Their will only be one character in our film who will be performing and acting throughout. We came to the conclusion that we would choose a close friend and not just for the reason he's a close friend but the fact he's interested in the genre and he dresses the conventional way. He's reliable and hard working so we knew he would put in the time and effort to help us succeed in our video. He also lives near Millington woods which is convenient for him.
The location of our music video is Millington woods which is located near Driffield. This location is perfect for our video and the genre were trying to pursue. It has valleys and of course the forest in which we can get iconographic images and conventional shots for our video. We filmed here before whilst filming a short film and it worked perfectly, so we know it wont disappoint. Also after watching a variety of different folk videos on YouTube we came to the conclusion that the valleys and woods are conventions of the folk music video, folk videos include woods and valleys as it makes it natural and traditional, just like the song.
We came to the conclusion that we would make our character dress in the conventional folk genre, he will be wearing a checkered red shirt, black jeans and white ripped up shoes as folk artist usually relaxed clothing. His red shirt connotes love, which links in with the song theme.He's clothes wont be a massive part of the video as clothes arent a big part of their persona but we want him to associate him with a folk artist.
After sitting down and discussing our idea we came to the conclusion that we would change a few ideas and change the location.
We decided not to do the reverse idea influenced by Coldplay and do a normal folk/acoustic conventional music video. The location has changed to Millington woods as we believe it would have a better effect to our music video and has more opportunity cinematography wise than the avenues. Were also going to include animal masks to make the dream effect come to reality and make it more surreal and abstract.
After watching 'Dances with Wolves' on his laptop, the artist starts to fall asleep. The video then begins to go in to the dream into the iconographic shots of valleys and conventional folk mise en scene locations. The idea is that he is trying to find himself as a person, he searches the woodlands too realise theres a wolf, he begins to chase the wolf but in the end realises he's chasing himself and he's the wolf, he's been trying to find himself. He then wakes up from the dream.
Our initial idea for the music video was to make the artist ride his bike backwards and to show the narrative of finding out how hes lost his girlfriend. We were going to produce the video down the avenues were there was plenty of trees and long streets and the location was close by, making it convenient for us both. We were influenced by the Coldplay video- The scientist in which the artist is running backwards whilst telling the narrative.
From the analysis of my polls i have managed to recognise my specific target audience. I now know what the audience will want to see in my production pieces and what will appeal to the majority of them.
The polls told me that the social class of my target audience will be those from Categorie E, these are students and graduates that are still in education. This also gave me evidence that my target audience will be young, the majority of the respondants were 16-19 years old, those who are in individual and have developed a sense of what they like in music and interested in the music scene. From my social class poll and age poll, i realised that my target audience were young and set up a poll to determine what courses they studied. Interestly most respondants studied creative art subjects and this steered me towards the next question in my poll which was to find what style of music video they prefered because their opinions matter given this is their field and there creative people with creative minds. The majority chose the conventional folk video style narrative but in second came abstract which is unconventional for the folk genre. My target audience is balanced between male and female which is good as it makes the audience more vast and appeals to a wider audience.
So my audience will be students of both genders who have a creative side and like a story with some intelligence behind it and appreciate diversity and a non conventional approach.
To help with the target audience for our chosen song, we decided to include a poll on our blogs to see the general opinion of people interested in music. I asked five questions that i thought would help us work out our target audience and to work out what they wanted to see. The questions were " What social group do you belong to?", "What subjects do you study?", "What age group do you belong to?", " Gender?" and "what music video form do you prefer?". These question will hopefully allow me to answer my target audience question. I made the polls available to the general public, i asked my classmates and friends to answer honestly and also put links to my blog on the social network sites Facebook and Twitter to recieve a variety of votes from a variety of different people who have different views.
What social group do you belong to?
Before we did the polls we thought that categorie E would get the most votes because the artist Ben Howard appeals to students.
What subjects do you study?
This provides me with the answer that our target audience will be creative students that are interested in artistic and abstract features rather then the conventional performance form.
What type of music video do you prefer?
Although narrative received the most votes and abstract came second, i believe abstract form with aspects of narrative will appeal more to our target audience because the majority are young creative art students.
What is your gender?
I didn't know what to expect for this answer because Ben Howard is popular with both genders but thinking about it, i believe folk music appeals to males rather than females.
What age group do you belong to?
I wanted to appeal to a young audience who were students and in social categorie E, so were relieved that the majority voted for the '16-19' category.
This video is most popular in: The greener the popularity
The greener the popularity
This map shows what country's the song and artist are most popular in. Obviously as the artist and song only have a niche audience it will not be globally popular but it is very popular here in Britain and slowly getting popular in America and south America. This could be because folk/acoustic is more well known in Britain and other countries are just starting to listen to the genre.
The first shot is a tilt from the stars in the sky to the artist riding her bike possibly to represent the afterlife. Whilst the artist is riding her bike we just see a mid shot so she can perform whilst riding the bike. The camera then zooms out so we see the rest of the characters come from behind her. She then stops her bike and the camera zooms in to her face, theres then an eye line match between her and the two gowned characters as the camera pans round so we see them, it then pans back to a mid shot of the artist. Near the end of the video the camera zooms out so we see her by herself in the distance.
There is no editing in this music video, it's just one long continuous shot. This goes against the conventions of a music video as theres usually a variety of different cuts and dissolves. This makes the video more dynamic and edgy, braking the boundaries of the conventional ways.
After 50 seconds of footage four masked characters appear from behind the artist all in different animal masks that represent the forest there riding through. There all dressed in hoodies and riding on Bmx's which could represent the youth of today. The four masked characters also start to do tricks on their bikes which is for the audiences entertainment, as for the main artist she rides gently which could represent her character and personality. As the artist looks over they are two character dressed in black and white gowns both masked and holding balloons and a pumpkin, this could represent Halloween but came across abstract and surreal. She then rides through a cloud of smoke and we see an overturned vehicle that has obviously been in a accident, this shows the events that can happen in a forest at night. The video comes across quite dark and surreal giving it a haunting feel. The artists costume is bright and makes her stand out, her make up is also bright blue and obvious giving her a unique style that the audience can relate to and possibly copy, this promotes her music and her unique style.
The demographics for the audience of this music video would be Females aged 13-24 and males aged 35-44, this has a wide range of audience spanning from all different ages. The artists audience will aspire to look like her so i believe she's more popular with the female population rather then the male as females are most interested in dynamic style. Bat for lashes is a mainstream artist who appears in the charts and is a regular on mainstream music channels, so she will have a vast following.
This music video features a lot of references to the idea we have got, we want to include a character wearing a mask and a character riding through the woods on the bike. This video is very similar to the one i have in my head but i want to make the video my own and individual.
Dan Macaskill- Industrial Revolutions
This is a short film showcasing Dan Macaskill's impressive trial bike skills and the video includes the song I am using in my music video. This inspired me whilst watching it, i like the industrial mise en scene that has just been taken over by nature, the video comes across really peaceful but in actual fact is very dangerous with old buildings and a dare devil Trials biker.
Theres a variety of different camera angles allowing the audience to see the performer do his tricks. The camera is almost always panning and tilting to keep up with him as well as providing different angles for the audience to see it. Theres low angles so we the performer as dominant and dangerous. High angles to make him look small and so we can can get an overview of what he's doing. Theres a variety of close up shots to promote the performer and his amazing tricks.
From start to finish the editing has slow cuts so the film moves smoother and more natural. In the middle of the film, the clip dips to black, this could suggest he's about to go in to a dark place in which he enters the abandoned building. Cross Dissolves allow the clips to run smoothly, very much like how the bike rides and how comfortable he is doing the tricks.
Danny Macaskill is a Scottish trial cyclist born in 1985. He released a short film of him performing on his bike and put it on YouTube gaining widespread media publicity. Since this he has featured in music videos and television advertisement. But his most famous work came about when the show concrete circus appeared on channel 4 showcases Dan's tricks in a short video named "Industrial revolutions" this showcase allowed a wider audience to watch him and from this he has gained even more media interest.
The target audience for this short film would be teenagers to young adults preferably male around 15-26 as trials biking is popular with people of a young age and desire to experiment with bikes. Also young males that enjoy skating and bmx'ing would watch this for inspiration as he's one of the best trial cyclists in the world.
This video gave us the idea for the song as it made the video peaceful, relaxing and enjoyable. It also made the visual video stand out more because the song is so relaxing. We liked the industrial mise en scene as well as the cinematography used in this short film.
Boy& Bear- Rabbit Song
In the opening few shots we see a close up of the main character to give him an identity which is followed by a mid shot of him jumping out of bed. We then see more close ups of the main character doing day to day morning routines which is followed by a tilt which follows his hands buttoning up his shirt. We then see a variety of close ups and mid shots of the main character walking on the main street. The masked character points to a man riding a bike and the camera pans round to follow him ride. There is then an over the shoulder shot of the man on the bike and we can see the main character run behind him, which makes the man on the bike ride away with the camera panning to follow him. The main character then looks around to find a way to catch up with him and the camera tilts and pans to make it look as if it's coming from his eye sight. He spots a bike and runs to it, a tracking shot is used to keep up with him. Both men are biking away and the camera uses either panning or tilting to make the chase look more exciting. As the bikes approach the garages, we see some other characters pointing to the man on the bike running away, tracking shots are used to make it look like the main character is looking at them from his perspective, this is followed by close ups of each character on the screen. He then enters the woods and the camera tracks his every movement and again the camera tilts and pans as we see from his perspective. He is then greeted by what seems to be the leader of the group of wood people and we see a close up of each character in a two shot, where an eye line match is also used. The last shot is a mid shot of the main character waking himself up from the dream.
The main character starts off the music video by appearing as a regular guy who cant be bothered to get up for work, hes dressed in a plain white shirt which could mean he has a boring office job. But that soon changes as his pen leaks and he uses the ink to create a face paint similar to the native Indians. The next shot we see is the main character dressed up in ties which is obviously meant to connote a native Indian chief but also represents the ties he's had to wear for work. He then starts to chase another masked character on a bike he finds leaning against a wall and has a bowing arrow on his back, it becomes obvious that it's all part of his dream. He then realises other people join in him in the dream and also start to try catch the masked creature which could represent the boss of a certain work place. He then enters a woods in which he is joint by other colourful and creative creatures, which could represent the regular laid back people. It's all very surreal and i think it adds to the dreamy effect of the music video.
At the beginning of the video the cuts are really slow which could represent his day to day life; boring and slow. It then dips to black and we see him walking the streets. As the video goes on and he starts to chase the masked creature the cuts start to become fast and quick which could show its all about to kick in to action. The bike chase includes sharp, quick cuts to keep up with the chase and make us realise it's energetic. As the man reaches the woods, the shots are conventional to the genre as we iconographic images that dissolve in to one another. The final shots finish with slow cuts as if he doesn't want the dream to end.
Boys and Bear an Australian indie/rock band who are signed to universal republic records and island Australia records. The band started in October 2009 and within 2011 they released there first album "Moon fire".
The audience for this music video would be teenagers to young adults aged 13-24. This is because this video goes against the conventional genre of folk videos and brings in a unique style to the video. It includes a different style which the audience might be influenced by and try and emulate. Narratives tend to appeal more to a young audience as they can relate more to it and enjoy it more rather than a surreal of performance form music video.
This video inspired us to go for a surreal, abstract music video. This video was really interesting and entertaining to watch, it had a narrative but not an obvious one and we liked the idea of the bikes and the masks coming together to create mystery.
Natasha Khan also known by her stage name Bat For Lashes is an English musician who was born in 1979, she is signed to She bear records. Her music genre would be indie pop or folktronica, a mixture of folk and electronic. She released her debut album "Fur and Gold" in 2006 which peaked at 41 in the charts and also had success with the mercury awards and Brit awards. Since them she has produced another album called "Two sons" which peaked at number 5 in the album charts.
