Chosing My Song

As a fan of Ben Howard's music I am familiar with his latest album and previous singles so chosing a song which I liked was not difficult. This process involved

• Narrowing down his songs which appealed to me the most - roughly 3 songs
• Finding a song which was able to fit my storyline for the music video - the mood and tone of the song in relation to the ideas for my storyline also the pace of the music
• Chosing a song which met the requirements of my media coursework e.g. a song which lasts between  3 - 4 minutes
• Finding a song which didn't have a music video - This point was especially important for my decision as the first song which I chose 'Ben Howard - Keep Your Head Up' has a music video. I learnt that it was not impossible to make a music video to a song which already had a music video. However it is difficult because you have to create a completely difference music video as there is a risk of copying the original one.

After considering these points I was able to come to the decision that my sound track would be

Ben Howard - Diamonds

LYRICS

Ben Howard - Diamonds

All I am is the bones you made for me

So garishly clean
White as the horses that carry me away
And all my demons, you said, come and go with the days
A mind's will to play
I grow old in my ways.
Just like you do.

Oh there ain't no diamonds in the bottom
Oh there ain't no darkness that I fear
Oh there ain't no way to say I love you more
So be clear, just to be clear
So be clear, be clear.

All I am is the bones you made for me
Just driftwood for the sea
Heavy as the horses, that carry me away.
That carry me away.

Oh there ain't no diamonds in the bottom
Oh there ain't no darkness that I fear
Oh there ain't no way to say I love you more
So be clear, be clear
Oh there ain't no diamonds in the bottom
Oh oh oh ain't no darkness that I fear
Oh oh oh ain't no way to say I love you more
So be clear, just to be clear
So be clear, be clear.

Oh there ain't no diamonds in the bottom
No there ain't no darkness that I fear
Oh there ain't no way to say I love you more
So be clear, be clear.

Choosing My Artist

At the beginning of this year I began listening to Ben Howard, a relatively new face to the music industry and its consumers. I was inspired by his ability to appeal to mass audiences even though he produced and distributed music from a niche genre. I like listening to Ben Howard's music as he is able to combine a simple yet good sound track with his unique voice to create music which is enjoyable, simplistic and stands out from the majority of the music which exists in the music industry today.

Permission

In order to use Ben Howard's sound track with the music video which I will be creating, it was necessary to obtain permission to use the sound track. I used an e-mail address provided by Universal Music who work with Island Records (Ben Howard's record company) to contact him. The process of contacting Ben Howard enabled to use various social platforms. The 'hotmail' e-mail service created by Window's Messenger which was made poplular by its social networking site 'MSN'.

MOOD BOARD

In order to start creating ideas and visuals for my music video I began by listening to my sound track. (The link is available in my last post) Listening to the sound track enabled to form ideas in my head of images, such as naratives and performanced based scenes which could be used in my music video. I gathered these ideas on to a Mood Board. The image below shows my main mood board.

Above shows several ideas I had, such as a the music video taking plac in the forest, the clothing of the actor and some scenes which could be used. I also used 'Birdie' as an intertextual reference as her presentation in her music videos is similar to some of the ideas which I have.

My second mood board was not initially planned, however after making my first mood board I had more ideas for my music video. 

This second mood board represents the idea which I had developed of making progress. This is emphasised through footsteps and shoes, as it shows progress and moving forward. Also footsteps, tapping and dancing can be used to emphasis the beat or changes in tempo of a sound track in a music video. These ideas can be seen in Beyonce's music video 'Love On Top' where her dance moves show the beat of the song and also in the film 'Forrest Gump' where the low level shot emphasises Forrest being able to run on his own which is big turning point in his life, as it represents freedom and independence.

Questionnaire and Results

Are you male or female?

In order to gain balanced results my questionnaire included 25 females and 25 males.

How old are you?

Those questioned ranged from the age of 14 - 45.

 Evidently the ages questioned were slightly higher and younger than my target audience of  16- 21. However the majority of those questioned were within the age bracket of my target audience.

Do you prefer to listen to niche or mainstream music?

29 out of the 50 questioned said they preferred niche music.

Where did you watch the last music video you saw?

YouTube: 32

Television: 12

Other: 6

In my opinion the responses to this question helped me to understand why 29 out of 50 people preferred to watch nice music.  The use of social networks such as YouTube and on-line file sharing have dramatically increased the demand for niche music as it is easily available on-line.

Is it a high or low budget music video?

High: 27

Low: 23

Previously in the music industry the music videos which were produced by large record companies and producers were the ones which were likely to be successful in the music industry as their high budgets allowed them to be produced at a good quality with lots of creativity. Again it is largely thanks to the Web 2.0 that low budget music videos created by individuals are distributed and consumed on the scale which they have reached today.

Audience Research

I decided to reseach some audience theories which look at the way that audiences react to pieces of media.

Uses and Gratifications: Escapism: Media pieces can be used by audiences as a form of freedom from the stresses and strains of everyday life. Amusement: audiences view certain pieces of media for the entertainment element which they provide. Curiosity: some media pieces provides audiences to find out about certain people or objects which they don't know about or don't understand

Hypodermic Syringe Model: pieces of media are followed by a straightforward recaction by audiences. Lasswell used a formula to describe this,
Who? > What do they say? > What Channel? > To Who? > What Effect?

Two Step Flow: Audiences believe media pieces if it is supported by a figure in high authory, audiences search for justification.

Arguable some of these theories have been challenged by the presence of online media because audiences are able to change the way in which they consume media, they have an opportunity to be involved (active audiences instead of passive audiences) with media products.

The most successful music artists according to Wikipedia...

The most successful artists according to Wikipedia in relation to sales are the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Led Zeppelin and Queen. Undeniably these are also some of the most well-known artists in the music industry.