Analysis of a magazine advert

Focus Group Questions

 

 

Job Roles

These are the several jobs that have been shared equally between each member of the group. We have spoken in length about the strengths of each group member and decided on which role each member was given. Although each member now has their own role, we will still work as a team and help with what the others are doing. This will ensure that we complete each job before we reach the filming process of our production. By doing so, we know that we will be ready to film our music Promo.

Chosen song - Cutting to the beat

The lyrics for our chosen song:

These are various shots and editing techniques that we could possibly use throughout our music promo. We have analysed the lyrics of the song, and thought about the possible shot types that we could include. These shots will used to represent the ideas of our promos narrative and the performance of the band. This process will make it easier to plan our production and will give us a guide line of shots when we begin the filming process.

(close ups of the instruments) Gets out of bed

and looks at the clock (close up of the clock)

sees the time

there's no tick and the tock

he was just in time

instead of walking before the chime.

That lonely midnight wanderer (mid shot of male walking down a street)

sets off walking in search for an answer

(mid shot of the bands performance) he left everything from home to business

that lonely midnight wanderer.

He used to live the perfect life

Nice house, great kids but a botch of a wife (Cuts/flashbacks to argument in the narrative)

she left him for an Italian fling

left him on the streets without a thing.

That lonely midnight wanderer

sets off walking in search for an answer

he left everything from home to business

that lonely midnight wanderer. (shots of broken clocks)

(slo-mo shots of clocks smashing)That lonely midnight wanderer

sets off walking in search for an answer

he left everything from home to business

that lonely midnight wanderer. (Zoom out from the clock broken around character)

We will use the timings of the song as a continuous way of editing the shots we have filmed. Doing so, will make sure that once the editing process is finished, the music promo will run smoothly and will prevent any parts that stick out for the audience.

Shot list

 

 

Shot	Details
Extreme close up	Extreme close up of the drumsticks sitting on the snare drum.
Close up	A close up of the microphone with no actors standing behind
Close up	Close up of the guitar leaning against an amplifier before the performance.
Close up	Close up of the bass guitar lying flat on the floor with leads on top
Close up	Close up of the dust on top of the symbols for the drums.
Mid shot	Mid shot of the main protagonist walking down the street. The audience will be looking from behind the actor looking down the same street.
Close up	Close up of the main protagonists feet as he walks down the street. The audience will be given a side view of his feet.
Long shot	Long shot of the band as the song begins to play the song. The shot will lasts for several seconds.
Long shot	A long shot will show the main protagonist walking down the street as everything else surrounding him is in slow motion.
Mid shot	A mid shot will focus on a man dressed as a rabbit eating a carrot. This will show the disjunctive style of video and the intertextual link to the shining.
Mid shot	A mid shot of the drummer about to hit the symbol full of dust.
Close up	A close up will show the symbol full of dust being hit by the drummer – The shot will switch to slow motion as he hits the drum
Long shot	Shot the other bands members dressed up in the street wearing abstract costumes
Close up	The camera will zoom into the band member’s eyes and show them looking away.
Mid shot	Shot of the main protagonists face looking back from the other bands members.
Close up	Close up of the band singer singing into the microphone.
Mid shot	Mid shot of the guitarist performing the solo
Close up	Close up guitarists fingers on the guitar playing the solo
Long shot	Long shot of all band members performing the song
Tracking shot	Tracking shot will follow the main protagonist walking further down the street.
Long shot	Long shot of a set of double doors – The actor will appear on camera and will head towards the doors
Close up	Close up of the actor placing hands on the door handle and pulling open the door
Mid shot	A shot showing the main protagonist walking into the room with the doors shutting behind him.
Extreme close up	Extreme close up of the main characters eye – will be interlinked between the performances.
Pan	The camera will pan across the performance studio and will show the three band members.
Close up	Close up of the clocks sitting on the shelf and the floor
Mid shot	Slow motion mid shot of the main actor swinging a bat at the clock
Close up	Close up of the clock smashing in slow motion.

 

Focus Group Video + Analysis

 

Focus group analysis

1.    What characters do you expect to see in the narrative for our genre?

Answers:

Band members

Male protagonist

Female love interest

Rock stars

 From these results, we have learned that the audience expects to see quite conventional characters in our music promo. From this data, we now know which characters to include in our video. We will include the requests of our audience; this will benefit us because the audience will be seeing their preferred characters.

2.    Is this an original idea for a rock video? (1 being original, 5 being unoriginal)

2 people gave it a 2/5

1 person scored a 3/5

1 person scored a 4/5

We scored quite well on originality for our target audience. This is good for us because we want to produce a music promo that is unique and interesting for the viewer to watch. Furthermore, as we did not score badly, it means that we do not have to change our idea; the target audience was pleased with our promo idea.

 3.    What kind of clothes would you expect to see?

Leather clothes

Long hair

Face paint e.g KISS

Low cut shirts

 We chose to ask this question because we wanted to see what the style the audience expected a rock band to perform in. the responses were mostly conventional for the rock genre; the audience is looking for a sense of realism and wants to identify with the band. The target audience expects to see everyday clothing; they don’t want the band to look materialistic or manufactured, they want them to look real.

 4.    Would you expect the band to be wearing similar outfits? (thumbs up or thumbs down)

Everyone one gave a thumbs up

 The target audience for our music promo expects the band to be performing in similar outfits. They want a general house style that the band should cohere to as it makes them look like they are part of something.

 5.    What type of environment would you expect the band to perform in?

Music studio

Music studio

 

Urban setting

Garage

 The majority of our target audience wanted to see the band perform in a more professional looking environment; a music studio. This is ideal for us as it will provide us with the necessary props – instruments – and lighting that we need to produce an effective and realistic music performance.

 6.    What kind of lighting would you expect to see throughout the video?

Low key lighting

Spotlights

 The target audience expects there to be low key lighting in our music promo. This is because our target audience is interested in realism and a darker grittier style that is conventional within the rock genre.

 

Vox Pop analysis

Q1) What  attracts you to a CD cover?

The results:

• Something that stands out, recognisable and attractive
• The colours and the standout picture
• The music
• the colour
• The image that's relatable and the background

From the results we can see that the main points that were brought up were colour and a image. From these results we are going to design our digipak with a colourful and eye-catching cover that will be synergised throughout our media productions. This will allow the house style to remain the same and also the brand image of the band will develop and become recognisable by the target audience of 16 - 28. This will benefit us because the more people that recognise the brand image the more potential profit can be created. 

Q2) What is your favourite music video and why?

The results: (Song + Artist + Reason why)

• 'Can't Stop' - Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Its different, unique and there's disjuncture in it"
• 'Rari Workout' - Lethal Bizzle - " Theres fast cars and hot women in it"
• 'Give me all your lovin' - ZZ Top - "Its stylish, which i like and theres hot rods in it"
• 'Teenage Dirtbag' - Weezer - "There's hot girls in it"
• 'Coffee & TV' - Blur - "I like the story and the animation in it. I also quite like the humour too"

From the results from this question we can see that the main reason why the target audience liked their favourite songs so much was because they were aesthetically pleasing, it looked good. Also another answer that came up less commonly was the fact that there were women in the promo. From the answers given we can say that we will use high quality footage in the promo to make it more professional so its aesthetically pleasing. Also we plan to use a main idea but also play around with it, so this will incorporate amplification to create messages behind the visuals and also disjuncture so that we can make the promo fun and original.

Q3) What makes a music video memorable?

The results: 

• "It needs to be different and away from the normal conventions"
• "Something that gets stuck in your head"
• "The cars and the narrative"
• "The Story, it has to be relatable"
• "Something that stands out. It needs to be original and have new conventions"

The answers given were all pointing towards the promo standing out and being original. From the results we will plan to use a wide variety of shots to get away from the normal set on conventions used in most popular promo's. By doing this we will be subverting everyday conventions and becoming original by not doing anything that has been done before. This in turn will make the promo standout because it will be so different then anything thats been done before. 

Q4) Where do you watch music videos?

The results:

• "At home, on YouTube"
• "On my phone or laptop using YouTube'
• "On YouTube"
• "Nowadays at home on YouTube"
• "On YouTube"

From the results its clear to see that everyone who watches music promo's uses modern technology. We will definitely Put our music promo on YouTube because its world wide and allows for our target audience to grow. Also if we put it on to YouTube it will technically converge with every platform that has internet access and access to YouTube. 

Technical Convergence

Q5) What would your ideal music video contain?

The results:

• "Women, fast cars and cool bikes"
• "Women, parties and cars"
• "An interesting storyline"
• "Cars and women"
• "A bit of performance and an original narrative"

The two main answers that can bee seen from the results are women and cars. This shows us that we need to include some sort of female character in the promo in order to attract our target audience, this will help increase our band image and increase our recognition. Also an answer that came up less frequently than women and cars was a interesting narrative or storyline. We will have to use an idea from the lyrics to come up with a narrative which we can play around with. This will then allow us to use amplification and disjuncture too. 

Vox Pop's

Permission and artist concept

Genre - Rock

Definition: The genre of a music video is the style that is seen throughout. Depending on the genre, a music video will hold certain conventions throughout and will use the same elements as others.

• "Genre is no longer a fixed set of elements".

• Buckingham (1990) argues that genre is a "constant process of negotiation and change".

The history of the Rock Genre

• The rock genre originated from the classic 'Rock and Roll' that was first seen in the 1950's.
• Rock and roll was highly popular in the United States and the UK.
• Rock and Roll was first heavily influenced by Rhythm and blues as well as Country music.
• Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.
•  The first major name in Rock and Roll was Elvis Presley who became known as the king of Rock.
• Some of the earliest rock artists included Gorre Carter ('Rock awhile') and Jimmy Preston ('Rock the Joint').
• Elvis used the similar styles of Jazz and Blues and become a record selling artist.

Lyrical content of the rock genre

The lyrics and meanings of a rock song are different to that of another genre. In most common Rock songs, there is a sense of rejection and retaliation towards the government and political events. In early punk rock bands such as the 'Sex Pistols' there were obvious references to their negative attitude towards the way the country was controlled. They reference this in one of their most known songs 'God Save the Queen'.
Most modern rock songs are representations of a band/artists life style or problems. They may sing about a recent problem they have faced using some kind of narrative throughout the music video.

Representations of the Rock Genre

Throughout the time of rock and roll, there have been various representation of Rock bands and their view on society. The audience and given several ideas off what a rock band is like and gain an insight to the lifestyle of a band member.

In early styles of rock such as 'Punk Rock' band members were represented as part of everyday society. They wore normal clothes and would set their  music videos in everyday locations. This is the bands way of giving an audience something to relate to as they listen to their songs. This is also a way of sharing their own views with their target audience and is a way of rebelling in a sense.

In the song 'cigarettes and alcohol' by Oasis, the audience see the lifestyle of the band and how they behave when they are not on stage. Throughout the video, the band is seen backstage smoking and drinking alcohol. This represents them as a different way to bands that are seen as glamorous and are role models. The band Oasis are presenting themselves as everyday men who get into trouble.

Midnight wanderer - song timings

Timings of our song

0.09 -Rhythm guitar begins playing

0.27 – 1^st verse of singing starts

0.36 – chorus starts

0.45 – 2^nd guitar solo begins

1.19 -2^nd verse of singing begins

1.36 – 2^nd chorus begins

1.53 – 3^rd guitar solo begins

2.26 – last chorus begins

2.44 – singing ends

Focus Groups

This is our groups research into our target audience/focus group. We interviewed several members of our target audience and asked them questions regarding our genre and chosen style. The aim of this task was to find out what our target audience expects to see on our music video and how it will make it more entertaining. We gained several ideas of how to film our production - regarding mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing - and how it will fulfil the likes of the audience.

Post modernism in music videos

Post modernism in a music video

There are several music videos that use the idea of post modernism and intertextuality within their narrative and performance. This is the idea that takes something well-known from the past and using it in some kind of recent media. This could be a piece of famous art work or a reference to a famous franchise or movie.

 
 
 
 
 
An obvious example of an artist that uses this is Eminem in his music video for ‘Without me’. In this video there are strong intertextuality links to the superhero ‘Robin’ from the batman franchise. Although there is no direct link, the audience are aware of this through the costumes and setting shown in the music video. Eminem wears a similar costume that Robin wears in his films. This is the artists ways of creating a strong link with the audience through a well-known character that they may have seen on television or in a book. This also gives the audience the satisfaction of linking the music video to the batman franchise; therefore a higher chance of them being attracted to the video is created.

 

 

 

Eminem’s ‘without me’ also uses the structure of the song to create ideas of post modernism. During most of the shots in the video, there is the theme of a comic strip shown on screen. The audience know after seeing this that the artist is referencing the superhero comic strips that were sold to adults and young teenagers. This creates a larger target audience within the video as it is targeting both these age groups, and everyone who reads comic books or knows what one is. Eminem has used these intertextual links to create a sense of familiarity between the video and its target audience.