Questionnaire Analysis
1. How old are you?
There are a diverse group of ages. Due to our group being in the band 12 – 18, it was likely that there would be more participants in this band as well as the fact that we had decided to do the questionnaire randomly. What may have been better to do in the future is to still choose random method, but each do 10 individuals of each band width, that way we could then make a valid response.
However, this works also, because we could connote that the other one gets the less they listen to music [according to our results].
2. What gender are you?
According to the results, there are more males that took part in the questionnaire, however, this does not mean that males listen to more music than females seeing as the questionnaire was done at random.
3. What ethnicity are you?
We decided to ask this questionnaire, we detect whether there would be a difference in ethnicity that would affect the genre of music that they listen to, plus any other variations such as importance of music videos due to cultural differences.
4. What is your preferred music genre?
Looking at the results, we can automatically assume that there is a lot of variation between what individuals listen to, so far we have come to the conclusion that pop and r n’ b are quite popular, amongst are participants. We have taken into account that they may also listen to other genres, so asked which is their preferred genre, also we realise that the amount may have been caused by gender as well as ethnicity.
6. Are music videos important to you?
Majority of the participants had voted for ‘Sometimes’ showing that music videos are at times aren’t as important was we thought, this could be due to the fact that many people use mainly ipods to listen to music, rather than any other devices [as featured in question 10] where assumingly, the participant would listen as opposed to watching the video. However we cannot make solid prediction as there are many other factors to take into account e.g. schedule/routine, unable to watch videos etc.
7. Where do you watch/listen to music?
We as a group thought this would be an appropriate question to ask as an individual’s daily routine may differ from their home life and other activities. According to the survey, the internet is the most popular choice of listening/watching music, this could be due to more selection on the internet compare to either itunes and tv due to less gatekeepers and the long tail theory. A theory that suggests that due to the internet, there is an endless amount of music and genres on the internet, that you may not find in big institutions such as HMV, although some may argue that there is an increase to illegal downloading due to the internet having no limit and lack of gatekeepers.
8. How often do you listen to music?
‘As often as I can’ being selected as the highest connotes that music in a big part of our lives, yet some had chosen ‘rarely’, which can count as an extreme variable which unfortunately cannot be easily explain through a questionnaire.
9. What do you find is the most successful advertisement for promoting music?
Surprisingly, ‘friends’ was chosen frequently above internet. This shows that although our life is more modern and many things are done via internet and technology, word-of-mouth is still better than virtual, a technique that many thought were extinct. Yet it can also connote the idea that the people that we hang out with can affect our choice in music.
11. How much money do you spend on money per week?
Statistics show that less and less people are spending music on money as compared to a decade ago, this is most likely due to the increase of illegal downloading and file sharing on the internet. People nowadays are less willingly to buy CDs and such when it can be attained for free and frankly doesn’t require much effort.
14. Does your taste in music influence the way you dress?
Nearly all participants had chosen ‘no’ to this question because society allows us to listen to more than one genre and not to be judged as well as the fact that there is a diversity in clothes choices where an individual can also dress as they wish.
16. Where do you think is the best place to listen to music?
Several contributors had voted for clubs, which gives the idea that clubbing would also be a very good way to promote music to a diverse group of people [most likely of different ages] effectively.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Interview A - How do fans connect with the artist?
throughout the duration of this coursework I will interview a member of our target audience at different stages of production. This will enable us to analyse in depth the consumers wants helping us to deliver a media production more tailored to them. The first interview conducted is on the topic of 'connecting with the artist.' The interview was conducted with Mr. Lloyd Pink. He is 60 years old and lives within Greater London but was born in Jamaica.
Firstly I asked what music genres he listens to and he replied stating that he listens to mostly music of Caribbean origin. This included genres such as Soca, Reggae, Ska and Mento. With Mento and Ska they are not in production currently thus he accesses this from his collection of records and CD's however, with Soca and Reggae he is forced to use the internet if he wishes to be up to date. If he buys his Soca and Reggae on CD it has often been released within the Caribbean months before. Due to this he has become custom to using both legal video sharing websites such as Vimeo and YouTube as well as illegal websites such as stilltrinimix.blogspot.com. He never however mentioned services specifically desighned for delivering music such as spotifi and we7 i asked why, he replied that they dont generally cater to his favrioute genres of music. So i inquired about music videos and he said that he would watch dedicated channels such as MTV and 4Music but they don't cater to his musical tastes. He then stated that often only the most popular songs would get a music video.
From this interview i can concluded that in order to reach our target audiance outside the domestic market it is important to ensure our finished product is distrubuted via the internet. It also hints at a more connected-online society where the consumer can access everything via the internet this could be helpful with our promo pack as integrating social media within could give the fan a new level of intimacy with the artist further enhancing the user experience.
Firstly I asked what music genres he listens to and he replied stating that he listens to mostly music of Caribbean origin. This included genres such as Soca, Reggae, Ska and Mento. With Mento and Ska they are not in production currently thus he accesses this from his collection of records and CD's however, with Soca and Reggae he is forced to use the internet if he wishes to be up to date. If he buys his Soca and Reggae on CD it has often been released within the Caribbean months before. Due to this he has become custom to using both legal video sharing websites such as Vimeo and YouTube as well as illegal websites such as stilltrinimix.blogspot.com. He never however mentioned services specifically desighned for delivering music such as spotifi and we7 i asked why, he replied that they dont generally cater to his favrioute genres of music. So i inquired about music videos and he said that he would watch dedicated channels such as MTV and 4Music but they don't cater to his musical tastes. He then stated that often only the most popular songs would get a music video.
From this interview i can concluded that in order to reach our target audiance outside the domestic market it is important to ensure our finished product is distrubuted via the internet. It also hints at a more connected-online society where the consumer can access everything via the internet this could be helpful with our promo pack as integrating social media within could give the fan a new level of intimacy with the artist further enhancing the user experience.
Monday, 8 November 2010
First Interview
1. What would you like to see in a soca music video?
People dancing and having lots of fun because that is what soca music is meant to convey.
2. What aspects of modern music videos do you like?
I like dancing in music videos, because it makes the video more entertaining especially street dance, if the dancing is good and portrayed to look like everyone’s having a good time it makes me want to also dance and makes me happy.
I like acting in music video, narratives, sometimes I don’t understand the lyrics and what the songs talking about but explaining it through picture helps me to understand it. But sometimes the narrative in the video doesn’t link to the song and that makes it looks silly.
3. How do you feel about certain representations presented in modern music videos? (i.e. girls, boys, sexuality etc.)
I don’t like the way women are always parading around music videos half naked, I think that it looks nasty. I don’t like the way in modern music video’s to be seen as beautiful is to be skinny, or to wear designer clothes and to have their hair done in a certain way. Being beautiful isn’t about the material things a woman has, it’s much deeper than that and I wish music video’s portrayed that more often.
4. Do you think soca music videos are easier to create than mainstream music videos? Why?
Yeah, they are easier to make than mainstream music videos, because soca music is mainly about having fun and carnival whereas mainstream music videos may be about anything and have to portray many other things.
Taiyo, Female, 13, Soca Music Fan
People dancing and having lots of fun because that is what soca music is meant to convey.
2. What aspects of modern music videos do you like?
I like dancing in music videos, because it makes the video more entertaining especially street dance, if the dancing is good and portrayed to look like everyone’s having a good time it makes me want to also dance and makes me happy.
I like acting in music video, narratives, sometimes I don’t understand the lyrics and what the songs talking about but explaining it through picture helps me to understand it. But sometimes the narrative in the video doesn’t link to the song and that makes it looks silly.
3. How do you feel about certain representations presented in modern music videos? (i.e. girls, boys, sexuality etc.)
I don’t like the way women are always parading around music videos half naked, I think that it looks nasty. I don’t like the way in modern music video’s to be seen as beautiful is to be skinny, or to wear designer clothes and to have their hair done in a certain way. Being beautiful isn’t about the material things a woman has, it’s much deeper than that and I wish music video’s portrayed that more often.
4. Do you think soca music videos are easier to create than mainstream music videos? Why?
Yeah, they are easier to make than mainstream music videos, because soca music is mainly about having fun and carnival whereas mainstream music videos may be about anything and have to portray many other things.
Taiyo, Female, 13, Soca Music Fan
Music Video Proposal
My Music Video Proposal
Kes the Band- Right Dey
Starts with an establishing shot of a semi-busy road in black and white colouring. The music starts and the character appears. As he sings it is an extreme close-up of his lips singing the first line. On every cymbal clap a friend appears (only two friends), as he sings the line “what you do” he looks playfully over his shoulder at his friends and signals to move forward as the music starts. They begin to dance down the road, the shot occasionally changes to a long shot to reveal that as he walks the scenery changes from black and white to coloured and fun.
For the second half of the chorus it shows the singer and his friends doing a specific dance and various cutaways of people on the street enjoying this dance and green screen shots of dancers doing the same dance.
At the verse of the song it goes back to the singer on the street singing the song again, but also goes to cutaways of performance shots by the singer. At the line “it’s a way of life” the singer is going to pull out a picture of a girl mid-shot, then an over-the-shoulder shot and close-up of the picture. Throughout the second chorus there will be shots of him still bringing colour and life to the area, and cutaways to dancers, his performance shots and also shots of him being loved up with the girl in the picture (this is a flashback so an effect on the colour of the shots will be added).
For the next verse the singer is starting to invite civilians to join him in his little ‘party’ and finds his girlfriend (the girl from the photo) sitting at a cafe table and starts to sing to her “we’re gonna feel so right” etc, hugging her in relief that he has found her. They both go back to dancing with the crowd of civilians for the chorus. Until the end of the chorus where they all pause suddenly with their hands in the air as the camera begins to pan out and up, a bright light beams from them until noting is seen.
It then cuts to a close-up of hands jumping, people dancing, carnival costumes moving, all in black and white. Cutaway of the singers performance, in a low angle shot singing, “what to do, what to do, feel de riddim jumpin’ in you” and this takes you back to the scene of the carnival with the costumes and people dancing on the street, with cutaways to dancers on the green screen. As the crowd turn their back and leave the music fades to hear them all singing the outro “Ooh whoa whoa, Ee-yeah yeah” until the sun shines so bright there is nothing to be seen.
Kes the Band- Right Dey
Starts with an establishing shot of a semi-busy road in black and white colouring. The music starts and the character appears. As he sings it is an extreme close-up of his lips singing the first line. On every cymbal clap a friend appears (only two friends), as he sings the line “what you do” he looks playfully over his shoulder at his friends and signals to move forward as the music starts. They begin to dance down the road, the shot occasionally changes to a long shot to reveal that as he walks the scenery changes from black and white to coloured and fun.
For the second half of the chorus it shows the singer and his friends doing a specific dance and various cutaways of people on the street enjoying this dance and green screen shots of dancers doing the same dance.
At the verse of the song it goes back to the singer on the street singing the song again, but also goes to cutaways of performance shots by the singer. At the line “it’s a way of life” the singer is going to pull out a picture of a girl mid-shot, then an over-the-shoulder shot and close-up of the picture. Throughout the second chorus there will be shots of him still bringing colour and life to the area, and cutaways to dancers, his performance shots and also shots of him being loved up with the girl in the picture (this is a flashback so an effect on the colour of the shots will be added).
For the next verse the singer is starting to invite civilians to join him in his little ‘party’ and finds his girlfriend (the girl from the photo) sitting at a cafe table and starts to sing to her “we’re gonna feel so right” etc, hugging her in relief that he has found her. They both go back to dancing with the crowd of civilians for the chorus. Until the end of the chorus where they all pause suddenly with their hands in the air as the camera begins to pan out and up, a bright light beams from them until noting is seen.
It then cuts to a close-up of hands jumping, people dancing, carnival costumes moving, all in black and white. Cutaway of the singers performance, in a low angle shot singing, “what to do, what to do, feel de riddim jumpin’ in you” and this takes you back to the scene of the carnival with the costumes and people dancing on the street, with cutaways to dancers on the green screen. As the crowd turn their back and leave the music fades to hear them all singing the outro “Ooh whoa whoa, Ee-yeah yeah” until the sun shines so bright there is nothing to be seen.
Artist Research
Kes the Band is a band formed in 1998 in Trinidad by brothers Kees (lead vocalist), Jon (Guitar), and Hand Dieffenthaller (Drums), close friend Riad Boochoon (Bass Guitar) and Keithson Cruikshank (Keyboards). They are all alumni of Presentation College in San Fernando, Trinidad where fellow soca artist Machel Montano also attended.
Before becoming famous as Kes the band, the boys formed their first band called Limestone, in order to perform for a local competition in which they disappointedly got placed 11th, but came back the following year stronger and got placed 1st. Because of their determination to win they’d decided that they’re music career was what they wanted to focus on and got noticed by Joey NgWai and joined the band Imij & Co, which meant that they had to focus on the genre soca, which wasn’t their musical focal point. From 2001 till 2005 in which broke from Imij & Co and became Kes the Band where they decided to be known for their music that they liked to play.
They’ve become one of the most well known soca bands to come out of the Caribbean, accomplishing things such as being one of the only featured live acts on the MTV show “The Gauntlett 2” and at the launch of MTV’s network TEMPO. Also they worked with World renowned producer Derek Bramble creating songs such as “The Calling” which has been selected by Electronic Arts Sports (EA Sports) to be on the soundtrack for the highly anticipated football game, FIFA 2006 – World Cup Edition.
In 2006 they released their first album, three Baldheads and a Dread, which featured the song “Stay With Me” which dominated the Toronto website charts remaining at the number 1 spot for 9 weeks, and “Heads High”.
In 2007 they released their second album Lion.
And finally their most recent album On In 5 which came out in 2009 featuring songs such as “Till The Morning” and “Stalker” in which the music video for “Stalker” features a reference to the great music video of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Conventions of Music Videos
Conventions of Music Videos
Although our group is basing our videos on Soca music, we had decided to research conventions on all genres, that way, in our video we can add certain aspects of others to get a wider audience, as well as the fact that all video are similar in more than one way.
Mise-en-scene generally sets a representation via lighting, costumes, make up and location, this tends to create stereotypes and false accusations such as ‘Is the video connoting or encouraging sexy women?’ or ‘Is this how the media/producer/singer view gender?’ An example of this would be in KES the band – My girl, is this his outlook on women, or perhaps the director, or it is only in a dream?
Depending on the theme, the mise-en-scene for the music video will differ. For example, in music videos such as Breaking Benjamin – Diary of Jane, the video tends to have particularly dark lighting to fit the mood of the song along with dark colours of the singer and band. In opposition, the ‘Jane’ in which he sings about is surrounded in white, white clothes, white room and furniture etc, this could connote emotions as well as personality. Yet at the same time, both are rather clean looking, which tends to be used to attract the audience to the singer and band.
On the other hand Bigbang’s video, Lollipop, has an extreme use of bright colours, this also includes their costume, make up and location. The lighting is also bright, giving off a happy and hyper mood to the audience, which matches the song and genre. Similarly Eminem’s video ‘Just lose it’ has the same type of mise-en-scene as Bigbang, yet with some songs there are different aspects that contrast.E.g. : ‘when I’m gone’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYNFfgrXTI&ob=av2e
Some argue that there are some typical conventions of genres such as HipHop videos are usually situated in a club or street with expensive cars, branded clothes and such, yet you also find that although rock videos are at the other end of the spectrum, they too use the same type of camera shots, semi-naked women, and important things to their stereotype eg guitars and animals.
With most music videos, there are usage of more than one shot, varying from close up’s of the singer’s face or other factors that relate to the song theme or lyrics much like in films. However there are some videos which use only one shot, like “”
The camera shots are used to create emphasis, such as establishing the location, the singer/band and also to match the beat or tempo of the song. This also refers to the camera movements, as they tend to follow the singer/band, even if there is no narrative.
The use of editing produces the music video in various ways, e.g. the video would be distasteful if it was all of the singer/band singing [however, there has been performance videos], so jump cuts are normally used to change of scene, perhaps the narrative of the video, or concept if there is no narrative. Some performances like choreographed dancing may be added to aid visualisation and to avoid repetition.
Effects may is used such as slow motion of the women or even men, this can also accentuate the lyrics or the song e.g. bridge, or even with the bass line like in JLS – Club is alive at the very beginning, effects like fading was used to equal the beat, slow motion of each members faces and slides to go to the next scene.
JLS – Club is alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w6cYoEu_P4&ob=av2n
Breaking Benjamin – Diary of Jane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWaB4PXCwFU
Eminem – Just lose it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dcVOmEQzKA&ob=av3e
Although our group is basing our videos on Soca music, we had decided to research conventions on all genres, that way, in our video we can add certain aspects of others to get a wider audience, as well as the fact that all video are similar in more than one way.
Mise-en-scene generally sets a representation via lighting, costumes, make up and location, this tends to create stereotypes and false accusations such as ‘Is the video connoting or encouraging sexy women?’ or ‘Is this how the media/producer/singer view gender?’ An example of this would be in KES the band – My girl, is this his outlook on women, or perhaps the director, or it is only in a dream?
Depending on the theme, the mise-en-scene for the music video will differ. For example, in music videos such as Breaking Benjamin – Diary of Jane, the video tends to have particularly dark lighting to fit the mood of the song along with dark colours of the singer and band. In opposition, the ‘Jane’ in which he sings about is surrounded in white, white clothes, white room and furniture etc, this could connote emotions as well as personality. Yet at the same time, both are rather clean looking, which tends to be used to attract the audience to the singer and band.
On the other hand Bigbang’s video, Lollipop, has an extreme use of bright colours, this also includes their costume, make up and location. The lighting is also bright, giving off a happy and hyper mood to the audience, which matches the song and genre. Similarly Eminem’s video ‘Just lose it’ has the same type of mise-en-scene as Bigbang, yet with some songs there are different aspects that contrast.E.g. : ‘when I’m gone’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYNFfgrXTI&ob=av2e
Some argue that there are some typical conventions of genres such as HipHop videos are usually situated in a club or street with expensive cars, branded clothes and such, yet you also find that although rock videos are at the other end of the spectrum, they too use the same type of camera shots, semi-naked women, and important things to their stereotype eg guitars and animals.
With most music videos, there are usage of more than one shot, varying from close up’s of the singer’s face or other factors that relate to the song theme or lyrics much like in films. However there are some videos which use only one shot, like “”
The camera shots are used to create emphasis, such as establishing the location, the singer/band and also to match the beat or tempo of the song. This also refers to the camera movements, as they tend to follow the singer/band, even if there is no narrative.
The use of editing produces the music video in various ways, e.g. the video would be distasteful if it was all of the singer/band singing [however, there has been performance videos], so jump cuts are normally used to change of scene, perhaps the narrative of the video, or concept if there is no narrative. Some performances like choreographed dancing may be added to aid visualisation and to avoid repetition.
Effects may is used such as slow motion of the women or even men, this can also accentuate the lyrics or the song e.g. bridge, or even with the bass line like in JLS – Club is alive at the very beginning, effects like fading was used to equal the beat, slow motion of each members faces and slides to go to the next scene.
JLS – Club is alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w6cYoEu_P4&ob=av2n
Breaking Benjamin – Diary of Jane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWaB4PXCwFU
Eminem – Just lose it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dcVOmEQzKA&ob=av3e
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Music Video Proposal
Right Dey – KES the band
I took into account that the weather is getting colder and it would be hard to get a visual that would match the happy and bright mood of soca music, so I thought to do something that almost clashes with each other, but still have the same type of hype and energy.
There could be a linear narrative, beginning with a cold and miserable place/area e.g. a room when the song comes on the singer’s ipod, to which he begins to sing and dance, a few reactions shots, then slowly, everyone in the place beguns to perk up, maybe get a little warmer, and it moves out on to the street or another room. And at the end still have the singer, dancing and singing to himself, whilst the world around him go about their own business, much like in KES the band – My girl, where he wakes up from his dream. By having him dancing by himself at the end, it connects with the lyrics ‘Don’t care what nobody say’ or imagining to himself.
“I can take you there, to another place” we could have a strong correlation between the lyrics and the videos and have the main singer, sing and dance, maybe even tapping someone, as if passing on all the rhythm and need to dance to someone.
Like many other videos, we could also have a montage by the instrumental/ bridge to accentuate it, and other parts to give the video more flavour such as:
o Lighting changing from dark silhouettes to bright lights, or even bright colours to stick with the soca theme
o Varying from close ups, to establishing, long shots, to imitate the tempo and rhythm of video and the dancing
o Body/dance movements, that can cut to the beat as well and having the shots cut to the beat as well. E.g hips movement from ‘sexy’ girls, close ups or slow motions of dancers, could even add different types of dancing
o Close ups of girls and singer or band, to give to the target audience
o Also steady cam, and use of hand held camera shots that would track the singer, especially the girls, like most videos we can copy the male representation on girls, and jump shots, making the visual slightly distorted
I took into account that the weather is getting colder and it would be hard to get a visual that would match the happy and bright mood of soca music, so I thought to do something that almost clashes with each other, but still have the same type of hype and energy.
There could be a linear narrative, beginning with a cold and miserable place/area e.g. a room when the song comes on the singer’s ipod, to which he begins to sing and dance, a few reactions shots, then slowly, everyone in the place beguns to perk up, maybe get a little warmer, and it moves out on to the street or another room. And at the end still have the singer, dancing and singing to himself, whilst the world around him go about their own business, much like in KES the band – My girl, where he wakes up from his dream. By having him dancing by himself at the end, it connects with the lyrics ‘Don’t care what nobody say’ or imagining to himself.
“I can take you there, to another place” we could have a strong correlation between the lyrics and the videos and have the main singer, sing and dance, maybe even tapping someone, as if passing on all the rhythm and need to dance to someone.
Like many other videos, we could also have a montage by the instrumental/ bridge to accentuate it, and other parts to give the video more flavour such as:
o Lighting changing from dark silhouettes to bright lights, or even bright colours to stick with the soca theme
o Varying from close ups, to establishing, long shots, to imitate the tempo and rhythm of video and the dancing
o Body/dance movements, that can cut to the beat as well and having the shots cut to the beat as well. E.g hips movement from ‘sexy’ girls, close ups or slow motions of dancers, could even add different types of dancing
o Close ups of girls and singer or band, to give to the target audience
o Also steady cam, and use of hand held camera shots that would track the singer, especially the girls, like most videos we can copy the male representation on girls, and jump shots, making the visual slightly distorted
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