have experienced one in reality...we would understand intertextually, in terms of what we have seen so often on our screens'. It also helps to make one understand - 'Genre is...an intertextual concept' - Katie Wales

Lighting:  The typical lighting seems to be low-key, dark lighting as it most of the time reflects the characters emotions and state of mind and also allows the viewer to know straight away what kind of music video it is and what type of genre it is. It is hardly ever bright, with lots of colour as this genre does not really have colour as an ingredient.