Research- Focus Groups

After just asking my focus groups opinions on the Hurts music video I decided it would be a good idea to ask them to fill out a more in depth questionnaire as their quotes where not a lot to go on. By asking them a more detailed questionnaire allows me to really visualise what they see from their perspective. So I have printed the questions out to form a write questionnaire to hand out to 8 People. I have also sent them a message over Facebook so they could do it online as they would have to go onto YouTube to see the video and it may be faster and more practical for them to take part in the questionnaire that way.

The 5 people are all girls in my art group. I have also decided to ask 1 boy from outside school with completely different tastes of music as I think it’s a great idea to have opinions from a variety of different people .I thought it would be more helpful to ask people from art as they can be more descriptive when communicating their ideas. I will use their responses and consider including this in my music video as I think other people’s opinions and ideas are fundament

The Results

Amy McGregor- A level art and drama student.

How do you feel when you listen to this music?

I love the Hurts anyway I have their album its quite relaxing good music to work to.

What Genre would you associate this music too?

No idea. Probably alternative

Have you ever heard of the Hurts?

Yes I have their album

Do you know what synthpop is?

No idea, something to do with music I’m guessing

Are you familiar with any Hurts songs?

Yes all of them, my favourite is ‘Stay’ it’s really catchy

If you were to imagine you own music video to illuminated would it be a narrative (have a story) or a performance (live- with dancers or instruments)

As gee is doing illuminated, I would say a dramatic performance

Briefly describe it

Black, Definitely black the Hurts are not colourful people.

Would you see the singer in the music video?

Of course you would, He’s the main man!

Do you think dancers are a good accessory to a music video, if yes why?

Yes. They add some movement to the screen and dancers can be there whatever genre they show emotion through their movement.

Would you be able to relate to this type of music?

Not relate, but I do enjoy it

Would you be interested in watching a video for this song?

Of course I would

What do you think of the Hurts look?

Slightly odd, old fashioned and very smart

13. Would you ever consider buying their album or on iTunes?

Got both

What age group do you think are the target audience for the Hurts

Definitely not younger people the lyrics are too complicated probably 17-30


Fred Lee- Lorry driver, always listens to the radio

How do you feel when you listen to this music?

It’s alright, I’ve heard it before but it’s not something I’d buy

What Genre would you associate this music too?

No idea what genre means

Have you ever heard of the Hurts?

On absolute radio a couple times

Do you know what synthpop is?

Not a clue

Are you familiar with any Hurts songs?

If I heard it then yeah probably

If you were to imagine you own music video to illuminated would it be a narrative (have a story) or a performance (live- with dancers or instruments)

I couldn’t help you, whatever is easiest

Briefly describe it

Sound like something you would see someone driving in the music video

Would you see the singer in the music video?

Yeah, wouldn’t make much sense otherwise

Do you think dancers are a good accessory to a music video, if yes why?

Yeah, we men like to look at something

Would you be able to relate to this type of music?

No the songs are fairly catchy

Would you be interested in watching a video for this song?

Depends how good it was

What do you think of the Hurts look?

Looking that video, they look like vampires just woken up

13. Would you ever consider buying their album or on iTunes?

Not really

What age group do you think are the target audience for the Hurts?

Definitely not men much more a women thing, don’t know how old

Planning- Location One

Ideas for the first location is the pit because I think it would be a good idea to keep the location close to home. In the school 'Pit' because I want to have accessibility to the location at all times and not have to rely on transport or weather. 
The 'Pit' is a drama performance room which is on a lower level than what you enter. There is a balcony which you enter onto on the higher level and there are stairs that lead down to the performance area bellow this allows an audience to have a unique level of view.
Which is something that I thought might give me an advantage for my film because for this project I want to improve the quality of shots and angles that I film. 

I originally wanted to film in the school hall because I want to film a 'Stage Performance' of ballet dancers the stage was fully equipped with lighting and backdrop and had the old interior that I wanted, but unfortunately it has been knocked down so the next best thing is the 'Pit' as it allows me to access lighting and a backdrop.

I did think about going to our local town hall that has a stage but it would be really hard to get a slot to film in and the stage is not always up so for reliability and cost effectiveness.
It is a safe choice to film in the pit.

Research- Audience

Research- How gender is represented in synthpop (21 TO DO)

Duran Duran
I was intrested in Duran Duran as they were a very influencial syth-pop group in the 80's. They are known for the crazy hair and make-up


Overall I think their look is very feminine but their clothing is not it seems to be all about the faces and the 'look' for synth-pop artists. Which is the light make-up which enhances the gaunte, skinny look

La Roux
"We don't listen to anything apart from '80s music," explains Elly Jackson, the synth-loving, crazy-haired, pop-obsessed rising star who is determined to take us back to the future.
La roux's music is definatley shows a new modern 80's synth pop in a 21st centry era she has adapted her look to almost Masculine. There is the crazy hair that we have seen in the past

Depeche Mode

Human League

Research- How class and status is represented in Hurts music videos (ADD)

 

Research- Synthpop

I have find it really hard to find a feination of synthpop so I have looked wiki and trying to compare it to other websites that I have found the definiation for synthpop

Wiki response..

Synthpop also known as electropop, or technopo is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the New Wave movement of the late-1970s to the mid-1980s.

Research- Focus Groups

I personally don’t particularly like the Hurts live music video Illuminated. I absolutely love the song and the lyrics are very meaningful. But I think such a wonderful and catchy song is hindered by quite a dull and not very interactive music video.

That’s just my own opinion and I thought for my research it would be a good idea to see what other people think of the music video. I wanted to know what their likes and dislikes are of the music video and how they would imagine it to be.

I asked 4 people in my art class what they thought of the music video their ages ranging from 17- 18 and I decided to ask both male and female to see if their opinions differ.

Amy said, “ I love the hurts and have their album, great song the music video is pretty awful though”

Marie said “ The song isn’t bad quite repetitive lyrics though, the place that its filmed in is okay but its doesn’t hold you attention”

Lauren said “ Would never listen to this sort of music, far to old fashioned I’m surprised their current”

I asked two people who has a specific 80’s music tastes to see what their opinions were. Seeing as Synth pop today is still influenced from 80s style as that is the decade it was formed. I wanted to see the likeness and the credibility from a new generation version and am the elements still alike the original synth-pop videos.

Fred said, “ Don’t like the song or the music video very much the guy can sing. but it’s not cool, like the suits though”.

Adrian said “Not bad video, quite quirky. It’s a tad repetitive. I would say their appearance is a bit to slick and smart to be 'real' 80s, their hair isn't crazy enough”

I also decided to ask some older adults that are 30+ as I was interested to see how more mature adults perceive the song but mainly focusing on their opinions of the music video.

Lindsay said “ I absolutely love the song and the music video its quite different, I like the opera singer”

Trevor said “ I am not particularly fond this song or the music video, can’t see myself running to buy their album any time soon”

Production- Permission

Today I emailed  (Sony/Major Label) to ask permission to use the track Illuminated by Hurts. I wasn't sure whether I should email the Hurts themselves on their website as it is their music but I have decided to wait for a reply from the label as it could jeopardise my success of getting permission


To Whom It May Concern

My name is Genevieve Potter I am a Year 13 student at Saffron Walden County High School, currently taking a Media Studies A-level. For part of my A-level course I am required to produce a music video. I am writing to ask for permission to use Hurt’s Track illuminated for my video. The track would be used merely for my course purpose and possibly viewed by a few others for audience research. The aim is to see my capability to construct and create a music video.
I do hope this proposal is acceptable.
Thank you for your time

I will now just wait for a reply and hopefully will be successful, if I am declined I will not use the track as I still have time to change my decision. If I do not hear from the label I will go ahead and use the track as I have no intentions of infringing copyright as I'm only using it for educational purposes

Research- Hurts Illuminated

This is the particular song that from the Hurts album that I have chosen to focus on. The original music video that the Hurts have made is all performance. For my music video I plan for it to be mainly performance as well as I don't want to complicate a simple song with a narrative that wont fit to the unique lyrics.

The video setting looks like its in a disused art gallery or theatre there is so filming lighting above but its very much an industrial ceiling they haven't chosen to hide this and the original lights are turned on so you can see the black curtains and wooden floor I would definitely describe is as very depressing setting.
The white spots work really well as one is focused for each Musial they are spaced quite oddly.
they did film slightly off centre as it is noticeably obvious that they have been staggered.

The most noticeable thing is the white spots on each musician as the song is illuminated I instantly assumed that the lights are brighter on them to enhance the audiences understanding of illuminated. The lights on them are really very bright it isn't just the dark background that makes them stand out so much its like they have been deliberately brightened to highlight the white areas on their faces and shirts to give an almost ghostly look.

Although the song is only 3.22 minutes long I think the video is quite boring compared to Duran Duran- My own way which now days is a bit dated and the editing is quite basic but it does fit with the tempo of the song and makes the video more interesting it contains the exactly same style shots and what Hurts have but the Duran Duran video is far more engaging there are dancers related to a Spanish theme but there is a lot more detail like with the editing there is alot of split screens, and fast cuts that fit with tempo so there is always something to look at.

For my music video I want to keep the Hurts look as I think it represents their own style and relates to older synth-pop artists that they have been inspired from. So I would keep the suited costumes hair and props.
I will add some dancers into my music video as you can see from the Duran Duran video adding some extra dancers and actors gives the audience something else to focus on it makes the video more interesting and I want to engage my target audience. Keeping with the Hurts feminine look

Text Comparison- AS Production

Research- Hurts

I would have preferred to have work in a group for my media studies task but due to uneven amounts of people I will be working solo. I do enjoy working by myself but this year I want to involve lots of different people in my music video so it isn’t so personal I can share the experience with others. This year we have been assigned the task of creating a music video for an official band or artist.

The band that I am focusing on is a duo called ‘Hurts’

They are a British synthpop duo formed in 2009, from Manchester

The duo consists of singer Theo Hutchcraft who was born August 30, 1986 in Richmond, North Yorkshire and synthesist Adam Anderson who was born May 14, 1984 in Manchester

Their debut album Happiness, which was released in September 2010, has reached the Top 10 in 12 European countries, and has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. The band has also sold more than 1 million singles worldwide.

I have found it really difficult to obtain any decent and accurate information on this band so I have sourced all over the internet for real interviews by the Hurts to try and get some accurate information from them.

I recently found an interview on the BBC music website and its only a 1.58 interview and is basically a short summary of the were they are currently creating their music and a brief summary of how they formed.

They are terrible at interviews Adam Anderson the sythesist doesn’t actually talk throughout the whole interview its left to Theo Hutchcraft the main singer to talk to the interviewer. There are more ‘urrms’ than words in this interview, as Theo really does seem to struggle to string a decent sentence together.

I wrote the interview down to try and get some sense out of it. They don’t seem at all excited to be interviewed and Theo only seems to reply in a very monotone voice.

I was quite lucky to come across a written interview, in my ASOS magazine

It was quite interesting as there are some questions answered that I would have never of found.

It is quite interesting to know that their musical influence is Prince. “He is actually the main muse throughout everything we do- production, visually and aesthetically speaking”

I was quite intrigued by their response to ‘your videos are very dramatic are you a dramatic person’ their response being.

“ Personally we are both quite devoid of emotion- we’ve had it beaten out of us. But we like to make people feel intelligent and value and lots of pop music patronises people- for that reason we try to cram in as much drama as possible’.

I actually found of the ‘real’ reason why they called ‘Hurts’

“Its means two things- the frequency we measure sound in and an emotion. It’s simple.”

What initially interested me in Hurts was their connection with 80’s theme, they physically resemble the 80’s Synthpop look but bring new vocal and musical talent to the genre(ADD)

I knew someone that I could get in contact easily when it comes to an individual lead vocalist.

As I know quite a bit about their background already I am able to distinguish that this was a band that suited a style that would be easy for me to distinguish

I wanted to keep the video to the stereotypical genre style so it would be easy to distinguish the elements of other Synth pop videos so the audience could engage and understand what I’m trying to achieve as intertextual reference is concern I am researching in great depth the key elements of other synth pop videos for example props, costumes, settings, and editing to achieve a successful outcome for my music video

I actually listen to their music and have their album I think it is a good idea to focus on a music group that I am passionate about as it would allow me to interpret the music video with ease and easily be inspired and not mind listening to it over and over.

After listening to their music constantly all week I have decided to focus on the song ‘Illuminated’ as it is a enjoyable simple song I’m quite lucky about the lyric the songs tempo is mainly lento which is the music terms for a moderately slow pace the lyrics are sung very slowly so this will allow lip syncing to not be as much as a challenge as I presumed. My biggest challenge is understanding and producing enough successful elements in the music video to match the Synth-pop genre.

Ancillary Task- Finished Result and Comparisons (ADD)

We were asked to work in groups to produce a 30 second opening to the song Radar Love by Golden Earring the aim was to produce and opening that showed successful motion with the instruments, a variety of shots and accurate lip syncing.

We made a rough storyboard

We were in a music rehearsal room in the music block at our school to film the 30 seconds. Unfortunately the room is poorly decorated and had music posters and random displays. It really needed to be covered up for when we were filming so it wouldn’t be in shot as it had no relevance to our film and it would really look we were actually in a old music room which we didn’t want to show. We couldn’t get hold of any giant dustsheets to cover walls so I went to see the drama department and managed get hold of some reflective foil, which is something they use for performances.

This to my surprise looked quite effective and because it was reflective made an interesting background

People in the Band

Molly Foks was chosen to be on drums

Gemma Thompson to be on bass

Chloe Morgan on tambourine

David Something on vocals and electric guitar, we chose him randomly as we were an all girl group we needed a male singer.

Equipment

·        Dolly

·        Tripod

·        Ipod (For listening to music)

·        Drum set

·        Bass guitar

·        Electric guitar

·        2 HD Cameras

·        Foil Roll

Editing the music video

Because there were 4 of us in the group each from different classes we separated to edit, as it was more convenient so there are two versions of one film but both edited different.

As Gemma is in the same class as me we sat together and planned our editing.

We decided that because the Radar Love song was originally from 70s and the film quality was quite grainy we would add ‘Noise’ onto the film shots via the filters on Final Cut Express this gave and old film look but there was still colour so we decided to add a tint of sepia on the filters options to give a slightly off colour look as this is to seen on the original Radar Love music video their faces are slightly redder than normal and some of the colours look to faded.

Referring back to our storyboard we thought it would be a good idea to add some interesting transitions like cross fades and a split screen of all the band mates playing their instruments. We agreed that it’s the best way to keep the audience interested.

As it was only 30 seconds it goes quite quickly I think it could have been improved by the band mates being a bit more eccentric and in character as the song is quite loud.

I was quite pleased with the result of our Golden earring ancillary task; it was good to work with other people because it allowed form different opinions and ideas. As its a performance video I think it is suficent enough and shows this to the audience. There is a range of shots of instruments being played for example the bass guitar is a really important instrument in the intro of the music and we have hilighte this showing a range of shots of the instrument being played.

I wish I could have been in the video but unfortunately I had green hands from dying fabric and it would have shown up when filming.

Ancillary task- Golden Earring storyboard

Research- Music Videos

As I am just starting of the music video project I am starting research and look into videos that I might be intrested in using for my music video, by looking at different genres can help me to determin where to start

Research- Genre Theories

Defining Criteria:

My Example- Uncle Sam Madness

Defining Criteria genre theory the theory states that videos are made to fit a particular purpose depending on the genre. The video that I think of is Uncle Sam by Madness, which I would say was alternative that does not really have a particular category like Folk or Hip/Hop

They’re being no set conventions to follow means the artist or director can have full freedom to create whatever they like. In Uncle Sam he house its set like a comical war. With really war props, sand bags and barbed with a completely war obsessed uncle. All madness music videos are slightly out there but this is so bizarre.

Utopian Pleasures:

My Example- Paradise Coldplay

The video for can be seen to show certain 'Utopian Pleasures' theory but also at times within the music video can relate to the to the themes of 'Exhaustion' and 'Loneliness'. This is seen when the elephant (one of the band members in a suit)  is travelling along by itself to try and get back to where is came from it sad part is where he goes into the bike shop and doesn’t have enough money to afford a really nice bike and has to make do with a Uni cycle that one wheel represents how along he must be riding along the desert track. 

At the climax of the video it all comes down to a Utopian Fantasy as the elephant is united with all the other elephants in the band and is all about them being together and playing there instruments throughout the whole music video you cant understand what the elephant is try to achieve. The fast cut shots of them all being together suggests energy and happiness that the elephant has found his friends