Conclusion
In this evaluation, I will be talking about all of my results to see if they are effective and what I think is useful in my research methods like a questionnaire and I will also collecting all of my data.
Firstly, having researched into music videos it's interesting to see that the videos on youtube that feature a famous artist/ band generally tends to get more views. Possibly it's maybe to do with the artists uniqueness (PSY Gangman Style) or maybe the artists style with the female population (Justin Bieber). One thing that was noticeable within the research was that, people tend to watch music videos through Youtube rather than Vimeo. Viemo doesn't get as many views as the big youtube songs get, maybe because people just like Youtube better and are use it more than Vimeo. Having done my quantitate research , videos that include dance moves, love stories, or sad anecdotes generally seem to be getting more views which will help me contrast an idea for my future music video. Maybe to gain a further insight into viewing figures, I could've conducted a survey based on number figures only asking people how many views do you think this video has and why? Maybe this would've given me some answers as to why people are attracted to it. However, I was still able by screenshoting number figures to see what was popular.
Having looked at my qualitative research, I'm able to see that some people prefer classic old school music rather than trying to change up a certain genre to appeal to a new target audience. Most people are die hard old fans of certain artist's like Eminem. However, some people are tired of the old school degrading and sexualising women for entertainment and instead they just prefer an old school simple yet effective story telling. Using this information, when making a music video I will make it stick loyal to the genre. In addition, some people like the idea that in a certain music videos they feature old school classics like Paul McCartney as it's good for younger generations to see a musical icon and others like music videos for their creative flair whilst featuring famous people to bring in more people. Having research into views and attitudes on music videos, I know that when it comes to creating a type of genre of a music video, it should be creative, yet simple and maybe feature someone known in that industry.
When researching into a digipak people liked the idea that when people bought the digipak it came with a digital download and the fact the artwork looked delightful and"dope". When it comes to making my digipak I will be able to make something that people will find interesting to look at and I will make something which is loyal to the band/artist. When researching an advert into a magazine album I was able to look at Imagine Dragons advert- that looked very appealing with the way the band was set up- it looked very professional with the lighting and composition. When researching into a forum we were able to see that the imagine dragons fans didn't really understand the point of their smash hit music video RadioActive while others thought it was intriguing. I know that when it comes to making a video I will make sure that the idea behind it is clear and understandable.
Also, the imagine dragons audience might be male due to the fact that the artists/band themselves are male and therefore the audience will be able to relate better to them. As well as this the band are white and don't really write songs about issues that might resonate or relate with other ethnicities such as what hip-hop and R&B artists do. This data isn't that useful as we are restricted into selling the music to a diverse group. Therefore we can make the video appeal to their target audience as it will be predominantly white, which is useful to have a fixed target audience. . Most 16-25 who are millenials would have been born in the golden age of technology and therefore their media preferences would be largely based online, which is useful to play our music video on Youtube. Rather than going out to buy CDs, this target audience might instead download music whether it be through services like iTunes or through Amazon Prime (or illegal methods such as torrenting. - It' s useful to see this as we can try and include a free gift if the audience's buy the CD's. Also, buying patterns for this target audience would most likely be consumer goods such as clothes and electronic items. This increases the potential amount of views, downloads or listeners that there could be for music. This target audience being students are highly likely to own or regularly use laptops or computers whether this be for work or for recreational use thus by researching the audiences we know to put more enthuses on the music video.
By using market research we were able to find out that Imagine dragons made a name for themselves when they filled in for a band called Train at a Las vegas Music festival in 2009. We also found out that their main competitors are : Foals, One Republic, Bastille and Koaline, this was useful to research into as we can try and engage their target audience with Imagine Dragons as having researched into them we found out that they both all have similarities and differences . Foals and Imagine dragons both have creative unique imaginative youtube video, both have lead singers, both have similar tempos and guitar beats in their music and both feature in musical festivals like Reading and Leeds. However, Imagine Dragons don’t follow the party rock and roll lifestyle, Foals do and foals are more heavy metal/rock rather than indie pop/alternative rock. Once again this is useful to compare and contrast between different bands to highlight the differences which will help us understand more about their competitors.
With One Republic, both have similar target audiences ,both use creative imaginative youtube videos and both like to sell merchandise to their fans- which is useful to see there's a market for it. However, One Republic are more pop in their music by using more upbeat tempos and happier energy than Imagine dragons being a more serious rock band. Bastille and Imagine Dragons both became active at around the same time, Bastille debuted in 2010, Imagine Dragons were a band from 2008 but didn’t debut their first album till 2012- which is useful to see that both bands probably have the same listens. However, in terms of viewing figures and subscriber counts on YouTube, Imagine dragons are far more popular with nearly 5 million subscribers and nearly 2 billion overall video views. Bastille on the other hand have only 1.5 million subscribers in comparison and only around 600,000 overall video views. Kodaline are also an indie rock/indie pop band but they made a name for themselves through reality TV.
When textually analysing their cd digipak, on the front cover the letters on the album refer to the native spelling trying to make it more realistic for people to buy it, it's useful to see that they try to make thier digipak as realistic as possible. It's also interesting to see that on the front cover there are five different animals- according to the band each animal represents each artist personality. I think its very effective as it makes the album more personal for their fans and it's different to what we see today and it creates a more meaningful and powerful image as it shows they want to promote their music rather than showing there looks and that typical musical pose and lifestyle. On the back of their diigipak you can see the layout and colours create a simple and neutral effect, it kind of goes simple making it more attractive to look at. The colours look quite earthy and sandy both colours show the native aspect. It's useful to see that they really spend the time and effort of making their merchandise as best as they can.
When looking at the advert analysis it's useful to see that the colour scheme in this advert is black and bright white indicating a night theme- a quite relaxing peaceful theme, giving it a very eye catching effect. Also, it's useful to see that the background is black indicating darkness (night) with bright white stars , an ideal setting for dreaming, where most people tend to listen to songs before they sleep a clever marketing stunt. It's interesting to see that the prop of the moon indicates it's night time when you are normally asleep, “dreaming” linking it back to the title of the album “dreaming out loud”. The information is limited, but the text on the page is important - they've kept it sweet and simple as it tells you the name , the release date, the name of the album and also the titles of their latest single, it's useful to see that keeping it simple works and looks quite good, however, if I had more time I could've found more adverts to gain a better understanding of what they look like as it was very difficult to find the example one. Daniel and I conducted an online survey which showed what type of music people listen to and what they liked about digipaks and music magazines. By doing an online survey we were able to ask 40 different people consisting on both males and females as it was useful to get a mixed range of opinions to get a wider result of data. We did this by emailing the whole year 13 to get some feedback which wasn't as useful as we hoped as only 36 of them only got back to us. The results were generally interesting as most people only watch music videos a few times a week whilst only 17.5% watch one once a day. Therefore we know there are audiences that still watch videos online so we should advertise this using social media like twitter or Facebook to help advertise it and increase more people to watch them often. We also found out that most people that answered the survey liked Pop music, which we can use when creating a music video and most people watch music videos on Youtube which means it's worth uploading it on Youtube.
Having looked at CD questions, we found out that most people don't really buy CD's anymore which was very useful to find out because it means we must find a way to make them come back to fashion like the return of vinyl , it's become a trendy modern fanatic within teenagers - we need to take the same approach with CD digipaks. Most people like the idea that the digipak has pictures of the artists and most people don't even read the information booklet which means we can spend less time focusing on the booklet and more time using the artist's pictures. What could have been improved during our research if we asked more people that were;t 16-20, we should've asked older people to gain a better insight into the music business.
Looking at music magazines, it was useful to see that most people at 70% don't read music magazines- which means maybe instead of buying one at the local shop, we can try and install an app that makes it easier for teenagers to access as teenagers would be willing to spend the money on them. 68% of people thought the pictures were the most attractive in the magazine so we know for a fact to make the imagine eye catchy and noticeable and don't include that much text.
Daniel's task was to conduct a forum on Redit asking Imagine Dragon fans to see what people liked about the band, it was useful to see what the fans thought of them and the feedback will helps us create one similar to the ideas that would help us establish a music video. Most of the fans thought their music videos were creative and unique. What went really well was the fact people were willing to comment on the forum to talk about their music conventions- the ideas- the acting etc... It was a shame that only a few people did comment so we were restricted with the answers we got.
I was responsible for the interview questions, by conducting an interview (videos on task 2 blog) where it was very helpful to see what people liked about the digipak's, so when it comes to production I can take on board what people liked and disliked about them as I can use the information to my advantage. I used iMovie to edit the videos to make them look more professional to a high professional standard. We both focused on a focus group where we asked a group of people what they liked, disliked and thought about a magazine album ad. This wasn't as useful as we hoped for as the people we asked said that they don't really read music magazines, meaning our data wouldn't be as rewarding as we though. However, the results were interesting, as a few people said they didn't read them which means we need to change the stigma of music magazines and try and make them a current thing by asking people if they would prefer an app rather than a physical magazine. Others, said they don't look for detail in the advert, therefore we need to make sure people start reading these and focus more on imagery rather than textual information.
During my audience research, I was able to find out that Imagine Dragons are an American Alternative rock band from Nevada this was useful as we could learn more about them to try and understahdnt their upbringing and culture patterns. The band's members are in their 30's, which is useful to see that young girls can admire them. The band have been influenced by people like Nirvana, Muse, The Beatles, Coldplay and U2 which is useful to see what their influences are. The band have a culture of humility, relate-ability and creativity which isn't as useful because it's quite dull and bland. By researching Imagine Dragons this will help me understand more when it comes to creating the three products as I can use similar bands like Coldplay to influence the products.
Using the demographic table we decided that the demographic that our target audience falls under is group E, as they are part of a more casual group which is relatable to the band itself. This is useful as we are able to see what their target audience is and address the three products for them. The band are not a stereotypical rock band as they don't partake in the party lifestyle that one might expect from a rock band, it helps show they are unique. They are laid back and do their own thing, they don't try to be someone that they're clearly not, thus we can take this research and create a similar music video reflecting their culture. We feel that Imagine Dragons' target audience are reformers as this is what the band would be, it's useful to see they reflect their target audience. Often in the bands music there is a sense of personal growth and development as well as social awareness that the band clearly has. Meaning, we can use these to help us form the music video. Alternative rock tends to have a target audience of people ages 16-25. This age range is stereotyped to students who are at exam age and who are very socially active, useful to see that students would listen to these song to escape their pressures from their daily lives and this is why we can make the Imagine Dragons songs relate with their audience.
When researching into Counting Stars by One Republic on their music video it was useful to find out that the characteristics in the music video involve some bits of narrative as it's due to the fact the video is not all performance based and the singer, is placed as the 'star' of the group as it shows they don't just perform the song, they have a deeper meaning in their music video. Also, Counting Stars is set in two locations. One of them is a floor where the band is located and the other, a meeting room where the story takes place. The video includes a surprise as there is a crocodile near the beginning of the video, which is not expected in a normal music video, its useful to back up my point, they are unique. I was able to find out that the visuals relate to the music as when the singer claps the lights turn on, as if by magic. The artists all start swinging their arms, when mentioning 'swinging vines', which is a link between the lyrics and the video- shows they are trying to connect with the audience. The image of the band shows them in casual clothing at an old building, which shows that the band is just like everyone else and is not different form the public, when it comes to the ultimate dream of counting stars.
When researching into the production of a music video it was useful to find out that we are going to need seven resources that would help us film a music video. In order to do this we created a table and then created sub headings listing the key points like the cost etc. By finding out this information it will be easier to make the music video as I have a guideline to follow. In order to film a music video we are going to need a special effect personnel that would be used in order to operate any of the special effects that might be used within the music video, it was a challenge to figure out the people needed for a music shoot as it involved looked at IMDB and figuring out the roles people have.
If I had more time I would've been able to contact a team member and gain an insight into the music video just to gain a better understanding. It was a bit of a challenge finding the costs of all of the resources as we had to do a lot of research to figure out how much one would cost in that particular industry. It was useful to have a rough idea of how much each one would cost as we could get a sense of the prices in the industry. It's interesting to see that most of the resources would be feasible as long as we would secure a backup plan. In addition, looking at the digipak, it was useful to figure out what resources one would need to create a digipak as it was easier to figure out what would be needed as most of it was easy to figure out what was needed. It was interesting to see that certain resources were needed as it's helpful to list them making it easier to film the music video.
When creating a magazine album advert it's useful to see that we need six resources which will help us create a magazine album advert as it's easier to get the resources considering we have planned it out. It was more reliable getting the costs and figuring out the viably for the magazine album advert as during our research the prices were pretty much straight forward and we were able to brainstorm the viability effectively of each resource until we felt like it was satisfied.
