Rock Video Performance

In order to understand better the performance aspects of Rock music videos which after some initial research I have come to understand is a huge part of Rock video conventions, I decided I would analyze a video that is purely performance to gain some inspiration as we have decided that our video will definitely contain performance aspects from Raided By Waves such as the performance of the song through instruments such as drums, guitar and vocals. I decided I would look at The Rolling Stones It's Only Rock N' Roll (But I like It) here is what I found:

Throughout the video there is use of instruments and the band can be seen performing to the camera within a studio, I have come to understand that this is a common theme within Rock music videos and is often used to compliment a variety of conventions. The setup within the video is something we are looking at closely and seriously considering using for our own video as we feel It is a good way to capture the band and also good for creating a narrative around as well as the ability to create a more professional video with the resources we have. The camera shots used within the video vary, however, there is a great emphasis on the band playing their instruments such as guitar and bass via the use of both standard and extreme close ups. There is also heavy focus on the body language and facial expressions of individual band members and the lead singer is seen moving around a lot whilst singing the lyrics into the camera adding a more personal connection with the audience. The video is all performance, however, towards the end of the video the studio is filled with bubbles while the band are performing this adds a more interesting aspect to the video which is designed to entertain the audience further. As a result of this the video is exciting to watch throughout and the use of lighting, mise en scene and delivery of vocals all help to keep the audience engaged.

This is useful to look at and understand as It will help greatly when it comes to finally deciding on how best to execute performance within our own video. This video in particular is useful as it contains a similar layout and performance aspects that we are considering using. In conclusion to this it will be extremely helpful to look back at when deciding on a final decision for our own Rock music video.

Rock Video Narrative

Narrative within the Rock genre is usually either closely linked to the performance or shot in a completely separate location. The narrative usually relates to lyrics of the song and features a personal issue such as a relationship between father and daughter, this is usually so that the audience can easily relate to the video as well as the lyrics within the song. In order to gain a better idea of concept behind narrative story lines within Rock videos and to understand better how to portray a story line to an audience I decided to look at Nickleback's How You Remind Me as this is a great example of narrative within a Rock video.

The narrative within the video is the relationship between the lead singer of the band and a girl, most likely an ex girlfriend. There are a series of flashbacks or memories throughout the video in which the lead singer is seen remembering the girl and imagines seeing or being with her which links reference to the connection between narrative, lyrics and title of the song "how you remind me". In one particular memory the girl is seen to be extremely flirtatious with the lead singer which is the sort of relationship we are thinking of portraying within our own video. The color between the memories and reality has been edited so that what is being shown in the present time is  that of warm colors almost a shade of yellow and presents a positive vibe where as the memories are  more of a cold blue/grey that give the impression they are seen as more negative. There are also several lyric's that relate to the narrative such as "i said i love you and i swear i still do" as well as "how you remind me, of what I really am" as he is seen within one of the memories or flashbacks remembering the girl. Towards the end of the video, the narrative meets the performance in the sense that the studio or building that the performance had been filmed in, the girl is now seen in the same room with the lead singer and then the audience however the story changes when the lead singer pushes back the girl and walks away from her during one of the memories giving the impression he is done with her reminding him of what he used to be. This ending is interesting as we are thinking about a similar ending where a girl gets left behind. The overall impression of the video is a relationship gone sour and the lead singer is remember old memories and how he "used to be" when in the relationship with the girl.

It is important to understand narrative concepts with Rock videos as it will be useful when designing and creating our own, it also important to look at this particular video as it portrays a similar narrative to the one we are thinking about using. This will be good to look back on nevertheless for future reference.

Music Video Decision

After doing some extra research into videos associated with the genre of Rock and after a discussion about what is realistically possible, as group we have decided that we want our music video to be recorded in a studio. We want the band to performing to the cameras as if they are performing to an audience through the camera, however, no such audience is present examples include American Idiot By Green Day and Foo Fighters The Pretender. For the narrative we want a sound or runner girl to be on set observing the band perform and as the performance progresses she will begin to flirt with James the lead singer to form a relationship and connection between one another during the video so that they audience can observe this and relate to it.

Secret Sin Lyrics Analysis

Here is some initial analysis of the lyrics for Secret Sin:

It if useful to analyse these lyrics as it helps with the planning of our video for example we can plan out certain shots relating to particular parts of the song or lyrics mentioned. This will helpful when it comes to creating our detailed shot list and storyboard for the video.

Music Video Initial Ideas And Thoughts

Today we began starting to think about the concept for our Music video and began to come up with some initial ideas. Here is what we came up with:

This is a useful planning tool as it gives a rough outline of what we want to include within our video, where we want our video to be filmed, props we will need as well as a story line that compliments both the song and the video itself. This was also be good to look back at for inspiration and to help us with more detailed planning in the future as it is a good base for which to plan. 

Audience Research Survey

Today we created a small survey designed to ask a series of questions to our target audience in order to gain some audience feedback in preparation for the creation of our music video. Here is our survey.

This will be useful as it will help give us some much needed audience research, which should help us create a more professional and accurate product as a result. 

Target Audience Plan

In order to gain vital audience feedback I have come up with a list of products and services we can use to both identify our target audience and gain audience feedback on our products.

YouTube

We can use YouTube to research Rock videos and see what type of audience feedback artists similar to Raided By Waves such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and Green Day receive through the use of the comments and demographic features within the site. We can also use the site to post our own work and receive audience feedback through the use of the comments system and make any relevant changes accordingly.

Survey Monkey 

We can use survey monkey to set up surveys designed to indentify who our target audience is and what they expect from us in terms of a Rock Digipack, Advert and Music Video. Based on the results of these surveys we can make any necessary changes to suit our audience and what they want to see.

Twitter And Facebook 

We can use Social Networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to once again see what types of audiences artists similar to our own attract through the use of demographics.

Acquiring relevant audience feedback will be extremely helpful to identify who our audience is and how we need to appeal to them, not only this but their feedback will help us to create a more professional and presentable set of products.

Stereotypical Rock Videos

The Rock genre is a genre of music that's roots originate from "rock and roll" back in the 1950's which eventually developed into different variations of this style during the 1960's particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. Rock is mostly about rebellious behaviour and violence, other key features usually associated with rock are women and packed out stadiums as well as live performance and the playing of instruments such as guitar and drums. Rock has developed dramatically over the years with costume being the most notable change,  however, these core elements of the Rock genre remain. In order for me to fully understand the concept of rock and a typical classic rock video I decided to create a post about a variety of rock music videos, both old and modern. 

Bon Jovi's video to Livin' On A Prayer is a classic Rock video in the sense that it contains a 'behind the scenes' narrative as well as main focus of performance. However the narrative of the band messing about whilst rehearsing and setting up can be seen throughout the majority of the video, a black and white effect has also been placed over this footage in order to separate it from performance. This can be seen in other rock videos such as Def Leppards Pour Some Sugar On Me. The Mise en Scene within the video represents true Rock, the band members are seen wearing Rock attire such as leather jackets, vests, shirts, tight black trousers as well as boots and the long Rock hairstyle is also visible within the video. The choice of costume makes them look like true Rockstars. The cutting rate of the video is done so that the song cuts on the beat, this effective as it feels as if the video running in sync with song. The focus on the use instruments is a key convention of Rock and Rock videos, there are a variety of camera shots focusing on the use of drums, guitar and vocals throughout the video. The fact that the band end up playing in front an audience also relates to a key convention of Rock, performing on stage.   The performance at the end of the video could also portray the type of lifestyle the band lead as they are seen being mobbed by screaming fans, this could relate to their huge global audience and fan base. This is something commonly associated with Rock and what most Rock bands aspire to.  

Van Halen's video for Jump is slightly different as for the entire duration the band are performing, not only this video is also in colour. As well as this the band are not seen performing to an audience and are instead seen performing into the camera which could be instead be interpreted as the band performing to an audience through the camera. The Mise en Scene within the video is slightly different to most Rock videos, although the band are seen to wearing similar clothing to that seen is most Rock videos such as tight leather trousers, vests, t-shirts and boots the colours of the attire are that mostly of bright orange which is not a colour commonly associated with most Rock videos. Nevertheless the band still pull of the Rock band look convincingly. The cutting rate is quite slow however speeds up during certain parts of the song to add effect to certain lyrics. Although the video is performance based the band are still seen joking around together, this is shown through a variety of close ups and focus on the playing of instruments such as bass which as previously mentioned is key convention of Rock. The performance during the video could also portray the type of lifestyle the band lead as they are seen having fun and enjoying what they do, this could relate to their love for performing and how it makes them behave. This again is something that is commonly associated within the Rock genre and something most Rock bands aspire to achieve.  

Finally in Nickleback's video for I'd Come For You there is both performance and a separate narrative storyline. The storyline or narrative is about a daughter running away from her father with a boy who then attacks her and then dad is seen coming to her rescue. This theme of relationships as well as the saving of the day has become more popular within Rock music videos over the past few years. The Mise en Scene seen within this video is more modern however core elements of Rock are still present through the band that are seen all dressed in black jeans, t-shirts and shirts as well as boots when performing in a studio. The cutting rate compliments the narrative and performance cutting at convenient moments so shots don't become boring or to drawn out, the cutting rate is also used to create drama when the girl is being attacked. There are a variety of camera shots such as close ups and long shots used to focus on the playing of instruments when the band are shown performing in the studio which is key convention of Rock. There are also a number of camera shots used to tell the story of the narrative for example medium and close up shots when the girl is sitting in the boys car before she is attacked this is useful when setting a scene or trying to explain whats happening without the use of dialogue. The video also compliments the lyrics of the song, as the video matches the message behind the lyrics of the song, this is something that is used in Rock videos from time to time especially when narrative is involved. 

It is important to have an understanding of the types of videos that are commonly produced within the Rock genre at is will help us greatly with overall concept of our own video and also provide us with evidence for justifying certain choices when designing and creating our product for Secret Sin. We can also look back to these videos for inspiration.

Listener Profiles

For artist such as Raided By Waves it is extremely useful for the bands music to be heard as often as possible, a simple and easy way to achieve this is through the internet or better still the radio. Artists can appear on particular radio stations that are tailored to their own specific audience and have their music played to them. Radio is one of the most effective ways for an band or artist to reach its audience fast and is an easy way to gain recognition and become noticed. The more a song is played the more popular it becomes. I decided to create a small post about listener profiles to understand better how different radio stations tailor different audiences.

Capital FM mainly plays chart music and music that is popular, usually only mainstream artists appear on the station, however, sometimes up and coming artists do get played but only when they've almost become famous or well known. Capital FM listeners are usually aged between 16-34, mainly teenagers and students who enjoy popular music and don't have high disposable income to spend on CD's or actually buying the music itself. Listeners enjoy hearing about the latest news and often tweet the station for a mention or to voice their feelings about a particular track or artist. Capital FM is seen as a family station. 

KISS plays mostly R&B and Hip-Hop. KISS listeners are usually aged between 16-26 and like less mainstream music and more a more urban type of sound. Listeners tune in expecting to hear their favourite music and would not expect to hear a rock or indie artist on the station. Topics discussed on  air can be more controversial than those heard on Capital FM.

BBC 1Xtra plays a variety of different music genre's ranging from Dubstep to Grime. The station is aimed largely at teenagers and students aged between 18-24, It appeals to the underground listener and is very much the opposite of Capital FM. 

It is important to understand the difference between radio stations and the types of listeners and listener profiles they are accustomed to as this will be useful when understanding different audience types and our own audience for our music video, digipack and magazine article 

Research Into Rock Genre Conventions

Today I decided to create a more detailed post about the key genre conventions of Rock. This will of great use to us when to comes to designing and creating our music video. After looking at a variety of music videos from the Rock genre, here is what I found.

Camera's Used

Most rock video's feature some form or journey or behind the scenes footage. This makes the band look more approachable and is exciting for audiences to watch and enjoy. Rock videos are usually shot with a mixture of cameras from handheld to add an authentic concert feel, to powerful HD cameras to capture the band performing or on stage.

Shot Types 

Rock videos usually contain a variety of shot types from extreme close ups to long shots, with the use of handheld shots and well as heavy focus on the playing of instruments as well as lip sync. These are very important within a rock video.

Costume Worn

Most artists within the Rock genre are male, as result of this the costume worn is usually jeans, shirts  and T-shirts often seen worn by the likes of Nickleback however, The Killers are often seen wearing blazers also. The type of costume that used to be seen a lot in Rock music videos was skin tight lycra, tights and vests this was seen as very Rock and Roll and was extremely fashionable. Nowadays artists are usually seen wearing similar clothing, thats simple for example a whole band may be wearing black T-shirts with jeans. Most of what is worn an audience can relate to, an example of jeans that might be worn by Rockstars of today might be Levi. 

Editing Techniques 

Usually cutting between behind the scenes and performance, cutting on the beat to keep the tempo and mood of the video consistent. Special effects are sometimes used to add more of a dynamic edge to the video.

Props

There aren't many props within Rock videos, however, instruments could be classed as a prop of which there are many such as guitar and drums. However some rock music videos to contain a mixture of props for example the video for Red Hot Chili Peppers Can't Stop contains a variety of props such a lights and wheelie bins. Amplifiers are often used as props as well as mic stands and drum risers.

Locations Used 

Rock music videos usually contain one or two locations, mostly backstage or setting up as well as live performance. However sometimes Rock videos are based in a studio such as Foo Fighters The Pretender. Not only this but some Rock videos are also at a party or outside such as Nickleback's This Afternoon.

Instruments 


There are a number of instruments commonly found within Rock videos, these consist of drums, guitar, bass guitar as well as keyboards and microphones. There is often heavy focus on the playing of these instruments so they are key to the making of a good video. Some artists may use a synth or two lead guitars. There are variety of instrument combinations that can be found within Rock music videos.

Lighting 

There is often bright lots of bright lights and flashes seen in Rock videos especially when the band is performing. Sometimes lighting is enhanced with the use of special effects to create more of a concert feel. The colours within Rock videos are usually dark and deep and are used to create the mood or tempo of a particular video.

Overall Impression 

Most artists within Rock videos give off the impression they are living the dream, always smiling and loving what they're doing. Most narratives are the band having fun behind the scenes and enjoying their performance to audiences. This is usually included in Rock music videos to appeal to the target audience so they can relate with the artist as many Rock fans are also in their own band. Rock stars are also seen as being free and being able to do whatever they please. 

From this I have be able to learn more about the details behind Rock videos and how they are put together as well as the types of shots, props and general concept of a Rock music video. This will very useful when it comes to creating own as I will have a better understanding of how they work and I will be able to pass this onto the rest of my group. 

Music Video Conventions

In order to be able to understand the difference between various genre's within music videos I have decided to do a small presentation on the key conventions found within certain genre types. The genre's I chose to look at are Rock, Pop, R&B and Indie.

I believe that by looking into the key concepts and mechanics behind music video conventions and it's different genre's has been extremely useful and will benefit me greatly when It comes down to creating our Rock music video as I have learned about various key elements within a Rock video as well as what should not be included.

Ideal Audience Member

Today we were given the task of creating our ideal audience member, this is what we came up with:

Our ideal audience member is George a 22 year old student, living in London and studying music production at Westminster University as this fits best into what our audience research into similar artists and rock band demographics has shown. George's interests are that of Rock music and playing the drums, outside of University he is the drummer of his own band.

Often during George's spare time he is checking up on the latest musical updates and releases from the various artists he listens to such as Nickleback and Foo Fighters, he then downloads this music via either iTunes or Spotify and communicates with his favourite bands such as Raided By Waves through Facebook and Twitter.

George also meets up with his band and enjoys practicing for small gigs at local pubs and other small venues as a result of this George would be able to relate to Raided By Waves as he is in a similar position to them, he will have an understanding of rock genre conventions also. George is also of a similar age to the band so will be able to relate to their lifestyle and the types of topics they sing about.

This is useful for us to look at when it comes to creating our video to our audience, we can relate back to George when it comes to designing our concept for the video as it will be useful to think about when we decide how to market our video to our target audience.

Similar Artist Demographics

There are a a variety of artists similar to ours these include the likes of Green Day, Foo Fighters, The Killers, Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Nickleback, Guns N' Roses, Linkin Park, Van Halen, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Def Leppard. I have decided to look at the demographics and audiences of some of these artists as it will be useful when trying to identify our target audience.

Firstly I decided to look at Red Hot Chilli Peppers otherwise known as RHCP and began looking at one of their YouTube videos. I chose to look at the video Tell Me Baby which as almost 6,000,000 views. This provides evidence that the band have a large audience or fan base. The video is also a memorable and could be the reason why it has attracted so many views as audience members have watched it several times for the enjoyment factor of watching the video paired with the enjoyment of listening to the band.







The most popular viewing location for this video is Italy followed by Brazil and then Argentina. Males aged between 13-17 are the most popular sex and age group. This is also followed by Males aged between 18-24 and females aged between 13-17.

The majority of the videos views have come from manual searches into YouTube. What this shows is that the audience already know what they want to listen to and they also know how to find it. This paired with the varied viewing locations provides evidence that band has a big global audience, this is relatable to our own artist Raided By Waves as this is something that they aspire to. Not only this but over 500,000 views have also come from video referrals from other RHCP videos, again this shows that the audience have an idea of what they want to listen as they know the bands music and know they are going to be entertained either through the music, video or both. This is also an example of active audiences.

The band have almost 20 million likes on their Facebook page which is huge audience. The most popular age group that interacts with this page is 18-24. Not only this but the bands most popular city for this page is Tel Aviv in Israel, once again this provides strong evidence that the band have large global fan base, that through media platforms such as Facebook they can communicate with.


The band also has a Twitter page, however, they have far less followers than they do likes on their Facebook page. Nevertheless this is still a huge audience that the band have attracted. The reason for there being more likes on their Facebook Page could be down to the fact that the majority of their fans are aged between 18-24 and use Facebook as opposed to Twitter.


In conclusion to this It is clear that RHCP have a large fan base worldwide. As previously mentioned this is what Raided By Waves are hoping to achieve and therefore share similar ambition to most Rock artists, to be playing in front of thousands of fans. RHCP main audience is between the ages of 18-24. The band have both female and male fans and as a result of this I would conclude that the band appeal to a global mixed audience of both males and females that are in there late teens, early twenties.


Next I looked at Nirvana and started by looking at their most famous video, Smells Like Teen Spirit. This video has attracted a huge audience as it has almost 100 million views. Once again it is clear that the band appeal to a large audience and loyal fan base as the video has watched over and over again by fans several times. The fact that Nirvana are no longer together may also be part of the reasoning behind why this video has so many views as fans want or are able to relive old memories. The video is also quite rebellious and this is something the majority of it's audience may relate to.

The most popular viewing location for this video is Poland, followed by Portugal and Mexico. The most popular age and sex group was Female aged between 13-17. This was then accompanied by Males aged between 13-17 years and Males 18-24 years.

Once again and similar to RHCP, Nirvana have received most of their views for this video through audience members searching into YouTube what they want to listen to, this again paired with the varied viewing locations provides evidence that Nirvana are well established once again have a large global audience. The fact the majority of viewers for this video are female could be the fact that when together the band posted a great degree of sex appeal within their appearance and their music videos. Finally the fact that over 3,000,000 views have come from a mobile device provides more evidence that the band has a large degree of younger fans aged between 13-18 as they are often using their phones in every day life to listen to music and watch music videos.


The band also have has a large number of fans or audience members that have liked their Facebook Page. The most popular age group again being 18-24 year olds, providing more evidence that the band has a mostly teenage and student fan base. The most popular country was again Mexico this shows that the band have strong support from South America providing more evidence for their worldwide fan base.

The band also have a Twitter page with over 100,000 followers. The average age of these followers was between 18-24. And provides similar analysis to that of RHCP Twitter page.

In conclusion to this I believe that Nirvana appeal to both a female and male audience. They like RHCP have a large global audience which is something Raided By Waves currently do not have but want to have in the future. The majority of the bands audience members are aged between 17-24 however It may be that some of the bands older fans to not use the media platforms I have looked. Nevertheless based on the information I have found the band appeals mostly to a teenage and student audience members.


Finally I decided to look at Nickleback and chose to analyse the statistics for their video How You Remind Me. The video has over 40 million views and like the two previous artists before provides evidence of the band having a large audience. The video also has an entertaining narrative and could be the reason why it has attracted so many views as audience members have watched numerous times for the enjoyment factor of watching the video as well as the enjoyment of listening to the band. Similar to RHCP.






The top viewing location for this video was in fact The United States, followed by Brazil and the United Kingdom. The most popular age group and sex being again Females aged between 13-17, however Males 13-17 and Males 18-24 also feature.

The majority of the videos views have come from other related Nickleback video referrals. This shows that audience members enjoying listening to a variety of the bands music. Not only this but similar to RHCP and Nirvana there is evidence that audience members have manually searched for the song, proving that audience members know what it is they want to listen to and know how to find it. This again shows that the band are well established and as a result have a reliable fan base.







The band have nearly 15 million likes on their Facebook Page. The most popular age group again being 18-24 year olds, providing more evidence that the band has a mostly teenage and student fan base. The most popular country was in fact Brazil, this shows that the band also have strong support from South America.




The band also has almost 400,000 views on it's
Twitter page. This again is a huge audience and shows a loyal fan base. The majority of their followers are aged between 17 and 24. Like RHCP The reason for there being more likes on their Facebook Page could be down to the fact that the majority of their fans use Facebook as opposed to Twitter as it is more popular among late teens and students.

In conclusion to this I believe Nickleback are an extremely well established band across the world especially in the United States and the UK. The majority of the bands fans or audience members are aged between 17-24. The band appeal to both female and male audiences, however, judging from my research the band appeals mainly to females which could be down to the bands sex appeal to the female audience. Overall the band appeal to a mainly teenage and student based audience, this may be because this type of audience can easily relate to the band through lyrics and so on.

This research is very useful as it gives us a better idea of our target audience and what appeals to them. It also provides us with key evidence of how to market our products in order to attract our target audience which will be extremely helpful and also very useful to look back on.

Raided By Waves Demographics

Raided By Waves formally known as JB3 and their song Secret Sin are what we have chosen to use for our chosen artist and song. The three piece rock trio are located in Harlow Essex and are made up of lead singer James Bennett, drummer Charlie Caine and bassist Navid Asghari. A fellow student recommended we listened to the band and after listening to a variety of songs on their soundcloud and doing some further research we decided they were a great choice. The band use a variety of social networking sites connect with fans as well as websites such as soundcloud to post new music and their own personal website to sell merchandise. 

The band has 70 followers on Twitter, this may seem small compared to big mainstream artists, however, as the band has only recently started up this is a good turn out. The band are able to communicate with their fans, by tweeting them support or simply receiving updates about what the band are doing as well as tour dates and future plans. The majority of the bands followers were male aged between 18-35.

The band also has a YouTube channel, however once again as the band have only recently started up they have posted many videos and have only attracted 2 subscribers both of which were male aged between 18-35. Nevertheless the band have still gained over 250 views, this is important as the more views the band receives the more well known they will become and the bigger the band will be as a consequence. The band have the option of sharing new songs and videos with fans via the use of YouTube which can be extremely effective when posting new content or when trying to expand or grow as a band. 

The band have attracted almost 160 likes on their Facebook page which is extremely encouraging for a band that as previously mentioned has just started out. The majority of fans who've liked this page are again male and aged between 18-34, however, there were a number of females who have also liked the page. The most popular city that band are being supported from is London which makes sense as they gig there a lot. Facebook is extremely useful to the band as once again they are able to post updates, share new content as well as post photo's and also create events for concerts and gigs. Fans are also able to communicate with the band giving them support and feedback. The band use this page a lot to keep their fans up to date with everything.

Raided By Waves also have their own website which fans can use to purchase merchandise and find more out about the band.



The band also has a mailing list which fans can subscribe to so they can receive any new information  or updates. Fans can also see up coming shows. As the prime users of this website would be fans of the band the majority of people that have visited will be male aged between 18-35.




It is clear that the band use a variety of different internet based media platforms. Another one of these is soundcloud. This is where the band primarily upload all of their songs for fans to listen to and enjoy. The band have received numerous views on a variety of their tracks which is impressive, the majority of the bands feedback and views has indeed come from males, however, the majority of the bands followers on soundcloud are female.

I believe that by looking at Raided By Waves Demographics I am able to understand better their fan base and how they communicate with their fans. Not only this but It also to try and identify the type of audience member that fits into the genre of rock. This will be useful when designing and creating our music video.

Narrative In Music Videos

In Todays lesson we learnt about a variety of theorist and there thoughts and views about narrative within music videos. As a result of this I decided to create a short presentation explaining what each of them believe.

                                                    Narrative In Music Videos on Prezi

I believe that by looking into what theorists such Steve Archer and Andrew Goodwin believe, I am able to understand a lot more about narrative and storyline within a music video and this will be extremely useful when it comes to creating our narrative for our music video. 

Firths Theory

Firth believes that a music video can be broken down into 3 main typologies. Narrative, Performance and Conceptual.

Narrative

The narrative usually seen within a music video is linear and involves some form of story, commonly about love. All videos are based around a story in some way, it could be the relationship between the song and lyrics, videos usually use feelings or emotions found within the song. Narrative is extremely popular within most genre's, most notably Indie, Pop and R&B.

Performance

Performance is used in music videos to give viewers the feeling of being at a concert or seeing the artist live. Music videos can be extremely helpful to an artist, if the performance is seen as exciting and appealing it has the potential to increase ticket sales. Performance visuals that depict how a band behaves and performs both on and off stage are very important as it becomes a sellable image to fans and audiences. There are a variety of example for this type of video such as Guns N' Roses Welcome to the Jungle, Def Leppard Pour Some Sugar On Me and more modern videos from the likes of Ed Sheeran using real concert material as well as many more.

Conceptual

Concept videos can offer a lot to an audience or a fan, they contain various meanings and can be interpreted in different ways. The visuals within the song may not relate to the actual lyrics of the song at all.

It is important to understand these different types of approach to a music video, each type portrays the image and the content the artist wants to put out to entertain fans and attract new audience members and can also be used to send out both direct and indirect messages. Understanding this will be useful when it comes to decided whats best to include in our own music videos and what approach is best for us to take when deciding on a video.

Andrew Goodwins Theory

In todays lesson we were introduced to media theorist Andrew Goodwin. Goodwin has a variety of different theories but today we learnt about his theory in relation to music videos. There are several key points that Goodwin makes and these are as follows:

• The relationship between video and the song itself, cutting rate and whether or not the video is cut on the beat, focus on certain instruments as and if the relationship or link between video and song is contradicting or complementary.
• The difference in music video concepts for example, performance or narrative based videos. 
• The relationship between the lyrics and visual images within a video, do the words or lyrics link to what is being displayed on screen. 
• How genre is represented through music videos, visual representation and general interpretation of a genre's characteristics and conventions. 
• Intertextual references to artists or products within a video as well as media texts and references to separate videos. 
• How record labels mould artists and present them in certain ways through regular recurring motifs and focus on the artist. 
• Insight into an artists life through Voyeurism as well as the use of mirrors and screens within a video and other people watching the artist. 
• Voyeuristic approach to the female body and how It is portrayed within music videos. 

Personally I believe It is important to understand Goodwins theory as it may prove useful in understanding how to analyse and breakdown music videos in preparation for planning and creating our own. 

Secret Sin Lyrics

Here are the lyrics for Secret Sin: 

Let's not make an announcement

Can we make this thing brief?

Let's take things just a step at a time

and see where it might lead

I'll run and close all the curtains 

Ensure no lights let in

Hide away from the spies of the day

And live our secret sin

I'll stop the clocks from ticking 

Freeze the earth in it's place

Chase away the night from the day

So I can longer see your face

We'll watch others every move

Bathe in every breathe

I'll fall asleep to the sound of your voice

In love we will remain

Chrous

I'll fight your corner when you've been beaten 

Take all the weight when life gets to heavy

Do whatever it takes just to make you smile

I won't let life defeat you

And sometimes the road is rough

Just remember one thing on those cloudy nights

You will always have my love

Love has refracted a tear in my eye 

And now the world around me is gold

Thoughts of you have taken over my mind

I think of how you grow old

we'd live off our laughter and smiles

Build a life within a wall of happiness

and never once see a cloud

Chorus x2

Artist Permission Update

After deciding to change our chosen Genre from Dubstep to Rock and in turn changing our chosen Artist from Modestep to Raided By Waves we had to once again seek permission from the band to use both their song and the band themselves to perform In our video. I contacted the lead singer of the band James on Facebook and pitched our ideas to him, he claimed the band would be very interested In performing for us and that they would be remastering Secret Sin in the near future. Below is an extract from our conversation. James was interested In performing a song called Every Second, however, after mentioning our desire to use Secret Sin he and the rest of the band were more than happy to oblige. 

Once again contacting the band via Facebook had proved to be a very useful and effective way of communicating ideas and future plans. 

Song Choice Update

Since changing our chosen artist from Modestep to Raided By Waves we have now changed our song choice also. After researching Raided By Waves and listening to a variety of songs on their soundcloud we decided that Secret Sin would be our chosen song.

Secret Sin isn't a "classic" Rock song In the sense that It has an element of romance within in it rather than destruction more commonly found within the Rock Genre, however It enables us to be extremely creative when planning our music video as It allows us to incorporate this secret love into our narrative. The lyrics within the song are significant  and have a lot more meaning, this is extremely useful as people will be able to relate to them much easier than in our previous song choice Bite The Hand by Modestep and doing so help create ourselves a bigger audience.

I believe that by choosing to use Secret Sin, we have once again improved the continuity between video performance and song and also chosen a track that has a lot more meaning to it and allows us to be more creative with our planning and designs. As a result of this I believe we will be able to create a much more well rounded music video, digipack and magazine article.

Artist Choice Update

Since changing our Genre from Dubstep to Rock we have since changed the artist we are going to be using for our music video, digipack and magazine article. We have now chosen to use a local band that go by the name of Raided By Waves formally known as JB3. The band are a three piece rock trio located in Harlow Essex and are made up of lead singer James Bennett (formally of Six Hour Sundown), drummer Charlie Caine and bassist Navid Asghari. A fellow student recommended we take a look at the band and after listening to some of their songs on soundcloud and doing some background research we all agreed that Raided By Waves would be a perfect artist choice.

Raided By Waves fit perfectly into the Genre of Rock and have been compared to artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters as well Nirvana and Linkin Park. I have added James the lead singer on Facebook and have messaged him our proposal.

In conclusion to this I believe by changing our chosen artist will have bettered our chances of keeping the continuity between song and performance and In doing so will be able to produce a more well rounded piece of coursework. Not only this but It also helps to create a video with meaning and a thoughtful narrative, again making for a more professional final product.

What is Rock?

I decided to make a short post defining Rock.

Rock is sometimes known as Rock and Roll and is a style of music that rose to fame in the 1950's and 60's mainly in the US and Europe. It focuses mainly on older music styles such as rhythm and blues with a particularly heavy focus on the use of guitar, drums and vocals. Rock has led the way for musicians such as Queen, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi and more modern artists such as The Killers. Rock has evolved dramatically over the years with changes in appearances and modification of sound being the most notable for example 10 minute solos are not as widely popular as they used to be during the ages of Guns N' Roses. Having said this the core elements of Rock remain with bands performing in front of sold out stadiums and great sex appeal that most Rock bands used to be renowned for is still evident today. Having said this Rock music videos are more popular and common within the genre, however still portray 'behind the scenes' footage which was commonly used in early videos such as Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar On Me. Rock bands or musicians are also not portrayed as rebellious at they once were however it could be argued that Green Day and The Pretty Reckless are an exception to this.

It is important to understand a general concept of Rock and what Rock is so for future reference throughout the coursework. This is also something I can look back at and develop in future posts.

Genre Choice Update

As a group we have reached a decision in which we have decided to turn our backs on the Dubstep Genre and Instead switch to the Genre of Rock. There are a variety of reasons for doing this and these include the fact that we aren't able to have Modestep perform for us, while this is completely understandable, as a group we decided that we wanted the band who owns the song to perform it also for continuity reasons and so on. We also decided that although Dubstep Genre allowed us to be creative, we felt as if creating a video with a narrative and a video that had a sense of meaning would be extremely difficult.

As a result of this, we have since adopted Rock as our chosen Genre. We decided to choose this Genre as like Dubstep, each member of our group has an extended knowledge of Rock. As a group we also know a variety of bands within the Rock industry which will be helpful when choosing a new artist and song for our music video, digipack and magazine article.

I believe that by making this decision to change Genre's we are actually now giving ourselves a much better chance of creating a video that has a lot more meaning still using all our creative skills and In doing so enables us to gain higher marks.

Artist Permission

In order to be able to use our chosen song, we first needed to gain permission from Modestep themselves as the track was copyrighted. As previously mentioned I have two members of the band on Facebook, I approached Matt the bands drummer and explained to him the situation and what we wanted to do with the track. He came back to me within 24 hours which was extremely pleasing, he explained that as long as we state that the song belongs to Modestep and that we're not re-releaing the track under the sale of any other names then we have permission.  

However It was slightly disheartening but also understandable that the band would not be able to perform for us.

Nevertheless, by contacting the band on Facebook we were able to obtain the relevant permission needed. This proved to be an extremely useful means of communication.

Song Choice

As a group we have chosen to use Bite The Hand by Modestep as our chosen song. We have chosen this particular song after doing some research into a variety of songs and videos that Modestep have already produced. We have decided to produce a video for a song that Modestep haven't already produced their own video for as we don't want to appear as If we're creating a parody or trying to copy the band.

The song itself fits perfectly into the Genre of Dubstep, it has a fast tempo and a heavy baseline which is commonly found within the Dubstep Genre. The song also contains lyrics which is important and rare within Dubstep videos, It is important as It means we have the potential to create a narrative or storyline within our video which will be necessary to gain top marks. The song allows us to be extremely creative as the lyrics relate mainly to that of the music Industry which means we can play with a variety of concepts and ideas when it comes to planning our video. Having said this It may have been easier If the song had more meaning or a strong theme throughout.

Nevertheless as a result of our research I believe by choosing this song we have given ourselves the best possible chance of creating an effective and professional video for the Dubstep Genre as it allows us to be creative exploit all of our individual skills accordingly.

Artist Choice

The artist we have chosen to use for our music video, digipack and magazine article is Modestep. I previously wrote a post about Modestep when looking at potential artists, they are a live Dubstep quartet from London and formed In 2010. On February 7 2011 Modestep released their debut single "Feel Good" in the UK. The band are currently In the last phase of completing their debut album "Evolution Theory" which is expected to be released later this year. 

The reason we have decided to choose Modestep is simple; they fit nicely Into the Genre of Dubstep which we have also chosen, each member of our group enjoys the music they produce and as well as this I also have two members of the band on Facebook, which will be extremely useful when trying to obtain permission to use their music or even have them perform for us and take part In a photo shoot for our magazine article and digipack. 

As a group we decided that we want to use music that people will know and enjoy, however, a majority of this sort of music is copyrighted. By choosing Modestep we are giving ourselves the best chance possible of gaining permission to use copyrighted music, having two members of the band on Facebook means that communicating with them will be a lot easier and hopefully successful.

Genre Choice

The chosen Genre that our Group has decided to use is Dubstep. We decided to choose this particular Genre as each member of our Group has an extended knowledge about Dubstep and what It's key conventions are the types of artists that represent. Not only this but I personally have a variety of contacts within the Dubstep Industry which could prove extremely useful when It comes to obtaining permission to using copyrighted music, acquiring a band or musician to perform during our music video as well as being a part of our Digipack and Magazine article.

In conclusion to this decision I believe that by choosing to use the Genre of Dubstep we are giving ourselves a better chance of scoring highly within the coursework, as a group by choosing Dubstep we will be able to work together effectively and exploit our creative skills successfully In order to produce a professional video, digipack and magazine article.

Genre Representation

In today's lesson we looked at Genre Representation and learnt about how Genre's are represented differently and how each of them have a variety of unique conventions. For example Acoustic would be based around an Acoustic Instrument and Dubstep around a heavy bass-line and fast tempo.

During todays lesson, we were given the task of listing as many different Genre's as we could in the space of a minute, here are some of the Genre's that I came up with:

Rock, Jazz, Rap, Grime, Country, Punk, Pop, Dubstep, Dance, Indie, Soul, Folk, Reggae, Classical, Alternative, Acoustic, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Grunge, Garage, R&B.

Media theorist David Buckingham states "Genre is not simply given by the culture, rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change".

Personally I believe It is important to understand the differences between Genre's and how each of them are represented. It is also Important to understand David Buckinghams theory of Genre's can adapt and change over time, giving the word "Genre" more flexibility with the notion that Indie today maybe very different to the Indie In 10 years time. I believe this will all be extremely useful when It comes to Identifying our own audience In preparation for the creation of our music video, digipack and magazine article. We will be able to relate our artist to a specific Genre and adapt how we portray our artist accordingly.

Interviews

Today we were given the task of creating some interviews for the basis of research and planning and to discover how previous generations accessed their music, the types of music they listened to and how this may or may not have affected their choices in lifestyle.

Interview 1

Jenny, Age 46:

What music did you listen to when you were my age? 

I listend to artists such as Queen, Madonna, Toyah, The Police, Human League, OMD, Flock of Seagulls, Ultravox, Haircut 100, TV 21, Paul Simon, Gloria Estefan, Zz Top, Simply Red, Wham, George Michael, Madness, UB40, Soft Cell, Hazel O'Connor, Whitney Houston, Enya, Level 42, The Specials and Duran Duran.

How did you listen or gain access to this music? 

I mostly listened to my music through the radio or bought records such as LP's and singles as well as tapes. I can remember on a Sunday evening we used to tape The UK Top 40 off of the radio to listen to during the week. I also used to watch Top of The Pops on a Thursday night as this way very popular among my friendship group. I didn't go to many live performances but I can remember going to Hammersmith Apollo to see Toyah which was a lot of fun.

Did you follow a certain subculture, dress in a certain way or choose a particular lifestyle as a result of your musical interest? 

Not really as I had eclectic taste in music. However I was influenced slightly by the haircuts and fashion on the TV or in magazines for example Smash Hits from bands such as Human League or Gloria Estefan.

Interview 2:

Billy, Age 48:

What music did you listen to when you were my age?

I listened to a variety of different bands, I listened to Phil Collins, Billy Ocean, Madonna, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Duran Duran, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Eurythmics and The Police.

How did you listen or gain access to this music? 

I listened to my music mainly through tapes in my car. I also listened to the radio and bought LP's and CD's which were becoming increasingly popular.

Did you follow a certain subculture, dress in a certain way or choose a particular lifestyle as a result of your musical interest? 

Well I was a bit of a New Romantic, I used to wear leather trousers and double breasted shirts. I also had a wedge haircut, long at the front and short at the back.

In conclusion to this It is clear that they way people used to access music 20-30 years ago is very different to how people access their music today, not only this but styles and ways the types of artists people used to listen to are also very contrasting to the styles of music and artists listen to today. This is useful because It provides evidence of audience progression and how audiences have adapted and changed over time. This will be useful when it comes to analysing audiences and audience behaviour such as trends later on in the coursework.

Media Group Update

My Media group for this year has now been finalised. I am now In a group of four, Jack Carrington (http://jackcarringtona2.blogspot.co.uk) has now left my group and both Josh Dutton (http://joshduttonmedia.blogspot.co.uk) and Charlie Wick (http://charliesa2mediaa.blogspot.co.uk) have now joined myself and Will Tickle (http://willticklemedia.blogspot.co.uk).

Audience Theory

Today we learnt about Audience Theory and how there are two main types of audience, these are both passive and active. Not only this but we also learnt about Denis McQuails theory or used and gratification's. As a result of todays lesson, I decided to create a post about Audience Theory and what I have learnt.

Active audience members make their own choices in relation to the type of media they consume. However In contrast to this a passive audience member will consume the types of media that Is placed In front of them, is popular or Is just easily accessible. Active audience members become more Involved with the media areas they are Interested In, they are more like fans where as passive audience members are more like passers by.

Modern audience members make these types of decisions and choices via media databases such as the internet through search engines like Google and YouTube. Audience members can click both manually searched topics as well as topics that Interest them through suggestions that appear on the homepage of websites or if on YouTube, down the right hand side of the current video they are watching. Modern audience members will also access their media through Social Networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, two other common ways modern audience members may consume their media are TV and radio. In contrast to this audience members from the 60's, 70's and 80's consumed their media very differently and made their choices about which media they liked via magazine articles, newspapers, concerts and word of mouth. This was more of a trial and error approach.

Denis McQualis theory of uses and gratifications provides potential reasoning behind why active choices are made by audience members and why they behave the way they do.

McQuail believes active audience members make choices to express their personal identity, for example who they are and their personality. McQuail also believes they make choices to create personal relationships with others, sharing common interests such as music. As well as this McQuail believes active audience makes choices to create a sense of escapism and enjoyment. Finally McQuail states that active choices are made after audience members gain information and updates from a variety of media platforms such as TV and the news, magazines, the internet and through friends.

I believe it is important to understand the differences In both active and passive audience members and how they behave as a result. I also believe that by understanding McQuails theory of uses and gratification's I can better educate my knowledge which will extremely useful when It comes to identifying and appealing to an audience when creating our music video, digipack and magazine article.