Initial Planning

By Tanya Subhan

Secondary research

Initial research for find band

Unsigned.com is a website that unsigned artists/bands use to promote their music to become noticed. The website separates the bands music into categories of genres and where they are from so its easier to locate them. We are using this website because it has helped us find a band that will be willing to let us shoot a free music video for. The band we picked was a rock band called A New Day which have only created 2 songs which are not that popular. A New Day is a boy band from Essex which is a group of four friends. They create catchy upbeat Pop/Rock music. There are inspired by All Time Low, Simple Plan, The Darkness and many more. They have played in several venues around Essex and London They are hoping to build a bigger fan base and inspire as many people as they can.

Secondary research through YouTube

I went onto A New Days YouTube account and found out that they have more than 2 songs created but they dont all have videos. There was one song called Shields up which has a music video created for already. The video was made on a low budget, we could tell because the quality of the video wasnt great and they lacked in lighting and the sound was quiet. Three of the four tracks only have a still image representing the music. This suggests that they are in need of a music video.

They have a promotional interview on their channel which doesnt do them any favours because it was shot in bad quality and it was difficult to hear their responses because they didnt have microscopes.

Other unsigned bands

Natural image- I found this unsigned band on YouTube by looking through all the unsigned rock bands channels. This band has music videos made for their songs but they dont have many views, comments or likes. Their music video for their original song 164 has 1951 views, 36 likes, 1 dislike and 11 comments.

Other unsigned bands

The exiles- This is another unsigned band that I found on YouTube, Its more popular than Natural image and the band I chose to do a music video for A New Day. Their music video Your dying eye has 22,784 views, 162 likes, 8 dislikes and 158 comments. This video has been up on YouTube for 5 years while Natural images video has been up for 3 years.

Other unsigned bands

Tears from the sky- I discovered this band on unsigned.com, I found it by searching up every band that comes under the rock category. The bands page views are more popular than the other bands that I came across on YouTube. The bands music website profile on unsigned.com has 29412 views, their music has been played 14015 times, they have 17 pages worth of comments and 19 pages full of people who claim to be their fans. This band is more popular than A New Day. A New day also have a unsigned.com page, it has 301 view, 44 plays, no comments, no fans and no friends or pictures. I think the reason why A New Day dont have a big fan base like Tears from the sky because they dont have much information on their page like Tears from the sky and its not decorated.

Fan Pages
I looked on facebook to see if A New Day has a fan page open and they do, they have 755 likes and 58 people talking about them. Compared to other unsigned bands with facebook fan pages they dont have many views or commenter's. I looked to see if they have any more fan pages on any other website and the only one I found was their twitter fan page. They have a decent amount of followers, 13.6k and they are following 8898 people.

Primary research

What Im trying to find out.

What gender would typically would watch the music video The variety of age groups that would listen to the genre of music What the audience expect/ prefer What social group would listen to the music What themes the audience would like to see in the song and video.

Which research will be appropriate?.

Questionnaires to find out what the audience likes Survey monkey (online questionnaire) Social class/ focus group (Open Questions) Internet forum (Closed questions)

Which samples am I going to focus my research on?

AS photography AS Media Beacon Media students Personal friends Beacon friends Social networking friends Family Wider YouTube research

What will the size, scope & time scale of the task be?
- How long will the shooting take? - Time/Availability - How much time do you need in the location - How many people all together; crew and cast. -

Internet Forum
What type of story do people like to see in a music video? What would you like the themes and issues to be in a music videos? What themes do you think audiences prefer?

Questioning
- One to one interviews (Face to Face interviews, or telephone, text or email. - Questionnaires or survey online and paper based to get a larger audience. - Organise a focus group - Internet forum

Questionnaire
How old are you? What gender are you? How much time do you spend listening to music? what genre of music do you listen to? Where do you listen to music youtube, iTunes.

Open questions
Open questions are where you can ask more personal questions that provide extended qualitative answers. They normally start with; what, why, when, how, who.

Closed questions
Closed questions are easy to answer and normally get a response with yes, no or dont know or an answer give with a range of options. Closed questions normally start with how old are you?, what gender are you or what is your marital status? theses are simple quick questions that get a grip on what your audience looks like.

One to one interview

One to one interviews are good for finding out more personal questions like peoples opinions in detail and their likes and preferences. You can ask the interviewee questions like where they watch their videos.

Organise a focus group.

This is where I can show a bunch of music videos to a group and get a wide range of opinions and get the group to discuss it so I can see everything in detail.

Task 2: Undertake Secondary Research for Music Video Production

Audience response unsigned bands not in channels: I found an unsigned band called 'Natural image' they are not linked to a channel at all. They produce their own music/music videos, and the type of music videos they create are performance music videos. They are a rock band that are on the same level as the band I picked 'A New Day' except that this band has more views and comments. I think the reason this band has more views and comments than 'A New Day' is because they have made more music videos than them while 'A New Day' has only created 1 music video for one song, while the rest of their songs use still images. The audiences response to the music video 'natural image' was positive, most comments were in a different language, they got 32 likes and 1 dislike. Audience response to unsigned bands in channels: I looked onto a YouTube channel called unsigned bands which had 34 different unsigned bands on it. The band which was the most similar to 'A New Day' was a band called 'Kiss Korona'. They got 7,140 views on one of their songs; the video for it was just lyrics. The band did to a performance music video for it but it didn't get as many views since the video wasn't in very good quality. The comments they got on the lyric video were mostly positive comments and they got 32 likes and 2 dislikes. This band is probably not very popular because they haven't made good music videos, their songs are good but the videos for it are not as good as it could be. Facebook page for natural image: For the band natural image, they haven't got a facebook page made. If they did make a facebook page maybe they could get a bigger audience on their music videos. Facebook page for kiss korona: Kiss Korona also don't have a facebook page. They would be able to get a bigger fan base if they did make a facebook page.

Task 2: Activity: Newspapers and magazines

What does the data tell you?The data on the nrs website is very organised, everything is separated into sections like age, gender, months and social class. Mojo and Kerrang: These two magazines are both music magazines but two different types of music magazines. Kerrang is a rock music magazine that is targeted at young music rock fans, the way the magazine has been worded makes it look like and sound like its a magazine that is aimed at teenagers. The design of the magazine also makes it look like the target audience would be for teenager rather than adults since the images used would appeal more to teenagers. Mojo magazine looks like it is aimed not only just teenagers but adults as well, there are some old bands that adults would like and some popular singers that teenagers would like as well, the way the magazine has been set up would appeal to everyone since the cover isnt all jazzed up like a typical teenaged magazine, it is simple and something everyone would read. The language used in this magazine is formal

How would you plan a focus group

Create a comfortable environment Use social networking to invite people in Leaflets could be handed out Presentations or teaser music vid (plan ahead) Setting up camera to film focus group Designing the content (selecting songs)

How could you make sure you get the info that you want
- Asking someone directly to get a genuine response - Having a comment box so it allows people to write down their thoughts - Asking the right questions (plan questions on queue cards) - Think about all the follow up questions - Have a balance of open and closed questions - Have a blog made so people could post their thoughts on it - Asking a range of people rather than just one sterotype

How could you record, collate, analyse and present the findings
Cameras, voice recorders, tape Microsoft excel (pie charts, bar charts) Scatter diagrams Closed and open questions Power point and prezzie Internet, YouTube (Video presentation)

Observations
Observation is another form of primary research. It visits a media production company, its a good way of broadening and developing your knowledge so you can understand the production processes and the technology involved

Why were lifestyles location important considerations for the designers of the website
It makes a change in peoples life So people will know if the place is close to them or not Theres a lot of the colour green on the website- This shows the outdoors and health. Will make people think of different views on exercise. The tools make it very easy for people with busy lifestyles Walking routes by region (Orange in my area button) (brown walking roots)

How do the images used relate to the target audience

Encourages people to want to walk Families will take part in the activity Elderly people Parents and children Shows people being active Shows different age ranges that do it Shows people being happy and social Beautiful surroundings

Who get walking is aimed at?

Get walking is aimed at people who need to be healthier or want to stay healthy Elderly, young people trying to keep fit. Good for different facilities People who want to explore England People with asthma- It helps increase lung capacity and helps you relax People with diabietes- It helps you control blood sugar levels and body weight and tiredness.

Quantitative primary research

Quantitative primary research is research that is created by paper based questionnaires or online surveys (survey monkey).

online based questionnaire

Online survey: 1. Where do you live? -England-America-Australia-California-Canada-Other 2. How old are you? -Under 12- 12-15- 16-18- 19-21-22+ 3. Do you have any musical interests (Going to concerts, playing instruments?) -Yes-No4. What is your gender? Female/Male

5. Whats your religion? - Catholic- Christian- Hindu- Muslim- Atheist- Other

6. How much time do you spend listening to music? - 1-3h -4-6h more -less 7. What genre of music do you listen to? -Rock-Pop-Indie-Other8. Where do you listen to your music? - YouTube- Vivo- iTunes- MTV 9. Do you listen to music with your friends? - Yes- No 10. How do you consume it? -iPad-Phone-iPod-computer

Paper based questionnaire

Whats your ststus?
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Student employed

Where do you live?

Epsom Sutton Tadworth

Series1

England Carshalton Woodmansterne Coulsdon

To get more of a varied answer I should of asked more older people who would have been employed.

For the people who put England werent very Specific, I could have avoided getting answers Like this by re wording the question in a more specific way.

Whats your ethnicity

How old are you?

White british Austrailian African Black American Asian

16 17 18 18+

These are all the answers that were given to me after asking this question, I should have narrowed the question down by putting a certain amount of selective answers with an other options

I could of asked a variety of ages rather just the young, if I asked older people I could of got different answers.

Paper based questionnaire

Do you have any musical instrests?

What gender are you?

10 8 6 4 2 0 Yes No Do you have any musical instrests?

Female Male

I could of made this question more specific so I would of got more specific answers. Musical interests could mean anything.

This question is a closed question. Some people didnt answer the question properly so I should watched people answer the questions or asked sensible looking people.

Whats your religion?

Time you spend listening to music (a day)

3 2.5 Muslim Athiest Catholic Christian 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 to 3 4 to 6 more less Time you spend listening to music (a day)

I should of made this question a more selective type of question and put other as an option

On the questionnaire itself I didnt put that the numbers written down are hours a day rather than hours a week. I should have been more accurate.

Paper based questionnaire.

What genre of music do you listen to? Where do you listen to your music? Pop/rock Rock R&b varied pop heavy metal Youtube Vivo itunes MTV

If I asked more older people this question then maybe I would of got more different Music genres rather than the typical music genres

Here I should of put other as an option.

Do you listen to music with your friends?

How do you consume your music?

Yes No Sometimes

Ipad Phone iPod Computer

Paper based questionnaire.

How do you aquire your music? 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Downloaded Bought How do you aquire your music? 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Sixth form Employed college What level of education are you on? What level of education are you on?

Whats your sexual oriantation 7 8 6 4 2 0 Straight Bi sexual Not sure Gay Whats your sexual oriantation 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 No

Do you have a job?

Do you have a job?

Yes

Paper based questionnaire.

Do you like b&w or colour music videos? 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 b&w colour Unsure Both Do you like b&w or colour music videos?

Qualitative primary research

Qualitative primary research is research that is created through one to one interview, telephone calls, emails or focus groups.

Qualitative Research

Question 1What are your opinions on the short clip that have just been shown?: v Direct reference Theyre good, easy to understand and they get to the point quick enough.- J.F I quite like them, theyre easy stories you can easily see what theyre about C I like them, the effects were good, and so was the quality S.S The way the music video has been shot is great- N.S v Discrete analysis All of the people that I interviewed said they liked the short clips, and that they were easy to understand. v Conclusions All of the answers that I have received show that the music videos were easy to understand and like. v Action statement The audience liked the video because it was easy to understand, so when it comes to making my music video maybe I should pick a storyline that is easy to understand too.

Qualitative Research

Question 2Do you like all the clips that have been shown, if not why?: v

Direct reference

I liked the first one and the last one but Im not too sure about the second one because it was a bit cringe C Yes. I do like all of them.-J.F I like them all because they used good shot angles- S.S I like all the clips because they have been edited really well- N.S v

Discrete analysis Conclusions Action statement

Everyone liked every single clip apart from one person, she didnt like the clip because she thought it was cringy. v Most of the answers show that the clips were good and likable, one person liked 2 of the videos but one of the videos she wasnt too keen on. v Most of the audience liked the clips, the second music video shown wasnt as popular as the rest, the reason given was because it was a bit cheesy, so for my music video I shouldnt make my video too cheesy.

Qualitative Research

Question 3Are these videos the sort of videos that you would expect from a low budget video?: v

Direct reference

The first and third not as such but the second kind of because of the quality- J.F Yeah, defiantly- C Actually no, I would expect them to be a higher budget video because they been edited really well- N.S No, If I didnt know that it was a low budget video I would have thought it was a higher budget video. S.S

Discrete analysis
Conclusions Action statement

Most of the people interviewed thought that the videos shown wouldnt have been a low budget video, the second video was the video that people thought the quality wasnt too good. v The answers given show that the people think that the first and third video shown were good but the second videos quality let it down. v Most people said that the cameras quality on the second video wasnt very good and that made it less popular than the rest, so for my music video I should film in high definition to get a good quality music video.

Qualitative Research

Question 4If you could change anything about the videos would you and what would you change?: v

Direct reference

I would change the quality of the second video- C I wouldnt change the first or the third but the second I would with the quality- J.F I thought the videos were good so theres nothing to be changed- S.S Well I dont think Id change anything from the videos because they were really good. N.S

Discrete analysis
Conclusions Action statement

Half of the people said they would change the quality of the second video and the other half said they wouldnt change anything. v Half the answers said that the quality of the second video shown would be changed but the rest of the answers said they wouldnt change anything. Mixed answers were given, different opinions shown. v People didnt like the quality of the second music video, so I should film in a high definition on my music video.

Qualitative Research
Question 5 Do you think these music videos stand up beside a higher budget video? v Direct reference no- C Yeah - J.F Yes- S.S Yeah, theyre done to a good standard. N.S v Discrete analysis Most people thought that these music videos did stand up besides a higher budget video. v Conclusions Everyone but one person thought that these music videos did stand up besides a higher budget video; this shows that more people thought that these videos were done to a good standard for a low budget video. v Action statement Make sure that the video planning is good so that the actual video itself will be good.

Qualitative Research

Question 6Do you think this genre of music lends itself to a low budget video?: v Direct reference Yeah- J.F Yeah- C Yes S.S Yes- N.S v Discrete analysis Everyone thought that the genre of music lends itself to a low budget video. v Conclusions Everyone I asked all had the same opinion here, they all thought that the genre of music lends itself to a low budget video. v Action statement Make sure the genre of music suits the music video.

Audience research
Important considerations for any media producer would be the profile of the target audience and their preferences and buying patterns. Normally the effort and the resource Is put into the research to understand the audiences better.

Demographics Psychographics Geodemographics

Demographics
-

A way to describe a certain group of people by using information like their social class, age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and social class The questions asked are personal questions The question type is called a closed question This helps us to get to know our audience better Its to help find out the basics of your audience These questions are normally the beginning questions on a questionnaire

Psychographics
Psychographics' is where media producers target specific audiences for example, if someone has an active lifestyle theyre maybe more interested in travel magazines, sports websites etc. The media producers use psychological ways to get people interested. The media producers look at products that people are interested in The media producers also use the way people think or live to get people to buy their products.

I have done this by targeting young people to fill out my questionnaires and to do a one to one interview with me. I chose young people because I thought they were more likely to listen to the music that I was presenting in the one to one interview.

Geodemographics
Geodemographics is where an advertiser or video producer needs to get the profile of a certain person or location. This is helpful because it helps how for a crew we need to travel. It also helps with finding peoples location. Good for producers Good for advertisers Helps the industries Sometimes organised by postcode

Spotify
Disadvantages: -Trying to bring back the old music industry so it becomes mainstream -Spotify trying to take over artists music. Artists should be able to do what Spotify do themselves, bringing out their old music again. -the majors are all over it because they see a way of re-selling all their old stuff for free, make a fortune, and not die. -The things on Spotify could come back out again and people could talk about it in a bad way. -Celebrities are not getting paid as much as they used to. Advantages: -Spotify is one of the few companies that is transparent and actually pays properly -as a songwriter you should worship Spotify, because they've come along with a solution. people would stop ripping celebrities off and go to Spotify instead because its not illegal and the music quality is better. -Spotify promotes artists.

Spotify report
For the music app Spotify, there are some celebrities that are happy and supporting Spotify while there are other celebrities that are not too pleased about it. Some celebrities think that because Spotify gives you the ability to download whatever song and how many songs you like in the best of quality for under 10 a month, now because of this more people are buying songs from Spotify rather than buying celebrities albums or buying their songs off itunes, so celebrities are not getting paid as much as they used to because more and more people are turning to Spotify since its cheaper and better quality. Another reason for celebrities hating on Spotify is because it brings back the old music from the old music industry, the artists feel that that should be their job, if they wanted to bring back their old music they would of but Spotify is doing that for them. Some of the advantages to Spotify would be that the artist and their music would get promoted, In my opinion I dont think that some artists should be complaining about Spotify because its promoting them and their music which would give them a bigger fan base, which would lead the fans into buying tickets to see them and their merchandise. Another good thing about Spotify is that it is one of the very few companies that actually pays properly. Not all celebrities hate Spotify, its only a couple, actually a few artists have actually got Spotify themselves like, Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears and many more. An app can never please everybody, but this app has pleases the majority of people and thats all that really matters.

Market research
Product market- When music video producers are not very popular and are trying to get people to notice their work they often do really cheap offers to bands that need a music video to get a bigger fan base. Once their music video gets them a bigger fan base the price of the music video will go up gradually. Some people even do the first music video free and the rest gradually go up in price.

Chris Storrar
Chris Storrar is a student that used to come to the Beacon school. After he left he went out and got a camera of his own and started filming and put videos up on YouTube. He started filming for free and then when he got more noticed by the bands that promoted him he started to film for a set price. Here is some of his work:
Work it out by Dominque saint FT Junior Brat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF2qO43J3pI Dreamer Ft Troy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzEA8QGGBpw

Christian Fenton
Christian Fenton is also an ex Beacon student. He bought his first camera and started filming and he then started to produce his own music videos for bands and then started to put a price on them and made his way to the top.

Steve Franco
Here is another low budget music producer, he came into our school to give us some advise and tips on how to produce a music video here is some of the things he mentioned. Gorilla film making (no cost or permission for location) By repeating gorilla film making, theyre working quickly so cost is less Using low cost crane equipment You can use HD cameras for filming rather than big fancy cameras, HD is still good. Working with local bands, networking websites will see and you get to work with other bands. Many music videos when its major record labels, there is a market for bands who dont have the money but need a music video. His team created an economy package. They threw a local house party, filmed it and used it for a music video since its cheaper than a set up. Commercial going rate is 20k- He put a link on fb to advertise. His budget was 100, 20 grand is the normal rate. Music video goes onto the music page on Facebook, He gains a lot of fans as well He updates whats going on for his fans

Market research
Who is my competition- There are a lot of people that do low budget music videos, those people would be the competition. If the competition is getting more publicity, then you could check out what theyre doing to get popular and maybe take and adapt to some of their ideas. Videos I have researched- With all the videos that I looked had strong points and weak points. I looked at a low budget video on YouTube called Heaven By Reece. I think that the quality of the camera isnt too good and the storyline doesnt match what the music is saying. It got 1500 comments, 969 262 views, 1583 likes and 192 dislikes. Judging by the audiences comments most of the reviews were positive.

Market research
Competitor analysis- When new music producers are trying to get more publicity they often do a few free music videos to some bands and tell them to promote them, they also self promote on social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube est.. After they get the publicity they want they start charging fixed prices.

Market research
Advertising placement- Advertisements are placed everywhere now, on flyers, websites, social media. It appeals to people who are interested in the music industry, the advertisements probably offer cheap deals which will draw your attention.

Market research
Advertising effectiveness- From the adverts I see on YouTube, I think that they defiantly get peoples attention since the adverts normally pop up before you start your video, if the person is interested in the advert they can carry on watching it if not then they can skip it after 5 seconds.

Production research

Silvertips
Two days shoot = 3000 + expenses. These shoots last two days (10hours each) and include 1 days preproduction; 2 days shooting including Director and Cameraman shooting in HD. The edit is 3 days. We looked at Chris Storrar and Christian Fenton. Chris Storrar started by shooting videos out of school charging 500 for everything. Christian Fenton got his own camera and started filming videos for no budget so bands got their videos for free and then started charging after he got more noticed.

Andy Evens
What advice is provided from a production point of view on making music videos on a shoe string budget? Andy Evens mentioned that you should use gorilla filming, which means you dont get permission to film in a public place. If you gave a low budget you can use gorilla filming to get a location without having to pay or get permission to film there. People do this because they dont always have the money to pay for locations, it is illegal to film in a public place without prior permission from the respective council office, the police could possibly get involved too. Another thing Andy suggested is that if youre doing gorilla filming you will need to keep track of time; you cant spend too much time in one location. Here is some other advise he shares: You can use HD cameras for filming rather than big fancy cameras, HD is still good. Working with local bands, networking websites will see and you get to work with other bands. Many music videos when its major record labels, there is a market for bands who dont have the money but need a music video. His team created an economy package. They threw a local house party, filmed it and used it for a music video since its cheaper than a set up. Commercial going rate is 20k- He put a link on fb to advertise. His budget was 100, 20 grand is the normal rate. Music video goes onto the music page on Facebook, He gains a lot of fans as well He updates whats going on for his fans

Kuda Project
What were the challenges of self-financing? They used their own funds to do it They had to start with the expensive beginning with the HD filming They were on a tight budget They had a small crew and limited funds

What were the pay-offs and benefits? if it's an interesting video, people will watch the whole thing They managed to get a lot done for free Music videos would normally cost a lot more than what they paid and they were successful in the end it turned into a bit of a feature film

Dan Lucas
What production advise does Dan offer? The production advise Dan offers is that you should write down any ideas you have and then go back to them later on and try to improve them or change them to make them more appealing. He also mentions to keep story boarding ideas and keep adding to them until you eventually have a music video planned out. He recommends that you always carry a note pad and pen to write down your ideas because he believes your ideas will come to you in the most unlikely times and places.