First of all and most importantly, I had to do some research behind the songs I had chosen. To begin with, my initial idea was to have the track 'The Scientist' by Coldplay, it went well with the idea I had in mind and is also one of my favourite songs by Coldplay. It wasn't till half way through filming my music video I heard the remix version, Coldplay - The Scientist mixed with Radiohead - High and Dry. Both songs ran together fluently and I enjoyed the version, so chose for this to be my new track on my music video. I had quite an emotional storyline in mind so the song fitted perfectly with what i wanted and imagined. With my song chosen, I had a look at the lyrics in order for them to go along with the story I had in mind, it went perfectly, so my next step was to look at demographics. My main inspiration was the Coldplay video, 'The Scientist' and this shows when watching my video.
My Coldplay demographics showed me that 52% of males enjoyed Coldplay's music whereas 48% of females enjoyed their music. Age wise, the demographics showed that Coldplay's music was most popular with 12-17 year olds, 18-34 year olds coming in at a close second in the demographics chart. The information showed me that Coldplay's fan base is mostly made up of almost 50% women and men, there was only a 4% difference when it came to the gender demographics chart. This suggested that Coldplay's music is enjoyed by both males and females equally. Along with these demographics I also looked at pictures of fans at Coldplay's concerts which helped to give me an idea of the average age of people that bought Coldplay's albums and enjoyed their music. Judging by the photo's that I seen, the fans in them seemed to be aged from around 18-24. I also found out that VH1 in their top 100 pop videos had voted Coldplay - The Scientist in at number eleven. The demographics and information I gained helped me out a lot as I wanted to aim my music video at young adults, 17+ (as this is more of a mature age), so the information was very helpful. I also analysed 5 pop music video’s, I thought this would be helpful as I could maybe pick up some camera techniques from the video’s to help me with my own. I looked at:
Violet Hill by Coldplay
Just by Radiohead
Common People by Pulp
Thriller by Michael Jackson
Wonderwall by Oasis
Even though I didn’t use many of the conventions I seen in these video’s (for example, birds eye view, pan) they helped to give me an idea of what should be included in a pop video, so I had an idea of how my music video should end up looking. In my video, i used typical conventions such as different camera techniques and mise-en-scene. After watching the video to 'The Scientist' I decided that I wanted my story line to be quite emotional, as both 'The Scientist' and 'High and Dry' are quite emotional songs. To begin with I didn't realise how much of an effect slow motion and reverse made so didn't consider adding this in to my video. However, the more I watched the Coldplay video, the more I started to notice the build up of emotion that both techniques bring. So with the sad storyline I had in mind, I decided to add both techniques in to my video.
Overall in my video I used: slow motion
black and white editing
reverse
mise en scene
close up
extreme close up
two shot
zoom in/out
high shot
mid shot
My potential viewers and listeners would be as young as 12+, Coldplay are a band that is enjoyed by many age groups, as are Radiohead.
I wanted my viewers and listeners to be able to maybe relate to the video in someway, as it's about a loved one passing away and the memories that are left behind, I thought that the viewers should be a mature age so they could fully understand the concept of the video. Even though in my video my actor was an elderly man dreaming about his late wife and his early memories he'd had with her, I wanted the video to be for anyone, not just someone that had lost a wife or husband. It can relate to the viewers and listeners that have lost a family member, such as a Mum, Dad, Nan or Grandad, or even a close friend that's passed away. A mature age is 17+, so I thought people of this age and over would be able to understand the storyline in the video and the connection and link it has with the song. Coldplay and Radiohead are both known as alternative rock bands, so listeners and viewers of my music video would maybe enjoy music such as Coldplay, Radiohead, U2 and Travis.
To get my product to as big an audience as possible, I will post my video on one of the internet's most used websites to watch video's on, YouTube. Millions of people each day use YouTube to watch their favourite music video's, I realised that by tagging my music video under, "Coldplay Radiohead Media Music Video" that my video would come up quite often when a viewer typed in one of these words. So my video would reach a wide range of people that use the website.
Even though my music video has quite an emotional storyline behind it, I wanted the message that the video gives to be an optimistic one. I wanted the viewers and listeners to watch it and be able to take away from it that even when loved ones pass away, they are still with you in your memories and you should be happy that you've had that person in your life to make memories with. So I wanted the message to be able to comfort my target audience. For my video to be understandable when watched by my target audience, I edited certain clips in my video, by making them black and white, I hoped from this that the viewers and listeners would be able to realise that these clips were set in the past. Whereas the clips in my video that were in colour, were in the future. I placed these clips carefully around each other so that, when the elderly man was shown sleeping, this would be set in colour and when the target audience was watching his dream about the past, this would be set in black and white to represent that it wasn't the present time. I think by doing this and editing the clips colour wise, It really helped to separate the past and present so that it was simple for the viewer to understand at which point in time the actor was at in his life.
I used close ups at the beginning of my music video on both the young actor’s eyes and the elderly actor’s eyes also, so that when the elderly man closed his eyes, the audience would know it was the same person when I used a close up on the young man opening his. I also used an extreme close up on the necklace the young man puts on his girlfriend in the beginning of the video, so that the viewer would be able to recognise it, as the necklace goes on to play a part in the middle of the video too. I then went on to use close up on the elderly mans feet walking past, this represents how he’s lost his youth and isn’t able to do the things he used to do. Same goes for when I used a close up on both his empty bowl and glass of water, in comparison to the two meals the young man puts down on the dinner table and the two glasses he fills with red wine. This helped to show that the elderly man was alone and eating dinner by himself, so the viewer knew his wife had since passed.
I also used reversing in my video towards the last half of it, as in the song, the lyrics say, "Let's go back to the start." Therefore, I made certain clips rewind to represent that this is what the elderly man wanted, to rewind and go back to the start of his relationship so that he could be with his wife again. I thought that this technique was interesting, as it's not a common technique and it's rarely used in pop music videos. I think that by using these techniques my target audience will be interested, as 'The Scientist' was voted in the Top 20 of the Top 100 pop music video's and they used the reverse technique and a similar storyline.
Sound wise, I tried to time the music so that at certain parts in the video, the music either helped to represent what was happening, or the lyrics said what was happening. To begin with when the young man is running up towards the tree to hide behind it, the piano music goes at the same pace as the young man is running. Also near the beginning the lyrics say, “I had to find you.” When the elderly man walks past, as though he’s trying to find his wife. Later on in the video, as the wine is being poured out of the bottle, the piano music changes and almost makes a trickling sound, as the sound of the wine would be doing as it’s coming out of the bottle. The lyrics also go on to say, “It’s such a shame for us to part, nobody said it was easy, no-one ever said it would be this hard.” These lyrics fit perfectly with the timing of the video, as when the lyrics are being sung, my video shows the elderly man sitting in his chair with the necklace in his hand whilst he‘s sleeping (the necklace which was shown earlier on in the video that the young man put on his girlfriend). This helps to suggest that the elderly actor hasn’t gotten over the death of his late wife and isn’t able to move on from it. After this part in the music video, the piano plays as the camera moves across to the chair with the music changing tempo. It then stops playing just in time for a photo of the elderly man and his wife to be shown and the lyrics say, “I’ll take it back to the start.” The next clip is then set in the past at the beginning of the relationship as the young man sets the dinner table for him and his girlfriend. A few clips after this, I used a reverse technique so that the elderly mans feet were walking backwards and the lyrics said, “I’m going back to the start.” I then had to use the same clips as I had used in the beginning of my music video, for it to make sense for the viewers. If I didn’t re-use these clips then my video wouldn’t have worked the way I wanted it to and wouldn’t have had the right affect. My idea is a simple one, a man dreaming about his past and I hoped that by using all of these techniques, e.g close ups, extreme close ups, black and white effect, reverse technique and slowing the pace of the clips down that the story would make more sense and so would receive positive feedback.
As I felt as though my techniques said a lot about the storyline and helped to represent what the video was about, my mise-en-scene was used to show the simpler things about the past and present of the elderly man’s life. Placing a walking stick next to his arm chair helped to show that he wasn’t the quick, light-footed boy he once was and had to have help in life to get by, with the most simplest of things, such as walking.
This contrasts with the young man in the video, as he runs up to the tree to hide behind it, needing no aid to do so. The one empty bowl and glass of water the elderly man had in front of him, contrasted with the two glasses of wine and two plates of dinner that the young man had set out for him and his girlfriend. This helped to show that the elderly man’s wife had since passed on and he was living at home by himself. The necklace plays a big part in the video, as It was given by the elderly man to his girlfriend as a gift when he was younger. I zoomed in on the necklace and used extreme close up just so that the viewers would later recognise it in the video, in the elderly mans hand as he sleeps. This suggests that, just as he’s holding on to the necklace, he’s also holding on to his past and not letting go. It also helps the viewers and listeners recognise that the young girl in the video was the girl that was in a relationship with him when he was younger.
My mise-en-scene also showed the elderly man, inside in his house, sitting down with little freedom, restricted and shut away from the outside world. However, when the viewers see the young man in the music video, they see him not just inside but outside too. Showing that when he was the young man, he had more chances, possibilities and options in life, he wasn’t just stuck to one option, he had many. There also isn’t one clip where you see the young man sitting down, which shows that he was always on the go, in contrast to the elderly man that has little to do in his day to day life.
The techniques that I have used are similar or exact to the techniques used in professional pop videos today, however, professional videos have more variety when it comes to equipment and editing equipment. However, I think I used my resources well and given the chance to work with professional equipment my music video would be of better quality.
The reactions I received towards the themes and messages in my video, were positive ones. From my feedback, I gained that by coming up with an imaginative storyline, I managed to capture peoples emotions as my storyline shows something that has or is going to happen to everyone in life at some point. So most people could relate to my music video. The reverse technique was found to be a popular one amongst my viewers, as it’s not a common technique, so my viewers and listeners said they found it enjoyable to watch. By using black and white editing, my target audience also said that they found the storyline simple to follow, when the story was going between the past and the present. My feedback helped me to realise that by using different techniques you can make a music video, easier to understand. So I learnt a lot from using editing techniques. My viewers also said that I had gone on to shown that the elderly man was now vulnerable, from the clip where he’s holding his late wife’s necklace in his hand that he had given to her when they were younger. Everything that I had hoped people would gain from my video, they had. The most positive feedback I gained was my viewers and listeners saying that with the right professional equipment, they’d most likely expect to see my music video on music channels on the television.
To get my product to as big an audience as possible, I will post my video on one of the internet's most used websites to watch video's on, YouTube. Millions of people each day use YouTube to watch their favourite music video's, I realised that by tagging my music video under, "Coldplay Radiohead Media Music Video" that my video would come up quite often when a viewer typed in one of these words. So my video would reach a wide range of people that use the website.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Information on 'High and Dry'
"High and Dry" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, and was the first single released from their second album, The Bends (1995). It was as a double A-side with album opener "Planet Telex". "High and Dry" was released in the UK on 5 March 1995 and remains one of the band's most popular radio hits, despite reaching only #17 upon release.
"High and Dry" was recorded during the Pablo Honey sessions but was dismissed by the band, who thought that it sounded like a Rod Stewart song.[1] However, during the sessions for The Bends it was rediscovered and remastered, as it was felt that it worked well with the rest of the album's content. The version that appears on the album is the original demo; it was never re-recorded.
The song is widely regarded as Radiohead's most accessible pop hit, and was a live favourite, though it has not been performed in a decade. In a 2007 interview, Thom Yorke stated that he did not like the song, saying "It's not bad... it's very bad". He also stated that he was pressured into including the song on The Bends.
"High and Dry" was recorded during the Pablo Honey sessions but was dismissed by the band, who thought that it sounded like a Rod Stewart song.[1] However, during the sessions for The Bends it was rediscovered and remastered, as it was felt that it worked well with the rest of the album's content. The version that appears on the album is the original demo; it was never re-recorded.
The song is widely regarded as Radiohead's most accessible pop hit, and was a live favourite, though it has not been performed in a decade. In a 2007 interview, Thom Yorke stated that he did not like the song, saying "It's not bad... it's very bad". He also stated that he was pressured into including the song on The Bends.
Radiohead - High and Dry Lyrics
Two jumps in a week, I bet you think that's pretty clever don't you boy.
Flying on your motorcycle, watching all the ground beneath you drop.
You'd kill yourself for recognition; kill yourself to never ever stop.
You broke another mirror; you're turning into something you are not.
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Drying up in conversation, you will be the one who cannot talk.
All your insides fall to pieces, you just sit there wishing you could still make love
They're the ones who'll hate you when you think you've got the world all sussed out
They're the ones who'll spit at you. You will be the one screaming out.
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
It's the best thing that you've ever had, the best thing that you've ever, ever
had.
It's the best thing that you've ever had; the best thing you've had has gone away.
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Flying on your motorcycle, watching all the ground beneath you drop.
You'd kill yourself for recognition; kill yourself to never ever stop.
You broke another mirror; you're turning into something you are not.
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Drying up in conversation, you will be the one who cannot talk.
All your insides fall to pieces, you just sit there wishing you could still make love
They're the ones who'll hate you when you think you've got the world all sussed out
They're the ones who'll spit at you. You will be the one screaming out.
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
It's the best thing that you've ever had, the best thing that you've ever, ever
had.
It's the best thing that you've ever had; the best thing you've had has gone away.
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Thursday, 17 July 2008
5 music videos
Analysing 5 Pop Music Videos
Just by Radiohead
This is one of my favourite music video's to watch purely because it's so simple but really gets you thinking at the end of it.
The video includes:
-close ups
-pan
-extreme close ups
-low shots
-high angles
-birdseye view
Close ups are used in the video so you can see the band/actors in detail.
Pan is used to follow the actor as he walks down the street.
Extreme close ups are used to show the band in more detail than a close up would.
Low shots are to make the people in the video appear larger than they actually are. Maybe to make them look intimidating or powerful.
High angles are used when the lead singer of the band looks out the window of the building. Maybe this is to emphasise how high up he is in the building, or it could also make the people down below look small and vulnerable.
A birdseye view shows everything from up above.
Violet Hill by Coldplay
I thought i would watch one of Coldplay's latest videos as they are the band i'm doing my research on. I will also be using one of their songs for the music video i will be making.
The video includes:
-close ups
-low angles
-slow motion
-extreme close ups
Close ups are used in the video so you can see the band/actors in detail.
Extreme close ups are used to show the band in more detail than a close up would.
Low shots are to make the people in the video appear larger than they actually are. Maybe to make them look intimidating or powerful.
High angles are used when the lead singer of the band looks out the window of the building. Maybe this is to emphasise how high up he is in the building, or it could also make the people down Slow motion is used as the band walk past so that you can see them individually.
Common People by Pulp
I've always really liked this song but never really looked at the video properly, so thought i would.
The video includes:
-close ups
-extreme close ups
-pan
Close ups are used in the video so you can see the band/actors in detail. In this case it's also so you can see the people in the video dancing.
Extreme close ups are used to show the band/actors faces in more detail than a close up would.
Pan is used to go past the houses in the video.
Thriller by Michael Jackson
I know that Thriller is one of the most popular pop videos of all time. It is said to be the greatest pop video ever made, so i thought i'd take a look.
The video includes:
-two shot
-pan
-close ups
-high angle
-extreme close up
-zoom in
A two shot is used as Michael Jackson and an actress who plays his girlfriend, speak to each other.
Pan follows the couple as they start to walk down the street, at the same time using a close up to capture them.
Close ups show Michael Jackson singing and show him in more detail.
High angle shows the zombies as they start to walk down the street.
A high angle and close up show all the zombies including Michael as they start to dance.
At the end of the video, the camera in extreme close up, zooms in on Michaels eyes.
Wonderwall by Oasis
I chose to look at Wonderwall by Oasis because it's a song that never seems to grow old, just like the video.
The video includes:
-extreme close up
-close up
The video starts off with an extreme close up on an Oasis LP.
A close up is then used to show one of the lead singers sitting playing the guitar.
Extreme close up of a violin being played.
The whole video consist of close ups which show the band in better detail.
Just by Radiohead
This is one of my favourite music video's to watch purely because it's so simple but really gets you thinking at the end of it.
The video includes:
-close ups
-pan
-extreme close ups
-low shots
-high angles
-birdseye view
Close ups are used in the video so you can see the band/actors in detail.
Pan is used to follow the actor as he walks down the street.
Extreme close ups are used to show the band in more detail than a close up would.
Low shots are to make the people in the video appear larger than they actually are. Maybe to make them look intimidating or powerful.
High angles are used when the lead singer of the band looks out the window of the building. Maybe this is to emphasise how high up he is in the building, or it could also make the people down below look small and vulnerable.
A birdseye view shows everything from up above.
Violet Hill by Coldplay
I thought i would watch one of Coldplay's latest videos as they are the band i'm doing my research on. I will also be using one of their songs for the music video i will be making.
The video includes:
-close ups
-low angles
-slow motion
-extreme close ups
Close ups are used in the video so you can see the band/actors in detail.
Extreme close ups are used to show the band in more detail than a close up would.
Low shots are to make the people in the video appear larger than they actually are. Maybe to make them look intimidating or powerful.
High angles are used when the lead singer of the band looks out the window of the building. Maybe this is to emphasise how high up he is in the building, or it could also make the people down Slow motion is used as the band walk past so that you can see them individually.
Common People by Pulp
I've always really liked this song but never really looked at the video properly, so thought i would.
The video includes:
-close ups
-extreme close ups
-pan
Close ups are used in the video so you can see the band/actors in detail. In this case it's also so you can see the people in the video dancing.
Extreme close ups are used to show the band/actors faces in more detail than a close up would.
Pan is used to go past the houses in the video.
Thriller by Michael Jackson
I know that Thriller is one of the most popular pop videos of all time. It is said to be the greatest pop video ever made, so i thought i'd take a look.
The video includes:
-two shot
-pan
-close ups
-high angle
-extreme close up
-zoom in
A two shot is used as Michael Jackson and an actress who plays his girlfriend, speak to each other.
Pan follows the couple as they start to walk down the street, at the same time using a close up to capture them.
Close ups show Michael Jackson singing and show him in more detail.
High angle shows the zombies as they start to walk down the street.
A high angle and close up show all the zombies including Michael as they start to dance.
At the end of the video, the camera in extreme close up, zooms in on Michaels eyes.
Wonderwall by Oasis
I chose to look at Wonderwall by Oasis because it's a song that never seems to grow old, just like the video.
The video includes:
-extreme close up
-close up
The video starts off with an extreme close up on an Oasis LP.
A close up is then used to show one of the lead singers sitting playing the guitar.
Extreme close up of a violin being played.
The whole video consist of close ups which show the band in better detail.
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Assessment Targets.
- Try and find out a bit more about the age of Coldplay's fans
- Try and find more photo's of Coldplay's fans
- Look at more demographics
- Try and find more photo's of Coldplay's fans
- Look at more demographics
1500 word essay.
My chosen brief is a music video, with the song The Scientist by Coldplay playing on the video. I chose this song because the lyrics have a lot of meaning behind them and because of this i could make a story to go along with the lyrics in the song.
I find that the song is quite emotional also so the video I create can be deep and meaningful. I chose Coldplay as the band always write lyrics with meanings rather than the music itself. By doing research I found out that The Scientist is one of the top 100 greatest songs, so this also helped me make my final decision, knowing that other people enjoy the song.
The message of my video is just about how time passes by so quickly and the change in generations. I'm going to make a storyline to go along with my video so that this catches the viewers attention and keeps them hooked on watching the video that I have produced.
My research included looking at the ages of people that enjoy Coldplay's music and having to research their demographics.
I learnt from working in a group last year that I prefer to work alone at my own pace so that is what i will be doing when i'm working on the music video this year. As part of a group last year i didn't get to spend as much time using the camera as i would have liked to, as i'm working by myself this year i will be able to as often as i want to.
For my research, I looked at demographics to see how old most of Coldplay's fan base is made up of. I found that most of Coldplay's fans were surprisingly aged between 12-17, whereas I thought because of looking at photo's of fans at Coldplay's events that they were mostly aged between 20-30. I then decided to see what gender listened to Coldplay the most and found that 52% of Coldplay's fans were male whereas 48% of Coldplay's fans were female. This suggests that Coldplay's fans are sort of split down the middle, as the demographics were almost 50/50. So there is really no preference to Coldplay from just mostly one gender.On Myspace, Coldplay has 444,965 fans, followed by another 293,283 fans on Facebook. Both social networks show a mixed range of all ages, as young as 15 to as old as 40.
When looking at a Coldplay fan website, i noticed that there was three songs by Coldplay that had been put up for Coldplay fans to listen to.
These three songs were:
Viva La Vida
Violet Hill
Fix You
You would think that Viva La Vida and Violet Hill, being the two latest songs produced by Coldplay, would be popular and the most listened to. However, 153,709 listeners listened to Viva La Vida, 164,028 listeners listened to Violet Hill and 420,908 listened to Fix You. Fix You being one of their older songs.
This information suggested that Coldplay's fans prefer to listen to Coldplay's previous songs/albums and that maybe the new sound that they have produced is not what they expected from the alternative rock band.
I looked at some Coldplay blogs after this so I could get more of an idea of how old most of Coldplay's fans are, what surprised me was what I had thought along was proved right by the blogs, fans seemed to be of an older and more mature age such as 20's to 30's, with little said from 12 to 17 year olds.
Looking at The Scientist, the whole video is based on Chris, the lead singer, going back in time and changing things. During this he had to learn how to lip sync the song backwards. This is not something i would want to include in my video but was definitely something that interested me and wanted to make me look in to it more.
Looking at photo's of the fans I found that they also seemed to be of a more mature age. I looked at photo's of fans in queue's waiting for Coldplay to come for signings and I also looked at the faces of people who stood amongst thousands at Coldplay concerts. From looking at these photo's most of the fans in them, appeared to be around 20 to 25.
I then decided to send out a questionnaire to people around my age seeing as the demographics suggested Coldplay fans were aged from 12 to 17. I asked ten 17 year olds, if they enjoyed Coldplay's music to which only three of them replied saying yes. I was surprised to see this seeing as the demographics said otherwise but it only supported my thoughts even more that Coldplay's fans are made up of an older age. This research helped me to realise that I will set my target audience for a more mature age group.
I looked in to the history of Coldplay's music, to find that most of their fans said they enjoyed their first album, Parachutes, over the albums that followed after this. It was suggested by some fans in certain blogs that the reason for this was that they had produced a fresh new sound at the time.
I also looked in to the history of alternative rock music and the bands that Coldplay are compared to such as U2, Travis, Keane and Radiohead. The fans that listen to bands such as u2 etc, also seem to enjoy Coldplay's music as they appear to have a similar sound and state of mind behind the lyrics they produce. U2 are a band that have been around through different generations and no matter what sort of music they produce they always seem to have a large fan base supporting their ideas and sounds. As Coldplay are compared to u2, this information suggested that Coldplay might have similar supporting fans who will also support them as much as u2's fans do so.
This research shows me that my potential listeners will also be fans of other bands such as u2 and radiohead.
Coldplay's competitors are most likely to be new, young and upcoming bands. Most new bands have their own style of music and a unique sound so this is what Coldplay will be competing against. They have recently brought out their new album Viva La Vida with a different and fresh sound. They have to make sure to produce music that fans of all ages can enjoy, so far their new album is doing well, selling 300,000 copies in the first three days it was released. By joining up with people such as Kylie for their 2009 album, this will promote Coldplay and bring them more fans. Also, as well as Coldplay fans buying their albums, Kylie Minogue fans will be too.
Coldplay's music label is EMI, they have been with them since 1999. Staying with this music label has helped Coldplay to have a growing career and very popular albums and songs amongst their fans.
Coldplay are compared to bands such as Radiohead, U2 and Travis. In a way it is good for the alternative rock band to be compared to other bands that are similar. This way they will gain fans that enjoy listening to the likes of Radiohead, U2 and Travis.
All of these bands are very similar and the sounds they produce are also very similar to each other. U2 is one of the biggest bands worldwide, they are cross generation and cross age. Not only do teenagers listen to them, teenagers parents or older siblings listen to them and remember their music in their earlier stages. By being similar to U2 and staying with EMI, Coldplay could find themselves following in U2’s footsteps and being a cross- generation, cross- age band.
I'm going to set my target audience for people aged for 16+. I think people of this age or upwards will be able to relate to the video and understand the concept of it, rather than someone that is under 16 and might not fully understand the video or be able to relate to it in some way.
Personally, i think that Coldplay's fans are at more mature ages, so by following this, hopefully i will get the reaction that their videos do.
I find that the song is quite emotional also so the video I create can be deep and meaningful. I chose Coldplay as the band always write lyrics with meanings rather than the music itself. By doing research I found out that The Scientist is one of the top 100 greatest songs, so this also helped me make my final decision, knowing that other people enjoy the song.
The message of my video is just about how time passes by so quickly and the change in generations. I'm going to make a storyline to go along with my video so that this catches the viewers attention and keeps them hooked on watching the video that I have produced.
My research included looking at the ages of people that enjoy Coldplay's music and having to research their demographics.
I learnt from working in a group last year that I prefer to work alone at my own pace so that is what i will be doing when i'm working on the music video this year. As part of a group last year i didn't get to spend as much time using the camera as i would have liked to, as i'm working by myself this year i will be able to as often as i want to.
For my research, I looked at demographics to see how old most of Coldplay's fan base is made up of. I found that most of Coldplay's fans were surprisingly aged between 12-17, whereas I thought because of looking at photo's of fans at Coldplay's events that they were mostly aged between 20-30. I then decided to see what gender listened to Coldplay the most and found that 52% of Coldplay's fans were male whereas 48% of Coldplay's fans were female. This suggests that Coldplay's fans are sort of split down the middle, as the demographics were almost 50/50. So there is really no preference to Coldplay from just mostly one gender.On Myspace, Coldplay has 444,965 fans, followed by another 293,283 fans on Facebook. Both social networks show a mixed range of all ages, as young as 15 to as old as 40.
When looking at a Coldplay fan website, i noticed that there was three songs by Coldplay that had been put up for Coldplay fans to listen to.
These three songs were:
Viva La Vida
Violet Hill
Fix You
You would think that Viva La Vida and Violet Hill, being the two latest songs produced by Coldplay, would be popular and the most listened to. However, 153,709 listeners listened to Viva La Vida, 164,028 listeners listened to Violet Hill and 420,908 listened to Fix You. Fix You being one of their older songs.
This information suggested that Coldplay's fans prefer to listen to Coldplay's previous songs/albums and that maybe the new sound that they have produced is not what they expected from the alternative rock band.
I looked at some Coldplay blogs after this so I could get more of an idea of how old most of Coldplay's fans are, what surprised me was what I had thought along was proved right by the blogs, fans seemed to be of an older and more mature age such as 20's to 30's, with little said from 12 to 17 year olds.
Looking at The Scientist, the whole video is based on Chris, the lead singer, going back in time and changing things. During this he had to learn how to lip sync the song backwards. This is not something i would want to include in my video but was definitely something that interested me and wanted to make me look in to it more.
Looking at photo's of the fans I found that they also seemed to be of a more mature age. I looked at photo's of fans in queue's waiting for Coldplay to come for signings and I also looked at the faces of people who stood amongst thousands at Coldplay concerts. From looking at these photo's most of the fans in them, appeared to be around 20 to 25.
I then decided to send out a questionnaire to people around my age seeing as the demographics suggested Coldplay fans were aged from 12 to 17. I asked ten 17 year olds, if they enjoyed Coldplay's music to which only three of them replied saying yes. I was surprised to see this seeing as the demographics said otherwise but it only supported my thoughts even more that Coldplay's fans are made up of an older age. This research helped me to realise that I will set my target audience for a more mature age group.
I looked in to the history of Coldplay's music, to find that most of their fans said they enjoyed their first album, Parachutes, over the albums that followed after this. It was suggested by some fans in certain blogs that the reason for this was that they had produced a fresh new sound at the time.
I also looked in to the history of alternative rock music and the bands that Coldplay are compared to such as U2, Travis, Keane and Radiohead. The fans that listen to bands such as u2 etc, also seem to enjoy Coldplay's music as they appear to have a similar sound and state of mind behind the lyrics they produce. U2 are a band that have been around through different generations and no matter what sort of music they produce they always seem to have a large fan base supporting their ideas and sounds. As Coldplay are compared to u2, this information suggested that Coldplay might have similar supporting fans who will also support them as much as u2's fans do so.
This research shows me that my potential listeners will also be fans of other bands such as u2 and radiohead.
Coldplay's competitors are most likely to be new, young and upcoming bands. Most new bands have their own style of music and a unique sound so this is what Coldplay will be competing against. They have recently brought out their new album Viva La Vida with a different and fresh sound. They have to make sure to produce music that fans of all ages can enjoy, so far their new album is doing well, selling 300,000 copies in the first three days it was released. By joining up with people such as Kylie for their 2009 album, this will promote Coldplay and bring them more fans. Also, as well as Coldplay fans buying their albums, Kylie Minogue fans will be too.
Coldplay's music label is EMI, they have been with them since 1999. Staying with this music label has helped Coldplay to have a growing career and very popular albums and songs amongst their fans.
Coldplay are compared to bands such as Radiohead, U2 and Travis. In a way it is good for the alternative rock band to be compared to other bands that are similar. This way they will gain fans that enjoy listening to the likes of Radiohead, U2 and Travis.
All of these bands are very similar and the sounds they produce are also very similar to each other. U2 is one of the biggest bands worldwide, they are cross generation and cross age. Not only do teenagers listen to them, teenagers parents or older siblings listen to them and remember their music in their earlier stages. By being similar to U2 and staying with EMI, Coldplay could find themselves following in U2’s footsteps and being a cross- generation, cross- age band.
I'm going to set my target audience for people aged for 16+. I think people of this age or upwards will be able to relate to the video and understand the concept of it, rather than someone that is under 16 and might not fully understand the video or be able to relate to it in some way.
Personally, i think that Coldplay's fans are at more mature ages, so by following this, hopefully i will get the reaction that their videos do.
Friday, 4 July 2008
Music Questionnaire.
Are you Male or Female?
How old are you ?
How often do you listen to music ?
What genre of music do you prefer?
Who is your favourite band/artist?
What type of music do you dislike?
Does the music you listen to reflect your character in any way ?
What is your favourite song ?
Favourite music video and why ?
Does your music preference change depending on your mood?
Do you listen to Coldplay often ?
If so, what is your favourite song by them?
Where do you mostly listen to music? (e.g, in the car, at home)
Do you own an iPod/Mp3 ?
If yes, how often do you listen to music on it ?
How old are you ?
How often do you listen to music ?
What genre of music do you prefer?
Who is your favourite band/artist?
What type of music do you dislike?
Does the music you listen to reflect your character in any way ?
What is your favourite song ?
Favourite music video and why ?
Does your music preference change depending on your mood?
Do you listen to Coldplay often ?
If so, what is your favourite song by them?
Where do you mostly listen to music? (e.g, in the car, at home)
Do you own an iPod/Mp3 ?
If yes, how often do you listen to music on it ?
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