Target Audience Survey Results

Here are the results of the survey I created to help me collect primary research and knowledge on audience views towards music, music video and album work. I had to include questions about the individuals answering the survey to get an idea of the sorts of people that will be watching them to gather my target audience. The questions relating to the music and the styles of video then help me narrow some ideas down to create something which will appeal to the most amount of people wanting to access my material.

The majority of audience are males however there were still many females, yet males was the majority at 62%. 54% of the audience were between the ages of 17-21 and the second and third highest percentages being the under 16 and 22-30 age range meaning there is a clear lower age audience accessing my content. The highest ethnicity was white and the working status being a majority of students which would suit the age range of 17-21 year olds. Averaging at 41% people watch music videos most days and view these upon Youtube which would surprise me being the being video search engine in the world. Rap/hip hop was the most favoured genre and narrative music videos were the highest ratted meaning including these into the video will be necessary for creating the video the be enjoyed by the most amount of people. The audience voted that they enjoyed watching music videos which would link to the idea of them enjoying to watch a narrative video because people enjoy stories. Finally 50% of the voters stated that album cover work did persuade them to buy the album which may link to the idea of the visuals on the cover looking good as an extra reason to buy the music. 

Overall I feel that after this survey being completed I am now knowledgeable of the target audience I have to appeal to, making sure that If i follow the highest percentage votes and also consider if other votes were close will ensure that my work will appeal to many people.

Target Audience Survey

I am creating a survey to determine the target audience I should be creating my music video for. This is my survey so far in which I will collect results and chart them to find out what certain things I should base things off of to suit the audience.

Here is my survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MWVRLDG

I have asked the following questions to find out about the personal audience and their relation to music video.

-What is your gender?

-How old are you?

-Which race/ethnicity best describes you?

-What is your current working status?

-How often do you watch music videos?

-How do you watch these videos?

-What genres do you enjoy?

-What style of music video do you watch?

-Why do you watch music video?

-Does album cover work persuade you to buy an album?

Digipak Conclusion

After at looking at some different pre existing digipaks on the market I have been able to think about my views on there pros and cons in gathering and finding out what works the best when designing and making one.

I have looked at 10 all from different genres of music and I personal know the music the artists produce aswell which helps me find links between both music and design work. I have found that most take on the style of the band/artist and the way they are portrayed in media, for example the Bob Marley digipak uses linkable colour ways to his genre of music and the artist work links to the personality of the musician which then makes it effect in presenting the music within.

Another thing I found was that the typography played a big part in portraying the band and music aswell. Sharper large text often presents and conveys certain genres more than others like a metal band would use such form in comparison to an indie band who would use much more mellow and round font. Having the font have a shadow or not, coloured outline and backgrounds etc all play a part in suiting themes of genre and artist representation.

Overall these main things will be considered when making my album artwork as getting the balance is critical when designing a professional piece of work to be displayed and viewed by a large audience.

Digipak 10- Alice in Chains

This is the 'Alice in Chains' Black Gives Way to Blue album cover/ digipak which is one of my favourite covers of all time. Alice in Chains hard rock 80-90s feel is conveyed through this cover and the ideas within the albums songs are as well. The cover takes on a creative feel where use of 3D folding and scenery stretched across multiple sides of the digipak are used to draw in the attention of the view which it does due to detail. The track lists are placed on two fold out segments which are designed to look like parchment which adds a old classic feel to the cover which links to Alice in Chains as a known band of their era which I personally really like. The main image is styled to look like a painting which I also really like as the whole feel to the digipak is natural and old in feel which I think adds a quality element to it.

Digipak 9- Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga's digipak for 'Fame Monster' follows a classic simple look with high contrast imagery and colours. I have chosen to analyse this digipak as her personality and interests are shown here. Lady Gaga is also a fashion designer so the digipak takes a 'Vogue' styling to it for an abstract powerful look. The digipak is based around a white and black look which is simply the most classic contrast in colours which fits to the fashion design part of her personality. The san serif font used for the title is in white which stands out to the audience giving them to details of the album and her as the artist and this font style is modern and smooth which suits her pop music. The use of abstract posing and her look on the front of the cover draws this whole theme together.

Digipak 8- Eminem

This digipak is from the Eminem album 'Curtain Call' which is one of his first albums. I chose to analyse this cover due to Eminem and his back story being very powerful and the things he went through to get to this point in his life and how is musics being needs to be portrayed to his audience.

The digipaks imagery is a big part of the cover. The first photograph conveys the idea of a story which might have happened to him, where it seems as if he is being questioned by authority like the police. This image is put in black and white which adds a much more depth feel to the photograph and its seriousness. This theme is then shown through some of his songs which draws the two together which I really like. The dark background to the middle section with the white overlaid text makes the title pop out because of contrast which highlights the detail the viewer should see. The final image on the right has him holding a gun where the barrel hole is central to the CD centre. This image links to the story being told throughout the album and also the first photograph which creates continuity.

Digipak 7- Iron Maiden

I have chosen a metal band digipak to analyse to add diversity to my investigation and to understand why certain genres of music chose to compose their art work to suit their music. Iron Maiden is one of the originators in the metal genre and community and their specific look is known by thousands of people around the world.

This digipak uses an image of the band from a low angle view, which portrays power and strength which links to the impacting feel of their metal music. Behind this is some of their classic graphics, which are based around zombies, aliens and space which is inspired by classic movies like 'Predator' and 'Alien' which they have adopted as their look which is used on live set back drops and merchandise. This then works nicely for their cover as its a key connotation of the band which the owners of this digipak can relate and recognise. Their CD's use the classic metal 'black' for the dark heavy tones in the music and the recognisable reds and yellows used in the logo type which are used on all their logos. This colour also contrast to the black making this standout to the viewer which I personally like as as the red also connotes power which can be felt through their music.

Digipak 6- David Guetta

Looking into themes within digipaks and then discovering how this theme suits the music artist is subliminal to the audience however is crucial to the selling point. David Guetta is a Dj and the way this digipak is composed portrays this idea.

Davids work is brought into the mainstream being liked by many many people due to its pop genre tempo. This is conveyed through his digipak also and is easy to look thought due to colour way and imagery. The image of himself on the front cover gives insight to the artist himself in the grey and black tone to emphasis his look, a raw feel. The rest of the cover is simply styled with a white background with abstract primary and secondary colour shapes creating the theme of pop culture which then is a link to the music. Davids names type face is san serif, which looks much more modern than serif text. This type is further manipulated to have connecting letters which looks fitting to a digital theme which then works well with Davids  DJ-ing.  

I personally like this cover because of how its designed against his music styling. I think that it could be further improved though to show more about the individuality of the artist however isn't a major issue as this needs to appeal to almost everybody as this music is generic in pop culture.

Digipak 5- Bob Marley

This digipak is for the famous reggae artist Bob Marley which Marley has become very well known and recognisable by the use of the Rasta colours which are shown on the pack. The three colours stretch across all three sections which keeps the theme flowing throughout. The front image shows Marley himself in an outline black styling works well as it keeps the digipak basic yet effective. The two discs are designed to look like records which gives the old feel of music which links to Bobs style are era aswell. I personally really like this digipak as the Reggae styling links perfectly to Bob himself that anyone who even saw the colours could guess it had something to do with this icon which would attract many people due to his popularity.

Digipak 4- Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Chili Peppers digipak I am analysing now is in the concept style using a space theme. The creators of this digipak are following the style of the Chili Peppers which is known as being weird and strange in music videos following and themes within songs which then makes the digipak seen here not so surprising. The large bold text on the cover follows the space theme due to the 'concept' genre style idea, with the rings around the text symbolising a planet and the yellow vibrant colour way linking to the textures and colouring of a planet or a star like the sun. I like this digipak however I think that if its back wasn't so dark and linked better to the bold front cover the sections of the digipak would fit better together.

Digipak 3- Black Sabbath

The Black Sabbath digipak uses the photographs of one of their live shows as the inside of the pack and then a leading lines photograph of the band walking down the street as their front cover. Saturated black and white tones are used throughout which give the cover a vintage feel which is good as the band are originators of the metal genre which then would make a link to the idea of them being there from the start. The digipak opens out across a four way panelled cover which almost give the images depth and give the audience perception of the how big they were which I personally think works really well. The red colouring in the title/ band logo stands out, and the tone of a bright red is known to work well with black and white in art which many artists use like Barbara Kruger, which makes the title bold and eye catching. The sharp bold typography then links to the genre of metal because of its harsh edging.

Digipak 2- Oasis

The Oasis digipak for their acoustic album follows a natural raw tone throughout its graphics. The albums images uses a high key lighting of the focus of a guitar body which is shown on the front an back cover from different angles. Showing the wood of the guitar and the flooring creates this natural feel to the digipak which links to the theme of the acoustic album. The red and white tones then create the rich feel which also works very well as a convention of the acoustic genre. The titles/ logoing of the cover are rather small and blend with the cover itself, which makes it not a bold statement which fits the idea of the acoustic album being a much more chilled out version of the original songs.

Digipak 1- Daft Punk

The Daft Punk digipak follows the theme of the genre itself being a dance style of music. The covers show digital graphics like circuit boards and use a black, purple and florescent green/yellow colour way which creates a sci fi genre feel. This works really well considering it is a dance genre in which the music is digitally produced where a clear link is seen between the music and graphics itself. The use of florescent colours for the logo typography then works well in conjunction to the colour way of black and purple, as the artists themselves standout and are very eye catching which is what is wanted when advertised in shops. The way the font for Daft Punk is formed is a curvy semicircle design which I further like as it almost looks like the angled lines of the circuit boards shown.

Music Digipaks

Another part of my brief is to design and make a Digi pack for the music video I will be creating. I am going to research into a range of music genre digi packs to compare and contrast them to find pros and cons in each so that I can use my learnings to make my own. Genres of dig packs I predict will vary, which is why it is important to make sure that when I make my own I will know what suits.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement Conclusion

After looking at different Magazine Music Video Advertisements I have been able to extract what works well and doesn't within advertising and have been able to share views as to why I feel this way. From this I have then been able to think personally about what I think could work for my own work.

The theme/ genre played a big part to the overall way the magazine was structured and composed. If there was a genre/ style of music evident then things would designed to suit that theme/conventions of that genre. an example of this would be what I found in Guitar magazine with Slipknot covering the front spread, them being known as a heavy metal band and how the typography was changed to a much spikier harsh design which suits this them. Another example of this was with the Arctic Monkeys advert where a dark simple theme with white bold curved typography and a basic image suited the indie styling of their band. Something much more raw and edgy was created with rap down to the idea of rap representing elements of life being tough in which the graininess of the background was changed to a relied design to present this idea. This was seen throughout all 10 I analysed and could also be picked out in all advertisements for music which I could probably pick out if I chose to look at more however I feel I chose a range of genres and subgenres could fit into or around the ideas I picked out.

From doing this I am now able in my planning stage to think about how I could structure my own advertisement for the music video I will make to meet the demands of the Music Video Brief, once I had planned out my final idea for making.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Future

This magazine advert I have chosen to analyse is from a modern magazine called 'Spin' featuring the well known rap artist 'Future'. I wanted to look at a wide range of magazine adverts from a range of music genres to pick out the conventions to get inspiration for my own work, so including this rap artist suited this need. 

The title 'Future' is in the same san serif font as the 'Spin' logo which works well as part of the composition of the cover. This type face also connotes modernity with its smooth flowing thin formation, which also suits Future as an artist due to the styling of his up tempo digitally manipulated rapping of this current era. The colour way of this cover is basic using reds and blacks which look inspired by designer Barbara Kruger who did similar looking graphics. This mix of old design with bright imagery brings this styling to a modern twist. The bright image used highlights Futures personality and fashion sense which would appeal to its audience as views enjoy to see and know about their favourite artists. 

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Asking Alexandria

This poster from the metal core/ death core band Asking Alexandria was something of a different genre of music I wanted to analyse, as analysing a wide variety of music posters will be key to my understanding of the features of advertisements so that I know what will work well in my own when I come to create it.

AA's extremely heavy tones are emphasised through the poster through the dark shadowing and highlighted middle area displaying the collection of items shown in the image. The dark shadowing links to the metal core genre of the music which is heavy and dark themed. The bright contrast of the image displaying a collection of letters and somebodies hand works nicely, the decaying gritted filter added further emphasises the band and musics feel. The type used for the bands title is a blocky san serif style font where the 'A' crosses over the two words which is cool as two 'A's' are not needed. This font is also used on all of the bands merchandise which makes it memorable to its large metal fan based audience. The title 'Reckless and Relentless' is the name off one of their albums which is in a cursive script style which links to the imagery of the hand and letters which then both link to themes in their songs about the lost, love and hatred.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Guns N Roses

This advert displays the iconic rock band 'Guns N Roses' where the adverts style is to advertise their hit single 'Sweet Child O Mine'. Using classic colours of the band like the oranges and yellows matches the recognisable band logo displayed in the centre of the poster which creates theme and band identity which an audience will be familiar with and can make connects. The serif font used for the band title is also used across all of their merchandise, stage backdrops, media advertisements and CD cover also then follows the band image which people can relate to. 

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Adele

I have chosen to analyse Adele's album advertisement '21' due to her popularity and her music style being very classical in tone and producing very empowering songs.

The typography san serif tall type helps connote her music and its feeling due to the elegancy in both the poster and her bold personality. This font is continued throughout the poster in the subtitle and the text stating its availability which I think works well. The colours within the advert and the photography used further emphasises and links to her as an artist which I like. Many mainstream pop stars these days have a structured 'image' in the media which sells to an audience, however Adele's style can be seen throughout where the photograph connotes grace and depth to her personality. This then being in a black and grey colour scheme then further presents this meaning as it almost shows her in her raw nature being. The white type fits nicely over the top of the photograph background making it pop and the contrast with a green '21' and sub text then highlights the purpose of the advert selling the product of her music without this information being lost in the light and dark tones.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Ed Sheeran

I have chosen to look at an Ed Sheeran poster due to his current popularity in the media and his publicity being well known as him being an individual in his style of music. 

This poster is very simplistic using his signature as the typography choice for the title and sub title, a serif font displaying dates and then other company logos in the bottom right hand corner showing sponsors.  The signature title creates a natural feeling to the poster which links to the acoustic based tones on his album 'plus' itself which links well. The grey background helps follow this as its a soft colour which links to the music and also the overall feel of the cover and the black and white image.

I like how the dates are in this font as its formal which suits the information its giving.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Slipknot

Finally this last magazine advertisement is one of Slipknot's the band who is well known for their music in the heavy metal community. This spread is from GUITAR magazine in which guitarist Mick Thompson and Jim Root are shown to represent the band and obviously link to the theme of the magazine. I personally like the way this cover has been laid out because of the simplicity of having the two guitarists and the logo Slipknot literally placed on top of a 'standard' magazine layout ( e.g. logo top left corner, featured articles around the edges etc) which then creates a professional feel. It makes them stand out aswell as an eye catcher as their masks and form is well known and would grab viewers eyes and draw them in. The magazine has the feel of a modern magazine with a vintage edge due to the typography being rather bold and symmetrical in style being character being the same heights. However, the white edging and black marginalised shadows to the large title 'Guitar' and the flat blue used gives the feel of a matured magazine which almost reflects in their target audience due to many well known guitarist being middle aged nowadays which would appeal to people of the same era the guitarist were most known in. This feel continues as a theme and links to the background colour and colour way for the featured sections around the edge of the magazine advert. The olive/brown colouring suits the slightly aged look and matches the blue white and black large titles, which is also used in parts such as the bottom left corner with a neat list of things to expect in the magazine stated in the same fonts and colours. The Slipknot title is in slight italics and also the font is slightly sharper, which links well to the band and the style of heavy music they produce without being too over the top that it doesn't suit the magazines feel. This then makes them intriguing to a large target audience rather that making them seem to aggressive that it would be off putting to some and that they would want to learn more in appreciation to other genres and bands.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Nelly

Nelly is a well known rapper which is why I chose to analyse this music advertisement because having a range of genres analysed will help me to understand concepts and conventions of genres and their links with their artists.

The structure and theme behind this advertisement would be the idea of raw edginess expected from the rap scene. Often rap music is on personal and social issues which represent harsh reality which can be linked through the advert. The grainy parchment background is scuffed and gritty which links to the themes stated and the large image of Nelly himself is worn down aswell presenting the idea of going through tough times etc which is delivered through rap as a genre. I like the use of the typography especially with the text 'Belleville' the album name, as the large font looks like it has been drawn with a large marker which shows imperfections but its also neat in the fact of the curves of the font being tall which gives the sense of class. This white text then sticks out of the page at the viewer which also works very well at grabbing the attention due to the colour being bright in comparison to the rest of the advert. Although Nelly's name itself isn't in white, his name is half of the album cover so despite it being in black at the top of the page the viewer knows its his work as they can tell through the white text of the album cover.

Start Of Shot List Evaluated

After starting the initial opening shot sequence shot list I have decided to reflect on the ways I have structured this and how I should move forward to finish the shot list to the best I can. This is so that once I start filming I can fully follow this so that I know exactly how to go about angles and timings while out filming on the spot.

So far I planned out 32 shots and while doing so didn't explain each in as much detail as I could have. This is because at the time of doing so my ideas was pouring out my head and getting down the shots I wanted to in the time I had was essential for me remembering them. I also feel that if for each shot I went back and put the four following things in to add the main detail for each point would help me. This includes Camera Angle, Editing Technique, Mise En Scene, sound if appropriate to a drop in the song and also timings and durations of shots. This will then give the relevant detail needed to each shot to follow once out filming.

I have reflected on my own shot list in this way to help me monitor the ways I am doing things in my process through this course. Realising my own faults and improvements will then help me correct work and also to improve future posts for my own benefit. Now that I have done so I am going to add to my pre existing and finish the rest of the shots in detail so I can use this as a step by step once I start.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Cage the Elephant

This magazine advertisement for Cage the Elephant stood out to me when I was searching for adverts for me to analyse because of its theme and the way it differs from a standard structure of a single image and surrounding bold text. Initially, its theme is based off of an old fashion film reel/ tape which makes a nice background. I like the ways a film reel might elsewhere be presented much more reliced and used, however it has been modernised with a basic grey tone and the faces of the band members in each shot giving a good fit with the indie styling of the band. This continues down the advert creating a pattern which looks good. The typography links to this idea of old film however with a modern twist like the background. The multi layered block coloured font used creates the idea within film on old blurry screens where the screens would glitch out and create a rainbow effect which is what seems the font is based off of. Despite this influence the colours have been made brighter to fit the high definition tones of nowadays in comparison to the slightly dull colours of the old 80s TV screens. If I were to improve anything about the advert I would add a reviewing sentence from NME at the bottom in white text to fit the colouring of the NME star rating so that their feature of their advert seems more complete. Otherwise a website link to an Official page of the bands would be a good thing the audience of the advert could follow through to find out more about them if they were interested.

Music Video Magazine Advertisement- Green Day

Green Day's '21st Century Breakdown' poster I chose to analyse because of its styling being different from others I had seen. Green Day as a band are very punk and against the rules styled which links to the way the poster/magazine advert has been composed. 21st century Breakdown as a title, creates the idea of the start of a modern era in which I think the colouring a graffiti style has come from and the rebellious nature of the band. The white Green Day logging pops out from the rest of the text and colours as the white is bright in conjunction to the darker colours of the rest of the poster which adds a slight bit of eye catching to the advert for an immediate attention grabber to make the audience want to read more. The paint drips running off of the bold block styled typography then brings more in of the essence of the band; a neat tidy font representing a much more structured formal band whereas this represents the opposite which is what Green Day is about. The pain drips then link to the graffiti background of the poster. dark orange and yellows creating a dark yet fiery attack to the new album which creates a perfect link, yet the spray painted couple presenting the idea of the music being for everyone and enjoyable. The composition is traditional in the idea of 1 central image on the advert, however the slightly tilted typography in the same style as the Green Day logo brings the theme together and links perfectly to the bands approach to their music. If I were to change anything about the poster I would make the 'CD and download...' font yellow and make the '21st Century Breakdown' title slightly larger and white as I feel the audience should read the band logo and album title as an eye catcher and the other information as the part in which the read after their attention is drawn in.