Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter show's a beach location being used as a place of reflection and melancholy. Damien Rice's music video is actually a music video for the movie Closer, but it has a narrative inbetween the movie clips. The narrative is a couple wanting each other, which links to my own music video themes. Damien Rice's video is set in winter similar to when my own music video will be filmed, but winter also links to sadness and things no longer growing which represents the relationship in my music video not growing, and being sad and cold between the couple.
Friday, 8 April 2011
Sunday, 3 April 2011
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
1. What do you like on the whole about the music video?
2. What genre would you link with this music video?
3. What do you think about the actors? Do they fit the roles? Can you relate to them?
4. What part of the video grabbed your attention the most?
5. What did you dislike about the music video?
6. What other music have you heard which links to this music video?
My target audience is young females, and possible males who are of folk-pop genre, who listen to music such as Ellie Goulding and Laura Marling, while shopping at Topshop and vintage boutiques. My target audience are quite quirky and different, and enjoy listening to new music to add to their favourites which is why I think they will respond to Shannon Hurley, and have asked these questions to make sure I have achieved everything they have wanted from a music video.
I gave my questionnaire out to people aged 16-24, mainly females because of the feminine qualities surrounding the music video, but also a few males to get their opinion and hear their thoughts on the male actor in the music video and how they respond to him. I used facebook (a social networking website) to hand out questions to people who I believe fit my target audience, and I also handed out questionnaires at sixth form to hear their response about the music video.
The answers I received were very useful. For the first question a lot of people replied with, 'the relationship of the two actors is very effective', 'the relationship and how you have captured all the relationship qualities really helps me respond to the actors', 'I really enjoy the aesthetics of the music video'. The last quote about the aesthetics of the music video really helped me realize that the music video had captured that folk-pop feel of the music video, which is really important because the music video is targeting the right audience through the feeling of the music video.
For the second question the responses were quite varied, 'The song links to the acoustic genre.. the split screen is so creative that makes me think folk', which is what I was aiming at because the song is acoustic, but it has the elements of the folk genre. I want my audiences to think about all these qualities when they are watching the video.
For the third question my most helpful answer, and the one which made me feel confident and helped me realize that I had achieved something which worried me was, 'The actors are really realistic which makes me relate to them'. I was worried in the beginning about the cast of the music video because they were quite unconventional and not like actors in other music videos. I wanted the female character to have that beauty aspect around her, but I also wanted audiences to recognize something in her which they see in their friends which makes the music video something audiences can relate too.
The fourth question was about which part of the music video grabbed your attention and the answers varied from, 'the train station shots' too 'the shots of the live performance and the use of one space.', which shows how the location reaches out to different audience members of the folk genre. I am glad that the audience likes the one location because that shows that the folk aspect of privacy, cosiness and friendliness have come through in the video and have helped the audience relate to the surroundings of the artist.
The fifth question asked the audience what part of the music video they disliked and the helpful answer which really made me think was, 'At the start instead of going straight into the artist playing, introduce your characters to the audience further.'. This answer is really helpful, and had made me think that if I could re-do the music video I would carry on with the characters much further to introduce them and introduce the atmosphere of the video in more depth.
In the sixth question a lot of people answered with Laura Marling and Ellie Goudling which is really good because then the genre of folk-pop has really shown through the video. We wanted the creative flair of Laura Marling's videos but the music is similar to Ellie Goulding and Kate Voegele we wanted aspects of them in the music video also.
Hearing audience feedback has made me feel more confident about the music video, and has helped me understand further how I have achieved to target my audience.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
By researching other music videos and media theorists such as Goodwin I was able develop conventions of real media products, and use them to my advantage.
Goodwin's theory consists of eight aspects; how the music video has links between the lyrics and the visuals, intertexual references, music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, representation of the artist in the music video and a performance based/narrative based music videos. My music video ties in with a lot of Goodwin's theories and by researching him I was able to use real media conventions in my music video.
The links in the music video to the lyrics is why we chose a relationship breaking down, 'I want to touch you', 'I want to see you', and 'I want to make you see That yesterday was long ago', are all the lyrics which are constantly being repeated through the whole song so that's why we decided on a relationship falling apart. The lyrics 'I want to see you', also links in with the music video because the couple are on the train getting ready to meet each other again which shows that the couple want to see each other again. Music videos constantly reference the lyrics in their visuals like Daniel Powter - Bad Day music video where the lyrics 'Cos you had a bad day' is constantly referenced in the actors facial expressions and how the actors continue out their days in a bad rut. Goodwin's theory of the lyrics linking to the music video has helped me develop real media conventions.
Another theory of Goodwin's is intertexual references which is why I began researching music videos. I initially researched videos before I had any ideas and before I had a song to get inspired, and realize what music I wanted. From this research, I found my song and then began to research videos which inspired me for the concepts for the music video. Daniel Powter - Bad Day is a heavy influence on the whole music video because of the combination of live performance and a narrative story told through split screens. The initial idea of split screens came from the movie 500 Days of Summer and how they tell a relationship through these split screens, but after I had further researched split screen music videos I liked Daniel Powter's video the most. From Daniel Powter's video led me onto research Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah and then get the idea of featuring small aspects of the location around the music video. My music video is heavily influenced by other media products therefore following the conventions of real media products, and my music video has loads of intertexual links to other music videos.
Goodwin's theory also suggests that the music video should have the genre's characteristics through the music video. The folk-pop genre of my target audience is shown through the idea of a broken up relationship because this targets the audience of females at the age of 16-24. The idea of split screens links to the creativity of the genre which is folk, so the music video has to have a 'quirky' and strange quality to it to recognize the genre of artsy folk.
As a production group we wanted to add a live performance because of the research into Daniel Powter - Bad Day music video. I thought the live performance was a good way of portraying the artist to the audience and also portraying the audience through the artist. Several music videos portray their audience through their live performances like rock music videos will use live performances their 'punk' audience will be shown in the video. I researched other live performances which link to my target audience such as Laura Marling - Damage Done, who links to the folk audience, and Marina and the Diamonds - Hollywood acoustic, which also links to the pop audience. From these videos I wanted to incorporate live performance with the narrative so I could portray my audience. I have done this by using a singular room which makes the performance more intimate, private and relaxed which links to the folk target audience. Adding a live performance uses the theory of Goodwin but I didn't have Goodwin in mind when I researched live performances. Live performances use media conventions to portray the audience, and to portray the artist to potential audiences.
The idea of using a narrative for the music video links to other music videos therefore the use of media conventions. The narrative also doesn't follow a linear structure therefore also following media conventions of a music video because music videos don't have to have a beginning, middle or end, so I have featured in the music video a flashback to show audiences that the couple featured in the music video used to be in love.
The mise-en-scene throughout the music video are developments of conventions I have gained by researching other media products. For example, the split screens have been taken from 500 Days of Summer and Daniel Powter - Bad Day music video showing that split screens are a real media convention used to tell the narrative in different ways. I have used the split screens to show the divide between the two character's and how separate they are, similar to how the character's in Daniel Powter - Bad Day are presented. The use of a beach location links to media conventions because music videos such as Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter uses a beach as a place of sadness and reflection over a relationship which I have taken into my own music video to reflect the melancholy of my music video.
I have been able to develop and use media conventions with the help of the theorist Goodwin, who's theories have taught me how to create a conventional music video. My music video doesn't challenge media conventions really, because all the qualities in my music video have featured conventional media conventions.
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