Audience Survey

Firstly we wanted to just clarify our target audience. We did this as we have shown that indie rock the second most popular genre for 16-20 year olds and joint third for 41-50 year olds. Therefore this proves that the genre is popular with both our target audiences so we are definitely able to aim our promotion of our video towards these two demographics.

Our questionnaire shows us that both our target audiences enjoy narratives and performance to an extent however narrative is much more popular with younger people and performance is more popular with the older generation. This is good though as this means our video will cover the interests of both target audiences.



This is a survey we produced to prove whether we were correct with our target audience choice. Our survey proved us right as indie rock was the most popular genre with teenagers and the older generation. By posting the questionnaire on Facebook we were able ro receive 47 replies. 

B and E are the 2 video styles that meet our proposed video and these were the most popular according to our results. This is good as we will be making a video that is popular with our target audience.

Out of 21 indie rock artists the following age groups had heard an average of:

- 16-25: 51.7%

- 41-50: 54.5%

- 51+: 37.7%

The same question comparing the genders of those surveyed is as follows

Males had heard of an average of 42.9% of the artists

Females had heard of an average of 51.3% of the artists

46.15% of males surveyed listed indie rock as a genre they enjoy regularly listening to.

52.94% of females surveyed listed indie rock as a genre they enjoy regularly listening to.

This graph also shows us that both our target audiences are involved with popular indie bands however we found out that our younger audience prefer the newer bands and the older generation stick with the original indie bands. This suggests that we should make the younger generation our first target audience as Tranqua Lite is a modern band therefore is more similar to bands like Catfish and the Bottlemen rather than Oasis.

Third Video idea

We thought it would be interesting to start the video at the end, having the band playing in a venue and then doing a 180 degree turn to face the audience (so the band are now behind the camera) and having the lead signer stood in the audience watching. We would have to do this by stitching two shots together and hiding the cut in the spin. In this movement we would've moved from the future (the end of the video) into the past (the start of the video). The lead signer could walk out of the venue and go and spend the night on the streets. We could then combine this with my idea to make up some of the body of the video - having him busking to make money either with the rest of the band or having the other members make cameos throughout the videos (this is common in other music videos such as the Biffy Clyro 'Biblical' one). Then the video would continue chronologically until we reach the end where the band are playing in the venue where the video started showing where they came from and where they got to.

Tranqua Lite also sent us through an early demo for the song. They said it was much longer and slightly slower than the final version but it gives us an idea of the tone and lyrics of the song. One of the biggest things we noticed was the bird imagery, particularly magpies (giving us the idea for our 'company name'). We thought we could incorporate this into their video by having recurring bird imagery e.g. designing a bird silhouette and having that appear on things throughout the video e.g. on a band member's jacket, on his guitar, on the cup he's using to collect money etc. We thought we could even extend this to be the image behind the title of the song which could appear at the start of the video. Furthermore, magpies have very superstitious connotations e.g. one for sorrow two for joy. We thought we could play on this, having a single magpie as the first shot of the video and two magpies as the final one. However, his would be difficult as it would be a challenge to try and find and film magpies. But this is definitely an idea we could play around with.
We thought we could also use the bird imagery in different, subtle ways e.g. having feathers throughout the video or references to wings or diegetic tweets every now and then, just in the background as much of the narrative will take place outside.

Tranqua Lite Update

Tranqua Lite have now released the single "Tempered Tides" which is the song for our music video. They released the song at a gig in Leeds which was held at the Belgrade Music Hall. The gig was a huge success as it have the band an even bigger following and has given the new track a large audience with great popularity.
Now the band have finished with the promotion of the single we can hopefully communicate with them and begin to plan the video with them. Updates will come as we make progess with the band.

Pitch Mood Board

Ed Sheeran- A team

As I stated in a previous post we have taken inspiration from the Biffy Clyro video for Biblical with its dual story line. But we have also taken inspiration from Ed Sheeran's video for "A-Team". The video shows a young homeless girl who has to use herself as a prostitute to make money so she can try and survive. The video ends with the girl dying due to an overdose. The video is all in black and white which relays the negative emotions linked with homelessness. This video therefore follows many similar themes as our proposed video. The negative connotations of homelessness as well as making an awareness for people who have to deal with this situation. Also the black and white effect is something we would also like to use as this clearly denotes the sadness of the situation. Another thing I really like about this video is the added theme of her becoming a prostitute. It creates a very disturbing image however it does make the ordeal very real which is something we would like to do. This is a very sensitive topic therefore we want to be as respectful to real homeless people as much as possible. Therefore making the story as realistic as possible will make it relatable and therefore hopefully creating a greater understanding of this way of living. However, we want our story to end positively rather than the tragic ending of this video. Some real life stories do end in tragedy however we want to highlight the possibly of making a difference for the better. Also Tranqua Lite have told us that the narrative of their song is about making this positive difference therefore it doesn't make sense for us to make a tragic ending. Finally, this video uses a time lapse while the girl is sleeping on the street. This is something we would like to use as well as it emphasises the scale of the problem of them on the street as it shows that they have to stay on the street 24/7 while they are stuck in this situation. This technique also gives the situation realism which is one of the key ideas we want to focus on in our video.

Our Pitch

To prepare for our pitch we created a keynote presentation that acted as a mood board for our favourite music video idea. We also had a bullet point concept sheet that prompted us during our presentation. We also played the track as part of the presentation so people could visualise how the video would link to the song. This was a little difficult however because we only have a demo copy of the song as it hasn't been released yet.

Each slide contained three pictures that linked to a certain aspect of the song. For example, we had a slide that described the locations we would like to use in the video. These includes Leeds Train Station and a studio set up. We didn't have any text on the presentation because we wanted to give our audience a visual representation of our video. Also we can deliver all the description through speech so we didn't need to put the same text onto the presentation.

In our pitch we discussed the target audience, the plot of the video, location ideas and our influences for the video. Each aspect taking a different slide of our mood board. These pictures includes the locations, thumbnails for influential videos and character concepts.

We have emailed the link to the video to Tranqua Lite so they can listen and react to our idea. Once they have done this we plan to meet up to discuss the idea and hopefully start to plant the production dates for our video. They release the song in 2 days therefore they will be more available to cooperate with us and hopefully they will be part of the video. We also created a youtube channel for our production company and posted the video on that. This is called Magpie Media. Finally we are creating social media for our company. Magpie Media Official is on Instagram and we will also make a twitter and a Facebook page.

Third video idea

For this idea we are still using "Tempered Tides" by Tranqua Lite. The song is yet to be released so once again this is only a concept idea. The establishing shot will show the band playing the intro to the song. The camera will then pan to show the singers younger self outside the window. This will then turn into a flashback to when the singer was homeless. The camera will then follow the protagonist through the streets as he gets abused by passers by. He then begins to busk on a street corner hoping he can earn some money for it. We will then use a time lapse to show how long he spends bucking in order to earn enough money to eat. After a few busking scenes the other band members have joined him on the streets and he has become a successful busker. The video finishes with the same shot from the start with the band performing in a set up. However when the camera pans there is nobody at the window. The video will then fade to black.With this video i want to show how homeless people can still act positively and make a difference for themselves.

Pitch Idea

For our pitch next week we are using our first idea in which we show the same story twice however the narrative changes depending on the situation. The first scenario will show the homeless person sitting on a street corner in Leeds. As people walk past the homeless person will be kicked and abused by passers by. He will then try to escape this hell by sneaking onto a train. However, this abuse continues on the train and they are kicked off. This story ends with a time lapse shot of the homeless person sitting on the Shipley bridge. It'll then zoom in to a close up to show the person crying.

The second narrative will showcase a positive story with people helping and supporting the homeless. First of all we will see the homeless person on the same street corner however the people passing by don't abuse them. Instead they give them money and offer them food. This positivity allows the homeless person to grow and is slowly able to start making a life for themselves. As the story becomes happier we want to change the colour from black and white during the sombre scene to then slowly integrate colour into the picture until the final shot is bright as we see them for who they really are. 

From listening to the song we believe that there's a lot of bird imagery created by the lyrics and often this links specifically to the image of a magpie. Therefore we aim to incorporate the image of a magpie into our video. We hope to include one magpie at the beginning of the video and two at the end. We hope this symbolises a growth and improvement in the life of the homeless person.

Another aspect we need to include in our video is an element of performance. As we already have a strong narrative we need to make sure the performance aspect and fit in smoothly without disrupting the pace of the narrative. To do this we have a few ideas. Firstly we could have the band performance on a tv, radio or tablet so they could simply walk past one of these and the band can be heard playing the song. The shot would then hold on this image so we can appreciate the band playing the song. Another idea we had is that the homeless person could be played by the lead singer Toby therefore we can have performance during the narrative as he lip sinks the song while on the street or the train. Finally we could still have them in the narrative however the band could play the extras in the video. Firstly they can play the people who abuse the homeless person on the street and on the train, they can lip sink during these parts. And finally they can play the people who protect and help the homeless person at the end. This involvement in the narrative will avoid a whole other section for the performance which could interrupt the flow of the narrative.

We don't know what the final song will sound like therefore this is only a concept idea and we can't link it to any lyrics or beats in the music. We can only do this once the song is release on the 20th of October.

Production company

As we are now in contact with Tranqua Lite and have solid ideas for our video for their new song "Tempered Tides". As Melissa, Ed and me are working on this together we need a production company name that we can all work under. With the name we will create a twitter account and an instagram account that will follow our progress during the production period.

We have chosen the name Magpie Media as this is a catchy name due to the alliteration. We also like this name because the image of a magpie is a unique clear image that people reckon is easily. Therefore having a clear image will make us recognisable.

Audience Research- Foals

Foals are an indie rock band formed in Oxford in 2005. They are signed to Warner Bros. Records and released their debut album, 'Antidote', in 2008. They have since released three more albums and have won awards such as the 'Best Live Act' at the 2013 Q Awards.

Their average audience is 18-24 year old females of social grade C2DE in London. This is interesting because, when I looked deeper, the split between men and women in the general population was almost a dead 50/50 split with their women making up 50.7% of their fan base and men making the other 49.3. These are the same statistics I found for 'Pulp' and is too close to really suggest a specific gender preference so perhaps this genre is actually just quite gender neutral, suggesting our video should be too.

This is a really odd music video their's where they've used some kind of GoPro 360 degree camera to create a really interesting image that they've then superimposed the artist onto. This means they can control the environment by adding in scenery and animals as well as multiple versions of the same artist. I really like the effect this has, although I feel It's not varied enough. The problem with sole performance videos is that they get boring if it's not intercut with some other action, therefore I feel that we definitely need to add either some concept pieces or a narrative to add some interest to the video. I also like the black and white effect of this video however, I don't feel like that's suited to 'Howl's' image which appears to be more colourful and slightly influenced by the 70's as far as colouring and styles go. The music is similar to 'Foals' but their image is slightly different and I think this should be embraced and emphasised to set them apart rather than just trying to copy another band's style. 

Audience Research- Pulp

As our band is relatively new, it would be beneficial to look at similar, more established bands to understand the target audience they are trying to attract. Therefore we have done some research to find similar groups whose audiences we could study. Pulp formed in 1978 in Sheffield and work in the 'indie rock' genre of music, making it a good band to compare to 'Howl'.

Their general audience are 40-54 year old males of social grade ABC1. However, the male/female split is very fine with their audience being made up of 50.7% men and 49.3% women. This means the gender of the audience can't really be specified.

The age of the audience surprised me as I thought 'Howl's' target audience would be much younger as I usually associate 'indie rock' with young people. However, as this is a 70's band so their fans would have been teenagers when the band formed and have stuck with them through to modern day, causing a general audience age now of 40-54 year olds. This means Howl's target audience are likely to be teenagers. This links to the decision to have their music feature on the Fifa 17 soundtrack which was a designed to appeal to teens.
Their audience age could also be explained by how the indie rock genre was popular in the 80's and has become more popular again now, causing a reflux in the genre. Therefore, a lot of bands with a similar style to howl were formed in the late 70's, 80's and 90's. Due to the age of the audience, their general hobbies include quizzes, scrabble and sudoko showing a general tendency towards problem solving, suggesting that an interesting, more intellectually engaging music video would be more appealing to this particular group of people. They are also football fans and enjoy 'fantasy football' showing that they are inclined towards sport, a theme which could also be incorporated into the music video.

This is a really interesting video of theirs that kind of breaks genre conventions by using a more 'arty' style rather than just performing the song in a live setting. The rotating camera is really memorable and eye catching, making the video stand out rather than just blending into all the other indie rock music videos that exist. It also manages to incorporate a bit of a narrative too, whilst having the lead singer lip synching sections of the song therefore also complying with the genre conventions to a certain extent. I think we should look at this as an influence, perhaps not taking solid ideas from the video as I don't believe it's right for our band, but definitely looking at themes and techniques - artistic elements and the combination of narrative and performance - when coming up with our own ideas.

Audience Research- Kasabian

Kasabian feature many similarities to Howl in their musical style as an alternative rock band so are a useful reference point in terms of interpreting Howl's music. They're a British indie rock band from Leicester that formed in 1997. Amongst their successes they have released 6 albums, headlined the Glastonbury Festival in 2014 and won the Brit Award for Best British Group. They are popular currently amongst young people so their fans can be thought of as a potential target audience for our video.

According to YouGov, Kasabian appeal to lower class people, are marginally more popular amongst women and left-wing, young people. They have been on the music scene since 2004 and so are relatively current (they released an album in 2017). As a result of this, they have lots of older fans in the 40+ age range but also some younger 18-25 year olds as the genre of indie rock had slipped out of fashion in the 2000s but has had a recent resurgence in popularity.

(Data from YouGov.co.uk)

Here is an example of a recent music video by Kasabian (September 2017)

Ill Ray (The King) - Kasabian

The video can be seen to significantly highlight Kasabian as a British band from Leicester as there are many references to this town and elements of British culture. The video is inspired by the discovery of King Richard III's body underneath a Tesco car park in Leicester and creates a quirky narrative around this where a woman resurrects Richard III and takes him around modern day Leicester. As well as an homage to Leicester through depiction of landmarks like Abbey Park, the video can be seen to appeal to both young and old fans of Kasabian. The video casts Lena Headey and Michael Socha who are known from Game of Thrones and This Is England respectively, both of which are shows currently very popular amongst young people. The older audiences are also catered to through the quirky humour of seeing Richard III interacting with a modern day Britain. The band also don't appear in the video, which isn't uncommon in indie rock videos.

Days Are Forgotten - Kasabian

This is an earlier song from the band, released in summer 2011. The video again links the band to the indie rock genre due to the inclusion of band performance and commonly-used black and white filter. The performance setup is enhanced by animated white lines that add an artistic and creative aesthetic to an otherwise standard concept. The video here has an almost universal appeal due to its simplicity, again allowing it to be accessible to both younger and older fans of the band.

Second Video Idea

We still don't have the demo for the Tranqua Lite song therefore we cannot create a solid narrative therefore our ideas at this stage are simply concepts that link to the genre. For our second idea we want to incorporate the performance element into the narrative of the video. To do this we thought we could start the video by presenting the band as the homeless people as that is the narrative of the song. We would want to show their progression through this tough time in their lives. We would want to show progression as their careers develop. To start with they will be sat on a street corner playing the song. This will progress to busking and earning money for their performance. Then they will perform for a larger group of people. Finally we will see them in a gig and showing that they have completed their dream despite their challenging circumstances. The narrative of the song is about homelessness and making a positive difference therefore we want to incorporate this message into the visuals of our video. This process also links to Andrew Goodwin's theory that visuals link to the lyrics.

Audience Research- Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro is a Scottish alternative rock band made up of 3 members called Simon Neil, James Johnston and Ben Johnston. They are currently signed with 14th Floor Records. The target audience for the band is 18-25 year olds but slightly more popular with females. However, they target their music at both males and females. The band is also popular with 40-50 year olds. This is because indie and alternative rock was popular back when this age group were teenagers therefore it's the music they grew up with and still follow to this day. This has been the same with all the indie bands we have researched so far therefore showing a clear trend in the target audience of the genre.

In their video for "Biblical" they employ characteristics which will attract all of their target audiences. First of all the establishing shot is full of dark and bleak colours such as blacks and browns. This is a classic genre convention of the indie rock genre therefore linking back to the older indie rock videos of the 1980's. This will attract the older generation as it will remind them of the songs they listened to when they were teenager therefore this link will make them interested in this song. The younger female audience members will be attracted by the star treatment in the video. Front man Simon Neil is attractive and he stars in the whole video therefore making the video attractive and interesting for this target audience. Finally the younger males will like this video as a lot of the mise-en-scene presents violence such as punching the glass window and the thugs beating up Neil with baseball bats.

These characteristics are repeated throughout the bands other music videos. For example, in "Black Chandelier" the background is often dark with black and white being a motif for the genre. The band members also appear topless therefore creating a voyeuristic feel for the video. The narrative of the video is also violent as it contains a police chase with helicopters.