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: