effective advertising record labels use to promote the artist

Without advertising artists wouldn't be able to sell the product. It is important to take the product to the consumer as the chances of a respectable number of 'could be fans' searching for the products are unlikely. This is why the music industry must use the correct advertising to market their products and increase sales revenue.

Website -

Websites are a great promotional tool for musicians, however this online approach only has a large impact when for the use of the bands existing fans, or people who know how to find the website. Websites allow fans to buy merchandise such as T-Shirts, mugs, hats etc. This of course allows the band brand to branch out, meaning everyone who wears the merchandise is endorcing the artists! Websites also allow for music to be bought and many independant musicians offer their music for an optional payable fee, where fans pay whatever they want for the products. This ensures fans are happy, and the independant musicians recieve some funding to keep there careers going.

I-tunes

I tunes of course is a huge advertising opportunity for musicians. The updates main page on the program shows new albums releases by bands and any new singles etc that are released. This platform however does have its bounderies. The limited advertising space more than likely means that the cost will be high. This would indefinatly limit the usage by smaller less established bands and be dominated by the better known musicians.

Amazon

When customers who buy from amazon log in there is a page displayed which has already analysed past purchases and recommends products which are tailored to the individual shopper. This is fantastic for musicians as it means they can rely partly on similar bands from their genre to advertise, and then be displayed in the 'products you may enjoy' section and intrigue consumers to try their products. This kind of sale will more than likely lead to website hits and further merchandise purchases meaning the band/group will recieve increased cash flow.

Spotify

Spotify is a relativly new music streaming download which offers customers free music to enjoy with restrictions of use, as they can only listen to the songs on the program and can not copy. Spotify like itunes has advertisment slots which updates and is a good platform for consumers to get a taste of various genres and artists through suggestions and ads.

Gigs/performances

When bands perform live, they not only have the chance to play songs that their fans already know from past albums but it gives them the opportunity to perform new music which may have only just been released and is not widely known yet.

what makes a good website - For bands fitting Snow Patrols audiences

We looked through Band sites with a similar target audience to Snow Patrol including Snow Patrol's own site to find out what elements make a good Internet site.

After analysing the band sites of, Elbow, Coldplay, Radio Head, Biffy Clyro, and Kings of Leon we depicted several key features that was apparent on each site.

1) Dark Colours

With the exception to the Kings of Leon's site, all others used predominantly dark colours as the background for their pages. Even though the Kings of Leon did not use colours as dark as the others, it still could not be described as vibrant. Black was the most frequent colour used on each website and was often supplemented by colours such as reds and browns. It could be said it reflects the image the band are trying to promote and the themes introduced in their music.


2) Headings and Pages

Several common key pages branch off from the main site on the band websites. Examples of this include, Interviews, Forums, Gig Dates, Merchandise, Gallery.

The idea of this is to give fans any additional information they want about the band, which of course crafts and image of the band to the consumer. Information, gig dates, and forums not only give the audience an entertainment factor but make each band appear more credible. These additional pages usually found of the main homepage, are either located at the top of the site on a navigation bar, or down the side vertically for easy to use access by users.

3) Text used - Fonts, Style, Size

Each site obviously uses slightly different font types, however each use a similar idea of contrasting colours and block writing for headings. The contrasting colours (usually white) make navigating the website much easier as headings and text stand out and are easy to read. Fonts follow a standard sans serif format so the eye can follow the text with ease.


4) Bad Site

A good example of a bad website is Coldplay's site. The colour scheme is hard to read and the site is generally hard to navigate due to the random layout. It does not follow the scheme common in the other band sites such as bold, clear titles and an easy to navigate side/top bar. However again the dark colours are incorporated once more on this website, as are in the others.

MARKET RESEARCH

We decided to use online question forum Yahoo Answers!

My question - 'What makes a good website for an artist or band?'. I posted the question as 'open' meaning that anybody could see and answer it. This would give me a wider range of answers.

Waiting 3 days after posting the question, I then gathered the responses I received and made note of the most popular suggestions. These were:


-an interesting but brief band biography
-members of the band and what they play
-access to play music on the site
-neat presentation
-dates showing the band/artists' next shows or tours
-a link to the artists' store
-a contact page. where members of the industry or fans can contact the artist
-easy to navigate
-consistent colour scheme
-links to Youtube, Facebook, Twitter etc

band site analysis - Coldplay

I decided that looking deeper into band sites similar to Snow Patrol is vital if I am to understand what good features make a band site. The following will look at what the website does and does not do well and will analyse why and how.

First impressions show that the website has adhered to the stereotypical dark background for alternative/indie, however the use of albuminous text makes the site stand out strongly over the others. This does not necessarily mean that this is a good choice by coldplay, as the text may stand out, but is not overly clear and due to a heavy use of text it becomes difficult to navigate.

Above is a good example of how ineffective fonts and colours have been used to voice and represent the band on their website. The squiggly blue text does not contrast very well against the black background and considering that the font used above is so different (capital letters and serif) coldplay are clearly relying on their already established audience to spend time attempting to navigate the website.

Although that the colour and fonts used are not the best selection by the site designers the navigation bar options are quite good. The options fans are available to choose from, cover a broad range. The first option being 'news' first appears to be a useful link leading to band updates. However instead it pointlessly leads to world news, which for incidents such as the Japan Tsunami would give the band a good ethical image but may deceive many eager fans who are not interested. The 'Live' link unlike the 'news' tab, does exactly what it should do, and provides a link to live dates for group performances. The archive and time line links also offer additional items such as videos of the band as well as a timeline of events since the band formed back in 1997. However although these tabs provide the information they say they do, they are poorly laid out and are over complicated making them little fun to use. The recordings tab is also a very clever way to advertise the bands recent and past music as well as give other links to videos and audio tracks. The 'exhibition' tab contains band imagery and album art which is relatively entertaining as it contains a quirky system to access the pictures. However by making the title for this link over complicated, the band may be missing out on vital marketing opportunities and will not be maximising its fan base with product association, since the home page lacks any significant imagery to create a visual link. The mailing list option is however well laid out and contains an easy guide to e-mailing the band directly through using simple 'you fill' text boxes.

My conclusion is that the Coldplay fan site contains many flaws. I believe the main issues which are holding it back are the inappropriate text colour and font combinations as well as a lack of a common theme throughout the website. This is clearly visible when the user navigates away from the home page and is faced with an all new layout and design making it tricky to use the site. Although several of the links found on the nav bar to the left of the site are of good quality, the band seem to have created titles which are over complicated, meaning they may be missing out on potential views and commercial publicity. Luckily for Coldplay, they are a well established band and have been around for many years, meaning their main fan base will have already been achieved. This means that their website is a less important tool, and as long as they can clearly display tour dates and merchandise they will ensure a cash inflow and hopefully expand their fan base.

Time schedule's for filming

From As we learnt that keeping a tight schedule and setting dates and times well in advance were key to success and getting work finished to a good standard and to a good quality.

Meetings - First we decided group meetings every Wednesday and Friday to discuss ideas, dates and set tasks to be completed for the following meeting. This allowed us to complete various segments of the overall task allowing for everyone to complete equal amounts of work and to a good standard.

Film Dates - We decided a later filming session would be more appropriate so we decided to host the main date for filming on the 5Th and 6Th of February. We decided for a later date so we could plan out in detail our ideas, story boards and setting so the filming could be done exactly right.

We later added more dates as two days of filming was not enough. As well as this decision, we created call sheets which each group member received. This allowed for maximum group efficiency and meant confusion was minimised!

Prop and actor list

General people and equipment

-One camera
-One tripod
-One umbrella (in case of rain)
-One Mac book (for editing)
-One music player (so acting and dancing can be in time)

- Car ( for transport as well as a potential lighting source)
- one barn (to film the dancing)
- one field (to film the horse scenes)
- a tree (to film the miming scenes)

- 2 dancers (one to represent the male role, and the other to take a feminine role, both female)
- one male actor (to mime the lyrics)
- one driver (to transport)

COSTUMES

Dancers
-two black skirts
-two small clip on top hats
-two pairs of black tights
-white face paint
-two pairs of black shoes

Male actor (Ben)
-one black suit
-one white shirt
-a pair of black shoes

Our website

We decided to create a website to represent as closely as possible other professional sites. By using a free online website maker, we were able to adapt and create our own template, meaning that we were not restricted when it came to making the site how we wanted. We learnt from our own research that bands use fan sites heavily to update its fan base, as well as promote their music to new market and consumers. The web address itself is: http://www.ignitedantesinferno.moonfruit.com/

Name (web address)

The domain name is of course the name of the band that we chose as well as the name chosen for the album combined. The idea behind this is to act as more of a promotional tool for their new album release. Of course fans would be redirected from the normal fan site if this was of course real.

Colours

The colour scheme, although not entirely to the conventions of the standard Indie/Alternative genre's website, flows well against the backdrop which is again a promotional tool in which the album cover is shown clearly behind any text boxs.

The text box's follow a continuous theme which consist of using a black background tinted with a dark green border, which combines our natural theme to match the album cover as well as meeting some conventions of real band sites of a similar genre.

text

The text we used was mostly to tell fans about the band, giving quirky facts such as how they got their name, how long they have been formed and additional information about the album. To give a more credible, as well as personal touch to the website, we often used quotations designed to be from the lead singer. This is commonly seen on real band websites, as it lets the audience receive a deeper link with the artists.

Images

The images we used mainly show concerts that are supposed to be the band live. However we also created a sample picture of a limited edition album pack which contained several vinyls as well as DVD content, and a poster. The idea was again to promote the album's release as in the real music industry promotion is key to sales.

Pages When creating the site we decided to make several different pages that fans could access. They are as follows;

Home - It is important to have a home page which fans will be taken to once they enter the website. This of course is to make them feel comfortable that they are in the correct place, and gives general information of the new album release, upcoming news and offers that they can receive!

Bio - The bio for the band gives additional, more detailed information about how the band formed, where they formed and of course, following the promotional theme, information on the release of the new album. It is designed to give its fan base a better understanding of how the band work, and make them feel almost as if they know them personally!

Pictures - Of course this is simply a gallery to display new images of the band and their recent activities simply to give the audiences something interesting to look at. Also by showing pictures of live performances which look vibrant and exciting Ignite are more likely to increase sales of their live tour in the music industry. By allowing a comment box below, fans are able to voice their opinions of photographs and give them the feeling that they are involved and are being heard by the band as well as other fans!

Interviews - The interview section is designed to be a constant feed which shows interviews as they happen, thus replacing the previous post. We have designed an interview with the music company, MTV, which with its name alone adds credibility t the interview as the business is so well established within the music industry. The interview is designed to achieve similar objectives as the bio page, and gives additional information to its audience but in a slightly different format.

Contact us - This really only acts as a support page for fans. It allows visitors of the site to email the band with their thoughts, feelings and support and in the music industry it would increase not only credibility of the website, but make fans feel valued. customer service is essential in any industry, however in this situation the product is the band and the bands music.

digipack research!

Digipaks are the only other real alternative to the original Jewell cases used by producers to sell artist music. The fold out design of the Digipak often includes additional information about the band/group/artist. Digipaks are not always the only option, as many record companies offer both this option and the standard Jewell case. This allows 'special addition' albums to be released at a higher cost to consumers as well as the simple design Jewell case.

The fold out flaps are not only a way to give additional band information but also allows extra publicity, increasing knowledge of the artist(s) and widening their market share. The digipak seemed to take off further in the early 2000's, where many large producers could adopt the ethical stance of 'economically sound' meaning recycled materials and ink could be used to make them appear more caring to the market.

I think it is important to point out that with massive leaps in production and economies of scale being developed over the years Digipak's can be used purchased and developed far easier than when the idea was first put into play. At one time Digipaks where only really accessible by leading musicians but now are priced much cheaper and available by a broader market.

Our group

Choosing to create a digipak for our chosen band as it allows us to show off all the features of our band as we have changed the name, the artists will not be known well. This means additional information and artwork would aid the consumer awareness and enhance the entertainment experience.

Digipak design and information

<<<--- Digi-Pak design

The images on the design reflect the ones used in the music video so audiences can make a connection between the two. As well as this by using the similar images as in the music video, audiences will likely see the song behind the video as a feature song which is a foundation for the album.

Colour scheme

The colouring of the pictures was created by changing the contrast and lighting to give the images a golden tint and give the scene a warmer feel. We decided to do this because it also give the image a surreal look, and further enhances the idea that the image has deeper implications and symbolic content.

Titles and headings

The titles shown on the edge of the horizon, contrasts well against the sky making it easy to see by consumers. The font we chose took some time to choose, as it was important not to make the text look tacky or out of place. For this reason we used smooth text which made the writing easy to read and look 'classy' to the eye.

On the back of the album cover the text shown is in the same font, however is much smaller as more information needs to be displayed. The text is in symmetrical positions in list form on the exterior to make it easier to read for the audience.

IMAGES

We decided to use the images of the horse and the girl again as they are a memorable part of our music video, and probably the most symbolic! The horse is symbolic for the women in the relationship as it represents beauty rather than sexuality which is what we deliberately wanted to avoid, hence the use of a horse. We did not want Laura Mulvings male gaze theory to come into practice when consumers thought of our video and when looking for our album.

Due to the pictures importance, we decided to display two variations of the same theme, on the front and back of the digipak cover. Similarly to the website design we used a continuous theme across all three of the platforms to help create a connection between all three of our media products.

The Intertior and fold outs

The digi-pak is of course designed to include additional fold out flaps which include extra images and other information. On the actual fold out flap itself we decided to place again the song list which is also shown on the exterior of the cover. Following the same colour scheme as was shown on the back cover of the album, but without the images, creates a clearer, more dominant source to locate track numbers. The Digi-pak template we chose only contains one fold out, but did have 2 interior slots to place additional images. We decided to use two photos of the lead singer from our music video to fill these slots. Although the images are features in our video, they can also be directly related to the other songs on the album as the singer is expected to be in other videos if there are any.This was so that, instead of only creating links for the one track, we could create a more diverse range of consumer links, which stopped the product looking more like a single track release.
Limited edition bonus material

After creating the website we decided to create and design a limited addition, multi format package which was only available for purchase off the band website. We were inspired from real band websites and by using photo shop we managed to create a simple, but professional image to represent our additional product. The package includes 2 Cd's one with bonus tracks on, and 3 vinyl copies which are kept in the digi-pak inspired sleeve.

The reason for the additional design of this product was to maximise the credibility of our overall band promotion. As we changed the name of the band, we though it especially important to increase the media platforms that the band could be accessed on, hence the creation of the vinyl and CD versions.

digi-pak analysis - Tenacious D (Pick of destiny)

The Pick of Destiny (Front of album cover)

Tenacious D released the Pick of Destiny in 2006 and clearly shows the contrast between the well designed background image, showing the band in the clouds against the deliberate use of bold, unconventional fonts and text to display the band's name and of course the name of the album. It becomes instantly obvious to the audience that the poses the men are in is designed to mimic that of angelic figures, often seen in religious painting and texts representing superhuman or superior figures. However although the instant impression is to believe the band are trying to enhance their consumers views on them as 'Godly' the deeper meaning comes across as simply comedic as any fans of the band will know that their quirky, blunt humour is anything but beautiful, and instead the genre is almost comedy rock. Shown to represent the Greek god image, but for ulterior reasons than power, the two artists are shown as semi-nude, which could be seen as them displaying their comfort in the music industry and that they are in effect 'in their element'.

The god like atmosphere presented in the imagery used, could be to demonstrate the importance of the 'pick' mentioned in the title, 'Pick of Destiny' which suggests an item of power and unique identity, this is further reflected in the different effect of fire used on the title of the album. Again the importance of the devil's arm shown rising through the cloud towards the pick is also relevant as it gives the message that it is an item of such great importance that even the lord of the underworld seeks to have it.

Inter textual reference is clearly applicable here, as the Pick of Destiny is the main story behind the bands film release which the album acts as both a soundtrack for, as well as being an independently sold album available for purchase form stores and online. Not only the pick is stretched across other related texts, but the devil's arm shown rising up is featured in an old music video 'the greatest song in the world' which was one of the bands first hit singles. This is a good example of creating a continuous theme for past fans to relate to, creating a clear connection between media platforms.

The pick of Destiny (back of album cover)

The back of the album cover carries on the theme of heaven by following the use of clouds seen on the front cover. However the use of imagery is significantly less as other information has to be displayed rather than just images of the band. This is achievable as the front of the album establishes with the audience what band the album was created by and the back then gives details into what is contained as far as song names and production labels.

The names of the songs are listed clearly down the centre of the case and the colour chosen (white) contrasts well against the background colour of blue (sky). Although the imagery on the back has been largely decreased the band name and title of the album are still displayed in the bold, individual font and colours to keep viewers aware that the album was created by Tenacious D.

Additional features shown such as the record label who produced the album are commonly seen on music productions and are predominantly a requirement by the bands chosen label to act as marketing. The 'Advisory' label indicates some explicit content will be found on the album and acts as a warning to consumers before buying, not only limiting the chance of legal action being taken against the label/band but also simply to act as a gesture of honesty to the audience.

Copyright details can be clearly seen on the very bottom of the album cover, which give the consumer his/her rights of use, which makes them aware of what they can or can't do with the audio CD they are about to purchase. This is so that purchasers of the product have no excuse and the record labels/band can take legal action if their revenue is threatened by pirating. Finally a bar code is clearly displayed on the bottom right hand side of the album cover. This is on almost every single product found in the UK, and acts as a way of identifying price and counting stock levels. The bar code also gives the album credibility as users and cashiers will be confused and annoyed if they are unable to find one.

Snow Patrol CD covers reasearch & planning (part 2)

We firstly decided to put together a mood board to help us to discover common themes and ideas frim the groups thoughts. and then to develop any that appeared worthwhile!



The mood board was labelled A,B,C,D and E so each picture added can be discussed.
---------> Mood Board ---->





A = top imageB= top right image
B= top right image
C= Bottom Right (horse and man)
D= bottom image
E= far left image
F = centre image

Image A - Image 'A' is a good example of a dark, baron landscape which we agreed would act as a good backdrop if merged with other elements from other images. The darkness will be symbolic for negative emotions such as depression which are heavily incorporated within the song we have chosen ('You could be happy') and also matches the 'moody' persona given off by many of Snow patrols songs.


Image B - Again the backdrop for this image gives a depressing feel similar to Image A. However this image contains two horse's silhouettes which adds to the eerie feel of isolation.


Image C- This picture is very different to A and B, and is far more colourful in comparison. The man in red walking a horse through a field is far more 'upbeat' and less depressing. We were considering using elements from imagery like this (e.g man in red and horse) which is colourful and placing it against a dark background to make them stand out. This would then go with the theme that depression and sad emotions will always be there, but humans are resistant. (Good examples of this in snow patrol music is the song , Run - which

Images D and E - A lone wolf is shown on a white background to represent the feeling of isolation which again is another negative emotion put forward by many of the Snow Patrol soundtracks. (you could be happy and Run). Image E again shows a 'Lone Wolf' but he is facing a brightly lit city.

Image F - This is simply a scenic view of a tree on a hill, and has little reason for choosing other than it seems to 'fit' with the style of music!

Snow patrol CD Covers research & planning (part 1)

1) Up To Now
2) Eyes Open
3) Final Straw
4) 100 million Suns
5) When it's all over we still have to clear up
6) LateNightTales
7) Songs for polarbears

After examining the various album art, we decided that the common trend of abstract imagery shines through on each example. The album covers do not seem to show much similarity apart from this however and apear fairely unique and random. This could play in our favour as it expands our optons for design ideas!

Inspiration for music video!

Once we had chosen our song, and studied the genre into some deapth we had to decide on what styles we wanted to choose before planning out the video and filming. We watch many real life music videos and jotted down several ideas and styles which we could possibly use. It was important to carefully taylor the video as although we had recieved many ideas from our focus groups the way in which to represent them was questionable.



HURTS





Although the band are not of the same genre as Snow Patrol, we liked the style of concept used in their videos and this is where we came up with the idea of a symbolic dance in contempory, classy dress. Although the group are of a different genre, the pace and rhythm of the song is very similar which is one reason why we decided to take inspiration from Hurts. It was not only the dance from this video that inspired us, we were struggling to get the cutting to look proffessional enough as because of the slow moving tempo the number of cuts we could use were limited.



We also closely studied many of Snow Patrol's own music videos. However as our chosen song did not already have a video, we had the upper hand as this meant that our production would not be influenced by any real video. We kept the convention found in most of Snow Patrol's videos of the main singer miming the lyrics which of course was part of our performance in our video.


As well as the miming, we were also, like in the Hurts videos, inspired by the concepts put forward in Snow Patrol's video Run. These aspects were the main influences of our choices in the planning and creation of our music video and ancillary tasks. Of course it was not only these videos that helped us to plan and design our finished product but of course we were also inspired by our audiences ideas and thoughts.


Merging some of these ideas with the genre characteristics shown above was the basis for our finished music video. Some of these ideas we considered and used were, the idea of some performance (miming and dancing), broken dreams (which were conveyed by symbolism), some slow motion effects, and of course the grey sad exteriors seen in the majority of the imagry.

Story board - for new idea!

The above shows the outline we hope to achieve for our new idea. The pictures on each tier above should be interpreted from left to right.

sheet 1 - Sheet one is more of the introduction as our chosen song has several seconds of music before the lyrics begin. We decided that we should introduce each of the elements we have decided to use (apart from the horse which is on sheet 2) and familiarise the audience with them.

To begin, the opening shot shows our main performer (singer) in a mid/long shot, in front of the tree which is where he remains for the majority of the video. Next the camera will pan down following the silhouette of the branches above and then a cut will change the shot to the dancers starting position (the male being in the dominant stance, with the women dancer below). After this we plan to cut back to the singer and slowly tilt upwards using a medium shot. The next shot of the dancers will show them changing out of their stance but in unison and doing the same moves. The end of this sheet again consists of another close/mid shot of the singer.

Sheet 2 - Sheet two again continues the same previous theme where the dancers are again shown in unison using a long shot, and then a cut will change the shot to reveal the horse walking with it's master (symbolic for being tied down in the relationship). After this the lyrics begin, and we decided it wise to use a shot of the artist singing with a close up for about 1-2 seconds. After this the shot will change back to the dancers once again to continue the theme implied of synchronized dancing. The horse will then again be shown walking with the master and then a quick cut back to the artist singing from a mid shot.

Sheet 3 - Sheet three is where out ideas begin to show more clearly. The first shot here is of the dancers breaking their synchronisation for the first time (symbolic for trouble in the relationship). The singer is again shown, to keep the connection between the band and the song clear for the audience. The horse is again shown but still on the lead of it's master for the time being (indicating that the women is not yet entirely free). Followed by another shot of the singer, but instead of a mid shot an extreme closeup will be used here. The final two shots on the sheet are of the dancers,

Sheet 4 - Sheet 4 again is a significant change in the imagery used. Opening with a mid/tilt shot of the singer by the tree we then quickly cut to the horse galloping off (in slow motion) and use a long shot to create maximum effect of freedom. (the horse is no longer under control of the master and is free). The next shot we designed to show the distance between the dancers. By combining a mid shot of one dancer and still showing the other dancer in the distance we can show how the relationship is falling apart. The next shot of the singer is an extreme closeup from a side angle and we decided another quick cut to the horse in slow motion would look good as well as increase the message of freedom to the audience. As the lyrics finish, similarly to the beginning of the song, their is an outro. We decided to use a pan shot of the branches moving upwards in contrast to one of the opening shots.

sheet 5 -As the dancers are still shown using a long shot dancing out of synchronisation and the horse is still galloping in slow motion, we decided the following shot should be something different. We decided on an extreme closeup of the singers hand flowing along the tree trunk, to indicate movement and change, and then a quick cut to an extreme long shot, establishing to the audience he has moved. The second to last shot is of the horse and pans, following the animal into the sunset. This is again symbolic for freedom, but is meant to give off the idea of the final stepping stone as the animal runs towards the light on the horizon. The final shot is very significant, as it contrasts to the opening shot of the dancers stance (where the male dominated over the female). Here the roles have been swapped and the female dancer is now standing tall above the male representative showing the shift in power in the relationship, and the women is free.

Primary market reasearch (questionaire)

We decided to get a first hand view of what different age groups thought of the song, what ideas came into their heads when it was heard, and what type of music they would personally listen to if given the chance.

We decided to use quota sampling of the age groups: between 12 and 60 this was to try to find out exactly what each sub group thought of the song, and what ideas they had. This then allowed us to discover any trends in the data we collected do to age, occupation, and gender.

The main criteria we asked were;

-Age?
-Gender?
-What did you think of the song?
-Would you choose to listen to this song?
-What were your first thoughts that came to mind associated with the song? (locations, events, type of people)
-What is your preferred genre?

52% of candidates were female

48% of candidates were male

We then split our candidates into separate age categories so our date could be grouped into similar thoughts and ideas.

12-25: 42 people - 20 male, 22 female
25-45: 40 people - 21 male, 19 female
45-60: 39 people - 17 males, 22 female

When we asked the question, Would you listen to this song out of choice?, this is the date we received.



The pie charts above show that the main audience for this song are 12-25 year olds with males showing 91% of candidates choosing to listen to the song out of choice, and 75% of females choosing to listen to the song out of choice. We did not find this a surprise as the song is quite contemporary and the indie/rock genre has increased in popularity massively over recent years.

As well as this, the majority of 25-45 year olds also said they would choose to listen to the song out of their own choice, although the majority of this group admitted to enjoying the genre, it was not as much as the younger age group. We believe that this older age group still have a substantial interest in this style of music as the band have been around for around 15 years meaning that the this segment of the market have been subjected to the music from when they too, were younger.

We then asked the question, What are the thoughts that come into your mind associated with the song? the results below were:



We took all of these ideas on board, and incorporated the more popular ideas, and cross examined them with the age groups who enjoyed the song, so that the finished video could reflect what they wanted to see! As these were the people who would in effect, watch our video if it was released into the industry.

When we asked the question, ''what is your favourite type of music?'' the pie chart shows the results we got from our questionnaire.



Clearly from these results the indie genre dominates the chart, with pop and R 'n' B also holding large stakes in the market. Due to these results, we decided to base our video around common elements found in indie videos, which fitted well with the genre and style of the song.

Final idea for music video and explanation

After conducting both primary and secondary research we had a good idea who the main audiences where and what it was that they wanted. For this reason we decided that an 'arty' style would be the most appropriate choice for the video. Concept art combined with performance art such as dancing and miming by our 'artist' allowed the video to be more diverse, and thus more entertaining for the audience overall.

The concept: Freedom, lost love, two sides of a failed relationship. The idea behind these is shown as the artist, is represented as depressed, sad and unhappy, whereas the woman in the relationship finally has her freedom.

We decided to implement these concepts through various imagery throughout the video. They are as follows; A horse, The dance, The locations chosen, the lighting on the days we chose to film, the burning letters and the crumpled rose as well as the locket being thrown into the pond.

The horse was chosen to represent the women in the relationship as horses are majestic, beautiful creatures, but are also powerful and strong. The horse was firstly guided on a rope which of course was symbolic for the relationship itself, until later when the horse is untethered and runs off, representing freedom from the relationship. It is also important to point out that we chose the horse to represent the female role as we wanted the audience to appreciate her grace, and beauty, rather than risk presenting her as a sexual object.

The dance was choreographed so that at the beginning of the song the two dancers are in time with each other, this of course represents the relationship between the man and women as they are in time, flow together and work in unison. As the video develops the two dancers slowly begin to dance separately, representing how the relationship is falling apart until finally the dancers are doing completely different steps and finish the dance is different poses. This is to symbolise the demise of the relationship, and especially important, the fact that the blond dancer (who represents the female) is standing above the male (short haired girl) is symbolic to show that she has come out on top.

The locations we chose were mainly outside which were designed to represent freedom! The barn which was our primary location for the dance (which we were lucky enough to be able to use) is indoor which shows the outside pressures as light and wind can be shown behind the dancers as well as the idea of being trapped!

We were lucky enough to get the perfect weather on the chosen days of filming, meaning the day ran smoothly. The grey sky and drizzly weather was perfect as it was chosen to project the Male's emotions to the audience.

The crushing of the rose, burning of the letters and throwing of the locket into the pond, where not originally in the design for the video, but after watching the finished product we later decided something was missing. These additional shots break up the other footage making cuts more frequent, therefor making the footage less boring as well as repetitive.

We originally had had the idea of using a baby mobile as many of the candidates from the focus group associated the opening music with infants or infants toys. Of course we would not be able to use a baby in the production as it would be dangerous as well as hard to find! Although we had chosen to replace the use of a child with the baby mobile we found that it did not look great against the archaic oak tree and the grey sky,meaning other options had to be investigated.

thoughts and ideas ( 2 )

After redirecting our focus of what we wanted to create we decided to take an arty, concept approach with elements of performance within.

IDEAS

Baby mobile - symbolic for future prospects that are out of reach!

Horse - symbolic for the woman

miming - the miming of the song from our main actor (Ben Richards)

Dance - The dancing of two girls, one symbolic for the male and the other for the female. This dance is already being choreographed by an experienced dancer and the team and is in the process of being finished.

The weather and time?? We think we would either like to film when the wheather is gloomy or raining, or the other option is to film at night, displaying the stars(an large audience connection from research). However filming at night could pose problems as the quality of the camera may not be great enough to pick up enough light. Therefore before this option is inestigated the group and I will have to experiment to see if this idea would work or need to be shelved.

We have tried to think of ideas which offer some degree of flexibility if on the day, events which we cannot control take place meaning we might need a plan B.

thoughts and ideas( 1 )

We first decided to do a narrative video following a love enchanted couple who are torn apart by a horrific tragedy. We decided to rethink our idea because it appears extremely difficult to act a 'story' out any where to a professional industry standard. this was simply due to the lack of resources as we were limited to people with little or non acting experience and the problem of camera fright.

Our basic idea, illustrated roughly below was a man, walking down a road after falling out with his girlfriend/wife, and getting confronted by a car. the shot would move quickly from a two-shot (containing both the man and the car from side angle) to close up of the mans face. Then a dream effect would be used to simulate a flashback of his life and the shot would disappear with a fast zoom into his eye. With the dream effect still in place several events of his life such as a wedding, children's birthday parties and the pub with his mates. To make this seem more realistic quick cuts would need to be used to create a montage effect for the audience. After this series of events the camera would quickly zoom out to reveal a close up of the man breathing heavily with shock as the car has stopped inches from him, which would be revealed with another two-shot.

The three main video styles we are considering

the content of the video depends largely on what we want to achieve from the finished product, meeting as many of the demands of the audience as possible to increase our target market and expand customer base.

We are investigating the three main styles of video, Performance based, Narrative based, and Concept videos, which are to be explained below.

1) Performance based

This style of video uses the band/artist/group throughout the majority of the production. This style is usually used in genres such as rock, alternative and indie. The costing on this type of production are also most likely to be the lowest as the producers are in effect giving the audience the most realistic image of the band as it is only the band they are showing. The downside of this is that the band will need to be relatively established to pull off the video, or else interest will become saturated.

A good example of this is :


2) Narrative based

Thia style uses imagery to produce a story for the audience to follow. The video sometimes links to the lyrics of the song, but not always. Often these videos are produced from clips from films that they have been featured in. This seems to be used a lot in slower songs, and often tend to be love stories.

A good example of this would be:

3) Concept based

This is based around a single idea or concept and are usually unusual and obscure, even surreal for the audience. This unusual content is an attraction to many consumers which draws them in. Concept videos usually are combined with one of the other two styles as the market demands for greater accessibly rather than the somewhat niche that is pure concept art.

Which to use???

We decided that from the market research undertaken our best choice for the genre of music and audience would be a mixture between concept and performance art. This would allow an 'arty' style of entertainment to be achieved which for our piece would most likely contain dancers! This mixed with the performance based style not only fits in with the common aspects contained within rock/indie videos, but also meets the demands of the audience, which we found out from our primary and secondary research.

We had based our original idea around a narrative video, however to act out a credible story line posed potential issues as we found it tricky to brake away from cliche's and get the standard anywhere near industry level.

Primary market research, collecting the data

One way we collected the questionnaire date was through focus groups with various age groups at our school. This meant the age groups were already clustered together, making information more valid and easier to collect. By having the candidates sat down with time to spare, it meant we could delve deeper into their reactions and expand on what they wrote on the forms provided.

This particular group was a year 10 class, and with permission from the teacher in charge we spent some time working with them to see exactly what they thought of the song and whether or not they were our specific target audience. The results were interesting as we found mixed opinions with a large majority liking Drum and base, as well as liking the Alternative rock song! We found out that the candidates who did not enjoy the song shared similar reasons. For example the main reason the focus group did not like the song was because of the slow tempo. This was further outlined when a large segment of the group raised their hand to liking fast pace drum and base group pendulum.

secondary Market Reasearch

Snow Patrol are an Alternative rock band which formed in Glasgow, 1994. The band have released 5 albums to present date.

Due to the reasonably long life of the band from (1994- present) they appear to appeal to many market segments and age groups ranging from 15-30. From various websites and our own knowledge, we know that Snow Patrol are ''counter-mainstream'' and hold ''indie'' roots. This suggests that their audience will follow a certain style and ''underground'' stance when they decide which music they will choose to listen to.

Snow Patrol rose to national fame with their major label debut, ‘Final Straw’, in 2003, which sold over 3 million copies world-wide. Their next studio album, ‘Eyes Open’, (2006) and its hit single "Chasing Cars", propelled the band to greater international fame selling over 6 million copies world-wide. In 2008, ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ was released and soon after in 2009 their first compilation album, ‘Up to Now’. Throughout Snow Patrol’s complete body of work from singles, albums, music videos and live performances, the band has not only made millions but has been nominated for 27 awards and won 10 including