Survey wordle

Here is a wordle I created of the answers I got to the question of my survey 'When you listened to the song, what did it make you think of?' to clearly show what type of things those who heard the song associated it with.

From the wordle, we can see that the most popular things the song made people think of is a relationship, love and night. Knowing this, I can use these ideas and include them into my video, or I could try and steer clear of these things. By not including what people said the most, the video could be unexpected, and this may cause the audience to want to watch it more, as they want to know what is happening.

Survey results

Here are the results of my survey:



Most of those who took my survey seem to be unsure about the song, but this may be due to the fact it is different from the type of music they usually listen to. If this is the case however, some of those seem to me more accepting about it.




These results show that in fact, the reason those taking my survey may not of liked the song is due to it being different to what they usually listen, and so as it is out of their comfort zone of music they are likely to be unsure of the song.



This shows the type of music that people actually listen to, once again showing how they may of been unsure of the song due to it not being what they usually like.



The opinions of the song itself are very varied, however this is good. Those who liked the song are therefore more likely to enjoy the music video, while those who don't like it as much it will take more convincing in the video to get them to like the song. So, this is a perfect chance to see if, like can be seen with so many other music videos, if the music video adds value to the song. I will be, after completing the video, get the same people to watch the video and answer another survey, and so then we will be able to see if this is true.



People are also unsure as to if the song is good to use for a video, this once again may be due to it not being their usual taste in music. However, a few more people seem to be more for it being good to use for a video.



As mentioned in a later question, after making the survey I was aware that question 5,'Do you think it is a good song to use to make a music video?' and question 6 'Do you think this song would make a good music video?' sound similar. Question 5 is meant to be asking if they thought it was a good song to chose to make a video or not. Question 6 was meant to ask people if they think this song could ever make a good video, or is it too bad to make a decent video for. Answers once again varied, with most people saying yes or maybe.



As I would like the video and song to be linked in some way, I thought it would be good to see what the song made people think of, so I can see how I may be able to link the song and video together, and not just through the lyrics but with the feelings and emotions, as the song itself is very emotional and so needs a link there. From these, I liked the idea of clouds and sky as it is linked to the lyrics, and the idea of depression as a grey sky covered in clouds is often shown to represent depression. I also like the idea of a glimpse of light, as despite the song being emotional, it also, I think, has an idea of things getting better. I also liked the idea of longing for a person who isn't there. I will try and use these idea in my video.

From my results as a whole, I have found out that the song is not that well liked, mainly because is is not the type of song they liked. This also shows that people aren't all that open minded when it comes to music. Also, people as a whole are unsure as to if the song is a good song to choose, or if it will make a good video. I also have many idea of what my video can be about.

Focus group

In order to get some ideas for my video, I conducted a focus group. I let some people listen to the song I wish to use for my music video, got their initial reactions to it, if they liked it or didn't, and what it reminded them of.

About the artist

The artist of the song I am using, 'Under the Sky', is Sarah Bird.

Sarah comes from Leicester.

Sarah, on her unsigned.com site says about herself:

'The product of 2 gigging musicians, I was always around music from a very young age. My Mum is a professional singer and my Dad a professional guitarist ...I took music as an option at school... I decided to learn how to play the guitar and taught myself with a little help from Dad...At 16, my parents had had their own 3 piece band for about 10 years, and found themselves without a 3rd member. As they already had a guitarist (my Dad). I decided I should learn the bass guitar, and played my first gig with them after 11 days of practise. I've been gigging with them ever since, and it's provided me with lots of experience...2007 at age 20, I've been writing and producing my own songs at home in my room. Programming the drums, and recording all of the other instrumentation myself'

http://www.unsigned.com/000sarahbird

Sarah then joined the band 'Sugabeat'

'Her accomplishments within band Sugabeat include two appearances at Glastonbudget, a weekly stint at Entropy and weekly slots hosting open mic nights at The Exchange Bar and Bruxelles Cafe; not including the countless gigs booked at O Bar, The Looking Glass and The Shed.'

Now, 'Sarah is embarking on a new direction, focusing on her ability as a talented songwriter.'

From her website:

http://www.sarahbird.org.uk/

How the directing process works

A commissioner from a record label sends the track they want a music video for to 5-10 directors. The directors will then send back a treatment, an idea for the video.

The best treatment sent is then picked from all of those submitted. Once a director and idea have been chosen, the music video can be made. The director does not get paid until filming of the music video starts.

This process however can make it difficult for some Directors to keep the job as they will often get turned down, and as most of the process they have to do for free, they can't afford to keep the job going. 

Music video audience research- Survey

In order to get an idea of what people like in both the song I chose, I asked some people what they think. To do this, I sent a copy of the song I wish to use to some people, and then a survey on survey monkey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VXSYGSB

I will check my survey results next week.

The song and lyrics

Your words are,
cutting through me,
like scissors though a sheet of silk,
and I ask why you’re leaving,
but boy you willing to fail,
but boy you willing to fail,

Maybe I’ll find you there,
under the sky,
maybe I’ll find a tear,
but never a why,
never a why,
never a why,
never a why,
never a why.

Now your,
Pulling me hard,
Like a train,
Holding on to me,
Like the strongest strong man,
But you’re not,
Not strong,
No you’re not,
Not strong.

Maybe I’ll find you there,
under the sky,
maybe I’ll find a tear,
but never a why.

I don’t wanna be here,
Not where you don’t care,
You’re hurting me daily,
You haven’t even touched me lately,
It’s time to leave,
Time to leave,
Time to leave.

Maybe I’ll find you there,
under the sky,
maybe I’ll find a tear,
but never a why,
Maybe I’ll find you there,
under the sky,
maybe I’ll find a tear,
but never a why,
never a why,
never a why,
never a why.

Preliminary Task- Was it successful?

I think the preliminary exercise went well.

I think even though the lip syncing is slightly off nearer to the end, it was a good first attempt at editing in this way. However, I think the way that there are three images at once, in that positioning, doesn't look the best. It may have been better to have one large image of the singing together with the single singers in opposite corners much smaller, and maybe with the single singers fading in and out leaving the double image there throughout. Also, the random effects that act on one of the images making it bigger and smaller throughout for no reason didn't work either.

Despite this, it was our first attempt at editing in a completely different way than what we are use to, and so why it isn't very professional, it helped us greatly to do it.

Sending another email

After not hearing from the artist, I decided to see if their site had been updated recently to see if they hadn't replied because they didn't want to, or inactivity. When I google the artist, Sarah Bird, I found that since I emailed her band's site, she had set up a new site of her own, and had was no longer with the band.

http://www.sarahbird.org.uk/

Here is the email I sent:





A few days later, I got a reply from her:

Preliminary Task- Video

100 greatest music videos 19-1

19. Madonna 'Material girl' 1985

18. Beyonce 'Crazy in love' 2003

17. Blur 'Coffee and TV' 1999

About a milk carton which tries to find the person shown as missing on it.

16. Outkast 'Hey ya' 2003

15. R.E.M 'Everybody Hurts' 1993

14. Christina Aguilera'Dirrty' 2002

13. Pink Floyd 'Another Brick in the wall' 1979

Based on one of the member's experiences at school

12. Michael and Janet Jackson 'Scream' 1995

Most expensive music video ever made at $7 million

11. Coldplay 'The scientist' 2003

10. Nivarna 'Smells like Tenn spirt' 1991

9. Madonna 'Vouge' 1990

8. The Verve 'Bittersweet Symphony' 1997

7. Michael Jackson 'Billie Jean' 1983

6. Robbie Williams 'Rock DJ' 2000

5. Madonna 'Like a Prayer' 1989

Very controversial video as many thought it was blasphemous

4. Queen 'Bohemian Rhapsody' 1975

Was shot in 3 and a half houses in a warehouse.

3. A-Ha 'Take on me' 1985

When the song was first released, without a video, it did very badly on the charts and just disappeared. When re-released with the video, it got to number one and sold millions of copies.

2. Peter Gabriel 'Sledgehammer' 1986

Used stop motion animation

1. Michael Jackson 'Thriller' 1983

The video was banned on prime time Tv as it was considered 'Too scary'. It cost $700,000 to make it.

Preliminary Task - How we made it and what we learnt

For our preliminary task we had to film two people singing, and then edit the footage to make the people lip sync with the song, like we will have to do for our music videos. It also helps us to understand how to edit the footage, as it was different from how we have edited before.

We had to get two people to lip sync to 'Don't go breaking my heart' by Elton John. We then filmed both the people singing together, and then separately, each time in one take.

By filming the whole take in one go, when it comes to editing it, rather than trying to match the footage and song to make them lip sync several times, we can just line up all the footage and music at the same time. We can then cut between the different takes as we want on the different layers.

When editing our AS coursework thriller opening, we just used one line and edited it along this. This time, we have all the different layers lip synced on top of each other, can can just change between each take as we wish.

Getting permission for the song

After looking for songs on sites such as unsigned.com, I have found a song that I wish to use.

The song ans the artist's page can be found here:

http://www.unsigned.com/000sarahbird

I chose the song 'Under the sky'

Now I have found the song, I need to get permission to use it. To do this, I will email the artist. Unfortunately, there was no contact information on Sarah's unsigned.com page, so using Google I searched for her name. By doing this, I found out that since she had joined a band called Sugabeat, who's site I found. Here I found an email address, and so tried to contact her via this email.