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Our Focus Group (Media)

               
Q1) Do you like the initial idea?
A) All of the focus group liked the initial idea and thought it was a good starting ground for our video and just needed some tweaking.

Q2) What do you think the target audience would be?

A) The group all said teenagers while some said specifically 14-17 yr old young girls. We will try and aim it to this as it would appeal.

Q3) What changes would you make to the video?

A) Many said that although it was a good idea it was still quite bland and generic so maybe by mixing it up a bit it would work e.g. love triangle. They also said about changing the order of it, so its more complex or maybe doing a more unique concept e.g. involve something else like art or creativity.

Q4) Have you seen a video like this before?

A) They said that their ideas e.g art or love triangle, they have not seen but the original they have so therefore we would have to follow their ideas to make it more appealing and exciting to watch.

Q5) On a scale from 1 - 10, how original is the video?

A) They said either 1-4 so not very original and due to it being quite vague its hard to say.

Following our focus group we will change the idea a little to make it better so may include another concept like the boy and girl break up and we see how she deals with it. Also we will target it to young girls who are going through breakups so its relatable..

music videos pitch

Plan for pitch

Make it creative !
Introduce yourself
Say what you're doing (creating a music video marketing campaign for new artists
Say how you will promote the artist, any convergence
What platforms will you use to promote the artist?
How will you use synergy to promote the artist?
What is the concept of the music video and the USP?
What you will include in the Digipak?
Magazine article how have you done this?
Future plans, creating an image for themselves


  

Genre

Genre is the style or category of a TV program, music video, film and book

 

The history of the alternative pop genre:

·         Alternative pop is a genre that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s, with its roots in Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early 1980s (Josef K and Orange Juice) and the dominant UK independent band of the mid-1980s, The Smiths.

·         Alternative pop was inspired by punk's DIY ethic and related ideologies, and it generated a thriving fanzine (magazine created by fans), label, and club and gig circuit.

·         Alternative pop differs from indie rock to the extent that it is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free.

 

Typical lyrics for alternative pop

Lyrics for this genre usually include things along the line of:

·         Heartbreak

·         Revenge

·         Anger

·         Loneliness

·         Friendship

·         Relationships

·         Enjoying life

 

Characteristics of this genre

·         Appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology

·         An emphasis on how the music is made rather than formal "artistic" qualities

·         An emphasis on recording, production, and technology, over live performance

·         A tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments

·         Much pop music is intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance oriented beats or rhythms

 

How are pop bands represented?

 

Alternative pop bands are usually represented by the simplicity and how normal they look E.G if you compare this band to another Pop artist (such as Katy Perry or Lady GaGa) you see that they look like everyday people doing something that they love to do, also the fact that they are all in the same style and similar colours of clothing emphasises the fact that they work together in a band unlike a solo artist who is the main attraction and this is usually done by extravagant clothing and over the top albums, which is very different to this.

 

 

Band ideology

The band Scouting for girls do a lot of charity work suggesting that this is one of the things that they believe in and is important to them, as judging by this statement from the internet:

·         ‘Scouting for Girls are official ambassadors for the children's charity, Wellchild, and also support the Help For Heroes charity. They fundraise for both charities. Their most notable fundraiser to date was cycling from London to Brighton on children's chopper bikes for WellChild’

 

Before the band became signed they had created their own fan site, which was:

·         The Wolfcub The name was wordplay similar to the band's name, being based on the Dennis the Menace fan club.

·         Members of the fan club were called Wolfcubs, and received a welcome pack put together by the band which include a CD of recent demos, a membership card which allowed discounted entry to their gigs, a regular SFG newsletter (similar to the famous Scouting For Boys guide book), and badges. When the band signed their record deal, they carried on producing the membership packs for new fans on the road, until the demand became too high to deal with. However, the Wolfcubs still exist in reference to the band's fans.

·         Scouting for Girls used regularly remark on the Wolfcubs as the "fourth member" of the band. As of 2010 current touring member Jamie O'Gorman is referred to as the fourth member and the Wolfcubs are now known as the fifth member of the band.

 

Target audience

It has been suggested that the target audience for the alternative pop genre is mainly people with a limited knowledge of music (as this style is mainly in the charts so is accessible easily through the radio when travelling) it has also been said that it is mainly females who listen to this genre of music as the band or artist that is usually at the top of the charts is male. Due to the music being fast paced and catchy I would expect the typical age group to be around 10-17.  

 

The male gaze (Laura Mulvey) theory applies to many of the videos in the pop genre and many of the dancers are usually wearing little clothing, looking perfect and are extremely skinny, which over the years has become the medias idea of what a female should look like.

 

Buckingham (1990's)

'Argues that genre is a constant process of negotiation and change' over time pop videos have changed and developed meaning that we are not seeing the same thing we would in a pop video that was created over 10 years ago, this is because technology has developed e.g. computer generated images have risen in quality meaning artists can do a lot more with their videos.

Manic Street Preachers magaine

Here is a magazine advert for Manic Street Preachers with their single National Treasures. On the advert it includes the band name and the date in bold black writing. This is so you can see who it is and when its out straightaway. It also includes the single name and a review/star rating by well established music magazines below it. This is used so the audience see what the media think. The main centre piece is a girl in a suit holding an instrument. This suggests that this is the type of music they do/what it will sound like.

 

The colour scheme is very much based around blue with dark blue, light blue and navy being used. This makes it appealing on the eye for people. At the end it includes the words 'NO REUNIONS. NO COMEBACKS. NO ENCORES' and then tells the audience about a one off show for the single. This makes it seem very exclusive and give fans/people the chance to see them. It also includes links of where you can purchase tickets. In our magazine advert we will take inspiration from how simple this advert is but how it still shows all the important details.

Change of idea

Due to some difficulty in our idea we have had to change it to a similar idea, just more realistic and probably fit the song better. For our final idea we will have a girl break up with a boy then go home to her art studio and paint her feelings etc. This will include her painting the boy singing to her and her painting hearts. We will also put a scene where her friends come round and cheer her up so it appeals to girls as they can relate. Then towards the end of the video we will see her walking through town finally smiling again, within a green location.

Scouting for girls (Greatest hits album cover)

The album cover that I have decided to analyse is 'greatest hits' by Scouting For Girls.

In this cover we can see what looks like to be three children jumping off a wooden deck into the sea, this could suggest that the band have been firm friends for  long time (since childhood) and this is one of the things they enjoyed to do together.

The cover is quite simplistic which could mean that the band have stripped down and just thought about the music and forgotten about the frills the celebrity life come with. 

This cover could also suggest that fame has not gone to the bands heads and when it come to it they are still just as focused on their music as they was when they first started, also with the cover being very nature related could suggest that the band are still grounded and don't let anything stop them from doing what they love which is making music