Questionnaires and Results

Link: http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HHEMFI_47e19d01

Below is my 'Accessing music' questionnaire

ANALYSING ‘ACCESSING MUSIC’

1.      How do you listen to music?

From the results above you can see that the highest majority of people listen to music from an IPod, also Youtube, the internet being the second favourite. By this you can see that the internet is taking over as youtube is one of the largest websites running, and to get songs onto your IPod you need internet access, this means less people are listening to music the original way, newer technology and the internet is overtaking CD’s and radios. From an IPod you can watch music videos, to access this there is a website- ITunes that allows you to buy music videos to put on to your IPod, this also come under the song so you do not have to buy the song and the music video separately.

2.   How do you purchase music?

From the results you can see that ITunes is the most popular answer with 39% of the vote. This question relates to question one, however from the results in question one 19% of people listen to music from CD’s, the results above say tell us that 22% of people buy CD’s, this result maybe because people now days buy CD’s to put songs onto their IPod through ITunes, therefore CD’s are not just to be put into CD players, modern technology is clever enough to play old music accession that is powerful enough to connect to newer technology.

3.      Would you rather listen to music by watching a music channel (such as The Hits), so that you can watch music videos, or just put on the radio or play a CD?

From the results I collected you can see that most people just listen to a radio or CD rather that listen to music through a music channel.  Personally I thought the results would be the other way around because of all the networks people are with such as Virgin and Freeview have music channels included, however playing a CD or listening to the radio is a much easier access, although there is not much percentage between them.

4.      Do you consider a music video to be vital to a song?

These results were split 50, 50. It seems to be the narrative music videos that are more vital as they have to match up with the song lyrics, abstract music videos can get away with not being important towards the song itself.

 

5.      Is music in your everyday life?

The majority of people that took the questionnaire have music in their everyday lives. It is hard for people not to hear music every day, this is because there are radios in cars and music on television, what the mass of the population does and listens to every day.  There was a wide age range that took this questionnaire, this is large effect upon the results.

6.      Do you think newer technology such as IPod docs have taken over CD players and radios?

Severn to Five people think that newer technologies have taken over the original technology, radios and CD players. More and more newer; meaning more advanced, quicker and higher quality technology is being realised, now days people want good music access, however newer technology is expensive.

7.      Do you go and see artist live?

 

The widely held answer was that most people do go and see their favourite artists live. This is really beneficial to the record label and to the company who is supporting the artist, such as Live Nation. However seeing artists live is fairly expensive; therefore this holds back particular people going to see their favourite artists perform. 

 

Link:  http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HOIOGI_a5881b86

Below is my ‘What the target audience (16+) expect in an indie/rock music video’ questionnaire

ANALYSING ‘What the target audience (16+) expect in an indie/rock music video’

1.    Do you prefer a narrative or abstract music video?

You can see from the results that I collected above that the majority of people in my target audience prefer music videos to be abstract. Therefore most people do not really like a music video that has storyline to them.

2. Do you find that a performing video (the band/artist just playing) too simple?

Twelve to three people think that a performance video is too simple, the reason properly being that there is only one thing going on and maybe people want a little more action within the video itself. Some performance videos are normally live, which could have made a change towards the results. 

 

3. Do you prefer the artist acting in the video?

The results in this question appear to be very strong as only one person out of fifteen prefers the artist acting in the music videos. I asked one of the other fourteen- Why don’t you like the artist acting? Their response was: The artist should just keep with singing as it is their song being played in the music video, I would prefer if they would just lip sync to their song.

4.  Do you look out for fashion in music videos?

These results are fairly close. However the widely held answer is that most people in my target audience look at fashion within the music video.  If a teenage girl or boy looked up towards an artist that they admired, they might want to steel their style or look upon their style for them to wear or get ideas from.

5.   Do you prefer a music video with different locations included or just set to one location?



From the results that I gathered from this question, 87% prefer music videos to have different locations included rather just than one main location. Again I asked someone who agreed with different locations why they chose this particular answer and they replied:  Having different locations makes it more interesting and appealing, it keeps my eyes busy when watching a music video rather than just studying on one scene, which I find uninteresting.

Next post: 'The kings of leon radioactive' video synopsis

Textual Analysis

Like a prayer- Madonna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSVbwwsLPqw

The genre of music: The genre of music is Soul. In this music video there is church singing/ performance and God.

The star: The star of the music video is Madonna herself, she is the main character within it and also plays in a performance style.

Narrative and Character: White people commit a crime; however the back person gets the blame. Madonna herself sees this miss lead crime happen and wants to stop what is going on, due to this situation she goes to church.

Camera movements:

Bird’s eye view-

This shot appears when the lyrics “oh God I think I’m falling, out of the sky” are played. She sings what she physically does within the music video itself.

Mise en scene:

There are two locations the first is the church is the main location filmed. Most of the singing that Madonna does is in the music video.

The second location is where the crime actually happened. The screen shot above also represents the colour contrast. When Madonna has flashbacks they intend to be more of a dull colour reflecting possibly on her mood, therefore in church where she wants to be and is happy there, the shots are more colourful and bright.

The image below shows this contrast.

Editing, lights and effects:

The lighting is artificial within the music video. However there is a scene shot in a dark location where she has her flashbacks, this is a successful effect that is used to show the difference between happiness and sadness. When the crosses are on fire, it realises a strong vibe. There are not a lot of edits within this particular music video, however there are fast edits switching from one scene to another which is in time to the music. 

·         Again the cross burning gives us, the audience a really strong feel about the way Madonna if    feeling.
·         Madonna chose to have a back Jesus, in which caused much trouble within America.

·         Roses- The symbol for love and death.

·         Lighten candle- This represents life and God.

The Mise en scene largely contains a mass of both religious Catholic iconography, such as the crucifixes, gospel choir and candles in the church. At times in the video is littered with the ironic image of burning cross which is synonymous with the violent racism of the South American States during segregation. The Mise en scene largely contains a mass of both religious Catholic iconography, such as the crucifixes, gospel choir and candles in the church. At times in the video is littered with the ironic image of burning cross which is synonymous with the violent racism of the South American States during segregation. The narrative of Like a Prayer is largely traditional and used traditional techniques. However there is no sense of equilibrium, the only real equilibrium is of Madonna running on the beach at the very beginning, in which she is clearly distressed and there is an immediate sense of disequilibrium as a woman is murdered by a white man, although the black man is blamed.   The narrative is very spiritual with a black Jesus, who ironically also represents the black victim.  

Thriller -Michael Jackson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V90AmXnguw

The star: The star within this particular music video is Michael Jackson himself. Thriller is a narrative music video, along with performance.

Camera movements:

This image shows the technique ‘tracking’. This is effective within the video as the music video is narrative and by tracking, it is easy to view. Within Thriller it is important for the audience to see what is going on due to the video being narrative, allowing the audience to see the mise en scene.

This image shows the difference in camera movement and angles that the video has. The majority of the camera angles goes from long shot to close up. This is a good effective within Thriller because it is a classed as a horror; therefore it is more effective on the audience when emotions are shown in great detail.

This shot shows the crane camera movement, in which is similar to a birds eye view. This shows a sense of a dramatic effect.

Editing, lights and effects:

The lighting is artificial within Thriller. As Thriller is a horror, there are special effects in which enhance this, such as the smoke. The lighting changes fro, he first scene to the second, in which then stays the same until the end of the video.

Mise en scene:

This shot shows the crane camera movement, in which is similar to a birds eye view. This shows a sense of a dramatic effect. The location of Thriller involves a cinema, and the streets. At the begging outside the cinema, there are bright colours and an involvement of happy emotion. However when the location changes to the streets, near a graveyard, the mood changes, along with the colours involved- from bright now to dull. This gives off  dramatic effect. This is shown below:

Jessica- Elliot Minor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL7bVeFfBPM

The star: Elliot Minor, the band themselves are the star within the music video, due to the fact that the video is a live performance only, giving no narrative.

Camera movements:

This shot is an extreme close up, giving a very good effect upon the audience as it is a strong iconography. Editing graphics within the eye plays a very good eye catch and makes the shot more appealing.

By these images you can see that the camera shoots the band in the movement ‘tacking’. It goes from the lead guitarist, to the bassist, then to the lead singer, and finally to the drummer. This gives the audience a visual analysis of the band.   

This is an establishing shot, the location of the music video is in a ‘gothic’ church.

When the camera moves to the drummer, the shots turn into slow motion. This is outcome has a good impact because it adds depth into the video for the audience’s sake.

Mise en scene:

Elliot Minor have only shot in the church, this is the only location that appears in the music video. Obviously the band are playing in one placed due to the cable connects, however the lead singer does a little acting walking through the church, therefore there are different locations within the church so it doesn’t make the music video unexciting.

Editing, lights and effects:

The light is dark, obviously there is artificial lighting used, to make as if the candles are lighting the whole church, reflecting on their faces.  All their clothing is black, making it more of a serious video, also a good effect used is a smoke and wind machine. This makes the video look more like a set, that’s one of the obvious and biggest reason why it is not a narrative.

Iconography points:

•       ·   The only iconography is burning candles, in which represents life, especially in churches.

The actual song Jessica is a narrative song, however Elliot Minor did not choose their music video to the song to be narrative, Jessica is an abstract/performance music video, although by the expressions on the lead singer’s face it’s as if he is singing to Jessica herself, the singer is singing into the camera which makes the audience feel as if they are Jessica. The video has sort of got an on-set feel which makes the audience feel more included, this is because of the smoke and wind machines that suggested that the church is cold and dark, this gave a spooky feel.

Mountains -Biffy Clyro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfzwM4pdyxU

The star: The main person within the music video Mountains is the lead singer of the actual band Biffy Clyro, he appears as two different people.

However, the particular music video is narrative and performance based. The band themselves are actually within the story. The location of where they are playing is the same location of where there story is told.

Camera movements:

The camera movements in Mountains are quiet simple, however there are lots of ‘tracking’, in which is effective. The camera shows the mise en scene before any vocal happens. When the music is just instrumental it shows the location and progresses to zoom in towards the actors who are playing real life chest, it shows the detail.

Iconography points:

This is the organ that the lead singer plays on at the very beginning of the video. The hand creates a very spirited feel, especially because it is in a gold colour, in which represents strength.

The male above is the same person, by wearing white clothes and the other wearing black clothes it indicates that they are against each other, the symbolical way of showing good and evil.  

White                                                 Black

Next post: Questionnaires and results

Audience-The importance

An audience is very important. The audience is who consumes the actual footage, and this is very vital to the person who is performing. It is important to know your audience so then you would be able to know to how to impress them, if the performer doesn’t know their audience they would not know how to effectively communicate with them. The performer would have wasted a considerable amount of money pitching on the wrong type of audience.

Without an audience there will be no money income. The audience is the key element towards the life of the artist, as without an audience know body will pay for tickets, buy magazines with the artist’s story, buy albums and singles, request the songs on the radio, or download the songs and albums from websites such as ITunes. If there is no money going towards the artist, then there will be no money income for the artist’s record company, this is a big disadvantage towards the music industry. Audience is key.

Different styles of music appeal to different audiences. The music industry categorises music so that it can target the right and appropriate audiences, this you would see in record stores, radio play lists and music television. Music can also refer to fashion, culture and lifestyle, so music does really reflect the audience’s way of living. Hippies are an example of a musical reference that people use.

Next post:Textual analysis

In what ways can the audience access music?

Accessing music is so easy and very popular now days. Since all the latest gadgets came out, such as IPods, downloading music seems to be the easiest way to get access to music.

Because of the iPod that belongs to The Apple Store, they made a software that you can download songs, albums and music videos from The Apple Store onto the software called ITunes. ITunes lets you synced your IPod into the programme and let you download songs onto your iPod. This method is the most popular way. However there are illegal websites that are being created on the internet that let you download songs for free, this is not allowed, although some people do it, this gives no credit to the music industry and the artist. For one song from ITunes is 79p, which is much cheaper than buying the single from a much shop like HMV.

It is very rare now that people by CD’s because ITunes have taken over. Many companies have developed iPod docs which allow you to play songs that do not disrupt within a song even on loud volume, they are very good quality. You can even now buy a car with a cable which allows you to play songs from your iPod into the car, rather than playing a CD or listen to the radio.

Obliviously records are no longer produced, although except for the rare occasion where artist want to produce their music on something different than a CD, I have only know this to happen twice.

People now go to concerts to see their favourite artist/band. Live Nation, the largest venue owner is the main company that allows fans of music to go and see their favourite artist/band perform live. They also let the fans go to sound checks before the actually concert begins; this makes a fan a ‘VIP’ for the day, and get priority seats. This allows fans to get up ‘close and personal’ with the artist. These tickets are a lot dearer but contain a programme that is signed from the artist or band and a special gift from there merchandise collection. 



The radio is also quite popular to access music. Most radio stations now day’s link up to television channels such as The Hits. The majority of radio stations make a Top 40 List, which is chosen by the audience of people watching the show on TV, whilst playing the music videos in a count down to number one. The station Capital do ‘The Top 40 UK’ which reflects on the downloads from the public that week. TV and radio is linked very much within the music industry. On TV Sky, Virgin, Freeview and BT Vision has radio channels, in which are mainly:

*Radio 1, 2

*Smash Hits

*The Hits

*Kiss

*Heat

*Magic

*Smooth

*Kerrang

*Q

*Absolute

*Heart

All of the above is a very wide variety of music. However not all play music videos. Sky is the main one to watch music videos and listen to music as the radio station channels not only tell you what’s playing and who by, but also play the music video that’s playing at the same time on the station. Sky also includes MTV, where music videos all began. MTV now do lots of things, not including just watching music videos, but interviews with the artists, This Weeks Top Ten and news on the celebrity world; involving the artists latest single or album, their tours, etc. 

Next post: Audience- The importance

Why are music videos so important?

Music videos are important as they advertise the artist in many ways. Ways in which represents their image. Image is very important to an artist and how other people see them in the music industry, and the audience. A music video’s image is one of the key concepts, as the video is an advertisement for the artist to the right genre of audience. Many genres of music have different ways of performing, so every artist will want their music video performance to suit their genre e.g. a rock band jumping around with a guitar- to suit an audience who go to gigs. The performance is just not for the artist/band within the video it is an advertisement for the performance of the record label and the director. An artist skills reflects their ability of music. It is also to do with the record label’s skills as they have to deal with the artist in a professional manner that suits them, such as their image and way of lifestyle.

Music videos are also important because they are relied to being the money in for the record label. The record label needs money to survive as a business within the music industry, and to make profit. The record label basically puts a considerable amount of money to the music video for it to be a successes. Lots of companies do get some percent of the profit that the music video makes, for example, ITunes sell music videos online on their Apple Store, and record labels will take a percentage. Downloading a music video is a big contribution to the money congregation. However the artist needs to make a good advantage and make the video beneficial to themselves, by presenting themselves well to their audience. Such as the music video from A-HA- Take On Me. This song was not remembered for the actually music itself but the music video. The music video made A-HA famous, which made their album/singles sell more within the industry. It had an impact on the audience when released in 1984, because the comic effect was never seen before. Music videos are usually for either an artist’s single or for the best song on the album to make it memorable.
Below  is the famous caption from the music video ' Take On Me'

Next post: In what ways can audiences access music?