Transcript survey-results-a2

Music video survey results
Aislinn Furlong
What is your age?
This shows that the range of my
responses will be coming from a mixed
audience, and that it covers a wide range
of demographic perspectives to allow a
wide range of opinion from a mass market
audience.
The majority appears to be 14-18 which
tells me that I should aim my video
slightly towards a younger audience,
perhaps by making any characters within
it younger so that they may relate to the
video more.
When watching a music video do you like seeing
lyrics written on screen?
The majority concede that they prefer videos
without any text on screen, probably because
they share my opinion that it makes the video
look too similar to a lyric video. However
30% do suggest that maybe not all lyrics are
bad.
There are many examples where randomly
words of the music will appear in the video,
examples such as Vance Joy’s Riptide video
where lyrics only appear at certain intervals,
and serve more to the mood of the video than
to actually inform the audience.
To satisfy my audience I probably will not
include lyrics except perhaps at certain
points if it is still aesthetic and will not
interrupt the mood and tone of the video.
Do you like it when the artist/ character on screen
mouths the words of the song?
From these results I can see that overwhelmingly
people prefer to see people sing along in time with
the music. I will most probably incorporate it into
the video as it it is popular.
I think a majority of music videos tend to take this
stance, especially if it is the artist who is in the
video. I find with narrative videos that don’t
include the artist there is a much higher chance
that the character does not sing along with the
music as the video is aimed at telling a story
instead.
Do you prefer…?
It appears that homemade looking videos
are more popular than the other option. I
think that is is because quite a lot of pop
songs use professional but rather
soulless music videos. Examples can be
found with Ariana Grande: Side to side,
Taylor Swift: Bad Blood. Homemade
videos are grungier and tend to be done
by artists with lower budgets, and also it
brings a more authentic and personal
feel to the mood of the video. Examples
can be found with Kid Bloom- Different
State of Mind and Mount Kimbe: Would
know.
They tend to use personal footage or get 1
person to film and edit it themselves because it
helps not only the artist but the filmmaker as
well. The audiences also tends to prefer it
because it gives them a more personal
connection with the artist. Also with alt/rock
the audience tends to appreciate authenticity
Do you prefer…?
From the results I find that I do not need to
invest the video into a narrative path and
instead focus on trying to make scenes with
visuals that create a symbiotic relationship
directly with the music.
Cinematography I find is more important in
music videos because, most of the time their
main objective is to create a nice ancillary
for the main product which is the music.
In some cases a narrative is OK but if the
viewer actually wanted a story they could
just as easily watch a short film or full
length feature.
Do you care whether or not the actions in the
video fit in time with the music?
It appears that people appear to be rather on the
fence about it. I reckon it is because, from my
analysis of music videos, a large quantity of videos
have some parts that are in time, and others that
aren’t. It is more focussed towards the imagery and
mood and tone that matches the song as it plays. I.e
If a bouncy song has a sudden mellow part, the
scene could change from a party to one person
sitting alone.
That being said, it is still the majority that do wish
to see a fitting match to the music, so therefore I
will to try and make them match.
Does the video, in your opinion have to directly
relate to what the music is about?
From this I can take that for my video I do not need to
make sure that my video is running along the same
lines as the music's story.
This allows me to have more scope on whatever I
want to make my music video about because it means
that the audience will not be perturbed by a video that
does not match the song.
Also it can be argued that each listener of the song will
have a different interpretation of what the music
means, and the video created is just the director's own
interpretation. So audiences are used to videos where
they have another imagining of
the music visually.
Do you prefer quick cuts when the music picks up
speed?
This relates to my previous question of the music
fitting in time with the video, because it shows a
relationship between the two. And although the
other question was quite equally driven, this one
appears to have more of a divide. Maybe this is
because they feel that this will give the music more
impact and relate the emotions they perhaps feel
through the music easier.
Do you like unusual shots in videos, or does it
detract from the music, shots such as below
From this I can see that unusual looking shots are
greatly appreciated. Extreme closeups seem to be
popular, but both included are the most popular.
This tells me that within my video I need to
include a range of different effects that are able to
stunt the audience and create interesting visual
effects. I think that it is an important aspect to
music videos, because they have more flexibility to
do what they want, because they don't follow a
narrative normally. This also means that I need to
invent shots that are able to intrigue the audience.
Do you like videos where there is a dance
sequence?
This (thankfully) means that the audience, especially
for an Alt/Rock video a dance sequence wouldnt fit.
They are usually associated with pop songs for
younger people. From looking at the gender majority
of this survey I can see that it is mostly male, and I
interpret that as being the means to this result.
Stereotypically, men are less likely to like dancing
because it is seen as quite feminine, and also most
dances shown on music videos are with female
dancers. So perhaps they assume that for an Alt/Rock
dancers would be inappropriate, and it would not fit
the music.
Where would you prefer a Blues/Alternative Rock
video to be shot?
Overwhelmingly the majority seem to be positive
that they want the video to take place outside.
This could be because outside areas are more
interesting than a plain room. This also tells me
that they do not want it look like it is a
professional video, and want more of a natural
and earthy tone to the video.
This means I will aim to base my video outside,
and try and incorporate the natural landscapes
into the video.
With Blues/Alt rock, what qualities do you think the video
should hold to reflect the genre?
Authenticity seems to be a key theme which is highlighted
upon a lot. This is quite conventional for a Blues/Alt Rock
audience as they rank that highly within the band's
personality. There also appears to be a recurring theme of it
being ‘cool’ ‘gritty’ ‘strange’ ‘alternative’ ‘lo-fi’. Which all
leads me in the direction to make the video as interesting and
quite different from pop or rap music videos.
Whilst I am planning I will make sure to include shots that
reflect how the music is cool, and authentic. This could
achieved by doing slow grungy shot of people looking
grumpy. And putting some of the settings
Have you ever watched a video where ‘colour’ has
played an important part of the video
It appears that the majority have found themselves
to have watched videos with colour that is essential,
or at least complementary to the music. This tells
me that I need to incorporate it into my video.
I could do this in a number of ways, one by using
inks in water, or perhaps having people dress up in
particular colours of the spectrum and doing parkour
or something similar.
I think it would be quite an important aspect to the
video since we are thinking about using the song
‘Sound and Colour’ and that obviously would be
important to get across to the audience
Do you think the music video should show people
playing the relevant instruments?
From these results I can see that almost 65% of
people wanted some instruments to be shown. I
kind of expected this because conventionally in
Blues/Alt rock videos, instead of dance sequences
or a narrative they tend to focus themselves on the
artists themselves, who instead of acting and such,
which can sometimes seem cheesy. By having the
people use instruments it gives it a more authentic
feel because the video is focused on the actual
music rather than anything fancy and over the top.
For the mood of a Blues/Alt rock video, what
mood should be portrayed
Apparently the most popular moods that should be
portrayed is Sad/ Strange which I think is a good
mix for an Blues/Alt Rock video. Because the songs
tend to have a rather melancholy or atmospheric
feel to them, it would be most prudent to reflect
that in the mood of the video. I could do this by
having any characters look sad or remorseful
throughout the video. Strangeness can be achieved
through strange camera shots or editing the video
in a unconventional way. Settings can also play a
big part in achieving the mood. I could place some
of it in an abandoned building, or in a strangly lit
room.
Where would you expect to listen to a Blues/Alt
Rock song?
This is a useful piece of information because it
shows me the most likely ways people will find the
music and therefore video relatable. If the video is
of where they would expect to listen to it in real
life, they may find that they are able to engage
with it easier. This means I will aim to place at
least part of the video on some transport and
outside in nature. This could be pose as a problem
because there are a lot of issues when involved
with public transport, and the weather has turned
so the settings may not be as nice as it could have
been if filmed earlier in the year.
Do you think that the video should definitely
include at least 1 person?
This result of over 70% saying that they want a
person included within the video. This is good
because I believe I would find it difficult to create a
video that hit any of the other properties wanted by
the people asked. It is hard to create a narrative
without the help of actual people within the video to
perform. This is very helpful anyway because it
shows me the importance of having characters and
I will most definitely include people within the
video. They create movement which tends to be a
integral part of any video because it displays how
the story progresses throughout.
What is your gender?
This tells me that my audience will probably be
mostly male dominated in any case. It shows how I
need to try and manipulate my video to appeal to a
more masculine audience. I could achieve this in
multiple ways. One could be that the main
character/s could be male- so that they can relate
Positive that they would expect the
to them easier than if a female was shown. Or I
usual themes that come with any
could place the video in more ‘masculine settings’
such as in front of abandoned buildings rather than Blues/Alt Rock video.
in front of a shop or a pool. However, still a third
of the audience are female, this tells me that I need
to make sure it appeals to them as well, probably
by having female characters within it. But on the
other hand, as an audeince as a whole I am
Should it be a stand alone narrative or part of a
series?
It appears to be fairly well matched in terms of
results, however the leaning suggests that I should
go for a stand alone film. This is actually easier
because it means you do not have to include little
segways or branches of the story that could lead
into another. This allows me to focus instead of
making the narrative as interesting as possible and
gives a clarity to all aspects of the video.
It also allows the continuity of the film to solely
rely on the one feature, rather than a group of
different ones that all need to interlink.
What would you like to see in the music video?
In essence, the commentary seems to be that
they would like the video to have; a good
narrative, be entertaining and reflective of
blues and rock artists.I can achieve these
through a good storyboard, and throwing
lots of ideas around. To entertain I will
certainly aspire to achieve that through the
narrative itself. To be reflective of the genre
I will try to embody the genre's conventions,
such as the colour schemes of cool colours
and browns. I will try to include some of the
instruments found normally to be played by
blues artists. Instruments such as bass,
trumpet, guitar.